Nova ~Evolution
After what happened to Accident, Radic made it very clear to each Pokémon he got afterwords what happened to Accident and that they shouldn't mention it. In the end, even Kitsune respected this, for once showing some kind of compassion. Radic was relieved, because he knew that Kitsune could be so cruel with her words. Accident never seemed to notice the glances of pity he got or the fact that everything was harder to understand. He simply accepted it and moved on.
Radic was wandering along, traveling to yet another city in an effort to gain a badge. He wasn't sure why he was doing this, as the small voice that said he couldn't win had gotten stronger as he went along, but it gave his journey some kind of focus.
It was a nice day and a cool breeze was blowing. Radic was in a good mood, so he had let all of his Pokémon free for the moment. He knew this could cause some conflicts, but hoped that the day would help calm them down. Callima sat on his shoulder, smiling, and Accident walked alongside of him, oblivious to everything. Behind him, however...
Kitsune had made some cruel comments to Taka (which was what the bird had insisted on being called, despite Ka's protests that it should Kata), which had started the two heads fighting again. Ruby was picking on Nova, who was sparking furiously. The noise behind him eventually got so bad that Radic was about to turn around and tell them to knock it off when something else caught his attention.
There was a Raichu standing in the road. The group halted, everyone staring at the strange Pokémon. There was an awkward pause.
"Are you lost?" he asked the Raichu. The Raichu laughed at this. He heard the patter of small feet near him and instantly Nova was in front of the Raichu, sparking furiously.
"You know this Raichu, Nova?"
"Pika PI PI ka chu! Pika pipipika chupika pi pika!" Nova shouted at the Raichu. The Raichu began to spark himself at this.
"Rai rai rai. RAII!" it called. Instantly what seemed like a swarm of Pikachu's appeared behind him and then encircled the group. "Rai raichu rai rai." It laughed at Nova.
Nova snarled.
"Nova, what's going on...?" Radic was frightened by the sudden onslaught of Pikachu's and for once his Pokémon stopped fighting. The Raichu reached out and grabbed Nova by the front of his jacket, dragging him upwards.
"Raichu rai rai rai." The Raichu said in a mocking tone. Nova trembled with rage. He flipped out of the Raichu's grasp, kicking it in the nose in the process, then headbutted it in the chest. The Raichu fell back, surprised. It also seemed furious.
"Nova, what's going on? Callima, go and help him!"
"PIKA!" Nova shouted at Radic, and Callima stopped moving. Radic looked confused.
"If you want to fight it Nova, okay..."
"Rai!" The Raichu rushed forward, kicking Nova in the face while he was distracted. Nova flew back, but landed on his paws. He let loose a barrage of electricity towards the Raichu, but it placed it's tail on the ground and the electricity had no effect. Nova rushed forward to attack it, but the Raichu swung around, it's tail lashing into Nova in the air, knocking him to one side.
"Piii!"
"Nova!" Radic cried concerned, but he noticed the Pikachu's around him sparking warningly. He managed to keep back. His Pokémon watched this, entranced.
Nova was about to rise up when the Raichu stepped on his back, knocking him to the ground. It laughed scornfully at him and raised the sharp lightning bolt at the end of it's tail. It began to whip Nova with it, slashing the back of his jacket to shreds.
"Kaaaa!" Nova cried out in pain.
"Stop it!" Radic was distraught at this abuse of his Pokémon. He grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at the Raichu, which sidestepped it easily. Finally, it kicked Nova off the path and walked away, the herd of Pikachu following it. Radic rushed to Nova's aid, pulling him out of the bushes.
Nova seemed to be unconcious. The other Pokémon were confused by this whole turn of events. Radic turned to him.
"Change of plans. Everyone, return, except you Taka."
Radic managed to jump on Taka's back when the bird wasn't looking. Taka freaked out and began running off in any direction.
"Go to the Pokécenter, Taka...we need to get Nova help."
If it would get Radic off of it, Taka began racing back the way they came.
~~~
"I'm sorry about your jacket, Nova." Radic said to his Pikachu as he sat on the table. Nova looked incredibly depressed. The black leather jacket he always wore was still on his body, the remnants little more then strips. The other Pokémon sat around, watching the Pikachu carefully. "What happened back there, anyway?"
"Pi..." Nova looked off to one side. Radic shrugged. He looked at his other Pokémon. Although he knew they fought a lot of the time, sometimes they could get things out of the others that he couldn't do himself. So he walked away.
"I'm going to get us all something to eat...why don't you guys talk for a while?"
There was a pause after Radic left.
"What happened?" Accident asked Nova. Nova crossed his arms.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Did you know that Raichu? He seemed to know you." Callima raised a claw.
"I said I don't want to talk about it!"
"Hmm..." Callima looked off to one side. "That Raichu mentioned you by name...he must have known you."
"I don't want to talk about it." Nova said acidly.
"Well, you never know." Ruby looked up from busily cleaning her paws. "He DID call you a ugly, dirty, weak, stumpy-legged, flat-tailed little runt. He could have just been another member of the 'I Hate Nova' club. I'M a proud member, after all. It's gaining in popularity quickly."
Nova glared hatefully at Ruby, turning an angry red, but he didn't comment. Ruby, expecting this, only smirked to herself.
"Isn't it typical that a Pikachu gets beaten by a Raichu?" Kitsune smirked. "I wasn't surprised."
"SHUT UP!" Nova tried to lunge at the Vulpix, who was laughing at him, but was restrained by Callima.
"Nova, tell us what happened! We can't help you unless we know." Callima tried to break Nova out of his fury. Eventually Nova calmed down.
"Fine, I'll tell you." Nova looked with anger at Kitsune, who did not look perturbed at all. "I did know that Raichu. A long time ago he was just some Pikachu who hung out with me. I used to be in a gang, before I began working at the electronics store. Anyway, I used to be the leader. It used to be lots of fun...then that stupid Pikachu tries to overthrow me...he turned everyone against me. I didn't want to deal with it, so I just quit. Never thought I'd see him again. I guess he found a Thunder stone somehow."
"You know..." Ruby was licking herself off in one corner. "I don't think they'll let us by until you beat that leader, Nova."
"I tried...he's a lot stronger now." Nova fingered some of the shreds of his jacket. "What can I do?"
"Why don't you evolve?" Ta said. Everyone looked at her, including Ka.
"What?"
"Well, I think if you were a Raichu, that could even the odds, don't you think?"
"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard." Ka said venomously. Ta turned to her.
"You always think what I say is stupid!"
"'Cause it is!"
"Let's ignore them for a moment..." Ruby turned away from the two arguing heads. "Accident, you evolved. What was it like?"
"...It hurt." Accident tried to remember, scratching his head. "It hurt a lot. I didn't like it."
"Well, you're willing to withstand a little pain to beat the Raichu, aren't you Nova?"
Callima was wondering whether this was the right idea or not. "I don't know...I heard that evolving can change someone completly. And I don't think you can learn anything else afterwards."
Nova was looking thoughtful. "Accident is still the same. And I think I know everything I'll ever need to know. But still..."
"One rat's like another I always say. Go ahead and evolve if you want..." Kitsune walked away. "Doesn't matter to me."
Nova clenched his fists angrily, glaring at the Vulpix. He would do it! Even if it was just to show Kitsune AND the Raichu that he wasn't weak!
Radic walked back, noticing that all the Pokémon's eyes were on him.
"Decide something?"
"Pika pika pika chu!" Nova pointed to himself. Radic looked at him.
"Are you sure?"
Nova nodded.
"I hope I have enough money..." Radic walked off again and the Pokémon waited patiently.
~~~
As it turned out, Radic did have enough money, but just barely. He could only buy one stone, but that was enough.
The group was assembled outside near the woods, per Nova's request. For some odd reason, he did not want anyone but Radic to watch, but finally Radic talked Nova into relenting enough for the other Pokémon to be present. He claimed for emotional support.
Radic placed the stone on the ground, but Nova shook his head.
"Nova...?"
"Pi pi pikachu, pikachu pika pi."
"Okay...if that's what you want." Radic picked up the stone and held it in his hand. Nova walked forward, standing as tall as he could. Radic gently touched the stone to his forehead, where it instantly melded into Nova's body.
Nova closed his eyes and then muffled a cry of pain as waves of energy overflowed his body. Radic backed away hurriedly, the other Pokémon gathering behind him. Nova appeared to be encased in some kind of glowing energy field, somewhat like electricity. It was hard to see Nova clearly, but his sillhouette was easily visible.
The Pikachu ears seemed to retreat back into his body, as did the lightning shaped tail. Nova screamed as a long, whiplike tail ripped itself from the back of his body, the lightning bolt at the end scattering blood through the field onto the grass. From his head two webbed ears burst free from his skin, and there were audible snaps as the bones re-arranged in his legs, causig them to become bigger and more muscular. His paws lengthened as well, losing all digits.
Nova fell to all fours, panting deeply as the energy seemed to retreat for a few moments. His colors still seemed to be that of a Pikachu...he remained the bright yellow, with the red cheeks. The base of the long tail was brown as well, and his ears were tipped black. The energy at once converged on Nova, causing a veritable explosion, knocking Radic and his Pokémon back several feet.
When they finally looked forward, Nova was standing weakly on his new legs, his color having changed drastically. He was, on the whole, darker then he had been before, with his reddish-orange colored fur. He stared at Radic for a few moments in pain. He then looked at his paws and found the remnants of his jackets had been torn off from his sudden growth in size. He held the ripped strips in his paws and cried unashamedly, from both the physical pain from his evolution and the emotional pain at losing the one remnant from his past. Radic walked forward, letting the new Raichu sob into his shirt, much as he had before. He turned silently, the other Pokémon following him as he walked back into the city.
~~~
"Are you really okay, Nova? I mean, that looked like it really hurt." Callima looked concerned at Nova, who was laughing nervously. He had lost some of his confidence with the loss of his jacket.
"I'm okay now, really. There's only this strange ache between my shoulders, right here." Nova used his new tail to point out the area on his back. "It never seems to go away."
"Yeah, that happened to me too." Accident smiled. "It never does stop."
Nova leaned back. "Well, I do feel more powerful now, at least. There's that."
"If that's what evolving is like, I don't want to do it." Kitsune said quite seriously. "From as far as I know, my evolution has to add three more tails. Your's looked painful enough, thank you. And as for you..." Kitsune pointed at Taka. "I feel bad for YOU when you evolve. You have to get a completly new head."
"A New HEAD?!" The bird cried hysterically. "We have enough troubles with the two of us!"
"Maybe the new head would be better mannered." Ruby muttered.
"YOU get off lucky." Kitsune pointed at the Meowth. "Not much changes when you evolve."
"How do you know all this?" Nova looked suspiciously at the Vulpix. Kitsune shrugged.
"Me and my other trainer used to research this kind of stuff. We thought it was interesting."
"You WOULD." Nova tried to hurt Kitsune as he had been hurt many times before, but it didn't work as well as he hoped.
"What about me?" Callima looked at her own claws. Kitsune looked at her thoughtful.
"Hmm..I don't know if yours would hurt...I think all those mushrooms just collect and grow into a big one...I don't think there are that many changes."
"Lucky." Nova crossed his arms.
"And you, Accident, I feel bad for you." Kitsune pointed at the Wartortle. "You have to evolve one more time."
"I have to evolve again?" Accident was disturbed by this. "But it hurt enough the last time!"
Kitsune shrugged. "Some Pokémon have to suffer through two evolutions. It's simply a part of a Pokémon's life."
"Hey Nova." Radic walked back, holding a hand behind his back. Nova looked at him curiously. "I think I have something that'll cheer you up."
"Rai?" Nova was confused. Radic held out his hand with a smile.
"I know it's not a jacket, but I hope it makes you happy."
Nova took the sunglasses from Radic gladly, putting them on instantly. He flashed a peace sign and laughed. Radic sighed in relief.
"I'm glad you like it. Come on, we have another Raichu to teach a lesson to."
Nova grinned.
~~~
"Rai rai raichu?" The Raichu stood where it had previously, staring at the new Nova critically. It waved one of it's paws airily. "Rai rai rai..."
"Chu!" Nova did not waste time with words, bounding out quickly for the first attack. The other Raichu tried to leap out of the way, but now Nova was faster. He slammed the other Raichu into a tree, then lept clear, sweeping in his new tail. The lash took the other Raichu across the face, causing it to cry out.
Nova lept clear and smiled confidentally. The sunlight flashed off his new sunglasses.
The other Raichu jumped at Nova, but only encountered dirt. A few moments later Nova kicked the other Raichu in the ribs, knocking it to one side. The other Raichu rolled, then lept at Nova. Nova had not expected this and was knocked downwards. The two Raichus began to fight in earnest, rolling and shouting at one another angrily. Now Nova was bigger and stronger and he had the advantage. He kicked the other Raichu away from him and sparked violently.
"Raaaaiii..."
The other Raichu placed his tail on the ground as it usually did. This was what Nova had expected, and instead he whirled around, his tail slashing the other Raichu's chest deeply, causing it to fall back. Nova let his electricity form in the air as an explosion of light, stunning the surrounding Pikachu. He ran forward, grabbed Radic's hand, and began pulling him forward.
"Rai rai rai! Rai raichu! Rai rai!"
Radic, getting the idea, began running through the circle of Pikachu as they were stunned. Soon they were clear, and the other Pokémon laughed with relief. It had been tense.
"You did it, Nova! You got us through!" Radic smiled brightly at his Raichu. Nova smiled, flashing his sunglasses.
"Raichu!"
