Chapter Text
Chapter 21 — Family History
“I don’t believe it,” Red said flatly. “Why would my father just… run away like that?”
Mr. Fuji sighed and put his cup of tea down on the table. The three of them were back in Mr. Fuji’s house in Lavender Town. “I was not a good parent. When your grandmother died, I took the responsibility of raising your father by myself. It was a mistake. Perhaps another, better man could have raised a child on their own, but I was not that man. I was obsessed with my work at the Pokémon Lab and never had time for your father. He grew to resent me, and even Pokémon themselves. He vowed to never abandon his family like I had mine. I even missed his wedding.” Mr. Fuji looked up at Red, tears in his watery old eyes. “How we repeat the sins of our fathers, eh?”
Red leaned back in his chair, shoved his hands in his pockets and put his feet up on the table. He glowered at his grandfather. Green put her hand on his arm. This was hard for him, Green knew. Red deeply resented his father and any suggestion that maybe, just maybe Satoshi wasn’t some kind of monster infuriated him.
“And the war?” Red demanded. “Why did he have to go off and fight that stupid war?”
An ugly look crossed Mr. Fuji’s face. “Ah yes. The war. Don’t blame your father too much for that war; my generation started it. We just left it to others to fight it. Pah!” The old man spat. “Beware men who value power over all else, Red. At best, they are like me: arrogant and neglectful. But others, like this Giovanni fellow… they will kill anyone to get their way. And in the name of ‘democracy’ we supported such men. That was our mistake. When we no longer needed him, a warlord out west decided to make his own empire. The war consumed much of the world. It will be a long time before the world heals from our decades of mistakes.”
Mr. Fuji picked up his tea and cradled it. “Your father had seen the hypocrisy of so-called men of science. We lied and told ourselves we were men of peace even as we tortured Pokémon into weapons. He swore he would never be a part of that, and I cannot blame him. There was a kind of honesty in serving in the Self-Defence Forces and Satoshi did a lot of good for a lot of people. More than I did at his age, anyway. In the end though, it did not matter. Good intentions never do.”
Red looked down, tears streaming down his face. “He still left us.”
“As did I,” Mr. Fuji said. He reached out and patted Red’s knee. “We were both failures as men, as human beings. We failed in our most sacred duty, to preserve that which matters. I have spent the last few years here, in this sanctuary, to make up for my mistakes. But I’m afraid Red that I must pass one last burden onto you. A remnant of both your father’s generation and mine.”
“Giovanni,” Red said.
“Yes,” Mr. Fuji replied. “I don’t know what he is planning. But it is evil. You must make your way to Saffron City and liberate Silph Co. That is what they are planning next, according to what I overheard those Rocket Grunts say.”
Green nodded. “We’re on it.”
Red got up from the table. “I’ll fight Giovanni, all right. But not for you, grandpa. Or for dad. I’ve got my own reasons to hate Team Rocket.”
“That’s the spirit,” Mr. Fuji said. “Just remember not to abandon what’s really important. Don’t let your vendetta get in the way of life, Red!”
“I won’t,” Red promised. He and Green walked out, holding hands.
TO BE CONTINUED!