The Octonauts and the midnight rescue

Chapter-7: Trapped

Recap: The Octonauts struggle to find Vanessa with no contact from her. Meanwhile, things take a turn for the worst when the rockslide strikes, knocking Vanessa unconscious and trapping her. What will happen next? Read on to find out...

Come on Vanessa...where are you? Daniel thought to himself as he looked out the Gup-A's window. They were still searching for Vanessa but with no luck so far.

Kwazii scanned the sea with his spyglass. He bit his lip in concentration, scouting their surroundings for any sign of Vanessa. 

He dropped his spyglass with a defeated purr, shaking his head. "I don't see the little matey anywhere!" he declared.

"Me neither," Daniel and Peso said in unison as they turned away from their respective windows.

Captain Barnacles sighed, raising one paw from the controls to his head, willing himself to think of some plan to find Vanessa. He knew she would be able to protect herself for a while if she was really in some sort of danger, but still she was only fourteen, and the open sea was dangerous...

What kind of father and captain was he if he couldn't find his own daughter?

"Captain? What if we could ask those creatures over there in that reef?" Daniel's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, focusing on the reef that the teenager was pointing at. "Oh, yes, of course," he replied, turning the Gup-A in that direction.

                                                                         X-O-X

"Van? Vanessa! Please wake up!" 

Vanessa stirred, the voice calling her name ecohing through her head. At first she thought she was dreaming, but soon the words started to get clearer and louder.

She opened her eyes wearily, blinking a few times. For a moment she saw two dolphins, but soon her vision cleared and she was back to just one.

"Oh Van, you're awake! I was so worried!" Zelda exclaimed as Vanessa weakly propped herself up on her elbow. Before she could reply, a sharp pain shot up her other hand, making her wince. Looking over, she gasped in realisation.

Her left arm was trapped up to the elbow below a pile of rocks. It hurt quite a bit, and what great timing to get stuck like this.

With Zelda's help, Vanessa sat up. "What about all the other creatures?! Are there still anymore left?!" she asked hurriedly.

"There's a handful more..." the dolphin replied. "But your arm Van! You're stuck!" Zelda pressed her head to the rocks, trying to move them in some way, but they didn't even budge. "Damn it," she murmured.

Vanessa sighed and looked around herself. It had been a good thing that she and Zelda had moved the creatures that were closer and more at a risk due to the rockslide far away first. Atleast some creatures were out of immediate danger but there were still some more...

Vanessa realised something just then.

She had analysed the loosely hanging rocks on the rockface before she and Zelda had begun to help, and she had concluded that if they did fall, then the whole reef would be damaged.

But now, parts of the reef still remained intact. That wouldn't be possible, unless...

Vanessa looked up, and cringed at the large rocks that she could still see. All of them hadn't fallen yet, (which was kinda good, she would have been a lot more hurt if they did,) but there was no doubt that the rest would certainly come down soon, going by the way they were hanging loose.

The question was... when?

Vanessa's thoughts were a tired, blurry mess, and she groaned as she pressed her free paw to her helmet. She wanted to go home. She wanted to rest.

Zelda was watching her worriedly, and she nuzzled her nose against Vanessa's shoulder. It was slightly comforting in its own way.

Thankfully, there was still a little luck on their side that day.

"Zelda! Vanessa!" a muffled, familiar voice rang out, catching their attention.

"Zii!" they both cried in unison as said dolphin came swimming into view. He gently placed down Vanessa's Octo-compass, eyes widening as he took in the scene in front of him.

"I'm sorry it took so long, those fish just wouldn't stop..." Zii apologised guiltily, and Vanessa shook her head. "It's alright Zii," she replied, hurriedly picking up the Octo-compass. Finally!

The dolphins watched as Vanessa shook the Octo-compass slightly, trying to switch it on. Oh, Tweak wouldn't be happy with the cracks that had appeared over its screen from being tossed around all this time. "Come on, please work..." she pleaded.

On cue, it flared to life, much to Vanessa's relief. "Yes!" she cried, pressing the Octo-alert.

"Octonauts! To your stations!" 

To be continued...

A/N I'm so very sorry for not updating in over a month, I was too concentrated on my other story and other stuff :')  Hope you enjoyed though, I might end this story with about 2-3 chapters more. Please vote and leave some comments if you can! Thank you for reading! -Vicky <3