The past several days had been overflowing with laughter and joy, every moment packed to the brim with happiness and excitement.
Yet deep within Theo's heart, a faint sense of unease had never truly disappeared.
Although Metagross spent most of its time resting inside its Poké Ball, Theo had continuously instructed it to maintain its psychic perception at all times, constantly protecting Jirachi's safety.
Especially whenever they were interacting with Butler and Diane, Metagross's psychic power would become even more focused than usual. Not the slightest disturbance could escape its senses.
What surprised Theo somewhat was that during these five days, Butler's behavior had been completely different from the version of him Theo remembered from his previous life's anime memories.
Although Butler would occasionally stare blankly at Jirachi in a daze, he never once revealed even the slightest intention of capturing it.
It almost seemed as though the absentminded shock he had shown when first seeing Jirachi had simply been caused by amazement and nothing more.
At first, when Theo agreed to let Jirachi participate in the magic performances, he had secretly remained highly vigilant.
He was afraid Butler might use some "disappearing person" magic mechanism or hidden stage trick to secretly abduct Jirachi without anyone noticing.
Because of that, whenever performances were underway, Metagross would push its psychic power to the absolute limit and completely lock onto Jirachi's presence, refusing to leave even the tiniest opening for Butler to exploit.
But reality now seemed to prove that Theo had simply been overthinking things.
For five entire days, Butler had never committed a single suspicious act.
Instead, he peacefully focused on preparing every performance, patiently teaching Theo various smoke magic techniques while also rehearsing small tricks alongside Jirachi before taking the stage together.
Theo had even begun to suspect that perhaps the trajectory of this world was simply different from the anime memories he knew.
Perhaps from the very beginning, Butler truly had never harbored any greed toward Jirachi at all.
But none of that mattered anymore.
There were only two days left before Jirachi would once again fall into its thousand year slumber.
By now, the bond between Theo, Ash, Max, May, Brock and Jirachi had grown incomparably deep.
Throughout these past days, they had continuously come up with all sorts of new games and delicious snacks for it, simply hoping these precious seven days could become the happiest memories in Jirachi's heart.
That evening, after returning to the campsite, Brock prepared another enormous feast for everyone.
He had specially hired fishermen from the harbor to catch fresh seafood.
Abalone, lobster, king crab, scallops…
The entire table was completely packed with luxurious seafood dishes, and Brock had even spent extra money to invite professional chefs from the harbor town to personally help cook everything.
The rich aroma from the seafood banquet spread throughout nearly the entire campsite.
Just the king crab alone was larger than Jirachi's entire body.
Its bright red shell gleamed temptingly beneath the campsite lights.
All of the Pokémon gathered around the feast with their eyes widened in excitement.
Tyrantrum opened its enormous mouth and devoured half a lobster in a single bite.
Meanwhile, Zweilous's two heads worked together with perfect coordination, one chewing crab legs while the other swallowed scallops whole.
Larvitar hugged a piece of abalone almost as large as itself, eating until oil covered its mouth.
Nearby, Pikachu and Treecko fought over a grilled squid skewer, neither willing to let go.
Jirachi held a massive crab claw thicker than its own arm and struggled to pry it open with both little hands while loudly crunching away at it.
Crab roe smeared across its entire face, making it look like an adorable messy kitten.
It even lifted a tiny drink cup and lightly clinked it together with nearby companions like Fire Vulpix, Ice Vulpix, Pikachu, Treecko, Larvitar, and the others.
Their cheerful laughter echoed warmly through the twilight.
Originally, Brock had invited Butler and Diane to come eat together as well.
However, the two claimed they still needed to prepare tomorrow's stage props and politely declined the invitation.
Even so, Brock specifically selected the largest lobsters and king crabs before asking a staff member to deliver them over personally.
While doing so, he continued muttering to himself:
"Miss Diane will definitely love these…"
...
Behind the amusement park stage, inside a modified train carriage, the atmosphere was dark and gloomy.
Only a few hanging work lamps attached to the metal framework remained illuminated.
Their orange yellow light slanted downward across the room, casting shadows over Butler's cold expression.
At that moment, an invisible chill seemed to surround his entire body, making him appear like a completely different person from the gentle magician he portrayed during the daytime.
Butler stood silently inside the carriage while a crimson communicator glowed faintly in his hand.
"Beep beep! Beep beep!"
The sharp notification sounds echoed throughout the quiet carriage twice.
Static flickered through the air briefly before two blurry human silhouettes slowly appeared in front of him.
As the signal stabilized, their appearances gradually became clear.
The person on the left was an obese man whose round face was so plump that it nearly squeezed together into a ball. Whenever he smiled, his eyes narrowed into thin slits, making him resemble a fully fed Snorlax.
He was none other than Tabitha, one of Team Magma's admins.
The man on the right possessed striking blue hair opposite to that of Team Magma leader Maxie.
His hair stood wildly upright while arrogance and disdain filled his eyes.
He was another admin, Brodie.
"You two still haven't arrived yet?"
Butler's voice broke the silence, carrying faint irritation hidden beneath it.
"It's already been five days. Jirachi's awakening period is almost over. If I hadn't been waiting for you two, I would've acted already."
Hearing this, Brodie frowned and snorted disdainfully.
"Acted? Do you really think you could?"
"That 'Wallace Junior' kid has a Metagross capable of Mega Evolution protecting him. What can your Salamence possibly do against that?"
"What a shame. Since you're not part of the League, you can't get things like Mega Stones or Key Stones."
"Still, I have to admit, the League developing Pokémon Mega Evolution really was unexpected."
"Fortunately, the Mega Evolution Key Stone we seized a while ago has already been successfully analyzed by Courtney."
"Our Camerupt can already Mega Evolve now as well."
Brodie looked at Butler through the screen, and his tone softened slightly.
"Honestly, Butler… just come back already."
"We're all part of the same organization. Why insist on struggling alone outside?"
"Wouldn't it be better to return and help Courtney with research instead?"
"That experiment of yours about recreating Groudon sounds completely unrealistic. It's nothing but a waste of time."
"Shut up!"
Butler's expression instantly darkened, fury flashing through his eyes.
"Once I use Jirachi to guide the comet's energy and complete my experiment, you idiots will finally understand how magnificent it truly is!"
"A bunch of frogs trapped at the bottom of a well!"
"Alright, alright, stop arguing."
Tabitha hurriedly stepped in to mediate.
His chubby hand waved repeatedly in front of the screen.
"How many years has it been already? The two of you start fighting every single time you meet. Can't you act a little more mature?"
Then he turned toward Butler, his expression becoming serious.
"We've already left Hoenn's waters. Don't worry. At our current speed, we'll arrive at Forina by midnight."
"Oh right, we also brought along Courtney's Reverse Energy Activation Device."
Seeing the unwilling expression on Butler's face, Tabitha added another sentence.
"I know you want to surpass Courtney and don't want to use her equipment."
"But this mission came directly from the boss."
"It must succeed. Failure is not allowed."
"Once everything is over, Jirachi will belong to you. You can research it however you want."
"So stop throwing a tantrum over your pride already."
A trace of reluctance flashed across Butler's face.
But in the end, he still nodded slowly.
"Fine. I understand."
"I'll send you the coordinates. Once you arrive, fly directly there."
"I'll be waiting for you at midnight."
(End of Chapter)