The day before the official opening of the rally, Xin Mu was pulled into a new group chat filled with the participants for tomorrow's competition.
There were only a dozen or so people in the entire chat, plus a teacher in charge of leading the team.
Shortly after, the group owner announced that all contestants from their school were here, and released tomorrow's gathering time. The school would provide a bus to take them to the match venue.
"Where are you?"
Seeing that Zhang Lin was not in the chat, Xin Mu wondered why he was missing and sent him a private message.
"In the dorms, where else?"
"I mean, why aren't you in that rally group chat?"
"I didn't sign up, why would I be in the chat?"
Xin Mu sent a question mark sticker. Sometimes, sending a question mark did not mean one had a question, but rather that one felt the other person had a problem.
Zhang Lin was the one who had told him about the competition news, yet the guy wasn't even participating. This made Xin Mu feel something was amiss.
"I never said I was competing either. I figured your Meowscarada was so strong that you might be interested. I've only got a Weavile, wouldn't participating just be making up the numbers?"
Meowscarada's size was similar to a human's at least, but a Weavile was the size of a kid... It really wasn't suitable.
"Good luck, I'll go cheer you on."
Switching back to the group chat interface, he actually recognized a few people in there who were discussing the headcount.
[How come there are only these few people?]
[It's a recreational event, pretty normal.]
[The prize money shouldn't be less than a Gym battle though, did the Battle Studies Department look down on it?]
[You gotta look at what time it is right now. Everyone in the Battle Studies Department is prepping for the Pangoro Academy Cup. The ones not competing are acting as sparring partners, who has the time to join this?]
A user IDed as "What Did Mom Machamp Do Wrong" seemed to be more informed and was answering the group members' questions.
[I also heard that the school team and those people in the Battle Studies Department are annoyed right now. Apparently, some gilded newcomer got parachuted in...]
Meow? (A gilded newcomer, are they talking about us?)
If Old Liu's efficiency is fine, then they should be talking about us, but don't mind what they say.
Meow~ (If they dare pick a fight, I'll beat all of them up.)
Cough cough, try not to start anything first when the time comes, they're still teammates anyway. Even though our main goal is the singles tournament, if we join the doubles, we can even use them as meat shields.
The doubles format was much more complex than singles. Four Pokémon on a single stage could create far more variables than just two.
If they really ran into mechanism-heavy tactics like Destiny Bond or Perish Song, Meownei was practically helpless against them, and if she got forced-switched, she could only suffer a regretful defeat.
The school team currently in prep had no idea that this parachuted teammate had already made plans to use them as meat shields.
Though if they really knew the details, they'd probably volunteer to act as meat shields.
Winning the match benefited everyone. In a situation where everyone was a score-chaser, even with bad blood, they still had to do their best in a team battle to protect the one outputting damage.
That was on the condition that they believed this person actually had output and could deal damage.
After confirming the gathering time and location, Xin Mu set a new alarm and stopped paying attention to things in that group.
Even though they were from the same school, this wasn't the Academy Cup. Everyone was a team, but those people were also rivals.
This match didn't care about team points or anything like that, nor would anyone share battle experience. They were just awkwardly chatting about random nonsense, and within a few minutes, the chat went dead quiet.
Compared to usual, Xin Mu skipped one round of evening training, turned in early, and slept soundly to prepare for the next day's events.
The big bus prepared by the school was already in position. Xin Mu and Meownei arrived relatively early, found seats in the back corner, and sat down to wait.
People arrived one after another, and the bus headed toward the venue.
After getting on, Meownei curled up against Xin Mu on the seat.
Because they got on early and sat far in the back, they didn't attract much attention.
It wasn't until they got off and started collecting their numbered bibs that someone noticed there was someone who had kept a Meowscarada with them the entire bus ride.
This should have been no big deal, but in another chat, someone with a familiar ID sent a message.
What Did Mom Machamp Do Wrong: [Brothers! I think I found that gilded freak!]
[Brother Han is awesome, you got news already?]
[Just luck. He came to join the rally too, and he happened to be on the same bus as me.]
Much like how Old Liu had confirmed Xin Mu's identity, this little comrade had also heard the rumor that the gilded freak had a Meowscarada.
Lifting a hand, he snapped a photo and prepared to send it to the group as proof, but his phone vanished in that exact instant.
Meow... Meow... (What are you trying to do by sneaking photos of us?)
Meownei's voice was kept rather low right now. The one most familiar with this voice was probably the Haunter from the exam the other day.
It had personally experienced the "death threat" coming from a Pokémon.
In theory, all Pokémon language was the same, and quite a few trainers could grasp what their Pokémon meant. But facing an unfamiliar Pokémon, it was very difficult for them to understand the meaning within those words.
Thus, the person who had just snapped the photo watched helplessly as Meownei deleted the picture she had just taken, and then shoved the phone back into its original spot.
That wasn't even all. After finishing these actions, Meownei even made a slicing motion across her own neck.
"Meownei! What are you doing? Come over and get your numbered bib!"
"Meow~ (Coming~)"
Meownei skipped away, leaving the Mom Machamp classmate dazed in place.
"Did I just... get threatened by a Pokémon? Wait, how did that Meowscarada get over here? How did she spot me? Why is she using a phone so smoothly?"
Questions popped into her head one after another, until a continuous string of beeping sounds coming from the phone finally snapped her back to reality.
[Brother Han, Brother Han? Why'd you go quiet?]
[Seriously, let's see what that gilded freak looks like.]
[Shut up! I think we wronged him. He might not be here to get gilded, he might just... be a carry!]
[Blink if you've been kidnapped, we'll hold a moment of silence for you.]
[Ppiss off! Go watch the rally livestream yourselves, you'll understand in a minute!]
Xin Mu had no idea that people had already started discussing him in this short span of time. He was much more curious about what Meownei had just gone off to do.
"Where did you just go?"
"Meow~ (Catching a mouse.)"
"Catching a mouse? A Raticate?"
"Meow~ (The one wearing a mask, she was sneaking photos of us just now.)"
Meownei pointed toward the person she had just had a friendly exchange with. That person seemed to notice them over here as well, awkwardly offered a greeting, and went off to line up to the side.
Yes, this classmate was a female classmate. Although her name wasn't very proper, all beings were equal in the face of the absurd, and this didn't affect anything.
At most... it made Xin Mu somewhat suspicious of Meownei's motives.
"Are you sure... it was because of the photo, and not because of gender?"
"Meow~"
Before you continue