That last story was a very long complex arc, neh? Well, I appreciate you all hanging in here, and here's something nice and easier to swallow. I series of short (I'm hoping) two-part stories, the first part of the first "episode" being right here! So I hope that you like it, and… Please enjoy! And if you haven't read anything of mine yet, no need to fret—Here's a synopsis of our story right below me!
Our story, thus far:
The Keroro platoon has a new, unofficial and much younger member. Chief Mechanic Kirere, who was made from the DNA of Giroro and Kururu and whose purpose was originally to be a super weapon to aide in the takeover of Pekopon. Instead she ended up being an epic failure in nearly everything, save for anything dealing with puzzles.
In the second story, Kirere was used to her full potential, but was stopped by the Keroro Platoon just in time, and rescued from a crazed occult writer, Nicolas Kezanstav. The group picked up another Keronian along the way, the moody many-generations removed uncle of Keroro, Major Romama. Romama isn't on good terms with the team, however, and when we last saw him he had left them, not saying where he was headed.
In the last story, Romama was finally reunited with his old Platoon, which consisted of the formerly Giroro-like but now relaxed family man Mahihi Chui, who lived in Hawaii with a human wife named Daisy and stepchildren, the ex-combat specialist and now spoiled pop star Chunini Gunso, whose ninja-like manager is her only confidant as she tours the world under the Pekoponian disguise of "Chu", the ex-thief and now protector of the rain forest Lupapa Goucho, who lives in a tribe who have taken her in as family (and whose biggest fan is her "nephew", Marco), and bookworm, chemist, cook, and pyromaniac Fujuju Socho, who before the team had met had been shut in his London home for fifteen years.
There were also some unwanted reunions, such as with jilted and bitter Rokiki Tai, who Romama cheated out of the job as Platoon Leader, and Kezanstav, who has gone mad with the need for power and revenge. These two are defeated, with Rokiki seeing the error of his need for revenge and Kezanstav perishing (but not before reconciling with Romama) and then the Major is reunited with the girl he lost many years ago, only to realize she has moved on with her life and he now must do the same.
The Romama Platoon is split up once more, but keeps in contact with the Keroro Platoon, who they see as friends. Romama is not an official member but more of a bystander to the insanity.
Episode One, Part One:
Kirere & Giroro: Intergalactic Challenge!
Giroro was cheery at the meeting. Too cheery. It unnerved Kirere as she attempted to draw through the meetings, as she usually did, but she was too busy glancing up at her father, who was polishing one of his guns as Keroro was in the midst of a long-winded speech that no one seemed to be paying much mind to. Her father was smiling… Why was he smiling?
It had been a couple of weeks since the incident that had left them with new friends in the Romama platoon. No one had heard anything from Rokiki… No one knew if Romama had kept in contact with Kodada, but it was for certain that Dororo kept in touch with Lupapa, who had promised to make a visit soon enough, and Giroro kept in touch with Mahihi, who had become an even closer friend to him. Tamama and Fujuju often visited one another, and Chunini dropped by, oftentimes unannounced (and unwanted).
Today was one of these days, and she sat in on the meeting not contributing but helping herself to some snacks set out in the middle of the table. Her presence, for once, did not seem to bother Giroro, either. Kirere could see Kururu had caught sight of this, and even he was having a hard time understanding Giroro's attitude. Why Giroro would be happy was a mystery to him, it was only the day before Kururu on a whim had decided to use the red corporal for another one of his tests. This one turned Giroro into a parakeet, and had kept him that way for a few hours.
"My apologies for being late, Teicho-dono!" Dororo hopped down through a ceiling tile, his sword in one hand. "Eh? Giroro-dono, you're in an unusually cheerful mood today!"
"Dororo! I didn't even notice you weren't there!" Keroro said with an apologetic laugh, and then looked to Giroro. "What's this… Giroro Goucho, you do seem in high spirits today. Are you confident about this mission?"
"Actually I think it's one our weakest grasps yet," Giroro answered. "It'd complete crush my soul if it weren't for something else I've got to keep my damaged spirit up."
"A new tool in our invasion strategy?!" Keroro asked, leaning on his podium a bit.
"Your brother's sending us more yummy food from home!?" Tamama chimed in, and Giroro lost his cheerful air.
"No, it's neither of those! This," he snapped, then tossed a flyer on the table, and all bent over to see it. Kirere felt a chill from the expressions on the faces of those who read it. Even Chunini's cool grin twitched a bit. Overcome by curiosity, Kirere hopped off of her chair and walked over, lifting it up and reading it over.
"Parent-Child Intergalactic Challenge and Picnic…" she read aloud. She felt that chill once again.
Keroro was now hidden behind his podium, "Gi-Giroro! You didn't seriously entertain the idea of doing such a thing!"
"I already signed us up this morning," Giroro explained to the young, pale girl. "It was the last day for entries, because it's being held a week from now, and on this planet for only the third time."
"Giroro-dono…" Dororo trailed off.
"That's just too cruel," Chunini said to herself, shaking her head.
"W-What?! Is it bad?!" Kirere yelped.
"Well… It's known as being quite difficult," Dororo explained.
"I asked my father about it once, when I was Kirere-chan's age… He refused to sign me up because he said he preferred me alive," Keroro muttered, and yelped at the glare Dororo delivered to him, and totally hid behind his podium.
"They stopped holding it every year because they were never done with the legal suits from the previous years, and they started to pile up," Tamama chimed in. Now Kirere shook even more, and took a step back.
"My father and Garuru always finished first in their categories the years they entered," Giroro took back the flyer and folded back up. "He and I also entered it when I was your age, and he and his father competed in it, and his father before him. It's become family tradition."
"Wow, that's… Really cool... You shouldn't have, Dad," Kirere looked over to Kururu for support, but found none. He was simply laid back on his seat, looking up at the ceiling; more than likely asleep.
"You'll have to follow more closely on the missions, and we can also get in other training," he announced to her, not noting the sickened expression and feigned smile she wore. He then turned and hummed on his way out of the meeting room, leaving it in silence.
"Hey, does this mean you'll have an opening for a cute perky girl character soon?" Chunini asked, breaking the stiffening silence. Kirere burst into tears.
"Ehhh… Now, now, Kirere-chan! It won't be so bad! We've seen you fight, you'll do just fine! I still have the mental scars from it!" Keroro hopped down from his platform and patted the young girl on the shoulder.
"He didn't even ask me! He should've asked!" what she continued with was a long trail of words indistinguishable only to other women who had been equally upset at some point, and a foreign language to the poor confused men who attempted to calm their hysteria.
"M-maybe there's a way to talk him out of this!" Keroro placed his hands together and smiled nervously while slowly backing away from her.
"We'll see what we can do, Kirere-chan," Dororo added, and she then began to ease out of her crying fit. "Kururu-dono, do you have any ideas?"
"Kukukuku… This is her mess to get out of. I'm not going to coddle her," was his only answer before he stood and shuffled out of the room.
"No help as usual," Tamama grumbled.
"We'll see if we can stop this silliness of his, Kirere-chan," Keroro reassured her with a smile.
"You want me to do what?" Natsumi asked flatly, looking down from the pot she had been stirring on the stove to Keroro.
"You're the only one he'll listen to, Natsumi-dono!" Keroro explained.
"They might have a good time!" she took a sip from the ladle she had been using to stir her soup and smiled. "This is coming out great!"
"You… You clearly don't understand, Natsumi-dono… That Parent/Child Competition is… Only for the top fighters, the elite warriors! It's where boys become men, and girls become… Well, terrifying, just like yo—GERO! Sorry, sorry!" he squeaked as she now held him by the neck. She dropped him back onto the ground and gave a sigh.
"I guess I could try… But he sounds dead set on this," Natsumi huffed. "She's not as weak as you think, you know! She might actually do all right!"
"Some never come back, or if they do it's by parcel post," Keroro said gravely, and she sighed and tossed aside her apron, and walked out with a sigh of annoyance.
Moments before this, Giroro had walked into his tent, intent on putting away his weapon and going over the paperwork for the contest. He nearly dropped the gun at what he found inside the tent, however.
"Oh! Silly me!" Chunini sat up and gave a polite little chuckle, and closed her magazine. "I was just looking through a magazine Lee gave me today… We're visiting Okinawa, I'm having a concert there, for charity or something. It's just a shame it happens the same time as that silly little competition."
"What are you doing here? What do you want? Kururu sent you, I'm guessing," Giroro was totally unimpressed by this, and went to go lock up his gun. As he went to stand, he stopped, feeling he wasn't alone.
"You know…" Chunini started in her most cheery, sweet tone. "I could use a little company while I'm there. I mean, Lee's nice, but… She's not one for conversation…"
"Eh?! G-Get out of here, you nuisance!" Giroro spun around, and jumped away from Chunini, who was standing a little too close for his comfort. "I… I'm flattered, but you're just not… What I'm trying to say is that… Well, you— I… I have Natsumi, and-"
Chunini's brow twitched, "You… You mean you're turning me down? YOU listen to ME! Men don't turn me down! I turn men down! All of them! Mainly because they're all creeps like you!" this was followed up by a slap to the face of a stunned Giroro.
She pushed back the flap of the red tent and stormed out, in a dark, heavy mood.
"Creep….? W-What just happened here?" he wondered, still leaned against his weaponry box.
"Did he go for it?" Tamama asked as Chunini turned the corner by the bush he was hidden behind.
"I'm NEVER turned down!" she called back in a snarl. "I'm going home to where I'm appreciated! I'm still writing this off as charity!"
"I should've told her to be in her Pekoponian form, that's what he goes for!" Tamama whispered regretfully.
"Did I interrupt something?" Natsumi asked, having watched Chunini storm out and now Giroro wander out, still in a daze.
"N-Natsumi! No, it was nothing, nothing like that at all!"
"Figures. You don't seem like the type who'd go for someone fancy like that, anyway," she knelt down next to him to get to his eye level. "What's with this contest you're entering with Kirere?"
"Eh? Did she tell you? She must be more excited than I imagined she would be… I was hoping she would. I know I could barely hold my excitement when my father entered us, back when I was a child."
"You guys did it?" she wondered aloud as he took a seat on the stone block in front of his fire pit.
Giroro gave an offward look, as if searching to remember, "Yes, when I was her age… We trained for months for it, did all sorts of preparations. I'd never felt closer to him than when we were training."
"So how'd you guys do? First place, right?"
"Dead last," he answered grimly. "I twisted my ankle in the last leg and we were the very last to finish it… It was the only time we entered. I was so disappointed and frustrated with myself… I got angry with him when he tried to sign us up again the next year. Now I've got another chance, though. I won't mess up this time, and I'll show Kirere just how good a fighter she is, too. She doesn't get to show her real strength enough."
"Remember her type of fighting might not be the same as yours… I mean, when it comes to that I think she takes a lot more from…"
"She's got it in her, she's got the will for it," he answered confidently. "We'll do just fine, I have every confidence."
"All right, if you're sure," Natsumi looked a bit worried now, and stood, and then walked back in to an anxious Keroro. "I was right. There's no convincing him."
"Gero…" was Keroro's only response.
Romama sat in the field, his legs and arms crossed, and watched as Dororo attempted to teach Kirere a bit of sword fighting. She'd come close to his neck on accident before, closer than his liking, so he'd wisely switched them to wooden swords.
"How do you do this all of the time, and are so cool about it?" she asked as they took a break and wandered over to the quiet Keronian boy. He handed her a bottle of water, which she took gratefully after plopping down on the grass beside Romama, and Dororo stood to drink his.
"Years of practice, plus inner talent that was recognized and cultivated from a young age," Dororo answered sagely. "You have a lot of ability as well, Kirere-chan."
"Just not with swords or guns or anything useful…"
"Ehhhh… Well, it's different, and that's the reason you're so useful to our team!" he answered, and Romama watched this back and forth between the two in silence, and then stood, taking up his own sword.
"Come on, you didn't drag me out here to sit on sidelines…" he nodded to her, and she stood back up and followed him, her sword in hand. "Don't think I'm going to take it easy on you…"
"I… I wasn't asking you to…" she blinked. She didn't know that Romama was saying this to convince himself to charge at her, and allowed Kirere made the first move. He quickly flipped her over onto the ground, knocking the wind out of her.
"Are… Are you all right!?" he asked as he saw she was not moving. She then wiggled back up, and he breathed a sigh of relief, and tossed down his sword.
"Don't do that, I thought I killed you! That's… That's all my heart can take. I'm sorry. Plus I have recitals in an hour," he said, still a bit shaken.
"Recitals?" Kirere and Dororo asked in unison, and Romama gave a yelp.
"I-I mean… I have my own training to do! I need to keep in shape… I don't want to end up some puffy old man like Mahihi."
He then took off his sword over his shoulder, cursing himself for letting this leak.
"He looks so normal, but I think really he's just as weird as Ojiisan…"
"I think I may have to agree with you, Kirere-chan," Dororo nodded, and the two decided to call it a day, with him walking her home.
Romama was also on his way somewhere as they ventured homeward. He managed to just slip into the doors as the people filed in, many dressed in what wasn't elegant nor casual wear, but more formal than usual.
They took their seats, and he scaled up to take his own, finding it in the form of a balcony he'd gone in and marked "do not enter" earlier in the day. This gave him one of the best seats in the house, and he perched himself up on the thin ledge, and awaited the start of the show anxiously. Then the lights went down, and it began. Out came the ballerinas, including Aya, who was the smallest among then.
"And then…" he muttered, nodding in approval as she carried out this action. Not as many mistakes as in previous shows, and her smile in recent weeks had begun to be a real one, not a fake one as she had worn for many shows previous.
He watched it the entire way through, with the excitement of someone watching a sports game. After all was finished, and the curtains closed, and bows were taken, all stood to clap, and Romama hopped down from his perch, a satisfied smile on his face.
"Huh?" Aya wondered aloud as after the show she found a small white piece of paper pinned to her bag. She removed it and opened it.
"YOU DID A GOOD JOB TONIGHT" written in poorly scribbled kana, as well as a signature, that didn't look either Japanese or English… She could've sworn it was something she'd seen before though, maybe Russian…
"You have a fan?" teased one of the girls as she passed by Aya, whose face went read. She quickly folded the white piece of paper again, and shoved it in her bag. Even with the teasing, there was still a happy grin on her face.
Kirere shut her eyes extra-tight at the sound of her door opening. She begged for it to be anything… Men in Black, Vampires, Kogoro… But from the abrupt way it was open it was clear who it was.
The past few days had been Giroro's attempts to train with her, and had left her with a great deal of mental duress, as well as a bandaged arm.
"Eh, what're you doing up?" she heard Giroro ask, and she moved away the pillow from the side of her head a bit to listen in.
"Kuku! She finished this but I wouldn't let her have it until she learned to drive it. For safety of the general population, of course."
"Whose did she make it from?"
"She made it from scratch. She's starting to make her own things, now, not just fix them, kuku!"
"That's impressive… Not something I could've done even at this age."
"Kuku, you don't think I know that? After all, you can't fit a square peg in a round hole," Kururu gave another laugh, and then slipped out.
"Him and his creepy vague sayings…" Giroro grumbled, then walked over and gently shook the girl. "Kirere, it's time to get up, we have to be there early."
This was serious… She had to go to extreme measures, her final option. He shook her once again, but this time as he did she gave a cough, and Giroro stopped.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"N-No, I feel really cold…" she lied, closing her eyes tightly. This was all to stay alive, she reminded herself. "And my stomach hurts… I think I might've ate something bad last night…."
"You feel a little warm," he admitted as he reached over and felt her forehead.
"I'll pack…" she sat up and gave another cough, and he eased her back down.
"You should stay in bed if you're not feeling well."
"But what about the—"
"It's fine, we'll see about next year. This will give us more opportunities to train for it," he answered, pulling the covers over her. "I'll go to watch it."
"What? Are you sure?"
"Yes, it's all right. Get your rest," he turned and gave a sigh.
"Off the hook…" she sighed beneath her breath. "I'm sorry, Daddy…"
"Kukuku! My, that was a bit low…"
"Huh?" she raised her head again, and there was Kururu, leaning in the doorway. "Don't be mean to me, I'm sick…"
"Because you can catch a cold from something you ate. Right. Kuuukukuku! Sounds to me like you were just looking for an easy way out."
"You wouldn't? I'd get killed!" she yelped as she sat up fully on her bed.
"I'd at least try it, if I'd learn something. But who am I? Kukuku!" he wandered away from her, leaving her with her own thoughts. She gave a sigh of defeat and stood up from her bed, and pulled on her gloves.
"He wouldn't let me do anything that would kill me…" she reassured herself. "Now I've just got to—"
She looked over to her side, at something that caught her eye, "He knew I'd do it all along!" she groaned as she saw her bright purple backpack as well as he own hovercraft, which she'd only just finished. It was a darker purple, with a red and yellow yin-yang symbol on top of it. She pulled it out and pulled her backpack over her shoulders, and then hurried out.
Giroro was on his own hovercraft, headed towards the sight of the death match/picnic, when he looked over and to his right and saw Kirere flying with him. She gave a smile, "I got better!" she explained, and she could see it, even if her father said nothing. He was happy she was there, and he picked up his speed a little.
"Come on, it's about an hour away on this planet, we can make it in forty minutes if we're fast!"
"You got it!" Kirere answered, and picked up her own speed.
"Eh, Natsumi-dono, have you seen Giroro? Or Kirere, for that matter?" Keroro stopped sweeping momentarily to look up at the teenager, who was preparing to get ready for school.
"Huh? No, actually… That's weird…" she admitted.
"Kuku, they're halfway around the world about now," came Kururu's laugh, and for the first time they noticed him leaning against the wall of the kitchen.
"They… They went after all?!" Keroro yelped.
"That'd be what it looks like, wouldn't it? Kuku!"
"I guess all we can do now is hope they're okay… Eh, Stupid Frog? What're you doing?" she asked as she noted Keroro removing his bandanna and apron.
"I feel the sudden urge to visit one of your Pekoponian temples… I think if there should be higher authorities they should be on our side," Keroro answered.
