Little Lost Raichu
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Epilogue
“Hey, Chrysalis. Wake up.”
The former changeling queen opened her eyes and pushed her tired body to a sitting position. Her once large and impressive bed was now a bed of leaves, her horn covered with green goo, and scarcely any magic at all flowed through her weakened body. “What… what do you want, Pharynx? Are you going to mock me again for my overconfidence?” She glanced at the black bars of her cell, feeling like a beast inside a cage and barely able to sneer.
"I would advise against celebrating just yet. It is only a matter of time before you are locked in a cage, and I look forward to the day when I can mock you for your poor choice of allies." She grinned. “Unless you will free me now and join my side. Then I may forgive your foolishness.”
Pharynx smirked. “Your summoned ally, Darkrai, failed to take over the Canterlot and failed to strike against the families of Element Bearers. After his attack on Twilight’s Castle, he gave up on his conquest entirely.” He tapped the cell bars with his forehoof.
Chrysalis eyes became wide. “You… you’re lying.”
“If you don’t believe me, why not sense my emotions?”
Chrysalis pushed herself to standing position while taking a fighting stance. “Why?!”
“Let’s just say one particular creature played a major role in stopping him.”
“Who?!” the former queen shouted.
“It will be easier if I showed you,” Pharynx said before surrounding himself in green flames. His tall body now replaced by a long-tailed fluffy creature.
Saliva sprayed from Chrysalis mouth as she flung herself against the bars, roaring in rage.
With a movement of his forepaw, Pharynx booped the queen’s muzzle. He withdrew it before it could be bitten and then shocked the queen with bolts of electricity.
“What are those?” Twilight asked, looking around the room in confusion. Several books, tattered and worn with torn pages and unpatched cuts on their covers, lay scattered around. Twilight Sparkle moved among the damaged books, picking them up with the greatest of care while trying to bring order to the mess. A note sticking out of one book caught her attention, and she muttered while she unfolded it, "If I ever catch whoever mistreated these books..."
As she read the note, a wide smile began to appear on her face, growing even larger when Spike and Starlight Glimmer walked into the room.
"What's with the mess?" asked Spike. "I don't remember our library having any books in this poor shape. Did you dig these up in the Castle of the Royal Sisters or something?"
“Not at all, these are Darkrai’s gifts,” Twilight said as she spread her wings. She stood on her rear hooves and clapped her forehooves. “There are also notes with guides of how to create a portal to the pokemon world. Do you know what it means?”
“R-res…”
“Research!” Twilight shouted enthusiastically, spreading her forehooves.
“Called it,” Spike said with crossed forearms as Starlight chuckled cheerfully.
“Thanks Fluttershy,” Discord said as he stepped from his cage and stretched his long thin limbs. He glanced at the tamed Cerberus, who licked Fluttershy affectionately before being rubbed on his cheek by her forehoof. Yet there seemed to be one more creature, one he never saw before and who was waaay too tiny and cute to be a resident of Tartarus. “And who’s your little companion.”
<Hello there, my name’s Nica.>
“She introduced herself as Nica. She’s a Raichu, one of a pokemon species from another world,” Fluttershy said before gently pushing the long-tailed critter forward. “Nica, this is one of my friends, Discord. A spirit of chaos and disharmony.”
Nica approached and balanced herself on her tail, raising herself to Discord’s hand before shaking it.
“Charmed,” Discord said before whispering to Fluttershy’s ear. “Another world? Did I miss something while I was locked in here?”
“Quite a lot,” Fluttershy said as she gestured for her him to follow her.
Discord frowned as he walked next to his friend, alongside the large three headed dog called Cerberus and a little fluffy critter with quite unique features. “I really don’t like when I can’t use my powers. Walking is so annoying.” He looked at his friend. “So, Fluttershy, what happened while I was away?” he asked, listening with full attention.
“A creature from the pokemon world, Darkrai, tried to take over Equestria in secret. Luckily, thanks to Nica, we defeated him in Canterlot before he could summon more pokemon to invade. He then tried to target our families and use me as hostages.”
“W-what?” Discord clenched his a claw. “Is this Darkrai a tall black figure commanding dark forces, speak in others minds and is not affected by power of this place?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Not only did he lock me, he tried to hurt you and your family? The moment I get out of this place, I’ll make him pay.”
“Ummm… about that… He gave up on his ambition to take over Equestria, and when he told me where he locked you, he mentioned that he recreated armor from the darkstone and advised against any attempt of revenge. We also agreed to leave him alone.”
Discord’s head turned red and he spread his hands in anger. “Oh come on! Do everyone have some sort of anti-magic device those days? It’s really getting old.”
“Now what about you, how did you end up in Tartarus?” Fluttershy asked as she looked up at him with drooped ears and worry in her eyes.
Discord blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well... about that… a few months ago I sensed a disturbance, the same I sensed when Tirek escaped. This time I was more than willing to lock him back in this place, but in the end it was a trap.”
“Trap?”
“Yes, a trap. Darkrai freed Tirek and used him. He just wanted to see how Tirek drained magic from ponies to create his own curse that would let him take ponies magic whenever he needed it. Together, they lured me to Tartarus.” He kicked a loose pebble. “And I took the bait. Apparently, in Tartarus all magic is disabled and all creatures from the outside are weakened depending on their size. No magical being or even the largest dragon can defeat Cerberus and escape this place as they become completely defenseless.” He groaned. “But this Darkrai, he had power not affected by this place.”
Fluttershy glanced at her own closed wings. “Oh… so that’s why I felt so much weaker ever since I came here, and my flight was so slow.” She glanced at Cerberus with a warm smile. “I’m lucky the big friendly doggy was nice enough to let me free you and even escort me. Thank you.”
Cerberus howled with middle head and wagged his tail.
Fluttershy looked at Raichu and added, “It seems this place doesn’t affect you, Nica. That’s good to know.”
Nica glanced at her own tail as it turned into a metallic grey. With a quick swing, she cut a nearby stone in half.
“What happened next?” Fluttershy asked.
Discord shrugged. “Isn’t it obvious. He locked me in this place and mocked me, saying that my magic is even weaker than the magic of an alicorn. He gave me this boring lecture how my chaotic magic is just strong against nearly everything, but everything has weaknesses, me included.”
<To be fair, in the pokemon world strengths and weaknesses play a very big role. Even weaker pokemon can easily defeat more powerful ones as long as they are resistant to opponents’ attacks and their attacks are super effective.> She looked up at him. <Maybe you appear powerful to others because your magic makes you stronger against nearly everything and resistant to everything. But the moment someone strikes you with your weakness, suddenly you’re easily defeated.>
“Why are you repeating your name over and over?” He glanced at Fluttershy. “Translation, please.”
“I will tell you later. What happened next?”
“He betrayed Tirek and locked him in his cell and then he left us to rot, and it was soooo boring!” The moment they left the Tartarus after Fluttershy said goodbye to the guarding three-headed dog, Discord flew into the air and shouted, “Yeeeessss, freedom at least!” Numerous fireworks shot in all direction. “I feel sooo much energy that I need to unleash! Oh, what to do, what to do."
“About that,” Fluttershy said, catching his attention. “I told Nica about you, and she asked if you can play with her in…. a specific way.”
“Specific way, do tell.”
“You see. Recently Nica regained all of her memories, and one of exercises she started doing with her trainer… long story… it was that her trainer would randomly attack her by surprise in various ways when she least expected it, all just to keep her on high alert so she wouldn't be caught off guard by criminals or assassins.”
“Yes, and?”
“You can teleport and summon whatever you want. She wishes to play with you and see if she can defend against your surprises. Just don’t go too hard on her,” Fluttershy said.
Nica turned around while charging her tail with power and shaking her forepaws in excitement.
Discord shrugged. “Sure, why not.” He snapped his claws as a tomato flew at Nica from behind, which splashed upon being hit by her metalic tail. He snapped his claw again as a sink fell from the sky, only to be cut in half, each part hitting the ground next to the little critter with a weak thump. “Okay, this is actually fun.”
Nica stood on her four paws and shot him a challenging glance. <Come on, you can do better than that.>
Fluttershy watched with a happy smile as more objects started to fly at Nica from random directions. A piano ended up blown to pieces by electricity. A baseball bat with bat wings was intercepted by Nica’s tail as the pokemon did not feel comfortable slashing in half something that looked like a sentient object. A rain of beach balls fell from the sky as Nica zipped in between them. Forty tons of wood in the shape of a large ship fell from the sky… wait… a ship! Fluttershy bit her bottom lip and her tail shot upward from shock, only for Nica to strike the ship with ‘Volt Tackle,’ piercing through the wood while reaching the top of the crow’s nest. What was left of the ship crashed into the ground, creating a massive pile of wood and ship-fragments.
Discord laughed before summoning a pirate hat and eyepatch onto Nica’s head. “You’re good. I feel we’re going to be good friends.”
Nica laughed as well before running through the forest as numerous massive objects fell from the sky, each ended up evaded or destroyed by the enthusiastic pokemon. The earth trembled as each impact was stronger than the last.
Fluttershy lowered her head and shook it. Only Nica would find fun in evading Discord’s magic while not afraid of danger. Those two are going to get along sooo well.
“You’re still on it?” Starlight asked as she entered the room with a magical collar levitating by her side. “You have been working on that spell for a week.”
“I’m almost done… oh, I see you finished the translating collar for Nica. Great work,” Twilight said with a proud smile.
“Oh, this one? It’s just a spare copy. She really loved her previous collar and Darkrai melted it, so Rarity agreed to help me make two of them just in case,” Starlight said before pointing at it. “Electricity absorbing white gems, blue collar with yellow lightning in between each gem. Also, this new tag has ‘Nica’ written on it instead of ‘Raichu.’ Certainly an improvement.” Her ears drooped and she tapped her forehooves together. “Ummm… does she really need to leave us already?”
Twilight shrugged. “It is her decision. Maybe we can create a stable portal that will let her travel back and forth. She could visit us and we could visit her, but it’s her call after all.”
“Fair enough.”
Twilight nodded before gesturing over the library. “There are way too many books here that would be at risk. I made all the preparation in front of the castle.” She levitated the damaged book over, taking one last glance before returning it to the table. “I triple checked everything, the time has come. Let’s go.”
In a flash of teleportation, she appeared outside, her student joining her a moment later. “Let’s do this!” With one large white crystal supported against the grass and a star-shaped rune drawn on the ground, she focused, sending everything she had into the crystal in a steady stream of magic. Once her legs trembled and she wiped sweat from her forehead, she said, “And the final touch.” With a small beam shot towards the crystal, it shattered into several pieces, each levitating in random direction as one remained near the castle, turning into a portal.
“Ummm… should it scatter like that into multiple portals?” Starlight asked.
Twilight shook her head. “N-no, it was supposed to make only one.”
Suddenly, something fell down from the portal which vanished a moment later. A large grey bat-like creature with crab-claws instead of hands and scorpion-like tail landed before them.
Twilight and Starlight looked at each other, their eyes wide.
“That’s a lot of portals. Was this supposed to happen?” Starlight asked.
“Of course not!” Twilight responded in panic.
Starlight shrugged. “We’ll need to mass-produce lots of translating collars for this. I’ll go grab some gems from Maud and go to Rarity.” She vanished in a flash of teleportation.
Twilight stood on her rear hooves, spread her wings, raised a forehoof into the sky and shouted, “Darkrai!”
A tall black levitating creature looked at the sky from a damaged tower in the middle of the Everfree Forest and chuckled mentally. It seems my little surprise is out of the bag. Let’s find out if pokemon can indeed gain magic and cooperate with ponies by peaceful means. I’m certain Miss Nica will appreciate their company. Reading-glasses were present on his covered face and a book with skull inscribed on the cover was held by his hand.
He looked at one portal which opened nearby above the forest. From what I saw in her dreams, Nica always admired a pokemon she’d never met personally, only hearing of his achievements. All her humility and low self-esteem comes from comparing her and her trainer’s achievements to those of Ash and his partner. Blinded by it, she diminished her own worth.
He turned around, levitating deeper into the tower as he made his way downstairs, surrounded by pleasant darkness. I wonder, once she’ll meet the very idol she admires so much and see him for who he really is, will it cure her of humility, or will she end up filled with disappointment? Or maybe they’ll just have a good time. Whatever the case, I hope you’ll be having fun, Nica. Think of this opportunity to meet your idol as part of my apology to you. Enjoy.
Now in a darkened room, he lit up a candle, supported his body on a large pillow and opened his book. I must admit, even spreading nightmares or taking over a nation pales in comparison to a good lecture. He relaxed himself, enjoying the accommodation provided by the old castle. While some of it seemed to be renovated some time ago, there still seemed to be plenty of secret passages and rooms, a perfect creepy castle to spend his post-taking-over-the-world retirement with occasional exploration trips and search for mysterious artifacts.
The moment his little feet hit the ground with a weak thump, he examined his surroundings in confusion as many questions were born in his mind:
First, where is Ash and his other friends?
Second, why was he sucked into some sort of portal out of nowhere?
Third, why the surrounding trees looked nothing like the ones in the forest he visited so many times. Was he even still in the Alola region?
Trees with broken branches which were shaped like large hands and trunks in the shape of ghostly faces stared at him. Even bushes added to the spooky atmosphere with thorns growing from their branches. Was this forest haunted by ghost pokemon or something? Dealing with a Mimikyu was already challenging enough.
He lowered to his four paws and looked around, now on guard. Wherever this place was, it could be dangerous.