When the Wheel Rolled Loose, Lillipup Barked First

On the morning of the third day, two carts were parked outside the shop.

Magby's rest record was still posted in the care room. After breakfast, it was in high spirits, but it still did not wear its training wristband. It only followed Yan on a slow lap through the front hall. When it finished, it sat down beside the white line and accepted the warm water Indeedee offered.

Yan sat beside it as well. Whenever someone moved goods inside the shop, he looked up; whenever a cart passed outside, Magby poked its head out. Neither of them treated every glance upward as a desire to train.

Master Shi's small cart leaned against the wall, carrying only Timburr's own wooden beam. The other was a two-wheeled vegetable cart loaded with cabbages, carrots, and two baskets of fresh potatoes, its handles held by a young delivery worker.

A-Li was returning from the alley with Lillipup.

Yesterday had been a day off from class, so she had finished two delayed short deliveries together. Lillipup walked on her right, while an old cloth bag hung at A-Li's waist and the empty basket had become much lighter.

As they passed the vegetable cart, it suddenly stopped.

A faint clink came from the paving stones.

A short iron pin fell beside the wheel and rolled into a drain crack.

Lillipup barked at the wheel.

"Woof!"

The worker did not hear clearly. He was still turning back to confirm quantities with the kitchen. One hand loosened, and the cart handle tilted half an inch to the side.

The wooden axle on the outside of the wheel slowly slid out.

Lillipup's second bark was louder.

A-Li followed its gaze and saw the empty pinhole. "Don't let go! The wheel's coming off!"

The worker instinctively gripped the handles tighter, but the full load of vegetables was already pressing downhill. The right wheel slipped free from the axle, the cart lurched sharply, and the two baskets of potatoes rolled off first. Then the whole cart slid down the gentle slope in front of the shop toward the street.

A woman buying groceries stood at the roadside with a child in hand, only a few steps from the cart's front.

"Move left." Hu Liena was the first to speak.

She did not rush to pull the cart. She only guided the woman and child toward the steps. Eevee stayed close to her feet, its tail pressed against its body, not darting through the rolling potatoes.

Xie Yue kicked aside the empty baskets by the door, clearing a straight path for the cart. Pawniard guarded the bottom of the steps, its blades facing outward, without touching the round potatoes rolling everywhere.

Yan picked up Magby and retreated behind the white line.

"I can help," he said.

Magby stretched its neck to look as well.

"You're responsible for not coming out," Xia Che said.

Pancham had already charged out of the shop. Rather than taking the cart head-on, it first grabbed the worker, who was still frozen in place, and pulled him aside.

With no one supporting it, the cart handles slammed down.

Metagross rose from beneath the eaves. Its four thick arms spread open at once, its red eyes locking onto the tilted cart.

Blue-white light supported the underside of the cart.

Psychic held the entire vegetable cart half a foot above the ground. The wheels still spun in the air, while cabbages slowly squeezed through the gaps in the rope net.

Indeedee raised a hand and used Protect. A translucent barrier pressed against the cart's side, blocking the vegetable baskets that were about to fall. Its other hand waved pedestrians farther back, signaling everyone to retreat above the steps.

The entire street fell quiet for a moment.

Xia Che stood behind the counter. "Master Shi, the wheel."

Only then did Master Shi snap out of it beside his small cart. He grabbed his tool bag and ran over, but Timburr was faster, carrying its own wooden beam beneath the suspended cart.

"Don't crawl under yet." Master Shi pressed a hand to its shoulder. "The cart hasn't settled."

Timburr did not force the issue. It laid its wooden beam flat behind the left wheel, which had not fallen off, then picked two triangular wooden wedges from the tool bag.

Metagross slowly lowered the cart.

The left wheel, which had remained attached, touched down first and braced against the wedges. Timburr immediately placed its wooden beam crosswise beneath the frame, forming a second support. Only after confirming that the cart no longer swayed did Master Shi approach the detached right wheel.

"The axle isn't broken." He ran his fingers over the pinhole. "The iron pin wore too thin and slipped out on its own."

The delivery worker's face went pale. "I checked it this morning."

"You only looked at the outside. You didn't pull it out and measure it."

Master Shi found a new pin in his tool bag, one that was exactly the right thickness. He did not install it immediately, instead having Timburr inspect the inside of the right wheel.

A shallow scrape had been carved into the inner ring by the axle, but there were no cracks.

Timburr tapped the wheel rim and nodded at him.

Together, man and Pokémon fitted the wheel back on. The new iron pin passed through the axle hole, its end bent tight, then secured with an anti-slip washer. Master Shi shook it hard three times. The wheel did not move at all.

Timburr tapped the vegetable baskets with its wooden beam.

Master Shi understood. "Test it empty first."

Metagross first set the repaired cart steadily back onto the stone road. Psychic still clung to the frame and did not withdraw at once. Indeedee removed Protect, and everyone carried the remaining vegetable baskets one by one to the side of the steps. The fallen vegetables were gathered into empty baskets first as well.

The delivery worker pushed the empty cart back and forth once in front of the shop. The right wheel turned smoothly, and the new pin did not shift outward. Only after Metagross confirmed that the cart no longer tilted did the blue-white glow in its eyes slowly fade.

After the vegetables were loaded back onto the cart, they tested it once more. This time, Master Shi drew a thin line beside the axle. If the pin slid out even a little, the line would break. The worker pushed the cart to the alley entrance and back, and the ink line remained intact.

"From now on, pull it before leaving. Don't just look," Master Shi said.

The worker gripped the new pin and tested it with force. "I'll remember."

The cart was stable again.

Only potatoes remained scattered across the entrance, along with one cabbage that had landed in Pancham's arms.

Pancham looked down at it and kept holding it.

"That one needs to be weighed too," Indeedee reminded it.

It could only put the cabbage back into the basket.

Only after the cart was completely stable did Zorua jump down from the counter. It turned one potato that had rolled beneath the steps into three, hoping to make Pancham run two extra trips.

Lillipup went over and sniffed around, then directly picked up the real potato in the middle. The two illusions remained in place before Zorua quietly dismissed them.

Pancham saw it and chased after Zorua while hugging a vegetable basket. Zorua circled around Metagross's arm to evade it, then finally picked up two carrots on its own before Pancham let the matter go.

The tense delivery worker finally caught his breath.

The grocery shopper came over with her child to thank them. Hu Liena first checked the child and confirmed that the sudden rolling cart had only frightened them; neither their hands nor feet had been hurt.

"Thank them." She pointed at Lillipup and the other partners.

The child crouched down to pet Lillipup, then remembered the shop's rules midway. "Is it okay?"

A-Li did not answer for it.

Lillipup sniffed the hand, then stepped half a pace forward on its own. The child only patted the top of its head once before withdrawing their hand, then seriously said thank you again.

The delivery worker also came to the shop entrance. He wanted to take out money, but after searching for a long time, he found only a handful of Copper Soul Coins and the old iron pin that had worn thin.

"How much for the repair?"

Master Shi said, "The cost of one iron pin."

"What about saving people?"

Xia Che looked at Indeedee.

Indeedee had already circled a basket of potatoes dirtied by the fall on the delivery slip. Their skins were unbroken and they could still be used after washing; the two cracked ones had been set aside and could no longer be counted as goods for the shop.

"Make up the vegetables," Xia Che said.

The worker nodded repeatedly. He checked the pin on the other side again, found that it had also worn very thin, and simply asked Master Shi to replace that one too.

Timburr braced the second wheel as well. It had originally only agreed to go to the training ground for a trial today, but helping once unexpectedly did not mean it would be kept behind to deal with carts along the entire street.

After repairing both wheels, Master Shi pushed his own small cart away as planned.

Lillipup was still standing by the drain crack.

A-Li crouched down and asked, "What did you hear just now?"

It pressed its nose close to the crack and barked inside.

Xie Yue reached in with a thin hook and fished out the old iron pin.

"It heard this hit the ground," he said.

Yue Guan had just arrived from the street entrance and only saw everyone picking up potatoes. "It didn't know the cart would break beforehand?"

"No." A-Li answered quickly. "It heard something first, then saw the wheel."

Lillipup wagged its tail.

Hu Liena did not let everyone crowd around praising it. She brought over an empty wooden board and asked only three questions.

"What was discovered first?"

"The iron pin falling," A-Li said.

"What was shouted first?"

"Don't let go, the wheel's coming off."

"After the cart moved, what did you do first?"

"Had the people by the roadside move left."

Hu Liena wrote heard it, said it clearly, and cleared the path on the board. Lillipup's bark had been important, but A-Li clearly shouting what she saw had been important as well. Steadying the cart, blocking the vegetable baskets, and bracing the wheels had all happened only after the path was clear.

Yan stood behind the white line with Magby in his arms. "I didn't do anything."

"You didn't take it charging out," Xie Yue said.

"That counts too?"

Xia Che accepted the tea Indeedee handed him. "Today, it counts."

Magby puffed out its chest, clearly feeling that both of them had completed their rest assignment very well.

Indeedee then checked the partners who had taken part in the rescue. Pancham had mud on its paws but no scrapes; after washing up, it received a crisp carrot. Indeedee had only maintained Protect for a short time and continued sorting vegetable baskets after drinking water. Metagross had withdrawn Psychic in time, and its four arms still rested steadily beneath the eaves without taking on any additional carrying.

When the rescue was over, they also needed to confirm whether those who had helped needed rest.

A-Li wrapped the old iron pin in a small piece of cloth and held it out to Lillipup. "Want to keep this as a memento of today's work?"

Lillipup sniffed it, then turned around and picked up a potato from the ground.

It clearly preferred helping gather the vegetables.

A quarter hour later, the entrance was neat again. Magby had remained behind the white line the entire time, only handing a washed cup of water to Pancham at the end.

Yan lowered his head and asked, "Feeling restless?"

Magby shook its head, then pointed at the record board.

The half-day after not running behind the soft posts was not over yet.

It remembered on its own.