Summer's here, and instead of picking up the slack with my elongated free time, I've taken to vegetating and lounging fruitlessly on my swivel chair. You all have permission to mentally mangle me.

... So, uh, sorry? (*isblastedbyawallofrottentomatoes*)

Um, I'm really bad at replying to reviews - make no mistake, I love them all dearly and I've read them through enough to be able to quote from them off the top of my head, but I really don't know what to say (completely irrational with my untamable habit of vomiting out rants like no tomorrow)!

So unless you specifically ask me a question, I probably won't answer back. I'm sorry. (I love the critiques though - !)

Yes, I know this is very unhappily short. I'll make it up to you guys.... I promise.

Mirai no Tameni

Chapter 6

Proof of Existence

Chaos reigned supreme in the Irregular Hunter HQ. Two Irregulars and an army of mechaniloids had just barged successfully into headquarters; how else would anyone react? X and Zero ran through various parts of the building to ensure there were no remainders of the last battle, while Alia joined the rest of the navigators in assessing the measure of damage to the Hunters.

Now it was all a matter of loosing Axl while trying to escape the clutches of macho doctor repliroid-clones.

"Stay still, you're hurt!" One of the doctor repliroids grunted as he held down Rock's flailing left arm.

Rock struggled valiantly, but fighting off around ten one hundred-fifty kilogram hunks of titanium was no easy feat. "I-I'm fine! Really!" Not really; his processor was blaring with warnings, particularly about the lack of cooling agents in his systems. Oh, and maybe the hole through his chest. "Just please let me go!" Rock pleaded, not entirely looking forward to facing X's interrogation. He was tempted to take off some of his limbs to escape, but he had the slightest feeling he'd never get them back… not to mention running without legs might become a problem.

Finally, Rock gave a violent lurch before falling limp into the doctor-clone repliroids' arms, his body sabotaging all available energy to focus on his self-repair systems. Rock immediately overrode the program, but it was too late – during his pause in animation, Rock had been strapped down to a transport board and was on his way towards what he could only guess would be the infirmary.

"L-leeeeeeeeeeet… me g-gg zzt…." Rock's vocalization ability left him, and the bioroid was left with only the option of either going into emergency stasis or glaring at his captors. He settled for the latter.

Axl suddenly came into his line of sight, grinning impishly, "You're pretty banged up there, Rock. You might want to follow Lifesavers' orders and let him… them fix you. You won't get better any other way."

Rock wanted to retaliate that his auto repair systems could have patched him up just fine (provided that he had enough energy to support the nanobots), but it was rather hard to when his vocalizing systems were shut down. The bioroid pouted at the repliroid until one of the doctor repliroids shoved the sharp end of a… er, plasma needle syringe into his neck. Rock was notified of an unidentified substance in his cooling systems before abruptly shutting down due to a power grid failure.

In the meantime, Axl and the others panicked, not understanding why Rock's systems went into disarray from a simple sedative commonly given to repliroids. The child was quickly rushed to the medical center, Lifesavers all working to extract the sedative while preventing further coolant leaks, and Axl generally dancing around the group, worriedly. Finally the new-gen was left pacing nervously in the bustling hallway outside the infirmary, while the Lifesavers worked on Rock.

He was joined by Alia (who punched him for getting up while he had a migraine; it hurt a lot more than his headache, Axl bemoaned), then X and Zero soon after.

"What happened, Axl?" was the first thing out of X mouth, followed by, "Are you okay?"

Axl quickly waved X's concerns away, replying, "I'm fine, X. As for what happened… well, I sorta ran into the Irregulars responsible for the whole mess… or at least I think they're the ones behind the mechaniloid attack." The new-gen shook his head, ignoring the pain the action induced, and the creepy laughter in the confines of his mind. Maybe he needed to get himself checked over for viruses. "Rock was fighting the two of them when I arrived, so I think he'd know…." Axl trailed off, biting his bottom lip anxiously. "But Rock… he… well, there's something wrong with him."

"Something wrong?" Alia was quick to ask. "Is Rock-kun in danger, missing, or –?"

"He's going to be fine." A Lifesaver emerged from the medical center. "That repliroid had received great amounts of damage, but his auto repair systems seem to be handling his wounds pretty well. There is a slight… abnormality however."

"Abnormality?" Alia parroted.

The doctor repliroid nodded solemnly, "Yes, you see, this repliroid ("Rock," Axl supplied helpfully), yes, Rock, he has a rather… unique body. His parts are ancient, and most of his systems are situated differently than a repliroid's. Where his generator should have been is his fusion chamber and organic digestion system. It was what kept him alive after what should have been an instant death hit." Lifesaver looked to X as he said, "In fact, his systems are most closely related to yours Commander X."

"Mine?" X asked quizzically.

Lifesaver nodded. "By a long shot, yes, but if anything else, his systems are a hybrid of the Sniper Joe and your blueprints." The repliroid gave a moment for the information to sink in before turning to head back into the medical ward. "I expect… Rock to be conscious in a few hours. Please do not cause too much a disturbance when you come to see him." Lifesaver gave a pointed look towards Zero and Axl before retreating.

Zero frowned. "Could he be…?" He gave a hesitant look towards X, who shook his head helplessly.

"I don't know Zero. I don't know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(D:)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rock woke up, feeling very indolent, as though his processor was put into a tar bath and reinserted into his body.

"Uggh…." At least his vocal systems were back online.

"You're awake, I see." A low voice commented from behind Rock. Startled, the bioroid jumped backwards, stumbling out of the bed he was situated in.

"Ow." Rock muttered more out of habit than actual pain. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and gazed up to meet the eyes of one of the doctor repliroids from before. Rock's eyes widened as he scrambled backwards, bringing his left arm in front of him, horrified when he found it was disarmed.

But oh, the repliroid kept on walking closer, and Rock didn't want to be subjected to X's scrutiny again, and –

Rock desperately raised his less used right arm and smiled grimly when he found no one had the insight to disable this arm as well. He leveled a sharp gaze at the substantially larger repliroid as he threateningly charged his buster. Then he stopped, the more logical part of his processor catching up to him. The repliroid was only trying help, Rock remembered, and shooting him wouldn't be… right (the highly moralistic side of him shot off warnings about his impolite tendencies as of late). Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to argue with himself about moralistic values as X and Zero hurriedly rushed into the room.

The repliroid doctor immediately retreated behind the two androids as they pointed their weapons towards Rock. Axl and Alia followed in soon after.

"Rock-kun…." Alia bit her lip and hesitated, hand outstretched towards the frightened bioroid. "Rock-kun, please disarm your buster. We – we don't want to hurt you."

Rock looked between X and Alia, uncertain. Finally he announced, "I dislike your scrutiny." Blunt and to the point.

"If you stop being stubborn and actually answer our questions, we wouldn't have to do stuff like this, kid." Zero replied bitingly.

"Zero." X frowned.

The red android sighed. "Sorry; something about the kid puts me on edge." He narrowed his eyes. "Almost like…." Zero trailed off, shaking his head. "Nevermind."

X and Alia looked towards Zero worriedly.

"Explain that to me later Zero." X said as he turned his full attention to Rock once more. "Rock, please reconsider your actions. We do not want to make enemies of you; however your identification and your possible relation to Light-hakase could be crucial information."

Rock bit his lip. "Why? You have already cleared me as an Irregular, as I have no virus. My identification is that of Light-hakase's creation; is that not enough?"

X shook his head. "We need confirmation that you are truly Light-hakase's creation; afterwards we can interrogate you on the happenings of the Irregular attacks today and then you may go wherever you wish.

"That is, of course, inferring that you were indeed built by Light-hakase." X hesitated.

Rock's eyes darkened. "I'm supposing you have other – more personal – inquires about my being. I'm sorry, but I will have to decline answering them at this time… not yet."

The blue android sighed. "Of course. However, otherwise do we have your consent to continue our investigation, Rock?"

"… Just, no more bondage. Please."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(:D)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sooo," Zero drawled. Rock fidgeted. "Name? Your real name, mind you."

"… Rockman."

X bit his lip.

Zero narrowed his eyes but gave no further comment. "Age?"

"Age of activation period, physical form, or since initial activation?" Rock asked.

"What about all three?" Zero suggested.

Rock nodded stiffly. Well, here went nothing… "My activation period amounts to approximately sixteen years, three months, twenty-five days, two hours, and thirty-seven minutes. ("Sounds more accurate than approximate to me." Axl muttered from behind Rock.) My physical form is that of a ten year old male human child. And it has been… (deep breath, in, out) one hundred and seventy-six years since my initial activation."

Silence.

Then, "Wow, you're old." Axl whistled.

Rock took a moment to appreciate the passage of time as well. "Yes, yes I am."

"It sure does explain quite a few things." Alia said rather quietly.

X looked oddly paler underneath the harsh florescent light above them. "It doesn't explain why he's here now. I know that the lab wasn't in the best of condition when Dr. Cain found me, but surely he must have noticed if Rock, er, Rockman was there as well.

"And also, then why now? Why weren't we notified of his presence before? Why hadn't Light-hakase mentioned him in any of the messages he left behind for us?" X's eyes turned to Rock painfully. Why hadn't he told him?

Rock twisted himself in his uncomfortable metal chair to escape his younger brother's accusing eyes. But indeed, why had he awoken now, of all times?

"Coincidence, Light not wanting to tell you 'cause he's weird like that – there's lots'a reasons why." Zero said as he leaned back into his chair. "Who knows."

"That isn't the most comforting of answers, Zero." X sighed. "But it seems it is the only one we have to go on at the moment. As for you, Rockman, I would like to believe you are telling us the truth. Unfortunately, until we can get concrete evidence for your identity, we will have to keep you here."

Rock bit his lip. "I have data copies of Light-hakase's licensing and insurance policies. If you wish, I can connect produce the documents as proof."

Zero shook his head. "No go, kid. We need to have proof of your identity, not Light-hakase's."

"What? B-but they show Light-hakase's ownership of me. Isn't that enough?"

A stunned silence met this statement.

"O-o-ownership?" Alia managed to squeak out.

Rock frowned quizzically, "Well, yes; what else would do then?"

More silence.

"Rockman, I think we may need to speed you up to the times." X smiled slightly. "Alright; we'll have a look at those documents – I do think they will be enough identification. We should have an ID number assigned to you in approximately a week."

What is this? Rock's TRUE IDENTITY is finally revealed?! (OMGGasp!)

... Except for that, this is totally a fill in chapter. We'll see more action in the next one. I swear.

And now... EXTRA!!!!

Mortality

Mortal – subject to death

Rock knew his 'father' was subject to death as was the rest of the human race (Wily had seemed yet to understand this; all those escapades couldn't have been all too good for his general health, yet he still lived), however there were many moments where this truth escaped him, especially during the times when he would lean against the aged scientist with his sister unit, Roll, Auto, and the support units, Eddy the Fliptop, and Rush, and act as a human family would (and if they were lucky, even Blues would be there, standing in his corner, but sharing the ambience all the same). He would feel… content to stay in that position for the rest of eternity, but humans were a fickle race with timed counts to their depressingly short and fragile lives.

Light-hakase was always in a hurry: to finish his latest project, to complete X, to upgrade Rock for another 'War', to… do something. Lately, as he finished up X, Light-hakase had taken to upgrading Rock and Roll (Blues refused to be touched).

"For the future," he would say, and they understood, despite the foreboding undertone it implied.

Wily seemed to have quieted down lately (Roll had lightly joked that he had finally "kicked the bucket"; they had all laughed then), and Rock helped his 'father' around the lab and his sister around the house, feeling a sense of fulfillment. He had wished this could have gone on forever.

Then Wily's ultimate monster hit.

Forte had teleported in a few hours before the monster came, looking worse for the wear, falling on top of Rock with his rather unfortunate coordinates.

"F-Forte!" Rock sputtered, pausing in his thrashing to identify who he was exactly attempting to buckle off.

Forte, still disorientated from his sloppy teleportation, instead of slugging or shooting Rock (as he would have done given any other situation), hugged the black haired bioroid, crying insanely, "The Demon! Wily, that idiot of a creator, did something to him!"

"The Demon? Forte, I do not comprehend what you are referring to." Rock said, all the while attempting to calm down the hysterical bioroid to no avail.

Finally, Roll beat the ebony robot off with a titanium-reinforced broom, threatening to call the police on the multiple accounts of "property damage, property theft, attempted murder, and now sexual harassment (Rock wasn't quite certain how the last fit in, but he was certain his sister had a good reason for it (Forte was sure to get a good whack to the head if he'd done anything to Roll-chan…))."

And of course, Blues teleported in just in time to hear the last part of Roll's sentence. Without bothering to announce his presence with his customary five-note whistle, Blues instead decided to proclaim his arrival by tackling Forte off his straddling position over Rock.

"What the heck are you doing to my younger brother, Forte?!" Blues roared, displaying the most amount of emotion Rock had ever seen on the red bioroid, and Forte uncharacteristically cowed away, raising his arms in a defensive action against the similarly uncharacteristically aggressive prototype.

"I'm asking for help, and this is the response I get?" Forte spat, merely a shadow of his former self, humbled by whatever event that had caused him to resort to this method.

"Blues, stand down." Rock commanded, always the peacemaker. "Forte, explain – clearly, and with more details please. We cannot help you if you do not tell us what the source of your problems lay."

Forte hesitated, and then plowed into his explanation. "Wily, ever since I stole the plans for another robot from Light (Roll's lips pursed), had been working on some big project. He called it his 'ultimate creation', Zero." Forte sighed. "I looked into his plans later, (of course I have access to his plans, you dolt! If I didn't, Blueberry, you would have seen some of the most utterly horrible and useless creations to ever grace this plane of existence. To my knowledge, Wily didn't know… not that it matters anymore) and I copied and downloaded the files on it to my databanks. I could show it to you." And Forte reached out to touch Rock's forehead. Both Blues and Roll retaliated, the two grabbing a hold of the Wily-bot's wrist before he could reach Rock. "What?" Forte looked at the two crossly.

"How can we trust you?" Roll hissed, her iron grip tightening on the ebony robot's wrist. "What if you download something else into Rock's systems? A virus or perhaps a potentially dangerous program to cripple him?" Blues nodded, empathetic to Roll's concerns.

Rock repressed a tired sigh, and gently pried both Roll's and Blues' hands away from Forte, silently pressing the gloved fingers to his processor. Both his siblings looked on in worry and amazement at Rock's trusting nature before resigning themselves to the Blue Bomber's decision.

A moment later, Rock mechanically announced, "Data file: Android Zero, Model number DWN-∞; Download complete." He shook his head slightly before relooking over the contents of the transferred file. "He's modeled after X's original blueprints." Rock breathed.

"X? Don't tell me Light's decided to make one of these monsters too." Forte's eyes darkened.

"Father would never make a 'monster', Forte." Roll sniffed. "X is going to be our little brother; he's going to be able to create his own personality and everything, so don't you dare try to belittle Light-hakase's achievements."

"More than that, Forte, you said Dr. Wily has already activated… Zero, right?" Rock questioned, a slight edge of uncertainty creeping into his tone.

"Yeah," Forte nodded. "Zero's already decimated all of Skull Fortress, and I barely… made it… out…." Forte paused sporadically at his last few words, as though reminiscing something terrifying, his eyes glazing over blankly in a thousand-yard stare.

Rock hesitated, "And… Dr. Wily?"

"Dead," Forte deadpanned. "Zero, he… snapped, just so suddenly… he wasn't like that before. Like a carbon child, perhaps, but never…." The ebony robot trailed off.

"It seems Wily completely ignored the thirty year testing period." Blues commented, "Light-hakase had said that these androids needed a period of time to adjust, or else they'd go crazy… or perhaps not if they were given a stable environment." He shook his head. "I guess Skull Fortress isn't really the greatest surroundings an android could have."

Forte snapped out of his reverie and snorted, "Heck no, Zero, that idiot, would always cling to me and stuff, asking if there was anything fun to do…. And really, between the endless pits and spike covered floors and ceilings, there wasn't much he could do, except…." Forte breathed in deeply, "And Wily took this and taught Zero to… destroy things. That was probably what done him in, in the end."

"I-I see," Rock choked out.

Forte stared straight at Rock, pleadingly. "Zero's heading in this direction, as far as I can tell. He'll be here in a couple hours at best. It seems he's going to attempt to complete his objective after all. I came here to warn you about this. We've got to… we've got to b-bring him down." Forte declared shakily.

Blues nodded. "Alright then, it seems I'll have to stay awhile longer today, huh, Rock, Roll?" The oldest bioroid flashed an encouraging smile towards his younger siblings. Forte looked pointedly away.

"Let's report this to Father. He'll know what to do." Roll suggested, and the rest followed, Forte grumbling loudly to himself that Light-hakasecouldn't possibly know everything. Roll's titanium broom vigorously shut the ebony bioroid up.

... This was actually another story idea, but what the heck - it fits in so well here, we might as well keep it right? I'll continue this one sporadically, but expect a couple references to this thing sometime in the main story.

Review please?