"Meta~"
Metagross returned—its originally silver-white body now turned crimson, its claws still dripping with bits of flesh and viscera.
The aura of slaughter and frenzy made Metagross extremely dangerous at this moment.
The pungent stench emanating from its body relentlessly assaulted Julian's nostrils.
"Slowking, wash it off."
Julian nearly passed out from the overwhelming odor.
A jet of water struck Metagross, rinsing away the blood and gore clinging to its body.
Even so, the metallic scent of blood lingered, though it had weakened considerably.
"Search his memories."
Julian pointed at Stephen, who was kneeling on the ground. This man was Wyvernia's Pseudo-Champion, a high-ranking official who undoubtedly possessed plenty of useful information.
"Meta~"
Metagross approached Stephen, its eyes glowing with a blue light. Stephen's gaze instantly went blank, followed by a pained expression as his limbs began to convulse. Soon, blood trickled from all seven of his orifices.
Metagross was forcibly rummaging through his memories—and doing it in the most brutal way possible.
Roughly about three minutes later, the memory search concluded—Stephen was dead.
At this point, the entire military base was devoid of life except for Julian and his Pokémon. There were probably still soldiers outside, but none dared come in—Steelix and Aggron were blocking the entrance and had already slaughtered plenty of them.
Julian was standing in the base's core area, but the place had been torn apart by the battle—it was barely recognizable. Fortunately, the structure was sturdy enough to avoid collapse.
"How is it? Did you find anything useful?" Julian asked.
"Meta~"
Metagross' supercomputer-like brain organized all of Stephen's memories, sorted the important parts, and relayed them to Julian.
The biggest find was about this military base.
It turned out that Stephen was actually the one in charge of this base, and the base itself was crucial for Wyvernia—it housed a critical research institution.
"Take me there."
Julian's eyes lit up the moment he heard there was a lab involved. He recalled most of his Pokémon into their Poké Balls, leaving only Steelix and Aggron to guard the entrance.
Then, guided by Metagross, he headed toward a pile of rubble.
The place had originally been an elevator, but it was destroyed during the battle. Metagross cleared away the debris, revealing a passage that led down below. The elevator itself was completely mangled—obviously unusable.
Julian climbed onto Metagross' back, and the big steel monster carried him down the shaft. After descending roughly 300 meters, a massive alloy door came into view.
BOOM!!
No password input, no keycard swipe—Metagross just violently smashed the door open with a single swipe of its claw.
The moment the door flew open, a barrage of bullets came flying—only to be effortlessly blocked by Metagross.
The next second, five Pokémon rushed out from inside the research facility—all of them at the Elite-level.
Guarding the lab with Elite-level Pokémon? Clearly, this place was hiding something significant.
"Meta!"
A minute later, all five Elite-level Pokémon lay defeated, and the armed personnel inside the facility had also fallen to Metagross.
All that was left now were the terrified researchers.
Earlier, they'd already felt the massive tremors from the battle above. When the shaking stopped, they'd assumed the intruders had been wiped out.
But now they realized it was the other way around—the intruders had wiped everyone else out.
These researchers posed no real threat.
"Who's in charge here?" Julian asked.
All the frightened researchers instinctively glanced at a middle-aged man.
Middle-aged man: ಥ_ಥ
Julian's gaze locked onto him. "What's your name?"
The man took a deep breath, trembling as he answered, "S-Sir… my name is Joseph, I'm the one in charge here."
"What are you researching?"
"A… a meteorite."
"A meteorite?"
Julian was momentarily stunned. What was so special about a rock from space?
"Take me to it."
"Y-Yes!"
Joseph nodded frantically.
"Gengar, keep an eye on them. If anyone tries anything—kill them."
"Geeehehe~"
A white Gengar emerged from Julian's shadow, its red eyes sweeping over the researchers with a sinister grin.
Everyone it looked at felt a chill crawl down their spines—no one dared to even twitch.
Meanwhile, Julian followed Joseph deeper into the facility. After passing through multiple secured doors, they finally arrived at a small chamber five or six minutes later.
Inside the room was what looked like an operating table, holding a half-meter-wide meteorite in an irregular oval shape.
The meteorite was encased in a glass cover, surrounded by various high-tech instruments Julian couldn't even identify.
"This meteorite fell twenty years ago in a village east of Seoul," Joseph began explaining, his voice trembling slightly.
"For a meteorite to remain this large after atmospheric friction is extremely rare—so it held great research value."
"But during our studies… we discovered something inside it."
"A lifeform."
Joseph spoke slowly, his face etched with exhaustion.
"Yet even after twenty years… we still couldn't crack it open—we couldn't even leave a scratch on its surface."
A deep instinct told him—whatever was inside that meteorite was anything but ordinary.
---
Pokémon: Jirachi (Steel/Psychic)
Level: 100
Potential: Purple
Ability: Serene Grace
Held Item: None
Gender: Genderless
Moves: Confusion, Wish, Swift, Cosmic Power, Life Dew, Zen Headbutt, Gravity, Psychic, Meteor Mash, Healing Wish, Rest, Future Sight, Double-Edge, Last Resort, Doom Desire
TMs: None
Egg Moves: None
Note: Awakens once every thousand years, remaining active for seven days. Currently 623 days until next awakening. During its awakening, a wish may be granted.
---
Under the Probing Eyes, the true identity of the meteorite was fully revealed:
Jirachi.
Of all Pokémon, Julian never expected to find this one.
Currently, this Pokémon remained undiscovered by humanity—utterly unknown to modern research.
It slept for a millennium, gathering energy over centuries, only to awaken briefly and fulfill wishes with that accumulated power. Then, it would return to slumber for another thousand years, repeating the cycle endlessly.
In Julian's previous life, legends claimed that this Pokémon could grant 'any' wish.
But whether that was true in reality, who knew?
He hadn't expected Wyvernia to have stumbled across this Pokémon by pure luck.
Fortunately, Jirachi was still dormant, encased in that indestructible black stone—unless you were a First-class Legendary, you wouldn't even be able to scratch it.
That was Jirachi's own defense mechanism to ensure it wouldn't be disturbed during its long rest.
So, forget Wyvernia—even if this thing was in Drakoria's hands, they wouldn't have been able to open it either.
Which now worked out perfectly for Julian.
There were still 623 days until this little guy woke up.
'Hmm…'
That gave him plenty of time to think about what wish he wanted to make.
Julian's mind raced with possibilities.
But… only one wish?
One wish felt far too few.
*****
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