"Let Meowscarda give the commands?"
"Nekomi means, since the opponent can use psychic powers, we should use a method of commanding she can't understand, so she won't know what we're planning."
Pokémon speech has always been a mystery. Unless a Pokémon learns to speak human language, or uses devices, psychic control, or other means to produce a human voice, a Trainer usually can only understand the Pokémon they're familiar with.
This can sometimes lead to miscommunication, requiring the aid of body language.
Nekomi's ability to speak Pokémon language allows her to communicate in a way that the opposing Trainer doesn't understand, while making her commands more intuitive for her own team's Pokémon.
"Makes sense. According to past data, the opponent's ace only knows Telepathy, not mind reading. Plus, if a Pokémon actively rejects her, she can't sense their thoughts either.
The issue is… I know your Meowscarda is a great fighter, but can she actually give commands?"
This is the difference between a general who commands the whole army and a vanguard. One only needs to fight, while the other must lead the entire army.
As for letting the Trainer relay commands to her, others have tried that too.
But doing so introduces a slight delay. Whether that delay is significant or not depends, but when you're up against an opponent who can rely on telepathy to launch *zero-frame attacks, that delay becomes a massive disadvantage. [TN: In video games, it refers to a zero-frame move, which is a move that takes no time to execute in the game's frame system.]
There's another downside: the opposing Trainer can't understand you, but the opposing Pokémon might. That could backfire.
"It's a good idea, but without Telepathy, forget it. We took first place in the last two rounds. As long as we don't rank too poorly this time, we're fine."
Protean only changes the type during battle, and even that is temporary. Meowscarda's essence remains a Grass-type + Dark-type Pokémon, and even though it excels at using magical flower bombs, it relies on the stems connected to the flower buds to control them.
As for Meowscarda using psychic powers, Jia Qiong absolutely refuses to believe it. Otherwise, his entire worldview would need a rewrite.
"Meow~ (Do these people not realize who's been carrying them to victory?)"
Nekomi sat at the conference table, resting her cheek on one hand, looking at Jia Qiong with an expression that said, "Do you not know the difference between a big joker and a little joker?"
The others still showed some respect toward the head coach, but not Nekomi. In her eyes, the head coach was the most useless one of all.
After all, she didn't need him to plan tactics. Li Han handled the data and intelligence, Joy was the medic, and as far as Nekomi was concerned, even Old Liu, who could order takeout, was more useful than the Coach.
"Ahem, Nekomi."
"Meow~ (Relax, relax. I'm speaking in Meowscarda dialect; they won't understand a single word. I don't have psychic powers, but I can do this.)"
As she spoke, a faint blue light began emanating from Nekomi, slowly extending toward Rowan. Rowan then realized Nekomi's voice was now echoing directly in his mind.
"Meow~ (Now this works, right?)"
"Wait, she can use Aura? Actually, yeah, she likes using Aura Sphere, so I guess that makes sense.... Wait, what am I saying, that doesn't make sense at all!"
Jia Qiong hadn't expected Meowscarda to ultimately deliver such a blow to his worldview.
Excluding Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, not many Pokémon are capable of using Aura Sphere.
That Nekomi could not only use Aura Sphere proficiently, but even mold it like dough, was already exceptional.
But Aura Sphere and Aura are fundamentally different.
Aura Sphere is just a move. Aura, however, resides in every person and Pokémon.
As a special kind of spiritual energy, Aura can be considered each creature's essence.
The application of Aura, like psychic powers, has different areas of emphasis, including but not limited to telepathy, surveying the surroundings, and sensing or seeing through objects.
The Pokémon most familiar with Aura power, Lucario, is typically the only one to specifically train Aura due to innate talent.
According to legend, the "Aura Guardian" Aaron, who sacrificed himself to stop a war, had a Lucario with whom he shared a close bond.
Now, seeing a Meowscarda using Aura so proficiently, Jia Qiong found it hard to accept.
"Your Auras just happen to be compatible? No wonder you two are so close."
Joy wasn't particularly surprised. Coming from a long line of medical practitioners, her family had a deep understanding of various legends. To her, this was just a minor occurrence.
In fact, Joy even understood things like the frequencies of Aura.
By all rights, everyone's Aura should be different, but coincidences do happen. For example, Ash had similar Aura as that of the Aura Guardian.
"Meow~ (Wrong. This has nothing to do with Aura.)"
Nekomi started speaking again in a dialect no one could understand, but by this point, it didn't really matter.
Winning two events and earning points to secure a ranking is certainly commendable, but how could that compare to the prestige of a "Triple Crown"—winning all three events?
Regardless of whether this coach had done much or not, he was still officially the one leading the team.
Rip—
With the sound of a nylon fastener being torn open, Old Liu suddenly realized his armband had been ripped off.
"What are you doing?"
"At this point, where am I supposed to find someone to make a new one? Let me borrow yours."
Old Liu's armband had the words "Assistant Coach" written on it. Jia Qiong had it made for him to help him feel more included, so that he wouldn't look out of place when at the venue.
But now, that needs to be put on hold.
In the past, the ones giving commands were always the team members, there had never been a Pokémon in that role. But that was fine. According to the rules, members of the coaching team were allowed to appear during 6-pick-4 matches. It was a way for the support staff to get some recognition too.
And the rules never said that a Pokémon couldn't be a Coach. So the new holder of the armband became Nekomi.
"Why don't you just give them yours?"
"Mine's stitched into my clothes, it can't be removed. Don't worry, we won't leave you out of the group photo."
The next day, Old Liu sat quietly in the Varsity Team's lounge, lost in thought. At least he had still entered the venue with the Varsity Team. He hadn't been reduced to buying a ticket to enter the venue.
Despite the quick battle two days ago and the dull one yesterday, the crowd hadn't thinned out much. People were still just as passionate about Pokémon battles.
"Based on the current scores, East Campus is ranked at the top. This is the closest they've ever come to a championship, can they finally make their dream come true?
Contestant Rowan is still participating, which suggests that the team continues to place a lot of trust in his ability to command. However, we haven't seen any accompanying Coach...
Wait a minute! That Meowscarda, is that a Coach's armband it's wearing?! Are you serious?! They're actually letting a Pokémon act as the Coach this round?!"
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