Leroy clung tightly to Elizabeth's neck, the air whipping his face as she flew as fast as she could to the Seafoam Islands. Any moment, as Antonio explained, the rogue band of humans called Team Rocket could strike and try to catch the legendary in order to use her for their own gain. As Elizabeth saw the islands ahead, she began to slow down in her flight to give the Meowth clinging to her a chance to talk.
"You know," Elizabeth began. "Antonio told me that even other humans hate Team Rocket, but I don't see exactly why. They're all the same to me, trying to take us out of our homes and use us to battle over and over again. We're puppets to a master all the same."
"At least the other humans leave legendaries alone," Leroy pointed out.
"For now, anyways," Elizabeth scoffed. "How long do you think it'll be until some hot-shot trainer trying to catch 'em all takes her from her precious home? Some human who won't stop at just catching the Pokémon around them? Some human who will hatch eggs over and over again until he can get a-"
"Woah, easy there!" Leroy gasped, watching Elizabeth's flying start to falter as she breathed fire out of her nostrils. "Relax, Elizabeth. We can't save everyone, but it sure feels good to try and help, right?"
"Yeah, you're right," Elizabeth nodded. "Maybe we should change the subject."
"Like what?" Leroy asked.
"Well, it might be a bit weird since I've been okay with Elizabeth for so long, but I've been considering taking up a nickname," Elizabeth confessed with a small chuckle.
"Oh really?" Leroy smiled, even though his Charizard friend couldn't see it. "What brought this on?"
"Well, if I'm going to become Queen Elizabeth to all my future subjects," Elizabeth began to explain. "Then I should have a nice little nickname for those that are close to me, especially for someone such as a best friend as my King!"
"I'm…your best friend?" Leroy grinned from ear to ear, feeling himself tearing up. Even though Elizabeth still only considered him to be a friend despite agreeing to be his Queen, the thought was barely noticeable over the overwhelming wave of joy crashing into him. They had barely known each other longer than two weeks, and to hear that Elizabeth had become more emotionally bonded with him than any other Pokémon in Kanto brought his excitement soaring to new heights.
"Of course you are," Elizabeth nodded. "You saved me in a rare moment of danger and didn't tell Mimi when you could've. That would've been embarrassing to see her reaction."
Leroy scowled, appreciating that she was grateful for being saved, but having the lie hanging over both of their heads becoming a clear reminder irked him. Taking a deep breath, Leroy steeled his resolve and spoke up.
"Why doesn't Mimi know about this?" Leroy asked. "She's been your friend longer than I have, so wouldn't she be understanding?"
"It doesn't matter," Elizabeth shook her head. "Only part that matters is that I'm more careful next time and I won't let it happen again. I cannot be caught by a human, and that fact alone will be enough to keep me in the wild."
"O..kay then," Leroy sighed. "So what were you thinking of changing your name to?"
"Hmmm," Elizabeth began to pick up the speed, only a few minutes away from the Seafoam Islands. "I was thinking of Lizzie?"
"That does seem like a fitting name," Leroy nodded, his tone still less chipper. "So Lizzie it is then?"
"Yeah, here's to starting a whole new life with a whole new name," Lizzie grinned as she whispered her new name. "Lizzie."
Leroy listened to the way Lizzie had said her new name, and wondered how much she had to deal with to lead her to be this happy to start a new life altogether. He was fully aware now that there was so much that he didn't know about the Charizard he was clinging onto, possibly in more ways than one, and wondered if he should've asked more questions about her before propositioning her with something as serious as attempting to take over a region in desperate need of some ruling. But he knew despite her past, Lizzie could battle circles around all the wild Pokémon in Kanto, and if anyone was going to rule for them based on strength alone, it could only be her.
"Oh shit," Lizzie gasped.
"What's wrong?" Leroy jumped off Lizzie's neck, grabbing onto her horns with his paws as he looked over her head. Seeing the swarm of Team Rocket grunts right outside the cave, Leroy barely had time to register the dangerous sight before he felt Lizzie dive towards them. Barely clinging on tight enough to not fall off, Leroy felt his head spinning at the sudden change in Lizzie's pace until she slammed down onto the ground and faced the Team Rocket grunts. All of them stared at her with wide eyes and their jaws dropped until one spoke up.
"A shiny!" one of them cried out. "We have to catch it!"
Many of the grunts began fishing their pockets for the Poke Balls, but Lizzie didn't wait for them to initiate the battle. Waiting till Leroy jumped off her head and onto the sand, Lizzie let out a heart-stopping, ground-shaking roar before launching Flamethrower at every human within aiming distance. Many of them started screaming, running off with their uniforms caught on fire. The very few that had the chance to bring out their Poke Balls had changed their mind upon seeing the wildfire Lizzie had unleashed, sending out various water-type Pokémon to escape with. However, one Team Rocket grunt remained as he threw his Ultra Ball towards Lizzie, a Blastoise coming out of the ball and facing Lizzie. Leroy froze up, seeing the familiar Pokémon and having the vivid memory of what happened before.
Throwing himself in the middle of the two on instinct, the only course of action Leroy could think to do was run around the Blastoise in circles. The Blastoise kept turning his head to where Leroy was running, to the point where the Meowth could see him getting dizzy. Glancing at Lizzie, he saw vividly bright blue fire appear on her claws and come out of her mouth that he never saw before. The most unnerving part was that he couldn't see any focus in the Charizard's gaze anymore. Stopping in his tracks and bolting out of the Blastoise's reach, Leroy watched as Lizzie charged at her opponent. Her fist full of blue fire landed against the Blastoise's side, before she chomped down hard on his shoulder. The Blastoise screamed, his sound loud enough to turn Leroy's blood cold as his fur stood on end. It felt like the world around him stopped, the only sound he could process was the sheer pain coming from the grunt's Pokémon. He watched as Lizzie took another turn throwing him on his back and slamming her blue fists into him before the grunt frantically got his Poke Ball back out and summoned his Blastoise back inside. Rushing into the ocean with no boat or Pokémon that was able to swim, Leroy saw that even the sight of the endless water wasn't enough to stop the human from escaping from Lizzie. After a few minutes of watching him disappear from sight, Leroy heard a loud groan and turned around, his heart dropping at the sight of Lizzie.
The blue fire around her fists and mouth were completely gone, with Lizzie gripping her face tightly with her claws. Leroy slowly walked up to her, still with his fur frazzled and his heart thundering in his chest.
"Lizzie?" Leroy whispered, reaching his paw out to touch her. With little warning, Lizzie snarled and pulled her face out of her claws. Breathing fire out of her mouth, it barely missed Leroy as he yelped and curled up into a ball. Leroy heard stomping and then stood back up, watching Lizzie stumble around aimlessly with snarls and grunts, watching as she rushed towards the cave wall and slammed herself against it.
What's happening to her?! How do I help her?
"LIZZIE!" Leroy shouted, throwing his paws in the air. Finally, his friend turned around with her gaze slowly focusing back on him like she was seeing the Meowth for the first time.
"Leroy?" Lizzie shook her head. "Oh for the love of…I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"N-No?" Leroy frowned, glancing at the burnt patch of ground behind him. "But what happened? You better not say it doesn't matter again, I will swim off this island. Explain."
"Uh, I was using the move Outrage," Lizzie explained, her eyes wide as she stared at Leroy. "You've never heard of it before?"
"No," Leroy admitted, meeting Lizzie's eyes again as his shoulders started to relax again. "What is it?"
"It's a dragon-type move," Lizzie elaborated. "It allows you to rampage for several turns before it confuses you and wears you out after. I'm st-still a little worn out. But I couldn't lose that kind of battle again, I cut it too close last time."
"Yeah, I know," Leroy walked back up to Lizzie till he reached her leg, climbing up her until he sat on her shoulder and looked at her. "Are there any other funky moves I should know about?"
"Well, I can make the weather sunny and I have a fighting attack too," Lizzie shrugged. "But Outrage is my strongest move, there's nothing half as crazy as that."
"Oh good," Leroy exhaled as Lizzie opened her wings and flew into the cave. Flying past the rocks and icy surfaces, they quietly traveled down through the caves of Seafoam Islands with little problem from the wild Pokémon. Lizzie explained to each one they encountered that she was there to ensure the safety of the Articuno that lived at the bottom floor. After the fifth Pokémon told Lizzie the same words, Lizzie gulped as she stared at the ladder that was said to lead to the legendary bird.
"They said that we need to fight," Lizzie whispered. "Or that I need to anyway, I'm not letting you fight her. You can stay here, and I'll yell for you if I have to."
"Okay," Leroy jumped off Lizzie's shoulder with burning sensations rising up inside him. If he was a real King, how could he just let his best friend fly down there and fight by herself? But alas, he wasn't even evolved yet, and so he sat on the freezing ground as he watched Lizzie fly down the hole to the bottom floor. Walking over till he was right next to the ladder, he stared down and overheard what was happening below.
"So you're another one of them, aren't you?" The other voice, presumably the Articuno, had a voice as cold and chilling as her type. Before Lizzie could even have a chance to answer, Leroy flinched and slapped his paws over his mouth as he saw a deadly shot of Ice Beam go across the room. Hearing a loud thud and roar, Leroy saw Lizzie's Flamethrower shoot across the room as well.
"Did you just…miss on purpose?" the Articuno asked.
"Yeah, I did," Lizzie snapped. "I'm not here to attack you…Antonio sent me."
"He did?! That forgetful Pidgeotto…sorry about that, my name is Aurora. Aurora Articuno."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Aurora Articuno," Lizzie said, causing Leroy to relax as he climbed down the ladder. "And he's with me, this is my best friend Leroy. We came here to fight off the band of Team Rocket grunts that Antonio said were bothering you."
"You did?" Aurora Articuno squawked, and Leroy finally got to have a proper look at her. With deep blue feathers and a pale blue chest, the tall legendary was strikingly unique to every Pokémon he had met besides Lizzie. Noticing that the floor below was completely ice, Leroy sat on the bottom of the ladder and watched the two conversing. "Well, I can't thank you enough then. I wish I had something to properly reward you…"
"You don't have to, we're just trying to keep the Pokémon of Kanto here safe from humans," Lizzie explained. "That's enough reward for us."
"Well, let me check something real quick," Aurora Articuno insisted, turning her back to Lizzie and flying to a makeshift shelf made out of ice in the back. Lizzie turned to look at Leroy and walked over to him, extending her arm towards him. Jumping onto her arm and scurrying onto her shoulder, Leroy held back from burying his face into the warmth of Lizzie's lava-warm scales. Even though it was only for a few minutes, Leroy never wanted to part from Lizzie in a moment like that again. With their journey to fight for freedom only beginning, Leroy felt his blood go cold at how many more times Lizzie would put herself in danger. And wasn't he supposed to be useful?
Before he could open his mouth, Aurora Articuno flew back towards the two of them with a rainbow feather that caught Leroy's attention right away. His jaw dropping at its allure, Leroy watched as Aurora Articuno placed the rainbow feather in Lizzie's claws.
"This is a special feather that a friend in Johto gave me," Aurora Articuno explained. "Her name is Katty Sniper. She's a special time-traveling Sneasel with all sorts of wild stories, or at least so she tells me. I mean, I already know that Sneasel have nine lives for some weird reason…"
"Yeah, I've heard that too," Lizzie chuckled. "I heard that many feline Pokémon have nine lives~"
"Really?" Leroy spoke up, still staring at the glittery rainbow feather. "I wonder if that means I have nine lives…"
"Hopefully we'll never have to find out," Lizzie shook her head, clenching her fist around the feather to keep it from flying out of her grip. "Well, if you don't mind, we'll stay for a few more hours to make sure that none of those Team Rocket grunts come back, if that's okay with you?"
"I'm more than happy with that," Aurora Articuno nodded. "And again, thank you."
Leroy woke up leaning against Lizzie's wing as both of her wings were wrapped around her three eggs. It had been a full week since the big success of protecting a legendary for the first time, and Leroy spent each day wracking his brain with how he was going to ask Lizzie the big question. To one day rule alongside her was one thing, but to take himself up as the father figure of the beautiful lives that would hatch from those eggs? He didn't even know if he was prepared to be a father, but he couldn't sit back and watch Lizzie be a single mother just because her last mate was a deadbeat. As he got up to wake up Lizzie, a deep shout made him jump, his fur standing on end. Hiding underneath Lizzie's wing and trembling, he tried to steady his rapid breathing enough to process what the threat was.
"ELIZABETH!" the deep and masculine voice called out. "I need to talk to you! You were right, I shouldn't have ditched you! Please forgive me!"
Her eyes flashing open, Lizzie stood up without even noticing Leroy underneath her wing. Her bright red eyes landed on the intruder, and Leroy scrambled up and stared at who was near the tree. The purple four-legged creature was undeniably a Nidorino, and Leroy's heart sank to the bottom of his chest as he realized who the Nidorino was. The Nidorino's eyes at Lizzie were wide, his mouth hanging open as if he was going to keep pleading any moment. Then, the poison-type's eyes locked onto Leroy standing beside Lizzie, and he stomped the dirt with an echoing roar.
"WHO IN THE NAME OF MARY MEW IS THAT?!"