A Little Adventure in Alola
-
Chapter 4
-
Search Party - Pt.6
Looking at Pikachu’s wary expression, Astra quickly began to backtrack. “There’s no need to panic,” she explained, pointing at the stone resting in her hand. “In order to improve your odds of survival, you’ll need to evolve into a Raichu. You have a lot of raw power, strong durability and impressive skills, but your true potential is held back by your fragile form.”
Pikachu took a step back, wary of Astra’s movements.
“I believe that once you evolve, you’ll become one of our strongest fighters. Actually, considering all pokemon that are with us at the moment, you’ll become the strongest. It may be just enough to tip the odds in our favor. Against Ultra Beasts, even the smallest advantage matters.”
Pikachu gulped. “B-but… I…”
“Is something wrong?” Astra asked in confusion. She stood up and stretched out her hand, the stone still resting in her palm, only for the little pokemon to step backward again. “While I managed to take two powerful blows for you back then, I can’t help but fear for your life. The increase in speed, raw power and durability thanks to evolution may decide between life and death in the middle of the battlefield.” She smiled. “Furthermore, someone as talented and skilled as you deserves to evolve. Your trainer should have given you this option a long time ago.”
Pikachu closed his jaw, now staring at the stone with growing curiosity. If he was in this scenario before meeting Nica, he would’ve slapped the ‘Thunderstone’ away without hesitation, but now…
“Why are you hesitating? Don’t you want to evolve?”
Pikachu took a deep breath before walking forward with hesitant steps, looking at the stone with growing interest. Astra’s hand was stretched towards him, holding it. Just a few steps forward and a small reach of his forepaw was all he needed to evolve. He closed his eyes, considering his options carefully. I… I wanted to prove… to prove that I can become strong without evolving, but…
Haven't you already proved it over and over again? Nica’s words echoed in his mind.
Pikachu clenched his forepaws and grit his teeth. He had already overcome the legendary pokemon Regice in a duel. He bested Tyranitar and Metagross during the tournament and still had enough strength to leave some lasting damage on the Charizard. Again and again he bested stronger opponents. What was there left to prove?
“Was it your choice not to evolve?” Astra asked. “But why? The chance that you, your friends and your trainer would die when facing legendary pokemon would’ve only increased if you stayed as a Pikachu. What can be so important to take such a risk?”
Pikachu opened his eyes, once again looking at the presented stone.
I will evolve one day, but not yet. This is a big change that I want to consider carefully. Pikachu reminded himself of his promise to Nica.
He closed his eyes as his forepaws started to tremble. A war waged in his mind. He did promise that he’ll give evolving a chance one day, and now he needed the power of a Raichu more than ever. If I become a Raichu, I won’t know how to take advantage of the longer tail for combat, but Nica promised she would teach me…
An image of Nica wrapping the black part of her tail around her belly flashed in his mind. The superior Raichu kept her tail close to her back, fencing with her tail as if she were still a Pikachu. If he did the same, he could still rely on the fighting style he had mastered already rather than be forced to learn a new one from scratch. His ‘Iron Tail’ technique wouldn’t change, while the greater durability and raw power would come in handy for sure. If I was a Raichu, even tired, I would’ve still had enough power to overpower that ‘Body Slam.’ Maybe I should…
Pikachu shook his head, thinking about the cons. Would becoming a Raichu slow him down? Nica is way, way faster and more agile than me, and she told me that her speed increased after becoming a Raichu. I don’t think being slower and less agile is something to worry about. He thought about Charizard who in the past rebelled against Ash, shifting his personality. Nica told me that if I was determined to keep my personality, I would stay the same even after evolving. I may change on the outside, but I will fight to stay the same on the inside. He grit his teeth. That’s it, I have made my decision. No regrets.
With a determined jump and swing of his forepaw, he pressed forward, trying to touch the ‘Thunderstone’, yet nothing happened. Wait… When poison joke changed me between Pichu and Raichu, I felt my limbs shrink and grow. What’s going on? Shouldn’t something be happening right now? He opened his eyes and blinked in confusion. The ‘Thunderstone’ was no longer held before him.
“It seems a change of plan is in order,” Astra said as she tied together the bag, safeguarding the ‘Thunderstone.’
“H-hey… why did you hide it?” Pikachu asked, his attention now on the little bag in trainer’s hand.
“You were hesitating for too long. It’s obvious that you don’t want to evolve for some reason, maybe out of fear of becoming a Raichu, or you had bad experiences with them and don’t want to change.”
“W-what? I don’t dislike my evolution… I want to evolve…” Pikachu weakly stated.
“You’re forcing yourself now. I don’t want to evolve you against your will, even if it puts us at a big disadvantage,” Astra said as she rubbed her chin. “I originally planned for us to fight our way towards the city while searching for Nica on our way. Maybe try to catch Giovanni off guard and hopefully arrest him. Now that I know a bit more about his fighting style and how he leads the beasts, I have prepared a strategy to overcome him.” She stood up, carefully stepping down the roof. “But it is a risky move. As a Pikachu, you’re too fragile and such a fight would put your life in danger. I can’t take that risk.”
“H-hey, what do you mean by that?”
“What I mean is that I can’t make someone else’s pokemon face deadly risk without improving our odds of victory.” Astra stopped at the edge of the roof and gave Pikachu a stern look. “I always balance the risks I take with the strength of my team and available resources. Not to mention that you’re incredibly important to Ash and your life holds a large value.“ She jumped from the roof, Pikachu landing a moment later atop her shoulder. “Giovanni uses ground type pokemon and as an electric pokemon with weak defenses, your life would be at risk when facing them. Escorting you safely to Ash takes priority. We can look for Nica together as a bigger group after that.”
She walked inside, recalling her two sleeping pokemon into her pokeballs. “We’ll walk near the shore towards the city. It is very close to water where we can throw Giovanni’s pokemon if they attack us and it is a lot easier to spot an ambush with no trees on all sides. We’ll avoid fighting no matter what.”
Pikachu grit his teeth, his face growing red. “B-but… but I want to evolve!”
“No, you don’t, you’re forcing yourself for Nica’s sake,” Astra stated as she approached Emily, shaking her arm in an attempt to wake her up.
“Give me that ‘Thunderstone!’” Pikachu shouted as he climbed down Astra’s arm, trying to reach for the bag in her hand.
“I said no!” Astra answered, waking up the sleeping pokemon and the injured pegasus. Her hand started wrestling against Pikachu’s forepaws for the ownership of the bag with the evolution stone, resulting in them losing balance and an accidental, quick electric shock followed the fall.
Astra pushed herself to the side, quickly placing the little bag inside her backpack. “I’ll not allow you to evolve yourself against your will. This is a discussion you need to have with Ash.” A few, small burns decorated her face as she turned away from the disgruntled Pikachu.
“But I want to evolve. How is it against my will?!” Pikachu complained before lowering his head, sighing in defeat. To think that I would live to see the day where I chased after a ‘Thunderstone’ instead of avoiding it. Nica, what did you do to me?
“I know you’re worried about Nica, but if Giovanni found her or knew she was here, he would have bragged about it,” Astra reassured, yet it did little to calm Pikachu’s growing anxiety. She stood up and wiped the dust from her clothes, now addressing the group. “Get ready everyone, we’re moving out. Our goal is to reach the city and regroup with Ash. After that we’ll prepare a counterattack and look for my partner.” The group nodded while Rainbow Dash did her best to hide her pain behind her determined stare.
Twenty minutes later, two trainers, one pegasus and an annoyed Pikachu on Astra’s shoulder made their way towards Tapu Town, taking quick steps on the sand near the body of water, ready to face whatever trap or ambush Giovanni had in store for them.
And Pikachu doesn’t evolve this chapter but it seems it’ll happen in the next few chapters and Astra puts up a good argument against Pikachu not evolving after noticing his hesitation.
Well that resolved really quickly...I thought Pikachu would have been at least a bit more forceful in rejection.
To bad that I guess that Astra don't have a mobile phone or knowledge to repair a phone and call for reinforcements
This was an interesting chapter. However I feel that Pikachu would never take an evolution becuase all it has done as a Pikachu. He much like Ash, has shown to get creative when pushed into a corner and pull off some unexpected strategies. I feel that Pikachu choosing to evolve needs to be a Godzilla Threshold and I feel that that point hasn't been fully reached, yet.
9748955
Check part 6. You'll find out if your prediction was true.
9752441
Actually, chapter 6 and 7 with all its part will focus on other characters. I think Pikachu and Astra had enough screentime for now.
Her argument may have been good, but in the end she decided to respect Pikachu's inner wish not to evolve. The funny thing is, it's Pikachu's fault for hesitating so long, so after avoiding evolution for so long, now he's denied it due to his hesitation.
9752453
What can I say, that past week and a half he spend in Nica's company while learning a better side of his evolution has affected him significantly. His resolve not to evolve greatly weakened and he was willing to do it if it improved the chance to help Nica. Astra noticed his hesitation though and denied him evolution, much to his annoyance. (Pikachu may be okay with evolving now, but part of him still don't fell fully comfortable with the idea. He needs time.)
9752546
She probably had means to contact her subordinates, but lost it. This thing happens on the battlefield and she was at it for long. In any case, I doubt anyone would be able to reach her. She's in Poo town after all and there are beasts in the forest. I think the only save way to reach her is by ocean. On the other side, since TR hold Aether Foundation hostage and this foundation is in between four islands, there's also a risk that they have a little navy that could intercept reinforcements, both from the sea and the air.
9752567
What were you afraid off exactly?
Sounds like you were hoping for him to evolve into Raichu.
Pretty much. Unlike Nica, Ash never gave him a name, though I can imagine Ash needing some time before he would stop calling him Pikachu out of habbit.
9752646
I disagree. After spending his time with Nica, he became more comfortable with the idea, and he did promissed her that he'll evolve one day. Futhermore, just like in his thoughts, he was proven that evolving won't make him slower and less agile (it was more up to pokemon's skills and fighting style. It just happened that Ash's Pikachu prefer speed while Raichu he faced weren't as skilled in terms of agility). He also came to conclusion that he no longer have anything to prove. He stayed as Pikachu for years and defeated legendary and pseudo-legendary pokemon, even defeating two powerhouses in a row. He proved that one don't need to evolve to become strong, so becoming a Raichu wouldn't undermine his achievements.
To be fair, Pikachu is shown to receive plot armor a lot. I mean, game-wise Pikachu is fast, but have terribly weak bulk, yet in the show Pikachu is not only shown to be agile, but in some battles he's as durable as Snorlax and have raw power of fully evolved pokemon. To make matters worse, in one battle he can fight against legendary pokemon and stand up after extreme punishment, and not long after in another region he's taken out by a few weak hits from much weaker and less experienced pokemon.
What I try to say is that Ash's Pikachu isn't well balanced and his feats are all over the place, jumping from phatetic to practically impossible.
So yeah, most of Pikachu's victories aren't result of unexpected strategies, but just Pikachu getting plot armor. Also, I find it odd that when Pikachu use Z-move, he KO nearly everyone (only Tapu Coco is an exception), yet when Z-move is used against him, he either evade/block or endure it.
There are also a few battles where Pikachu win just because it hold up to larger opponent's back and get tons of free attacks (Two metagross, Latias, Onix and so on, plenty of pokemon fail to shake him off). I think Pikachu shouldn't be strong enough to hold to larger opponents for so long.
Like I stated above, Pikachu already reached it, and it is just side-effect of him being main character. We don't even see him training all that much (he needs only a few hours of training before a battle and he already can outmatch opponent he previously lost aaginst). In other words, it would be nice if Ash's Pikachu was more balanced (on one side he shouldn't have such insane threshold. He either is an agile but fragile pokemon or not, he can't have Pikachu's speed and Snorax's bulk). Considering his achievements, he can evolve just fine, there's no need to make him even more OP.
9752735
Well it would be far better if the anime kept its continuity straight and everything kept progressing forward. Instead every region, as of late, Ash gets a reset and he is basically starting all over agin. Heck he should be far older then ten but he has been ten since episode one.
9752927
That's why in my story I am trying to keep Pikachu as a more balanced pokemon, taking both his stronger and weaker moments and finding a fine middle.
Thus far I received many comments (in Little Lost Pikachu) mostly where people complained that I either made Pikachu look like a rookie or make him too weak, or how he should have done better because of many tricks he use in the anime. Well, here's the thing. I wasn't writting Pikachu at his overpowered best. I was writting him with strengths and abilities that he should posses (no overpowered plot armor that he receive in some turnament fights or when facing legendaries, but also no super weak moments where he can't stand up against a rookie pokemon). I was trying to write him as strong as a talented and experienced, yet not fully evolved Pikachu should've been.
So yeah, no godzilla-level of durability for Ash's Pikachu, and he totally deserve to evolve. He has proven his point and after interacting with Nica he's more fine with taking this step.
On a side note, here's something funny. Even though Nica was meant to be a partner of pokemon master (the strongest Raichu in the world and a kind of role-model for Pikachu to admire and vice-versa). She wasn't meant to be as overpowered as she was in my story.
However, since Ash's Pikachu defeated Regice in one vs one battle, I had to up Nica's power and abilities a bit. Then considering that Pikachu fought Latias (dragon/psychic pokemon with resistance to electricity) and they had a draw, I had to up Nica's power a bit more. Then Pikachu defeated Mega-Lucario. And during turnament he defeated Tyranitar, then Metagross, and still put heck of a fight against Charizard (all during the same round), so I had to increase Nica's endurance and stamina even futher. After all, Ash never defeated a single Elite Four members, and Pikachu was demolished when fighting Flint's Infernape, and Astra had to defeat such opponents in order to become Pokemon Master.
So long story short, as much as I hoped to avoid it, I made Nica as super-durable as she is because it wouldn't make sense for her to be any weaker considering what unevolved Pikachu is capaible off. Still tried to balance it with some flaws though.
9752441
Astra should remember that ash is his trainer.
Having pikachu decide to evolve without asking ask first is out of character due to their close relationship.
9753039
Oh, she remembers it, which is why she is so determined to make sure he reunite with his trainer alive.
Astra fears for Pikachu's life and evolution is a strong option to improve their chance of survival, so I believe that in such circumstances her action is fully justified.
No, it is not. There's nothing out of character here. It is Pikachu's decision whenever he wants to evolve or not, and Ash was shown that he's fine with whatever Pikachu choose.
Also, lives are on the line here, and if evolving into Raichu can help keep everyone safe and find Nica, Pikachu is fine with using the Thunderstone. (He know that Ash would be fine with them reuniting with him being a Raichu.)
In the end it is Astra who noticed the hesitation and took away the Thunderstone.
I think you mean epilogue...
Can't wait to see what happened to Nica and Ace
9754019
Fixed, thanks.
9755807
Don't worry. Future chapters will focus on them. On a side-note, what do you think of Astra/Pikachu's ark? Or are you just more interested in Nica's over Pikachu's adventures?
9756203
I liked their ark, I'm just really curious about what happened to her
OK there is something I would like to point out about pikachu evolving into raichu, it is canon that the original form of raichu is more aggressive than pikachu due to it having far more electricity in it's body you can't say that doesn't apply in your story because Nica LOST power from her training for durability and before that she was more aggressive just towards herself than others(that self hate is still aggression) though they are in alola so pikachu would become part psychic type and would be at a bigger disadvantage against team rocket. Also you seem to prefer pikachu's evolution and that is giving you bias towards it being better but that is not true the way it's stats grow is just different not better and a raichu learns less moves than pikachu and the same goes with pikachu learning less moves than pichu through level up and levels exist in the anime