They traveled through the cold, soaking rain for days. Their mother leaned against Siroro, shivering while her lips were blue. When they tried to stop and rest, the thought of one of them dying in the middle of the night terrified them, so they continued traveling. They were lost in a forest, which was surprisingly not destroyed. Putata thought they were never going to get out, until something aside from trees. It was a house, much like a mansion. No, looked more like a mansion sized castle.

"Hey, there's shelter over there! Come on!" Putata exclaimed, grabbing both Siroro's and his mother's hand and practically dragging them to the mansion. When they got to the entrance, Putata slowly opened the doors. "Huh, it's much bigger on the inside."

It was a little dark, and from the outside it looked like the mansion was old, probably years old, but there wasn't one leak through the roof. There was a staircase, and at top of it was a portrait of someone. He had a helmet, one side silver and the other gold. One of his eyes were blue and the other was yellow.

'Hm, his eyes are different colors, just like mine.' Putata thought, his own eyes being yellow and orange. He walked around a bit, looking in bedrooms and closets while Siroro let their mother rest on the stairs.

"Uh, lil' bro? I don't think we should be here. Makes me feel like we're breaking and entering in someone's home." Siroro said.

"Don't worry, if anybody did live here, then they'd stay here. Seriously, who'd be crazy enough to go into the pouring rain?" Putata replied. "Hey look, blankets!" He exclaimed. He threw them towards his older brother and told him to give them to their mother.

Their mother was on the verge of falling asleep, she was constantly trying to keep her head up. "I think we should rest. There are beds here, right?" Siroro questioned.

"Yeah, and I agree yo. I'm pretty tired too." Putata replied. Siroro led his mother to one of the bedrooms for her to rest while he went in another to do same and Putata went in the room closet to him. It was pretty plain, there was a nightstand, a bed, white walls, and a desk. There was a puppet on it, presumably a work in progress. Putata sat on the bad, and felt nostalgia at it's comfiness, not having felt this feeling since he was a tadpole. As he lied down, sleep immediately overtook him, feeling as if were sleeping on a cloud.

"Kagege, tell me again why you thought this was a good idea, heading out in the rain to give the poor warm coffee cans? Besides, Nuii's soaked! She can barely walk anymore!"

"So they wouldn't be cold if they were stuck in the rain, Gyororo! And don't worry, when we get home we'll dry her off."

"And why didn't we have any spare coffee cans to keep us warm?"

"Would you two shut up?! Shurara and I just as cold as you are!"

"No you're not Mekeke! You have a smock! Besides, the one of us who's really cold is Yukiki. And Giruru and Dokuku are immune to cold, except in winter, when Giruru becomes a statue."

"Shut up!"

"How about all of you shut up! See, we're almost home, I can see the mansion."

8 Keronians were walking through the pouring rain. Their names were Shurara, Mekeke, Giruru, Dokuku, Gyororo, Nuii, Yukiki, and Kagege.

Shurara was wearing a helmet, one side silver and the other gold. On one hand was a shield, the other was a lance. His symbol looked like his helmet. His skin was two colors, purple and green. One of his eyes were blue and the other was yellow.

Mekeke was wearing a smock, an eyepatch, and a hat the covered the majority of his face. His only eye was a bright yellow. His skin was a shade of teal, and his symbol was a cross in a circle.

Giruru and Dokuku, well, there wasn't much about them. For one, Giruru was pure liquid and Dokuku was pure gas. They both had only one eye, like Mekeke. Giruru's was yellow and Dokuku's was a ghostly shade of blue. Giruru didn't have a visible mouth while it looked like Dokuku's mouth was stitched shut, the same with his other eye. Dokuku had two little orange sprites following him, and one of his arms looked like a scythe. Giruru's symbol looked like a swirl on water and Dokuku's symbol looked like the little sprites.

Gyororo was a little… odd. He had 7 red eyes, his symbol was one of them. His hat flaps and, what was supposed to be a normal tadpole tail, was abnormally long and at the of it was an eye too.

Nuii was like a living doll. No, she was a living doll. Her faces was stuck in an eternal surprised expression. It was obvious she was a doll though, the stitches that connected the cloth on her body together viewable.

Yukiki looked like the common snowman. A carrot nose, gloves, stick arms, and a scarf were noticeable, but instead of the normal top hat, he wore a bucket hat on his head. His symbol was a snowman.

Kagege looked abnormal, his skin was white and his belly skin was purple, as if a normal color palette for a Keronian was switched around. There were flame like marks on his hands and face. He bore a purple scarf on his neck. Like Giruru, Dokuku and Mekeke, he too had one eye, but it looked a little like Mekeke's symbol. He had ears that resembled hat flaps, therefore he had no need for a hat. And just like Giruru and Dokuku, he had no visible mouth.

They finally got to the mansion, Shurara attempted to open the door, but for some reason, it was already cracked open.

"Man, I can't wait to-!" Gyororo was about to say something until Shurara shushed him.

"Shh! I think there's someone in the house." He whispered.

"Really?! Oh no, what if it robbers? Or Vipers?!" Mekeke was starting to panic.

Shurara ignored him and looked through the crack before throwing the door open. There was nobody there.

Dokuku let out some dokus, since that was the only thing he could say, and Giruru translated it to, "Maybe we just left the door open."

"Check the bedrooms. They may be in there." Shurara ordered. Mekeke cautiously walked to his room, the others doing the same thing. He slowly opened the door, and saw someone sleeping on his bed. He slowly walked up to the stranger, and poked his face.

The stranger let out a few grumbles before turning his head and flickered his eyes open. He stared at Mekeke for a moment before letting out a scream.

"H-hey! What're you doing here!?"

"What do you mean what am I doing here what are you doing here?! And what are you doing sleeping on my bed?!"

"Your bed!? I didn't even know anyone lived here!"

"Was the desk too obvious?!"

They screamed at each other for a minute or so until Shurara sounded, "Mekeke, bring the intruder down here!"

"Coming!" Without giving the stranger a word, he pulled him downstairs, where the rest of the team members were, including two other strangers. They lined the three intruders in a line.

"Alright now, talk! Tell us why you're here. Are you here to steal? Or are you planning to exploit us to the enemy?" Shurara barked.

The one in the middle, a female, was the first to speak, though her voice sounded weak, "We were driven out of our home by Vipers, and we've traveled through the rain since. Then my son here found this mansion, and we desperately needed shelter. We truly believed no one lived here. We just need a place to stay."

Just when the team was feeling sympathy for the strangers, Gyororo walked up to them and said, "Yeah right! You're just probably making that up so Vipers can come and kidnap us and turn us into-" He was cut off by the Keronian Mekeke found in his room.

"You think she would lie? She's sick for frog's sake!"

"Pfft, she doesn't look sick. You're probably lying too." Gyororo said snarkily.

"Why you little-!"

"Stop! Gyororo, it is not your decision to decide whether they're lying or not! It's mine. And I believe her story and that she's sick. Kagege, make them and us something warm eat. Yukiki, get medicine for the lady. We'll settle if they should stay or not tomorrow." Shurara requested.

"Ah, thank you for your kindness, um, what's your name?" The female asked.

"Shurara."

"Ah, thank you for your kindness, Shurara-san."

Shurara blushed a little under his helmet. No one ever used that honorific on him before. "Y-you're welcome, madam."

Putata could not believe it. His family broke into someone's home and slept in their beds, and now they were getting warm food from the people who lived in it. They all ate in awkward silence, the multi-eyed Keronian - Gyororo - kept giving suspicious glances. It was creepy. The snowman - Yukiki - had gotten medicine for his mother and was now drinking some water. He probably couldn't eat warm or hot stuff, since he was made of snow. The liquid guy was pretty weird, the guy with the scarf - Kagege -was normal in terms of attitude and personality, the one with the eyepatch was probably the only one who looked normal.

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, they all (well, the ones who could actually digest something) finished eating, and retired to their bedrooms, for it had quickly turned to night. Shurara previously told them that there were no spare bedrooms, so he allowed them to sleep in whoever's bedroom they wanted. Siroro was going to sleep in Kagege's room, his mother was going to sleep in Gyororo's room, much to the tadpole's annoyment, and Putata decided he was going to sleep in the one with the eyepatch's room.

He entered the room quietly, and found him sitting at the desk, working on the puppet. "Uh, hi." The other was so focused on his work he didn't notice Putata come in, thus Putata's greeting startled him, causing him to jump a little in his seat. "Oh, sorry-"

"No no, it's alright, you're fine."

Putata sat on the bed, still loving the soft feel. He closed his eyes for a minute, and then heard, "Alright, I think I'm done! Hey, close your eyes!"

"But my eyes are already closed."

"Then keep them closed!"

Putata did was he was told. He heard some shuffling, then heard, "Alright, you can open your eyes now!" When he did, he was met with a wooden face. Surprisingly, he didn't flinch, only widened his eyes in surprise. "Hehe, aren't you surprised?"

"Did you make this yourself?" Putata asked.

"Yeah!"

"Impressive. How long did it take?"

"Two years."

That long? Putata was surprised. He thought puppets were easy to make. He got a good look at the puppet and realized it looked like the one controlling it, except for the blonde sideburns and extra limbs. He looked at the ceiling and saw that there were no visible strings. Or visible controller. "Hey, where'd you go?"

"I'm invisible."

"Do you have your invisibility on?"

"No."

"Huh? Then how are you doing that?!"

"Don't know. It's just something I can do naturally I guess. Hey, take that can of spray paint and spray me."

Putata took the orange spray paint can the disembodied voice told him to take and sprayed him. His body instantly reappeared, though now his black and teal color scheme was now completely orange. He dropped to the floor, the puppet rattling a bit as it fell too. He took a towel that was nearby and wiped the substance off, then walked over to a closet, took off his smock and hat and almost immediately replaced them with another pair. Then Putata realized he didn't know the guy's name yet.

As the other sat down on the bed beside Putata, he asked, "So, what's your name?"

The other looked at him before saying, "My name is Mekeke. And what's yours?"

Putata froze when the other told him his name. That wasn't a name he had heard in a long time. Then a single thought ran through his mind, 'He's alive... I can't believe it. I thought he was dead... My friend...' He just wanted to cry now. Then a depressing thought invaded his mind, 'What if... he doesn't remember me? It was so long ago that I saw him, the last time I saw him was on Keron. Yeah, he probably doesn't remember me at all...'

"Hey, something wrong?" Mekeke's voice sounded, and Putata remembered that he hadn't introduced himself yet.

"Oh, nothing, just thought that name rang a bell. And my name's Putata." Putata finally introduced himself.

"Ah. Well, nice to meet you." Mekeke responded, putting his hand up. Putata guessed he wanted to shake hands.

'Nice to see you, Mekeke.' He thought as he shook his long lost friend's hand.

That night felt pretty… strange to Putata. He was in a bed with his best friend, with his back to the other, with said other's arms wrapped loosely around him. He could barely sleep.

'Urgh, this is the worst. Here I am, lying in bed with my best friend while he's trying to cuddle me, and he probably doesn't remember who I am.' Putata thought to himself. He sighed, then slowly closed his eyes.

'And the baddest thing is that… I love him. And I've known that since childhood. And it wasn't just some silly crush! I felt real love for him, even if I didn't understand how love worked then. But were both males! That's not right! It's not natural for a man to love another man! Besides, it's probably just one-sided.' He was ranting in his mind when Mekeke moved closer to him, faintly feeling Mekeke's face in his side. Putata tried to sleep, but he couldn't. He slowly moved from the bed, careful not to wake Mekeke up.

He opened the door quietly, and saw his brother at the table they had eaten at earlier. "Hey, what're you doing up?" He asked.

"I couldn't sleep. It felt weird sleeping with a guy." Siroro responded.

They sat in quietness when Putata spoke, "Uh, Siroro? Do you remember that friend I had on Keron? You know the one I lost when we left for Pekopon?"

"Yeah I remember him. What about it?"

"I...I found him."

Siroro was obviously surprised, his voice gave that away, "Wait, really?!" Then he returned it to it's normal tone, "Where'd you find him?" Putata simply pointed to the room he was in. "Wow." Siroro simply said. Then noticed his little brother's expression, "Hey, lil' bro, why are you making that face? Shouldn't you be like, you know, happy that you found your friend that you haven't seen for years?"

"No, I am happy! In fact, I'm thrilled I found him! But the thing is that he probably doesn't remember me. It was so long ago, there's no doubt someone probably stepped all over him or he hit his head on the floor when he was knocked down in that space port." Putata explained. Siroro nodded, understanding his worry.

Then Siroro noticed something strange about that, "Wait, if you think he has no memory of you, then why not just try to bring back his memory?"

"I just- I want to see if he can figure it out. He's smart, he always has been. Besides, maybe sometime in the future, he'll regain it." Putata replied. "Oh, and when Mama wakes up, can you tell her to start calling me by my current name and not 'Anono'? I don't want the others to think that my name is just what I'm calling myself so I can earn their trust and then betray them later." He added.

"... Alright."