After lecturing Brock, May turned toward Theo and smiled helplessly.
"Don't mind him. Brock's always like this. No matter where he goes, he loves recording all sorts of weird stuff."
Theo could not help laughing.
Sure enough, no matter where they traveled, Brock's "beautiful girl radar" never malfunctioned.
While they chatted, Theo's attention gradually shifted toward Diane on the stage.
Standing beside the magic box, she gave a graceful bow toward the audience, her clear and pleasant voice echoing throughout the venue.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Diane, Butler's assistant.
Please wait just a moment. Our greatest magician will soon be meeting all of you."
The instant her words fell, a faint sound suddenly echoed from behind the stage.
Everyone instinctively turned to look.
A plump Pokémon slowly floated out from backstage.
Its entire body was wrapped in gray bandages, with only a single red eye exposed.
It was Dusclops!
Dusclops drifted beside the magic box and blinked its crimson eye. In the next instant, a dazzling mass of energy rapidly condensed before it.
"That's... Hyper Beam?"
Ash subconsciously shouted from beside Theo.
Before anyone could even react, Dusclops had already fired the attack.
Boom!
The Hyper Beam struck the magic box with absolute precision.
The entire box exploded apart instantly, white smoke erupting everywhere as splinters of wood and shattered silver fragments flew across the stage.
The audience burst into startled cries.
Max jumped in fright and immediately covered Treecko's eyes with both hands, afraid it might witness something horrifying.
Yet Treecko struggled nonstop, prying Max's fingers apart as it curiously tried to see what was happening onstage.
However, the gruesome scene everyone imagined never appeared.
As the white smoke slowly rose into the air, countless golden flower petals suddenly drifted down from above the stage like glittering stars falling from the sky.
The petals scattered throughout the audience seats.
Children excitedly stretched out their hands to catch them.
The little ones who managed to grab some immediately broke into delighted smiles.
The petals were actually made of thin sheets of gold foil. They felt incredibly light in the hand and even carried a faint fragrance.
At that very moment, the brilliant spotlight in the center of the stage suddenly intensified, illuminating the entire venue as brightly as daylight.
A figure slowly emerged from within the smoke.
He wore a spotless white suit with a purple bowtie fastened neatly at the collar. His purple hair was carefully groomed without a single strand out of place, and a calm smile rested upon his lips.
It was the great magician Butler himself!
His posture was elegant, and every movement carried an air of mystery.
The instant he appeared, thunderous applause erupted throughout the audience.
What drew even more attention, however, was the irregular purple crystal resting in his arms.
A dim violet glow flowed across its surface as though the crystal itself were alive and breathing.
"Good evening, honored guests."
Butler's voice spread throughout the venue through the amplifiers.
It sounded gentle, yet strangely penetrating.
"Welcome to my fantastical world. Tonight, I shall bring all of you a magical miracle unlike anything you have ever witnessed before."
Diane walked to his side and handed him a silver wand.
Butler accepted it calmly and lightly tapped the air.
The shattered remains of the magic box that had just exploded suddenly rose into the air once more.
It was as though invisible threads were pulling the fragments together.
Within the blink of an eye, the magic box had completely restored itself, even the positions of the embedded rhinestones perfectly unchanged.
"Waaah!"
The children's cries of amazement rose one after another, and Max became so excited that he nearly jumped out of his seat.
Onstage, Butler elegantly continued demonstrating his astonishing magic tricks.
With a graceful wave of his wand, streams of light flowed from the tip.
Wherever the glowing particles touched, gorgeous flowers suddenly bloomed out of thin air.
The flowers were vibrant and colorful, and their fragrance almost seemed to drift all the way to the audience.
But in the next second, the fully bloomed flowers suddenly withered.
Their petals began falling gently one by one.
Just as the crowd gasped in surprise, every single petal miraculously transformed into lively Swablu.
Flapping their fluffy wings, the Swablu flew toward the audience seats.
Each of them carried a brightly colored lollipop in its beak.
As they circled through the crowd, they carefully delivered the sweets into the hands of every child below the stage.
The entire venue instantly exploded into waves of excited screams and cheers.
With a smile on his face, Butler raised his hand for silence before gesturing for Diane to step into the fully restored magic box.
The doors slowly closed.
After a faint glow flickered across its surface, Butler suddenly pulled the doors open once more.
Diane was gone.
In her place stood a slender and elegant Pokémon.
Kirlia.
It even wore a tiny pale green gentleman's hat upon its head, giving it an especially refined appearance.
Noticing that every gaze in the venue had landed upon it, Kirlia tilted its head slightly before extending a delicate hand and gently removing the small hat from its head.
Then, with an extremely graceful posture, it bowed deeply toward the audience.
...
Onstage, Butler continued performing one astonishing magic trick after another.
But Theo's attention had long since drifted away from the performance.
His gaze was completely fixed upon the purple crystal quietly resting at the side of the stage.
Within Theo's eyes surged undisguised anticipation and affection.
He had really encountered Jirachi.
Whether in the games or the anime from his previous life, there had been many Pokémon Theo loved.
Majestic pseudo-legendaries, powerful Legendary Pokémon, countless extraordinary Pokémon had all captivated him at one point or another.
But if he had to choose the one Pokémon that touched his heart the most...
It would definitely be Jirachi.
Even now, Theo still vividly remembered the first time he watched Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker.
He could still remember the moment Jirachi first appeared onscreen.
Its tiny body wrapped within that yellow cloak, looking just like a baby that had only recently woken from sleep.
Combined with the pale blue markings beneath its eyes and its innocent, confused gaze, it was so unbelievably adorable that people could hardly resist wanting to cradle it gently in their hands.
The very first time Theo saw Jirachi, his heart had been completely struck by the little Pokémon.
Truthfully, the reason he later grew so fond of Larvitar was partly because of Jirachi as well.
There was no complicated reason.
It was simply because Larvitar's eyes resembled Jirachi's too much.
Both Pokémon naturally had faint markings beneath their eyes.
The only difference was that Larvitar's markings were dark black, making it look like it constantly had sleepy dark circles under its eyes.
Unlike Jirachi's lively and lovable appearance, Larvitar looked clumsy and silly, radiating an adorably foolish sort of charm.
This time, when Theo accepted Max's invitation to come here, he had only carried a tiny sliver of hope.
He had never expected that he would truly encounter Jirachi.
Right now, what occupied his mind was whether the energy orbs from his system could replenish Jirachi's energy and allow it to remain awake for a little longer.
Theo genuinely pitied this tiny Jirachi.
Why...
Why was it that among all Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, only Jirachi had to sleep for an entire thousand years just to exchange it for a mere seven days of wakefulness?
For a conscious living being, such a fate was simply too cruel.
Theo wanted to try.
He wanted to see whether Jirachi's destiny could be changed.
And if simple energy orbs were not enough...
Then deep within his heart, Theo still held another idea.
(End of Chapter)