The Aura Coach, the Assistant Coach Was Considering a Warm-up

"Let Meowscarada give the orders?"

"Meownei means that since their trainer can use psychic powers, we should give orders in a way she can't understand. Then she won't know what we're planning."

Pokémon language had always been a mystery. Unless a Pokémon learned human speech or produced a human voice through equipment, mind control, or some other means, trainers could usually only understand Pokémon they were familiar with.

Even then, misunderstandings sometimes arose, requiring body language to clear them up.

Meownei's Pokémon speech would keep the opposing trainer from understanding her while making her orders clearer to the Pokémon on her own team.

"That makes sense. According to intel from previous years, their ace can only use Telepathy, not read minds. And if a Pokémon actively shuts her out, she can't sense its thoughts either.

The question is... I know your Meowscarada is a great fighter, but can she really command a team?"

That was the difference between a general commanding an entire army and a vanguard fighter. One only needed to fight well, while the other had to direct the whole force.

As for having a Pokémon relay its trainer's orders, people had tried that before.

Passing orders back and forth created a brief delay. Its impact could be major or minor, but against an opponent who could act with zero startup frames thanks to Telepathy, that delay would be magnified enormously.

Another drawback was that although the opposing trainer couldn't understand, her Pokémon could, potentially making the tactic backfire.

"It's a good idea, but without an ability like Telepathy, let's forget it. We already took first in the first two rounds. As long as we don't rank too badly this time, that'll be enough."

Protean only changed a Pokémon's type during battle, and that was temporary. Meowscarada was still fundamentally a Grass-type and Dark-type Pokémon. Even her skill with those seemingly magical flower bombs relied on manipulating them through the vines attached to the buds.

Jia Qiong absolutely refused to believe that Meowscarada could use psychic powers. Otherwise, he would have to rebuild his entire understanding of the world.

"Meow~ (Do these people not realize who's carrying them to victory~?)"

Meownei sat beside the conference table with her chin propped on one hand, giving Jia Qiong a look that said, Do you even know who's really in charge here?

The others had some respect for the head coach, but Meownei had none. In her eyes, he was the most useless person here.

After all, she didn't need a coach to plan her tactics. Li Han had data and intel, and Nurse Joy was the medic. As far as Meownei was concerned, even Old Liu, who could order takeout, was more useful than the coach.

"Ahem. Meownei."

"Meow~ (Relax, relax. I'm speaking in a Meowscarada dialect. They definitely can't understand a word. I can't use psychic powers, but I can do this.)"

As she spoke, a faint blue glow radiated from Meownei, gradually extending toward Xin Mu. Then he discovered that her voice had appeared directly in his mind.

"Meow~ (Would this work, then?)"

"Wait, she can use Aura? Well, she does like using Aura Sphere, so that makes sense... Makes sense, my ass!"

Jia Qiong hadn't expected this Meowscarada to deal such a heavy blow to his worldview after all.

Excluding Legendary Pokémon and Mythical Pokémon, there weren't actually many Pokémon capable of using Aura Sphere.

Meownei could use Aura Sphere with ease and even shape it into little balls. That alone was already remarkable.

But Aura Sphere and Aura were two different things.

Aura Sphere was merely a move, while Aura existed within every person and Pokémon.

As a special form of spiritual energy, Aura could be considered the spirit of each living being.

Like psychic powers, Aura had different areas of application, including but not limited to Telepathy, surveying one's surroundings, and sensing or seeing through an object.

Lucario were the Pokémon most familiar with Aura, and usually, only they deliberately trained in its use because of their natural aptitude.

According to legend, Sir Aaron, the "Aura Guardian" who sacrificed himself to end a war, had a Lucario with whom he shared a close bond.

Seeing a Meowscarada wield Aura so proficiently was a little too much for Jia Qiong to accept all at once.

"Does your Aura happen to match? No wonder you're so close."

Nurse Joy wasn't nearly as surprised. Her family had a long medical tradition and knew more about all sorts of legends. This was hardly anything extraordinary to her.

She even knew more about things like Aura frequencies.

In theory, everyone's Aura was different, but coincidences did happen. Ash, for instance, had the same Aura as that Aura Guardian.

"Meow~ (Wrong. This has nothing to do with Aura.)"

Meownei slipped back into the dialect nobody understood, but that no longer mattered.

Earning points by taking first in two individual events and securing a good overall ranking was certainly nice, but how could that compare with the prestige of a clean sweep-winning all three events?

Whether he was just coasting as a coach or not, he was still the one leading this team.

Rrrip~

At the sound of hook-and-loop fastening being torn apart, Old Liu discovered that his armband had been pulled off.

"What are you doing?"

"Where am I supposed to find someone to make another one this late? Let me borrow yours."

Old Liu's armband read "Assistant coach." Jia Qiong had arranged it for him to give him a sense of involvement, so he wouldn't feel quite so superfluous when they entered the venue.

But that would have to wait now.

Previously, team members had always given the orders. There was no precedent for a Pokémon taking part, but that was fine. Under the rules, the coaching staff could appear during battles where four Pokémon were selected from six, giving the behind-the-scenes staff a chance to show their faces.

The rules didn't say a Pokémon couldn't be a coach, so the armband ultimately passed to Meownei.

"Why don't you give her yours?"

"Mine's embroidered onto my clothes. I can't take it off. Don't worry, we won't forget you when we take the group photo."

The next day, Old Liu sat in the school team's rest area, lost in thought. At least he had still entered with the team and hadn't been reduced to buying his own ticket.

Despite the quick matches two days earlier and yesterday's passive battling, the crowd in the stands had barely thinned. Their enthusiasm for Pokémon battles was still plain to see.

"Based on the current points, East University's eastern campus is among the frontrunners. This is the closest they've ever come to the championship. Can they finally make their dream come true?

Xin Mu is competing again. It seems his team has plenty of confidence in his command skills, but I don't see their accompanying coach...

Wait! Is that a... coach's armband on Meowscarada?! Are they serious?! They're having a Pokémon act as their coach for this round?!"