• ((This is told from the point of view of Grace, my character's shiny Gardevoir. Comments welcome.))

    Bright light was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. I squinted against the light, waiting until my eyes could adjust. The next thing I saw was someone, a human, in a white coat, standing over me, looking down at me. I tried to sit up, only to find that my arms and legs were strapped down to some kind of metal table. What in the world is going on? I wondered.

    "Good, you're awake," the human said, and a smile crossed his face. This was not a good smile, however, and a look at his emotions told me he wasn't there to help me. What was this human planning to do to me? It wouldn't be long before I found out.

    I discovered that this human that kept watch over me was some kind of—scientist, I think was the word. As it turns out, I was being held captive in some kind of lab, where they did experiments on Pokemon that were like me. I don't know what kind of experiments they did on the others that were there, but they sounded quite painful, and I found out just how painful when they put me into some kind of machine that zapped me with electricity. Apparently, the purpose of this test was to see how much power I had, though with me being as little as I was, I didn't have much. Still, that didn't stop the scientists from doing other experiments. On the rare occasion that I was allowed contact with others that were in the lab, the scientists would pit us against each other, wanting to see who was stronger. I always lost these matches, and they would always punish me afterward.

    Why do they do this? I wondered. Why keep putting me through these tests? The result is always the same, and it likely won't ever change. Not that the scientists could hear me, of course. These were my own personal thoughts, ones that I had no intention of letting out.

    Over time, I did get stronger, and managed to evolve to the next stage in my growth. My power grew after I evolved, and the scientists put me through even more rigorous testing, including pitting me against Pokemon that I had a type weakness against. After one hard battle, the first scientist I'd seen upon waking up in the lab approached me and recalled me into my Pokéball, then let me out in the testing room where he ran tests on me. I was expecting to be punished, and he didn't disappoint, smacking me around and telling me how worthless I was.

    "How is it that even after evolving, you still can't beat a Pokemon that's weaker than you?" he shouted. "A Psychic type like you should be able to beat that Houndour easily!"

    But it's a dark type, I wanted to say. My powers have no effect on it. Of course, I didn't say this aloud; although I knew how to communicate telepathically, the scientist would smack me every time I did so. Therefore, I wasn't allowed to tell him that I couldn't win against the Houndour he repeatedly pitted me against. That particular Houndour loved to battle, and liked nothing more than beating me every time. I longed for the day when I could finally beat the arrogant Fire/Dark type, but I knew it would be a long time coming, if it came at all.

    And so the testing and battling continued. I hated the battling most of all, but there was nothing I could do to put a stop to it. If I refused to battle, I was punished even more than when I lost, so I learned to battle even when I knew I would lose. It was after another particularly grueling battle against that same Houndour that the scientist strapped me to the table again and started poking me with different needles, saying that what he was giving me would make me stronger. He didn't seem to heed my screams of pain when he did this, nor did any of the other scientists. In fact, they seemed to revel in my pain, only caring about making me able to beat that blasted Houndour. I grew to hate and fear humans because of these scientists' experiments on me and the other Pokemon in the lab.

    There was always the hope that the lab would finally close, but of course, none of us entertained those thoughts. We couldn't afford to let ourselves feel hope, in fear that the scientists would make our lives even worse than they already were. None of us wanted to be there, but what Pokemon wants to spend their life in a place where they always run tests on you, trying to figure out how to make you do what they want and succeed? No sane Pokemon that I know of wants that kind of life. Eventually, I lost count of how long I'd been there at the lab; I don't think any of us knew how long we were actually in that horrible place. We'd all basically given up hope that life would ever get better, and resigned ourselves to our lives as they were. This is why it came as such a shock when the lab was stormed by humans in blue uniforms, along with some Growlithe and a couple of Arcanine.