Atticus would definitely be the first Team Star boss to befriend the player characters.
Juliana noticed that there was a Poison-type user in Team Star, right around Levincia. As always, she dedicated Monday and Tuesday to training and catching, with Farigiraf, Camerupt, and Grumpig added to her Pokedex.
She took Farigiraf, Webby, Tinkatuff, Grumpig, Camerupt and Fletchinder to the forest between Levincia and Zapapico. As she got lost along the way once again, she took a moment to think.
She'd told Jacq that she was going to do her best to complete the Pokedex. She was doing her best to train the Pokémon she'd already captured. Still, she couldn't help but feel that she'd already caught her Championship team.
Webby was a no-brainer. She'd been there from the start. As she watched her Tinkatuff evolve into Tinkaton, and Fletchinder into Talonflame not long after that, she made a note to take them, as well. If she could take a whole team of dual-types, she could be prepared for whatever types Rika and Geeta decided to train, as well as the Dragon-types she was positive Hassel would use.
She had no idea what to do about the other two Elites. She wasn't sure she'd met them.
She found Clive standing at the entrance to the Tagtree Thicket, confirming that she had finally arrived at her destination. There was no sign of Florian.
"Hey, Dir..." she cleared her throat. "Hey, Clive."
"Juliana." Clive nodded in her direction. "I see you've found the location of the Poison-type master of Team Star."
"It wasn't hard," Juliana lied. Clive seemed to see through it, but she continued the conversation anyway. "According to the data on my phone, his name's Atticus and he thinks he's descended from ninjas."
Her phone rang. Rotom swooped up in front of them both, and they both watched as Casseopeia spoke through the blank screen.
"You're correct, Juliana," she said in her rough, almost-masculine voice. "Atticus is of middling strength among the Team Star bosses. He's also a bit eccentric."
"Eccentric how?" Juliana asked, thoughts diverted once again. "I've been called eccentric before. Is it neurodivergence related?"
"I'm not sure," Casseopeia admitted. "His fascination with old-fashioned things could easily be a special interest. It was certainly why he joined Team Star in the first place."
"Yes," said Clive, his voice softening a bit. "I've heard stories about the...bullying problem, of a year and a half ago."
"You've been talking to the defeated bosses," Casseopeia acknowledged. "I didn't think there were adults who cared."
"Adults who care is one thing," said Juliana, who had her own experiences with being bullied in Galar. "Adults who can actually do something about it without getting you more bullied is another." She nodded at Clive, knowing his secret identity. "That's why Clive is so useful."
"Really? What was his job before coming to the Academy?"
"I was a scientist," Clive answered calmly. "But I'm here to prevent Team Star from getting expelled."
Juliana almost said more. Luckily for Clavell, that was when an Impidimp stole her cell phone.
Florian had taken time to train his own team.
Lloyd had made it to his final form, and Edelgard was perched on his shoulder like he was a pirate. Mudbray was close to evolution himself, and Scarlet was enjoying riding Cyclizar in circles as their trainer searched for more Pokémon to battle in the Tagtree Thicket.
He heard a familiar voice ranting, though he couldn't make out the words. An Impidimp dashed across his path, snickering, holding something bright yellow and screaming in his hands. Juliana followed, focused on chasing down the monster, a Tinkaton dragging her hammer along as she followed.
"Play Rough - and avoid the phone!" Juliana called.
Tinkaton chirped in excitement and swung her hammer. Impidimp stopped, head tilted, before licking the phone.
"Eww," Juliana and her Rotom companion said together. Impidimp cackled again, forgetting about the pink creature charging at him.
Impidimp didn't stand a chance.
Tinkaton snatched the phone from the fainted Pokémon, and even wiped it on the grass before handing it back to her trainer. Florian took a step forward, a stick cracking under his weight.
Juliana jumped to alertness, whirling around and scanning the forest. Her gaze passed right over her friend, as he should have expected. He tried to get her attention, taking another step forward.
"Juliana!"
"Forest god!" was the immediate response, and Florian didn't process her lunge, but he sure felt the punch to his face.
"Why?" he demanded, and Juliana's fear subsided as she processed just what she'd hit. "I mean, I get why, but why?"
"I'm so sorry, Florian! I thought you were a forest god!"
"So you thought punching a god was a good idea?"
"I didn't think at all!" Juliana complained. "I can't emphasize enough how little I was thinking! Fight or flight reaction, you know?"
"Why didn't you send Tinkaton after the forest gods?"
"Would you really have preferred getting smacked with Gigaton Hammer?"
Florian silently acknowledged her point. "So what brings you to the middle of the forest?" he asked, pretending he wasn't bruised.
"Atticus."
"Training."
Juliana looked down at the Impidimp, who had gotten to his feet and was now shuffling away to heal. "I wanted to do some catching, too," she admitted. "Impidimp is kind of cute, in an ugly sort of way."
"One of them just stole your phone."
"I don't want that one!"
Despite the bruise forming on his cheek, Florian laughed. She hadn't done enough damage to knock a tooth loose, after all. "Let's take care of Team Star first," he decided. "Then we'll go training and catching."
"Right," Juliana agreed. She looked around. "Where's the path?"
They were both lost.
Clive was considering storming the base himself, but he thought better of it. There was an official declaration of war from Florian and Juliana, he was just along for the ride. If Juliana became the new boss of Team Star - and the way things were going, it would be Juliana - he could have her give the order to return to class.
He eventually saw her stumble into view, her exhausted, freshly evolved Quaquaval following her, and behind Webby was a bruised boy and a slightly less exhausted Gardevoir.
"What happened to you, Florian?" he asked, concerned at the rather large bruise on the boy's cheekbone.
Florian brushed it off. "There was an incident with a forest god," he explained, and Juliana flinched.
Clive decided he didn't want to know. Instead, he healed the Pokémon before turning back to the teenagers. "You may want to sit this one out, Florian," he said, and Florian didn't disagree.
He did, however, insist on challenging the young student that had appeared in front of the bell, insisting that he needed to see "Don Atticus" immediately.
While Florian and Mudbray were distracting the boy, Juliana rang the bell. Making sure to have Tinkaton, Farigiraf and Talonflame in easy reach, she stormed the base alone.
It was only seven minutes later that Atticus himself appeared, riding on another Starmobile. "Lady Juliana, challenging us alone?"
Juliana straightened up. "Lord Atticus, I presume?"
His one visible eye lit up at her playing along, but he quickly shook it off. This was the enemy. "Thou hast made a grave error, Lady Juliana. The poisons of my Pokémon are too potent for thy inferior battle style."
"Thou should let me make-eth that decision, Lord Atticus."
Atticus lifted a Pokeball, and Juliana prepared to send out Tinkaton. "Then tremble," he said, fighting the excitement in his voice. "Tremble for thy Pokémon's sake!"
Tinkaton took out the Skuntank all by herself, but was taken out by the Muk's Mud-Slap. Farigiraf finished off the Muk and put up a fight against Revavroom, all with his Twin Beam attack, but it wasn't enough to get past the use of Assurance.
It was Talonflame who saved the day. Taking out Revavroom with a Flame Charge, she used Acrobatics on repeat until the Starmobile collapsed.
Juliana sighed in relief as Talonflame let out a victory screech. Atticus, like the other Team Star members, had a flashback that Juliana was not a part of, but the boy Florian had taken on interrupted before Juliana could.
"Don Atticus!" he called, and Atticus broke out of his trance.
"Youssef?"
Youssef nodded. "Don Atticus, they're going to expel you if you don't go back to class! You have to go! Who's going to help me when I get bullied?"
"I tried telling him that Director Clavell will be giving punishments to bullies," Clive explained as he and Florian followed Youssef into the base, "but he seems to think that giving bullies detentions would only increase the bullying."
"'Tis not a problem easily solved," Atticus admitted. "However, I shall return to the school, for the sake of young Youssef." His old-fashioned speech broke, and Juliana was pretty sure he was flinching behind the mask. "Just give me a few days, will you?"
Clive nodded. "I shall speak with the director," he said, and Florian struggled not to roll his eyes. "I'm sure he will give you time to prepare."
As Juliana set up her Box system to switch for some Pokémon she wanted to train more, Florian got back to work.
Sure, defeating Youssef gave his Pokémon some battle experience. He still needed to get ready to take on the Gym challenge next year, and he wasn't sure he could handle more than twelve Pokémon. Juliana seemed to be doing fine with Mr. Jacq's help, but he didn't want to flood the school with his pet monsters.
Gardevoir, sensing the directions of his thoughts, sent a thought of her own - Florian didn't hear it, but he picked up the feeling of being very small compared to what he was facing.
"Are you suggesting that I catch the Titans?" he asked, and Gardevoir nodded. "I'm training you guys to fight the Titans. They probably wouldn't want to see me again."
Lloyd stepped up then, putting a paw on his trainer's shoulder. "They'll probably forget about us in a year," he reminded him. Florian stared back, and Lloyd almost laughed. "And if they don't, it should be fun to kick their butts again."
Florian was the first to see Penny. Juliana didn't even notice the fluffy Eevee bag. Penny didn't seem to care.
"Hello," she said in her small voice. Juliana snapped to attention, but she restrained herself from punching another schoolmate. Penny didn't notice. "I brought some TMs, as Casseopeia told me to."
Koraidon popped free from his ball and proceeded to lick Penny's face. She screamed in disgust, wiping off the germs immediately. Koraidon chirped and curled up, unbothered.
"Can't you keep that beast in its ball?" Penny complained.
Juliana shrugged. "He does what he wants."
"You didn't even give him a sandwich," Florian observed, and Penny leaned back, confusion evident. Koraidon looked up excitedly, then huffed in disappointment when Florian shook his head. "I have to feed him sandwiches regularly so he'll remember who I am!"
"I'm sorry," Juliana said, "but you're a very forgettable person."
"I remember him," Penny said quietly. She handed them some TMs. "And...I think I like the quiet, really. He doesn't draw attention to himself. It's...nice."
"Let's hang out sometime, then," said Florian, and Penny smiled slightly. "We'll talk about Miss Eevee comics."
Penny's eyes lit up. "Have you gotten to the part where -"
"No spoilers!" Juliana cut in, covering her ears.
Florian leaned in. "I just got to the part where Lord Splashy was taken seriously," he whispered.
Penny's smile got brighter. "That's a good issue," she agreed. Then the smile disappeared. "I...I'm sorry. I just get excited about comics and computers."
"Comics and computers, huh?" Juliana thought it over. "Great! Now I know where to go when Nemona and I invite you on a girls' shopping trip again!" She grinned mischievously. "And there's no escaping this time, Penny."
Penny almost whimpered. "Oh dear..."