[A/N]: hahahahaaha i'm so sorry i made you wait so long only to get a filler episode that's what happens when finals + holiday retail season happens ahahahahah oh god i'm so tired

what's plot i certainly don't know

okay but honestly there's character development and problem resolving and a bit of half-assed worldbuildy sciency stuff to attempt to explain things SO it's not completely worthless filler. i don't think.

also i only have one more chapter of this stuff prewritten out damn i need to get on the ball 'ere

anyways I hope you enjoy it!

Episode 012 - Rockman's Day Off?!

Biip. Biip…

Somehow, Rockman had managed to remain conscious until they had reached AMAKEN. Harp Note didn't know where else to take him. His mother didn't know he was Rockman, and she couldn't think of a worse revelation than bringing him to her doorstep while gravely exhausted. Bringing him to a hospital would only lead to the same result. Thankfully, Amachi-san had thought to make sure that the scanner that was used to make diagnoses on War-Rock's condition could work on Denpa-Humans alongside pure denpa beings. Rockman's condition could easily be determined.

"It appears that his wave pattern has been severely disrupted. All denpa beings are subject to some interference from the environment, but to mess up his waves to that extent…if he had cut off the Denpa-Henkan, he'd have left his human body to pick up the responsibility of recovering from those injuries."

"But since he's still Rockman?" Harp Note prompted.

"Then all he's going to suffer from is some severe exhaustion. Denpa beings are naturally inclined to stabilize themselves should they be left with little to no interference, as a stable state uses up less energy. Subaru-kun," and here, Amachi turned to Rockman. "I want you to stay here for the night, even if you don't need to stay that long in the machine. I want to monitor its effects on you. I've already told your mother that you accidentally were exposed to some strange Denpa from an experiment and that you're staying the night to be checked up for that."

"Un. I understand, Amachi-san," Rockman murmured tiredly. "To be honest, it's surprisingly comfy in here. I could stay here all night…"

"Glad to hear it, Subaru-kun," Amachi chuckled as Rockman yawned. "It's the result of something I added after War-Rock spent the night here-he kept complaining about how stiff he was getting. The machine emits refreshing waves that help relax denpa beings, similar to your father's BrotherBand and how it helped the FMians develop less antagonistic feelings."

"Is that so? I guess that's why I feel so sleepy…"

"It's alright to sleep now if you want, Subaru-kun. The chamber will keep your form stable-that means it will keep you from defusing, even if you're unconscious."

"Mn…" As Rockman hummed thoughtfully and closed his eyes, the door to the room opened.

"Rockman-sama!" The shrill voice startled them all from a silent reverie, and they all turned to see Luna, Gonta, and Kizamaro standing in the doorway. She rushed in, and the two boys followed her.

"Ehh, Subaru, what're you doing in there?" Gonta asked, while Kizamaro merely gave Rockman an inquiring look.

"What happened to you, Rockman-sama?" cooed Luna, appearing to have either not heard or ignored the others calling him Subaru.

"Rockman-sama, I mean," and here Amachi coughed, "Rockman was hurt a while ago in a tough battle, he needs to rest in peace and quiet for now so he can recover." Amachi looked down on the three children with stern eyes, and that, combined with his emphasis on those choice words, got them to calm down somewhat. An awkward silence filled the room.

"Ne, Subaru," Gonta eventually said, turning to the machine. "You'd better get well quickly-the Class President is gonna have a fit if you don't show up for class tomorrow!"

"G-Gonta-kun!" Kizamaro fretted, fearing the impending wrath of Luna-and he was right to worry.

"Gonta!" Both boys jumped at the sudden harsh voice. "Why are you talking to Rockman-sama about things that don't concern him-you heard the professor, we need to be quiet and leave Rockman-sama to recover!" No one was quite brave enough to interrupt her tirade and tell Luna how hypocritical she was being; instead she was interrupted by weak chuckling.

"Don't worry, Class President…" Rockman's tired mumbling was cut off by a yawn. His eyes closed again and his head turned to the side. "I'll be in class tomorrow…"

Luna flushed red and she turned away.

"O-of course you are! I'll go to your house and drag you out myself if you resume your skipping habits!" She stomped to the door.

"Gonta! Kizamaro!"

"Y-yes!" The two boys hurried to follow her, both understandably confused as they scurried out. Kizamaro looked back briefly with a worried expression before the door closed behind him.

While Amachi and Harp Note looked at each other in befuddled silence, Rockman was completely oblivious to the awkwardness in the room-he had fallen fast asleep.

"Misora-kun," Amachi finally said, turning to the girl. "There's another reason I wanted Subaru-kun to rest in this chamber."

"Eh? Why?"

"Look here." Amachi punched in a series of commands into the control panel, and the screen above the chamber started to display several images of Rockman's body, all illuminated with various shades of colors. One image was larger than the others, a transparent silhouetted of Rockman's body lit up with a gradient of colors, mostly dominated with yellows, oranges and reds.

"Rockman's body was put under a lot of stress from being under the influence of two OOParts. That much is obvious. However…" Additional commands zoomed the image onto Rockman's head, and more screens popped up around it. The colors around Rockman's head were dominated by a raw angry red, with only the barest shades of orange and yellow surrounding the edges, and the screens around it showed scales, brain scans, all of the like.

"Scans show that Rockman was also under great mental stress as well, far too much of it to be simply generated by any reactions to physical pain. To be honest, it's surprising that he's still himself after all this; most people would have fallen apart or had some sort of mental breakdown at the very least. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that his mind was being torn apart!"

An expression of worry crossed Harp Note's face, and she looked down.

"It…it can't be…"

"Hm? Misora-kun, do you know anything?"

"It's just that…Amachi-san, I don't think the OOParts are just powerful stones…it looks like there's something else about them…"

"What do you mean?"

"I…I'm not sure. But when that Dinosaur OOPart latched onto him, Rockman was acting strange, talking like he was someone else-he even attacked me and Brachio Wave. And what Brachio Wave said about the OOParts…it's like they're alive or something. I'm not sure if it's safe to seek them out…"

Amachi was silent as he pondered over what she told him.

"…Very well, then. I hate to ask this of you, Misora-kun, but could you please watch over Subaru-kun? Until this whole mess with the OOParts is over…until we can get the Sword of Berserk out of him…please, make sure no harm comes to him…or that he brings no harm to others. Please."

Harp Note looked up at the screens, then down at Rockman's slumbering form.

"I understand. I won't let the OOParts get the better of him!"

0-0-0-0-0

"Mnngh…" Subaru had kept to his word and had made it to school, but he had been drowsy and out of it for the entire day. He'd barely been able to avoid being sent to the school nurse. His demeanor was one of dejection and gloom, and his fatigue only added to it. After talking with Doctor Orihime that morning, he couldn't shake off the fact that he had disappointed her and that he had failed to protect the OOPart. Granted, he hadn't told her about what had happened to him when he touched it; after all, he couldn't speak of what happened without betraying his knowledge of a consciousness within the OOParts and his promise to Berserk to not reveal such a thing. He didn't want to make excuses for himself, though, he had failed, and that was that.

When Subaru and his schoolmates went to AMAKEN after school, Amachi had noted his drowsiness right away and would not allow him to test out the Star Carrier with the others; he instead made him come to be evaluated for any lingering effects from the revitalization waves. His suspicions were proven correct: it seemed extensive use of the waves could be likened to a caffeine high. While using the waves, the calming, yet invigorating sensation was there; yet once it was removed, a sort of "crash" would soon occur, a tiredness and languor that would last until the residue left by the waves could be worked out of a denpa being's system.

Amachi theorized that Subaru was still feeling the effects of the waves because he was human at the time. Just as it was quicker and healthier to prevent his human body from recovering from grievous damage and recover as Rockman, so it seemed better to recover from something as minor as the denpa equivalent of a caffeine crash.

"Just get on the Wave Road for a bit, Subaru-kun," Amachi said. "Stretch your muscles, maybe delete some viruses. Just think of it as some free time for Rockman, ah?"

"Free time…for Rockman?" What an odd choice of words. Amachi always called Rockman by Subaru's name unless others were around-and they were alone.

"Aah." The older man nodded empathetically. "You, as far as I know, only ever become him when you need the abilities of Rockman to solve some sort of trouble. As Rockman, you never indulge in leisure, do you?"

"Eh? No…I never thought about it," Subaru replied, confused about the direction the conversation was taking. "Rockman…I only need to become Rockman when he's needed, right?"

"Rockman is you, Subaru, and you are Rockman. You need balance in all aspects of your life, and in all your roles." Amachi looked Subaru straight in the eye, and Subaru was struck with the feeling that the man knew about what was worrying him.

"Rockman has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders right now-but that doesn't mean that he needs to burden himself with it constantly. There are others to help and support you, Subaru-kun, so it's okay to relax every now and then, ne?"

"Mn, I guess…" Subaru still wasn't completely sure about the idea of Rockman taking it easy, but then Amachi smiled and winked at him.

"Doctor's orders, Rockman. Go relax!"

"Uh, um, yes!" Subaru finally smiled, albeit hesitantly, and vanished in a flash of green light. Amachi watched him leave with a smile, but once the boy was gone he stared at the ceiling where Rockman had vanished as his expression changed to a pensive frown.

"So young, and yet such heavy worries…you've grown so much, Subaru-kun. How much more are you going through that you won't let us know about…?"

0-0-0-0-0

"Mn…Amachi-san said to just stretch my legs or do whatever, but I really don't know what to do…" Rockman mused as he hung aimlessly around the Wave Road above AMAKEN.

"Subaru, stop being so boring!" whined War-Rock. "You can go wherever you want and do whatever you want, and you're just moping around here? C'mon, lots of kids would jump at the opportunity to do whatever they want without people seeing 'em!"

"And of course, you're partners with the one responsible kid," Rockman laughed softly as Berserk materialized behind them.

"We commend your sense of honor, boy, but the unearthly one is correct-you really don't utilize your powers as much as you should."

"Berserk!" Rockman looked surprised at first, but then a small expression of relief crossed his face. "So you're really okay…"

"Of course we would be," grumbled the voices of Berserk. "Our power was simply too much for you. It was best for all of us if we kept our distance for the time being."

"Aw, so you were worried for us, eh, ya old farts?" teased War-Rock. Berserk's whole body sparked angrily at those words.

"Absolutely not," the voices hissed. "You are simply a decent host-much more compatible than the Yeti's host was with Dinosaur. You can adapt to our power much more easily than any Denpa being we've faced-and you weren't half bad with Dinosaur as well, despite the fact that the power it was channeling through you was much more incomplete than it was able to do with Yeti Blizzard due to our interference. Is it because of your youth, or the unearthly origins of your power…" Berserk mused silently for some moments before erupting into angry sparks once more.

"No matter. The point is that you are a useful host to us, and that you burning yourselves out with our power is not conductive to that purpose. That is all." And with that, Berserk vanished from sight, leaving Rockman to weakly chuckle.

"Right, then."

0-0-0-0-0

In a place where virus attacks happened almost daily, usually much more often than that, it felt strange not finding any viruses now that he was actually looking for them. His searching for viruses led him to parts of the town he had rarely gone to, the ritzier, richer places where people like the Class President lived.

"Wow…I never really looked at how fancy everything is…"

"How can humans make and hoard so many useless things?" grumbled War-Rock.

"I guess anybody can do anything if they really wanted…so I guess these things aren't useless to them," Rockman responded as he landed in a particularly grand-looking park. He ended up next to a rather elaborate fountain, with a very detailed golden statue of several park animals at its top. It would have been exquisite, if the fountain had not also had multiple silver and gemstone designs inlaid into its sides, and many, many golden extensions protruding from it. The excessive decoration made it look gaudy compared to the lush green scenery surrounding it.

"Mostly not useless, then," Rockman conceded, unable to keep himself from expressing mild disdain at the sight.

Looking about, Rockman noticed the young children playing around the park, and he couldn't help but smile. Rich or not, young children just couldn't stay away from the outdoors. The toys were admittedly more intricate than the balls and bats he remembered from when he was that age (since when could action figures do that?) but the kids were running with reckless abandon just the same.

And then the children spotted Rockman.

Immediately he was set upon by laughing, giggling kids who couldn't have been older than six or seven, surrounded by cries of "it's the hero!" and "so cool, so cool, he's bigger than on the TV!" and the like. Rockman honestly wasn't sure about what to say to them until they started peppering him with questions.

"Ne, ne, how do you get that hand puppet to talk like that?" one boy asked.

"Hand puppet? Wait, y-you mean-no, he's not-"

"Idiot! That's totally too fancy to be just a puppet!" a girl scolded. "I bet it's a mar-i-o-nette."

"N-no, War-Rock's not a-"

"Stupid, you just like that word 'cuz it's girly-sounding!" yelled out another boy. "A mary-nette is just a super fancy puppet, an' puppets can't turn into other stuff anyway! It's totally a super-cool robot or an animatron! Only robots can transform like that!"

"Not quite…"

"Rrrraaaagh!" War-Rock suddenly growled out, before lifting Rockman's arm up so he could get himself out of the range of the children's prying hands.

"I AM NOT A PUPPET!" he roared, startling all of the children, the parents sitting on the park benches nearby, and Rockman himself.

"W-War-Rock!" the boy stammered. "Don't' be mean to them like that! You'll scare-"

"So cool!" the children suddenly squealed, cutting Rockman off and pulling his arm back down. War-Rock spluttered as the children began to poke and pry at him once more, and Rockman resigned himself to being subject to the whims of the mob of children for the time being.

"Something beyond the strength of Andromeda…I didn't think it was possible!" murmured Rockman to himself.

He found himself being dragged into multiple games with the children, from a very exhausting cops n' robbers tag game (the children were very amused at getting the local hero to play as one of the robbers) to follow the leader (somehow, Rockman never did get to be the leader…), to even dodge ball (and no, Rockman did not escape into the Wave World. That would be cheating.). By the end of it, every single one of the children were worn out and even Rockman found himself feeling exhausted.

"If an FMian or Murian ever Denpa-Henkaned with one of these children…" Rockman panted as he lay spread-eagled on his back, with most of the aforementioned children lying beside him in a similar fashion.

"We'd be in for one hell of a fight!" groaned War-Rock as Rockman sat up.

"Rockman-niichan!" one of the children cried out. "You should come see ice cream-jiisan with us!"

"Ice cream-jii! Ice cream-jii!" the other kids cheered, immediately regaining all their energy. "He's coming today!"

"Ice cream…jiisan?" Rockman repeated in a confused tone.

"He's this old man with a cart that comes to the park once a week," one of the older kids replied. "It's really cheap, but it's the best ice cream ever!"

"Is that so?" Rockman asked. "I think some ice cream sounds really good right now, actually…"

Immediately his words were cut off by cheering, and Rockman found himself being dragged off by the horde of children towards the park's center before he could say anything more.

The center of the park was something like a plaza. It was neatly paved with cobblestone pathways, with a much less gaudy marble fountain of simple design. Benches surrounded it in a circle, all situated in nice shady spots under trees. A few parents could be seen sitting on them already, it was a good spot to watch the children who were playing in the middle of the plaza or sitting at small circular tables that were by the fountain, all of them coming equipped with umbrellas to provide shade. It was, overall, a very elegant place that somehow managed to actually be in harmony with its natural surroundings instead of clashing with them. Rockman immediately found himself enamored with the plaza.

"Pretty…"

"C'mon, Rockman-niichan, stop spacing out! The ice cream-jiisan's over here!" The children led him over to where the fountain was, but just as the ice cream cart became visible, small explosions began coming out of it. The few children that had run on ahead to the cart in their excitement began screaming in terror, and the old man who had been running it was thrown back into the fountain.

"Oh no, the ice cream-jii!"

"Is he okay?" Several of the children stepped forward, only to be held back by Rockman.

"Stay back!"

"Just what we were looking for! Looks like some viruses came over to play, kid! Stay on your toes!"

"Right!"

"Che, these little buggers attacking again…" grumbled the old man as he sat up in the fountain. "I know what to do with ya! Battle Card, Sword!" The old man swiped a card into his Transer, causing a few of the many viruses to be visible briefly before vanishing. However, more turned towards him, and while he couldn't see that, he could see the sparks that happened in retaliation, and the flash of light that happened just before a large bolt of electricity came hurtling towards him.

"Watch out!" That was the last thing he heard before closing his eyes. He opened them to find himself being propped up on a bench by Rockman. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, of course I am," the aged vender stuttered out, finding himself grinning as Rockman let out a relieved smile of his own.

"That's good, then…"

"Kid, watch out! They're gonna move!"

"Right, War-Rock! Battle Card, Sword!"

The familiar energy blade materialized in place of War-Rock on his arm, and Rockman vanished in a burst of green light as he dashed towards the malfunctioning cart. The cart continued to spark angrily as time went on, but quickly died down. Rockman reappeared as he leapt away from the cart as it slowly began to repair itself and settle down. The sword dematerialized from his arm, and he let out a sigh and stretched.

"Phew! Viruses deleted." Right away, he was set upon by all the children surrounding him.

"That was so quick! When we use Battle Cards, nothing happens! The viruses are still there! But you can use them as weapons! It's so cool!" one of the kids gushed.

"U-un…" Rockman chuckled nervously. "It's not that cool…"

"So cool!" yelled the kids all at once, cutting him off yet again. Rockman found himself smiling as he was dragged off towards the cart.

"Ahh, thanks for your help, boyo." The old man grinned broadly as the kids came towards him.

"Mnn, it's no problem," Rockman said as he found himself being pushed forward by the children, all clamoring for him to try a cone. "Yes, yes…"

"Well, it'll take a few minutes for the cart to finish the self-repair program, but once that's done, you're free to get some!" crowed the old man, astounding Rockman by how very much like the children he seemed.

"Yeeeeeey!" the kids cheered, excited for the upcoming treat, before…

"Crud! I gotta get some money from mom!" one of the kids exclaimed suddenly, shattering the image of peace and happiness that had been built.

"Ah, me too!" another child responded, and soon the group of kids were clamoring about money, some fretting about whether they would be able to convince their parents to give them the necessary money. It was loud and chaotic, and disrupting the peace in the park. It got so that Rockman felt that something needed to be done before people ended up getting upset…

"I-it's alright!" he found himself saying to the kids, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "I'll pay for your ice creams!"

"Huuuuh?" Surprise resonated throughout the group as they heard Rockman's hastily blurted out words.

"Really?"

"Ah…really…" Rockman found himself smiling weakly. "Although, I don't have much money, so I can only give everyone one scoop, to be fair…"

"Aww…"

"But he does have to be fair, you know…"

"Yeah but I bet I could eat like, eleventy billion scoops!" one particularly boastful boy shouted out.

"Hey, now," Rockman found himself chiding the young boy. "There's no way I could eat that much-do you even know how much just one billion is?"

"No…but it's a whole lot!" cheered the boy. Rockman raised an eyebrow.

"If we said each scoop was an inch tall…one billion inches would take you more than halfway around the whole world! Are you saying that you could eat ice cream that stretched halfway around Earth?"

"Woah!" All the kids looked to the one child who had made the boast, and he blushed red to the roots of his hair.

"Ehehe…that is a lot…I don't think so…" He giggled nervously as the other kids laughed, before Rockman shushed them all

"That's alright. I made mistakes like that too, when I was your age…I still make them now. I remember something similar that happened with my dad when I was little…"

"Waaah? What happened?" asked the kids, completely forgetting about embarrassing the one who had made the mistake.

"Well, instead of calling me out on my mistake, he gave me the largest cone in the shop, and watched me try to eat it."

"Didja finish it?" one girl eagerly asked. Rockman chuckled weakly and shook his head no.

"Not even half. And I felt so sick afterwards! I didn't want to look at any dessert for a week after that. Even now, I'm still not a huge chocolate fan. And I missed out on eating my favorite dinner too…I really learned about 'too much of a good thing' the hard way…" Rockman paused to let the kids laugh at his expense before raising an eyebrow. "So, does everyone know how much everyone is getting?"

"One scoop!" the kids chorused back, with much more gusto and enthusiasm than when they had first received the news.

"Good thing you all are ready, too!" the old man laughed suddenly. "Because the cart is now…ready!"

The kids cheered and surrounded the cart, forcing Rockman to organize the kids all into a straight line. He found himself sighing as the kids filed through: between them and treating Misora the other day, he was definitely being set back in his efforts to save up money for another telescope! Even then, he found that he really couldn't be mad…not when seeing everyone's happy faces.

"Ah, and for me just one scoop of vanilla, no topping…" Even if he did like ice cream, he still wasn't fond of overly sweet stuff…As he reached for his wallet for the final time, however, parsing through its contents left him wondering if he needed to forgoe treating himself for the time being.

"Here ya go!" And Rockman found himself face to face with the ice cream that he had ordered.

"Eh? But I didn't pay…"

"It's on the house, kid, for helpin' me out."

"Ah…b-but you don't need to-"

"Hey, without your help, I would have lost a lot of business today, just saying. And you've already brought more sales in the past few minutes that I would have normally made in an hour. I think I can afford to lose one little cone, especially a plain single scooper with no toppings, yeah?"

"Ah…"

"Don't be shy, boy, take it, before it melts!"

"Uh…thanks.." Rockman took the cone sheepishly, before quietly taking a taste.

"Waah…amazing! This refreshing flavor…!" Rockman had honestly not expected the treat to taste so good, and his reaction spawned amusement from the old man.

"Hehehe, there's a reason my ice cream is called the best in town!" the old man laughed. "A secret ingredient, the most important part!"

"Heh, a secret ingredient?" Rockman wondered, curiously taking another lick.

"Yep! Ya wanna know what it is?" The old man leaned in conspiratorially, and Rockman found himself unconsciously leaning closer to hear the old man's words.

"The most important part is ta' add…a whole lotta sweat!"

Rockman stared disbelievingly at the old man, before looking to the cone in his hand and realizing just what the elder had said.

"E-ehhhhhh?!"

"Hahahaha!" The old man started laughing again. "Not like that, boyo! That's just unhygienic!" He watched Rockman calm down with that same look of amusement on his face.

"Look, the reason I always sell my ice cream at parks is that the people who come to those places are active. Whether they're jogging, playing, or even just coming in to enjoy the scenery, they're here because they wanna relax themselves, take a break from life's usual troubles. They either bring themselves to exhaustion while here or are already fatigued when they come in. In that state of mind, brought on by so many complex emotions, situations, and the like, something simple, wholesome, and good, like ice cream…isn't that the best thing to help ya relax?"

"Ah…" Rockman found himself smiling at those words. Somehow, he felt that the old man was speaking some sort of universal truth…

"I can see that you understand me, boyo, and with good reason." The old man's mischievous smile relaxed into a gentle, almost grandfatherly way.

"You have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders, child. I can see it in your eyes."

"E-eh? You can?" Rockman flushed red and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Yep! The way you act shows it off pretty obviously, too. When ya first showed up, you took the authority position and took it upon yourself to bring order. When the children started to become restless and worried, you immediately looked for ways to calm them, and you continued to make sure that all of the children were happy despite any burden on yourself. Those are the actions of someone who has given themselves completely up to responsibility. And at such a young age, too!" Rockman blushed yet again at the old man's words, and the vendor gave him another grandfatherly look.

"Boyo, it's not bad for you to be takin' charge, but that don't mean ya shouldn't relax every now an' then! Feel free ta' stop by for a cone again sometime if you're feeling down. I have the feeling you'll be needin' it!"

Rockman blinked in shock, before letting out a small, genuine smile.

"Ah…thank you…" Rockman wasn't sure what else to say, so he simply bowed. It wasn't until his head rose back up that he knew how to part from the conversation.

"I…I'll definitely come back!"

With that, he left to sit down at one of the tables at the plaza, and the old man couldn't suppress the broad grin that appeared on his face as the children immediately surrounded Rockman yet again.

0-0-0-0-0

"Ne…Rockman-niichan," one particularly shy girl began, sidling closer as she held something close. She held the object out, and Rockman realized that it was a notebook. "C…can you sign this?"

"Sign…?" Rockman looked on in confusion at the notebook, and the other children began clamoring around him.

"Yeah, yeah, sign!" the kids cheered, pressing closer.

"Hey, hey, you can sign my shoe!"

"Sign my glove!"

"Sign my face!"

"Oi, oi…" Rockman chuckled weakly, stopping when he noticed the shy girl who had started everything start to shrink in on herself.

"So…y-you don't want…"

"Ah…no, that's not it…" He found all the children looking at him expectantly, and he ended up stammering out the rest of his answer.

"I, um…I-I've never really signed anything before…"

"Waaaah?" Again, the children exploded into chatter.

"How lame!"

"No autographs, ever?"

"Why didn't you ever sign stuff, Rockman-niichan?"

"Well," Rockman chuckled sheepishly. "I always just came in and solved the problem and then left when it was done…I never really thought about waiting for people to thank me or asking for autographs…"

"Wah, that's pretty cool…" As the other children nodded with agreement, Rockman sighed: wasn't that the kid that just called him lame just a few seconds ago?

"Ne, Rockman-niichan," one particularly inquisitive boy asked, fiddling with his glasses in a way that strongly reminded Rockman of Kizamaro. "Does that mean that we're gonna get your first-ever autographs?"

Before Rockman could respond, he was inundated with swarms of exclamations varying from "So cool!" and "No one's gonna believe this!" and even "I am totally keeping this forever!" It wasn't until "We gotta make sure that Rockman-niichan has a super cool signature!" that the kids quieted down and focused on Rockman intently. He found himself sweating nervously as the kids surrounded him.

"E…eh? Guys?"

He found himself sitting at that very table, writing on napkins provided by the nearby (and very, very amused) ice cream-jiisan, obediently changing designs for an autograph with every over excited suggestion given to him.

"Maah, Rockman-niichan, all the cool people write their autographs in Electopian!"

"Eh…I don't know much-"

"You can write letters, right?"

"…Sort of…"

"Write 'Rockman,' then!"

"Eh…" He did as told…or he tried, anyway.

"…Rockman-niichan, that looks terrible."

"I know…I'm better at our characters."

"But that's not cool!"

"What if it was super neat?"

"Maaaaybe that would be okay…" And Rockman did as he was told yet again.

"Waaah, how did you get your lines so smooth?"

"It looks like you typed it!"

"Yeah, it's nice, but it's boring-looking! Just 'Rockman'?" one boy demanded incredulously.

"He's an awesome hero, so we should come up with an awesome title to put in front!"

"Yeah! Like, the 'Energy Hero'!"

"Nah, that's dumb! He's like…a 'Super Fighter'!"

"That doesn't go with 'Rockman' at all!"

"Well, I don't see you coming up with anything!"

"I dunno…we don't really see much of him when he actually fights…it's all invisible."

"Yeah…an invisible hero? That's hard to talk about…"

A silence settled across the group of kids until the shy girl spoke up again.

"Um, uh, he's not completely invisible…uh…I saw a…a light."

"Eh? Light?"

"Yeah! It streaks!" one kid interrupted. "Like when a plane leaves a line in the sky, or a…uh, what are those called? Those things that show up at night?"

"Ah? Shoot…"

"Roo-?"

"A…star?"

"Yeah, he's a star!"

"But stars don't move!"

"The falling ones do!"

"But falling down is lame!"

"Nah, falling stars don't fall, they, like, shoot across the sky like a jet plane!"

"That's it! He's like a shooting star! Rockman's a shooting star!"

"E…eh?" Rockman stammered, blinking. "I'm a…star?"

"Yeah, when you fight, you look like a shooting star to everyone else! You're like…Shooting Star Rockman or something!"

"Yeah!" the other kids cheered.

"Put that on your autograph, Rockman-niichan!"

"Nah, he only knows how to write boring characters, he should do something else with the shooting star part!"

"But he can't write Electopian good!"

"What if he drew something? Some famous people do that, right?"

"Draw a streak of light?"

"Nah, it's more like a pointy arrow, right?"

"You mean like that yellow thing on his chest?"

"Wah!" Rockman had to hold himself still as the kids all pressed close, wanting to touch the emblem that so much resembled the precious pendant he had gotten from his father.

"You really do have a shooting star on you, Rockman-niichan!"

"Yeah, you're totally Shooting Star Rockman!" another kid cheered. "Draw your chest thing on your autograph!"

"Ah…un, like this?" He drew the star-like emblem exactly as it appeared on his chest, but some kids shook their heads.

"Nah, don't draw it straight up and down like that, that makes it look like it's falling! You gotta make it look like it's shooting, like when you fight!"

"Eh, so at an angle like…"

It took a few tries for Rockman to draw the symbol at a position that would please the children, but eventually, they settled on a simple enough design: Rockman's name in elegant-looking characters with an outline of the shooting star emblem cutting into the end of the signature from the top right corner.

"Now that's a cool signature!" declared one child triumphantly, nodding his head in a decisive manner. The other children cheered in agreement as Rockman chuckled.

"Thank you for your help, everyone…"

A lively stream of chatter began as Rockman finally started distributing autographs to the children, starting with the shy girl's notebook.

0-0-0-0-0

Rockman had finally parted from the children sometime after finishing the autographs. He lingered on the Wave Road for a while afterwards; watching as people went to and fro, enjoying themselves and the peaceful atmosphere. Eventually, Rockman found himself sitting on the Wave Road, letting his feet dangle over the edge as he relaxed. For as long as he'd been using it, he had never actually sat on the road before-he'd always seen it as a way to travel easily and quickly. But sitting up high above the trees, enjoying the view, he realized that this place could also be a place to simply slow down and enjoy the surroundings. The view from the roads was absolutely stunning. Watching the sky, noting the view of the clouds that he only currently shared with nearby birds, he found that his mind had settled into a calm, easy train of thought. This led to a few moments of quiet reflection, and at the end of it, Rockman smiled.

"I didn't realize that I had forgotten. I had been so distressed about failing Orihime-san, that I forgot why I had agreed to help her in the first place." Rockman laid back down on the Wave Road, his legs still dangling over the edge. He marveled at how the road felt slightly warm, humming and buzzing with constantly moving pulses of energy.

"What made me want to go to her in the first place…it was Berserk's power. Feeling it course through me without any way of stopping, I felt just a small amount of how intense it was. And that there were two more out there like it, and people were after them? I knew I had to do something. She was the only one who knew anything…I had to help her. But I know now. Helping her isn't the same thing as what I want."

Feeling in a content, lazy sort of mood, Rockman rolled over on his stomach in order to look down instead of sitting up, and a gentle smile was on his face as he did so.

"That, down there…" He watched as people continued on their way in the park, oblivious to the hero observing them.

"People's happiness and well-being. Their smiles and laughter. A world in which people can be happy and connected by their bonds…that's what I vowed to my dad that I would protect. Doctor Orihime may claim to want the same thing, but…" Rockman paused, and frowned thoughtfully.

"Is it really safe to have the OOParts all in the same place…?"

"With the way they bicker with each other? I doubt it!" War-Rock griped. "Still, good to see that you've got your head on straight again, kiddo. We'll just keep going as we always have and cross that bridge when we get to it!"

"Of course you would say that, War-Rock," Rockman chuckled, stretching.

"Hmmph. We may not agree with your motives, but we are satisfied with both your recovery and your unwillingness to trust us with that scientist who dares to usurp our technology," the voices of Berserk rumbled, gaining another weak chuckle from Rockman.

"Right, of course…" He stood up and stretch, only to spy several viruses glaring at him from the other side of the Wave Road.

"Oh, geez…" Rockman sighed, still wearing that wan smile.

"Our work is never done, kid!" crowed War-Rock.

"Ah, of course. Let's go, War-Rock!"

"Ohh!"

War-Rock was right in a sense, Rockman supposed as he materialized a sword in his hand to charge at the viruses. Until they could get more information, all he could do was protect others the best that he could with what he had. It was what he had sworn to-no, what he had chosen to do. What he would do…as Shooting Star Rockman!

0-0-Episode 012 End-0-0

Episode Preview:Well, I'm back on track now, but what to do now? There aren't any leads…eh? Kizamaro? What do you want? What do you mean, you have some questions? You're acting strange…Next time, on Ryuusei no Rockman Tribe: Kizamaro's Plea! Let's go to Nanska!

Nanksa, is it…

[A/N]: heehahahahha fun fact they were trying to have rockman write his name in english. it doesn't go well. so now his signature is based off the anime's logo. isn't that perfect. we finally get to call him shooting star rockman in the anime. i'm so happy.