Larvitar would always squat in front of the claw machine, its round little eyes locked firmly onto the plush doll it wanted most. Its tiny claws continuously smacked the control stick with loud banging sounds.
Yet every single time victory seemed within reach, the claw machine's metal claw would suddenly tremble slightly in midair at the crucial moment, causing the plush toy to fall right back into the pile again while nearby Pikachu and Treecko sighed in disappointment.
The lucky roulette wheel was exactly the same.
No matter how sincerely Larvitar spun the pointer, it would almost always stop perfectly on the "Thanks for Participating" section.
The repeated failures made Larvitar so wronged and miserable that it drooped its head low, looking as though it were about to burst into tears at any moment.
Seeing Larvitar this depressed, Jirachi finally decided to step forward and help personally.
Its tiny hands skillfully manipulated the claw machine joystick, and the machine's metal claw suddenly seemed to gain intelligence of its own. It firmly gripped the plush doll and flawlessly delivered it directly into the prize chute without the slightest mistake.
As for the lucky roulette wheel, Jirachi handled it even more casually.
With just a random flick, it won the grand prize every single time.
The one responsible for managing the stall, Mr. Mime, was so stunned its eyes nearly popped out of its head.
For a while, it seriously suspected that Jirachi was secretly cheating with psychic powers.
However, no matter how carefully Mr. Mime observed or how vigilant it became, it could not detect even the slightest trace of psychic energy from Jirachi.
Eventually, Mr. Mime even started suspecting that Jirachi's psychic abilities had become so powerful that it could perfectly conceal all signs of them.
Panicking slightly, it hurriedly ran off to find its superior, Alakazam, to personally come supervise the situation.
Holding its twin spoons, Alakazam focused completely as it repeatedly scanned Jirachi using telepathy and psychic detection.
It carefully investigated over and over again for a very long time.
Yet even after all that, it still could not discover a single abnormality.
In the end, the two Psychic type Pokémon could only helplessly admit defeat and conclude that Jirachi had genuinely won all the prizes through sheer skill and impossible luck alone.
After that, whenever Larvitar and Jirachi appeared together, it became the busiest time imaginable for Mr. Mime.
It had to constantly restock prizes without pause, otherwise it simply could not keep up with the terrifying speed at which Jirachi kept winning.
Of course, Jirachi itself actually had no interest whatsoever in either the claw machine or the roulette wheel.
The only reason it stood there at all was because Larvitar had stubbornly clung to it and endlessly begged it to come.
Jirachi was responsible for winning the prizes, while Larvitar hugged enormous piles of plush dolls and gifts as it wandered through the amusement park trading them with other children for cotton candy, juice, grilled sausages, and all sorts of snacks.
Thanks to Jirachi's practically miraculous luck, Larvitar's tiny hands were almost never empty.
Its arms remained constantly stuffed full of snacks, and its mouth never stopped chewing for even a second.
Its little belly became round and swollen every single day, resembling a fully inflated rubber ball.
Nearby, Fire Vulpix, Ice Vulpix, and Zweilous also shamelessly joined in eating and drinking alongside it every day.
After only a few days, all three of them had visibly become rounder and chubbier.
Eventually, Mr. Mime simply gave up entirely.
It directly dragged huge boxes full of plush toys out from the storage room and placed them beside the claw machines.
As soon as Larvitar arrived together with Jirachi, Mr. Mime would immediately wave its hands and signal for them to simply take whatever they wanted directly from the boxes.
At that point, it no longer had the emotional strength to repeatedly open the machines for endless restocking.
Watching all of this unfold, Theo could not help feeling both amused and helpless.
In the end, he simply used the special privileges attached to the platinum card that Butler had given him and personally arranged a payment card for Larvitar.
He hung it directly around Larvitar's neck.
From then onward, whenever Larvitar wanted food, it could simply swipe the card and buy it directly. There was no longer any need to torment poor Mr. Mime through endless prize exchanges.
After learning about this development, Mr. Mime became so emotional every time it saw Theo that it practically danced with excitement.
It would even voluntarily present delicate little dolls to Theo as gifts of gratitude.
To Mr. Mime, finally escaping the endless nightmare of restocking plush toys was practically a divine blessing.
Aside from enjoying all kinds of amusement park attractions, every night when Butler's magic performances began, Theo's group would always bring Jirachi along to support the show and sometimes even participate in the performances themselves.
Among them, Brock was by far the most enthusiastic.
He appeared almost every single night without fail.
Since Diane was Butler's official assistant, Brock wholeheartedly dedicated himself to becoming Diane's personal helper.
Whenever Diane stood beside Butler handing over props, Brock would stand directly behind her helping straighten her skirt or handing her water.
The infatuation in his eyes was practically overflowing.
This caused Butler to look at Brock the way one would look at a wild stray cat trying to steal food.
Every single time, Butler would find some excuse or another to send Brock away elsewhere.
Theo himself also brought Jirachi onto the stage for several performances.
Under Butler's guidance, Theo and Jirachi worked together on a magic act called "Smoke Traversal."
Dim stage lighting created a hazy and mysterious atmosphere.
Theo held a vintage detective style smoking pipe in his hand, and every time he exhaled a cloud of smoke, Jirachi would use Teleport to travel through the smoke screen.
Whenever Jirachi appeared, tiny sparkling lights would shimmer all around its body. The glittering glow looked exceptionally dazzling in the darkness and created an incredibly dreamlike atmosphere beneath the dim lights.
Then, as the smoke slowly dispersed, Jirachi's figure would quietly vanish along with it, as though it had completely dissolved into the air itself.
At first glance, the trick appeared to rely only on psychic powers and teleportation.
But in reality, coordinating everything perfectly was extremely difficult.
Especially the timing of the teleports.
If Jirachi appeared even half a second too early, the audience would immediately notice the flaw, and the carefully prepared performance would collapse into a complete disaster.
At the beginning, Jirachi constantly failed to grasp the rhythm correctly.
Sometimes it appeared too early.
Other times it disappeared too late.
Several times, they nearly exposed the entire trick.
Yet the little fellow remained incredibly persistent.
After every failure, it practiced again and again tirelessly.
Eventually, during the official performance, it finally managed to execute the entire act flawlessly, presenting the audience with a breathtakingly spectacular show.
As the performance slowly approached its conclusion, Jirachi suddenly transformed into a streak of light and instantly appeared in the center of the stage.
Floating gently in midair, it seriously imitated a human bow and deeply bowed toward the audience below.
The next instant, thunderous applause and deafening cheers exploded throughout the entire venue and continued for an extremely long time.
Completely infected by the enthusiastic atmosphere, Jirachi became so excited that it continuously flipped several nimble somersaults through the air.
Its soft little face was overflowing with unconcealed joy and excitement.
Later on, Theo even specially invited Milotic to join the performances alongside Jirachi in a magnificent combination act called "Dream of the Water Phantom."
Milotic gracefully manipulated streams of water, freezing them into ice. Using smooth ice as the earth beneath and misty curtains of water as the sky above, it created an ethereal dreamlike stage out of thin air.
Immediately afterward, Milotic condensed a single droplet of water into a massive pure white crystal of ice, perfectly recreating the cocoon Jirachi slept within during its slumber.
The white ice crystal slowly floated and trembled in midair while Milotic's Flash attack scattered gentle purple light across the stage.
As the radiance accumulated to its peak, the white crystal suddenly erupted into dazzling brilliance before shattering apart with a sharp crack.
At that precise moment, Jirachi used Teleport and leaped into the spreading cloud of icy mist, perfectly recreating the scene of its awakening from sleep before the eyes of the audience.
In that instant, the entire stage became intertwined with purple light and shimmering water reflections.
The beauty of the sight was almost suffocating, making everyone unconsciously hold their breath.
The moment the performance ended, every member of the audience stood up simultaneously and erupted into cheers.
The thunderous applause and excited shouting nearly lifted the roof off the building.
Diane and Butler both smiled while looking toward Theo and spoke in unison:
"Theo, it's honestly such a waste that you didn't become a magician."
Meanwhile, May continuously snapped photos with her camera.
Inside her lens, Milotic's golden tail fins and Jirachi's yellow ribbon streamers reflected beautifully against the curtain of water, becoming the single most precious page in her entire photo album.
(End of Chapter)