After almost 10 years, I finally pick up on where my pre-teen self left off on this story! As an adult writing this now, this story is bumped up to Rated T for themes mentioned in the summary. I hope y'all like these chapters better!
"Can you believe it?" Elizabeth had already set Leroy down gently on the ground a short distance from the tree where her eggs were resting, the giant Charizard staring down at him with gleaming dark red eyes. "All we did was save some Pokémon from bulldozers, and someone trusted us with protecting a legendary. A legendary! I wasn't even entirely sure that she was real, perhaps only a tale that was told to me when I first arrived here-"
"Wait," Leroy frowned, putting a paw to his lips. "When you first arrived here? What do you mean by that?"
"Oh!" Elizabeth's jaw dropped and her eyes widened for a split second before she shook her head and waved him off with a claw. "Don't worry about that, Leroy. I was just talking about when I first came here to Lavender Town."
"O…kay," Leroy dropped it, not wanting to put a damper on Elizabeth's growing excitement. "Well, I didn't know she was real either. And now we get to meet her! I honestly didn't think I'd spend my life doing more than just hunting Pid…oh crap."
"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked.
"Your friend who is currently eggsitting for you is a Pidgey!" Leroy slapped a paw over his face. "It didn't even occur to me until now! And that Pokémon that asked for our help was a Pidgeotto. I've caught and nearly caught so many of those guys that I'm sure that it'll get out that I eat them."
"Every Pokémon's got to eat, Leroy!" Elizabeth placed a claw on Leroy's shoulder. "And sure, you could probably diversify your diet to be a little different, but I'm sure Mimi would understand wholeheartedly. Me and that little gal have gone on a lot of adventures together, and she's seen all sorts of crazy stuff. Heck, she would've gotten devoured herself a number of times if it weren't for me around."
"Did someone say my name?" Elizabeth and Leroy turned their heads towards the Charizard's home, hearing Mimi's high-pitched voice from where they stood.
"We're coming!" Leroy cupped his paws over his mouth to make his voice louder, before turning to look at Elizabeth, rubbing one of his shoulders as he gave a quiet laugh. "So, might as well get the Meowth out of the bag, huh?"
"If you're comfortable with telling her," Elizabeth agreed. "But you'll want to climb on my shoulder unless you want to burn some of those calories climbing my tree."
"Right," Leroy rolled his eyes with a small smile, bringing his paws to his stomach and pinching both sides of it. "Better burn off that pudge from eating Pidgey all day."
Leroy flinched as Elizabeth threw her head back and let out a sharp laugh that scared off half the Pokémon in the area, some of them even running into the Diglett Cave. With Elizabeth's chosen home residing in Route 11, she had to share the space with a lot of different Pokémon that weren't nearly as intimidating as the big fire beast herself. Leroy blushed as he found himself and probably Mimi to be very lucky to be on Elizabeth's good side, especially enough for the shiny Charizard to laugh at one of his jokes.
"Well," Leroy began to speak again as he pressed his forepaws against Elizabeth's fiery warm belly, jumping on her as he climbed onto her shoulder. "I'll save all that exercise for when we have to protect a legendary if you don't mind."
"All good with me!" Elizabeth chuckled, waiting until Leroy was adjusted on her shoulder and clinging tightly to her before she opened her wings and flew towards her home. Landing in her spacious nest, Elizabeth smiled as she looked down at Mimi. Per the Charizard's advice, Mimi brought her two smaller eggs to be nestled with Elizabeth's big eggs so that the Pidgey could watch over both sets of eggs. "Hi Mimi, everything has been good here?"
"Sure has been!" Mimi chirped, looking up at Elizabeth and Leroy on her shoulder. "Were you two talking about me? S-Sorry, I couldn't help but be curious."
"Uh yeah, I did start talking about you," Leroy gulped, jumping off Elizabeth's shoulder and landing right in front of Mimi and the five eggs she had wrapped her small wings around. "Y'know that as a Meowth, I'm a predator and need to eat to revive my health."
"Is this about my brother?" Mimi tilted her head.
"Wait, what?" Leroy's blood ran cold, his brain rushing to all kinds of possibilities as to where Mimi could take this conversation. "I…uh…"
"He said that a few days ago, you had tried to catch and kill him," Mimi elaborated, and Leroy gasped as he pressed a paw to his chest.
"Oh thank Mew," Leroy exhaled. "I thought that he'd gone missing and I killed him. N-Not that it makes anything I did okay. Because of my Mom, I've had a taste for Pidgey above anything else. She's the best tree climber I've ever met, and back when I was being raised by her, she loved to catch them all the time. Sometimes, she even tried to catch a Pidgeot. I wanted to be just like her, own my own land and catch Pidgey as I saw fit. I didn't think about how they felt and I…am sorry. There's not much I can say to make it better other than I'm sorry."
"Leroy, that means a lot to hear you say that," Mimi nodded. "That helps me know that you won't do anything to me or my hatchlings in the future. But you should know that I'm not really mad about it. Like you said, that's just how you were raised. But uh, now that you know me and my family, maybe you could take a break from hunting us? Maybe hunt the Magikarp, they can barely talk, and they're too dumb to feel pain. At least, that's what I've heard about them."
"Yeah, I can try them out," Leroy smiled at Mimi. "Thanks for understanding."
"Of course!" Mimi threw her wings in the air with a happy squawk. "You're a friend of Elizabeth, so I was hoping we could get along just fine. Now that you two are back, I'm going to take my eggs back to my nest, alright? It was great seeing you both!"
"You too," Leroy agreed, waving at Mimi as she grabbed an egg in each talon, the Pidgey flying up to Elizabeth's face.
"So before I leave, how did it all go?" Mimi asked her dear friend. Elizabeth's eyes widened as she smiled with an open mouth full of sharp teeth, flapping her ginormous wings back and forth as she got to tell Mimi what had happened.
"We saved them from those evil bulldozers!" Elizabeth cheered, before her smile faded a little. "Er, if you don't mind me asking, are you okay to watch the eggs again in a few days? A Pigdeotto by the name of Antonio tasked us with protecting one of the strongest Pokémon in the Kanto region."
"Really? Who?" Mimi asked.
"The Articuno in Seafoam Islands," Elizabeth told her, and Mimi's eyes grew wide as she shook her head.
"Elizabeth, you know because of everything you've done for me, I'll watch your eggs whenever you ask me to," Mimi explained. "But that sounds really dangerous! What if you don't come back? I'll be left to raise another species of Pokémon entirely! How will I even be able to do that? What if he comes ba-"
"None of those things will happen," Elizabeth chuckled over Mimi's panicking. "You know how strong I am, and when have I ever gotten in a tight bind?"
Leroy froze, seeing Mimi nod even though he knew better.
She…doesn't know about what happened with Elizabeth and the snare? Or the Blastoise? Is Elizabeth hiding this all from her?
"You're right," Mimi sighed. "Plus, you've got Leroy to watch your back in case someone tries to attack you from behind. Please get back as soon as you can, I don't want your eggs to hatch without you."
"They're Charmander eggs!" Elizabeth snickered. "They won't hatch without the warmth of their mother, y'know."
"Okay," Mimi took off with her eggs, turning her head to glance at Elizabeth and Leroy one last time. "You two better be careful."
"We will!" Leroy waved his paw at Mimi as she disappeared to another tree on the other side of Route 11 a short distance away, before turning to look at Elizabeth's blank expression. "So how about those Magikarp then? Elizabeth?"
"Oh!" Elizabeth snapped out of her thoughts as she looked down at Leroy. "Yeah, of course. You stay here and guard the eggs. I'll be back with those in a few minutes, alright?"
"Yeah, sure," Leroy frowned as Elizabeth turned her back to the Meowth, opening her wings and taking off as quickly as she arrived. Wrapping his tail around the three eggs, Leroy rested his paws on top of them as he stared at Elizabeth's silhouette becoming smaller as she flew farther away.
Who is this he? And what else is Elizabeth hiding from us?