Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 2: The Charmander Rehabilitation Plan

Humans have them, and Pokémon do too.

Once you lose your purpose, days blur into a haze. Nothing feels worth doing, and you go through the motions like a walking corpse. Charmander’s current state fits this perfectly.

According to psychology, the solution is to help it find a purpose again. So what is Charmander’s purpose?

Rio sat cross-legged on the floor, lightly tapping his head with a pen as he thought.

Before long, he had an answer.

Unlike humans, who have all kinds of different goals, a Pokémon’s primary purpose in life is battle—fighting rivals of its own kind when there are no external threats, and fighting Pokémon of other species when there are, growing stronger step by step.

And once it has a trainer, its battles shift to growing stronger with the trainer’s help.

That instinct is etched into their very genes.

Right now, Charmander has lost that instinct.

It lost it because its trainer abandoned it.

So now, what he needed to do was help it regain its battle spirit—and its trust in humans.

"This needs to be done in two steps, and I’ll tackle them in no particular order," Rio muttered, picking up his pen to start outlining.

Step one: Restore its will to fight.

How to do that? First, he needed to create a need—a need that relies on battle. And when does that need arise? Taking social psychology as an example, it’s often when one’s own interests are violated, or when one needs to pursue benefits. Pokémon should be the same.

This Charmander, having lost its will, no longer had any desire to seek benefits externally. So the only option was to make it feel that its existing interests were being violated—forcing it to rely on battle to reclaim what was its.

And the only interest it still had right now was its stable, peaceful life at the Pokémon House.

So what he needed to do was find a way to disrupt that stability.

At this point in his analysis, a smile crept across Rio’s face.

Then he moved on to outline the second step on paper.

Step two: Restore Charmander’s trust in humans.

To achieve this, he had to understand why it had lost that trust in the first place.

Known facts: it was first abandoned by its trainer at an underground arena, and then subjected to abuse there. Under those circumstances, it was perfectly normal for it to be utterly disillusioned with humans—believing that humans would only use it.

So the volunteers’ care at the Pokémon House, in its eyes, was likely just another form of exploitation—use it, then discard it again.

To reverse this perception, he needed to act in ways that went beyond Charmander’s expectations.

But what would be beyond its expectations?

At this point, Rio started tapping his head lightly with his pen again, thinking. Less than half a minute later, he had an answer.

Thinking from Charmander’s experience, anything its former trainer couldn’t possibly do would be outside its expectations.

And what couldn’t that trainer do?

Someone who would gamble away his own Pokémon to an underground arena was clearly incapable of protecting a Pokémon, cherishing it, or even putting his own life on the line for it.

At this realization, Rio’s eyes lit up.

He knew exactly what to do.

Just then, Mr. Fuji’s voice rang out at the perfect moment.

"Everyone, it’s been nearly half an hour since mealtime began. Please take any Pokémon that haven’t finished eating out to the garden in the back—it’s time for Munchlax’s meal."

As soon as Mr. Fuji finished speaking, several volunteers in the room led their Pokémon outside.

Rio glanced at Charmander, still lying on the ground, and made no move.

A moment later, a pudgy little Pokémon with deep blue skin and a round, bulging belly came charging into the room like a runaway horse.

"Ka~"

It made a beeline straight for the six full, untouched food buckets beside Mr. Fuji. Excitedly, it opened its huge mouth, grabbed one of the buckets, and tipped its contents straight in.

"Slow down, slow down—no one’s fighting you. It’s all yours," Mr. Fuji said gently, patting its head as he spoke.

Munchlax paid him no mind.

In less than ten seconds, it had emptied one bucket and immediately grabbed a second.

Rio couldn’t help but marvel at how fast it ate.

"No wonder it’s called the Big Eater Pokémon."

Actually, Munchlax had originally been one of Rio’s top choices too—not only was it adorable, but it was also strong. Especially after evolving into Snorlax, it ranked among the T0 tier in the Normal type.

The only downside was that it ate way too much. There was no way he could afford to feed it with his current finances, so he’d reluctantly made it his second choice instead.

Before long, all six full buckets had been completely cleaned out by Munchlax.

"Ka~"

Even after finishing, it still looked unsatisfied.

"That’s all, that’s all. You’ve eaten the entire lunch portion for today," Mr. Fuji said, stroking its head affectionately.

Hearing this, Munchlax’s eyes darted around, and it squinted them with a mischievous look while sniffing the air with its little nose.

"There really isn’t any more—all the other Pokémon had their lunch before you," Mr. Fuji said with a laugh, knowing full well what Munchlax was thinking.

But just as he finished speaking, Munchlax’s eyes suddenly lit up with that unmistakable gleam that only appeared when it spotted food.

"Ka—!"

With a sudden explosive leap, Munchlax launched itself toward the farthest right corner of the room.

There, lying on the ground, was the dejected Charmander.

And right in front of it sat a bowl piled high with untouched food.

"Ka~"

Hurtling through the air, Munchlax opened its mouth wide, ready to swallow both bowl and food in one go.

But just as it was about to land on the delicious meal—

A pair of hands reached out and quickly whisked the bowl away.

Munchlax face-planted hard into the floor.

Two seconds later, it glared furiously at Rio, who was now holding the food.

"Ka—!"

The Pokémon info displayed in Rio’s vision showed Munchlax’s friendship toward him dropping from -20 to -21 in an instant. The crime of snatching its food had enraged it.

Rio didn’t mind at all. Instead, he took a deep breath.

Why a deep breath?

Because what came next—in order to earn Charmander’s approval—was a performance so painfully cringey that it could make a normal person claw through the floor, and make even his usual self slap himself in embarrassment.

You want to know just how cringey?

Just picture Ash Ketchum’s behavior, and you’ll get the idea.

"Munchlax, this is Charmander’s lunch. You can’t have it," Rio suddenly said in a grave tone, pointing at Charmander.

His voice was firm and resolute, causing Charmander, who had been lying on the ground wasting away, to lift its head slightly.

"Ka—!" Munchlax let out another furious cry, as if to say, I don’t care if it eats it or not—I’m having that food!

With that, it lunged at Rio, trying to snatch the meal from his hands.

Rio ducked quickly, dodging the attack, and placed the lunch back in front of Charmander.

"Charmander, eat it now, or Munchlax is going to steal it!" he said earnestly, looking straight at the little Pokémon.

Charmander didn’t take a bite, but its expression as it looked at him was decidedly odd.

By then, Mr. Fuji had hurried over to the corner. While soothing the enraged Munchlax, he tried to talk Rio down.

"Rio, why didn’t you take Charmander outside? I already told you Munchlax was coming out. Give that lunch to Munchlax now, or if it gets into a feeding frenzy, you’re definitely going to get hurt."

Rio turned his head and replied with righteous indignation:

"No! This is Charmander’s lunch. As the one taking care of it, I must make sure it gets to eat this meal—that’s my duty. Even if I have to risk my life to do it!"

Mr. Fuji was stunned.

He hadn’t expected that response at all. It’s just a meal—how did it escalate to risking your life? It wasn’t like Charmander would starve if this one meal was taken away; they could just sneak it an extra portion later behind Munchlax’s back.

Meanwhile, the other volunteers nearby were equally dumbfounded. They all thought Rio must have lost his mind. Most of them had taken care of Charmander before, and in their view, this Charmander was basically a lost cause. No matter how much he defended its lunch, the little creature would probably never appreciate it anyway.

"Ka~"

On the other side, seeing that Mr. Fuji hadn’t gotten the food for it, Munchlax’s face darkened as it charged at Rio with Tackle.

And Rio was sent flying.

He tried to dodge, but still took the hit square on his back. The impact sent him flying several meters through the air.

The volunteers and Mr. Fuji were startled and rushed over to check on him.

"Ka~" Munchlax cried out in victory.

Then it looked down at Charmander, still crouched in front of its meal, and called out again.

"Ka~"

As if to say, I’m definitely eating that food.

But Charmander didn’t react—it just kept staring at Rio, who was lying on the ground after being knocked down.

Then its eyes flickered.

Because Rio got back up on his feet.

He shouted at Munchlax, who was about to gulp down the entire meal in one mouthful:

"Put that lunch down! It belongs to Charmander!"

The shout startled Munchlax—it hadn’t expected him to still try to stop it. Then, without hesitation, it opened its mouth wide and tossed the food straight in.

A moment later, it let out a satisfied burp.

"Ka~" Munchlax shot Rio a defiant look, as if to say, Go ahead, make me spit it out if you can.

Seeing that, Rio immediately charged forward.

Mr. Fuji and the surrounding volunteers were completely baffled.

Dude, do you have to be so dramatic? It’s just one meal! Why are you trying so hard to get yourself killed?

"Quick, quick, quick—grab him and get him out of here!" Mr. Fuji exclaimed in alarm.

The volunteers rushed forward, and within moments they had Rio restrained, carrying him out the door.

"Let me go! I have to make it spit out Charmander’s food!" Rio yelled as they carried him out.

One volunteer couldn’t help but say, "Bro, it’s just one meal. There’s really no need to go this far. It’s not like this was the last bit of food in the whole Pokémon House."

Rio ignored him and kept shouting.

The volunteers exchanged glances, looking at each other with expressions that said, We’re impressed by your dedication, but also... are you okay?

Before long, Rio was carried well outside the building.

When they were about twenty or thirty meters away from the house, Rio suddenly stopped shouting.

His expression turned calm as he spoke:

"Alright, everyone. You can let me go now. I’m not going to go fight Munchlax anymore."

The volunteers holding him froze. The sudden shift caught them completely off guard.

"Really. I’m fine. I was doing that on purpose inside," Rio said calmly.

The volunteers looked at each other again, then slowly released their grip on him.

"On purpose?" one of them asked in confusion.

"Yeah, on purpose. I’ll keep the reason a secret for now, but I’ll explain it to Grandpa Fuji," Rio said with a smile.

The volunteers exchanged yet another round of glances, their faces showing a hint of speechless exasperation. One of them said, "Bro, I suggest you start looking at some of the other Pokémon here sooner rather than later. Don’t waste all your energy on Charmander just because it’s a shiny. You’ll regret it in the end—because it’s already beyond help."

Rio smiled but didn’t reply. He turned and started walking back, rubbing his sore lower back as he went, his back to the others.

To be fair, that Tackle from Munchlax really hurt. Getting hit by a truck probably felt about the same.

"I hope this bruise was worth it," Rio thought to himself with a wince.

A short while later, Rio returned to the building.

But he didn’t go inside. Instead, he stood outside and peered through the glass window at the inside of the room, fixing his gaze on Charmander, still lying on the floor.

Gradually, the corners of his mouth lifted—and the pain in his back felt a little lighter.

Because Charmander’s friendship value had gone up.

It had risen from -25 to -23—a gain of 2 points.

"Nice. That hit was worth it."

"At least this little guy has a heart and didn’t let me play the fool for nothing."