Raichu, Defender of Equestria
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Chapter 28
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Training or Overtraining?
“We’re almost there, naptime’s over, wake up!” Dash shouted.
Nica yawned, then raised one paw and rubbed her sleepy eyes. “I’m awake, I’m awake…”
“Good, now hold on tight, I’m going full speed.”
“Y-yes… sure,” Nica said with a sleepy tone, only to grab Dash’s neck with both of her forepaws. Her rear paws were no longer anchored on Dash’s back and her body started flapping against the wind. The clouds from above and trees from under started zipping by at rapid speed as the town of Ponyville quickly came into view.
Nica grit her teeth, feeling muscles in her forepaws burning. It wasn’t the first time she ended up holding something that tried to shake her off. While being a Pikachu or Raichu, she ended up anchored against Onix or Steelix’s head, struggling to hold against neck of speeding flying pokemon like Pidgeot, Skarmory or Charizard, one time even riding on an Articuno. However, Dash’s speed proved superior to any flying pokemon she had ever met.
A large explosion of colors formed behind them as Rainbow Dash’s speed increased immensely.
Despite the extreme speed and force of wind, Nica endured, feeling her forepaws slowly sliding from Dash’s neck. Nica’s eyes closed tightly. Such speed… that’s incredible. Wait… didn’t I have a method of holding onto a speeding flying pokemon ever since I evolved? Wait… my tail!
“Too… fast…” Dash said before pulling herself to a full stop in mid-air, only to bite her bottom lip and her eyes to become wide as Nica flew over her head, catapulted towards the Canterlot mountain. “Nica!”
Nica was fully awake now, regretting she didn’t wrap her tail around the pegasus belly when she had the chance, as she was now speeding towards the mountain faster than ever before. Apparently her ride flew too quickly and bypassed Ponyville, only to send her flying towards the large mountain. Not that she was afraid. Pokemon battles often involved one pokemon hitting another with lots of force, and being small and light, she ended up flying into solid stone plenty of times, creating craters in a diversity of sizes. At times even piercing the stone.
She narrowed her eyes and charged power into her tail, swinging it against the rocky surface to soften her crash. In an explosion of rubble and dust, Nica’s tail was now stuck in a massive crater, so was the rest of her body. With a weak push, she flew from the crater, falling to the ground for several seconds before her feet made contact with the solid rocky surface. She wiped dust from her body before turning around and looking up towards the shouting pegasus.
“Nica, I’m sooo sorry! Wait… are you even hurt?”
Nica shook her head, keeping a cheerful smile. “Of course not. I got used to being slammed into hard rock back when I was a tiny Pichu.” She poked her own chest. “I got way tougher ever since. You’d be surprised.”
“Okaaay…” Dash rubbed the back of her neck, still hovering above the ground with slow flaps of her wings. “How about I take you into the castle?”
“I'll pass. You go right ahead, I’ll just stretch up a little and run there myself.”
“S-sure… and again, sorry. See you in the castle.”
Nica nodded before glancing at the crater of her own making. She looked at the castle in distance, only to glance back at the crater again. Her eyes became wide. She tried to take her eyes away, but something in her rebelled. As if hypnotised, she started staring at the side of the mountain. There seemed to be something important about it.
Now that I think about it, didn’t my numerous trainings involved stone walls such as this? Ever since I was overwhelmed by guilt after failing to save a person, a father from a burning building… She took off her magical collar and placed it under a nearby tree before returning to her previous spot. She raised her tail while charging it with power. I’m sure a short warm up won’t hurt. Five to ten minutes should do the trick. With four paws on the ground in a fighting stance, she unleashed bolts of electricity against the wall’s surface, causing several pebbles to fall.
She bent her legs and jumped lightly, swinging her tail in mid-air while hitting several pebbles at once, smashing them into dust. She followed up with several bolts of electricity shot against the falling stones, destroying a few more. Her paws hit the ground softly two seconds later. Not fast enough, I need to try harder.
She repeated her previous actions, this time swinging not just her tail but her entire body in mid-air, cutting several pebbles in half with sharp edge of her metalic tail. Her bolts of electricity hit the rest. Better, but still not good enough.
Using more electricity than before, she doubled the number of falling pebbles. Jumping a bit higher than before, she swung her tail like a whip at speed too quick to track by a pony eye, hitting plenty of pebbles at the same time. With one extra second before pebbles would hit the ground due to her faster jump, she struck more pebbles with electricity… yet failing to hit them all. Five pebbles hit the ground unharmed.
Nica landed on her rear paw, her attention on a stone platform standing out from the surface ahead of her. Time to increase the difficulty. With a weak ‘Thunderbolt,' she cut off the platform as a massive boulder was now speeding towards the ground, bouncing against the surface as rubble followed.
Nica ran at full speed while repeating her name, summoning an aura of electricity around her whole body. Running up on the near-horizontal surface, she was now on a collision course with the falling boulder. With a quick jump and a swing of her tail, she smashed into the boulder, destroying it with a combination of ‘Volt Tackle’ and ‘Iron Tail.' Now staring at the ground, she attacked with ‘Thunderbolt,' hitting as many fragments of the boulder as she could. Her feet made contact with the solid ground a moment later, surrounded by a growing amount of rubble.
Several slashings of little pebbles and two smashes into boulders later, a few bruises and drops of sweat started decorating Nica’s body.
Rainbow Dash flew out the balcony, crossing her arms and frowning while her wings kept her in mid-air. “Where’s everypony at? They sure couldn’t have picked a worse time to disappear.”
Using her speed, she flew towards Rarity’s boutique, knocking at the door. “Rarity! Are you there?” Quickly losing patience, she flew inside through the window, only to fly outside and groan. “Not you too.”
Not wasting a moment, she flew towards Fluttershy’s cottage, only to leave it with a few bite-marks on her ears and legs. “This is really getting old.”
After a quick flight over the Sweet Apple Acres, her eyes rested upon a familiar pony. With a loud thump, she landed in front of Big Mac, her hooves sank into the grass and soil. “Big Mac, there’s no time. Where’s Applejack?!”
Big Mac raised his massive hoof and pointed at the city on the mountain.
“She’s in Canterlot?”
“Eeyup.”
Dash stood on her rear hooves and held her forehooves against her head. “Now it makes sense, they were all called to Canterlot.” She flew up, giving the stallion a quick glance and saluted. “Thanks, Big Mac, but I need to get going. Saving Equestria and stuff. See ya later!” The stallion waved in a farewell gesture.
Dash flew towards Canterlot, only to stop in middle way, her attention now on flashing electricity visible on the side of the mountain.
After a moment to put two and two together, she shouted, “Nica! I completely forgot.” She flew towards the large critter. Wait a moment. I think I spent nearly an hour looking all over Ponyville for my friends. Did she spend all this time in the same spot near the mountain? What gives? With a hard landing, she pressed her flank into the rocky ground, several small stones scattered upon contact with her body. After a moment to reassert herself, she shut her wings and called, “Hey, Nica!”
Rainbow Dash took slow steps forward, observing the large critter as she slashed numerous stones in mid-air, only to hit the leftovers with electricity before they even touched the ground. Dash sat and clapped her forehooves. “Wooow… that was amazing. I had no idea you could move your tail that fast. I didn’t even see it when it started cutting everything in half.”
She watched as Nica ran up the stone-wall, smashing two falling boulders into pieces.
“Oh, I get it, you’re preparing for the battle ahead. I can dig that,” Dash said, displaying her teeth in an excited smile. “As for me, I searched the entire town, only to find out that our friends were called to Canterlot. Either they’re figuring out a plan to get rid of all those curses, or Equestria may be in danger from another millenium old villain or something… ummm… are you even listening?” Much to her confusion, the pokemon kept training, now sending bolts of electricity and slashing any rock falling to the ground, doing both at the same time as if performing a dance. The number of bruises present pokemon’s head and limbs being disturbingly high.
“Fine, I suppose I can play along, but no more than ten minutes, alright?” Dash shrugged and flew up, kicking several falling stones with her hooves. “You know what, this is kinda fun.” The moment a large boulder started falling, she flew to the side. “I… I think I’ll stay out of that one. Definitely too big for me.”
Five minutes, seven minutes, ten minutes, the training continued as Dash landed and wiped sweat from her forehead, allowing her sore hooves to rest. “Alright… Nica… I think… that’s enough,” she said between quick breaths. “Oh come on!” she shouted, spreading her forehooves. “Stop ignoring me!” After a moment to recover, she spread her wings and flew forward, landing in front of the pokemon. “Now hold on there a second.” The moment Nica rounded her, she followed the critter, now flying next to her. “Our friends may be in trouble. We can’t waste any more time out here. They may need our help.” Much to Dash’s disappointment, the pokemon ignored her, restlessly hitting the falling stone.
“Okay… now I’m worried,” Dash said, her ears now lying flat against her head. While she met the enthusiastic pokemon yesterday, she learned that Nica had a strong desire to use her powers to help and protect others. This Raichu gave up on her competitive nature and became afraid of hurting those weaker than her, and instead became desperate to never fail again. The creature in front of her was nothing like the Nica she knew.
“Alright, enough is enough,” Dash said before flying at the large critter in attempt to grab her, yet her target leaped left and right, as if evading her became part of the training regime. Using all of her speed and skills, Dash kept following Nica, wrapping her forehooves around her belly the moment she jumped up. A few pebbles bounced against Dash’s head as her attention focused on keeping the pokemon in place. “Calm down alr-yayayayaj…” Dash yelped and released Nica, falling to the ground.
After a moment to recover from her shock and stand up, Dash examined her own burns. "Did Nica... just push me away... with electricity?" She gulped as something was definitely wrong.
After a few more attempts to restrain the training pokemon was met with hostility, Dash sat under a tree next to the magical collar, now observing the scene before her in worry. As much as she wanted to regroup with her friends, she couldn’t leave Nica behind. All she needed to do was to wait for the pokemon to get tired, which shouldn’t take long considering the intensity of the training. After all, how long could even the most elite fighter keep going with so many bruises on each of her legs.
Minutes turned into half an hour as sweat started dripping down Nica’s face at rapid pace, while small bruises were replaced with large ones and were additionally covered by cuts. Each of Nica’s limbs started to tremble and her breathing became heavy. The moment Nica used ‘Thunderbolt’ to cut a large piece of stone form the wall, the electricity vanished while Nica fell to her knees.
“It seems you’re out of steam, how about a break?” Dash asked, her suggestion being meet with silence.
With struggle clear on her face, Nica clenched the bronze tip of her paws grit her teeth and shouted, cutting part of the stone with electricity. She jumped and ran up the stone-wall, repeating her name as aura of electricity surrounded her. The moment she jumped at the stone the aura of electricity vanished, resulting in her body slamming into the stone, causing no more than a few cracks to spread.
Dash pushed herself to a standing position and spread her wings, flying ahead while shouting, “Nica!” Her reflexes proved too slow as the large stone flattened the Raichu into the rocky surface. A loud thud, strong quake and a scream of pain followed. Dash’s face turned pale before she pulled the stone with all of her strength, her wings were flapping rapidly. The massive stoned raised no more than a few centimeters on one side from her futile attempt. She yelped the moment metallic tail pierced the middle part of the stone, digging a hole before Nica climbed form it.
“You’re fine, I was so worried!” Dash shouted as she tried to grab the pokemon between her hooves, who pushed her away with a slap of her tail.
Nica turned around, struggling to summon another ‘Thunderbolt.'
“Hey… now listen… I can’t deny that the way you train is pretty cool, and the way you use your tail and crush boulders is impressive, and your perseverance during training is admirable and such…” Dash rubbed the back of her neck nervously before approaching the large stone. “But you can barely stand or use electricity. There’s nothing wrong with taking breaks.”
Nica cut off another piece of stone, only to sit and breathe heavily. With the large boulder now falling on her head, she stood up and jumped, swinging her tail against the stone. She crashed into the ground from the recoil with several fragments of the stone falling around her.
Dash looked to the side and her ears drooped. Just by watching as the pokemon struggled to stand on those trembling hurt paws, covered in bruises and yelping in pain, left an unpleasant feeling in her stomach. Watching alone became difficult. “Nica… please…”
The pokemon cut off yet another boulder –after a few failed tries–, only to run towards it with with another ‘Volt Tackle,' the aura of electricity being way thinner than before. The moment the boulder exploded upon the impact, Nica slammed into the ground with great force. Tears fell down from her closed eyes.
Dash approached with hesitant steps, watching as Nica struggled for several seconds to stand on four trembling legs, only to lose balance and fall to the side. One attempt after another, the pokemon kept pushing herself into a standing position, yelping in pain with each step as she lost balance again and again. “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Dash said as she grabbed the pokemon between her hooves, “but stop being so awesome. Trying to do so many cool things without a break is hurting you.” She felt electricity go through her every bone as pokemon in her hold used whatever she had against her.
Rainbow Dash lost her balance, releasing Nica form her hold who crashed into the ground. The pegasus massaged her burned forelegs before looking at Nica, noticing tears in her eyes. Despite pain visible on the pokemon with her every movement, the Raichu kept struggling to stand and walk, using its own tail for support. Nica’s limbs seemed to be barely working as she kept limping with each step.
After four failed tries, Nica summoned whatever was left of her electricity to cause a few pebbles to fall. With her eyes closed form pain, she relied on other senses, swinging her tail to slam against the falling stones before losing balance.
Dash felt tears sliding down her own face. What she saw wasn’t just a harsh training, but rather a self-inflicted torture. The pokemon wasn’t simply pushing herself to her limits, but trying to push pass them, using every bit of stamina while ignoring the pain. It looked as if display of limitless willpower was trying to make a barely working body to move.
In a final display, Nica ran towards the wall of the mountain, limping, while thin aura of electricity surrounded her. With a firm jump, Nica slammed herself into the stone, causing an explosion as cloud of dust covered the area.
Dash coughed, shaking her forehoof in attempt to push away the dust. She ran towards the unconscious pokemon lying in front of a crater, turning her around. Pupils in Dash’s eyes became wide. A stream of blood started to fall from pokemon’s mouth. The heartbeat and breathing was there, but it was certainly weak. “N-Nica… no… what have you done?!” She spread her wings and flew towards Ponyville’s. Hospital or veterinary clinic? Where can they treat you better? With only seconds to think, she turned, flying towards the hospital.
If pokemon really get tougher the more they get hurt, and she was willingly pushing herself through this torture, it’s no wonder she’s so durable. But what if she survived only because she got a proper treatment where she comes from. What if the vet ponies can’t help her? Oh, no, don’t you dare think like that, Rainbow Dash! She’ll be fine and that’s final! More tears fell down her face as she kept looking at the blood coming from Nica’s mouth while holding her as if holding a young filly. You helped clear Daring Do’s name, protected us from some powerful pokemon, and a few week ago you ran into a burning building and even fought against the mob. She shouted, “Don’t you dare die on me, you hear? Please!”