I rescued her, and she left me to die.
Those words played in Leroy's mind like a sick and twisted mantra, especially as he sat at that very spot he fainted on, staring up at Lizzie's nest. Well, former nest. Caterpie and Weedle moved around on it, and each time Leroy stared at them, it became harder to deny that Lizzie was gone for good. That like many times before him, she abandoned someone she supposedly cared about to his own devices. He was her discarded dream, and the fact that he never got to be her mate left an additional sting on top of the pain Leroy was already feeling from losing her. He was rather surprised that Mimi never stopped by to check on him, or look for her. Perhaps she already filled in her Pidgey friend on her latest ditching endeavor, looking for another guy to fool, and in someway Mimi was in on the whole scheme. Leroy kicked rocks, bashed his head against tree trunks, and snarled and cried seven ways to Sunday. The mindless grieving didn't bring him any closer to the answers that would give him peace.
Several days had passed since the ruthless and one-sided fight that didn't nearly hurt as much as the truth. With Venomous telling him who Lizzie really was before she chased him off. The shock that Lizzie didn't even make sure he was safe before taking off was the part that hit him hardest, he was supposedly going to be her King. Leroy was boiling with misery, anger, resentment in a giant melting pot as he sat there. He didn't have any sort of life that was worth bragging about before he met her, Leroy simply had a decent amount of territory to hunt on but no family or friends he had nearby. He was starting to assume that he was going to return to that very life, but Leroy felt like the idea of walking back there was like pulling teeth. He just didn't want to do it. But Leroy had remembered the sun and moon switching at least five times, and he was starting to assume there was no point in waiting for her. Lizzie had to have found a new territory for her eggs by now, and was ready to discard their memories like she easily did with every guy before him. Blinking the last pair of tears away from his eyes, Leroy stood up and then walked away from Lizzie's last nest on all fours. His heart felt like it was bleeding the newfound joy he had of knowing her. Leroy could barely handle it, letting go of the dream of becoming Lizzie's King, and the Charizard becoming his Queen. Besides being insanely beautiful beyond measure as a Shiny Pokémon of unspeakable power, Lizzie was wildly passionate and full of previous adventures before him. Leroy was much less happy about remembering that little tidbit considering the nature of said adventures that he recently learned, but he wondered about all the nooks and crannies of her personality that shaped her into the creature she was. Leroy didn't think he was ever going to find out anymore, it was a lost cause with each pawstep he made away from the home that she once had.
Leroy walked for an hour, occasionally finding dead ends of wrong paths and having to walk back, before he stepped into Lavender Town, the town that held the Pokémon Cemetery of those long past. Endless people left the tower looking forlorn, lost, and crying. The sight did nothing to help Leroy's already sunken mood, though as Leroy began to walk in the direction that he remembered led to his territory. He wouldn't have ever found his old territory again were it not for his mother, Tree Climber, teaching him the different areas of Kanto and how to retrace his steps. Somehow Leroy felt his mother had led him on a better path than Lizzie was supposed to, being his Queen. Each pawstep back onto Route 8 made him feel like a bigger idiot, more delusional, more desperate to have a life beyond his stupid gated idea that he claimed as his own. He could've settled for it, not cared as he usually did and left Lizzie to die, and still had it. Leroy winced at the thought. He was angry, without a shadow of a doubt, but he never would've wished for Lizzie to die in that trap. No one deserved that. Leroy shook his head with annoyance and prayed to the sun, moon, and stars that he would still at least have his old home to go back to.
Leroy wondered if it was a blessing in disguise that Lizzie was so easily outed for her character and who she was, by the time he reached the gates of his territory…his heart clenched and his blood went cold with the horrified discomfort that came with seeing giant Pokémon on his territory. Not any that looked familiar to what he had seen before, they were over a foot taller than most of the Pokémon he had encountered in his old territory. And on top of that, the two Pokémon were big and tall blonde dog-like creatures with nine tails and beady red eyes. They occasionally met and nuzzled each other before they'd split up and guard each side of the territory. Leroy gulped, they were not messing around and he wondered if they'd dealt with some nasty enemies before that moment.
Leroy slapped a paw over his mouth to keep himself from screaming as one of them looked him dead in the eyes. The Pokémon's eyes lit up and it gave a deep wolfish grin as if it recognized him. But when did Leroy see this Pokémon before? Nothing came up, but the blonde dog-like creature jumped over the gate, yipping excitedly as he ran behind Leroy, grinning down at him with his sharp teeth.
"Jackal, come and look at the little shit that came back!" the creature laughed, and Leroy felt fear launch him into flight as he recognized that name and attempted to run. Unfortunately for the tiny Meowth, the creature that he assumed was Blade had sharply bit down on Leroy's tail and lifted him upside down in the air while holding onto said tail. Leroy stared upside down as the other identical Pokémon laughed and snarled as she ran towards him. Leroy was starting to regret not just finding a new area to call his home, by the time the Pokémon approached his face.
"Hey you! Remember us~?" the Pokémon snickered. "It's me, Jackal, and my mate Blade. Fortunately for us, we had found some loser human that we stole from after knocking him out. Some fire-colored rocks changed us into Ninetales, and we also managed to use up some discs that taught us new skills. These humans are the worst, but thank Mary Mew that they have mega-powered stuff for us Pokémon eh?"
"Please let me go!" Leroy whined, kicking and spinning in Blade's grip as he felt the tough ego he had once before in his tiny bubble of a territory spilling away. After how many times he thought he was the cat's meow, the toughest and the baddest in the region, the past several encounters he'd experienced had horribly proved otherwise. Leroy couldn't have felt weaker with each one, and he almost didn't even feel like begging for his life anymore. Taking perverse glee on catching prey and mocking other rivals, even clawing at the human children that came into his territory excited only to run off in tears, Leroy only felt numb as he was at the mercy of two giant Pokémon that he bullied time and time again when they were Vulpix.
His heart sinking to the bottom of his chest as he went limp, Leroy shook his head as he buried his face in his paws.
"I'm sorry," Leroy whimpered. "I don't know what else to say other than that. We could've shared the territory, there was more than enough room for three of us. I just…"
"You were selfish, you wanted us to starve!" Jackal bellowed, the spit and breath that escaped from her mouth making his body spin in Blade's grip. "But that's okay, because any potential Pokémon that want to do the same to us…will see a perfect example of what to expect when we kill you."
Leroy's eyes shot wide, realizing what Jackal had said at the same time Blade let go of him and he hit the ground. Shock rattled his body as he tried to bolt blindly without thinking or processing what direction he was running in. That's when Blade rushed in front of him and opened his mouth, revealing blazing fire building up inside before Leroy panicked and rushed right towards Jackal. Leroy heard Blade snickering more of their plan, and the Meowth saw that after Jackal had explained her evil plans to him…a surge of red energy pulsed around her body as her red eyes lit up in excitement.
"I almost feel bad for how easy this is going to be!" Jackal barked, picking up Leroy with her teeth as she threw him towards Blade. Blade stood on two legs as he caught the Meowth, grabbing him by the tail as he violently shook around Leroy till his head was spinning violently. Leroy was on the verge of nauseousness when he landed on the ground with Blade pinning him, his paw pressing hard down on his chest.
"Any last words, Leroy?" Blade asked as Jackal also stood over him. The two Ninetales grinned victoriously as they snickered and howled in victory, while Leroy shook his head as he accepted his fate. If he didn't stand a chance against Venomous, Leroy didn't know what hope he had in resisting two murderous Ninetales out for him. Closing his eyes, Leroy felt teeth closing around his neck for the briefest moment before one of them yelped. Feeling his body rolling off to the side, Leroy opened his eyes to see Lizzie throwing several swift chops at Jackal while Blade rushed at him to finish the job. Leroy rolled out of the way, though just as he got up, Blade jumped on him and slammed his paws down on Meowth's shoulders. Those claws digging in deep shot explosive pain as Blade got hit with a blue fist, his eyes turning white in pain as he yelped and fell to the dirt. Jackal rushed towards Blade, only to get hit with the blue fist of Outrage as her body was flung against the nearest tree.
After stumbling around for several seconds, Lizzie then grabbed Leroy before any of them could get up, and flew off holding his injured body till she dropped him into her nest. Leroy was too busy processing the pain and headache of being thrown around to speak to Lizzie, who flew out of her nest and came back with several Sitrus berries. She extended her claw with several of them, and Leroy grabbed them and ate them in several hungry chews and gulps. Within less than five minutes, the marks on his shoulders had fully healed and the headache was completely gone.
Which left Leroy to stare up at Lizzie, her eyes wide and her expression full of concern as the Meowth felt a rush of emotions sweep up his mind and heart as he debated how he wanted this conversation to go…