A Same Path

An expected consequence

His laughter was disgusting... he kicked, as well as spat, while holding in his right hand what appeared to be a control that activated the electricity in the necklace worn by the little creature lying at his feet.

A badly wounded Riolu... his bruised and deformed face barely showed his eyes and mouth, while he lay alone on the ground as he could only drool a little blood mixed with his own saliva; his gaze was lost, on the verge of unconsciousness while he who once showed so much charisma and joy now seemed an agitated and exhausted old man left to his own careless life.

At his side, the whole scene seemed to be hidden behind boxes and trash containers that seemed to have been placed on purpose in order to avoid interference from the people in the market, but he would not worry about the isolated area where I was, while next to the man, in a wooden cart, were the rest of the Pokémon, completely dominated and in silence, while they had been left in such a way that they could observe the scene.

The hits seemed to have stopped, my eyes were wide open, without detaching them from the Riolu, seeing even at that distance how it was shaking.

That man was still laughing, he kicked a couple more, while I could only be frozen; even so, my body did not respond, but after those last blows the tiredness of that slave driver finally seemed to weigh him down, "calming" my fear in a certain way...

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But it was only a few seconds... before I saw the Riolu stand up again.

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─No... ─ Even I could not avoid not reacting in some way, the look of the little pokémon did not even seem to be conscious at that point, but it seemed to rise only by mere force of will or pride, but that seemed only to enervate the exhausted man more and it was enough for his retaliation to arise again.

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─I must be crazy ─ That was what would end up succumbing to me, the attitude of the Riolu was too much for me, even against the force that prevented me from intervening.

My body was wounded, I could barely walk properly and I knew that even in that state I was afraid I would not be able to stop that man.

As the sound of new kicks again disturbed me and rushed me, I could only avoid thinking about the consequences of having chosen "that" as an option, and then looking in my backpack for Hina's medicines.

─What had she used when Yuta broke her leg? What had she used when Yuta broke her leg?! ─ I repeated over and over again in whispers with helplessness at the sound of kicking, as I tried to find that jar.

I had to control it, and as soon as this thought crossed my mind, the memories came back with strength in my head, of the moment when, by an accident, Yuta had broken his leg and Hina, in front of the agony of it, had no other choice but to put him to sleep in order to treat the fracture, Until, after a lot of luck and a few seconds, I barely managed to take the bottle, took out some gauze and then breathed in sharply and, with the pertinent pain and without caring, ran as fast as possible to where that man continued to torture the Riolu.

A few seconds passed, the foot of the man was buried in the face of the small pokémon, the others only observed without even being able to emit some sound, the custom to the slavery had turned them into it.