Back again. Did you miss me? Anyway, we left off with a fight scene between the platoon and someone else.. or something else. Let's begin, shall we?
Edit: Changed a few things (again,) just to let you know. Nothing much or anything really important.
Loud bangs, explosions, and girlish screaming stole the attention of the Hinata siblings from the TV to the basement. They could only jump to conclusions at this point, although it was pretty obvious who Natsumi blamed first.
"Ggrrr... Stupid frog!" she yelled, fire in her eyes. What's this idiot up to now!
Attack! Rage Against the Keroro Platoon. De arimasu!
In the basement...
It seemed like the mere sound of the enraged teen's voice cleared out about half of the smoke that gathered in the room. Most of the extraterrestrials turned to see what might have caused such an uproar. The Keroro Platoon already knew these kind of situations, but the infiltrators weren't as prepared.
"What was that?"
"Stay on target! Remember why we came!"
With the cover of cloud slightly gone and the apparent team paused with confusion, Giroro pinpointed the location of the shooter. 48 degrees northwest! He turned around and fired at his attacker, now fleeing from the original spot. It was still difficult, though, distinguishing the different forms from friend and foe. Nevertheless, each shot was flawless; or they would have been, if the enemy didn't dodge each shot so well.
Mois, at this point, had already transformed into Angol Mois. She clutched her rod of power close to her body, not wanting to waste her power or hurt any of her friends. Tamama was enraged by the fact that anyone even dare try to hurt his leader, searching the room for anything to unleash his wrath upon. I'll protect my Gunso-san... I'll make sure that woman doesn't get credit for helping at all!
Meanwhile, two swords clashed against each other, every blow skillfully evaded or blocked by the other. Dororo could easily tell his opponent wielded a weapon much larger and powerful than his own. But that only means I can handle mine faster. After blocking another heavy blow, he flipped over the head of his adversary, quickly lashing out behind whoever attacked him. The other barely managed to turn fast enough to block the fast katana. While the battle raged in the basement, a thin layer of mist still heavily blocking everyone's view, Dororo was almost lost in thoughts; that of the present battle, and that of his own personal thoughts and feelings. But why? Everything's so familiar... But why! The ninja's thoughts nearly dragged him to his own death, as he narrowly escaped the blade that wished to kill him.
However, the battle was about to end. Natsumi burst through the door, allowing the mist to escape from the large room. Her sudden appearance frightened the aliens as she glared through the smokescreen. "What are you doing, you stupid frog!" she screamed, taking everyone's attention.
"Retreat for now! We got what we came for."
"But we're-"
"Do as I command!"
Two voices came through after Natsumi and her brother entered the room. The clashing and gunshots stopped for only a moment until the second voice spoke again.
"...Fine."
With that, the enemies retreated from the Keroro Platoon. The platoon obviously tried to stop them, but the remainder of the fog prevented them from doing so. The mist cleared about thirty seconds after the mysterious retreat. Tamama was furious, babbling on and on about them being cowards. Keroro emerged from behind the podium, asking if it was over with. Giroro was left somewhat unsatisfied, not winning or losing the fight. Fuyuki and Natsumi could only wonder what went on under their feet, as small crevices and slashes dotted the floors and walls.
"Oi, Dororo," Keroro asked, "What was up with your flower? Dororo? Dororo?" He turned his head in every direction, but his friend wasn't anywhere to be found. The only thing he left was a puff of smoke and a small note fluttering about where he used to stand. Curiously, the green frog dashed out to see what the paper said. "'I need time to think.' What does that mean?" he asked after inspecting the note.
The Hinata children still didn't know what was going on. "Gunso, what happened here?" Fuyuki said, wondering if everyone was ok. "Fuyuki-dono..." The frog couldn't just say nothing happened; the whole room was scarred like a battlefield. He had no choice. The frog began to tell the short tale.
"Y-you've gotta be kidding me!"
Of course, with a room so brutally beaten as this was, it was no joke. Slashes and small holes dashed the floors, while evidence of Tamama's concentrated forces of energy left their mark on the walls and ceilings.
Fuyuki spoke up again. "But who would want to hurt you guys? I don't think there are any other hostile aliens on earth..." He was obviously worried about his friends, wondering about what kind of motive would be behind such ruin. "Do you know any other species of aliens that could do so much?"
"It was too hard to tell exactly who it was, through that smoke. From what I could see, I think they may be from Keron," Giroro replied. "But I can't really just jump to conclusions
Natsumi was disappointed with the lack of information. "So you don't have any leads? No place to start looking?"
"Not quite. Ku ku!"
Everyone turned to see the yellow maniac, emerging from under the floor tiles. "I caught it all on tape."
"Oh! That's my Sergeant Major Kururu, de arimasu!" Keroro shouted, leaping towards Kururu to hope to see who dared to infiltrate his lair. "Let me see, de arimasu~!"
Kururu stuck his hand out to hit his leader right in the face. While he lay nearly unconscious, Kururu told them what he could. "That fog was pretty thick. It's gonna be some time before we can see anything. Ku ku!"
Most everyone stood disappointed. A vandalized base, a broken team, and nothing to start on.
"Wait... Where's Dororo, desu?" Tamama wondered, suddenly (and miraculously) remembering his teammate.
"He didn't say where he was going. You could say, no where in sight?" Mois held her finger to her bottom lip in thought.
As the rest of the crew turned their attention to the missing ninja, Keroro found another opportunity to glorify himself. "So it's settled! Our new objective is to find Dororo Heichou! So far, this note is our only piece of evidence," he said, clenching the paper in his hand. "From this, we can conclude he has gone to an undisclosed location to think something over. Giroro, Tamama, and Mois, you'll be working with me."
"Roger!" they replied simultaneously.
"Natusmi-dono, Fuyuki-dono, find somewhere else to start. Kururu, I need you to refine that tape. It might give us a lead as to where Dororo might have gone and as to who attacked the base."
With that, he immediately changed to his investigator outfit. "All of you, I want you to do your best out there! Inken, Jea Lousy, and Giro-sa-"
"Enough with this detective crap!" Giroro yelled, tackling his leader and pointing a gun at his head.
First stop: Somewhere in the forest.
A few knocks came slowly on a wooden door, just next to a water mill. As the door creaked open, teal blue eyes jumped with excitement. "Natusmi-san!"
The two girls, Hinata Natsumi and Koyuki Azumaya, were quickly seated on soft cushions that lay of the floor. "Would you like some tea?" the kunoichi asked politely, pointing to the kitchen.
"Huh? Oh, sure. But there was something I wanted to ask you, Koyuki-chan," Natsumi said. She casually looked around the room and looked for Dororo, hoping she could skip the question she wanted to ask her friend. To her, it seemed weird to come uninvited and unexpected to inspect her home and ask random questions. "H-have you seen Dororo recently?"
Koyuki looked back puzzled. "Dororo? I thought he was with his friends at your house." Her face promptly shifted from confusion to worry. "He's not there?"
Natsumi lightly bit her lip, before stating, "It's kind of a long story, so..."
"Please! I really need to know!" Koyuki responded, leaping at her friend and grabbing hold of her shirt collar. Natsumi was shocked and felt somewhat uncomfortable with such a small distance between their faces, but who could blame her? She quickly excused the action, thinking, Dororo is her close friend, after all.
Elsewhere, in the bustling streets of a hidden market...
"Please, have you seen him? Maybe you? Or you?"
Keroro jumped from alien to alien with fliers in hand, asking about the missing ninja. "Geez, hasn't anyone seen Dororo?"
The Giroro, Tamama, and Mois stayed back at a cheap wooden stand, each passing out their own papers to the random strangers who hurried along without a second thought to the text on the sheet. Pictures were taped along the edges of the booth, along with random annotations that read, "Have you seen me?" Of course, some of these photos weren't the most professional, or appropriate for that matter.
"Gunso-san, this is getting really tiring!" the young tadpole squealed, wiping off sweat from his forehead. "Passing out flyers to all these aliens is getting really difficult, desu!" The other two were lashing out the papers left and rights to as many shoppers as they could.
Keroro turned around angrily to his followers. "You guys are just lazy! You just have to stay in one spot, but I have to run around and pass out the same amount of fliers to everyone!"
Giroro stopped for a moment to protest, yelling, "This coming from the guy who just lays around watching anime and making Gunpla all day!" A few faces turned around in curiosity.
"Gero! Look at all the people you missed!" Keroro shouted back, pointing to a group of about ten aliens passing by. He rushed towards them, letting some of the fliers he held come loose from his grasp, asking them if they had seen his friend. His ambition was short-lived, however, as he soon paused in front of a large shop that closely resembled a Pekopon toy shop. His arms fell limply to his sides, the fliers he so passionately gave out scattering to the ground, as his eyes grew large and sparkled with joy.
"I can't believe it!" he shrieked, nearly scratching at the glass panel that separated him from his valued treasure. "The GX-007 Gold Plated Zaku plus Weapons Animation Color Version!"
Missed customers: about 75, if not more.
The rest of his team only watched, with little shock in their expressions. "This isn't going to get us anywhere, desu."
"You could say, no purpose?"
Click click clack tap tap.
Click click click tap click. Kuu, ku ku ku!
While the rest of his teammates were out in the streets of the alien market, Kururu stood by at the base (or underneath it, I suppose) hastily typing in codes and commands to a computer. His task? Clear up the video footage of the raid and find out who did it.
With what he knew so far, he concluded this: the aliens (he ruled out the possibility of this being human,) more specifically the Keronjin, that had attacked the base were the same skilled criminals taking popularity in Japan. There was no sign of infiltration, as well as a clean attack and leave; a situation similar to those of the robberies that fooled even the most skilled officers. "Looks like Giroro-senpai was right about them being from Keron. Ku ku ku..."
"Man... Whatever that fog was, it definitely wasn't natural on Earth," he laughed as he constantly refined the film with the evidence of the infiltrators. Over and over again, he found a way to clear up the photos and get a somewhat clearer shot of the "crime scene." "Seems they got lazy this time around, missing this camera," he snickered before letting out his signature laugh.
After about 15 or so filters, a window popped up that said "No higher resolution available." Kururu looked unmoved, typing in a different code than before. This worked two times before receiving the same message again. More codes, but to no avail. "No higher resolution available."
"Tch! Taicho never has enough money to buy the newest upgrades. Kuuu, ku ku ku ku!" For now, the images still blurry, the only thing he could do is look for anything out of the ordinary and keep scanning it till he could identify the team. "Still too thick to see."
It was then that he noticed the strange... patterns formed in the fog. Upon closer inspection, he found shading and shapes among the mist closely resembling faces of humans and various alien species. One of the patterns he found quickly rang a bell in the crazy frog's mind. Several moments of silence later, there was a small typing session and a flurry of clicks before stillness once more.
On a small Space Internet article, buried under the heaps and piles of new information from all corners of the galaxy, there was a photo and pages discussing mysterious circumstances. Kururu began to read it quietyly to himself.
"Famous Captain Jesoso: Living On After Death In Own Home
"Captain Jesoso, age 32, was discovered dead by one of his former teammates while visiting for tea. The man was found to have been brutally murdered, stabbed in the torso and shoulder area multiple times.
"'It was terrifying to see,' claims his friend (who chose to remain anonymous,) 'Yeah, I've seen plenty of corpses in battle before, but this guy was a really close friend of mine. It was, like, really hard to actually realize someone had the ability to kill him!'
"A later autopsy reported large traces of alcohol in his system, causing investigators to believe he was first intoxicated before being murdered in his helpless state. It is heavily implied that the murderer was a close friend of Jesoso, since there is no evidence of forced intoxication.
"After these events, neighbors and friends who passed by to honor their fallen friend constantly reported strange noises and activities around the building. Some of these sounds include creaks, bangs, moaning, and in some cases, loud screaming. While the skeptical portion of this group points to animals, bad house conditions, and the weather, the more superstitious portion has chosen to believe in paranormal activity.
"'It's obviously his ghost, trying to tell us something. Maybe some evidence the police missed or something, but Jesoso's ghost is in that house, in that room!' tells a close neighbor. 'Trust me, I just know about this kind of stuff.'
"Since then, several ghost hunters have come to the house hoping to find a breakthrough in the existence of ghosts and spirits from beyond the grave. Many of them only found small groaning or wailing or things insignificant to the actual case. Despite this, many of them (usually with psychics) kept returning, hoping to find more.
"However, after a small break into the victim's home several months after the homicide, nearly all reports of ghostly activity stopped. Psychics who had previously confirmed the presence of his spirit now said he had "moved on" or simply "disappeared."
"The case was never solved and the criminal was never caught. The case has been forgotten, leaving Jesoso left without justice. As for his ghost, that never returned either... That is, if you believed in ghosts to begin with."
The air slowly grew stale in the silence. Nothing moving but the wheels in Kururu's head. Later, more clicks and taps went into the search engine. Words like, "ghost," "person's spirit," and "paranormal."
Click click click, tap tap clack.
Clack click click, tap click tap. Kuu, ku ku ku!
"N-Nishizawa-san, is this all really necessary?" asked a baffled Fuyuki as professional detectives and private investigators frantically searched the alien base.
"Please, Fuyuki-kun, this was nothing!" the light blue-haired teenager replied sheepishly. Finally, no family, no aliens, and nothing to distract us!
This thought was only half-true, though, as there were plenty of distractions with teams and groups yelling at each other from across the room about things they might have found that had nothing to do with the actual attack.
"Sir, I found some unusual red substance!"
"Red!"
"Yes, Sir. What do you suppose it is?"
A dip in the stuff with the hands and a couple sniffs.
"I-it's blood!"
"Sir, it's just paint for Gundum models."
"Oh... O-of course! Just making sure you were on your toes!"
"I'm sure you were, Sir..."
People kept rushing by the teenage duo without a second thought. Every now and again, they were running back with evidence, which just looked like small pieces of dust or torn paint to Fuyuki. However, he knew better than to stop and ask what the importance of a spec was (from a few moments before.) Questioning the decisions of prideful private detectives usually ended up in a long, drawn out speech on how 'youth nowadays has no idea of the importance of these things!"
"Paul, has there been any progress?" Momoka asked.
"Some. We've found several bullets and are currently identifying some of the slashes in the ground," the stern man replied. "It's not much, but it's still better than nothing."
About an hour later, the place was cleared out. Paul insisted they keep what they found at the crime scene and continue tomorrow for safe keeping. Finally, Momoko's other side thought, There's no one else here! Just me and Fuyu-
"Oi, Fuyuki, did they find anything?"
Kururu decided to pop out from his hideaway after he was sure no one uninvited was hanging around, finished with what he was doing and hoping to find something else to occupy himself with.
Momoko was enraged. This guy! Of all times, it just had to be now, dang it! She tried avoiding his gloomy presence; they never really cared about each other anyways.
The boy glanced over his shoulder. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I think Paul said something about some bullets and the slash marks. They still haven't identified them yet."
"Maybe I could do them a favor? Ku ku ku!" With that, he found his way to a small desk littered with papers, tools, and plastic bags with bullets. "I'll take this!" he said with an eerily cheery sing-song voice as he grabbed one of the bags and a few pictures of the crevices made by the blade against Dororo's. He left the room without thanking the two teens for their help, or even acknowledging they were even there. All he did was simply disappear beneath beaten tiles of the base. "That's Kururu, I guess," Fuyuki mumbled.
With him gone, Momoka finally saw her chance to interact with her friend. Swallowing her shyness and putting on a faint pink blush, she said, "S-so, Fuyuki-kun, you want to go get something to eat?"
Hoooly cow that was 3000 words long. Hope you enjoyed the second chapter, and remember: reviews are welcome! :D (Just as long as it isn't mindless trolling.) If I suck at story lines, oh well. Look forward to the next one!
~Hoshi
