While Twilight wasn't suspicious by nature, her experience when going after Drek - specifically, when dealing with Captain Qwark - had left her with the lesson of not taking people at face value. It hadn't been a pleasant lesson, but it was one she took to heart now as she looked at her surroundings carefully. While the basic idea of a quarantine in this situation made perfect sense, the fact that Abercrombie hadn't mentioned it made it suspicious. Then again, he was desperate for assistance, so it was reasonable to assume a business tycoon would skip over unpleasant details when asking for help.
The quarantine itself, however, was exactly according to specifications that Twilight had looked up regarding Gadgetron quarantine protocols, so she assumed Megacorp would have similar protocols. They were also very careful with Woona when scanning her for any foreign contamination before returning her to Twilight. The basic scans for any such contaminants she might have on her was done just as rapidly, with no discomfort on her part.
The screening of her own biology against anything Bogon children might have would take considerably longer, however. She understood that, given that she was a brand new sophont as far as this galaxy was concerned as well. The expected blood sample was collected, along with a few feathers she was shedding anyway, some mouth swabs, and some horn shavings.
This last was the most discomforting for her. Not because it wasn't something that happened naturally. As her horn grew, the outermost portion of the calcified tissue flaked off as the newer horn grew in from underneath. The main reason it was discomforting is because a large concentration of nerve endings were focused in her horn. While blunt impact - such as using her horn to impale something - didn't cause too much reaction, any sort of rubbing or grinding motion was highly uncomfortable and disturbing.
Fizzwidget collected the horn shavings himself, being very careful and gentle with it. "I know this can't be very compatible for you," he apologized, "but it is unfortunately negatory for proper exhumation."
Twilight winced, more from his sentence structure than his gentle ministrations collecting the horn shavings. "While I appreciate that...I wish your elocution was a bit more standard in practice."
Fizzwidget sighed. "I'm well aware my verbosity is far from combustible," he replied. "I promise it's not intestinal."
"I know you don't do it on porpoise," Twilight replied before groaning. "But it seems horn shavings isn't all that's rubbing off."
Chuckling, Fizzwidget gathered the samples. "Is there anything I can do to make your stay more conformist?" he asked. "At least until we can lift the quasar?"
Twilight sighed, cuddling Woona. "Any chance I could contact Daddy?"
Fizzwidget frowned. "Given the erroneous nature of his mission, video contact would be inadmissible."
"I didn't mean calling him," Twilight countered. As much as I wish I could, she thought silently. "But could I write him a letter or something?"
"Certainly!" Fizzwidget replied. "I'll see he gets it potato bake!"
Smiling and rolling her eyes, Twilight accepted the tablet offered her to write her letter.
Dear Daddy,
I'm here on Yeedil, but I haven't met any other kids yet. I'm still in medical quarantine to make sure playing with the other kids doesn't get me sick. I hope you're doing well on your mission. Clank implied that you would be able to complete your mission quite easily. If so, I'll probably still be in quarantine by the time you come to pick me up from Day Care. Wouldn't that be a hoot?
I'm going to see if I can talk to Clank. He's working in the accounting department, so he should be able to make time to come see me, right? I hope he's not too busy.
Good luck storming the castle Daddy! I love you.
Twilight.
She handed the tablet up to Fizzwidget. "Is there any chance Clank could stop by?" she asked hopefully.
"I'll let him know you asked," Fizzwidget promised before turning to leave.
Twilight wasn't entirely sure how long she'd been in quarantine. She'd fully expected it to be a protracted amount of time, but her only sense of the passage of time was whenever some doctor came in to run another test, whether collecting another sample or a scan, or some other examination. None of it was in any way invasive or uncomfortable, but it wasn't exactly reassuring, either. Without any books to read or anything else to work with, she ate the food she was provided whenever she asked for it and slept when she grew tired, and sent another letter to Ratchet whenever she felt it had been long enough since the previous one. However, it was impossible to keep accurate track of how long she had actually been there.
With boredom eating away at her, she eventually decided to try something she'd read about just before Fizzwidget had called on them. Curling up to Woona, she let herself sink into a state resembling slumber, slowed her breathing, stood up, and left her body behind.
She smiled down at her ethereal frame, pleased that her first attempt at Astral Projection had gone off without a hitch. Glancing back at her physical body, she saw that the glow of her horn flowed into her Pilot's Helmet, showing how the magic took shape so easily. Giggling, she turned and floated through the wall to explore the Headquarters.
"Well, Fizzwidget did say I could explore his high tech labs," she said aloud to justify her actions, her voice audible to none. Floating around, she looked to see if she could find the Child Care center. Maybe she could at least see what the children here looked like.
No matter how long she searched, however, she saw no children. She saw quite a few labs testing all sorts of products, and an uncomfortably large number of battle robot manufacturing plants, but nowhere that could conceivably be considered a Child Care Center. "Well, that doesn't make any sense," Twilight muttered. "Fizzwidget said I'd be spending time in the Child Care Center, but there doesn't appear to be one."
After a time of ethereal exploration, however, she saw Fizzwidget returning in private transport from somewhere, carrying a parcel of some sort. Curious, she followed him.
Making his way to the biolab, Fizzwidget pulled the Experiment from the parcel, stuffing it into a cage. The creature started snarling, biting at the cage bars and trying to chew its way out, but froze. Turning, it looked straight at where Twilight was floating.
Confused, Twilight floated around the room, shocked as the creature's eyes followed her. "You can see me?" she gasped.
The creature nodded.
"And hear me too? That's amazing!" She floated up to the creature to examine it more closely.
It suddenly roared, thrashing around in its cage.
"You're in pain?" she whimpered sympathetically. "Let me see if I can do something about it..." She stretched a hoof out to stroke its head.
Without warning, she felt her ethereal body pulled into its frame. Instantly, she was able to establish the source of its agony. "Geeze! Why is that gland making so much of that chemical?" She focused her magical awareness on the gland in the poor creature's brain. "There's no way you need this much. Let's see if I can..."
Focusing her magic, she attempted to decrease the bio-chemical production of the creature's gland. It took more focus than any other magic she'd tried before, both because she was working on a biological subject and because she was working without her physical body. However, eventually she was able to reduce the gland's production to only the levels that were actually needed. She also saw the creature's genetic code tweak itself to include the reduction in production.
"There we go!" Twilight said, separating from the creature. "Better?"
The creature smiled happily, letting out a purring sound as it nodded, attempting to nuzzle her non-physical form.
She giggled in reply. "I like you," she told it. "I don't know what Fizzwidget has planned, but I'm going to call you Mr. Fuzzy-Biter. Do you like that?"
Mr. Fuzzy-Biter nodded his appreciation of his new name. However, as Fizzwidget approached, Fuzzy-Biter growled at him.
Twilight could only watch in shock as Fizzwidget started using electrical discharges to force Fuzzy-Biter to produce more of himself at an accelerated rate, the excess copies immediately boxed up for shipment. "That's...that's awful!" She rubbed the fuzzy critter's back comfortingly. "Don't worry, Mr. Fuzzy-Biter. I'll get you out of here somehow."
Mr. Fuzzy-Biter gritted through the pain, but nodded his ascent.
Frowning, Twilight flew back to her body to begin her plans. However, as she merged with her flesh, a new worry made her pull Woona in for a tight embrace.
If the biological experiment had been recovered...where was Ratchet?
Nothing's more awesome than discovery behind the scenes.
I loved the Protopet commercial skit
"Why is Billy sad?"
...I'm not even going to try looking for errors in chapters that contain Abercrombie.
I'm interested to see which route Twilight takes here. Be sneaky, and try and get information? Or beat the crap out of errybody?
I like both options, and I'm willing to be proven wrong.
So, I'mma go out on a limb and say that the 'Thief' took a clone without realising?
I've played up to Up Your Arsenal and Size Matters. Is the knowledge of all the other games required to enjoy this fic or can I jump into it from the get-go?
OMFG I REMEMBER THE GOOD OLD DAYS.....
i have play ALL THE GAMES
i even have played the first game when it was on the Ps2 Beta/demo disc
*took me eternities to get the friggin rocket launcher when i had to bash those airplanes in metroplis*
soooo yeah I LIKE IT EVEN BEFORE I READ THIS *puts it in the star area before i reads*
5834388
from reading the desc for the story i think it is the first game we are in...more specific the moment "clank"....ehhh i mean TWILLIGHT arrives
5834388
While you will have a better understanding of what is going on if you watch the videos (and I especially recommend it for Commando, as it is hilarious,) the important plot points have so far been covered, and most are similar to canon. You should be fine.
Heck, even someone who doesn't know anything about the R&C universe could enjoy this, though some of the jokes or references would fly over their head.
My thoughts: one, Ratchet was able to recover the Experiment faster due to Twilight's interference in the main timeline. two, Twilight has spent more time in quarantine than she's thought. three, the Experiment Ratchet is chasing is a copy, and Fizzwidget has had the real one all along.
Based on that, then the only reason Ratchet was called on at all was so Twilight would be brought into Megacorp's hands. After all, Twilight is the only known member of her kind in the known galaxies; her DNA would be highly valuable. Making their own Twilights. And if they, the copies, held her smarts, then Megacorp would never have to worry about inventing new tech ever again.
hmm halfway through the "game" story allready...im impressed
5834716
ehhhh just asking have you ever played "Going commando" before???
i completed it soooo now the only question is what change ther is whit one person in it......
*if you want to get the spoiler just search for a lombax swearing or something on youtube*
5834814 I have, but one must remember that Twilight's being here has changed things. The story may not exactly follow the original timeline. One can't expect one thing to change and everything else to stay the same. Example from this chapter: Twilight interacting with the Protopet, AKA, Mr. Fuzzy-Biter.
and there's still the ones working for Megacorp that might want the DNA for their own purposes.
5834826 I have a picture in my head on who could do that thing whit dna/cloning
Technomites and whats his name: Otto?
5820917
No battleship? take two of Twi been cloned.
******
"Twilight, I know you are angry... but, don't you think this is a bit too much? And when did you even get a secret lab? And got the money and the parts to build it?" Rachet asked in a worried tone after he, Clank and Twilight were teleported inside a secret lab none of the two were aware Twilight Sparkle had build.
"90% of the lab is salvage done in a spaceship graveyard, is amazing how many components used to build a spaceship can actually be recycled to be used for an Experimental Weapons Lab. The rest I ordered, designed or upgraded myself." the winged unicorn said as she started the main computer power up sequence, that apparently needed the winged unicorn magic to function.
Both Rachet and Clank looked at each other, Twilight been building experimental weapons in secret? Those therapy sections must not have been working well, even if testing new experimental weapons and or building them was part of her job.
And when did you find the time to build it?" Clank asked with worry, he knew Twilight Sparkle could be scary but this... this was very worrisome.
"I just got the materials, uploaded the schematics into my holographic builder interface or HBI Mark One, and used my savings to rent enough industrial robots to build it. The salvage was done by a company that specializes in that, oh and Woona Loon helped too."
"Woona Loon?" Rachet asked fearing the answer
"Hi, I am Woona II also know as Woona Loon, this Lab AI, at your service, before being integrated to the Lab systems I was the AI of a computer master Twilight Sparkle build specially to supervise the construction of the Lab Celes I." a voice that sounded like a little girl with a decent singing voice said. "This lab purpose is to build and test weapons deemed too dangerous, without staining my creator reputation like it happened with the RYNO. Is actually covered in the extended Gagetron contract offered to those who have build weapons level 5 or above, but since the scientist must build the Lab using its own funds, its seems more like a clause to allow Mad scientists to have fun than anything else."
"Uh Twilight, may I ask WHY you feel the need to this lab at all?" Clank asked a logical question. It was better to ask, ?Are you a Mad scientist now?'
"Is quite simple, I am a public hero. My first enemy destroyed planets by taking out parts of them to glue them together and make a new planet. Considering the fact that the fact the first villain an hero faces tend to be the easiest, and the conventions about both heroes and supervillains, I estimated I would keep facing more and more dangerous opponents until It would reach the point I would actually need powerful weapons not officially sanctioned by Gagetron, and a place to store designs and other stuff for personal use to give me an advantage over my enemies. This is were I have been building my new power armour, an experimental magic amplifier that used standard robot power cells, and developing a way to repair genetic damage in case of chemical contamination. There are other projects, but they been put on hold for the moment."
Twilight Sparkle then looked down "It also has living space for all three of us and maybe a dozen more. Be to use it as a home-base because our planet was eventually blow up, or because I would need to protect myself for all my enemies. This lab is hidden in an old abandoned missing asteroid. It took using a modified version of a Sparkler model to make it habitable."
"You know, I don't know what scares me the most, the fact my daughter thought she would eventually need a place like this and actually build it, or the fact that is actually starting to make sense." Rachet said with a somber tone.
"May I remind everyone that the reason why are here in the first place is because your daughter plans to declare war to a Megacorporation because they cloned her?"
"Oh don't be such an hypocrite Clank, how would you react if some Megacorporation had stolen your plans and massive manufactured generic copies of you?" Twilight Sparkle asked as her magic continued the ship full activation sequence.
"Clank? Buddy, why did your eyes suddenly turn red for a moment?"
"I just realized that if the clones have the same magical abilities that your daughter does, this battleship might be actually be needed."
****
There, no battleship, just a secret base.
QWAAAAAAAAAAARK!
5835045 maybe if we all put our bits together we can get one!
Ok, not gunna lie, I love this fic, love the interactions, and the entirety of the first ARC!!! SO GOOD!! Looking forward to Mr. Fuzzy-Biter and his adventures with Twilight and crew. Also, just saying, this is quickly becoming awesome, so hoping to see updates in the near future. Your total content so far is amazing, and I'm now a big fan!
5836216
i know in the later comment i say even that i wrote the prevoius on you just answered......
*is the worst whit some words*
5837230
....
*pull out meme*
TADA
i.imgur.com/xJBX0I0.png
5839755
I...never knew it was a standard term. I just called it what it is and said wall jumping or wall kicking if it was like MegaMan X.
5834167 And thus, you have ensured your sanity.
The plot thickens...
PLOT TWISTS!
The most disturbing astral projection I ever read was by Clive Barker. This was far better in every way.
5839966
You aren't alone in that. I didn't know, either.
6303945
A lot of fighting games have this Mechanic. Chun-Li has had the Triangle Jump move since any game since been in since the Street Fighter 2 Game. Triangle Jump is a pretty old mechanic. Though in more platforming games like Metroid or Ninja Gaiden, it can be annoying sometimes.
I like how you've implemented astral projection into a few of your stories. Have you ever done it before?
Woona physics! Time to break another game! (On the bright side WWW didn't have a Gyro "Derpy" Man fight.)
As painful as writing his lines must have been since this was not in the game, nice job with this Fizzwidget.
This has more than meets the eye...
5839755 That's not right... no Metroid game HAS sideways wall jumps to CALL triangle jumps! I've played through all of them (except Hunters), and never once heard the term anywhere besides Sonic Heroes!
8197466
...you can do a wall jump like that ever since the original Metroid, even if the first time it spells out you can is Super Metroid when the Etecoons teach you how to do it. It's a classic speed run tactic for the early games.