Continuing their tour of the Decolore Islands on their way to the Kanto region, our heroes are exploring a rocky, barren part of Capacia Island. After they call it a night and set up camp, Pikachu and Axew are awakened by the Mythical Pokémon Jirachi! It is said that Jirachi wakes up every thousand years for only seven days. As Pikachu and Axew clown around with Jirachi, the noise awakens the rest of our heroes, and when Ash realizes what he’s seeing, he gets excited and runs up to make friends...scaring Jirachi away in the process.
The next morning, as Ash, Cilan, and Iris talk about seeing Jirachi, a girl named Gemma runs up and pleads with them to tell her where it went. It turns out that she desperately wants Jirachi to grant her wish: restoring her mountain home to its former lush, green state. Later, while meeting Gemma’s mother, our heroes learn that her husband has been on a journey for almost two years, trying to discover why the mountain has dried up and become barren. One of the many reasons Gemma is so desperate to have her wish granted is so her father can come back home!
With only seven days before Jirachi goes back to sleep for another thousand years, Ash and friends offer to help Gemma find the elusive Pokémon and get her wish granted. The first time they find it, they approach too quickly, and it flees again. But they keep looking, day after day—and they’re not the only ones. Jessie, James, and Meowth want to get their hands on the Mythical Pokémon, too!
Finally, on the seventh day, they find Jirachi again, and this time, Gemma stays calm. When she asks for her wish to be granted, Jirachi agrees—only to be caught by Team Rocket! But Gemma’s bravery, our heroes’ battling skills, and Jirachi’s amazing power combine to free Jirachi and send Team Rocket blasting off again.
Jirachi is exhausted and injured from the ordeal. Gemma’s father arrives and leads them up to the Mountain Shrine, where Gemma makes a new wish: she just wants Jirachi to be OK. Her wish is granted, and as Jirachi regains its energy, water begins to flow again from inside the mountain. Gemma’s family is reunited, the mountain is on its way to recovery, and Jirachi returns to its thousand-year sleep as our heroes continue their journey.