A/N: Before we begin, here are four important caveats to those unfamiliar with the New Perspective fan universe:

1.) The NP universe is, for the most part, a series of fics about people being adopted by pokemon that happen to involve AB/DL themes. I stumbled upon them quite by accident during a Google search for stories with themes of adoption. While I am not an AB/DL myself (I have used Google with safe search off. There are far more horrifying things out there than that. Dark, maddening things of which I dare not speak, lest I drag others into the abyss of insanity into which I have fallen), I was interested in the shared universe and general concept. Heartwarming slice-of-life stories are all too rare in fanfiction, and it seemed like a good break from my usual action/adventure oriented self-insert fics. There won't be any AB/DL themes in this story, so if that puts you off, don't worry. That said, if you have no problem with it, feel free to check out the other stories in the NP universe.

2.) The setting isn't mine, so if you have criticisms against the premise of adoption and talking pokemon that you can understand after taking medicine, don't blame me—I didn't come up with that. I just want to make the best story I can with this premise.

3.) This won't be a self-insert. It will, however, involve a small child with a tear jerking backstory learning to trust via a new family in ways that will likely melt your heart into goo from the adorable factor alone, so there's that.

4.) Last but certainly not least, the obligatory copyright warning. I own nothing of Pokemon, its characters or its universe. This is a non-profit fanfic and the only character I own completely is the protagonist. Along with any other OCs that pop into my head.

With all that out of the way, it's story time!

"They left me. They left me to die."

When a six-year-old child says such things, most would assume a high level of fear was involved. In the case of Cole Worthington, however, the words were a matter-of-fact statement, spoken in much the same way one would speak of the time of day. He wasn't at all surprised by this; the Worthingtons were less than ideal parents. When they weren't shouting at him, starving him, locking him up, or striking him for little to no reason, they were ignoring him entirely. The fact that his own mother and father were essentially abandoning him to his death to save their own skins was not unexpected in the least.

This was the only life he had ever known, and he had long ago resigned himself to it. The Human governments had long ago become dominated by Teams, turning peaceful tournaments into brutal death matches, with all other pokemon as horribly abused slaves. Then, suddenly, pokemon all around the region suddenly began to rise up in revolution, conquering the region and either capturing or driving out the corrupt human government entirely. When the news came of approaching pokemon and the failure of the last human defenses, Arnold and Hanna Worthington hurriedly packed their bags, grabbed everything of value they could carry, and made their escape in their private jet, leaving their only son behind them without a word—not even a second glance was spared for him.

Cole didn't care. Anything, even death, was better than the awful life he had lived so far-at least, that is what he told himself. His voice may not have betrayed emotion, but he was still a child, and his body language more than made up for his lack of tone. He crawled into the corner of the broom closet, closed the door, and curled up, fingers digging into his shins as tears rolled down his cheeks. He didn't even react when he heard the front door being broken down.

"Luca, lucario rio. Luca lu lucario..."

"Kangaskhan! Kanga khan khan kangaskhan kanga."

The Pokemon were here. Cole tensed up—he didn't know what was being said, but the voices were close. Just outside the door to his tiny room under the stairs. In spite of himself, he whimpered.

"Lucario! Rio luca lu!"

The door opened, revealing—obviously—a Lucario and a Kangaskhan, staring wide-eyed at the small, malnourished, scarred, crying child curled up into a ball in the back of a closet. Cole didn't look up. What was the point? They were going to kill him anyway. The Kangaskhan reached for him; he closed his eyes, bracing for the end.

It didn't come.

Instead, he felt himself being slowly and carefully picked up and inspected by the Kangaskhan, then gently placed into its pouch. For a moment, he could have sworn the pokemon and its Lucario friend looked worried, even horrified. But Cole knew better. This was just a convenient way to carry him to whatever end they had in store for him. Exhausted from the tears and fear, Cole fell asleep.

He didn't expect to wake up at all, let alone like this.

Cole was in a hospital bed, warm and soft; bright lights and soothing colors adorned the room. Then there was his stomach—why did he feel... full? Did someone feed him? He then noticed a tube sticking out of his arm, attached to a bag of clear liquid. Curious, he reached for the tube...

"No, don't do that! You need your fluids, dearie!"

The voice startled him. He looked toward the source, but only saw a chancey in a nurse's uniform. Did that pokemon just talk? Cole recoiled backward in fear, a startled whimper escaping his lips. The chancey held up its hands in a non-threatening gesture, speaking in a calm voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you, child. It's okay, you're safe now..."

Safe. Cole almost forgot his shock at hearing a pokemon talk when he heard that word. Did they actually save him?

"That," the chancey said, pointing at the tube and bag, "is what's been feeding you. You've been asleep for over a day, but you're not quite ready to leave here just yet. If you take that out, you won't get better as fast!"

Cole blinked in confusion. "Y-you... helped me?"

"Of course, dearie."

"But... but you're a pokemon."

The chancey smiled warmly, its voice oddly soothing. "A child is a child, regardless of species. You needed help, so we took care of you. You don't have to be afraid anymore, little one."

Cole tried and failed to process this concept; it was entirely alien to him. No one had ever helped him before in his life. Why should he trust anyone, let alone a pokemon—a talking pokemon at that? Speaking of which...

"How come you can talk?"

"Pokemon have always been able to talk—humans simply couldn't understand us. We gave you some special medicine of our own making to fix that."

Cole frowned again. This didn't add up—no one goes through so much trouble to help a strange kid. He didn't know what the game was, but soothing voice or no, he wouldn't be fooled by this pokemon. He leered in suspicion at his charge, clutching the blankets toward him protectively.

"Why are you helping me? Really?"

The chancey continued to speak in a soft and comforting voice. If Cole didn't know better, he would have thought it was actually sincere about its desire to help him.

"Because in spite of what humans did to us, we want to be better. We don't want to do to anyone what was done to us. We want to make a better world, a world where no one is forced to fight against their will. A world where a little boy like you would be cared for and protected by his family, instead of being abused and abandoned by them. Speaking of which..."

It slowly and carefully walked towards him, smiling cheerfully as it did. "Would you like a new family?"

Cole did a mental double-take at that. "Huh?"

The nurse pokemon sat down on the bed next to him, gently wrapping its arm around the six-year-old. It was a strange feeling, one Cole was unaccustomed to—yet for some reason he found himself unable to pull away.

"You probably thought we killed whatever humans we came across, didn't you? Well, that's not the case. We drove them out, yes, but as I told you before... we want to be better. Children like you had no part in the crimes committed against us; your people were, in many respects, victims as well. Plenty of young ones like you have been adopted by new pokemon families already. Families that will love their children, and never, ever hurt them. How does that sound?"

Cole didn't know what to say to that. The smiling face, the kind voice, the promise of a better life; it all seemed too good to be true. He didn't want to get his hopes up—he knew better than that.

"Hrnng! That's gonna leave a mark..."

"Give up yet?"

"Not a chance!"

The Emboar stood up and brushed himself off before stomping the ground in an aggressive manner. With a snort, he smashed his fists together, shouting at the top of his lungs as his muscle mass suddenly grew. The Blaziken extended her talons in response, smirking as she gave her opponent a beckoning gesture. The Emboar complied, launching himself with surprising speed at her, a powerful punch missing her by inches as she countered with a fiery kick. The blow struck him hard in the side, but he did not slow down, sending a right hook in her direction. The two pokemon were equally matched, and the sheer speed and power of their attacks were astonishing. In fact, they were renowned as two of the strongest fight types in the region. By the time the fight was over, both participants were facing each other, panting tiredly... before smiling and bowing to each other.

"Another wonderful match, dear! You really caught me off guard with that kick..."

The Blaziken smiled. "Oh, stop. You're too good to not realize that was coming—you just tanked it as usual, you big lummox!"

David and Maria Fireheart laughed heartily before embracing each other. Sparring matches were a daily occurrence for the couple; in spite of their abuse by humans, pokemon were in many respects, natural warriors—and out of all the many types of pokemon in the world, none were more so than Fire and Fight types. By all accounts, the two were a happy pair, save for one thing: the lack of a child. Despite their attempts to produce offspring, Maria remained infertile. This saddened them both... until they learned of the adoption plan. The concept was simple: by adopting and raising human children, pokemon could ensure that those children grew up outside the corruptive influence of human society, and learn to live among pokemon as equals—thus ensuring the future survival and prosperity of both humans and pokemon alike.

Not all pokemon were pleased with this idea—there were understandably those who still had anger towards humanity for the crimes committed against them, and saw little difference between the brutal human government and the human children who grew up in its shadow. But not the Firehearts. On the contrary, they had already submitted a request for adoption, and were awaiting a response—which, incidentally, came in the form of the ringing of their phone. Maria eagerly answered it.

"Hello? Yes, this is she... You have? When will we meet him?... Really? Thank you! We'll be right there!"

David watched as his wife embraced him once more, joy in her voice.

"We have a son! They want us to meet the boy this afternoon!"

"A child... Thank Arceus! I can't wait to meet him!"

"Please, come in and sit. The boy will be in shortly."

The Chancey gestured to a couple of chairs in front of her desk. Maria smiled.

"Once again, Nora, we can't thank you enough for this opportunity. What can you tell us about the child?"

Nora looked back with a sorrowful expression. "I'm afraid that the young one does not have a very happy story. The humans who gave birth to him abused him terribly... we found him hiding in a closet, abandoned and underfed. He seems to have trust issues, and you may have difficulty reaching him; in addition, the abuse he suffered has negatively affected his self-esteem. But your reputation for honor and kindness may be just what he needs, and if you can build up his confidence, I have no doubt the boy will heal in time."

The Firehearts frowned sympathetically at the story. They had fought in the uprising, and seen firsthand the kind of evil some humans were capable of, but the idea of ANYONE—pokemon or otherwise—harming their own children in such a disgusting manner both horrified and angered them. The couple sat in silence for a few moments, taking it all in. Then, finally, David spoke up, his voice filled with conviction.

"We understand, and we'll do our best to help the boy in any way we can. Rest assured, he will be safe with us."

The chancey smiled in response. "I'm glad to hear it. Ah, here he comes now..."

An Espeon led the child into the room; his dark brown hair was short and messy, his hazel eyes looking nervously at his feet. Nora patted his head and spoke in her usual gentle tone.

"Cole, I'd like you to meet David and Maria Fireheart! They'll be taking care of you from now on."

The small human boy gazed up at the Emboar, but said nothing.

"Hello, Cole. We're your new parents!"

The child in question remained silent, staring David right in the eye with a suspicious expression. In response, Maria reached out to give the boy a hug. Cole attempted to pull back, but found himself enveloped in the Blaziken's arms as she spoke to him in a soothing voice.

"Don't be afraid, Cole. We won't hurt you. No one will hurt you ever again. You're safe now..."

To his own surprise, Cole didn't even try to tear himself away from the hug. He didn't know why—this was a kind of closeness that he had never experienced before, and though it definitely felt good, it also confused him. Everything he had experienced told him that this was too good to be true; after all, who would want to adopt him when his own mother and father had rejected and abandoned him? Cole didn't exactly have a choice in the matter, but that didn't mean he had to accept this new life. And if it came down to it, he could always try to run away.

Little did he know that eventually, running away would be the last thing on his mind.

Yes, this fic will have feels in it. Expect lots of "aww" moments as little Cole is slowly healed by his new family.