A good distance from Lizzie's nest, Lizzie was pushing aside long vines and sharp thorns in the bushes to make room for both her and Mimi's eggs to be secure and safe for the hour or two they'd be fighting Jackal and Blade at Route 8. Leroy and Mimi were keeping watch a distance away from the bushes out in the clearing near the Diglett Cave. Most of the wild Pokémon minded their business, especially after what they saw Lizzie do to the bugs infesting her old nest. Any sort of risk of Pokémon trying to tamper with Lizzie's protected makeshift nest in the bushes was dashed by the fear in their hearts from such a powerful and unusual creature. Leroy exhaled with a deep sense of relief from this, though he turned to the Pidgey beside him.

"Thank you again for trusting us enough to leave your eggs hidden," Leroy whispered, making sure his statement wasn't too loud before speaking normally. "This shouldn't take long at all, getting rid of those stupid Ninetales that took over my home. I should've shared it in the first place, but they're so angry and want my dead that we can't share that land at all now. I guess that's my fault in the first place."

"Maybe it's too late to patch stuff up with this Jackal and Blade," Mimi agreed before she continued. "But perhaps a much nicer Pokemon will come along needing your help, or a place to spend the night while traveling, and you'll have a chance to start over? Choosing differently?"

"That's quite a lovely thought," Leroy smiled though he shook his head. "But I spent so much time puffing my chest and throwing others off that patch of grass, that I'm not quite sure who would pass by and not know how I was…"

"Well, you never know!" Mimi flapped her wings and smiled at Leroy, almost making the Meowth feel remorse for what he was going to bring up. Perhaps he should leave it be, especially since Leroy wasn't the slightest bit aware of what kind of history Lizzie and Mimi shared. But he wasn't an outsider to their story anymore, and Leroy was tired of pretending he was. Taking a deep breath, Leroy's smile faded as he composed himself.

"I just wanted to let you know, Lizzie told me about all the mates she had over past regions and exploring lands even humans haven't found," Leroy admitted, watching Mimi's eyes grow as wide as saucers as her pupils shrunk while the Meowth continued talking. "She also told me that you had followed her on and off throughout the regions, till you brought her here in Kanto not too long ago."

"Oh!" Mimi squawked, the startled sound escaping her beak as she paused for a long time before continuing. "Did she…did she share anything else with you?"

"I mean, she talked about her upbringing and Charlie a little bit," Leroy shrugged, already not liking how guilty Mimi looked over Mary Mew knows what. "But that's about it."

"Oh, oh, oh good. I mean, good as in I'm glad she opened up to you!" Mimi added abruptly, and Leroy felt more unnerved than assured about the conversation. Before he could try and get a little more information out of the frazzled ball of feathers, Lizzie lumbered over towards the two small Pokemon and looked down at them with a beaming set of grinning fangs.

"The eggs are hidden and secured! I even made sure to layer the vines and thorns with poisonous berries and ivy!" Lizzie assured Mimi. "There's a few traps to secure the eggs, and I'll be sure to burn them off without hurting the eggs. They'll definitely be safe while we're gone, and we shouldn't take long with these two."

Throwing Leroy onto her back, Lizzie took to the sky while Mimi flew alongside her underneath her shadow black and blood red wing. Leroy gripped tightly with his claws deep into Lizzie's shoulders, something that didn't really hurt his scaly companion as he had tiny cat-like claws. After just under an hour of Lizzie's fast flight, the big Charizard landed in the trees between Lavender Town and Route 8. Past the trees, Leroy could see Jackal and Blade glaring as they swiftly circled the gated territory of grass. If they looked mad before, the couple were practically seething underneath their luscious blonde fur. Their beady red eyes stared intently as they looked in every direction, their paws stomping the dirt as they circled around.

"Oh they look-"

"Yeah, we're aware," Lizzie sighed over Mimi as she shook her head. "I'm going to be flying in and fighting them myself. You two are backups. If I get overwhelmed, or if I get one of them thrown towards this spot, you two attack or distract. Whichever one is more doable. In fact, Mimi, after they start to tire out, that's when you can come in with your Sand Attack. They'll have a much harder time fighting back after a few blows of that. Leroy, try to avoid getting into the battle unless we're really struggling out there or if I throw one of them your way. They almost killed you, and I need you to be cautious."

Leroy sulked, the past several battles he was in ringing in his mind as he knew Lizzie was right. Taking a deep breath and nodding obediently at Lizzie, with Mimi gently flying over and landing on his shoulder, the shiny Charizard turned to face Jackal and Blade in the distance as she opened up her wings.

"Hopefully I won't even need you two for this," Lizzie admitted out loud. "But these two look determined, perhaps they even trained since last time I fought them. I won't know till I enter the fray, wish me luck."

Leroy's heart sank as he remembered Lizzie, helpless with her left leg caught inside that snare, and wondering just how many times she had pushed her luck in her adventures before him. How many times would she take a risk and find herself on the losing end? Leroy wanted to tell Lizzie that she didn't need to fight his battles for him, but she had already flown out from the trees and spun towards Jackal and Blade like a grenade. Jackal and Blade's eyes went wide as they barked and howled, before rushing towards each other and looking at Lizzie.

"Go ahead and try to-" Blade was several words in explaining his evil plan, when Lizzie cut him off with a swift chop to his muzzle. Blade yelped and rolled to the ground as Jackal snarled and opened her mouth, a powerful blinding light of hyper energy escaping before Lizzie could react. Lizzie flew from the impact of the beam hitting her, crashing into the nearest tree a short distance from Leroy and Mimi as she collapsed into the ground with a wheeze of pain. Her body ached, willing herself to get up while Jackal was recharging as quickly as she could. The move she had learned from that slimy human's TM was powerful beyond belief, though Jackal knew it came with a downside as she had to wait almost a minute to feel her energy return. They knew this was it, this giant beast that Leroy had summoned had returned to take back what belonged to him, and Blade got up and rushed towards Jackal as they leaned their heads together.

"We need to both hit her with the Hyper Beam, when she charges towards us," Jackal insisted.

"Yes, and we will make sure she can never harm us again!" Blade yipped happily, the two's nasty plotting causing red energy to surge through their bodies as the couple felt more powerful than ever before as Lizzie fully got up. Seeing the red energy surging their bodies, Lizzie suspected what they were about to do, and waved a tail in Mimi's direction hoping she would see the cue. Lizzie flew high in the air, and Jackal and Blade cackled and howled as they saw her disappear past the clouds.

"Ha! One little attack and she folds!" Blade laughed in delight, Jackal leaning against him and laughing along with her mate. But Mimi glared at the two from afar and opened her wings, the tiny Pidgey flying off Leroy's shoulder and past the various trees until she was flying straight towards Jackal and Blade. They looked at the Pidgey, with Blade snickering as he remarked. "And we get free lunch too~!"

Leroy's body went cold, imagining all the Pidgey that he had slain and eaten as he watched the eager Ninetales couple rush towards Mimi. Was this how they felt? Fear as the apex predator took delight in their suffering? But Leroy knew, deep down in his heart, that Mimi was an undeterred force of nature. Her heart was bigger than their strength, she was like a little bullet ready to plunge and destroy. The odds of Jackal and Blade destroying her right then and there, of Mimi becoming the prey to the predator, should've kept her from trying at all. Especially when she had eggs. But Mimi was brave, fearless, perhaps it was because of all the adventures her and Lizzie had gone through. And she dove towards the ground, right in front of the gate, as she kicked up sand right into Jackal and Blade's eyes. The couple snarled and jumped back angrily, blowing fire in the direction Mimi was at by the time she flew back and kicked even more sand at their eyes. Blade turned around and ran away into a corner, desperately trying to clear his eyes with one paw as Jackal shook her head wildly and jumped over the gate. Leroy tensed, ready to jump into the fray, but not without seeing what Lizzie had planned. Surely she didn't actually fly away?

Lizzie came spinning towards the ground, landing a swift chop directly onto Blade right at his most vulnerable point. Blade yowled, and Jackal turned towards the sound. Leroy knew he couldn't just let them team back up together, bolting out from the trees and feeling his paws pounding the dirt hard with each step he made towards the fight. With Venomous, it was next to impossible to get the upper paw in the battle. But with it being 3 against 2, with both opponents blinded by irritating scoops of sand, Leroy felt his confidence soar as high as Mimi right then and there. He rushed towards Jackal while she was in the middle of bolting to protect Blade from Lizzie when Leroy lunged and sank his teeth into several of the former's tails as hard as possible. Jackal's eyes went wide as she howled in pain, with Mimi flying over the gate to join Leroy in keeping the female Ninetales away from her mate. Rushing over with immense speed and accuracy, Mimi slashed Jackal right in her blinded eyes as her howl turned into a scream of pure pain. Blade jumped over the gate, turning and looking in Jackal's direction.

"Retreat! Retreat!" Blade begged, the desperation was music to Leroy's ears as they brought him to a sense of fear without stooping to the level of killing them. Leroy let go, dropping to the ground and watching as Mimi flew back. Jackal ran, trying to jump over the gate and hitting her hindleg from the blindness in her eyes before. As Leroy took a look at her face, his pride and joy in the battle was dashed by what he saw before Jackal bolted off in the wrong direction.

"I…" Leroy thought of the different status conditions. Burning, poison, confusion, sleep…what he saw was happening to Jackal's eyes was something far worse. All he could see was red, and he slowly turned over to look at Mimi as she landed on Lizzie's shoulder. "Mimi, did you…permanently blind her?!"

Lizzie's eyes went wide with shock as she glanced at the normally passive Pidgey, who glared at Leroy in earnest.

"Leroy, they were both planning on having you and Lizzie dead," Mimi scoffed. "And besides, human healing powers have the power to basically cure anything. Save for bringing back Pokémon from the dead. Sure, she may have to get a human to help her, or her stubbornness will leave her blind for the rest of her life. It's not permanent, Leroy."

"Oh thank fuck," Leroy cursed, burying his face in his paws as he warred between feeling hot anger at Mimi for potentially putting a death wish on him from a vengeful Blade, or eternal gratefulness for warning them so harshly. Leroy felt it far more likely that the near encounter of permanent damage would keep them from coming back rather than fuel them further. Exhaling loudly as he pulled his paws away from his face, Leroy sat in the grass of his territory again as he looked up at Lizzie and Mimi. "Thank you for helping me get this home back."

"Of course," Lizzie beamed, and Mimi shook her wings and relaxed shortly after Leroy changed topic. "And we'll both stop by here at least once or twice a week, to make sure that your home isn't overrun again. Especially when you're hanging out with me, I can't have anyone thinking the territory is abandoned."

"Well," Leroy glanced over at Mimi, thinking about what she said before turning to look at Lizzie. "Depending on what they're like, how they approach me…I think I might let some of them share the territory with me. Definitely not if they're anything like Jackal and Blade, but this territory is too big to reasonably have by myself. I don't mind sharing."

Leroy knew that the two winged gals wouldn't benefit from having territories on the ground, and so he didn't offer. But perhaps another four-legged creature such as himself would benefit from the generous patch of grass…


Several days had passed since Leroy regained his territory, traveling down to the lakes and oceans a good walk away to capture and eat Magikarp as he had promised long ago. More frequently did he spare the Pidgey that crossed his way, gaining more respect from them as they lingered and even left him berries on occasion. Granted, Leroy was very much a carnivore, but he ate some of them while they watched to appease the well-intended Pidgey. Sometimes people passed, though most of them knew better than to bother him. The occasional newbie that sent out their Pokémon was quickly defeated, Leroy gaining experience and becoming stronger with each one sent his way. Should there ever be a time when a trainer sends out a massively powerful opponent, Leroy knew he could get Lizzie to help.

Waking up from his nap, grateful for another period of rest without being threatened, Leroy saw a flash of bright yellow moving through the grass. Their fur was too bright to be an Abra, even though Leroy saw patches of brown on the creature. Suddenly, a long heart-shaped yellow tail sprung out from above the grass.

"Hello?" Leroy spoke clearly as he stood up on his feet, seeing the creature flinch as they stood upright. Then, Leroy recognized the kind of Pokémon was a Pikachu almost instantly. The Pikachu's eyes went as wide as saucers as they stepped back and threw their tiny yellow paws in the air.

"Sorry!" the Pikachu shrieked, and Leroy knew instantly from both the tail and voice that the Pikachu was female. "I didn't mean to be here long, I just meant to eat some grass and find some berries while you were asleep. And then go on my way, I promise I wasn't trying to steal your territory or any of your prey…"

"No, it's not a big deal," Leroy shrugged. "And in fact, you don't have to rush out of here. I'm assuming you don't have a territory or burrow of your own?"

"No, I basically got old enough to be kicked out of my family burrow almost a year ago," the Pikachu shrugged. "I thought it'd be easy peasy to just find my own burrow and be left alone, but I've always been thrown out or flushed out by rogues or humans. It's a blessing from Mary Mew herself that I haven't been captured yet."

Leroy flinched, the suppressed memory of having been caught shortly after Tree Climber pushed him to live on his own…perhaps Lizzie and Mimi already guessed that he was owned by a trainer at somepoint. That was really the only way Pokémon in the wild had "human" names. But this wild Pikachu piqued Leroy's interest as he took a deep breath and smiled warmly at her.

"Well, you're more than welcome to stay here with me," Leroy explained, watching as the Pikachu's face lit up like a lightbulb. "Provided we're at least on a name basis, and you can tell me a bit more about yourself. My name is Leroy. And you are…?"

"Storm, my name is Storm," the Pikachu said, extending her paw for Leroy to shake. And Leroy knew, that his life was about to get a lot more interesting…