Nothing amazing ever happens anymore. everything is ordinary now. It's been that way for a while, ever since a mysterious pink-haired woman named Haruhara Haruko crashed her way into my life, claiming to be a lot of things. A wandering housekeeper; an illusion born from my boyish lust; an alien...

...a nurse.

well, whatever she was. It didn't really matter, because to me she was like a shooting star shining down brightly on my ordinary world...

*****

The pink haired woman couldn't believe her eyes. Just as dumbfounded as the man grovelling beneath her feet with ginger hair and wearing a pair of oversized eyebrows.

Floating above the earth, she stared down disbelievingly at the boy in front of her standing on top of a robot with a T.V. for a head.

It took a moment for her to process

Retracing her steps:

She remembered the Terminal core. The boy. The robot. The terminal core eating the robot. Hitting the boy with her guitar and sending him flying into the mouth of the terminal core.

That was all supposed to happen.

Then the robot appeared, and out of the robot came...

The boy.

The boy who she had been using for her own ends up until now.

The boy she had been using him because she saw that the boy had the potential to help her get what she wanted, and so to help her get what she wanted, she manipulated the boy.

Teasing him, flirting with him, and even kissing him.

All in an attempt to get him to this point.

The boy who was almost too afraid to swing the bat a few weeks ago after a satellite came crashing to earth was now the same boy who had somehow absorbed the awesome power of the almighty pirate king.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

The exact opposite was supposed to happen. The boy was supposed to have either been absorbed or ejected. The woman really didn't care either way, as long as she had Atomsk, the aforementioned pirate king.

Neither the woman nor the weary eyebrow enthusiast below really thought he could do it.

The man thought this was surely the end for all of mankind, while the woman thought this was only the beginning for her.

but they were both wrong.

Sparks flew from the boy's body, no longer made from organic matter, but rather, burning energy glowing crimson like the stars. His round, white eyes especially were like two radiant suns.

A bandage flew off to reveal the otherworldly mark upon his forehead: The symbol of Atomsk.

In his hands were two Gibson bass guitars; in one hand was the EB-0, belonging to Atomsk, and in the other was the Flying V, belonging to the boy.

*****

On the inside...

The boy could still think, hear, and feel, of course. So much more intensely than before. The only thing that the boy couldn't do was speak.

All the emotions he had been feeling until now came Washing over him like a great tsunami.

Within the boy's own mind the presence of another could be felt. It was as if there were other people with him.

At first, he heard strange voices speaking to him in ways which could not be understood or fathomed.

Then a second wave of emotions passed over him like two raging tornadoes that were not his own:

One of them being passionate, ambitious, and greedy; the other being forlorn, contemplative, and introspective.

Hurts... too much...

Suddenly, the boy came to realize that none of this really mattered. So many things were happening to him that were out of his control, and a sense of calm came over him after realizing that they did not need to be controlled.

Only accepted and understood.

The storms subsided within his own mind. The voices quieted themselves. The boy could finally understand.

The boy could finally see through the eyes of Atomsk.

Through the eyes of Atomsk, the boy saw himself from the inside and out. From every conceivable angle.

He also saw the mind of Atomsk staring back at him, which to him appeared to be an indescribably alien form.

Through the eyes of Atomsk, the whispers he had heard were finally understood.

The voices introduced themselves as Atomsk, as if spoken in a human tongue, though they were quick to point out that they were not simply speaking his language, but allowing the boy to understand theirs.

They talked briefly, and through this dialogue they came to understand one another.

Through the eyes of Atomsk, he saw the stars of the universe from every conceivable angle, as if he had traveled light years across space and time without actually moving.

Finally, there was the pink haired woman floating above his head. Known by many names but known to him as Haruko.

Through the eyes of Atomsk, the boy saw her from the inside and out and finally understood her.

He saw her true feelings for him and everyone else around her. He saw her for who she truly was on the inside, and did not care.

This was the power of Atomsk...

*****

"The kid! Did he do it?"

The boy could vaguely hear the man with the eyebrows chanting from the sidelines.

He could also hear the distant sounds of a two metal bits clacking together. The chain link connected to a gauntlet around the woman's wrist was gravitating towards him.

The strangest thing about the power of Atomsk was the way in which the boy processed sounds.

The man's voice sounded farther away regardless of how far away he actually was, while the sound of the chain was very loud.

Meanwhile, the woman's voice sounded so loud to the boy, that it was like she was standing right next to him, regardless of wherever she actually was.

"He got the power of the pirate king, Atomsk!"

The woman was already upset, but those words are what sets her off. In an instance her stunned bewilderment gave way to seething rage.

"Takun, you can't do that! That power is mine!" she called out in a bloodcurdling tone.

Raising her Rickenbacker into the air, the woman lunged for the boy with ferocious speed. Closing the distance in mere seconds and swinging her guitar with murderous intent.

The resulting explosion demolished most of the buildings around them. The only one left without a scratch being the Iron-shaped Medical Mechanica factory below their feet.

The dust settled to reveal the boy unharmed, the woman's Rickenbacker being easily blocked by the two Gibsons.

The woman was momentarily taken back by the boy's sudden invulnerability but she quickly rebounded, hitting him again and again with a frenzy of furious strikes.

One blow after another, each one coming within seconds of the other, and either being effortlessly dodged or blown away.

"Don't get in my way or you'll regret it!" the woman screamed out in anger as her guitar sent another shock wave rippling through town.

The eyebrow man clung to the side of the factory for dear life. Dust and debris flying into his mouth, as the shock waves threatened to send him flying.

The fight continued even as the ground shook beneath them as if nothing were happening.

Though for the woman, this world wasn't just nothing. It was less then nothing.

Earth was just like any other ball of dirt to her. Insignificant. worthless. Just another speck of dust in the wider cosmos.

The only difference to her being that this ball of dirt could sustain life for a species that was somehow just smart enough to build houses and hospitals, but just stupid enough to build more tanks and bullets instead.

Earth was just a pit stop on a long journey. A detour. Nothing more than a speed bump for her on the way. And the people were worth even less to her. Lower than dirt.

She couldn't care less for the people of the earth or whatever happened to them in the end, so long as she got what she wanted in the end, and what she wanted was the power of Atomsk.

It always was.

But then you just had to take that away from me, didn't you, Takun!? That power was supposed to be mine, and you knew how much I wanted it, so how dare you do something like that to me!

For the boy, it was a bit different. He knew he had to fight, so he did. But it was much more than that just a fight to him.

After all of the lies. The flirting. Being hit by guitars and vespas. Having giant robots and other weird objects spilling out of his head, and being forced to fight them.

After everything he had been through. It just felt so good finally being able to fight back.

But he didn't want to hurt her, because underneath all of that raw power was a twelve year old boy who didn't want to hurt anyone.

Despite everything I still loved her, and I wanted to believe that there was a deeper reason for all of the suffering, because my head was empty...

The guitars continued clashing in the sky; a fight to the death that looked more like a dazzling, explosive light show that was too fast for the human eye to follow.

The boy crossed his two Gibsons together and merged them together into one as he prepared to block the next attack.

"I'm not gonna go easy on you, Takun! Only one of us can eat him, and that's gonna be me!"

The woman came down screaming and delivered a swing strong enough to shatter buildings only for the boy to have easily caught it with his hand and swiped it away.

As the woman swung, the boy had lowered his guard and left himself open just long enough for her to leave herself open.

The boy swings.

It was so fast that even the woman couldn't see it, and before she knew it her Rickenbacker was soaring into the air while she was plummeting to the ground.

She hit the ground with a hard thud.

The woman could not help but to be amazed by the power that the boy wielded, even if it left her body bruised.

Looking up she saw the boy barreling toward the earth like a meteorite, guitar in hand, and the nearer he drew the more she started sweating.

Dammit.

The boy stopped himself just before landing the final blow and looked into the woman's eyes. For once, she was speechless.

The man saw the boy's hesitation and called out to him.

"She's just as bad as medical Mechanica! You're not going to get what you want from her, so just take her out!"

The boy gripped the guitar tightly. His hand shaking.

The woman gave him a defeated look, because even she knew that it was all over for her. She knew that there was no point in words anymore. She simply stood there and waited for the end.

He's right, you know. I am just as bad as them, if not worse. I used you and still I don't feel a thing, and I'd do it again for that power you took from me. I don't expect to be forgiven...

Just get it over with, already... Naota.

A moment of tense silence. Going on for only seconds but feeling like centuries, and then...

The red aura vanishes leaving behind a twelve year old boy named Naota.

The woman is shocked. The boy had actually given up his power. She wouldn't have believed it in a million years if she hadn't seen it.

The boy looks up at the woman without an ounce of scorn or judgement in his eyes.

"I love you."

The woman was surprised. her expression shifting from fearful anticipation of her demise to a kind of nervous befuddlement as the boy leaned in.

The boy kisses her.

The woman hadn't expected this, and it showed with her face only growing redder by the second.

She didn't know what to say. Given the situation, she was lucky to be alive. But the embarrassment only left her feeling all the more bitter in defeat.

Her expression changed again after the boy offered her the guitar in his hand; a combination of the EB-0 and the flying V with two necks.

The man with the eyebrows looked on with clenched fists, baffled by the boy's decision but knew there was no stopping it.

The woman who was clearly just as baffled as the man, decides to take it anyway. It didn't make things better but at least it was something, she figured.

Then from the boy's head sprouted two great wings which soared high into the sky.

A phoenix rose from the boy's soul, in the form of a giant man with a bird for a head, a single chain hanging from it's head.

This was Atomsk.

The very winds rose. The glass, rubble, and everything that wasn't bolted to the ground gravitated towards it and flew into their gravitation. Even the factory on which the boy stood was uprooted by their power, and rose into the sky.

The woman was awestruck, for this was only the second time in her life that she had seen the true form of Atomsk, and for the first time in a long while she felt truly alive.

Atomsk looked upon the woman, along with the rest of the world below him, with quiet indifference.

Everything was pulled into him, with the exception of people who were simply lifted up off of the ground, and his body became a great typhoon from which nothing could escape.

The mass of the typhoon and the great energy swirling around inside only continued to condense further and further until it was like a very small sun that was the mere size of a building in circumference.

It was condensed to the point that it could no longer sustain itself without releasing energy, and the resulting blast of pressure sent it hurdling into the great void.

The factory crashed to the ground, and burrowed itself askew into the earth.

As the power grew more and more distant, the chain around her wrist had stopped vibrating.

She knew they were gone.

She had lost track of the minutes. She had lost track of her surroundings. She had lost track of everything. Her thoughts entirely fixated on that power.

For a moment, or maybe two. She stood there motionless. Defeated. Looking into the sky wondering when she would see them again.

She came so close only to lose them again...

*****

"I lost him again because of you, Takun. We couldn't pull it off," The woman said with a smile, while mounting her vespa. She puts a helmet with goggles on, and fixes the strap around her chin.

The boy responds with silence.

The woman was no longer mad, knowing that one day she would eventually get everything she ever wanted. So she broke the silence with an offer.

"Wanna come along?"

Silence again.

The woman saw that this wasn't simply hesitation. The boy had finally realized that he was just being used.

Her smile fades, and she decides to finally be honest with the boy.

"Know what, forget it. Cause' you're still a kid, Takun."

With the push of a finger, she pulls the goggles over her eyes.

"save it for next time..."

Realizing that there was no reason to stick around anymore, she flew away on her vespa to worlds unknown.

The boy's heart sank as he watched her go....

*****

Just like that she was gone...

And I was left without a star to guide my way....