Homeland Construction

The autumn rain fell in a fine, unending drizzle.

Dongshu stood inside the Secret Base, staring at his own hands in considerable surprise.

Secret Power wasn't a one-time use item—it was an ability, a Pokémon Move he had mastered. Once exchanged, he could use it freely from then on.

For now, he could use this ability up to three times a day, but that didn't seem to be the final limit. It would likely increase gradually as he grew stronger.

Does this mean humans are actually a kind of Pokémon too? Dongshu couldn't help wondering.

But in the end, it didn't really matter whether that was true or not.

Because there was still something very important waiting for him to do.

As a Secret Base, having just one room simply wasn't enough.

He still had two uses of the ability left today, so Dongshu decided to use them both in one go.

The space inside Heavenly Green Mountain was enormous. Under Fire Emperor's puzzled gaze, Dongshu walked up to one wall of the room and reached out his hand.

The next second, the familiar white light bloomed again.

When the light faded, another separate room appeared before Dongshu and Fire Emperor.

Fire Emperor's pupils contracted.

But what shocked it even more was that Little One wasn't done yet!

He walked over to another wall and repeated the same motion.

Then, another spacious, empty room appeared there.

"Little One..." Fire Emperor stared blankly at the scene. It hadn't expected Little One's power to be this formidable!

"All done!" Dongshu looked at his handiwork and clapped his hands in satisfaction.

Fire Emperor slowly stepped forward and stood beside him, looking at the rooms.

"These are...?"

Dongshu grinned and explained, "This is Raikou's Room, this is Marshadow's Room, and this is Our Room!"

Fire Emperor: "...They don't need that much space."

"Yeah, I guess so!" Dongshu thought about it and nodded. Raikou barely came back a few times a year, and Marshadow stayed in the Shadow World twenty-four hours a day.

"In that case..." Dongshu suddenly had another good idea. "Let's turn this room into a bathroom for bathing!"

"And this room over here—we'll use it as a warehouse for storing food!"

With a thousand Shock Points left, Dongshu opened the System Store as he spoke and started browsing for more renovations.

[Bathtub: Furniture used for bathing together with Pokémon. Exchange cost: 700 Shock Points.]

[Fully Automatic Flushing Toilet: A household item for personal hygiene. Must be installed near a water source. Can be used with a Reverse Space Connector. Waste is automatically flushed into the Reverse World. Exchange cost: 1000 Shock Points.]

[Refrigerator: An appliance for keeping food fresh. Requires a generator. Exchange cost: 1500 Shock Points.]

[Wooden Dining Table: A full set of dining furniture. Exchange cost: 500 Shock Points.]

[Tableware: A full set of dining utensils. Exchange cost: 300 Shock Points.]

[Fabric Sofa: A sofa for resting. Exchange cost: 600 Shock Points.]

[Wooden Wall: Changes the wall material of a room. Exchange cost: 2000 Shock Points.]

[Marble Wall: Changes the wall material of a room. Exchange cost: 3000 Shock Points.]

[Pink Wallpaper: Replaces the wallpaper in a room. Exchange cost: 200 Shock Points.]

[Automatic Light-Gathering Window: Can be installed inside caves. Simulates sunlight streaming through a window into the room. Exchange cost: 1000 Shock Points.]

Dongshu: "..."

Can't afford it. Absolutely can't afford any of it!

Dongshu instantly deflated.

"What's wrong, Little One?" Fire Emperor immediately asked.

"Not enough power... I can't keep renovating." Dongshu explained his predicament in terms Fire Emperor could understand. "It's like when Raikou uses Thunder—it needs Electric-type energy in its body."

Fire Emperor understood. Little One had run out of energy!

That made sense. He was still so small, yet he had already accomplished this much. That was impressive.

Still... as Little One's father, Fire Emperor couldn't bear to see him so disappointed.

"You'll be stronger when you grow up," it said, trying to comfort him.

Dongshu sighed again, his small face full of worry. The main problem was that he had already squeezed almost all the Shock Points out of the nearby Wild Pokémon. Even if he went back and performed magic tricks or spoke in Pokémon language, they wouldn't be shocked anymore.

"I wish I could grow up faster!" Dongshu said.

Fire Emperor licked his face and reassured him, "You will."

With exactly one thousand Shock Points left—not enough to buy anything worthwhile—Dongshu decided to save them for now and deal with it later.

He curled up on Fire Emperor's fluffy, soft belly, listening to the autumn rain pattering outside the cave.

The cave was dry and warm, the wool carpet on the wooden floor plush and soft, the rain outside drizzling steadily. Immersed in this atmosphere, Dongshu soon felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him.

Fire Emperor let him rest there quietly, keeping him company.

Dongshu's head lay pillowed on Fire Emperor's belly. Since crossing over into the world of Pokémon, he had never imagined that one day he would end up in this kind of relationship with Fire Emperor, one of the Legendary Beasts.

Fate really was strange.

"Fire Emperor." Dongshu couldn't help but call out.

Fire Emperor's gaze immediately fell on him.

"What did Fire Emperor do before?" Dongshu asked.

Fire Emperor paused for a moment, then replied, "Before... I roamed this land like Raikou, helping Pokémon in need. That was the mission Lord Ho-Oh entrusted to us."

"Lord Ho-Oh?"

"Mm." Fire Emperor nodded its massive head, lifting it to gaze through the rain curtain beyond the cave. "Raikou, Suicune, and I should have died a hundred and fifty years ago. Lord Ho-Oh revived us with its power, and from then on, we began to seek Lord Ho-Oh."

"Died?" Dongshu was taken aback, then the origins of the Legendary Beasts surfaced in his mind.

Legend had it that they were originally three nameless Pokémon burned to death in a fire at the Burned Tower in Ecruteak City.

Ho-Oh revived them, and they became Ho-Oh's messengers to observe humanity.

The legend was real...

Dongshu couldn't help but look at Fire Emperor.

Through Fire Emperor's eyes, Dongshu seemed to see that day.

That night, a torrential rain fell, thunder and lightning clashing. Lightning struck the tower, igniting a great fire.

The three Pokémon were trapped inside the tower, burned alive.

Then Ho-Oh appeared, descending with Sacred Ash, reviving the three Pokémon.

In the process of revival, they merged with the elements around them, gaining new powers.

In the end, the lightning that struck the tower became Raikou, the fire that consumed the tower became Fire Emperor, and the rain that fell became Suicune.

Looking at the dignified big cat before him, Dongshu felt an inexplicable ache in his heart.

When they were trapped in the tower, burned to death by the flames—how much had it hurt?

"Did it hurt?" Dongshu couldn't help but ask.

Fire Emperor was momentarily startled, then realized that Little One was asking about their feelings at the time of death.

But... that day was so long ago, so far in the past that Fire Emperor had already forgotten the sensation.

To keep Little One from worrying, Fire Emperor gently shook its head. "It didn't hurt."

"Liar." Dongshu muttered in a low voice.