Chapter 361: Seven Nights' Wish

Chimney Mountain.

Soaring into the clouds.

Millennia of drifting volcanic ash have nourished the northern reaches of the Hoenn continent, turning the once-barren Autumn Leaf Town region into a place teeming with life — so much so that it has become a vital grain-producing hub.

At the same time, it is one of Hoenn's major scenic spots, and tourists often ride the cable car to admire Chimney Mountain's scenery from on high.

But the cable car staff never imagined that today they would be receiving such a "distinguished guest."

"Is that Raikou?"

"Definitely. It doesn't look like a plush toy!"

"A legendary Pokémon… this is my first time seeing one in the flesh. Before, I'd only ever seen pictures online and such."

The cable car staff whispered among themselves, glancing repeatedly at Baimu, who was pushing a massive flatbed cart. He wore a hat, sunglasses, and a large face mask, covering nearly all of his facial skin.

To ensure safety, they had just pulled back the cloth on the cart and caught a fleeting glimpse of Raikou, who had likewise turned its gaze toward them.

They nearly cried out.

Fortunately, they were professional enough, and understood that Baimu probably didn't want Raikou's existence revealed, so they were very considerate and kept quiet — though they did find it a little odd that he didn't just recall Raikou into a Poké Ball.

Other tourists waiting in line occasionally glanced curiously at the cart, but since they had no idea a legendary Pokémon was hidden inside, they didn't pay it much attention.

A short while later.

Baimu finally got an empty cable car, and with Galarian Corsola perched on his shoulder, he swiftly pushed Raikou aboard.

Although the cable car's interior was reasonably spacious, with all sorts of obstacles in the corners, it nearly got stuck. Only after the mechanical door behind them let out a creaking groan and the cable car began to move did he pull back the cloth covering Raikou.

The latter flicked its tail lightly, a touch impatient.

It was clearly not the secretive, hiding type, yet it had been forced to skulk about — a real blow to its dignity as one of Ho-Oh's bodyguards.

"Can't be helped. Going straight over the mountain would expose us even more. Look for yourself — from this angle, you can see everything." Baimu seemed to read its displeasure and tapped the glass.

The cable cars were spaced far apart, so there was no worry of the cars ahead or behind seeing Raikou, though the cars returning from the other side might catch a glimpse.

Raikou rose lazily and glanced out the window.

Just as Baimu had said, it had an unobstructed view of Chimney Mountain below — though it was still a little annoyed.

And when it saw Baimu suddenly grin and pull out a comb—

It grew even more annoyed.

"Grr…"

Raikou's iron-black head ornament faintly glowed blue, crackling electricity leaping across it, its gaze fixed on Baimu with a hint of threat.

"Your fur's tangled. Either you lick it apart or I comb it out for you. Pick one."

He stood in place without stepping forward, simply holding up the comb and watching with a smile.

This big cat didn't have a cleanliness obsession, but once it was told its fur was tangled, it definitely wouldn't be able to resist licking it — especially after he'd pointed it out on purpose. The thought would stick in its mind like a thorn.

Just as expected.

When Raikou heard it had tangled fur, it quickly scanned itself all over. Upon finding two actual tangles, it immediately stuck its head over — then froze in place.

No!

Licking would damage its dignity!

As if it could feel Baimu's burning gaze, it silently turned its head back and pretended nothing had happened.

But the harder it tried not to think about it, the more the two tangled spots bothered it. Unable to sit still, it got up and began pacing back and forth in the cable car, trying to rub the tangles loose.

A certain someone put on a teasing expression. "Rubbing it like that won't work — you'll just get covered in ash. Just surrender already!"

"…"

Raikou stared silently at the unhurried Baimu, and in the end couldn't get past its mild case of OCD. It lay down on the cart and turned its head to the other side.

Sigh~

If you're going to agree, just agree — what's with the whole performance?

Baimu felt as though he were looking at the Mawile of old — though these days it was basically all cute and no more tsundere. Come to think of it, there wasn't much tsun to begin with. Nothing like Raikou being this difficult; that one softened up in just a few days.

He picked up the comb and slowly began brushing along Raikou's back.

"Grr…"

Not there!

Raikou's protesting growl rose, but he acted as if he hadn't heard and kept brushing, only speaking when sparks started jumping: "If we're brushing, we brush everything. That's the only way to keep it neat — no stragglers left behind. Am I wrong?"

The crackling yellow current gradually subsided.

And for a fluff enthusiast, brushing fur is an extremely pleasant activity — brushing fur undisturbed is even better.

Noticing a cable car approaching from the opposite direction, he said without looking up: "Please, Galarian Corsola."

"…"

Galarian Corsola opened its eyes. Under Raikou's puzzled gaze, it used its smoke-like horns to grab the black cloth meant to cover Raikou, then stretched its horns to prop up both ends of the cloth, hanging them on either side of the glass.

The two cable cars passed each other.

Tourists in the other car: "???"

Why does that cable car have a curtain? That's not fair!

The cable cars drifted farther apart.

Galarian Corsola quickly dropped the black cloth, returned to its Trainer's shoulder, and went back to sleep, refusing to waste a single bit of time or energy.

"Thanks."

Baimu said with a smile.

"…"

Raikou, watching quietly on the side, was a little speechless. It couldn't decide whether to call Galarian Corsola diligent or lazy.

You say it's lazy — its regular training isn't lacking, and it does what you tell it. You say it's diligent… have you ever seen a Pokémon that can sleep from morning to afternoon without moving a muscle, and won't even fight back when hit?

Combining diligence and laziness — truly worthy of being that weird little brat Baimu's Pokémon... oho~

Lei Gong suddenly felt a little tingle on its back; the comb seemed to have brushed past some especially ticklish spot, making it unable to stop its hind legs from twitching, wanting to scratch along with it.

And after feeling so good there, other places for some reason started to itch as well.

It felt a bit uncomfortable, unable to resist wanting to shift its position.

But the next second—

A large hand scratched right on those itchy spots, with just the right amount of force making it feel comfortable in an instant, moving from one spot to another after finishing.

Finally landing on the chin.

Lei Gong's body instantly went rigid, turning its head to meet the gaze of an innocent-faced Baimu.

"Doesn't it tickle? You look really itchy to me, your tail's already started lashing around everywhere." The latter said so, and raised his hands in a surrendering gesture.

Only then did it realize that at some unknown point, its lightning-like tail had been swinging nonstop, hammering various not-so-comfortable spots on its body, and it itself hadn't even noticed!

Lei Gong: "!"

How can you just move around like that!

Lei Gong's tail: "!"

I dunno either!

Watching this guy's performance, Baimu could barely stop laughing inside — as expected, the cat tail and the cat itself are two completely different species!

He silently placed his hand under Lei Gong's chin and started scratching.

While scratching, he counted down to his own death in his mind.

Is he going to get electrocuted?

Electrocuted?

Not electrocuted!

Baimu's hand kept moving, sneakily glancing at Lei Gong's face, and was surprised to find that he actually hadn't been electrocuted — the big cat seemed to have tacitly accepted his behavior!

This made him unable to contain his excitement, feeling that he was one step closer to completely conquering every part of Lei Gong's body!

Burying his face in its belly wasn't far off!

In quite a pleasant mood, Baimu hummed a little tune, and plucked Lei Gong's fur off the comb.

He had assumed that legendary Pokémon wouldn't shed, but now it seemed he was overthinking — they still shed when they're supposed to...

How about collecting it and making a small Lei Gong to give this guy on the day of parting?

Baimu felt it was somewhat feasible, and the tune he was humming became increasingly rhythmic.

Recently he'd been dreaming of being a musician every night, practicing guitar nonstop until he nearly threw up; opening the dream every day was like clicking on a playlist played thousands of times, listening to the same few familiar songs on repeat.

But so far, he hadn't actually gotten his hands on a guitar, and surprisingly didn't find any guitar shops when he went browsing earlier.

What a shame.

——

Over half an hour later.

The cable car stopped at the top of Chimney Mountain.

This not-particularly-large area was much livelier than expected, with various trainers carrying Pokémon coming and going, and stalls set up by small vendors.

Obviously many people had come up via the Bumpy Mountain Path, not bothering with the cable car that costs money.

If the target weren't too big and he couldn't find a way to push the cart uphill, Baimu would actually have chosen to take the Bumpy Mountain Path — at his speed, climbing to the top on foot would definitely be faster than the cable car.

He pushed the cart carrying Lei Gong down, planning to skirt around the crowd and head to the cable car station on the north side of Chimney Mountain.

Once he reached the foothills below the north side—

Then quickly cutting through the Blazing Trail, Autumn Leaf Town really wouldn't be far.

If Ash and his group hadn't encountered so many unexpected incidents along the way — like running into some Pokémon Aid Society, and provoking Magcargo on the Blazing Trail until they were chased frantically — they wouldn't have taken so long either.

"Passing by, don't miss it! Stone gambling, stone gambling! Meteorites fallen from the sky, you can bet on those too! Anyone who likes meteorites or rare and exotic stones, come take a look—"

A hawking voice rang out not far away.

Baimu had no intention of joining such a lively scene, but Lei Gong stuck its tail out from under the black cloth and released an electric current that shocked his foot.

"Hiss! What are you doing!?"

He glared at the cart, knowing that despite the layer of black cloth, the latter could definitely see him.

He moved forward again.

And got shocked once more.

Baimu lowered his head, found Lei Gong's tail subtly pointing in the direction the hawking voice came from, and thoughtfully looked over there—

The one making the noise was a middle-aged man with buck teeth who looked a bit sleazy, accompanied by a black-furred Jumpipig with a pink pearl on its head, with various large and small stones laid out in front of him.

Quite a few of the stones were pitted and cratered, like the surface of the moon.

【Swindler】!

When Baimu saw this guy hawking, the surrounding vendors all had expressions of waiting to watch the show and see who'd be the sucker — he knew most of what this guy was selling was roadside junk.

Pure roadside捡 goods.

Like Magikarp Uncle, scam whoever he can?

But why did Lei Gong call him over? Could there actually be something good among that pile of casually picked-up roadside stones?

Baimu trusted the big cat very much; besides, even if Lei Gong guessed wrong it didn't matter — he really didn't lack that twenty or thirty thousand now, and after being scammed Lei Gong would probably feel some guilt too...

Hmm?

Why does this feel like chasing a girl?

He shuddered suddenly, then felt that trying to please a Pokémon whose friendship was still in the rising stage was indeed somewhat similar to dating. It's just that the desire belonged to another kind—

The desire to snuggle fluffy things.

All Baimu pushed the cart to the stall while his thoughts wandered.

The buck-toothed middle-aged man's eyes lit up, and a great wave of sighs rose from the surroundings, as though mourning yet another fish that had unfortunately taken the bait.

"Hehehe, young man, you've got a great eye! Come take a look at my stones! One hundred percent genuine meteorites from beyond the heavens — I'll tell you, every single one of these meteorites contains energy enough to change the world of Pokémon!"

The man started spouting nonsense with a straight face, then picked up a stone from the ground. "Look at this one! You know Deoxys, the one that was all the rage a few years back? Experts have proven that they rode meteorites down to the Hoenn region! You know, it's a Pokémon that can go head-to-head with Rayquaza! So you get it now, right?"

The buck-toothed middle-aged man waved the meteorite back and forth.

All Baimu wasn't taken in, though. Glancing around, he asked, "You said stone gambling… how does it work? I don't see any stone-cutting machines."

"Stone-cutting? What stone-cutting?"

The other man froze for a moment, seeming not to understand. "You just pick one, buy it, take it to a professional to appraise. If it appraises as something good, you profit. That's how you gamble!"

"……"

All Baimu stared at the buck-toothed middle-aged man in disbelief.

After much internal struggle, he asked carefully, "Do I look like I don't have a brain to you?"

"Pfft!"

A stifled laugh suddenly rang out from the side, followed by a burst of roaring laughter. The stall-keepers' laughter drew the attention of many passersby.

The middle-aged man's expression quickly turned awkward and unfriendly.

"Young man, I'm running a business here! Anyone causing trouble on purpose won't be served!"

"Who's causing trouble? I really do want to buy. How much? By the piece?"

All Baimu waved a hand, his eyes flicking to Lei Gong's tail. He saw it jab in a few directions as if having a spasm, seemingly pointing at more than one target. He couldn't help feeling a little strange — were there really good finds in these stones?

Could this guy actually not be a swindler?

Hearing All Baimu start asking the price, the middle-aged man put on a fawning expression again. "Not expensive, not expensive at all — ten thousand a stone, size doesn't matter."

"Ten thousand?"

"Honest as can be, little brother. Think about it — even if you don't find a Deoxys, what if you find an evolution stone inside?"

"I still don't think that price is right."

"Hey! Stone gambling is all about sincerity. Without sincerity, it's hard to get a good haul!"

"Then keep that sincerity for yourself—" All Baimu pushed his cart, ready to leave.

The middle-aged man might not make a single sale in a day or two, so he hurriedly called out to him, gritting his teeth. "Then you tell me! What's a fair price!"

He turned his head. "Five thousand each, let me pick six. That's the deal. Take it or leave it."

"Six!"

The middle-aged man hadn't expected All Baimu to buy a whole pile at once. Everyone else just bought one to try, and he'd never actually met such a sucker. He couldn't help being a little stunned.

Then he rubbed his hands in excitement. "Deal! Deal!"

The surrounding stall-keepers' smiles froze on their faces. Just now All Baimu had said he wasn't a fool, and now in the blink of an eye he was buying six stones?

If you're not a fool, who is!

These were all just picked up off the mountain!

He wished he could expose the middle-aged man's true colors on the spot, but they all worked the same patch of ground, so it really wasn't easy to be that blunt.

He could only keep shooting All Baimu meaningful looks.

But the latter was busy picking stones — when did he have time to pay attention to the "winks" a man was throwing his way?

The stones Lei Gong pointed out with his tail were really hard to find, forcing him to buy every single stone in the directions it had indicated.

And in the end.

All Baimu walked off with six stones of varying sizes, satisfied that Lei Gong had stopped pointing randomly. The middle-aged stall-keeper, meanwhile, beamed as he counted the bills with a Spoink, looking for all the world like he'd made a killing.

Only the neighboring stall-keepers were so angry their hands and feet trembled.

Watching someone else fleece a fool out of money was simply more unbearable than losing money himself!

"Sigh! How can anyone be this stupid?"

Watching the buck-toothed middle-aged man flee in a hurry, abandoning his remaining stones to avoid All Baimu coming back for a refund, he couldn't help but sigh.

——

He successfully boarded the cable car heading for the north side of Mt. Chimney.

All Baimu pulled off the black cloth covering Lei Gong and asked, "What are these stones?"

The latter jumped down from the cart, turned to look at the oddly shaped stones, pushed three of them aside, and left only the other three.

"Roar~"

It directly swiped a paw and smashed one open, revealing a dull orange-red crystal inside.

"A Fire Stone!"

All Baimu was a little surprised. That middle-aged man had just said there might be a Fire Stone inside — so he was serious?

Then.

Lei Gong went to swat another, relatively larger stone. Peng De swiped a paw, and the huge stone split straight into three pieces, revealing a glittering orange-red glow inside.

He took a look. "A gem? Or some kind of common mineral? Must be a gem."

Ever since getting so many stones from the Absol that day, he'd gone and crammed up on gem-related knowledge — but unfortunately, without systematic study, identifying them was really a bit difficult.

Because many gems really do look too much alike.

All Baimu decided to call in outside help.

Luckily, the cute Devon Corporation employee Liza didn't seem busy, and she saw his picture and message right away, first sending back a string of ellipses.

Liza: 'Another gift from a Pokémon?'

All Baimu: '…You could say that. Is this a gem?'

Liza: 'Of course. That's an elemental gem, a bit different from ordinary gems, because it contains various elemental energies that can greatly amplify a Pokémon's attacks. The color of the one you have… it's a Fire Gem, I'd say.'

All Baimu: "How do I use it? Just have a Pokémon hold it, right?"

Lisha: "Yes, but I recommend you cut it before using it. In its current shape, the energy amplification is too great and could hurt your Pokémon… You can find a place that cuts gemstones, right?"

All Baimu: "Ahem, of course. But are you interested in this Fire Stone?"

*Click. *

He tossed the Fire Stone over.

Lisha didn't reply for a long time. Only when he nervously looked up at the puzzled Lei Gong did he receive a resigned emoji and:

"Just send it over together. I have no idea where you get this ridiculous luck."

All Baimu: "Ehehehe… Don't rush, there's still one thing I can't figure out."

After sending the silly grin emoji, he looked at Lei Gong, then nudged his chin toward the basketball-sized rock at the end. Unlike before, Lei Gong didn't smash it with a paw, but gave it an extremely gentle push, making it rock back and forth.

"What do you mean?"

Baimu looked, slightly puzzled, at Lei Gong, who was looking over too. "What is this?"

The latter shook his head.

"You don't know? Then why keep it…"

His gaze swept over the Fire Stone and the Fire Gem, then he suddenly said: "Wait, is this thing actually the main reason you had me go over there to buy it?"

"Roar~"

Lei Gong gave a slight nod of confirmation.

This piqued Baimu's interest. He took a photo and sent it to Lisha: "Do you recognize this thing?"

After waiting a few seconds with no reply, he began examining it slowly himself.

Lei Gong was equally curious about this thing that had triggered a subconscious reaction in him yet looked like nothing recognizable. The reason he hadn't smashed it was—

"So hard!"

Baimu, holding a small hammer, clicked his tongue inwardly.

After one swing, only a tiny amount of rock flaked off the surface, and it looked like there was something else hidden inside.

After a few more hard strikes, the outer rock gradually crumbled, revealing a jagged, pitch-black crystal.

"This shape…"

Baimu stared blankly at the crystal, as if recalling something but unable to pin it down for the moment. He hurriedly took a photo to ask Lisha, who had just then replied.

Lisha: "!

!"

Lisha: "Try to see if you can break open a bit of the rock"

All Baimu: "(Image)"

Lisha: "Ah! That's it! What kind of insane luck do you have?! That's a sleeping Jirachi!"

"—Huh!?"

Baimu stared in shock at the crystal in his hand. Memories hidden in his mind about the movie *Jirachi: Wish Maker* kept surfacing, and the image of Jirachi crystallizing after going to sleep gradually aligned with the thing in his hand.

But then he felt a bit of regret.

Because Jirachi had already awakened once a few years ago, unless this Jirachi wasn't the same one Ash and Max met in the movie.

That wasn't impossible.

When Ash traveled to Unova, he encountered a second Jirachi on the Jacaranda Islands. Given how this anime world combined the movies with the main series, it was enough to prove that multiple Jirachi existed.

【Honestly, I've been using Wild Fruit Reading lately to catch up on books, switch sources, lots of voice options,. yeguoyuedu works on both Android and Apple.】

The unfortunate part was that Mt. Chimney was close to the location where *Jirachi: Wish Maker* took place—Forina. That middle-aged man might very well have picked up this Wishing Star from Forina.

"Can you hear me talking?"

Baimu knocked on the stone, but got no response.

Legend says Jirachi only comes up to the surface for seven days when the Millennium Comet arrives, and chooses a boy with a sufficiently pure heart as a temporary companion.

The movie's Jirachi chose Max.

The one he had encountered… in any case, no response. Either it was sleeping like the dead, or his heart wasn't pure enough.

The Galarian Corsola on his shoulder, hearing that Jirachi could sleep peacefully for a thousand years, was somewhat envious. Not to mention it couldn't sleep that long—once its stored energy ran low, it had to come out and "forage."

It couldn't sleep that deeply either!

Galarian Corsola appeared to sleep for long stretches, but in reality its sleep was extremely light. Most of the time, it just kept its eyes hidden and quietly zoned out.

Otherwise, how could it respond to its trainer so quickly?

He was overthinking things.