Misty's Psyduck (anime)

This Psyduck is a -type Pokémon owned by Misty.

Personality
Misty's Psyduck is shown as dimwitted and absent-minded. When it pops out of its Poké Ball, it really doesn't know how it got there. It is perpetually confused, and even when it summons powerful moves, it appears confused about how it pulled such a feat off. Its motivation for jumping out of its Poké Ball remains unknown, as it clearly does not enjoy or excel at battling. Even in the episode Just Add Water, it pushed Ash aside, wild with anger at Team Rocket's abduction of Misty (she had been captured while saving him) and insisting on battling. However, after a few seconds, it completely forgot what it was doing and went back to looking confused.

When other Pokémon attempts to hit on his head such as Ash's Kingler, Team Rocket's Meowth, Jessie's Arbok and the thieves' Poochyena. Psyduck becomes overprotective to its own head knowing it will gives it a severe headache when it was attacked and its powerful moves such as Confusion and Psychic are about to unleash.

Psyduck also loves Misty despite its faults, it always tries to be there for her, whether she likes it or not. Misty constantly complains about Psyduck's faults and how its dopey look gives her a headache, but many suspect that she actually deeply cares for Psyduck though it has been suggested several times; she instantly shoots down such ideas, such as when Koga and Aya both offered a trade with her. Her antagonistic relationship with it is often compared to her relationship with Ash. It could also be compared with Jessie's relationship with her Wobbuffet. James once stated that Wobbuffet made Psyduck look good in comparison.

For comic purposes, Misty seems to go to the limit of violence with Psyduck, such as when she suggested she smash a bike on Psyduck's head in order to activate its psychic powers. Psyduck is quite unconcerned to these threats of violence, perhaps because it knows how Misty truly feels.

Biography
Although it can sometimes annoy Misty, she and Psyduck have a good bond, seeing how Misty refused to trade it for any Pokémon no matter what. Psyduck also can be quite useless at times because of it's oblivious nature and random headaches. Though it rarely fights, it has shown to be able to handle it's own when it gets serious.

Original series
In Hypno's Naptime, Misty accidentally dropped her Poké Ball and Psyduck, being curious, touched the Poké Ball, and got caught. During the journey, Psyduck often releases itself from its Poké Ball out of the blue, which would cause Misty to return it to its ball in annoyance.

In The Ninja Poké Showdown, Misty tries to use her Starmie to fend off Team Rocket but Psyduck automatically comes out to confront the group much to her annoyance. As Jessie's Arbok manages to bite Psyduck's head which causes it to have a headache. When they confronted the group again, Misty realizes Psyduck's abilities are about to unleash when it got a severe headache and it learns Confusion to blast off Team Rocket to make Koga and Ash resumed their gym battle after the incident.

In the episode Princess vs Princess, Misty fights in the final round against Jessie. Most of her Pokemon such as Brock's Vulpix, Ash's Bulbasaur and Pikachu are defeated from Jessie's Lickitung from its Lick ability. When she attempts to use Staryu, Psyduck automatically pops out to fight, much to her frustration even she tries to tell it to use its Water Gun but to no avail due to being confused. When Lickitung tries its best to lick Psyduck, it has no effect until it attempts to lick it's head which Psyduck tries to avoid. Once Lickitung licks Psyduck's head it caused to have a headache making Misty to use it's Confusion to knock Lickitung towards Jessie and her group and was blasting off in the building's roof. Misty became victorious to win the doll collections in the Princess Festival.

Orange Islands
In Bye Bye Psyduck, Marina pointed out that Psyduck was close to evolving after seeing its glowing tail. Misty thought Psyduck had evolved into a Golduck after it's Poké Ball had fallen in the water and a Golduck resurfaced straight afterwards, but it was later revealed to be a wild Golduck.

In The Stun Spore Detour, Misty uses Psyduck to fight off Team Rocket's Meowth who manages to bite off Psyduck's head causing Psyduck to unleashes its headache-induced Confusion to knock it down along with James.

Johto
In The Perfect Match!, Psyduck released itself from its Poké Ball during the Whirl Cup tournament, forcing Misty to use it. Psyduck was pitted against a Kingler. Kingler used Vice Grip, clutching onto Psyduck's head which caused it get a headache but gave it that push to finish Kingler off with Confusion.

In Just Add Water, Psyduck is revealed to be aquaphobic and it was seen hanging with a life saver. When Team Rocket captured Misty and her battler Dorian. This angered Psyduck and it was determined to rescue Misty. During its battle with Jessie's Arbok after it bites Psyduck's head to cause a headache, it unleashes Confusion to knock Arbok down towards Jessie, James and Meowth and it learns Psychic, and with its new learned move, blasts Team Rocket off into the sky.

In The Blue Badge of Courage, Psyduck was trained to swim properly by Tracey when he visits Misty at the Cerulean Gym but failed due to being aquaphobic. Psyduck is also the main reason Misty fails despite her best efforts with Tracey and Sakura to make their own Cascade Badges who are trained by Kinso. When Kinso was robbed by thieves, Psyduck is used to fight the thieves' Poochyena while teaming up with Sakura's Espeon. Poochyena manages to bite Psyduck's head causing it to have a headache while unleashes its abilities. Psyduck uses Disable to counterattack on Zigzagoon and bashes the thieves and their Pokemon to a tree with Confusion. After the incident, Kinso was pleased to Misty and her Psyduck to prove her worth and decides to give them the badges.

This is Psyduck's final appearance and it was never used again when Misty travels to Hoenn to meet up with Ash, Brock, May and Max in The Princess and the Togepi.

Voice actor and actress

 * Rikako Aikawa (Japanese)
 * Michael Haigney (English)

Trivia

 * Ironically, despite being a -type, Psyduck seems to be somewhat aquaphobic and can't swim. It's willing to go into water if it's wearing some kind of flotation device.
 * Like all the Trainer's Pokemon in Mewtwo Strikes Back, Psyduck was cloned. However, unlike the other clones in the movies, Psyduck's clone was exactly like it and was just as dimwitted, if not more so.