Reincarnated in a Pokémon world

20. Humanity

Joltérax examined Zangoose with intrigued eyes and a twisted smile spread across his face.

- You changed a lot, heh. To think now you even dare to look at my face. Should I gouge out your other eye?

Zangoose's body shook fiercely upon hearing such an icy tone. The fear had crept into its bones and made it immobile. Joltérax put his forefinger on his chin contemplating how Zangoose reacted.

- Wait a bit. I'll give you a lot of loves later.

But Zangoose didn't feel relieved upon hearing his statement. Different from other Pokémons owned by Joltérax, Zangoose had been only given to him by chance so he didn't have much interest in this boring Pokémon. Joltérax was only fascinated by those had a beautiful or cute appearance. And of course, Pokémon such as Zangoose mixed in wouldn't get much notice from him. But thanks to that, Zangoose became the only one had stayed by his side for the longest time among them. Zangoose kept being barely alive as it watched others being tortured to death. One by one. One by one. And what's left was a tattered Pokémon with a terror carved deep in its soul.

The black man turned to inspect Kirlia who had been lying nearby the whole time. He kept smiling like he was usually but the sounds came from his mouth were filled with displease.

- To think Ralts was able to evolve into Kirlia...

When he was speaking, Joltérax raised his hand above his head and swung. As a result, the whip he was holding slashed the unconscious helpless being on the ground. Taking this attack, Kirlia couldn't help but groan in pain. This time Joltérax also didn't activate the electrification to torture Kirlia slowly.

Seeing such a thing, Lyon struggled standing up to prevent his Pokémon from getting hurt. But he felt like his chest was being torn and his lungs were twisted and turned. Lyon couldn't hold his breath and kept coughing up blood. His injury was more severe than he expected. It seemed like some of his ribs broke and his organs were grievously damaged.

Kirlia was screaming and tried to get away from the whip range but there's no use. It was totally exhausted and hadn't recovered from the earlier battle. Joltérax felt an extreme ecstasy from seeing Kirlia wriggling in pain. The black man had been chased relentlessly for the last few months that he didn't have any time to rest. All the stress and pressure accumulated had nowhere to be released. Therefore, now when Joltérax was finally able to do so, he felt ecstatic much more than ever before that he almost couldn't restrain the expressions on his face.

In despair, Kirlia opened its mouth and bit the black man's hand. Such a small mouth and weak masticatory force wouldn't hurt him the slightest. But this action had made his face convulse and the smile he always wore deform momentarily. To Joltérax, such a rebellious act would be the greatest insult at a master like him because it proved that his training was ineffective and that Pokémon broke out of his control.

But before Joltérax could make another action, the black man felt an impact on his back that made him take a step forward unwillingly. He turned around and saw Minccino helplessly lying on the ground. It had used Pound to hit his back but regrettably, there's no force behind the attack when it was exhausted after two battles and was tortured mercilessly by Joltérax. When such a scene unfolded in front of Minccino, a surge of rage rushed into its head. Minccino wanted to save Kirlia somehow but ironically, the best it could do was not able to wound him the slightest.

Joltérax threw Kirlia into the ground which made it fall back to unconscious again immediately. The black man turned around to face the annoying insect that kept bugging him from earlier. Minccino had joined forces with others to attack Joltérax and made him use the precious Protect Cube. Moreover, just now it interrupted his sweet time with Kirlia. Unforgivable. The black man used all his strength to swing his hand and slashed Minccino with the whip. This time Joltérax switched on the electrification. He didn't want to see this thing jumping around in front of his eyes anymore. Minccino received an intense electric shock and lost consciousness. It got burn marks all over on its body. But this was not the end. Joltérax didn't stop swinging the whip in full force. Minccino kept being slashed and electrocuted over and over again.

Hearing those screams from Minccino and seeing how desperate it was to try wriggling out of the way made Joltérax feel the deep part of his soul trembling in ecstasy. But in the midst of his luxuriating, there was something interrupted by pulling his leg. Annoyed, Joltérax turned to look at whatever it was that dared to do so.

Like a ragged doll, Lyon who couldn't even crawl had scraped his own body against the ground to move forward a few feet. He wondered how a person could be this cruel. Joltérax tortured these cute, innocent creatures without blinking an eye. Just where did his humanity go?

- St.. stop... stop... please stop... please... pl... please... please...

The only thing Lyon could do was gripping the edge of the black man's trouser and begging of Joltérax in a whisper to spare them. Lyon coughed up blood but he didn't really care. As long as his Pokémon was safe, freed from the suffering and the evil hand of the black man, he didn't mind scraping his face against the ground or licking Joltérax's foot. They had become so important to him that was akin to his own family in this world. And if it's meant to save his family, throwing some worthless broken pride away was nothing hard to do. It's not like you could earn something by keeping them anyway.

But contrary to Lyon's imagination, Joltérax easily stopped his barbarous action. He kept his signature smile on his face but his eyes lit up when seeing how miserable Lyon was. Then the black man asked with a gentle voice. His smile was just like usual but somehow became wicked unrecognizably.

- I'm so sorry that I neglected you. You must be very lonely. – Then Joltérax started beaming excitedly. – Don't worry. I have a special game just for you.