And finally, the last event of the last main path.
Juliana postponed her own missions by stopping by Brassius's studio again. It wasn't the first time she'd gone since learning where it was, but she didn't need Brassius to get inspiration. She wanted to see how the soup ladle sculpture was going and show off her whole badge collection.
She was surprised to find that he was nearly done with the initial gluing process.
"What, are you building a girlfriend?"
Brassius lowered his hands as he turned, giving the girl a stare that would have intimidated most people. Not Juliana, he quickly learned. "Hass said the same thing," he said as he returned to work. "I'll tell you the same thing I told him - shut up."
"And you're sure he wasn't on to anything?"
"Shut up, Juliana-garde."
She did shut up at the nickname. In fact, she completely froze in shock and disgust at it. Brassius suppressed another smile.
Then Juliana sat in one corner, pulling out her sketchbook. The pages were nearly full. Brassius didn't mind that, he actually enjoyed having company. They worked on their projects in silence for a few minutes, and then Juliana spoke again.
"What do you know about Professor Sada?"
"I've heard her name." Brassius didn't turn away from his project this time. "Why do you ask?"
"I was invited to go to her lab on Poco Path." Juliana shrugged it off. "I know her son. I just thought, since you're an adult and my mom's pretty new to the region..."
"And you didn't think to ask a teacher?"
Juliana smiled. "I like you more," she answered honestly.
"I strongly suggest you change your mind about that. I am not teacher material."
"But you're 'adult supervision' material," Juliana pointed out. "I'm sure Mr. Hassel would consider this extra credit for art class. Not that I need it," she added proudly.
"You have eight badges. You don't need adult supervision to go to Poco Path."
Speaking of eight badges... "Do you know how to find an Applin?" she asked, changing the subject once again.
He took a moment to register the random change in conversation. "Why?"
Juliana blushed. "Um...I want one. It's cute."
Brassius turned to look at her once again. He'd heard stories about Applin being used as a love confession, but only in Galar. The red in her cheeks was a giveaway, however. "Is there a boy involved?"
Her face turned even redder. "Um...I just thought, since you're a Grass-type user, you'd help me get one. For my team."
Her plan to give an Applin to someone was obvious, even to Brassius. He might not have known who, but he clearly didn't believe her. "I suggest you talk to Hass about that one," he said after a moment of debating if he wanted to answer that question. "I have never encountered an Applin in the wild."
"You mean he caught his own Applin?" She sounded surprised.
"Where do you think he got it? This isn't Galar."
"I didn't know he had one," she answered. "I haven't battled him yet, and he only uses a Gible assistant in class."
Maybe giving Grusha an Ice-Tera Applin was a bad idea. Maybe he wouldn't know what it meant.
Or maybe he would.
Juliana wasn't sure which outcome she'd prefer.
The final Team Star boss was Eri, the star of the girls' wrestling team and a Fighting-type specialist. She was also the strongest of all the bosses and wore her face paint to prove it.
Juliana brought along Webby, Grumpig, Talonflame, Staraptor, Farigiraf, and her Flying-Tera Lurantis. Tinkaton had wanted to come, but Juliana wasn't sure how well she'd do.
"You can be part of my next important battle," Juliana promised, and Tinkaton accepted that.
She was the first one there. Koraidon's new ability to scale mountains was useful in locating the Caph Squad base, though it did get them into trouble when they accidentally reached the top of the Great Crater and were chased off with police helicopters. Still, they managed to find the area Cassiopeia had marked on their map, even if they did get distracted by being charged by Bisharp, Scyther, and Heracross.
Juliana wanted a Heracross. She made a note to catch one next year.
By the time she and her worn-out team made it to the bell, Clive was already there. Eri was, too.
"It's odd to see the boss herself guarding the base," said Clive, and Eri crossed her arms over her chest.
"It's odd to see someone back my Pokémon into a corner like that," she admitted. "That was a good battle."
"Did I miss it?" asked Juliana, and Clive and Eri both turned to her.
"Perfect timing, Juliana!" Clive returned his attention to the Star boss. "My Pokémon are worn out after that battle. Would you mind?"
"Where's Florian?"
"I'm here!" said Florian, somehow more bruised than Juliana remembered. "How did you guys get here first?"
"Oh, Koraidon can climb mountains and glide down!" Juliana bounced in place, forgetting Eri's presence entirely. "It's so much fun! I have to take you mountain jumping sometime! What about you? How did you find this place?"
"Well, Cyclizar can't climb mountains or jump off them, so I was looking for a way there and fell off a cliff. Luckily it was the right cliff and Rotom could carry me down most of the way. What about you, Clive?"
"I took a cab!" Clive sounded horrified at what these young teenagers have been getting themselves into. "I'll admit I didn't know where I was going, but once I saw the outline of a Team Star base, I instructed the pilot to go down and he listened. What have you two been doing?"
"Going to Gyms," Juliana answered at once.
"Making sandwiches," Florian said at the same time.
Clive facepalmed. "I suppose it would be safer for all of us if I pretended to believe that."
Eri cleared her throat. "While I'm sure Gyms and sandwiches are important, that doesn't excuse why you're here at my base!"
"Why are you here?" Florian challenged.
"Yeah," Juliana agreed. "I mean, it's tactically smart but geographically stupid."
"That's enough!" Eri snapped. "I know who you are and why you're here! You don't have any right to bring up my base location!"
She pulled out a Pokeball. Juliana went to do the same, but Eri was stopped by a female grunt.
"Don't do it, Riri!" the grunt begged. "Your team has to recover first!"
"But it's my job to protect the Caph Squad!" Eri protested. "To protect all of Team Star!"
"Then rest a little bit," the grunt said. "I'll handle them."
"Carmen!"
"Eri!" It was Carmen's turn to cross her arms in annoyance. "I owe you. Consider this paying you back."
Eri thought it over. "Be careful," she said. "The old guy is tough. I don't want to imagine what the younger generation is capable of."
Eri retreated back to the base. Carmen took her spot in front of the bell and called out a Croagunk.
Juliana called on Talonflame. Croagunk and the Primeape that followed were quickly taken care of.
Florian and Clive got to stay behind. Juliana was quickly ushered through the gates by the latter, promising he'd fill her in.
Using Staraptor, Grumpig, and Talonflame, Juliana didn't need Clive to heal her team as she stormed the base. Eri returned, riding on the second coolest Starmobile of the group, after only five minutes.
Eri didn't talk. She just sent out a Toxicroak.
"Staraptor!" The bird screeched in response, and Juliana pointed dramatically at her opponent. "Use Brave Bird!"
Staraptor obeyed, trusting Juliana wouldn't let the recoil damage win. Toxicroak fell in one strike, as did the Annihilape that followed.
That's when Eri spoke. "She's not going to get the best of us! Staraptor's weak! You can win this, Passimian!"
Juliana looked Staraptor over. Though she hadn't taken damage from Eri's Pokémon, two consecutive Brave Bird attacks had weakened her. "You did great, Staraptor! Take a break!"
Eri and Passimian both stopped to watch as Juliana called Staraptor back to her ball. "She's not going to push Staraptor to keep going?" Eri asked herself.
Passimian tossed his berry ball in the air and caught it. "I'm not sure this is an equal fight," he commented as Staraptor's replacement was revealed to be a Grumpig. "But I'm behind you anyway."
Eri didn't understand a word, and yet she understood perfectly. "Use Seed Bomb!"
"Use Psybeam!" Juliana countered.
Both attacks hit, but both Pokémon remained standing. A Psychic attack was enough to send Passimian back to Eri, who released a Lucario in response.
"Dark Pulse!" Eri ordered.
"Psychic again!"
Once again, both attacks hit. This time, with the type advantage, Grumpig took a lot of damage. Juliana decided to switch again.
Talonflame took a Dark Pulse, but her Acrobatics attack combined with Grumpig's Psychic was enough to take down Lucario. As the Starmobile came forward, Talonflame screeched as she remembered her previous memories of taking these things out.
"Use Acrobatics!"
"Combat Torque!" Eri ordered, and the Starmobile rushed forward to attempt to run over the angry bird. The boost of Stamina helped the Starmobile stay standing after Talonflame used Aerial Ace, hitting with Combat Torque again, but Juliana noticed it was fragile. She could end it with whatever move she chose.
She chose to go easy on them. "Finish this! Flame Charge!"
Talonflame hit the Starmobile in the exact spot she needed to have it collapse entirely.
As the others had been, Eri was lost in a flashback as Florian and Clive approached. This time, they were joined by Carmen, who was not happy with how things had turned out.
"It was hard," Florian said at Juliana's unasked question. "Carmen was ready to follow you in and tackle you herself."
Juliana went pale. "I would not win a fistfight," she admitted. "My strength is in battle."
"Then you need to toughen up," said Eri. It wasn't condescending, and she held her badge in her hand. "You're the new boss of the Caph Squad. That means that you're going to have to learn to fight."
"I suggest we disband and go to class," Juliana said weakly.
"Then who will help with the bullies?" Carmen demanded.
Juliana's attention was successfully diverted, and she tilted her head like a confused dog. "The grunts got bullied, too?"
"What, you think we joined Team Star for the cool helmets?" They couldn't see through the sunglasses, but it sounded like Carmen was rolling her eyes. "Of course, we were bullied! If it weren't for Riri forgiving me, I'd have nowhere to go!"
"If Team Star grunts hadn't cornered us at school, demanded we join before we even got to experience bullying from anyone else, and surrounded us to increase the pressure, I wouldn't have joined Operation Starfall in the first place." Then Juliana registered what Carmen had said. "Forgiving you?"
Carmen's hostility dropped. "I was one of Riri's bullies," she admitted. "She was prettier than me, a better trainer, a better athlete. She was more popular in general, so I started picking on her. Then when she left, and I was the most popular girl in school again...my gang turned on me. Eri is a nicer person than me, too."
Juliana had never heard of people being bullied for being too good-looking. She'd been bullied for neurodivergence reasons, not for being too pretty (or too ugly, which was a plus as far as bullying could have a plus) or too talented.
Florian and Clive finished the conversation as Juliana stared at her shiny new Star badge, lost in a flashback of her own. Maybe her own bullies had a point.
Juliana was expecting a call from the mastermind behind Operation Starfall, and Cassiopeia didn't disappoint. What was surprising was that Clive was the one to give them the TMs.
"Penny isn't coming?" Florian sounded slightly disappointed, and he tried to pretend otherwise. It wasn't his fault that he could rarely talk comic books with somebody and actually have them know what he was talking about.
Clive didn't notice his tone, or at least pretended he didn't. "She came to me with the request after Ortega's defeat," he explained. "Something about a giant dragon that likes to leave its slobber all over her."
Juliana laughed nervously. "Yeah, he does that. He's cool."
There was a sound from Juliana's phone. None of them knew what it was. "That said," the voice inside began, "Clive, Florian...you've been very helpful, but this no longer concerns you. As the holder of the five badges, Juliana has to face the mastermind behind Team Star now, and only she can fight...me."
"You were the Big Boss they were speaking of?" Clive asked.
"You didn't figure that out?" Florian and Juliana said together.
"You did?" Cassiopeia yelped.
"That's why you never showed up in person, right?" Juliana shrugged. "I figured this whole mission was you cleaning up a mess you made. But can I go heal my team first?"
"You can heal your team," Cassiopeia said when she'd found her voice. "I'll be waiting for you in the schoolyard after dark. Heal, choose your team, and meet me there."
Well, Juliana thought, I know what important battle Tinkaton's joining, now.