She laid there, breathing deeper each passing second, her forehead and cheeks a dark red color. The atmosphere in the room was beyond heavy. Everyone stood over her, hands sweating and knees shaking. Especially a certain red frog named Giroro. He was in the worst shape of all. His head, stomach, arms, legs and chest stung like he had just ran a hundred miles. There she was, his true and only love, dying in front of him. He and everyone else waited patiently for Kululu to finish his analysis on her. He had several wires attached to her arms, legs and forehead. The wires ran from her body to the side of his tiny laptop. They saw him typing away. His hands never stopped moving for a second. When suddenly, he stopped.

"So that's it." he said in a serious voice. Everyone stared at him, expecting the worst of news.

"What's wrong with her?" Fuyuki asked the small yellow frog. Light suddenly shot through Kululu's glasses as he turned to face the group.

"A deadly space disease. One of the worst in the galaxy. Her body is suffering pretty badly. It's almost in all cases fatal." Kululu's words pierced through Giroro's heart like a needle. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"You mean..." Tamama said before Keroro finished his sentence for him. "...Natsumi will..."

"I'm afraid so. She's already going through the worst pain imaginable. It's only a matter of time before her body just gives up." Kululu said as he was looking down at the sick girl. Giroro, in an act of rage, ran up to Kululu and picked him up by his neck.

"WHAT'S THE CURE! TELL ME!" Giroro yelled as he shook the yellow Keronain around.

"Giroro! Stop!" Fuyuki cried to his frog friend. Giroro turned to Fuyuki. He stared into the boy's eyes, and he could tell he was just as scared as Giroro was. If Fuyuki can stay calm at a time like this, than he had to as well.

Giroro nodded to Fuyuki and dropped Kululu on the ground. Kululu took in a few deep breathes to get some air back into his lungs before he got back on his feet and placed his hand on Giroro's shoulder.

"There's no known cure. This is one of the most mysterious diseases in the universe. If there is a cure, I don't think even I could find it. There's nothing we can do." Kululu said. Giroro could barely keep his tears in his head, but he had to stay strong. For her.

But Kululu's next words were what pushed him over the edge. "She's suffering pretty bad. I think it would be best to pull the plug."

Giroro's mind went into overdrive. He couldn't lose her, he WON'T lose her! He pulled out his gun and stuck it in Kululu's face. "TAKE THAT BACK!" Giroro said in a voice that would send chills down anyone's spine. But Kululu stood there, not saying a word. "TAKE IT BACK!" he yelled again, but still, nothing came from Kululu. Giroro started to lose his patience. Dororo walked up to the his red Corporal.

"Giroro, please! Don't take it out on him! For once, he's helping! Don't you wanna do what's best for her?" Dororo asked him. Giroro turned and re-pointed his gun at Dororo. "DON'T YOU START, TOO!" he yelled.

Keroro, Tamama, Fuyuki and Mois stood there, panicking even worse that before. Giroro was about to kill everyone over Natsumi, they could see it in his eyes. Nobody moved an inch until Keroro finally got the courage to step forward. He pointed his finger at his Corporal and managed to speak in a voice that made him sound like an actual leader.

"Corporal Giroro! Stand down! That's an order!" Keroro said, which surprised Giroro to hear his leader talk like that. They stood there, face to face, Keroro never losing that serious expression he gave Giroro. Giroro soon gave in. He dropped his gun. Keroro and everyone else sighed with relief. Giroro faced the ground, then turned to his love, still in pain.

His job was to protect her. She meant more to him than the invasion ever did. He would give up anything to keep her alive. Losing her would leave him nothing. If he let her die, it would haunt him for the rest of his life. Her voice would be in his dreams every night. He would never get her out of his head. It would be absolute torture. He couldn't let it end this way. He stormed out of the room as fast as he could.

"Giroro-senpai? Where are you...?" Tamama asked, but the door closed behind Giroro, leaving everyone else to question where he was going. They thought about it for a moment before turning their attention back to Natsumi, who still looked in the worst of shape. And she was doing even worse on the inside.

"Nee-chan..." Fuyuki said. He was scared, of course, but he had to stay strong. He's always been a wimp. Never taking on any kind of danger unless someone was with him. Always having his sister save him from the danger. This time, however, his sister needed him to be brave. He wouldn't let her down!

"Natsumi-dono." Keroro said. He had mixed feeling about what was going on. To see Natsumi, laying in front of him in agony is what he's always dreamed of. But now that it was really happening, it was nothing like he envisioned it. He couldn't find one reason to be happy right now. So unlike everyone else, he was more confused about the situation than sad.

Giroro raced to his tent. He passed his cat, who meowed at the sight of his master's worried face. Giroro ran into his tent and started going through every pocket, compartment, and storage area he had, looking for money.

When he got out of his tent, he found more money that he even knew he had. He leaped onto his flying saucer and flew off at full speed with his huge stash of money hidden in his belt.

He arrived at the alien market. He found the place he was looking for. He walked up to the counter. There he met the same old lady he met the last few times he came here.

"You, again, huh? I think I know what you're looking for." she told him. Giroro slammed his fist on the counter.

"Cut that crap, lady! Hand over the Space Cerberus liver!" he yelled to her, catching the attention of a few passing shoppers. He pulled out his enormous pile of money from his belt, the most the lady had seen in a long time. "Last time I was here, you mentioned a Space Washington Treaty. The price of the Space Cerberus liver shot up by 30 times. Well, from the looks of it, I have plenty of money to spare. Now hand it over!" he yelled.

"I thought so. People only come for one thing, nowadays." she said, making Giroro's patience go down. "As much as I admire your love for this stuff, I'm afraid you're out of luck. The demand for it's liver went too far up. The Space Cerberus went extinct a few months ago." she said.

Giroro pulled out his gun again (which seems to be his answer for everything) and aimed for her head. "That's not what I wanna hear!" he yelled louder than before. The lady didn't move, or even flinch. Whether he threatened her with a gun or not, either way, she didn't have it. He was out of luck. Giroro's hand started to shiver as he brought his gun down.

"There has to be a cure out there! I...I have to find it!" he screamed as he jumped back onto his saucer. He took off at full speed again, off to who knows where.

Giroro flew everywhere he could, looking for some kind of magical cure. Nothing came up! But no matter how tired he was, he kept trying, Natsumi's life fueling him to try harder. He started flying all over the market, looking for something that could help her, when suddenly, he got a call from Kululu. He answered it, knowing it was news about Natsumi.

"Anything?" Giroro asked.

"No, she's still in the same state. And getting worse." he said back. Giroro's anger was growing out of control. Kululu can be absolutely useless sometimes. He felt like throwing the phone to the ground, then Kululu spoke again.

"Listen. There's not much time left. She's suffering more than you can think. It's about time we do the only thing we can for her and put her out of her misery." Kululu said, but Giroro wouldn't listen.

"I can't let that happen! I can't live without her!" Giroro yelled, once again catching everyone around him's attention. Kululu was silent for a few seconds before speaking up again. This time, he sounded like his regular, care free self.

"Well, if you can't do it, I guess I can call Saburo over and have him..." Giroro crushed the phone with his bare hand in the middle of Kululu's sentence.

"THAT BASTARD!" he shouted as he quickly turned his saucer around and headed back to the house.

When Giroro got back, she looked even worse than when he left. She was attached to a heart monitor, making that same chilling noise Giroro was afraid of.

"...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP..."

Giroro raced over to her and placed his hands on her side.

"NATSUMI!" he screamed in fear as he saw her face. It was even darker than before. She was barely breathing and he could tell from the monitor that her pulse was getting slower and slower. It was a sight Giroro had only seen in his nightmares. And here it was, happening for real. It felt a million times worse than in his dreams. Cause this time, he knew he couldn't wake up.

"...Natsumi...please...hang in there..." he whispered to her. Everyone else entered the room, looking down at the heartbroken Corporal's back. Giroro raised his head and looked at his friends. They were all in the same condition as he was. Fuyuki was in full tears. Keroro's face was blank. Tamama had tear filled eyes that only came up when Keroro was dying. Dororo stood there, eyes closed and looking toward the ground. Mois was biting her finger with stress and he could tell she had been crying as well. A hole in the ground opened up and Kululu's chair rose up out of it, with Kululu sitting in it. He turned to Giroro.

"I've already told them. It's about time we did the right thing." he said to Giroro, who just couldn't keep the tears back anymore. He planted his face on her chest and started crying. Keroro walked up and placed his hand on his Corporal's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Giroro." he said as he let go of his shoulder and walked back to the group. Giroro had excepted the truth. It was time to say goodbye.

"I should do it!" Giroro said with a firm voice that everyone recognized. "It's my duty to protect her. This is no different. I've saved her multiple times in the past. Now, I have to save her one last time."

Everyone teared up at his touching words (except Kululu, he doesn't have tear ducts).

"You really wanna do this, Giroro?" Fuyuki asked. Giroro turned to him and nodded.

"You're a brave soul, Giroro." Dororo said with a nod.

"I'm so proud of you, Giroro-senpai! You're the bravest man I know!" Tamama said with a wave of tears raining from his eyes.

"You could say, together until the end?" Mois quoted as she held a tissue up to her face.

"I suggest we leave them alone." Kululu said as he got up out of his chair and walked with everyone else out of the room. Before he left, Kululu turned off all the security cameras in the room, making sure to actually give Giroro REAL privacy. The door shut behind him. Giroro was all alone with Natsumi.

This was the last chance he would get. He had to tell her. "Nat-Natsumi." Giroro whispered to her. "I have to tell you something. I don't know if you can hear me. But if you can, just know that...that..."

Something was stopping him from speaking. He didn't know what it was or why it was doing this. But this was his last few moments with Natsumi. He had to get the truth out one way or another. "Natsumi. You're the most wonderful...I mean, you're the most powerful...AH!" he screamed, unable to say just three simple words.

"Natsumi, what I'm trying to say is...well...since the first time I met you, I knew I wanted to be with you forever. You're strong, passionate, beautiful. You're so many things to me, no amount of words could truly explain how much I...I mean, you..." Giroro was running out of things to say, when suddenly...

"...I love you, too." Natsumi said.

Giroro couldn't believe it. Did Natsumi really just say she loved him? Giroro looked down at her face. Her eyes were barely open and she was smiling up at him.

"Natsumi!" he said, relieved to see her with her eyes open. But that didn't change how badly she was hurting. "I'm sorry, Natsumi. I promised to protect you no matter what! I shouldn't have let his happen to you! This is all my faul..." Giroro said before Natsumi placed her hand on his cheek, wiping away his tears.

"Please, don't be sad. This isn't your fault. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't even be here right now. Wait...no, that came out wrong!" she said in her jittery voice that she usually only did when she was around Saburo. Giroro and Natsumi giggled a little before Natsumi moaned from the pain.

"NATSUMI!" Giroro screamed. Natsumi looked back up to him. "I'm fine." she said, which relieved Giroro, but only for a short time.

"Natsumi! I don't want to lose you! I would regret it the rest of my life! I would never get you out of my mind. I couldn't live with myself." he said, but Natsumi hushed him by placing her finger on his lips.

"Come on. You're a warrior, aren't you? The strongest warrior I know. You can take on anything. Yes, it will hurt at first, but you'll get past me. As long as you remember everything we've done together." she told him. He did remember. He had everything they've ever done together stored away in a safe place in his mind, where he would never forget. The first time they met, when he released her from her robot collar, him saving her from Garuru, everything! But he didn't want THIS to be one of his memories!

Natsumi rose her head up and kissed Giroro on the cheek. Giroro's eyes widened as she pulled away. "There. Now you have something good to remember this moment." she told him. He didn't hesitate to kiss her back, but this time right on the mouth. The kiss lasted a few seconds, but it felt like a thousand years to Giroro. She groaned in pain again as Giroro remembered why he was here. He looked to the heart monitor.

"...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP..."

He reached for the plug. That terrible, terrible plug. Natsumi smiled. She was ready.

"Natsumi. I love you!" Giroro finally said.

"Yeah. I love you, too. Giroro." she closed her eyes. A small tear fell down her face, but she kept smiling.

Giroro grabbed hold of the plug. His hand frozen. He looked back down at her, then back to the monitor.

"...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP..."

He closed his eyes, ready for pull. A set of words came to his mind.

'Natsumi, my love! Kiss me tender...and...hold me...tight...FOREVER!'

And with a slight tug of his arm, he heard just one sound.

"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP..."