yawn It's three in the morning as I write this. I dunno why, I'm just writing it now. Here you go.

(o.o)Episode Three, Chapter 18: Ascent to Piracy(o.o)

Andrew yawned, rolled over, and fell out of bed. -Oh, joy. Today's gonna be wonderful, too.- He contemplated simply laying on the floor and not going to school. But that wouldn't work. He had to be at school to make sure Haruko didn't do anything overly stupid while she was there. Andrew groaned, stood up, and walked out the door and down the stairs. The first thing he noticed was that it was extremely quiet. He poked his head around the corner and saw Haruko asleep on the couch with a blanket draped over her. Andrew approached the sleeping woman and saw that there was a large puddle of drool next to her open mouth. -Eww.- Apart from the drool, Haruko looked almost...sane.

­-Huh...I never really noticed how pretty she is...GAH!-

Andrew slapped himself and shook his head violently.

-Snap out of it, man! This is HARUKO we're talking about...she's not pretty, she's not sane, and she's practically ruined any chance you'll ever have with Alexandria.-

Andrew groaned. Alexandria. He could try and apologise to her today, but she'd probably just ignore him...or slap him. Or both. He groaned again. He'd find out when school started in...Andrew looked at the clock. Ten forty-five.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

"OH CRAP! HARUKO, WAKE UP!"

Haruko mumbled something that sounded like 'no'.

"GET UP, DAMN YOU!"

Still nothing. Andrew then poked her on the top of the head. HARD. Haruko responded by pulling the blanket over her head and rolling over.

"Fine. You forced me to do this." Andrew growled. He grabbed the icebox out of the freezer, ripped the blanked off of Haruko, and emptied the icebox onto her. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then Haruko jumped off the couch, screaming and shaking ice off of her.

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"

"NOT NOW! WE'RE LATE! SERIOUSLY LATE!" Andrew yelled from the kitchen. He reached into the fridge and pulled out one of those chilled Starbucks frappy things, draining the whole bottle in one long swig. Unbeknownst to Andrew, he had walked down the stairs without getting dressed.

Haruko snickered. "Nice boxers."

This went in one ear and out the other. Andrew grunted and drank another frap-thing.

She continued laughing. "-coughmorningwoodcough-..sorry, I guess I have something in my throat..."

Andrew continued drinking...then it hit him.

(insert Psycho theme here)

Andrew shot back upstairs with superhuman speed, leaving Haruko on the floor, clutching her sides and laughing madly. Andrew returned a few minutes later, fully dressed. His eye was twitching.

"You will never...speak...of this...again...ever." Andrew said slowly. Haruko nodded, still laughing. -Sigh. I'd say it couldn't get any worse, but then it will.-

"Come on...let's get going..." Andrew walked out the door and started down the street. He heard a putting noise next to him. Andrew turned to look and saw that it was Haruko on her Vespa.

"Whatcha doin, Drew-kun?"

"...Walking. What does it look like?"

"Get on."

"Wha?" Andrew thougt about this. -If I get on that thing with HER driving...I might not get off in one piece, if at all. But then again, maybe we'll get in a wreck...and she'll die! Or better yet, develop amnesia! BRILLIANT!-

"Come on, Drew-kun. We're only getting later and later."

Andrew hopped on the back of the Vespa and realized just how little protection there was in case of a crash.

Haruko revved the motor and smiled evilly. "You might wanna hold on to something."

Andrew snorted. "Like wha-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Haruko had shot off without warning. Andrew grabbed Haruko around the middle and held on for dear life.

"DAMN YOU WOMAN, YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US BOTH! SLOW THE HELL DOWN!"

Haruko simply laughed and drove faster. Eventually, the fear wore off and the adrenaline kicked in. It was such a rush that Andrew started to laugh. -I suppose...this is...kinda fun...- He couldn't help himself. He laughed and laughed and laughed, and Haruko laughed with him.

"Okay, Haruko, there's the school..."

"Heh heh heh..."

"Haruko? Haruko...you need to slow down..."

Nothing.

"HARUKO! SLOW DOWN! YOU'RE GONNA CRASH THROUGH THE WALL!" And she did. The HyperFlight Vespa plowed through the eastern wall of the school and right into the cafeteria. Dozens of students scrambled out of the way of the rampaging motorbike. Haruko lost control of the Vespa, causing it to flip and soar through the air. Haruko flew forwards off the bike and Andrew fell off the back. The Vespa then proceeded to park itself.

"Ohhh...ow...pain..." Andrew stood up clutching his arm. "Where'd Haruko go...?" He wandered through the rubble, searching for the Vespa's driver.

"Harukooooooo...where the hell are you?" His answer came in the form of some moving debris by the Coke machine. "Oh, there you are." Andrew made his way to the pile of smashed-up wall pieces and began to dig through them. What he saw then horrified him. There, at the bottom of the debris, was Haruko thrashed, bloody body.

"Oh my god...Haruko? HARUKO! WAKE UP!"

She moved slightly and moaned. Her breathing was raspy and faint. Andrew looked around frantically. The various students were huddled against the opposite wall.

"...DON'T JUST FREAKING STAND THERE! GO GET HELP! NOW!" Andrew snarled. All of the students but one flooded out the doors of the cafeteria. Andrew gingerly lifted Haruko's semi-conscious injured body into his arms and walked to the doors. The single student that remained got there first and stood there.

"MOVE IT! GET THE HELL OUTTA MY WAY!" Andrew yelled across the room. As he got nearer, Andrew saw that it was Alexandria. -Oh, great. Just what I need now.- Something was wrong with her, though. Her movements were jerky and her eyes seemed hostile.

"Alexandria...?"

She opened her mouth and a robotic screech came out. Andrew flinched, then looked up to see her rabbit ears split in half (that makes 4 ears now) and grow in length. They also turned dark green and developed swordlike blades at the tips. Two of the ear-blade things stabbed the ground and lifted Alexandria's body into the air, while the other pair stuck out at her sides like arms. Think Doc Ock's robot arm thingies. Andrew dashed back to the Vespa and gently laid Haruko down on the floor. He grabbed her Rickenbacker and returned to Alexandria(?). He leapt and swung at the thing...and recieved a heavy blow to the side, which sent him flying into the wall. He clenched his teeth and stood up. The robot lumbered towards where Haruko laid. It seemed more interested in Haruko that it was with him. Andrew ran at the thing and swung multiple times, careful not to hit Alexandria.

"GET-AWAY-FROM-HARUKO-YOU-SON-OF-A-BITCH!"

The robot whipped its arm around and struck Andrew again, knocking him to the ground. Andrew grunted and tried to stand, but a sharp pain in his side stopped him. He used the guitar as a crutch to help himself up. The robot was slowly advancing on Haruko's body, and there was nothing he could do about it. He thought about shooting it, but that would probably hit Alexandria too. Then Andrew remembered the pull cord. He bent over and grabbed the handle protruding from the motor.

"Well...now or never..."

Andrew pulled the cord as hard as he could. Nothing happened, so he pulled the cord again. Still nothing. ­-Third time's the charm...- This time it worked. The Rickenbacker roared to life, vibrating madly in Andrew's hand and sending sparks up his arm. Simply holding it made Andrew feel like he could do anything. The pain in his side subsided and he felt strength pour into him. He felt so awesome that he plucked a hair off of his head to make sure it wasn't bright yellow. Andrew smirked and leapt above the robot, raising the guitar above his head. The robot raised its sword-arm to block it...and recoiled as the arm shattered. Andrew swung again and eviscerated the other arm, then landed on the ground. Alexandria screeched again and four more blades shot out of her head, taking the place of the two he destroyed. One of the arms wrapped around his legs, another two got his arms, and the fourth coiled itself around Andrew's neck and tightened. Andrew dropped the guitar and made a retching noise. The arm around his neck pulled tighter and tighter. Andrew could feel his consciousness slipping away...

-MEANWHILE, DEEP WITHIN ANDREW'S SUBCONSCIOUS-

The Pirate Lord was not pleased.

"Idiotic host body. Fighting a high-ranking Medical Mechanica robot, putting himself in Death's way to protect that wretched woman...now look what's happened. And here I thought I would be safe attaching myself to an innocent newborn baby humanoid...damn it all."

The mental-Canti spoke. "You could always lend him some of your power."

Atomsk was taken aback by this comment. "And risk being discovered by Raharu? Have you a virus, M.M. Model 00003?"

"You know the way it works. If he dies, you die. Simple as that. Besides, Raharu is unconscious at the moment."

"Yes, but...erm...oh...DAMN IT ALL!" A few seconds passed and the Pirate King spoke again. "It is done. He has just enough power to save his own life and destroy the robot."

"How much power did you give him, exactly?"

"Approximately point zero zero zero zero zero zero one percent of my own."

"And that is...how much?"

"In Earth measurements, about one cubic gigaton, give or take a few thousand pounds."

"...Oh dear..."

-BACK TO ANDREW-

As Andrew was breathing his final breaths and the whole life-flashing-before-your-eyes-thing was happening, he felt his forehead grow warm, then warmer, then warmer, then hot, then painfully hot. Andrew clenched his teeth as the heat spread throughout his entire body. Andrew felt himself fall to the ground, then he looked up and saw the robot flailing its arms in the air. Andrew looked at his hand and discovered that it was glowing a bright, vivid blue. ­­-Dammit, I'm turning into a Smurf...- This was Andrew's last sentient thought before the power took over. Now, there were but two objectives running through his mind

1. Protect Haruko.

2. Kill anything that interferes with objective one.

Andrew turned his head and saw the robot looming over Haruko with one of its blades positioned above her head. Andrew growled and shot like thunder towards the robot, crashing into it and tearing its arms off. But for every arm he tore off, two more popped up, like a robotic hydra. He grasped the root of all the arms and pulled. Alexandria screeched again, this time so loud that various windows shattered. Andrew pulled again, and the arms all flew out. They wriggled around on the floor for a few seconds, then Andrew opened his mouth wide and spewed blue and white fire over all the arms, which caused them to melt into a goopy mess. He turned around and limped back to the Vespa. The Pirate King's power was running out. -Protect Haruko, protect Haruko, protect Haruko, protect Haruko, pro...uh.- Andrew collapsed, falling unconscious next to Haruko. She cracked her eyes open, then nearly closed them again. Andrew was glowing a blue almost too bright to look at. Haruko stood up and brushed the fake blood and dirt off of her.

"Heh." She smirked, looking down at the still-glowing Andrew. "Look's like Atomsk's inside him after all."

-IN THE SUBCONSCIOUS AGAIN-

"Good lord." The Pirate King was genuinely shocked. "That boy...that mere human boy...used up an entire gigaton of cosmic power...in a two minute - no, not even two minutes - period...incredible."

"How is that possible?"

"I would say...he overexerted himself. Used large amounts on something that normally takes almost nothing."

"Wow...he must have deep feelings for Raharu, to use that much power to save her."

Atomsk gave a short, barking laugh. "Nonsense! I warned him to not become attached to Raharu. He used that power to obliterate that monstrosity, and by Jove, he did it extravagantly. That flame breath was impressive, I'm not sure if even I can breathe fire..."

"Er...sir...you never mentioned not becoming attached to Raharu."

"Hm?"

"He...erm...he woke up. Before you could mention that little detail."

"Oh, bollocks. That was important...I'll simply try to contact him again."

END OF EPISODE THREE

That was a long chapter too, eh?

Next Time...I dunno! Been thinking about wrapping this up and starting on the sequel. We'll find out sooner or later!