To avoid starving to death when food became scarce in winter, Dongshu had started deliberately storing berries ever since that day.
Berries were naturally very easy to preserve, and the cold winter temperatures meant they would keep even longer.
At first, when it saw what Little One was doing, Fire Emperor thought he simply couldn't eat all the berries. But before long, he realized what was going on.
Taking into account the changing weather outside, and how even he had found it increasingly difficult to find berries these past few days, the truth finally dawned on Fire Emperor.
Little One was getting ready for winter in advance!
My Little One is so clever! Fire Emperor thought admiringly, and began to help.
Human babies needed plenty of sleep to grow.
As a result, Dongshu spent nearly half of each day asleep.
While he was sound asleep, Fire Emperor would leave the cave to search for more food down the mountain, then bring it back.
Gradually, the cave filled with more and more food.
Whenever Dongshu woke from a nap, he would find a small pile of round berries beside him.
Dongshu was quite pleased with Fire Emperor's efforts, but... why were there only berries?
At this time of year, shouldn't the mountains be full of all kinds of delicacies and wild game?
Things like chestnuts, nuts, and mushrooms.
Even though they didn't have any cooking utensils, Fire Emperor was a Fire-type Pokémon and could use his flames to roast chestnuts, nuts, and mushrooms.
Dongshu didn't want to eat nothing but berries all winter.
So, on a crisp autumn day, just as Fire Emperor was about to head out and look for more food, Dongshu babbled to get his attention.
Fire Emperor paused and turned to look at Little One, who had crawled over and wrapped his arms around his foreleg.
"What is it?" he asked.
Did Little One not want him to go out?
But that wouldn't do. Fire Emperor knew very well that humans were different from Pokémon. They needed to eat every day to grow up healthy. Otherwise, they would gradually grow weaker until they starved to death.
With that thought, Fire Emperor shook his head and said telepathically, his voice full of authority:
"There isn't enough food yet. Winter is coming, so we need to find more."
At that, Fire Emperor saw Little One let go of his leg, raise his head, and blink up at him.
...So cute. Fire Emperor's heart softened at once.
But in the next moment, he saw Little One reach out to him, as if asking to be picked up.
Only then did Fire Emperor understand.
Little One didn't want him to stay inside. He wanted to go outside with him!
Fire Emperor expertly picked Little One up by the clothes and placed him on his back, then lowered himself and dashed out of the cave.
"Hold on tight!"
Dongshu quickly wrapped his arms around Fire Emperor's neck.
A chill had crept into the bleak autumn wind, but Fire Emperor was so warm to the touch. His heat formed a Barrier around them, shutting out the cold completely.
At the top of Heavenly Green Mountain, on a jutting rock.
Marshadow stood motionless, the gray shadow clinging to its body drifting gently in the wind like smoke.
Its gaze was distant as it watched the figure moving back and forth across the mountain.
Fire Emperor was once again looking for food for that human baby.
The Yunying Mountain Range was remote and rich in natural resources. It was also home to large numbers of Wild Pokémon.
Mankey, Bellsprout, Krabby... Dongshu even spotted a Farfetch'd patrolling its territory with a leek over its shoulder.
When the Pokémon saw Fire Emperor, they hurriedly hid and watched from a distance.
They seemed to both admire and fear him.
Fire Emperor, meanwhile, seemed to be used to all of this.
His thick paw pads pressed against the carpet of dry, yellow leaves, making a soft rustling sound.
Before long, Fire Emperor brought Dongshu to a Berry Berry Tree growing among the woods.
It was a common Berry Berry Tree, bearing a number of blue berries shaped like strawberries.
Fire Emperor set Dongshu down on the Leaf Bed nearby, then walked over to the tree and shook it a few times with his paw. In the next moment, ripe berries plopped down one after another.
These berries were what Fire Emperor had come for.
He picked them up in his mouth, ready to take Little One home.
Dongshu certainly had no intention of returning to the cave just yet. He turned around and searched the area with his bright, darting eyes.
Before long, he spotted a cluster of plump, meaty wild mushrooms at the base of a tree.
Those were... Matsutake Mushrooms!
As a mushroom lover, Dongshu had loved eating mushrooms in his previous life. He wasn't an expert, but he could identify some kinds of wild mushrooms.
He quickly tugged Fire Emperor's mane to point them out.
"What is it?"
Fire Emperor followed Dongshu's gaze and soon spotted a cluster of mushrooms beneath a tree.
"Babble, babble!" Dongshu eagerly crawled over to the Matsutake Mushrooms and picked every last one of them with his hands.
"These are..."
Fire Emperor was puzzled. He had never eaten these before, and rarely saw other Pokémon eat them.
Dongshu hugged the Matsutake Mushrooms to his chest.
At the sight of that, Fire Emperor finally understood. Little One had his eye on these mushrooms!
Fine. If Little One liked them, he would take them back to the cave too.
Fire Emperor picked up a large leaf to use as a bag and placed the berries and mushrooms on it. Then he picked the leaf up in his mouth.
As a Pokémon, Fire Emperor had never minded not having hands. But now, he suddenly thought that a pair of hands might be awfully convenient.
"We should take these berries back," Fire Emperor said.
But Dongshu didn't seem very willing.
He looked around and soon found another cluster of fresh, plump mushrooms beneath a large tree.
Those were... Hazel Mushrooms!
Dongshu toddled over, picked the Hazel Mushrooms, and put them in Fire Emperor's large leaf.
Fire Emperor was helpless, but all he could do was obediently carry the leaf and follow Little One.
Looking at the clusters of thick-fleshed mushrooms all around him, Dongshu could barely keep from drooling.
He had been eating berries for days, and his mouth was practically crying out for something else.
He could almost imagine how fresh and tender the mushrooms would taste when cooked, how thick and plump their flesh would be, and how full of juice they'd be.
Matsutake Mushrooms, Hazel Mushrooms, Termite Mushrooms, Boletus Mushrooms, Morel Mushrooms, Shiitake Mushrooms...
Before long, Fire Emperor's leaf bag was packed to the brim.
"All right, Little One. There isn't room for any more," Fire Emperor said helplessly. "We can pick some more next time!"
Dongshu was still reluctant to stop, but after crawling around for so long, he really was getting tired. So he obediently climbed onto Fire Emperor's back.
The human and Pokémon returned to the cave. Fire Emperor set down the leaf and piled the berries and mushrooms nearby, forming several little mounds.
Dongshu sat on the soft Leaf Bed Fire Emperor had found for him, feeling very satisfied as he looked at all the food.
But his body was still far too young, and before long, Dongshu couldn't help getting sleepy.
He yawned and rubbed his eyes.
Seeing this, Fire Emperor returned to his side and lay down on his flank.
Dongshu really was tired. He lay down on Fire Emperor's arm, then snuggled into the warm, fluffy fur on his chest and drifted off to sleep.
Fire Emperor closed his eyes to rest as well.
After an unknown amount of time, a petite figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the cave and watched the scene in silence.
No one noticed Marshadow's arrival.
Orange-red Ghost flames flickered in Marshadow's eyes.
Life on Heavenly Green Mountain was dull and tedious. Lord Ho-Oh wasn't there, and Fire Emperor, Suicune, and Raikou often went elsewhere to carry out their duties.
On days when there was no Rainbow Hero, Marshadow stayed behind on Heavenly Green Mountain.
Marshadow had been bored these past few days. Though it had never shown itself, it had been secretly watching Fire Emperor and that human baby.
It had never understood why Fire Emperor had brought a human baby back to Heavenly Green Mountain.
But after watching how Fire Emperor treated him these past few days and considering Fire Emperor's personality, Marshadow thought it might have figured it out.
Fire Emperor was a deeply responsible Pokémon.
The human baby's parents had died protecting Pokémon. As a Pokémon and a member of the Ho-Oh Guard, Fire Emperor had taken it upon himself to care for the child.
That was why he had brought him to Heavenly Green Mountain.
Fire Emperor had already made the baby his responsibility.
Given Fire Emperor's personality, he probably wouldn't abandon the child for the rest of his life.
As a member of the Ho-Oh Guard, Marshadow felt it had to learn more about this human for the sake of its companion.
If the child was like the humans Marshadow had encountered before—full of desire, greed, and wicked thoughts—then no matter what, it wouldn't allow him to stay on Heavenly Green Mountain, in Lord Ho-Oh's sacred domain.
Marshadow's body slipped back into the shadows like a phantom. It moved slowly through the Shadow World and soon transferred itself into the human baby's shadow.
In the next moment, its power took effect!
Dongshu had a dream for the first time in a long while.
This was his tenth month since arriving in the Pokémon world.
His parents in this life were driving a small car, planning to take him to Mt. Moon for a picnic.
But on the way, they came across two Pokémon poachers illegally hunting Pokémon.
His father got out of the car to stop them, but they attacked him and killed him in cold blood.
His mother panicked and drove away, but the Pokémon belonging to the two poachers caught up to her and attacked. The car crashed, and his mother died.
Dongshu lay in the back seat, watching it all happen, watching the two Pokémon poachers approach.
Helplessness, panic, and despair overwhelmed him.
Dongshu didn't scream. When the two poachers checked the car, he escaped their notice by pretending to be dead.
The poachers left with their prey, leaving Dongshu all alone. Time seemed to crawl. Just as Dongshu was overcome with despair, certain he would die there too, Fire Emperor appeared.
Fire Emperor saved him and took him in, treating him like a child and bringing him back to Heavenly Green Mountain.
In the cave, the human baby snuggled close against Fire Emperor.
There was no malice or greed in him. All he showed was deep trust and dependence on Fire Emperor... and an inexplicable fondness for him.
Marshadow stared blankly at the scene.
Then, with a slight shift of its thoughts, it used its power to try to create a dream that would reveal the deepest desires in the human baby's heart.
In the next moment, the dream before it changed.
But it didn't turn into somewhere else. It was still the same cave, with only Fire Emperor and the human baby in it.
At that moment, Fire Emperor was lying on the ground as usual.
The human baby was crawling all over him, sometimes running his hands over Fire Emperor's cloudlike mane, sometimes burying his face in the fur on Fire Emperor's belly and sucking on it with gusto, and sometimes pinching and poking at Fire Emperor's muzzle.
Marshadow: "?"
A huge question mark appeared over Marshadow's head.
What was going on?
The deepest, truest desire in the human baby's heart... was to play with Fire Emperor?
At that moment, Marshadow was completely dumbfounded.
It wondered if something was wrong with its power, but after checking carefully, it realized the truth.
The problem wasn't with it. It was with the human baby!
What a strange child!
Marshadow had never encountered a human like this before.
Lord Ho-Oh had chosen many humans to become Rainbow Heroes, but every one of them had failed the test and fallen into Marshadow's dreams.
Some lost themselves in their desires, while others enjoyed the dream world so much that they completely forgot about their Pokémon companions.
There was no doubt that they were unworthy.
People who lost themselves in their desires would one day forget their duties as Rainbow Heroes because of those desires.
And those who enjoyed the dream world so much that they forgot their Pokémon companions could never earn the approval of Marshadow and Lord Ho-Oh. They didn't understand the bond between humans and Pokémon.
Marshadow had seen far too many people like that, and it was why it hated humans from the bottom of its heart.
Sometimes, it couldn't help doubting Lord Ho-Oh's judgment in choosing Rainbow Heroes...
But judging by how Lord Ho-Oh flew all over the world and handed a Rainbow Feather to anyone who caught his eye, it was only natural that things like this would happen.
Faced with the scene before it, which defied all reason, Marshadow didn't know how to react.
It gave the human baby a long, searching look, then left the dream and silently returned to the shadows, leaving the cave.
The moment it left, Dongshu shivered and jolted awake.
As soon as he woke, Fire Emperor opened his eyes and looked at him too.
So it was just a nightmare! Dongshu gradually relaxed. He looked at Fire Emperor and spoke with eager anticipation:
"Babble, babble!" He wanted roasted mushrooms tomorrow!
Before you continue