Why I can't tell you?

      

       Many trained Pokémon battle under their trainer's orders. Many of them are like that because they want to please their masters. Others just like to compete, to show they are the strongest, or to be praised. Until now, I didn't think so much about it. My strength grown day by day, my motivation was unknown. The good feeling of doing it right, almost without thinking, as if it were natural. Now I wish I could have been better, stronger, faster... had more power to protect you. But more important, to had been braver to tell you. I always have been shy.

      

       When I was a wild Psyduck, almost always lived by myself since I left my parent's nest. Oh... they were great Golducks, the best swimmers I've ever seen. Swimming effortless through the river that was near where I was born. I always wanted to swim like they. The water has that soothing feeling, you know... Refreshing in the hottest days, silky against my feathers, pure, clean and tasty. There's no better sound like that of the running water. When I was a young yellow duck, it could relieve me from my chronic headaches. That's why I took that cave near the river as my house.

      

       Quite away from the other Psyducks, almost near the forest but in the shore of the river, I had my home. The entrance covered by some plants and tangles, making it the perfect place to hide. That once saved me from a Spearow. The inners of the small grotto were cool when the summer came, and warm when the winter was harsh. There, near the forest, I could go and pick up some berries and fruits to eat. Sweet red apples and Pecha berries are my favorite. All in all, was a good simple life, if not a little dangerous. The forest cloaked all kinds of unknown dangers.

      

       Then, one day, I saw a human. He was tall and youthful, barely he was an adult. We were kinda used to see them. A town and a place full of machines and electric Pokémon were nearby, and humans quite frequented this place.

      

       “Excellent, I found him!” He gasped.

      

       He then took something from the right pocket of his dark olive pants and thrown me an spherical object, hitting me hard in the head. 

      

       Instantaneously I felt I was being sucked by the artifact, all the world around going into a darkness. My head hurt. Why in the head? I didn't liked the feeling. It was like dreaming, but I never agreed to...

      

       My head started to hurt badly, wildly. I struggled to get free. If it was a nightmare, I wanted to wake up.

      

       Then, I escaped. All the world returned to normal and I was back, facing the young black haired man.

      

       “As I thought. He's not a weakling to be captured like that. Go and get him, King!” He said grabbing another ball from his pocket and throwing it to the ground.

      

       From the sphere a Pokémon that I never had saw before appeared in front of me. Was big, twice my size. He looked like a big dark blue bird, I could tell by the look of the feet and wings. A big yellow beak that was decorated with three tall horns crowned his head. The wings were round, sharpened in the end, as the edges of them.

      

       I panicked, tried to run as fast as I could.

      

       “Weaken him with an Ice Beam,” I heard the man order.

      

       I felt something cold hit my back. The stress of that situation... I don't remember what happened then. I only remember that I had a big headache and lost consciousness.

      

       Next thing I know was that I was lying somewhere else. It was a human building, a strange place. I sniffed, still cold from what happened. But I was well tucked up in white and warm blankets. A red haired lady entered in the room.

      

       “He's doing fine,” the lady in pink and white dress said. “Good thing that you bring him quickly here.”

      

       Then, the same young man and Pokémon entered the room. He looked at me through his almond black eyes, relief on his face.

      

       “I'm so sorry,” started the Pokémon with a modest tone. “Never was my intention to put you cold like that, but you frenzied back there.”

      

       “What? What do you mean?” I replied.

      

       “Uh? You don't remember it?” He asked. “You used Disable on me and, since I couldn't use my other attacks as the master ordered, I had to withstand you scratching on me. Good thing I'm hard or that could had hurt,” he said as he grinned.

      

       “Yeah?” I said at the same time I was trying to remember. “Sorry then.”

      

       “King,” he said, extending to me his paw in a friendly way.

      

       “Uh?” I said still confused at the same time I shake paws with him.

      

       “That my name is King,” he chuckled.

      

       “Oh...” I said embarrassed, now returning to reality again.

      

       “There King. We should leave him rest some more,” the young man said amused.

      

       They leaved the room and I covered my face with the blanket in sheer embarrassment.

      

       I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in home again. Or that appeared to be. Was that a dream?

      

       “I think I should present myself,” a voice said out of the nothing.

      

       Everything faded to another place, as if waking up again from another sleep. I was outside, in a human park. The young man that I met was there, sitting in the bench that was in front of me, along with a brown bag.

      

       “Hi. How are you?” He asked politely.

      

       “Fine... I think,” I answered confused.

      

       “My name is Takai. I'm pleased, little Psyduck,” he said as he grinned, his medium long black hair bounced with this gesture.

      

       “Are you hungry?” He said, picking an apple from his bag and showing it to me.

      

       “Gee! Apple!” I took it and then ate it whole.

      

       “Hahaha,” he laughed, “I guess you were.”

      

       “Well, I like sweet things and apples are my favorites,” I said blushing.

      

       “Heh, don't be ashamed. I have more.”

      

       Was he really listening to me? I could understand him, but I had the feeling that he couldn't do it too much. Now I know that only after a long time, a human starts to like know what are you saying, more to empathy than really understanding the Pokémon language.

      

       “I'll train you and you'll meet her,” he sighed touching his chest, grasping his white shirt where his heart was. “She asked me to name you Sidney...” he chuckled as he continued. “Sidney, the Psyduck...” he shook his head. “Sid. Sid, the Psyduck. That sounds better. I hope she doesn't get upset by the change.”

      

       Then, he took one of those ball things with a black web and blue green background on the upper half from his right side.

      

       “Return to your Pokéball Sid,” he said pointing the artifact towards to me.

      

       The world vanished again and I was again in the nest. My new nest.

      

       “So this is a Pokéball...” I inquired looking at the place. “It's like dreaming, but I'm not asleep.”

      

       The place was nearly the same as my old home. Near the opening there was the same plants and tangles, there was a river outside. Almost as real, but it had its limits. I found that I couldn't go beyond but it didn't mattered. The place was very nice.

      

       “Sid...” I recalled. “Somewhat, I like that name,” I said blushing. I never had a name of my own, and until today, that makes me feel unique.

      

       The next day I woke up, ready to start that training I've heard of. Some Golducks, back in the wild, that returned from the human world said that humans called Pokémon trainers took care of them. Made them strong and fit for battle. Those were the ones that protected others. Meanwhile, I heard there was some mean humans that just used them, and said to distrust humans and their slaves.

      

       Takai seemed nice. He didn't seam to be of the latter, as King was very nice and happy. Now I know that I was very lucky in meeting them. Though I always wondered who was that ‘she’ he mentioned.

      

       “Let's go, Sid!” I heard Takai calling me, interrupting my train of thought.

      

       King was out too, we were near a pond. He released a pair of Poliwags, a Squirtle and a Lapras. So many kinds of Pokémon I've never seen before, except the Poliwags. There was many in the river were I grown up, as their evolutions Poliwhirls and Poliwraths. Quite strong and good swimers but peaceful creatures were they.

      

       “Today we are going to train. Guys, meet Sid,” Takai said almost ceremoniously and everybody greeted me. “But first, let us eat breakfast and rest,” he continued.

      

       He served a bowl of Pokémon Food to each one of us. The round dark blue Poliwags bounced here and there mischievously, the crimson-shelled Squirtle thanked Takai at the same time he wagged his bushy blue tail and the Lapras lowed her head extending her long soft neck to nuzzle affectionately the right side of the master.

      

       I was nervous to speak to any of the other guys, but I sat next to King. I was a little embarrassed, though the food smelled good.

      

       “C'mon kiddo. Savor one of this. It's very tasty,” King said.

      

       I took a little of the pellets and I found the taste wasn't so bad. In fact, I liked it. I finished the whole bowl. Takai smiled as he looked me eat, he soon took out his own lunch and started to eat as well.

      

       With the full bellies we went to rest a little, gazing at the clouds that traveled in the sky. Short after that, we started the training.

      

       “King, lead the way,” the master said.

      

       “Observe this, kid,” King said as he dashed forward the Poliwags. They started to shoot him water. King avoided the spurts with a great dexterity. Despite the efforts of the Poliwags to hit him, he didn't even got soaked.

      

       “Now's your turn,” King said inviting me.

      

       “What? Wait! I...” was all was I managed to say and I was reached by one of the water assaults of the playful twin Poliwags.

      

       Screaming, quacking and jumping I tried my best to evade the attacks. The Poliwags were laughing stupidly at me and taking turns to shoot me.

      

       “Hey! Don't be so mean!” Takai said angry.

      

       “Sorry master...” the Poliwags said in unison knowing that their fun was cut out.

      

       “Sorry Sid,” they apologized to me, moving cutely their white tadpole tails, trying to look more inocents, just so I couldn't get angry with 'em.

      

       “No problem,” I said exhausted meanwhile I caught my breath lying in the ground.

      

       Later that day, I trained with the Squirtle some melee and he taught me some defensive techniques. The brown-eyed turtle wasn't abusive in his treatment with me, so that class wasn't so bad.

      

       Finally, the big female Lapras put me up to testing my endurance. She looked very strong, though her gaze was warm and motherly. Those hazel eyes giving me a reassuring look inspiring me confidence.

      

       “Hi, I'm Nise,” the ivory-shelled ferry Pokémon greeted. I'm going to teach you to withstand the attacks of the enemy. I'll try to go easy on you since this is your first day.

      

       “Ok,” I replied energetically.

      

       She soon started to blow a freezing wind against me. I closed the eyes and struggled to stand still, but soon I couldn't and ended flying thru the skies.

      

       When I woke up again, the master was taking care of some of my cuts with a liquid from a purple bottle. This first day was horrible. All I wanted to do was to return to the Pokéball again.

      

       Some moons passed, and day-by-day I got better in the training, constancy and effort put into it. I could withstand most of Nise's Blizzard, dominated some of the defensive techniques and learned to evade the Poliwag's Water Guns. Although they still laughed out loud at my way of how I evaded those. True was that it was more for shame that I dodged the attacks than by reflexes.

      

       We, at the same time, always were on the move, changing places. I could hear sometimes some of my comrades fight in a Pokémon Battle. But I never got into one. The master never called me for one. His voice was firm, different when he was in battle: much more serious. And most of the time he won. He not only used Water Pokémon, but a lot more kinds of types as well.

      

       One day I asked King about it. What kind of other Pokémon had he met? How was to battle? For how much he has been on the master's side? What did he did? It turned out that he has been with the master for not so much time, but that he has been training and studying Pokémon since many years ago. That battles were mostly fun, but sometimes they were dangerous and that he, though had traveled alongside with Takai for many places, he didn't know how many different Pokémon were out there. "As many as you could imagine," he said. But all in all, that he was happy to be with a trainer with a good sense, although a little distracted.

      

       King taught me how to perfect some attacks. With the aid of Takai and my teacher King I learned how to shoot those gelid Ice Beams. I learnt that I had Psychic powers within since birth and dominated the art of hypnotizing, although with all that mind training I always ended with a hell of a migraine. Takai taught me a technique to calm my mind and focus me more through it, effectively diminishing my headaches for some hours.

      

       We finally reached the beach. The master released King and me from the Pokéballs, the sand being hot but not burning. He was in black shorts, shirtless, something quite new.

      

       “Let's go guys,” Takai said as he rushed into the sea.

      

       King ran to the master's side, jumping into the water and swimming up to where he was. Takai grabbed King so he could help him to keep on float.

      

       “What's up Sid?” He asked. “Don't you know how to swim?”

      

       Of course I knew how to swim, barely, but I never had entered into deep waters. The river that was my home in the wilderness ended in the ocean, so it wasn't my first time in a beach. But I remember that a wave once knocked me down when I was little and since then I've been a little uneasy at the salty waters.

      

       “C'mon! I'll teach you,” my master said swimming out of the water. I grabbed my chin blushing slightly in embarrassment as he carried me with him back to the sea. We went deeper, the waves moving us up and down. I panicked and started to trash around, splashing and struggling to get free from his grasp and return to firm land.

      

       “Calm down!” He said slightly frustrated.

      

       “What's wrong Sid?” King asked.

      

       “I don't like the waves. I'm getting dizzy and I think I'm going to throw up if we don't go back to the land,” I said quite scared.

      

       “Hahaha!” King laughed heartedly. “What kind of water Pokémon are you? Waves are fun,” he said smiling broadly.

      

       He then dived and swam ahead. He appeared on top of a wave, gliding on top of it over his belly, advancing back toward us. -Did you see? -he said when he got back.

      

       I stopped struggling. I wanted to do that. I wanted to learn to swim as my parents.

      

       “Do you want to know how to surf?” Takai asked me. I nodded.

      

       King took me by the paw and submerged us, feeling the pressure that the water made over me.

      

       “Swim!” He said without letting me go. I swam and found by myself that it wasn't that hard. I knew, somehow, how to do it, instinct taking over me.

      

       We dived up to the surface and ended further deep on the ocean. “You can control the wave, don't loose it!” King said as I watched a big wave coming toward us.

      

       The wave launched us upwards, rising us some feet from the sea level. I grabbed myself to the water, handling it like a cowboy would mount a wild Ponyta. Finally we reached the top of the wave, and started to advance with it, rushing to the coast. I handled it, grasping the inexistent reins, and the Ponyta was tamed.

      

       “Way to go Sid!” I heard Takai scream, cheering my achievement.

      

       “There you go kid,” King said as he released my paw.

      

       I flinched a little, but regained the balance and kept surfing. That was it! I was so happy and I lost my childhood fear completely. We frolicked on the beach until the sunset, and then, we moved back to the Pokémon Center to spent the night there.

      

       We slept on the lobby, as some other trainers; but this night was somewhat different: We stayed out of the Pokéballs. Not that we never did it before, but it was a rare occasion, often to celebrate, or to give some good change to the routine, or just to stay up late. I wondered what was this time...

      

       “Tomorrow is the day, Sid...” King told me, not addressing to me like "kiddo" or the like as usual.

      

       “What do you mean?” I asked dumbfounded.

      

       “Master's work has finished,” his voice trembling a little in sadness. “He's quite one of the best Pokémon tamers in the region. And I knew that we weren't training a new team member.”

      

       There was an awkward silence. “He's going to exchange you for another Pokémon.”

      

       “What!? Why?” I reluctantly protested.

      

       King just shook his head, not knowing what to say.

      

       “But he do knows what's he doing. My master would never let something bad happen to a Pokémon that he has taken care of,” he reassured me. “He only has exchanged Pokémon with responsible trainers and had never taken something in compensation.”

      

       Still, I was crushed. “I'm gonna miss you... you had been a wonderful teacher and I'm in a great debt with you...” Was the only thing I could say.

      

       “Nonsense!” He chuckled fighting some tears. “I'm not that good.”

      

       Was that hard for him? I'm sure it was. We shared our last night together as a party team until the tiredness emerged victorious over us. I still couldn't believe it, but decided against holding a grudge against Takai. He was a loving and devoted master and knew nothing could go wrong.

      

       The next morning he woke up early. Everybody was on their Pokéballs and I was the only one out.

      

       “Today I'm going to send you with a special someone,” he said softly. “Someone very dear to me. I want you to behave and take good care of her.”

      

       He hugged me, and then he let me go and pointed the Net Ball to me. “See you soon,” he finally said.

      

       I was back in my nest, just hearing how he started to talk on one of the videophones on the Pokémon Center.

      

       “Hello? Tak? Are you there?” A girl voice echoed.

      

       “Yes. Do you have the Eevee I was looking for?” Takai answered nervous.

      

       “Of course. My Vaporeon just had some kits. I picked one female for you,” the female chuckled girly.

      

       “Kanpeki! Let's trade then,” my original trainer said excited.

      

       “Take good care of my Eevee.”

      

       “And you take good care of Sid.”