To avoid starving to death due to food shortages in winter, Fuyuki had begun to consciously or unconsciously store its tree fruits since that day.
Tree fruits are naturally very durable for storage, and the cold winter temperatures allow them to be stored for even longer.
Seeing Little One's actions, at first, Entei thought Little One couldn't finish them all, but soon it realized something.
Combined with the changing external climate, and the fact that even it had found it increasingly difficult to find tree fruits in recent days.
At this moment, Entei finally understood that Little One was preparing for winter in advance!
Its Little One is so clever! Entei praised it inwardly and began to help.
Human infants need a lot of sleep to grow.
Therefore, Fuyuki spends almost half of its time sleeping every day.
While it is sound asleep, Entei leaves the cave, goes down the mountain to find more food, and brings it back to the cave.
Gradually, the food in the cave increased.
Every time Fuyuki woke up from its sleep, it would see a small pile of round tree berries beside it.
Fuyuki was quite satisfied with Entei's actions, but… why only tree berries?
Shouldn't the mountains be teeming with all sorts of wild delicacies this season?
Like chestnuts, nuts, mushrooms, and so on.
Although they didn't have cooking utensils, as a Fire-type Pokémon, Entei could use fire to make roasted chestnuts, roasted nuts, roasted mushrooms, and the like.
Fuyuki didn't want to eat only tree berries all winter.
So, on a crisp autumn day, when Entei wanted to go out to find more food, Fuyuki called out to it, its calls stopping it.
Entei paused slightly, turning back to look at the little creature that had crawled over and was clinging to its forelegs, puzzled.
"What's wrong?" it asked.
Did the little creature not want it to go out?
But that wouldn't do. Entei knew humans were different from them; they needed to eat every day to grow healthily, otherwise they would slowly weaken and eventually starve to death.
Thinking of this, Entei shook his head, his face full of majesty, and said telepathically,
"The food we have now is not enough. Winter is coming soon. We must go find more food."
Upon hearing this, Entei saw the little one release its arms from its leg, look up, and blink at it.
...So cute! Entei's heart softened instantly.
However, the next second, it saw the little one reach out its hand, seemingly wanting a hug.
Seeing this, Entei finally realized.
The little one didn't want it to go out; it wanted to go outside with him!
Entei skillfully picked up the little one's clothes, placed it on its back, and then bent down and ran towards the cave exit.
"Hold on tight!" Fuyuki quickly wrapped his arms around Entei's neck.
A chill crept into the bleak autumn wind, but Entei remained intensely warm, its warmth forming a barrier that kept the cold at bay.
Atop Mount Tensei, on a protruding rock.
Marshadow stood silently, its gray, smoky shadow swaying gently in the wind.
Its gaze was deep and unfathomable, fixed on the figure darting through the mountains.
Entei had begun searching for food for the human cub again.
The Raizen Mountains, a sparsely populated region, were rich in natural resources, and also teeming with wild Pokémon.
Mankey, Bellsprout, Cubone… Fuyuki even spotted a Farfetch'd carrying a green onion, patrolling its territory.
Upon seeing Entei, these Pokémon quickly hid, secretly observing its direction.
They seemed to both worship and revere Entei.
Entei, however, seemed accustomed to all of this.
Its thick paws rustled as it stepped on the fallen, withered leaves carpeting the ground.
Soon, Entei led Fuyuki to a berry tree standing in the forest.
It was a common berry tree, laden with strawberry-like but blue berries.
Entei placed Fuyuki on a pile of leaves, then slowly walked to the tree and shook it a few times with its paws. The next second, ripe berries fluttered down from the tree.
These berries were Entei's purpose.
It picked up a berry, preparing to take the little one back.
Fuyuki, of course, wouldn't return to the cave so easily. He turned, his eyes darting around, searching.
Soon, he spotted a cluster of plump, fleshy wild mushrooms under a tree.
Those were… matsutake mushrooms!
As a mushroom enthusiast, Fuyuki had loved eating fungi in his past life. While not an expert, he could identify some wild mushroom species and names.
He quickly tugged at Entei's mane, gesturing for it to look in that direction.
"What's wrong?" Entei followed Fuyuki's gaze and soon spotted a cluster of mushrooms under a tree.
"Eeeeeee!" Fuyuki eagerly crawled towards the matsutake mushrooms and picked them all with its hands.
"This is..." Entei was puzzled. It had never eaten this before, and rarely saw other Pokémon eat it.
Fuyuki simply hugged the matsutake mushrooms to its chest.
Seeing this, Entei finally understood. The little guy had taken a liking to these mushrooms!
Well, since the little guy liked them, it would take them back to the cave.
Entei picked up a large leaf to use as a bag, placed the berries and mushrooms on it, and then picked up the leaf again. As a Pokémon, Entei had never thought about not having hands before, but now, it suddenly realized that having hands might make things much easier.
"We should take these berries back," Entei said.
However, Fuyuki wasn't too keen.
He looked around and soon spotted a cluster of plump, tender mushrooms under a large tree.
Those were… hazel mushrooms!
Fuyuki scurried over, picked a hazel mushroom, and placed it in Entei's large leaf.
Entei was quite helpless, but could only obediently follow behind the little guy, carrying the large leaf in its mouth.
Looking at the clusters of fleshy mushrooms around it, Fuyuki couldn't help but drool.
Hazel mushrooms had been eating berries for days, and its mouth was practically parched.
It could almost imagine how tender and plump these mushrooms would be when cooked, how thick and juicy they would be.
Matsutake mushrooms, hazel mushrooms, termite mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, morels, shiitake mushrooms…
In no time, Entei's large leaf pouch was overflowing.
"Alright, little one, that's enough," Entei said helplessly.
"We'll come back to pick more next time!" Fuyuki was still a little reluctant to leave, but after climbing for so long, he was indeed quite tired, so he obediently climbed onto Entei's back.
The two returned to the cave. Entei put down the large leaf and piled the berries and mushrooms inside into small mountains.
Fuyuki sat on the soft leaf bed that Entei had found for him, looking at all the food, feeling very satisfied.
But this body was still too young, so Fuyuki couldn't help but start to feel sleepy.
He couldn't help but yawn and rub his eyes.
Seeing this, Entei returned to his side and lay down.
Fuyuki was indeed sleepy. He nestled into Entei's arm, then snuggled into the warm, fluffy fur and drifted off to sleep.
Entei also closed his eyes to rest.
After an unknown amount of time, a small figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the cave, quietly observing the scene.
No one noticed Marshadow's presence.
A ghostly orange flame flickered in Marshadow's eyes.
Life on Mount Tensei was monotonous and boring. Ho-Oh wasn't there, and Entei, Suicune, and Raikou were always away fulfilling their duties.
On days when the Rainbow Warriors weren't present, Only Marshadow remained on Mount Tensei.
For the past few days, the bored Marshadow, though not showing itself, had been secretly observing Entei and the human cub.
It still couldn't understand why Entei would bring a human cub back to Mount Tensei.
However, observing Entei's interactions with him over the past few days, and considering Entei's personality, Marshadow felt he might understand.
Entei was an extremely responsible Pokémon.
This human cub's parents had died protecting Pokémon, and as a Pokémon and a member of Ho-Oh's Guard, Entei had taken on the responsibility of caring for him.
That's why it brought him back to Mount Tensei.
Because Entei had come to see this human cub as its responsibility.
Given Entei's personality, it was unlikely it would abandon this human cub in the future.
As a member of Ho-Oh's Guard, Marshadow felt it necessary to understand this human more deeply on behalf of its companion, Entei.
If this human was like those it had encountered before who hadn't passed the Rainbow Hero's test, filled with desires, greed, and evil thoughts, then it would never allow him to remain on Mount Tensei, in Ho-Oh's sacred ground.
Marshadow's body returned to the shadows like a phantom, moving slowly through the shadow world until it transferred to the shadow of the human cub.
The next second, the power activated!
Fuyuki had a long-awaited dream.
This was his tenth month in the Pokémon world.
His parents in this life were driving a car, preparing to take him on a picnic to the neighboring Mt. Moon.
Unexpectedly, they encountered two Pokémon hunters illegally hunting Pokémon on the way.
His father got out of the car to stop them but was attacked and brutally murdered.
His mother, in a panic, drove away but was caught and attacked by the two Pokémon hunters' Pokémon, ultimately resulting in a car accident that killed her.
Fuyuki lay in the back seat, watching helplessly as the two Pokémon hunters approached.
Helplessness, panic, and despair overwhelmed him.
Fuyuki didn't cry out. Facing the two Pokémon hunters' inspection, he escaped by feigning death.
The Pokémon hunters turned and left with their prey, leaving Fuyuki alone. Time seemed to slow down, and just as Fuyuki was filled with despair, thinking he would die there, Entei appeared.
Entei rescued and adopted him, treating him like a child, and took him back to Mount Tensei.
In the cave, the human cub nestled tightly in Entei's arms.
There was no evil in him, no greed; all he showed was a deep dependence and trust in Entei… and an inexplicable affection.
Marshadow stared blankly at this scene.
Then, its will stirred slightly, and it activated its power, attempting to create a dream that reflected the deepest, truest thoughts in the human cub's heart, a dream that mirrored his inner desires.
The next second, the dream before him changed.
But it didn't change to another place; it remained the same cave, still with only Entei and the human cub. At this moment, Entei lay prone on the ground as usual.
The human cub crawled all over it, sometimes stroking Entei's cloud-like mane, sometimes burying its face in the soft fur of Entei's belly and sucking wildly, sometimes pinching and poking Entei's mouth.
Marshadow: "???"
A big question mark appeared above Marshadow's head.
What's going on?
The human cub's deepest desire... is to play with Entei?
At this moment, Marshadow was completely dumbfounded.
It wondered if there was something wrong with its power, but after a careful check, it realized:
The problem wasn't with it, but with this human cub!
Strange, very strange!
Marshadow had never encountered a human like this before.
In the past, Lord Ho-Oh had selected many humans to become Rainbow Heroes, but none of them had passed the test; they had all fallen in its dreams.
Some people become immersed in their own desires, while others revel in the dream world, completely forgetting their Pokémon partners.
Undoubtedly, these are unqualified.
Those immersed in desires will one day forget their duties as the Rainbow Hero because of those desires.
Those who forget their Pokémon partners and the bond between them and their Pokémon because they enjoy the dream world will not be recognized by Marshadow and Lord Ho-Oh.
It is precisely because Marshadow has seen far too many such people that it deeply dislikes humans.
Sometimes, it even can't help but doubt Lord Ho-Oh's judgment in choosing the Rainbow Hero…
However, given Lord Ho-Oh's personality of flying all over the world and showering a human with a rainbow feather if it takes a liking to them, this kind of thing is not surprising.
At this moment, faced with this illogical scene, Marshadow didn't know how to react.
It glanced at the human cub with a deep look, then exited the dream world, silently returning to its shadow and leaving the cave.
The moment it left, Fuyuki shivered and jolted awake from his dream.
The instant he awoke, Entei also opened his eyes and looked at him.
Oh, it was just a nightmare! Fuyuki gradually relaxed, looked at Entei, and said expectantly,
"Eeeeeeeeee!"
He wanted roasted mushrooms tomorrow!
۞۞۞۞
You can read up to chapter 38 and more soon on [email protected]/PokeficLord.