Number One Tag Becomes the Premier Ball Chosen by Lillipup

When A-Li returned to the shop that afternoon, all three bags of bread had already been delivered.

Lillipup had not ridden in the basket. It had walked the whole way on its own, its steps still brisk, with only a few bits of dry grass caught in the long fur on its cheeks.

Pancham first inspected its paws, then checked A-Li's basket. Only after confirming there were no flour-leaking cloth bags did it step aside from the doorway.

Zorua ran out from behind the counter. With a flicker of illusion, three identical strips of old cloth instantly appeared on the floor.

Lillipup sniffed them one by one. The first two had no scent at all; only the third carried the smell it had left behind the previous night. It picked up the real cloth and casually scattered the two illusions with its front paws.

Zorua yipped behind it, as if asking why it never fell for the trick.

Lillipup dragged the old cloth to A-Li's shoes and lay down on it.

"You'll be seeing each other every day from now on," A-Li said to Zorua.

The little fox tilted its head, then created ten Lillipup with its illusion. Ten tails squeezed together in front of the counter, wagging at once, and the front hall suddenly looked packed.

Indeedee came out carrying the registration tray.

Nine of the illusions immediately vanished.

Two balls lay on the tray. One was a common Poké Ball, while the other was a Premier Ball with a white body and red ring. Beside them were A-Li's Three-Day Card, Lodging Card, and the Number One Tag she had kept since the first day.

Xia Che sat behind the counter. "Don't rush to touch the balls."

A-Li drew back the hand she had extended halfway.

Lillipup had not reached for anything in the first place. It went to sniff the Number One Tag, its nose tracing a circle around the red cord before it looked up at A-Li.

"How did it sleep last night?" Xia Che asked.

"It slept better than I did."

"And meals?"

"I split its food into three portions. It ate breakfast too quickly today, so I held down the dish to make it slow down."

"Deliveries?"

"First, I check the distance. If it gets tired, it can ride in the basket. If it doesn't want to take an alley, we go around it. I can deliver things myself too. I won't put everything on it."

At the mention of deliveries, Lillipup thumped its tail against the old cloth.

Xia Che looked at it. "Are you willing to continue?"

It picked up the Number One Tag and placed it in A-Li's hand.

A-Li closed her hand around the red cord. Her eyes grew slightly hot, but she did not immediately hug it. Lillipup disliked being suddenly picked up, and she had remembered that over the past three days.

Hu Liena and Eevee sat by the window. Eevee called out first, as if urging them on to the next step.

"It chooses the ball," Hu Liena said.

A-Li placed both balls on the floor.

Lillipup sniffed the ordinary Poké Ball first, its nose brushing the button before it walked toward the Premier Ball. The white shell had no special smell, but the red ring was close in color to the red cord on the Number One Tag.

It looked back and forth twice before finally placing the Number One Tag beside the Premier Ball.

"This one?" A-Li asked.

Lillipup raised a paw and pressed the button.

Red light flashed and drew it into the ball. The Premier Ball landed on the old cloth, rocked gently once, and gave a crisp confirmation chime.

The front hall fell quiet at once.

A-Li bent down to pick up the ball, holding it steadily in both hands. Just as she wanted to ask what came next, the Premier Ball opened on its own.

Lillipup reappeared, shook out its fur first, then returned to sit beside her shoes.

"It doesn't like staying in there?" A-Li asked.

"It was willing to go in. It never said it was willing to stay long," Xia Che said.

"Should I let it walk on its own during deliveries from now on?"

"The ball is for the return trip and for resting. If it wants to walk, let it walk. If it wants to ride in the basket, that's fine too."

"What if there are too many people on the street?"

"Ask first."

Xia Che placed the Premier Ball on the left side of the old cloth, then set the small delivery basket on the right. "Try it once now."

A-Li walked outside and turned back to beckon Lillipup.

Lillipup looked at the Premier Ball, then at the delivery basket. In the end, it walked straight between them and came to her feet on its own.

"It chose to walk," Hu Liena said.

A-Li nodded. She did not put it back into the ball just because the registration was complete.

Just then, a flatbed cart piled high with wooden barrels passed outside. The driver wanted to turn around in front of the shop, and several barrels crowded against the steps, leaving Lillipup only a narrow gap.

It backed into the shop.

A-Li lowered the delivery basket. "Ride in the basket, or go into the ball?"

Lillipup sniffed the basket first. Bread had been carried in it today, and bits of dry grass still clung to its edges. The space was not very roomy. It turned and ran to the Premier Ball, touching the button with its nose.

Red light drew it inside.

A-Li gripped the ball securely and stood by the door while the cart slowly turned around. Once the barrels had moved away from the steps, the ball's shell gave a faint shake.

"Want to come out?" she asked.

The Premier Ball shook again.

A-Li pressed the button. Lillipup landed in the cleared doorway, watched the retreating cart wheels first, then walked down the steps to her side.

The entire process had taken only a moment.

"It knows when to use it," A-Li said.

"You need to remember to ask too," Xia Che said from inside.

"What if I don't have time to ask?"

"Avoid the cart first. Explain afterward."

Lillipup looked up at A-Li, as if it had taken those words to heart as well.

She put the Premier Ball into a small pouch close to her body. The opening was not fully fastened, so she could take it out with a touch of her fingers. Lillipup sniffed where the pouch rested and only returned to the old cloth after making sure it remembered.

"One more thing," Xia Che said. "The ball being in your hand doesn't mean anyone can borrow it to make deliveries."

The bakery owner had not yet arrived, but A-Li already understood whom he meant. "If the shop suddenly adds work, I'll ask Lillipup first too."

Lillipup's tail lifted.

Hu Liena smiled. "It heard that very clearly."

A-Li gently touched the small pouch holding the Premier Ball. "Touch me when you want to go inside."

Lillipup touched her wrist with its nose.

"Not now," she understood.

Indeedee stacked the two cards together. Rotom flew over to scan them, and A-Li's and Lillipup's names soon appeared on the screen. A-Li's entry read Delivery Worker, while the spots for Martial Soul and soul power were blank, yet the confirmation light still turned green.

The ordinary applicant by the door had been watching the whole time. "She can pass even with those blank?"

"She completed the three days, stayed one night, and even repaired the window shutters," Xia Che said.

"I have level twenty-one soul power."

"You still haven't learned to move the water bowl."

Remembering how he had kicked over the water twice yesterday, the man could only fall silent.

A-Li looked at the green confirmation light. "Am I the first?"

"The first today," Xia Che said.

Rotom added from the side, "Also the shop's first Trainer registered without soul power, Roto."

"Do I need to do anything special?"

"Report to work as usual tomorrow."

"And the day after?"

"As usual too."

A-Li laughed.

Xia Che placed more supplies on the counter: a lidded food container, a soft brush, paw-cleaning cloths, a spare water bottle, and a small bag that could be secured to the outside of the delivery basket. Each had its price marked.

"I don't need to buy a cushion," A-Li said. "The one from yesterday is enough."

Lillipup lowered its head to sniff the old cloth, showing its agreement.

"We already have a water bottle too."

It was the same one they had used over the past three days.

"One soft brush, two cleaning cloths, and Aunt Chen lent me a food container." A-Li selected the items one by one, leaving only the most practical things in the end.

Indeedee recalculated the price. It came to less than half the original full set.

A-Li placed today's wages on the table, but she was still short a few Copper Soul Coins. She looked at the remaining two round loaves. "Can these two cover part of it?"

Xia Che picked one up and weighed it in his hand. "What's the filling?"

"Berry pulp."

"That works."

Indeedee looked at him.

"I'll make up the money to the counter," Xia Che said.

Only then did she enter the bread under dinner.

There was no lengthy celebration after the registration was completed. Indeedee cut open one of the round loaves and gave everyone a small piece. Lillipup received its own Berry treat, while Zorua used an illusion to make its tiny piece larger than the plate.

Lillipup lowered its head to sniff, then bit straight into the real spot.

The huge illusory loaf instantly lost a tiny corner utterly out of proportion to its size.

Zorua lay by the table, shaking with laughter.

Hu Liena raised her teacup. "Congratulations."

A-Li raised her warm water too. "Thank you."

Lillipup did not understand raising cups. It picked up the Number One Tag and placed it beside the Premier Ball. One was old and one was new, and both happened to bear a circle of red.

Rotom scanned the front of the Number One Tag into its records but did not take away the physical tag.

"We get to keep it?" A-Li asked.

Pancham nodded. It had already punched a second small hole into the back of the tag and threaded through a sturdier new cord so it could keep hanging from the delivery basket.

A-Li tied the tag back onto the outside of the basket, while the Premier Ball went into the small pouch close to her body.

Just as she was about to take Lillipup home, the bakery owner hurried into the shop with two delivery slips in his hand.

"There's a new job tomorrow morning," he said. "The pharmacy and the cloth shop each want a basket of bread. One address is east, the other west, and both pay well."

A-Li did not accept immediately.

She placed the two slips in front of Lillipup. "Which way do you want to go tomorrow?"

Lillipup sniffed the ink on the paper. Neither slip carried the scent of its destination, so it could not judge what lay in the distance. It could only tell that the papers were different.

In the end, it pressed a paw on the shorter route, the one marked with a medicinal herb leaf.

"We'll take the shorter eastern route first," A-Li said.

The owner looked at the other slip. "What about the west side?"

"I'll deliver it myself, or ask it again in the afternoon."

Lillipup picked up the eastern slip and placed it in the delivery basket.

Its first job after officially becoming her companion was accepted only halfway.