Kay then sat down on a flat rock in the back of the cave, pulling off his backpack. He reached inside and pulled out a folded piece of paper and a pen.
The real reason why he had climbed the cliff earlier was to get a good view of the island and draw a map later.
He had only gotten a short time to look, but he remembered the important landmarks. The cliff itself, the forests, the open plains, and the positions of the players he had seen.
He started sketching slowly, drawing the rough shape of the island, then adding trees, hills, and the cliff they had climbed.
He marked small symbols where he had spotted each player during his watch. There was the trainer with the male Nidoran, marked inside the forest where he was facing the group of Pidgey.
There was the man with Onix and the two other unknown players. Kay placed their numbers or descriptions next to each one, trying to be as accurate as possible.
By the time he finished, the paper looked like a basic but useful map of the island. It wasn't perfect, but it would help him plan his next steps.
Kay placed the map carefully in front of him, smoothing it out with both hands as he sat cross-legged on the floor of the small, dim cave.
His back leaned against the cool stone wall while Growlithe sat loyally by his side, eyes alert, ears twitching at every sound. At the entrance of the cave, Eevee kept watch, her small figure silhouetted by the faint light coming through the trees outside.
Kay's eyes moved slowly over the hand-drawn map, tracing every line he had carefully sketched from memory after his time at the top of the cliff.
The locations of the players he had seen were marked with numbers, giving him a rough sense of their approximate locations.
He spent several long minutes in silence, thinking, reflecting on all the information he had gathered so far.
Despite his best efforts, no brilliant plan came to mind. The island was too large, the time too short, and the challenge too complex to allow for a clean, risk-free strategy.
He knew he had to find his target, but walking around randomly would waste time, and hiding too long might cost him the game. After all, he wasn't the only one hunting; someone out there, someone has his eyes on him, too.
Eventually, he sighed quietly, the sound barely louder than a breath, and admitted to himself that his only real choice was the simplest one: talk to as many players as possible and gather information, as he had advised that player before.
It wasn't safe, but it was necessary. That risk made this plan incredibly dangerous, but he couldn't just sit and wait for time to run out.
The very nature of the game forced him to move. What made things more complicated was the way the organizers had structured this game.
From the very beginning, it was clear they didn't want players to be eliminated in large numbers, especially after they announced that attacking someone except the target meant direct elimination.
After some moments of thinking about the organizers' reasons Kay shook his head to dismiss his ideas; he needed to focus on what was in front of him.
Just as he got to his feet and dusted off his pants, a sudden soft ding echoed from his Pokedex.
The familiar sound caught his attention immediately. He flipped the device open, and the screen displayed something unexpected.
A large black circle filled the screen, and within it, many small red circles appeared, each marked with a tiny number.
Kay's eyes widened slightly as he leaned closer. In just three seconds, he realized what he was looking at: a full scan of all the players currently on the island.
The red dots represented every participant, scattered across the circular space like points on a radar.
He instantly began memorizing what he saw. Time was short. After only five seconds, the image vanished from the screen, replaced by a message in simple white letters: "That was a gift from the organizers. Stay tuned for a gift every three hours."
Even though the image had disappeared quickly, Kay had already studied it carefully. He noticed two crucial things.
First, the display wasn't a map. There were no visual indicators for terrain, landmarks, or geography, just a plain circle with dots.
It was up to the players to connect that information with their own surroundings and memory.
Second, and more importantly, even though he had traded his number with the other player on the cliff earlier, his position still showed up with his original number: 10.
That meant only one thing: the number tags meant nothing to the organizers. They were tracking each player's real identity, no matter what tricks they used to disguise it.
The most logical explanation was that there was some sort of device hidden either in their clothes or inside their bodies, something they couldn't remove or tamper with, quietly sending out their position in real-time.
Kay wasn't shocked by this realization; it confirmed what he had already suspected. The organizers weren't just running a survival game; they were controlling it down to every fine detail.
He now understood that this gift wasn't random kindness. It was a tool designed to help the players succeed in a structured, fair way.
The organizers didn't want too many people to fail just because they couldn't find their targets. This game was hard enough as it was.
So, they gave the players a bit of help; an update every three hours to level the playing field, making sure people could keep moving and hunting without wasting too much time.
Kay knew he couldn't waste any more time inside the cave. That short glimpse of the map had revealed everyone's location, including his.
Even though he had been lucky enough not to see anyone nearby when the image appeared, he couldn't take any chances.
Anyone who had memorized his location like he had done with theirs might now be heading in his direction. Time was precious, and staying still was a risk he couldn't afford to take.
Without hesitation, Kay reached for Growlithe's Pokéball. He turned to the loyal Fire-type, who had been standing quietly beside him, and said softly, "You did great, but for now, rest."
A flash of red light returned Growlithe to the Pokéball. Kay slipped it into his pocket, then turned his attention to Eevee, who was already by his side, alert and ready.
The bond between them didn't require words. One look was enough to tell Eevee it was time to move.
As they stepped out of the cave, the forest air hit Kay's face, a mix of earth and leaves, warm from the afternoon sun.
But Kay didn't take the main road that led past the cave. Instead, he immediately veered into the forest, slipping between the thick trees and underbrush.
He knew it would be harder for anyone to spot him among the dense vegetation. The shadows of the trees danced on the ground as light filtered through the canopy above, and Kay moved with careful steps, trying not to make noise, his ears tuned to the slightest sound of movement.
He crouched a little as he walked, adopting a cautious posture, his eyes constantly scanning between the tree trunks.
He was no longer just moving; he was hunting. But he wasn't hunting wild Pokémons this time.
He was going after his target. Just before the locations disappeared from the Pokedex, Kay had memorized where his target was.
See you in the next chapter...
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