Little Lost Raichu
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Chapter 17
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Dreams...
With a resolve to grow stronger and continue her parents’ work, Astra participated in trials set by captains in the Alola region, defeating four Kahunas in order to gain more experience. The pleasant atmosphere of the popular vacation spots and friendly residents helped in dealing with her depression, if only a little bit. What kept her going the most was her goal though. If she wanted to defeat those who outsmarted her parents, she needed to be ready for anything.
Nica didn’t bother with any relaxing activities as she had her own share of fun, like performing a Z-move called ‘Gigavolt Havoc’ alongside her trainer after clearing the electric trial. The part where a tiny and weak being like her unleashed a gigantic thunder against gigantic foes, only to see their shocked faces upon their defeat was priceless. Handling such power while so unevolved proved quite painful, but it was a small price to pay.
What Nica found odd was the fact that the only Z-moves her trainer learned were the electric and fire one. Apparently, mastering the use of the ultimate attack called a Z-move required a strong bond between the trainer and their pokemon… as well as a ridiculous and humiliating-looking dance. The bond between her and Astra was strong as they were partners, cooperating, communicating and even exchanging points of view with each other. But Astra and her mother’s Ninetales never got along. Apparently, a common desire for vengeance and united goal was enough for them to work past their differences and master a Z-move. It wasn’t the most healthy and pure relationship, but still an improvement.
With no Pokemon League in the Alola region, Astra’s next destination was a Pokemon Center in Kanto, where she registered herself for the Kanto League. Her first serious adventure with countless trainers who would compete with her for the trophy and fame.
During a training exercise before said adventure, Nica glanced at her fellow team members with pride.
Ivysaur, a grass and poison type pokemon who earned his evolution during a third trial during the Orange League thanks to his teamwork with Happiny. His sleeping powder and endurance let him play a supportive and defensive role on the team.
Chansey, a pokemon who earned her evolution during a fight against the champion of the Orange Islands. A nearly unbreakable wall as long as opponents used special attacks. She was Ivysaur's best friend and looked after the team with care, kindness, singing and hugs.
Ninetales, a fully evolved pokemon with several years of experience that had belonged to Astra’s mother. He brought power and speed to the team, as well as aggression.
Starmie, who was gifted with a water stone to evolve after defeating a totem Wishiwashi on its own. For a small starfish to defeat a gigantic naval beast was no small feat, especially if said giant beast was made of a hundred smaller creatures merged together. Starmie was a big starfish now with an even bigger ruby and a golden ring in the middle. A balance between endurance, offensive, power over water and psychic and ability to heal its own wounds made it the most reliable pokemon on the team. Still not a talkative one, though.
Merely looking at the team filled Nica with excitement. Sooner or later, a chance for her to prove herself would come, and then she would evolve herself in pride.
The spot for a sixth member was still free, and at one point Astra even considered catching an Alolan Grimer. Quite a cheerful fellow for being a moving green piece of toxins and poison with yellow lips, two large hands and no legs. Being both dark and poison type not only gave greater coverage in terms of offensive, being dark type also provided immunity to psychic, which otherwise would be devastating against a poisonous pokemon.
Astra gave up on the idea though, as Ivysaur was already a poison type, and a fear of choosing between two of her pokemon in the future proved too great for her.
Nica didn’t mind though. A walking bag of poison with no idea what personal space was definitely wasn't a good combo.
Nica was perched on her trainer’s shoulder, distress still present on her face. Apparently, the next badge on the line was the thunder badge, and seeing countless pokemon covered in bandages in the Pokemon Center left a poor first impression. It wasn’t fear she felt but rather guilt.
Fresh trainers who had just started their journey and tried to earn this badge had many opinions about the Gym Leader, but two were common. The first one was that the Gym Leader was some sort of war veteran, and the other was about his electric pokemon ‘Raichu’ being a merciless bully.
Nica’s ears drooped. A few years ago she often bullied her brothers and sisters, sometimes even picking on young flying pokemon who couldn’t even fight back. But now…
“A war veteran. My father was a general and a war veteran as well. I wonder if they knew each other,” Astra said, stepping into the gym as two people in biker’s outfits greeted her.
“Sir, you have another challenger, a young girl this time,” the woman said, examining Astra from top to bottom.
“She even has a Pichu on her shoulder. Should I test her pokemon in a fight to see if she’s worth the trouble?” the man said, his arms crossed as his jacked failed to hide his torso.
“Don’t bother,” Lieutenant Surge said, standing to his full height. With firm steps, he approached and towered over them.
Nica looked up at the giant in confusion, surprised that a human could even grow to such size. It wouldn’t surprise her if Mr. Surge challenged a Rhydon to an arm wrestling match from time to time. The man before her wore a green uniform and gloves, yet most of his torso and muscles were exposed. A necklace was present on his neck and his hair was blond. The most outstanding feature proved to be his size as Astra’s head didn’t even reach his arms.
“Listen, kid.” He patted the girl’s head with his large hand. “While I like being challenged by cute girls, I don’t go easy on challengers.” He pointed at Nica, whose belly was smaller than his finger alone. “This is a Gym where trainers come to earn their badges, not a nursery. So how about you leave and train a bit, and then come back once your pokemon grown up a little. Alright?”
Nica narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Ten seconds. All she needed was ten seconds to send this bag of muscles into a nursery. On the other paw… was hurting someone just because they teased her really okay?
Astra kept staring at him with unchanging glare, not saying a single word.
“Those eyes… I know that kind of look,” Lt. Surge said, lowering himself to the trainer’s level. “I saw it many times during the war. A young girl like you shouldn’t…” He sighed and stood up, walking towards the battle-area. “Come at me with everything you have. Let’s get this over with.”
Nica blinked in confusion and looked between the Gym Leader and her trainer as one question kept repeating itself in her mind; ‘What just happened?’ The attitude of the Gym Leader made an unexpected turn.
“Go Raichu! You know what to do!” Lt. Surge shouted, throwing his pokeball.
<Bring them on!> Raichu shouted.
Pichu nearly lost her balance on her trainer’s shoulder as her attention focused on the pokemon before them. So this was what her final evolution looked like. Big, but not too big, strong-looking, confident, and equipped with a cool-looking tail. Becoming something like that was certainly worth fighting for.
Lt. Surge patted his pokemon on the head and spoke, “My Raichu beat six rookies this week, unless you want to be number seven, I suggest taking it seriously.”
“Funny, considering that you’re the one who doesn’t take it seriously,” Astra said before picking Nica from her shoulder, holding the Pichu in front of her face. “Watch very closely, partner. I’ll show you what happens when a pokemon evolves just for the sake of power without skills to back it up.”
Nica nodded before being placed next to her trainer’s leg.
Raichu frowned and started punching the air in aggravation. <No skills!? I’ll show you lack of skills! Just send your Pichu or whatever and I’ll give them a one way ticket to the Pokemon Center!>
Nica looked to the side. This Raichu reminded her so much of herself… and she didn’t like it in the least.
“Starmie, I need you for a little demonstration.”
Lt. Surge and his pokemon blinked in confusion while his assistant gasped. The awkward atmosphere and dead silence lasted for several seconds.
“What kind of fool sends a water pokemon to battle an electric one? Is this meant to be a joke?”
Astra shook her head. “I’m just returning the favor. Why should I take you seriously if you’re sending your weakest pokemon into battle?”
<Weakest! You asked for it!> Raichu shouted before rushing into the stage as bolts started to escape dots on his cheeks. His tail slapped against the floor of the battlefield.
Lt. Surge frowned. “Fine, I’ll play along. Raichu, finish it with a ‘Thunderbolt’!”
Pichu observed the attack that headed towards Starmie with full curiosity, finding it to be… underwhelming. Her own ‘Thunderbolt’ had a lot more force behind it.
“Use ‘Calm Mind’,” Astra commanded with a bored tone as a white aura surrounded the large starfish, partially protecting the water pokemon from the electricity. Starmie ended up pushed back half a meter, but held its ground.
“Your pokemon has tough defenses, but my Raichu will break them. Attack with even more power!” Lt. Surge commanded as his Raichu gritted his teeth and did as he was told.
“Block the electricity with water,” Astra commanded.
“What? You can’t block… wait… is it working?” he asked as stream of water scattered most of the electricity around, which in turn damaged the floor, walls and ceiling of the arena. While some bits of electricity seemed to travel towards Starmie, it proved too weak to even leave a burn.
Astra placed her hands on her hips and explained, “Ironic, isn’t it? While water pokemon are very weak to electricity, pure water has very low conductivity. Electricity uses all kind of impurities inside the water to travel through it, so if a water pokemon can summon a stream of extremely clean water, it will mostly shield them from a direct attack.”
Lt. Surge rubbed his chin, his first time encountering such an unexpected strategy.
“Of course, for a water pokemon to summon hundred percent clean water is extremely hard, so it can be used only defensively and requires a lot of practice,” Astra explained, her theory proving true before her very eyes. “And Raichu, thanks for participating in my little experiment.”
Raichu woke up from his shock and shot Astra an annoyed glare.
“If I can’t break your defenses, I’ll go around them. Raichu, cover the entire room with electricity.”
Raichu followed the order, damaging the floor and causing glass in the windows to shatter.
“Starmie, use ‘Calm Mind’, and follow it up with a ‘Recover’,” Astra commanded, her posture and tone of voice calm despite lightning and loud noise filling the room.
Nica kept observing the battle with full interest. Should she encounter multiple enemies, spreading a ‘Thunderbolt’ in such way was a decent strategy, worth memorizing.
The smoke of the attack descended, revealing Starmie whose burns were vanishing one by one.
“Raichu, attack with ‘Thunderbolt’ again. Overpower its recovery, keep on the pressure!”
Raichu’s breathing was heavy and his paws trembled. His attempt to attack again ended in failure as only a few small bolts escaped his cheeks.
Astra crossed her arms. “Here’s something funny. My Pichu can use ‘Thunderbolt’ several times in a row and still have the will to fight. Seems someone in the room has very little stamina.”
Lt. Surge gritted his teeth. “So you saw through all the weaknesses of my Raichu before the battle even started. I don’t know if I should be impressed or annoyed that you’re toying with me.”
“One ‘Hydro Pump’ should do it. End this pointless fight, Starmie.”
Nica looked at Raichu in pity and shook her head, feeling sorry for what was about to happen.
Raichu took a step back and his ears drooped before being struck by a powerful stream of water. A loud thud followed as he was sent flying through the wall, landing on his back outside of the Gym while losing consciousness.
Lt. Surge recalled Raichu back into his pokeball and clapped his hands. “Well played, but how did you know?”
Astra chuckled. “Know what? That this Raichu isn’t a veteran? It was simple really.” She shrugged and shook her head. “It is a Gym Leader’s job to evaluate the strength of a trainer and increase or lower the difficulty accordingly. If you used your most experienced pokemon, no trainer who just started their journey would stand a chance to earn your badge. You simply caught a Pichu or Pikachu in haste, evolved it quickly, taught it strong attacks and used it against newcomers. Without stamina, pokemon can’t use powerful attacks for long, and without getting hurt, pokemon can’t get tougher.” She pointed at the officer accusingly. “I bet you didn’t even train your Raichu, just to give inexperienced challengers a fighting chance.”
Nica looked up at her trainer and gasped. Ever since Astra had found the graves of her parents and became determined to avenge their death, she’d changed. Whether this change was for better or worse she couldn’t tell yet.
Lt. Surge clapped his hands again and next laughed. “True, so true. You have no idea how many babies visit this town. What Gym Leader would I be if I didn’t give them a fighting chance?” He winked. “This doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on them. They still need to learn that being a pokemon trainer is not a walk in the park. It’s my job to separate babies from future champions.”
“Since you know that I’m experienced, can you bring in your ‘A’ game? I won't accept your badge unless I earn it in a real battle,” Astra said and stretched.
“I like your spirit. But before we fight seriously, can you tell me more about yourself? I want to know more about a cute girl who not only isn't afraid of an butt-whooping, but knows how to give it in kind.”
Astra smiled and held her hand on her chest. “My full name is Astra Longshot. I’m a daughter of Penny Longshot and Jeremy Longshot.” Nica noticed the shock on the Gym Leader’s face before her trainer asked, “My father was a high ranking officer, did you know him by any chance?”
“Well… I’ll be darned…” Lt. Surge said, holding his hands on his hips. “You’re the daughter of the good ol’ Colonel. Seems he taught you well.”
“So you know him?” Astra asked, her attitude shifting and her eyes now filled with hope.
“Of course I do. During the war I hated the guy. I thought he was a spineless coward for being too careful and for leaving many good man to die.” He cleared his throat, “But then I found out that he predicted many traps laid by the enemy, and while his indecisiveness cost us a few small battles, he kept his forces healthy and in high number to deliver a deciding blow when it mattered the most.” He laughed and crossed his arms. “That good old colonel didn’t care about losing battles, as long as he could end the war with minimal casualties. I heard he got promoted, and after the war he became a leader of some big organization. How’s the old geezer doing by the way?”
Astra’s smile vanished as she looked at the floor. “He's dead. Alongside my mother. They fell while fulfilling their duties.”
Lt Surge took a step back and sat down on the floor. His eyes closed for a moment in a respectful silence. After half a minute, a simple question left his mouth. “Who?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out. My parents hid me around three years ago, fearing the worst. The police accused my father’s subordinates of betraying him, but I think someone shifted the blame.” She took a deep breath. “That’s why I need to become stronger and avenge them. I won’t let anyone suffer like I did.”
“That’s a big burden, kid, you think you can handle it?” Lt. Surge asked before standing up. His face firm and impassive.
“Maybe not now, but I’ll be ready to lift it eventually. It doesn’t matter if it will take a year or more, but sooner or later I’ll overcome any obstacle.”
Lt. Surge chuckled. “I can see some of the colonel’s blood shining in you. I’ll ask my old friends if they can look into details of his death, call a favor or two.” He looked at his assistants. “But for now, let’s give your parents respect with a pokemon battle in their name.”
Nica glanced at her trainer and nodded. The fight ahead was going to be tough, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Nica stretched herself, repeating her usual morning routine before picking up a few berries she found in the forest. She wasn’t a fan of the taste, but it still beat whatever the changelings had to offer. Her attention quickly shifted to the moving saddlebag.
Not wasting a moment she opened it, picking up the tiny Starlight, who perched herself on the bronze edge of her paw.
“Finally! Do you have any idea how hard it was to contact you for the last five days? You were either sleeping like a rock or away!” Starlight shouted, waving her tiny hooves in aggravation. “Do you even know how worried I was? I had nightmares of terrible events happening to you. I was even ready to prepare a long-range teleportation and search the hive from top to bottom!”
Nica’s ears drooped. Being so focused on her task while interacting with Thorax’s brother made her forget about reporting her progress to her caretakers. She gently placed the tiny Starlight on a leaf and knelt, bowing in apology, her forehead now pressed against the leaves.
“Hey, stop that!” Starlight shouted, pushing her tiny hooves against Raichu’s head, encouraging her to stand up. “I know you’re sorry, and that whatever you were doing had to be very important. Just tell… write your progress and worries from the past days. I solved a friendship problem once, so I can give some advice.”
Nica stood up and dug herself into the saddlebag, pulling out her writing equipment. With a quill in one paw and a scroll in the other, she started writing. Upon feeling the doll’s hooves on her leg, she picked the tiny pony with her tail and slid down onto the top of her head.
Starlight took a few steps, tilting herself forward on the edge of Nica’s head as her eyes were focused on the scroll. “Who’s Pharynx?” After waiting for the Raichu to write an answer to her question, she continued, “So let me get this straight. When you arrived here, you challenged Pharynx to a fight to earn his respect and defeated him. Next three days you spend patrolling with Pharynx while gaining his trust, and he even cheered you up at one point.”
“And the hive got way calmer for it.”
Nica and Starlight looked to the side, noticing a few approaching changelings. Two of them were typically green, but the third one stood out. His shade of green was much darker, and his armored back was blue. In terms of size he seemed slightly taller than the other two.
“Ever since Pharynx and Nica started spending time together, he stopped unleashing his frustration on the others. It’s like a vacation.”
The darker yet still green changeling spoke up, “I wasn’t sure if Thorax was a proper leader, telling us to abandon the old ways, but Nica convinced him to allow courses of self-defense for volunteers.”
<I just exchanged ideas between Thorax and Pharynx with small tweaks here and there,> Raichu said, writing her words on the scroll for Starlight to read.
“She even took it upon herself to teach self-defense,” the third changeling spoke up, his wings buzzing in excitement. He looked at the tiny Starlight on the Raichu’s head and continued, “You should’ve seen her! She was so enthusiastic when showing us how to dodge, or when she made herself into a moving target for us to shoot at, or when showing us how to use weight and size of our opponent against them. And whenever she hurt a changeling, even if by accident, she was so apologetic and caring.” She looked up with a dreamy smile. “I still remember your soft bronze paws gently stroke my bruised foreleg. Learning how to fight from you is like a sport, it’s so fun and not stressful at all.”
The taller dark-green changeling spoke up, “At first I felt conflicted, but then I learned how to protect those I care about without being a jerk, and then boom, I transformed into this.” He gestured at his new features. “I don’t need to feed on love, and I feel way stronger than before.”
Starlight placed her forelegs on Nica’s tiny nose, looking into her larger eyes from her upside down position. “Defeating and befriending Thorax’s brother? Teaching the changelings self-defense? And you did it all on your own?”
Raichu’s face turned red as she lowered her head and covered it with her paws.
Tiny Starlight slid down onto the stack of leaves, now lying on them with tears forming in her eyes. “S-so p-proud.” Her words too quiet to be heard by anyone else.
Nica relaxed her tensed muscles and thanked the changelings for their cheerful words, waiting for them to leave before returning Starlight onto her head.
“So you started to like fighting, didn’t you?” Starlight asked.
<Just a little bit… I still don’t like hurting others… but as long as I’m the only one being hurt, I have fun,> Nica said, writing her words on the paper. <I think the prospect of helping others improve is what I enjoy about fighting.>
“Still, the friendship problem hasn’t been resolved yet. Do you have any plan of action?”
Raichu continued writing while smiling cheerfully.
“A giant monster appeared near the hive recently and started eating all the plants, and you want to convince Thorax and his brother to cooperate with you and each other to deal with it?” She rubbed her own chin and next rubbed Raichu behind her ear with both of her hooves. “You know what, it may actually work. I say, go for it.”
Raichu nodded, once again forcing Starlight to fall from her head. She caught the tiny mare with her paws and next gently rubbed her little belly.
“N-no… stop… oh, okay, fine, you can snuggle me for a moment, but please, don’t make me worried again.”
<Deal!> Raichu said, enjoying the moment before paying Thorax a visit. The kind-hearted leader seemed hesitant at the idea of fighting, preferring to lure the monster away, but the concept of fixing his relationship with his brother changed his mind.
All that left for Nica to do was convince Pharynx... which took much longer than expected. As her subtle suggestions didn’t bring any effect, she held her forepaws curled under her neck, displaying a puppy stare. Something that in the past would only annoy the officer actually worked, which showed that he actually cared.
The operation ‘Beast Hunt’ was going to commence tomorrow morning, and all of her efforts were leading to this very moment.
She still had some time left to participate in the ‘Craft Time’, and who knew, maybe she would find this activity to be enjoyable. For a creature destined to fight, I sure find enjoyment in a lot of non-combat activities.
Rivals, many people had them as most trainers competed with each other for the same prize. Winning a tournament, becoming a champion and maybe even achieving the title of ‘Pokemon Master’.
Still being a Pichu in her dream, Nica more than once encountered a specific trainer who decided to become Astra’s self-proclaimed rival, aiming for similar badges while always being a step ahead.
After winning a Soul Badge in the ‘Fuchsia Gym’, Astra’s next destination required swimming over water to an island. Not that it was going to be a problem for the young girl as Starmie was more than capable of transporting her over a great distance, and she still could pick up her trusty kayak if necessary.
“So you earned your sixth badge this quickly, I didn’t expect any less of you.”
Nica’s attention focused on a trainer who stood on the shore as if waiting for them while Astra stopped in her tracks.
“We seem to encounter each other quite often, and I still don’t know your name. May I know why I deserve such an honor?” Astra asked sarcastically with crossed arms.
“Don’t sell yourself short. The first time I've meet you, I knew you were an experienced trainer.” He fixed his hat, wearing a bronze jacket and long grey trousers. Six pokeballs were present on his belt. “My name’s Johnny Milson. When I started my journey as a trainer, I earned nine badges and participated in the Kanto League, ending up among sixteen qualified trainers before losing on the first round. I trained a whole year while improving my strategy and my team, waiting for another go at the Kanto League.” He pointed at Astra. “I can beat any rookie now, but you’re not a beginner. That’s why I have been keeping my eye on you.”
“Say no more,” Astra said with a satisfied smile, a chance to fight against an experienced trainer would help her measure her team’s strength. “My name’s Astra, Astra Longshot.” She pointed at her shoulder. “And this is my female partner, Nica. If you’re looking for a challenge, we’re willing to oblige.”
“P-Pichu… seriously?” Johnny took a step back, his boots sinking slightly into the sand. “I thought it was your mascot. If she’s your partner, why hasn’t she evolve into Pikachu or Raichu yet? Is she mad at you or something?”
Astra shrugged. “She just needs to earn her evolutions, but we’re in no hurry.”
Nica puffed out her chest. Pichu or not, she had been beating stronger pokemon for more than a year.
“Alright, then how about I’ll show you my partner,” he said, sending a bronze pokemon with a large mustache and two spoons in his hands.
“Alakazam? I see your Kadabra has evolved since our last encounter,” Astra pointed out.
“He did indeed. He’s now the strongest pokemon on my team and will ensure my victory at the league. If anything, beating your team will be a good warmup.”
<My psychic prowess improved significantly, and I can’t wait to unleash them. Who shall be my opponent?> Alakazam asked, displaying his spoons as if they were weapons of mass destruction.
“If that’s the case, how about we start with a battle between partners. What do you say, Nica?” Astra asked.
Pichu jumped from her trainer’s shoulder, running towards her opponent with bolts escaping her cheeks.
“And for the sake of a fair fight, I won’t use my Z-moves.”
Nica bit her lip and slowly looked behind, her face pale. <Y-you’re joking… r-right?>
“A Z-what now?” Johnny asked in confusion.
<I, a supreme master of psychic powers, fight against such a feeble being? I usually try to remain calm and collected, but such insult is making me very angry!>
Nica looked forward and up, staring at the fully evolved all powerful pokemon, feeling pressure by merely standing nearby. She gulped and her ears drooped. Her fear proved well founded as her tiny body ended up smashed into numerous rocks while enduring a few tons of pressure. Her ‘Thunderbolt’ proved too weak to overcome her opponent’s ‘Recover’ move, while the gap in power between them was too big for her skills to compensate.
As time passed, Nica fought against the Alakazam again and again, ending up defeated by his might. Their deciding encounter took place during the Kanto League. After a series of preliminary rounds, a tournament between the sixteen best trainers had started, each having eight or more badges and more than half a year of experience.
Despite having only five pokemon, overcoming the two first tournament fights didn’t prove to be a problem as the Kanto League seemed to be mostly filled with new trainers this year. There were two exceptions, though. One was Johnny Milson, who earned his spot among best four trainers and was now facing Astra in the semi-finals. The other one was a mysterious trainer from Hoenn whose four years of experience and fully evolved team teared through the League with ease, becoming a crowd's favorite.
Astra and Johnny faced each other with a large crowd cheering for them.
Nica stepped onto the battlefield, this one flat with no outstanding features, finding her surroundings disappointing for the epic battle to come. As she expected, she was greeted with the smirking Alakazam.
Your spirit is strong and admirable, but your body is feeble. I shall end our battle quickly out of mercy, Alakazam communicated telepathically, echoing his message in the Pichu’s mind.
Nica smirked. <This battle won’t end like the previous ones. You’ll see.>
NIce!! Cant wait for her to have all of her memories, and her moves as well.
I hope Nica get to evolve for this battle. Astra has a good idea but she is being far too stubborn about it at this point and only hurting her team and her chances.
It is getting to the point of being ridiculous.
After all this time Astra has not even let her evolve into her secondary form?
Great work keep it up
Nica, I'm cheering for you! Kick that mustached esper's bronze backside and show 'em who's boss!
8772185
Careful what you wish for. Considering how much hardship Astra is putting on her partner to prepare him for the struggles ahead (She already is pass Orange Island and Alola Islands and she's already tackling the Kanto League, and her partner is still in his baby form), there's a risk Nica would get a bit to OP for Equestira to handle if she regined all her memories and moves.
For most of the story Nica was an underdog since she had acess to only fraction of what she's capaible of. Would you still like Nica as much if she became so OP?
8772201
Keep in mind that Astra is taking quite a lot after her father. She doesn't care if she'll lose a turnament or two, she thinks on the late-game plan. Also, Nica is her partner and is expected to work harder than the rest of the team (and since Pichu as a pokemon is so extremely fragile, the fact that she can handle herself against powerful opponents means she's becoming really strong and skilled).
However, for a fragile pokemon like Pichu to defeat a fully evolved powerful pokemon like Alakasam (lead by a trainer with more than one year of experience), it would certainly be a feat that would prove that she's worth of becoming a Pikachu. The question is, will she prevail? She was being defeated repetively by Alakazam until now after all.
In the anime, Ash's Pikachu grew stronger and faced stroner and stronger foes, but he started as Pikachu from the begining of the adventure. In this case however Nica starts in much weaker form which adds into dificulty with Alakazam being a big challenge to overcome.
8772202
Eeyup. In order to preveil, Nica had to relly and improve her skills to make up for fragility of her body. Also, she's probably the first Pichu to ever master a Z-move.
Look on the bright side, with all the hardship and odds she had to overcome, once she evolve into Pikachu, she will become a badass one.
8772210
Thanks. Considering that the drem scenes have no MLP element in them, I was afraid they may be looked down upon, but they're also the best way to show Nica's backstory in more detail, while each returning memory is adding more into her aresenal she can use.
8772394
Well... when Ash's Pikachu encoutnered Kadabra for the first time... it ended rather poorly.
Nica is still a Pichu and is being smashed into rocks with even greater force by more evolved pokemon, so yeah, it certainly isn't easy.
On the other side, if she manages to defeat a powerhouse like well-trained Alakasam, she would prove herself worth of her evolution. (If she could prevail against Alakazam as a Pichu, she would become one badass Pikachu, hehe).
I image her jumping into a fight, letting herself getting hit around for an hour and screaming YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH like bulk biceps in a crazy manner (with red eyes), filled with adrenaline and positive emotions.
HHHhhhmmm to be honest it was good that this chapter was over rather fast for me, I have only so much time to read more today, I had already to much to read.
8772202
she wanted to be even better than ash ketchum, having to train a pichu instead of an pikatchu which he had instead of an Raichu.
Now she only needs to tell herself she is always ten years old, punching others that say something else (I remember a parody video about that.)
8772662
probably, in this chase I'm just happy if she can even outmatch some of the strongest ponies there (in a possible future), like maybe even the princesses in the future. I don't think I had many pokemon stories in which the main char wasn't some kind of punching bag.
However don't worry I have alredy noticed that she had grown a bit stronger already.
8774299
To be fair, she would evade majority of attacks. Just because she doesn't mind getting hurt doesn't mean she wants to get hurt. Though I can't deny that it would be in her character to jump into a fight, evade/defend for an hour while getting hit from time to time, and at the end when her opponent plop down from exaustion, she would pick him up, put inside a soft bed and stroke gently while saying "It was a good battle, sweet dreams."
To be fair, the diference between her and Ash is that, while Ash started with a Pikachu and never evolved him, Nica starts with Pichu, doesn't evolve him for a long time, but since Nica in Equestria is a Raichu, it is obvious that she will let her evolve sooner or later (the catch is that while Ash's Pikachu doesn't want to evolve because he want to show that he can still win without becoming stronger, Nica need to work extremely hard to earn her evolutions.)
Their point of views differs, but while one want to keep growing stronger and gain skills while keeping a smaller weaker body, the other one becomes very strong and skilled in order to prove herself worthy of evolving into a stronger form. In the end they both struggle, but Nica is the one who face bigger challenge at the start and gets a better reward at the end.
Also, no ten-year-old-forever stick for Astra. She's already close to being thirteen years old at this point where she's participating in Kanto League turnament. I can give you a tip though. At this point of Nica's memories where she and her trainer are participating in a turnament, Ash is around eight years old, two years away from starting his adventure. (When in the anime Ash would be facing Alolan region, Astra would be eighteen years old veteran, so yea... no young-forever for her).
8774302
To be fair, she was always very strong, just didn't remember it. Her durability and how easily she shake off the pain shows that she's very battle-hardened, but without her memories she couldn't fight back.
As for power scaling, I can tell you that in terms of raw power, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are on the same level as Kyogre and Groudon, There's however a very important factor here. While pokemon fight and train their abilities for most of their lives, ponies aren't exacly forced to fight often (and princesses proved to have nearly no skills in this regard, always being defeated, caught of guard and so on, most likely being rusty. Celestia ruled Equestira for milenia from her throne and her sister was banished to the moon, not exacly a situation where you can stay in good shape).
So long story short, even if alicorn have the same raw power as the most powerful legendary pokemon, it is like comparing an elite kung-fu master to an office worker. Even if both would be equaly strong, it is obvious who would get atop who. Ponies may have the same potential to grow powerful like pokemon do, but while pokemon fight and train for most of their lives, ponies are greatly behind in terms of combat skills. (They may be able to banish powerful beings with ancient artifacts and friendship, but in direct combat they would be quickly outmatched).
In Nica's situation, it is obvious that she posses great power, especially since her trainer make her work so hard to earn her evolution, but withtout her memories she can use only small portion of her real potential. The more memories she recovers, the bigger the diference her skills will provide, so even if Celestia and Luna are more powerful than Nica in terms of raw power (since they can rival most powerful pokemon in existence), it matters little if Nica can just outclass them in terms of speed, agility and combat abilities.
(Even Astra said to Nica many times that all power in the world is worthless if you can't use it well, a top reason why she's still a Pichu trying to prove herself against an Alakazam in her dream).
8774379
Well for some reason that was the first image I had in my head in the way you had described it there, I wasn't really thinking of her as an punching bag anymore.
Not sure if I actually thought about her only evading or if I only thought about how funny that would be.
This time I was actually mostly making some good fun and only slightly being serious about it. I guess this one was more against Ash.
Well in some stories I like to believe so and in some not, not sure how much the comic shows since I haven't read it, but sometimes I get the feeling the fandom maybe makes them even stronger than the creator itself intended them to be. I say that without really knowing how strong they wanted them to be.
I guess even if they have some power about the sun and moon, without the comic actually showing it, there could be restrictions on their power even if you would think they would need to have full power about it when they can already do this or that.
Well yes, I always say that great power doesn't has to mean a big defense, I think when I started I saw a lot stories where the massive magic of the princesses or other Villains, made them able to defend attacks by just standing there and doing nothing special with their magic.
It was like attack 2000 = defense 2000.
8774734
I believe that they wanted legendary pokemon to be a very big deal, like end-game bosses that can't be defeated in one vs one and their fight can cause a large ammount of damage into the world.
However, as the series went on, the legendary pokemon lost their luster. It is mostly due to two factors:
1) There are now so many pseudo-legedaries like Metagrossa, Tyranitar and so on, basically pokemon whose stats are even higher than your average Articuno, Zaptos and Motlress and they have better abilities.
2) Ash's Charizard beat Articuno in 1 vs 1 fight (this at least made a bit of sense since he had massive type advantage), but the fact that Pikachu beat Regice in 1 vs 1 (Which didn't made much sense in my personal opinion), and some trainers strated to actually beat leagues while having legendaries at their dispousal. Pyramid King have 3 legendaries in his belt.
Even if as main character Pikachu had plot armor, the fact that he beat Regice in 1 vs 1 kind of make legendaries to look more like a joke.
Considering that legendary pokemon were no longer as powerful, they gave many of them mega-evolutions to make them look intimidating again, but personally I'm not a fan of strong pokemon getting something that makes them even stronger instead of giving something to weak pokemon so they could keep up with more powerful competition. (That's why I like Z-moves way more than mega-evolution, because they benefit all pokemon and allow even weak ones to hit really hard).
Regardless, with Pikachu beating Tyranitar and Metagross in a row and still have enough strength to hurt Charizard, and with Pikachu defeating even mega-evolved pokemon. Mega-evolutions, pseudo-legendaries and legendaries stopped to be something special. If they seem a bit too OP in a story, I think it's just the author trying to make them a big deal where they can't be defeated by unevolved pokemon in 1 vs 1 fight. That's my look at it.
Funny, considering that 95% of stories I read that involved Celestia or Luna ended up with both alicorns being complitly useless. It didn't matter if they had enough power to wipe out entire armies or were no stronger than talented unicorns, there were always some stupid reasons presented into the story why they don't do anything, are defeated, or contribute very little. Everytime I see Celestia or Luna actually do something productive that helps Twilight or mane 6, I already suspect that it must be Chrysalis in disquise or something like that, and more often I'm proven right.
It just felt like some stupid rule that all authors decided to follow rather than find creative ways to go around it. It is bad enough for the princesses to be useless, but it is even worse if they have incredible ammount of power and never make any good use of it. You can have Twilight overcome massive challenges by pushing herself to 150% of her might, but with Celestia or Luna in the picture, it's a miracle if they bother to cast at least one little spell that actually help mane 6 deal with the problem ahead.
My inspiration for Astra's idology come from the good OP characters being useless in a lot of stories. She says that those who become powerful but can't make good use of their power don't deserve it, which is why she wants her team and especially her partner to learn how to use their powers the best they can before evolving.
She would rather have a Pichu lose numberous battles in order to gain skills so as a Raichu she would be able to stand up agianst even pseudo-legendaries and mega-evolved pokemon, than getting Raichu too quickly who would go down against a weaker foe.
(Just because character is powerful doesn't mean that he need to be useless in order for underdog to shine. The way I see it, for powerful characters to screw up is an insult, it just mean they don't deserve their powers. But it end up in a paradox, because if their power is taken away, suddenly they become underdogs, and underdogs in stories manage to overcome dangers and challenges, but the moment they become all powerful, suddenly they either don't get a chance to do anything for the sake of the conflict, or they are taken down quickly by sneaky attack or overconfidence).
8774831
sorry but I meant Luna and Celestia and just in chase I don't let my opinion being changed so easily anymore, I noticed some of the "proofs" look like they are more easily brushed aside as anything they try to proof as wrong.
That'S weird but yes funny, I always see an author making them look good agains someone like Vergil from Devil my cry. I mean in that story Vergil was pretty beaten from another fight already and head no energy left and still tried to fight Celestia, but beside the fact that the author said he knows that Celestia could only win because of him being exhausted, he hasn't really tried to make it clear in the story and only made her look OP.
DO you mean that they make them look weak, or where you talking about them making them look OP instead of being creative? Just making sure since sometimes I just don't know if I got the meaning right (german guy)
Well I already prefer the more creative Villains, which is probably why I slightly hate it when the princesses go "armageddon" on someone. I hope I have used that right in the sentence. It's probably to late for me since I haven't sleept good enough yesterday.
That's a thing I hated to, I always wished they would think more of the weaker pokemon before they try to add another thing that makes the most op/prefered pokemon even stronger. They only end up making the weak pokemon even more useless.
Well yes a strong or clever character should actually be able to get stuff right, but honestly I hate it when strong or OP characters are actually without any mistakes if that was what you meant.
I always say only because Celestia lived that long doesn't "have" to mean she only learns what's right and stuff like that.
8774926
There's a big diference between being OP and being useless. Being useless basically means that a character posses abilities which would let them contribute in solving a problem or assisting main heroes, but for some reason or excuse, they never do. Celestia and Luna are almost always guilty of that.
Being OP basically possesing extreme ammount of power and being nearly unbeatable by characters around them (too powerful for the world that story is introducing).
The issue here is that Celestia and Luna are often considered in stories as being OP (way more powerful that everyone else), and as side effect the author either have the villain defeat them to show how POWERFUL AND MIGHTY he is, or come up with hundreds of excuses why the princesses doesn't lift a finger. (Oh, I can't assist, my student need to learn how to do something without depending on me, even though I was depending on her for years to solve all of my problems and never lifted a hoof to help her), or (I need to go on a delegation, I hope no big evil strike in my absense, oh, the irony, they did) or (did I missed anything? What, invasion... I'm sure my powers would be very useful to stop it... if I was actually there), or (my student need to learn an important lesson, so I will send her into face of danger where she can die while I'll sit on my throne and do all that boring paper work, I'm sure my godlike powers that could keep my student from danger won't be needed) or (Oh, army of dragons are invading... so I will just stay here on top of this hill and don't bother to cast a single spell to stop them while mane 6 are in there fighting for their lives).
I saw such excuses in stories over and over and over. The annoying part is, if Celestia posses power to contribute in stopping the bad guy, she never uses and let mane 6 to struggle, and when the bad guy grow too powerful for her to stop, she come up with excuse that since she can't defeat him, mane 6 are her only hope.
That's my point. The more powerful Celestia and Luna is in the story and the more useless she is in it since she never uses her powers to contribute, the more it annoys me. The way I see it, all characters should contribute depending on how much they can contribute. If they posses great skills and power, they should do much, if they are weak, they should contribute less. I never like the whole "underdog pull off miracles against the odds" while "OP character on good side never use his power because REASONS", it just got too old and repetitive for me, and Celesita and Luna suffers from it in 95% of stories I read.
Eeyup. The sad part is that Raichu is one of those pokemon who are far behind most power houses due to most stats being wasted in Attack that he can't take advantage of anyway. (Volt Tackle do way too much recoil and is dificult to get, while wild charge isn't as practical as Thunderbolt). Even Pikachu with light ball get more uses in terms of offense.
It's actually a bit ironic. In the show they tried to present Raichu as that mean powerful bully for Pikachu to overcome, but to be fair, he's falling behind other powerhouses (I still find it forced that out of all brutal fights where Pikachu gets destroyed, only fight against Raichu send him into hospital with a critical condition).
Aside from Raichu being my favorite, I decided to write Nica character into MLP story to show Raichu in a better spotlight.
I think we must agree to disagree. I dunno what stories with Celestia in you've read, but the ones I read in 95% present her as useless. It doesn't matter if she's a god-tier level character, how much she do to help the good guys deal with the problem is nerly non-existent. If they need to show Celestia as a weaker character so she gets the chance to do something, I will prefer it over seeing her having all power in the world and doing nothing useful with it.
(Also, I feel this discussion shifted to something that is better done by PM. We're ending up spaming the comment section, just saying).
anyone know with which chapter the stuff with thorax is over? i really cant sttand that character so much i completely stopped watching the show
8783431
So you dislike even my take on Thorax in the story? What about Pharynx?
As for when it ends, chapter 17.5 is the last that takes place in the changeling teritory. After which Nica will be back in Ponyville. Does this help?
8783446
no i dont dislike your take i mean i dont liek the character overall and not your take on him
defeating a totem Wishiwashi on it’s own
1. Its.
She is a fighter
This. This is why, despite me loving Pokemon Sun and Moon, I almost never used the Z-Moves unless I wanted to end a fight quickly. I get that my character is virtual and nobody will judge, but still!
9258179
To be fair, not many pay attention to the trainer when their pokemon unleash ultimate attack of destruction. When you see a nuke heading towards your pokemon, you do not pay attention to the trainer behind shoting it.
I know this story is long complete, but I can't ignore these. You gave this story an E-rating and stuck to it until this chapter. You need to either remove the profanity (at least replace "ass" if E on this site is also E10) or bump the rating up to T. "Damn" should be "damned" or "darned", and "ass-whooping" could be either "butt-whooping" or "getting whooped", if you don't want to change the rating. I would prefer removing the profanity, as the story has been pretty much perfectly E-rated until this point, and while Surge is a war vet that doesn't automatically make him a sailor mouth. Especially since he's a Gym Leader talking to a 12-year-old girl, who in the second line he knows is the kid of one of his fellow soldiers. It's also truer to the two worlds being crossed over here.
8774831 Not every Raichu in the show is a jerk or bully. There were at least two Raichu, one in the Kanto/Orange Islands episodes and one in Sinnoh, that got along fine with Pikachu and were even quite timid and gentle. Kinda like Nica herself. And the Alolan Raichu Pikachu forged a brief rivalry with was perfectly pleasant until Ash decided to enter the race, which only shows that it was competitive. They even tied for second.
I'd talk about the Regice battle and such, but to be honest that's a long, drawn-out speech and possible argument I don't even know if you'd care about, so I'll just sum up my thoughts on that stuff and then cut to praising the story: I believe in necessary evils, and I don't think Legendary Pokemon are devalued by the anime at all, not even Mewtwo with the whole Genesect movie thing. I feel Pikachu's victories over such powerful Pokemon just make him look stronger more than it makes them look weak.
Anyway, I adore how this changeling arc has been so far. Thorax is one of my favorite characters in the show, and I love how you portray him and his interactions with Nica, and Pharynx is pretty much perfect too. Honestly, Thorax is even more adorable than usual, and him and Nica are even cuter than Nica and Fluttershy got! I also found the battles this chapter and the one with Pharynx earlier to be quite well-done, though it kinda disappoints me that Flashback Nica got curb-stomped every single time by Alakazam. Feels a little odd for her to lose so badly considering how she's trained and what she's gone through so far, but hopefully she made up for that in the League match. I just hope the backstory didn't get much darker than this.
To be fair, it is Street Fighter canon that Zangief wrestles bears for fun, so..