Snowpoint House

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Otherwise, I would not be writing Fanfics, I would be writing episodes. . Get your priorities right, Ninty. Start making games, not sueing teenagers.

The door to the home opened and Clarise looked up from her paperwork. A young boy, about 12 years of age had just stepped up to the front desk.

"Hello there, how may I help you?" Clarise asked cheerily. The boy didn't smile.

"I want a Pokémon, please. My… my Murkrow just died…" he blinked back tears.

"Oh, that's terrible, but I must advise you that the Pokémon we have here aren't exactly training material. They're more suited to being pets, and their owners must be prepared to care for them. You do understand?" Clarise tried to console the boy. "Perhaps you should go and see Professor Rowan in Sandgem Town?"

"It's too far away, and my family are leaving for a holiday in the Orange Islands tomorrow. I was hoping I could have a Pokémon to take with me…"

"But the Pokémon here are all Ice types," Clarise reminded him.

"I'm willing to care. I'm not a trainer. At most, I coordinate. Even then, it's only during the Winter Festival," the boy pleaded with Clarise. She sighed.

"If you're prepared, I could show you around and maybe you'll see a Pokémon you want to take. What's your name?"

"Billy."

"Ok, Billy, come with me."

Clarice ducked out of the desk, cursing the fact that the door was stuck fast, and ushered Billy to the door to the housing kennels.

Outside, rows of cages loomed over Billy. Looking through them, he could see a large indoor area for the Pokémon to stay in, but most had their faces pressed against the bars, hopeful.

"I must tell you now, these first five Pokémon on the right aren't for adoption," Clarise warned. Billy looked at them.

"How come?"

"Well, this Piloswine," Clarise indicated the large furry Pokémon, "is blind. He was never return to the wild. The Glaceon lost her tail in a fight and no longer has any balance. Next month we're going to fit her with an artificial one, tag her and re-release her. This Dewgong here was born with malformed flippers and tail, so our volunteers are raising his confidence and teaching it how to swim. Then, though, he'll be so used to humans that he won't get released."

"I thought trained Pokémon were released all the time."

"No, Billy. When a trainer 'releases' a Pokémon, it is transported to the nearest Laboratory, and then sent to wherever it is more suited too. Like how Ice Pokémon with problems are all sent here. There are places like this all over the world, with hundreds of different types of Pokémon, all of whom have been abandoned by their owners. And most of the time it's because they have something wrong with them. Pokémon that are healthy are snapped up quickly. And we have to deal with the problem Pokémon."

"That's terrible!"

"It's the sad truth, Billy. Now, you see this Snover? It's got a genetic problem with its pigmentation." Clarise indicated a Snover with red hands. "We're releasing that one in around two week's time. And then… there's this one."

Billy peered into the cage at a shapeless figure hunched in one corner. By the large pink ear, he could tell it was a female Sneasel.

"What's wrong with her?" Billy asked. In his head, he was already visualising himself, victorious, at a Pokémon Contest, his beautiful and powerful Sneasel at his side.

"She killed her previous owner."

Billy stumbled. His visions paled away and a shiver went down his spine.

"Uh… do you have any more Sneasel here?" he asked hopefully.

"No. Sorry. Ok, here are the Pokémon that are up for adoption. Be careful, though, some of them are dangerous. Don't get too close," Clarise warned Billy, and then let him wander off along the rows of Pokémon.

Clarise leant in towards the five Pokémon at the front of the row. She patted the poor blind Piloswine on the head, and he chewed his tusks appreciatively. Then she turned to the Sneasel.

"What are we going to do with you?" she whispered. The Sneasel turned slightly and glared at her. It tugged at its notched ear with its filed-down claws until it broke the skin, and then licked at its own blood. Clarise shivered.

"Clarise, could you tell me about these two Pokémon, please?" Billy called. He was pointing to two cages, one with a small, round Spheal and the other with a large, ragged Froslass.

"Well, the Froslass is diabetic and requires daily injections of insulin. And that Spheal there has short-term memory loss. He needs someone to keep an eye on him at all times."

"Oh. Well, what about that Smoochum?"

"She's one of the more dangerous ones. I'd advise you not to take her until next month, when a man who can make Pokémon forget moves comes. You see how the front of her enclosure is soundproof glass?" Billy nodded. "That's because of her Perish Song."

"Oh my."

"Indeed. Tell you what, around the other side of here are three Lapras. One of them has a tendency to bite, but the two girls are extremely sociable."

"Then why are they here?"

"Oh, one has a minor speech impediment. She'll be the one that says 'Dabras' instead of Lapras. And the other has one flipper shorter than the other. So it drags when she swims. But if you take Dabras – and you can rename her, by the way – you'll be able to surf on her around the Orange Islands. That'll be good. And the back of a Lapras is a great place to catch lots of Pokémon, right? And you could practice coordination moves with her as well, she knows lots of great TM moves," Clarise ushered Billy around the other side of the cages. As she turned the corner, she caught a glimpse of the Sneasel again. She was stood at the bars of the cage, tears rolling down her cheeks. Clarise turned away to follow Billy towards the Lapras.

Clarise waved as Billy went on his way, carrying the Pokéball triumphantly. As she returned under the stuck door of her desk, she remembered seeing the Sneasel crying. She tried to shake the image out of her head, but it remained there.

Leafing through the paperwork, she found the key to her file cabinet hidden under some food prices. Quickly, she opened the cabinet, stuffed the Lapras's file into the 'Adopted' section and picked out the Sneasel's file. Curious, she began to read…