GT: Happy Day 10 of Mega May! This takes place during the testing period of having Network food obtain flavors and correct textures via the NetNavis testing foods.
"How is it?" Famous asked, looking at a monitor where Roll was sitting with a plate of spaghetti.
Roll held a spoon and fork. She poked the fork into the pasta while moving the spoon against it. She began to twirl the fork, letting the noodles be pulled along and shaped by the inside of the spoon.
"Okay…Looks like it's working like Earth spaghetti now," Roll noted before eating it…before shuddering, "Nope. It's still wrong in texture and taste…ech…"
"Okay, so need more data on the spaghetti," Yuichiro jotted down, "Hub?"
"A bit nervous," Megaman replied as he looked at the cup of milk before him, "I've avoided Network milk for a good reason. It has always tasted horrible to me. Like it's been curdled and several months past its expiration date. And it was more like chalk than milk."
"I know, son," Yuichiro assured, "But you're the only one who can do this one since we didn't have any milk at the tests yet aside from vanilla ice cream."
"Mmm…" Megaman grimaced before taking the milk and taking a gulp of it, "...If NetNavis had gag reflexes…I'd be heaving by now…"
"Still like expired milk?" Famous asked.
"Yes, but you got the right texture…which somehow makes it worse…"
"Alright," Yuichiro sighed.
"All four of you come out," Famous ordered as he turned the Dimensional Area on in the testing chamber.
All four followed the orders and materialized in the room. Freezeman tilted his head upon spotting the table before them. Before them were a few plates of hot wings with bottles of hot sauce. Along with that were cups of soda in buckets of ice along with bottles filled with a thick viscous milk-like liquid. There were also four small black boxes resembling coffins and packets of spicy ramen packs.
"Uh…" Megaman began.
"The higher ups ordered us to test spices," Famous explained, "So I thought 'Why not do a few challenges?'"
"A challenge?" Protoman questioned.
"Yes. Have you ever seen videos of people trying to do challenges of eating spicy food?" Famous asked.
"Um…Just ones about talking fruit with Lan," Megaman replied, "The orange is kinda funny even if he's annoying." he looked at the table, "So what first?"
"Why not start off with the weakest sauce and go up from there?" Roll suggested, "Though…I don't get the drinks."
"They're to help with the spice," Famous replied, "Those glass ones are actually a mixture of milk, sugar, and chocolate sauce."
"So chocolate milk?" Roll tilted her head.
"No. There is enough sugar in it that it's more of a slime of sorts."
"Seriously?" Protoman questioned.
"It's honestly not that bad. A sorta good alternative to coffee," Yuichiro noted before Freezeman held up a hand, "Yes?"
"I don't understand why we can taste things."
"Blame him," Famous gestured to Yuichiro, "He made a lot of the odd things that don't make much sense for NetNavis to have."
"Huh? Papa? But…" Megaman trailed off as he quickly realized why he did it, "Oh…"
"What?" Protoman questioned.
"I think…it's because of me," Megaman replied.
"...Oh!" Roll realized, "That…that would make sense." she smiled as she hugged him, her tail wagging a little, "I don't really mind! We get to have so much more now thanks to it!"
Protoman's ears and tail twitched in confusion and irritation. Freezeman rubbed the underside of his jaws before he blinked a few times. He taped Protoman's shoulder and whispered into his ear. Protoman's ears and tail shot up before relaxing as he nodded. Famous raised a brow at the sight before Yuichiro cleared his throat.
"The test?" Yuichiro reminded them.
"Oh! Right," Megaman nodded, "So…what's the weakest sauce?"
"Looks like they're numbered," Freezeman pointed out, seeing the word 'Level' and a number on each one, "Looks like the first is garlic."
"Only put it on one wing per sauce," Famous warned.
"Where are the others?" Protoman asked, noting there were only three bottles but each numbered randomly.
"The box set we were given had too many sauces to let this be a simple experiment, so we picked three random ones: Garlic, Cilantro Jalapeno, and Citrus Mango Ghost Pepper," Yuichiro explained.
"After you do these questions and have a sample of each sauce, we'll give you a few minutes and some sweet snacks to prep yourself for the next set of spicy foods," Famous warned, "And then an hour between that and the One Chip Challenge."
"So maybe two hours out here?" Roll pondered before giggling, "Guess we can pass the time playing with the ball, Mega."
"It's a lot of fun," Megaman noted as he nodded at her, "Sure thing, Roll."
"Well let's start then," Freezeman spoke as he picked up the Garlic-flavored Hot Sauce first and poured it on a wing and took a bite, "...Hmm…Not too bad."
"Oh?" Roll pondered as she followed his lead along with the other two, "Mmm…There's a bit of a warmth in my mouth from it all, but why is it doing that?"
"It's a chemical in them: capsaicin," Protoman replied, doing a quick lookup for her question, "This chemical attaches to TRPV1 receptors in your tongue, which trigger a pain signal to one's mind. They also detect acidic conditions and heat."
"So that means when we eat stuff like this, we'll start to feel a burning and pain sensation go through us?" Megaman summed up.
"Yes. It gets worse, though."
"Why?" Roll asked.
"If we were humans, we'd have them in our digestive system, especially in the intestinal tract of it," Protoman replied, "Fortunately for us, food we consume is quickly converted into energy for us instead of what humans deal with."
"Yeesh," Megaman grimaced.
"Can you make this sauce for the Network, please?" Roll requested, "I'd like to try it with other foods."
"We'll see, Roll," Yuichiro replied.
"Next sauce, please," Famous instructed.
All four nodded and applied the sauce to another wing. Each one ate their wing and a few seconds passed before Megaman gasped out and couched a little. Roll started to sweat lightly as Protoman and Freezeman shrugged. The blue NetNavi quickly grabbed a bottle of water and drank it, sighing for a moment before squeaking.
"The water only works while it's still in your mouth!" Megaman spoke, quickly drinking some more and refusing to swallow it, while Roll grabbed a bottle of milk and drank half of it.
"Phew…Okay, that works so much better…" Roll noted, offering it to Megaman, who swallowed his milk and drank the other half.
"Whew…It's gone," Megaman sighed in relief.
"Must be the stuff that's in milk is helping to break down the capsaicin," Roll guessed, "Mmm…Now that the heat is gone, I gotta admit that I liked it, but the Garlic one is still the best."
Megaman thought for a moment, "I don't think I'm a fan of cilantro myself."
"Shall we move on to the last one then?" Freezeman suggested, holding up the bottle of Citrus Mango Ghost Pepper.
"I'm alright with that," Protoman shrugged.
Megaman and Roll gulped as they exchanged glances with one another. All four poured the sauce onto a chicken wing each and Freezeman was the first to eat his. He smirked and nodded, giving a thumbs up to the two scientists. Protoman went next and took roughly fifteen seconds before getting a bottle of milk. Megaman and Roll gulped before they ate theirs…and took barely five seconds before grabbing a bottle of the slimy sugar/milk/chocolate sauce mixture each and guzzled it out, coughing and gasping the entire time before they could drink it.
"Ah…Hoo…E-Evil…" Megaman coughed out.
"No…just no…" Roll shuddered, grabbing a paper towel and blew into it to deal with her runny nose, "My mouth felt like it was on fire!"
"Okay, take a few minutes to recover while the noodles are cooked," Yuichiro advised, "There's some ice cream in the freezer a…" he blinked and saw Megaman and Roll sharing a tub of strawberry ice cream together, "...okay…Um…"
"Your wife has been giving us cooking lessons," Protoman explained as he got the noodles cooking on the portable stove in the testing room.
"Why are there so many packets in each pack of noodles?" Freezeman pondered, throwing away the ten emptied wrappers.
"The yellow packets are the sauce that goes with the noodles. The red packets are the spice that you'll be mixing into them," Famous replied, "Each of you can try a different amount due to how many packets there are."
"..." Freezeman shrugged as he decided to go for all of them.
By the time Megaman and Roll were done with the tub of ice cream, the noodles were all ready and poured into four large bowls. Megaman only took one packet for himself while Roll decided to try two. Protoman grabbed three of them and Freezeman took the remaining four.
"Now make sure you stir until all of the packets' contents are dissolved into the noodles and broth," Famous advised, "And be careful opening them. The powder can puff out and hurt your eyes if you open them too close to your face. There are some…" Protoman made his sword form and shrunk the blade of it to the size of a knife and use it to slice them open, "...or you can do that."
"Um…I…Is it just me or does Freezeman's noodles look like they're in blood?" Megaman asked as they stirred the noodles with their chopsticks, seeing just how red Freezeman's had gotten.
"Must be the spice," Protoman guessed.
"Okay, I just took a sniff of it and I think my nose is starting to burn up," Roll noted in concern with her noodles.
"There's going to be so much regret soon," Famous noted, trading looks with Yuichiro.
"It gets worse," Yuichiro sighed, earning a look from Famous, "...Lan convinced the others back at Green Hills to do it as well."
"How's that going?"
"Maylu doesn't even notice the spice at all," Yuichiro replied as he held up his PeT to show a feed of Maylu looking at Lan in concern as his head was dunked into the swimming pond while Chaud was sweating heavily but still at the table and Sean was nowhere to be seen, "...It went right through Sean."
"Gh…The poor kid," Famous grimaced in sympathy.
"It's good," Megaman noted, "My lips are all tingly from it."
"Can't do two…" Roll wheezed, grabbing at her drink of choice and barely getting it into her mouth.
"Okay…That is strong," Protoman admitted, sweating a little as he grabbed one of the milks.
"Mmm…Not too bad. Good broth, the noodles are not too soggy and not too crispy, and the spice is just right," Freezeman complimented.
"...Right…May not need that hour wait then," Famous noted, "Fifteen minute rest then."
"Oh! Mega, they have cookie dough ice cream!" Roll gasped, already at the fridge.
"Oh wow! I've been curious about it since Lan got one a week before Freezeman froze the world's Network," Megaman admitted, joining her at it.
"How can you handle all this spice?" Protoman asked in disbelief, looking at Freezeman as he continued to enjoy his noodles.
"I am an Aqua Element NetNavi and literally made of ice," Freezeman replied, "I can handle the heat." he looked over at Megaman and Roll and pointed at their bowls, "You gonna finish those?"
"No," both replied before taking a spoonful of cookie dough ice cream, "Mmm~"
'I get the feeling him being made of ice is negating the capsaicin,' Protoman thought, a drop of sweat going down the back of his helmet as Freezeman added their bowls to his own.
"'Paqui One Chip Challenge,'" Freezeman read the cover of the tiny box, "'Made with the world's hottest pepper. Carolina Reaper Madness.'"
"Isn't that the one with 1.6 million SHUs?" Protoman asked.
"What's that?" Roll asked.
"Scoville Heat Units. It's how one scales how hot a pepper is," Protoman explained, "This is currently the world record holder for hottest pepper, not counting an experimental once currently in the works that is said to be three times as hot as this one."
Roll and Megaman gulped and decided to quickly grab a whole bottle of the slimy mixture and a tub of ice cream each for safety's sake. They all opened a box…and raised a brow at seeing just a tiny package inside of it. Megaman unwrapped his and saw it was just a single chip that looked to be pitch black in color. He took a tentative sniff…before going into a coughing fit as his nose burned fiercely.
"I…I think it's covered in charcoal…" Roll whispered, her tail twitching nervously behind her.
"Here goes," Freezeman spoke as he snapped the chip in two.
"Huh? Why did you do that?" Roll asked.
"Easier to put the whole thing in at once," Freezeman replied as Protoman followed his lead.
Megaman and Roll gulped as they broke their own. With deep breaths, the two ate theirs alongside Protoman and Freezeman. For a few moments, the only noise in there was that of chips being chewed.
"Huh…It…It honestly isn't that bad…" Megaman noted.
"It's just a chip," Freezeman shrugged.
"...Hoo…" Protoman exhaled.
Megaman began to cough harshly. Beside him, Roll trembled as sweat began to form on her face. Megaman scrambled for the slimy mixture and barely got a gulp in before he spat it all out, coughing harder than before.
"Mega?!" Roll panicked before she stumbled and began to cough as well.
Protoman trembled as he laid his head on the table with elbows pressed on it while holding the back of his head. Freezeman…just remained still, arms crossed over his chest and focused on a spot on the wall across from them. Megaman collapsed, his breathing having taken on a ragged manner as he curled in on himself.
"Abort! Abort!" Yuichiro shouted, already scrambling to get into the test chamber.
Roll soon joined Megaman on the floor, whimpering at the searing agony and burning inside her mouth. She cracked open a tear-filled eye to see Megaman gasping and trying to breathe, his eyes growing distant as if…if… Her eyes snapped open, the pain of the chip being burned away from recognizing what was going on. She pulled Megaman up and into her lap and began to gently rub his back in small circles, her Recov Element practically glowing brighter than ever before on it. As Megaman's breathing softened…choked sobs began to escape him as he held onto Roll, burying his face into the nape of her neck. Roll got his helmet off, letting her run a hand through his hair and quills, while he mutedly sobbed into her, his only year as a human and all the pain he had been in coursing through his mind. Protoman managed to turn his head to the side and looked at Freezeman, snot pouring out of the red-clad NetNavi's nostrils as his lips were a bright red. He reached out and poked Freezeman…who fell over, still at a statue, while fire and smoke escaped his lips. The Dimensional Area faded as several Mr. Progs quickly carried them off to repair chambers, Roll snarling and frightening a few of them when they looked to separate the two.
Yuichiro bowed down low to the projection of the Network on his lab's wall, "I'm so sorry…"
"Papa…it…It's okay," Megaman assured.
"It isn't, Hub," Yuichiro argued, "You…It…It looked as if you were…"
Roll held Megaman close, "You terrified me so much when you collapsed. You…You looked like Mamoru when he had an HBD attack…"
Me…Hub grimaced. For him…it really did feel like when he was an infant all over again. The way he couldn't breathe…the pain inside of him…he wrapped an arm around Roll's waist.
"Papa…I'm okay now. I…I don't mind you and Mr. Famous doing all that testing, but…um…please don't ask me to do anymore tests involving spicy foods, okay?" Hub requested.
"O…Of course. This was far too dangerous!"
"Only good thing from this is that we got to try cookie dough ice cream and that chocolate slime," Roll huffed.
"I liked them both. If you can get those working right in the Network, Papa, I'd be happy," Hub chuckled before looking over at the other two still in repair chambers, "Um…A…Are they going to be okay?"
"Yeah, we are forbidding anything hotter than a ghost pepper from ever being created for NetNavis to eat. The damage to those two is greater than what either of you have. Mainly from having more packets than either of you for the noodles and Freezeman eating both your bowls of it," Yuichiro explained, "They'll be in there for another three hours for Protoman and eight for Freezeman."
"Ouch. …um…Does Mama…?"
"Nobody knows but us," Yuichiro replied before tapping on his PeT and a picture was displayed, showing Lan, Sean, and Chaud all lying on the ground with Lan waving a white flag…as Maylu was eating the One Chip Challenge, "We also learned that Maylu has developed an immunity to capsaicin."
"Aw come on~" Roll groaned as Hub began to chuckle, "Hm?"
"Honestly…I thought Maylu would be the worst at this kinda thing due to being part cat now," he explained…causing Roll to start giggling after a few moments to think about it.
"Huh?" Yuichiro pondered.
"Cats are said to have super sensitive tongues, but Maylu doesn't even seem bothered by any of the spice," Roll noted.
"O-Oh…I see…" Yuichiro blinked a few times.
"Still…" he looked over at Hub, "M…May we have some more ice cream…please?"
"..." Yuichiro chuckled, "Alright, alright. We've managed to get strawberry working, so how does that sound?"
"Strawberry? Sure!" Megaman smiled.
"Yay!" Roll cheered.
GT: Yeah…I had to watch a lot of spicy challenge videos for this. Some people had little to mild reactions and others had major things. For any of you who want to try one…please don't. It's not pretty or safe. Oh! And TV Tropes has a page for Cybernetic Blue Blur Revised now! Hope you guys check it out and help work on it, please! Thanks to whoever made it because you made me so happy!