This is the first story I've written that isn't an Eonshipping. If anyone can come up with a shipping name for this though, I'd be glad to hear it. This story evolved from a scene I had intended in my story Strangers in the Night, but it wouldn't have worked because the Typhlosion in question wasn't real, and that my human in the scenario wouldn't be allowed to react as I wanted him to. I thought it was so cute though, that I simply had to write it up. Et voila. Here's the start of the result.

There's a tune that goes very well with this story at my reading speed. It's called 'Soundtrack: Main Titles (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory)' on Youtube. Just paste it into their search, and it's the first result (put up by Soundtrack1994). The choice becomes apparant when you read paragraph six of section two and start the music from about 00:50.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, but I do own Kraith and it's locations, my OCs, and this story.

Warning: Not suitable for whatever group it is that rejects Darwins ideas. May be quite graphic in places.

Lateral Ganon.

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

Italics are thoughts.

Prologue:

A sparse forest grew out of the side of Mount Larsan on the northern borders of the Kraith Region. It was an inhospitable place which even a majority of Ice types shunned, constantly under attack from raging blizzards and perilous traverses. Only the most canny or most hardy were able to call this area home. A Weavile perched on a shelf of ice overlooking the forest watched the periodic sparks of red and yellow moving in the trees. He crooned to his mate perched behind him cradling an egg in her arms.

"December comes quickly now doesn't it." He hissed to her softly. She looked up at him happily and nodded.

"The fire types are back then." She said, still stroking the egg. The first Weavile turned back to the forest.

"It looks like a good size litter this year."

"How many do you reckon are going to drop this year?"

The Weavile licked its claw and tested the wind. An evil grin spread across his face.

"A lot of them."

"Shall we give them a hand on their way down?" She asked. The male smiled.

"I don't see why not." He wandered over to his mate and caressed her chin, "It would be kinder not to prolong their pain."

A small stream of flame burst through a snowdrift, breaking the loose drift apart and clearing the way for about a dozen young Cyndaquil. They pushed through the gap eagerly, running forwards again in a loose swarm. A few stumbled, but most of them shrugged it off and leapt back up. Most.

"Move it or lose it sister!" One of them said, shoving roughly past one of the fallen. It was a girl that had collapsed from the exhaustion of moving in the sub-zero conditions. Whilst that in itself wasn't unusual for hatchlings, there was a more startling attribute to her. She was an Albino. Whilst most of her brothers and sisters had navy fur on their backs and a tan front, she was totally white, with only a slight amount of tan pigment in her belly fur.

"Wait!" She cried out to them. One or two looked back, but left just as quickly. One that had been lagging behind stopped next to her to catch its breath.

"No-one's… going… to wait… for you." It panted. The albino looked up at the newcomer.

"Why not?"

"We all… want to… get back to mom… as soon as we can." She finished. She took a few more deep breaths, before pattering forwards again. A horrible screech sounded in the skies above them, and both of them looked up. Flying on the currents and scouting the ground was an Articuno. The sight of the avian terrified the Cydaquils, and the newcomer bolted. The flicker of navy on the white snow below caught the attention of the bird, and it squawked again, diving in. The navy Cyndaquil ran erratically through the plain, not realising that she was just going in circles. The Articuno landed next to it, and lashed out with a talon, plucking the hapless creature from the snow. The Cyndaquil squealed as it was catapulted into the air and grabbed again by the Articuno's beak. With a sickening crunch, the bird snapped the Pokemon's neck and swallowed it whole. All right in front of the Albino. She watched on in terror, too traumatised to move, as the bird turned to face her. Her breath caught, hoping her colour would be enough to protect her. It scoured the ground, and its gaze caught directly above where the albino was hiding. It took a step towards her hiding place, noticing something in that direction.

CRACK.

A loud gunshot sounded throughout the mountain side, and there was a tranquilizer dart stuck in the Articuno's neck. It lunged forwards sluggishly, and spread its wings. Two humans dashed past her with a net held between them, trying to hurl it over the creature, but missing it as it lurched to one side drunkenly at the last second. It uttered a hoarse cry, and tried to take off. It flew lazily away from the mountain plateau about fifty metres before the tranquilizer overpowered its system and knocked it out. It dropped like a stone about five hundred metres into an icy crevasse below. The crunch it made was even worse than the one from before, and one of the humans winced.

"Well we botched that up." The first one said, clutching his thermals tightly.

"Hmmm." hummed the other one, his mouth obscured by a large hood wrapped around his head. A woman in a similarly oversized outfit stepped up to them, and clapped their heads together. She knew the impact would be dampened by their hoods, so they wouldn't be too peeved about it.

"You idiots! This was supposed to be a simple conservation mission! Catch, record, release, run."

"Run miss?"

"Well if you enjoy being ripped limb from limb by foot long talons, then you don't have to run."

"Ah. Gotcha."

"And what is it with this colloquialism? What's wrong with some good classic English grammar?"

"It's just the ways we was brought up miss. Our accents are our life 'n soul."

"Very well. Pack up, we're leaving."

"So soon miss?"

She didn't answer. She was too busy looking at a long line of paw prints in the snow. She looked at the hired goons.

"Did either of you make these tracks?" She asked them. They looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No miss. We was too busy trying to bag the bird."

She walked alongside the tracks for a few metres either way, before walking back to the first point she noticed them. She bent down and studied the prints closely, pulling out a Pokedex.

"These…" She cross-referenced the print with a readout from the device, "Yes… I thought so."

"What is it, miss?"

"Did either of you know that Fire types breed in the winter?"

The hooded man made loud muffling noises, and waved his hand in the air. The other man sighed.

"Branson knows miss."

"And do you know why?" She asked him. He stopped mumbling and pulled his hands down.

"That's a-"

"I know that's a no." She interrupted, "Fire types breed in winter because after three weeks into the next season, they can take the hatchlings about a mile away from the nest once they're all asleep, and leave them alone in the snow. The parents make their way back to the nest immediately, and the cold soon wakes the youngsters up. They then use their own fire to keep themselves warm and to burn through obstructions to get back to their nest."

"That's a bit daft innit?" The man asked. Branson nodded vigorously, and the woman shook her head. The albino Cyndaquil shivered as she listened to her explanation.

"It's a very clever system. Not all the offspring are expected to make it back to the nest. Out of about a dozen, only about four or five make it back. The rest drop out along the way, to become food for other Pokemon that otherwise wouldn't be able to survive the long winter here. It also saves on the amount of food that the parents need to hunt down, and makes what they do get worth the effort. Survival of the fittest. Classic Darwin."

"That's barbaric!"

"I'm afraid nature tends to look like that. But I digress. It looks like a swarm of Cyndaquil went this way, so that provides evidence to support the hypothesis. Ah. You see here?" The woman walked about six metres away from the group, and bent down to retrieve something from the snow. She straightened up, holding a limp navy object.

"And it was Cyndaquils. No signs of rigour mortis yet, so they must only have passed through here a matter of minutes ago."

The albino looked at the dead Cyndaquil in the woman's arms, and howled instinctively in anguish. It was a brother she had really wanted to get to know because his paws could bend both ways at the elbow. The woman dropped the Cyndaquil in surprise and spun around to look at where the sound was coming from. Her sight passed straight over the hidden albino, and back to the two men. They were looking around just as non-plussed.

"There's one alive somewhere. Branson, fetch the scales. Dominic, do you have a snuff box?"

Branson waved his hands in the air wildly, and pointed at his pocket. Dominic sighed.

"Miss, Branson has a-"

"I know what he's saying. Branson, snuff box. Dominic, scales." Dominic sighed and ran over to an ATV, and pulled open a bag, rifling through the contents. Branson hobbled over to the woman, and pulled the snuff box out of his pocket. The Cyndaquil was crying again, and the woman looked more carefully. There was a patch of snow a slightly different colour from the snow around it. She reached a hand out tentatively, and felt soft fur underneath it. She gasped.

"I found it! It's an albino. No wonder I didn't see it before. Dominic?"

"Here miss." He said, holding up a small hook on a cylinder with several straps dangling from the bottom. The woman moved to pick up the Pokemon, but stopped as she noticed its legs.

"Frostbite… poor thing…" She said, picking it up. She put the Pokemon into the makeshift harness on the scales, and weighed it. She tutted remorsefully, "It's too small. It wouldn't survive out here."

"So?" Branson interrupted, "You said nature was cruel."

"Well I can't just let it die here when it's obviously in pain. Pass me the snuff box." She said. Branson obliged, handing over the tin. She snapped it open, and took a pinch of the powder in her fingers. She pointed the Cyndaquil so it wasn't facing anyone, and put the powder on the end of a stick. She held it tentatively under the Pokemon's nose. The Cyndaquil breathed the powder, and sneezed. No flames. The woman breathed a sigh of relief, and held the Pokemon up. The albino squinted into the woman's face and looked into the soft blue eyes. The woman was whispering something to her.

"If you want to come with me… I can keep you alive. I can give you a family. No-one will hurt you. Would you like that?"

The Pokemon just blinked at her.

"Shake your head up and down like this… for a yes, and side to side like this… for a no."

The albino looked across at the dead Cyndaquil that the woman had dropped earlier. She had no desire to go the same way. She nodded, albeit stiffly as the cold was seeping into her muscles. The woman smiled kindly, and held up a red and white ball.

"Just rest now. This won't hurt, and when you come out again, you'll feel fine. Okay?"

The Cyndaquil nodded, and she gently tapped the creature on the nose with the ball.

"Well that's that taken care of."

"What's what taken care of?"

"Three birds with one stone." She said, "One, I've helped a Pokemon as I originally set out to, even if it's not how I wanted to. Two…" She pointed at a Weavile swinging through the trees towards where they were, "I don't like Sneasel or Weavile. They can get ones that are already dead, but the damage they can inflict on living flesh is horrendous. I'll have saved this one hours of suffering."

"And three miss?"

"I guess I miscounted." She said quickly. She watched the Weavile staring at the carcass on the floor with greed in its eyes, and grimaced.

"Dominic. If you could take the scales, can we get out of here? That Weavile is starting to scare me."

Dominic nodded and picked up the scales, before they all moved back to the ATV. Dominic jumped into the front with Branson, and the woman pulled herself up into the back compartment. She closed the door behind her and looked out the window at the landscape she was leaving behind. The Weavile had already ventured out of the shelter of its tree and was dragging the carcass through the snow back to its mountain lair. She held the Pokeball with the albino in it, and sighed.

And three, I've got my son a Christmas present he'll love.

Nature may have been cruel, but fate could be far crueller.

The ride from the mountain was treacherous, and bumpier than a warty Graveler, but apart from a few near misses with Pokemon dashing across the trail, the trip to the bottom of the mountain was pretty uneventful. Dominic stopped the vehicle, and turned around to face the woman in the back.

"We're back in the town miss." He told her. She looked up at the driver and smiled.

"Thank you. Here's your pay then." She said, handing over several notes. He counted them, and nodded, opening the door to let her out. He led her into the railway station they'd stopped outside, and Branson followed with several large cases on wheels. They both studied the timetable, before pointing out a train.

"Yours is the night train to Alanus city, swapping there for a slow service to… Cemusem village innit?"

"Yes, that's right." She answered, taking the handles from Branson. He nodded and went back to the car. Dominic stepped forwards.

"I don't think I'd be right in assuming you'll be coming 'ere again would I miss?" He said. The woman raised an eyebrow at him.

"In English?"

"Will ya be coming 'ere again?"

"No." She said flatly, "I think I've done enough damage here for a lifetime. I'll stick to more mundane creatures in future."

"Thought not. Good luck with ya work then Miss Pepper." He said, before leaving the station. She walked along the platform looking for the compartment she reserved, before boarding the train and stowing her luggage above the window. She sat back in the chair, and pulled a panel in the wall open. Inside was an alarm clock, which she set to ring in three hours time. She closed the panel back up, and pulled her hood back off her face. Her tan ponytail flicked out of the confines of the hood, and settled to lying against her back. The rest of her hair framed her face neatly, and she looked to be in about her late twenties. She pulled of the rest of the arctic protection to reveal a short sleeved shirt and cotton trousers. She put a majority of the excess clothing intone of the nags, but kept the largest coat out. She draped it over herself as a blanket, and leant back in the chair to sleep.

Three Hours Later:

She got off the train at Cemusem Village, and stacked her bags back together in a tower. She tied them together, before tilting it onto a pair of wheels, and dragging it away from the station. It wasn't a long walk to her house; it wasn't a long walk anywhere in the village. If the town was assumed to be a pentagon, forests bordered three of the sides. It always had a homely atmosphere, and had a lot of press coverage due to the nature of the PokeCentre. She always brimmed with pride when she heard about it; the only PokeCentre staffed almost solely by Pokemon. And for having refused to let a Nurse Joy anywhere near it.

As she approached her house, she wasn't surprised that the porch light came on. She'd rang ahead to tell her nanny that she'd be back about now, and as she approached the door an old lady opened the door for her.

"Welcome home Miss." She said quietly, "How was the trip?"

"I told you. Don't call me Miss. It makes me sound old. Call me Kelly."

"Sorry, I forgot." She said. Kelly pulled off a smaller coat than her arctic one, and hung it up on a coat peg. She ran a hand through her hair and pulled the bobble off, letting her hair fall in waves over her back.

"It's been rough. If anyone comes asking me if I killed an Articuno, I didn't." She said. The nanny looked shocked.

"You didn't!"

"It was tranquilized alright, but it flew off before it kicked in. It was over a ravine when it finally did, and it kind of…" She held her hand in the air and mimicked the crash, pulling the hand diagonally down in front of her, "Neeeeeeoooooowww-Splat. Awful."

"Well… better luck next time."

"How's Benjamin?"

"He's fine. He's sleeping for longer at nights now, and he's becoming less of a tearaway-terror." She said. Kelly gave a sigh of relief.

"I see your salary doesn't go to waste."

"No Ma'am. He should grow up a right little gent."

"Please. Enough with the Ma'am, Miss, Madam, or any other formalities. Just call me Kelly."

"Sorry. I keep forgetting." She said. Kelly sighed, and walked over to the staircase. She turned back to the housekeeper.

"Could you just make me a hot chocolate for me please before I go to bed?" She asked her. The nanny curtsied.

"Yes M- I mean Kelly." She replied, before leaving the hallway. Kelly mounted the first step, treading carefully so they wouldn't squeak. She walked upstairs, and opened the door of her son's room carefully. A small boy, about seven years old, was curled up on the top bunk, sound asleep. She brushed back a lock of mousey brown hair, and kissed him softly on the forehead.

Happy Christmas Benny. She thought, not wanting to wake him up,

He shifted slightly, and she slowly backed out of the room, closing the door carefully on the way out. She breathed a sigh of relief before going up another set of stairs to her own room. The hot chocolate was already sat there, steaming on the side, and she changed into her pyjamas and jumped into the bed. She took a long draught from the mug and snuggled deeper into the sheets, watching the night sky out of a skylight as she fell asleep.

Ended it a bit badly I think.

I could have made the eating part of the Articuno more sickening by adding the bulge of the neck as it swallowed, but that... (shivers) even disturbed me. There is a limit to the amount of trauma I'll be allowed to convey in a T. Sorry to Articuno fans, but no other Pokemon could take it's place.