This is my second story. Please review to tell me any mistakes you see or anything that you don't understand about the story in general. Thank you.

Italic is for thoughts.

Bold is for emphasis.

I remember back when I had first met Nirav. It was eight years ago in Unova, during the season of autumn. It started when I was outside the forest, resting comfortably in my shell, hidden carefully in a pile of fallen leaves, and was thinking about things that were currently occupying my mind.

The first thing that I thought about was the schedule for tomorrow. You know, like normal Shuckle things like gather berries, make Berry Juice, sleep, and blah blah blah. But the second thing that was occupying my mind was battling.

Unlike other Shuckles, I was born with an instinct to battle. You see, I was once in a battle with a trainer as a wild Pokémon, and a trainer unlike any other. He was powerful, but not powerful enough to knock me out in one hit. Eventually I lost, but that was because I didn't know what to do in the current situation. I didn't mind getting injured, but the fight was…it was exhilarating.

I needed to know more, learn more, and battle more. Normal Shuckles don't trouble themselves with this sort of thing, but I don't get why you would spend the rest of your life making a juice. I know that that's what we use to drink and stay alive, but we make much more than enough in a lifetime. Besides, there are human factories to do this kind of stuff.

So I try to learn how to battle. I do this by watching the trainers that come by here every day to train their Pokémon from the bushes. I try to replicate their techniques, most of them ending in failure. The few that I could copy were simple moves, like Bite or Tackle. One day, a local Pokémon happened to stroll by the spot where I trained. Apparently, it looked so funny for a Shuckle to attempt to battle that he brought his friends, who were some local thugs.

Eventually they tracked me to my home, which was a small cave under a boulder near the beach, and ambushed me when I wasn't looking. They pinned me down so that the leader, a Scrafty, could talk to me properly. He asked me things like why I wanted to train and why I even bothered trying.

I replied with: "Because I don't wanna spend my life making refreshments." And did you know what he said? He said: "Well, you gotta face the facts, because that's all that you'll ever be able to do."

He and his minions all cackled and walked back to the forest. They never bothered me again. I wondered if it was true. Of course, it isn't. I'll become stronger, and I'll be feared throughout the region, I thought. But then I realized how farfetched that sounded. Feared throughout the region? I'm just a Shuckle. All I do is make juice and hide in my shell when I'm attacked until I fainted.

Rain had started, and had made the ground muddy. It wasn't a good time to go collecting berries again. I'll just wait until morning and sleep until then. I want to forget my idea of battling as soon as possible.

Just as I was getting ready to rest, I heard footsteps. I looked up. A human child, about 7 years of age, stood at the mouth of the cave, looking at me with curiosity. I curled up in my shell, hoping that he would just go away. I had enough trouble for today.

He crouched down until he was balancing on the balls of his feet. He whispered: "I saw what those Pokémon where doing to you. Were you in trouble?"

He was a curious human, and it looked like he wasn't going away anytime soon, so I peeked out of my shell. He was wearing light green shorts, with a plain blue T-shirt and a dark blue windbreaker. His short black hair was poking out in many directions, and he had a playful smile of his face.

I nodded. He then whispered: "Oh, what for? I got punished because I was inside playing games too much. What are you in trouble for? Stealing? Breaking stuff? Oh, what about battling?"

I nodded at the last one. "Oh, I have a friend named Black. He got in trouble for battling with his friend's dad's Pokémon."

The human looked around, like he was afraid that someone was watching. "I have an idea! How about you become my Pokémon?"

I looked up at him. He saw my interest and then said: "I don't need a Pokémon now, but Mom said that I should learn how to be friends with one, and when I get older, I can make them super tough so that I can protect my family and win tournaments!"

It looked like a lot of things to do, but then I realized that I could become stronger if I stayed with him. Should I stick to my dream? I thought.

"What do you say?" The child asked.

I hesitated, then nodded.

Well, there you go. Please tell me if you liked this or not.