Chapter 3: Ripples
As a Legendary Pokémon, Entei did not need to replenish its strength through eating like ordinary Pokémon.
Looking at the Berry the human infant was offering, Entei's stern and majestic face fell silent for a moment and did not accept it.
It was not that it disliked it. It simply did not need it.
However, when it refused, the human child in front of it immediately withdrew the Berry with a disappointed expression, looking deeply upset and heartbroken.
Entei: ...
Forget it, Entei thought.
It stretched out a paw with soft pads, pulled the Berry in front of itself, lowered its head, bit it into its mouth, and finished it in just a few bites.
Entei did not look at the human infant's expression again. It then rose to its feet and looked into the distance.
It could not stay here for too long.
As one of Ho-Oh's sacred guardians, there were still many things in this world waiting for it to do.
It had to send this human infant back to human territory.
Like a large cat, Entei circled behind Holt, gently picked up the back of his clothes with its teeth, and prepared to carry the child to a human town that way.
But before it could even take two steps forward, it heard a violent coughing fit come from the infant's throat, and the child's little hands began struggling frantically.
Cough, cough—
His clothes were tightening around his neck!
Holt suddenly felt a wave of suffocation and instinctively flailed.
But that feeling quickly disappeared, because Entei set him back down.
Cough, cough—
Holt sat on the ground, gasping for air.
Entei stood nearby, watching him thoughtfully.
Very quickly, this intelligent Legendary Pokémon realized that a human infant was not a Pokémon. Carrying him by the neck for too long would make him uncomfortable.
Then... riding?
Entei shifted its gaze to Holt's tiny arms and short legs.
Without hesitation, it picked Holt up again and tossed him onto its back.
"Hold tight," Entei said in a deep voice.
Holt's body tensed, and he instinctively clung tightly to Entei.
After feeling that the child on its back had grabbed hold, Entei increased its speed.
However, Holt was not even a year old yet, and his strength was limited. Before long, the arms clutching Entei's fur ran out of strength.
The moment his grip loosened, Holt began to slip.
Just as he was about to fall from Entei's back, the running Entei seemed to sense something and deliberately slowed down, finally stopping in an open patch of ground.
Holt slid down Entei's somewhat coarse fur and landed on the ground.
He looked at Entei, trying to communicate with it.
Wah, wah!
Entei could not understand, but its gaze fell on the child's arms, and it quickly grasped the problem.
This little one was too young. His strength was too limited to stay seated steadily on its back.
Hmm...
Entei could not help but frown, its imposing face growing even more serious.
This was a problem.
If it were alone, it would need less than half a day to cross this forest and reach a human town.
But with a child, its speed was greatly reduced.
...
After a moment of silence, Entei sighed inwardly.
"So be it. This human child's parents died protecting Pokémon. As a Pokémon, I should take care of their child."
With no other choice, Entei could only move forward slowly.
Where was Entei taking him?
At first, Holt did not know what Entei was thinking.
But watching Entei's actions, he quickly realized something.
Entei seemed to be planning to take him back to a human town!
For a moment, Holt's heart filled with gratitude toward this big cat.
If he could speak, he would definitely thank Entei properly.
But unfortunately, his vocal cords had not fully developed yet, and all he could make were babbling sounds.
The human and the Pokémon kept moving, stopping and starting, making their way through the vast forest.
Before they knew it, two days had passed.
During these two days, Entei and Holt had settled into a very regular routine.
They traveled during the day and rested at night.
Whenever it was time to eat, Entei would place Holt somewhere safe, then go out by itself to look for Berries.
While Holt ate the Berries, Entei would lie nearby and silently watch him.
At night, Entei would once again gather the human infant into its embrace and use its own body heat to keep him warm.
Just like now.
Entei quietly watched Holt, its expression neither joyful nor sorrowful, making it impossible to tell what it was thinking.
Holt did not mind. After these two days together, he was already completely certain that this Entei would not hurt him.
And because of that, his courage had grown more and more.
He burrowed into Entei's embrace and buried his face in its fur, unable to stop himself from thinking:
Entei is so warm!
Especially the fur on its belly. Unlike the slightly rough fur on its back, the fur on its belly was soft and fluffy. If he paid close attention, he could even smell a sun-warmed scent from it, mixed with a delicious buttery popcorn-like aroma.
Thinking that, Holt could not resist burrowing even deeper into Entei's embrace.
Come on, this was the embrace of a Legendary Pokémon. Sleeping in the arms of Entei, a Legendary Pokémon, was the kind of thing he could brag about for the rest of his life!
Holt understood very clearly that once they returned to human territory, he and Entei would have to part ways.
The world was vast, and there was no telling whether they would ever meet again.
Even if they did get the chance, it would probably be more than ten years later.
So he might as well make the most of this chance and pet Entei as much as possible.
Entei lay on its side in the grass. Turning its head, it looked at the human infant pressed against its belly and could not help feeling a little surprised.
This little one actually liked it that much, relied on it that much...
At that moment, a thought suddenly appeared in Entei's mind.
If this little one knew it was going to leave him alone in human territory, never to see it again, he would surely be very sad, wouldn't he?
Maybe he would cry loudly in grief, just like when they first met.
Ripples spread through Entei's heart, and the feeling disturbed its thoughts.
Entei closed its eyes and tried not to think about it, but its mind refused to stop.
The little one's parents were already dead. From now on, he would have no father and no mother.
And as far as Entei knew, human children of this age had no ability to live on their own. They needed someone to care for them in order to grow up healthy.
He could not speak, could not walk, could not find food, and was even afraid of the cold when sleeping. After the little one returned to human territory, how would he live? And who would take care of him? Who would find Berries to fill his stomach?