When X and Octavia returned to base, Octavia turned to face him as Varia disengaged the sense blockers. "Father...what happened to Wheel Gator? Why has Varia uploaded his weapon in a way that only happens when a Maverick is terminated?"
X stared at her, doing his best to school his features. "After you lit the pool of oil on fire, he leapt out to attack you, and I was forced to terminate him before he ate you in one bite."
Octavia stared at her Father, and she could see the hesitation and worry in his eyes. "...is this what Alia's face would have looked like if she'd ever told me that your 'latest mission' was 'protracted'?" she asked pointedly.
X sighed in defeat. "She'd probably have done a better job..."
"Fair enough," Octavia allowed. "What's the next mission?"
X's eyes widened. "You're...you're not upset?"
"I'm your child, Daddy," she explained. "Lying to protect me from things is part of your job description. It would hardly be fair of me to get upset with you over being a good parent."
X let out a sigh of relief. "Alright. I think we'd best target the next X Hunter, as well as whatever Maverick is running amok there-"
"But I know Santa a few years back was Zero in a fake beard," Octavia pointed out with a smirk.
X groaned as he buried his face in his hand.
The entrance to the Deep Sea Base where Bubble Crab had set up shop was in a huge cavern. Heading deeper past a few bat mechanaloids, they quickly found themselves underwater.
Varia beeped an alert. "Classic Adapter has an aquatic mode that is more efficient than my own aquatic configuration."
"In that case," Octavia said quickly. "Classic, come!"
Classic promptly beamed in, merging with Octavia. Instead of jets of flame, the jets now shot bubbles.
"Fuel is not utilized for the bubble jets," Varia indicated. "Aquatic maneuverability not limited."
"Okay, we need to find a Light Capsule quick," X said firmly. "I want to know who designed something like that for you, and how come I don't have one."
Giggling, Octavia led the way into the water. A fish shaped sub came through a wall, but was quickly blasted to bits. X was able to climb quickly up the wall and across some platform columns to reach a hidden Heart Tank. Continuing further into the water, X and Octavia fought against several jellyfish shaped mechanaloids that carried an electrical charge. On the way, Octavia noticed a Sub Tank above the water, and gave X a lift up to grab it. When Octavia's scanners - upgraded for the purpose by Lifesaver - picked up the signature of another of Zero's parts, the pair went upward and out of the water into a square chamber. Agile came down between them.
"Welcome, X," he greeted firmly. "Your destruction is at-YOWCH!"
Agile was much less impressive running around like a headless chicken with Classic's fangs embedded in his ass. With that as a distraction, Octavia dashed in under Classic, switching to the beam saber subweapon she'd kept for just such an occasion. Extending a blade from each of her busters, she blurred past Agile, severing both of his legs, retrieving Zero's leg units.
"...not fair..." Agile whined as he beamed out.
X chuckled. "Not bad, Octavia. You and Classic make a good team."
Classic howled his pleasure at the praise.
Not far beyond, they found Bubble Crab's chamber. Bubble Crab himself dropped in, filling the chamber with water. Classic immediately fused with Octavia again.
"Well, well, isn't that interesting?" Bubble Crab muttered. "Tech like that will be worth a pretty penny to the right buyer..."
X growled fiercely. "Is that why you did all this? For money?"
"But of course!" Bubble Crab proclaimed. "What else is there? That's why I'm going to be sure to be very careful disassembling you, X! Your parts will fetch a very high price on the black market, higher if they're still functional."
"And I take it I can expect the same treatment?" Octavia asked. "Organ legging?"
"Oh no!" Bubble Crab proclaimed. "I wouldn't dream of harming a hair on your hide." He grinned lasciviously. "Once that armor's broken and the support unit's contained, you'll fetch a much higher price in one piece. There's all sorts who'd love to get ahold of you...someone who's legally an adult but with the body of a child-"
The last thing Octavia saw before the safety systems in the Classic Adapter sealed off her eyes, ears, and nose was X lunging for Bubble Crab, rage in his eyes and his hands glowing. The next input she received was Varia registering the acquisition of Bubble Crab's weapon, and an electronic message from X.
"Don't tell Alia?"
As the trio - including Classic - returned to base, Varia beeped a message. "Structural analysis complete. The unique wall in the desert region blocking access to the Light capsule can be destroyed utilizing the Spin Wheel subweapon."
"Then let's get going," X said quickly. "I want some answers about that Classic Adapter." While this was true, he privately figured that it would prove a good distraction from Octavia asking about what had happened to Bubble Crab.
"Me too," Octavia agreed. "I want some...answers." She gave X a searching look. He rubbed his head nervously.
Reaching the Light Capsule proved rather easy, as Overdrive Ostrich was able to provide the codes to get through the teleport shield to the exact location they wanted to go. X, Octavia, and Classic approached the capsule readily, and the Light hologram appeared.
"X, Octavia," Light explained. "This capsule contains an upgrade for your dash units, which will allow you to dash forward in midair."
"Will this have an effect on fuel consumption for the flight mode on this?" Octavia asked, merging with Classic.
Light's eyes widened in surprise. "A Power Adapter? In this age?"
"You know about it?" X asked in surprise.
"Indeed I do," Light explained. "I made one for your older brother, Rock, your predecessor. It allowed him to merge with his support unit, a robotic dog named Rush." Light rubbed his chin. "Actually, I think I still have the specs for it...and Rush is actually still active. A few upgrades, and he might be able to work with you as well."
"Do you have any idea who made this?" Octavia asked as X sat back, marveling at the idea of having a pet dog and a powered armor like Octavia's. "We found it in a capsule in the Dinosaur Tank."
"Describe the capsule," Light requested.
"It had a glowing blue horseshoe on the top," Octavia explained. "One that seemed to pulse to a beat. And the hologram inside was of a pony, like me."
"White coat?" Light asked incisively. "Unicorn? Horn passing through the gem hole of a helm like X's? Magenta sunglasses? Didn't say anything? Two linked eighth notes on her hindquarters in the same place you have a treble clef?"
X rounded to face the hologram again. "How...you know her? She's from your time?"
"Please, can you tell us anything about her?" Octavia begged. "I...I felt a connection to her. Like...I knew her somehow."
Light was silent for a time. "As much as I'd like to, I can't tell you anything beyond saying that anything you find in one of those capsules, you can trust implicitly."
"Why can't you tell us any more?" X demanded.
"Because time travel's involved, and I don't dare invoke a paradox," Light explained.
X sighed. "I guess we'll have to be satisfied with that..." Stepping into the capsule, he downloaded the upgrade. X and Octavia both promptly beamed out.
The hologram took shape once more. "...do you think they bought it?"
"Yupperdoodles!" a pony hologram stated as it appeared to the Light hologram's left, holding a sign that said "Spoilers!" on it.
"So does that mean..."
"Here you go!" the pony replied, handing over a holographic cupcake.
The Light hologram eagerly dug into the illusory confection. "So good...do I want to know how you made a cupcake that a hologram can eat?"
"Like my Daddy says...I'm Pinkie Pie, don't question it!"
"Ahem!"
Another holographic pony appeared to the Light hologram's right, identical to the other save she had no weapons strapped to her back. She held one hoof out demandingly.
The first pony hologram rolled her eyes. "I was only borrowing it! Geeze!" She promptly hoofed over the 'Spoilers' sign, and both pony holograms vanished.
The Light hologram blinked for a bit. "...should I be questioning my sanity about now? Do I even have sanity to question?"
I was curious about that. Welp, now we can begin with the connections of this story to the rest. Via the Pinkie conscious network!
Not to mention, she's also a pony... it's weird to think about cloppers in an EiH fic...
So THAT'S what Pinkie meant in Another Hatchling!
Sanity's checked out a long time ago.
Another enjoyable chapter. Great job.
Well, that explains what happened with another hatchling.
You do realize that Slaugher Pinkie is now (technically) canon in this, Wily's Wittle Wub AND Another Hatchling now, right?
PINKIE, PINKIE EVERYWHERE!
I laughed
That last part was so crazy and funny at the same time. We're all our own brand of crazy in the end.
Gotta love Pinkie.
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/707/426/1c3.gif
I love seeing X go overprotective dad on others. It's hilarious.
I have devised a theory concerning Tatsuro's works. It all revolves arou- *WHAM!*
"He typed nothing important."
"Nothing important or unified multiversal at all."
"Hushcupcakes for everypony!"
6534953 So.. .is that what happened when Pinkie reached for her sign and couldn't find it in the Hatchling story?
6535768
Yup.
Spartan Pinkie borrowed it to keep Dr. Light from spoiling the end of "Wily's Wittle Wub".
I... Tatsurou. May I just say that you.. You-You're simply the best. Everything. Ever. And I love you so fuck-mothering much and you're the best. Always.
Fuck, you're amazing.
Bubble Crag went from Mr. Krabs to -insert insane character that acts like that here-.
6535889
Read him with Planktons voice. It works surprisingly well.
What does EiH mean? Also, that Spoilers sign has popped up more than once, if you ask me.
WAT
6536232 i get it and i won't tell you 'cause i'm evil :)
Yayt Rush will be returning. But what ever happened to Rock/Megaman.
6536347
Yes, I get it too. I just...too many pinkie pies
And now I want to see little Octavia on Santa Zero's lap, pretending to believe him.
You wouldn't happen to be a fan of Larry Niven, would you?
6536093
He was going for the inverse of HiE or Human in Equestria. I usually see it phrased as Pony on Earth (PoE).
6536531 But this is an inversion of pony crossovers instead of PoE's. If anything, Tats singlehandedly invented the Displaced Adoption genre.
6536531
No idea who that is.
God dammit Pinkie, God dammit!
You glorious bastard Tatsurou finally starting to bring them all together huh. I find myself barely able to wait for My Little PWNY just to see the over the top super op story breaking stuff you do with all of THIS especially I want to see who it is that you bring to bear against them, who it is that could possibly give them a true challenge. keep up the great work
Freaking LOST IT there.
Pinkie what did I tell you?
No dimension or time traveling or shape shifting
6536546
Famous writer of hard science fiction. As far as I knew, he'd come up with the name of the crime organ legging for his ARM short stories in which a UN team hunted down those who surreptitiously harvested people's organs for cash. He also wrote things like Ringworld and "The Magic Goes away." I'd definitely recommend checking out his short stories, at least.
6535118 And Merc with the Moth.
6535118
6537592
And to a minor degree in Dante's Little Apple Surprise, unless I'm completely misremembering. Sparta Pie gets around.
6537592 Never finished that. Huh.
6537705 I know as well as you do. I need to catch up on these, eh?
6537402
I learned the term from TV.
His ponytail probably gave him away.
Totally Fair, I hated his first fight since he's so fast. You could say Octavia CUT straight through the BS and gave him something much worse than an Arrow to the Knee.
Just an opinion: He should have panted happily as Octavia praised and petted him, because he is awesome and deserves lots of affection.
What's the Robotic equivalent of a Darwin Award, because Bubble Crab gets one for setting off Mama Bear/ Papa Wolf X by threatening to sell his daughter as a sex slave.
Even if he can't merge with X or be much help besides transportation, I can totally see Octavia, Classic, and Rush all playing together before collapsing into a pile for a nap, X playing fetch with Rush, and Zero chasing Rush to get his beam saber back.
Awesome chapter, especially the tie in to Another Hatchling and SLaughter without Laughter. Poor Holographic Dr. Light, you don't try to make sense of Pinkie Pie.
Sooo am I the only one who gave bubbles Mr.crabs voice?
6538084
Hmm... Maybe the Siri awards?
6536545 At the very least, he popularized it. Unless both halves of the story have to involve a pre-established series, My Little Dashie would technically fall under Displaced Adopted.
6537231 Um, she didn't shape shift, those were two seperate Pinkie Pies, BTW the one who origianally had the sign was Kratos' daugter.
Hey you got any pinkie pie story tatsurou
6656246
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/222263/you-cant-spell-slaughter-without-laughter
You need to have "View Mature" turned on to see it, though.
If I understood that correctly... that was GoW Pinkie giving Light a cupcake, and then Metroid Pinkie asking for her "Spoilers!" sign back? Oh lordy, and I thought this was crazy already.
6724630
You understood correctly.
the pink one is strong....why do i think her to bebthe only one knowing of all of these stories
6535398
Best Pony.
Fear the Pinkness
6537705 I wonder if there's going to be a "who's-on-first" type gag when the mega-crossover happens. Kratos of Sparta, meet the sons of Sparda.
Pinkamena "Fuck Yo' Shit, I'm Pinkie" Pie!
6725066
So that makes three different Pinkies showing up in the crossover for sure. Those two, and the Plumber's Daughter. Granted, she hasn't actually showed up in Twilight's fic yet, but she was displaced, so she pretty much has to show up.