Samuel dons his breathing mask and adjust his goggles before entering the moonpool as he thinks to himself, 'what cosmic entity did I piss off to deserve being stranded on this planet with such crazy natives and with my companions enslaved as machines? I want to go home...but not even clicking my heels three times will wake me up from this nightmare.' Samuel then proceeds to swim towards shore with Mittens and Shelly.

Michael grins slightly as he says, "Let's meet up with Katy and see if she's made any more decisions regarding its useage and our involvement in this joint mission with those from Aquarius." Michael then starts off towards where he believes Katy to be although he sticks to the bridges this time to not get separated from Emerald.

Emerald follows Michael to Katy. On the way, wagging her tail in excitement, she says, "I'm still excited about having met the AFF. Say... I never did tell you much about my experience with Overlanders, did I?" At that last part, her excitement wears out a little.

Michal says, "Nope," half-instinctively before what Emerald has said really sinks in as the chimpanzee then stops for a moment and turns to face Emerald and asks, "Wait, you have experience with Overlanders?" as Michael has a clearly confused look on his face.

Emerald nods. "And I told you we would discuss it when we got back to Channelwood so that I would not be talking about the topic in front of Samuel... but I forgot by the time the mission was over."

Michael blinks for a moment as the memory of Emerald telling him that she had experience with overlanders/humans flashes before his eyes as he mutters, "I guess with all that was going on I forgot about it as well. In any case, it would be a good time to tell both Katy and myself once we  get to her and hand over the sketched map," as Michael resumes walking towards where he suspects Katy is waiting.

Serenity.  The water moved, swayed in the dance of currents from the incoming river, but there was nothing there but the water and the earth within it.  Serenity.  The water was warm, comforting in its caress, but able to flow with enough power to move the earth itself.  Yet the water does so with signs, and it would speak its plans to those willing to listen to it.  All it was saying now was the language of the light ebb and flow of the currents.  Serenity.  This was nature in its true form: speaking to its creatures and coexisting.  Offering a motherly warmth to her children.

“Slow.”  He heard the click of a stopwatch from the outer edge of the pool.  “Slow descent, and average ascent.  You’re still expending too much needless energy when you move underwater Hart.”  Nautilus, the older sea bear swim trainer, shook his head in disapproval.  “Your breath control is remarkable, yes.  You’re staying down longer with each attempt, and I’ve no doubt that you could swim the entire distance from the moon pool to the shore.  But the ability to stay underwater is only a part of being a skilled swimmer.  Without better control of your own movements, you’re won’t stand a chance in an underwater encounter with the simplest badnik in Urser.”
“Geez… Go easy on me, eh Gramps?  I’m not half-fish here.” Hart climbed out of the pool, wiping his fur down.  “I’m still quick enough on the surface.”
“Aquarius is concerned with what lies below the surface Hart.” Nautilus sighed.  “It’s been ten years now, and you’re still behind in underwater training.  When the Princess decides to reclaim Urser, you’ll be unable to truly aid her.  Might I remind you that we have no underwater vehicles.  We only have minimal scuba gear and it must go to the most capable when a battle takes place.  How can you expect to help when your speed underwater is the lowest in the group?”
Hart sighed, rubbing his muzzle in thought.  “I’m working it out. I've done a pretty good job on surfacing…  Besides, speed isn’t everything, right?” The deer looked hopefully over at Nautilus.  “I’ve done okay before.”

Hart opened his eyes.  Through the goggles, he could see the lake floor clearly.  He was currently sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and his hands outstretched to feel the movements of the currents.
A slight disturbance draws his eyes upwards as he sees Shelly, Mittens, and Samuel entering the water from the moonpool.  He doesn't fully understand why the princess has chosen to go out now, but he figures that she probably had a heck of a time making a break for it.  Do I follow and keep an eye on her or keep training and hear all about it when I get back in?  His legs have already kicked him off from the floor and he finds himself following them to the shore before he tells himself any answer.  Whatever.  At least it might be cool to do something interesting on the surface again.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:37, Thu 29 Mar 2007.

  Joe's technical literature project was put on hold shortly after he had gotten through the details involving voiding the electrical current safety ratings of killer robot warranties.  He leaned back in his chair, being mindful not to literally lean the chair itself as theres no real point to that sort of thing.  Well, that and high velocity laser and projectile dodging tendencies aside anyone can fall victim to embarrassing and mildly bruising falls in that kind of position.

  "I've got all the bits I need. Its knowing when I'll have the time to myself without an obviously impending mission thats the issue..."  Once more Joe advertised that first sign of madness.

  He closed the book and shoved it to the side of the work desk as he stood.  He was writing the thing so others could read it.  Its not like it would be a huge issue if someone played privacy invasion with it.  He headed out of what counted as his living space.  Unaware that anyone had mentioned the need for maps, so he couldn't point out the nice professional ones of the city from what used to have been gas stations and information booths he he had laying around.

(OOC: Closing a plothole that Joe so kindly pointed out for us. No professional maps available at what was once the gas station for these reasons: 1) That'd be too convenient. 2) The gas station was probabley ransacked during the attacks. 3) Maps only last so long and as much as the FF's use them, 10 years is enough to say the maps are too old. 4) In case reason 3 isn't good enough, 10 years is also long enough for Middletown to have changed significantly enough for the maps to be obsolete. 5) When all else fails, revert to reason 1 and invent your own reason. ;) Still... why I didn't think of this earlier is beyond me.)

Emerald soon gets to Katy with Michael and presents the sketchy map. She doesn't say anything just yet, figuring she will leave the talking to Katy and Michael so that she doesn't have to drastically change the topic.

Katy sees Michael and Emerald coming and takes the map when it's offered. Then holds the communicator up. "Got the map ready, Shelly. We'll be waiting for you." She then turns to Michael. "So they want scuba gear. And so do we. The question is will we send anyone or ask them to do us the favor of grabbing a few extra? If you ask me, I still think there was plenty of luck involved with last mission..."

Once at the surface with the others, Shelly pulls out her communicator and says, "I hear ya. We're on our way!" she starts off towards the Channelwood Village, unaware of the one that is preparing to follow them.

Michael hmms for a moment and says, "I agree there was a lot of luck with the last mission, but it would be wrong for us to ask them to pick up extra scuba sets for us while we sit back in safety while they take all the risk."

As Samuel heads to Channelwood from the lake with Shelly and Mittens, the sensors in both his diagnostic's bracer and his internal cybernetic implants alert him that an individual is possibly following them from Aquarius, although his sensors lose track of the individual when the group leaves the lake for the woods as sound carries better through water than air.

However, Samuel isn't worried as it was either just someone out for a swim and then a walk along the shore, or a guard wanting to keep an eye on Shelly without getting in her way. In either case it doesn't matter to Samuel as long as the individual doesn't get into Samuel's way.

Katy hrms. "Still... minimal numbers is preferable. This time, though, maybe we can do four people instead of six? We'll figure that out when they get here... Emerald? Are you waiting for something?"

Emerald grins. "Well until Samuel shows up, I figured I could tell you two about my experience with Overlanders... I never thought we'd be fighting alongside of one, so I never said anything..."

  Mittens drops the inner tube from around her waist and hides it and the scuba gear under the bushes at the shore...  yes, inner tube.  :P  Walking along the muddy lake-bottom with improvised mud shoes is much slower than swimming.  ._.  To keep her armor from making her sink like a rock, she uses an inner tube!  ^.^

  "Nice moves you got there, Princess! ^.^" Mittens cheers,  trying not to let it show that keeping up with her and a human while wearing heavy armor has left her out of breath.  o.O

Michael turns to look at Emerald and says, "Well perhaps you should explain now before he shows up as odds are he'll be coming along if only to destroy more stuff." The tone in Michael's voice is one that indicates he still doesn't trust Samuel, but the chimpanzee still figures it is better to gather what information is available instead of remaining in the dark.

Due to his daily chores, Valin is unaware of the impending mission, or that people from Aquarius will be in on it. The gorilla's ears perk up at the mentioning of Overlanders by Emerald as he is not far from the group when she speaks up about it. Curious, Valin walks over to the group still carrying a load of supplies that he'll use in the completion of his daily chores.

Emerald puts her fist to her mouth, pondering how best to relay info on Overlanders. So she speaks what she suspects of Samuel. "Samuel being from outer space is not unlikely. Many Overlanders left Mobius thousands of years ago and he could be the decendant of one such voyager. Fact is, he speaks our language, knows a few latin phrases, and has a few other clues of distant reminants from Mobius his anscestors took with them. Samuel doesn't know it, and would fight it if he found out, but he is an Overlander."

Hart surfaces at the shore with a slight gasp for air, just catching sight of Mittens moving off into the woods.  Too slow again... dang it. he thinks as he slides himself out of the water and pockets his goggles before taking off after Mittens at a moderate pace, staying behind, but keeping her in sight.

Hart isn't fond of playing tag along, but his curiousity is getting the better of him.  It seemed pretty clear that they weren't headed to Middletown, but then where were they headed?  He wants to know but also doesn't want to draw attention to himself as a potential babysitter.
No way Shelly'd be cool with that idea.

Katy ponders this... "So overlanders have been space-exploring all this time... and you knew about this how?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:44, Wed 04 Apr 2007.

Emerald says, "I was close with one once... but he's dead now." She goes quiet for a moment. "And if you're wondering why I didn't share earlier, I didn't think it relivant. We all know Robotnik occasionally takes trips to space."

Meanwhile, back in Middletown, Blipvert approaches Ra once more and offers a report. Ra takes a look and gets a cruel smile. "Excellent..." Ra says as he looks over the report. "I like the idea. With this, no doubt, the freedom fighters will be lured here. They couldn't possibley resist such a carrot dangled in front of their noses. Make it so, Blipvert!" With that, Blipvert bows and turns to leave, preparing to give the order to bring the prisoners to Middletown's roboticization facility... but to hold of on roboticization for the time being.


(OOC NOTE: Normally, most prisoners are shipped straight to Robotropolis. Which is why Ra is doing this. He's hoping the chance to "rescue" these prisoners will prove to be too much of a temptation and the FFs would fall into his trap.)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:00, Wed 04 Apr 2007.

Michael rubs his chin and says, "I can see why you didn't explain this earlier. Your right that Robotnik has prove he's capable of sending stuff into space some of it to use in conquering the rest of the planet, and then there is other stuff we don't have any clue as to what he's doing. However knowing how violent Overlanders are, they probably aren't exploring outer space they are trying to conquer it and probably causing all sorts of trouble. And the last thing we need is for them to bring their trouble back here. We have enough trouble caused by Overlanders." It seems that Michael is letting his knowledge about Overlanders on Mobius color his view on those Overlanders that are in space.