Every living being in this world has a purpose.
Humans do, and Pokémon do too.
Once a purpose is lost, life becomes aimless, everything feels dull, like a walking corpse.
Charmander's current situation perfectly fits this description.
According to psychology, in such a situation, one must help it find its purpose again.
And what is Charmander's purpose?
Jiang Fan sat cross-legged on the ground, tapping his head lightly with a pen, deep in thought.
Soon, he had an answer.
Unlike the diverse range of goals humans choose, Pokémon's primary goal in this world is to battle.
When there are no external enemies, they compete and battle with their own kind; when there are external enemies, they battle other species of Pokémon, growing stronger step by step.
And once they have a Trainer, their battles transform into growing stronger step by step with the Trainer's Helping Hand.
This is something etched in their genes.
And right now, Charmander has lost this very thing.
It lost it because of its Trainer's abandonment.
So now, it should regain its fighting spirit and trust in humans.
"This needs to be done in two steps, not necessarily in order," Jiang Fan mumbled, taking his pen to organize his thoughts.
Step one: Regain fighting spirit.
How to regain it? First, a need must arise—the need to rely on battle.
When does the need to rely on battle arise? Taking social psychology as an example, it often happens when one's own interests are violated, or when one needs to pursue interests.
It should be the same for Pokémon.
This dispirited Charmander currently has no desire to seek external interests, so the only thing that can be done is to make it feel that its own interests have been violated, forcing it to rely on battle to reclaim its rights.
Its current right is to live peacefully in the Pokémon House.
So what he should do is find a way to break that peace.
Analyzing this, Jiang Fan revealed a slight smile.
Immediately after, he analyzed the second step on the paper.
Help Charmander regain its trust in humans.
To achieve this, he needed to understand why it lost trust in humans.
It is known that it was first abandoned by its Trainer in the underground arena, and then severely beaten there.
In such circumstances, it is perfectly normal for it to be utterly disappointed in humans.
It feels that humans will only use it.
Therefore, the concern of the Pokémon House volunteers, in its view, was also just a pretext to continue using it, only to abandon it again after use.
To reverse this perception, he must perform actions outside of Charmander's cognition.
But what are actions outside of Charmander's cognition?
Analyzing this, Jiang Fan began tapping his head with his pen again, thinking.
In less than half a minute, he had an answer.
Considering Charmander's experience as a baseline, things its former Trainer could never have done are clearly outside of its cognition.
And what are things its former Trainer could never do?
Someone who could abandon a Pokémon to an underground arena would clearly never protect Pokémon, care for Pokémon, or even be willing to put their own life in danger for a Pokémon.
Analyzing this, Jiang Fan's eyes lit up.
He knew what to do.
Just then, Old Man Fuji's voice happened to ring out.
"Everyone, it's been almost half an hour since the Pokémon started eating. Please take any Pokémon that haven't finished eating to the park in the back. It's Munchlax's turn to eat."
As soon as Old Man Fuji finished speaking, several volunteers in the room began leading Pokémon out.
Jiang Fan glanced at Charmander, who was still sprawled on the ground, and did not move.
After a while, a Little Fatty with dark blue skin and a bulging belly, like an unbridled wild horse, burst into his line of sight.
"Snor!"
As soon as it entered, it headed straight for the six full, untouched food barrels next to Old Man Fuji.
With an excited wide-open mouth, it picked up one of the barrels and began pouring it into its mouth.
"Eat slowly, eat slowly, no one is fighting you for it, it's all yours," Old Man Fuji said softly, stroking its little head by its side, reminding it.
Munchlax was unmoved.
In less than ten seconds, it finished one barrel and immediately picked up the second to pour into its mouth.
Jiang Fan was amazed at how fast it ate.
"Truly a gluttonous Pokémon."
Actually, Munchlax was originally one of his top choices.
Not only was it cute, but it was also strong.
Especially after evolving into Snorlax, it was considered a T0 level among normal-type Pokémon.
The only downside was that it ate too much; with his financial resources in the early stages, he definitely couldn't afford to raise it, so he regretfully changed it to a secondary target.
Not long after, all six full food barrels were completely devoured by Munchlax.
"Snor!"
Even after eating, it still looked like it wanted more.
"There's no more, no more. You've eaten all of your lunch portion for today," Old Man Fuji said, dotingly patting its head.
Munchlax's eyes darted around at the words, its small eyes narrowed, and with a mischievous little expression, it scanned the entire room, simultaneously sniffing with its small nose.
"There really isn't any. The other Pokémon have already finished their lunch before you," Old Man Fuji said, clearly understanding Munchlax's thoughts, with a smile.
But as his words fell, Munchlax's small eyes suddenly gleamed with the brilliant light only seen when it spots food.
"Snor--"
Munchlax suddenly launched itself forward, darting towards the far right corner of the room.
There, a dejected Charmander lay slumped.
In front of it was a full bowl of food.
"Snor!"
Facing this food, Munchlax, flying through the air, opened its big mouth, ready to swallow the bowl whole.
But, just as it was about to pounce on the delicious food bowl...
A pair of hands moved faster than it, swiftly pulling the food bowl away.
Munchlax landed face-first.
Two seconds later, it angrily looked at Jiang Fan, who was holding the food.
"Snor--"
The Pokémon information displayed in Jiang Fan's view showed Munchlax's affection for him dropping directly from -20 to -21.
Jiang Fan's act of stealing its food had enraged it.
Jiang Fan was unfazed by this, instead taking a deep breath.
Why take a deep breath?
Because next, to gain Charmander's approval, he was about to put on a cringeworthy performance.
How cringeworthy?
As cringeworthy as it could possibly be.
Enough to make a normal person dig through the floor in embarrassment.
And enough to make his usual self slap himself in the face.
You want to know?
Just imagine Zhi Ye's behavior, and you'll know.
"Munchlax, this is Charmander's lunch. You can't eat it," Jiang Fan suddenly said with a serious expression, pointing at Charmander.
His voice was strong and clear, causing Charmander, who was lying on the ground passing the time, to slightly lift its head.
"Snor--" At this moment, Munchlax let out another angry cry.
It was as if it was saying, I don't care if it eats or not, I want to eat this portion.
After saying that, it lunged towards Jiang Fan, ready to snatch the lunch from his hand.
Jiang Fan quickly squatted, dodged, and then placed the lunch back in front of Charmander.
"Charmander, eat quickly, or Munchlax will snatch it away," he said, looking at Charmander with a sincere expression.
Charmander didn't eat, but its expression towards him was strange.
Old Man Fuji arrived at the corner at this time.
He was both comforting the angry Munchlax and trying to persuade Jiang Fan.
"Jiang Fan, why didn't you take Charmander out? Didn't I already say Munchlax was coming out?"
"Quickly give this lunch to Munchlax, or you'll definitely get hurt if it starts snatching food."
Jiang Fan turned his head and said righteously:
"No, this is Charmander's lunch. As the one who takes care of it, I must ensure it eats this lunch. This is my duty, even if it costs me my life, I must do it."
Old Man Fuji was stunned.
He had not expected Jiang Fan to respond like that.
It's just a lunch, why are you escalating it to the point of sacrificing your life?
It's not like Charmander would starve if this lunch was given away. Couldn't he just secretly compensate it with another portion later, behind Munchlax's back?
At the same time, the surrounding volunteers were also utterly bewildered.
They clearly thought Jiang Fan had lost his mind.
Most of them had taken care of Charmander.
In their opinion, this Charmander was basically a lost cause. Why are you protecting its lunch so much? It might not even appreciate it in the end.
"Snor!"
On the other side, Munchlax saw that Old Man Fuji hadn't helped it get the food.
It directly used the Tackle move on Jiang Fan with a gloomy face.
As a result, Jiang Fan was sent flying.
Even though he tried to dodge again, he was still hit in the back.
He was sent flying several meters.
The volunteers and Old Man Fuji were startled and rushed forward to check on him.
"Snor!"
Munchlax let out a triumphant cry.
Then it lowered its head to look at Charmander, who was lying in front of the food, and cried out again.
"Snor!"
It was as if it was saying, I'm going to eat your food.
But Charmander was unmoved, only looking at Jiang Fan, who was lying on the ground after being hit.
Then its eyes flickered.
Because Jiang Fan stood up from the ground.
He shouted at Munchlax, who was about to swallow the food whole.
"Put down that lunch! That belongs to Charmander!"
The shout surprised Munchlax; it hadn't expected the other party to still try to stop it.
Immediately, it opened its big mouth and decisively threw the food into its mouth.
Soon, it let out a satisfied burp.
"Snor!" Munchlax looked at Jiang Fan provocatively.
It was as if it was saying, if you've got the guts, make me spit it out.
Jiang Fan saw this and immediately rushed over.
Old Man Fuji and the surrounding volunteers were flustered.
Brother, do you have to be so dramatic? It's just one lunch, why are you risking your life?
"Quick, quick, hold him back, take him out!" Old Man Fuji exclaimed.
The volunteers rushed forward, and soon they had Jiang Fan under control, escorting him out.
"Let go of me! I must make it spit out Charmander's food!" Jiang Fan shouted as he was being escorted out.
One volunteer couldn't help but say, "Brother, it's just one portion of food, there's really no need to be so desperate. This isn't the last portion of food in the Pokémon House."
Jiang Fan ignored them, still shouting.
The volunteers exchanged glances, showing expressions of resignation.
Soon, Jiang Fan was taken out of the room.
After he was twenty or thirty meters away from the room, Jiang Fan suddenly stopped shouting.
Instead, he spoke calmly:
"Alright everyone, you can let go of me now. I won't fight Munchlax anymore."
The volunteers who were holding him were completely dumbfounded.
This sudden change caught them off guard.
"Really, I'm fine. I was doing that on purpose in there," Jiang Fan said calmly.
The volunteers exchanged glances again, then slowly loosened their grip on Jiang Fan.
"On purpose?" Someone asked, confused.
"Yes, I was doing it on purpose. As for the reason, it's a secret for now. I'll explain it to Old Man Fuji," Jiang Fan said with a smile.
The volunteers exchanged glances once more, a hint of speechlessness in their expressions.
One of them said, "Brother, I suggest you observe the other Pokémon here sooner. Don't spend too much effort caring for Charmander just because of its unusual appearance, or you'll definitely regret it in the end, because it's already a lost cause."
Jiang Fan smiled, didn't reply, and instead turned to walk back, rubbing his aching lower back with his back to them.
He had to admit, Munchlax's Tackle really hurt. Getting hit by a truck might feel similar.
"I hope I wasn't hit for nothing," Jiang Fan muttered to himself, gritting his teeth.
Not long after, Jiang Fan returned to the room.
But he didn't go inside. Instead, he stood outside, looking in through the glass window, gazing at Charmander, who was still slumped on the ground inside.
Gradually, the corners of his mouth turned up, and the pain in his waist also felt significantly reduced.
Because,
Charmander's affection increased.
It rose from -25 to -23, an increase of 2 points.
"Good, it was worth the hit."
"This kid still has a heart; he didn't make me act like a fool for nothing."
