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It was a win-win!
How could he have ever expected it? To lose, but to gain so much at the same time? His mind raced as his body tore through the sky, but he felt nothing. No fear, no panic, and, possibly most shockingly, not even a hint of the body destroying agony that he had felt only moments before.
The electricity had broken him, shocked his heart and brain to a sudden and abrupt change. He knew for sure that it had burnt his skin and hair, but he also knew that he was still alive. And, if the flutter of new hope in his chest was any judge, he may have been more alive than he ever had been before.
His eyes were opened on a blue sky, where the shadow of the Pokemon slowly faded away. The very Pokemon that he had once cared about so deeply as to wish to sacrifice all of humanity to summon it. Of course, the Pokemon would have assisted in his plan, but it had become so real in his mind that the end had been the beginning and the beginning had been the end.
But now, as he spun through the blue gray sky, his red eyes half opened on the world, his mind seemed to have switched. His loss had not just been a win for Yellow and the gym leaders, but for him and his Elite Four as well. It was natural, in a way. Who in their right mind could turn on their entire species like that? Especially when said species had so much to offer to the very world they had been dreamed to be ripped from? There was pollution and death and pain, yes, but there was also so much hope. Out there, in the spinning infinity that was the Earth, there were people who believed in their whole species just as much as Lance had trusted his own friends. And in his selfishness, he had tried to fix things that, though they were certainly broken, had so many other ways of changing.
So many ways of changing that would not have destroyed a whole species to make it happen. Would not have left rotting steel and limp bodies that only the toughest of Pokemon would have enjoyed to be near anyway. He had only been thinking about the strong. Not just Pokemon, but the people too.
There were people out there, people who did the right thing just because they could, but also chose to do something considerably less aggressive than what Lance had planned. He had jumped too far too fast. Sure, what he had done would have been for the benefit of everyone in HIS eyes, but that "everyone" did not include the thousands of people and Pokemon that he would have destroyed to get there.
To that perfect world where he was the arrogant hotshot in charge.
He fell, and he screamed as the feeling suddenly came back to his body. The power of the Viridian Forest, shooting through him with a strength that he would have previously found unbelievable. It was healing him. But not only him, it was reaching out through the sky to everyone it could find. To his poor Aerodactyl, which had had no part in control of his horrific plan, but had taken the fall for him as well, to Yellow and her Pokemon, who struggled in the sky from the last remaining shocks of the Pikachu's attack, to all of the rest of his allies and enemies, who were still stuck somewhere deep in the caves of Cerise Island.
His power, which had been gifted to heal, was healing.
He realized now it was exactly what he needed.
He did not need to destroy, he needed to heal. He needed to move on. He needed to reverse. If it was necessary, he knew he would try over and over again in order to get the reaction that he wanted, and his new heart swore it would not break into screams and rage when people did not listen. He needed to help the world, but not in the way he had so long imagined.
He had meant to make himself and his friends into a great weapon, something worthy of controlling that which would destroy the world for him. But that had not been him. Not in truth. He needed to live, yes, he needed the environment to prosper, of course, but he knew that he also needed all of the others- all of the weak -to live as well.
He wasn't angry anymore. And as the sky tore screams from his mouth, he didn't know if he had ever been. Clouds raced past, wind ripped through his ears, but yet... Before, he had not been telling the truth, but now he was. Even though Yellow had broken his heart and mind with her lightning. He could sing his new truth, and his old taunt of “kill me," could no longer apply.
Not when the world seemed so much wider.
He was broken (though he was not so changed to forget that the world was still in need of his help), and yet, his power still worked to save him. The power that Yellow shared with him, the power that she had harnessed so much more fittingly. So much better than he had ever been. Even with her underleveled team, her young face, and her strange determination, she was so much better. He was nothing compared to her, but in his defeat, he knew that he could be. She was as broken hearted as he had ever been, but he had been the one to set the world on fire. It had hurt him just as much as it had hurt the others.
And, of course, he still loved her joy.
He was glad he could think now, even as the world rushed up to meet him, to live, even if he may have to be alone, to live, even if he knew he could never be the same again. He could be helped. He could find the truth, and he had, now that she had helped him.
As he fell, tears joined the stream of smoke and pain following him. Yellow had looked at him and, instead of attacking, had chosen to whisper, "I will help you,"
He felt complete. He felt like laughing. He was already crying. He was still alive, the world was still alive.
Who knew that he would be so happy to lose?
To save, and to save again.