All throughout the world, thousands of trainers easily bond with their Pokémon. The trainers get to build a sense of character, and the Pokémon get unconditional love and a chance to better themselves. For most people, training Pokémon is a rewarding experience that prepares them for life ahead.

Kylie Sunderland was not one of those people.

At first the young girl had showed real promise. She camped outside the Pallet Town professor's lab for days, helping clean the lab and running errands, to prove to him that she was ready to own her own Pokémon. Impressed by her resolve, Professor Oak gave her a small Charmander. Kylie Sunderland was just seven years old.

It has always been the policy of professors entrusted with Pokémon to give them out to children no younger than ten. Younger children may lack the responsibility required to properly care for their Pokémon, and manage their unique powers.

After the case of Kylie Sunderland, experts advise that a professor caught giving a Pokémon to a child under ten should face six to nine years in federal prison.

My name is Dr. Steven Harrison. Some of my colleagues study fields such as Pokémon evolution, or Pokémon breeding. My field is a little more specialized.

I study the effects of Pokémon on the criminally insane.

These findings are being published with the hope that measures will be taken to prevent something like the Kylie Sunderland case from ever happening again.

I submit these findings for your consideration.

"I AM GOING TO BE THE GREATEST TRAINER IN THE WORLD!" announced Kylie Sunderland.

"That's nice kid," the usher said. His cigarette dangled limply in his mouth, and he breathed smoke into Kylie's face. "But the rest of these kids also plan on being the greatest trainer in the world, and they all got here first. Back of the line."

Kylie scowled. It was completely unfair. The only reason she was late for her Pewter Gym challenge was because she had spent all of last night training Charmander in preparation for it. She'd fallen asleep in the grass at five in the morning, and woken up several hours after the Pewter Gym opened. By the time she'd made a quick stop at the Pokémon centre, there were already over thirty people in line.

"This sucks," Kylie pouted. Her pouting didn't seem to do much to change the usher's mind. Her grandmother had always told her that she was irresistible when she pouted, but the usher just pointed to the back of the line and blew more smoke in her face.

Kylie continued to pout as she stalked over to the back of the line. She stood behind a stocky looking bug catcher, who smelled strongly of deodorant.

"Got here late, huh?" the bug catcher said. He seemed pleased that there was someone even farther back in the line than he was. "You'd never catch me doing that. A bug catcher always rises early!"

Kylie blinked. "There are thirty two people in front of you."

"They… rose early too. Pewter's the first gym, so it gets the most challengers. Upstarts who think they're going to be the next champion, and get their butt handed to them."

Kylie wondered if that was directed at her.

"So what's your strategy?" the bug catcher asked.

Kylie patted the sole Pokéball on her belt confidently. "I'm going in with Charmander here!"

The bug catcher began to laugh. "Are you kidding me!? The one starter that's weak against the first two gyms – that's what you picked!?"

Kylie frowned. "You're a bug catcher – bugs are weak against rock types too."

The bug catcher sniffed. "So what if they are? At least I caught my Pokémon naturally, I wasn't given them by some nutty old professor. That gives me the kind of killer edge that your stupid lab Pokémon could never match."

Kylie decided she didn't like the bug catcher. "I think my Pokémon's better than yours, anyway."

"Oh yeah?" the bug catcher said. "What can your Charmander possibly do that my bugs can't?"

"This," Kylie said. She threw the Pokéball and her small orange Charmander popped out. He immediately breathed a stream of fire directly at the bug catcher's pants.

"OH SWEET ARCEUS, MY PANTS ARE ON FIRE!" screamed the bug catcher.

"They sure are," Kylie agreed.

The bug catcher ran from the line screaming. The usher fortunately was dealing with a small Zigzagoon that had taken an interest in his shoe, and he didn't notice Kylie's blatant breach of trainer's ethics. Kylie happily stepped forward. The line had just gotten a little shorter.

Charmander waved his tail uneasily. "Trainer, was that such a good idea?"

Kylie sighed. Normally she was glad for the Pokémon translator she'd bought in Viridian City – it had been annoying having a travel partner that would only ever say his name – but she didn't like the second guessing that Charmander was prone to doing. She supposed it was all part of the learning curve though; she was learning to be a Pokémon's trainer, and he was learning to be a trainer's Pokémon.

And so, to avoid awkward conversations about morality and stuff, Kylie rummaged through her backpack for a Pokémon treat, and gave it to Charmander to shut him up.

Over the next four hours, Kylie and Charmander stood in line. The sun beat over her head, and Kylie cursed her decision not to wear sunblock. She made small talk with her Pokémon, called her grandmother to check in on her back in Pallet Town, and stared blankly at the sky, killing time while waiting for her very first gym challenge. She waited so long that she was barely nervous anymore.

Finally Kylie and Charmander arrived at the front of the line. The usher looked up at her with a weary sigh. It looked like he'd been through a very long day.

"Welcome to the Pewter Gym," he said. The thirty trainers before Kylie had clearly drained all the usher's enthusiasm. "Your thrilling adventure towards the Pokémon Championship begins here. Hooray. For. You. Can I see some ID?"

Kylie flashed her trainer's badge.

The usher looked over her briefly. "Little young to be a trainer, aren't you?"

"I started early," Kylie was always proud of telling people this fact. "Professor Oak had to write in to the Pokémon League for special approval."

"Fascinating," said the usher, who didn't sound like he found that fascinating in the least. "Well we're skipping all the junior trainers you'd normally face today, since the line's so long. So you can just go right ahead in and face Brock."

Kylie blinked. "That's it? No drama? No exciting entry?"

The usher sighed. "Kid, this isn't the battle for the Championship, it's your first gym badge. Don't count your Torchics before they hatch."

With those inspiring words of wisdom, Kylie stepped past the gloomy usher and into the Pewter City Gym. Brock stood at the end of the gym, on an elevated platform. Though he'd faced thirty challengers before her, you couldn't tell that to look at him. He had the kind of easy confidence that must have come naturally to Gym Leaders.

"Welcome to Pewter City Gym!" he announced. "I'm Brock! It's great to see someone as young as you interested in Pokémon!"

"I'm special!" Kylie announced. Her grandmother always told her it was rude to say that she was smarter or more special than people, but her grandmother wasn't here, so to hell with that noise.

"Well we'll see about that," Brock said. "How many Pokémon do you have with you?"

"The only one I need!" Kylie gestured to Charmander.

"We'll make this a one on one battle then." Brock pulled a Great Ball from his belt. "Are you ready to fight?"

"I'm ready to completely crush you!" Kylie replied, grinning. She'd decided that she was going to attach her Boulder Badge to a bracelet on her wrist.

"Don't count on it!" Brock shouted. "Go, Onix!"

Brock threw the Pokéball in the air and a massive grey creature appeared in a flash of light. Its entire body was made up of massive grey boulders, and it had a horn that was larger than Kylie's whole body. She hadn't known Pokémon could come that big.

But Kylie recovered quickly. "Go, Charmander!"

Charmander looked up at the massive creature doubtfully. "Uhhh… are you sure about this, Trainer?"

"Of course I am!" Kylie replied. "Haven't you ever seen a gym battle on TV? The scrappy underdog always wins! And who could be more of an underdog than you? Look at that thing – it could swallow you in one gulp!"

"That isn't helping my confidence," Charmander replied.

"Don't worry – I have a plan!" Kylie said. "Charmander, Ember!"

Charmander raced at the massive rock snake and released a blast of sparks from his mouth. Onix didn't even try to dodge, and the sparks barely fazed him.

"Rookie mistake kid," Brock said. "Fire isn't any good against a rock type."

Kylie began to pout. That had been exactly what the bug catcher with the flammable pants had said. But she wasn't about to quit yet – Professor Oak himself had written to the Pokémon League for her trainer's license, and she had promised her grandmother to do her best on her Pokémon journey. She wasn't going to give up now, she just needed a plan.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kylie noticed the usher still by the door, the one who blew smoke in her face. And all of a sudden she had it.

"Charmander, Smokescreen!" Kylie shouted.

Charmander coughed, and smoke went directly into Onix's face. The massive Pokémon roared in surprise. It swung its tail at Charmander to attempt a Slam attack, but missed by a foot.

"We've got it, Charmander!" Kylie shouted. "It can't even see us to attack!"

"Not bad at all," Brock smiled. "You've got some skills, kid. But you still have a whole lot of growing up to do before you can beat me."

He turned to his Pokémon. "Onix, Rollout!"

Onix began to extend itself. Stretched out, it was as long as the entire width of the gym. Its horn touched one wall and its tail touched the other.

Then it began to roll.

Onix couldn't see where it was going, but it didn't need to. It barreled towards Charmander picking up speed every second, getting closer and closer.

"I can't get out of the way!" Charmander cried. "It's too big! What do I do, trainer!?"

Kylie was silent. She had nothing.

Onix crashed into Charmander, and the tiny lizard went flying backwards, and crashed into the statue at the front of the gym listing trainers who'd defeated the gym leader. Kylie's name wouldn't be on that plaque anytime soon.

Wordlessly, Kylie recalled Charmander. Brock did the same to his Onix.

Kylie thought about letting down her grandmother. She thought about the stupid usher outside with his cigarettes. And she thought about the sound Charmander had made when he went crashing backwards and hit the concrete statue.

When he noticed Kylie's silence, Brock looked concerned. "Hey, don't feel bad kid. Trainers a lot older than you lost their first gym battle. When I started my journey the first Gym Leader had fighting types, and I got my tail handed to me. If you need to cry kid, don't worry, that's totally fine… kid?"

Kylie pulled at her hair and screamed.

Brock blinked. He hadn't expected that.