Have you ever wondered where Petpets come from? They just pop up in the shop, and you buy it for your little one. But no one has even know what happened before the petpet place was inspected for real.... until now...

A female doglefox inside a dark cramped cage looked at her babies. Their eyes had not yet opened and they squirmed around, pushing each other for milk. The mother smiled and nuzzled them lovingly. She washed them with her tongue. Just then a door opened. A large green Skeith lumbered in. He looked at each small cage and took any babies the mothers had and stuffed them into a bag. He reached them Doglefox, who bared her teeth and growled.

"Shut up!" He hit her with a large green hand, and while she was stunned he grabbed her pups and stuffed them in the unbearably hot bag while all the baby petpets wondered where they were. The Skieth finished his round and left the room.

"Why the hell did I take this job? Stupid petpets!" He looked at a small bite an Anglepuss had given him as he had held her. The Skeith went over to a Wocky who was looking at other petpets.

"Here's the recent bunch." He dumped them carelessly on a table. The younger ones began to walk around blindly, wailing for their mothers. The Wocky rolled his eyes. "One day I'm going to go deaf from these things." He sorted them by breed and passed each group to other pets, who measured them and made sure nothing was wrong. The same green Skieth left to go back and check on the mother petpets and to introduce them to male ones. A Doglefox stumbled around and began to yip and howl as it was prodded, pushed, and lifted up as inspection. The workers got out a machine with fur over small tubes. The recently born Doglefoxes felt the machine and began to drink the milk, thinking it was their mother.

Meanwhile the mother petpets were being forced to breed more. The owner of the place had them reproduce often; knowing it took a short time for them to have babies. The mother Doglefox who had just had her babies taken away was lying down. She was exhausted, and having her pups taken away again had depressed her, even though she knew it happened regularly. She began to pant, the heat from the cage becoming intolerable. Her eyes rolled up. The Skieth who looked after the petpets noticed this and put some water in her dish. But nothing could help as the mother slowly and painfully died. The Skieth looked at the body.

"ASSISTANT!"

A Lenny rushed over, and saw what he was looking at.

"Remove this and get a new one pronto!"

The Lenny nodded and scooped up the body in a small plastic bag. He tossed it in a hole in the back of the building, and walked over to a Meerca stuffing petpets into cages.

"We need a new Doglefox, the last one died," he said calmly. The Meerca sighed and picked another female adult Doglefox.

"Be careful with them!"

The Lenny just nodded and put the new one in the cage.

Life went on for the young petpets. They were mistreated, as no one believed they had feelings or were smart. They were crammed into small cages to save money. Some died due to suffocation on the way to the petpet shop. The ones that didn't were put in the shop and bought later. They all have their different stories, but this is the story of the one petpet that saved many... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - A doglefox sat up, looking around. His brothers and sisters that were left were still dozing, smiling in happy dreams. "WAKE UP YOU WORTHLESS THINGS!" He glared at the sneering Lupe that came in. "Okay time for training." He grabbed them and stuffed them in bags, the way they were always transported. They arrived at a small training center. Many other petpets were placed in small treadmills. Without warning, the Lupe activated them. All the petpets began to run, even though some weren't made too. The Lupe pulled out a small electric prod and zapped a Warf who stopped to rest for a second. "NO BREAKS! All of you will now go faster!" He increased the speed. The Doglefox's heart began to beat furiously as hr ran. They continued for ten more minutes, when the Lupe stopped the machine and gave them small petpet weights. "Start training NOW!" He zapped a few more petpets and all of them began to work. Another painful ten minutes went by, and he made them go to another painful workout for hours. When it was done, everyone rushed to his or her dishes for the small amount of food. The Doglefox ate a bit, wincing at the bitter dry taste of the petpet food. He scooped up most and gave it to a brother of his who wasn't doing so well. His ribs were gruesomely outlined perfectly on his fur, due to his poor performance in training. The punishment was less food, which made the poor petpet weaker, and do even worse then before, until they died from malnutrition. He looked at the Doglefox with horribly empty eyes. "You know I won't make it brother. Eat this for your self, it won't do any good for me." The Doglefox tried to persuade his brother to eat, but he refused. In the end, the Doglefox ate some, feeling horribly guilty. Later that night the Doglefox went to him. He told his brother stories of the glorious life they would have once they got out. He sang a lullaby, and stayed with him as he slipped away into eternal darkness. The Doglefox touched his chest, and felt no movement. He cried and swore hr would get revenge as he did whenever a petpet close to him died in this manner. He watched as in the morning the sneering Lupe just tossed his body to someone who carelessly dropped him into the hole in the back. "Damned petpets don't eat, and that's what makes them die. I guess they're too stupid to know eating is good for you," he heard him say to the pet that came to dispose of his brother's body. He bared his teeth but didn't growl. He knew what would happen if he did. TBC...