Epilogue
Raichu for Hire
-
Epilogue
Nica rolled from a nest made of sticks and hay, crashing on the soft floor. Her eyes watered and her face radiated in fear. Taking a moment to stand and calm her nerves, she looked around over Gabby’s home.
For a creature with so many talents and the ability to renovate near-ruined homes, her home was certainly on the humble side. Instead of bed and chairs, Nica could see nests in a diversity of sizes. Two small nests were present around a rounded wooden table. One wardrobe filled with small bags and scarfs stood tall in the corner. Even fruits and vegetables seemed gathered on a small nest with no refrigerator to be seen.
One glance out the window at the moon told her that it was still middle of the night.
She wiped sweat from her forehead and climbed up onto the nest, perching herself on it while pressing her cheek and side into Gabby’s wing, nuzzling it. It was just a nightmare… no biggie, she thought to herself. All this time her dreams provided her with information about her past, something she eagerly looked forward too whenever closing her eyes.
This time however, her dream was filled with one repetitive scenario. Astra challenged Brandon from the Battle Pyramid to a six on six battle, and whenever one of the legendary pokemon was sent into the field, she was the one sent to face it.
Despite knowing how to use a Z-move, which would provide Nica with extreme firepower against the legendary giants, Astra refused to use it. After the battle was lost, Astra took her team for intense training, testing new strategies or making her team fight with each other to sharpen their skills. One week of training later, Astra once again challenged Brandon, sending Nica to face against one of the legendaries. Week after week, Nica experienced the incredibly strong power of Regice, Registeel or Regirock on her weaker body.
Despite growing tougher and performing better with each rematch, the painful losing continued, turning the dream into a nightmare.
Nica opened her eyes and pushed herself to a sitting position upon hearing a scream. She looked around in confusion, her friend was nowhere to be seen.
“Gabby, Gabby!?” She leaped from the nest and ran towards the door, opening it with her tail before rushing outside. She was about to search for her friend, only for three griffons to descend in front of her, each armed with weapon.
“You’re not going anywhere,” one griffon said, holding a plank with one sharp nail raised in his talon.
“Don’t take it personally, it’s just business,” another griffon spoke up, a baseball bat supported on his shoulder.
“We have been paid by some old rich folk to keep you from leaving. Just stay here five-ten minutes and no one will get hurt,” said the third griffon, this one the tallest while wearing an eyepatch. Metallic gloves with sharp claws were present on his talons.
Upon closer examination, Nica noticed at least ten unconscious griffons scattered around. Some sort of battle had to take place with the high possibility of Gabby’s involvement.
Nica narrowed her eyes, took a fighting stance and raised her tail threateningly, sending power into it. “Where’s Gabby? What did you do with her?”
“It’s none of your concern.”
“Be a nice little pet and wait for your master inside her home. She’ll come back in several minutes.”
“We just needed to… borrow her… for a few moments. She proved impressively strong and agile for someone smaller and outnumbered, but we had the element of surprise,” said the griffon with eyepatch before raising his metal claws. “Our employer isn’t interested in harming her, I can guarantee.”
“I don’t believe you,” Nica said and hissed. “Now, where is she?” She ran towards the griffons and swung her tail several times in one second, cutting each weapon into smaller parts before her opponents could ever react. She followed up by stopping the edge of her tail in front of griffon’s neck. After facing the mob as Raichu and fighting a legendary pokemon as a Pikachu, a few greedy griffons won’t scare me.
Two griffons looked at each other before dropping what was left of their weapons and flying away.
“He didn’t pay me enough to be cut to pieces.”
“Tell me about it. I’m outta here.”
“Hey, don’t leave me behind you cowards,” the tallest griffon spoke, not daring to move an inch with the destructive tail millimeters from stroking his neck.
“So much for the loyalty of those who work for bits. Unlike them, I won’t leave a friend, no matter if I’m being burned alive, hit with beams or crushed under tons of pressure,” Nica said, her glare showing no happiness, nor compassion. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will to protect my friend. So, where’s Gabby?”
“I… I won’t tell. I may be greedy, but unlike other pathetic griffons, I didn’t forget about our roots. I was paid for my service and I’ll carry it to the end.” He gulped as sweat started dropping from his forehead. “I won’t sell out my employer.”
Nica groaned. Of all the greedy griffons that lived here, she just had to capture the mercenary with a sense of honor. As much as she wished to help Gabby, the idea of torturing anyone for information went against her nature. She withdrew her tail, her bluff busted.
Upon feeling a weak bite and hearing a squeaking noise, she looked down at her left rear leg, noticing Mr. Patrick next to it. “Do you know where they took Gabby?” she asked, receiving a nod and a few squeaky responses before he ran away.
Nica ran, following her little friend while adjusting her speed to the one of the rat. Now that I think about it, that weird unicorn tried to pull off something on Gabby before turning into dust. Is someone targeting her or something? She grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes in anger. Gabby was a friend, and she was going to fight to the last bit of her stamina to–
Nica pulled herself to a full stop, seeing her friend sitting in front of a house, supported against the wall. “Gabby!” she shouted, running and tackling her friend’s neck with enough force to create a few cracks on the wall behind Gabby’s head.
“Hey, careful there,” Gabby said, returning the hug before looking around. “Where are we? Why am I not in my bed?”
“You were abducted by a bunch of griffons, I think... did they do something to you?” Nica looked around and swung her tail against the air as if trying to cut an invisible foe. “If they did hurt you, I’ll… well… I’ll captured them and deliver them to the authorities… if griffons have any police and prison that is.”
“What are you talking about. I don’t remember… ouch…” Gabby massaged her forehead with her talon.
“Does it hurt?” Nica asked, staring at her friend in worry.
“Just a headache, probably from overworking myself yesterday,” Gabby said before examining her surroundings. “But seriously, how did I end up here. Was I sleepwalking?”
Nica took a step back. What’s going on? She sat next to Gabby and rubbed her chin, now deep in thought. When that mean mob boss warned me of some mysterious being, I thought he either went crazy or was making things up, but now I’m not so sure. She glanced at Gabby with Mr. Patrick doing the same from the spot on her shoulder.
“What? What? Why are you staring at me like that?”
“So you don’t remember what happened a moment ago,” Nica asked, receiving a head-shake in response. She stood up and pulled Gabby to a standing position before climbing her back. “We need to go to Ponyville immediately and warn Twilight.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Gabby, please, just trust me on this. When I defeated the mob in Manehattan, their boss told me about some creature who puts curses on ponies while erasing their memories of the event. I fear the same happened to you.”
“Well… while what you say sounds crazy… you’re my friendly friend. Of course I’ll trust you.” She spread her large wings and bent her legs. “Hang on tightly. We’ll get to Ponyville in no time.”
Nica nodded before grabbing the griffon’s neck with her paws, holding it strongly. "Can we pick up my bag first?"
"Will do."
Nica wrapped her rat friend with black part of her tail, only to slid him into her shoulder-bag half a minute later. She felt strong wind pushing against her which was flapping her ears. Gabby’s speed proved not to be underestimated.
If what was happening was related to what happened to the mob boss and his best subordinates, more or less was related to dark magic which sealed her memories, the ponies she cared about could be in grave danger.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- CommanderX5 · 92k words · 168 6 · 2k views
- CommanderX5 · 206k words · 296 14 · 4.4k views
- CommanderX5 · 13k words · 72 4 · 1.8k views
- CommanderX5 · 245k words · 779 20 · 13k views
- Onomonopia · 94k words · 338 11 · 8.3k views
- BioQuillFiction · 254k words · 102 19 · 4.9k views
- KingKang · 2.7k words · 64 1 · 2k views
- David Silver · 20k words · 148 12 · 3.2k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.133 seconds
Total duration
1,021 users online
246,475 hits today, 2,123,720 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Aw, I'm sad to hear this side story had low interest, I quite liked it. (I know I may not have commented on it much, or at all, previously, but I don't comment particularly often anyway.)
yeah its sad since this side story got its fair share of cuteness (not hard either just add Nica ^_^) along with funny moments etc.
shame you cant upvote multiple times.
i got a hunch that the wierd Pony in the previous chapter might be the one who is erasing the memories or work for the one doing it.
cant wait for more chapters in the main story.
This was fun and great to read as a little side story.
Well this was nice enough, but I admit I don't exactly need any to dark adventure or big bad boss, at least not something that is present in every chapter till the end waiting to make it's appearance. I mean do it if you want, I just prefer the slice of life part of problems sometimes.
Maybe I just need to see more well done adventure stories.
You know that was excepted, because this story required read original to understand. And on last chapter of original was over 700 views. Also you write chapters pretty fast so people couldn't suggested as much as you like because they don't have time to think about jobs to suggests, or so I think.
Plus, stories with that format( suggestion of readers) are hit and miss. Mostly miss.
Darn...I loved this side series...phooey.
Sad this story got so little buzz. It was really cute.
8850539
Well, it can't be helped. I hoped this story could stand up on it's own, but in the end I was wrong.
8850586
Well, I tried to show that Raichu can be nice and cute despite of how this pokemon was portrayed in the show. Nice that I succeded in this regard. Nica is proving that you don't need to stay as Pikachu to be cute and compasionate.
8850653
thanks.
8850665
Well, both main and side-story focus on slice of life element. The apperances of this mysterious figure and numberous head-aches is just foreshadowing that something big is going on in the shadow and no one is aware of danger.
On a side note, considering how much NIca wants to be helpful and use her powers, she needs adventure to satisfy her self-worth (you don't want Nica to feel sad because she have all this power and can't do anything useful with it. It would crush her low self-esteem).
After all, she believes that the more powe one have, the more one need to accomplish with it. Not allowing her to play any important role against a big bad would leave her miserable. (Doing dangerous jobs alone filled her with pride and joy that she was missing all this time).
8850717
I hoped this side-story could stand on its own (I estabilished most rules in the prologue were Nica's abilities, motivation and the translating collar are explained to Mayor Mare). I uploaded it quickly since I didn't want to keep everyone wait for too long for the main-story to update.
8851071
There was too little attention to expand on it. Unless many readers would suggest a job situation they would like NIca to face, there's no point in delaying the main story any longer.
8851086
Thank you. In this side-story I tried to give Nica opportunity to be helpful and make use of her abilities, Being helpful is what makes her happy the most after all.
8852600
Hhhmm yes, it was mostly an observation.
Well I can't stop thinking that everytime you say that, it sounds like Nica would have the worst chase of helper snydrom which can be harmfull to her or at least makes it impossible for her to just spend time with people in the future.
I think maybe at some point something would need to happen that calms her down a bit again. Maybe Celestia should just give her a medal.
The way you say it it sounds at least as if she would overdo it i the future.
8852644
I don't think it will get in the way of her interactions with others, though I can't deny that it may be a bit harmfull to her if she's not given opportunity to be useful for a long period of time. The longer she's unable to use her skills and powers to make others happy or solve their problems, the more depressed she'll get and the more her self-esteem will drop.
In other words, it may affect Nica in a negative way, but it shouldn't get in the way of her interactions with others.
Giving her a medal would make her feel appreated, but on the other side, it would also make her feel embarassed or undeserving. Nica is quite humble, so she may feel undeserving of reward and praise.
8858282
To be fair, there's not much she could do in such a short amount of time. She needed to return to Ponyville after all to warn her caretakers about the danger they are in, and it's not like she can get all crystal guards back into shape on her own.
8872113
Fixed, thanks. As for missing "a" and "the", there's nothing I can do about.
8873246
I think that was me trying to be funny again....I think.
8874429
If you want, I can send you link to goggle doc with my chapters so you can point them out so I can fix them.
"A" and "the" can be put in sooo many places that I never know which are correct and which aren't. (Same with my proof-readers). Saying that "a" and "the" are missing is pointless, because it's not something I can simply fix.
8918121
I dunno. Groudon is pure ground type (not a rock type). I don't think it would work.
8951130
Hot, hot, you're quite close with your deduction, but there's more to it that meats the eye.
8953850
Little ouchie indeed. Nica wanted to punish herself for failing to protect the kids, but after all harsh battles she endured in the past, punishing herself is proving way more dificult than she anticipated. In this regard, she's too tough for her own good.
8953895
Forgive me, but I don't get the reference. Mind explaining.
8954070
Not that it's necesery a bad thing. Being in good combat shape will ensure that fights like the one she had with Starlight will not longer be one-sided in the villains favor.
8954080
What do you mean?
holding a plank with one sharp nail raised in his tallon
Gabby massaged her forehead with her tallon
1 & 2. Talon.
TEST POST, CAN YOU OR ANYONE ELSE SEE THIS POST?
9021812
I can see your post. Pity it's just a test rather than feedback or comment, hehe.
9022391
Yeah, this fanfic's pretty good. Liked and followed.
9050397
To be fair, this pokemon's whole stick is using psychic powers to levitate on his own tail. It's certainly way more legit than an electric pokemon jumping on his own electricity.
9050406
None taken. Nica is indeed very trusting and a little naive, It comes with her kind sunshine-like personality.
9054641
Where Nica comes from, there are more than 800 pokemon races (though some share the same evolution line). I think Nica is fully justified that she point out someone's race and limitations that comes with it considering her background.
Also, this is a bit out of context. Just read what Nica tell Coco in follow up lines and you'll see that she's complementing her.
9056255
Oh, it sure does, but being slamed into solid solid objects is something she's used to. She already endured plenty of it as a Pichu, and burned or not, her current body is way more sturdy.
9182827
It's...dormant. I'm okay, thanks.
9705389
Nica would make a great Green Lantern considering how much willpower she has.
9702196
I can't find an image that doesn't lead to one of their websites but, Blue Cross and Blue Shield is a medical insurance company.
9705607
Willpower heh, well, you're right about that. With the willpower she has, she would be like warking generator of green-lantern energy.
Nica is always the most motivated when someone is in danger, but her weakness would be that she would hesitate a lot when facing a weaker opponent. Her willpower to fight drops when she fights against someone much weaker than her (unless lives are on the line, this changes everything).
9705614
Ah, I see. That makes sense.
9730554
Officially it's classified as a Fox. Never seen a fox with a cat tail, but apparently it's a thing. I really don't know what they were thinking with it. I just know it's the best damned pokemon to ever exist. Eevee Master for life.
9730604
To be fair, Equestira never needed to bother with their military over the centuries, though I do question it that for past milenium everything was fine and peaceful, and then next 4 years all the dangers and villains of the entire world decided to strike, one after another.
9853364
No offense, but there's a massive difference between unevolved pokemon like Pikachu who should have fragile defenses go against a legendary pokemon owned by a trainer, and not in group fight against one legendary or having a type advantage, but 1 vs 1. And a situation where Pikachu is weakned due to lose of his electricity, but fight against a pokemon, who in comparation, should be 50 times weaker than said legendary. The gap is just too big.
Also, why would this one event drain Pikachu from all his raw power and durability. Pikachu still had access to Iron Tail and Quick Attack, which against grass pokemon that's resistant to electricity is much more effective than electrick attacks anyway. Futhermore, how can Pikachu in one fight endure Ice Beam, Focus Punch, and being repetively crushed between blogs of ice, but in another get beat down by unevolved and much less experienced pokemon using only one leaf-storm, and then in the league when fighting Serperior, he get hit by 2 dragon tails, 1 energy ball, and end up trapped in wrap for like 9 minutes, and after all that he just beast Serperior in clash of raw power, despite the fact that he should be exausted and greatly injured at this point.
What I try to say is that Pikachu being drained of his electricity shouldn't also make him 50 times less durable and take away strength from his Quick attack and Iron Tail. Also, why Pikachu that has been with Ash for years and have a lot of experience lose against unevolved and untrained pokemon so easily, but then as months passed, Pikachu gained a lot more strength by simply recovering, then a trainer whose Snivy evolved twice and learned a lot of powerful attacks and obviously trained a lot.
It would make a lot more sense if Ash's Pikachu defeated unevolved and inexperienced opponent, but then at the league he should have hard time against same opponent who evolved twice and learned a lot through their jorney, not the other way around.
So long story short, I don't care for all the excuses why this happened, because in the end the season would be better without this poor decision. Also, I really dislike how Pikachu get so much plot armor in some fights, where he not only have high great agility and Raichu's level of raw power, but also is as durable as Snorlax, while in other fights he suddenly became way weaker for a pokemon with his experiences. I would like Ash and his Pikachu more if their victories/defeats and powers were more consistent, rather than jump all over the place.
9861919
In Nica's defense, she's a pokemon that, if running on her own into a dungeon filled with monsters while leaving her party behind, would be able to tank crapton of damage and outlast the onslaught until the rest of the party would catch up with her.
Coco may be of the same profesion as Rarity, but instead of drama, she have a very strong cute-factor. She's more like Fluttershy in this regard.
In pokemon when many pokemon run really fast, they sometime leave cloud of dust behind (though now that I think about it, it is more in open field rather than inside the city, oh well). In Pikachu's case, his quick attack cause flashing light to follow him from behind, but Nica rely more on pure force of Volt Tackle.
Pokemon are very durable indeed, though Nica is a bit of a special case. Her past training was not only super intense, but also focused on defense and survibility (if it wasn't show in her dreams yet, it should at some point). Considering how well she takes all kind of abuse means that she endured an insane ammount of powerful attacks in the past.
In their defense, they most likely want their stories to be taken more seriously, and they want to introduce more realism into their stories where pokemon wouldn't endure explosions and other dangers as if toons in cartoon. As for me, I don't see pokemon's durability as cartoon logic, but rather as something they developed after milenia of battles. The more pokemon gets hurt, the more durable he becomes, and aside strong pain resistance, it is very hard to cause them permanent injuries, which is why they enjoy fighting each other so much, because as long as none of them goes for the kill, they don't put their lives at stake.
9861919
Awww... and what I did wrong with him? I know that many readers will most likely defend him and his failures with various excuses, but the way I see him, he's a trainer with his strengths and flaws, succeeds and failures, and sadly many of his victories is result of plot armor, while some of his failures seems forced upon him for the sake of drama. I simply try to make him and his Pikachu more balanced and take away their plot armor while aknowleging his weaknesses and failures, rather than focus only on Ash that is at his best.
Eevee lately has become like seconary mascoth, though representing opposite of Pikachu. While the show went out of his way to make Pikachu OP without him evolving and giving him reasons not to evolve, Eevee has become known for its large evolution branch, so everyone just love to evolve their Eevee. (A game where Eevee is a starter and isn't allowed to evolve really messed up with this one).
9862030
So true. With Pikcachu overshadowing Raichu in the show, I wanted to give that poor underdog a chance to shine, and I'm glad that Nica doesn't disapoint. There's actually a very solid reason why she's so durable and capaible that you'll learn from her dreams, so I'm looking forward to what you think of her past that will unravel itself. One thing I can say for sure, she didn't have an easy life, but she had a great trainer that greatly cared for her.
9862030
Considering that Nica just ran through building that was on fire, stepping on melted pan with certainly was quite painful for her large paw, she wasn't at her best when facing the mob. Nica's biggest strenght rely in survibility and stamina, so she's great at long battles and can keep fighting even against big number of enemies continuously, but it doesn't mean she would come unscaled from this. Her body had to receive a lot of injuries as she fought her way to the top of the building. In coparation, if Ash's Pikachu would be in her place, he would probably break through enemies on lower floors 3 times faster than Nica, but he would end up captured or drop from exaustion on the way without backup. Nica was in her element here.
Well... Nica certainly got in quickly and assisted those who were stuck and those who were trapped on the highest floors, but she can't be everywhere. It is all up to how many ponies managedt to evacuate before the fires spread.
If this was a light-hearted fic, everyone would get away safely. If this was a fic with a lot of dark tones, there would be casualities. I try to walk in between, so it is up to interpretation. Some may believe that there were casualities despite Nica and firefighting team's best efforts. Some may believe that everyone was saved. As for me, what's important is that Nica did her best and saved as many lives as possible before taking down the mob once and for all. Once you'll learn more about her past, you'll know that guilt over failing to save a single pony from this burning building is the last thing she needs.
9967049
I made some changes to the ones you weren't sure how to fix, what do you think?
9967169
Looks good, nice changes.
Oh yeah, and since bits and pieces of these chapters were in the main storyline, it might be a good idea to check over them to see if any of the things I found overlap with the pieces there.