Epilogue (+Link to the sequel in author notes)
Little Lost Raichu
-
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.
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Huh. What a nice, funny ending. I like it. This story has been a lot of fun to follow. Granted, I think the flashbacks are the story's lower points, as they showed almost too much of Nica beating herself up. That being said, Nica's interactions with characters like Starlight, Gabby and Pharynx are easily the best parts. I also have to say that scenes with Nica and Pinkie along with Nica and Fluttershy are really good. Probably my favorite moment had to have been with Nica first met Fluttershy and was tempted to stay with her.
Well done author, well done.
Okay, that is funny!
The idea of Darkrai wearing glasses is something that must be drawn!
Huh... so that's what happened to Discord. That explains why he isn't around while Darkrai tried to take over Equestria.
Anyway, I enjoyed this story as a whole. There's a lot of funny, cute, emotional and even serious moments. I loved the scenes with Nica interacting with other characters, they're definitely the high points. The flashbacks are the slowest part of the story but they have a good backstory of how Nica is the way she is. Overall, this is an excellent Pokemon crossover story with the MLP series that I'll definitely go back to read it again!
Now on to the sequel involving my favorite Pokemon from the animated series!
That would be a.. Gliscor, if i'm correct.
Let the games begin.
Jesus, Darkrai is still a dick.
9088997
What where you expecting? Entities like him don’t change their colors, just their tune. I feel sorry for Pikachu as now he is drawn into Darkrai's web.
9088907
I expected that flashbacks would be the lowpoint of the story, but they were still essention in showing Nica's past. Now when everyone know Nica's backstory fairly enough, I can focus on different aproach in the sequel.
And yes, Nica is a cute cuddly piece of fluff. Of course her interaction with kind pony like Fluttershy and energetic kind griffon like Gabby would be best.
I suppouse I get your point, yet I didn't want for Nica to earn her power and skills easily. I wanted to show that she earned them with pain and sweat. I know it may not be something easy to read, but if she is suppose to be the strongest Raichu in the world, I wanted to show that she earned it fair and square. (And it was also meant to be a weakness of her character as well).
9088928
I bet being defeated and captured, and then having her entire revenge which she plotted and worked for for months stopped by a little cuddly piece of fluff with long tail, it must be mega humiliating. Pharynx know where to press Chrysalis button.
9088941
So true.
9088947
Have fun with the sequel. I hope it will not disapoint your expectations.
9088956
Eeyup. But it was Astra's Gliscor, just so you know.
9088997
9089052
Well, he is trying to appologise in his own way. He doesn't really care much if it will make the ponies angry, but giving Nica a company of other pokemon and letting her finally meet her idol is something that he considered a proper appology to her. I suppose he was under Chrysalis influence a bit too long.
9089246
That's fine and I understand why you did it. I was just saying my overall thoughts. This is a great story, something you should be really proud of.
9089246
Yeah. Her boop-button.
9089353
Pretty much. Also, how are you liking the sequel so far?
Alright! Time for my end of story review!
First, the good.
Obviously, the best thing about this was Nica. It's not easy to take an OP character and make them good. Most of the times they just end up Mary Sues and thus boring. Nica, however, is a great character. She's OP as hell but has real and believable character traits, both positive and negative.
Second, the bad.
The most irritating thing in this fic is that sometimes the dialogue gets way too 'Theatrical' at times, especially with characters that it just doesn't fit.
For example, this quote from Rainbow Dash from chapter 38;
This just doesn't sound like Rainbow at all.
Rainbow would have said this more like this;
I noticed when you have a character that has to show deep emotions, you always write them the same way, just like you wrote that line for Rainbow Dash. After you write dialogue, try picturing the character actually saying it in your head and in their voice. That alone is usually enough to see if something sounds out of character.
My hopes for the sequel:
First, I would like to see two characters get their comeuppance. First, Spitfire for reasons I've already said.
The second, however, is Astra. Some people might be confused by that, but in all honesty, it was Astra that instilled all Nica's insecurities. She taught Nica that if someone's strong, they're only worth a damn if they're dedicating their lives to helping others. Then, she made sure Nica was the strongest Riachu that ever existed. Nica's insecurities were inevitable.
Of course, it's not entirely Astra's fault, either. She was abandoned at a young age and forced to fend for herself without human interaction by parents that were too arrogant to think to have a backup plan in case they couldn't return for her. Seriously, they should have had someone not in the Guardians know about her just in case they were KIA, but apparently, they thought they were invincible.
TL;DR All in all, this was a great story. It has a couple flaws here and there, but not enough to keep me from enjoying it and reading the sequel.
7.5/10 Probably won't read it again, but I will remember it fondly.
9089433
Thanks. I tried my best to get a really good reason behind Nica's extreme durability and skills, I wanted her to earn it with hardship and struggles (if she was going to be the strongest Raichu, she had to have the most harsh struggle to get there). I also wanted to balance her fairly so that what make her strong is also a source of her flaws. In a sense, I made Astra and Nica into an opposite side of the coin when compared to Ash and his Pikachu.
Ash is always rushing into action and rarely thinks ahead, when Astra don't mind failing early on as long as it benefits her in the long run (always having long-term plan ahead).
When Pikachu started in his mid-evolution and stayed there, deciding to grow strong without evolving while believing that pokemon don't need to evolve to become powerful. Nica started as a Pichu (and faced great odds for 2 years) before evolving, but she also reached her final evolution after overcoming her hardest trials (half a year of fighting three legendaries over and over), Nica believe that evolution is a great boot of power that should be earned (if someone evolve just because they are weak and want to grow stronger quickly they don't deserve it, but if they work hard and have skills, they can use their stronger form to its full potential.
When Astra was determined to keep everyone save and not let people and pokemon expeirence what she did, it gave her motivation so strong that she managed to create incredibly powerful team, gaining title of Sinnoh Champion and even go for the title of a Pokemon Master.
Ash however wanted to become pokemon master, but while his methods and constant replacement of his most powerful team members hold him back, his personality and reckless bravery lead him into facing greatest threats, saving pokemon and humans from big disasters.
Pikachu seek challenge to grow stronger while Nica became the most powerful just to never fail to protect lives.
I tried to make it ironical that Ash/Pikachu and Astra/Nica achieved each others dreams, and in the end Astra and Nica look up to Ash and his Pikachu as great heroes, diminishing their own worth because despite having greater power and resources they are accomplishing way less.
I hope that this will make an interesting dynamic in the sequel where Nica and Pikachu will get to know each other better. (In a sense, Nica being the strongest Raichu can be considered the biggest rival by Pikachu, while at the same time she wouldn't want to upset her hero or compete against him).
Trust me, I tried to adress it and even got backup to fix some of Dash's lines, and I even got help to work on it. I think there was one chapter that Dash's lines were really bad and we fixed it. My proof-reader who offered to help with Dash's lines said that he did not find much to fix in futher chapters. (Though he got very busy, so he was unable to work on recent chapters, so I think chapter 38 wasn't checked by him),
In any case, your alternative proved quite good, so I used it. I hope you won't mind. I think Rainbow Dash caused me the most difficulty to write for this story.
Well, I can promise that Spitfire and Nica will encounter each other at one point of the story, though I can't promise she will be punished for it. What I try to say is that Nica, while easy to hurt emotionally, isn't someone who hold a grudge. She's very forgiving. I think as long as the Wonderbolts appologise to her, she'll be satisfied.
As for Astra, I fear her role in the sequel will be too minor to adress this, but I can tell you that the damage Astra did unintentionaly will be adressed in the sequel, but it will be up to Nica to challenge her shortcommings. Usually I just try to think of what strengths and weaknesses each character have, their personality and how would they act in specific situation, and then I write how they will react and what they will do. I am not sure how Astra will act in my story yet so I don't know what will happen with her.
As for re-reading, yeah, this story is extremely long, not really something that one can easy read again, but I think that there are some nice chapters that are worth reading again, like when Nica meet Fluttershy and Gabby for the first time. Those were certainly cute.
9089372
I've yet to start on it. I have a few other stories i'm keeping track of, but mark me, it'll happen.
9089509
I'm glad I could help
I have loved this story, it is fun and has helped give me ideas for my own MLP crossover with Pokémon.
great chapter and a great way to end this part of the story, i'll see you again in the sequel.
9090408
Hope you're enjoying it so far. I am uploading quickly for the moment since chapter 1 is broken into a few parts called "Exploration," but I will slow down with uploading once we get to chapter 2.
9092885
And a smart one. Balancing between long-term strategy aproach she learned from her father and fast-and-now-action-taking she learn from her mother isn't easy.
9094983
Eeyup. Sadly, he is going up against Nica who rely on long-term strategy rather than her instincts, not to mention how outmatched he is.
9095014
It is all up to motivation. There are more than one Darkrai and this one ended up in a bad company for waaay too long.
9095022
If only it would be that easy. If you will read this story to the very end, you'll find out what happened to Discord and why he can't help.
9109658
It was a dumb joke pointing out that you switched from quotation marks to these symbols<> that you usually only use when Raichu is speaking. I just assumed it was Jigglypuff because of Starlight's coat color.
9109921
It was my typo, adding > by accident. I replaced it, thanks.
9115786
just the word archipelago is enough, because archipelago already means a collective of islands
9116059
Do:
Is good enough. Or will:
Or do you have a better idea?
9116271
both are good
9124211
I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. While Nica can endure a lot of punishment, she's also very sensitive. If Darkrai will strike in her emotions, he may hurt her badly.
9133204
You'll find out as you'll keep reading, but if you have to know, I can tell that he ended up among the wrong crowd and got a negative influence. Once you'll read Dark Confession, you'll get better understanding of his motives.
BWHAAHAH! Okay, the idea of Darkrai making random pokemon appear in Equestria was hilarious; and I see you are using the latest version of Ash's Pikachu... this will be truly interesting
9145147
I thnk he didn't know. He just needed a bunch of Raichu to ruin Nica's reputation and get ponies against her, he didn't assume one of them will be Nica's mom.
9145179
Well, in my story when Ash was facing the legendary birds, he was 11, and when Nica is in Equestira, he's around 13 and a half (or 14, hard to tell).
9145258
Maybe, but his apperance will be quite minimal, you'll see what I mean.
9145277
I hope the sequel won't disapoint you. And I also hope you won't spare comments there.
9178613
I'm really behind on the show, that would explain it. I haven't watched anything ever since Twilight's ascension, so I have no clue about what's new except from stories that are written :p
Pony literature is something else.
9240177
And why wouldn't Pinkie agree to help? Pinkie's generousity is almost as high as Rarity's. Not to mention that when it comes to tail use, Pinkie is on the top (well... maybe. NIca's use of her long tail may hold more talent than one would expect).
9246348
I must disagree with you. Twilight re-engaded Starlight again and again (even ending up frozen at one point (at best she managed to draw until the timeline was screwed up, at worse she was outclassed from the start).
To make matters worse, not only Starlight was a unicorn (while Twilight was an alicorn, which should have stronger magic), but also Twilight had wings and could fly while Starlight had to cast self-levitation at all tme, (and she was still fighitng Twilight on an equal ground). What's the point of the wings if unicorns can self-levitate with magic without any drawbacks (in episode where Twilight became an alicorn, they made a big deal how she had trouble flying and it held her back, but now when she know how to fly, it don't seem to be all that useful if self-levitation is a thing).
Long story short, Starlight was OP for no reason (other than that her emotions fuel her magic, but let's be honest, emotions seem to fuel everyone's magic in a sense). Actually, now that I think about it, the only time when Twilight started giving Starlight a hard time is after Nightmare Moon's world (when she stopped holding back and started fighting seriously), but in other situations, she was outclassed waaay too easily.
Long story short, Starlight too OP, please nerf. Or in this case, Twilight lack combat experience, please train.
9255755
That is not true. She want to do it mostly so others wouldn't have to suffer like she did, and to continue her parrents work. Sure, there's a deserive for revenge as well, and can you blame her? But her actions aren't of a blinded by revenge, but rather calculated and careful growing in strength to face those who ruined her life while also increasing awarness of the threat that criminal organizations posses. She swore she would continue her parrents work, and she did. If she was blinded by vengence, she would kill the criminal responsible for death of her parrents, yet she just send them into prisons and continued her work.
Also, Astra want to protect legendary pokemon, not to use their powers, and Articuno put a lot of trust into her and accompanied her for weeks or even months rather than just assist once and leave.
And this new target would be other criminal organizations and those who seek to abuse the power of pokemon. She wish to continue her parrents work. Even if she wants revenge, she doesn't let it blind her.
Okay, I am starting to get tired of this. Your comment is extremely hostile towards Astra and paint her in extremely negative way. It just feels really unjust. It feels as if you focused only on all the negative elements and ignored all positives. "Screw the fact that she didn't abandon or replaced a single pokemon for years or cared for them like a family. She's obviously thinking of them like tools,"
"It doesn't matter that Nica and other pokemon agreed to follow Astra's ideas and trainings on their own free will, she's obviously forcing them not to evolve." "Ignore the fact that she swore to continue her parrents work and make sure that no one will ever suffer like she did, she obviously cares only about vengence."
Sorry for my rant, but when I see only and ONLY negative, I just can't see such opinion as anything but very unjust.
9088941
Hear, hear!!
Finally finished reading this. I've had it in my tracking for months and left about the last 10 chapters unread for quite some time. All in all, a fantastic story with great character development, realistic situations (at least as realistic as it can get with magical talking horses and at least semi-sapient creatures capable of leveling mountains), a phenomenal main character, and an utterly amazing setup for the sequel. While I do think that Darkrai got off lightly with trying to take over Equestria, it's still largely in character with the ponies and Nica. The only two remaining questions I have are whether Astra and Nica will reunite, and if not, whether Nica can at least see her teammates again.
9347980
Thanks. Hopefully you won't delay reading the sequel for as long. (The sequel name is "Little Lost Pikachu."
I take it that you started really liking that "OP, please nerf" furball of main character called Nica the Raichu.
Ponies were always shown as quick to forgive, though I do question their actions considering how harsh they went on villain of this season. This one was character-breaking for me.
9347980
Well... I can say that she'll reunite with some of her teammates, but you would need to read the sequel for more details, or else I will end up spoiling the story for you.
9348105
I've already started to read the sequel, and I am immensely enjoying it. I've just finished the (I believe it to be) first part of the best day ever chapter. While the characterization is great, and still highly believable, I'm mostly enjoying the strange dynamic between Nica and Ash's Pikachu. Now for only the inevitable sparring between them where Pikachu finally understands how out of his league he is with her. Maybe let him see her working her regimen? Admittedly though, my favorite part so far is where she borderline threatens Litten if he hurts the Cake Twins. Nica may not seem like it, but when she wants to, she can be very intimidating.
9348120
Well, this sparring between them may have consequences.
Pikachu is very prideful, so this may hurt his pride. On another side, Nica don't like battling like he does and wouldn't want to upset him (while Pikachu is always willing to prove himself by defeating his evolution, Nica can't bring herself to fight unevolved opponent for the sake of fair play). in the end they both may get upset over it.
If you're refering to training where Nica push herself to complite exaustion, I don't think it would be something Pikachu would want to see. (Pikachu may push himself to his limits quite often, but Nica takes it to another level. He would get scared for life).
To be fair, Nica don't want to be intimidating, but she's extremely overprotective of others. It is kind of like Mama-bear syndrome. She can't help herself but show claws whenever someone may be in danger. This kind of situations is most likely the only time when Nica can actually be very voilent (she's quite the pacifist otherwise).
In any case, once you'll get to the part where things will get pretty awkward (I think it was titled: the worst day ever or something like that), tell me what you think.
9350433
fair enough.
9396459
Jurasic park reference, heh?
While I can see how Raichu can be way more dangerous than a hungry and somewhat clever predator, she's totally on the peaceful side.
9552348
You're very welcome.
Raichu was always my favorite pokemon, but the way show portrayed it to give Pikachu an excuse not to evolve didn't pain it in a good light. Nica is my way of showing a better side of Pikachu's evolution and allow Raichu to shine.
Originally I wasn't planing to make Nica so powerful, however, since Pikachu in the show started defeating legendaries in 1vs1 fight and even defeating two pseudo-legendaries in a row, I decided to allow Nica become an instane powerhouse. At the same time I wanted all this power and skills to be earned and also a believable flaws that would balance her strengths. I am very happy with the results.
I hope you'll give the sequel "Little Lost Pikachu" a read as well. This story is a lot less popular and deserve more viewers, and in this sequel Nica will get to encounter the very hero she admires.
9558244
You're forgetting about one important thing.
I know that in most stories, if a character endure struggle, they grow stronger because of it, but quite often there's something called "plot armor" that keep this character from receiving any negative effects of such experience. Sometime you can get out of such struggle as more experienced and stronger person, but sometime you will get out of it with permanently broken arm or leg, you may lose your eye or even your sight, you may be get permanently burned or scared for life. (A character after enduring near-death experience with no one to help them may become a shell of its former self).
You can't just tell say that Firefighter won't help someone who is inside a burning building because "escaping such a deadly experience can make the person inside stronger."
So before you start criticizing Nica's point of view, you need to consider the fact that it is important for someone who is strong to protect the weak. The more power one have, the greater their responsibility, and the more efforts are needed to make good use of their power.
Also, don't you think that maybe for someone like Luna, it is important to experience some struggle and learn from it while doing something productive for those who helped her in the past? Luna posses great power and she don't do anything with it when a crisis arise, and because of that she's incapaible of facing danger or critical situation. From Nica's viewpoint, princesses posses great power but they lack experience and are incapaible of using such power well.
The whole "strong shouldn't help the weak so that this weak person can become strong" doesn't excuse repetitive situations where those in power are the incompetent ones. Nica simply think that it is important for those who posses great power to be the first to learn how to use it effectivly, because if those who are strong screw up, the damage is far greater than if those who are weak screw up.
Also, so far what Celestia and Luna are doing is to put all burden on Twilight and her friends. Basically, everyone in Equestira view Twilight and her friends as protectors and problem solvers, so in a sense guards won't become more competent at their job, poines won't grow stronger and learn how to better cooperate and help each other to keep Equestira safe, because they all look for group of six mares to always solve their problem. And those six mares who are always put in dangerous situation can't look up for Celestia and Luna for support because both princesses has proven again and again that they either don't bother to help or will simply screw it up.
No offense, but most of what you just wrote here seems to have nothing to do with Nica's ideology she displayed in this chapter.
Either you got a complitly wrong impression of what Nica told Luna, or I'm having difficulty understanding your arguments here.
Also, you're a bit contradicting yourself. In one sentence you're saying that if someone powerful protect others, they start to rely on their help more and more, but in another sentence you say that protected repaying the protector by protecting them defeats the purpose of having a protector.
May I ask you to re-read this chapter and explain why you find Nica's viewpoint to be naive? Because what you said don't seem to have much to do with what Nica told Luna.
9558244
On a side note, I don't really like this trope, or rather the outcomes when it is used poorly.
Quite often I see situation where for the sake of hero's growth the side-characters or simply all unimportant characters all around are incompenent. I undertand that heroes and main characters needs to overcome harship to develop and become stronger, but at the same time I know that they often have plot armor. I know that they most likely won't die or won't suffer any permanent injury or horrible side-effeicts. But when I see a way more powerful character who refuse to help for the sake of hero's growth, only to get easily defeated by big bad later on or to screw up just so that weaker hero can take his place and defeat the villain, I ask myself if this powerful character isn't the one who need to experience some development, that maybe he became so overconfident in his great power that he lower his guard for no reason. I sometime even ask myself why the hero needs to suffer so much and give 150% to save the world when everyone around him don't bother to even give mere 20%.
Long story short, I don't like this trope because it isn't always used properly. (While weak characters endure hardship without anyone's help to grow stronger, characters that are experienced and powerful ends up pushed aside with humiliating defeat, making me wonder what's the point of all their power and experience if they can't use it well).
9651503
I bet she would love to catch Nica and keep her.
As for Ash himself, he already have Pikachu so he would most likely not try to catch Raichu as well, no matter how skilled.
9651515
Accident like this is most likely to happen, but I doubt you'll like the outcome, same goes for Nica. Unlike Pikachu who don't care too much if he accidently unleash electricity, Nica is very sensitive about it.
9651562
In my story I made it so that electric pokemon can still try to keep electricity from escaping, though it is a large and painful struggle, which is why no electric pokemon do that. In fact, Nica is hurting herself greatly by keeping that electricity from escaping, the most painful experience an electric pokemon can have. (It is like stopping all that electricity as it shock her from the inside, not a plesant experience).
9651578
I would rather go with "forgiveness is magic" or "Friendly, yet too forgiving for their own good."
I wouldn't say it is automatic, but they do tend to quickly forgive and not punish someone, as long as he/she greatly regret their actions.
9651806
Being psychic tyle doesn't automaticly mean high inteligence. Personally, I like to think that Alolan Raichu is side-effect of that pokemon adapting to surfing on the water (there was even an episode about Pikachu predicing waves and stuff, so this is where it could come from).
In anycase, you'll need to get to the sequel, because there won't be Alolan Raichu until then,
9651841
Oh trust me, there's more to it than you think. As for the fire, who said it was his signature move?
9651858
Based on your comment, I take it you quite enjoyed the colision between this adorable duo. One thing I can say, NIca certaonly enjoyed herself.
9652741
It must be a very soft and cozy feeling. Also, Nica being called a living pillow is something I didn't think off. I bet she wouldn't mind serving role of a pillow if someone asked her nicely (she would no doubt expose her white belly for pony's head to lie on without complain).
*Deep Breath*
Alright...
9653471
-Which is why its usually best left to personal judgement and discrepancy, as well as finding a personal balance on the whole thing. And personally with Lulu and Celly, 2k years ruling alone with barely any need to use her powers on anyone after sombra and/or discord can lead to something similar to loss of "muscle mass", and the same thing applies to Luna even while she was trapped behind a dark avatar of herself and left alone for the same 2k years. They barely had much use for their own magic in anything outside of simple levitation, and in Luna's case she had to wait all those years until the seals weakened enough or something along what happened.
9558627
-'Fraid that's just part of the "struggle" with everything. Plot armor is just nothing but that, fictional armor because of a fictional plot, and it never gets reflected outside RL. Losing limbs, eyes, getting disabled or scars or permanent damage, that's still part and counted in the reality of struggling. Nothing about enduring or undergoing difficulties or facing harsh times means that its going to be easy, or its going to let you get away unscathed. That runs far too deep in the lines of believing that you're invincible that unfortunately a lot of people believe everyday. Those that do get out relatively unscathed are within the lines of "lucky." Nothing about being strong in that.
-Yeah-no. That was not what I meant. That goes completely against what I had meant, in fact. To use your example, the firefighters are specifically there to their job, which is: Stop the fire from either spreading or contain it and suppress it until its safe for them to finish the job; Dive right into the fire if they believe anyones in there and pull them out of it as quick as they can, without ending up endangering themselves or others to the exact point where they or their team cannot get them out.
Don't twist my words for that.
-Yes, there are situations where the strong does need to protect the weak. In your earlier example, firefighters are meant to do what I said above. Cops are meant to keep the streets safe. Doctors are meant to save lives where the patient's own body cannot handle or do anything. However you're confusing what I criticize about Nica's POV. I did not mean in complete general, I meant by how far she takes this POV. By what I see and how I read her POV is, in her eyes Celestia and Luna should be doing the jobs of the Mane Six, and the Royal Guard. Essentially, playing "Superman" where they fights all the crimes, saves the days, rescues the damsels, defeat the villains in all shapes (and ages) In fact, in the next new episode that had been leaked, they show and attempt to do exactly that.
-Fair point with Luna, and I will point this fallacy to Hasbro for not giving some attention on this detail, the best we ever got with her was Tantabus and her first Nightmare Night before Season 9 came around. And indeed, Luna does and need to do something productive and to get some strength back into her, regardless that most of the responsibilities of safeguarding was placed on Mane Six with their Elements of Harmony.
-What's also lacking is the situational requirement. It wasn't until the second part of the intro into Season 9 did we ever see the need that both Princesses had to fight instead of the Mane Six, as again their Elements of Harmony and in the situation demonstrated, they had no Elements till they remembered they didn't need them anyway (AGAIN) because Plot Convenience!. And as far as canon showed, there was nothing stronger or better than the Elements, not even Celestia/Luna at their height of power.
-And what I mean by Situational Requirement is that for most of Equestria's problems, both Elements and the Mane Six (And in this story, Nica) were thrown at these various problems until they were solved in some way that was either relevant to their personalities, or they recognized the most efficient way of resolving them. Most of these problems likely wouldn't have been solved in the same efficient way that Luna or Celestia could, given their status as the Diarchs (Which both can limit and/or restrict them in specific ways, such as being told by law that they either wrote or agreed to that they have no business in sticking their noses at something. Legislation is the greater power in some cases, and no, Nica's ideology wouldn't work well with this branch of government, it can easily be labeled and branded as abusement of executive/judicial/legislative power regardless of good will/intent, that's just how life works and that's how good people get hurt.)
=*Incapable (Spellcheck kept pestering me with this, don't @ me)
=*completely (that one you can @ me for)
-Its more likely what I said and was trying to say got mixed as well as you having difficulty. Lemmie try and give a method to the madness. I had meant in both sentences as resulting (and differing) consequences via causes and effects.
-What I had meant in "if someone powerful protect others, they start to rely on their help more and more" is that when someone, and that same specific someone, repeatedly comes to "Save the day" and everyone knows that it is that specific someone (not somebody else) that "saved the day" then this sets up a Pavlov Conditioning (if you're familiar with this) where they will then be expected to come "save the day" again and again. In fact, the MOST appropriate example of this Pavlovian Conditioning would be the movie 'Megamind'. Specifically, everyone has always expected that the villain always loses, and the hero always wins because this result has came out consistently every time.
-In example, the firefighters. By both name and how they usually arrive for any suspected cases to confirmed cases of fires burning out of control, while this is not word by word Pavlovian Conditioning, it still results in the where we hold expectation that when fires happen and we can't do much about them, we expect those firefighters to arrive and do what they can. Same thing holds with police and ambulances.
-Now to what I meant about "The protected repaying the protector by protecting them" is likely what's got you the most. As far as rereading what I said, I had a hard time trying to convey this properly.
-By what I was trying to say is that when Nica had told Luna "I’m sorry, Princess, but if I was in your place, I wouldn’t be able to sleep well until I repaid my saviors’ and defended them with my live.” I had taken that as a viewpoint that because Twilight and her friends saved Luna, Luna is now indebted to step up, step over, and take over Twilight and her friends' job as 'Hero of Equestria'. And I had taken that as conveying the point that once the people are saved, they're now required to step up and do the same thing to the people/person that saved them, even if the 'savior' is more powerful or more capable than the people who got saved.
-To me, this defeated the point of saving people in the first place. As once you saved them and got them out of danger, those same people you tried to save and keep out of harm and danger are now putting their lives in harm's way and in danger in order to repay you for saving them. Owing to what I said, that meant that despite (one more dance and song) the magic power of Harmony and the Mane Six who wields it, are more capable and thus more fitting to the job, Luna was now required and possibly demanded that she be the one to fight and save everyone instead of the Mane Six and their (much more powerful) Harmony powers.
9558627
Ok onto this one.
Yes when used poorly or not planned out properly, its a terrible trope to pull. However, that opinion does go with every trope out there, if you do it right its amazing, do it shoddy as hell and you're bound to lose more than views and likes, or its pure comedy that's supposed to be as shoddy as a house made of playing cards on the beachside, in which case go nuts until everyone's just confused.
Now I kinda see what the problem you're having is.
Most of what you had said about what you hate about the trope when its not done well, yes I can agree with that. If the more powerful character is sitting on the sidelines, it should be because they know what's going to happen, they expect what will happen and they know their weaker buddy will win without permanent/crippling injury. AT MOST, it should be where the stronger character has the greatest amount of hope that the character will pull through, and again without permanent/crippling injury. What you're looking at with this is the potential of Trope Aversion and Trope Subversion, which as far as I know when used for this trope is used for plot twists of either the cheap or well done quality, depending upon how things happened.
Also I can see that you're still salty as everyone else was with the Celestia vs Chrysalis, considering you pointed out the more powerful character getting easily defeated by the big bad.
*Edit: Good god I hate explaining text walls*
9652974
So true, but tough soldiers like him have to keep apperances.
9653226
You couldn't be more wrong. Hahaha.
9653471
I couldn't agree more. Even if Nica's ideology isn't perfect and may have some flaws, her arguments regarding the Royal Sisters still stands. They certainly don't give a good example if they expect main 6 to face the danger and solve every crisis while they don't even know how to use their own massive power properly.
9653513
Well, to be fair, speed in pokemon anime is rarely consistent. We get Pigeot flying at speed of Mach-2, then we have Pikachu who's considered incredibly fast, yet his trainer can still run by his side while keeping up with TR balloon. If Pikachu's speed status is so similar to the one of Pidgeot, how can running pokemon keep up with bird flying at speed of jet while trainers can keep up with them on foot. So yeah, pokemon moving at speed of light yet not able to anihilate Pikachu with 1000 hits per second, it would be an overdoing.
You have to consider how Nica think and feels. As she developed, faced challenges and evolved, she started carrying less and less on showing off how powerful she is and winning, and instead started carrying more about being helpful and using her powers to keep others safe and happy. Hurting others and making them angry or sad causes Nica to hesistate in battle.
Due to her development and personality, when she sees a water pokemon (mega-evolved or not), she knows that being electric type gives her advantage, and when she sees unevolved pokemon like Pikachu, she knows that being fully evolved means that her body is stronger and more durable, giving her advantage. As the result, she's trying to minimalize her advantage, even if it puts her at big disadvantage instead. As long as she neglet her advantage over her opponent (by it stronger body or type advantage), she don't care if she win or lose (if her opponent win, it means he was better trained and deserved victory in a fair battle).
It is also a side-effect of her training methods. Before she became a Raichu, every opponent she faced was more evolved or had advantage of sort, forcing her to fight harder and use her powers better. Now when she's a Raichu, she feels very uncomfortable fighitng against those with weaker bodies or with type disadvantage. I know some opponents will disagree, but if she went all out, she would feel like a bully.
9653667
Here's the thing. Why is it job of main 6?
Because they are element bearers? The only time they used the Elements was against Nightmare Moon and Discord, that's it, against Chrysalis they couldn't even get to them. Against Sombra they didn't even take the elements with them and Twilight was told that she needs to save the Empire by herself as part of her test. When the Everfree Forest went on rampage, both Royal Sisters were captured without even resisting, while main 6 without help of a single guard had to fight their way through to save them. Against Tirek Twilight got power of 3 alicorns for safe-keeping and was told not to tell her friends, which backfired incredibly. Chrysalis then captured everyone, including main 6 and it came to Starlight and her suicude squad to save everyone.
Long story short, main 6 being the "fix all our problems" squad doesn't adds up. They are just a group of mares that almost never use the Elements to their advantage.
The Royal Guard is totally useless. They aren't professionals who are trained for their job, but just a bunch of hired intimidating stallions who just look good and nothing else. Equestira's defenses now relly ONLY on main 6 at all time, and the only competent alicorn is Cadence who actually repelled Chrysalis and held Sombra at bay.
Long story short, Celestia and Luna are rusty and they can't make good use of their powers. Royal Guards are a joke and are in desperate need of solid training. Ponies of Equestira can't do anything for themselves, always relying on main 6 to fix all the problems, and yet it is main 6 who again and again face dangers and learn lessons.
From Nica's point of view, Equestria can't keek relying on 6 mares to be their heroes at all times, mares who don't even use the Elements which got them the heroes' status to begin with. From her point of view, Celestia and Luna should get rid of their rust so they could defense themselves and be a second line of defense in case main 6 fail, not just two powerhouses with no combat and adventuring experience. She believes that Royal Guards should be trained better and motivated to actually do their freaking job. She believe that ponies shouldn't just think of main 6 as their Superman and to be able to act for themselves. She believe that if someone have power or skill, they should try to make the best use of it, and since both Royal Sisters are the most powerful, they are in her eyes the ones who needs the most training. She wants for Equestria to have more than a single line of defense while the most powerful ponies are no better than Princess Peach (damsels in distress). It infurate Nica that when she's feeling guilty for not doing enough with all power she have, the royal sisters don't bother to train at least a little bit so they could step in if necesery.
If Celestia and Luna were just normal unicors without milenia of experience and incredible powers, she wouldn't mind that they focus only on leadership aspect, but since they posses far greater power, she wants for them to be capaible of using it if necesery. In my opinion you're being way too harsh on her viewpoint when she have every right to be mad at the Royal Sisters for not even being able to defend themselves, more or less their nation.
And have you considered the fact that this is exactly what main 6 is?
Everyone rely on main 6 to save the problem. They save day again and again and everyone expects them to do so, especilly the Royal Sisters. This is something that Nica is against. She wants Luna and Celestia and even the Royal Guard to learn how to make better use of their powers and show some initiative. She don't want main 6 to become the sole defenders while everyone else becomes weaker and more useless because of that. And no, just because Celestia and Luna are rulers doesn't mean that they can't get their hooves dirty, especially considering that the status of "Princess" is taken very lightly in the show. The royal guards didn't seem to have a problem with Twilight charging into the Everfree Forest with her friends (with no guards escort) despite the fact that she was the only alicorn to rule at the moment (with Cadence being away). If anything, being more capaible at using their powers would prevent many of their kidnappings as Royal Guard is clearly unfit for their job.
I believe you need to shake the way you look at what Nica said. Instead of being afraid that Luna and Celestia would get superman threatement and become kill-stealers, you should look at the fact that main 6 are viewed as superman and both royal alicorns, guards and ponies becomes weaker and more useless since they leave all the dirty work to the six mares who don't even use the Elements to begin with. It is something Nica wants to fight against, she wants the Royal Sisters to learn how to defend themselves, to learn how to make better use of ther powers so they could contribute more, and she wants them to get more involved, because at the moment, everyone except main 6 are in big need of solid training and adventuring.
What Nica meant was that since Luna was saved by the main 6, she should feel more obligated to assist them in time of need. She didn't mean taking over their role (though their role don't make much sense since they used the Elements only two times. In all other cases they are group of 6 mares doing hero's job where Twilight is the only one who can be considered a powerhouse.
When Nica told this to Luna, she imagined herself feel guilty that she just sit on the throne or on her bed inside the castle, knowing that those who saved her life are out there, risking it again and again, and she do nothing to help them. In her opinion Luna should care more about her saviors and be more willing to get involved in their struggle, and while you may see this as "Kill-steal," Nica see this as an opportunity for the powerful alicorn to get rid of the rust and become more capaible.