Austin shook himself out of his thoughts , looking at the rocky terrain overlooking the expansive water body, as he took a step in the direction of the only edifice on the land. The building had several layers of walls built around itself, leading to the door. On the walls, Austin could see, were engravings of fully evolved pokémon. "Look here Charmander," Austin muttered, pointing towards the stone engraving of a rather ferocious-looking Charizard. "Someday you'll just like this."

" Is it just me or does this lighthouse look weird?" Brock asked curiously as there were stone engravings of various Pokemon on the walls.

"I think they look awesome." Yellow said seeing the various Pokemon.

"Well we should ring the bell unless we do want to stay out all night." Misty said.

"I've got it." Austin said as he crossed the threshold, before reaching up to the large front door, as he pressed the doorbell.

The bell was just like how it was in the show causing everyone to shiver a bit and after a while, the intercom came on. "Who's there?"

"Excuse us sir, but we're travelers and we're lost." Brock explained to the intercom. "We were hoping that you could perhaps tell us where we're at?"

"And we've been camping out for quite awhile so we're also wondering if we could stay the night." Misty spoke up.

Before the speaker could decline, Brock took over again. "And I was wondering if I could use your kitchen to make some dinner for our group, I would be more than happy to make something for you."

"That's great, can you cook without using Tofu?"

"Oh sure I can cook a lot of things without Tofu." Brock confirmed as he heard a sigh of relief on the other side.

"That's good, I haven't eaten anything but Tofu since my cook went on vacation." The voice said. "Come on in."

The giant doors slid open on their own, revealing their electronic functions, creating quite a juxtaposition compared to the more… primitive exterior.

The insides of the lighthouse were more akin to the interior of the gym, only much more sophisticated and advanced. On second thought, even Professor Oak's lab was remarkably… plebeian compared to the one he was standing in, and this was just the entrance.

"Wait, you with the Pikachu." That caused the group to stop. "You wouldn't happen to be related to a Red, would you?"

That caused Austin's eyes to widen in shock as Red was the original trainer from the video game and for Bill to ask that just confirmed that the silent protagonist existed in this world.

Austin gave a shrug. "Sorry, but I don't know him."

"Oh, I thought you would've known him, I swear you're the spitting image of him, especially with your Pikachu, although it's been years since I've seen him when he helped me out of a spot of trouble at my cottage on Cerulean Cape." The voice sounded nostalgic.

" Hey do you have a phone by any chance?" Austin asked as he wanted to see how his other Pokemon were doing.

Of course he had to pretend because it would be weird to everyone if he knew exactly where the phone was.

"There's one near you." Bill said causing the group to turn to see a Computer with a bellsprout phone near it.

"Huh, a videophone?" Misty said causing Austin to smile.

"I'm going to call Professor Oak." He said as he hadn't talked to him since they got Charmander at the Pokemon Center earlier that week.

"I'm sure that your Pokemon are doing fine, Ash." Brock said with Austin already dialing the number.

"Yeah but I still want to see them." Austin said putting the phone to his ear as the video came up to show Prof. Oak cooking something.

"Hi Ash, you caught me cooking dinner." Prof. Oak greeted with a wave. "My cook is on vacation and I have to fend for myself until she returns."

'What's with the cooks taking vacations at the same time?' Austin thought as Bill said the same thing before he shook his head. "Sorry to interrupt Professor, but I wanted to make sure my Pokemon were doing well and if Raticate and Krabby arrived safely."

"No worries Ash, your Pokemon are all doing fine." Professor Oak said with a smile at him. "Fearow's wing is still healing, but he's not letting it bother him, he's actually been using his talons amazingly enough to train despite me trying to stop him."

"Uh yeah, when I first caught him and Pidgeotto, I got them to learn how to fight without flying just in case they were ever grounded." Austin said rubbing the back of his head.

"A clever idea." Prof. Oak said thoughtfully as he looked at Austin curiously, most likely seeing the differences as well. "Well about your other Pokemon, your Raticate is extremely well trained and strong for one of her species. There was a group of Rattata's that were stealing food and she set them straight in less than a minute upon arriving here."

Austin chuckled a bit at hearing that.

"Now as for your Krabby, he didn't receive any training because you just caught him right?" Prof. Oak asked as Austin gave a nod. "I could tell from how small he is compared to Gary's Krabby, see for yourself."

With that he showed the two Krabby's in different bowls of water and Gary's was enormous compared to his.

"Whoa." Brock said in surprise while Misty had a look of awe at the giant water Pokemon.

"That's some Krabby." Misty whispered.

"I-It's huge." Yellow said in shock.

Austin couldn't help the twitch of his eye at seeing this again.

"But I have to say despite the vast difference in number of Pokemon you and my Grandson have caught, I'm impressed that you've actually managed to catch a Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle. It is rare for a trainer to get one without receiving it as a starter from me, yet you've managed to catch them by yourself."

"Well I wouldn't necessarily say by myself." Austin said scratching his cheek.

Prof. Oak gave a nod before he looked curious. "By the way Ash, where is it that you're calling me from? The number isn't from any of the Pokemon Center's."

"We're on a lighthouse on the top of a cliff near Vermillion." Austin answered as understanding dawned on Prof. Oak's face. Professor Oak looked at Brock , Yellow and Misty before looking at Austin who just shook his head as the message was clear .

He didn't tell his friends about Charmander's condition .