" Butterfree , Use psybeam on the Spearows!"

The bug pokemon sent a beam of psychic energy towards the hunting avians, slamming into their faces as the birds squawked angrily, at someone interfering between them and their hunt. Austin however, had other plans.

" Pikachu , use thunderbolt on them!"

Pulling in his natural reserves of electricity in his pouches, the yellow rat sent out a bolt of condensed electrical power towards the avians, hitting them straight, and quite effectively, considering that the predators had chosen self-preservation over their hunt, and departed faster than possible under the weather.

"It's a Charmander." Brock said in surprise.

Austin gave a nod remembering how this little guy would one day hold his own against legendaries and be a major help to many of Ash's biggest battles.

"Char." Charmander was panting a bit and that was when Austin saw how the fire looked ready to go out.

" Charmander!" Austin began, as he tried to get the fire-lizard down from the rock, only to be slapped on his hand by a solid application of tail whip. Ignoring the bruising skin, Austin pulled his hands back .

"Huh a Charmander is a pretty rare find, do you think he belongs to someone?" Misty asked as she and the others couldn't see the bruise on Austin's arm while Bulbasaur narrowed his eyes a bit looking at Charmander from the bottom up.

"Saur." Bulbasaur growled as he ran forward surprising everyone. "Saur, Bulba."

Pikachu's ears twitched as Kitty's eyes narrowed before the yellow rat ran over with Bulbasaur.

"Pikachu? Bulbasaur?" Austin asked as this never happened. "What's going on?"

Yellow frowned as she saw how Kitty reacted and placed a hand on her head before her eyes widened. "That Charmander was abused." She said in shock.

Misty raised a brow. "How do you figure?" She asked while Austin and Brock exchanged glances knowing how Yellow found out.

Brock took over from there. "The fire on its tail is nearly out and you could see the outline of some of Charmander's bones." He said observing the Charmander as Bulbasaur and Pikachu were talking to it.

"Char?" Charmander gave the two Pokemon a look.

"Chu, Pika." Pikachu gestured to its tail, basically saying it needed to go to the Pokemon Center.

"Mander." Charmander shook his head stubbornly. "Char Char."

Bulbasaur's eyes narrowed even further as he heard that a human promised this Charmander that he would be back. "Saur?" He asked wanting to know how long that was.

"Char." Charmander gave a shrug saying it was close to three weeks.

That caused Pikachu to look worried. "Pi Pika Pi?" He said asking if the light he saw when being released from the Pokeball was white or blue.

"Mander?" Charmander tilted his head saying it was blue and that did it as Pikachu had a clenched paw while Bulbasaur pawed at the ground.

Pikachu ran down to the others as Bulbasaur continued talking to the Charmander and the electric mouse began making some gestures.

"Chu Pika Pi." Pikachu said as he had a look of worry.

"Pikachu was Charmander left here?" Austin asked in an effort to make it look like he didn't know despite how sick it was making him.

Pikachu gave a nod before pointing to Scyther's Pokeball and made a face.

"Released?" Austin guessed and Pikachu confirmed that.

"We have to get him to the Pokemon Center." Brock said.

Charmander heard that and shot an ember attack right at them causing them to duck as the small fireballs barely missed.

"Saur." Bulbasaur growled at him, telling him that he needed treatment.

"Mander." Charmander denied loyally before being surprised as Austin jumped up and grabbed him.

Charmander reacted by biting his arm causing him to cry out, but he didn't let go.

"Just listen we're going to the Pokemon Center to get you treated, your tail is close to going out." Austin said as Charmander was drawing blood. "If that happens you'll die."

Charmander glared at him and bit harder causing Austin to grit his teeth.

"Ash, you might have to let Charmander go." Brock said in worry as Charmander could just as easily snap the bone in his arm, or burn it if he chose to use ember while hanging on.

"Where is the Pokemon Center?" Austin asked ignoring that.

"It's two miles ahead." Misty said already seeing how he wouldn't give up.

"Chu." Pikachu was on Austin's shoulder, trying to pry Charmander's jaw free, but the lizard wouldn't do it, not even when Bulbasaur tried to use his Vine Whip to get him to let go.

"You can keep biting if you want, but I'm not going to let you stay out here to die." Austin said with a frown.

It was one thing seeing this happen in the show and he felt sorry for Charmander in there, but seeing it in real life, seeing how much pain Charmander was in as well as how loyal he was to that asshole Damian just pissed Austin off and he wanted to help Charmander.

… And maybe punch Damian.

As Charmander was about to bite down harder to break the bone, Yellow placed her hand on his head and focused as he began to glow, catching Misty off guard.

"Yellow, what are you doing?!" Misty asked not expecting that.

"Ssh." Yellow whispered as she was trying to form a small empathy connection with Charmander, using her powers to heal him a bit as well as calm him down.

It worked a bit as Charmander slowly let go of Austin to show the bite mark that would need to be bandaged as he looked tired before passing out.

Yellow stumbled a bit as that took a lot out of her before Brock helped her keep steady while Bulbasaur and Misty gave Yellow a look of surprise.

"Wait." Misty looked between Austin and Brock. "You two don't look surprised."

"We'll explain after Charmander is in the Pokemon Center." Austin said as he took off running, Bulbasaur and Pikachu right behind him.

Yellow let out Dody to keep up as she returned Kitty, leaving Brock and Misty to run after them.