Standard disclaimer: I do not own the Happy Tree Friends; they are the property of Mondo Media. I own only my own characters and this story. Now here's chapter 12:

12 – DECISION

Immediately Toothy flipped a switch on his communicator. Presumably others did so as well because the holographic field expanded and images of Dane, the Mayor, Virgil, and Sniffles suddenly appeared in the room. Presumably, on their end of things, the Mayor, Dane, Robot, Virgil, and Sniffles were seeing Toothy, Barry, Splendid, Flippy, and the Buddhist Monkey.

"Now," said Robot as soon as everyone had tuned in, "on our current program the city will keep rising until the base is about four thousand feet above the ground. That will put the roof of the city at about fourteen thousand feet. I would not recommend flying any higher. At that height it will be difficult for anyone on the ground to reach us undetected even if they have flying capability, and the air at the city's top will still be breathable for anyone who wishes to go out on to the roof, although it will probably be quite cold."

"It's usually fairly cold, or at least cool, out there anyway" said Dane, since it's already several thousand feet in the air even when the city is on the ground. The cold won't matter. In fact, once everyone recovers from the shock of our taking off I think the city roof is going to become quite popular."

"So I would imagine" said the Mayor, "but that's beside the point at the moment."

"Precisely" said Robot, "the question we need to consider, and quickly, is now that we are airborne, what do we do next?"

"I've been thinking about that," said Mayor King, "would it be possible to fly over to the Marauder encampment and land the city on top of it?"

There was an immediate buzz of interest from most of the others.

"That would end the war quickly" said Flippy, appreciating the idea.

"Yes it would," said Robot, "if we could be sure of catching everyone underneath the city. Unfortunately we cannot. The idea was tried the last time we flew the city. We did destroy a lot of Marauders but the leaders were not caught. XL-Jack-3 and his top supporters are not stupid about the potentialities of Metramegopolis. When they discover that we've taken off (something they've probably already discovered), the first thing they will do is scatter their forces beyond our reach."

"That's too bad" said Dane, "but I'm not surprised. That would have been too easy."

"If we can't attack the Marauders" asked Toothy, "what do we do? How long can we keep the city airborne?"

"Oh there's no problem with that" growled Virgil, "the flying mechanisms are perpetual as long as they're turned on. They won't suddenly stop."

"Fascinating" said Flippy, "how does it all work?"

"It's an anti-gravity device that reverses the pull of the ground" said Virgil, "there's a lot more to it than that, but I'll have to explain it later. The point is, we won't run out of fuel. Also we can control which direction the city flies, and how fast it flies, although for safety reasons it's not a good idea to fly quickly for very long. It's usually better to float along slowly."

"But if that's all we do" said the Mayor, "then surely the Marauders can follow us. If the city is to be moved shouldn't we at least try to get away from them once and for all?"

"They will find us eventually" said Robot, "we cannot escape them so easily. The best we can hope for is to get away from them long enough so that we can find a better, more defensible site for the city. Hopefully we will then have time to prepare for a counter-attack."

"Yes" said Flippy, "whether we like it or not the last big war is coming. That force was the biggest army I've ever seen. We're going to have to face it eventually, but we should do it on our terms, not theirs."

"In that case" said Toothy, "if we can control where we go I would suggest we head east toward the Animal City."

"But that's all the way on the other side of the continent!" said Mayor King.

"I know" said Toothy, "but they might be able to help us. If we are facing the final war then it would help if we can unite as many of us who oppose the Marauders as possible."

"How long will it take to get there?" asked Barry.

"It will take time" said Virgil, "because we cannot move quickly, at least not for very long."

"We can move at a fast speed for about thirty minutes in relative safety" said Sniffles, "I've been studying the systems and I believe that's feasible, but not longer or the strain might be too much."

"Then we should fly east as quickly as we can for thirty minutes" said Barry, "that way we can get a head start on the Marauders, and maybe even lose them for a while. Then we can float the rest of the way at the slow speed."

"Will top speed be dangerous for us?" asked Splendid, "will we have to strap ourselves down or something?"

"No" said Robot, "there are stabilizers throughout the city that will keep us from feeling the effects of moving quickly. If it were not so we would not be able to fly quickly at all."

"Yeah" said Virgil sardonically, "the city would shake itself apart. It may do that anyway, but at least we'll be comfortable while it's doing it."

"Right" said the Mayor, "are we agreed?"

Everyone said that they were. Robot declared that top speed could be initiated at any time after the city leveled off.

"Good" said Mayor King, "I'm opening the city-wide communication channel. I think it's time we had a general city meeting so everyone can know exactly where things stand."

(To Be Continued)