Penny was back on Tae's back as he kicked back a member of Team Star. After Iron Thorns was released with Koraidon, it was a brawl of proportions unseen by modern times.

They were ruthless.

Each and every last grunt brought out their teams and sent a wave of Pokémon at the two. It didn't stop there. Those who's Pokémon had fainted even charged at Tae and Penny.

"Are you sure you don't need your hands?!" Penny asked with worry, feeling the weight of another kick he sent.

"You'll be the first to— know!" He paused to slam his foot into someone's chin from Penny's shifting momentum.

With their Pokémon facing the horde, he was left with his feet to fend off whoever came their way. He was holding up rather well since the tremors of Koraidon and Iron Thorns was knocking most to their knees.

Tae leaned away from a left hook, slid his left foot between their stance, and shoulder bashed their chest, before throwing his heel up into their chin.

Unfortunately, such a devastating kick took time to recover, leading a Team Star grunt to get the jump on him, tackling him to the ground.

Tae quickly pushed away the grunt and covered Penny as Ceruledge leapt out of its ball. The grunts closing in slid to a stop as Ceruledge slashed its blades out to activate Flash Fire, sending them all away with a whistle.

Mela grinned seeing an evolution of her favorite Pokémon, tossing up a Pokéball in response.

Ceruledge landed on Tae's back, glaring at the crowd with rage. Tae squinted his eyes in annoyance, but looked down and saw Penny staring up at him.

"You okay?" Tae asked, frowning at his failed attempts to protect her.

Penny couldn't respond, her mind racing with inappropriate thoughts despite their situation. She closed her eyes and turned away with a nod, her red face hidden by his shadow.

"That's good. I'll do better next time." Tae said as he felt Ceruledge step off.

Tae stood up with Wisp and clenched his fists tightly, seeing a ball of red energy flying their way.

With a lazy slash to their left, Wisp and Tae deflected the blast, the explosion crashing into the cliff side border of the camp.

An Armarouge rushed forward firing smaller pellets at the two, but Tae and Wisp were to synced to be fazed by the onslaught. Tae and Wisp swiped and slashed at the countless pellets with ease as Amarouge closed in. As it did, Wisp and Tae widened their stance.

Wisp and Armarouge lunged forward, locking the two in close quarters combat. Wisp blocked and dodged the bashes of Armarouge's armor.

The two knights danced around, Wisp mimicking Tae's movements since he saw from a different perspective. The precise timing of each dodge left openings for Wisp to jab and slash at Armarouge, but it was no rookie. It's armor was thick enough to brush off Wisp's strongest attacks, and so, Tae needed a plan.

Hit it harder.

Tae weaved under and around Armarouge's jabs as it's hands caught on fire, it's speed and punches increasing.

Wisp and Tae's synergy impressed Mela to an extreme degree. She had witnessed this Ceruledge take down Nemona's Lycanroc, and believed it to be a fluke. She was clearly wrong, and was growing more intrigued by the second.

As Wisp ducked and dodged, Tae decided he wouldn't stay on the defensive.

Wisp suddenly spun around Armarouge and locked its punch with its swords. Armarouge didn't falter, and shift it's armor down to its arm as the fire building up on its hands turned into an orb.

Shrinking her blades, Wisp slung Armarouge away before rushing in with its smaller swords up like fists.

Armarouge shot two fireballs, but Tae and Wisp swat one away and ducked the other.

Wisp sent a haymaker at Amarouge only to be blocked. Two more jabs landed on Armarouge's torso, but the armor once again withstood the strength.

Tae sent a overhand hook, Wisp's blade flying forward with speed at Armarouge's face, but it's blocked with both arms, it's shoulder plates shifted to take the brunt of the force.

Tae slid his foot forward, making Wisp break its guard with a suddenly horizontal slash of its extending blades. Armarouge's eyes widened as Wisp began her combo.

Kneeing it's chest, she followed with another horizontal slash, spinning around to deliver a diagonal one that broke through Armarouge's guard once more.

"Shadow Claw!" Tae yelled, spinning on his heel to direct a powerful slash.

Armarouge thrust its shielded arms up just as Ceruledge spun its flaming blade around. Wisp's sword crashed into its armor with sickening crack, fracturing the armor as Armarouge got sent sliding back from the force of such super effective damage.

Tae and Wisp stood in silence as Mela quietly laughed to herself in amusement.

"You're good. Real good. Even disappointed we didn't scout you sooner." Mela hopped down from the truck, smirking as she approached Tae and Penny.

As she did, Iron Thorns slid back into the scene between them, blocking the rampage of a Fire-Type Tauros. Iron Thorns spun it around by the horns, before slamming it down on its side, and slamming its foot down into with a blast of electricity.

Koraidon landed behind it and blocked a Fire Blast from an Arcanine, and seeing the duo back with Tae made everyone stop.

The standstill had gone for nearly an hour, and Mela was satisfied with what she saw.

"You've clearly got what it takes to try. So let's do it. Come at me with everything you've got. There's a reason over 70% of the student body resigned from Naruva Academy!" Mela shouted, Amarouge stepping forward to face Ceruledge again.

Penny glanced at Tae and saw that per usual, he wasn't gonna back down. Tae didn't move, giving not a single command to his Pokémon.

Arcanine and Korai clashed heads and Iron Thorns tackled a Krookodile as Wisp and Amarouge leapt at each other.

Tae stared down Mela blankly as the battles ensued in silence, the sound of thumps, thuds, explosions, and electricity ringing throughout the camp and even reaching Artazon town, distributing some residents.

Tae stepped to the left to dodge a chunk of a deflected Stone Edge, eyes still locked on Mela.

Penny gazed at his back, seeing his image of her valiant idol with adoration and admiration. Her eyes watered as he crossed his arms, finally beginning to smirk as he watched his Pokémon overwhelm Mela's over time.

Iron Thorns spun around and slammed its tail into Krookodile, shards of stone sending Krookodile back and to its knee.

Korai uppercut Arcanine as it attempted a Thunder Fang, grabbing its paw and slamming it into the ground before punting it back to Mela.

Wisp ran circles around Armarouge, making small lacerations at its feeble attempts at blocking. Wisp slashed its back, sending it stumbling forward as Wisp charged a blue energy in its right blade.

With a swift slash, Wisp's Dragon Claw sent Armarouge flying back with its other team members, giving Tae the win.

Tae rolled his neck. Each and every Team Star grunt under Mela's Fire Crew was shocked into silence. Their tense muscles fell limp as they realized she was defeated. However, Mela herself seemed pleased.

"It's been awhile... since I've had such a fun battle." Mela began. "Back before Team Star, most kids used battles for extortion. I mean, who would want to be hit by a Pokémon over losing money. They're strong creatures." Mela laughed.

"Before Team Star? You mentioned a majority of the student body resigning... what happened?" Tae asked.

Mela smiled at her underclassman. "So you really are a first year. Ah, that's a story for another time. As our code goes, I've gotta quit. I don't mind since I've lost to you." Mela deflected, walking up with a high knee strut.

She grabbed Tae's hand and shook it, placing something in his hand with a solemn smile.

"We did what we had to. If you really wanna take us down... find out why. It'll put us at peace." Mela let go and turned to the rest of her crew.

"Team Star Fire Crew is hereby disbanded! It's been great, but we've got to drop the charade. Dismissed!" Mela announced, making many gasp and whisper.

Tae stood in thought, wondering what happened last year for nearly the entire student body to resign.

In the midst of his thought, Penny walked up behind him and tugged his suspenders, slapping them into his back to break his train of thought.

"Let's get out of here. We've done what we came to."

She sounded tired and relieved, but the look in her eye was embarrassment, confusing Tae.

"Yeah... I've had enough damage dealt to me for one day." Tae sighed.

Mystic peaked out from behind a tent, looking around to see the battle had ended. She spotted Tae and growled.

As Tae turned to the rest of his team, returning them all to their Pokéballs, he suddenly was kicked in the back by Mystic.

"OW! What the hell?!" Tae cried, turning back to see Mystic glaring and raising its foot again. "I didn't know they'd have fire types! Wait!"

•

Arven let out a long groan as he finally got Tae to go to sleep. He sat outside of his own tent with a frown, Penny sitting beside her Jolteon and Umbreon.

"He really did it..." Arven muttered.

"You should've seen him. Hottest thing I've ever seen." Penny covered her face in her hands. Arven gave an unimpressed stare, but looked up with smile.

"He's always been so admirable. Noble til the end, always giving his all." Arven crossed his arms as he recalled his past friendship with Tae.

"He's just... too nice." Penny ruffled her hair in annoyance just thinking about him. Umbreon looked in disgust having felt her intent behind her words.

"Yeah... and I hated him for it." Arven whispered, unnoticed by Penny.

"Is it too soon to meet his parents?" Penny asked.

"I'm sorry, wha—"

"Well, I can't have him meet mine. My dad's so annoying. Out of the question. I think maybe we should go on some sort of date first." Penny muttered, confusing Arven further.

"Wait, you like him already?" Arven asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, so what. He's cute, nice, and one of the most powerful trainers I've ever seen— wait, what do you mean already?!" She whisper-shouted.

"Well, you just seemed so attracted out the gate, and the longer you spend time with him, the cooler he seems." Arven shrugged.

"...You seriously aren't gay?" Penny asked with a squint.

"No. And if you don't believe that, at least not for him." Arven squinted back.

Penny crossed her arms with a smirk.

"Then he's free game." Penny's mischievous glare towards his tent concerned Arven. "I'm gonna go wake him up." She stood up, leaving Umbreon and Jolteon to the campfire.

Arven glared at her in disappointment, before looking at his own tent.

"I'm moving twenty feet away just in case." Arven mumbled, before putting out the fire.