In order to avoid starving to death when food became scarce in winter, from that day onward Atlas began intentionally, or perhaps unintentionally, to store berries.
Berries were naturally quite durable and easy to preserve.
Combined with the cold temperatures of winter, they could last even longer.
At first, when Entei saw the little one’s behavior, it assumed that Atlas simply could not finish all the food.
But very soon, it realized something.
Taking into account the changing climate and the fact that even it had found it increasingly difficult to locate berries in recent days, Entei finally understood.
The little one was preparing in advance for winter.
Its little one was so clever.
Entei felt both admiration and pride, and it began helping as well.
Human infants required a large amount of sleep in order to grow.
Thus, Atlas spent nearly more than half of each day sleeping.
Whenever he fell into a deep sleep, Entei would leave the cave and head down the mountain to search for more food, bringing it back to store inside.
Gradually, the cave accumulated more and more supplies.
Every time Atlas awoke from his naps, he would find a small pile of round berries placed beside where he had been sleeping.
Atlas was quite satisfied with Entei’s behavior, except for one thing.
Why were there only berries?
In this season, should the mountains not be filled with all kinds of wild delicacies?
Chestnuts, nuts, mushrooms, and so on.
Although they did not have cooking utensils, Entei was a Fire type Pokémon.
It could use fire to roast chestnuts, roast nuts, roast mushrooms.
Atlas did not want to spend an entire winter eating nothing but berries.
So on a bright and refreshing autumn day, when Entei prepared to head out once more in search of food, Atlas babbled and called out to stop it.
Entei paused and turned back in confusion, looking at the little one who had crawled over and wrapped his arms around its foreleg.
“What is it?” it asked.
Did the little one not want it to go out?
But that would not do.
Entei knew very well that humans were different from Pokémon.
They needed to eat every day in order to grow healthily.
Otherwise, they would gradually weaken until they starved.
With that thought, Entei shook its head and said with dignified telepathy,
“The food we have is still not enough. Winter is coming. We must find more.”
Hearing this, the little one released its leg, lifted his head, and blinked at it.
…So cute.
Entei’s heart softened instantly.
In the next moment, however, the little one stretched out his hands toward it, clearly asking to be carried.
Only then did Entei understand.
The little one did not want to stop it from leaving.
He wanted to go outside together.
Entei skillfully picked up Atlas by his clothes, placed him on its back, then lowered its body and dashed out of the cave.
“Hold on tight.”
Atlas quickly wrapped his arms around Entei’s neck.
The bleak autumn wind carried a chill, yet Entei’s body radiated intense warmth.
The heat formed a barrier around them, completely blocking out the cold air.
…
At the summit of Mount Tensei, atop a protruding rock, Marshadow stood silently.
The gray mist-like shadows around its body drifted gently with the wind.
Its faint gaze followed the figure weaving through the mountains.
Entei was once again searching for food for that human infant.
The Raizen Mountain Range was rarely visited by humans.
Natural resources were abundant, and countless wild Pokémon lived here.
Mankey, Bellsprout, Cubone.
Atlas even spotted a Farfetch’d patrolling its territory with a large leek resting on its shoulder.
When these Pokémon saw Entei, they retreated and watched cautiously from a distance.
Toward Entei, they seemed to hold both admiration and reverence.
Entei, however, was already accustomed to such reactions.
Its thick paw pads stepped upon layers of dry yellow leaves, producing a soft rustling sound.
Before long, Entei brought Atlas to a berry tree standing tall within the forest.
It was a common Oran Berry tree, its branches bearing many berries shaped like strawberries but colored blue.
Entei gently set Atlas down on the fallen leaves, walked beneath the tree, and shook it with its paw.
In the next instant, ripe Oran Berries fell to the ground one after another.
These berries were the purpose of Entei’s trip.
It picked them up in its mouth, preparing to return to the cave with the little one.
Atlas naturally had no intention of returning so easily.
Very quickly, he spotted beneath a nearby tree a cluster of plump, thick, fleshy wild mushrooms.
Those were matsutake mushrooms!
As a mushroom enthusiast in his previous life, Atlas had loved eating fungi.
Though not an expert, he could identify several types of wild mushrooms.
He quickly tugged at Entei’s mane, signaling for it to look.
“What is it?”
Following Atlas’s gaze, Entei soon noticed the cluster of mushrooms.
“Yiya yaya!” Atlas eagerly crawled over and harvested them all with his own hands.
“This is…”
Entei was puzzled.
It had never eaten such a thing and rarely saw other Pokémon eat them.
Atlas hugged the matsutake tightly to his chest.
At that moment, Entei finally understood.
The little one liked these mushrooms.
Very well.
Since the little one liked them, it would bring the mushrooms back too.
Entei fetched a large leaf to use as a makeshift bag, placed the berries and mushrooms onto it, then picked up the leaf in its mouth.
As a Pokémon, Entei had never thought lacking hands was inconvenient.
But now it suddenly felt that having hands might make things much easier.
“We should bring these berries back first,” Entei said.
Atlas was reluctant.
Looking around again, he soon discovered another cluster of tender, meaty mushrooms beneath a large tree.
Hazel mushrooms.
He crawled over quickly, plucked them, and placed them into Entei’s leafy bag.
Entei was helpless but obediently carried the growing load while following behind the little one.
Looking at the thick clusters of mushrooms around them, Atlas nearly drooled.
He had been eating berries every day recently.
His mouth felt bland beyond belief.
He could almost imagine how delicious these mushrooms would taste once cooked.
Tender, juicy, thick, bursting with flavor.
Matsutake, hazel mushrooms, termite mushrooms, porcini, morels, shiitake.
In no time, Entei’s leaf bag was completely full.
“That is enough, little one. We cannot carry any more,” Entei said helplessly.
“We can come back next time.”
Atlas was still not entirely satisfied, but after crawling around for so long, he was indeed tired.
He obediently climbed onto Entei’s back.
The human and Pokémon returned to the cave.
Entei set down the large leaf and piled the berries and mushrooms to one side, forming small hills of food.
Atlas sat on the soft bed of fallen leaves Entei had prepared for him, gazing at the abundant supplies with deep satisfaction.
But this body was still too young.
Drowsiness overtook him once again.
He yawned and rubbed his eyes.
Seeing this, Entei lay down beside him.
Atlas nestled against Entei’s foreleg, burrowed into the warm fur on its chest, and quickly fell asleep.
Entei closed its eyes to rest as well.
After an unknown amount of time, a small figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the cave, silently observing the scene.
No one noticed Marshadow’s arrival.
Orange ghostly flames flickered within its eyes.
Life on Mount Tensei was dull and monotonous.
Lord Ho-Oh was not present.
Entei, Suicune, and Raikou often traveled elsewhere to fulfill their duties.
When there was no Rainbow Hero to test, Marshadow remained stationed at the mountain.
These past days, though it had not appeared openly, it had been secretly observing Entei and the human infant.
It still did not understand why Entei had brought a human child here.
However, watching their interactions and considering Entei’s personality, Marshadow felt it might understand.
Entei was extremely responsible.
The human infant’s parents had died protecting Pokémon.
As a Pokémon and a member of Ho-Oh’s guard, Entei had taken responsibility for caring for him.
That was why it had brought him to Mount Tensei.
Because Entei had already regarded this human infant as its responsibility.
Given Entei’s nature, it would likely never abandon the child.
If he was like those humans who had failed the Rainbow Hero trial before, filled with desire, greed, and wicked thoughts, then no matter what, Marshadow would never allow him to remain in Mount Tensei, in Lord Ho-Oh’s sacred land.
Marshadow’s body dissolved into shadow once more.
Within the shadow world it moved silently, transferring into the shadow of the human infant.
The next instant, its power activated.
Atlas dreamed.
It had been ten months since he transmigrated into the Pokémon world.
In this life, his parents had been driving him in a small car to Mount Moon for a picnic.
Unexpectedly, they encountered two Pokémon hunters illegally capturing Pokémon.
His father stepped out to stop them but was attacked and brutally killed.
His mother fled in panic, driving away, but the hunters’ Pokémon chased them down and attacked, causing a fatal crash.
His mother died as well.
Atlas lay in the back seat, watching everything happen.
Watching the hunters approach.
Helplessness, terror, despair enveloped his heart.
He did not cry.
When the hunters checked him, he survived by playing dead.
They left with their prey, abandoning him alone.
Time seemed to slow unbearably.
Just as Atlas believed he would die there too, Entei appeared.
Entei saved and adopted him, treating him like its own child, bringing him to Mount Tensei.
Within the cave, the human infant clung tightly to Entei.
There was no wickedness in him, no greed.
Only deep dependence, trust, and an inexplicable fondness.
Marshadow stared blankly.
Then it stirred its thoughts and activated its power again, attempting to create a dream reflecting the deepest desire within the child’s heart.
The dream shifted.
Yet it did not change locations.
It remained the cave.
Only Entei and the human infant were present.
Entei lay on the ground as usual.
The infant crawled all over it, sometimes stroking its cloud-like mane, sometimes burying his face into the soft fur on its belly and rubbing against it enthusiastically, sometimes squeezing its muzzle.
Marshadow was stunned.
A large question mark seemed to appear above its head.
What was this situation?
The deepest desire within this human infant’s heart was to play with Entei?
At that moment, Marshadow was completely bewildered.
It even suspected that something was wrong with its power.
After carefully checking, it realized the problem was not with itself.
The problem was this human child.
Strange.
Too strange.
Marshadow had never encountered such a human before.
In the past, Lord Ho-Oh had chosen many humans as Rainbow Heroes, yet none had passed the trial.
All had fallen within its dream tests.
Some indulged in their desires.
Some immersed themselves in dream worlds and forgot their Pokémon partners.
These were unacceptable.
Those who sank into desire would one day forget their responsibilities as Rainbow Heroes.
Those who forgot their Pokémon partners for the sake of dream enjoyment did not possess a bond worthy of recognition.
Because it had witnessed too many such humans, Marshadow had grown to despise humanity.
Sometimes it even questioned Lord Ho-Oh’s judgment.
Then again, considering Lord Ho-Oh’s habit of flying across the world and casually tossing a Rainbow Wing to any human it fancied, perhaps this was not surprising.
Now, facing this utterly unreasonable scene, Marshadow did not know how to react.
It cast one last faint glance at the human infant, withdrew from the dream, silently returned to the shadows, and left the cave.
The moment it departed, Atlas shivered and abruptly woke from his sleep.
As he awoke, Entei also opened its eyes and looked at him.
So it was just a nightmare.
Atlas relaxed and looked at Entei expectantly.
“Yiya yaya!”
Tomorrow he wanted to eat roasted mushrooms.
(End of Chapter)