Day 5, early morning.
A lake in Lavender Town.
Charmander stood at the edge of the lake, its mouth open, energy condensing.
Two seconds later, a thick, pitch-black pillar of energy, two fists in diameter, burst forth from its mouth.
Hiss---
The energy pillar touched the lake, causing it to instantly boil.
Bubbles emerged continuously as if in lava, and hot water vapor simultaneously spread, soon reaching Jiang Fan's face, who was not far away.
Jiang Fan felt no pain; instead, his expression was one of satisfaction and delight.
"Excellent, the proficiency of Dragon Breath has finally reached its maximum," he exclaimed excitedly.
After several days of almost frantic special training, Charmander's five current skills—Scratch, Growl, Ember, Smokescreen, and Dragon Breath—had all reached their maximum proficiency of 30%.
A few seconds later, after finishing its Dragon Breath, Charmander ran towards Jiang Fan with a joyful expression.
Upon reaching him, it leaped into Jiang Fan's arms with a single bound.
"Rua~"
Like a child seeking praise.
Jiang Fan looked down at this child with a doting expression.
He kissed Charmander's little head, then showered it with an endless stream of compliments.
In his opinion, Pokémon were actually similar to some pets in his original world.
Their minds were very simple; many of their actions and efforts were solely to receive a word of praise from their Trainer.
Yet, many Pokémon might never receive even that single word of praise throughout their entire lives.
This made him sigh with regret.
However, since fate had brought him to this world, he would ensure that every single one of his Pokémon felt abundant love.
He would let love heal the wounds of these children whose hearts had been hurt.
"Charmander, you've worked so hard with this high-intensity training these past few days. Let's go to the Pokémon Center later and have Nurse Joy help you recover your condition.
Once you're in good shape, we'll have breakfast at the Pokémon House, and then we'll challenge Team Rockets to get your Poké Ball back. Do you have confidence?"
After praising it, Jiang Fan stated their next destination.
"Rua~"
Charmander responded with high spirits.
After spending these days together, it had already recognized Jiang Fan and wanted him to be its Trainer.
Therefore, it had to get that Poké Ball back.
"As expected of the super genius I've recognized, you're amazing."
Jiang Fan dotingly stroked Charmander's little head again and carried it towards the Pokémon Center.
Nine in the morning.
Jiang Fan returned to the Pokémon House.
At this time, the Pokémon had just finished breakfast. Munchlax had just burst out of its room, wiggling its backside and moving with agile steps, ready for a hearty meal.
But just as Munchlax was about to approach the food bucket, Charmander suddenly rushed out from behind Jiang Fan and stood in front of Munchlax, looking as if it wanted to fight.
This scene startled the surrounding volunteers and surprised Old Man Fuji.
They all knew that Munchlax was most terrifying when it was about to eat.
At that time, if anyone blocked its meal, it would fight them to the death.
"Charmander, what are you doing? Get out of the way quickly!" a volunteer scolded.
"Jiang Fan, quickly take Charmander away!" another volunteer shouted at Jiang Fan.
But both Charmander and Jiang Fan remained unmoved.
One continued to stand in front of Munchlax, and the other stood still, watching quietly.
"Jiang Fan, what is Charmander doing?"
Old Man Fuji also came closer to Jiang Fan, wanting him to quickly take Charmander away.
Jiang Fan smiled and said softly, "Old Man Fuji, do you remember how I said I would get Charmander out of its slump? Now is the time for it to achieve its goal. I hope you won't stop it."
Old Man Fuji was stunned by his words.
He immediately remembered Jiang Fan saying that Munchlax would become Charmander's goal to reignite its fighting spirit.
He hesitated, "But Charmander, it currently has this..."
Before Old Man Fuji could finish, Jiang Fan interrupted.
"Don't worry, Old Man Fuji, it has the strength now. Otherwise, how could it bring Miss Li Nai back from Team Rockets?"
Old Man Fuji listened to Jiang Fan's confident words and turned to look at Charmander and Munchlax.
At this moment, Munchlax was very displeased with this fellow who was trying to stop it from eating and roared at Charmander.
"Ka~" -- Are you asking for a beating? Get lost quickly, or I'll beat you to death.
Charmander roared back with a calm expression.
"Rua~" -- Come on, let me see who collapses today.
"Ka~" -- You're asking for death, you little good-for-nothing.
Munchlax roared in anger, immediately using the skill Tackle, swinging its round belly and charging towards Charmander.
And Charmander, facing the charging Munchlax, extended its claws without any fear, preparing to use the skill Scratch.
Witnessing this scene, the surrounding volunteers and Old Man Fuji looked at Charmander with worry.
Some volunteers were already ready to catch Charmander, who they expected to be knocked flying.
But the outcome exceeded everyone's expectations.
The very next second when Munchlax's Tackle and Charmander's Scratch made contact...
"Ka~"
It was Munchlax that let out a cry of pain.
It was directly pushed back several meters by a single claw, and a large scratch mark was left on its belly.
"This..." Old Man Fuji's eyes widened, unable to believe that Charmander had done this.
But it wasn't over yet. He then saw Charmander immediately follow up Scratch with the skill Dragon Breath.
A thick, pitch-black pillar of energy, two fists in diameter, burst from Charmander's mouth, directly blasting the enraged Munchlax out of the Pokémon House due to its injury.
Seeing this, Old Man Fuji quickly called out, "Charmander, stop! You won, Munchlax lost."
Charmander didn't respond.
Not until the next second, when Jiang Fan's voice came from beside its ear.
"That's enough, Charmander, you won. You've already proven your talent and strength."
Upon hearing this, Charmander immediately stopped its Dragon Breath.
It then lifted its chin proudly towards the surrounding volunteers.
As if saying, 'See? This is my true strength.'
And the volunteers, seeing Charmander win so easily, were all left with their mouths slightly agape, unable to utter a single word.
They couldn't believe this was still the Charmander that had been lying in the corner wasting time just a week ago.
They then looked at the calm-faced Jiang Fan.
Only one thought was in their minds.
"How did this guy do it?"
In just one week, he had transformed this Charmander, who wouldn't even eat, into an existence capable of defeating the Pokémon House's little tyrant in two moves.
They had even thought this guy was crazy before, willing to get beaten by Munchlax just for Charmander's lunch.
Well, it turned out they were the crazy ones.
"Damn it, Jiang Fan's beating was really worth it. If I had known that this could make Charmander cheer up and recognize me, I should have just let Munchlax cripple me back then," a volunteer couldn't help but feel jealous in his heart.
He noticed that the way Charmander looked at Jiang Fan clearly showed it had already accepted him as its Trainer.