Chapter 320: Spiky-Eared Pichu
Mt. Coronet was the tallest mountain in the Sinnoh region — a massive range that ran through the heart of the entire landmass, dividing it cleanly into eastern and western halves. After several months of continuous travel through Sinnoh, Ryan and Lillie finally arrived in Hearthome City.
Hearthome was reasonably close to Mt. Coronet, which meant they could visit Fantina first. After that, Ryan and Lillie would make the climb up through the mountain and push on toward the Distortion World.
They found Fantina at the Hearthome Gym, mid-battle with a novice Trainer. She spotted Ryan and Lillie the moment they walked in but was too deep in the match to break away — she kept her focus forward, directing her Rotom-Mow through a Leaf Storm aimed at the opposing Skitty.
Ryan and Lillie settled into the stands to watch.
It was Ryan who noticed the Pichu first — small, tucked just beside Fantina at the edge of the battlefield, watching the match with wide eyes. The moment he saw it, something strange moved through him. A pull he couldn't quite name. Not familiarity exactly — something closer to a sense of connection, like a thread running between them that he hadn't known was there.
He frowned at the feeling. A blood connection with a wild Pichu. That was a new one.
Lillie noticed it too and smiled. "Did Fantina catch another Pichu? She must be building up an Electric-type team to complement Rotom."
Ryan shook his head slowly. "No — that one hasn't been caught. It's still wild. But something about it feels..." He trailed off, studying it. "After the match, I want to ask Fantina where it came from."
As if on cue, the Pichu glanced toward the stands.
Its eyes found Ryan. It went still for just a moment — and then its whole face lit up with unmistakable joy. Without any apparent concern for the ongoing Gym battle happening three feet away from it, it dropped to all fours and sprinted straight toward the stands.
Ryan watched it come, and as it got closer he saw it clearly for the first time: the fur on its left ear was slightly longer than normal, splitting at the tip into three distinct tufts.
The recognition hit him all at once.
The Spiky-Eared Pichu.
If he remembered correctly — and he was fairly certain he did — the Spiky-Eared Pichu was a Pokémon caught in temporal turbulence. Something about its unique condition had locked it out of the normal evolutionary path entirely, keeping it permanently in its current form regardless of happiness or time or any other factor.
The Pichu scrambled up the steps to the stands, launched itself into the air, and landed squarely in front of Ryan with a triumphant cry that needed no translation:
"Finally found you!"
Ryan caught it before it could topple over from its own enthusiasm. "You recognize me? What are you looking for me for?"
Lillie, who understood none of this, released Manaphy without hesitation. Manaphy had become her standard solution for situations like this — conversations between Ryan and Pokémon that otherwise sounded, from her perspective, like one side of a very emotional phone call. It was also a significant part of why she'd wanted to learn Aura in the first place.
With Manaphy present, Pichu's meaning came through clearly:
"You probably don't know me yet. I used to live in Ilex Forest. Then I got pulled into a time rift by accident, and I've been stuck like this ever since. I drifted through different points in time for a long time inside the rift — until Celebi finally brought me out."
Ryan's expression shifted. He knew exactly what time rift it was talking about. When he'd gone in after someone to rewrite a moment in history, the ripple effects had touched more than he'd accounted for. Pichu had apparently been one of them.
Fantina finished her Gym battle and walked over, fan already in motion. "Ryan, Lillie — it has been too long, oui? This little one has been staying with me, saying she wanted to find you. I tried to transfer her by PC, but she cannot be transferred that way — something about her condition makes it impossible. So I told her to wait, and I would make sure you came to me eventually."
Ryan nodded, then looked back down at Pichu. "So what do you want from me exactly?"
"The time turbulence was caused by you — you're the source of everything that happened to me. I want to follow you and find out if there's a way to undo this state. I can't evolve. I've been like this for a long time."
Pichu poked its two small hands together, looking slightly embarrassed about the admission.
Lillie listened to Manaphy's translation and let out a soft sound of disbelief. "You chased him all the way from Johto to Sinnoh? How long have you been traveling?"
"Not very long — I only came out recently. Celebi dropped me somewhere near Sinnoh, and I followed the connection from there. But I couldn't find him directly, so this kind person let me stay while she reached out on my behalf."
Ryan was quiet for a moment, looking at the Pichu carefully. Then he said, "I understand the situation. Before I agree to anything, I want to be honest with you — if you choose to travel with me, that means I take on the responsibilities of a Trainer. It won't be easy. If you'd rather just travel alongside us for a while and part ways when you're ready, that's also an option. This is an important decision. Think it through."
Pichu thought about this for approximately two seconds.
Then it hopped down from his hands, dropped onto the Gym's battle arena, planted its feet, and raised one small paw to beckon at Ryan with an expression of complete confidence.
"If you want to catch me, beat me first. Don't let my size fool you. I'm stronger than I look."
Ryan smiled. He let a current of psychic energy carry him down from the stands to the arena floor in one smooth motion, then looked over his shoulder. "Fantina — mind if I borrow the arena for a moment?"
Fantina gestured graciously with her fan. "But of course."
Ryan turned back to the arena. "Alright then. Manaphy — your turn."
Manaphy appeared in a flash of white light and had barely touched the ground before Pichu was already moving. A surge of electricity crackled across its small body — far more powerful than anything a Pichu had any right to produce — and it drove a Thunder Punch directly into Manaphy before she'd even fully landed. The current hit clean, and Manaphy absorbed a real hit of damage before she'd had a chance to react.
Manaphy shook herself and reassessed. The electricity in that punch was genuinely impressive — concentrated and controlled in a way that spoke to years of practice, even inside a time rift. If Manaphy hadn't already developed the capacity to absorb and redirect energy, two or three of those would have ended the match.
But she had.
The electricity from Pichu's punch began filtering through Manaphy's body — she drew it in, let it integrate, channeled it into the Water Pulse building between her hands, and released it directly back at Pichu while it was still riding the momentum of its own attack.
The Water Pulse connected. Pichu went airborne, came down hard, and didn't get back up.
Lillie sighed from the stands. "Could you have been slightly gentler? She's a girl, you know."
Ryan was already pulling out an Ultra Ball. He tossed it with a calm flick. "She needs to understand the gap clearly. If she knows where she stands from the beginning, training will go a lot smoother."
The Ultra Ball clicked shut.
(End of Chapter)
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