//------------------------------// // 8: That's // Story: Wily's Wittle Wub // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Vinyl sighed in relief as she saw the light return to her patient's optics. "You're online," she breathed out. "Thank goodness. I was getting worried there. I was having enough difficulty with the repairs that I was afraid you might not come online ever again." Her patient chuckled softly. "And after you made sure my core wouldn't do me in," he joked. "And then you nearly do," Vinyl countered. "Sheesh, reckless much?" "It was the only thing I could think of to keep down the casualties," he replied. "Speaking of..." "Only Astro Man and Tengu Man were wrecked," Vinyl explained. "The others are already being repaired. Though right now, I'm more concerned about you. You saw what happened every time I tried to combine Justice Energy and Evil Energy. How did you know you wouldn't explode?" "Duo was controlling his Energy," he replied. "Guiding it, making it do only what he wanted it to. I thought that if the two energies were being guided to cooperate..." "Of course!" Vinyl gasped out. "I kept trying to make them work in the same vessel...but a binary power core design with two initial cores and one fusion core that steadily combines and releases the energies from the binary cores...that could work! I'll have to run some tests to compare it against the sample..." "Sample?" he asked curiously, trying to sit up. "Don't move!" Vinyl insisted. "Your entire system has completely redesigned itself. Until analysis is complete, I don't want you breaking anything." She gestured to his other side. "The sample's over there. What'd you call it...Ether?" He turned to where Vinyl had directed, and saw a tiny white sphere, endlessly billowing like flame. His sensors told him that the tiny sphere contained more energy than all the Robot Masters put together. "...I had that inside me?" he murmured in shock. "Yup," Vinyl confirmed. "Burned out every circuit in your body, even after completely redesigning your systems. From the looks of it, in order to properly wield Ether at those levels, you'd either need a body designed from the ground up to utilize it, or have the built in energy/matter conversions Duo and his counterpart use. Wish I could figure out that system..." Her patient lay back. "I'm...different?" he asked, surprised. "Very different," Vinyl confirmed. "Your circuits follow completely different patterns, your auto-repair function is nanite tech on a level I've never seen, and your build code they run on is now based in DNA encoding. Not only that, in some cases it seems like you're more biological than technological...like some sort of bio-roid or something. Managed to get you back online by finding your new auto-repair system and activating it. Been watching it work since." "I...see," he murmured softly. "Well...I guess we...I?...should expect some differences..." Vinyl looked at him worriedly. "Protoman? You okay?" "I'm...not really Protoman anymore..." he responded softly. "...Blues?" "We...well, we aren't a we anymore, if that makes sense," he explained. "I think we are now a...new me? So I don't really feel right going by either name that was just one or the other." Vinyl smiled softly. "Then pick a new name," she offered. He gazed at the tiny sphere of Ether. "Hmm...how about Prometheus?" Vinyl glanced over at the flame like sphere. "The Titan who stole fire from the gods to give to mankind, huh?" she murmured softly. "Oddly appropriate." Prometheus smiled softly. "I'm glad you like it," he replied warmly. Feeling his systems finishing repairs, he lifted his arms, putting his hands behind his head. "Say...where's my new shield?" he asked curiously. "Right here," Vinyl replied, tapping his back. "Huh, didn't even notice it was there," Prometheus murmured softly. "Well, I guess some things haven't changed in me the-" He cut himself off as a new diagnostic system kicked in. "...Vinyl? Do I have...new equipment?" he asked nervously. Vinyl tilted her head. "Well, yeah. The shield's new, and your buster's in a whole new league, and that energy saber-" "No, I mean...do I have...new systems?" Vinyl scratched her chin, even more confused. "Well, yeah. You've got functional cybernetic organs inside you, complete with the full digestive tract...though no disposal system, since it has 100% efficiency by dumping the undigestibles into your energy converter-" "I mean...something a bit lower?" Prometheus clarified. "Oh yeah, that new dash system is killer!" Vinyl crowed happily. "The speed boost you get from that is off the hook! And it's even got an overcharge function to let you rocket yourself forward in midair! Dad and Dr. Light have been working non-stop to try and analyze anything they can of your new inner workings for future projects-" "Not that low," Prometheus corrected. "I mean..." He blushed brightly, not sure how to explain his question to Vinyl without becoming even more embarrassed. Vinyl glanced over his body, trying to figure out what he could be talking about. "Umm...your testicles?" "Well, that general area, but-" Prometheus' eyes widened. "I have testicles?" "Complete with cybernetically augmented spermozoa," Vinyl confirmed. "Even got a humanoid delivery system, too. Genetic analysis indicates that your base genetic code - not including the parts that cover your cybernetic aspect - is a fusion of Dad's and Dr. Light's for some reason-" "And you didn't think to bring this up sooner?" Prometheus demanded in something of a panic. "I didn't think it was important," Vinyl offered in consolation. "Not important?!" Prometheus shouted out. "Haven't you read Pinocchio?" Vinyl scratched her chin. "...huh. Hadn't thought that comparison before." She shrugged. "Congrats, Prometheus, you're a real boy. Want me to build you a girlfriend?" "VINYL!"