Another chapter c:

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Keroro and Giroro input the coordinates of the Rurlough planet they had been given by Garuru and set the ship on auto-pilot so that they were free to wander around the cockpit while they glided through open space.

It didn't take long for Keroro to become restless. He began to pace anxiously around the cabin. Dororo, who had been watching him for a while, eventually grew weary of his friend's relentless movement.

"Keroro, it's not doing you any good to zoom around like that," he said. "You should try to relax-"

"How do expect me to relax, lance corporal?" Keroro responded exasperatedly without ceasing his nervous walk. "UGH!"

The sergeant's anxiety had infected Tamama as well. Wanting to ease both Keroro's nerves and his own, Tamama held out his arms to him.

"Come here, Sarge," he offered sweetly. Keroro paused his restless movement for a moment, gave a small sigh, and then strode over to Tamama and enfolded him in his arms.

"It's gonna be okay, Sarge," Tamama said gently, running his hand through Keroro's hair. He grinned a little to himself, reveling in the physical contact.

Keroro blew air out of the side of his mouth and calmed down a bit.

"Thank you, private."

Keroro's anxiety had only been temporarily assuaged; over the next few days it crept back, stifling and contagious. None of the platoon felt like sleeping much, so by the latter half of the trip everyone was exhausted.

It was when they were less than two hours away from the Rurlough planet that Tamama asked the crucial question.

"Sarge, how are we gonna figure out where Kululu is?" he said, looking up at Keroro from the chair that he was curled upon.

Keroro didn't return his look, so Tamama continued. "There's no way we're going to just happen across him, he could be anywhere on the damn planet!"

Keroro bit his lip, thinking. He had been avoiding this issue up until now, but he couldn't escape it forever. He sighed, wondering if they had been in over their heads from the start. How would they find the sergeant major? After a few moments, Keroro realized what they'd have to do.

"We should scan the planet for life," he answered. "We'll have a better chance of finding him in a more populated area."

"That might be true," said Giroro. "But it will be risky and a waste of time if you're wrong."

"What else can we do, though?" asked Dororo.

"Nothing, I suppose. We'll just have to be careful," Giroro replied. He looked down at the ship's computer screen and added, "We're almost there, we should deploy the ship's cloaking device now."

"Alright, engaging invisibility cloak!" Keroro announced, flipping a switch on the dashboard.

According to the computer, they would be entering the Rurlough planet's orbit within twenty minutes, but there was something strange about the view from the ship's window.

"Where... is the planet?" Tamama asked. Everyone pressed close to the window. Outside, everything was dark. Glinting against the black backdrop of empty space were trillions of distant stars, but no planet could be seen.

Giroro frowned and checked the screen. "This doesn't make any sense. We should be able to see it right now," he said.

Just then Dororo squinted and said, "Wait, look there." He directed their attention to some point in the distance. There, its outline barely perceptible, was a black circle where the stars were blocked out. Upon closer inspection they realized that they were looking at the planet.

"So dark!," exclaimed Keroro, frowning. "Where's this thing's sun?"

"Maybe it's a black dwarf sun," Giroro offered. "They don't give off any light. Or heat, for that matter."

Dororo shook his head, saying, "It shouldn't be possible for the planet to support life."

"Well, let's find out," said Keroro.

He directed their ship into the planet's orbit and switched it to auto-pilot again. He initiated a scan of the planet to analyze its atmosphere and to determine where the planet was most densely populated.

Remarkably quickly, the scan was complete. They had found that the air was breathable and the gravity was stable, and that most of the population of Rurlough seemed to be gathered in one area a few miles south of the equator.

Keroro and Giroro returned to the pilot's and co-pilot's seats to guide the ship south and land on the shadowed ground while, they hoped, remaining undetected. The planet was so black that while they were landing, it looked as though they were descending into a void.

The ship touched down on the dark planet without warning and rather noisily, and Keroro cringed. The platoon were tense for a moment, but when there wasn't any sign that the Rurlough had heard them they relaxed a little. Dororo warily peered through the window and could see nothing.

"We'll need flashlights or something to get around...," he suggested. "We need to find a way to get underneath the surface of the planet."

"Right," said Giroro. "I think we're going to have to split up, to cover more ground." Keroro handed him a flashlight and he slid it into his belt.

"I suppose we don't have a choice," sighed Keroro. He gave Tamama and Dororo their flashlights and stuck his own in his own pocket.

The four of them filed out of the ship and turned on both their invisibility and their flashlights, which provided only small circles of light to guide them around.

"Okay, let's split up now," Keroro said nervously, squinting at his pitch-black surroundings.

Giroro shone his flashlight around and, when he saw no variation in the flat landscape, chose a direction at random and started walking. "Be careful," he grunted as he disappeared into the gloom.

"Good luck, everyone," said Dororo before he, too, flitted out of sight.

Tamama stared at the places where Giroro and Dororo had vanished from sight. He knew he would have to split up with Keroro now, reluctant though he was to do so. He turned to Keroro and pulled him into an embrace. "Be safe, Sarge," he said, squeezing him.

"Yeah, you too," Keroro mumbled into Tamama's shoulder. Even though they would be able to communicate via earpiece, Keroro was not without worry as he departed from Tamama.

it'S STARTIN TO GET GOOD

AND IT ONLY GETS BETTER FROM HERE AHAHHHHA