Disclaimer: I do not own anything "Oliver and Company" and the characters I am using in this story are property of the companies that created them.

Author's Note: This idea came to me one day from I'm not sure where, and I thought that it would be a great story. I'm going to do my best not to make this so close to the movie that it's an exact copy. If it's too close, please say so and I'll fix it. It not, please leave a review stating your opinion.

The Lonely Orphan

One bright sunny day in a city known as Republic City, everyone behaved as they always did. It was a normal afternoon on a Saturday and the people were doing their regular activities. Some were coming home and resting after a long day at work, some were still working and waiting for the day to be over, and others took their families to places like the movies, the zoo, or the park to play. In the park, many families were on the playground playing with each other. One child in particular was not playing at all. Instead, he sat under a tree and read from a book.

She was a young girl around the age of twelve with short pink hair and hazel eyes. She was dressed in a maroon skirt, yellow shirt, a dark pink jacket and boots. She had with her a pink backpack filled with what one could assume be books. Her name was Aelita.

Aelita sitting alone under a tree was familiar site to the park regulars. Aelita sat under that tree every day, read a book, and occasionally watch the children and their parents at play. The people assumed that she was anti-social; however, the truth was that Aelita was an orphan. Her parents died in an accident when she was eight, and because she had no other living relatives, she was sent to live in a group home. It was not a nice place and she was miserable there. Therefore, one day, she packed a bag and ran away, never looking back. Ever since then, she had been living on the streets alone. She survived by collecting cans and bottles from dumpsters to recycle, using the money she got from the bottle deposit to eat.

After she finished reading the latest chapter of her book, Aelita closed the book and put it away in her bag. She then put her elbows on her knees, rested her chin in her hands and just watched the families at play. She let out sigh as she secretly wished she were a part of one of those families. She watched the families playing in the park for a good long time until she fell asleep up against the tree trunk. While Aelita slept, the families went on with their activities, not giving the sleeping girl a second thought.

After a while, everyone left the park and went home, all but Aelita, who was still asleep. Later that night, Aelita was awakened by the feel of a rain drop on her face. She opened her eyes and looked up to see rain coming down from dark clouds in the sky.

"Oh dear, did I over sleep?" she asked herself, "This is great, I wasn't expecting it to rain. I need to get under cover, fast."

With that in mind, Aelita gathered her belongings and ran through the rain out of the park. She ran through the streets looking for a place to stay and keep dry. Every time she stopped somewhere, she did not stay long before taking off and running some more. When she got splashed by a car that drove through a puddle, she mentally cursed and ran into an alley.

Aelita stopped and panted for a bit, until she heard voices.

"Lookie here, boys," said a male voice. Aelita looked in the direction where she heard the voice and saw a group of young men advancing towards her. They looked like they belonged in some kind of gang, which meant trouble for her. "This little lady seems to be a little lost."

"Oh no," Aelita whispered as she backed away in fear, "No, I'm fine. Really, I am."

"What's wrong, little girl? Do we scare you?" the man who appeared to be the leader asked, in a very creepy manner, "Don't worry, we won't hurt you."

"Yeah," said one of the others, "We just wanna have some fun."

Aelita caught onto what they meant and screamed, "Stay away from me!" then she turned around and ran as fast as she could.

"Get her!" the leader yelled, and his followers chased after her.

Aelita ran as fast as her legs would take her. She was about to give up hope of ever losing the gang when she found a warehouse and ran inside. She hide behind a large crate and listened to what they were saying.

"Where'd she go?" one asked.

"I was sure I saw her come this way," said another.

"Darn it, we lost her!" a third said, "The boss is gonna kill us."

After that, Aelita listened for their footsteps as they became silent. Finally, they were gone. She peeked out to see if they were gone and sighed in relief when she saw that they were. After they, Aelita decided that the warehouse was as good a place as any to stay for the night. She laid down her backpack to use as a pillow and took off her jacket to use as a blanket to keep herself warm. She then laid down, closed her eyes, and went to sleep. As she drifted off to sleep, Aelita hoped that tomorrow would be better.