"Oh, then how do you suppose I should get Gold to trust Crystal that isn't locking them in a room for a week?"

"What?"

~

Purple had asked as many people as he could to find a way to get Gold to trust Crystal. But there was one main problem. The Flames were their own unit. To help them was like threatening a family. Even Blue couldn't help him since he sealed secrets out of Purple's reach. Lovely.

It only occurred to him after the Red Ranks had a bad morning that he knew a Flame personally. And he knew what he had to do.

~

"You want me to do what?"

Purple had this look on his face. He knew it was a bad idea, but what else was he supposed to do?

"I need a victim."

"And?" He gulped.

"I particularly need someone close to Senior Gold."

"And?" He finally bowed his head.

"Come on, Sis! I've run out of ideas and the other flames have closed ranks!" She narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not being a victim just because you don't think of a good idea." He straightened up instantly.

"Oh, then how do you suppose I should get Gold to trust Crystal that isn't locking them in a room for a week?" Her mouth opened for a second before she thought about his words.

"What?" He bowed his head.

"I got Senior Crystal~zelvena to trust Senior Gold~zelvena with what happened to Emerald~talve. Now I need to get it to be the other way around. So unless you have a brighter idea, I have nothing else!" She paused.

"Don't the Waves have any info?" He looked up at her like she had asked something stupid.

"Yeah. You go ask the Waves how to deal with the Flames. Has Forest found a way to relocate your memory or has he given up because you Flames keep holding back info!?" She took a step back as he took a steady breath. "Now. Unless you have a brighter idea, I've run out of options."

"Well, I'm not being a bloody victim just cause you don't have an idea." He dropped his head as she started walking away. The second she was out of earshot, he growled.

"Fine. I'll do it myself."

~

Scrappy understood the assignment. Using wits to counter Pink's judgment, she was able to knock the Flame out and to an unknown location. And all Purple had to do was start the act. He was able to convince Forest and Lime to play along (Since Pink wouldn't). Oat helped even further by taking her phone from Scrappy and handling that end.

Purple waited until the next day to start the act.

"Have you seen Sister Pink~kels?" Forest raised an eyebrow as they entered the school, entering Gold's earshot.

"No. She's not home?" Purple shook his head.

"Never came home. I thought she went to your place." Forest shook his head.

"She said she was going to..." He opened his texts and showed the messages (that Oat had sent). "But then she changed her mind and said she wasn't feeling well."

"Well... she never came home." Lime went over with a pause.

"Something wrong?" Purple glanced at her.

"Sister Pink-kels's missing. She never came home and according to Forest, she was supposed to come home because she 'wasn't feeling well'." Lime paused.

"I think she got a note in her locker after school yesterday. I never saw what it said or what she did with it." Purple nervously bit his lip.

"She never said anything to me... I never got a text or anything." He then frowned. "I hope she's not mad at me. She seemed angry after our talk at lunch." Forest hummed.

"She seemed a little distressed, but she didn't seem angry." Lime hummed.

"I'll see if I can find that note. But if not, we should tell a senior." The two boys nodded as they split up.

~

At lunch, Lime joined Purple in the lunch line, staying near a Flame to continue the conversation. Sapphire was with Ruby in front of them as Lime spoke to him.

"I found part of the note. However, it looks like the person ripped off the signature." Purple frowned.

"Why?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I asked around to try and identify the handwriting, but no one knows." Purple gripped his arm.

"Darn... what's it say?" She scoffed.

"'Dear Pink. I have word of a younger Flame in danger. Meet me on the Roof for more info.' But Oat told me that none of the younger Flames got hurt."

"The Flames keep their ranks closed. We'll never know if he's telling the truth." She hummed as she put the note in her pocket.

"Forest is going to try and text Pink. Wanna sit with us to see if we get a response?" Purple nodded softly as they got through the line. They sat near Forest as Oat walked away from him. Purple met the other Red Rank's eyes before he joined the other two.

"Alright... let's see." He pulled out his phone and messaged Pink's phone. The other two watched carefully.

Forest: Hey, where are you?

Silence followed. Purple was very worried about that before a hum followed.

Pink: Why?

Forest: Cause your brother's having a panic attack from not knowing where you are.

Pink: I said I wasn't feeling well. I'm at home right now in bed.

Purple frowned. No she wasn't. Forest instantly responded.

Forest: He never saw you.

Pink: Trust me. I'm at home. I'm going back to bed.

Purple put down his sandwich, no longer in the mood for food. Lime frowned before glancing at him.

"We'll figure this out. Let's see the seniors after school."

~

Gold was alerted by the problem. But it was Black that made them worry.

"Wait..." Black looked over the texts. "This was at lunch, right?"

"Yeah."

"How does she remember saying something last night? Yeah, all she would need to do is scroll up, but how would she remember to do even that?" Purple tightly gripped his arm as the other two showed alarmed reactions. Gold gulped.

"Alright... Purple, can you go home and check if she's actually at home? Text me if she's not." Purple nodded softly before heading out, keeping a tight grip on his arm.

~

Purple sent the text later that Pink was indeed not home. The Flames closed ranks almost instantly in order to try and figure this out, but Crystal got the alert when Purple had a mental breakdown. She calmed him down before he told her what had happened. Crystal went to Silver at lunch while Oat coaxed the young Red Rank into eating.

"You hear that the Flames closed ranks?"

"You hear Pink's missing?" Silver glanced at her.

"That why?"

"Probably." She hummed. "No wonder they closed ranks."

"We can work around them. They may be smart-"

"But combining Wave knowledge and Blade skill, we have a bit more power."

"Yeah. I'll go talk to Forest."

~

Scrappy watched as Crystal scanned the note that Lime gave her. Out of all the Seniors, Crystal could read handwriting like she was physically talking to the person. Crystal hummed.

"This is Scrappy's handwriting." Skippy looked surprised.

"Huh? How didn't I recognize it?"

"Didn't rush it. She took her time to write this. Which looks vastly different from her notes." Crystal looked around just as Scrappy snuck away, ducking into the Red Rank Classroom. "Speaking of which..." She went over to her seat before speaking.

"They got a lead. Be wary." Oat nodded while Purple hummed, keeping his head down. Crystal snuck a glance in as Scrappy pulled out her notebook from her bag.

~

Skippy was able to get her twin up onto the roof so they could ask her. In which, she hummed.

"Oh... this is an old note." She pulled out a folded piece of paper and showed it. "This was the note I was supposed to drop in her locker. I must've grabbed the wrong one."

"Dear Pink.

I saw the fight between you and Purple, but he won't tell me what it was about. Could you meet me at the roof so that I can understand what happened?

~Scrappy."

The notes looked identical. Crystal hummed.

"So... what did you mean with the first one?" Scrappy hummed.

"That was about Oat's situation. I was going to alert one of the Flames about it, but Purple said that between the two of us we didn't have any info. We later saw the scar on his face and decided that if a Flame didn't see that, I would put the note in a Flame's locker." Crystal hummed as Scrappy paused. "Oh, I probably gave Pink a heart attack when I put that note in her locker. I need to apologize later." Crystal hummed again.

"Yeah... when she's found."

~

Crystal did find the phone. Emerald was able to hack into the GPS just long enough to get a radius before the phone was turned off.

"Wait..." She scanned the map that it showed. "It never left the school?" He shook his head.

"All texts were sent from the school. So either she's still here and is just trapped somewhere-" Crystal paused.

"Or another student has the phone and is making it seem like she's somewhere she's not..."

Later, she found the phone near Pink's locker. It was sadly wiped of prints, but that didn't mean anything for Crystal as she glanced around. The phone wasn't dropped or thrown, which meant the person had time to place it down. She was able to turn it on to scan through the messages. The supposed "texts" that Forest got had vanished. The last text was actually an unsent message to Lime.

Pink: Something's wrong. Could you join me up at the roof right now? I'm supposed to be meeting Scrappy here about something but she's not here yet. I feel like there's someone else though. So could you-

The message wasn't sent or finished. It was left as a draft and not even deleted. She checked through the others. The Forest conversation was wiped of the girl's disappearance and there was a draft for Purple. Curious, she checked it.

Pink: Whatever stupid plan you are up to, I will not be involved with. I know you and those slithering Red Ranks are planning something. I will not be a target in your plans, no matter what you dare try to tell people. I won-

Again, unfinished and unsent. Though, this one seemed to have anger while the other had fear. She then checked through the rest. That's when she was alerted by something in the notepad. She scanned it before humming.

"Who is playing with us?"

~

The Flames almost found her if they were the intended target. However, Crystal did see what was going on and figured it out. After Oat and Scrappy moved the young Flame and left, Crystal slipped in (After getting some pictures) and went to her side. Pink stirred as Crystal untied her.

"Ngh... hm...?" She opened her eyes as the ropes loosened. "Senior Crystal...?" Crystal smiled as she checked the younger girl, seeing a nasty wound on the back of her head.

"Easy. Let's get you out of here." Pink merely nodded as she rested against the senior. Crystal paused before pulling out her phone and texting someone.

~

Gold was waiting outside as she brought the resting younger classman to his place. He gulped as she let him take her.

"Where was she?"

"I'll tell you later. It's complicated. You may have to get her head taken care of first. I'll talk to you at school." He merely hummed as he silently thanked her before going inside.

~

"We are so caught."

"Not if Purple can help it."

Pink did not know what happened. The most she remembered was going to meet someone and then the dark room that Crystal found her in. The rest? Probably with the rest of her memory, which was no doubt burning in a missing dumpster. While Purple held onto her like she was going to disappear if he let go (just to keep the act up), Oat and Scrappy were watching the twins' seniors speak to each other.

"We barely did anything. Purple is the main person. If they can't catch him, then we're good." Oat hummed at that.

Crystal eyed the two from afar. She knew she was missing something, but what?

"I know Scrappy got Pink into a vulnerable position, but it was Oat that knocked her out, handled her phone and moved her to where I found her. The problem is I don't know if they were working alone." Gold gulped.

"Wait... moved?"

"Yeah I know. I watched him move her. I got nothing more than that though. Any info past that is in the dark." He hummed softly, lost in thought.

~

According to Oat and Purple's own ears, the two were almost there. Purple smiled.

"Alright. Let's see what happens when we get them trapped in the same room again."