The next few chapters will be told from Logan's POV as this is a memory if his. For those of you who think Logan will just become nice after this, yeah you're wrong. He's still gonna be rude and crude. He's been like that for a long time. It ain't gonna just go away. Also, fair warning, this flashback, in case you couldn't tell from the story so far, it is not gonna end well. Just a warning.

Flashback

December 28th, 2017. 7:15 am.

I think it's important to lay out the context of everything that happened to me on these days in my past. So I feel it prudent to start when I woke up... I remember everything.

I had just woken up. The air was its usual crisp morning winter air. It was cold, but I could handle it. I lived out of a cave. It went pretty deep. Around 150 feet in. It kept me shielded from the worst of the cold, and the wind especially. I'd also laid out the furs of a few animals I'd hunted in case it ever got cold enough for me to need a blanket. I even had a small fire pit inside for when I wanted cooked meat. I'd occupied the territory since I had left home. It was a nice one too. Around a mile and a bit in radius. I patrolled it every few days and remarked it. Yes, I did pee to mark it sometimes. It's just something us canids do sometimes. Anyways, I stretched out and walked out with a yawn. My belly growled and so I decided to go out and hunt right away and remark the territory later. My territory included the edge of a large lake under a cliff, and part of the forest that was at its elevation. I decided to go there and get some fish. It was only about a ten minute walk. I got there, took a drink, and then I waded out to an area where there was a bit of a drop off. I stuck my claws in the water and used my illusions to make them seem like worms. I stayed still and after a couple moments, a large mouth bass bit one of my claws. I pulled it out and stabbed the fish through the head with my other hand. Basically skewering it. It was a decent fish, and would fill my belly. Though since I don't like sushi, I took it back to my cave. I scaled it outside with my claws to ensure that my floor stayed clean. I laid it on a smooth stone inside I had picked up to lay out meat for drying purposes. I gathered some firewood and, using my Flamethrower Attack, lit the fire pit. I jammed a stick through the fish and began to cook it over the fire. It was a few minutes, but I cooked it thoroughly. Once I had done that, I took it back outside, cut the fish in half and began to take the bones out. It took some time, and I didn't get them all, but enough that I only had one or two that I had to spit out as I began eating once I had done that. Fish wasn't my favorite, and it took some time to prepare, but I like to vary my diet.

Once I had eaten, I went out to the edges of my territory to patrol and remark. I didn't usually bump into anything, in fact it was pretty rare, but it did happen. Even when it did happen, the Pokémon that saw me quickly backed off. Zoroarks are not a Pokémon you mess with. We're insanely strong, can use illusions so realistic that sometimes they can be felt, and are very protecting of our territory and pack. They didn't know if I had a pack or not, but either way, they didn't want to go into my territory to find out. So I wasn't really nervous about bumping into anything. Zoroarks are apex predators. With one notable exception. Lucarios. While our illusions are undeniably fantastic, a Lucario's aura sight could see right through them as no matter how real our illusions are, we can't make them real. Aura is only exuded by living things. So they could see right through any tricks we come up with. I knew this, but I had never seen a Lucario in the wild. Even so, they almost always had a strong sense of justice. They almost never went around looking for fights. Almost never.

"Hello foxy." A relatively deep male voice caused my head to snap to the right. Leaning against a tree was indeed a Lucario. The first thing I noticed about him was the top couple inches of his right ear had been cut clean off. The second thing I noticed about him was how well kept his fur was. No tangles or signs of wear and tear. He probably was around my age, at least comparatively since he was a feral and I was an anthro. Call it a hunter's instinct, but I could also tell he was looking for trouble. That didn't mean I gave it to him right off the bat.

"Hello there. You looking for something? This is my territory so forgive me for being suspicious." He stood up and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a good fight. I haven't had one in a long time." While I don't think he was technically lying, I don't think that was the beginning and end of it. I think he was looking for his own territory, and he definitely had no qualms about taking what he wanted. Upon hearing that response, I got into a fighting position. I didn't bother using illusions. As I said, he could see right through them if he wanted. He got into a fighting stance of his own. We stood like that for a bit, and I couldn't help my legs shaking a bit. I'd never actually had to fight off an invader, and now I was gonna have to fight off my species' greatest rival. Now something to note, this was not the kind of Pokémon battle that trainers participate in. We weren't gonna take turns and not try to avoid Attacks. This was a real fight.

Once he had sized me up, he charged me with a Force Palm. I sidestepped it and delivered a punch to the side of his head. Normally that would be in instant kill with how strong my kind are, but Lucario's can take a hit of that magnitude. He recovered before I could follow it up with a punch to my gut. I staggered backwards and doubled over. Zoroarks can't take a beating like a Lucario can, and in terms of physical strength, a Lucario at my Level would actually have a slight edge in power. As I would learn quickly, they were naturally good martial artists. He swept my legs out from under me before I could recover from the gut punch, and as I was falling back, he delivered a powerful kick to my spine. I was sent pretty far up in the air as my body locked up from that shot. It was only due to our species dense bone structure that I wasn't paralyzed. I landed on the ground in severe pain. He stood there on one leg in a taunting pose. He was a better fighter, he knew it, and I knew it. He let me get to my hindlegs. I stumbled a bit, but decided to try and hit him with a Flamethrower. He didn't seem to be expecting that from a wild Zoroark as he only held his arms up to try to mitigate the damage instead of getting out of the way. He was a bit well done, but he was still up. "Now that was surprising, but rest assured, now that I know you have that, you won't get me with it again. Now come on. Come die by my paws."

He wanted me to fight him up close as he held the advantage. He was tougher and a better fighter. I wouldn't have a chance. So I fired off a Dark Pulse. It wouldn't do much damage, but ranged Attacks and Speed were my advantages over him. This is how it went when Zoroarks and Lucarios clashed. Lucarios could hit harder with physical strength and were tougher, but in terms of agility and ranged strength, Zoroarks had the edge. The one who was a better fighter would almost always win. Unfortunately for me, this went to him. He leapt over my Dark Pulse and fired an Aura Sphere at me. I knew what this was. Trying to avoid it was futile. So I just stood there and deadpanned. "Oh yeah, this is gonna hurt."

It connected square with my chest and I ended up with my back against a tree. I was in serious pain, and trying to stand was difficult. I didn't get to stand up though as he shot his leg into my left arm with all his strength. There was a loud crack as the bones in my wrist broke in half. I screamed as loud as I could as the most intense pain I'd ever felt wracked my body. I don't know how long it was before I stopped screaming, but I looked through my blurry tears at the Lucario's legs. "This was almost too easy. I was hoping that you'd at least make this fun. Oh well." He held his right paw out and another Aura Sphere began to form. This one aimed right at my head. In desperation, I grabbed some dirt in my right hand and flung it in his eyes. His Aura Sphere went away as his paws shot to his face. I didn't know if he had mastered aura sight, he wasn't that old so maybe he hadn't, but I took the precious moments it bought me to run away. I sprinted away as fast as I could on my hindlegs. I think it was around noon when I stopped running. I had put many miles between myself and now former territory. I sat down and began to contemplate my next move. Where would I set up my next territory? How far should I go from my old one? Would he come after me to finish the job? How long will this arm take to heal? It wasn't long before my ears picked up the sounds of crying. Then I met someone who... I wish I'd never met. Even more so than the Lucario that had just kicked my ass.