Just Keep Swimming
The world turned white.
This couldn't be it, could it? One minute, he felt the purple rat sink its teeth into his tail fin, sending pain shooting through his body, and the next minute he was blind, the world obscured by a brilliant light. Not only that, but he no longer felt any pain in his tail, nor anywhere else on his body. No, he thought. Surely this isn't the end. I've come so far – it can't end like this!
He saw his friends and his mother and father. He only had one memory of his father, had only known his father for a few moments shortly after his egg hatched. He remembered his father being taken away, the talon suddenly thrust into the water closing around his body and wrenching him out of the water. He had tried to swim after his father, but he was weak and his mother prevented him from getting very far, grabbing his tail in her mouth and shepherding him downstream despite his cries.
She took him to a little marsh, where the reeds were thick enough that the talons wouldn't easily grasp them and the waters were calm enough that he would not be carried away. Here she taught him how to eat, how to swim, and how to avoid the numerous predators of their kind – creatures that could fly (these were the ones with the talons that had taken his father away), creatures that could swim, and creatures that walked on the land. Among these land creatures, there was one that walked on two legs and summoned other creatures from metal orbs. He learned to fear these creatures the most.
Eventually, he was a strong enough swimmer that his mother would take him from the marsh so they could feed in the stream. Here he met others of his kind, and he realized that many of his kind were weak. So many of his new friends told tales of how they had lost a friend or parent, be it from a flying creature snatching them from the water, or a swimming creature sneaking up from behind them and eating them, or worse. One minute they were there, and the next they were gone, he heard so many of them say. Was this to be the point of his existence, to one day simply be eaten?
One day, he and his mother were feeding on some grass with several others of his kind when a shadow fell over them. He looked up towards the water's surface to see a large creature unlike he had ever seen before. It had no arms, legs, or fins, but it had made a whirring sound as it glided through the water. It was pointed on one end, but flat on the other. It slowed to a stop just above them, and he could hear some muffled cries above the water's surface.
His mother nudged him, and he glanced away from this mysterious creature. He remained where he was, but then she bumped him forcefully away from her. Confused, he started to swim back towards her, but he felt something enter the water above them. He looked up again to see something quickly sinking towards him. He swam away from this object and avoided it, but his mother and several others were trapped in it and pulled towards the surface.
He had already lost his father. Would he lose his mother too? He swam after the object, racing after his mother. He followed it as it disappeared above the surface, until he launched himself out of the water. He flew through the air, landing hard on a cold metallic surface, where he lay still. He could see his mother and the others, ensnared in a bundle of cords. One of the land creatures that summoned others was standing near where he lay. The creature held the cords together in one hand and was waving excitedly with the other.
"Ten of 'em, Jerry! My first cast of the day and I got ten Magikarp in my net!"
Another creature, seated next to the first and holding a second cord bundle in his hands, smiled at his friend. "That's great, Tim," he said. "But don't you think you ought to sit down before we capsize and you lose 'em all? Besides, you're making so much noise you'll scare 'em away!"
The Tim creature sat down, setting the prison in which his mother and his friends were held down near him. He knew he had to act, but he couldn't think of anything to do. All he knew was that these two odd creatures, the Tim and the Jerry, were trying to take his mother away, and he couldn't let that happen. He began flopping up and down, hoping to free his mother. It wasn't working.
Suddenly he felt something grab him by the tail, pulling him up into the air, far away from his mother. The Tim held him in the air and inspected him.
"What's this, Jerry? This little guy's trying to stow away!"
"Throw him back," said the Jerry, as he pulled up his own bundle, filled with others of his kind. "He's too little, and there's not enough meat on him."
"You're right," said the Tim. "Sorry little buddy, you can't come along with us. I don't know if you'd want to anyways, 'less you want to end up in somebody's stomach. Maybe in a year or two."
The Tim began to laugh, and suddenly he felt himself flying through the air before he landed in the water. He tried to regain his bearings. His mother was still trapped! He finally saw the mysterious creature again and began swimming towards it, but it started to make the whirring noise again, and it swam away before he could reach it. He tried to catch it, but it was too fast for him. His heart cracked as he watched it speed off, spiriting his mother and his friends away.
He was alone.
He didn't know what to do, nor how he should feel. All that he had known was now gone, and he felt helpless. He had tried to save them, and he failed; all he was able to do was flounder about. Of course, there were others of his species – what had the Tim called them? Magikarp? – that he could be with, but what was the point? Would they not be taken away from him in turn?
He shunned everything, save what he needed to survive. He traveled by himself, never staying in one place longer than a day or two. He refused to allow himself to grow attached to anything or anyone, be they members of his species or not. He didn't see any point in it.
He had been drifting about for so many days that he lost track. He was feeding in a very shallow stream near a shade tree. His mother had warned him of the dangers of staying long in such slow water, but he didn't care, almost daring a predator to come snatch him up.
He heard them coming, but he couldn't muster up the will to move. Three creatures, which looked like miniature Tims, appeared near the banks of the stream, running around and chasing each other. One of them spotted him and called the others over.
"Look over here! I found something! I found a Pokémon!"
The other two creatures rushed over. One of them, slightly bigger than the other two, looked at the find and laughed. "It's just a stupid Magikarp," he said. "They're useless!"
"He doesn't look useless to me," replied the first creature.
His two friends doubled over in laughter. "Are you serious?" said the bigger one. "They can only splash around. If you wanted to eat it, it might be worth it. But I wouldn't even bother!"
I suppose I am called a Magikarp, he thought, as the third creature, to illustrate his friend's point ran up and kicked him into the tree. Though he was in pain, the only thing he could do was flop around on the ground.
"Stop it!" said the first creature. "I like him, and I think I want to catch him!"
"Suit yourself, dude," said the bigger one. "If you want to waste a Poké Ball on this thing, I'm not gonna stop you. But hurry up, I want to get to the Pokémon Center!"
"You guys go ahead. I'll catch up."
The bigger one and the one who had kicked him snickered as they walked away from the banks. But the first creature kneeled down and spoke to him. "I don't care what they say. My name is Daniel, and I want to train you, Magikarp. Would you like to come along with me?"
He stared at this Daniel. He didn't understand most of what had just been said, but he trusted this creature, for no other reason than that he treated him differently than the others had. The Tim – or was it just Tim? – had acted like the others, but Daniel seemed different, so he made no move to get away.
Daniel smiled. "All right! Here, I'm going to put you in this Poké Ball, but I'll see you soon, okay?"
Daniel took a metal orb – a Poké Ball? – in his hand and gently threw it at him. He felt himself being sucked into the ball. He found himself in a warm place, and even though he thought he was in the confines of the ball, he didn't feel constricted at all.
He soon learned more about the world around him: how he was a Pokémon and Daniel was his trainer, how there were many different kinds of Pokémon, and how trainers like Daniel would challenge other trainers to battle. Daniel would call him out of the ball frequently. Sometimes it would be for a battle, but other times it would be to eat, or just to spend time with Daniel and his other Pokémon. He was glad to have a new family, and with it a new purpose in life, but he still missed his mother and friends terribly.
Still, he was improving. Lately, he had been able to weakly tackle his opponents in battle. It wasn't a very powerful attack, but at least able to do more than splash or flop around. He could never get too excited about this though, as the regret he felt at not being able to save his mother would flood back to his mind. Oh, if only he had been stronger then!
Daniel had called him out today in the middle of an intense battle. As he appeared on the field, Daniel kneeled down next to him. He looked very concerned.
"Hey Magikarp. I know you've been working hard a lot lately, but we're in a tough battle right now. Our opponent knocked out the rest of our team, and he's still got two Pokémon left. Can I count on you to win this for us?"
He stared up at his trainer and bobbed his head up and down. Daniel smiled and directed him into the battle. He had easily knocked out the opponent's first Pokémon, a Zubat that had been weakened considerably by Daniel's other Pokémon, but then the Rattata hit the field. He had tried so hard to defeat it, but he was tiring, and the rodent showed no signs of slowing down.
"Magikarp, hit it again with a Tackle!"
"Rattata, finish this with a Bite!"
His opponent darted out of the way of his attack and chomped down on his tail. He gave out a cry as the teeth dug into his skin, and then the bright light flashed and he thought he was dying.
"Hang in there Magikarp, you've got this!"
What? he thought. If I'm dying, then why do I still hear Daniel cheering me on?
Sensation erupted through his body, a sensation unlike any other he had felt before. He blinked, and finding he could see again, noticed the Rattata release its hold on his tail and back away from him, its eyes wide.
"Magikarp?"
He looked at Daniel, or rather looked down at Daniel, who for some reason seemed to be shrinking. His trainer had a wondrous look in his eye, as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Why is he looking at me like that?
The sensation within him grew. He felt a heat inside him that he had felt before, but that he hadn't been able to articulate. His head started to hurt. The feeling started to gnaw at him. He no longer felt content with just swimming and flopping around, or even with throwing his body weakly at an opponent.
He saw the talon tear through the water and pluck his father from the water. He heard Tim's laughter as he was flung from the boat and away from his mother, helpless to do anything. He felt the boy's foot slam against his body, sending him rocketing towards the tree.
Something clicked inside him, and his rage exploded.
He roared as he slammed his tail into the ground. He drew himself up, his sinewy new form a mass of blue and cream. He looked back at Daniel, who wore a look of sheer joy.
"All right! Let's finish this!"
With pleasure, he thought, swiveling toward his opponent. The tiny Rattata trembled in front of him. Had it not just bitten him on the tail, he might have felt sorry for it. He might have been helpless to protect his family before, but now he felt like nothing could stop him. With a final bellow, he threw himself at his opponent.
Never again will I fail in protecting those whom I love. Never again will I go down without a fight. Never again will I doubt myself. Never again.