Eight years ago

Avery was skipping along with her Growlithe, Houndour, and Poochyana. Their names were Growler, Houndo, and Poochy. They'd just finished a five hour long surgery for a Geodude, and they felt extremely accomplished. They were going to the market for some food when they heard some boys talking. Avery and her Pokémon stopped talking and listened in.

"This one's useless!"

"Can I have him?"

"Sure. I don't care!"

Avery turned towards the source of the voices. She hid behind a conveniently placed bush. Her puppies stayed behind, watching with curious expressions on their fluffy faces.

There were two boys, the older one brunette and the younger one blond. They were debating about something being useless. A young Gible looked like it was about to cry. It was staring at the blond as he argued with the brunette.

"Like I said, this one is useless. But you need him to get closer to finishing your Pokedex. What'll you give me for him?" The younger boy asked.

Avery's eyes widened. Were they insulting the Gible? She felt her surprise turn into anger. Why would they do this?!

The older boy looked at the Gible through half-closed eyes. The Dragon type tried its best to look like it was fierce, but it was obvious that it didn't believe it had that kind of hope. The boy turned to his friend (Avery could only assume this, seeing as they were laughing about their little sales as if this was another shop downtown) and reluctantly took out a Pokeball. It was revealed to be a Pichu which looked no more than two years old. It should have evolved by now (depending on when this person caught him) but he obviously didn't have enough happiness.

"How about this?" He asked. The younger boy looked the Pokémon up and down. He nodded. "Not my best choice," he said, handing the older boy Gible's Pokeball "but it'll have to do."

The Pichu looked at its trainer the same way the Gible had looked at his. Then they turned to each other. Small tears formed in their eyes, but they blinked them away so the boys couldn't see them. They walked towards their new trainers, obviously reluctant to do so.

Avery felt like her face was going to melt off from of the anger burning inside of her. Those boys were playing with their Pokémon's' lives as if they were toys! She hated this. She knew it was bad, but they didn't seem to care. Growler snarled at the boys as quietly as he could, with Houndo and Poochy following suit.

The blond boy sent out his Camerupt. It looked happy to see its trainer. Avery felt sorry for its happiness, knowing it had no idea what was going on.

"How about this one?" The boy asked.

The brunette boy shook his head. "Nah, he isn't cool enough."

The blond nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought when I got him. But he took a liking to me, so I humored him." He replied.

They laughed. Avery fumed. What was wrong with these boys?! Why were they so mean to their Pokémon?! She wanted to leave her hiding spot and face them, but as long as their Pokémon were out, she didn't want to risk them hurt. They were already mentally scarred.

The brunette sent out a Politoad. The blond laughed. "Seriously?!" He gasped between his outbursts. The brunette nodded seriously. The blond stopped laughing. "Oh."

Suddenly, Poochy barked.

The boys turned to them. Avery stayed perfectly still. Her Pokémon, however, ducked into the bush with her just as the boys' eyes rested on them. The chuckled and walked over to the bush. They stared at Avery with humor-filled eyes.

"Hey there." The blond said. Avery just glared at him. "I'm Michael, and this is Trey."

"Do you wanna get in on this?" The brunette asked. More glares. They just laughed. They started to pull her out of the bush, but Houndo bit them. They yelped in surprise. Their eyes were filled with it, like they hadn't even noticed the Pokémon until that moment. They grinned at each other, then turned back to Avery.

"Say, that's a great-looking Poochyana you've got there." Trey said. He tried to pet the Pokémon, but Houndo snarled. Trey quickly retracted his hand.

"Yeah, and this Growlithe isn't half bad either." Michael commented, grabbing the puppy Pokémon's tail and trying to drag it towards him. Growler howled in protest. Avery ran over and grabbed her Pokémon, quickly pressing a foul-smelling herb to his bruise.

The boys were staring at her, heads tilted in confusion. "What's wrong with this girl?" Michael asked his friend, an annoyed tone in his voice. "Any Pokémon trainer knows that Pokémon don't care what happens to them. They just wanna think we're happy."

That was it. She'd had enough. Avery was going to explode from her inner anger like a steam engine explodes when it has too much steam built up inside. She placed Growler gently on the ground and turned to the boys.

"They want to think we're happy?!" She yelled at them. "They want to know we're happy! And they want to be part of your happiness! Not just a witness of it! To a Pokémon, witnessing a trainer's happiness without being part of it is as horrible as witnessing a murder and not telling anyone! They don't want that! They want to be there for you no matter what! They want you to be there for them! But you wouldn't know that, seeing as none of you hold any feelings for your Pokémon!" Avery gestured towards the discarded Gible and Pichu, tears streaming from their once proud eyes. Avery felt like she was about to cry, but she needed to prove her point just a bit longer. "When you look at them, all you see is a being that has no purpose except to be traded for another, even more 'worthless' Pokémon."

"Are her eyes turning red?" Trey asked his friend.

In fact, Avery's eyes were turning red. But not from tears. No, when she gets angry, she tends to get a bit out of control. And you're about to witness the first time this happened.

At first, it just looks likes she glaring at you. You know the saying "If looks could kill?" Well... Imagine your insides were melting.

Because they were on fire.

Also, an angry badger now rests in your liver.

"AAAA!" Michael screamed. "MY INSIDES ARE ON FIRE!"

"AAAA!" Trey screeched. "AN ANGRY BADGER IS INSIDE MY LIVER!"

"AAAA!" The badger screamed. "I'M INSIDE A HUMAN!"

Silence from everyone.

"Doesn't feel so good, now does it?" The badger said. Then it bit Trey's liver out of anger.

Several hours later

Yes, there had been screams. But passerby had thought that they'd been screaming with excitement. See, if you scream "Fire" when stuff like this happens, you'd be fine. But not these guys.

They were dead.

Avery stared at what she'd done. Then she turned to the now trainerless Pokémon. They shivered visibly under her gaze.

Avery gave them a warm and apologetic smile. "Sorry about that." She whispered. "But they were treating you like you were toys, not living creatures. i felt like I had to help you."

They stared back at her, not knowing what to do.

Avery kneeled in front of them. "You know what? I have a place you guys can stay until you find new trianers, or new lives. Would you like to come with me?"

The Pokémon looked at each other, then turned to their former trainers. Turning back to Avery, they nodded. What did they have to lose?

Avery smiled, grabbing their arms/heads/whatever appendage she could grab. They teleported instantly to a small (but wide) sapling. A small sign written in a child's writing read "PokéHospital."

Avery smiled. "Welcome home."