Alright everyone (sorry for the long wait, again)…time to find out what will happen next! What's next on Tweak/Mechaniteer's agenda, and can the other Octonauts get out of that situation with the elves? This chapter will answer these questions…

Chapter 7

24 hours had passed since the Octonauts' encounter with those elves. A very long while, and Captain Barnacles was still amazed that somehow, Peso, Shellington, Dashi, and Tunip had managed to stay out of trouble. As for himself and Kwazii…well, they hadn't been so lucky.

Kwazii telling the elves about Tweak's good qualities and him reacting to it the wrong way had given the cruel creatures a clear message: both of them knew the third fugitive personally. Once that fact was figured out, the elf holding the poster had demanded that Kwazii and the captain be honest with them from that moment on. They had to tell them everything they knew about "that most peculiar fugitive," and those who had remained in the Gup X had come dangerously close to being questioned as well. Barnacles had then said everything he could think of to trick the elves into thinking they didn't know who Tweak was, but of course they didn't believe him after his dishonesty a few seconds ago. Thankfully, Kwazii had caught on to the captain's plan just in time and said, "He's telling the truth! We're the only ones here who know her. They're just here because they're our friends. They don't know anything about her."

The elves had been uncertain at first. "This friend of yours…'Tweak,' as you call her…are you sure she wouldn't happen to be the friend of yours who's wandered into Alledia?"

"She's not," stated Kwazii. "That friend of ours is someone very different. All three of us are looking for hmm…him. But she's searching one half of Alledia while we're searching the other half."

"Oh really? What is that friend's name?"

"Pinto," Kwazii said without a moment of hesitation. Then he'd instantly gone wide-eyed with fear, wondering how in the world he'd ended up saying the name of Peso's little brother, of all mammals, during a moment like this—but mostly, he was nervous, hoping Peso hadn't heard what he just said.

Luckily, the elves had thought he was nervous because he'd accidentally told them the truth, so they believed him. "We will let your friends continue their search," one elf had said, "but you two are to come with us. Tell them it is because we are offering you a fancy job, and because of it, you will not be returning home for a few months."

Barnacles had known the crew wouldn't fall for that kind of lie based on everything that had been happening so far, so when the elves didn't follow him into the Gup X, he simply told the other Octonauts that he and Kwazii were going to have to stay with the elves for a while. "I'll contact you with my octo-compass and share the rest of the details tonight, I promise."

After the elves escorted the two of them out of Kanalis, Barnacles and Kwazii had found out the real reason why they were being separated from their friends. It was exactly as Dashi had feared right from the start: the elves wanted to take the duo hostage so they could lure Tweak out of hiding. Since she was last seen in Nautilus, that was the first place the elves went to. They'd then searched through the entire town, and while they didn't find Tweak, they did find Rasia Redlogger, the woman who had given the engineer early access to the library, thereby prompting the elves' suspicions. And yes—Rasia was taken hostage as well.

At sunrise, the elves decided that Tweak was no longer in Nautilus and must have moved on to another city. No one was quite certain where she was now, but judging by the progress Barnacles and Kwazii had made with their search so far, the elves decided she couldn't be in Kanalis or any of the mountains. Then, since daytime had begun and many citizens of Nautilus had started heading off to work, the elves tried searching the town again, this time by angrily asking passersby if they'd seen any of the three fugitives. Some passersby had glimpsed Trellis and Luger in the green vehicle speeding down the street (which hadn't been too helpful because the elves already knew that information), while others mentioned having brief conversations with Tweak. According to them, she'd been looking for a pink robot rabbit and a human stonekeeper girl with red hair, which only added to Kwazii and the captain's worries. If Miskit wasn't with Tweak like they'd been hoping, how was she going to survive here in Alledia?

They were confused too; it was clear Tweak was searching for Miskit, but why was she also looking for a stonekeeper? Had Miskit been captured by one during his mission, or were not all stonekeepers as scary as Kwazii had made them sound? Maybe Kwazii had initially thought that only elves could be stonekeepers (hence why he'd called them beasts) because Calico Jack hadn't encountered any non-elf stonekeepers. Maybe other species could also be stonekeepers, and not all of them used their powers for evil. Then again, there was always that possibility that the stonekeeper Tweak was looking for wasn't a nice one…

Finally, it was nighttime once again, and the elves were bringing their three prisoners to the town's airship docks. Or at least what was left of them, since that area had been almost completely destroyed by all the explosions from earlier.

As they walked, one of the elves said, "Alright. We still have one serious problem here. You, ma'am, say that the third fugitive is an arachnopod-protecting ranger from Gondoa Mountain, she's only here to catch up on today's events, and you let her into the library before opening hours to thank her for helping those wild creatures. But you two say that she is a mechanic who protects the underwater life with your assistance, and she's here to help you look for a teammate of yours that might be in danger! Someone is lying here. Who is it?!"

Barnacles groaned. He and Kwazii hadn't had a chance to get any sleep since they first got into this mess, so staying awake at all was hard enough for them. But apparently, Tweak had given Rasia false information about who she was, which he and Kwazii hadn't known when they'd told the elves about her role in the Octonauts (which they'd also had to pretend was a quartet consisting of only themselves, Tweak, and Pinto, for the sake of the Gup X's passengers). Either that, or Tweak had told Rasia the truth and the latter was the one lying to them because she wanted to protect the former. Ohhh…why was this whole thing getting so complicated?!

"I'm telling the truth," insisted Rasia, at the exact same time as Kwazii said, "We're telling the truth!"

"No, not all of you are," said the elf with the wanted poster. "All of you told at least one lie to us. Ma'am, did you lie when you mentioned the reason why the third fugitive is here?"

"No I didn't! I told you exactly everything she told me! Honestly! If she really is here for more reasons than she let on, then she's the one who lied! All I did was think she was telling the truth!" Rasia didn't want to have to say this and risk putting such a sweet customer in danger. She liked Tweak, but at this moment her fear of the elf soldiers was overtaking her.

The elves exchanged glances, then nodded. "Your story matches the information Tweak told us about why you let her into the library early. You're excused."

Rasia sighed with relief, but quickly tensed up again as the elves turned to their other two captives. "That makes you two the liars! You claimed Tweak was simply looking for a fellow named Pinto. You never said anything about that fellow being a member of the Resistance!"

"Resistance?" Kwazii asked, just as confused as the captain was. They'd had a feeling they would be caught in a lie sooner or later, but this was the last thing they had expected the elves to say when that happened.

The elf with the poster glared at them. "Will you stop lying to us?! The Resistance is that group of rebels that is helping our stonekeeper enemy, who is indeed a red-haired human girl, fight our king! Don't think we haven't noticed that one of its most faithful members to her happens to be a pink rabbit robot, exactly like the one your friend said she was searching for. Which means you are also searching for a member of the Resistance."

"And you said Pinto is a teammate of yours, which must mean you are members of the Resistance too," added the first elf. "Did you really think we would fall for it when you said there were only four members of your rescue team, not to mention the fact that your team had a different name?"

"We…we didn't know he was in another rescue crew," Barnacles said, trying unsuccessfully to hold back a yawn. It was the only excuse he could think of.

The elves exchanged glances again, and after whispering inaudibly to one another for a minute, they turned their attention back to their three captives. "We will let this slide for now," warned one elf. "But if we learn any of you really have been lying, you will not like the consequences."

"You've already given us…consequences…" Kwazii retorted, yawning.

After giving the pirate cat a warning look, the elf with the poster declared, "Alright. That just leaves us with one more matter. For the moment, we must return to our kingdom and inform the Elf King of what is currently happening. We need to figure out what to do with you three, and how we will locate Tweak."

Rasia grew annoyed. "Why do you still consider her a fugitive? She didn't do anything you would say is wrong!"

"We are still keeping a watchful eye on her," said an elf. "Something about her wanting and gaining early access to the library still does not add up, and the fact that she lied to you about who she is only makes her actions more suspicious. Even mountain rangers are not the kind of customers anyone can imagine receiving treatment that special, and besides. The fear she gained when we first confronted her was stronger than any Alledian resident's fear of us! Odds are she somehow found out you have a fondness for mountain rangers, and she took advantage of it to seize the opportunity to do research on us so she could help the Resistance. Clearly her fear of us means she has more to hide, which means she can only be a fugitive. For only they would ever do the things she did!"

"Just because the books she happened to select were about you and the stonekeepers doesn't mean she's really trying to fight you!" Rasia blurted out. She then realized what she said and bit her tongue.

The elf with the poster sneered. "Clearly, Tweak is gathering information for the Resistance. Which means we must apprehend her before she finds them and passes it along. We were right to place her on our list of fugitives."

"She can't be helping the Resistance if she doesn't even know Miskit's a member of it," Barnacles told him.

"Miskit?"

The captain's eyes widened. He was so tired, he'd forgotten about the lie regarding Miskit's real name! Quickly, he tried to cover up his mistake. "I…I mean—"

"I warned you," said the elf who had issued the consequence-related warning earlier. "Now the Elf King will have to decide on your fate. As for you, ma'am," he said, turning to Rasia, "be thankful you were only a victim of trickery brought on by their friend."

Rasia gulped. "What…what is going to happen to them?"

"Nothing for you to be concerned about. We are letting you go."

Tweak awoke to a delicious smell coming from the dining room: carrots, her favourite smell. She quickly sat up, looked around to find it was daytime, and headed straight for the table.

Selina was just entering the room, carrying a vegetable salad and a fork. "I'm impressed with your choice of style," she said as she sat down. "Looks to me like you're a mechanic who doesn't just want to use her skills for filling up gas tanks and fixing vehicles."

Tweak nodded, removing her welding mask so she could eat the carrots Selina had brought out for her. She didn't mind revealing her true identity to her—they were alone, and something about her hostess just gave her a good feeling. It probably had something to do with their many similarities, along with the fact that, mentally and physically, Selina reminded her of Captain Barnacles.

The cat mechanic already knew Tweak was trying to find Emily and company by this point; last night, like she had with the citizens of Nautilus, she'd asked her if she'd seen a pink robot rabbit and a red-haired human girl stonekeeper. Selina hadn't seen Miskit because the Luna Moth had arrived several hours after he was snatched by that wyvern, but she'd seen Emily of course. Selina had also been informed of what exactly the Luna Moth passengers (who had apparently decided to call their team the Resistance, explaining what Miskit's robot companion had meant earlier) were doing, but she hadn't said much about it last night. Today, however, she was going to tell the whole story.

"They came here to get their airship refuelled," explained Selina. "I served them dinner and let them stay for a few hours. Mrs. Hayes was very generous. She insisted that she help with the cooking when she really didn't have to."

"Who's Mrs. Hayes?" Tweak asked.

"The mother of that stonekeeper girl you mentioned. Their last name is Hayes." Selina took a bite of her salad and then continued. "So at sunset, their airship pulled up to refuel. I already knew they were looking for that flying city before they even said anything."

Tweak gasped, dropping one of the carrots back onto her plate. "Flying city?!"

"Enzo keeps saying he saw Cielis after the elves destroyed it. That it actually survived, and it's literally been lifted into the sky by stonekeeper magic. He never succeeded, but he's been trying to figure out how to get to that city ever since. It broke us up." Then Selina suddenly fell silent, as if she'd just said something she shouldn't have.

Broke them up? Tweak thought, confused. What did she mean by… And then she realized it. Not just what Selina had been referring to, but also the "tough times" Rico had said Enzo was going through lately. Was it really possible that Enzo…used to be Selina's mate? And that their breakup along with his failure to find Cielis were the tough times he was going through?

Selina quickly realized what her guest was thinking by studying her expression. "Don't think too much about it, missy. I don't want you getting curious about what it's like to know someone who cares more about exploring adventurer legends than about you."

"I already know what that's like. My friend Kwazii loves going exploring, but he never cares that every time he crashes one of our submarines, especially the Gup B, I have to fix it again! And again, and again…" After saying this, Tweak fell silent as she thought about not just Kwazii, but also the rest of the Octonauts. Over 2 days had passed since she'd first entered this planet—way longer than any of the crew's searches for missing animals had ever gone! Had they figured out she was in Alledia by now? And if they had, had Calico Jack told Kwazii enough information about Alledia for the latter to keep the crew out of trouble with the elves? Or did the Octonauts need saving just as much as Miskit?

Selina winced at her guest's description of Kwazii. "Alright. Clearly you've seen worse." She took another salad bite and continued, "Anyway, Enzo and Rico happened to cross paths with the stonekeeper girl and her troop. They were searching for Cielis because she needs a place to practice being a stonekeeper in order to stop the Elf King. Her fox mentor was able to get Enzo's hopes up again, since apparently normal species like us can only access Cielis if a stonekeeper's with us. Hence why Enzo could never find it."

"Yeah, you said that part last night."

"I did. Now that Enzo's with a stonekeeper, he's more determined to find that flying city than ever. As far as I know, they're still searching for it now. But the pink rabbit robot you're looking for and that stubborn companion of his…like I told the Hayes family and company, I have no clue how they're doing. I know they got taken by a wyvern because of what the Hayes family said, but…"

Tweak sighed, her ears drooping again. "I saw them trapped up there. That stubborn robot saved my life after some other wyverns tried to eat me, and…and I couldn't save them. I tried to, but…as soon as I realized Miskit was there, I…" Tears formed in her eyes, and she pushed away her plate.

"There's nothing to feel ashamed about," Selina said, worried. "Wyverns can be very dangerous predators! When they catch prey, it's rare that that prey escapes!"

"Selina, I could have saved them! I really could have! You don't know how much my friends from home and I have gone through over the years. I could have saved them, but every time I see he's the one in trouble, I do things without even thinking first, and…I fail..." She started crying, and embarrassed, she turned away from Selina. "If Miskit and the other robot are still alive, I've got to make it up to them, but…if I can't remember to think first, I…I don't know what I'm going to do."

Selina got up and went over to comfort her. "You have a thing for that rabbit robot, don't you?"

Tweak nodded and started to speak, when she was interrupted by sudden laughter nearby. It was a light-coloured turquoise robot with an oval-shaped head, who had apparently heard at least part of their conversation.

"What's so funny?" Selina asked him stubbornly.

"You never said anything about your new guest having a crush on a robot!" the robot said, still laughing really hard. "Of all the impossible wishes to make…ever stopped to consider the fact that robots can't fall in love?"

Selina scoffed, her eyes still narrowed. "You said robots couldn't cry either. And somehow, after Enzo and I broke up, you shed a thousand more tears than I did."

The robot instantly stopped laughing and froze in fear. After glancing awkwardly at the two mechanics, he slowly backed out of the room. "Um…uh…I'll just give our fuel storage a checkup, ma'am..."

When her robot was gone, Selina turned her attention back to her guest. "I won't discourage your feelings for him, Tweak, but I will tell you one thing. Don't let your crush on him get in the way of using your brain. It's not wrong to love someone, but you can't let it distract you from the tasks at hand. That can be pretty dangerous. Got that?"

"I've got it. Sorry, it's just…my friends and I have always been able to save each other and all kinds of sea creatures, and for the first time ever, I—"

"Don't let a little slip-up like that break you down, okay?" Selina said. "You've got what it takes to be more than someone who fixes up vehicles. I can feel it in you. After all those successful Earth rescues with Kwazii and the rest of your friends, you're definitely unstoppable."

Tweak froze. "You…you know I'm from Earth?"

"Rico mentioned you while he and the others were here. He said your name too, so I knew he was talking about you as soon as you introduced yourself last night. When Mrs. Hayes said she and her kids were from Earth, he couldn't help bringing you up after he heard about that alternate version of our planet. He's actually kind of worried about you."

"He…he is?"

"Just a bit surprised you left so abruptly. But he figured you were trying to help the Resistance once he and Enzo got involved in this thing. No offence, but next time you have to leave and you don't want anyone to worry, try not to leave a note that says you're helping someone outside the bar with something that might take a while."

"Oh, I'm working on that mistake," chuckled Tweak. Her note to Rico and Enzo hadn't been the first departure mistake she'd made, and she hoped it would be the last.

Selina smiled, teasingly. "So Earthling, how did you end up on a quest to help the Resistance? Especially your little lovebunny…"

Tweak gasped and blushed a deep shade of red, but nevertheless, she told Selina everything. Her first encounter with Miskit and what led up to it, the few details he'd given about his mission, her awkward night and journey into Alledia, her encounters with Rico, Enzo, and Trellis, her library research, the elf soldier ambush, and her decision to create a second identity: Mechaniteer—all of which impressed Selina. They then finished eating their breakfasts, and after clearing the table, Selina led Tweak into a garage filled with vehicles. Some resembled the pickup truck/armoured tank mix with three rows of seats that Miskit, Emily, and the others had driven to the airship docks, and some were airships, but most of them were motorboats and submarines.

"This place is pretty far from any other areas of land, so one of the boats might come in handy," said Selina. "Then again, getting to land from here will probably be the only thing you'll need that for."

"Actually," Tweak told her, "I think I might need all of these. The airships can definitely help me get to Cielis, since it's a flying city, but the submarines can also help, in case the wyverns come back. Then there's the searching I'll have to do once I make it to land…"

Selina smiled, impressed. "Now there's another admirable talent of yours: planning ahead."

"Thanks," said Tweak. "For everything. But um…I still have one more favour to ask you." She unzipped her backpack and pulled out the broken voice amplifier.

"Water damage?" Selina guessed knowingly.

Her companion nodded. "So much of it that I don't know how to fix it. But do you think…you know?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"And will you let me give that submarine a tuneup? With…with some parts from the land vehicles and the airships?" Tweak gulped, remembering her own refusals to accept similar requests from Kwazii and hoping Selina wouldn't mind as much as she had at those times.

Luckily, Selina smiled and picked up a nearby wrench. "As long as we're both building something."

They both chuckled, and while Tweak began dismantling one of the airships with her tools, Selina picked up the voice amplifier and headed into another room to replace some of its parts.

Well, what did you think of all that? Personally, I was really looking forward to writing the Selina/Tweak scenes, because yes; the former reminds me of Captain Barnacles. But she reminds me of someone else even more: Tweak. I mean, they have similar jobs, they both have a soft side and a stubborn side, and when it comes down to it, they can handle things in a rebellious way, but still really well! Those two gals have so much in common, so of course there just had to be a part of the story where the two interacted.

Another reason why I wanted to include that part was because I wanted to give Selina some time in the spotlight. I just feel like she didn't have as much character development in "Amulet" as some of the other characters, and I felt like she needed (and deserved) a moment to shine. So, this was the result, and I hope you enjoyed it. :)

That's all I have to say for now, so I'll see you in the next chapter! If you have any opinions on the story you'd like to give, please feel free to do so through the reviews. See ya!