//------------------------------// // Chapter 36 - Parental Hunt part 2 // Story: Little Lost Raichu // by CommanderX5 //------------------------------// Little Lost Raichu - Chapter 36 - Parental Hunt part 2 “Nica, you’re back!” Astra shouted as she embraced her in a warm hug. “You have been absent for two weeks! I hope you enjoyed your reunion.” Nica pressed herself into her trainer’s chest, seeking comfort in it. “Is something wrong?” Astra asked. She withdrew her head and forced a smile. She was placed on the ground a moment later and gifted with a notepad and pen. Her trainer sat in front of her as the noise of rushing water reached her ears. “While you were spending time with your family, we made a lot of progress. We finished a full check up of my entire team, got a lot of useful machinery working and looked into the crystal I used for the ‘Gigavolt Havoc’ Z-move.” Nica’s ears perked up, now listening curiously. “You see, it turned out that because you started training yourself to near-death, forcing many changes in your body, as well as developing a different fighting style as a Raichu, our crystal we earned from the electric trial transformed to suit your new style.” Astra held a hand over her mouth and chuckled. “I wonder, should we call it Raichuium Z, Raichunium Z, or perhaps Nicaium Z… Nicarium Z has a nice ring to it.” The long-tailed pokemon rolled her eyes. “In any case, I need you to participate in some tests to get the Z-move working again. Guardian technicians found some equipment that was used to study pokemon combat abilities. Apparently, aside from fighting crime, my parents organization researched how training and evolutions affects a pokemon’s power, as well as how to enhance equipment to allow humans to fight alongside their pokemon as equals.” Nica asked as she tilted her head to the side. She didn’t need to write any question as her trainer was more than willing to share more information. “Follow me, I’ll show you something.” Nica followed her trainer into the laboratory, the always white monotone walls now having been decorated by yellow lightings similar to the last part of her own tail, as well as decorations looking exactly like her ears. She blushed, realizing where her trainer took inspiration when decorating this room. Upon seeing some sort of a metallic glove which was big enough to cover half of a human arm, she jumped onto the table and pointed at it. Astra turned around, taking a closer look. “Oh, that. It’s just a device the Guardians created to study changes made by pokemon evolution. Since some pokemon can evolve with the help of evolution stones, they developed a device that can revert the progress… with some limitations of course.” Nica asked as she tilted her head to the side. Astra pointed at a small opening, as if part of an ancient puzzle where one would need to attach some sort of gemstone into a hole in the wall to unlock a secret passage. “To explain it simply, if I placed a ‘Fire Stone’ on this spot and next touched a Vulpix with this glove, he would transform into a Ninetales.“ She pointed at a small knob with image of small pokemon and a big pokemon next to it. “After I would turn this switch and touch the Ninetales again, I would revert him back to Vulpix while the stone would regain its properties.> She shook her head. “And before you ask, no, I can’t revert your evolution. If I used this device on you in the past, I could transform you between Pikachu and Raichu, but now it’s impossible.” Nica nodded in understanding. Now that I think about it, those who are afraid to evolve for some reason or just want to challenge themselves can make good use of this device. They could evolve whenever facing a very powerful opponent or when lives are in danger. A boost of power could decide between life and death, and they could revert their evolution once the crisis was over. She closed her eyes and smiled. I wish it could work on me. Not that I don’t like being a Raichu. I earned my evolution after years of hardship while fighting against the odds, and I really really love my multitasking tail. She opened her eyes and tapped her forepaws together. However… I often end up facing weaker opponents, and fighting them makes me feel like a bully. Becoming a Pikachu for the sake of fairness or simply to challenge myself would be really nice. Oh well… “Do you remember those blasters that the hunters used, the ones that can turn pokemon into stone?” Astra asked as she picked up a small launcher with a hand attachment, presenting it to Nica. “This device may not be as useful as it can’t trap pokemon with a single shot, but it is much cheaper to mass-produce.” Astra pointed at a small knob atop the firearm. “I can swap between five attack mods. Heater mod allows it to shoot a very accurate laser which works like a fire attack. Freezer mod was developed based on ‘Ice Beam.’ Stunner mod is based on ‘Discharge,’ useful for crowd control. Combat mod is capable of shooting a ball of energy which was based on the attack ‘Focus Blast,’ as the result it shoots slower projectiles, but they are much stronger and have fighting properties.” She shrugged. “Don’t ask me how they managed to pull that off. Human’s creativity with technology is scary sometimes. Our pokeballs are capable of transporting several tons of weight on trainer’s belt after all.” She pressed a red button under the knob as a short sword emerged from the lower part of the device. Nica flinched, her mouth agape. The aura on this sword, it’s so similar to the one I have when using ‘Iron Tail.’ “Finally, the steel mod. It allows me to attack and defend with a steel type attack at close range,” Astra said before taking off the device and next pointing at the long tail. “I’m sure an expert like you can teach me some fencing techniques.” Nica nodded energetically. If she loved something about pokemon battles, it was teaching others. “And here’s another part of the Guardian’s arsenal,” Astra said as she presented a large crowd control shield with a hand attachment, a few buttons at fingers range were at the back of the shield. “This device uses a generator to summon a barrier which was based on the move ‘Reflect,’ a barrier based on one of your moves you like so much, ‘Light Screen,’ and finally, it can strengthen this shield’s durability which was based on a move ‘Iron Defense.’ Long story short, criminals who often targeted trainers rather than their pokemon were powerless against well armed Guardian members.” Nica displayed a smug face, held forepaws on her hips and shook her head. Astra rolled her eyes. “Now, I know what you’re trying to say. You probably said stuff like; You’re inexperienced in combat and will need to train a lot.” She clenched her fist and slammed it against the floor, leaving a tiny dent in. Nica looked down, feeling weak trembling under her rear feet while her ears picked the noise of shaking glass. “I gained a lot of strength thanks to my work under the tan Nurse Joy from the Orange Islands, and I had some opportunities to use it during our adventure. Hopefully with some practice I can handle myself in close combat.” Nica grabbed her notepad and pen which she held wrapped by her tail, and a moment later presented her writing to her trainer. After reading the paper, Astra blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “R-right… agility and evading are important as well… And considering that four mods are for ranged attacks, I would need to work on my accuracy.” Astra returned the shield onto the table, knelt on one knee and said with embarrassment clear in her voice. “I know it may sound ridiculous, but… do you think you can… ummm… teach me how to improvise?” Nica asked as she tilted her head to the side. Her eyes became wide at the realization. She pointed at her trainer accusingly. She quickly wrote her words on the paper. Astra read the message. She poked the tips of her fingers while looking to the side. “Well… it’s just… I always had my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to pokemon battles. I thought that what I lacked was experience and that I would learn how to improvise in the middle of combat like many trainers do, but it didn’t work.” She pointed at Nica. “You on the other hand developed a lot of individuality as my partner. Thanks to your harsh training and since nearly every fight you faced was against the odds, you started finding various ways how to win while outclassed.” She chuckled as her weak blush turned into strong red. “ I know it is a bit ridiculous for a pokemon to train their pokemon trainer… but… will you at least give it a try? Please.” Nica held both paws on her mouth before falling onto her back and bursting in laughter, all of her worries temporarily pushed aside. She rolled across the floor before feeling pain on her face and belly. Nica yelped in pain as a long “chuuuuuuu…” escaped her mouth, her face, limbs and belly now stuck against the stone. With the help of her tail, she pushed herself free and fell onto the train tracks. She grit her teeth and closed her eyes as her injured leg touched a wooden tie. She whimpered and balanced herself on a single leg before looking up, finding a mark in the shape of her own body left on the stone above the tunnel. Taking a nap while riding on top of a train, not one of my brightest ideas. She lowered her head, drooped her forepaws and sighed. Her ears perked up and she immediately looked up. This was the Canterlot mountain and the train needed to make a few circles before reaching the city, a waste of time she couldn’t afford. Maybe my harsh awakening was a good thing. Using the rear leg which she balanced herself on, she pushed herself up several meters onto the stone surface, climbing and leaping up at a quick pace. The fact that one of her legs didn’t recover yet prevented her from reaching a third of a kilometer with a single jump, but her other legs still had the strength to carry her on. After three minutes of climbing, she ran into the city. Her visit in the hospital… turned into a complete disaster as both Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia were no longer in their beds while nurses and doctors tried to attend to her wounds. As much as she hated doing so to ponies who tried to help her, she scared them away with bolts of electricity, purposely missing her weakened attacks. The family of the princess was in danger, and there was only so much she could do when wrapped by levitation fields. I wish I knew where Twilight’s parents are living, I would... Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of explosions in the distance. With a firm jump, she landed on top of a five-floor tall building, this one made of more solid material than the ones in Ponyville. Hopping from roof to roof, she made her way towards the scene, examining the area from the higher ground. Two angered unicorns covered in cuts and bite-marks stood in the middle of the street with numerous craters and literally tons of rubble around them. The surrounding buildings were no doubt in need of some repairing services in the near future. The most noticeable however were four unconscious creatures covered by rubble that she recognized as Mightyena, a dark type pokemon with a mix of black and grey fur. Four clawed paws and sharp teeth adding to the intimidating factor. The fact that both unicorns managed to fend off four pokemon resistant to their magic meant three things: First, the unicorns used fragments of the architecture from nearby buildings as weapons, which explained a massive amount of rubble covering the street. The second one being that Mightyenas weren’t well trained, after all Darkrai boosted by magic from thousands of ponies managed to take down two alicorns with a single ‘Dark Pulse,’ and cuts on those two unicorns meant they endured a few attacks. Finally, it meant that both unicorns had a lot of raw power. “Another one on the roof!” shouted the female unicorn. “On it!” Nica flinched as beam of magic pierced the roof she stood on before her very eyes, almost hitting her. Suddenly, she felt a force of magic levitate her and pull her towards the ponies. Windows and hole in the wall passed by from the corner of her eye. Her little black nose ended up pressed against white/grey muzzle of the angered unicorn mare. “Who do you think you are, attacking our city and ruining our lives. First you put our rulers and my very daughter in danger, and now you’re after local citizens. What do you have to say for yourself?” Nica smiled awkwardly as she held her forepaws together under her neck like a scared kitten. Her ears drooped. The mare before her had a mane similar to Twilight’s mane, but with white and violet stripes instead. Without a translating collar on her neck, she went with the second best offering of peace she had in mind and licked the mare’s muzzle. “Do… do you think you can avoid consequences by acting all cute?” the mare asked, only to be licked again as Nica displayed her puppy stare. “Hey, honey, look at this,” the stallion said as he pointed at the injury on Raichu’s leg. “I didn’t cause it with my magical attack, did I?” Nica shook her head. “Well… you certainly look more innocent than those beasts that attacked us earlier, and you don’t seem dangerous,” the mare said as the aura on her horn shrank, and the pokemon in her levitation was carefully placed on the road. The long-tailed critter balanced herself on one rear foot. “You look terrible, sweetie. Here, let me help you. The name’s Twilight Velvet by the way,” the unicorn said as she lowered her horn towards the wounded rear paw, sending bits of her magic into it. Sweetie? Nica felt tears forming in her eyes as memory of her own mother surfaced in her mind, bringing back the harsh memories with it. “You poor dear, does it hurt?” Velvet asked. “You’re covered in burns and bruises, what happened to you.” Nica lowered her head and sighed in relief, the parents of the princess didn’t need her help after all. “My name’s Night Light… wait a moment, didn’t I see your picture in a newspaper? Are you the one who took down the mob in Manehattan?” she responded with a simple nod and wiped her tears with her bruised forepaw. Twilight Velvet raised her head as Nica could swear she saw stars in her eyes. She ran into the house and returned with a pen and notepad in her levitation. “You’re that heroine who risked her life by saving ponies from a burning building and fought against the mafia. That was extreme! Can I have your autograph? Pretty please?” Nica smiled sheepishly. Her ears perked up at the idea. She grabbed the notepad and pen, writing intensively. “I asked for an autograph, not for your biography or any kind of super long story,” Velvet said, staring back in confusion. Once done, Nica handed over her notepad and pen before examining her injured leg, her attempt to lower it to the ground resulted in a surge of pain. It seems their magic isn’t enough. I suppose as healing potions are less efficient on tougher pokemon, healing magic would be no different. I’ll just need to wait for the wound to heal naturally. Velvet lowered the notepad, her mouth agape. “You… you were under the care of our daughter all this time, defended Canterlot against the dangerous pokemon, and now you need our daughter’s help to get to Cloudsdale and protect the families of your friends?” Nica nodded. Velvet grinned before looking at her husband. “Do you know what this means honey?” “That our daughter and her friends are facing great danger again?” Night Light asked. “No, I mean… that too.. but most importantly, we’re going on an adventure!” Velvet shouted, standing on her rear hooves while spreading her forehooves. One of her forelegs accidently made contact with her husbands face who fell unconscious onto the damaged road. “You have no idea how long I wanted for the opportunity to help my daughter with one of these crazy things.” Nica looked at Night Light in pity before smiling nervously. That’s Twilight’s family alright, I shouldn’t expect anything else. “Mom, dad, are you okay? What happened here?” Nica looked towards the descending alicorn. And here comes the star of the family. Perfect timing. After a long exchange of information and a quick teleportation between Ponyville and Canterlot to inform Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash about the situation, a group of ponies appeared in a flash on the solid white road made of clouds. Twilight, Starlight and Night Light plopped down from exhaustion as drops of sweat fell down their heads, their breathing heavy. Nica took a few steps as bronze patches of her paws sank into the soft surface, as if walking on feathers. A part of her mind begged her to simply lie on the soft clouds and allow her aching body to recover. She ignored the silent voice and glanced at her injured leg, slowly lowering it towards the cloudy ground. It still hurts, but not as much as before, and all those clouds are at least soft enough to run on. She raised her rear leg, deciding to not use it for running just yet. “Finally an opportunity for me to protect Equestria and fight side by side with my daughter, I can’t wait!" Velvet said as she started trotting in place in excitement, ignoring bandaged cuts still present on her fur. “Now, now, calm down honey,” Night Light said as he placed a forehoof on his wife’s shoulder. “Remember, we don’t have wings, and a cloud walking spell will last only a few hours. Let’s keep the risk-taking to minimum and stay away from the edges.” Starlight stood up and wiped sweat from her forehead. “Chill out, we can always levitate ourselves if necessary. Fighting and levitating at the same time isn’t that hard after some practice.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I can confirm what Starlight said from personal experience.” “Wait for us!” The group looked up at the approaching pegasi. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings at a rapid pace while Fluttershy was wrapped by her forehooves. “Okay, Twilight, so what’s the plan?” Dash asked as she released Fluttershy, and they both hovered in mid-air with slow flaps of their wings. Twilight held a forehoof on her chest and took a deep calming breath. “Alright. Here’s what we’ll do…” She paused upon hearing loud screams of panic. The group looked towards the source of screams, seeing numerous pegasi flying in panic, escaping from some sort of bird-like creatures covered by shining steel. Some explosions of electricity flashed in the background. “Alright, change of plans,” Twilight said as she pointed at her pegasi friends. “Rainbow Dash, I know you’re very fast, but you may need strong magical support. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but take my mother with you.” “Sure,” Dash said before giving the mare a sassy smile. “Just don’t slow me down when I’m kicking flanks left and right.” “Slow you down? My daughter and son may be the powerhouses in the family, but my magic isn’t all that far behind. I’ll kick more flanks with my magic than you can count,” Velvet said with a proudly raised chin. “I like you,” Dash said, grabbing the unicorn mare by her stomach before flying away. Fluttershy stomped, her forehoof sinking in the cloud. “What about me? My family is in danger and I can’t stay here and do nothing.” Nica nodded in agreement as she narrowed her eyes. Fluttershy next to Gabby was the sweetest and most cuddly pony she had ever met with an angelic aura of kindness and compassion radiating from her at all times. She would lay down her own life without hesitation to keep the parents of such a kind pony safe. Furthermore, seeing Fluttershy with a broken heart over the fate of her family would be the most horrible experience. “Nica, Starlight, escort Fluttershy to her family and do your best to protect them,” Twilight said authoritatively. “On it.” Starlight saluted. Nica said with a nod. “In the meanwhile, I’ll try to protect as many ponies I can from the attackers and regroup all the panicked pegasi,” Twilight said before looking at the blue unicorn. “Dad, I’ll need your help on this. I mean… you can support me from afar since you’re still hurt and all, but I’ll feel safer with you around.” Night Light smiled and grabbed his daughter by his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I may not be much of an adventurer, but I’ll use my magic the best I can. I got your back.” “And I got yours,” Twilight responded with a trustful smile. Rainbow Dash’s fast flight was stopped as bolts of electricity went through her every bone while shocking the mare in her hold. She and Velvet yelped in pain before crashing into the clouds. “Alright, who did that?” Dash asked as she pushed herself to a standing position before wiping white puff from her face. As a weather manager being electrocuted isn’t new to me, but I gotta say, this was so much stronger than what a thundercloud is capable of. She scanned the area in search for enemies and noticed a large bird covered by steel now hovering in mid-air, only for three smaller creatures to jump from it. Dash’s mouth was agape and she rubbed her eyes in disbelief. The pokemon before her however weren’t part of some weird dream. She could recognize that long tail and white fluffy belly everywhere, there was no mistaking it. Before her stood not one, but three Raichu. “What’s going on?” A loud ‘Chuuu’ escaped the pokemon’s mouth as three ‘Thunderbolts’ were unleashed in her direction. She raised a foreleg up to her face protectively, but the electricity hit a barrier instead. “I got your back,” Velvet said before shooting a beam of magic at the pokemon before her, missing. “Also, you owe me for this.” With a massive boost of speed gained by using ‘Quick Attack,’ a Raichu ran on the cloudy surface, spreading white puff in his wake. As the barrier vanished, Rainbow Dash flew at the Raichu at full speed, delivering a kick with her rear hoof, which collided with his head. Dash grit her teeth and closed her eyes as she felt a rush of pain in her leg, her body ending up pushed back as she rolled on the cloud. The Raichu was pushed in the opposite direction with a hoof mark on his forehead, but his feet pressed into the cloud as he maintained his balance, holding his ground. The other Raichu attacked with ‘Thunderbolt,’ which missed due to Velvet’s levitation pushing Dash out of the way. “Thanks, I owe you two favors, now,” Dash said with a grateful smile. With all three Raichu focusing their attack on Twilight Velvet as her shield started to crack, Rainbow Dash started circling around the pokemon, creating a tornado which distracted them from attacking. “How do like that?” Her jaw dropped as the three pokemon just kept staring back at her, not affected much by the strong wind. She zipped left and right, evading bolts of electricity. One thing was certain, it wasn’t going to be an easy battle.