A few minutes later, the doctors reappeared pushing a cart that had some sort of machine on it over to Karania. Karania was totally out of it, and had no idea what was going on around her. A doctor took Karania's right hand and fastened a small device around her middle finger.
"Good, that will begin to monitor her heartbeat." The other doctor said.
"Yeah, but she's going to need to eat something when she wakes up again." The first doctor said.
Just then Maxie came back in. "Aw….. The little patient is asleep. Did she try to fight you when you were putting her back to sleep?" Maxie questioned.
"No she didn't fight us, she more or less just let us give her the shots we needed to give her." A doctor said.
"Is it healthy for her to sleep as much as she is?" Maxie asked.
"Yes, it's healthy for her because she'll die if she doesn't." The second doctor said.
"Maxie, where's that little boy that was in here a little while ago with her?" The first doctor asked.
"Oh, you mean Edgar……. He's working right now, but I will be telling him about Karania's condition since he worries about her." Maxie said.
"Whatever you think is best." The second doctor said.
"I'll be back soon, I'm going to let Edgar know about this." Maxie said.
"We'll continue to tend to Karania while you do that, boss." The first doctor said.
"You tend to her and I'll fill Edgar in on her condition." Maxie said. Then after he said that, he left the infirmary to go find Edgar.
~*~
"Work faster, you lazy boy!" Mal jeered.
"I'm doing the best I can, I'm not used to doing this." Edgar replied.
Maxie entered, "Mal, leave Edgar alone, he's doing the best he can. He'll get better over time."
"I'm going to go check on someone else for a bit……" Mal said, clearly unpleased with her father.
"Anyways, I have news on Karania." Maxie said.
"You do? How is she?" Edgar asked.
"She's doing better, but she's still ill as you know. The doctors gave her a lot of shots, and they hooked her up to a machine that would monitor her heartbeat." Maxie said.
Edgar was frightened when he heard that Karania had been put on a machine, so Maxie said, "Don't worry, they only put her on it as a precaution. The doctors think that she'll make a full recovery."
Edgar sighed with relief.
"Now, you and Karania will be released when I get the ransom money I requested for the both of you. I'll keep you posted on whether I get it or not. In the meantime, Karania will get medical care and you will do as I say. Now get back to work." Maxie said.
"Yes, sir……" Edgar said.
Then he turned back to what he had been working on. Maxie now left the room, and Mal came back in and continued keeping an eye on Edgar.
~*~
Meanwhile, the gang, along with Lance and Team Aqua were making their way to the Fiery Path, but as they were passing through the route they saw a group of Magmas gathering. One group was carrying a strange machine and the others were carrying a box that contained a stolen meteorite.
"Uh-oh, this doesn't look good……" Archie muttered.
"What should we do, boss?" An Admin by the name of Tanya asked.
"The only thing we can do, take the cable car to the top and head them off." Archie replied.
"What about the kids?" Matt asked.
"They'll stay here with some other members while the rest will come with me to the top to help me stop them." Archie said.
"Yes, sir!" Mark said.
Now half the Team Aqua agents split into two groups, one group stayed with the kids and the other went with Archie up the cable car to the top of Mt. Chimney. About twenty minutes passed before Archie reappeared.
"So far so good, we need to get their machine disposed of so that they can't cause any ecological imbalances. I'm going to need everyone's help, that machine is very heavy." Archie said.
Now Archie, Lance, the kids, and the rest of the Team Aqua agents boarded the cable car and rode it to the top. One thing weighed heavily on Archie's mind though Karania and Edgar were close-by and needed assistance. The only thing Archie could do was deal with the problem at hand before they continued looking for Karania and Edgar.
