So, another gap between chapters, sorry about that. Getting motivated to write has become increasingly difficult recently, to the point that I have to actively force myself to update the long fic I'm working on. But that's going on a 2 week hiatus right now because I won't have much time to focus on it. But since this one doesn't require much focus as it's almost finished, I can hopefully finally get this done within the next 2 weeks. Fingers crossed I guess, and enjoy this update.

Chapter 12:

Fight and Flight

After his fall into Area Zero, Florian kept waking up sporadically over the weeks he'd been missing. Whenever he did, he found himself in some kind of dark room. He'd be laid out on a table and unable to move, before being put back out pretty promptly. Whether he was put to sleep or knocked unconscious, he didn't know. But the previous 3 times he'd regained consciousness, he saw another person lying beside him. He couldn't make out who they were or what their condition was, but they definitely felt familiar to him. But, each time he tried to find out who they were, he was knocked out again.

So, the most recent time he regained consciousness, he didn't bother trying to get up, as he knew he'd just be knocked out again. Instead, he waited patiently, trying to wiggle his fingers a bit. If he could fully regain control of his body without his captors knowing, maybe he could escape before they had the chance to knock him out again. So, he lay as still as he dared, not moving anything other than his fingers. Then, he tried his lower arms, then his upper arms, then his feet. Slowly but surely, he began to regain control of his body. As he did, he became more aware of his surroundings. He opened his eyes and looked around as subtly as he could. No doubt about it, he was in the Zero Lab. "Ok, problem 1 sorted, I know where I am now," he thought to himself. "Now, how do I get out of here?" Taking a risk, he lifted his head up slightly to see if there was anyone else in the room. At first he thought it was devoid of any life. Then his heart nearly leapt out of his chest as his eyes landed on a sleeping form at the foot of where he lay. There, guarding him, was the Iron Leaves that had attacked him and Penny ages ago. He slowly sat up, wary of making even the smallest of sounds. He looked around the room for a means of escape, and his eyes fell on the metal bed beside him. That's when he remembered that there was another person being kept with him.

As carefully as he could, so as not to wake the Iron Leaves, Florian carefully got up to a crouching position. Then, he carefully leaned forward to get a look at who it was. His insides felt as though they'd just spilled out. It was Juliana lying on the bed next to him, and she wasn't moving. Her eyes were shut, and one of them was blackened. She had a large welt on her forehead, and a few gashes on her arms and face. Clearly she'd woken up sooner than they'd expected and she'd put up a fight. All of Florian's fear and panic evaporated in an instant, and were immediately replaced by rage. He carefully chambered from his bed to hers and checked her pulse. It was there, so she was still alive. Florian exhaled quietly with relief, then turned his attention to Iron Leaves. He looked around the room for something that could help him, and his eyes fell on a weird device above his and Juliana's beds. It took him a few seconds to realise that it was some sort of recording device, and it was pointing right at him and his sister.

As quickly as he could, he stood up on his own bed and opened a side panel. Using the tricks Penny taught him, he fiddled with a few of the wires, so that if anyone looked at what it was recording, the image would be frozen on him and Juliana still unconscious. He was about to go back to searching for a way out of the situation, when another idea came to him. The device was a large box with a camera sticking out slightly, attached to the roof by 4 ropes. Florian carefully untied the ropes on Juliana's side. Then, he pulled on the ropes on his side to loosen them. Once he was sure they were loose enough, he began to swing the device. As he'd hoped, the rope snapped and the device fell right onto Iron Leaves. It woke with a start and was left dazed by the blow. Without stopping to consider the risks, Florian grabbed a metal pipe from the floor and smacked it over Iron Leaves' head. He did it 2 more times and the pokémon fell to the ground, unconscious. Florian made sure it was still alive, then he turned to his sister. He was about to pick her up and put her on his back, when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching from a hall. He quickly leapt back onto the bed and lay down, pretending like he hadn't woken up. As he did, he slipped the pipe under his arm, between it and his back.

When he heard his and his sister's captors walk in, Florian opened one of his eyes a squint to see who they were. He didn't know them, but they were dressed in weird uniforms. Because he was squinting, he couldn't make out any details about their appearance, but he could tell the 1st one was a man and the 2nd was a woman. "How did that happen?" the man asked. "I told you to make sure those ropes were secure!" the woman snapped. "Make sure both of them are still unconscious, we still need them!" The man nodded and approached Florian. Florian quickly shut his eyes and tried as hard as he could to keep still. As the man made sure he hadn't woken up, he said, "What use are they anymore? The leader of Team Star is already here with the Student Council President." Florian didn't dare react. "Penny and Nemona are here?!" he thought to himself. "They must be here to rescue us." The woman laughed at that. "That leader of there's is a coward," she said haughtily. "She won't be much of a threat. As soon as we show her him, she'll buckle immediately." The man laughed as well. "Very true," he agreed. "How much are you willing to bet that she's a hologram, and the real her is cooped up in her room in Uva, too afraid to face us herself."

Hearing these comments about his girlfriend only made Florian angrier, and he had to try very hard to keep still. "Be careful with the faggot," the man told the woman. "She's a feisty one." At the word "faggot", there was the sound of shuffling and the woman yelped. "I'm not touching one of those!" she exclaimed. "What if she likes it!?" The man laughed. "She certainly didn't when I checked up on her," he said. "That's why I had to knock her out." "You know what?" Florian thought to himself. "Screw staying hidden." Grabbing the pipe, Florian sat upright and slammed it into the man's arm. The man cried out, both in fright and in pain. The woman pulled out a radio and went to report this, but Florian was quicker. He hurled he pipe at the woman's arm, knocking the radio our of her hand. The man ran forward and tried to pin Florian down, but he got off the table, causing the man to crash into it. Before he could get to his feet, Florian grabbed the pipe and brought it down on the man's head. Then he rounded on the woman. She held her hands up in surrender. "You wouldn't hit a woman would you?" she asked. Florian just nodded to her, then ran forward, slamming her into the wall. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't make horrible comments about my girlfriend or my sister" he said to her, before slamming her head into the wall and knocking her out. He took a moment to catch his breath, then ran back to Juliana. She hadn't woken up during all the commotion. He picked her up off of the table and carried her on her back, then, picked up the pipe, just in case, and ran out of the room.

Under normal circumstances, Florian would've been horrified with what he'd done to those 2. However, these weren't normal circumstances. He was running through The Zero Lab, carrying his unconscious sister on his back, trying to avoid being detected by their captors, who somehow know Team Star. During his run, he tried to call his mother, but his phone's battery was dead, and he couldn't find Juliana's. At a few points, he came across some other captors, learning that they called themselves Team Eclipse. At first, he contemplated fighting them, but then he decided against it. He needed to get Juliana out of here first. So, he crouched down low and waited for the members to walk off. While he waited he listened to their conversation. As they spoke, they talked about their plans, and their connections with Team Star, as well as the fact that their leader was the reason Penny became a shut in. It took all of his strength not to burst out and attack them. When they were gone, he continued. As he ran through the halls, he overheard that Penny had started engaging Team Eclipse's leader in a battle using Miraidon. Feeling proud of his girlfriend, he was spurred on some more.

Eventually, he came to a large set of doors with a lot of sounds coming from them. "That must be where Penny is!" he thought to himself. He reached the doors and put Juliana down on the ground. Then, he searched for a way to open them. He found a keypad on the side of the door. Realising he'd need a code, he groaned to himself. He left Juliana lying by the keypad while he went in search of an agent who had the code. He didn't bother explaining this to her because she was unconscious and couldn't hear him. It didn't take him long to find someone. 3 agents were running through the halls, panicking. "Sound the alarm!" One of them said. "The twins have escaped!" Before any of them could do that and ruin his escape, Florian shouted to get their attention. Before they even had a chance to turn around, Florian had already slammed the pipe into the first guy's face, knocking him out. The other two piled onto him and tried to pin him down, but he headbutted the first, then freed himself by kicking the other in the shins. As they sprawled, he knocked them out as well, then searched their pockets. He found the code, then returned to the door. Luckily for him, Juliana was still there. Putting her back onto his back, he entered the code, then ran through the door.

He arrived at the spot where the main battle was occurring just as Penny managed to defeat all of Team Eclipse's leader's pokémon. He watched as the leader threw a temper tantrum, then ordered this bulky looking guy to get Penny to admit she cheated. As the big guy approached Penny, Florian was so overcome with anger that he hurled his pipe at the bulky guy, knocking him to the ground. Everyone turned to see who threw it, and their faces were filled with anger or fear in the case of Team Eclipse, and relief and happiness in the case of Florian's friends. Then, his eyes landed on their leader, and his hatred burned. "So, you guys are the ones who bullied my girlfriend to the point that she isolated herself?" he said, filling his voice with every stitch of his anger. This was about to be the most he'd ever said at once, so he needed to let them have it. "Thanks to a conversation with one of your men, I learned everything. About your plans, and your past actions. Normally I like to resolve things peacefully. But after hearing what you've done to the love of my life, and seeing my sister in this state, I will not be satisfied until I've battled each and every one of you. And by the way, I don't have any pokémon!" He put Juliana down and went to Penny's side. "So, which of you is the leader?" he asked angrily. "I'll start with you!"

Penny never knew it was possible to be both scared of and swooning for the same pest at the same time, bit that's what was happening with her as she gazed at Florian for the first time in weeks. Gina began backing away, completely terrified. "Well, don't just stand there!" she shouted to her men. "Get him!" The members of Team Eclipse charged, but Florian just rolled under all of them. "So, you're the one I have to beat!" he said to Gina, then he ran at her. "Florian!" Penny called. "You'll need this!" She threw his belt of pokéballs at him and he caught it. He gave her a thumbs up and continued running. Gina ran through the arena, trying to keep away from Florian, but Florian kept up his pursuit. Eventually he finally cornered her. But before either of them could do anything, a roar was heard from down one of the halls. Nemona spotted something coming down the hall and dived onto Juliana, protecting her from the thing that had just charged in. Gina grinned. "Looks like I'm not done yet," she said. "Iron Leaves, finish off this foreign pest!" Iron Leaves, clearly looking for some payback for being knocked out, happily obliged. But before it could attack Florian, he called out, "Miraidon!" His own Legendary charged at Iron Leaves and interfered with its attack. He threw it to the ground and faced him as Iron Leaves got to its feet. The two pokémon glared at each other, and all other action in the room stopped. Both Florian and Gina stared each other down, before shouting "OVERDRIVE/DRAGON RAGE!" Both Legendary Pokémon charged up their attacks and charged at each other. The final confrontation had begun.

I was thinking about including the battle between Iron Leaves and Miraidon here, but I figured it fit better in the next chapter. Sorry to leave you on yet another cliffhanger, but hopefully it won't take me too long to get the next chapter out. If all goes to plan, this story will finally be over before June is. Happy Pride Month, and I'll see you in the next chapter.