Chapter 326: Tying the Knot
After leading Lillie and Lisia out of Petalburg Woods, Ryan turned back toward the tree line with a helpless expression. "Brendan wanted to do things the way I did with Lillie — but does he not realize that May is a completely different person? Lillie is patient. May runs on competitive energy and a hair-trigger read of everything around her. Keeping secrets from someone like that isn't romantic, it's just asking for an argument."
Lillie was equally at a loss. They had nearly derailed a long-term relationship over something that was, at its core, genuinely sweet. That felt deeply unfair.
Lisia let out a quiet sigh. "Give Brendan some credit, though. He's been working on this for weeks — researching Contest culture, figuring out what would actually mean something to May specifically. He hasn't slept properly in a while. He just went about it in completely the wrong way."
Ryan and Lillie exchanged a glance, and something warm passed between them without either of them needing to say it. Ryan understood exactly where Brendan was coming from. He'd been in that same position — wanting to do something that mattered, overthinking the execution until it became its own problem.
The three of them waited outside the forest. It took almost ten minutes before Brendan and May emerged together, walking close enough that their shoulders were nearly touching. May's expression was still slightly flushed, but the sharp edge was gone from it. Brendan looked like a person who had just set down something very heavy and wasn't entirely sure what to do with his hands yet.
Ryan took one look at both of them and smiled. "So — when's the engagement ceremony? Lillie and I are already marking the date."
Brendan laughed — a real one, the relieved kind. "About six months from now. You'd better be there."
"Wouldn't miss it."
Lisia smiled at the group, then glanced at Brendan. "My part's done. I'll see you at the Grand Festival." She released her Altaria — the cloud-white Dragon-type spreading its enormous fluffy wings in the afternoon light — and after quick farewells all around, Altaria lifted into the sky and carried her southeast toward Lilycove City.
Ryan watched her go, then turned back toward the city. "Alright. Norman's next."
Back in Petalburg City, Brendan and May returned to the branch to deal with the work that had accumulated while they'd been standing in a forest having feelings. Ryan and Lillie headed to the Petalburg Gym.
Norman met them at the entrance with genuine warmth — the kind of welcome that came from someone who was simply glad to see familiar faces. He shook Ryan's hand firmly, smiled at Lillie, and then looked at Ryan with an expression that every Gym Leader eventually got when they'd heard enough about someone's battle record and wanted to form their own opinion.
"You're not leaving without a battle," Norman said. It was not really a question.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Ryan said.
They moved to the arena. Norman sent out his Slaking — his flagship Pokémon, the Gym's signature challenge, a massive Normal-type built like a small building and carrying the kind of raw physical power that had given serious Trainers real problems for years.
Ryan reached for a Poké Ball and sent out the Spiky-eared Pichu.
Norman looked at the tiny Electric-type sitting in the center of the arena, looked at his Slaking, and looked back at Ryan with a furrowed brow. "You haven't had that Pichu long, have you? I appreciate the confidence, but sending it against a Slaking feels like a statement."
Ryan grinned. "It's a special case. It won't disappoint you. Go ahead."
Norman accepted this with the composure of an experienced Gym Leader who had learned not to assume anything. "Slaking — Bulk Up."
Slaking rose to its full height and moved through the pose with absolute authority, muscles visibly tensing, an aura of raw physical pressure radiating outward across the arena. Pichu took two involuntary steps backward, ears flat, eyes wide.
Then Ryan's Bond ability reached it — a quiet, grounding current of reassurance flowing through their connection — and the fear dissolved. Pichu steadied itself, looked up at the enormous Pokémon in front of it, and tilted its head.
Slaking, having completed its Bulk Up, did exactly what its ability demanded: it lay back down and rested. Truant was a hard rule.
Pichu padded across the arena, reached Slaking's side, and — while the great ape lay entirely still and apparently unbothered — pressed one small electric cheek directly against Slaking's face.
The discharge was modest by Pichu standards. By Slaking standards, it was a very rude awakening. Electricity crackled through Slaking's body, and it jolted upright, blinking.
Then Pichu stood on its toes and applied a Sweet Kiss directly to Slaking's nose.
Slaking swayed. Its eyes went glassy. The Confusion settled in like a fog, and the enormous Pokémon began listing from side to side like a boat in rough water.
Norman pressed two fingers to his temple. "That is a deeply unpleasant combination. Slaking — shake it off. Now."
Slaking shook its head hard, fighting through the Sweet Kiss haze, and felt the low hum of paralysis still buzzing through its limbs. It was angry now. Energy gathered rapidly between its massive hands — a dense, compressed Hyper Beam building to a point where releasing it in Pichu's direction would end the match immediately, and they both knew it.
Ryan and Pichu both knew it too.
On Ryan's command, Pichu dropped low and scrambled — straight through Slaking's legs, up the back of its calf, and onto its back in one continuous movement, using Slaking's own mass as cover. Slaking found itself holding a fully charged Hyper Beam with nowhere safe to aim it.
"Throw it straight up," Norman called. "Then Body Slam — straight back down. Controlled fall."
Slaking launched the Hyper Beam skyward in a column of white light, then spread its arms wide and let gravity do the rest, crashing backward with full body weight. The impact shook the arena floor. Pichu launched off Slaking's back at the moment of contact, using the momentum like a springboard.
Above them, the Hyper Beam had spent itself and was falling back as residual energy — and Slaking, flat on its back, swung one arm up and batted it directly at Pichu's retreating form.
Pichu saw it coming. Electricity coiled rapidly around its small frame, concentrating beneath it, and in one sharp burst it propelled itself upward — half a meter of pure electromagnetic lift, just enough. The energy blast passed underneath it and detonated harmlessly against the arena floor.
Norman leaned forward. "Electromagnetic levitation. Interesting. Let's see how it handles this. Slaking — Giga Impact."
Slaking roared, the paralysis burning away in the heat of it, and launched itself forward with everything it had — a full-force charge that turned three hundred kilograms of muscle into a projectile aimed directly at Pichu.
Pichu raised one small paw.
Grass Knot.
Thick vines erupted from the arena floor and wrapped around Slaking's ankles mid-charge, cinching tight with a force that the Giga Impact momentum couldn't overcome. Slaking's forward motion converted instantly into a downward one, and it hit the ground face-first with a impact that sent cracks racing across the arena surface.
It did not get back up.
Norman stared at the result for a long, silent moment. Then he looked at Ryan. "A Grass-type move."
"Grass Knot," Ryan confirmed, recalling Pichu with a smile. "I know. An Electric-type whose best move is Grass-type. It spent a lot of time around a Celebi when it was young — seems like something rubbed off. The timing and control it has with that move is honestly better than anything it does with electricity right now."
Norman stood quietly for a moment, processing this. Then he laughed — a short, genuine one — and crossed the arena to shake Ryan's hand again.
"Come back when that Pichu has evolved," he said. "I want a rematch."
"You'll get one," Ryan said.
(End of Chapter)
[500 PS unlocks 1 Extra Chapter]
[10 Reviews unlock 1 Extra Chapter]
Thanks for reading—reviews are appreciated.
P1treon Soulforger has 20+advance chapters