Heavenly Green Mountain's Little Tyrant (Seeking Reads!)

But as nice as the idea was, reality was harsh.

Never mind whether Ho-Oh was willing or not—since arriving at Heavenly Green Mountain, he hadn't even laid eyes on Ho-Oh yet!

"Sigh, forget it. Let's deal with the survival crisis in front of me first!"

Dongshu sighed. He'd painstakingly saved up over two hundred Shock Points, just to buy a set of baby clothes so he wouldn't have to run around naked anymore.

Fire Emperor and the others seeing it was no big deal, but if some passing Trainer or Rainbow Hero taking the trial showed up, that would be bad.

But what method could he use to earn more Shock Points?

Raikou?

Dongshu looked at Raikou, but Raikou just stared at him from a distance, not drawing close like Fire Emperor.

Forget it. Raikou seemed way too cold.

Just then, Dongshu remembered the Krabby he'd met the other day when he went out with Fire Emperor to pick Berries.

He'd performed catching a butterfly in front of that Krabby, and it gave him 20 Shock Points.

If he gathered all the Wild Pokémon around Heavenly Green Mountain and put on a magic show for them, would they give him even more Shock Points?

But getting all the nearby Pokémon to come over was a big problem.

Dongshu stared at the cave ceiling, thinking fast.

Soon, a flash of inspiration struck his mind.

Got it!

In the movie I Choose You!, Marshadow had used its power to control the Pokémon living nearby and launch a group attack on Ash and the others.

Marshadow had always lived here—it must know a ton of the local Pokémon!

Even though Marshadow usually stayed hidden, Dongshu knew perfectly well.

This Pokémon had been watching the outside world from inside his shadow.

No time to waste!

Dongshu scrambled up from the ground, stared at his shadow, and called out in Pokémon Language:

"Owoo owoo?" (Marshadow, are you there?)

At first, there was no reaction from the shadow.

But soon, Dongshu saw ripples spreading in layers across his shadow.

Then, a figure about his size poked its head out, staring at him with a dim gaze.

"Ma sha?" Marshadow's tone was a little puzzled.

"Marshadow, you've lived here all along—do you know a lot of Pokémon?" Dongshu grinned, asking with eager anticipation.

"Ma sha..." Marshadow paused, as if it hadn't expected that question. It looked at Dongshu, then nodded lightly. "Ma sha."

The Ho-Oh Guard had a pretty good relationship with the Wild Pokémon.

Especially the ones living near Heavenly Green Mountain.

They'd all witnessed Lord Ho-Oh's miracles to some extent, so they held a certain reverence for Lord Ho-Oh.

That was why the Wild Pokémon here didn't fight across species like they did elsewhere.

"Then can you help me gather everyone together?" Dongshu asked quickly.

"Ma sha?" Hearing this, a hint of confusion flickered in Marshadow's eyes.

"I want to perform magic for everyone!" Dongshu pleaded. "Help me out, Marshadow—I want to play with everyone!"

Marshadow: "..."

Seeing the human cub's pitiful, begging expression, Marshadow couldn't bring itself to refuse.

"Ma sha..."

It nodded lightly, then slipped back into the Shadow World, vanishing from Dongshu's sight.

Dongshu could hardly contain his impatience.

If there were only a few Pokémon, he'd use a bottle of Moomoo Milk—costing 5 Shock Points—to perform a trick of conjuring something from nothing, turning it into a live milk show.

If a lot of Pokémon showed up, he'd buy a bunch of ordinary candies at 1 Shock Point each for the performance, then hand them out as a participation fee afterward.

No telling when Marshadow would be back, Dongshu stood up and stumbled out of the cave, planning to wait outside.

But before he could get there, a cold voice rang out in his heart.

"If you run into danger out there, I won't come save you."

Dongshu turned back and saw Raikou staring straight at him.

Clearly, that was Raikou speaking through telepathy.

Raikou expected the cub to be scared and retreat into the cave, but instead, a sly grin spread across the human child's face.

"Marshadow will protect me!" he said.

There's no way anything dangerous will happen, Dongshu thought to himself.

Although some wild Pokémon are indeed very dangerous, since Marshadow called them over and they can accept interacting with Pokémon of different species, these wild Pokémon must have temperaments that won't just attack people randomly.

Raikou: "..."

An inherently evil human brat! He's even managed to bewitch Marshadow!

That thought flashed through Raikou's mind first, but then, what happened last night surfaced from the depths of his heart.

Raikou fell silent.

Dongshu ignored Raikou, however. He walked outside the cave, ready to wait for Marshadow here.

But before long, he saw Raikou come out from inside.

Seeing Dongshu looking at him, Raikou explained coldly, "Don't misunderstand. I'm just afraid you'll run into danger before Marshadow gets here."

Dongshu: "..."

Truly a big cat with a cold face but a warm heart.

And just then, Marshadow returned.

Behind him trailed a massive, swarming crowd of wild Pokémon.

There were Golem, Zubat, Magnemite, Venomoth, Larvitar, Magmar, Cubone and Graveler, Nidoking and Nidoqueen with their family of four, Electabuzz, Magnemite, Oddish...

The total count was at least over thirty!

Among these Pokémon were no shortage of powerful individuals, but in front of Marshadow, they didn't show their aggressive side at all.

It seemed they'd heard about this human child from Marshadow on the way here.

The moment they arrived, all these Pokémon cast curious glances at Dongshu.

Some of the bigger, stronger ones could clearly smell the powerful, scorching aura of the Fire Emperor on him.

"Krabby!"

From within the Pokémon crowd, Krabby, who knew Dongshu, greeted him excitedly.

Dongshu grinned back.

Then, using the Pokémon Language the Fire Emperor had taught him, he spoke to the group in a childish voice:

"Ooo-wooo-wooo!" (Welcome everyone to this place. Next, I want to put on a magic show for you all!)

Magic... show?

The Pokémon, who had never heard of such a thing, looked puzzled.

And the next second, they saw the human child pull out a large leaf.

"Look, there's nothing inside this leaf, right?" Dongshu showed it to the assembled Pokémon, inside and out, carefully and thoroughly.

"Krab!" Krabby was very supportive.

"Then, next, watch closely!"

Dongshu folded the leaf into a pouch shape with his small hands.

He let out a meaningless cry, just like a Pokémon.

The next second, something amazing happened.

The originally flat leaf visibly bulged out!

No—the leaf burst open!

"Rustle!"

Sweet-smelling candies burst through the leaf and tumbled out.

Seeing this, all the wild Pokémon instantly widened their eyes, expressions of shock on their faces.

What just happened?!

Were they seeing things? Wasn't there nothing inside that leaf?

Then where did these sweet-smelling things come from?!

Many Pokémon stared wide-eyed, unable to believe the candies that had suddenly appeared.

At the same time, the panel in front of Dongshu began scrolling wildly.

[Magnemite is shocked by your "creating something from nothing" magic trick. Shock Points from Magnemite +20!]

[Nidoking is shocked by your "creating something from nothing" magic trick. Shock Points from Nidoking +15!]

"..."

Watching his balance skyrocket, Dongshu's eyes gleamed with dazzling light.

I'm rich, I'm rich!