Chapter 57: The Wings of Team Star

A crowd of beaten and bruised trainers and their fairy Pokémon lay around a single invoker armored person and his Pokémon- Clive. The Pokémon standing beside him was a fully evolved Meowscarada.

"How's this weird lookin' guy so strong..?" One grunt asked.

"He didn't even use Tera fusion, and he kicked all of our butts…" Another Grunt said. Meowscarada yawned, saying the first half of its name as it stretched its arms. Clive crossed his arms and said nothing.

That's when he heard the sound of someone clapping, and the loud roar of an engine.

Both Clive and Meowscarada turned their heads to see a pink Starmobile rolling in toward them both. All of the downed team grunts around Clive stood up, beaming with pride.

"Now you're gonna get it!" One team star grunt cried.

"Yeah! Our boss is super strong!" Another roared.

All of the team grunts cleared the area, making way for their boss, Ortega. He was sitting on a pink throne that had been installed onto the roof of the starmobile. He was wearing a pink and yellow robe that looked like a tuxedo- he had a red ribbon bow tie near his neck and had a gold cane strapped to his side like a sheathed weapon.

The starmobile stopped in front of Clive and Meowscarada, all while Ortega continued to clap for his soon to be opponents.

"For a guy who was able to beat a hundred of us…" Ortega said, ceasing his clapping and smiling. "I expected you to look a little cooler."

Clive couldn't help but smile.

"You think that I don't look cool? Especially with this hairdo?" Clive brushed his hands against the sides of his wavy bobbed haircut.

Ortega chuckled a bit. "I'll say that it's…interesting. But it's no match for my looks!" The boy stood up, took his cane and let it fall to the ground so it could bounce back into his grasp. He aimed his cane at his challenger. "I mean look at me! Don't I look great?"

"You do look nice." Clive said.

"Thank you! But just because you complimented me, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you!" Ortega pulled his wrist and revealed an invoker watch with the sigil on it. He pressed the watch, and his body shined before becoming clad in invoker armor. Then, Oretega pulled out his Pokeball and dropped it in front of him. Out of it came a Mawile, who let out a battle cry. Then out of his other pocket, he pulled out a Tera orb.

"Get ready..!" Ortega cried, crushing the orb. A pink colored pillar of light rose beneath Mawile and her trainer's feet. Once it faded, only Ortega remained, however his outfit, which was showing instead of his armor, had become shinier and more crystal like.

That was when the music for the Team star bosses began to blair on the loudspeakers on the starmobile. Clive raised his eyebrows.

Clive began nodding his head along to the music.

"Hm. I forgot how much of a catchy tune this song was," he said.

"Isn't this the part where you Tera fuse with your Pokémon!?" Ortega cried. "Go on, I'm waiting!"

Clive shook his head.

"There's no need."

"What!?" Ortega glared and gritted his teeth. "Are you saying I'm not good enough for you to do that?!"

"No, no, you misunderstand. It's for a strategy-"

Clive raised his eyebrows as a fairy type mist began emitting from the Starmobile.

'Is that Misty Terrain!?' Clive thought.

"It's time to Play Rough!" Ortega thrust the bottom of his staff onto the ground, and two long pink colored vines that had the heads of Venus flytraps started slithering through the ground, creating dirt roads behind it.

"What!?" Clive cried.

Both Meowscarada and Clive leapt out of the way before the slithering vines erupted from the ground and flew after them. The venus fly trap heads opened their jaws at the airborne duo as they both dodged by darting past them. They landed on the neck of the two venus fly traps and started surfing them to go back toward solid ground.

Clive thought to himself quickly as he slid. 'Mawile doesn't give their users the ability to summon vines from the ground like this…perhaps this is his Shining Star Ability?'

"Feel my wrath!" Ortega cried. With a swing of his arm two extra venus fly traps erupted from the ground from behind the starmobile and opened their mouths. Fairy type energy gathered in their mouths. "Fairy wind!" Ortega shouted as the two venus fly traps shot gusts of wind that looked like laser beams. Meowscarada dodged the oncoming attack by leaping, but Clive wasn't so lucky- he was sent flying into the sky with his arms crossed to block the attack. Clive turned his head, seeing that he was flying into the open jaws of a pink venus flytrap. The moment it caught Clive, Ortega pumped his fist in triumph. "Yes!" He cried.

Meowscarada flipped off the vine she was sliding on and started falling. Three more venus fly traps flew after her with unhinged jaws, and the grass type looked up and raised its hand, letting out its Flower Trick to summon grass bombs that flew at the traps and exploded like grenades. The three venus fly traps disappeared in a green puff of smoke.

Ortega snapped his fingers, and the venus fly trap that held Clive dove toward the ground in an attempt to hide. Meowscarada continued to dive, turning its head to the side to see the venus fly trap with its trainer flying beside her. Throwing more Flower trick bombs its way, the venus fly trap moved quickly, dodging the Flower Trap explosions as they came. As Meowscarada kept throwing its attack out, another venus fly trap showed itself from behind her and rose above the unaware grass type's head. The fly trap did a U-turn to dive toward the Meowscarada desperately throwing its attack to free its trainer only to be caught by its attack and sent to the ground with a devastating slam along with the flytrap carrying her trainer. A fairy explosion rang in the air- which was like watching pink fireworks exploding with puffs of smoke.

"See!?" Ortega cried. "That's what happens when you mess with us! Go on and run home, tell the rest of the bullies out there who want to get in our way that they'll be next if they come to our territory!"

Ortega waited for the pink fireworks and smoke to fade. Lying on the ground was Meowscarada.

But Clive was nowhere to be found.

"This is why not Tera fusing has its benefits," Hearing Clive's voice from behind him made Ortega gasp loudly. He spun around before being punched in the face and sent flying off his starmobile. He fell onto the floor face-first- his body bounced a bit before sliding onto the ground.

Clive adjusted his glasses. "Just before I got caught by the venus flytrap... I used Meowscarada's substitute move. Then, while your attention was on my Meowscarada, I hid in the misty terrain you created and stood right behind you. I could have struck you at any moment, but I wanted to see how your ability worked. Meowscarada knew from the start that I wasn't caught...So she put on a show to keep your attention all so I could figure your ability out!"

Clive pointed his finger at Ortega. "Ortega of Team Star... your Shining Star ability has something to do with Misty Terrain, doesn't it!?"

"That's right..." Ortega said, slowly climbing back up to his feet. "My Shining star ability is that my Starmobile is permanently using Misty Terrain- but it does something else- it allows me to create venus fly trap illusions, like the one attached to Mawile's head..! Good job on figuring that out, I'm impressed... although, to be honest..."Ortega began to grit his teeth and glare as his body trembled with rage. He held onto his staff with both hands. "You had the nerve to knock me off of my star mobile... and that really ticks me off!"

Ortega reached into his pocket in his armor and pulled out something that made Clive gasp loudly in shock.

It was Mawilite. The stone that allowed Mawile to Mega evolve.

The boy held the stone between his thumb and pointer finger. "I'm gonna show you..!" He said- raising his wrist with the invoker watch, which opened itself like two sliding auto doors would when one would walk into a grocery store. Ortega put the stone on top of the open invoker watch and the watch closed itself.

Then, Ortega began to shout at the very top of his lungs. The guitar from the blaring song from the starmobile began to go into a rocking solo as a shell the shape of an oval appeared around Ortega. Cracks were beginning to show on the oval, like a hatching egg. Slowly, a burst of light exploded from the shell before it broke away completely. The shining light made Clive cover his eyes with his arm.

Once Clive lowered his arm, he gasped, seeing Ortega with Pink fairy-like wings attached to his back. Ortega's staff was now shining bright with a pink, crystalline light.

"You ready to see it..?!" Ortega cried. "Mega Mawile's…huge power!?"

Ortega raised his arm, and a gigantic venus fly trap erupted from below the starmobile and carried it along with Clive toward the sky.

Clive began fighting to maintain balance as Ortega leapt and took flight. He extended his arms outward like he was about to give a hug as he did this- sparkles of light fell from the boy's wings like it was sprinkling stardust onto the ground.

"You're done for, you hear me?!" The boy flew over the starmobile, twirled his cane over his head like a windmill before swinging it down toward Clive like it was a mace. Clive leapt out of the way and the boy's cane struck the starmobile- and an explosion of pink dust exploded from it.

Ortega noticed that he made a dent on the roof of his starmobile and glared furiously, leaning down and pressing a button that opened a circle-shaped hatch on the roof of it. Ortega put the head of his staff inside of the hatch, and pressed the button again so it could lock itself.

Meanwhile, Clive watched as the starmobile disappeared in the puff of smoke he was falling out of- but then gasped as he saw three venus fly traps flying out the smoke it and after him.

"Meowscarada! Leaf storm!"

Meowscarada appeared in front of Clive with so much speed she looked like she teleported. Letting out a battle cry, a howling whirlwind of leaves erupted from the ground and rose, serving as a wall of projectiles to protect the duo from the oncoming flytraps- which disintegrated on contact.

Both Clive and his Pokémon smiled once they saw the flytraps fade away but gasped once they saw a looming shadow above their heads. They both looked up… and widened their eyes in terror.

Ortega was in the air, and his entire star mobile was attached to his staff like it was a gigantic hammer. The boy, whose furious eyes were shining with pink fairy type energy, held his weapon over his head and swung it downward at the duo. Clive looked absolutely terrified- and Meowscarada pushed him out of the way before dodging herself, narrowly avoiding the truck-sized hammer that flew by them.

Letting the weight of the truck spin his entire body back around like he was doing a somersault, Ortega pressed the button on his starmobile to detach itself off of his staff the moment it was aimed at Clive, who was lying on the ground on his back.

The starmobile started flying toward Ortega's opponent, who put his hand on his face.

"I'm too old for this…" He said, closing his eyes as the starmobile closed in on him.

That's when the challenger's eyes began to shine blue with the power of Flow- and he moved so fast that he disappeared.

The starmobile crashed with a gigantic thud powerful enough to shake the earth as it slid across the battlefield and toward the edges of the base- breaking apart some of the walls. The misty terrain it was emitting faded entirely as the song that was playing began to fizzle out and stop.

"Tch..Drat..!" Ortega cried. "I'm gonna have to repair that starmobile later and get Revaroom into a Pokécenter…" Ortega breathed heavily, feeling his sweat warming his entire body as he watched the destruction from above.

He never saw Clive- no. Director Clavell coming.

Using the move Trailblaze to enhance his strike, The director slammed his Grass-empowered elbow onto the boy's head from above and send him toward the ground like an arrow. He fell to the ground with a massive thud, and dust erupted from where he landed.

As the boy groaned and started to stand up, he looked up, seeing Clavell and Meowscarada who stood side by side in front of the team star leader. Clavell had his eyes covered by shadow as he had his pointer finger on the nose bridge of his glasses. Meowscarada had a smile on her face.

Fear washed over the body of Ortega.

"Wait-...Aren't you...D-D..! Director…Clavell!? What're you doing here!? Why are you here!? Why are-..."

Clavell raised his head, and the shadow covering his eyes faded. "Why are your eyes like that?!" Ortega cried. "That's- That's Flow! I thought only Geeta and Kai knew how to use that technique- my grunts told me that!"

"I'll admit, if it wasn't for the power boost that the ability Flow gave me…" Clive said, "I wouldn't have been able to dodge your attack. As your director, I'm very proud of you- the fact that you were able to push me so far shows your potential. As a reward, I'll let you in on something. Geeta believes that she was the one who discovered Flow... but in reality... it was a technique that I invented. I never named the ability. but the name 'Flow' is an excellent name. I didn't mind Geeta unknowingly stealing the glory."

"N-No way...! You can't be serious..!"

"The calming of one's mind to the point of true focus- temporarily forgetting about one's insecurities and doubts to fight the opponent… That is the requirement of the first stage. The sign of this technique working is the user's eyes turning blue. That's what you're seeing now."

"Wait, did you just say 'First stage'!? You're saying there's more!?"

"There's three stages in all," Clavell said, lowering his finger from his glasses. "I was planning to have the teachers at Uva Academy teach all of you this technique once I had figured out how to reach the third stage- and see if it was safe. However…because you and your team star members have been skipping class…you would have never learned it. That is what I cannot stand. I cannot allow you to skip classes any longer. And if it means dismantling Team Star with my own hands…"

Clavell pointed the same finger he used to push in his glasses. "I'll do just that!" He cried. "Ortega of Team Star! I command you as your director to stand down, right now!"

"If you think you can put an end to us, then you're welcome to try…" Ortega said as he slowly stood up and aimed his staff at his opponent. "Just know, you're not putting us down without a fight...!"

"Meowscarada, go ahead," Clavell said. Meowscarada started sprinting after the boy, who took flight and started rushing after the grass type. The two closed in on each other, Ortega raised his staff like a mace, and Meowscarada held onto a Flower Trick bomb.

Suddenly, Ortega's weapon shone for a moment before disappearing- being replaced with Meowscarada's Flower Trick bomb. The boy gasped and remained still as the bomb exploded in his hand, creating a puff of pink smoke.

"No way..! You used the move Trick to switch our items, Meowscarada!?" Ortega cried. The boy closed his eyes and coughed loudly, and by the time the smoke cleared, the boy saw Clavell himself, wielding the team star boss member's own staff in his hands. Ortega gasped and had no time to dodge. He was struck on the head by the mace- and with the effects of Mega Mawile's Huge Power…

Let's just say… he took huge damage.

An explosion of fairy type energy erupted the moment the staff made contact with Ortega's head. After it cleared, Ortega was down.

Clavell sighed. He dropped Ortega's weapon onto the floor. Ortega grabbed onto the dirt as he tried pulling himself back up.

"You're a...! Ugh..!" Ortega pushed himself up but then fell back onto the ground.

"I hate to play the villain here." He said."But… this is a necessary evil. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me someday."

"You're such a...a...!" Ortega gritted his teeth.

Clavell felt a wave of guilt wash over him.

The old man sighed deeply. He wished that he hadn't lost his wig, then maybe he wouldn't have to face this scrutiny. However, it had to be this way, he had to do something about Team Star skipping class. That was the only excuse that he had for himself.

He hated the fact that he used the word 'excuse.' It felt...no, there was no excuse for defeating the students that go to his academy like he was now. But at the same time... it was the only way, right?

"You're a bully…!" Ortega cried, looking up at Clavell while on his hands and knees. "A big…bully..! You get a kick out of coming over here to beat up a bunch of kids!? You don't understand why this team exists! You don't understand anything..!"

Clavell's eyes widened as tears began rolling down the boy's eyes.

"We were just trying to fight back against the bullies… and you punished us for it! What else were we supposed to do!? We made this team because we wanted to create a shelter for people who were bullied…..and be the light that people like us needed!"

"Yeah..!" The sound of a team grunt member crying out caught Clavell's attention. Other team star members began surrounding the director.

"I've always wanted to give you a piece of my mind..!" One angry looking Team star member cried.

"You don't understand anything!" Another team star member shouted.

"Yeah!"

"You don't get to take us out just because you don't like us!"

"That's enough," Clavell slightly raised his voice. His heart was heavy, and he could feel the guilt running down his spine. But he kept talking. "The reason why I decided to do what I did with Team Star was because you pushed students to resign. Your movement…while admirable…is…"

Clavell couldn't think of the next thing to say.

He sighed to himself. "You all have to understand that I'm doing what I'm doing today because you kids won't show up in class. Think of how I'm feeling when you kids are missing the opportunity to learn."

"You really want us to listen to you when you're not even listening to us!?" Ortega cried. "You're ignoring the fact that we're trying to help people- and push away the bullies! Them running off to leave school like that… we didn't want that to happen- we just wanted them to leave us alone...! Your teachers- the students that aren't team star members- they didn't do anything- they just watched us get bullied and did nothing! So, because you didn't do anything, we had to do something!"

Clavell listened, and then lowered his head and closed his eyes as though he were deep in thought.

"Has…Team Star truly been something that helped you all?" Clavell asked.

"Yes! Team Star helped me so much!" Ortega said. "It helped me realize… that it was okay to be me!"

"It helped me..." One team star member said, "find friends when people made fun of me so much that I thought that I was unlovable..."

"It helped me find out that I was actually a pretty cool guy, and not what my bullies said I was." Another team star member said.

"It helped all of us.." Ortega said. "This team helped us so much and made us so happy...and you want to take that away?"

Clavell sighed deeply. He shook his head.

"No," He said. "I don't. Ortega of Team Star… I surrender."

Ortega's eyes widened. "...What?"

"Huh?" Another team star member said.

"What did he just say..?" Another team star member said.

"Did he say, 'Surrender'?"

"No way, no one's ever done that…"

Clavell offered a hand to Ortega.

"You're not down for the count just yet, no?" Clavell asked. Ortega looked at the director's hand, then back at him.

"Why'd you surrender?" Ortega asked.

"I'm willing to make a deal with Team Star. I'm willing to let it continue to exist… so long as you all return to class. If there is any remaining… how do you kids say it… 'Beef'*- Between us…we can talk privately. I'm willing to talk to every single one of you kids, and if you wish to let out your anger and disappointment with the school system for failing you kids… I will allow it. I promise that I will do better. I'll make sure that everyone else does better and are able to have more support for kids that are bullied. Does that sound fair?"

Ortega kept looking at Clavell's hand.

"It's…something I have to talk to the rest of the bosses about, but…yeah. That does sound fair. Although, it doesn't feel right for me to agree to that…because I'm not the Leader."

"I see." Clavell said. "Then perhaps I can talk to the leader themselves about this proposal when I get the chance to talk to them."

"If I were the leader.." Ortega grabbed Clavel's hand and stood up. "I'd agree to this."

"I appreciate that." Clavell said.

Suddenly, a male team star member was starting to sob loudly.

"Sorry- I'm just… so happy..!" The Team Star member shouted.

Clavell looked around and noticed that almost all of the team star members were crying happy tears of joy- some were removing their goggles to clear their tears. It made Clavell smile to himself. This was proof that he made the right decision.

"Although, as an agreement, we'll have to make some changes to the way these bases work, and your rules," Clavell said. "But all of that will be discussed between me and your leader."

"Uh about that.…" Ortega said. "The thing is…no one has ever seen the leader. They sort of... disappeared."

Clavell smiled. "Can you talk to the rest of your team members? I can set something up."

Penny was starting to become concerned.

As she was making her way to go downstairs to the hidden basement area of the school…Arven was ahead of her. She had put enough distance between her and him so that he hadn't noticed her yet, but the fact that he was going the same way as her was going to make her plans a little more difficult. She couldn't have any witnesses to what she was going to do…

She gritted her teeth, staring at the silver walls around her that looked as though she was stuck in a futuristic hallway filled with small green lines of light that moved across the walls like blood would through veins. It was a single, small hallway- clearly not meant for hundreds of students to walk by. At the start of it there was a sign that she and Arven had passed a while ago that said, 'No students allowed!'

Suddenly, a call came to her phone. She thanked her lucky stars she put the settings on vibrate. She looked at it, and noticed it was Clive calling.

Drat.

She thought that purposely not telling Clive what Ortega's Shining Star Ability would buy her more time...but it was okay- she was already close to where she needed to be to complete the first part of her plan. With this in mind, she answered the phone and activated her voice modification on her phone.

"Hello?" Clive said, "Is this Cassiopea?"

Penny looked up from her phone, making sure that she was far away from Arven before speaking. "...Yes? What is it?" She asked.

"I've failed to defeat Ortega."

"...He was too strong for you?"

"No. This is because I surrendered. I've a few things to admit. My name is not Clive. It is-"

Penny began to frown. "Director Clavell. I know," She said.

"Oh? You know who I am?"

"Of course. Tell the others that…someone powerful will come to bring down the Team Star. And don't mention me."

"Interesting. I wonder what you plan to do…"

"Team star is going down. It has to."

"All right. I've decided that I'll play along. And don't worry, your secret is safe with me… Penny."

Penny gasped. She dropped her phone, and the sound of it falling echoed through the room. Arven, who was on the other side of the hallway turned his head and gasped.

"Hey- wait, I know you!" Arven said. "What're-"

Drat!

Penny panicked and picked up her phone and pressed it against her ear again.

"I'll have to go for now," Clavell said. "but we'll talk again soon."

Penny heard the phone turn off and placed hand on her heart, trying to calm herself down. But she knew she wouldn't have much time, because Arven was approaching, and he looked like he had questions.

Drat...

Author's note:
*Beef: A slang term used to describe someone having a grudge on someone else.

"Dude, you still have beef with that guy? I thought you were over it!"