The sun beamed past the curtains, filling the room with light. The boy's eyes squinted as his bed squeaked from his movements. He tried to roll over, but the bed's racket finally woke him up. "Man, what time is it?" Dawpers groggily asked himself. He slowly blinked as he slowly rubbed his eyes. He was now up for the day. He took a big cat stretch as he yawned. He moved towards the bathrooms outside. "Good morning, general!" a soldier yelled from the bottom of the hill. Dawpers looked around for Gorou, but he was nowhere in sight. "Weird..." he thought, but he didn't think too hard about it.
He washed his face in the bathroom, removing all the sleep in his eyes. Looking back up in the mirror, Dawpers saw a pimple under his lip. He squeezed the pimple until it popped and wiped up the pus. He hopped into the wooden shower. The cold water made him squeal in pain, but he quickly got used to it. He scrubbed every area of his body, then scrubbed the inside of his nails. The water got colder the longer the boy stayed in the shower, as he finally got out in fear of hypothermia. He dried himself off with a cotton towel, then wrapped it around his hair. He slipped on some new clothes and dried his hair. Dawpers brushed his hair and left the bathroom towards the main encampment.
The boy walked towards the encampment, where a new recruit was struggling with some crates. "Do you need help, sir?" Dawpers asked. "No, no! I'm fine... I can... do it!" he cried. The boy gave the man a look of doubt, but he continued to try to lift the four crates. "Don't worry, I'll help." Dawpers said, grabbing three crates. He was shocked by how light the crates were, even though the man struggled with them. He followed the man through the cracks in the crate. The third one blinded him, but he was barely able to not run into anything. The two ran into Gorou. "Dawpers? Do you need help?" he asked the boy. "Sure! I really can't see anything..." the boy replied. "Ah! No general! It's fine! We got this!" the recruit said, but that didn't stop Gorou. The general grabbed the top box as they made their way to a training ground.
"Thanks, Gorou!" Dawpers said, patting Gorou's head. The general quickly ran backwards, scolding the boy. "Please, never do that again." Gorou yelled at him. The boy chuckled as he lowered his arm. "It'd never hurt to try now, did it?" he asked. "Very. You wouldn't know how sensitive my ears are." Well, what about your tail? It looks just as fluffy." Dawpers teased him. "Not. a. chance." he told the boy. The recruit nervously chuckled at the two. "You... you guys make a good duo." he shakily said. "You really think so?" they asked simultaneously. "Jinx." Dawpers giggled. "Anyways, what are we doing here exactly?" he asked. "Well, these supplies are for today's training with General Gorou." the recruit said. "Yep! In fact, would you like to join them, Dawpers? You'll get more experience fighting others with them instead of just me." Gorou said. "It's not like I have anything better to do, sure." Dawpers yawned. The three waited for other soldiers to arrive so training could begin.
After a while, training eventually began. Gorou immediately began to drill the men into stretching and cardio exercises. They ran across the island, jumped across tree roots, and climbed mountains. "Good job, boys. Next, we'll practice our technique." the general said. The men split into groups. Some took up bows and arrows, and others took up spears. "Who are you planning on joining Dawpers?" Gorou asked. "I'll join the ones practicing spears, I guess." The boy walked over to the men practicing with their polearms. "Oh, it's the newbie... Want to join us?" one of the men asked. Dawpers happily agreed as they worked on their form for some time.
While they were practicing clashing their training spears, a soldier sauntered over. "Oh, look. A little kid in our training regiment." he said mockingly. "Who are you calling a kid?" the boy asked, turning around to see who was talking. "Please, why bother turning around? I'll cut your throat into pieces!" the man said, grabbing a spear and tossing it towards him. The boy grabbed the middle of the stick, slashing the thrown spear. The clash threw the spear back at the man, landing at his feet. The boastful soldier's eye twitched in anger. He picked up the spear, hitting the boy's spear with a wide slash. Dawpers' spear was knocked out of his hand as the man went for the finishing blow. The boy slid under the stab, grabbing a nearby training sword. He rushed toward the man, readying his weapon. The man repeated another thrust as Dawpers slashed his polearm away. He bonked the man on the head. "Guess I win." he said in a childlike manner.
