It was a new day in the Sinnoh Region. It had been a long treck from her home in Florama Town to Jubilife where Proffessor Rowan was scheduled to make an appearance at the trainer school. Claire had been lucky enough to receive a special pokemon from Professor Rowan, a Piplup! The creature was so sweet and adorable. She had named it Quinn and since she and Quinn began battling together, their strength had grown significantly. She knew she was still a beginning trainer, but with each day she and Quinn won more and more battles, she had even caught two other pokemon: A shinx who she named Elise, and a Starly named Ace. Claire now felt that she was ready to take on her first gym and she was just in luck. When she first entered Jubilife, she kept hearing about a new gym that had recently opened up there.

Claire heard many say the gym was very difficult but there seemed to be something strange as she asked around. It seemed as though most of the gyms challengers were boys who had lost. There were some boys who had won a "spirit badge" from the gym, but the majority seemed to have lost. But even stranger, it was hard for her to find any girls who had challenged the gym at all and the few she did talk to said they had won. The only explanation for this oddity that Claire could think of is that perhaps girls are generally intimidated by the amount of other trainers who challenge the gym and lose, and that the leader has noticed this and takes it easy on the female challengers with enough courage to challenge the gym? Well, there was only one way to find out. Claire was walking down the streets of Jubilife, headed straight toward her first gym.

As she walked, Claire found herself thinking about all the details. First of all, what type of gym would it be? Judging by the name of the badge, she could only assume it to use ghost types. That could pose a bit of a threat, however all of her pokemon knew at least one move besides a basic normal type attack so she should be able to take care of ghost types despite their immunity to normal-type attacks... perhaps most people aren't and she simply trained harder than most other people? That would make sense as to how so few people have won. She soon arrived at the gym which seemed to be modeled after a medieval castle of some sort.

Claire reached up to knock on the gate when suddenly the door began to creek open. Inside the building was dark but from the light seeping in from the open door she could make out the shape of a lone Gardevoir. However, something about the look on the Gardevoir's face when it saw her rubbed her the wrong way. It seemed to have a worried expression rather than a friendly greeting one. As though it was trying to apologize for something... The Gardevoir made no sound or even projected any of its thoughts into her mind like she had heard Psychic types are known to do. It was almost like this creature was just an empty, hollow puppet. Maybe it wasn't real? Maybe it was just some animatronic designed to look like a Gardevoir? It seemed like a strange choice for a decoration... The pokemon simply stood to the side and gestured with its arms, inviting the young trainer in with a bow.

Claire hesitantly takes a few steps into the dark room and suddenly the door is closed, leaving her trapped in total darkness. Claire couldn't help but feel a little nervous until suddenly the room was filled with a blinding light, forcing the girl to cover her eyes for a few seconds until they finally adjusted to reveal a particularly simple pokemon battle arena. Across from her on the other side of the arena stood a tall, muscular man.
"U-um..." Claire stutters "I-I'm here to challenge the gym..." The man only laughs at the way she speaks and responds with an intimidating, gruff voice.
"Very well then, go on! Send out your pokemon." Claire nods in response and prepares herself for battle.
"Right! Ace! Come on out!" Claire throws out her pokeball and out came a small Starly who then flew out onto the battlefield with a battle-ready look. This only makes the gym leader laugh.
"Hahaha! This is your first gym challenge, isn't it?" The leader asks to the discouragement of Claire.
"Wh-what is that supposed to mean...?" She asks, blushing a little in embarassment.
"Nothing, but just keep this in mind. This gym doesn't take it easy on newbies. You might want to reconsider your challenge, little girl!"
These words only make Claire feel even more determined to prove herself. "Well that's great!" She shouts with a smile. "It would be disappointing if you just let me win!
The man only shakes his head and smiles to himself, clearly thinking about something... something that must be getting him excited... but what? Does he have a special strategy? Maybe it's simply that he thinks he was going to win. "Alright. Let's get this over with, Scyther!" He tosses out a pokeball and out came the very intimidating bug type. It's two scythe-like arms looked nothing short of dangerous. This pokemon certainly looked strong... would she be able to take it on as well as whatever other pokemon he might have? Perhaps he was simply going for the intimidation factor by sending his strongest pokemon out first. Maybe his others aren't nearly as powerful. Besides, Scyther is a bug and flying type pokemon! Two of her pokemon have a type advantage over it! Maybe this wasn't going to be so difficult after all.

Before she could think too long however, the man shouts out a command to his pokemon to the surprise of Claire. "Scyther! Slash!" The Scyther immediately dashes toward the Starly with great speed, causing Claire to gasp.
"Ace! Quick Attack!" She shouts out to her pokemon, the tiny bird responds by charging at its opponent with much less impressive speed, but because of the special abilities of the move, Starly still managed to hit Scyther before getting hit itself. Claire gasps in surprise as the Scyther's blade hits the Starly, causing massive damage and sending the pokemon flying into the wall. "Ace!!" She shrieks, unsure of whether or not the poor creature is okay. She calls the pokemon back into its pokeball. "Don't worry, I-I'll get you to a pokemon center as soon as possible!"
"Heheheh. Go on, girl. Show me your next pokemon." Claire began to feel nervous, she didn't want to force her other pokemon to endure the same thing Ace had just gone through... and Ace's quick attack hadn't even left a mark on the pokemon! Still, Claire had no choice. She had gone through all the trouble to get to prove herself, she wasn't going to stop here.

"Elise! Let's go!" She calls out her Shinx and in only a matter of seconds, Elise is thrown to the side in much the same way. "Ah! D-dammit... Return! She called Elise back to its pokeball. "Okay. It's all up to you, Quinn!" She threw out her final and strongest Pokemon. Her piplup pops out of the pokeball, ready for battle. "Okay, get ready!" The leader laughs.
"So this is your last pokemon, huh? Well I think this battle has gone by too fast, so I'll let it last a bit longer. Scyther! False Swipe!" The scyther immediately charges at Quinn, slashing at her in much the same way as with Claire's other pokemon, however this time, the Piplup was left on the battlefield, the poor creature was in absolute pain and had fallen over, unable to get up but not quite knocked out.
"Quinn!" Claire screams in surprise once again.
"Heheheh, False Swipe again!" Hearing the leader command that move yet again made Claire's heart sink as she watched the Scyther attack Quinn once again. Claire could hear the loud squeal of pain coming form the poor Piplup's beak.
"QUINN!!" She shrieks in absolute horror.
"Again!!" The man commands his Scyther who mercilessly attacks the poor penguin once again. Claire can take the torture no more and drops to her knees, covering her ears and beginning to cry.
"STOP!! STOP IT PLEASE!!" She screams out, sobbing as she listens to the man's next words.
"Finish it off." The Scyther responds with another slash attack, finally knocking poor creature out of its misery.

Claire immediately calls Quinn back into its pokeball and just hugs it tightly against her chest, sobbing.
"I-I'm sorry... I'm so so sorry... I-I'll never battle agian..." She whimpers, feeling completely guilty for the cruel punishment her pokemon were forced to endure. She slowly rises to her feet, turning her back on the gym leader, feeling completely humiliated and ashamed... she couldn't keep going on with her dream... not after this... It was like her entire life was a lie... The Gardevoir was still watching her with the same sorry, worried expression on its face, only now it seemed to be crying. Perhaps it could feel her emotions...? Her sorrow...? But something about the look on its eyes... it was as though it was trying to communicate that the horrors were not over. Claire tried to push the door open but it seemed to be locked. The lights behind her shut off and Claire gasped in fear. "H-hey! U-Unlock the door! I need to heal my pokemon!"
"Heheheh..." As Claire turned around she suddenly felt a cold, sharp blade against her neck and as her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, she could make out the faint shape of the gym leader and his Scyther. "You're about to learn a lesson you'll wish you learned long before entering this gym." Claire began to tremble in fear at the man's words... what did he have in mind...? Wh-what was going to happen to her!?