The next weekend, it was Chloe's turn to ride in Ashley's bag, while Penny went ingredient hunting as they headed to the Team Star Fairy Base in North Province(Area 3). Letting her out when they got close, and saw Clive.
"Ashley, Chloe!" he said.
"Hey there Clive," Chloe said.
"Glad to see you've got my name committed to memory!" Clive said, "now, let's pick up our conversation from where we left off before. As I mentioned, I joined Operation Starfall to resolve a sticky situation and to find out the reasons behind Team Star's odd behavior to help my uncle. Above all, we want to know why the students in Team Star have stopped coming to school. And just like Cassiopeia I want the team to disband for good. Since joining Team Star with hou, I've already had some success in opening up a dialogue with Team Star. And I think I'm starting to understand things more clearly. But I don't have enough information just yet. That's why I want to speak with students from Team Star's other squads as well. If you intend to take on another base, know that you can count on me for backup. Till then, see you around, Nia."
Clive then left as Ashley and Chloe headed to the base where they saw an older man talking to a team star grunt.
"I will return later when it is time for the young master's piano lesson. Until then, please give him my regards." He said.
"Y-yes, Mr. Harrington!" the grunt said, as Mr. Harrington noticed Ashley and Chloe.
"Hm?" Mr. Harrington said, "and who might you two be? Friends of the young master perhaps? I didn't even know that Uva Academy accepted pokemon students."
"Ashley is one of two special cases," Chloe said.
"And what do you mean young Master?" Ashley asked to Mr. Harrington's shock.
"Ah. I see…" Mr. Harrington said after recovering. "Since you seem unaware, I must inform you that this is the base of Team Star's Fairy over-the Ruchba Squad led by young master Ortega."
"Um, Mr. Harrimgton?" a grunt said as Ashley looked at Chloe wondering why she had startled when hearing the name of the base. "I don't think we're supposed to be giving out that information…"
"No? Then please accept my apologies," Mr. Harrington said, "do you have any idea whom these young ladies might be?"
"They're no friends of ours," the grunt said, "I think they might be here to take us on!"
"Understood," Harrington said. "In that case… I take it you're an adversary of the young master? Well then, that leaves me with one last thing to ask you… would you be so kind to indulge me in a quick battle?"
"Sure," Ashley said feeling like he is part of the team by how he is acting. So she sent out her Ceruledge which evolved earlier that week and had it used poison jab to deal, with Harrington's Morgrem and Hattrem, all the extra training making it much higher level.
"An outstanding performance," Harrington said. "However. Be aware that young Master Ortega's prowess far surpass my paltry skills. You would do well to take care. Now if you'll excuse me."
"H-hasta la vistar…" the grunt said as he left, before turning to them. "That gentlemanly guy used to be the director of the academy… I think? Least that's what I heard. Now he's, like, tutoring the boss or something. He shows up here sometimes to take the boss to his lessons… hang one-way am I explaining this to you two?! There's no doubting you're here to make trouble, so I gotta go let everyone know! Hasta la vistaaar "
The grunt then left as Cassiopeia called.
"I see the guard has been with," she said, "good job. That base belongs to Team Star's Fairy over-the Ruchbah Squad. Their boss Ortega is the mechanic of the team. He may be the youngest of the bosses, but his battlemskills are no joke. Underestimate him, and things'll go south for you quickly. He's also a real 'lead from the back' type-he gets his grunts to do all the dirty work for him. But his weak point is his short fuse. Get him good and angry, and he'll march out to the front lines to deal with you himself. In terms of tactics… there's nothing else for it, but to take down all the lackeys he sends your way. Just tough it out until Ortega shows up, and go from there. Time to wipe the Ruchbah Squad off the map!"
With that she hung up, as Chloe looked at Ashley.
"You want to fight again?" she asked.
"Yep!" Ashley agreed. "I learned Sludge Bomb just for this. And Terastallizing will get rid of my weakness to the fairy type."
"Then lets get to this Star Barrage," Chloe agreed as they headed in with Chloe using Ashley, Pawmot and Kirlia, defeating the bases Gardevoir, Jigglypuff, Azumarill, Morgrem, Tinkatuff and Fidough lines, causing the boss to come out.
Ortega's first pokemon was Azumarill. As Chloe Terastalized Ashley who sent waves of poison in the form ofmsludge bomb to take it out. Same with the Wigglytuff, and Dachsbun that came after, while the modifications to Revaroom gave it a fairy type with no steel type, meaning the same happened to Revaroom, giving them the win.
"This sucks. I hate myself for losing, but I also can't get over how awesome you were in that battle! If any of usmsquad bosses are defeated, that means we have to step,down. And going against ourmcode would make me a traitor to the team… gah, FINE! Not like I have a choice anyway, so take the badge already! You'd better treat it with them respect it deserves!" Ortega said giving the badge, and a TM for dazzling gleam, as Harrington walked up.
"Young Master Ortega…" he said.
"Mr. Harrington!" Ortega responded. "Guess it's time for my piano lesson, huh? As it happens I just lost my boss title, so I'm all good to head on home..."
"Ah, actually a different matter brought me. There's somebody I would like you to meet." Mr. Harrington said as Clive walked up. "He's a… distant acquaintance of mine."
"The name's Clive," he said.
"Okasy… what's your business here?" Ortega asked.
"I want to tell you something," Clive said, "you're the son of a wealthy family, and heir to a major apparel company. So why join a group like Team Star?"
"What a question to aske someone you've just met," Ortega said. "Well, my answer the same as everyone else in the team… It's cause I was being bullied."
"So the academy really did use to have an issue with bullying…" Clive said.
"Who would guess, right?" Ortega said. "The school is all rainbows and butterflies these days. And the bullies from back then don't even go to the academy anymore."
"Why?" Clive asked. "What happened to them?"
"As the former director of the academy, i believe i am best positioned to answer that question." Harrington said.
"Mr. Harrington…" Ortega said.
"About 18 months ago, the members of Team Star confronted the students who used to bully them, and an altercation broke out between the groups. Though it did not escalate into a major incident, the altercation nonetheless caused a scandal of hitherto unknown proportions. As a result of what occurred that day, the students who had perpetrated the bullying dropped out of the academy, one after another."
This shocked Clive, Chloe, and Ashley.
"But… but, there aren't any records of that anywhere in the academy!" Clive said.
"No, I should imagine not. My former deputy, deleted all records of the incident, you see," Harrington responded.
"What?" Clive asked, as the others eyes widened. "Why would anyone do that?"
"Just as I was puzzling over how best to deal with Team Star in the aftermath of the incident, a certain student came to see me. This student declared they would take all responsibility for the team's actions. In exchange they requested that I exonerate the other students of Team Star of any blame."
"HUH?!" Ortega shouted as the others were suprised, "No… no one told me that!"
"I accepted the request and agreed not to take disciplinary action against Team Star." Harringto said, "then, I assigned 18 months of Then, I assigned 18 months of overseas study to the student who took responsibility for the team."
"A year and a half of studying abroad…?" Clive said as Ashley got a bad feeling.
"This was not intended as a punishment, you understand," Harrington said. "Team Star were the victims, after all. I wanted this student to take some time to rest, so I had them return home to the Galar Region(this made Ashley's bad feeling get worse) under the pretext of 'overseas study.' Around that time, however, the former deputy director took it upon himself to erase all traces of the incident from the academy servers. It appears his intent was to shield himself from any blame."
"So he tried to cover up the whole thing? That's terrible!" Clive said.
"Worse," Ashley growled not likening having been played. "It means that a group that could have been the first group with Team in the name I met that was not evil, was blamed and treated as evil."
"After we discovered what he had done, I dealt with him appropriately, of course," Harrington said. "Butnthe inabilitynof myself and the rest of the teaching staff to prevent this terrible act also represented a grave blunder on our part. I accepted the blame that lay at my feet and resigned from my position as director. The rest of the teaching stagg then joined me in handing in their notices."
"So that's why the current teaching staff was all brought in a year and a half ago…" Clive said.
"Hold on!" Ortega said, "why did you suddenly decide to talk about this now?"
"Team Star cannot continue on in it's current fashion. I merely wishmtomgive you a chance to chart a better course," Harrington explained.
"Well, there's no way I'm abandoning my friends and going to school without them." Ortego said. "Not after we've come this far!"
"Your friends in Team Star must mean a great deal to you," Clive said.
"Isn't that obvious?" Ortego asked, "It's cause you know… they're my greatest treasure in the whole world."
They then left the base where they briefly talked with Cassiopeia and Penny, though all of them had something on their minds.
"Hey Ashley, Penny," Chloe said before they returned to the academy. "When we return to the academy I need to talk to you both. Meet me in the dorms?"
"Of course," Ashley said as Penny nodded, and they returned to the academy.