Ortega might be a brat, but at least he's a decent person deep down.

Juliana and Grusha both returned to the Gym, where Grusha left for the elevator while Juliana met with Nemona and a woman with long, wild hair.

"I knew you could do it, Juliana!" Nemona cheered, and Juliana laughed nervously. "Geeta and I were watching the whole time! You were awesome!"

The woman smiled. "You've done well, Juliana. Eight badges...you know what that means."

"You get to take on the Champion Assessment!" Nemona was much more excited than Juliana was. "I'm so happy for you! We'll battle and not hold back once you're a Champion!"

"That was the plan," Juliana confirmed. Then she sighed. "I have a mission to finish first, though. I promised Penny that I'd defeat all the Team Star bosses, too."

Nemona's face fell. "You? Not that you're not amazing and all, but...I'm a Champion."

"I think it was because Florian and I were the ones who met her on the stairs." Also, you have a reputation. "I don't think she knows you, Nemona. Not as anything but student council president."

Nemona sighed in disappointment. "That makes sense," she reluctantly agreed.

The woman laughed quietly. "It gives you a chance to prepare, Nemona," she said, getting the attention of both girls despite only addressing one. "You can get ready to fight Juliana when you're both at full strength. Won't that be fun?"

Nemona's disappointment vanished. "You're right! See you later - I have to get ready! And you have fun battling Team Star, Juliana!"

Geeta noticed the look of fear on Juliana's face. "She won't annihilate your team," she promised. "But for the moment, you should go after Team Star. This is much more important."

Wondering what this woman knew about Team Star, Juliana left the building and released her dragon.

"Rotom, set the location for Team Star's second-strongest base," she ordered, and heard the familiar click. She climbed on Koraidon's back. "Time to test out how far you can glide."

Florian was already there. So was Clive.

"What do you think of Casseopeia?"

It wasn't the ice breaker, but the two had been in silence for a while as they waited for Juliana. Florian shrugged. "She's a real bag of riddles," he said. "This whole thing is a mystery. That's why I'm here...and you, too, right?"

Clive smiled slightly. "You're an intelligent child," he complimented. "And you've proven to be irreplaceable in dealing with Team Star. I doubt that I would have gotten through to them without your interference."

"I wouldn't have gotten through to them without Juliana," Florian admitted. "Except Atticus. Youssef was the one who got through to him."

As they approached the gate, they found a female Star grunt talking with an older man. He wasn't wearing the Naranja uniform or a Star grunt outfit. Florian had never seen him before, but Clive halted briefly before remembering that he was wearing a disguise.

"I'll return when it's time for the young master's piano lesson," the man was saying. "Until then, you may have fun."

"Yes, Mr. Harrington," said the grunt, before she noticed the giant pompadour. "Hey! You're not supposed to be here!"

"It's fine," Florian interrupted. "He's not here to challenge the boss, or anything. We're just waiting for a friend."

"And you would be...?"

"Florian Vasquez. The, uh, Jackpot Joke?"

The older man - Harrington - looked away in embarrassment. "Are you a friend of the young master, then?"

"Not exactly," Florian admitted.

"So you are his adversary?"

"Like I said, we're waiting for a friend."

The grunt crossed her arms over her chest. "And is this friend a trainer with a Tinkatuff and Quaxwell?"

"Uh..." Florian gulped. "Technically, it's a Tinkaton and Quaquaval now..."

Harrington and the grunt decided to challenge this boy to a battle. When Juliana arrived, Clive helped her slip past the gate unnoticed.

When Juliana saw Ortega for the first time, she tried not to laugh. A boy that looked to be her stepbrother's age, wearing a fancy pink suit and riding a pink, heart-patterned Starmobile. The boy's face was not the innocent look she'd expected of a Fairy-type specialist, reminding her of the new Gym Leader in Ballonlea - Bede wasn't exactly known for being a happy, fairy godparent type himself.

"Juliana." Ortega didn't spit her name, but the contempt was still clear. "I hope you're here to apologize."

"I'm here to get you back to school," Juliana corrected.

"I'm not going." Ortega tapped his hand with his unnecessary cane. "The only way you can get me to listen to you is if you beat me in battle. And I'm warning you, Fairy-types are more than cuteness."

"I know." Juliana tossed out a ball. "Tinkaton?"

Tinkaton swung her hammer in a demonstration of power.

"Yeah, I've heard of that Tinkaton." He tossed a ball of his own. "Azumarill! Let's kick butt!"

Tinkaton immediately launched into Gigaton Hammer. Azumarill was still standing, and dodged the Slam attack that followed, but a Draining Kiss took her down. The Wigglytuff that followed went down to a single Gigaton Hammer, and the Dachsbun was fought using only Play Rough attacks.

The Starmobile was a different story. It took not one but two Gigaton Hammer attacks, and one Play Rough between them. Its own uses of Spin Out and Magical Torque took down Tinkaton, leaving Juliana to grab a ball at random.

Farigiraf didn't have to do much. Tinkaton had done enough damage that Twin Beam was enough.

Ortega screamed in frustration, smashing the non-Pokémon part of the Starmobile with his cane. Once his violent tantrum was finished, however, he turned his attention to Juliana.

"You suck, you know that?" he asked. Juliana nodded, keeping her mouth shut. Ortega huffed and put down the now-dented cane. "But you're strong, I'll admit that. You're the new boss of the Ruchbah Squad." He thrust a badge into her hand as Florian arrived.

"Did I miss it?" he asked, and Juliana nodded again.

"He did better than Giacomo," she said with a smile. "He took out Tinkaton."

Ortega was looking at Florian, still furious. "You. You're the other one, aren't you?"

"Uh...yeah, probably." He looked back, where two adults were approaching. "I heard a few things from Harrington about the bullies. Why didn't you tell adults?"

Ortega dropped the hostility, but he didn't warm up completely. "It was part of our pact," he said. "Giacomo tried getting his dad involved - the guy's got serious battle skills. Then his dad sent an email to the director, the director gave one of the bullies a detention. Word got out and then Giacomo went from being called President Puke to getting egged for being a tattletale. After that, we started Team Star, and swore we wouldn't use adults or money to solve our problems."

"I did what I could," said the adult with the mustache. Juliana looked him over. She didn't recognize him. "Unfortunately, it seems expulsion was the way to handle such a situation. I didn't think a simple name-caller would escalate."

"And that's the only reason I forgave you," Ortega said bluntly. He looked over at Clive. "Who the heck is he?"

That's Clavell in a wig, thought Harrington. "He's an...acquaintance," he said aloud.

"My name is Clive," said the current director, the lie coming more easily now. "I've heard about the bullying problem from a year and a half ago. I wasn't at the Academy then, but Harrington was the director."

Harrington nodded along. "Unfortunately, we were unable to stop the bullying problem. After Team Star's creation, one student came forward and accepted all responsibility. I sent her...er, them, home to rest, not to punish them."

Her, huh? The gears in Florian's head were turning, and he wasn't the only one.

"Casseopeia," Juliana stated. "That's why she started Operation Starfall. That's why Casseopeia doesn't seem to hate Team Star."

Clive was thinking too. "And what happened to the records?"

"I wondered that myself," Harrington admitted. "It came to my attention that, after Team Star stood up to their bullies and gained a reputation, my assistant director deleted them all. The bullies dropped out of school. The student responsible for Team Star - Cassiopeia - was sent home to Galar, while the other members simply stopped showing up. I fired everyone and resigned myself."

"Bullying isn't a problem easily solved," Juliana agreed. "I got my stuff stolen all the time in Galar - out of my locker, out of my bag, some brave kids even managed to take my erasers off my desk. All to see if I'd notice it was gone. Once my desk itself was stolen and put in the boys' bathroom to try to trick me to go in there, but I just sat on the floor until the teacher made them give it back. And even Florian's still called the Jackpot Joke after he lost half his pyrite..."

"That's mostly because they don't know who I am," Florian cut in. "The Jackpot Joke and the toenail guy that saved my butt have been blown up to urban legends that everyone likes to laugh about."

That caught Ortega's attention. "Toenail guy? Who's toenail guy?"

"No one knows. People just say he never showed his face in school again."

Clive cleared his throat. "Now that the conversation has been completely derailed, may we please have a moment, Ortega?"

This time, when Penny appeared, Florian and Juliana were ready to pounce.

"Why did Cassiopeia decide to end Team Star?" Florian asked.

"Why didn't Team Star just disband when they got their revenge?" Juliana asked at the same time.

Penny took a step back. "I don't..." she made a strangled sound. "Please don't put me on the spot like this. I'm just here to deliver TMs."

Koraidon popped free of his ball again, and greeted Penny with his usual licking. Penny responded with her usual screech.

"I am not a sandwich!"

Koraidon chirped at his favorite word, sniffing Penny again. Then he huffed and curled up to sleep.

"You should start carrying sandwiches with you when you give us TMs," Juliana decided.

"But I don't want Koraidon to lick me!"

"The sandwiches are for distraction."

Florian stayed silent. Team Star was close to being finished, and Juliana was close to being the new boss. There was only one more Herba Mystica to track down. Hopefully, it was in the lake with the Titan and this wasn't just a giant Pokémon sighting.

Still, it was a Titan, and he did have to fight it. But if it was in a lake, it must be Water-type, which led him to one conclusion.

"Edelgard, we need to work on Revelation Dance. And then we need to change your appearance."

He heard a muffled complaint from her ball, but he'd made up his mind. The name wouldn't be as fitting with Pom Pom-style Oricorio, but he could always change her back.