"Hey Fuyuki, do you think Pekoponians would be weak to alien dolls that tickle you until you can't breathe?" Keroro asked having just barged into Fuyuki's room. "I need some references for my reports."
Fuyuki was distracted by his computer and hardly paid any attention to his green friend. "Not right now Sarge. I have to finish my own work for school."
"Oh! Sorry I interrupted. I'll let you get back to work so mom general doesn't get mad at you for your poor grades." Keroro saluted.
"Thanks." Fuyuki smiled and returned his complete focus to the monitor. His fingers typed away with such force the keys almost flew off. After a short while he scratched his head frantically.
"Fuyuki! You better still be working on your paper!" Natsumi shouted from the other side of the wall. She knew her brother often needed some forced motivation to get his work done.
Fuyuki sighed and rested his head on the desk. "I can't think of what to write."
He stared at his computer's search results, topics he had already written about went on for pages. He couldn't think about anything new and his teacher wouldn't like a repeat essay. Some over looked mystery or forgotten history with no explanations. "That would just be another mystery, dumb brain."
Eventually the sun set and Natsumi started dinner. Fuyuki finally lifted his head from the desk and checked his phone. There were a few missed messages from Momoka. Fuyuki scanned them and smiled wider as he read more. He dialed the phone and waited till she answered.
"Hey Momoka, I just got your messages. Do you think I could get inside?" Fuyuki walked around his room. Excited for the news she gave him. "I really needed something to write about for my essay. Thank you so much Momoka. I'll see ya tomorrow."
Fuyuki ran downstairs and sat at the table for dinner. Keroro had already started eating the chunks of beef before the vegetables and noodles.
"Did you finish your paper?" Natsumi asked after leaving an extra serving outside the door for Giroro. She already looked slightly annoyed.
"Are you still trying to convince Giroro to eat inside?" Fuyuki asked as he looked at the plate outside. It was pulled away just when Natsumi turned to the table.
"Nope I just had an extra serving and didn't want to bother storing it for later." Natsumi huffed slightly. "Now tell me you finished your homework."
"Not exactly, but I found a topic and will start research with Momoka." Fuyuki explained as he started digging into his food.
"Just make sure to write it before the deadline this time." Natsumi sighed and began to eat her own meal.
"Where are you and miss Momoka going?" Keroro asked genuinely interested in his friend's life.
"She said she found this weird cave. No one's ever seen it there before because it used to be a smooth rock face at the base of a hill out in the country. People are saying a young couple got trapped in there once after the opening vanished and they died from dehydration." Fuyuki was happy to share his plan.
"There's no way that cave can actually close it's opening." Natsumi responded waving away the mystery. "It's more likely that someone carved it out the night before and started the rumor themselves."
"Momoka checked that out and hired a bunch of experts who all say that it was a naturally occurring cave, no man made evidence was found. They predict it's tunnels could go on for miles and miles which no one, not even a big team of people could carve out in one night without attracting a bunch of attention. The noise alone would turn heads." Fuyuki challenged her disbelief.
"This all sounds super mysterious." Keroro urged for Fuyuki to go on.
"I know! It will totally make a good report for school. It's a brand new mystery and if I can discover it's secrets first I might even make the school papers or even tv!" Fuyuki leapt from his seat ready to study the cave.
"So when is your little trip?" Natsumi asked.
"I'm not sure yet exactly but most likely this weekend since we have Monday off from school." Fuyuki answered.
After dinner was finished and Natsumi collected the empty plate from outside with satisfaction, everyone returned to their rooms for the evening. Keroro was still thinking about the odd cave. Even planet Keron didn't have caves like this one. His mind wandered over the random ideas it made him think. Some had nothing to do with caves in general but he was eventually inspired by it to develop a plan.
The frogs were enthralled by a meeting for the entire following day. It was initiated immediately after the kids had gone to school and continued uninterrupted through the day. That was until Natsumi returned home to find dishes unwashed and laundry still sitting wet in the machine. Her attempt to thwart their froggy plans was halted when she couldn't find them. She searched Keroro's room and all of the base. Even any notes and signs of scheming were gone.
"Hey Fuyuki, do you think the frogs could be abducted?" Natsumi returned to the living room where Fuyuki was starting on some homework. She held her hands on her hips as she thought on their absence. "I mean I can't even smell Giroro's gun polish, like he hadn't used it all day and Fridiot's room is clean."
"So he wasn't building models all day, Sarge has other hobbies you know." Fuyuki ignored the fact that there is a day Keroro's room was clean.
"Yeah and that's cause trouble for us and try to conquer the earth but there aren't too any signs of that either." Natsumi contested his reasoning.
"That's true." Fuyuki looked off with realization and began to think about the odd empty house. He decided to call Momoka. The phone rung for half a second before it was answered. "Hey Momoka, have you seen Tamama today? Oh, really. No we haven't seen any of them. It's like weird quiet here. You're right we should. Ok, yeah we can go then."
"So what did she say?" Natsumi leaned over the couch.
"She and her men haven't seen Tamama since this morning when he said that he came here to hang out with Sarge. Momoka thinks that they're probably doing some alien thing and will be back later so we should wait. We agreed to at least wait on the cave until we hear from them again." Fuyuki explained, tucking his phone back into his pocket.
"Alright then." Natsumi sighed and looked at the back door. Giroro's cat, miss Furbottom, was looking back at her and pawing the glass. "Oh poor kitty, are you hungry?"
Natsumi quickly grabbed a bowl of milk and some cat-safe snacks. She opened the door and placed the food down for the white cat. Miss Furbottom meowed happily before dashing into Giroro's tent and returning with a small paper.
"What's this?" Natsumi grabbed the paper and opened it. It was a short note addressed to her. She read it aloud as miss Furbottom ate. "Hey Natsumi, if you read this it means you got home before us and searched the house top to bottom. Don't worry we just went shopping at an alien market and will be back before tomorrow, Giroro. Oh ok then. Thank you kitty."
Natsumi pet the white cat before returning inside. She tossed the note to Fuyuki. "Turns out they went shopping and Giroro was the only sensible one to leave a stupid note."
"That's good then. I'll message Momoka and let her know." Fuyuki smiled, relieved of all the terrible possibilities he was trying not to think of.
As promised by Giroro's note, the frogs did return before the following day; Natsumi made sure she would be there to reprimand them. She flicked on the nearest light after the yawning frogs paraded into the hall just before midnight. All but Dororo were present.
"Explain yourselves frogs." Natsumi demanded with her arms crossed and her expression scowled.
"Miss Natsumi how nice to see you." Keroro quickly smiled innocently. "We just went shopping and lost track of time a bit."
"The least you could have done was leave a freakin' note. You're lucky Giroro remembered to." Natsumi sighed. "You guys hungry?"
"Huh?" Keroro asked.
"You missed dinner and I'm still up so I might as well make you some food. I'm not heartless." Natsumi left the hall followed by Keroro, Tamama, and Giroro. Kururu opted out of the generous offer and returned to his lab. Natsumi made a quick meal before they fell asleep on her. Tamama nearly fell out of his chair. "Oh and I fed your kitten for you red."
"Thanks." Giroro whispered as he struggled against the fatigue. Natsumi helped herself to some of the food and giggled as one by one they started to succumb to sleep. She picked up Keroro and Tamama and tucked them in on a couch for the night. Giroro was only nodding in and out but completely refused to let Natsumi carry him. He staggered out to his tent and collapsed happily on his sleeping mat.