//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 - Mysterious Encounter // Story: Little Lost Raichu // by CommanderX5 //------------------------------// Little Lost Raichu - Chapter 10 - Mysterious Encounter “Is this… for me?” Lily asked, slowly and carefully taking the water gun away from Nica as if it was a fragile trophy. Just a few minutes ago she was jumping and cheering up for her long-tailed friend, who was throwing water balloons at the moving targets. She had to admit, while Raichu’s paws weren’t much stronger than the legs of an ordinary filly —though unbelievably good at jumping— the critter’s precision was incredible. It seemed as if Nica knew where the target was going to be a few seconds in advance. Spinning to gather momentum before throwing the last balloon with her tail was quite the show, and she looked forward to more tricks of such calibre. Nica said. Not expecting the filly to understand her, she let her actions speak for themselves. Lily felt her heart warm up. Even if the water gun was a poor reward when compared to the life-size plush of the princess, she couldn’t care less. Without hesitation, she grabbed Raichu with one foreleg and nuzzled her cheek. A painful yet affectionate experience the pokemon didn’t resist. “Since it’s from you, I’ll treasure it!” She looked around and ran in the direction of another stand, this one having an earth pony wearing a clown’s mask sitting on a small platform above a big container filled with water. While water balloons proved to be weak ammunition, there was no way any target was going to withstand her throwing prowess. Raichu struggled for a moment before earning her freedom, sliding away from Lily’s embrace. she asked, though seeing a clown pony with saddened smile sitting above a container of water explained enough. Her ears drooped as she stared at the poor stallion in pity. “Here you go,” said a green pegasus as she placed a few balloons on the ground in front of the filly before taking the bits. She swung her foreleg and added, “Throw as hard as you can, and who knows, maybe you’ll drop the clown and win something cool.” Hearing the mare’s words, Nica turned to Lily, placed her paws on the water balloon she held and shook her head. “You seem sad, is something wrong?” Lily asked. Nica pointed at the pony sitting on the platform and shook her head. “Are you… feeling sorry for this pony and not want me to wet him?” Lily asked, receiving an energetic nod. “Awww…” She sighed and returned the balloons. “Fine…” She received the paid bits back a moment later. Nica said before gasping. Her ears perked up and the pupils in her eyes shrank as she looked up, observing a three meters high, two meters wide cotton candy. Its size being so big that its shadow covered her and the filly. “Are you both having fun?” Pinkie asked as she balanced the cotton candy with a single hoof. Lily raised her head, only to flinch and point at the pink monstrosity. “Wooow… it’s so biiig! Can I have some?” “Sure thing.” Raichu could do little but stare. The size of this cotton candy was so big that with one wrong move of her foreleg, Pinkie could trap a few ponies. If this was the super extra large, how big was the mega extra large going to be? She shivered at the idea. “And to think that not long ago you shocked a few fillies and colts with electricity, and now look at you, enjoying the festival with your school-friend… not that you go to school…” Pinkie said, only for small stream of water to splash into her face. Lily lowered her water gun and giggled. “I’m really sorry, Pinkie, but I can’t let you remind my friend of such sad moments.” “Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Pinkie yelped as she was pushed to the side by a pony wearing a grey coat. The cotton candy she held fell from her hoof and dropped on three panicking bystanders. The mysterious stallion grabbed Pinkie’s plush unicorn and Lily’s water gun before dumping them into his saddlebag. He then pushed the life-sized stuffed toy with his head while running away. “Hey, come back here you toy-stealing thief!” Pinkie shouted while shaking her foreleg treatengly. She bit her lip as she noticed a few ponies struggling to get out from the sea of cotton. “S-sorry, let me help!” She dived into the cotton candy, devouring it at a quick pace in an attempt to free the trapped ponies. Nica narrowed her eyes. No thief was going to steal anything from her friends on her watch. She bent her legs and darted away, following the stallion. To Raichu, Pinkie was even more sweet than the treats she made. Why would anyone steal a cute little plush from her? Not to mention that not long ago she hurt Lily with electricity, yet the filly forgave her and became her friend, going so far as to even win her a big huggable stuff-toy. It was gift from a friend, and the water gun was her gift for the filly, both had emotional value, and she was going to get them back. The stallion made a few quick turns between tents and stands, now making his escape towards a line of buildings. Yet the smaller size and greater agility of Raichu helped her to turn much faster, catching up with the thief despite him having a head start. With a quick jump, Nica tackled the thief’s neck, pulling the coat up over the stallion’s head. Yet the targeted pony held his ground, refusing to trip over. After a moment to reassert himself and shake dirt from his hooves, the tall stallion resumed his gallop, forcing the pokemon to hold his neck. The ponies who got in the way were pushed to the side. Nica stepped onto the ground and grabbed the stallion’s foreleg, pulling it with all her strength but to no avail. In the end, she was smaller and weaker than the ponies, and there wasn’t much her agility could do against brute force. But wait… there were still two tricks she could use. Using electricity would no doubt hurt the pony a lot, so she decided not to take off the collar from her neck just yet. Instead, she backflipped to gain some distance, bending her legs for a counterattack. Waiting for the right moment, she jumped and wrapped her tail around his hind leg, tripping him over with the force of her jump and strength of her tail. The saddlebag fell across his shoulder and rolled on the ground, while the life-sized plush of an alicorn fell over. Nica shouted and started hopping in place in excitement with weak restrained jumps. She actually did something useful for the first time since the ponies accepted her, and she liked it. No, she loved it. All she needed to do was to be useful around thirty more times and she would repay all the kindness and favors that she had been gifted. Trotting like Pinkie Pie, she rounded the stallion while a proud smile radiated from her face. Yet her smile vanished just as quickly the moment she looked into the eyes of the thief. They seemed green, tiny, lifeless, and some sort of green-dark aura radiated from them. The stallion stood up and grabbed the saddlebag with his teeth, leaving the large plush behind. Nica shouted as she once again wrapped her tail around the stallion’s leg, but without additional pulling force she failed to trip him over and was pulled instead. Ending up in dark alley, she grabbed the corner of a house with her paws and pulled, tripping the stallion for the second time. Suddenly, she felt an aura of excitement behind her, one that wasn’t there before. “Nice catch!” Pinkie shouted as she grabbed Raichu between her forehooves, now sitting right behind her. “Sorry it took so long, but I needed to help some ponies.” She released Raichu from her embrace and turned towards the thief while Lily, who was sitting on Pinkie’s back, jumped to the ground. “Now listen here you meany, if you wanted some toys, you should try to win them like everypony else… or ask nicely. I suppose I would give you one if you just asked, but stealing is a big no no.” As the stallion just stared back at her with lifeless eyes, Pinkie asked, “Are you feeling okay? You look… weird.” “Forgive him, he just did what I commanded him to do.” Pinkie looked around in confusion as she heard a deep voice speaking to her in her mind. The group’s attention shifted to another caped figure, this one however seemed way more bulky. Was it even a pony? The coat covered most of its features, and there seemed to be a lot of mass hidden under the hood. Pinkie tilted her head to the side. She didn’t remember any large stallion in Ponyville to be homeless, nor poor, so why was this one sitting in the darkness supported against a wall? Either a beggar moved to Ponyville and another pony tried to steal for him, which didn’t make much sense considering what was stolen, or something was terribly wrong. Also, the way this pony spoke to her seemed funny. She glanced at her long-tailed friend who seemed wary of the newcomer. Taking a deep breath, Pinkie asked, “Who’re you? And why are you hiding yourself under this hood in this suspicious dark alley where you could totally ambush us, steal our goods and nopony would witness it?” Her words only ended up raising a red flag in Raichu and Lily’s mind. Pinkie’s body and tail started to shake, and she took a moment to regain her composure. “My Pinkie sense tells me something really, really, really bad is about to happen…” She took hesitant steps backward while grabbing Lily with a hoof. She chuckled nervously and said, “I think we’ll be going…” Nica took a fighting stance on her four paws, her ears and tail raised threateningly. The mysterious figure chuckled. “So you saw through the charade this quickly, not that this ability of yours will help you now.” In a great display of speed, it levitated towards the party mare as a three-finger black-grey hand shot from his hood, grabbing Pinkie’s foreleg violently. His other hand emerged and a flame appeared above one of its fingers. Raichu jumped onto the hand of the attacker and grabbed it, pressing her rear paws into what was probably a belly and pulled, trying to free her pony friend. Her attempts were clearly ignored. The party mare pulled her foreleg from the vice grip, as if her limbs were made of bubblegum, and her eyes were now fully focused on the small flame. Yet it seemed anything but normal. It was black and pulsating, and the finger of the attacker was like a small candle. Pinkie raised her foreleg defensively, but it did little to help as the attacker slapped it away and pushed the flame towards her forehead. Instead of burning the fur, though, it sunk into her forehead. Pinkie’s surroundings became blurry and started spinning. Her eyes closed slowly and her consciousness faded away. Nica asked as she released the dark hand and ran towards Pinkie, shaking her head in an attempt to wake her up. She glanced at Lily, who stood in one place while covered in sweat. The terror on Lily’s face told Raichu that she was paralyzed by fear. Her ears drooped and she shot the mysterious figure an angered glare. ”That is none of your concern.” Raichu took a fighting stance once more, not bothered by the voice that spoke to her in her mind. Instead, she jumped and tackled the attacker with her head, smashing them into a home. She failed to pierce the wooden wall though as her enemy showed some resistance, and she was instead grabbed by its hand for her trouble. She gritted her teeth as the three fingers started to squeeze her neck. Nica started to struggle to free herself, wriggling her body and using her own paws against the enemy’s hand, but the attacker was bigger and stronger. She caught a glimpse of its face under the hood, and found that there wasn’t much of a face to begin with. There was no mouth, no nose, only large blue eye and some sort of red thingy… as if a piece of red armor. The hooded attacker looked at the shining collar curiously and asked, ”You’re sealing away your power, why?” He lit a flame above his finger once more and added, Doesn’t matter, it was convenient for me. You seem to like living among the residents of this world, so enjoy their company in the bliss I provide as long as you can. He slowly moved the flame on his finger towards Nica’s forehead, only for the yellow part of her long tail to slap his face and next press against his hand. Fool, you can’t harm me with such feeble attacks, not that such a weak hit is even worth being called an attack. Without access to your power or your memories, you’re nothing to me. Raichu’s anxiety was replaced by curiosity for a moment. This creature not only understood her, but also knew about her amnesia and that the collar was sealing away her electricity, but how? And what did it mean ‘residents of this world’? Thinking it over proved very difficult due to her being choked. “L-leave her alone, or… or I’ll punch you!” Lily shouted as she stood on her trembling legs, but hid her fear behind an angered glare. The mysterious figure ignored the filly and started to overpower Raichu’s tail, the flame only centimeters away from the orange forehead. Much to its surprise, the pink filly jumped towards his head and her hoof made contact with its face. The force of the punch pushed them through two wooden walls, right into somepony’s kitchen. The room was empty though as only shelves, a sink and an oven kept them company. Nica tried to use the moment to escape, but failed as the hand still held her neck with great strength. She couldn’t even take off her collar as the fingers squeezing her neck were in the way. Despite the enormous force hitting her assailant in such small space on its face, its grip was as strong as before. The mysterious figure levitated upward and charged at the filly the moment she peeked into the kitchen, and flame on its finger made contact with Lily’s forehead. Raichu could do little but watch as his little strong friend lost consciousness. The moment the black flame touched her own forehead, her eyes became heavy and she followed in suit. Tired, defenseless and sleepy, the last thing on her mind was how she failed the ponies when they needed her the most. “Hey, wake up!” NIca’s eyes shot open as she looked around, noticing Pinkie’s signature smile and the concerned face of Lily Longsock. “You can’t fall asleep now when there are still so many attractions to explore,” Pinkie said as her tail grabbed Raichu and placed her on her back. Nica massaged her forehead. Something didn’t seem right… The last thing she remembered was stopping Lily from drowning a clown pony in a large container of water, only to wake up to Pinkie’s shouting. But what happened in between? There had to be something… After a moment of deep thinking while feeling a headache, she shrugged and let it go, after all, she still needed to win more rewards for Lily. A water gun wasn’t even close to a life-sized plush pony. “Come over everypony, only today you can witness an outstanding display of balance and agility!” As if a fish taking the bait, Pinkie started bouncing into the tent. She ignored the advertising unicorn and waved her foreleg towards a white pegasus with pink mane in green stripes with red flower as a cutie mark. “Hey Blossomforth, what’s up?” She waved back. “Oh, hey Pinkie Pie, just trying to earn a few bits on the side. And who’re your companions?” Pinkie lowered her neck and pointed at her back. “This here’s Raichu and her name’s Nica, our new mascot slash friend slash… something. Feel free to hug her, she won’t electrocute you, Pinkie Promise.” She pointed at the pink filly next to her. “And she’s Lily Stronghold, she’s Nica’s friend and she’s really good at winning.” “It’s… Lily Longsock… not Stronghold,” she corrected, rubbing her forearm nervously. “And I’m not good at winning, just a little bit strong is all.” “Excuse me, I’m trying to give a speech here.” “S-sorry!” Pinkie shouted and held a forehoof over her mouth. “First, allow me to introduce myself and the champion. My name’s Juggle Ball, the organizer of this event.” The unicorn stallion cleared his throat and addressed the gathered audience, “Miss Blossomforth, also known as the hoof-standing master, has been practicing for months to break the record, thirty minutes of non-stop standing on one hoof while balancing three plates on her other hooves. If anypony feels capable and brave enough to challenge her, please step forward. The closer to the record, the better the reward.” He pointed at the pegasus who showed her teeth in a smile. “And to prove that she’s really a big deal, she’ll show off her skills on the stage by competing with other challengers. If somepony can beat her at her own game, an extra prize awaits. Raichu closed her eyes, seeing images of yet another memory, but instead of being a Pichu again, she looked like her parents. She and her human trainer were inside a forest near a small river, very close to a waterfall. Why she was there she couldn’t tell, but for some reason she stepped into the cold water and started walking towards the waterfall. Despite her small size as a Pikachu, she didn’t drown in the water as it was shallow enough to only reach halfway up her belly. Once under the very strong stream of water pressing against her entire body, she stood on the tips of her tiny legs, and next on the tip of just one leg, balancing herself despite the heavy pressure. How a foot which was three times smaller than her ear could manage to keep her stable in such a condition was incomprehensible to her. Nica opened her eyes and looked at her own feet, which at the very least weren’t so microscopic. How long could her bigger paws balance her weight? She had to know. And unlike her experiences with Rarity, this time she was planning to go all out. “I want to participate, pick me, pick me!” Pinkie shouted, standing on her rear hooves while raising her foreleg. Joining raised hooves of a few other ponies. Raichu, who was deep in thought, rolled from Pinkie’s back to the ground, but quickly stood up and approached the stage. She stood on the tips of her rear paws and waved at the stallion. Lily joined in, though not showing much confidence in herself. “Seems this time we have many contestants.” Juggle Ball said, clearing his throat. “Let the challenge begin!” Blossomforth stepped onto a small platform and spread her wings, raising one leg after another before she stood only on her right forehoof. It didn’t take long before three plates were levitated and balanced on her other three hooves and four plates were perched on her spread wings. Other participants followed her example. Nica observed Blossomforth, now standing on her right forepaw. Much to her surprise, she barely felt her own weight, as if she was as light or even lighter than a feather. It made sense actually. After enduring a small waterfall pressing against her while standing on a tiny leg, her current exercise was a breeze. A moment later, she felt the cold surface of three plates balancing on the bronze edges of her other paws. The fact that she was somewhat smaller than the ponies put her at a slight disadvantage when balancing them. Not that she minded as the challenge was the best part. The timer on a small device was set, showing the time that passed, second by second. Nica’s ears perked up at the yelping noise that came from Lily’s mouth, noticing that the filly and plates she had tried to balance were now levitating in a bronze aura. “That’s one less, five left, better luck next time.” Lily nodded and walked towards the gathered crowd, deciding to cheer up for her friend instead. “Come on Raichu… I mean Nica… you can… and… do your best!” Her voice was still hesitant as she glanced at gathered ponies from time to time. Raichu nodded. Balancing seemed to be her field of speciality, and she wasn’t going to give up until she had won the most grand prize for Lily. She was going to paw-stand to the last fraction of her stamina… or at the very least as long as necessary. “Let’s add some difficulty, show them what I mean, Blossomforth,” Juggle shouted, and only now Nica noticed a few red balls surrounded by a bronze aura as his cutie mark. Blossomforth nodded before pushing one plate up from her left forehoof. Her right forehoof bent and pushed her entire body up a moment later. She quickly changed the hoof she stood on before catching the plate. Other ponies could only stare and gulp as their rival now stood on her left forehoof instead without dropping a single plate or drop of sweat. “Now your turn, change your foreleg in a similar manner.” Nica’s ears twitched at each yelp, and she could see the unicorn’s horn in action as he levitated the plates and participants away. She focused on the plate held in her paw and bit her lip in concentration. The plate flew up, so did Raichu’s body as she lightly pushed herself upward, changing her paws and catching the plate quickly… and it worked. She actually jumped with one paw and balanced the plate with ease, certainly something to be proud of. “It seems only two participants and our champion are left on the field,” the unicorn commented. “Of course our brave participants are welcome to challenge the champion with a trick of their own.” “My turn, my turn,” Pinkie shouted as she pushed the plate from her foreleg and caught it with her tail. She next pushed herself up and changed her legs. “Now your turn Blossom.” “B-b-but…” Amazed by Pinkie’s trick, Raichu followed her example, pushing and catching a plate with her tail before changing the paw she stood on. Blossomforth gave a nervous smile at her boss before trying her luck, yet while her body reached the limits of pony-flexibility, her ability in using tail were near-non-existent. “It seems… our champion is... down…” Juggle chuckled before pointing at Raichu and Pinkie while addressing the crowd. “But don’t leave just yet, everypony, we still have two fighting contestants.” “Hey, Nica, try this,” Pinkie said as she used her tail to place a plate on tip of her nose and started spinning it. Raichu gulped before doing the same. One second, two seconds, six seconds, the plate spun on her nose, and with a shake of her head she tossed it back onto the thunder-shaped part of her tail. And then she smiled with a wide glee. Performing such tricks was sooo much fun! She ignored the growing audience and simply enjoyed herself. Pinkie laughed very loudly, throwing plates between her hooves while changing the legs she stood on, was it foreleg or hind leg didn’t matter. Even her tail was used once as support to balance her entire body. Her little companion didn’t seem to fall behind as she copied all tricks she performed flawlessly, even doing some of her own. “Twelve minutes, ladies and gentle-ponies, twelve minutes and none of our wonderful contestants are giving up.” Juggle Ball wiped sweat from his forehead. For the past twelve minutes he was forced to look at the plates being thrown left and right, barely even blinking in case he needed to catch them with his levitation. The gathered crowd was at least three times bigger than before and each pony had their own favourite. While most stallions cheered up for Pinkie Pie, the friendly party pony, most mares were overtaken by the charm of the long-tailed critter, both admiring her enthusiasm and wishing to rub Raichu between her ears. The excitement Nica felt didn’t die down, quite the opposite, she wanted more, and even the growing crowd of ponies didn’t intimidate her. Using her tail, she picked up her plates and threw them up, one at a time. Performing a backflip, she landed on her rear paw while catching two falling plates with her foreleg, and the last one she caught with her teeth. Much to her surprise, Pinkie fell from the platform, and the plate she tried to catch with her teeth shattered into pieces. “Seems we have a winner!” The crowd went wild, cheering for the winner, and so did Lily as she accidently pushed a few pegasi to the other side of the tent in excitement. Luckily, their wings stopped them in mid air… except one unicorn who crashed into a few barrels and now started counting stars that circled over his head. “You can now step down and take your fabulous prize,” the unicorn said, but Nica shook her head in refusal. “Huh, but why?” Raichu stretched her tail and pointed at the device that was counting time that passed from the start of this challenge. “Oh right, record beating. Alright. You just need to wait ten more minutes.” He rubbed the back of his neck. Since the record was made by ponies, would it count if a long-tailed pear-shaped critter the size of a young filly beat it? Nica nodded. Despite performing various tricks and jumping from one paw to another, she didn’t feel tired in the least. If anything, she felt invigorated. Maybe performing a small dance with her forepaws wouldn’t hurt? Blossomforth sat next to Pinkie and whispered into her ear. “Can you give me some tips how to use my tail for such tricks?” “Sure, I’m always up to help a friend,” Pinkie whispered back, though not as quietly. “Thanks, Pinkie, you’re the best.” The festival filled with fun and games came to an end as Lily and Nica exchanged farewell hugs. The collar on Raichu’s neck shone brightly, once again proving its worth in containing the pokemon’s electricity. Nica ended their goodbye by nuzzling the tip of the pony’s muzzle with her own nose. Not wanting to be left behind, Pinkie hugged Lily as well, only to nearly choke the moment a  pair of tiny hooves squeezed her neck. She massaged it a moment later while gasping for air. “Are you... h-happy?” A quick breath in. “Did you forget all the sad experiences in the sea of fun?” Pinkie looked down at Nica in expectation. She smiled very widely the moment she noticed a nod. “Hop on, I’ll get you back into the castle in no time.” Nica jumped… after wasting a moment to calculate the strength of her jump. She couldn’t help herself but immediately nuzzle Pinkie’s soft mane, nearly sinking in it. “I can’t believe you gave all your rewards to Lily. We’re lucky she’s so strong, or else she would have a hard time getting all those toys home.” Pinkie giggled before pushing the life-size stuffed toy that Lily won for her friend. “Close your eyes and hold tight, I’ll get us back to the castle in no time.” Nica did as she was told, holding Pinkie’s neck tightly as the mare galloped at extreme speed. Once the castle was in her reach, she grabbed the large plush between her paws and jumped from Pinkie’s back, reaching the window of her own room. Accuracy of her jumps seemed to be improving with practice. “I had a lot of fun too, and you’re really good with your tail. Hope we can play more soon, bye, bye, bye!” Pinkie shouted and waved her hoof at Raichu. The sun was slowly vanishing behind the horizon. “I hope Maud found some gems for the gem-filled-cupcakes for Ember. Tasty treats for the Dragon Lord won’t bake themselves.” Too far away to hear her friend’s words, Nica waved before opening the window and pushing the life-sized toy inside, placing it in the corner of the room. She gave it a quick hug to test its… fluffiness… To her disappointment, the fake feathers were no match for Twilight’s majestic wings. After giving her spider and cockroach friends a quick welcome, she climbed up onto her bed and raised her paws one after another, now standing only on one. Raichu took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. During the festival she beat the pony record, standing on one paw for over thirty minutes, but it wasn’t her limit and she was planning to learn of her real limits tonight.