Dr. Light frowned as he stared at the information he'd just been sent regarding Wily's activities. This was not something he was looking forward to facing, especially with what he was already investigating. Mega Man would be back soon, however, and whether he wanted to or not, he'd be forced to give Mega Man this information, which would likely lead to a rather unpleasant discussion.
...if only his jaw had recovered already...
As he was thinking this, he heard the teleporter trigger. "Ah, Mega Man," he called out. "How was youw jouwney to the ocean fwah?"
"Unpleasant," Mega Man grumbled in reply, his voice unusually high pitched. "Why did you modify my voice like this, anyway? Every time I spoke underwater, I got attacked by dolphins because the harmonics messed with their sonar! What'd I ever do to you, Dad?"
Dr. Light frowned as he turned to stare at Mega Man, still dripping from his trip into the ocean. "Say wascawy wabbit," Dr. Light responded, his voice cold and firm.
"Aw, shut up, that was funny!" Mega Man complained.
"QED," Dr. Light replied, turning back to his console. "Did you find the stewwah object?"
"I did," Mega Man replied. "From the looks of it, it's an alien robot of some kind. Badly damaged, and not just from reentry."
"I suppose I'd bettah get stawted on fixing it," Dr. Light grumbled. "In the meantime, anotha issue has awisen. Thewe is concewning Wahwy activity."
"Pretty sure anything that goes on up on Sky Lagoon isn't our business unless our assistance is requested," Mega Man pointed out. "Sovereign nation and all that."
"It's not on Sky Wagoon," Dr. Light countered. "Wiwy has built a new fohtwess on Skuw Iswand."
"Probably trying to give Vinyl a pirate themed birthday party or something," Mega Man joked.
"With eight new Wobot Mastahs," Dr. Light added.
"Dad, Albert builds eight new robot masters to change a light bulb," Mega Man countered dryly. "It's kinda his thing. Unless there's something more, I'm pretty sure we can ignore it."
"It's wheah the othah stewwah object wanded," Dr. Light continued.
"Then they probably want to investigate it just like we're investigating the one from the ocean floor," Mega Man offered logically. "Heck, since Vinyl's planning on terraforming Mars, she probably saw the objects before they entered the atmosphere. She probably knows more about it than we do." He shook his head. "Dad, they've given up the whole 'take over Earth' thing. I don't think there's anything to worry about."
"It needs to be investigated!" Dr. Light insisted.
Mega Man sighed in frustration. "Fine. I'll call Vinyl up and ask her what they're doing on that island. Even if they are plotting something dastardly, she'll tell me all the details because she enjoys me trying to thwart those. Happy?"
"Once you caww," Dr. Light instructed firmly. He then watched as Mega Man went to the communicator. Bloody ungrateful, Dr. Light thought to himself. Note to self: make sure X has a bit more respect for parental figures...even if Rock's attitude is fully justified...
Vinyl paused in her work on the two energy sources as the communicator went off. At first she was planning on ignoring it, since she was at a delicate spot, but the ID signal indicated it was someone on her friend list. Not wanting to be rude, she tapped the headphones she was using to monitor the various frequencies given off by the energies she was working with. "You got Vinyl on audio!" she called out. "In the middle of something, so i can't come to video."
"Hey Vinyl," a high pitched, girlish voice with synthesized qualities to it said in her ears.
"Hey Roll! Been a while!" Vinyl called back. "What can I do for you?"
"Vinyl, it's me, Mega Man," the voice corrected.
"Roll, you're going to have to do a better impression than that," Vinyl countered. "Look, if this is just a prank call, great joke, but I'm kinda in the middle of-"
"Dad messed with the voice synthesizer adapter on my armor!" the voice shouted out. "Now I'm stuck sounding like a nine year old girl! It's humiliating!"
Vinyl paused for a time. "Okay, that could either be the truth, or a hilarious prank. I can't activate video, so how can I know for sure?"
"You could assume it's the truth since I actually have serious business to discuss," the voice replied. "I just got back from retrieving an inactive alien robot from the sea floor, so-"
"Oh, you pulled that other one out?" Vinyl interrupted. "That's a relief. I was a bit worried about sending Umikage after it, since it's probably the source of that blue energy and it seems to have odd effects on robotics."
"Blue energy?" Mega Man asked, confused. "Other one? Vinyl, I was just calling to ask about the fortress on Skull Island and the eight new Robot Masters. Dad's been bugging me to investigate it."
Vinyl chuckled. "Okay, it's you Rock. Roll still only calls him Doctor. And that little girl voice isn't as bad as it could be."
"Really?" Mega Man griped. "How could it be worse?"
Smirking, Vinyl activated a program to alter how her voice carried over the speakers. "It could sound like this," she purred, her voice coming through smooth, silky, and seductive, the sort of voice that - as Mikhail had put it - 'put hair on your chest just from hearing it', the intonation carrying all sorts of promise.
"GYAH!" The sound of something falling over followed by a loud clatter came over the line. "Dammit, Vinyl, don't do that! It's freaky!"
Turning off the program, Vinyl let out a bark of laughter. "See?" she countered. "Imagine if you were stuck sounding like that."
"Can't unhear..." Mega Man whimpered. "Can't unhear..."
Thinking for a bit, Vinyl reactivated the program, but adding an accent-based tweak. "Perhaps you find it more appealing like this, da?" she teased playfully. When there was no response for a time, Vinyl turned off the program. "Rock? You okay?"
"I...I think I just underwent a massive program error in my personality core," Mega Man replied at long last. "I...I'm not sure what just happened..."
Vinyl chuckled, making a mental note to let Kalinka know what she'd discovered. "All I'm gonna say about it Rock is, when you want certain...non-combat upgrades...if you feel uncomfortable asking Dr. Light about it, you can come to us. Pretty sure I can fix you up, if you want."
There was silence at the other end for a while. "...how about you tell me about the alien robots instead?" Mega Man asked finally.
Vinyl chuckled softly. "Alright. I was scouting out Mars when I saw them duking it out by Saturn's rings. Got a scan of the energy they were giving off, and it was very concerning. When they crashed here on Earth, I talked Dad into immediately mobilizing to contain the one that landed on the surface. Glad to hear you've got the one that landed in the ocean contained. Umikage's the only bot we've got that can handle the ocean currently, and he's not really built for deep sea."
"Okay," Mega Man responded. "So...what about this energy?"
"That's the concerning thing," Vinyl explained. "The two energy types are antithetical to each other, from what I've determined...but both have polarizing corruptive effects, as best I can tell. The violet energy seems to feed on negative emotions - rage, fear, envy, bloodlust, battle frenzy, and the like - while amplifying them, slowly pushing out the ability to feel anything else. The blue energy seems to feed on and amplify different emotional impulses - the desire to protect, yearning for justice, stuff like that - and, like the violet energy, pushes out the ability to feel anything else."
"So...the violet energy turns someone into a bloodthirsty berserker obsessed with conquest and battle, while the blue energy turns someone into a single-minded paladin?" Mega Man clarified.
"Sure seems that way," Vinyl muttered. "But the violet energy's more stable than the blue...so I think the blue energy type was created specifically to combat the violet, and whoever made it couldn't fix those side effects. While both energy types can provide all sorts of abilities and power when applied to organic or cybernetic life forms, the drawbacks..."
"Yeah," Mega Man replied. "Either sell your soul to evil, or your mind to justice."
"Not real good options either way," Vinyl confirmed. "But..."
"But?" Mega Man asked curiously.
"While studying, I've noticed the energies share a common wavelength, the one that lets them be antithetical to each other," Vinyl explained. "I want to see if I can isolate it...especially since I've seen the same wavelength in some of my own 'magical' abilities. Maybe this can answer some questions I've had for a while about where I come from...and maybe how to get back there."
Mega Man was silent for a while. "...wow, Vinyl. I didn't know that sort of thing bugged you-"
"Oh it doesn't really," Vinyl interrupted. "Sure, there are nights where I lie awake wondering if there are others like me out there somewhere in the cosmos, and the occasional dream of a certain other pony that leaves me feeling incredibly lonely when I wake up...but I'm having way too much fun in my life to focus on that too much!"
Mega Man chuckled softly. "Well, as long as you've got it well in hand, I'll leave you to it. At least I can reassure Dad this isn't a world conquest attempt."
"Oh heck no!" Vinyl confirmed vehemently. "If it were that, I'd have sent you a written invitation! I've even got the calligraphy style picked out if I ever want to try that again!"