Little Lost Pikachu
-
Chapter 4
-
Tests and Regrets Pt.2
“Two different evolutions?” Pikachu asked before smiling. “Do you mean Nica’s here too?”
Twilight nodded before levitating a large box to the side, revealing the pokemon hiding behind.
Both Pikachu and Nica looked at each other.
Feeling a surge of happiness, Pikachu looked at his guardian with a big smile on his face. A seed of worry was planted in his mind as Nica returned his warm smile with an awkward one, a clear indication their yesterday’s discussion was still haunting her mind.
Ninetales approached Twilight and raised his head. “I assure you, Princess, I shall provide you with the data you seek.” He gave Litten a challenging glance. “And I shall prove my clear superiority over the unevolved feline.”
The fire cat groaned, yet refused to answer his remark.
“B-be nice, Ninetales. Remember, no mean teasing,” Nica said with a disapproval in her voice.
“There won’t be a need for teasing. We’ll prove the superiority of our team without any need for words,” Ninetales said as he winked at his captain. “Am I right?”
Nica smiled nervously while refusing to answer.
Pikachu ran towards Nica, who in response hid herself behind Twilight’s rear legs. “Come on, don’t be shy. Let’s just enjoy this experiment together and do our best!” As Nica didn’t answer, he massaged his forepaw and added, “I know yesterday’s discussion ended on… a bad note, but let’s forget about it and have fun, alright?”
“S-sure…” Nica said as she stepped from behind the alicorn.
“Come on, it will be fun,” Twilight said as she marked four spots on the ground with a hoof and gestured at them. “Gather round everypokemon. The first test will be a test of strength. Basically, Starlight will place weights on your backs one at a time. Try to lift as much as you can and I’ll compare the data.”
Pikachu ran to his spot in excitement and stretched his limbs. “Now that’s more like it. I love these kind of exercises. What about you?” He looked at Nica, who approached her spot with hesitant steps.
“I like them too,” the long-tailed pokemon said with a nod.
“Come on Nica, you were waaay more enthusiastic the first time around.” Twilight looked at the other pokemon. “Is everypokemon ready?”
“I am ready, Your Highness,” Ninetales said, standing firmly on his four legs while in a fighting stance.
“So am I,” Litten said as he gave the large fox-like pokemon a firm glance.
Pikachu stood firmly on his four limbs, his muscles tense and eyes narrowed. “I won’t go down easily, you can be sure of that.” He looked to the side, seeing his long-tailed fan who took a similar stance, but didn’t seem to share his confidence. His ears drooped. What happened with all her cheerfulness and energy? I’m already missing it. He looked towards the levitated weight. I hope our exercises will restore her enthusiasm. Nothing motivates more than a bit of competing and challenges.
He looked up at the descending weight, which was half-the-size of his belly and nearly twice heavier than his entire body. He gulped, already expecting the pressure to be anything but pleasant. He wasn’t disappointed. The moment the cold metal made contact with his warm fur, his legs bent slightly, forcing some effort to stabilize his stance.
One after another, heavy weights were placed on his back, creating a stack of five as his legs started to tremble. He soldiered on, finding the challenge to be both exciting as demanding with his pride being on the line.
“That’s fifty kilograms so far, how are you all holding up?” Starlight asked as she levitated four more weights, ready to place them on each pokemon at the same time.
Pikachu felt a drop of sweat fall down his face. “It’s… n-nothing…” he said between his heavy breaths. The moment the sixth weight was added to the tower on his back, he grit his teeth and his legs started to tremble, his little rear feet sank slightly into the hard ground. He looked to his right, seeing Litten struggle way more than he did while Ninetales didn’t show any hints of being tired whatsoever. He looked to the left at Nica, whose legs trembled despite their bigger size. That’s odd… I was sure she would be stronger than that, he thought. While there wasn’t much weight his six kilogram heavy body could endure, his evolution was way bigger.
Pikachu closed his eyes for the moment as his face was getting closer and closer to the rocky ground.
“I… can’t… anymore!” Litten shouted as he plopped down, trapped under the weight.
“That’s seventy kilograms, not bad,” Twilight said as she levitated the weights away before scanning the pokemon with her magic. “You weigh five point four kilogram. You lifted thirteen times your own weight, impressive.”
“Impressive? Disappointing you mean,” Ninetales said with a frown. “It’s true that while our size affects our physical strength, our powers can make a difference. Smaller but well trained pokemon can still lift more weight than bigger but poorly trained. In other words, you could do better.”
Litten shot the tall pokemon a raspberry.
Pikachu felt sweat sliding down his face like a waterfall as his muscles burned. It was obvious that he was reaching his limits as his body started rebelling against him, about to give up and stop resisting the crushing weight.
“That’s eighty kilograms,” Starlight commented as she placed another weight on the three remaining contestants. “Ninety.”
Pikachu kept struggling, each added weight making the exercise way more painful as the jump in pressure was extreme for a pokemon of his size. Small cracks spread around his paws as they were not stuck in the stone. His face started turning red from a lack of oxygen. He moved his trembling head to glance at Nica. “H-how… are… you… holding up?” He asked while gasping for air.
“N-not… so well…” Nica answered as she grit her teeth, her legs trembling and bending under the weight.
Pikachu pressed his head against the ground for support, nearly crying from the struggle as his pride kept him going where his body was about to fall. One more weight proving enough to overpower his little rear legs as he lost his balance. “I… surrender,” he said as only his head and legs stood out from under the tower of weights.
“That’s one hundred and twenty kilograms,” Twilight said as she levitated away the weights, allowing Pikachu to sigh in relief. She followed up with a quick scan. “Six kilograms, you lifted twenty times your own weight, now that’s impressive.”
Ninetales gave Pikachu a proud glance. “That’s more like it. You’re certainly well trained and very determined, unlike your friend over there.”
Litten crossed his arms and looked to the side. “I admit, I became Ash’s pokemon just recently, I am way behind Pikachu in terms of training and experience.”
“And it shows,” Ninetales said with a proud nod.
Pikachu stood up on his trembling legs, now walking towards Twilight as his little feet still felt the leftovers of his struggle. He turned around and cheered. “Go Nica! Do you best!” He sat a moment later, his rear feet refusing to let him perform any sort of dance. Not that he would get many opportunities to cheer for his fan as only a few weights later, Nica drooped down, trapped under the tower of lead.
“I give up.”
NInetales looked at Nica in shock.
Litten laughed. “So much for your captain being anything special.”
“That’s two... hundred and twenty kilograms? Really?” Twilight asked in disbelief.
“Sorry,” Nica said as she looked at the alicorn while laying flat on the ground.
Twilight levitated the weights away and scanned the pokemon with her magic. “Twenty five kilograms. That’s nine times your own…”
Pikachu looked at Nica in confusion as he expected so much more of her. Part of him felt disappointed in his friend’s poor performance, yet another bigger part felt… happy. This Raichu despite being so much bigger didn’t even lift twice as much as he could. While he didn’t want to admit it, he found bits of satisfaction in Nica’s failure.
“What happened? The last time you performed this test, you reached–” Twilight failed to finish as the tip of Nica’s tail sealed away her mouth.
“Congratulation, you were truly amazing,” Nica said as she shook Pikachu’s forepaws before giving Twilight a look of disapproval. “I wish I could do more. I’m not all that strong.”
Ninetales raised an eyebrow. “I see how it is.” He looked at Starlight. “Keep putting those weights faster on me! The faster these tests end, the better.” His tone sharp. Levitated weights stopped dropping onto the tower on Ninetales’ back upon reaching five hundred and fifty kilograms as the pokemon's long thin legs game up under the increasing weight.
“You weigh thirty two kilograms, that’s seventy times your own weight,” Twilight commented before levitating the weights away.
Litten approached and looked up at the proud pokemon. “That… was quite impressive. You’re actually physically strong. I assumed you were just bark and no bite.”
“Whatever,” Ninetales said as he bypassed Litten, ignoring his praise.
“Hey, I was just trying to be nice. No need to be so grumpy,” Litten said with a frown.
“Alright everypokemon. The next experiment will be a test of speed. Please, run as quickly as you can as those machines will register your running speed,” Twilight said.
Starlight chuckled. “You’re using actual treadmills rather than gigantic poorly constructed hamster-wheels. Progress.”
“Haha, very funny,” Twilight said with sarcasm. “I learned my lesson.”
Pikachu leaped onto his treadmill, its size a few times that of his own body, both in length and height. Some sort of calculating device seemed to be attached to it. With a casual trot, he started running at a slow pace, his attention on the other pokemon. Litten seemed as eager as before, yet Ninetales' face was showing nothing but annoyance. He looked to his left at Nica who seemed to match his speed. “I wish you luck. I’m sure you’ll do way better at the test of speed.”
“T-thank you,” Nica said with a forced smile.
All pokemon slowly increased their speed as their breathing became faster and faster. Soon drops of sweat started falling down their faces, all except Nica.
Litten grit his teeth and his face turned red before he leaped from his treadmill, now laying as flat as before while gasping for air.
Twilight wrote the data with a nod before looking at other participants. “It seems to be a speed above a running pegasus and earth pony.”
Nica was the second to give up as she took heavy breaths of air into her lungs, her head lowered, yet not a single drop of sweat was present on her face.
Ninetales growled before giving up as well several seconds later as his numerous tails lay against the stone, his chin supported against his forepaws.
“Much better. Nica and Ninetales’ speed surpass Litten’s quite substantially,” Twilight commented before giving the long-tailed critter a curious look. “No offense, but while I failed to gather any data the last time due to equipment malfunction, I could swear your speed was–” Her mouth was sealed once again as Nica shook her head at her.
Starlight frowned. “So that is how it is.”
Pikachu closed his eyes and grit his teeth, now running like a mad pokemon, shaking the treadmill from effort alone. He didn’t use ‘Quick Attack’ as other pokemon didn’t seem to know this move, using only his regular speed. The moment he tripped, his body ended up launched backward with a lot of speed. However, instead of crashing into a nearby stone, he felt something soft slow him down in mid-air.
“Are you alright?”
Pikachu opened his eyes and looked behind, finding himself held in Nica’s soft embrace, his back pressed into her belly. “I’m fine…”
Nica placed him on the ground and clapped her forepaws. “That was an amazing speed. I wish I was that fast.”
Pikachu titled his head to the side. If he was so much faster, how did Nica manage to catch him? Something didn’t seem right.
“Now a test of jumps, this time in the open area,” Twilight said as she spread her wings and flapped up.
Starlight looked at Nica with a smug-face. “I still remember how often you hit the ceiling with your head whenever you got excited. I really missing those.”
“If that’s the case, I can head-jump into something for you. Would that make you happier?” Nica asked.
“Why am I not surprised by such a response?” Starlight asked.
Pikachu chuckled. So she’s willing to hurt herself to make others happy. Now that’s dedication.
“Alright everypokemon, so here’s how we’ll do it.” Twilight explained, excitement still clear in her voice, “I want you to jump as high as you can and I’ll calculate your reached height based on how long you stay in the air.” She levitated over a stopwatch. “I doubt air resistance will affect the height all that much.”
Starlight commented, “And here I thought you were going to tie the pokemon to a super long measuring tape or something like that.”
“That’s actually sounds like a good idea,” Twilight said with a flap of her wings.
“I was kidding,” Starlight responded, her ears drooped in aggravation.
“So was I,” the princess said with a smirk.
Pikachu looked at Litten, who bent his legs before jumping with all his might.
“Forty meters, decent,” Twilight commented.
Ninetales was second to jump, reaching a much greater height.
“That’s eighty meters.” Twilight clapped her forehooves. “Next!”
Pikachu bent his legs and grit his teeth, his little feet shaking as he gathered all energy he could muster for the highest jump he could muster. He gave Nica one quick glance who smiled encouragingly at him.
“Do your best! I’m sure the height you reach will be incredible!” Nica shouted with shake of her forepaws. Her eyes filled with admiration.
Pikachu nodded before focusing on his jump. How could he dare to disappoint a face like this? With a single jump, he launched himself into the air.
45 meters, 80 meters, 105 meters, 120 meters, 125 meters, gravity caught up to him as he spend in the air no more than nine seconds before his tiny feet smashed into the ground, spreading dust all around them.
“That was amazing!” Nica shouted as she grabbed him and performed a cheerful dance, leaping from one rear paw to another.
Pikachu cheered as well, waving his forepaws. Now that was the excitement and cheerfulness he wanted to see again.
“Now your turn, Nica,” Starlight said. “Go ahead and perform your… best jump.” She winked.
Once released, Pikachu stepped to the side, awaiting eagerly to see Nica’s jumping potential. “Do your best!” he shouted, yet part of him secretly hoped she wouldn’t surpass his record. He watched the jump with full attention as Nica stayed in mid-air eight seconds before landing in front of him with a loud thud.
“A hundred meters…” Twilight said, now giving Nica a suspicious stare.
“As expected,” Starlight commented with shake of her head.
“Of course,” Ninetales said with a frown.
Nica rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, that was close. Seems my jumping isn’t as good as yours.” She tapped her forepaws together. “You’re pretty amazing.”
Pikachu looked away form his fan, now glancing at each pony and pokemon as even Litten gave Nica a suspicious glance. Nica did perform similar tests in the past after all and she kept interrupting the princess whenever she wanted to comment on her results. Was it possible that… she was holding back?
“Now it’s time for a test of raw power,” Twilight said as she levitated a large enhanced gem a few meters ahead of Pikachu. “Attack with ‘Thunderbolt’ as strong as you can.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice, I’m on it!” Pikachu did as he was told, clenching his forepaws and screaming his name. His barrage of powerful bolts was absorbed into the gem as it shone brightly in the process.
“That’s enough, thank you,” Twilight said as she levitated over the large yellow gem which was the size of a Pikachu, scanning it with her magic. “That’s… a lot of raw power. Your electric attack is really powerful.”
Pikachu rubbed his nose in pride.
Twilight waited for the shining to vanish before levitating the gem in front of the long-tailed pokemon. “Your turn, Nica, do your best.”
Pikachu kept watching his guardian with full attention who took off the collar from her neck and then unleashed a ‘Thunderbolt.' The size and intensity of the electricity going towards the levitated gem seemed thinner and less violent than his own, while the gem shone with less brightness.
Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Let me guess, Pikachu’s attack was stronger.”
“By quite a lot, yes,” Twilight said with a nod.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at his guardian suspiciously, who looked to the side, not daring to meet his gaze. Now I’m certain that something is wrong, Pikachu thought, approaching his guardian. “I must say, I expected more from you.” He placed his forepaws on his hips. “What happened?”
<I’m… not really strong when it comes to my offense,> Nica said as she rubbed the back of her neck.
Pikachu raised an eyebrow. He wasn't buying this poor excuse in the least.
Nica is being foolish right now.
Nica your even worse at lying than Fluttershy.
I could believe the electricity test but not the others.
What is special about pikachu is the shee amount of electricity he can store.
Have they told twilight about how raichu became an psychic type by eating pancakes.
too
Sigh, Nica don't have a talent in act weak
Pikachu is gonna be pissed.
9118275
Don't worry. Nica is really good at keeping him distracted from missing his trainer. They just need to get together again.
Why wouldn't he? They make a cute pair. It is Pikachu who usually turn down pokemon who have crush on them (he prefer hard battles over romantic relationships. Buneary was an example of that).
9119291
Isn't that a bit harsh? She must have a solid reason behind what she's doing. Maybe she noticed that Pikachu gets jelous and annoyed whenever she prove herself more skilled, so she's trying to do the opposite to make him happy? Saying that she's being foolish seems a bit harsh.
9119296
Don't you mean "Applejack" ?
Fluttershy proved herself to be a good actress in season 8 episode where they took 3 different personas and swapped in between them.
9119323
I must disagree. Even if Pikachu can store much electricity, Raichu is still its evolution form (they can attack with greater power and store way more electricity. They are bigger and wider after all. Nica's case is just special since she's a pure agile tank.
9119370
Thanks, fixed.
9119422
Nobody is perfect. Nica is just too honest to lie with conviction, and she's a poor actress.
9119443
Probably, but I doubt he'll stay angry for long. You can't just stay angry at Nica knowing she's doing what she's doing to make others happy.
That's kind of a mouthful and trying too hard. I mean, goodness gracious alive!
Yeah, having been with Ash for (how long?) would certainly create a gap like that.
Nica. This isn't right. Don't you think he'd rather lose a good match than win a poor one? Also if you keep that up you're gonna have to do it again harder.
I can't find any good online ratio calculators. Wanted to know how many TIMES her weight Nica lifted before. Did she lift more than 20, less? Did you use any tools?
I see the part where Twilight put the weights on her. I also don't see the FINAL weight she lifted. Never mind, found it.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/387081/6/little-lost-raichu/chapter-4-twilights-research
What's the precise weight of Nica? Let's go with more impressive LESSER weight, since it will give us BIGGER ratio.
She collapsed under 420 kilos, and she was herself just 22. It gives us 19 times her weigh. If we take 25, she would have collapsed under merely 16 times. That was while she was trying her hardest.
Now, Pikachu. He weights 5 and lifted 120, meaning he really lifted 20 times his own weight. Nica may be more durable than Pikachu, but he's still the top of his evo chain in the world. =)
9119458
Has Nica ever been forcefully overcharged? I recall at least... Three times when Pikachu have been. First(in no order) was when Pikachu got sick way back in Kanto(old style), then he was overcharged by Brock's father on a water treadmill, and he was also exposed by an electric magnet, which allowed him to explode Team Rocket's mech, which was designed to take whatever voltage came it's way. I'd say Pikachu's(Ash) electric attacks are strongest out of all pokemon.
9119517
She was 22 when Dr.Fauna tested her weight (not long after eating a few apples from Applejack's farm). Nica wasn't fully recovered yet, though, missing her memories, hungry and dehydretated. It makes sense that after eating Pinkie's sweets for weeks, she would gain 3 kilograms, but you also need to consider that the last time she participated in the research she wasn't at her best, so now she would no doubt lift way more.
Not neceserly. Do you remember what NInetales said? He said that while pokemon's size affect their physical strength, they still posses power which can affect their physical strenght to some degree (what I try to say is that while Pikachu lifted 120 kilograms while weighting 6, which is 1:20 ratio, if he evolved into Raichu and his weight would increase to 27 kilograms, he would probably lift 460 kilograms, which is 1:17)
Also, Pikachu held his ground on weight 110 kilograms but gave up on 120. It is hard to tell if his lifting limit isn't somewhere between 111-119, so his lifting ratio could as well be 1:19.
Pikachu may have greater talent, but considering how hard Nica is pushing herself, it is difficult to tell if she wouldn't surpass him in terms of weight-lifting if she was a Pikachu as well. (She's yet to give her all while being at her best).
9119531
You are a massive fan of Ash's Pikachu and think that he's insamely strong, I can see this clear as day. I am slowly starting to get an impression that no mater what I write or what I will say, you'll always try to point out how awesome Ash's Pikachu is when compared to everyone else. It's just an impression I am starting to get.
9119458
That just proves that she's crazier than we thought.
9119620
Thing is, I'm not a fan of OC's that can challenge official characters. I know, Pikachu lost many times, but you set Nica to be massivly superior to Pikachu, training or no training. True, Ash is not the best trainer, and he lost to better trainers, but he's insanely creative. Hell, he knocked out Tobias' Darkrai AND Latios. Doesn't it show that while Ash is not the best trainer, he's good enough to fight the best. And he also really good when bringing up simply talented pokemon. Just how many people bested The Pyramid King Brandon. Like, ever. Apart from probably several trainers, who for some reason not mentioned or have become a Frontier Brain. Those that are mentioned are Paul and Reggie. Reggie never rechallenged, and Paul lost two times, I think.
*sees results of first test* Wait, what? I coulda sworn...
*sees results of second test* Oh... that's what's going on.
Sees results of remaining tests* Arceus damn it, Nica, that's not helping the situation.
Well, nothing we can do about it right now, I suppose. Carry on, everymon.
9119690
Liar and actor are different things...
Double use of giant.
Nica is soooooo dead once Pikachu finds out she’s holding back.
9119753
I can understand you not being a fan of OC being stronger than official character. I know it may not be easy to read for some, but I tried my best to balance Nica's strengths and flaws and give a very good reason behind her strength. You don't need to rub into my face every single opportunity you get how Pikachu is better or should be better than Nica. I specifically allowed Pikachu to lift quite a lot of weight in my story to show that he's very strong and determined, yet you imidedly tried to use this as a proof that he's stronger than Nica. If you'll do it every single time, I may as well stop making Pikachu as OP as he is in the show.
Yes, because it just happened that in every single region Ash just happened to encounter starter or other pokemon who have an incredible talent that he can nurture. Ash may have talent as helping pokemon unleash their potential, but most of the time he's just lucky that all pokemon he encounter have such talent. Also, I don't buy that Tobias needed only 1 legendary pokemon to defeat everyone, and it just happened that against Ash he needed two. In the end Ash never defeated a single Elite Four member. He have flaws, he make plenty of mistakes, yes many sees him as a better trainer than he really is.
Sorry, but I call plot armor on this one. In just happened that Paul (whose team has defeated Ash many times or pushed him to his limits), he tried his best to beat Brandon, using powerful well trained pokemon while trying to have a type advantage against him. 3 legendary pokemon easily overpowered his entire fully evolved team. Hariyama being strong fighting type whose attacks are super effective against all three legendary pokemon, who cares, he goes down after a few weak hits.
But when Pikachu fight Regice, he endure Focus Punch, being crushed under pillars of ice (twice), Ice Beam that freeze him solid, Blizzad that cover an entire battlefield. Regice however used rest 2 or maybe even 3 times (after being hit by Iron Tail twice and one Thunerbolt), and what happen? Fully or mostly healed Regice goes down to 1 of Pikachu's Volt Tackle. What's recoil damage? No one knows, because Pikachu after enduring hit after hit from Regice can still use Volt Tackle against him without going down himself.
When Pikachu fought against Snivy and his evolution, he kept lossing, but when he fought against Serperior, Pikachu has been hit by endless number of powerful attacks (one after another) and crushed by wrap for a few minutes, yet the moment he freed himself, he was barely hurt. Even Pseudo-legendary pokemon like Metagross and Tyranitar went down to him in a row and he still had a lot of durability left, enough to hurt Charizard who hit him many times with powerful attacks.
Now listen. I am trying my best to be as fair to Pikachu as I can in my story, trying to apply his achievements from the show without him jumping between SUPER POWERFUL and extremely weak, but when I read your comments about Pikachu and Ash this, Pikachu and Ash that, it reminds me of how the show made him unfairly OP, how Pikachu endured hits he should't, how he won fights he didn't deserve to win. You keep reminding me how Ash just always get the super talented pokemon and how he's this super creative trainer who somehow didn't defeat a single Elite Four member. I really don't want to be reminded of that. It may affect my writting in a negative way (for example, I could make Pikachu look weaker because I would think that he's too OP in the show, or stuff like that, and I don't want that. I am just trying to make it balanced.)
Long story short, in my eyes, Ash and his Pikachu aren't as great and OP as many think they are, and many wins they got are undeserved (as well as many losses they experienced seemed unfair for them). Despite that, I am trying to make Pikachu and Ash's pokemon look as balanced as possible, taking their achievements from the show into consideration while also not making them too OP. Trust me, it's not easy.
Everyone here knows you’re holding back, Nica.
9119780
Eeyup. Starlight, Ninetales and Twilight quickly figured out what's going on with Pikachu being the only one in the dark (since he never saw Nica's results before), and even he's figuring out that something is not right (ironically, a test where Nica didn't hold back is the one that put red flag in Pikachu's mind.
As for if this isn't helping the situation, that's probably the case. Nica wants to satisfy Pikachu's pride or hide her skills and power for some reason, but she's poor at acting. Once Pikachu will be sure that she's holding back, she'll have some explaining to do.
On the other side, if Nica tried her best during those tests, it would probably trigger Pikachu's pride and jelousy. He has been struggling to keep them under control for two days now.
9119781
Maybe, but in this case Nica proved to be bad at both. She's trying to act like she's weaker than Pikachu, but everyone can easy see what's going on, and she's lying about being weaker and faking her results, which she also is doing rather poorly.
9119824
Are you saying Pikachu would try to hurt her? Come now, there's no one he wouldn't forgive Nica considering that everything she has been doing so far was for his sake.
Also, thanks for pointing the mistake, will fix imidedly.
9119853
You can bet that deeply in her mind she's praying that Pikachu still don't. Ironically, the only test where Nica wasn't holding back was the one that raised red flag in Pikachu's mind.
9119833
I just like to add on:
I kinda believe ash's pikachu got reset on many occasion after sinnoh(or before don't know accuracy with this) and that kind went downhill for a bit. Honestly considered Unova the worse era for him. I agree that ash's pikachu has massive plot armor if the thunder armor bullshit and one shot regice, which guys have to admit if this was pure game verse... pikachu would have lost quick as fuck from that and possibly K.O. Swellow.
Now for legendaries being stronger than they should be in anime, I think that is suppose to make them able to appear more powerful or simply anyone would be able to catch them. It's kinda confusing why creators made normal pokemon more lethal than legendaries if they aim to call them that.
Note comments on the elite four, hardly anyone in the anime would beat them, so kinda means less on arguments on this would be valid. Since game verse and anime verse have different approach on this, which in the game verse anyone with a good level and strategy can do it.
Now for the story wise, I kinda believe you are right to list that Nica is technically strong in some aspect than ash's pikachu as she was trained hard and is higher evolution. We know people like Sho trained his Raichu, but they got overconfident, which would be unlike Nica. She is similar to a Hinata/Nodaka aspect of being shy and timid with her abilities due to wanting to make people she cares happy(clear from reading the first version of this).
Nica has training and evolution from her trainer, while Ash's pikachu is simply training in comparison. It was stated from a previous chapter that Pikachu's electricity was strong, but lacks everything else as that makes me feel in the past on why Ash didn't help his friend overcome the fear/truma of evolution for a stronger comrade. Pokemon evolve to overcome their limitation from their previous evolutions, which they can't bypass.
Crap I think I rambled instead of making sense of whatever I was saying, if this was confusing, then ignored what I type and just know I enjoyed this series about Nica and her adventures.
9120413
For Pikachu I think it's less of fear, and more of a pride thing. Hey, he's not AFRAID to evolve or face a Raichu. He just doesn't want to evolve.
I wonder if Pikachu will tell about all the possible resets he has been through?
Oh the irony. The one thing that finally makes Pikachu suspicious is the one field he genuinely surpasses Nica in.
Nica!! STOP HOLDING BACK!!
9120413
When legendary pokemon were introduced, I took them more seriously, and if I was writting this story many years back, Nica most likely would manage to defeat a legendary pokemon like "Regice or Articuno" as a fully trained Raichu as a tip of her achievements. However, ever since pokemon like Ash's Charizard managed to defeat Articuno in 1 vs 1 fight, or when Pikachu KO Regice with one "Volt Tackle" and how Ash and Pikachu somehow survive a big clash between 8 mega-evolved legendary (with Mega Ryquaza and Mega lation and Mega Latias being on his side against 5 powerhouses), I stopped taking legendry pokemon seriously. if the anime does't take the power of legendary pokemon with as much weight as it used to, than why should I.
Well, that's what I find a bit annoying about pokemon anime. It likes to break its own rules. I find it hard to watch how Pikachu in one battle endure attacks that could take down Snorlax, but in another episode later on one or two weak hits is all it takes to knock him out. I prefer when character powers and feats are consistent. I would prefer if Pikachu was nerfed when it comes to important fights where they make him KO 2 pseudo-legendries in a row and still have plenty of strength to keep fighting, but at the same time not let him have embarassing fights where he struggles greatly against unevolved pokemon, especially those he have type-advantage against.
The anime indeed made Elite Four as a force to be recon with, which is why I use it as a meassurement for trainer skills. Ash's Pikachu can take down legendaries and pseudo-legendaries left and right, but when Ash fought Flint, Flint's Infernape not only took down two of Ash's pokemon with little difficulty, but his Pikachu had a long hard fight where he could barely do much damage (Ash's Pikachu may be insanely talented and quite well trained, but he's still unevolved. If his opponent have even greater stills and more experience, lack of evolution is playing a role in putting Pikachu at as disadvantage.)
In my personal opinion, pokemon can't just become super powerful in a mere year and 1 region to travel in, which is why Ash's pokemon should never get on Elite Four level. Only his Pikachu who stayed with him actually should have enough experience, and even then, without evolving he have a gap of power between stronger pokemon who have just as much experience as he do. In Nica vs Flint's Infernape I tried to show how far Nica reached in terms of skills and power after struggling and training herself so hard, and also give an explanation where Infernape's great durability comes from.
Thanks.
Personally, I find Ash's Pikachu to be able to learn and improve very quickly, which is why he grow stronger so fast when fighting very hard battles, but in between battles we rarely see him train at all. Ash and his team lack a regular training-regime and do not practice new techniques unless someone convince him or if a tough fight is comming up. This kind of attitude make me see Pikachu as "talent and determination, but lack of regular and stabile training." In Nica's case, because of her fear, she's training extremely hard every single day with a very powerful motivation that helps her ignore pain and hurting muscles. She, however, doesn't like hurting others and fighting weaker opponents, she unless she's fighting against powerful criminals or protecting someone from danger, she'll rarely rush into pokemon battles, relying mostly on her trainings and dangerous missions to keep herself in top shape.
And no, I think your comment wasn't rambling. It didn't cross that line just yet.
9120454
Why it can't be both? Pikachu is afraid of becoming a big jerk like Raichu is, and he's prideful enough that he want to prove that he doesn't need evolution to win fights. Still, trauma of being hurt badly and bullied by his evolution most likely played a bit role in it all. He wouldn't be so determined in winning without evolving and defeating other Raichu if they weren't so hard on him in the first place.
9120589
I don't take those resets as something that can be considered cannon. I do rather ignore that aspect in my story. I like keeping abilities of characters to be constant (go up or down depending on their training and situation), but not jump to top tier or go down to the drain out of nowhere for the sake of drama.
9120793
Lol. Ribombee Bombadeir, that's a good one.
Sadly, Emily already have Battleship (wter/fairly), so she wouldn't try to get bug/fairy type as well.
9120912
So true.
9121015
As long as she believes this will make Pikachu happy, she will hold back. After learning about Pikachu's experiences with his evolution, she's doesn't want to hurt his pride.
9121415
I do like your reasoning with the resets. That was the biggest reason I stopped watching the show with Pikachu getting wrecked by a new Snivy.
Gather round