Four Life-Size Dolls Went In, Only Four Soft Panels Remained

Before the second Basic Partnering Class began, four life-size dolls were delivered to the training ground.

The first was a Metagross, its body painted dark blue, with four thick arms fixed to its front and rear sides and a pair of bright red painted eyes. The second was an Absol, its long white fur made of soft cotton, but the curved horn at the side of its head had been carved long and sharp.

The third was a Lucario, with its chest spike wrapped in soft cloth.

The fourth had been made according to Flabébé's old measurements. It was only palm-high and sat atop a blue flower. Its name had barely been written on the wooden plaque when the original evolved into Floette.

The Luo craftsman was very confident. "With these, they can practice even when the Pokémon aren't present. The students can practice as many times as they want, without worrying about being refused."

Hu Liena looked at the four motionless dolls. "Send them to the shop first."

The Luo craftsman assumed she wanted Xia Che to inspect them personally, so he immediately had all four loaded onto a cart. By the time it reached the shop entrance, more than a dozen onlookers had followed along.

"Which one looks the most alike?" someone asked.

"Metagross," the Luo craftsman said. "Four arms, two eyes. I worked from the measurements for three days."

Metagross rose from beneath the eaves, its enormous body hovering beside the doll.

With the real and fake standing side by side, the doll did look somewhat similar. The onlookers stepped back two paces, then noticed that the real Metagross was not moving and slowly regained their courage.

The Luo craftsman pushed the doll's base. "It can move around the training room too."

All four small wheels turned at once. The doll slid forward half a zhang, and its fixed right front arm swept toward a cup by the door. Indeedee whisked the cup away in time, but the wooden arm struck the counter instead, and the entire doll immediately tipped to the left.

Metagross extended one arm and steadily caught it.

"Are the wheels too narrow?" The Luo craftsman crouched to inspect them.

"The arms can't retract," Xie Yue said.

When the real Metagross passed through a doorway, it adjusted the positions of its four arms according to pedestrians and objects. As long as the doll moved forward, its four arms occupied the same width. It could simulate the maximum space Metagross needed, but it could not replace Metagross in judging when it should make way.

"Then I'll make the arms movable," the Luo craftsman said.

"Who decides which way they move?" Hu Liena asked.

The Luo craftsman looked at the person pushing the cart.

"It's still a person deciding."

The first doll was labeled: static positioning only.

The Absol doll's problem was even more obvious.

When Bibi Dong arrived at the shop with Absol, the doll was sitting in the middle of the waiting area. Seeing the white outline that resembled itself, the real Absol first circled around to sniff at the curved horn.

There was no scent, and no breathing.

It quickly lost interest and turned to pass by on the other side of the doll. When it passed a child, it deliberately tilted its curved horn aside, while the doll's sharp horn remained pointed outward.

Bibi Dong touched the wooden horn with her fingertip. "You call this soft cotton?"

Sweat appeared on the Luo craftsman's forehead. "The horn needs a wooden core to stay upright."

"Remove it."

"Without the horn, it won't look like Absol."

"If it stays, it could hurt someone," Xie Yue said.

The curved horn was removed on the spot. The Absol doll was left with an empty slot on one side of its head. It looked far less imposing, but it could finally be placed safely in the passageway.

The second label still read: static positioning only.

When it came to the Lucario doll, the Luo craftsman wanted to invite the original out for comparison.

"It's in the Quiet Courtyard," Xia Che said.

"Just one look will do."

"It isn't coming out today."

"Then how can the measurements be confirmed?"

"Yesterday's record."

The Luo craftsman took out the measurement sheet. Its height, shoulder width, and the range of its chest spike were all clearly written down. At the corner of the page was Lucario's own consent mark, authorizing its use only for making a safe-distance guide.

"The record agreed to become a guide board. It didn't agree to be summoned over to stand beside a doll," Xia Che said.

The third one was not even compared with the original.

Finally, Yue Guan lifted the Flabébé doll onto the table.

Floette flew closer while holding its blue flower. The doll still had its old pose of sitting within the flower crown. The dimensions of its soft carrying bag, its body height, and even the way it held the flower no longer matched.

"Should I remake it as a Floette?" the Luo craftsman asked.

Floette immediately shook its head.

It had only just finished adapting to its body and had no intention of practicing entering doors while facing a wooden doll of itself every day. When it needed to confirm a passageway's width, two soft cords were already enough.

Yue Guan looked at the blue flower on the doll. "The flower is fairly well made."

Floette touched the wooden petals and found that the color was only close, while even the number of petals was short by one. It fetched a charcoal pencil, drew a small line in the missing spot, then pushed the doll back in front of the Luo craftsman.

The fourth label was changed to: measurements outdated.

After watching all four rounds of inspection, one of the onlookers could not help asking, "Can't a single doll be used for companion training?"

"They can be used for positioning practice," Hu Liena said.

"They can't imitate abilities?"

"No."

"They can't know when to stop either?"

"No."

"Then why make them look like Pokémon?"

The Luo craftsman fell silent.

He had originally only received an order for four life-size soft partitions. The training instructors thought ordinary partitions were not eye-catching enough, so they paid extra to turn them into the four Pokémon receiving the most attention in Spirit City. The more realistic they looked, the easier it was for people to forget that they contained nothing but wooden frames and cotton cloth.

Xia Che patted the Metagross doll's base. "Take it apart."

The Luo craftsman was reluctant. "I spent three days making it."

Metagross lowered its head and looked at its wooden doll, its red eyes quietly motionless.

The doll looked back with its painted red eyes.

Zorua poked its head out from behind the counter. Everyone thought it was about to add an illusion to the doll, but it only reached out a paw and tapped the overly narrow wheelbase before retreating.

"Even it thinks the wheels should be fixed first," Ghost said.

In the end, the Luo craftsman removed all four layers of colorful outer coverings. The wooden frames were kept, while the sharp horns, fixed arms, and outdated flower bases were all removed. Thick soft cotton was wrapped around them again. The bases were widened, and the wheels were fitted with wooden brakes that could be stepped on.

That afternoon, four ordinary soft partitions were delivered back to the lounge.

One was red, one was blue, and two were gray. They had no eyes, spikes, or flowers, and no longer bore any Pokémon names.

The second class still had three groups. Hu Liena had the trainees secure the wooden brakes first, then treat the partitions as stationary cargo crates. Xie Yue watched the passageway, while Yan reminded them to check whether the brakes had loosened after every round.

The partitions would not move out of the way themselves, so the trainees took the initiative to leave space before turning around. If someone knocked one crooked, they only needed to straighten it, and the soft cotton would not scrape their arms.

A-Li and Lillipup tried the blue partition first. After it blocked their view of each other, she did not call its name repeatedly. She only said "come back" once from the other side.

Lillipup sniffed the two paths to either side. The left side was near the window and smelled of fresh wax; the right side held A-Li's old cloth bag. It chose the right side on its own, circling around and returning to her feet.

"The partition didn't tell it which way to go," the Luo craftsman said.

"That's why it can only teach people how to wait," Hu Liena replied.

Master Shi and Timburr carried a square beam past two gray panels. If the original dolls had stretched out their arms, the beam would have been forced higher. The ordinary soft panels only marked the edges of the passageway, allowing one person and one Pokémon to decide for themselves which end to lower first.

Timburr stopped when it reached the corner. Master Shi saw its footsteps and stopped as well. The two turned the beam inward by a small angle before continuing forward. The soft panels did not move from start to finish.

"It didn't imitate Metagross holding wood either," the Luo craftsman said again.

"It never needed to," Xie Yue said.

The final group was Bibi Dong and Absol. The red partition stood between the light and dark routes, and Absol chose the side with more shadows first. Bibi Dong adjusted her own position accordingly, then returned to Absol's right side after passing the partition.

The training instructor asked, "If the partition were painted like Absol, would it take things more seriously?"

Absol sniffed the scentless red cloth and simply walked around it.

"It wouldn't," Bibi Dong said.

Once all three groups had finished, the Luo craftsman finally crossed out "looks alike" on the inspection form and replaced it with "stands steadily, brakes properly, harmless when struck."

By the end of one class, the four partitions had not imitated a single move, yet they had fallen over three fewer times than the dolls.

The Luo craftsman sat in the outer room and watched the entire session. "What should I do with the four layers of colored cloth?"

Indeedee had already separated the intact soft cotton from the fabric. The dark blue cloth could patch the waiting benches, the white cotton would be kept for Absol's winter cushion, and the gray-blue fabric from the Lucario doll would be returned to the Luo craftsman rather than used for it without permission.

Floette kept the wooden blue flower that was missing one petal.

It did not use it to replace its own flower. Instead, it placed the wooden flower beside the old record plaque as a reminder that future measurements had to reflect the original's current form.

At dusk, the three number tags from the second class were sent back to the shop. Xia Che flipped through the records, where the most conspicuous line read: soft partitions suitable, life-size dolls canceled.

"What will the consultant write this time?" Hu Liena asked.

Xia Che thought for a moment, then added four words to the back: "Don't paint eyes."

Bibi Dong read it and did not object.

Outside, the Luo craftsman rolled up the four layers of colored cloth, intending to turn them into ordinary wind curtains. No one bought a wooden doll that could replicate a powerful partner, because such a thing had never existed from the beginning.