To the northwest of Pewter City, beside an unnamed volcano.
Since leaving the Green Forest, Natsui had been wandering around this enormous volcano for two entire days.
At first, he had planned to go directly to challenge the Pewter City Gym, but after hearing that there were Charmander in the area, he changed his mind and made it his main goal to capture one.
The reason for his urgency wasn't just because the final form of Charmander, Charizard, is very strong, but mainly because its design is incredible, something that Natsui had loved since his previous life.
But unfortunately, aside from some Diglett, Zubat, Geodude, and Cubone, he roamed more than half of the volcano without finding any trace of Charmander.
As the sky began to darken and night was about to cover the land, just as Natsui was putting down his backpack to prepare to camp, Eevee, who had gone to explore the path, suddenly rushed back.
Seeing Natsui, Eevee ran toward him and called out anxiously several times.
Although Natsui didn't understand the meaning of his calls, remembering the task he had assigned to Eevee, he immediately felt encouraged.
"Did you find a Charmander?!"
Eevee nodded and turned around, signaling for Natsui to follow.
Without time to think, Natsui grabbed his backpack and followed Eevee. They circled a wide area of gravel and finally, in a crack in the mountain, they discovered dozens of glowing lights.
These lights were especially visible at that moment. As they got closer, Natsui could clearly see that it was a clan made up of Charmander and Charmeleon. In fact, when Natsui looked up, he could vaguely distinguish several Charizard flying through the skies between the clouds.
And those lights were the flames of life that burned constantly on their tails.
After so many difficulties, Charmander, I've finally found you!
But, how could he capture it without alerting the Charmeleon and Charizard?
It must be noted that the temperament of Charmander is relatively gentle within its family, but Charmeleon and Charizard would obviously not allow Natsui to waltz in and capture a Charmander.
Lying among the dense trees, Natsui looked around and, as he unintentionally lowered his gaze, saw his backpack next to him. His eyes lit up, and a good idea came to him.
He opened the backpack, took out a flashlight, ripped off a few pieces of tape, and stuck them on the front of the flashlight, leaving only a small circular hole.
Then he took out a can of food, opened it, and placed it behind a large enough rock to hide.
Having done this, he made a hand gesture and signaled for his Pokémon to hide around the area.
"We don't have much time this time, so we won't follow the rules of battle. When we lure the Charmander here, we'll attack together to finish the battle before the Charizard notice, understood?"
"Squirtle, Squirtle!"
Seeing that his Pokémon agreed, Natsui, alone, returned to the tree where he had hidden and observed closely.
The appearance of Charmander resembles that of a carnivorous dinosaur. It is orange, with a cream-colored belly and the underside of its tail. Its most distinctive feature is the flame at the tip of its tail.
That flame reflects its health and mood: it burns brightly when full of energy, weakens when lacking spirit, flickers and moves when happy, and burns violently when angry.
It is said that when the flame on its tail goes out, Charmander's life also ends. However, as long as it is healthy, the flame on its tail will continue to burn brightly, even if it is completely soaked.
At that moment, those Charmander were still playing calmly, unaware of Natsui's arrival. After observing for a while, Natsui finally set his gaze on a somewhat special Charmander.
Although this Charmander also played and joked with its companions, perhaps because it was a bit careless, sometimes it used too much force without knowing how to control itself, which always made its companions angry, who would shout and scold it.
Seeing its somewhat clumsy appearance, Natsui made his decision: "Alright, I choose you!"
He took out the flashlight, turned it on, and pointed it at him.
A thin beam of light from the flashlight, with several flashes, illuminated the face of that Charmander. But since the light didn't spread out, it didn't attract the attention of the others.
At first, the Charmander didn't pay much attention to the dazzling light; it just blinked and turned its head to avoid it. But when the light followed the movement of its head and shone on its face again, it finally caught its attention.
??
A big question mark appeared over its head. The Charmander looked around curiously and walked toward Natsui's hiding spot.
Seeing that the target had taken the bait, Natsui slowly backed up and hid behind the large rock.
When the Charmander, guided by the light of the flashlight, reached the spot, it suddenly discovered that the light had disappeared and, instead, there was a strange food that emitted a delicious aroma, placed in the middle of the clearing.
It sniffed forcefully with its nose, and just when it had taken two steps forward, it heard an attack command. Suddenly, several figures appeared from four directions at once. Before it could react, in the blink of an eye, it was hit by a Water Gun, a Confusion attack, a Vine Whip, and a Tackle. It fell to the ground instantly, everything turned black, and it completely lost consciousness.
"Awesome!"
Seeing the Charmander on the ground, Natsui emerged from his hiding spot, quickly took out a Poké Ball, and threw it.
A red flash, and the Charmander was absorbed by the ball, which didn't even wobble before the capture was successful.
As he looked at the Poké Ball, Squirtle was a bit stunned. An uncomfortable memory came to mind, feeling that this capture scene seemed... vaguely familiar?
"What are you waiting for?!" Natsui tapped it on the head, and his smile, even in the dark night, seemed dazzling to Squirtle. "Capture successful! Let's get out of here before the big ones notice!"
Late at night, at the Pewter City Pokémon Center.
In the empty dining room, Natsui was reclining in a chair, legs crossed, drinking vegetable juice, with a completely relaxed expression.
Today, he had finally achieved a feat: he had gathered all three starting Pokémon from the Kanto region!
And beside him, of his five Pokémon, four were eating. Only the recently captured Charmander was sitting, stunned, staring at the unfamiliar surroundings.
Its memories were fragmented. It was as if it had taken a nap, and upon waking up, discovered that the world had completely changed.
It didn't even know why it was there.
Also, how had this human suddenly become its trainer?
And these Pokémon, how had they suddenly become its companions?
Seeing the Charmander sitting there, dazed, Natsui brought the food closer with a concerned expression.
"Eat a little more. What? Are you still a bit confused? Don't worry, after today, I think you'll get used to it very soon!"