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."