"Don't tell me we got lost again." Misty complained as the group were still walking, it's only been a day since the incident with the forest fire and this time Austin wasn't trying to get lost due to the Breeding Competition being in two days for Brock.

But it seems that even with trying to make it there, mistakes could be made.

"Maybe it was left." Austin muttered .

"Chu." Pikachu sighed on his shoulder.

"Well we should be close." Brock said sounding nervous about being lost again. "I can smell the ocean at least."

"Really?" Yellow sniffed the air as the Ocean scent was indeed in the air, showing that they were close to it at least.

"Have you ever been to the beach?" Misty asked her in surprise as Yellow shook her head.

"No, the only places I've been before joining Ash on his journey were Pewter City and Viridian City." Yellow said to her. "The closest thing to me was the lake in Viridian."

"We'll have to change that." Misty said already seeing them relaxing on the beach after traveling for so long.

"The Beach does sound nice." Austin agreed. "There's one in Vermillion we can go to after the Breeding Contest, right?"

"That sounds like a great idea." Brock said giving a smile.

'Yeah, I haven't been to a beach in years.' Austin grinned as they were walking a bit faster. "Come on." He said running ahead, deciding to pull an Ash for the fun of it.

"Wha?! Ash!" Misty called out as all of them were now running to keep up.

Eventually Austin managed to find his way out of the woods as he saw a beautiful sunset over the ocean. "Whoa, nice view right guys?"

"Chu." Pikachu agreed with a smile.

When no other answer came, Austin turned to see that he accidentally lost the others in his run.

"... Well this is bad." Austin said chuckling sheepishly as Pikachu hung his head at the understatement before his ears pricked as he heard a sound and he turned to see something.

"Pi." Following Pikachu's line of sight, Austin saw a small crab Pokemon walking sideways, its upper half was red while the lower was white.

"Krabby?" Austin grinned as he sent Squirtle out, who gave a cry as the sunset shined off of his sunglasses. "Hey Squirtle you up for your first battle?"

"Squirt." Squirtle clenched a fist as he looked at the Krabby who clicked its pincers in retaliation.

"Rapid Spin!" Squirtle tucked his limbs into his shell and launched himself, spinning at the Krabby as its pincers glowed and slammed a Metal Claw into Squirtle causing him to fly back, a little annoyed. "Alright, Tackle."

Squirtle gave a nod and ran forward, as Krabby was preparing another Metal Claw, Austin switched it up.

"Use Water Gun to launch yourself into the air!" Squirtle did so as Krabby swung, missing completely. "Now use Rapid Spin again!"

This time, the Rapid Spin hit as Austin unclipped an empty Pokeball and threw it, sucking the Krabby in.

Squirtle landed, ready to attack should the Krabby break out as the ball wiggled.

This was the scene that Yellow, Brock and Misty came out of the forest to as they saw the Pokeball wiggling, all three of them showing surprise that Austin was catching another Pokemon already.

'Come on.' Austin thought before the Pokeball stopped wiggling with a ding. "Alright!"

But then it disappeared causing him to groan.

"Crap, I forgot to switch Krabby out." Austin muttered.

"Squirtle." Squirtle looked happy that he won the match, despite it being against a wild Pokemon as Austin returned him, thanking him for the help.

"Wait, you caught another water Pokemon?!" Misty asked causing him to jump as he didn't know that they found him.

"Well I still need a diverse team to switch out when I get to the Indigo League and there's nothing wrong with having a second water type." Austin said quickly as Squirtle gave a yawn.

"Ash does have a point, it isn't unusual for most trainers to have up to twenty Pokemon at this point." Brock remarked with a thoughtful look. "And you can bet that at the Indigo League they will have a lot more than that."

"How many more?" Yellow asked curiously.

"About fifty."

" Whoa." Yellow whispered in surprise.

"Hey what are we going to do tonight? I don't know about anyone else but I can't stand another night of sleeping in a sleeping bag." Misty said with a frown.

"It does get tiring." Brock agreed. "But we haven't seen a Pokemon Center in days and this beach is far out of the way."

"Pika! Pika!" Pikachu cried out causing them to look at him as he was pointing in a certain direction.

"What's that?" Yellow asked as they all saw a giant building on a cliff nearby.

Misty smiled. "It's a lighthouse and every lighthouse has a keeper." She said clasping her hands. "They must have some extra beds."

"And there will be someone there to tell us where we are." Brock said looking hopeful.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Austin said as they all took off running, this time staying together and the sky was dark by the time they reached it.

While running Austin remembered Professor Oak's words .

'There's a researcher living near Vermilion City at the lighthouse by the name Bill. I'll inform him about your arrival. I am hopeful he'd be able to get you answers to Charmander's… condition.'

Apparently professor oak knew about Charmander's condition as the report of his Pokédex was directly sent to him without him knowing it which made Austin frown since it was a violation of privacy . After the call with professor oak ended where he refused to send him to oak since he now knew that Charmander's condition was not natural meaning team rocket had definitely experimented on him which alongside Damian's abandonment had clearly affected Charmander's mental health and he wanted to be there for his friend and sending him to professor oak might have been a better choice in some ways but he didn't want to give Charmander the idea that he was abandoning him even if it wasn't the case . For charmander it would be the same as it with Damian and he needed to build a bond with the tiny dragon before he was sure he could have professor oak look at him .

Professor oak being the wise man said that he trusted his decisions and gave Austin the idea to look for Bill so that he could see if Charmander didn't have any underlying health problems due to its genetic makeup .