"You're being so secretive now, Mr. Lysandre, can you tell me what you want to see me about?"
"Certainly."
Lysandre a very gentle tone, looked at the boy who had just disgusted him and said:
"Roy, have you realized that the world isn't as wonderful as you imagine? Like those pirates just now, you didn't even know why they attacked you and took your and your sister's lives."
Lysandre believed that his greatest strengths were neither training Pokémon for battles nor researching new inventions.
Instead, it's about using persuasive voices to convince a group of willing followers to follow him recklessly and see a new world.
Steven is the heir to the Devon Corporation, while Wallace is a legitimate Gym Leader in the Hoenn. Only the boy in front of him is someone whose background he doesn't yet know.
Moreover, the boy is very strong and has a good character. If I can persuade him to join Team Flare, he will definitely become a great help to me in the future.
Upon hearing Lysandre's words, Roy straightened up, adopting an expression that said, "Go on, I'm listening."
Roy, don't you think this world has become dirty?
The lower classes are indiscriminate in their pursuit of good and evil, while the high-ranking officials wield power without working, yet their children are able to choose from the Starter Pokémon in the Pokémon League.
Those Pokémon Trainer who were originally very hardworking could only risk their lives to catch Pokémon, and a slight mistake could mean losing their lives in the wilderness.
The vast majority of the world's wealth is in the hands of a few. If this continues, the world will become corrupt because of those people.
Even things that are originally beautiful can become dirty.
So why can't we let beautiful things remain beautiful, and completely eradicate those dirty, shameful things?
Although he had guessed earlier that the other party might want to recruit him, Roy still found it somewhat unbelievable to hear Lysandre say it himself.
He couldn't understand why Lysandre wanted to recruit him.
Similarly, he disagreed with Lysandre's ideology. While some people deserved to die, this was definitely not Lysandre's idea of wanting to exterminate most of humanity and Pokémon.
"Mr. Lysandre, I remember you were the director of the institute you founded, weren't you? How come you've gotten involved in sociological research?"
"You don't need to care about my identity. Just tell me whether what I just said is right or wrong."
Right or wrong?
"Um... right?"
"Absolutely right, Roy. You and your Pokémon together give me a beautiful feeling. I feel that with your talent, your future is limitless."
And I recently founded an organization—an organization that can help you grow, help you become stronger, and help you get rid of your enemies!
Come on, join us!!!
Let's create a world filled only with beauty.
Lysandre spoke in a seductive voice to Roy.
"If you agree to join our organization now, I can ask Elite Four Malva to help you take out the previous pirates. I left a tracker on one of their pirate ships."
Tracker?
Lysandre is quite cunning; instead of giving the tracker to the Prosecutor, he used it as leverage to try and get himself to join Team Flare.
If Roy wasn't sure before, he's now absolutely certain that the other party is using him as a prank on Alain.
He actually tried to convince himself to join Team Flare.
If he hadn't known Team Flare's ultimate goal, he might have actually been swayed by Lysandre.
His words might have worked well for the inexperienced Alain, but for Roy, who had even rejected Giovanni's invitation, it was a very contradictory issue.
How would you evaluate Lysandre as a person?
In Roy's eyes, Lysandre is a contradictory and extreme person, which can be seen from his conversation with Ash in the anime.
This doesn't mean Lysandre was wrong; it just means he was more idealistic.
Moreover, his extremism was driven to this point by those he had once helped.
The proverb "a little kindness is appreciated, but too much kindness breeds resentment" is vividly illustrated in Lysandre's character, ultimately leading to Lysandre descent into darkness.
It can be said that Lysandre can distinguish between beauty, kindness among people, and harmonious coexistence between humans and Pokémon...
But he could not accept imperfections, believing that these imperfections would taint what he considered beauty, so he wanted to destroy all imperfections.
Roy knew that imperfection was the norm in the world, that good and evil coexisted, and that there was never absolute beauty between people.
Looking at the serious-looking Lysandre, Roy did not refute him or try to persuade Lysandre to give up.
He didn't think he could convince Lysandre either.
After all, even Kalos's champion Diantha, a longtime friend of Lysandre, couldn't persuade him, let alone someone like herself who had disgusted Lysandre.
In Roy's eyes, Lysandre was not the typical villain who constantly threatened to destroy the world.
He is a different kind of villain. In his heart, he always believes that his actions are saving the world. He firmly believes that only his ideas can truly save the world, instead of watching it fall into the abyss.
These kinds of villains are the most terrifying.
Because you can't persuade this kind of person. In Lysandre's eyes, he considered himself a revolutionary, so his belief was incredibly strong and his ideals were incredibly firm.
Furthermore, Lysandre is already taking action to activate the "Ultimate Weapon" and restart the entire Kalos region.
Only ultimate failure could truly make him realize his mistakes.
The same was true of AZ three thousand years ago, and the same is true of Lysandre now, as evidenced by the subsequent events in ZA.
As expected of the Kalos Royal Family, they even received the exact same punishments for their mistakes.
Lysandre did not die in the end, because he activated the Ultimate Weapon and was infected by the Life Energy within Ultimate Weapon, thus gaining 3,000 years of lifespan as well.
However, for the next 3,000 years, he would have to endure 3,000 years of torment and suffering, just like AZ before him; these 3,000 years would also be his sentence.
Lysandre did not want to witness the ugliness of the world, so his Punishment was to spend 3,000 years witnessing everything he did not want to see.
Until he is willing to accept it.
If you can't convince the other person... what if you had to be even more outrageous than them?
In Lysandre's eyes, he was the savior of the world, so why not just Role Play the villain who wanted to destroy the world and see how Lysandre would react?
Lysandre, seeing Roy standing there dumbfounded, assumed that Roy had been convinced by his earlier remarks.
A Team Flare insignia already appeared in his hand; he was just waiting for Roy to bow down so he could recruit Roy into his ranks.
Under Lysandre's expectant gaze.
Instead of bowing down as Lysandre had imagined, Roy, the actor, stood up, put on a cynical expression, reached out and grabbed a decorative pebble on the table, holding it tightly in his hand.
Watching the sunset over the beach, Roy's tone was filled with disappointment; his very first sentence had already stumped Lysandre.