A future?
What a joke. Without him, the boy would still be just a boy—and last night, he would've been a corpse. There was no "future" for him at all.
"I… have nothing," Gulzar said, the cold truth finally hitting him head-on. He lowered his head, and the light in his eyes went out.
He had managed to speak to this powerful Trainer, sure, but he had no value to him. Why would the man help him get stronger, let alone help him take revenge?
Playing pathetic didn't work. He'd already tried. Even if he really was pitiful, it didn't matter. Begging on his knees didn't matter either. That indifferent face never wavered.
At some point, the whole world had changed. When did it start? When he was dragged onto that ship? When he left home and set out to travel alone? Or…
The boy sank into despair. If this powerful Trainer refused to help, then by himself, how long would it take before he could defeat the poachers who murdered his Pokémon partners and avenge them?
He couldn't even beat a petty boss on that ship. Forget the boss behind those bosses—he had no chance. Revenge was a distant dream.
"Farfetch'd, bring me the fruit knife," Reiji said. Watching the boy crumble didn't soften him in the slightest. He wasn't some bleeding-heart saint, and he wasn't a monster either.
The boy had the will to take revenge. Reiji couldn't just pretend it meant nothing. Giving him a push cost Reiji nothing—barely more than lifting a hand—and he didn't need any "benefits" in return.
He had Farfetch'd toss the fruit knife onto the grass in front of the boy. Then he released a Magikarp from a Poké Ball—one with completely ordinary potential—and let it flop and bounce right in front of him.
"Kill the fish." As he gave the order, Reiji pulled out his cigarette case, lit one for himself, and flicked another toward Quincy. The old man smoked, just usually with an old pipe.
"Rai, kid, do whatever you want," Quincy said, catching the cigarette. He looked at the Magikarp on the grass, about to lose its life, and his expression tightened. "But can you not hurt Magikarp?"
"Quit nagging, Old Quincy," Reiji said with an impatient wave. "The river's full of Magikarp. More than you could ever eat."
He gestured toward the Rind River. There were more and more Magikarp in it—hundreds of thousands, easily. Those idiots were tough. They weren't going extinct.
"Tch… do what you want," Quincy muttered, turning his face away. He didn't want to watch. He was afraid he'd stop them if he did.
After a moment, he forced himself to accept it. It was just one Magikarp. Every year plenty of Magikarp swam back here anyway. Losing a few didn't matter.
"Rai-nii… why kill a fish?" Gulzar asked after Quincy left. He knew what came next would decide whether he could take revenge—whether he had any future at all. He couldn't afford the wrong choice.
"If you want revenge, start with a fish," Reiji said, flicking the boy a calm glance. If he couldn't even do this, he might as well go home. He wasn't built for a life that spilled blood.
"But my enemy isn't Magikarp…" Gulzar stared at the fruit knife on the grass, then at the Magikarp flopping beside it. He hesitated, palms slick with sweat.
"I know. Decide for yourself," Reiji said, no longer looking at him. He simply had Butterfree and the others keep catching Magikarp. It was only a Magikarp—bottom of the food chain. They just didn't eat them anymore.
Seeing Reiji stop paying attention, Gulzar hesitated between the knife and the Magikarp. He understood: this was a test. Reiji wanted to see his resolve. If his revenge was just words, if he couldn't bring himself to act…
"Hah… hah…" Gulzar shut his eyes and drew a deep breath. He thought of his Pokémon partners being killed, and finally made a painful decision.
He grabbed the knife's handle and stabbed down into the Magikarp on the grass. The Magikarp thrashed in agony. Gulzar threw his weight over it, pinning it down until it stopped struggling—until it went completely still.
"Rai-nii, I did it," Gulzar said, looking at the motionless Magikarp and the blood on his hands. His voice carried a strange sense of relief as he stated it plainly.
"Not bad. Cut the belly open," Reiji said. He only lifted his head to glance once before giving the next demand. If the boy couldn't do it, then go home. Reiji wasn't forcing him. Choices came with consequences.
Gulzar didn't hesitate. He drew the blade and sliced the Magikarp's belly open.
"Anything else?" Gulzar asked, staring at the organs inside, waiting for the next order.
"Pick a piece of meat and eat it," Reiji said, expression unchanged. He wanted to see where the boy's limit was—how far he'd go for revenge.
Gulzar froze. He stared at the mess of organs on the grass, took a deep breath, then grabbed a clean piece of flesh and ate it raw. When he chewed through the organs, blood ran at the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away without changing expression.
"I ate it." Gulzar wiped the blood from his mouth again. The stench in his mouth nearly made him vomit, but he forced down the heave in his stomach, swallowed, and reported flatly that he'd done what Reiji asked.
"Then kill this one. Same steps. Again." Reiji stood and released another Magikarp. His cigarette had burned down to the filter.
This was the last demand. If the boy could still do it, Reiji would help him get his revenge.
Gulzar watched the new Magikarp flopping wildly. Hearing the same orders again, he didn't hesitate this time. He raised the knife, ready to strike. He knew this wasn't right—but he didn't have a choice. For revenge, he had no choice…
But at the last moment, the knife stopped.
The tip hovered against Magikarp's terrified black eye. Gulzar's stunned gaze froze with it.
"That's enough," Reiji said. "The knife's in your hand. Some people can die. Some Pokémon don't need to. You get to decide who lives and who dies—and you carry what comes after."
"If you spare the wrong one and it evolves into Gyarados, the one who dies might be you," he continued. "And whatever that Gyarados destroys… that price is on you too. A price paid in lives."
After stopping him, Reiji decided it was enough. The boy's heart was full of hatred, so Reiji had to do it this way.
One stupid fish was enough to straighten out the boy's thinking. Revenge needed meaning. Killing was a method—not the goal.
The knife in his hand had to be controlled by him, not by hunger and desire. Reiji didn't want to raise a madman.
Only if Gulzar understood that would he avoid losing himself later—avoid drowning in power, avoid turning revenge into slaughter.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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