The First Lesson in the New Training Room: Learn to Stop First

The next morning, Xia Che was awakened by the clinking of keys.

Indeedee stood by the bed, holding two new wooden signs. One showed a Lillipup weaving around posts, while the other depicted a brush and washbasin.

"Open them this afternoon." Xia Che rolled over.

The keys jingled again.

"Breakfast first."

Indeedee pushed the tray closer. It held hot porridge, fried eggs, and sliced Berries. Even his outer robe had been folded and placed at the foot of the bed.

Xia Che sat up. "Did the system upgrade you too?"

Indeedee smiled and shook her head, then handed him his robe.

Downstairs was livelier than usual.

Pancham was already standing between the two new doors, holding the training room sign in its left paw and the care room sign in its right. It looked back and forth for a long while, unable to decide which side each belonged on.

Zorua lay on the counter, quietly making the two doors look exactly alike.

Pancham found the choice even harder.

Metagross floated to the middle of the hall. Its red eyes swept over the doorframes before turning toward the rooms beyond them. The left held soft posts and low hurdles, while the right contained washbasins, towels, and an examination bed. The differences were obvious.

It extended two arms and turned Pancham, signs and all, halfway around.

The illusion dispersed.

Facing the correct door, Pancham immediately hung up the sign, pretending it had only been confirming the direction.

Xia Che came down the stairs. "How long did opening the doors take?"

Rotom flew out of the new training room. "Since the first time you said this afternoon, it has been a quarter of an hour, Rotom."

"Very fast."

The bell rang just then.

A-Li entered carrying a basket of bread, with Lillipup pressed close to her feet. The Three-Day Trial Card was tucked along the basket rim, its final box green, while the Number One Tag was still tied in place outside.

"I brought breakfast." She set the round loaves on the counter, then took out the Meeting Card. "What I asked yesterday... does it still count?"

"What was that?" Xia Che asked.

A-Li tensed at once. "That someone without Soul Power can still apply."

Lillipup picked up the Meeting Card in its mouth and placed it before Xia Che.

"It counts," he said.

A-Li looked toward the new training room. "You don't need to test Soul Power before going in?"

"The door is already open."

"I'm asking about eligibility."

"So am I."

Hu Liena happened to arrive with Eevee for breakfast. Hearing this, she smiled and opened the training room door for A-Li. "He has already said more than enough today. Go on in."

Indeedee opened the Three-Day Trial Card first.

The first box showed a tipped-over kettle. That day, A-Li had left too quickly, and Lillipup had knocked over some water while chasing after her. She had not blamed it, merely tied an extra securing strap around the bread basket.

The second box showed a small basket. The afternoon route had been slightly longer, and Lillipup had lain down halfway through. A-Li carried the remaining two bags of bread herself and let it ride back in the basket.

The third box showed a cloud. Yesterday, a brief rain had fallen. Lillipup had refused to wear that oversized old raincloth, so A-Li had waited with it beneath the eaves until the rain stopped.

After reading it, Hu Liena asked, "How many bags did you deliver less over those three days?"

"Not one. I was only a quarter of an hour late," A-Li said. "The owner deducted two Copper Soul Coins."

Hearing that, Lillipup immediately barked at the bread basket.

"I made it back today." A-Li patted its head. "It helped me find the money that rolled beneath the counter."

Xia Che picked up a round loaf. "So it earned this?"

"This basket is today's stock for the shop. Its share was set aside separately."

Lillipup wagged its tail in satisfaction.

Indeedee closed the card and drew a little kettle beside the green mark. She did not ask A-Li what level of Soul Power she could release, only handed her the first hourglass for the training room.

The training room was not large, with thick padded flooring. Six low posts in different colors stood against the wall, along with two soft hurdles no higher than the shin and a stopping line drawn in white powder. A water bowl and rest mat sat in the corner, while the middle of the room held no targets for attacking at all.

Yan and Xie Yue arrived shortly afterward as well.

Yan looked around. "The first class isn't for practicing moves?"

"No," Xia Che said.

"Then what are these posts for?"

"Weaving."

"And the hurdles?"

"Jumping."

"And the line?"

"Stopping."

Yan waited, but no fourth word came.

Xie Yue sat down beside him. "Very complete."

Magby ran to the stopping line, lowered its head to look, stepped over with one foot, then hurriedly pulled it back. It clearly treated the white line as a new rule and stood there more seriously than anyone else.

Indeedee set the first hourglass in place.

Hu Liena and Eevee demonstrated first. She did not use a leash, only crouched beside the first blue post and called Eevee once. Eevee ran over, circled two low posts, then had its attention drawn by a pile of Berries Zorua had conjured.

Hu Liena did not call a second time.

Eevee could not smell any fruit scent and quickly saw through the illusion, turning and running back to her side.

"What if they were real Berries?" A-Li asked.

Indeedee brought out a small dish of fruit pieces and placed it on the other side.

This time, Eevee walked over and sniffed, then looked back at Hu Liena.

Hu Liena nodded. Only then did it pick up a piece, then voluntarily return to the blue post.

"Did you see clearly?" Hu Liena asked.

A-Li nodded. "First let it know where it can eat, but also wait for it to turn back on its own."

"You don't have to beat food every time," Xia Che said. "It only needs to come back when called."

When it was Lillipup's turn, A-Li left the bread basket outside the door and brought only the little kettle inside.

Lillipup first walked around the room once. It sniffed every soft post and did not miss the stopping line. It lingered longest at the spot where Eevee had eaten the Berries, its nose nearly pressed against the mat.

A-Li stood beside the blue post. "Lillipup."

It raised its head but did not return immediately.

Yan instinctively wanted to remind her.

Xie Yue nudged him with his elbow.

A-Li did not urge it either. She simply crouched and spread her palm over her knee.

Only after Lillipup confirmed there were no more fruit pieces on the ground did it run to her, touching her hand with its nose.

Indeedee drew a blue dot on the Meeting Card.

The second item was the low hurdles.

Lillipup's legs were short. It crossed the first easily, but had to lift its front paws slightly higher for the second. It tried twice, but its hind legs always bumped the soft hurdle.

A-Li did not carry it over. She lowered the hurdle one notch, stepped over to the other side herself, and turned back to wait.

On its third try, Lillipup made it through smoothly.

It happily ran half a circle around A-Li, its tail wagging quickly.

"The hurdles can be adjusted?" an ordinary applicant who had arrived early asked from nearby.

"Its legs won't grow longer just because it tries to show off," Xia Che said.

The person looked down at the words higher is better on their form and silently crossed out two words.

The third item was the simplest: walk to the white line and stop.

A-Li and Lillipup set off side by side. The first time, it saw Magby standing on the line and stopped a step early. The second time, Zorua created an illusion of A-Li beyond the white line. Lillipup ran two steps toward the illusion, twitched its nose, then turned back toward the real her.

Zorua dismissed the illusion and lay back down on the windowsill.

Halfway through the third attempt, Lillipup slowed down.

A-Li stopped with it.

"It hasn't reached the line yet," Yan reminded her.

"It's tired."

Lillipup sat where it was, its four short legs slightly splayed. Three days of deliveries had accustomed it to long roads, but weaving through posts and crossing hurdles in succession used its strength in new ways.

A-Li brought over the water bowl and sat beside it.

Magby watched from beyond the white line for a while, then slowly sat down as well, as if keeping it company while it rested.

Yan said nothing more.

Indeedee did not rush the hourglass. She drew the third blue dot ahead of the unfinished white line.

"Does stopping halfway count too?" A-Li asked.

"Of course," Hu Liena said. "Noticing that it wants to stop matters more than where it gets to."

Xia Che leaned against the doorframe and added, "The first class is learning to stop. It learned."

After resting enough, Lillipup got up on its own and walked to the white line. It did not cross it, instead turning back to bark at A-Li.

Everyone in the training room laughed.

The first examination in the care room was just as ordinary.

Indeedee had A-Li inspect Lillipup from its ears, teeth, and fur all the way down to its paw pads. At first, Lillipup was unused to having its hind paws touched and pulled back twice. A-Li touched its front paws first, then slowly moved to the back.

A tiny grain of sand was caught in the fur between its right hind toes.

The grain had not scratched the skin and only needed to be removed. A-Li still wiped the spot with clean water, then checked it again.

"It's easy to step on things during deliveries," she said. "From now on, check its paws when we return to the shop."

Indeedee gave her a clean soft cloth.

Yan looked toward Magby.

Magby immediately hid both feet behind its back.

"I'll check yours tonight too," Yan said.

After thinking about it, it reluctantly extended one foot.

The application class ended, and Xia Che wrote two words on A-Li's card: residence.

"What else needs checking?" she asked.

"Where it sleeps, whether it can drink water easily, whether the door lets in drafts."

"My room is very small."

Lillipup looked up at her, its tail still wagging.

"Small doesn't stop you from leaving space for a mat," Xia Che said.

A-Li put away the card. "Tomorrow afternoon, I'll take you there to see."

Before she left, Indeedee stuck the training room's blue post marker onto the back of the Number One Tag. Lillipup sniffed the new mark, then pressed a paw over it, as if afraid it might fall off again.

Outside, a small cart delivering flour had just come to a stop.

A cloth sack on the top layer had torn open slightly. White flour leaked out with the wind, quickly drawing a winding white line across the steps.

Lillipup stared at that line, then looked back toward the training room where it had just learned to stop.

It sat down before the threshold.