Ludwig was desperately trying not to let his annoyance with his brother hinder his efforts, although it certainly was making his focus hard to maintain. He was oddly grateful that his brother had actually not been disagreeable to going to look for his friends, that rare side of him that had kept some semblance of responsibility towards the German man as his brother coming out. But Gilbert quickly had gone back to complaining about boredom making his awesomeness be stifled. As Ludwig continued to steer the boat, the Prussian had resorted to antagonizing the Austrian man, Roderich looking close to just 'accidentally' knocking Gilbert into the ocean.
"Leave me alone and get back to what you're supposed to be doing." Roderich snapped, throwing a bottle of water at the other man's head. It bounced off since Gilbert had turned to face the German, dislodging the little yellow bird that had been sitting on his shoulder.
"Gilbird!" Gilbert exclaimed as the bird spun around in a daze over the albino's head before settling back onto his perch on the man's shoulder. "Hah! As if you could dent even Gilbird's awesomeness with your lame throwing arm." Gilbert said once he was assured his pet was fine, stroking the feathers on the bird's head. The Austrian man merely rolled his eyes at the other before taking a deep breath in what was an attempt to keep calm with having Gilbert so close to him. Roderich sidestepped the albino to distance himself from him, leaving Ludwig to deal with the Prussian.
"I'm going to head below." Roderich said bluntly, Ludwig acknowledging the other's statement with a curt nod. "I'll see if Elizabeta has gotten anything on the equipment." He said, pulling the collar of his jacket up as though to use it to shield himself from whatever Gilbert planned on doing, not pleased with the knowledge that Ludwig was apparently hoping that he'd keep his older brother in line while he focused on finding his friends.
"She's probably hip-deep in something by now." Gilbert said dismissively, leaning against the controls in a way that made Ludwig immediately shout for him to get off, the albino man smirking in amusement as it seemed he was playing his younger brother. Roderich shook his head, knowing that Gilbert might've meant well by behaving this way and keeping Ludwig from becoming too obsessed – the blonde German did have a tendency to get a little carried away at times with his perfectionism.
"My hips are none of your business Gilbert." Elizabeta's voice drifted up from the cabin, the three men turning to see her climbing up to meet them. "I would appreciate it if you refrained from those kinds of thoughts, unless you need me to smack them out of your head for you." She said, eye twitching as Gilbert only winked at her to further irritate her.
"Ah, you didn't bring your frying pan. He's not worth having to expend the extra effort. Plus, you'd have to hit him with your bare hands…"Roderich said, reaching a hand out to her shoulder to get her to back away, all the while Gilbert continued to laugh and comment to Ludwig about how awesomely aware of everyone's pressure points he was.
The Hungarian woman huffed, brushing off Roderich's hand a little harsher than she intended but stood determinedly in front of the three men. She was beginning to question whether or not she should have just gone with Australia's group, but it was clear to her that she would have to be the de facto leader of the group without the others even realizing it.
"Anyway, I came up here to get Ludwig. It seems like the rescue teams picked up something on radar, but no response has been given." She said, Ludwig at attention now and following the woman down to where she had set up the equipment the recue systems could spare to loan to the persistent personifications. "I've been testing out different frequencies to see if it's possible that someone is trying to broadcast on whatever's available to them…" She was saying, ignoring how Gilbert assumed control of the steering wheel from Ludwig, laughing in his usual manner.
Ludwig and Elizabeta were sitting down, the Hungarian woman about to continue talking about what she had been doing when the radio suddenly went off. Instantly, the German had the transmitter out of the woman's hands and in his own as he listened intently, ready to respond.
"Herro…is anyone there?" Kiku's voice came over faintly, cutting in and out but still recognizable. Elizabeta laughed in success at hearing from someone at last, the silence having stretched for nearly a full day at this point. "Again….is anybody receiving?" Kiku asked, ever patient in tone.
"Japan! This is Germany. What is your location?" He asked, fiddling with the settings on the radio to try and hear him better. "Japan? Japan, are you still there?...Japan?" He asked, Elizabeta's triumphant look slipping slightly as a response took forever in their minds to come.
"Germany? Oh, thank goodness we've reached you." Kiku replied, Ludwig gesturing for Elizabeta to contact the others to have them adjust their radio frequencies to communicate with the others. "We are in need of much help." Kiku said, Ludwig back to focusing solely on what the other man was saying.
"Where are you? Can you give coordinates? Rescue teams are looking for you through visual and radar." Germany replied, hearing Roderich entering the room as he picked up on Elizabeta's raised voice and the concern over the fact that Gilbert was apparently left alone at the controls briefly crossed through Ludwig's mind.
"Instruments are broken. I am transmitting from America's ship…." Kiku began to answer until another voice was heard on the radio interrupting.
"Amigo, who is with you?" Antonio's voice urgently requested, Ludwig nearly growling at the loss of any control as it seemed Elizabeta was successful in getting through to the others. But since he had asked a legitimate question that had been worrying Ludwig, he left the line open for Kiku to reply.
"America, China, France, Britain, and the Italy brothers…well, Feliciano is accounted for. It seems that his brother has disappeared since I last saw him this morning." Kiku said, Ludwig attempting to quickly interject but Antonio was faster.
"What do you mean he's gone missing? How could you lose him?" Antonio asked in clear worry, anger lacing his question.
"I cannot exactly get up myself to go look for him. I have a broken leg from farring in the storm." Kiku said bluntly, Ludwig hearing the strain to keep his polite tone in his friend's voice that only years of working with him had allowed him, and perhaps Alfred and Arthur, to pick up on.
"Is anyone else injured Japan?" Matthew's voice cut in, Ludwig pausing as he tried to place whose voice had yet again beaten him to his question. But Japan paused too, giving Ludwig reason to worry that the connection might have been lost.
"Japan, are you still there?" Ludwig asked, waiting for a response. He was about to radio to the others to see if they could pinpoint the transmission's location when Kiku's voice again was heard. "Repeat last message Japan. We couldn't hear you." He said, again pausing to let the other man work his end of the transmission.
"Ah, yes…it's working Feliciano…no, don't…." Kiku was heard saying, Ludwig nearly groaning at the image of his other friend deciding to 'help' with the technical equipment. If it was anything like the other times he'd been 'helpful' tactfully in the past, they might be waiting a while for another response.
"Ah! Germany! Germany, help! My boat sunk with all my pasta and fratello is hiding. Ve~" Feliciano's rushed voice came over the line, evidently having grabbed the radio from Kiku who, as he'd explained, couldn't physically follow after him to relay any viable information.
"Oh, oh….and Britain was being scary again. He fell on me and was going to crush me in his sleep while I was only trying to wrap his head. But Big Brother France took care of him after that." He continued, rambling some more as Ludwig repeatedly calling out his friend's name to get him to quiet down. But he was able to discern at least one piece of information from that babble regarding further problems bothering the Italian man as continued speaking, counting it a minor step towards progress. "B-B-But, I can't find fratello…" Feliciano finally concluded, sobbing being heard coming from the Italian.
"Italy!" The German man barked, feeling slightly bad for having to be so sharp with his friend, but the sobs disappeared. "Are you injured? How bad are the others' injuries?" He asked in a more gentler tone, ignoring the smirk on the Hungarian woman's' face as he consoled his friend.
"I'm alright. Romano had his nose broken but I fixed it like you showed me Germany. Yao's not slept much and France is pretty sunburnt…but a shark came while we were pulling him into the boat and Alfredo had his arm bitten awf...wah! Britain's awake!" Feliciano said, Ludwig hearing the distinct accent distantly asking 'What the hell are you doing with the radio? Give it here' before the transmission cut out again.
"Italy?" Ludwig asked, Antonio's and Matthew's voices also calling out for a response. Ludwig sighed, knowing that the Italian most likely had damaged the device in his haste to get away from Arthur.
"Alfred's had his arm bitten off by a shark?" Gilbert asked, gaining the other three's attention. "So not awesome. Pretty badass though…" He was saying, looking to be thinking over the idea of what the American would look like once they found him.
"Wait…"Roderich said as he looked to Gilbert, "…Who is driving the boat?!" He asked, Ludwig hastily getting up from his seat to get back to the controls.
"Relax. It's ocean. What am I going to do? Hit more water?" Gilbert asked as he watched his brother panic. "There's an autopilot or something I pressed." He said, grabbing a drink for himself and sitting down to relax. Elizabeta shot a look to Roderich as though silently asking if he'd step in to spare the Prussian her wrath again, but the Austrian man looked away as though to say 'I see nothing'. That was all that was necessary for the woman to smack the Prussian senseless while Roderich whistled out a tune he'd hoped to get to playing once their misadventure was over.