Chapter 264 – Who’s the Trainer Now?!

Su Bai wasn't the only one left speechless.

On the screen, everyone—humans and Pokémon alike—stood frozen in awkward silence.

Big eyes stared at small eyes.

Pei Jingguo twitched at the corner of his mouth and turned away, unable to bear watching.

Xiao Zhang might never have beaten him in a match, but he was undeniably the strongest contender from Haicheng City No.1 High School—his most respectable rival.

As a battle maniac, Pei Jingguo wanted Xiao Zhang to grow stronger.

But…

"What the hell was I even expecting…"

He muttered to himself, recalling that infamous fart-noise of an Aura Sphere.

Xiao Zhang glanced awkwardly at Pei Jingguo, who had deliberately looked away.

He then turned to Lucario—who looked absolutely shocked by the "power" of that Aura Sphere.

Even his own Machamp and Cubone were eyeing him with visible disappointment.

"But… I did feel the power of Aura. So why… why did that happen?"

Xiao Zhang looked thoroughly confused.

As a martial artist, he had instinctively tried to guide the Aura using his qi—his inner energy.

That pathetic excuse of an Aura Sphere?

Believe it or not, it had actually used up every last drop of Aura he could muster.

And the best it did was… roll a pebble across the ground?

That result was crushingly disappointing for someone so desperate to grow stronger.

Just then, Lucario scratched its head, clearly hesitating.

"Ruu… ruu…"

A stream of gentle calls left its mouth.

Xiao Zhang looked up, dazed, and was just about to ask Diancie to translate—

But then… something weird happened.

He actually understood what Lucario was trying to say!

Not in words. Not through language.

He simply felt it.

The powerful Aura radiating from Lucario pulsed toward him—and within that Aura, meaning took form.

Xiao Zhang's heart surged with shock.

It was like someone speaking a language you'd never studied, with no idea of its grammar, yet somehow… you understood everything.

Unreal. Surreal. Impossible.

And yet—his attention was quickly drawn to the message being passed to him.

His expression shifted instantly—serious, reverent.

He stood up straight, nodded slowly to Lucario, and murmured:

"So this… is Aura."

"My grasp is still shallow—there's no way I could have performed a real Aura Sphere."

"And Aura isn't just a technique—it's a path of self-discipline, of sensing the Aura of all things…"

"Only then… can its true power be used…"

"So that's how it works… Damn, this is hard!"

Nodding rapidly, Xiao Zhang suddenly pulled a notebook from who-knows-where and began scribbling madly.

Watching this scene unfold, Su Bai rubbed his chin with a strange expression.

"Wait a second… This feels familiar."

Back when he'd taught at Haicheng City No.1, Xiao Zhang always took meticulous notes like that…

Could it be—

A bizarre idea surfaced in Su Bai's mind.

"No way… he wouldn't actually…?!"

Su Bai's eyes widened in disbelief.

A moment later, Xiao Zhang closed his notebook, stood up straight—

—and bowed deeply to Lucario.

"Lucario-sensei! Please teach me the ways of Aura!"

"PFFFTTT—!!"

Zhu Jianyuan, who had just taken a sip of water to calm his nerves, sprayed it across the floor in a full-on spit-take.

Lu Liangpeng looked more than a little embarrassed.

"Yeah… that's Xiao Zhang for you. He lives by the 'those who can, teach' rule."

"As long as he can learn something, he'll show deep respect to whoever teaches him."

"Even if it's a Pokémon…"

"Well, I mean, Pokémon are smart… They can be teachers too, right? Right?"

Su Bai's face twisted into a very complicated expression.

Bowing to Lucario and calling him "teacher"?

If Ji Wei or Liu Yunlan's A-rank fighter teammate saw this… who knows how they'd react?

Even in the Pokémon world, this would've made headlines.

In rare cases, there were Pokémon–human mentor relationships.

The legendary "Hero of Aura," Sir Aaron, had a Lucario apprentice.

But this?

This was flipped.

Here, the Pokémon was the teacher.

And the human… the student.

Su Bai could already imagine the headlines:

"Trainer doesn't train Pokémon—Pokémon trains trainer."

His head started to ache.

"This test question… feels way out of syllabus…"

"Ruu?! Ruu!!"

Lucario clearly wasn't ready for Xiao Zhang's sudden formal bow.

It waved its paws frantically and tried to sidestep the awkwardness.

But then… it froze mid-step.

A thoughtful, dazed expression came over its face.

Moments later, Lucario let out a conflicted sigh and barked twice.

"Ruu! Ruu!"

Xiao Zhang stared at it nervously.

"Crap… I can't understand him again!"

Totally normal.

Earlier, Lucario had used its Aura to directly convey thoughts to Xiao Zhang's mind—a kind of spiritual telepathy that transcended language and species.

Only beings who had truly mastered Aura could do that.

But now that Lucario was flustered?

Yeah, there was no time to play translator.

"Umm… what's Lucario saying now?" Xiao Zhang asked meekly, turning to the Aura Ball for help.

Diancie's voice echoed from within:

"Lucario says… things have gone completely off-script."

"But since it did promise to become your partner if you could grasp the power of Aura…"

"It won't go back on its word."

"Still… your current level of Aura is… well, it's making him very conflicted."

Diancie sounded helpless.

Even she had never seen a straightforward Pokémon this bewildered.

Because for Pokémon, 1 was 1, and 2 was 2.

There's no room for "maybe" in between.

They're that pure.

Su Bai sighed.

"Xiao Zhang… You bugged the system, didn't you?"

Lucario had made a firm promise: if Xiao Zhang could control Aura, it would join him.

That kind of promise, made by a Pokémon, was sacred. Unbreakable.

But what no one expected—

Was that Xiao Zhang would show it a level of "Aura control" so utterly unprecedented.

If learning Aura was a school test… Xiao Zhang's performance probably scored somewhere between 20 and 30 points.

Far from passing.

But Lucario had forgotten to define the passing line.

And now… it had no choice but to accept the outcome.

A promise is a promise.

Su Bai shook his head, trying not to laugh.

Lucario really was a noble spirit.

But this outcome?

Absolutely hilarious.

Overjoyed, Xiao Zhang pulled out a Poké Ball and gently tapped it to Lucario's chest.

"Then, Lucario-sensei… Please take care of me from now on!"

Inside the Pokémon Center, everyone who saw this could only sigh in exasperation.

After all, the role of a Trainer… is to train Pokémon.

But this?

This flipped the whole world upside down.

Now no one could even say for sure—

Was Lucario the trainer?

Or was Xiao Zhang?

That answer… was harder to guess than anyone ever expected.