Chapter 45: The only thing that matters

Atticus dashed first with blinding speed and Kai had only a split second to duck under his roundhouse kick only to get kneed in the chin by the team star boss. After crossing his arms to block two punches, Kai was kicked in the gut and sent toward a tree. Kai's body crashed into the tree back-first. Kai instinctively ducked again, narrowly avoiding a slash from Atticus that cut the tree he slammed into in half. Atticus flew by his enemy like an arrow and rolled as he landed before standing up. Atticus turned around to face his opponent again, and Kai smiled and gestured with his free hand for his opponent to come at him.

Atticus weaved ninja hand signs with both of his hands. Suddenly, three clowns of the team Star boss were created. The real Atticus pointed his finger, and the clones ran after Kai.

Kai held onto his rapier tightly as the clones came- and his shining blue eyes shone brighter. Kai then tossed his weapon into the air. Now bare-handed- Kai punched the first clone that came in the gut, then he moved on and uppercutted the next. Another clone of Atticus's appeared behind Kai and attempted to grab him- but Kai elbowed him, and then kicked him away without looking back.

Kai put his hands up and did a cartwheel before flipping and landing on the place he first threw his rapier and caught his weapon. Kai's weapon shone with powerful water type energy due to the stylishness of how Kai took down those clones.

The real Atticus came running just then, holding a ninja hand sign with one hand and holding his kunai in another.

"Explode!" Atticus cried.

The clones that Kai took down suddenly exploded into poison mist and filled the air instantly. Kai began to cough, and so did Penny and Clive. Penny and clive nodded to each other and stepped back.

Kai could barely see a thing. Keeping one hand near his mouth and swinging his weapon aimlessly, Kai heard footsteps…

If any of his limbs got cut even once by Atticus's Kunai, he wouldn't be able to use them. He couldn't afford to get hit. Kai held his weapon tightly. He heard the sound of footsteps.

Was it coming from behind him? No.

In front of him? No.

Beside him!

"Aerial Ace!" Kai shouted and swung his sword instinctively. The sound of metal clanging was what made him swing again- but his target had disappeared.

Atticus started to move faster, darting toward Kai and slashing only for the challenger to parry him as he flew past. Atticus tried again and again- moving like an arrow and slashing at Kai again and again only for the boy to parry every single attack with perfectly timed swings. Suddenly, Kai stabbed his rapier into the ground and fired a hydro pump that propelled him so high into the sky that he went above the poison mist.

Kai coughed as his face became purple- for he was poisoned.

Clones of Atticus shot out from the mist like missles and charged after Kai. Kai gritted his teeth and threw his rapier at his enemies which spun like a boomerang.

"Surf combined with…" Kai shot his hand at his weapon. "Air cutter!"

Shining brightly with water type energy- Kai's weapon began firing thin, crescent-shaped waves of water at the enemies like a sprinkler. The projectiles found their marks and exploded the clones- each creating mists of poison too far away for Kai to worry.

Kai grinned- but then suddenly was grappled from behind by the real Atticus. Before he could even react, Atticus U-turned along with Kai- and the two began flying toward the ground with gradually increasing speeds. Atticus and Kai began to twirl.

"Poison Style!" Atticus cried out as Kai shouted in terror. "Poison Piledriver!"

The two slammed into the ground like a meteor- creating a large explosion of poison-type energy in the shape of a mushroom cloud. The mushroom cloud itself was in the shape of a skull. The trees around them flew away, clearing the area completely. What was left after the explosion faded was a huge crater. Atticus landed on the edge of the crater with a crouch.

"The deed is done. The villain has been vanquished." Atticus said, sighing to himself. Using that many Jutsu was very taxing for the Ninja Team Star member, but it was enough. Leaping his way over to the center of the crater, Atticus made his way over to his fallen enemy.

"The battle is o-"

Atticus gasped. What was in the middle of the crater was supposed to be Kai's unconscious body- but instead all he saw was the sword Kai wielded, stabbed into the ground. Atticus felt a hand fall onto his shoulder from behind him. An indescribable amount of terror washed over the team star boss.

"Bombirdier could be half asleep and still hit me with something harder than what you just did," Kai said.

Kai spun the stunned Atticus around, and slammed his head onto the team star leader's face. Atticus stumbled back, clutching his face as he groaned in pain.

"Now that I've got you where I want you.."Kai's blade that was dug into the ground shook before flying over to its wielder's hand.

Atticus stumbled- struggling to stay standing as though he were dizzy.

"Here goes." Kai said. "One..!" He dashed forward, and swung his sword upwards, sending Atticus high into the air.

"Two!" Kai pointed his blade at his enemy and fired an Ice Beam, freezing Atticus solid. "...Three!" Kai leapt into the air and slashed through his frozen enemy, shattering the ice and sending him falling to the ground with a thud. Kai landed on the ground with a crouch before turning around to see Atticus struggling to stand up.

"Is that all you can do, hero?" Kai said, putting a hand on his hip.

"This… isn't-... Over.." Atticus groaned. "I must.. Summon..the Starmobile..!"

"Oh yeah- the starmobile!" Kai said. "I forgot about that."

Penny and Clive ran to the Crater, watching Atticus struggling to move as Kai looked over at him.

"You've almost got him!" Penny cried. "Finish him now, before he summons his starmobile!"

"Good point," Kai said, looking at Atticus. "I could do that."

"Y-You could… but…!" Atticus grunted as he tried pushing himself up. "Think of…how cool you'd be… if you stopped the Starmobile..!"

Kai raised his eyebrows in interest.

"Oh no," Clive said.

"Go on..?" Kai said.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Penny cried.

"You'd be…absolutely…legendary…" Atticus said. "A man of honor…and you would earn my respect."

"NO! NO! NO! NO!" Penny roared. "JUST FINISH THE FIGHT!" Penny was so mad that her face was flushed red. "JUST WIN THE BATTLE! YOUR VICTORY'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!"

"I mean, yeah, it is," Kai turned to Penny and Clive. "But taking a picture of my enemy who's groveling on the ground isn't my style. Taking a picture of my exploding enemy with my back turned to the explosion? Now that's cool." Kai turned back to Atticus, pulled out an antidote potion from his back pocket, unscrewed the spray cap, and drank it. The poison that invaded Kai's and by extension, Quaxwell's body, disappeared. Kai cleared his throat and wiped his mouth and threw the antidote away. "Go ahead and summon your Starmobile. We're not gonna end this like any ol' fight. We're gonna end this the right way."

"Ngh..!" Atticus grabbed one of his arms and stood back up. His entire body shone white for a moment, before an orb of light exited Atticus's body and became Muk. Atticus's armor came back the moment he and Muk unfused. Atticus returned the Muk into his Pokeball. Then, Atticus began weaving hand signs. "My first mistake… was allowing you to get the better of me…! Poison style- Starmobile summon!"

Atticus put his hand on the ground, and a huge puff of white smoke appeared behind him.

"So what's gonna happen now?" Kai asked, "Is that thing gonna fire a laser? Or maybe make a mist of poison?"

Atticus began making hand signs once again. "My starmobile is special. It doesn't fire a laser. Nor does it create mists of poison. I'll show you exactly what I'm going to do with it..!" Atticus clapped his hands together, then pulled out a Tera orb from his pocket.

"Kai!" Penny shouted. "There's a Revaroom powering that Starmobile, remember!? If Atticus destroys that orb, he'll-"

"Tera-fuse with the Starmobile?" Kai asked.

"I-...Yeah! He will! You shouldn't let him do that!"

"I'm gonna let him do that."

"WHY!?"

"Cause it's audaci-"

"SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME AND IM GOING TO HIT YOU!"

"Okay, fine. I'm gonna think it instead."

"KAAAAAAAAI!"

"Now-" Atticus cried. "Witness my true power!"

Atticus threw his Tera ball onto the ground like he was a ninja throwing a smoke bomb- and an explosion of light rose from the ground below him.

Gusts of wind blew hard against Penny and Clive, it nearly knocked them off their feet- but Kai stood strong, staring straight at the ray of purple light shooting for the sky.

"It doesn't matter if I win or lose. it never did matter." Kai said. He smiled, putting his open hand in front of his chest. "The rough part of my adventure was figuring out that it just doesn't matter. What truly matters… is that I have fun. And having fun means doing cool things, saying cool things, and acting as audacious and cocky as possible. It makes me happy. It brings me so much joy that I'm starting to truly fall in love with battling."

Kai clenched his fist, stepped forward as his short purple hair flowed in the wind. He put one hand on his neck and cracked it.

"You know what a Champion does? When he says he's gonna do something, he does it. I said I was going to defeat Atticus. So just watch me."

Penny's eyes widened. For a split second- she thought that Kai's confidence was really...really inspiring. In its own weird way.

A sigh of worry escaped her lips.

"I just hope..." Penny lowered her head and muttered to herself, clenching both of her fists. "That after you do it, you take the badge so we can bring down Team Star... don't forget."

The pillar of light covering Atticus's body exploded like fireworks and revealed Atticus, whose body was shining like a purple diamond. The armor he had had completely disappeared. The mask that covered his face was gone- his blue eyes and short white hair was revealed.

On his back was a sheathed Odachi sword, a long and thin blade radiating with poison energy that looked like purple flames. Atticus raised his hand and put it on his blade's handle. He pulled his sword out, and a venomous aura radiating from out of his body- it took the shape of a snake- and it hissed before returning back into a flaming-like aura.

"My blade is an extension of my will. It is my very soul." Atticus said. He pointed his blade at Kai. "I am going to use this poison to vanquish you…Villain!"

"Ohh- Hero. Hero, hero, hero…" Kai aimed his weapon at his enemy and pointed his free hand's thumb at his face. "I don't think you realize it yet, so I'll spell it out for you. I'm not just a villain. I'm a full-fledged monster."

Author's note: The name of this chapter, 'The only thing that matters' can be interpreted in two ways depending on whose perspective you take: Penny's perspective or Kai's perspective.

Penny's perspective:"The only thing that matters is that you accept the badge and end team star."
Kai's perspective: "The only thing that matters is that you have fun."