The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 196

Chapter 196: Ragdoll

“You got beat up pretty bad,” was the first thing Reid heard when he reopened his eyes.

He was not in the arena anymore, rather he was back in the pitch black space, his red eyes self looking at him with.

“Yeah,” he responded, “I thought I really had a chance, but I guess not.”

“Well, he is one of the children of chaos,” red eyed Reid started, “and he just so happens to be one of the strongest, so it’s understandable.”

Reid nodded but said nothing in response. He wasn’t salty at the fact that he lost, nothing like that.

His disappointment was in the fact that even though a single shard of Null was holding back, he still couldn’t beat it.

If that was the case, how would he hope to beat Malrath or any one of chaos’ children? Or even prevent the future his red eyed self had gone through.

Even with the recent rank up, he was still weak, in the grand scheme of things. But Red eyed Reid, knowing what his younger counter part was thinking, just offered him a hand.

Reid, from his sitting position, looked at the hand, then back at his red eyed self. “Come on.”

He sighed before taking the hand and standing back up, slowly following behind his future self without saying anything.

“I did say I can’t tell you much about the future,” Red eyed Reid started, “but this much should be fine.”

Before Reid had the chance to ask anything, the pitch black space started changing, bringing him back to the same arena in the basement where he had fought Null.

Looking forward, he saw the fight play out just before, but with difference, major differences.

Instead of putting up a fight like he remembered doing, he was being tossed around like a ragdoll, even though he was currently in his monarch form.

“That’s…us?” Reid could help but ask, his lips twitching.

“Yeah,” his red eyed self replied, scratching the back of his head.

He was a bit embarrassed at showing this, but he had no choice, not if he wanted to get his younger self to stop being so gloomy over a single loss.

Reid watched as his other self got yeeted across the arena again, this time straight through a wall.

The barrier had long given up, but this time, instead of due to Reid’s unleashed energy, it was due to him being tossed at at it so many times for it to withstand.

“….”

Even Null seemed disappointed. He didn’t have to try and the mortal before him was struggling.

“So, your idea of making me feel better,” Reid started, “is to show me being bullied in a worse way, but in a different timeline?’

“Well….” His future self wanted to say something in defense, but couldn’t do he just exhaled quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. “…yeah, pretty much.”

The two turned silent, with Reid looking at his future self with twitching eyes. Was his sense of humor really this bad?

No, this was him from a different timeline, so his humor was different….that had to be the reason.

Reid eyed Reid looked at his younger self before sighing.

The tone in his voice shifted soon changed, replaced by one that was both calm and heavy. “You think you’re weak because you lost once. But I showed you this because I wanted you to see what losing actually looked like.”

Reid frowned slightly, eyes narrowing as he watched himself crawl from the wreckage.

“What I’m trying to say is,” his red eyed self continued, “you’re a lot stronger than you’re supposed to be at this stage, this is enough proof that you’re changing the future.”

Reid said nothing, his eyes turning back to his body laying in Elizabeth’s arm, completely passed out and with his monarch form gone.

Though, this time, both his arms were still in place.

“Though the outcome didn’t change,” red eyed Reid continued, “the process of defeat changed. Unlike me, you were able to put up an actual fight, so be proud.”

Reid stayed quiet for a long moment, his gaze fixed on Elizabeth who was still holding his unconscious self before his blue eyes moved to his red eyed self.

“Thanks,” he muttered, sincerely.

His future self just nodded before placing a hand on his shoulder, “our responsibility is a huge burden, we can’t start doubting ourselves now.”

Reid nodded understanding what he meant.

Chaos was a threat for him to face and self doubt right now would only hinder his progression.

All he had to do was get stronger, a lot stronger than he was now and that was exactly what he planned to do.

Seeing the determination in the eyes of his younger self, red eyed Reid couldn’t help but smile.

That was exactly what they needed right now to avoid the future where he was from.

“That’s the spirit,” the older one replied with a small grin. “Just remember what the Watcher told you, surround yourself with strong allies, after all, this is a burden we cannot carry alone.”

“Yeah…” Reid answered, “though, he did say we’re also going to die, though, I’m not planning on dying anytime soon.”

Red-eyed Reid chuckled before saying, “Good. Then you might want to wake up now.”

Reid blinked. “Huh?”

“You’ve been out for a while,” his red eyed self said, “and if you don’t want Damien to give you mouth to mouth, then you should probably wake up now.”

***

“No!” Was the first word that escaped Reid mouth when he regained consciousness.

His eyes opened and he immediately sat up straight, looking around and he soon noticed that he was in the military’s hospital bay, judging by the white walls and the scent.

Unlike what his red eyed self told him, there was no Damien trying to ‘kiss’ him, instead the bay’s medical officer was just awkwardly looking at him.

His team was nowhere in sight, which made this less embarrassing than it would’ve been so he just turned to the medical officer and apologized.

“I’m sorry about that.”

The medical officer kept her eyes on him for a few more seconds before going back to what she was previously doing, after all, it seems this patient was completely fine now.

Reid turned towards his left, only to mutter, “oh right, my arm was gone.”