By this time, Team Aqua had arrived in Staleport, and was searching the area where Karania had suddenly disappeared without a trace. They had found nothing of value so far, and they were beginning to think of giving up their search in Staleport and looking somewhere else. When a note fell from the sky to the ground. The Aqua grunts looked up, and saw a Golbat flying out of view.
"No what is a Golbat doing out here?" Archie asked the air.
Then one of the Admins answered, "I think Team Magma may have sent that Golbat to deposit the note it dropped."
"That's true, Shelly. That's most likely what they did. Now let's have a look at this note.
The note read:
If you ever want to see Karania alive again, meet us at the foot of the Jagged Pass in one week with one million dollars in ransom money. If you fail to do this, then something terrible will befall Karania.
Signed, Maxie of Team Magma.
"I should have known that their plan was to kidnap Karania and hold her for ransom." Archie said darkly.
"One week to get the ransom money together, and get to the Jagged Pass? That's crazy! How can anyone do that?! It'll take at least a couple of weeks just to get there." An Admin by the name of Matt said.
"That's true." Archie said thoughtfully.
Shelly added, "From the sounds of it, Karania's in big time trouble."
"No kidding." Matt agreed.
"The only thing we can do at this moment is to take this note to the police, and then head towards Petalburg. Since that will be the quickest route, and we won't have to deal with a desert getting in our path." Archie said.
"Too true." Shelly said.
Now the members of Team Aqua went to turn the ransom note over to the authorities, and after they did that they headed towards Petalburg City on their water Pokemon.
Meanwhile, while Archie and the other Team Aqua members were searching for Karania, Karania was just now awakening from her sleep. When her eyes came back into focus, she sat up and began to look around at her surroundings. She found that she had been laying on a small bed in a fairly clean cell. It immediately dawned on her soon afterward, that she must be in Team Magma's base as their prisoner. Hoping beyond hope that her psychic powers were still intact, Karania mustered everything she had to send telepathic messages to her boyfriend, Lance, and to Latia and Latios. Karania told them in her messages that Team Magma had captured her, and had taken her to their base. She also told them, that she thought that she was near a volcano. Since she smelled a lot of soot and ash. After sending those desperate pleas of help, Karania laid back down on, pulled the blanket back over her, and tried to get some more sleep. Since Karania had nothing better to do, in her captured state. As Karania slowly drifted back off into sleep, her thoughts flew to the messages she had sent and whether or not they would aid the people looking for her in their quest to find her. Then Karania fell back asleep, and she knew no more for a time.