Wow, when I said I'd be stopping until I was next motivated, I thought that would only take a week, not 3! sorry for the break, but I'm finally writing this damn fic again. If you've read anything I've ever written on this site, then you should know the pattern by now; I come up with an idea for a fic, hyperfocus on it and update it everyday or two, then lose the hyperfixation and stop updating it as regularly. But I'm back now, so here's chapter 5.
Chapter 5:
Wild and Tame
Penny recovered fairly quickly in the nurses office. There was a brief fear that she may need to be taken to an actual hospital, but that turned out to be unnecessary. Within a week, she was fully healed and back on her feet. A huge expansive search of Area Zero was launched to find Florian the day after Penny told everyone what happened. Classes were called off, and Gym Leader's Gyms were temporarily closed, so that everyone available could be sent down into the Crater to find Florian. Every student at the academy volunteered to join the search, which was being led by the teachers and Gym Leaders. Many of the residents of Mezagoza, and many of the other cities around Paldea also volunteered to join the search. Even La Primera and the other members of the Elite Four joined in on the search.
Because the search party was so large, it had to be divided into several teams. Each team was led by a Gym Leader or Elite Four member, since they were the strongest trainers. Nemona tried to argue that, since she was interning in the Elite Four, she should get to lead her own team, but Geeta shut that idea down, telling her that not enough people would respect her enough to follow her orders, so her search party would be too small. Once, the party was separated into smaller groups, Director Clavell and Geeta took a map of Area Zero, and split it up into large sections, which were divvied up between the groups. Strict timetables were set up so that no one stayed in Area Zero for too long and risk being injured by the Future Pokémon that dwelled in there. With all of this set up, the search began.
Because some of Florian's friends had been into Area Zero before, they were all split up amongst the teams, since they knew there way around the place to a certain extent. Upon hearing the news, Carmine and Kieran were able to get time off from school in Blueberry Academy to aid in the search, since they had been down there as well. As soon as Penny had recovered, she was also put onto a team. For a while, no one was really sure what to do with Miraidon, since only Florian could really control him. But then, Arven came forward and admitted that he used to be Miraidon's trainer before handing him over to Florian. So, the search party he was a part of received the pokémon.
At first, nothing was found. Geeta's group, which both Nemona and Juliana were a part of, searched the spot that Penny said they were attacked over, but nothing was found. Throughout the rest of Area Zero, the other search parties reported the same thing. However, on the third day of searching, something was found. Florian's Rotom Phone was discovered lying on the ground near the cliff that led back up to the rest of Paldea. It had no battery left, meaning the Rotom inside it had either escaped or used up so much energy it fell asleep. The phone was immediately taken back up to the surface and Florian's phone charger was retrieved from his room. It took a few hours, but it eventually was charged enough for the Rotom to finally wake up and power the phone. It was decided that Penny should be the one to search through it, since she was the best at technology, and there may be a few things in the phone that she didn't want anyone else to see. Unfortunately for everyone, it seemed that Florian hadn't managed to record what happened to him when he fell, meaning they were once again back at square one.
Another week passed since Penny joined the search, and nothing else came up in all that time. Penny was in a constant state of panic at this point, worrying about all the things that could've happened to Florian since he first fell in. Juliana was also frantic. When she wasn't searching Area Zero for her twin, she was pacing around the place, chewing her nails and muttering to herself about all of the places they had yet to look. If people thought she talked a lot before, the amount she was doing now made her before this all started seem like Florian by comparison. Nemona felt terrible for her. She managed to put her feelings for the girl aside to comfort her, no matter how much the close proximity made her heart hammer in her chest. But arguably the most frantic person of all was Florian and Juliana's mother. She was part of the search as well, and often had to be pulled out of the Crater when her group's shift was over. She'd reportedly started sleeping less from being sick with worry, and had been prescribed sleeping pills just to keep her health up.
One evening, after another long day of searching, Juliana, Nemona, Arven, Carmine, Kieran, and the Team Star Admins were all sitting in the cafeteria, staring at the food Arven had made for them. None of them were particularly hungry, since their minds kept wandering back down the Crater to where Florian was, somewhere. For once, all of their groups were scheduled to be taking a break together while some of the others continued to search, so they decided to gather together and eat, not that they were doing much of that. Penny was with them earlier, but had been called away by Clavell to discuss what happened again. Apparently, there could be a chance that she saw the Iron Leaves that attacked them carry Florian somewhere else in the Crater, but didn't recall. Everyone knew this was grasping at straws, at best, but it was the best lead they had in over two weeks.
The mood was so down that if you were to walk into the room, you'd feel depressed immediately. Eri and Mela, who were normally lip locked with Mela on Eri's lap, were sitting side-by-side mournfully, not feeling in much of a lovey-dovey mood. Giacomo and Ortega were also being more reserved than usual, as normally Ortega would have his arm around his boyfriend as the two ate the same sandwich. They only did this because they knew it made everyone else uncomfortable. But today, they had their own sandwiches, and weren't eating them, the same as everyone else. Kieran and Carmine were sitting by themselves, staring worriedly at the date on Carmine's phone. In just a week, they would have no choice but to return to Blueberry Academy, meaning they were running out of time. Nemona would normally be staring googly-eyed at Juliana, a large blush on her face. However, while she still stared at the girl, it was out of concern rather than a hopeless crush.
As for Juliana, she was sitting there, staring at her feet, and muttering to herself. She did this so often that no one bothered to try to listen in. They just assumed she was muttering about the places left to check. However, that didn't seem to be the case. Without warning, Juliana stood up, so abruptly that the shock nearly caused Nemona to fall out of her seat in alarm. She had a look of realisation and fear across her face. "I just thought of something!" she said, heading for the door. "Come with me!" And with that, she wrenched it open and bolted down the hall. Everyone else looked at each other quizzically, then followed her.
Juliana ran up the stairs and down a few halls, heading towards Director Clavell's office. When she got there, she saw that a League official was standing at the door. "I'm sorry," he said, "but the Director and La Primera are busy at the moment." The rest of her friends showed up at that moment, panting slightly. "But you have to let me in!" Juliana demanded. "It's an emergency!" The official scoffed. "What emergency could you possibly have that is more important than the discussion going on in there?" he asked. "It's about my brother!" Juliana snapped. "I think I figured something out that'll help us in the search, but I need to confirm it with Penny!" The official nodded, obviously deciding it was best not to argue with her. He stepped aside and allowed the group to enter.
Inside, Penny and Geeta were sitting in front of Clavell's desk, while Clavell himself sat behind it. All three looked up to see who'd barged in. "Penny!" Juliana said as soon as she entered the room. "This is important!" She then realised what a scene she was making and went a bit pink. "Sorry, Director, La Primera, but I just thought of something we'd completely overlooked!" Both adults gave her their full attention at this. "What is it?" Clavell asked. Juliana looked at Penny. "Do you remember what colour the pokéball Florian threw at Iron Leaves was?" she asked her. Penny seemed as confused as the rest of Juliana's friends, but Geeta and Clavell's faces suddenly bore the same face as Juliana had pulled when she stood up in the cafeteria.
"Of course," Clavell breathed. "How could we have overlooked that possibility?" "I just assumed it was a regular ball when penny told us the story," Geeta agreed. "But maybe Juliana has a point." Penny looked around at the three of them. "What are you talking about?" she asked. Clavell looked at her seriously. "Juliana is right Penny," he said. "We may have overlooked something huge. Can you recall what colour the ball Florian threw was?" Penny looked totally nonplussed, but strained her memory banks as hard as she could to think. "It was..." she said, slowly. "It was..." Her eyes shot open at this, as she too made the connection. "It was... purple."
A tense silence echoed through the room as everyone else realised it too. "But the only pokéball in the world with that colour," Mela said, "it the..." "Master Ball," Arven finished for her. "Yeah, that's right." "Isn't the Master Ball the pokéball that can catch any pokémon without fail?" Kieran asked. Carmine nodded. "Close," she told him. "It can catch any wild pokémon without fail." "But since this ball merely bounced off Iron Leaves' head," said Atticus, "doesn't that mean that it was already tamed, and belongs to someone else?" Geeta nodded. "So, does that mean Florian was kidnapped?" Ortega asked. Clavell nodded darkly. "It seems so I'm afraid," he replied. "But the question is, who would do something like that, and why?"
At that moment, as if it was waiting for just the right time, the phone system in Clavell's TV started ringing. Clavell answered it quickly. "What is it?" he asked. "I'm in the middle of something important." "Sorry director," came the voice of Lika as her face came on screen. "But we found something. And I think you need to see this." She turned her phone's camera around, and pointed it at the ground in front of her and her search party. On the ground was a hand-stitched pin, with an emblem of what looked like an eclipse sown on. "We found this on the ground," she told them. "We think it's a badge, maybe one that belongs to a group. We think there're some people down here, using Area Zero for something."
Penny gasped as she looked at the badge, and a look of great fear came across her face. The rest of Team Star stared at that badge with a look of deepest loathing. "What's wrong?" Nemona asked. "Do you recognise the badge?" Penny shook her head, as she curled up in a ball on her seat, covered her ears, and began to rock slightly. "Not the badge," she said. "The stitching." Then, she began to panic, muttering to herself, "Not her, not her, not her!" over and over again. "Eh, who's 'her'?" Arven asked. "The style of stitching belongs to a girl named Gina," Giacomo explained, his voice shaking with hatred. "She's the girl who bullied Penny so badly, she became a shut in!"
Hopefully that was worth the wait! When I played the game, I kept thinking that those bullies Team Star mentioned were going to appear again, so that Penny can beat them herself to show how much she's grown. But that never happened, so I decided to do that myself. Now, how many of you noticed back in chapter 4, when I was describing the flashback, I never stated which type of pokéball Florian threw. I merely said, "he pulled out an empty ball"? Clever foreshadowing if I do say so myself. Also, I'm sure some of you may find that Eclipse emblem familiar? If you don't, I'd say you'll definitely recognise it by the end of the next chapter. Hopefully it will not take me that long to get it out.