Prologue
"Lance!" A determined and young eleven-year old youth declared, "I'm coming!"
The child's opponent sneered as he saw the child charge towards him, "Mmm... so now you can fly?" He cackled at the pathetic attempt. There was no way a child could defeat someone as experienced in Pokemon battling as him. He shook his head at the kid, "Well, it still won't be enough!" He declared, "Gyarados! Dragonair!" He cried out and turned to the kid once more.
The man's eyes were full of determination and conviction. He truly believed with all of his heart that he was right. No one would convince him, especially not this child.
"Humans are the enemy of Pokemon! In order to eliminate them..." Lance tried to explain unconsciously hoping the child would agree with him, "I must have the power of that Pokemon!"
The blond child shook their head at him, "You're wrong! Humans and Pokemon are partners!" They declared with conviction, "I will protect both our worlds!"
'Is that how it's going to be?' Lance shook his head at the kid. It was a shame really. To dispose of someone with so much talent, talent that was especially matched his own. Well, it was the kid's choice to be destroyed. The choice to stand with humanity.
"DESTROY THEM!" He shouted as he gave the orders to his Pokemon.
"NO!" The child defied as they led their Pokemon to counterattack their opponent.
Both of their teams were evenly matched as attack after attack and defense after defense were met with much destruction.
"ICE BEAM!"
"HYPER BEAM!"
"FALL! SLAM!"
"DEFENSE CURL!"
"Heh..." The man chuckled both out of taunting and amusement, "How long can this battle of shields last?"
The child struggled to get through to him, "Until... you... see the truth!" They declared, hoping their words reached out to him.
"In minutes..." The man paid no attention to the child's words, "the legendary Pokemon will have devoured all this energy! And then..." Lance started to get excited thinking about his plans to destroy mankind, "with a single flap of its wings... It will render all the troops that we've sent into every land under its absolute control! And I will control it!" He cackled maniacally.
Lance could almost feel it. His dreams were coming into fruition, "We're almost there!" He grinned as he turned to his most loyal Pokemon, "I can see it now, Dragonite!"
"The magnificent new world that we will create! A world for Pokemon alone—"
Then Lance turned to the child with an evil look in his eye, "Cleansed of humans!" He aimed his Pokemon's attack towards the child but it barely missed them. As the child tried to attack him, Lance sneered as his Aerodactyl completely fought off the attempt, "Pathetic!"
However, this child would not give in. With Butterfree on their back, the child was determined all the more to stop Lance and see their point on the relationship between humans and Pokemon. The child's powers kicked into gear as the Pikachu next to them started sharing his memories to them, 'Pika!
'These are... Pika's memories!' The child declared as an outpour of memories came from the Pikachu, 'Pika's lost memories... are coming back...!?' The child could see why the Elite Four of the Kanto region wanted this Pikachu gone. Not just because he was a great trainer's Pokemon but because he knew of their plans. PIka knew about the power generated when the badges came together on an amplifier. Pika knew of everything and their intentions.
The child looked up to see their opponent facing them with malicious intent to complete the plans intended for mankind, 'It's impossible to get rid of the energy! The only way to counter it—' The child clenched their fists, 'is to it with a power greater than the energy and blast it away! If we can blast the energy away from the badges...' Determination rose in their chest, 'we can stop Lance's madness!'
The energy that the blond child needed came quickly up a thread that they had set up during the duration of the battle. Their eyes widened at the amount of energy filling the child's body, 'This power... the other Pokemon!' An idea came to mind on how to use this immense energy to defeat Lance once and for all, "Pika!"
"Pi!" Pika responded with determination, knowing what the child was planning.
'I call upon the power of the Viridian Forest... give us the power! The power of...' The child quickly flew up higher than their opponent and pointed their finger at Lance.
"MEGAVOLT!"
An energy greater than thunder attacked Lance and his whole being. He couldn't believe it! He hasn't felt this helpless since... since... since...
That triggering moment in his life when he saw the absolute cruelty of what mankind can do to humans.
Lance tried to defend himself but it was just... "Too..." He managed to say, "Too much—!" He tried to cry out and stand his ground but to no avail. He was quickly blasted away from Cerise Island, their battleground to only where Arceus knew.
And that was the end to the great battle that took place atop of Cerise Island.
...
A cool and crisp wind softly blew all throughout the Viridian Forest. This wind softly caressed the face of a fallen Pokemon trainer who was in the process of healing his Pokemon while he rested against the trunk of a tree. It felt inviting... and comforting.
Golden light faded away from the palm of his hands as he healed the last injuries on his Dragonite. Once that was finished, Lance rested his hand on top of his loyal Pokemon's head. Even though his physical injuries remained, at least he could be at peace knowing his Pokemon were fully healed and peacefully resting.
The fallen trainer now focused on struggling against the pain that had been inflicted on him not so long ago. He could not believe the events that had transpired. Everything was falling in place! His plan to eliminate mankind was just at his fingertips! He would have been rid of the stupid humans had it not been for one child to foil his plans.
That child... Yellow.
He could not believe that pipsqueak defeated him, Lance of the Elite Four! Struggling to even move his arm, he felt that something more than just his body was inflicted with much pain.
His pride.
The pride of being the strongest Dragon trainer in all the lands of the Pokemon world. The pride of being the leader of the Elite four! More importantly, the pride of being a child blessed with the powers of Viridian.
Why had the forest stopped his plans from coming into fruition? Did humans not pollute this beautiful and lush place for their own selfish desires? Was he not also benefitting the forest by ridding the world of mankind?
A myriad of questions were engulfing his mind and yet there was not one answer he could think of to any of them.
Was he wrong in his quest to rid mankind?
Before Lance could further contemplate, he heard a rustle in the bushes not so far behind him. He was in no mood to deal with whoever would find him though he was also in no shape to try and battle whoever or whatever it is that could possibly ambush him.
"Whoever is there, you had better leave otherwise I'll kill you..." Lance threatened out loud, struggling not to show any signs of him being severely wounded.
"I would say you're in no condition to be making any threats, Lance..." Lance froze at the voice that replied to him. He knew that voice anywhere. He recognized it immediately as hate and anger quickly filled his heart.
Walking out of the bushes, the small child, who moments ago thwarted his plans to eliminate mankind, appeared before him.
Yellow de Viridian Grove.
Oh, how he wished he could wrap his hands around the child's throat and just be rid of the kid once and for all. Lance could only glare at them.
Yellow's eyes were filled with much sympathy for the man before them. Although their views on the relationship between people and Pokemon were different, they were very much similar in regards to their love for Pokemon.
"Why are you here?" Lance spat, trying his best to drive the child away.
"I was looking for you." Yellow answered softly while keeping eye contact with him.
Why wouldn't Yellow just go away? Lance figured that through all the trauma he put the child through, Yellow would have enough common sense not to approach him anymore. Heck, with all the death threats and close murder attempts, Lance was confident enough that Yellow would steer clear of him!
Was Yellow really that stupid?
"To rub it in my face that I was wrong and you were right?" Lance sneered, trying his best to answer the child as strong as he could without wincing at his physical injuries.
"I thought you might need some help." Yellow coolly responded, showing no signs of hurt to his words as they kneeled before the dragon trainer.
This close proximity was... uncomfortable.
Lance tried to scoot away from the child but even slight movements made it hard for him to hold back showing any signs of him in pain, "Urgh..." He winced, "Just go away... I don't need some brat's help." Lance sneered.
"No." Yellow frowned and shot Lance a quick glare before turning their attention on his injuries, "By the look of it, you don't have the energy to heal yourself otherwise you would be fine and on your way." Yellow diagnosed before small hands reached out to Lance's injuries.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lance questioned coldly as he jerked his body as far away as possible from the child's reach.
"Hey!" Yellow exclaimed, "I'm trying to heal you!"
"Get the hell away from me!" Lance spat back, wincing at the pain from jerking his body away from them.
"I can't!" Yellow argued back.
"And why the hell not?!" Lance grunted against all the pain he felt in his body.
"Because I did this to you!"
Lance stared at the child incredulously as he noticed tears forming in their eyes. What the hell was this child on? Why did the brat care so much about his wellbeing?
"...fine." Yellow lifted their head up and stared at the man through tears, "Do what you want." Lance grunted as he made no attempt to move away from the child.
Yellow stared at him a little, wondering if he was serious about it before they thought against asking if he was sure. The child reached out to the adult carefully and let their healing power flow through the palm of their hands and onto Lance's injuries. Slowly but surely, Lance's injuries started to close up and the pain in his body started to subside.
It was silent for a while as Yellow kept healing Lance's injuries. Why would this child want to heal him? Did they have an ulterior motive once he was healed? Once healed, did the child have some sort of backup ready to ambush him and bring him in to custody?
Of course, that made sense. They could not have the Viridian hero bring back the villain of the story all bloodied up and near death. It would not make for a good story to tell the children, more importantly.
"Why are you doing this?" Lance finally broke through the silence as Yellow started healing his torso, "How are you so sure I won't attack you once I'm healed up?"
Yellow softly smiled, "Because... deep down, I know you're not truly evil."
Not truly evil? Really? After all he had done?
"Moments ago, I tried to decimate our race. You don't call that truly evil?" Lance scoffed as he rolled his eyes.
Yellow did not let that bother them as they continued healing him, "You did what you did because of your love for Pokemon." They answered him, "Your intentions were not truly evil but you just went about it the wrong way."
A building anger rose in the dragon trainer's chest, "And just what is the right way? Your way has not yet saved all Pokemon from their suffering." Lance sneered as the child moved on to his right arm.
"I can't say for sure to be honest..." Yellow wore an apologetic smile at the adult. The way the child smiled somehow lowered the anger that was building in his chest, "I just know that... I can't say for sure that I can save all Pokemon from the cruelty of what mankind can do but... if you look at the world, there are many kind people out there, especially those kind to Pokemon. You just have to meet the right ones."
Lance stared at the child with a contemplative look. For a pipsqueak so young, they sure had a lot of wisdom and insight on the world. Of course, he was still angry at the child for foiling his plan. It would take a lot more for the child to convince him that his way of going about his love for Pokemon was wrong.
"Besides, I know that a lot of Pokemon would be sad without people coexisting with them." Yellow thoughtfully added.
That was a new one.
"Humor me then," Lance scoffed, "Why the hell would they be sad if their victimizers perished?"
The golden light emitting from Yellow's hand quickly disappeared. Yellow took a step back from him and clenched their fists tightly, "Because not all Pokemon get abused! A lot of Pokemon's best friends are people and I'm really sure that if you take them away, you would cause them sadness as well!" They shot back with small tears forming in their amber eyes.
The two trainers kept glaring at each other through the heated silence.
"Not all humans are as terrible as you think..." Yellow whispered as they hung their head, growing tired of keeping a glare with the stubborn dragon trainer.
Lance shook his head at the child's insane response. Are they thinking in the right mind? He turned his head to his Dragonite, reminiscing of how he saved his Pokemon from the brink of death, "Prove it."
Yellow looked up at him with sadness in their eyes. Ha, he knew it. That child could not prove that the human race was not so terrible. After all, the human race is filthy and disgusting.
"Red…" Yellow started with a slight blush on their face, "And Green and Blue!" They quickly added with a slight chuckle.
Lance rolled his eyes, "Of course you would list your friends…" He shook his head. Why would that convince him otherwise?
"What about me?"
A soft wind blew past the two trainers after Yellow asked him a question that stunned him. He turned his gaze towards the small child and could not help but notice the innocence on their face. What stunned him even more was his inability to shoot the brat a snarky answer.
Another period of silence passed between the two trainers before Yellow released a small sigh and went back to healing the dragon trainer. Lance could not understand why the kid still insists on healing him even though they are, technically, enemies. He refused to acknowledge Yellow's question because he knew the answer deep down.
Yellow could feel it as well, Lance imagined. It was not long before Yellow started to heal the last cuts left on his face. He could see the sympathy the child had in their eyes. It wanted to make him kill the child but... there was a sense of innocence and naivety that made him feel hesitant in going forward with his thoughts. Plus, Lance was extremely tired, even though he was being healed up. He simply did not have the will to do anything at this time.
"All done." Yellow finally spoke, breaking the silence between them. A great breath was let out by Lance as he watched Yellow walk away from him, "I should be going now... it's getting pretty late." The child softly smiled at him.
Lance kept a weary watch at the kid to make sure there would not be any sort of funny business, "You should before I change my mind and decide to destroy you right here and now." He sneered as he crossed his arms.
Yellow frowned at him before they shook their head and released a sigh, "You..." The kid started, "You should really give the human race another chance. I'm sure you will find that not everyone is as cruel and terrible as the ones you have met."
A few seconds passed before Lance gave his answer, "Sure."
"Hopefully..." Yellow started, "the next time we meet again, we will be on the same side." The child softly smiled at him.
Lance shot an incredulous stare at the kid, "And why would you hope for that?" He scoffed.
"Because..." Yellow brought their small hand over their heart, "I can feel what the forest feels…" The child's smile remained on their face, "And it's telling me that deep down… you're good person." Kneeling down, Yellow reached out to Lance and let their hand over the dragon trainer's heart. A soft glow emitted from the palm of the young trainer, leaving Lance with a dumbstruck look on his face.
As soon as that moment came, it quickly went away as Yellow quickly ran off into the distance, leaving Lance in pure awe.
What was that... warm feeling deep in his chest?
Prologue End
A/N: Hi guys! So... this is just setting everything up for the story to come. I already had this story played out in my head so everything was already planned from the beginning to the end. I had someone read this and I would like to disclaim that I did not mean to take ideas or any of the sort. This story was planned and written during my time at college (specifically four years ago I had the basic ideas of this story). I am in the process of fleshing out my basic outline into meaningful chapters
Now some key points:
* This story FOCUSES on Lance as a character. I would like to delve into his character development from the Yellow Arc all the way to the HGSS arc and onwards.
* Lance does NOT see Yellow in any special kind of way. This is made clear through the use of pronouns and how he sees Yellow. You can see that Lance disregards her actual gender and refers to Yellow as agender.
Thank you guys for taking the time to read this and please let me know what you think! I encourage constructive criticism as well!
