At exactly midnight tonight, Jirachi would emerge from the meteorite. No one knew whether it would cause a big scene when it came out. Hopefully, it wouldn’t create too much of a commotion.
So after dinner at home, Julian took his Pokémon and Jirachi to the wild forest east of Lake City.
"The night sky is beautiful tonight."
In a clearing within the forest, Julian looked up at the star-filled night sky and the bright moon. Beside him was Metagross, resting quietly, and Jirachi, still inside the meteorite.
The surrounding Pokémon had already been driven away by Julian, while any human trainers had been scared off by Gengar. Within a five-kilometer radius, aside from Julian, no other living creature remained.
Celebi sat on top of Jirachi’s meteorite, holding a piece of fried chicken in its hand—but it hadn’t taken a bite. That was truly unprecedented.
According to Celebi, this fried chicken was a gift for Jirachi.
Julian was wondering how to stop Jirachi from accepting Celebi’s "kindness." Raising one spoiled Celebi was enough; he didn’t need another.
But then again, Jirachi would only be awake for seven days.
That was right, just seven days. In that case, eating some junk food didn’t really matter.
It was like someone who only had seven days to live—shouldn’t they spend those days enjoying themselves?
'Alright, I won’t stop it then.'
'I’ll even give it an ice-cold cola later—that’s the perfect combo.'
As the clock approached 11:30, the meteorite began to pulse with white light, flashing roughly once every ten seconds. The glow wasn’t harsh—its brightness was similar to that of a small night light.
Julian had already set up a camera, ready to capture the moment Jirachi emerged from the meteorite.
"Julian, Celebi, I’m about to meet you for real."
As midnight drew closer, Jirachi’s voice couldn’t hide its excitement. After all, it had been asleep for a thousand years, and even during its brief awakening, it had been trapped inside the meteorite.
Every day, it could only listen to Celebi talk about the outside world and watch Celebi enjoy what it called "the world’s most delicious fried chicken leg"—a title Celebi came up with itself.
"Mhm."
Julian nodded, feeling a ripple of excitement himself.
When the clock struck midnight, the light from the meteorite reached its peak, bursting forth with a brilliance akin to evolution, turning the clearing as bright as day.
The stars above shone brighter too, with the Milky Way itself seeming to spill into view.
A few seconds later, the light began to fade, revealing a tiny, star-shaped Pokémon with closed eyes—delicate and adorable—floating in front of Julian.
As Jirachi slowly opened its eyes, its gaze immediately met Julian’s.
"Julian, you are Julian!"
Jirachi fluttered around Julian, its voice filled with unmistakable excitement and joy.
"And you're Celebi!"
Then it flew around Celebi as well.
---
Pokémon: Jirachi (Steel/Psychic)
Level: 101
Potential: Gold
Ability: Serene Grace
Held Item: None
Gender: Genderless
Moves: Confusion, Wish, Swift, Life Dew, Zen Headbutt, Gravity, Psychic, Meteor Mash, Healing Wish, Rest, Future Sight, Double-Edge, Cosmic Power, Last Resort, Doom Desire
TMs: None
Egg Moves: None
Note: Awakens once every thousand years. Capable of granting most wishes. Will fall asleep again after seven days.
---
As a one-of-a-kind Mythical Pokémon with extremely special abilities, there was no doubt Jirachi qualified as a First-class Legendary.
However, its combat power was likely at the bottom among First-class Legendaries—after all, Jirachi wasn't inherently a battle-oriented Pokémon.
Its greatest role was acting like a "wish-granting dragon," allowing people to voice their desires.
Looking at the star-like Jirachi, Julian smiled. Wishes could wait until the seventh day.
He also noticed that Celebi had already given the fried chicken leg to Jirachi.
Celebi: "Eat it quickly! It's gone cold, but it still tastes amazing!"
That fried chicken was from its favorite shop. The fact that Celebi resisted eating it until now showed how much it valued Jirachi as a new friend.
"Mm-hm, thank you, Celebi!"
Taking the fried chicken leg, Jirachi ate its first bite of food in a thousand years—though not exactly the healthiest choice.
But after fasting for a millennium, who cared if the first meal was healthy or not?
Julian quickly handed over a ice-cold cola. "Here, have some cola too."
"Mhm, thank you, Julian!"
Jirachi took the cola, took a small sip, and immediately felt a tingling sensation on its tongue—very strange.
Celebi urged from the side, "Take a bite of the chicken leg, then a sip of cola!"
Following Celebi's method, Jirachi quickly got the hang of it. A bite of chicken, a sip of cola—and it soon discovered the joy of this combination.
"It's so delicious! This is really, really good! The cola is great too!"
Seeing Jirachi’s delighted expression, Julian couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt for feeding it unhealthy food.
But then he convinced himself with the same logic again: since Jirachi would only be awake for seven days, it might as well enjoy itself however it liked.
Watching Jirachi eat so happily, Julian simply gave in and pulled out a bag of cucumber-flavored potato chips from his system space.
Celebi's eyes lit up as it took the potato chips from Julian, tore open the bag, and—instead of eating them itself—placed them in front of Jirachi. "Try these, they're really tasty too!"
Jirachi tried one, and its eyes immediately sparkled as it nodded: "They really are good!"
Celebi beamed happily: "Right? Right?"
Julian looked at Celebi, then at Jirachi—was Celebi just trying to recruit a new foodie?
"Celebi, all this food is so good!" Jirachi said between bites.
"Tomorrow, I'll take you to try even more things—hotpot, barbecue, milk tea, stewed chicken, pickled fish… Of course, none of them are as good as what Slowking makes," Celebi said, not forgetting to flatter Slowking.
Unfortunately, Slowking hadn't been brought along and was back at home, so it couldn't hear Celebi's compliments.
Just then, Julian suddenly exclaimed, "Oh no!"
Celebi turned its head: "What? Don’t tell me you wet yourself?"
"Shut up! It's almost 1 a.m.—I told Love I'd be back before 1!"
If Julian didn't have a valid reason, Love would never have let him go out so late at night. In Love’s eyes, kids who went out late at night were all bad kids. Since its own cub was definitely a good one, he shouldn't be out late—unless there was a proper reason.
"Then hurry back!" Celebi panicked too. If they didn't return on time, not only would Julian get scolded—Celebi would be lectured right alongside him.
"Metagross!"
*****
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