Author's Notes: I have been working on this story for a while. It is a Lorax/Pokemon cross-over which I though was a pretty cool idea. Any way, Shadow is an angel character of mine and has connections to the legendary beasts. Two of them bring him to the land of Thneed where it is a desolate wasteland. In this wasteland he meets a beautiful young man known as the Once-ler. The legendary creatures begin to push the two together, so they fall in love. The Onceler needs someone who will love him no matter what and Shadow needs someone to mend his broken heart. So, what will happen? Read and you will find out!

Pairing: Shadow(OC)/Onceler(slash)

Warning: Yaoi and some violence.

It's Only Once

Chapter One: The Wasteland of Thneed

"Ethics should precede economics... We know this because we've seen the results of capitalism without conscience: the pollution of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat; the endangerment of workers; and the sale of dangerous products - from cars to toys to drugs. All in pursuit of greater and greater profits." - Arianna Huffington

It was a particularly rainy day in Miami when the great North Wind approached me. Suicune had been traveling across lands and through worlds before he finally returned to ours. My abilities to communicate with nature and the legendary figures was a secret I always had to hide. I was constantly balancing being a police officer and keeping and eye on the legends. My life was always full of surprises because I wasn't truly human. Even though I appeared to be a normal man I was really an angel. It was in my genes to protect people, so being a police officer was the perfect position.

I was sitting out on the beach just enjoying the rain when a gust hit me from the side. I looked to my right and saw the beautiful Suicune standing before me. The look on it's face told me something wasn't right and I was correct when none other than Celebi floated up beside it. The little voice of the forest bleated softly as our eyes met. The look of alarm which was on the little creatures face made me stand up quickly.

"Celebi what is it?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

The two mystical creatures began to walk away wanting me to follow them somewhere. Suicune got down offering me a ride to wherever it was they wanted to take me, so I climbed on. The North Wind carried me with great speed across the water as the wind blew through my golden hair. As we were traveling a green like mist formed around us and I knew it was Celebi's powers transporting us and I closed my eyes. There was a sudden rush of air before everything became deathly quiet and still. When I opened my eyes my mouth dropped at the horrific sight before me.

A dark and dank wasteland was before us with tree stumps jutting from the ground in every direction. The air was sour with the smell of industrial smoke and the sky was dark with smog like clouds. The land was gnarled beyond repair and my eyes couldn't even take in all the ugliness at one time. Suicune walked slowly through the tree stumps and over the dusty hills. Celebi snuggled into my coat trying to get away from the nasty sight. The legendary stopped in it's tracks when this strange machine appeared a top a hill.

The contraption had several axe blades lining it, but it seemed stationary.

"It's okay . . . it's not going to hurt us." I whispered.

I saw Suicune eye me and then it nodded as we slowly continued around this thing. When we made our way over the hill my mouth dropped a second time. In the middle of this horrible wasteland appeared to be a deserted factory. There were more of those strange tree chopping machines scattered about, but they were abandoned like the others. Everything was eerily still until a sour breeze gave me a chill.

"What is this horrible place?" I asked. "Everything is destroyed."

"Arrrroooo!" Suicune roared pointing it's nose in the direction of the factory.

"I know this factory must be responsible for this destruction, but why did you bring me here?"

"Bee-bee-bee!" Celebi cried suddenly as it pointed to the factory.

The two of them wanted me to approach this dreary place, but I wasn't too keen on it. Before I could say anything more Suicune took to the air and jumped down before these stairs spiraling up to a balcony. These huge windows were dusty from the pollution and there was no sign of life. The legendary dog got down letting me off not really giving me much of a choice. I just stood in the dirt looking up at this massive ominous building as this sudden feeling of despair came over me. There was this deep sadness and this remorse as though I was crying, but there wasn't a tear in my eye. Celebi flew from my coat and hovered beside Suicune and I knew I would have to go into this place alone.

I finally began to walk toward the factory, but then noticed something to my left. When I turned my head and looked down there was a circle of stones. On one of the stones was a word which puzzled me.

"Unless?" I questioned to myself. "Unless what?"

I heard Suicune give a growl, so I continued up these stairs cautiously one step at a time. When I reached the top there were two large double doors, but they appeared to be locked tight. Before I could look down at the two Celebi came up beside me and tinkered with the lock opening it for me. Truthfully I was a little intimidated by this industrial building and how empty it seemed to be. I grabbed the two handles and opened the doors as quietly as possible, but there was still a soft creak. When I walked in the doors closed behind me making me turn for a moment.

Realizing the two were still outside I took a few paces taking in my surroundings. The room I was in appeared to be a large office with a rather large chair and desk in the middle of a carpet. There were some red drapes in the windows, but other than that the place wasn't ornately decorated. With my hand near my gun I tiptoed over to the desk where there was a little model of some strange looking town. The sign read Thneedville, but I decided it wasn't a good idea to touch it. Instead I turned my attention to some crumpled up blueprints scattered about the desk.

I reached down and un-crumpled one of them looking over the white drawings and equations. There was something spilled on it which appeared to be coffee which was on the desk as well. The blue print was that of the rather huge machine with the axes which were apparently the ones I saw sitting abandoned outside. On the top of the page Super-Axe-Hacker was written, which was most likely the name of the tree cutting abomination. I let out a sigh and shook my head in disappointment at the invention. That thing must have been what deforested the entire valley we were in.

As I was putting the paper back on the desk I heard a noise come from behind me. I reached for my gun and pulled it from the holster spinning around quickly and pointed it into an empty hall. No one was there, but it appeared a rather large picture had fallen off the wall. I slowly walked over and was about to take a look at the picture, but then another sound came to my ears. I turned in every direction trying to listen to where this soft sound was coming from. As I walked down this long carpeted hallway I passed an empty desk which must have belonged to a secretary.

The sound grew a bit louder and I stepped quietly across to the other side of the hall and put my ear to the wall. As I listened intently I heard the sounds of soft sobs and knew there was someone still in the factory. As I moved back along the wall I found a closed door and gently turned the nob. I made sure to put my gun away because I didn't want to startle whoever was behind the door. This horrible feeling of despair filled me again and I felt my stomach tighten up. It was this utter sadness and being able to feel what others felt was one of my many gifts from being an angel.

When someone is hurt, or in trouble I can feel what they are feeling. Never had I felt such sadness and remorse from anyone. I used my skills to sneak into the room without detection and when I did I found it waa completely empty except for a lone chair. Sitting in the chair hunched over with his face in his hands was a man. I stopped and looked upon this lanky figure as his entire frame shivered with sadness. He was donned in a green pinstripe suit with black pants, black dress shoes, and a green and black tie. He was using the tie to cry into, so I couldn't see his face. Was this the man who destroyed everything?

I gently moved to kneel beside him and I laid a hand softly on his back. His entire body froze and he went ridged as his crying suddenly stopped. I must have startled him, but I was hoping he wouldn't pull away. Then he slowly turned to me and I saw his gentle face stained with tears. This crystalline blue orbs we wet with tears threatening to overflow down his flushed cheeks. Those eyes we like nothing I had ever seen and my heart ached when I saw such sadness in them. As our eyes locked it was as if I was looking into his soul and I saw just a scared, innocent young man.

A lock of his raven colored hair fell against his button nose as he looked into my eyes almost desperately. I wasn't sure what he was searching for in my eyes, but he ended up turning away from me making me pull my hand away.

"Did you do this?" I asked. "Did you cause all of this destruction?"

I knew it was the wrong thing to ask, but I just couldn't believe the man who's face I was looking into had caused such chaos.

"J-Just leave me alone." He said through tears. "It's all my fault . . . I-I was blind."

"Why did you do this?"

"Leave me alone."

"Please, I just want to help?"

"It was the money . . . t-the pressure."

"Money can make the sweetest person turn my friend, but you don't realize it until it's too late."

"I-I never meant to chop down all the trees . . . I never meant to . . . I failed."

"Shh, you're young and you had no idea what you were getting into."

"W-Who are you?"

"My name is Shadow, Shadow Greenwood."

He turned to me and the tears began to lessen as he looked at me with curiosity.

"I have never seen you before, or met you." He said quietly. "Why would you care about me?"

"Because that's what I do." I said kindly. "It's what I am."

"This is my punishment for what I did . . . to be alone."

"You're so young . . . to be alone for the rest of your life isn't right."

He turned away again and looked down at the floor as he spoke.

"My own family abandoned me . . . my mother disowned me as a son because I-I was never good enough." He told me. "In the end she was right . . . I am a failure."

"Listen to me, you're mother is wrong." I told him sternly. "A parent is supposed to love their child unconditionally no matter what."

He gave me a sideways glance and let out a sigh before taking a green velvet gloved hand and wiped at his eyes.

"Why do you care?" He gave in a snarky tone. "You don't know me."

I put my hand on his back and gave a gentle rub trying to help.

"I want to know you." I said softly. "I want to care."

He looked at me with his eyes widened for a second or two.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"You'll listen?"

"Of course I will, but first can I at least know your name?"

"It's Once-ler."

"Hmm, is it okay if I just call you Once?"

"Yeah, sure I guess thats all right."

"Now tell me what happened."

His story started out about his mother and how what he did never fulfilled her expectations. She pushed him and expected too much from him and he wanted his families acceptance more than anything. He was a smart man and an ingenious inventor telling me about this amazing thing called a Thneed. It was the product which could do anything, but his mother believed the idea would be a failure and even said it to his face for years. So, he set out with nothing but a mule and a wagon off to search for something to make his invention.

After traveling for days he came upon the Truffula Valley full of fluffy trees and beautiful landscapes. He met the little creatures which dwelled in the beautiful place and lived in harmony with each other. The Swami-Swans glided across the sky, the Barbaloots frolicked in the meadows and the Humming Fish swam with a catchy tune in their gills. He befriended the animals until he chopped down the tree and summoned an ancient spirit of the forest known as the Lorax. The little round creature warned him not to chop down the trees and to beware which way he leaned.

Unfortunately with the push from his family he began to cut down more trees breaking a promise. He upgraded his factory puffing huge bouts of black smoke into the sky and let the waste run off flow into the clean rivers. He became mad with greed and didn't listen to the Lorax's final warning, but it didn't matter because he cut down the very last tree completely depleting the forest. He destroyed the home of the animals, so they we forced to migrate somewhere else to survive. Even though Once-ler realized the terrible things he had done it hurt him even more when his own mother disowned him and left him to rot in the filth they had helped him create.

He told me the Lorax flew away by the fur of his rear through the clouds disappearing. It was a month since he had been left alone in utter despair.

"I didn't think I would see anyone again, but then you showed up." He told me.

"Well, my mystical friends brought me here and now I think I know why."

"How did your friends know about this?"

"They protect nature and must have felt the disturbance from your factory."

"So, they brought you here?"

"They must have seen the pain you were in and felt bad, so they brought me here to comfort you."

"They knew I was sad?"

"They have much higher senses than a human being."

"They're animals?"

"They are called legendaries and they protect worlds."

"Then what are you?"

I smiled at him and his eyes glimmered a bit with some hope, so I decided to show him what I really was. He watched as I closed my eyes and bowed my head revealing my snow white wings. When I looked up his eyes were wide and his mouth had dropped. I opened my wings wide making him completely fall out of his chair. He sat up suddenly scrambling on the floor and just stared in awe.

"Wow, you're a-an . . . angel!" He said in disbelief. "A-A real angel . . . here with me."

"Yes."

"I never thought someone like me would be in the presence of an . . . angel." He whispered. "Not after all I've done."

"Everyone deserves a second chance."

"How?"

"By showing you that there is someone who cares and that you are good enough."

There was finally a smile and his face and a tear went down his cheek. It was when he smiled when I realized how beautiful he was. I looked upon his young face and saw something I had never seen in anyone I had ever met. I wasn't really sure what it was, but it was in his crystalline blue orbs. My stomach did a little flip and my heart fluttered in my chest as I looked at this beautiful man before me. He was so young and yet these feelings were beginning to grow.

How did you guys like the first chapter? Let me know!