Middletown is a normal Robotnik settlement with normal problems; roboticized civilians who now work for Robotnik. Robotnik has a "general" in charge of all his settlements, though, no matter how big or small. In the case of Middletown, he has Blipvert. A mobian-sized robot with the ability to daze his enemies with light and sound.

However, Middletown's refugees, who fled to a place they now call Channelwood, got lucky. They found a neighbor and ally in a place called Aquarius, only 10 miles away.

Today is a normal day. At least, as normal as it gets in a post-holocaust world where everyone is fighting just to survive. Katy is up in one of the lookout posts, having decided to take a short break from her normal duties. For the past 5 minutes, she has been looking skyward more often than at the ground. Katy makes some notes and looks ponderous.

---

(The forward and back slashes are to indicate this is a sort of restart. I'm having this take place in a separate world from the other RPs titled with Chapter X. And as much as I love Maverick, I'm starting this without any overlanders/humans. Furries only for now. Mav will be introduced at a later time. Also, as the intro hints, there is no Ra. I'mma see how far I can go this time without jumping sharks.)
This message was last edited by the player at 01:35, Fri 12 Oct 2012.

Lucky recently celebrated his 15th birthday and is snacking on a leftover piece of cake.  While his family is among the few that escaped Middletown completely unscathed, it's not too surprising considering his dad is King Acorn's cousin.  The family body guard hid them in the windmill during Robotnic's takeover.  He volunteered to go to town to help as many as he could, but never returned.

Since then, Lucky's remarkable aim with the family hairloom bow has helped keep Channelwood supplied with fresh meat.  Dad doesn't get out much because of his limp but contributes as a teacher.  Mom is a doctor who dabbles in holistic medicine and dotes over the least little sore throat or stubbed toe.

Lucky strolls in Katy's direction, softly whistling a merry tune between bites of cake.  Should she look his way he'll smile and wave with the fork.

  Joe has a grappling claw sporting robot arm, he's already halfway down the shark ramp.

  At least he has other mundane skills beyond sharp objects though, fixing a section of time and weather worn railing (fortunately not on the walkway Lucky is traveling down).  Channelwood has enough problems as it is without Everquest Elf newbie style fatalities.

  "Hi Lucky, we run out of forks again?"

Katy does look Lucky and Joe's way. She beckons them over and climbs down from the lookout post.

Once the two are close enough to her, Katy says, "The sky's been having some unusual activity lately. I keep thinking I see something, but when I look closer... nothin'."

There's still plenty of the slice of cake left, so Lucky cuts it in half and offers it to his two friends.  "Not out of forks, just didn't have the foresight to bring spares," he answers, "You're welcome to use mine if cooties don't scare you."

Katy mentioning strange activity in the sky has Lucky instincitvely looking up.  He's an easy target for 'made you look' pranks.  "Not easy to skygaze in a forrest," he points out, "I wonder if the folks at Aquarius have seen anything.  Open lake means clearer view of the skies, but it's questionable how much time they spend skygazing.  Say the word and I'll be happy to join you."

---

OOC: Katy's berserker strength and Joe's robot arm seem rather reasonable considering this is a setting where the main hero starts out jumping cyber-piranha.  And bonking them turns them into birdies and squirrels.  Bunny's problem would be solved of only Sonic would body-slam her.  If we want to avoid shark jumping, might I recommend removing all the superpowers of the game, comic, and cartoon?  Including magic items such as rings, emeralds, and invincibility televisions?  Or at the very least declare that the PCs will never come across super powers or magic items?  Less likely for things to get crazy that way.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:44, Sun 14 Oct 2012.

  "I'll let you keep your own birthday cake, though thanks for the offer."  He shrugs as a follow up to hammering in a last nail.  "They'd also have a lake to see through between them and the sky most of the time.  Wouldn't be surprised if there was something up there aside from clouds though."

Katy huhs... "Well if either of you wanna volunteer to go to Aquarius and ask, it's worth the visit to say hi. I, however, gotta stay here and watch over Channelwood." she hrms at the cake and takes a piece with her bare hand to nom a bit. "Thanks, Lucky. And again, happy birthday. How does 15 feel to you so far?"

Lucky smiles and nods to Joe.  "You're most welcome.  And I was thinking the same thing."

He turns his smile to Katy.  "Much as I'd rather keep you company, if you need me to go, I'll go.  Howzit feel?  It feels a lot more grown-up than 14.  Dad said he was betrothed to be married to some princess when he was 15.  Fortunately that never happened, but still...  Knowing that makes me feel big."

  Considering how half the royalty ended up and/or acted, it might not be silly for Lucky to be saying 'boy, good thing My dad didn't marry a princess'.  Hey King Acorn? How did that whole hiring Julian and putting him in charge of important things work out for you?  At least your daughter isn't a complete moron like you (Well, aside from wanting you back).

  "Well at the very least, you're probably a better shot than your Dad was at that age."  Complimenting children, good.  Complimenting their capacity for violence, we're still up in the air on that one.

  He looks over to Katy, "I could go with Lucky if you want, if there's nothing specific you needed me needed me for around here.  Though even with my preference for heights, I don't think I could scour the sky any better than the rest here."  Well, not unless he swings REALLY high over and over.

Katy says, "Well the folks back at Aquarius deserve to wish you a happy birthday too, don't they, Lucky?"

She looks up at the canopy of trees. Then back to the other two. "And I don't have anything specifically lined up for you, Joe. So yeah, actually, you two would be perfect for checking with our neighbors."

Lucky smiles proudly and nods at Joe.  "So I've been told."

He blushes at Katy's question.  "Aww shucks.  That's very thoughtful of you, Katy.  Thank you for being such a sweetheart, Katy.  Gimme a few to get packed up and I'll be on my way."

A trip to Aquarius usually includes at least 1 night over, after all.

  Field trip to the land of princess nightlight it is then.  "Sure thing Katy, hopefully the sky thing is unjustified paranoia instead of the more common justified sort."

  Joe follows the example of children for going off to grab travel goods.

Emerald briefly mommies Lucky and Joe as the two are heading out, making sure they are well equipped for the trip. But eventually, lets them go. It's obviously a long enough trip to have plenty of conversation.

If the sky is looked at during the walk, the duo will notice what Katy was talking about. The skies can't decide whether to be a sunny day or a stormy overcast day. Thunder rumbles, but no rain or lightning.

"Miss ya, Katy.  Take it easy!"

Lucky smiles endearingly and tail-wags at Emmy's doting.  "I sometimes wonder if you realize just how cute you are, Emerald," he purrs, "Thanks for the help!  If you'll do me a teeny favor that you'd likely do without my asking anyway...   I think Katy could use your kinda warm fuzzy attention to ease her worries in our absence.  I'll feel better about leaving knowing you'll make a point of keeping her company and brightening her days with that heart-melting smile and voice of yours.  Thanks again!"

He does keep his eyes on the skies between watching where he walks while traveling with Joe and huhs about the clues.  "I wonder what's going on.  Seems kinda strange."

---

OOC: I'm fine with hand-waving whatever idle chit-chat or lack thereof there may be on the trip to Aquarious in the interest of getting Tim back into the RP.  Of course, not skipping ahead is fine too.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:09, Fri 19 Oct 2012.

(Handwaving is fine with me too. I'll wait for Joe's reaction to Emmy / the sky / etc before posting the arrival at Aquarius. MAN i love the new "gray" color option!)

  "Thanks Emerald, Lucky is full of truth words.  Don't forget to take care of yourself once in a while either."

  Joe has seen it snow during a thunderstorm, but indecisive weather is always a bit more noteworthy when it's part of the narrative.  "I'll be annoyed if somebody is working on a weather machine for evil." Hot hail is nothing but trouble when Flash Gordon isn't available.

  OOC: Scene transition is good to go.

When the duo make it to the lake, they can see Mei-Ling sitting on a picnic blanket at the bay with binoculars and, well, a small picnic. She seems to be keeping an eye on the sky and eating a sandwich. She doesn't seem to notice Lucky and Joe yet.

Lucky does his best bird whistle then transforms it into a merry tune to gently catch her attention.

"Hey there, Mei-Ling, how's it going?  You got me wondering if you've seen the mystery in the sky Joe and I came to ask about.  Katy said she always just misses seeing something moving about in the sky and the trees of Channelwood make it hard to help her watch."

This said while casually strolling over toward her, presumably giving her plenty of time to swallow.

  So, it seemed Aquarius was better equipped to watch the sky after all.  Katy, binoculars <  Mei-Ling, picnic and Binoculars.

  "So the general consensus does seem to be something strange is going on up there, but figuring out just what is the problem, yeah.  Hello Mei-Ling."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 04:57, Thu 25 Oct 2012.

Mei Ling looks at the two. "Oh wow! What a nice surprise! Please come sit and enjoy some food with me."

Once the two have seated themselves, Mei Ling says, "What Milloni thinks is going on is Robotnik has something up in the air that controls the weather. But if that's true, it has to be in it's testing stages. Not once has this storm rained or struck with lightning. I asked her if such a thing could be built in the first place and she said it's already been built before in history, but the technology was abandoned."

Lucky smiles and sits next to Mei Ling, nomming on whatever noms he's offered.  "Thanks!  You sure know how to make a guy feel welcome.  Here's hoping that together we can solve this mystery."

He leans back and keeps his eyes on the skies.

  Joe seat gets.  "Oh good, I'm not the only one with that might-not-be-paranoid assumption.  Would certainly fit Julian's habit of taking abandoned science projects he didn't make and ruining lives with them."

  He considers the crazy sky,  "Maybe he's holding out for Hot Hail like a traditional crazed overlord."

After sharing lunch with Lucky and Joe, Mei Ling heads on in to Aquarius. The familiar faces are all there.

Shelly goes to meet with the visitors. "Hey, guys! Good to see you!"

Mei-Ling says, "I filled 'em in on the sky problem."

Shelly says, "Well like Crucible likes to drill into my head: It's not a problem; it's a challenge. Besides... hasn't become a problem yet."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:39, Sat 24 Nov 2012.

Lucky face-skews at the strange talk from Joe.  It's not often he hears Robotnick referred to by his first name.  (OOC: By way of comparison, it would be weird to say "Joe" when referring to a Russian dictator.)  And this is the first he's heard of Hot Hail being a traditional overlord thing.  Perhaps it's a generational gap thing and he's referring to a story popular before Lucky's time.  Either way he thanks Mei Ling for the hospitality then gives Shelly a bright smile and polite bow.  "Good to see you again, Shelly.  Challenge or problem, I'm happy to be able to visit.  How've you been?"

  Joe is the sort of person who would call Magneto by their given name.  Why dignify a crazy man's self chosen title with use?  That and Julian doesn't make spell check scream.  "I suppose calling staying alive for another day a challenge, rather than a problem does make it sound more optimistic.  Hello Shelly, good to see more friendly faces these days."

Shelly says, "Well Mei Ling has told you what's going on around here... what brings you here?"

(Was gonna handwave "after the two explain why they are here..." but then I realized there are things your characters may or may not leave out, so I decided to see what Lucky and Joe say.)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:06, Mon 10 Dec 2012.

"Pretty much that," Lucky answers, "Not easy to see what's going on in the sky at Channelwood.  Figured you all would have a better view from the lake shore and might know more about what's going on.  Also..."

He gives an impish grin, "Yesterday was my 15th birthday."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:10, Thu 13 Dec 2012.

  "Lucky has it covered, always nice to see people that don't want us dead though.  Not really much chance for social calls these days."

Shelly lets out an otter squeal and says, "Well happy birthday! Let's get you some cake and presents!"

Crucible leans over and whispers in Shelly's ear. She nodnods. "Don't worry, Cruci, I'll have someone on that. Lucky should enjoy his birthday."

Thomas happens to be walking by. He looks over. "Hey Lucky. You count for "adult" yet?"

Meanwhile, Crucible looks at Joe. "If you want, I can show you the images we've managed to capture of the sky patterns."

Lucky smiles at Shelly's adorable otter antics and gives her a polite bow.  "Thank you, Shelly."

He nods proudly to Thomas.  "According to my parents, I've been a grown-up for a long time, if unofficially.  But now it's official!"

Not that it makes much difference in practice.  Had this mystery sky situation came up when he was 14, he'd have traveled here anyway.

  "Thanks Crucible, even if we still can't figure out the meaning, actual photos would be better than verbal descriptions."

  Lucky was an Adult.  Soon there would be a shortage of cigarettes, beer, and leather jackets... Wait no, that was Fonz, not Adult.  Lucky may very well need to learn how to ramp over robot sharks around Aquarius though.

Thomas says, "Maybe we can sit and talk girls and get drunk sometime."

Crucible eyes Thomas a moment. "...I guess on birthdays, you're in a good mood?"

Thomas says, "I like birthdays. Always have. But these days, they are reminders, even if brief, that we still live and give Robotnik a headache." ...he smiles.

Crucible smirks. "I like that outlook. Happy birthday, Lucky. Another year of making Robotnik regret his actions. Now let's go look at those pictures."

Soon enough, the bunch are led to the observatory and shown the pictures taken so far. They have the computer animate the photos to show how the clouds look in fast motion. Then show a comparison shot of normal cloud activity. The fast motion shows clearly what everyone was only able to "feel" when watching it naturally; at first, the clouds go south. Then suddenly seem to head east. Then suddenly north. Then suddenly west. Then suddenly south again. All this seems to be forming an almost perfect square in motion pattern. Not even close to being a circular motion. Definitely not natural.

"I'd love to spend some time with you, Thomas.  But I don't need to get drunk to talk about girls."

He shoots a sly smile at Shelly and Mei-Ling.  "They're intoxicating enough all on their own."

He thanks Crucible and follows along.  When he sees the photos he blinks in surprise.  "Weird.  Know of any brave flickies willing to go scout it out?"

"I can't decide if they either have no grasp of subtle, or know they do not need to bother with it at that height."

What if they notice the clouds might be fake?  Pfft, not like they can come up and check.

Shelly glows slightly when Lucky mentions her being intoxicating. While Mei-Ling can't glow as literally as Shelly, she does glow in her own way. Like humans, pigs don't have fur covering up their blush.

Thomas just raises an eyebrow at Lucky with a light smirk.

No sooner does Lucky ask about a brave flicky than one shows up with a pilot-style goggles hat on his head and salutes with a wing while tweeting the army-charge trumpet call.

Shelly says, "Guess that answers that. Alright, Peru, go check it out. Be careful."

The flicky heads off.

Shelly faces Lucky and Joe. "I guess until he reports back, all we can do is prepare a party maybe?"

Lucky shrugs.  "Sometimes a square flight path cloud is as subtle as they can be?  I wonder if it's aliens."

He smiles proudly that he made the girls blush and winks at them.  To Peru he salutes, "Thanks!"

Then to Shelly he nods.  "Party sounds fun!  Lead the way, pretty princess!"

  "I suppose if we were fortunate, it would just be Timothius's hometown pointing and laughing at the people stuck hiding in holes.  But that would merely be annoying instead of dangerous, so probably not."

  He looks back over to Shelly, "Party princess, sounds like it suits you."

Shelly cheers. "Woohoo! Party time!"

Within half an hour, Shelly has the main hall decorated and cake is having the icing spread on it. The people of Aquarius are quickly getting in great moods. Birthdays are one of the ways people wind up improving moods, after all.

Meanwhile, Thomas enjoys talking about girls with Lucky and Joe. He's curious which girls they like from both Channelwood and Aquarius, and for what reasons. He made sure there weren't any girls sitting with the three of them so talk could be more free.

(( Lucky's player can neither confirm no deny his character's knowledge of a person named Timothius or of the existence of a place in the sky that he may or may not come from in this reboot.  This world's Timothius might have brown fur and no wings for all he knows.  Mittens won't be the same as last reboot, that's for sure. ))

Lucky grins at Joe's nickname for Shelly and nods.  "It sure does!" 

He is very thankful of everyone who puts together the party and is sure to tell them they made his day.  He of course is more than happy to talk Thomas' ear off about the many things he likes about any given girl, but given how transparent he is, it'll be easy for anyone who glances in his direction to guess what he's saying.  Not that he would be any less free with what he has to say if there were any girls listening in.  Well...  unless he'd think the girl would get jealous of the nice things he has to say about the other girls.

  Joe has been known to have trouble keeping his memory between several dozen sonic themed versions straight.  Then you get into the whole hazy area of which bits of his backstory RPs happened or not and oy it's almost as bad as Wolverine.

  "I'm still in that awkward stage where I've gotten over myself enough to tell her, but not enough to tell other people." He's less afraid of plot kidnappings and more that he'd leave her to die in an elaborate death trap while he repeatedly slams the kidnaper's skull between a metal press instead.

Timothius not only exists and has wings, he's sitting with the guys and is part of the conversation. He seems to agree with most of the things Lucky has to say about the various girls, but not everything. When Joe comments, Timothius asks, "I'm actually backwards from that. If it were me, I would tell everyone but the girl and maybe have someone ask her for me..."

Thomas says, "I just admire them m'self. Too afraid of losing someone, you know?"

Shelly bangs a serving spoon against a pan to catch attention and says, "Time to sing happy birthday to Lucky!"

Timothius smiles at Lucky brightly. Thomas gets a slightly impish smile. The whole room is filled with singing. Certainly something Freedom Fighters love, considering it's a great excuse to be happy and celebrate. "Happy birthday tooooo yooooou!"

Peru lands near Shelly, salutes her, and sings the "and many more" part with bird tweets. Then hands her the camera he had.

Shelly hands the camera to Milloni, who heads off.

"That could be arranged," Lucky answers Timothius with a wink and a nudge.  To Thomas he comments, "Aww?  Well losing a good friend hurts too, so thanks for being a friend in spite of the risk."

When the group sings him Happy Birthday he gives an elaborate bow.  "Thanks, everyone!  You're the best!"

Curious kitty watches the exchange with a tail-wag and ear-perk.

  Joe manages not to sound his usual dull self during the song, progress!  He is just as curious as everyone else (except probably Peru, who took them) what the photos are of.

  The big plot twist is that this is a Care Bears crossover, worse, an environmentalist message special about Smog making Care A  Lot all brown and lame.

Birthday celebrations continue. Eventually, the group is able to see the developed photos. The photos reveal there is nothing inside the clouds besides just more cloud and sky. However, that high up in the sky, Peru was able to get photos of what looks like a very low-orbit space station. Judging from the thrusters, it probably isn't outside atmo.

Lucky is flattered that Joe didn't sound dull for the song and gives him a big smile.  He head-scratches when he sees the pictures Peru took.

"Weird.  Could it be the UFO space station thingy that's causing the square cloud path?  Makes ya wonder how.  I don't know who else it could be, but it doesn't feel like a Robotnic plot.  Not enough pollution, I guess."

  "It also doesn't appear to be covered in guns or skulls."  Well, it's mostly the first one that would fit Robotnic.  "Still, knowing something is up there is somewhat better than not knowing anything at all.  Even if we don't have any way to deal with it I can recall offhand."

Timothius asks, "About how high was that, Peru?"

Peru tweets and types into a nearby computer with his feet. The computer shows the number "15,000 to 17,000 feet".

Timothius meeps. "That's... getting up there. If I took a breathing apparatus, like the kind you guys have for us air-breathers under water, I might be able to reach that height and investigate."

Shelly has an unsure expression.

Lucky snirks at Joe's point and nods.  "Or eggs with mustaches."

He gives a low whistle when he sees the big number.  "Wow.  That's a long way to fall, Timothius.  What if the mask strap breaks or the air line pops off?  You sure you wunna risk it alone?  Maybe we should steal a flying vehicle or something."

  "I would rather not send you off alone into the unknown with only a heavy tank of explosive gas for company.  You know it's one of those days when stealing the more well guarded toys from Julian sounds like a safer option."

Timothius says, "I don't know that we have the kind of time needed to confiscate one of Robotnik's vehicles."

Shelly says, "I don't know that we have a choice. We need to hit Middletown for one of those flying vehicles."

Thomas says, "Well we have one of Channelwood's finest here." he thumbs at Joe. "They are very familiar with Middletown. And I'm more than willing to do some anti-Robotnik action."

Shelly says, "We might need someone who can fly in order to confiscate a flying vehicle."

Timothius looks nervous. Shelly says, "Peru. You're a small target and can fly. Go along with Thomas." she looks at Joe. "You willing to go?"

Clearly, at no point did anyone ask Lucky to go. It's his birthday, after all.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:02, Wed 30 Jan 2013.

"I'll go," Lucky says, trying to look tough, "Sniping SWATbots will likely be needed and that's my specialty.  Sure is relieving that Timo won't be flying so high all by his lonesome.  I wonder if the air up there is even thick enough to carry him, come to think of it."

  Joe was only Channelwood's finest if you qualified by most violent.  Which admittedly came in handy.  "Well, if you want to spend your birthday around killer robots it's your call.  Arrows do tend to go farther more easily than throwing sharp objects."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 06:17, Wed 06 Feb 2013.

Shelly looks over at Lucky. "Joe's sentiment is shared by the rest of us. Nobody asked you to go on a deadly mission because, well, it's your birthday... are you SURE you want in?"

The others look at Lucky quietly waiting.

Lucky blushes.  "Thanks, everyone.  That's real thoughtful of you.  But technically I was born yesterday....  I mean...  not yesterday, yesterday...  What I'm trying to get at is you don't have to worry about it.  I've already had two fantastic birthday parties so it's only right that I should make myself useful.  I want to contribute."

  It's still sort of close to Lucky's birthday, so they get the unspoken present of Joe not putting the obvious straight line about being born yesterday to use.  The things we go through.

  "Didn't come all this way just to sit around, no surprise there."

Shelly nods to Lucky. "You're in then." then looks at Joe and says, "Of course, if you want to sit out on this, I understand. I just figured you'd wanna. Sorry if I volunteered you too hastily."

Thomas pffs. "Joe? Sit out on a chance to annoy Robotnik? Besides, this is a recon mission. We don't know for sure if it will be dangerous or not."

Mei-Ling says, "Well... aside from trying to steal one of Robotnik's vehicles."

Thomas says, "Oh right. That."

"Always happy to help," Lucky says with a smile, "Especially when it means keeping Timothius safe."

He reaches to side-hug his fluffy buddy.

  "At least I've stolen enough of them by now to know where to pry out any trackers.  Even if I do give them back when I'm done."  By setting them on collision courses.

(Fast-forwarding a bit)

The group manages to secure one of the hover cars. Keeping it, on the other hand, well... "Milloni?" Shelly urges her friend as a bunch of Robotnik's vehicles are closing in.

Milloni answers, "Joe, if you're done removing the tracers, do you mind taking over the controls? I need to study this operation board a bit more to learn all this vehicle's functions."

Thomas says, "I could be learning the gunnery. That *should* be as simple as point and shoot, right?"

Mei-Ling is finishing up mixing some chemicals and swiftly hurries to the side door let let out a billowing cloud of smoke she just made. "Hopefully, this smoke will hold them off for a bit..."

The smoke proves more than just a passing cloud as it literally sticks to one of the enemy vehicle's windshields like a bunch of gray ice.

This looks like one of those scenes where there's just enough enemies for each of the heroes to show their stuff before they manage to make a narrow get-away.

"Nice one, Mei-Ling!" Lucky commends.

To Thomas he answers, "Worth a shot.  Nothing ventured nothing gained, right?"

As for Lucky showing his stuff, well...  Taking a quick peek out the vehicle's side door and take a shot at a moving target obscured by smoke from a moving platform while being shot at is hard enough as it is.  But to do so and hit a vital spot that shorts out the enemy vehicle's engines is the kind of stuff that has people saying that Lucky earned his name.

  "Learn to drive as death robots try to force us off the road and kill us all?  Here yah go Milloni."  Joe is either the best driving instructor, or the worst one as he offers up the controls.

To clarify, Milloni was already driving but handed the piloting over to Joe so Milloni could focus on the other functions besides flying. Such as its scanners, weapons, and other features.

Timothius says, "Wish I could help..."

Shelly says, "Don't worry about it. We'll get through this."

Thomas seems to get the hang of the weaponry pretty quickly, even if sloppily.

Milloni says, "Yes! I found it! All the vehicles have some remote access. I'll be trying to hack into our pursuers' vehicles..."

"What Shelly said," Lucky agrees, "And might I suggest focusing on disabling this vehicle's remote control first, Milloni?  Assuming you haven't done so already..."

He peeks out and takes another shot.

  "Well, we already probably put more effort into it than the Knothole freedom fighters ever bother to Lucky."  Hey now, waving a palm pilot at things is hard.

  Joe stands by to catch anybody falling out in case Luck decides to swing the other way.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:26, Thu 14 Mar 2013.

Sure enough! Just as Mei-Ling is preparing to throw another smoke bomb, the craft that the heroes are in gets shot, causing an explosion on the side opposite of Mei-Ling and shaking the vehicle wildly. While this means everyone is thrown of balance, the worst that happens is people fall over. Which is bad for Mei-Ling. She falls out the side of the vehicle. "EEEK!!"

Only to be caught by Joe. She tries to catch her breath from the severe startle and looks up at Joe. "Thanks... that was a close one.."

It is both a bad thing and a good thing that the heroes are 200 feet in the air. Bad because if you crash, or otherwise find some way to the ground without being stopped before, you're done. Good because if you do fall, you still have a few moments to be rescued and/or figure out a way to not go splat.

Mei-Ling wishes she had a chemical for such a situation, but she doesn't.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:15, Sat 16 Mar 2013.

Lucky had a tease ready for Joe, but life-threatening explosions have a tendency to shut down commentary.  After swallowing his racing heart back down into his chest cavity, Lucky reaches to hug the thankfully still living Mei-Ling, unable to keep himself from crying.  "Glad you're alright, Mei-Ling.  Thanks for the catch, Joe."

He wipes his tears, puts on a serious face, and gets to work raining arrowy vengance upon the badguys that nearly killed his friends.

  If the Fantasy elements of the setting ever get out of hand like they do in 99% of the Sonic Games out there, Mei Ling would probably handle Feather Fall potions no problem.

  "You're light enough to catch, fortunately."  Tear's don't hurt Lucky's aim, they are a watery magnifying glass of MURDER...  Well, Robot Murder.

Mei-Ling blushes from Joe's comment. Not often she gets referred to as "light" in any fashion.

Lucky manages a few lucky shots and one of the other crafts spirals down to crash. Milloni says, "Got it!" and with that, the other vehicles seem to just start falling from the sky.

With that, she quickly goes to take back full control of the vehicle. Everyone but Shelly is panting. Although she does let out a sigh of relief.

And now that the group is out of danger (for now), Mei-Ling goes to give Joe a kiss on the cheek.

Or, aside from Mei-Ling sprouting wings or a jetpack for the obvious "pigs fly" gag, a likely comical way to survive the fall is if she stuck her thumb into her mouth and blew herself up like a balloon.

Lucky lets out a sigh of relief as well ans smiles at the cute thank-you kiss Mei-Ling offers her hero.  "Sure is a good thing Joe decided to go.  Nicely done, everyone!  Here's hoping our efforts are not for naught."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:36, Wed 17 Apr 2013.

  Joe demonstrates the capacity for blushing from thank you smooches.  "I'd like to think if I wasn't around, somebody would have paid attention.  At the very least we'll have cause more annoyance to Julian than the other way around today if we this trip went nowhere from here."

A bit later, the group gets their recently aquired craft up into the higher parts of the sky and just above the second layer of clouds, the group all get to see what Peru described before; A large, mechanical fortress of some kind, floating in the sky. It looks to be in disrepair and like it hasn't been used in years. Probably because it hasn't.

"I'd like to think the same," Lucky answers, "But even if it were so, it wouldn't diminish the fact that it was you that made the save this time."

On the way up into the clouds, Lucky tries to keep his ears normalized with the air pressure by singing upbeat songs.  When the group arrives at the floating fortress, he exhales in relief.

"Good to see it's not swarming with hostiles.  I wonder what the history of this place is.  Maybe Emerald might know."

He looks over at Timothius.  "Or do you know?"

  "Well, if it belongs to Julian it's not something he has been interested in for a long while."  After all, while the fat man loved his gritty industrial theme, it was always functional, and clean aside from the complete disregard for environmental concerns.  Smog good, rust bad.

Timothius says, "It seems familiar... like I should know this..."

Shelly says, "I think I see a place we can land the craft." she points.

Milloni gets to getting the craft over that way.

Mei-Ling says, "I wish I knew more, but I honestly have never heard of any flying fortresses like this."

Timothius says, "I... I think this technology is very old, actually. I know it sounds silly, but I think this thing is at least a thousand or so years old."

"Huh.  Well regardless of its age or ownership, we should be careful.  No telling what kinds of dangers might be lingering here.  Here's hoping we find something of value worth all this effort.  Well...  I suppose the peace of mind in knowing that this place isn't a doom machine of Robotnick's is worth the effort...  if not the risk of life and limb."

When the ship lands, Lucky steps out cautiously, bow and arrow at the ready.

  Joe follows on after Lucky, "Of course, while he may not have built it he is currently the best equipped to loot it."  Or just bring it down on top of the forest to salvage in the middle of burning trees.

There is a door nearby. Standard fair double-door that slides open upon activation.

The group can tell the air is thin up here. It comes as a bit of a shock to have the sudden oxygen deprivation. Timothius doesn't seem to know why the others are breathing heavier, but then, he was born in an area that was this high.

Shelly and Milloni seem to be having more trouble than the others and the two girls kind of hug themselves. Shelly asks, "Why... *gasp* is it... *pant* hard to breathe?"

Milloni says, "Air is.. *pant* thinner.. *pant* up here..."

Mei Ling says, "Let's take a peak inside. If the life support is still working, we won't have to abort the mission..."

Should the team decide to go in, they will discover that the air (and air pressure) is what they are more accustomed to, if filled with the smell of metal and a touch of mustiness.

Lucky will walk in if it looks like the others will.  When the air pressure increases he opens his mouth and wiggles his jaw trying to keep his ears from hurting.

"Only we're here and he's not, so we've got one up on him."

He takes a look around, bow at the ready.

"Handy the airlock still works but I guess that goes to follow considering this place is still flying.  I wonder if anyone lives here to maintain it or if it was built to maintain itself.  Let's remember that we're the home invaders here and try not look hostile if we bump into anyone..."

He glances at Timothius and the girls and chuckles.

"Though for most of us that should be easy."

  It wasn't the worst air Joe had dealt with at least, and he had a floor to work with... Wait, did that happen, was he even named Joe at the time?  His nebulous backstory RP statuses gave him a headache some days.

  Either way, inside with atmospheric control was still much better.  "Science often hates our lungs."  Hello, I'm your lungs!  I breath a gas that fuels fire!  Isn't that neat?  Joe would have expected Shelly to have an easier time of it though, what with all the diving.

  "I look much less hostile than I used to, but that isn't saying much."

After a little bit of exploring, the group finds a robot in the process of examining a wall console. ( http://www.gadgetmadness.com/a...n-space-b9-robot.jpg ) The robot appears to have no weapons and simply doing some kind of maintenance.

Shelly whispers, "A robot... I'm not sure if it's one of Robotnik's, though."

Milloni whispers, "Definitely isn't... Robotnik likes to stamp his face on his robots and likes black far more than silver. Besides, I recognize this style of robot... however, if Robotnik is taking over this place, it's possible he could have taken control of its resident robots, so be careful..."

Timothius gulps. "Wish we could be sure..."

Lucky skews his lips at the idea of Science hating anything, much less lungs specifically.  But he smiles at Joe's description of his relative level of apparent hostility and says, "Glad we're on the same side either way."

When the robot is pointed out he's a little surprised that it hasn't noticed all the whispering yet.  Or maybe it has and it's programmed to act like it hasn't in order to act as bait to lure intruders into a trap.  He gulps like his winged buddy, imagining all the terrible things the robot could do like...  a grenade!

"We should spread out a little," he suggests, offering his bow to Timothius, "I'll try and be friendly.  Unarmed and everything.  Cover me if it attacks."

He waits a moment to give his friends a chance to offer a better idea before he'll step forward to greet the robot.

  "True, it's not nearly pointy enough for Julian"  Plus not even Robotnic robots had a giant fragile weak spot THAT big.

  "You're the one who likes to shoot things from a safe distance.  Though if you want to play birthday bait instead of me, you could use the practice."  Everyone has to learn to dodge robots trying to murder them sometime, even an out of shape walrus can do it!... What do you mean application rejected for pointing this out?

Timothius takes the bow. "I don't even know how to use this." he mews.

Shelly agrees to spreading out. She, Milloni and Mei-Ling all spread out.

The robot turns to "look" at Lucky. As much as Robot can look at someone. "Greetings, land-creature! You should not be here! May I help you to the civilian quarter?!" Robot asks in a powerful tone while waving his arms up and down nonsensically.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:38, Fri 21 June 2013.

"Birthday... bait?" Lucky echoes, confused.

He smiles at Timothius and winks.  "Just pretend you're Cupid and that they're love arrows for robots, heh."

When the robot sees him and greets without violence, Lucky exhales in relief.

"Greetings, uh, sir," He answers with an unsure smile and wave, "My name is Lucky.  I'm sorry I didn't know I shouldn't be here.  Thank you for offering to guide me.  Because I'm just visiting, I would like to know if I can leave by the way I came after I follow you."

  Joe sticks with Timothius because of how confused they are at the concept of performing violence.  "I wonder how many civilians are in the Civilian quarters right now?"  hopefully they don't need to specify 'that are alive' for that particular wonder.

The robot says, "With permission from staff, I'm sure you can go anywhere! But for now, going that direction" he points at where Lucky came from "is strictly forbidden! You could get hurt! Out there is a maintenance exit to the outside, where the air is thin and you could suffocate. Follow me!"

The robot begins rolling off in a direction, waving his arms up and down as he goes. "By the way, I am Robby! It is my honor to meet you, Lucky!"

Timothius and the two girls start carefully following from a distance. Tim glances at Joe. "....seems trust-worthy. But just in case, we should stay hidden for now."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:43, Wed 17 July 2013.

Worried about being barred from the only known exit, Lucky forces a nervous smile.

"Nice to know you care so much about my safety..."

But the polite introduction makes him feel much better and he brightens up.

"An honor to meet you too, Robby!  I like your unique hand movements."

He tries to immitate the arms waving up and down.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Fri 19 July 2013.

  Matt Joe nods, and notes that (fortunately) Lucky's bone structure is too intact to properly emulate robot noodle arms, like Arms the Fox.

  Poor Arms, that was one messed up fox.

  Joe quietly follows after, hoping that if they get noticed that Tim can convinced Robbie he's just a very large and hairy pigeon... Wait, this based on SatAM.  Not Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog.

"Thank you!" Robby says in his usual square-chin voice. "I like the way your third arm moves about on its own too!"

Robby leads Lucky to the "Civilian quarter". It looks like some kind of huuuge mall. But there is nobody there. The lights are on and the place looks new, but... nobody there. Robby's arms are just pointed forward and he comes to a stop. "Behold! The civilian quarter! If you need a map, one can be provided for you at the help desk!"

(Joe's post slew me so hard.)

Lucky looks over at his waggley tail and shrugs.

"You're welcome.  And thanks.  Never seen a tail before?" he asks.

Lucky wonders if this place belonged to Overlanders.  Then thanks his lucky stars Robby considers him a person rather than a pest.

"W...Where is everybody?  Shouldn't there be lots of people here?  What happened to them?"

  Joe would field Lucky's question with entirely unbased on facts answers once they caught up.  Examples may include 'they ate eachother', and 'Killer Bees'.

Robby says, "I did not know that limb was called a tail! Appologies!"

To Lucky's question, Robby says, "I do not know! People left until the place had nobody left but us maintenance robots! And then, nobody returned for a long time until you showed up! It is nice to see a visitor after all this time!"

Lucky rubs his arm, looking a little sad.  What a lonely place!

"Oh don't worry, Robbie, I wasn't offended you didn't know.  I'm glad my visit is welcome.  I'd be happy to visit the other maintenance bots if you think they'd want me to.  So uh...  what was the original purpose of this place?  There must have been a good reason to make it able to fly."

  Other completely baseless assumptions.  This place was a Background benefit for freedom fighters, but so many of them used it that it ended up an amount equal to or greater than it's sum population (like the amount of 'renegade' drow compared to standard Drow).

  "So, think we should just skip the sneaking at this point, or keep at it on principle?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:24, Fri 26 July 2013.

Timothius says, "No sense in hiding at this point." and glances at Shelly.

As if to answer, Shelly walks to the robot. "Hi. I'm Shelly. My friends and I weren't sure if you were a friend or not, so we hid. But now that we know you can be trusted, let's be friends."

Robby says, "Friends are always welcome! What a surprise!"

Shelly says, "So how about what Lucky asked? What is this place?"

Robby says, "This is a weather control station, but it was outfitted to allow for guests! Sometimes people would come here while the station took care of their drought! Other times, people came here just to tour the station!"

"Robby, these are my friends, Joe, Shelly, Timothius, Milloni, and Mei Ling," Lucky introduces before explaining, "We have good reason to be careful.  There is an evil tyrant on the surface that is taking over the world using his army of cruel robots.  He hates nature and if he found out about this weather station he would take it over and use it as a weaon to destroy our homes.  We need to make sure that doesn't happen."

  "They do not have a habit of taking good care of their own robots either."  In fact, the only 'robots' put to use by Julian that didn't seem to fall into disrepair or explode all the time were the roboticized mobians.  The entire reason he used them as a labor force?

Robby slowly opens and closes his clamp-hands. "That sounds bad!" he understates. "I will inform the master immediately! You may accompany me if you wish!" and he begins wheeling off.

Shelly shrugs and follows. The others follow after.

Lucky appreciates Joe's making that important point to the robot they're talking to.  He follows Shelly's lead.

"So uh... what sort of person is 'The Master?'"

---

OOC: Robotnic's quantity over quality habit may be part of the reason even Walruses can dodge lasers.

  Brain in a jar, or maybe a skeleton Robbie took the settling of dust upon as various orders.  "Seeing who is in charge here would probably be for the best."  Note to self, check for trap doors that drop you out into freefall.

OOC: Of course if you mention that, oh by some people get REAL MAD.  Also, Jaguars clearly can't swim don't you know anything?

Robby's light thingies in his head glow. "You shall see..." he answers Lucky.

Eventually, the group is led to a room where there is another robot. This one looks more like a robian giraffe. He turns in his seat to face the group. "Welcome." he says in a creepy robian voice. "Please do not be alarmed. I am free of Robotnik's control."

---

OOC: To which you can make them real angry and say "And foxes can't use their two tails to fly. Nor are hedgehogs blue. Nor can hedgehogs break the sound barrier." but yeah. The "Jedi rule everyone drools" mentality is in ALL fandoms.

Ominous reply from robot followed by creepy robian make the already nervous Lucky gulp.

"Uh...  h-hello.  M-my name is Lucky.  These are my friends, Joe, Shelly, Timothius, Milloni, and Mei Ling.  Pleased to meet you, sir.  Thank you for the welcome and the assurances you're not in league with Robotnic.  So uh...  What brings you to this slice of the sky?"

  "And apparently more well off than most who would pull that off."  Private flying weather doomsday device base, after all.  "How much longer does this place have before it's forced to land one way or the other?"

The giraffe robian says, "Without materials to maintain it with, this place will be crashing soon. Any day now, in fact."

Shelly says, "Materials? But materials for something like this would have to come from a supplier like Robotnik!"

"Quite correct." the giraffe answers. "Our latest attempts to control the weather proved less than desired. We currently no longer have that as an option for defense against Robotnik. We are sitting ducks."

Lucky ear-ducks and mews sadly at the bad news.  "Gosh.  Sorry about your home.  Think it could land gently if you piloted it?  Maybe we could find a place to hide it.  Like in a canyon or on top of a remote mesa.  If not, you'll have to set it to auto-pilot to someplace Robotnic can't salvage it and abandon ship."

He looks to the others with a look of pity in his eyes.  Lucky can't imagine being forced to destroy his own home.

  "I suppose while the weather control attempts are what attracted attention to you in the first place, a bunch of clouds is still less obvious than a floating hunk of metal."

  He is tempted so suggest they simply land in the middle of Middletown (preferably on top of Ra) and loot what is still standing for parts.  But there would probably be plenty more swatbots to go around in Middletown alone, nevermind those coming from elsewhere.

Nevermind the fact a bunch of roboticized people live in Middletown, such as Katy's parents and such. Robotnik is SUCH a jerk, holding hostages in every city he owns.

The giraffe says, "The design of this base allows for landing, just in case it should need to land for repairs on land. However, the place that was designed for this base to land now belongs to Robotnik. A canyon would be ideal if we intend to hide. We found one, but it is very far from here."

"Too far for you to make it there before the station breaks down, I take it," Lucky concludes, "Gosh.  I wish there was something more we could do for you to help you keep your home, but I can't think of anything helpful.  Anyone have any ideas?"

He casts a desperate glance around.

  "I don't suppose the place it watertight?  Then again, what good is trying to hide it in a nearby body of water if it made an obvious flood from displacing most of it.   How crazy and not gonna work would be trying to fix up the weather control enough to make lightning strike rods leading to batteries?"

  Certain freedom fighters who won't be named would just chuck a magical hula hoop into the reactor and call it a day.  But noooo, Channelwood FF has to THINK about their problems.

"The battery life is only a symptom of the problem. We already have a battery connected to lightning rods, though you thinking of it was clever. But we can't fix the battery itself without the materials to do so. Energy is only part of the problems that come from the place needing maintenance. However... that canyon is not too far for us to make it there. If you all are willing, we would like you to go there with us to help with repair and protect us from Robotnik, should he find us there anyway."

Shelly says, "That's a rather far away location for us to go when our people need us. How long will the trip take?"

The giraffe answers, "At our current speeds, about 2 days."

Shelly looks at the others. "That's making some good time. But if we get stuck out there, we'll be without a way of getting back."

Lucky was keeping quiet about it, but Now that the lake idea has been fielded without objection from Shelly Lucky feels free to discuss the topic.

"I figured a lake big enough for a city to fit in won't displace noticably if a flying weather station landed in it.  I'd be more concerned about something toxic leaking into the water."

He bows to the robian.

"I'm sorry I can't go with you for keeps.  I'm no good for machine repair, and what little protection I have to offer is owed my own home.  No to mention I would be of little use to anyone if they were found by Robotnic.  I'm pretty sure 'stand and fight' is no longer an option for anyone.  If any of our homes were found, we'd have to run and look for a new hiding place to live."

---

Disclaimer: Lucky will go along if plot sweeps him on a grand adventure.  Don't construe post to mean 'I refuse to go on adventure.'
This message was last edited by the player at 05:42, Thu 23 Jan 2014.

  "I doubt all of us should stay, but at least some of us should try to keep this from going onto the list of things Julian has ruined."  While he does help around Channelwood, for the most part his aid to then is The violence.  Actually fixing something could be a change of pace.

The giraffe says, "We can make the trip... but we can also wait and still make the trip. If you believe you can get me the help I need within the next 48 hours, then I can wait for the help. If not... I will simply have to leave and hope for the best."

He then offers Shelly a data pad. "Take this with you. It is a map with our destination on it. Perhaps one of your friends will recognize the location or have a better suggestion."

Shelly nods. "....sure. We can do that much for you. We'll be back."

Shelly starts to head off with the others.

"We'll certainly look into it," Lucky answers with a slight bow, "I'm betting if anyone knows a better spot, it'll be Emerald."

He follows Shelly.

"If only there was more that could be done for them besides sparing them a birthday wish."

  "Unfortunately, that's the case for a lot of things we have to deal with these days."   At least, the problems that can't be dealt with via rocks, sticks, and knives.

  Joe follows after because otherwise being stuck up on the weather fortress could be inconvenient.  "So, any request for where to violently return the hovercraft if we don't want to try and stash it somewhere?"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 05:33, Sun 02 Feb 2014.

Shelly answers Joe's question with, "I'd say that's more Katy's department."

Timothius says, "As long as you aren't crashing it into Robians, I'd say anywhere vital to your enemies' energy."

Shelly says, "But we'll deal with that once we're done. For now... gotta get moving."

The bunch manage to get aboard their craft again and are soon on their way.

It's then Millani notices. "Oh geez... this craft is getting low on fuel. We're going to have to use it only for getting back home and then back to the sky fortress. I doubt we'll have any fuel after that and even then, it'll be stretching it."

"It's always something," Lucky mews sadly at the low fuel notice, "Last time we visited Middletown we almost wound up dead, so I'd rather not risk a fuel run.  Would it help if we lightened the load?  Like if Timothius carried someone down?  Or if we tore off panels and threw them overboard?"

Happy birthday!  This year your gift is a brush with death.  Followed by a cascade of despair.

  "I know this place is having trouble staying in the air, but I'd figure it to be at least worth checking if they had some spare fuel.  Crazy flying city reactors don't always take the same stuff as personal rides."

Millani starts doing some calculations. "Mmm.... yes! It will make enough of a difference! But be careful... Joe, if you can take over driving, I'll show the others which panels should be removed."

Timothius looks around at the people present. Mei-Ling offers, "I could be the one Timothius carries... I always wanted to know what it's like to glide through the air..."

"Good point, Joe," Lucky agrees, "We should remember to ask that when we return."

He's not sure what to say to the pig wanting to fly.  Technically the pit is flying already due to riding in a shuttle craft.  Today must be a very unlikely day.

"I take it you're confident you can glide down safely while carrying someone, Timothius?"

He'll help with lightening the load when directed to a specific task.

  Joe nods, "No problem Millani, thanks for dealing with the harder part."   He looks over to Lucky, and says "If Tim thinks he can handle hang gliding duty, he's probably good for it.  I doubt he'd even bring it up if he thought there was even chance of dropping the girl."  Unless Timothius secretly hates people who wear hearts on their clothing.

  This week, Timothius Vs the Care Bears.  With special guest star Pyrus.

Timothius nods. "Yeah. I'm good for it. But I'm not the one who brought it up..." he blushes a little.

Milloni says, "The hard part? If you think calculations are the hard part."

Shelly says, "For the rest of us, Milloni? Yes."

Mei-Ling says, "The sooner the better, right?"

Milloni nods. "Right."

Timothius hugs Mei-Ling and says, "Sorry, but for maximum safety, I'm gonna ask you face me on the way down, so you can use your arms and legs to hold on."

He then jumps out and spreads his wings, the two gliding down.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:58, Wed 19 Feb 2014.

"Didn't mean to put him on the spot..." Lucky mews, "Must be fun, though...  Being able to fly."

He resumes working on lightening the load.

  Joe comments, as he preps to drive "I meant more making sure instructions our lives depend on are understood accurately by multiple people."  In a horrible tragedy, the fire escape instructions were passed along in a game of Telephone.

The craft eventually lands and Shelly hops out. "We're half a mile from Channelwood. Surely, whoever's on scouting duty saw us land, so someone should stay behind with the ship."

Milloni says, "I'll stay. I can make sure the ship is in top functioning condition."

Timothius trots up to the others.

Mei-Ling says, "I'll keep Milloni company."

Shelly says, "Cool. Let's get going!" and starts treking with Tim, Lucky and Joe to Channelwood.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:44, Fri 21 Feb 2014.

"I trust your flight went well?" Lucky asks Timothius.

When its suggested the team should split up, Lucky near panics thinking of all the terrible things that could happen to those left behind.

"C-can't we all go together and leave a note on the shuttle instead, please?  I'd hate for the girls to get ambushed while we were separated."

  Joe nods,  "Thanks you two."  Oh good, Tim and Mei-Ling didn't crash so hard Mei-Ling became a white winged pig like a looney tunes gag.

  Joe is a Coyote, considering bizarre and humorous results from falls of great height is kind of hereditary.

  "I can understand the concern, but it's better than Milloni being all alone when she checks up on the hovercraft.  Would you rather one of us stay with her while Mei-Ling heads back Lucky?"

Timothius responds to Lucky, "Yeah... no hitches."

Shelly says, "The only real reason I see for us to be worried about an ambush is the fact we just glided one of Robotnik's machines into the woods. Which means there is actually a pretty good chance Ra will send some SWATbots this way to investigate. So leaving a note would be unwise and staying here would be unwise. Let's just go, cover our trail, and hope the ship is here when we get back."

Mei-Ling says, "I guess there's a risk either way. If we leave the ship alone, we risk not being able to help the weather station. But if we stay, we risk that anyway, plus our own safety."

Timothius says, "Whatever we do, we need to remain calm."

Shelly says, "So let's go. All of us."

Lucky was thinking a family of rabid bears, but SWAT squard is plenty excuse too.

"Staying together good.  I'm glad we're all going.  For safety.  The pleasant company is nice too."

He smiles at Timothius.  "Glad you had a pleasant flight.  I hope to some day fly with you a little for fun."

He offers a buddy nudge.

  In a bizzaro world twist, nature usually isn't the most common and dangerous threat in this setting.  But Joe would not be surprised at Elks with switchblades demanding their wallets.

  "Back home for now it is then it seems."

The group arrives at Channelwood soon enough and Katy greets the bunch. "Good to see you all alive... so what's going on with the sky?"

When Katy is informed of what gives, she thinks on it. "I don't know. It sounds like a trap to either lead them to Channelwood or lure more freedom fighters to them. Were you sure you weren't followed?"

Timothius and Shelly errrr...

"Quite sure," Lucky says, "The possibility of it being a trap had occurred to me as soon as we arrived, so I was on guard for something sneaking up on us the whole time.  Plus, the giraffe didn't look very interested whenever the posibility of learning where we live came up.  And if they wanted to lure us away, they had plenty opportunity to capture us.  If that was a trap it was so subtle I doubt there's anything we can do about it at this point...  I wonder if Emmy or my parents have heard anything about a flying weather station."

  "There is that chance, yeah.  Though considering the location they wouldn't have needed to try very hard to trap most of us.  At worst I'd expect it to be yet another technologically advanced superstructure that won't be of any help at all in dealing with Julian."

Yes... "Hi, Robotnik! We have the Weather Station now! Feel our WRATH!" ....makes it rain. "Somehow I thought this thing would do more, like cause a tornado" "What? We made this thing to HELP people!"

Katy says, "Good. Alright... let's ask the older folks and see if any of them know."

When Emerald is asked, she nods. "Yeah. That Weather Station was a modern wonder. My generation was witnessing a new Wonder of the World being birthed. I was one excited fangirl when I heard about its christening.... what did you want to know about it?"

"Mostly that it's not a Robotnick trap," Lucky answers, "But anything that might be helpful for rescuing the place."

If Emmy hasn't been brought up to speed, he'll offer to fill her in on what's happened so far.

  "You sound older than you are when you go all 'my generation', Emerald."  Now, maybe if she had a cane and spectacles.

  "But yes, this should probably be dealt with if only for the for 'because screw that fat guy' reasons.  One thing you may hopefully know is what it runs on to keep flying.  I somehow doubt solar panels would help much even if it does spend all it's time in the sky."

OOC: Useless 'When I was a kid' thoughts.   "When I was a kid, you could get a can for 75 cents and a bottle was a dollar plus deposit!"  And when people thought "Solar powered cars are totally a thing that can happen guys!".  The one on display in the museum of science at least looked neat.

Emerald smiles at Joe. "Thanks, Joe... yes, I knew it uses solar power. It's not a Robonik invention. It was a project started by the Hedge family; the royal family who presided over the Kingdom of Mercia on the eastern side of Mobius. Unfortunately, that's a VERY far ways from here, so I don't know whether Robotnik has his oily fingers on that place or not. But it IS equidistant to the canyons you guys were thinking about going to. Difference is, it's across the Mobian Sea."

“Beautiful and knowledgeable,” Lucky says with a smile, “Emerald is a credit to all our generations.”

He nods to Joe.  “Plenty enough reason for me.”

He ponders the history of the station.  “Could be they know that that's not an option.  Otherwise, wouldn't they have mentioned it?”

  "Falling down into a canyon would probably be slightly less inconvenient than falling in the middle of the ocean, yeah."

Emerald gives Lucky a side-hug for his compliment. "Ever the flatterer. Well you have a point. If the people running the station didn't bring it up at all, it could be that's not an option. Make sure when you talk to them again. Oft times, people overestimate the distance across the Mobian Sea and forget it's just as far as trying to go to the other side of the continent."

Katy nods. "Shelly, you should find someone else besides yourself to go back with them. The AFF need you present and I'm sure they are worrying about what happened with you and the three you took along."

Shelly squeaks, "I don't really have the time to do that. Although since Emerald seems to know so much about the station, shouldn't we take her along?"

Katy looks at the group. "You're already a sizable group..."

Mei-Ling says, "I mostly came along in case there was something I could help with. It looks like my expertise aren't what is needed for this task..."

Emerald head-shakes. "No... I'm positive you'll come in handy. The station's functions rely on a number of different chemical reactions, and you'd be familiar with any of them, I'm sure."

Mei-Ling says, "I don't know everything about chemistry, but I get the point."

"Are you referring to a preference for death by sudden impact and fireball over death by drowning?" Lucky asks Joe, sounding confused, "Or was that meant to be dark humor?"

He smiles and returns Emmy's hug.

"Considering the limited fuel and skill sets needed, Katy's right, Shelly.  You and I aren't needed up in the air.  Also Timothius and maybe Joe too should stay down here.

"We can at least escort the away team to the shuttle, but we'll want to keep the shuttle crew to a minimum.  Unless...  Mei Ling can whip up a substitute fuel for the shuttle craft.

"Is there anything else we should send up with them?"

  "I meant it's probably designed to hold up better in the open air hole in the ground the giraffe suggested landing in, compared to running out of power trying to cross a body of water.  But I like your idea too Lucky, honest."

  At the suggestion Joe stay behind, he says "Look, we need at least one violent maniac on board in case there are other violent maniacs."  And Katy has to stay home as it is.

Shelly says, "So who will lead if I stay behind?" she sticks her tongue out as if she was half-joking.

Katy says, "You guys already put yourselves in this mission. That automatically makes you best suited because you are familiar with it. Milloni, maybe you could set up a encrypted radio communication?"

Milloni nods, "Can certainly try."

Lucky is glad Joe wasn't being as morbid as he expected.  But he eyerolls at the violent maniac comment.  He nudges Shelly with a smile and counters, "Who will lead the AFF if you don't?"

Katy's qualification point kinda stumps Lucky but the following change of topic is a welcome idea.  "That'd be great!  If all goes well, we can just talk them through stretching their fuel and none of us will have to risk our necks going up there on fumes."

 It could be worse, Joe could thing his violent tendencies are nothing but cool and totally well adjusted.  At Lucky's optimism he comments "That would be way more convenient than I'm used to, but if it works I'd gladly take it.  I'm expecting something more along the lines of 'oh I could totally manage it, if I wasn't short on manpower' and then we have to go because robot giraffe isn't octo giraffe with eight different wrenches."

(Fast-forwarding a bit)

Millani reports that from what she was able to find, the weather station simply didn't respond. It could very well be that their transmitter is broken and requires Milloni to go check and maybe fix the station's radio. Because otherwise, the heroes wouldn't have an adventure and this chapter would be over.

Katy says, "Guess that decides things. But I still say Emmy stays here. When Milloni has fixed their radio, all of you can return and we can continue to aid them from here."

Lucky tries to look brave upon hearing the group has to return on fumes after all.  He'll insist that every last ounce of unneeded weight on the shuttle be stripped before the group takes off.  And asks if there are any parachutes to be had.

"Looks like you were right, Joe.  Just too convenient to be true.  Here's hoping we can at least be helpful at all."

He smiles at Emmy and suggests, "At some point you should sing for them.  It'll likely be the first music they've heard on the radio for a long time."

  "Sounds about as good as we're going to get this situation, unless some better ideas turn up.  May as well get going then."

Parachutes are apparently something nobody has.

Milloni suggests replacing the base of the ship with wooden planks because that's worlds lighter than the metal plates lining the base. "Stupid fossil fuel run stuff... why does Robotnik have to use gasoline when solar and electric is so much more efficient?!"

Katy, who has been helping with replacing floor panels, says, "Because Robotnik hates the sun and revels in polluting the air. Seriously... he may be a mechanical genius, but he is also an evil genius. His robots have been programmed to appear scared just before termination... which I've figured out is because he's sick and just wants to watch his own creations "die" in terror."

Milloni says, "OK, OK.. I got it. Yeesh..."

Emerald giggles. "Don't get Katy started about Robotnik."

Timothius looks up at the sky with a sad look on his face.

"I just don't understand how someone could become so vile," Lucky says, looking disgusted, "He must have a brain tumor or something."

He offers a comforting side-hug to Timothius.  Lucky of course is eager to help out especially since he was the one to suggest stripping the shuttle.

"Maybe we could try and stay over the water in case of emergency since we don't have any parachutes."

  "Not unless you count his body fat creeping into his skull as a brain tumor."

OOC: brain is suffering some 'wait, what color text am I?' from multiple color flavors of darkthornes.

Katy says, "Robotnik IS a tumor. A tumor we need to remove."

Emerald gives Lucky an unsure look, like she is trying to figure out if he was joking or not.

The others concentrate on the task at hand.

Timothius figures one more thing he can do to reduce weight is to attach a rope to the vehicle and just "glide" behind it, having it tow him. It would mean his wings carrying most of his weight and he'd still be able to keep up with the vehicle.

Milloni does some calculating. ".....yeesh. OK, gosh, everyone. With all these efforts to save fuel, I think we're out of the red zone. The craft shouldn't run out until we're done with it."

Katy says, "Good luck, everyone."

Judging from the grossed out look on his face, Lucky wasn't joking.

"Great idea, Timothius!" he cheers, thankful for the change in topic, "It's like water skiing in the sky!"

He does a poor job of hiding that he's not very reassured by Milloni's estimate that it shouldn't crash before they land.

"Thanks, Katy.  Take care."

He reluctantly boards.

  Joe heads on, because it's not like he's going to fly up there himself.  And this isn't a cartooney enough sonic setting for him to just grappling hook his way into the sky... Or is it?... No, darn.

  "See you when we get back.  Well, that or not and you enact horrible revenge."

Moving Right Along. The trip back to the weather station proves uneventful, aside from Timothius doing tricks in the air to entertain himself.

With communicator in hand, the freedom fighters are able to provide communication between Emerald and the robian in charge of the weather station. When Mercia is brought up as an option, the robian falls silent. "....I had hoped not to bring attention to my old home. But you may be right. It may be the only hope left for this weather station."

"Good luck getting revenge on a crashed machine that killed us from lack of fuel," Lucky grumbled.

During the trip he cheered Timothius on and engaged the others in as pleasant conversation as he could manage to pass the time.

At the station Lucky mews, "I don't know what to recommend.  On the one hand, relatively safe hiding place destination with no chance of repairs.  On the other, a place with a good chance for repairs but unknown danger.  I guess it boils down to how altruistic you are.  This station could be used to save lives, especialy in droughted lands.  You can save yourselves or take a chance to save others."

  "At this point, such a noteworthy vessel would attract attention to your old home merely by existing.  May as well get some practical use out of the infamy."

The robian pauses at what Joe says... and nods. "You have a point. Home it is."

Shelly smiles. "A new place sounds exciting!" oh, sure, she could have said that no matter which destination they chose, but she wanted to say something positive.

Timothius also smiles and Mei-Ling hugs the nearest person, biting her lower lip nervously.

After giving the order, the robian then says, "About your craft... if our home is able to be used for repair, I think we can refill your craft's fuel while we're doing repairs."

Lucky sweatdrops at all the smiling, wondering what he missed that was so happy about a life-threatening trip no one may return from.

"That's an 'if' we cannot risk.  We barely have enough fuel to make it back to the ground, so if your home cannot refuel it, we'll never get back to our home.  Whatever we can help you with will have to happen before you depart."

  Joe somehow doubts timing will be so considerate to prevent going along for the ride in all this.  "On that note, we may as well get to whatever we can while we are here."

The robian says, "Then this is where we part ways. The weather station is already on its way to our old home. Farewell."

Milloni says, "I guess so... I mean... if you are already on your way, we don't have time to assist you in any other way."

The robian responds, "You have given us a radio with which to communicate with Channelwood. You have helped us decide our destination. There is little more you can do for us now unless you stayed with us to guard us. However, we will remember you and will likely come back once we have finished repairs."

Shelly says, "Even if you don't come back, you can stay in touch via the communicator."

The robian nods. And with that, Shelly begins to head out with the others.

Lucky is so relieved he and his friends didn't wind up trapped on a doomed, dying vessel on a one-way trip over the ocean he nearly collapses.

"H-happy to be of help!  Glad you're on your way home.  Save travels and best of luck to you!"

He follows Shelly's lead, still nervous about the return trip.

"So far so good.  Here's hoping we make it back to the ground without a hitch."

  "I know your name is Lucky and all, but talk like that can get Murphy to listen to even you."

  Later that week Lucky would yell how glad he was he didn't drop his icecream.  When tragedy strikes.

  WRONG FLAVOR.  Murphy keeps you guessing.

Shelly squeaks, "Positive thinking, Joe! Positive!"

Mei-Ling says, "I wish Joe was wrong, but it seems Murphy doesn't even care about how oppressed we are."

Timothius says, "Let's just be careful and not worry overmuch about our words changing the shape of the universe. We have enough to worry about just making it through a day."

Milloni listens to all this and begins tapping away at her portable computer.

Lucky has always believed that if he were to truly live up to his name he wouldn't have been born in an eara of an evil tyrant bent on turning everyone into robo slaves.  So Joe's warning makes him nervous.

"Thanks for the advise, I guess..."

He nods to Timothius and reaches for a side-hug for comfort.  He turns a nervous glances at Milloni.  "Something wrong, Milloni?"

  Joe thinks Miloni is calculating the numerical odds of disaster.  "True Tim.   despite what time worn self help books tend to say, a combination of Spite and Apathy is surprisingly healthy in making it through the apocalypse."

Milloni says, "Oh! Just doing some probability equations." (OOC: Fun fact! This part of the post was typed before Joe had posted)

Shelly glances at Joe. "Yeah. We've got one of those at Aquarius. I assume you've met Thomas?"

Timothius says, "Yeah... poor guy."

Once the group is aboard the craft, Milloni does a quick overview of the fuel and the consumption rate. "We got enough to make it home safely. If Timothius glides behind us again, Mei-Ling could get a sample of this thing's fuel and hopefully find a way to produce more later. Looks like we have ourselves a craft, folks!"

Lucky appreciates Milloni using more certain language this time about not running out of fuel.

"Shelly gets along just fine with her kindness and sunshine," Lucky counters Joe, "And plenty others as well."

He headtilts curiously at Miloni.  "Good to hear.  Those equations about anything I would understand?"

  "I've met Thomasin passing.  And yes Lucky, but Shelly is a generally more pleasant person in the first place."

  Joe can be optimistic.  For example, he is optimistic Mei Ling will work out how to produce a flammable fuel substance without burning down Channelwood.

Considering Mei-Ling is an Aquarius Freedom Fighter who works under water, that's a relatively low optimism.

Milloni says, "You tell me: P_M = -K_M (e - I*C*U+F over F_M -1) ...in layman's terms, an equation of Murphy's Law. I can explain the equation if you like?" she seems excited at the idea, tail wagging.

Shelly giggles. "Thanks, guys."

"That she is," Lucky says with a smile for Shelly.

He then nods to Milloni, smiling to see her so happy.  "Just bear in mind I'm no mathematician.  I at least managed to pass Algebra I, though."

  "I've heard some mention Murphy's law is more of an art than a science, but I wouldn't be surprised if a complicated math formula would be easier than basically guessing when it comes to getting your expectations right."

Milloni says, "PM is the Murphy’s probability that something will go wrong. KM is Murphy’s constant (equal to one) and FM is Murphy’s factor, a very small number. Here we will approximate it by FM ≈ 0.01. Similar to previous work, I, C, U and F are parameters on a scale of 1-10 describing the situation of interest. I is the importance of the result or outcome of the event, C is the complexity of the system, U is the urgency and F is the frequency..." and she continues chatting about it to Lucky.

Timothius does opt to go outside to make life easier for everyone. The trip is relatively pleasant, though the craft acts clunky due to all the stuff removed from it. When the craft is landed, the freedom fighters get busy dissecting the craft to make sure it is not only reusable, but doesn't have any tracking devices on it.

---

Here's the website with the equation and its explanation:
http://www.scq.ubc.ca/the-murphys-law-equation/
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:56, Mon 09 June 2014.

Lucky shrugs at Joe's comment.  "Now I'm imagining an artist painting a painting of a painting falling into paint thinner."

He listens carefully to Milloni, asking for explanations whenever she gives him a chance.  Lucky smiles and wishes Timothius a pleasant flight.  But he's visibly relieved once the group touches down.  Doesn't go as far as to kiss the ground.  He offers to help out however he can with the disassembly.

  Joe hmms,  "Would that be a painting of their own falling in, or a painting by somebody they do not like?"

  He takes the landing a bit more calmly, but that comes with the territory when you swing around on a grappling hook a lot.

After the craft has been thoroughly examined and Milloni gives it her stamp of approval, Katy then asks that the craft stay in Channelwood. Her reasoning being that the only time Aquarius FF fight above ground is when they join up with Channelwood FF anyway.

Shelly easily agrees to it.

Katy then asks the group to come and celebrate with some food. Shelly gives everyone hugs for a job well done!

"Their own.  But I suppose the other idea kinda makes sense."

Lucky gladly accepts Katy's invitation.  He makes sure Katy gets a hug too and returns Shelly's hug, smiling brightly.

"All's well that ends with a hug from a beautiful princess!  Right, Katy?"

=^.^=

  Princess hugs are the best hugs, next to whatever kind of hugs you get later that are not princess hugs.

  It's kind of a sliding scale.

  "Good to be back with everyone not dead, Katy."  Joe you are terrible at comforting phrases.  But this lack of social skills is part of why you decided to hook up with these people instead of continuing the loner bit.