Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 352: The Land Demon

Inside the amusement park’s RV.

After a day’s work, everyone had eaten, showered, and fallen asleep inside. Rio, however, remained awake — he was waiting for something.

After a while, he heard movement nearby. He turned his head — Evan’s mother was sitting up, apparently about to get out of bed.

"Can’t sleep either?" Evan’s mother noticed Rio’s eyes were still open.

Rio smiled and shook his head.

"I’m going out to watch the meteor shower and make a wish. The vendor said you have to place one star each night." She held up the Wish Star she’d bought yesterday. "Want to come?"

Rio shook his head again.

"Alright, I’ll go alone, then." She murmured and left.

Rio looked back at the ceiling. About five minutes later, the RV door suddenly opened. Rio glanced over — expecting Evan’s mother, but instead saw Butler in his tailcoat.

Seeing it was him, Rio’s lips curled upward. He quickly closed his eyes, leaving just a slit. Through the corner of his vision, he watched Butler approach Evan’s bed, gently lift the sleeping Jirachi from beside Evan, and slip away.

Finally. Rio opened his eyes fully once the door closed. This was what he’d been waiting for. He knew Butler would come — because Butler was a former Team Magma researcher who had been expelled after failing to create a Groudon using his own methods. Now he wanted to continue that experiment to take revenge on Team Magma, and had excavated Jirachi’s meteorite from underground to do so.

Rio got up and followed. Soon, he arrived at the tent where Butler and Diane performed their magic shows.

Inside the tent, a large machine stood ready. Butler gently placed the sleeping Jirachi into the machine. Diane, standing nearby, looked at the Absol trapped in a specially made cage, which was growling continuously.

"Did Absol leave Farns to come here and welcome Jirachi?" Diane asked.

"Probably." Butler glanced at the caged Absol and nodded.

"I think a disaster will happen if this continues." Diane’s face showed concern.

"I think you have nothing to worry about." Butler dismissed it.

"Butler, I’m begging you — stop this. I feel something terrible will happen." Diane’s concern deepened.

"All our efforts over the years have been for this day. The show is about to begin — don’t say any more." Butler grew impatient.

He picked up his magic wand and pressed a switch. Moments later, the machine holding Jirachi generated a powerful magnetic field. The field trapped Jirachi, levitating it and causing it to cry out in pain.

Butler’s face lit up with excitement: "Jirachi, I know that when you open your Third Eye, you can absorb tremendous energy from the Millennium Comet."

He then took a special glass container from a box — inside was a stone.

"That’s a piece of Groudon’s body, isn’t it?" Rio raised an eyebrow. He recalled that in the original story, Butler used Jirachi’s power to revive a fragment of Groudon’s body, creating a Land Demon.

As Rio muttered, Butler carried the container to the other end of the machine and inserted it. "I’ll show Team Magma my power!" Butler declared as he locked it in place.

Then he walked back to the pained Jirachi. "Alright, Jirachi — open your Third Eye and draw the comet’s energy from the sky!"

"I don’t want to!" Jirachi refused.

"Even if you don’t want to, you have no choice." Butler rolled his eyes and tossed out a Poké Ball. A flash of light — a level 56 Dusclops appeared.

"Dusclops, use Hypnosis!"

Dusclops raised its hands, the single eye at the center of its head glowing red. A powerful psychic force assaulted Jirachi, who cried out even louder. The eye on its white belly slowly began to open against its will.

"Chaaa~" The caged Absol growled in fury, helpless to break free.

"Sorry, Jirachi — not that I don’t want to help, but I want to see what this so-called ’Land Demon’ Groudon looks like." Rio muttered.

Just as he finished, Jirachi’s Third Eye fully opened. A brilliant blue beam shot from it, aimed at the Millennium Comet in the sky. The comet responded with a multicolored beam that struck the machine — which promptly exploded.

At that moment, Evan and his parents burst in. To maintain his good-guy image, Rio rushed toward the stage before them.

"Jirachi, are you okay?" Rio lifted the fallen Jirachi from the debris.

"Jirachi!" Evan took it from him.

"Such tremendous energy! I’ll control it better next time." Butler wasn’t discouraged by the failed experiment — he was already thinking ahead.

"What did you do to Jirachi?!" Evan demanded angrily.

"Give it to me." Butler reached out.

"No!" Evan clutched Jirachi tightly.

"Butler, I’m begging you — stop this!" Diane ran forward, trying to stop him.

"I can’t give up! Next time will work, Diane — trust me, we’re almost there!" Butler insisted.

"Please stop — I don’t want you to do this!" Diane refused through clenched teeth.

Just then, Jirachi whispered, "I want to go back." Evan immediately ran off with Jirachi. Butler pushed Diane aside and ordered Dusclops: "Dusclops, use Hypnosis!"

Dusclops raised its hands — but Evan’s father interrupted with his Electivire’s Thunderbolt. Diane took the chance to grab Evan and run.

"Follow me! Trust me!" Diane called to the group. Evan’s family followed, and Rio brought up the rear.

Minutes later, the five of them were in an RV, fleeing the amusement park.

"Jirachi said it wants to go back to Farns, right?" Diane asked Evan as she drove.

"Yes — it said it wants to go back, but I don’t know where that is." Evan replied. Jirachi, exhausted, had fallen asleep again.

"Then it must be Farns." Diane explained. "Farns is where Butler discovered Jirachi."

Evan’s family looked curious. "Butler used to be a scientist associated with Team Magma," Diane continued. "He wanted to revive Groudon."

"Groudon?" Evan’s mother was confused.

"Isn’t that the legendary Pokémon with the power to create continents?" Evan’s father asked thoughtfully.

"Exactly." Diane nodded. "When his experiment failed, he was expelled from Team Magma. But then he found Jirachi at Farns."

"He wanted Jirachi to grant his wish?" Evan asked.

Diane shook her head. "No — Butler’s real goal was to use Jirachi to harness the Millennium Comet’s immense energy."

"The comet’s energy?" Evan looked out the window at the night sky.

"To awaken Jirachi, it needs a pure-hearted partner. Butler traveled as a magician, performing shows, waiting for that partner to appear." Diane said.

Evan’s mother looked at Evan. "So he found my Evan?"

"Yes."

Just then, Jirachi in Evan’s arms cried out in pain. "Where is Farns?" Evan asked, not wanting Jirachi to suffer.

"About four days’ drive from here." Diane explained.

Evan’s young face showed determination: "Taking Jirachi back to Farns — that’s what I should do as its partner."

"Well said, Evan. I’ll go with you." Rio spoke up at the right moment, offering encouragement. Evan smiled.

Five days passed — the seventh night of the comet’s passage, and Jirachi’s last day before its thousand-year sleep. The group arrived at Farns.

It was a vast forest, with mountains, water, trees — a beautiful landscape. As soon as they stepped out of the RV, they saw the Absol that Butler had caged earlier. Absol signaled for them to follow.

Under Absol’s guidance, they walked through Farns from day to dusk, passing many Pokémon who watched them with curiosity but didn’t attack — they seemed to be escorting Jirachi. Among them was even a level 58, Champion-talent Flygon.

"Too bad I’m not the same person I used to be." Rio looked at the Flygon and shrugged. A few years earlier, he would have been determined to catch it. Now, honestly, there was no need. This powerful Flygon could be left for some lucky person.

Eventually, the group followed Absol into a dark cave.

"This is where Jirachi has always slept." Diane shone a flashlight and explained. They walked deeper until they reached the end, where an opening revealed the Millennium Comet in the night sky.

"The star is calling me." Jirachi floated up from Evan’s head, as if sensing something.

"Jirachi..." Evan looked sadly at the departing Jirachi, then pulled it into a tight hug.

"I don’t want to!" he cried. "We finally became friends, and now we have to part. If I’d known, I’d rather not have met you!"

Jirachi stared blankly at the crying Evan, as if not understanding why he was so sad — it only repeated, "The star is calling me."

Rio was moved by the scene. A Pokémon that woke only once every thousand years for seven days couldn’t be expected to understand emotions — it could never have partners or friends. Unless another legendary Pokémon befriended it, by the time it woke again, any friends it made would be long gone — their graves archaeological sites.

That was why, after much consideration, he had decided not to capture Jirachi. There was no point. Better to see what this Land Demon was all about.

Finally, Jirachi floated out of Evan’s embrace. It hovered in the air, facing the comet, eyes closed and arms spread. The eye on its belly slowly opened.

"Jirachi’s Third Eye is opening," Diane explained.

"Third Eye?" Evan’s father asked.

"It opens when Jirachi draws energy from the Millennium Comet."

"During its thousand-year sleep, Jirachi gradually absorbs energy from the comet and releases it into the earth — that’s why Farns remains so lush and green." Diane continued.

"So this forest was nurtured by Jirachi? And that’s why all those Pokémon welcomed us and escorted us here?" Evan said.

"That’s right." Diane nodded.

As she spoke, mechanical arms suddenly emerged from the cave walls, firing red beams that trapped Jirachi in a glowing red sphere, lifting it upward.

"What’s happening?!" The group panicked.

A cloth fell from above, revealing a mountain peak where Butler stood, now in a light blue tailcoat, holding his magic wand.

"Ladies and gentlemen — welcome to the truly great magician Butler’s magic show!" He waved his wand, drawing the red sphere containing Jirachi toward him.

"How did you know we’d be here?!" Evan’s father demanded.

"To open Jirachi’s heart and earn its trust, I needed genuine friendship — and you were the perfect bait. You were my final, and greatest, trap!" Butler declared excitedly.

"Diane — once my experiment succeeds, I believe you’ll be proud of me."

"Of course — there’s no way it would be that simple to let Jirachi sleep again." Rio looked up at Butler on the peak and shrugged.