After the his initial meltdown, Dororo was in a much better mood. He agreed to take me to the base to meet the rest of the platoon, and discuss the repair of my ship with the sochou.
We now rode on our hover-pods across Tokyo to find the Hinata household. Although I could sense the aura of happiness the poured from the sky-blue Keronian, it was tainted with the slightest hint of unease. I could just hear his thoughts; Who is this stranger..? Why does she want to be friends so suddenly..? What is there about her I may not want to know...?
Not a moment later, we had arrived. I never really knew what to make of the Hinatas' place; I mean, it was simple and it was neat..but that was it. We flew down into the small side-yard, where there lay a small maroon tent, and beside it a pile of stones, of which I figured was used as a fire pit. As we landed down in the yard, I could distinctly hear the voice of teenage girl yelling at the top of her lungs:
"YOU RETARDED FROG, WHAT DO MEAN YOU COULDN'T DO ANY CHORES TODAY?!", along with pounding footsteps that came thundering towards where I was, and a rather pitiful voice that replied: "Well, I-I was planning on pulling off an invasion plan..so I-I...had Lady Mois do them for me PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!
"KILL YOU?! HAVEN'T I TOLD YOU THAT HELL IS TOO GOOD OF PUNISHMENT FOR YOU?!" She screamed.
They went on like this for several minutes. I looked at Dororo for some sort of directions to go. His expression was filled with fear, and that was enough to tell me this should be waited out. After we finally heard something like the bloodcurdling music of fractured bones and steel trying to cut titanium, the sweet silence of opportunity followed. I quickly turned on my anti-barrier as to not be seen by anyone. Dororo noticed this, and did the same.
We snuck into the house as silently as possible, to not get the girl worked up anymore than needed. Dororo showed me the way to the base with ninja stealth. He's really good, I thought. Too good. I have to keep an eye on this guy. Once standing in front of a door with a giant yellow star on the door, we enter what appears to be Keroro's room. I pay no attention to details, except the small mini fridge where Dororo seems headed. I ask no questions, just follow his silent command. He approaches cautiously, then, swift as a hawk, dashes in the refrigerator.
I've no idea what just happened. I slightly pop the door open an inch, and mysterious light floods from it. I watch it for a second. Uh, der. I say to myself. It's like a portal. I stick my foot into the light, and I'm instantaneously sucked into it. I suddenly find myself in the midst of the most technologically advanced room I've seen in years. I ignore the sudden treasure and concentrate myself on finding Dororo. At lightning speed, he appears right in front of where I was about to step.
"Be extremely cautious from now on. The platoon has had enough headaches for one day, and we don't need Giroro painting a bullseye over our insignias anytime soon."
Rather than speak, I nod my head in response. We walk silently through moving walkways, past numerous doors and entrances, until Dororo takes a sharp left to a little archway. There, is the most exciting sight I laid eyes on since I arrived on this tedious planet. There stood four Keronians, one holding a gun to another's head, one snickering at such a scene, and the fourth not even realizing the scene before him, just ignorantly munching away on what appeared to be barbeque potato chips. Dororo approached the scenario quite attentively.
He dashed right in between the one with the gun, and the one cowering before him. I had to guess that the one with the gun was Giroro. The others...not quite sure, but I had my suspicions.
"Now, Giroro, isn't there a better way to this than to nearly blow up our leader?" Dororo said with a nervous, yet soothing voice.
"He was going to turn Natsumi into a gundam. I think I have a good enough reason to do it this way." Giroro said with a dead serious tone.
"Ku ku! It would been quite amusing if he did. But I'd like to see him try first. Ku ku kuu!" This statement came from whom I suspected to be Kururu. Giroro was clearly irked by this statement, but he chose to let it go this one time. The next frog to speak was the green one who had been cowering in fear just a moment ago. Taking advantage of Giroro's momentary distraction, he sprang up.
"Gero gero gero! Now that's taken care of, shall we proceed with our mission planning?" Keroro seemed to have forgotten that a minute ago he was about to have his brains blown out of his face.
"I second the motion! And I'd also add that we fill all the streams and rivers with soda!" I immediately found this to be Tamama.
" I say we just blow up the city with giant battle robots."
"But guys, I-" Dororo tried to say, but was cut short by an outbreak of arguing over the 'invasion plan'. I decided to speak up, since Dororo was not one to be, well, an attention grabber.
"QUIET. DOWN. NOW." Everyone instantly stops. The room is dead silent, while the platoon decides what to do about this commanding voice. Keroro slightly turns his head to his left. We make abrupt eye contact.
"GERO! WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" He is stricken with panic at the thought that someone entered the base without his knowing. He turns to Dororo who now sat in the corner.
"Do you know this person?! Why didn't you tell me we had a visitor?! I would have prepared some snacks for our guest!" Keroro's voice went from panic to pleasant surprise.
"Sir, I tried to tell you but you wouldn't let me..." Keroro wasn't listening anymore. He scurried himself off to make some 'snacks' for me. Oh boy, what wonderful 'treats' am I going to endure...
When he was out of the room, Giroro turned to me. He looked kind of awkward, but I couldn't really blame him. Keroro made of fool of himself, yet again, and I knew Giroro always kind of felt guilty.
"So.. uh, would you care to tell us who you are, and why you're here?" He said.
"Do you want the long version or the short version?" I say casually. Kururu snickers a bit.
"Ooh, I'd love a good story. How 'bout you, Giroro? Ku ku kuu!"
"Well, I guess Keroro had better make us some popcorn as well!" Tamama pipes in.
" Then I guess I should tell the long version. So-"
"Wait! No one is starting it without me!" Keroro screams as he skids into the room with a bowl of what appears to be caramel popcorn. He trips and lands on his face, sending the bowl flying.
"NOT THE POPCORN!" Tamama does a flying leap into the air to save his beloved.
"Um, can we start now? 'Cause you probably won't be able to hear this again. " I say, once the commotion has settled.
"GERO! Please continue while I pick myself up." Keroro exclaims, his face still pressed against the floor.
"Alright, so as I was saying, it pretty much started as soon as you guys had left for Pekopon. I was only a tadpole, and my mother and I had watched the ceremony for your departure. Since I saw that, I wanted to join the military and go to Pekopon. My father decided he would allow me to do that, as soon as my next birthday. He applied me to the Keron military academy, and they accepted, since I already had a shooting licence." At this point, everyone was seated around me, and not even Tamama touched the caramel popcorn.
" I was sent off, the very next month to the military. There I trained as a soldier, along with many other Keronians, all of them much older than me. I was tormented, bullied, and harassed more than anyone there, just because of my age. I made enemies, and I made allies. I had clawed my way up, until I finally graduated with the the title of Sergeant First Class, and the youngest to graduate with a rank as high as mine. The Keron military told me that my skills shouldn't be put to waste, so they sent me away to become part of this platoon, and to help you guys conquer this planet." Everyone had a look of wonderment plastered to their faces. I let that sink in for a moment. Then Keroro realizes something.
"Wait a minute, if you're a sergeant first class, then..." His expression is replaced by disbelief and shock. "I'm.. outranked..." He barely manages to choke the words out. He looks as if he has been sucked dry by a Nyororo.
"Heh. It's about time that you had someone to boss you around. We might actually be able to take over this pathetic planet," Giroro finally says, while Keroro goes into his own little trauma state.
"And, uh, welcome to the team, um," Giroro stops just as was supposed to say my name.
"Korara. My name is Korara." I address the whole platoon, rather than just Giroro.
"Korara. Welcome aboard."