The Final Countdown
This story is a crossover between Astro Boy and the 1980 film "The Final Countdown". I've based the appearance of Astro, Uran, Atlas, and Professor Ochanomizu (aka Dr. O'Shay) on the characters as they appeared in the 2003 version of the Anime.
Prequel (Chapter 0.)
1980 or 1941 CVN-68 USS Nimitz, near Pearl Harbor
Captain Yelland watched from the bridge of the USS Nimitz as the last of the F-14 Tomcats was blasted down the runway by the catapult. He scanned the skies with the large binoculars to watch as the aircraft disappeared into the horizon. Warren Lasky walked onto the bridge just in time to see the last fighter lift off.
"I don't believe it," Blackcloud the weather officer yelled out. Captain Yelland walked toward the radar scope. Sure enough, the same strange pattern they had seen just before the ship had gone thought the strange eerie green storm that had sent them back in time was again being painted on every other sweep of the radar scope.
"Turn out of the path of the storm, flank speed!" Yellow cried out "We'll try to out run it this time!"
The ship made a hard 90 degree turn to port at full speed.
"It's no good sir!" the radar operator gasped. "The storm is following us, and outrunning us too!"
"Damn it!" Yellow cried out. "Scrub the mission, call those planes back"
"Wait a minute sir, you can't do that!" Mr. Lasky said. "We've got an incredible opportunity here. We know where all the mistakes will be made for the next 40 years, and you've got the power to correct them!"
"What are you doing on the bridge, Mr Lasky?" Captain Yelland asked.
"Just observing." Lasky replied.
"You know, Mr. Lasky," Yelland replied, "Somehow I think history is going to be a bit harder than you think to change!"
The chatter among the pilots could be heard over the radio intercom up in the bridge of the Nimitz. "Looks like like the Japs are going to win this one again!" Squadron leader 'Cowboy' moaned.
Just as the first of the Tomcats hit the deck, the sky again turned the same eerie greenish blue, and a strange horizontal tornado rapidly overtook the aircraft carrier. Lightning flashed all about them and a high pitched squeal pounded their ears. Sparks danced over the electronics in the bridge. The ship rocked violently back and forth, throwing the crew about, several of the bridge officers including the captain were knocked to the floor. After several minutes of this torture, the skies cleared and all was quiet, except the roar of jet engines as the squadron of F-14's made their return.
Captain Yelland picked himself up from the corner of the bridge where he had fallen. The ship's radio returned to life, and the radio operator cried out, "Captain, I can raise Pearl now. They're asking where the hell have we been? Seems we've been missing from their radar scans for most of the day!"
"Tell them we're not quite sure yet." The Captain replied, "Tell them we were caught in a freak storm." At least that was close to the truth he thought. He really didn't know what he'd tell them when they returned to Pearl. It had been one strange day all right, had they really gone back in time?
"Captain, you need to see this!" a young Ensign cried out as he stuck his head into the doorway of the bridge. Yelland followed the young man onto the deck of the ship where he saw the charred object stuck in the wheel well of a parked battle damaged Tomcat fighter.
"That looks like a human head!" One of the linemen cried out with a bit of terror in his voice.
Yelland bend down under the aircraft and retrieved the object. He cradled it next to his body to shield it from view and carried it back into the ship. "I'll take care of this." He said.
Back in is cabin, Yelland used a wet towel to clean the soot off the object. It was clearly the head of the strange robot boy from the future that had visited his ship earlier in the day, and had flown off with the squadron to go after the Zeros in their aborted attempt to change history. Yelland had no idea how his head had been blown off and ended up where it was just discovered, but things had gotten a bit crazy during the encounter with the Zeros. He decided that it would be better if this part of the story was buried from view, and he knew just how to hid it. He had a friend over at project bluebook that had access to a certain DOD warehouse in the southwest desert.