Raichu for Hire
-
Chapter 5
-
Dream of the Past
It has been more than two years since she was captured by the human girl, Astra Longshot. The first six months her trainer taught her how to read and write, a boring routine she disliked with all her passion. The next six months she spent on an island with her trainer, helping her capture three new team members while training hard and fighting against the local pokemon.
Facing Orange Islands as their next step ended in failure as Astra limited herself to only four pokemon, outnumbered six to four against the local champion.
With Ninetales joining Astra on the road for vengeance against criminals, the team faced the trials of Alola, mastering the use of the electric, and fire Z-move. Defeating four Kahunas in the Grand Trial didn’t bring them any fame, though.
Kanto League ended up in failure during the semi-finals, losing against Astra’s self-proclaimed rival in a five vs six battle. The real victory however lay in Nica defeating an Alakazam, winning with massive odds stacked up against her. She earned her evolution that day, becoming a Pikachu. This very day they also met Team Rocket’s hitman, codename ‘Deathblow’, who become their greatest enemy.
After failing over and over, the time to turn the table around had come in the Johto region. With a full team of six, four fully evolved, they teared through the tournament, defeating the less experienced opposition easily.
It was an odd feeling for Nica. Two years of battling against more powerful opponents while being a tiny feeble Pichu, their team always handicapped and outnumbered, sent to face against opponents who had type advantages. The moment she and the rest of the team evolved, the moment all the handicaps has been lifted, nothing could stand in the way of their victory. It felt like climbing up a tall mountain for hours with a heavy stone tied to her back, only to take a long rest and get rid of the stone halfway. Reaching the peak suddenly became a breeze.
Winning the tournament in Johto was only the first step, though, as it gave Astra the privilege of fighting the Elite Four. Only by defeating four elite trainers, would they be allowed to challenge the champion of Johto for his title.
The first opponent to face was Bruno.
Nica ignored the cheering crowd, her attention focused on the muscular man as trousers was the only piece of clothing he was wearing. According to the rumors, Bruno’s strength was big enough to challenge a pokemon in direct combat. By looking at him, Nica had a flashback of two other humans. Lt. Surge, whose size and muscles would no doubt give Bruno a challenge, and a tan Nurse Joy, who despite smaller size, had unimaginable strength which was still growing with each passing month filled with struggles. I wonder, if Bruno, Lt. Surge and the tan Nurse Joy ended up facing numerous competitions of strength and skills, who would get on the top? Now that would be interesting.
The battlefield between both trainers was filled with numerous rocky hills and one pool filled with water in the middle.
Not wasting a moment, Astra sent her Starmie into the battlefield. Being both water and psychic type, the large starfish had coverage to everything her opponent would deploy.
Nica jumped from her trainer’s shoulder and looked up at her in confusion. Until now, Astra often used pokemon with a type disadvantage, purposely handicapping her team so they would learn how to win against the odds and get used to attacks they are weak against. Whenever she’s using strategy and is trying to gain advantage, it means she’s taking this battle very seriously. I can’t let my guard down.
In response, Bruno sent a boxing pokemon, Hitmonchan. Despite being at a disadvantage, Hitmonchan jumped all over the battlefield, circling around Starmie while avoiding most of its attacks. His ‘Thunder Punch’ proving strong enough to overcome Starmie’s defenses. Even though he lost, Astra’s ace was now at its limits.
Nica gulped. Starmie was the strongest member of the team and was on the ropes already. The Elite Four despite their predictable pokemon typing proved to be no joke.
Gligar replaced Starmie in the second round, now facing Hitmonlee. Despite a type advantage, as a recently joined member of the team he lacked experience, not lasting long against the hard-kicking pokemon.
“Nica, I’m counting on you. Your opponent is tired and you’re faster, so just keep your distance. Attack from afar and victory is yours.”
Nica nodded, running into the battlefield. Using ‘Nasty Plot’ while staying at distance, she powered up her special attack temporarily. It came as a surprise when Hitmonlee was switched for an Onix.
“Onix, use ‘Earthquake’!” Bruno commanded.
“Nica, jump and use ‘Iron Tail’,” Astra commanded.
Nica ran forward at full speed, seeing how the gigantic tail hit the ground, splitting it as the earth trembled under her paws. It wasn’t the first ‘Earthquake’ she faced, already experienced enough not to lose balance on the trembling ground. She jumped in time to avoid the attack, swinging her tail directly against the Onix’s face. Before she could land on the trembling ground, she was recalled into a pokeball.
She rarely spent time inside her pokeball, most of the time following her trainer as the partner she was. While inside, she experienced a growing anxiety, worried and curious about how the battle was going. Not that being inside a pokeball wasn’t comfortable, especially after her trainer relocated all of her pokemon into Luxury Balls for their comfort. Comfortable accommodations or not, she didn’t like not being by her trainer’s side, especially during important battles.
Her worries didn’t last long as she was send into the battlefield, facing a big boulder with two hands and two legs. A quick glance at the large screen above the crowd provided her with informations she needed. Astra’s Blissey, Starmie, Gligar and Venusaur were defeated, as well as Bruno’s Onix, Machamp, Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, leaving her and Ninetales to defeat the Golem. A quick look at the numerous scratches on the sturdy shell told Nica that he wasn’t at full power.
“Nica, attack with ‘Iron Tail!”
She did as she was told, running towards her weakened opponent while charging power into her tail. It didn’t surprise her that the Golem used ‘Earthquake’ against her, the very ground becoming her enemy.
“You know what to do.”
Nica narrowed her eyes and jumped, landing on her opponent’s shell while grabbing his head. After enduring and evading ground type attacks over and over, she learned that the best counter against them is to jump very high or to jump onto her opponents. They couldn’t target her with ground attacks as long as she wasn’t on the ground after all.
She followed up with ‘Iron Tail’, pushing the Golem into the cracked ground.
“Keep attacking!”
Nica nodded and delivered another ‘Iron Tail’ before landing on the ground in front of the trapped opponent.
“Golem, use ‘Steamroller’!” Bruno commanded as his pokemon climbed up from the crack, hid in his shell and rolled, crushing any rock which got in his way.
Nica gulped. She already ended up rolled over by a Golem while still being a Pichu. Even after her evolution increased her size, the Golem who was now charging at her still looked bigger than the last one. It was gigantic. Using her speed, she jumped to the side, evading the attack.
“Don’t slow down, crash into the hill!”
Nica looked behind, only to see the Golem hit the hill, filling the stadium with a rain of stones. Caught off guard, she braced herself for the impact, closing her eyes as a few stones twice her size struck her. The moment she pushed the rocks off her body, she gasped, the pupils in her eyes shrank. Her body sank into the ground as she ended up rolled over by the gigantic ball of destruction.
“Use ‘Earthquake’.”
Nica whimpered, unable to evade while stuck in the ground. The following pain was indescribable as she screamed for several seconds, bouncing against the cracked ground.
“Heavy Slam!”
Nica’s legs trembled as she struggled to stand. Her body covered in bruises and cuts with sweat dripping from her head. I must fight… I can’t give up… I need to prove myself… worthy of my evolution! She pushed herself forward, her ears twitching at the noise of Golem crashing behind her. Ignoring the pain in her muscles and bones, she sent power into her tail quickly and backflipped, hitting the Golem with ‘Iron Tail’ fast enough to push him deeper into the ground.
“Golem, use ‘Steamroller’!” Bruno commanded.
Golem hid in his shell and started rolling, trying to climb up from the ground he was trapped in.
Nica didn’t wait for her trainer’s command, nor giving her opponent a chance to climb up. She kept attacking the golem with ‘Iron Tail’ with whatever strength she had left, keeping him trapped. She bounced against the hardened shell after her fourth attack as her tail was no longer covered by metal. She breathed heavily and turned her head, glancing at her trainer who just gazed back in confusion. Why isn’t she giving me any commands… why is she not coming up with a new strategy? Nica thought. Until now her trainer always trained the team to prepare it for every opportunity, to make her pokemon strong against opponents who had the advantage. Astra predicted how the battle would go before it even started and shared her strategy with her pokemon in advance. Yet the moment Golem caught them off guard, the situation turned for the worse.
Nica sighed, now understanding her trainer’s limits. While Astra had a lot of theoretical knowledge and came up with many great strategies in advance, she was terrible at improvising. Creative strategies formed in the middle of combat, using terrain for their advantage, this was what she struggled against.
“Nica, return!” Astra commanded as she recalled her with a pokeball once more.
After a night of recovery in the Pokemon Center, Nica learned about the result of the fight from her trainer.
Thanks to Ninetales speed and experience which he used against the weakened Golem, Astra defeated her first Elite Four member, yet winning only thanks to a six vs five number advantage.
Other Elite Four members who watched the battle from the VIP seats picked up on her weakness quickly, defeating her while taking away her opportunity of becoming a Johto Champion.
The loss didn’t break their resolve, quite the opposite. More determined than before, they set up their eyes on the Hoenn region. After besting a member of Elite Four, no badge proved enough of a challenge to slow them down.
Nica stretched her limbs and yawned, quickly welcoming the new day. Her newly recovered memories still fresh in her mind. Any bruise from yesterday was no longer present on her spotless fur.
Much to her surprise, a rat she befriended a week ago climbed onto her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek. She returned the friendly gesture with a smile and next glanced at the sun on the horizon, feeling a pleasant warmness in her heart.
Not only were her memories more and more complete with each passing day, but today she had another opportunity to prove herself useful. As long as it didn’t involve foalsitting, she was looking forward to her next jobs.
So Astra is the opposite of Ash when battling. She almost certainly needs to face someone like him in battle as he can just pull strategy out of thin air and be surprisingly creative in battle.
8827951
Oh yeah, Ash is really good when it comes to pulling new technics and startegies out of nowhere. =) His perfected Ice/Aqua jet, and shields, using electricity and other attacks are something. =)
8828021
Though he is also a horrible trainer. He has the spirit, but none of the necessary knowledge.
8828104
Well he has been stuck at 10 years old for 20 years. This is the major reason I subscribe to the coma theory of Pokémon. Seriously at the end of X and Y he released not only is fully evolved water starter but a pseudo legendary!
You know, you should put Ash against Astra. It could be really darn explosive!
Interesting.
8828104
I don't know, he accomplished quite a lot. I would blame writers. If it weren't for them, he would have already won all Leagues.
8828135
Oh, gee, I don't know, it's almost like reasons were not given? That this pokemon had a home there, friends, and could be called for help?
8825880
Well, it's very dificult, considering that ponies would come up with their own strengths and weaknesses.
I suppouse it's best to start with similarities:
Dark type pokemon can be similar to Dark Magic. Considering how tired Cadence was, Shining Armor didn't use his barrier, which means that unicorn magic can't stop a creature of dark magic. (Not to mention that Sombra sealed away Shining's magic easily and prevented Twilight from teleporting away.
Using this comparation, we can assume that unicorns (spellcasters) are Psychic types.
However, Cadence's magic held Sombra back and crystal heart blasted him away. Considering that dark type is weak against fairy type, we can assume that Cadence would be more of a fairty type.
Pegasi are capaible of controling weather and end up hit by electricity quite often. I would assume they're resistant to weather hasards (resistance to electricity, ice, these sort of stuff).
As for earth ponies, they are physically stronger and have quite a lot of durability. Maybe they would have similarities to fighting types. It is hard to tell.
Regardless, for my story I decided that all ponies are weak to dark magic, so as the result they are also 2 times weak to dark type attacks. Unicorns and alicorns as spellcasters are 4 times weak to it. Cadence being exception as her magic is less of psychic type and more of fairty type. Luna also would be an exception as she was Nightmare Moon once, so she would probably have some resistance to dark magic as the result.
8827951 8828021 8828136 8828104
You got that part right, Astra is opposite of Ash in many things.
When Ash is rushing into action, danger and adventure without hesitation, Astra is taking her time to prepare for the danger ahead (afraid that she would get over her head if she rushed there), which is why Astra took so long before leaving the island.
When Ash is capturing new pokemon in new region while leaving his old pokemon behind (Pikachu being exception), Astra is very slow and careful when it comes to increasing her team's size (she didn't even have a full team when facing Orane Island, Alolan Reagion, Kanto Region), and she hate the idea of ever abandoning a single team member.
When Ash rarely evolve his pokemon, letting them decide if they want to evolve or not. Astra asked her team to stay as unevolved as possible for the sake of dificulty and training, so they could learn how to win with odds stacked against them. But in end-game when her pokemon prove themselves, they'll all fully evolve, (she want her pokemon to learn how to win without the need of evolution, makig evolution a reward for all their hard work).
Ash want to become a Pokemon Master, but due to him training new team every new region, he's unable to win any turnament, and didn't defeat a single elite four member (none of his pokemon have more than 1 year of training experience, with Pikachu being the only exception). Astra on the other side had a slow start, taking a whole year with her Pichu on the island before leaving it, lossing over and over due to handicaps she put on herself, but since she's constantly training all of her pokemon and allow them to evolve after experiencing hardship, her team is growing stronger, as the result she won turnament in Johto and even defeated one Elite Four member, and her team will only grow stronger.
And here's ironical comparation. When Ash ketchum want to become a Pokemon Master, he's not making much progress with it, but he end up saving a city or even the world whenever criminals are trying to use legendary pokemon for their selfish goals. Astra who is determined to stop criminals is motivated so much that she end up getting closer and closer in atchieving Ash's dream, but she's still not feeling capaible of defeating an Elite Hitman from team rocket.
If Ash and Astra faced each other, it would indeed be a battle between minor opposities, both trainers having their own motivations, strengths and weaknesses. An expert at improving like Ash vs inteligent long-term strategist like Astra,
Even Pikachu facing Nica would be quite odd encounter. One started as a Pikachu and decided to stay as a Pikachu no matter the challenge. The other purpously held on evolution, facing hardship as feeble Pichu for the sake of challenge, but in the end she became a Raichu.
Considering that Ash as character and trainer doesn't grow and progress much, starting from scrach each region, while Astra grow stronger, slowly but steady, I feel Ash would be at disadvantage. Same with Nica vs his Pikachu. Nica know full well how to defeat stroner opponent since she faced tons of challenges while unevolved Pichu and Pikachu, so she wouldn't be hehind in terms of skills and speed, but as a fully evolved Raichu, she would have stronger body. Ash may be capaible of improvising in battle, something Astra lack, but Astra's intelience and long-term strategy make up for it.
Ash is a here and now, rush in, get result ASAP. Astra is long-term thinker who plan with years in advance. In fight betwene long-term and close-term solution, long-term is always better.
8828430
It would all depend on how Ash approached the battle. If he made his team with all of his available Pokémon he would be in a better position against her. As stated every region he basically starts anew, but if he had a team with his veteran Pokémon he would be a monster of a fight for Astra. One that I think we would all love to see.
8828442
Can't argue with that.
Still, even if Ash made his team from his best pokemon, we need to keep in mind that each other them still have around one year of experience (Charizard being exception as he started training on his own). If Ash made team of his best pokemon and was using them for two or three regions, they would become very powerful, but if she just formed it just for battle againast Astra, whose team was with her from the very begining. So yeah, I wouldn't give Ash any good chances. Ash may be excelent at saving the day, but he's not a Pokemon Master material.
8828466
Of course he's not. His encounter(s) with Dialga have obviously left him as forever age-ten, preventing him from maturing enough to realize if he wants that title, he needs to juggle training a serious team in addition to managing his bleeding-heart adoptions. Not to mention actually visiting pidgeot.
Nevermind the fact that his pikachu is obviously suffering from side effects of overcharging his cheek pouches combined with similar exposure to Dialga.
-This is mostly headcanon, but still.
8828135
Actually, he just hit his 11th birthday before going to Alola! Only 20 more years, and he'll be 12!
8830211
Source?