Penny and Elaina made their way toward the barricade that separated the Team Star encampment from the roadside. "Honestly, Penny. The fact that Team Star were the victims of bullying and got labeled as the bullies does get the blood boiling." Elaina said as she squeezed Penny's hand. As they got closer, a team star member gave them a once-over.
"You got business here or?" They asked. Elaina pulled her Star Badge out of her bag and passed it to the guy. "Alright, that clears you. What about your girl?" Penny pulled her phone from the pocket of her hoodie. She dialed a number and a woman answered. "Yo, Cassiopeia, what's up?"
"I'm at the gate, can you tell your guy to let me in?" There was a pause as it sounded like the woman shuffled. The next thing they knew, the gate opened. A redheaded girl stood on the other side of it. She had a massive grin on her face. "Cassiopeia, big boss of Team Star in the flesh for the first time. How have you been, girl?" She walked up to Penny and wrapped her in a hug. Penny didn't miss a beat hugging her back. She turned to Elaina as the two women separated. "And you must be her girl I've heard so much about. I hear you're a wicked battler."
Elaina blushed. "The battler is my headmate. I'm the face of the operation." Mela nodded. Penny spoke up next. "Mela, you're about to be expelled from the academy. Why are you still not going?" She asked as Mela's eyes narrowed. "You know why. August 28th, 2041. After Operation Star went fucking sideways and the academy turned on us, we all decided never to go back. Especially after the five of us found out what happened to you."
"They turned over the entire staff, Mela. The academy actually got cleaned up." Penny sounded desperate to convince her friend, but Elaina saw the hopelessness in her expression. You wanna come out and beat my girl's friend's ass? She echoed through her brain. Hell yes, you know what to do. Elaina pulled her badge from her bag and adjusted it so the light glimmered on it. After a couple of seconds, she went limp.
"You and me, we battle. I win, fire crew disbands. Name your prize." Amara had come to the front of the body. Penny winced at the challenge, but Mela just laughed. "You must be the headmate. Alright, If I win you have to run up the Great Staircase nude with a cookie in your ass." There was a pause. "And then eat the cookie when you get to the top." Penny's eyes went wide but Amara just shrugged. "I've done worse. You've got a deal. Where are we battling?"
Mela's face went slack. "That idea doesn't make you uncomfortable at all? What the hell have you done?" Amara shrugged and walked past Mela. "There we go. This will be a good battle space. Are you ready?" Mela's face flushed with adrenaline as she took her place on the court. Amara tossed Naclstack from its Pokéball to meet with Mela's Arcanine.
"Naclstack, move to extinguish. Salt Cure!" Naclstack rushed forward and rubbed its body on Arcanine, covering it in super coarse salt. Arcanine let out a yelp as the moisture left its skin. Arcanine shook himself, but to no avail. It lunged at Naclstack for a bite, but after wrapping its teeth around the salt Pokémon's back it released. "Alright, now, Rock Slide." Naclstack leapt into the air and dropped its salt crystals onto Arcanine. The hit was almost enough to knock arcanine out but it stood firm and unleashed a torrent of flame. Naclstack seemed nearly unharmed as Arcanine finished, and the motion of the Pokémon had scraped Arcanine's skin with the salt, causing another yelp and Arcanine to fall to the ground, unconscious.
"Fucking shit." Mela grumbled as she pulled out her next Pokéball. "Alright, we can beat the salt, for sure. Come on out, Ceruledge!" As the Ceruledge burst from its Pokéball, its armor gleamed in the sun. "Alright, Ceruledge, use Brick Break. Wreck the salty boy." The dark armored Pokemon leapt toward Naclstack and delivered a blow that cracked the salt Pokemon's head, knocking it out. Amara returned it to its ball. "Not a bad play. Come on out, Clodsire!" Amara tossed the Pokeball and the Ground type burst forth. "Clodsire, Earthquake!" Clodsire began beating its tail onto the ground. The ground started shaking and the pressure tore the ground under Ceruledge asunder. After Ceruledge fell and its armor fell apart, it rolled back to its feet, now much lighter than before. "Clodsire, be careful. Hit it with Chilling Water!" Amara called as Ceruledge delivered two slashes across Clodsire's back. Clodsire built up water in its mouth and unleashed the torrent at Ceruledge. The water swept over Ceruledge, causing it to drop its blades. "Ceruledge, use Psycho Cut. Hit it with mental blades!" Mela called. Ceruledge leapt forward as blades of light appeared in Ceruledge's hands. It leapt forward and plunged the blades into Clodsire's head, causing it to let out a moan of pain. Ceruledge leapt away as Clodsire's head lulled in confusion.
"Just what we fucking needed. Clodsire, use Chilling Water again!" Clodsire shook off its daze and readied another batch of Chilling Water. Ceruledge flitted across the battlefield, ready to deal the final blow to Clodsire. As it jumped into the air, Clodsire let the water burst from its mouth, knocking Ceruledge to the ground, unconscious. "I have to admit, you're pretty good at this, but now I have a surprise for you!" Mela pulled a remote control from her pocket and pressed the button. A large vehicle pulled forth, powered by three Revaroom. "Feast your eyes on the Starmobile!" Amara's mouth dropped.
"What the fuck did you do to those poor Pokémon? What the hell is wrong with you?" Amara shouted as she stepped toward the vehicle. "You look absolutely exhausted." She said to the lead Revaroom. She looked up to Mela. "This is abhorrent. It needs taken apart. Now." Mela's eyes went wide. "Wait, it's hurting them?" Mela shouted as she ran toward the Starmobile. She looked over the Revaroom and balked. "Fuck. Fuck. I concede." She shouted as she waved over other members of Team Star. "Take it apart, get those Pokémon out of it. Now!" she called and the squad went to work. Mela turned back to Amara.
"Here, this is my fire star badge. Take it and I'll go back to the academy like I promised. Cass, are you sure it won't happen again?" Penny nodded. "Alright, I'll give it one more shot, but if anything else horrible happens I'm transferring to Blueberry." Penny and Amara nodded. "I won't ask what happened, but I'll listen if you decide you want to tell me." Amara responded.
"I have scars all over my boobs from getting cut up in Beedrill Gym's women's locker room. People thought I was too pretty and decided to take me down a peg. My chest is all lines and angles." Amara nodded as she listened. "I'm starting to understand why the board of trustees turned over the entire staff." Amara muttered under her breath, then she looked to Mela. "That's disgusting. My grief is yours."
"Thanks. I'm looking at getting the scars tattooed someday, but now I guess I'll go and give the academy its last chance. Cass, headmate, you know where to find me. And, Cass, hasta la vistar." She turned and jogged out of the gate and waved as she rounded the corner. Amara turned to Penny. "Are they all that horrifically traumatized?" she asked. Penny affirmed that, yes, they were all horribly traumatized, and yes, she would probably need to battle them all like she had for Mela. "That's not a problem. I'll help you out, Penny." Amara said as the two walked out of the gate and back toward Artazon. "Now, we have a couple hours to kill before I do our next gym battle. I think I'm going to go lay in a field and vape. You wanna come?" Penny nodded.
"I don't vape, but you seem cool, I get to know you better I find myself thinking we could be pretty good friends." Penny and Amara walked on down the road to Artazon, laughing and talking about everything and nothing.