Emerald leads the two to what looks like an old temple. Seems that is where a bunch of the badgers wound up. "Emerald!" they yell! They swarm her happily and seem in a celebratory mood.

Emerald smiles at them and says, "My friends! These are more friends of mine: Lucky and Joe. I have to get them home."

The badgers make way for her and she starts leading the way inside the temple.

  People happy to see you is always such a bizarre thing these days, outside of where you live (well, unless you are a broody mc broodypants... Who probably doesn't even wear pants).  Then he remembers they were happy to see Emerald and the universe makes sense again.

  "As many problems there are still back home, we probably should make sure you are going to stay allright first."

These are the first badgers Lucky has seen today that didn't die within 10 seconds, so that's a good sign.

"Nice to meet you all."

To Emmy he says, "It's your home too, Emerald.  You'll be staying once we get there, right?"

He wonders if the badgers have any idea that she's a clone.

Emerald has a come back to Lucky's question that both answers him and puts the badgers at ease. "I go where I am needed, Lucky. Remember, these people are my people also."

Emmy leads the two Channelwood FF's down the hallway to a closed door with a panel next to it that looks like some ancient stone slab. She lays her hand on it and the door opens. Inside is a small room with a book on a dais.

Now far from prying badger ears, Emerald turns to face Lucky and Joe. "I could go with you to Channelwood, but you both already know I am not the one you have had living with you all this time."

She opens the book and points. "This is the Channelwood book. It will take you back home. But as I said before, the Emerald you know should be home within the day... or you could wait here in case she isn't."

Just then, another Emerald appears in the room, then looks over and sees Lucky, Joe, AND one of her clones. "....uh... hi? Heh..." she gets a nervous grin like she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

  "Yeah, I figured you'd be staying here.  I meant making sure we weren't leaving you before it was certain no further population devastating events were going to happen in the next few hours. Why shouldn't we care if you aren't the one we already knew?"  Which really, was a tall order these days.

  Then there was twice as many Emeralds.  Joe noted they were the same color unlike other plot related multiple Emeralds, but he still liked these ones better.  "Good to see you in one piece.  Your twin seems to be a bit overworked though."

Lucky gasps at Emmy's appearance then gets that helpless, misty-eyed, "I thought you were dead!" but happy to be wrong, relieved look and rushes over to give Emerald a tearful hug!

"Oh Emerald!  I was so worried for you!  I'm so happy to see you alive and well!"

He's tempted to take her hand and slap it on the Channelwood book to take her back to safety right then and there, but he's afraid of leaving the others behind, "Let's all take the book back home and get caught up there.  This place is way too dangerous!"

Emerald oofs from the sudden Lucky glomp and hugs him back. "It's OK... I'm OK..." but when Lucky suggests leaving, Emmy holds a finger up at Lucky and looks at her clone. "Function Status Report."

Clone Emmy says, "Joe is right. I am a bit overworked. I need energy, my limbs could stand a little TLC, and my... processor..." she glances at the others before looking back at Emerald, "...got damaged. Without some attention, I'm afraid I will shut down in 48 hours or less. I'm only awake because these two jarred me back to consciousness."

Emerald ohs and says, "I can't go just yet, Lucky. You and Joe are, of course, free to go home. But I have to stay and tend to my clone here. However, if all of Channelwood is still searching for me, you can tell them you found me, I'm OK, and I will be back home within 48 hours."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:33, Sat 08 Aug 2015.

  "That's understandable." So far as any of the crazy stuff they deal with is understandable.  'oh you need to repair your double before traveling through a magical book, okey dokey'.

  He looks over to Lucky, and says "Did you want to wait around, or head back?"  Joe, it's not giving kids more responsibilities when you are just being too lazy to decide yourself.

The "clone" is a robot?!  That sure explains a lot.  Original Emmy must be absolutely out of her mind if she thinks it safe to...  Oh nonononono...  Obviously she doesn't know about the sea of terror or the hostile tribe.  Lucky looks her dead in the eyes and explains.

"Every passing moment spent in this zone puts everyone in greater danger.  Mortal danger, Emerald.  Let's take the badgers and  your double back to the Channelwood where it is safer.  I'd sooner give my life than let you spend a day here, much less two."

He can't hold back the tears when he imagines returning to a pile of dead bodies, Emerald's among them, with a glitching android Emmy drone repeating her last words over and over.

"Wwhy dddidn't the waaarn me?  *click!*  Wwhy dddidn't the waaarn me?  *click!*"

Emerald looks at Lucky and gives him a helpless smile. "What are you talking about? This place is safe. The nearby tribe doesn't disturb this temple, they said we were free to go, and we are at least a quarter mile from the sea. Further still from the part of it that is dangerous. Like... several miles. Bringing this many people into Channelwood would bring troubles of its own..." she glances at the door. Then back to Lucky and Joe. She gives him a reassuring tone and a soft smile. "You and everyone here is safe for the moment, Lucky. That and the fewer who know about my teleportation books, the better. But tell you what. I'll ask them if they want to go to Channelwood. If they do, I will either have to walk them all the way -and I'm not looking forward to walking 1,000 miles- or I will have to knock them out one at a time and force-teleport them one at a time."

  Joe is so proud of Lucky's cynical narrative.  Joe may have issues.

  "Honestly, despite the local ecological disaster this is currently safer than back home."

Lucky is rendered speechless.  They're mad!  They've completely lost their minds!  If they think this place is safer than... Oh yeah.  Channelwood is right on the doorstep of an evil mechanized empire.  Ironically, Joe's "more unsafe back home" point is more convincing than Emmy's "safe enough here" argument.  Lucky questions his own sanity for thinking his own home safe.

But his paranoia reboots and he comes back to his senses.  "As studied as you are in history, I'm surprised you expect the hostiles to keep to their word, Emerald.  And all it would take is a slight breeze to blow a fog of that deadly water over here.  And we ran into robots on the way here.  Which means Robotnic now knows that there are freedom fighters here.  It won't be long before this whole area is overrun by SWATS and deadly-fog-berserked savages!"

Emerald says in a "matter-of-fact" tone, "If the hostiles wanted the badgers dead, they would have taken care of that back when they already had us captured, Lucky. And if the water were deadly as a vapor, nobody would have made it off the island earlier since it was all through the air you breathed back there. And while you do have a point about the sharkbots and the submarines, the fact is you destroyed the sharkbots before they could see your destination. Robotnik should not know where you went. Lucky: I know the dangers here. But to reiterate; it doesn't much matter if the people here do not wish to go to Channelwood. If that is the case, I will just go with you, Joe and my clone back to Channelwood."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:47, Fri 14 Aug 2015.

  "Lucky, there wouldn't be any fog induced berserkers because the fog would kill them, duuuuuh.  Also because the fog hasn't killed us anyways, that too."

  He looks back over to Emerald, "If you are bringing your friend along, what exactly did you want to tell people?"

that Emmy sounds like she's willing to leave calms Lucky down some.  He's shocked at how much detail Emmy knows, but is more shocked by Joe imagining that anything deadly to the goodguys would also be deadly to the badguys.  Lucky expected him to be much more pessimistic.

"Perhaps the vapor scrambles your brain differently than touching the water directly does.  I don't know how long that first badger we found screamed before he died, but the second one proved you don't die instantly.  It would be way to convenient if the nightmare water ever did anything in our favor like stop badguys who want to kill us because they changed their minds about letting us go.  If this place is so safe, why haven't you suggested we move Channelwood's children here at least?  Because it's not safe!  It's a lot less safe than home!  If the badgers knew their options, they'd beg to be knocked out and forcefully teleported to a place where the nearest body of water is full of adorable teddybears, not metal sharks and corpses frozen in abject horror from liquid nightmare."

Emerald looks like she is losing patience. Joe's question helps her to calm herself slightly. She answers Joe first, "If I bring her along, I'm not going to show her to anyone. She is a secret. She will remain in my secret place in Channelwood, where I will be repairing her quietly."

"Nowhere is safe." she says in what sounds like barely-contained rage in her voice. "Have you forgotten that Aquarius is only a few miles from an entire city of roboticized sea creatures? Have you forgotten Channelwood is only two miles from a fire-breathing killing machine of a robot dragon? And those corpses you saw? They got off light! Have you forgotten about roboticization? Where people get to be stuck in that terrifying cycle for the rest of their lives rather than be allowed to die? Why haven't I suggested Channelwood move here? Because Channelwood is home and the only way this world will ever become safe is if we all work together to tear Robotnik and his forces down." She takes a breathe, calms down even more, and reaches to put a hand on Lucky's shoulder. "It's good that you see home as safe. It's good that you see Channelwood and Aquarius as places where you remember faces you look forward to seeing. But I had to remind you how desperate our situation is or you would continue to yell at me like I have no regard for the safety of others. I'm not an idiot, Lucky, and I'm not a villain. Please remember that between your fearful thoughts."

  "Yeah, the multiple apocalypse kinda sucks."  As does the status quo that will just sit there until the Real Main Characters get around to dealing with it, but then that's why you joined a freedom fighter's group Joe.  It's less boring waiting that out with company.

  "Though mostly from the practical standpoint, we don't have the infrastructure back in channelwood to handle that many extra people and keep them fed and sheltered."

For a moment Lucky is shocked and hurt buy Emmy's words, but his love for her quickly conquers his instincts.

"Don't lose heart, Emerald," he answers soothingly, reaching out to give her a comforting hug, "I know things are bad.  But I want you to know that me and the rest are ready to risk our lives - three times over in this case - to come to your rescue when you go missing.  And they're still searching.

"Sure I'm scared.  I'm scared for you, Emerald.  I don't want you to be the third dead body I've seen today.  Infrastructure or no, two dead is a lot more than we've had to deal with for quite some time back home.  I don't think you're dumb or evil.  I think you're stretched too thin.  Let Joe and me help you.  And at least let everyone at home know you're ok now."
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:53, Sat 22 Aug 2015.

Success! Emerald has pulled Lucky out from panic to concern. Her mood seems to have lightened back to a calm. "...you are at least right about my being spread thin. But the means by which I'm helping these people is a secret. A secret I have been forced by circumstances to reveal to you two. A secret that I really need you both to keep secret. Which is why if I take these people, they must be taken unconscious. I'm sorry you risked your lives for me. But I promise you I was not held up lightly. This situation is exactly the reason I would not have allowed myself to go missing if it was possible. But this time, it wasn't. Now let me go ask the people if they want to go to Channelwood or if they want to stay here. I will not take them against their will; That would cause problems of its own."

  "Well, pretty sure that unless you will literally die without mentioning them, lucky and I will be able to handle that. I wouldn't trust myself with fixing her programming unless there was no other choice, but let me know if you need help with physical repairs."

  He looks over to Lucky again.

  "I hate to say it lucky, but you start to get used to stuff like this.  Not the doom stuff, the 'oh there are secrets not meant for the world to know' stuff... Well maybe used to is too strong, more like resignedly annoyed.  I will need to take a break to bang my head against the nearest hard surface if minerals not colored anything like they are called turn up."

Lucky nods.  Even though he could empathize with someone being reluctant to leave their home in spite of it being extremely dangerous, he can't imagine anyone choosing the savage shores of Nightmare Ocean over Channelwood.  He tries to wrap his mind around keeping the books secret being so important and can think of a few good reasons, but he can't shake the feeling that Emmy must be under their evil influence if she doesn't trust the good people of Channelwood with knowing about them.

"You have my full support, Emerald.  I'll go with you to help talk with them.  If it comes down to them consulting dice or cards to decide, I can tip the scales in favor of their survival."

He gives Joe a weirded-out look.  "Where would you have run into other super secrets?  You live in the same town I do, and the biggest secrets I come across is who snuck an early dessert."

Emerald wonders the same as Lucky and looks over to Joe. "...Prior to having come to live in Channelwood, I'm assuming. Joe has had some weird experiences, I've heard."

She heads out to ask the badgers if they wish to stay here or go to her home town of Channelwood. The badgers begin discussing it because some don't want to travel anymore, some think this place safest, and others think the offer a good one.

---

(OOC: The RP with the chaos emeralds that Will and I did a one-on-one of with Emmy may be confusing him. But to clarify; that one was a "what if" and didn't happen in this continuity. This chapter kind of replaces that. Outside that, only thing I can think of is maybe something in Joe's backstory with Ariel since Ariel has secrets she can't share either. Which I'll go ahead and say is canon to reduce confusion since I don't wanna be retconning too much stuff.)

  "I spent plenty of time wandering before ending up in Channelwood, Lucky.  Besides, not even counting the stuff Emerald wants us to hide? Just from living on Channelwood, everyone already know an underwater princess with a secret lair, and a winged cat from one of the numerous hidden flying cities."  Then There's 'we blew up our entire city, as a decoy for our much cooler underground city' over with Unity.

  And yet some people get upset when Joe suggests hidden ninja villages are a dime a dozen.  Go figure.

OOC: Honestly at this point, I consider Joe's "background" a snarl in the spacetime continuum.  Nevermind all the stuff he might have gotten up to on his own.  Joe is going to Know Things.  But not like he's the one with access to plot devices at the drop of a hat ;P

Lucky gave a skeptical look to Joe's answer.  "I don't remember being asked to keep any of that stuff secret from my friends.  Keeping anything from Robotnic kinda goes without saying."

Lucky went with Emmy to talk to the badgers as promised.  He listens to the objections and nods.

"Nobody's going to make you go anywhere, but consider that Channelwood is Emerald's home.  Sure she said she goes where she's needed, and kids back home sure need her, but what about her needs?  Home is where she can unwind.  Loved ones, her own special hut, delicious food, and cool shade from the leaves fluttering in the gentle breeze flowing through the treetops is what she needs after what she's been through."

The look on his face gives away that he's very homesick.

"Besides.  Nothing says you have to stay once you've seen it."

One asks, "How would we even get there?"

Emerald says, "Magic. Don't ask."

The badgers look at each other, shrug, and then look at Lucky. "Don't have to stay, eh? OK, you talked us into it."

Fast-forwarding a bit. Emerald knocks out each badger, one at a time and transports them to the spot near Channelwood that Lucky and Joe found in the first place. Once all the badgers are teleported, Emmy goes with her clone, Lucky and Joe to the location.

Emmy then looks at her clone. "Conserve Power. I'll be back for you."

The clone powers down and just slouches in the corner of the room. Emerald then closes the hidden cave entrance, leaving her clone inside while everyone else is outside. "There."