*~Chapter 3~*

Overture


"T-temporary home?!" Keroro gawked at her "We're going to be here forever?!"

"No..." Merere gave him a dead stare, eyebrow twitching slightly "It's a figure of speech...and temporary...do you even listen when people-"

"YOOOOOOOOOOO CAPTAAAAAIN"

A loud yell shot out of one of Merere's headphones, causing her to jerk and flinch. A hovering keyboard appeared in front of her, quickly followed by a large screen projecting the faces of two bright orange Keronian tadpoles. The only difference between the two was their hats, one bright blue with long ear flaps and one bright green with shorter, squared off flaps.

Kururu watched the two kids on the screen and scoffed. Great. Just what he wanted. Two more annoying orange children. As if Tororo wasn't enough.

"Oh yo, they're alive..." The one with the blue hat pointed out as he bit into a strange looking yellow fruit. Lazy tone, sloppy eater. The similarities disgusted him.

"It's because we're great at what we do." The other one responded in a very matter-of-fact tone. It was obvious that out of the two on the screen he was the more diligent one. Probably much less annoying than his fanged counterpart. Why did that kid have a fang?

"Well...it woulda been cool if at least one of 'em died."

"It wouldn't have been cool you idiot! It would've been terrible and we would've had to deal with another corpse!"

"Death by teleportation though...that'd be some way to go." The lazy one took another bite. "When d'ya think they'd die? Before or after they got teleported all the way? Aw man what if they spliced!"

"I'll splice you if you don't shut up."

Sibling bickering. Amusing. Annoying. But definitely amusing.

He watched Merere clear her throat to get their attention, to no avail. The rest of his platoon just stood and watched dumbfounded as these two boys argued with each other on screen. It was only when they resorted to petty hat-pulling and mild violence that he heard her raise her voice.

"TWERPS"

They stopped and snapped to attention with a "YES MA'AM"

"Shut the hell up!" He watched her turn to the Keroro platoon, muttering a half-assed apology to them before turning back to the screen. "Status report."

The one with the green hat responded immediately. "There is still no activity from Project C. It's location has not changed and there have been no signs of movement, Ma'am!"

"Keep me updated with everything you have. We're going to be housing another platoon for a short amount of time and under no circumstance should we get lazy and lose track while they're here. Got it?"

They spouted a 'Yes Ma'am!' Before closing their screen, leaving the floating holographic keyboard in its stead.

Kururu assessed his surroundings.

They teleported into the center of what seemed to be a teleporter room, gee who would have thought. Everything was made of well-kept chrome and steel plating with modernized and rounded designs. There was even a window with a view of Pekopon, which seemed very far away from their current position. Giroro was the first to speak.

"They listen to you so well, for children." He commented.

"Yeah, well, they're supposed to. We've been together a long time." She said back, opening up another floating screen. "Relationships in platoons are built on trust and respect. If they can't trust me to do my job then how will they be able to respect me as their superior."

"That is an excellent philosophy, de gozaru." Dororo chipped in.

"Yeah it's too bad all platoons can't be like that..." Tamama eyed Keroro.

"What are you trying to say?!" He combated "I do my job just fine!"

"No you don't!" Giroro hit him in the back of his head. "And that's exactly why we're here!"

Kururu ignored the rabble and focused on the Lieutenant. The new screen seemed to be a texting conversation. Color coded messages, purple and brown.

This was certainly an interesting situation. Maybe it was time to open his mouth.

"Ku-ku...so. You've been assigned to Project C?"

"Yes. It's our responsibility and we're handling it." she cracked her knuckles as she waited for a response from the other side, turning to him. "So don't even think about interfering while you're here, Sergeant Major."

He chuckled. She knew who he was. "Who, me? I would never think of interfering~"

"I'm serious." She growled at him and turned back to the screen to type a response. "I know who you are, what you did to get yourself demoted, and what you can do. If you step out of line on my ship I will have you dealt with. We're not a pansy invasion squad. We're a capture squad. And trust me" She turned to him with a dark look in her eye "We know how to deal with Keronians that step out of line."

An irritated sound welled in the back of his throat. This wasn't someone he could mess with easily. Though, he always loved a challenge~. He smirked at the thought. He was vaguely aware of his platoon watching their exchange. Merere flipped the screen off and turned to them.

"I called my second in command to keep watch over you while I bring the files to our higher up. Just a heads up though, if you lay a finger on her you might get murdered by our Corporal, so I'd advise against physical contact."

"Some jealousy issues perhaps~?" Kururu mockingly asked only to be blatantly ignored.

"You should probably thank her while she's here." Merere added as she headed out of the room "She's the reason you're all in this mess in the first place. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a report to file."

And with that she was gone, leaving a worried Keroro platoon in the middle of the teleporter room.

Well, mostly worried. Keroro was worried, Giroro was angry, and the two blue blunders were in near tears.

Kururu, on the other hand, was interested in this woman and her mission. This whole thing smelled like fun and chaos. The best kind of things.

He smirked and leaned against the wall. This was going to be a fun day.