The miniseries is back! This will be the last series that's not a standalone story.
Rescue Effort Part 2:
One Island, 3 pm…
Platinum and Y watched the recorded video clip as Red played it again. All three Dex Holders were silent for several minutes after the video ended. Red waited for his two juniors' reactions as he thought about the next course of action.
"… We should probably tell the others," Y suggested. "If all of us work together, we'll have much higher chances of successfully rescuing Blue."
"But that will take time," Platinum said. "The other seniors are scattered across Kanto and Johto. Gathering all of them will take time that we do not have. And if we act in too big of a number, we will be detected much faster." She looked over at Red. "A fast thunder does not give time for one to cover the ears. If we act now, we may be able to rescue senior Blue before the kidnappers react and anything worse happens."
"But how do we find her?" Y asked.
"Senior Blue has left us her earring so that we may track her location," Platinum said. "So we should find someone nearby who is adept at tracing the signals that are being received between the earrings."
"Yeah… The most technically savvy person I know is Blue," Red said. "So… trying to find her could be a problem."
"Can't anyone else help?" Y asked.
Red crossed his arms and thought for a second. "Bill lives in Goldenrod City, but he's rarely at home nowadays, and he's the only technical person that I know that isn't one of us. … Green isn't in Kanto right now. Yellow barely knows how to use a machine, let alone tracking. Gold isn't any better. Silver… might overreact in this situation, so it's best to leave him out. … I guess Crys could help. She's the most technically savvy out of those left." He took out his Pokégear and began to scroll down the list of contacts. "Uh… do either of you know her number?"
"… Do you not have senior Crystal's Pokégear number?" Platinum asked in disbelief.
Red rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah… I usually see her frequently enough in Pallet Town that I never really bothered to ask. Heh."
Platinum called Crystal on her Pokégear while Y helped Red add Crystal as a contact.
"Senior Crystal is not answering," Platinum said a minute later as she hung up.
"Oh yeah, she's at a conference in Hoenn," Red said. "Hmm… that sort of makes things difficult for us…"
"Maybe Blue anticipated something like this and has something in her computer that could help us," Y suggested. "It sure seems that none of us know how to trace signals, so it would not help Blue if she is counting on us to trace her location in the event of trouble."
"Good thinking," Red said as he gave her a gentle pat on the back. "Search her computer. She may have some sort of an… automatic tracing thing."
"Doing so would invade senior Blue's privacy," Platinum said. She held the earring in front of the computer camera and typed a few commands on the computer. Soon, a new window popped up, but this one with all sorts of data displayed. "… I may be able to trace the signal myself."
"Really? You can?" Red asked.
"Yes," Platinum answered, staring at the flowing data with unblinking eyes. "In Sinnoh, there were several instances where I had to triangulate the source of an energy signature for research purposes. My mother was involved in the study of Rayquaza in Johto, and the created Green Orb was linked to Rayquaza. Upon purification, the orb would be able to track the location of Rayquaza, and allow the user to control it… in theory. I have studied the archived data of the research project. The energy tracing and triangulation are largely similar to tracing a specific electronic signal. If I am correct, this will not take long."
"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Red asked.
"I am not adept at this," Platinum said. "Senior Blue would be much faster than me. I had thought that some of the other seniors would be better than me. But if none are available, I will help to the best of my abilities."
For the next hour, the heiress stared at the flowing data, trying to make sense of it. She occasionally consulted the regional maps, checking a variety of data points that looked like coordinates. She tested her theories with tracing known locations (such as her own home), and mentally crossed out the incorrect data points.
Eventually, she let out a sigh and turned to face Red and Y with a smile.
"I believe I got it. I am certain that I have narrowed down senior Blue's location to a neighborhood in a town." She rubbed her eyes a little to rest her eyes for a bit. "I have tested this with multiple signal sources, and I am now certain. Unfortunately, the signal is weak for some reason, and I am unable to pinpoint the exact location."
"Great job," Red said, giving her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Thanks to you, we have a real shot at saving Blue. So let's go. Where is she?"
Platinum opened a map of the Sevii Islands. "She is held somewhere in the southern half of Six Island."
"Let's get over there as soon as we can," Red said. "The faster we get there, the faster we save Blue."
…
The three Dex Holders arrived at the Pokémon Center of Six Island. After returning their aerial transport Pokémon, they headed towards the southern half of the residential area.
"There are a lot of houses here," Y said as she observed the neighborhood.
"I can only assume that the kidnappers have taken her to their home, likely keeping her in the basement," Platinum said.
"That could be why the tracing signal was weak," Y suggested. "And if Blue yells or screams, the neighbors would be suspicious. So she would probably be locked away in the basement so that she can't be heard from the outside."
"Which also means finding her would be a bit more difficult," Red said. "We won't be able to hear Blue or the kidnappers. So we'll have to peer inside the windows or something."
"But there are a lot of houses. That would take a lot of time," Y said. "I guess we should split up, then? If we each search a different section without any overlaps…"
Platinum took out the map of Six Island and flipped to the most relevant page. "I will take this section," she said as she circled a part of the map.
"Then I'll take there," Red said as he selected his section as well.
"I guess I'll take the rest," Y said.
"Y, keep your Fletchinder in the air and keeping a close eye on all of us," Red ordered. "If anything happens to any of us, it will have to alert the others, and converge on that location. If we find anything, we'll signal the Fletchinder, and it will alert the others to converge as well. Everyone got it?"
"Yes sir," Y said with a nod.
"Of course, senior," Platinum said as well. "Good luck, and please be careful."
"You too," Red said, as he eyed the houses that was his responsibility. "Keep in contact, and report all that you find. Let's do this."
The three Dex Holders split up and began investigating the houses. Fortunately, Six Island was always rather quiet, with absolute minimal activity on the streets. The three Dex Holders could approach each house and carefully peer through the windows without being spotted from the streets. Still, each Dex Holder took precaution.
Red peeked inside a house from the street for a split second. He detected motion inside, and could hear some kid yapping. He doubted that the kidnappers would have a kid around, so he moved on towards the next house.
For the next couple of hours, he searched the houses, while occasionally checking up on Platinum and Y. So far, no one had anything to report. But Platinum was still certain that Blue was somewhere around here.
Red sat down on a bench near the park for a little break. He looked at the houses visible nearby and wondered if he had missed something. Surely, if the kidnappers were in some house, there would be some hints. Such as… no visible motion indoors. But every house he checked had some motion inside, whether a family was gathered for dinner or some kid running around, or… the sound of a movie playing.
Feeling frustrated, he walked over towards the edge of the island and rested against the guardrail. The sunset over the horizon was beautiful to look at, but did little to ease his frustration.
His Pokégear began to vibrate. It was Platinum calling, so he quickly answered, hoping that the heiress had found something.
"Hey Platinum," he said.
"Senior, have you found anything?" the heiress asked, sounding tired.
"No. Have you?"
"Not yet. I am beginning to feel that I have incorrectly traced the signal," the girl said with a sigh. "… It is my fault… I should not have volunteered. I should have waited for someone adept to aid us. Instead, I overly relied on my lackluster skills and I have ruined our only chance of finding senior Blue…"
"No, that's not true," Red said. But he couldn't think of what to say next, as it really looked like they were in the wrong place.
Platinum seemed to have taken Red's silence as a silent reprimand. "I… I am so sorry, senior… I know how much you care for senior Blue and…"
"It's not your fault," Red said quickly. "Listen, we didn't know what to do at the time. You did the right thing, trying to help." He frowned as he realized that his words were coming out wrong and tried to rephrase. "I mean, you did good. You did great." He put a hand on his face as he now realized that he sounded sarcastic. "I mean, it's the thought that counts, right?"
Platinum remained silent. She let out a long sigh and she sounded very discouraged.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…' Red berated himself as he looked down into the ocean. "Sorry, Platinum. But I'm tired and… the words are… tripping over themselves as they're coming out. Just know that you did really well, okay?"
"… If you say so," the girl said quietly. She didn't sound convinced at all, though.
Red sighed and began to pace around as he thought thoroughly about what he was going to say. "Platinum, listen to me. Don't berate yourself. Have more confidence in…" He trailed off as his eyes caught something. "Hold on… what the hell is that?"
"Senior? Have you found something?" Platinum asked, suddenly tensing.
"There's… something that looks like a cave," Red answered. He quickly approached the guardrail right above the cave-like gap on the cliff wall. "I'm going to take a look. Be on guard. If I don't call again in 5 minutes, converge here." He looked up at Y's Fletchinder and waved until he caught its attention. "Y's Fletchinder now knows my location, so if you need to find me, it'll know."
"I understand, senior. Please be careful."
Red hung up and carefully climbed over the guardrail. There were enough gaps on the cliff face that he could use to climb down until he was close enough to the cave entrance. He dropped onto the entrance and took a moment to look.
The cave was… really small. Even at a glance, he could see the wall on the far side, which was… just a couple of meters away.
"… Crap," he muttered in disappointment. He still took a few steps inside just for the hell of it and scanned thoroughly, hoping to find something. He soon spotted something and quickly crouched to get a closer look. The sand on the cave floor had a faint… trail of red. Blood?
Red brushed away the sand with his foot as he followed the trail. Before long, he felt something hard under the sand. … Wood? He knelt on the sand and brushed the sand around the wooden object until it became fully uncovered. It was a trap door.
'Well, this is either an entrance to some hidden treasure and I'll have a hell of a fight to deal with later on, or… this is some secret base of the kidnappers and I'll have a hell of a fight right now.' He carefully opened the trap door and waited for movement. … Nothing yet.
As he waited for possible movements, he considered in calling Platinum and Y. But he decided not to, as he wasn't certain if this was actually what he was looking for, and it was possible that this trap door led to somewhere very dangerous. He didn't want to bring the two young girls into danger for nothing.
Having waited enough, he slowly and quietly climbed down the trap door, using the ladder there. As he climbed, a thought suddenly occurred. If the kidnappers were using this as a secret base, why was the trap door hidden under sand? If the kidnappers were inside right now, there wouldn't be anyone left outside to cover the trap door. … Unless there was another entrance somewhere… OR, someone was left behind outside the base to make sure no one was following them…
Red finished climbing down and crouched to make himself less visible. He looked up at the trap door opening and wondered if he should warn the girls about the potential kidnapper on the watch.
But to warn them, he had to climb back up. And doing so would make noise and use up time. And if there was a kidnapper on the watch, he would undoubtedly know about Red climbing down the secret entrance. So climbing back out would just use up time that-
Red suddenly felt a sharp pain from the back of his head and everything went dark.
When he woke up some time later, he found himself in a brightly lit room, sitting on the floor while leaning against a wall with his arms tied up behind him and restrained against the wall. His legs were tied up as well, so his movements were extremely limited.
He blinked a few times to clear his vision and looked up. There were two people in front of him, and he recognized them as the same people in the video that Blue recorded with her earring camera.
'Well, it seems like I'm on the right track.'
"He's awake," one of the kidnappers said to the other. "Now what?"
"Now we find out how he found us here," said the man with the eye patch, probably the guy whose eye Blue had raked earlier. "Get the tools."
Red looked around the kidnappers now. The room appeared like the interior of a building, and not a dug-out cave. So that trap door was the entrance to a secret underground room. The room itself wasn't that big, and was largely empty, except for one desk that had a whole ton of stuff piled on top. There were only two kidnappers here, and there was only one door. So it seemed that the kidnappers weren't a part of a larger group, or there'd be a lot more people here, with probably more than one door.
Of course, there could be a whole another facility on the other side, but given the amount of crap on the one desk, it sure seemed like these kidnappers were small-time. If this was just some interrogation room, the objects on that desk would be organized.
Red looked over at his side, and as hoped, he spotted Blue in the same predicament as he was, sitting on the floor with her limbs tied and restrained.
"Blue?" Red called as he strained to get a better look at her.
The girl appeared to be unconscious, as she was sitting slumped against the wall. Her head was facing the other direction, so Red couldn't get a good look at her face. But the amount of blood on her pale skin and clothes was more than enough for him to worry.
One of the kidnappers approached her and dumped a bucket of water on her head. Blue jumped awake and started to cough as a sudden intake of breath caused her wounds to send a jolt of pain. The kidnapper struck her across the face with the empty bucket, causing her to yelp in pain.
"Hey! Get away from her!" Red yelled angrily, thrashing against his restraints.
Blue suddenly turned her head towards him. Red looked at her as well and momentarily pulled back in shock. Her right cheek had swollen, and her right eye remained shut. Red could see some blood around that eye, and winced as he realized that she must've taken a lot of punches to be in this state.
Her visible eye was open wide in surprise, as she did not expect him to be here. Sure, she expected him to save her, but she didn't expect him to be in the same situation as her.
"… Red?" she managed to say, her voice very quiet and shaking. "What… are you doing here?"
"I came to save you," Red answered. He looked down at the chains binding his arms and legs. "… It's actually going a lot better than it looks."
"… How do you figure?" Blue asked.
Red gave her a smile. "I found you, didn't I?"
Blue smiled a little and slowly turned to look at the kidnappers who were preparing something. "… I hope you planned a bit further than this."
Red looked over at the kidnappers. "… I like to think that I learned enough from you." He smirked and slowly narrowed his eyes. "I guess we'll find out."
"I hope you're right," Blue said weakly as she lowered her head again.
One of the kidnappers opened up a toolbox and began to take out various 'interrogation' tools.
Red let out a sigh as he spotted a screwdriver and a hammer. "… In the meantime… this is going to hurt like hell."
Part 3 coming!
Platinum and Y are coming to the rescue!