Chen Shi stood there stiffly, holding Jirachi in his arms, completely confused.
He had never expected that the very first thing Jirachi would say upon waking—
would be "We meet again!"
And not just that. It sounded familiar. Intimate. Like they were old friends.
Jirachi had practically thrown itself into his arms without hesitation.
He was utterly dumbfounded.
Cynthia, after a brief moment of shock, slowly turned her gaze toward him.
Her expression was unreadable.
"Be honest with me," she said calmly. "How old are you really?"
Chen Shi almost choked.
It wasn't unreasonable for her to think that.
Jirachi only awakened for seven days every thousand years.
And yet, the moment it woke up, it acted as if it knew Chen Shi very well.
Under normal logic, that was suspicious beyond belief.
"What do you mean how old am I?" Chen Shi protested helplessly. "I'm sixteen! Almost seventeen!"
"Then how do you explain this?" Cynthia pointed meaningfully at Jirachi in his arms.
She had already pieced something together.
Chen Shi was clearly a teenager. That part was undeniable.
But for some reason, Jirachi recognized him—and not casually either.
She had always felt that Chen Shi carried countless secrets, knew things he shouldn't know.
She had never pressed him.
But now?
Now she felt like she had finally caught the edge of something.
Chen Shi looked down at Jirachi.
Jirachi blinked its big, bright eyes at him and smiled sweetly.
How was he supposed to explain this?
There was no explanation.
So he decided to ask directly.
"Jirachi… hi. Do you know me?"
Jirachi nodded vigorously.
"Of course! Xiao Shi is really nice! You played with me!"
"Ah! And Little Dreepy too!"
It pointed excitedly at Dragapult.
Dragapult froze.
It slowly raised a claw and pointed at itself, completely bewildered.
How did a Pokémon that slept a thousand years at a time know it?
Jirachi continued enthusiastically, pointing at Chen Shi's other partners one by one.
"And Florges! Swampert! Togekiss! Leafeon! Charizard! Metagross!"
"I know all of them!"
The named Pokémon exchanged confused glances.
They were absolutely certain they had never met Jirachi before.
"Hmm… there were two more," Jirachi murmured, counting again.
It scanned the group carefully.
Its gaze briefly paused on the Eevee sitting on Chen Shi's shoulder—Mew in disguise.
It felt… strange.
Familiar.
But it couldn't quite place it.
Shrugging it off, Jirachi skipped past Mew and looked toward Chen Shi's spatial backpack.
"And Little V! I know Little V too!"
"They all played with Jirachi!"
It clapped happily.
Chen Shi scratched his head and pulled Victini's egg from his bag.
The moment Jirachi saw it, it grew even more excited.
"Little V! It's Little V!"
It floated closer and gently placed a small hand on the egg, smiling so widely its eyes curved into crescents.
But Chen Shi's thoughts were stuck on something else.
Two more?
That meant besides Victini, Jirachi recognized another Pokémon.
Did that mean…
Another future partner?
Chen Shi couldn't hold back.
"Jirachi, when you said there were two more—besides Little V, you know another Pokémon too?"
"Yes!" Jirachi nodded happily.
"Can you tell me which one?"
Jirachi opened its mouth to answer—
Then paused.
Its expression turned slightly troubled.
"No… I can't."
"Xiao Shi said I'm not allowed to tell you. If I do, you might not meet it later."
Chen Shi went still.
He understood now.
The "Xiao Shi" Jirachi kept referring to—
was him.
But not the current him.
It had to be his future self.
At some point in the future, he must have traveled back a thousand years and met Jirachi.
Time travel wasn't unheard of in the Pokémon world.
Professor Oak had once traveled through time with Celebi and met Ash in the future.
There were several Legendary and Mythical Pokémon capable of manipulating time and space.
That explained Jirachi's familiarity.
But speculation wasn't enough.
He needed confirmation.
"Jirachi… did I meet you a thousand years ago? Me and Dragapult and everyone?"
"Yes! Yes!" Jirachi beamed.
"Xiao Shi played with me! Jirachi was very happy!"
That was it.
Confirmation.
At some point in the future, he would travel back a thousand years.
And judging by Jirachi's expression, it had been a joyful memory.
Cynthia watched them both carefully, thoughts racing.
She understood the implications too.
Chen Shi couldn't possibly have lived for a thousand years.
So the only explanation was time travel.
And she distinctly remembered reading in an old text that certain Legendary or Mythical Pokémon possessed temporal abilities.
Everything aligned.
While she was lost in thought, Chen Shi smiled gently.
"Then… how about I keep playing with you for these seven days?"
Jirachi clapped happily.
"Yes! Yes! Xiao Shi plays with Jirachi!"
Chen Shi held Jirachi carefully, warmth in his expression.
Seeing that scene, Cynthia's lips curved into a faint smile.
"So you two really are connected. Meeting once a thousand years ago… and meeting again now. Isn't that fate?"
"No, no!" Jirachi suddenly protested seriously.
"This isn't fate!"
"Oh?" Chen Shi chuckled. "If it's not fate, then what is it?"
To him, reuniting across a millennium sounded exactly like destiny.
Jirachi put its hands on its hips proudly.
"It's because Xiao Shi made a wish a thousand years ago!"
"When I was about to go back to sleep, Xiao Shi wished that we would meet again a thousand years later!"
"So when I opened my eyes—"
"I saw Xiao Shi right away!"
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> patreon.com/lucarioTL