sorry this took so long! life has a tendency to happen... and school has started which means i have work again! i'll try to write more often...
Chapter 3
In a medical lab in an underground base, on three beds were three Keronians. All of them had a helmet of some sort on and were hooked up to machines that read out their vital signs and brainwave activity. The green frog alien was the first to wake up. He stretched and winced as pain shot up his arm. "Gero! What happened? Why does my arm hurt? And where is that froggin' huge snake! I can't feel my leg… Oh, frog…! I remember now!" He tore back the sheets to see bandages on his leg where he had been bitten. Keroro's eyes welled up with tears, and a few trickled down his face before he slapped himself on the cheeks. "Get a hold of yourself! Now is not the time to cry! Something is going on here and I need to find out what! Kululu! Where are you?!" A door opened, and someone came into the room. It was not Kululu, but Angol Mois, the Lord of Terror and Keroro's "niece".
"Oh, Uncle! I was so worried about you!" Mois ran to Keroro and crushed him in a hug. "Ooof! Lady Mois, I'm fine. I promise! Where is Kululu?"
"He's in his lab working on an antidote for Moriri, has been for hours. You could say, burning the midnight oil?" Mois stood up, smoothed her nurse's outfit, and grabbed a clipboard that was hanging at the foot of Keroro's bed. "What are you doing, Lady Mois?" Mois looked up with her usual cheery smile on her face. "I need to write down some things, Uncle. What time you woke up and everyone's vitals, things like that."
Keroro turned and looked down the row of beds next to him that contained Corporal Giroro and Combat Medic Moriri. They were sleeping, but not a restful sleep. Both had pained looks on their faces and were sweating. He could hear them mumbling in their sleep. Giroro kept whispering "Where is she?" and Moriri would hiccup, as if she had been crying and whimper. "H-h-he can't hear me, can't even feel me. Where is H-H-Hikari?" Keroro was worried about his childhood friend and the leader of the platoon that joined them on Pekopon. He watched them for a bit, until something registered with him. "Wait, what do you mean 'an antidote for Moriri'? What about Giroro? Why am I okay?" Mois's face darkened and tears could be seen in her eyes. "Well, you see, Uncle-"
The door to the lab opened and Kululu came in. His cheeks were a bit sunken and he was pale. He stumbled a bit as he walked to a chair by Keroro's bed. "So, leader, you are awake? Kukuku! That's good…" He eased into the chair and drank from a cup that he was holding. "To explain: HQ sent me a nightmare viporian and asked me to create an antidote. I succeeded, of course, but I needed to test it. That is where you three come in. I gave you the antidote before you were bitten to see if it could be used as a sort of vaccine. Kukuku! The looks on your faces was priceless! Ah, but the vaccine didn't work, at least not as well as I wanted. Your dreams were less intense, but I needed to give you additional antidote. Not as much as the old man over there though." He jerked his thumb at Giroro. "Kuku! He was the control of the group, you were an experimental variable, and she was the control female, and just fun to scare."
Suddenly, one of Kululu's lenses cracked, a sign of extreme emotion. "I should have known, should have used someone else…" Keroro's mouth gaped open. "Gero! Not to make light of the situation, but are you sorry?! Dude! You're NEVER sorry for what you do to us! Why the change of heart?" Kululu sat in silence for a moment. "She loves her…" he whispered, almost too quietly to be heard. Keroro gave him a blank look, then one could almost see the light bulb above his head as he put two and two together. "Gero! Miss Hikari! Oh, frog! I forgot about her! I know you've got a soft spot for her, but… She's going to kill you, you know right? Why should you have picked someone else?" Kululu's other lens cracked. "Kuku! I forgot about her immune system. She must have picked up a bug of some sort, early enough that she doesn't know she's sick. The poison and the bacteria have reacted and combined into something else. The bacterium protects the poison from the antidote and the poison protects the bacterium from the antibiotics. I have to find a cure that takes them both out at the same time." Mois piped up, "You could say, double whammy?"
Kululu looked up as the door opened up yet again. The remaining two members of the Keroro platoon came in, followed by Koyuki. Tamama glared at Mois and ran to Keroro. "Mr. Sergeant! I was so worried!"
"Not to worry, Private! I'm fit as a fiddle!" Keroro smiled, trying to appear strong for his subordinates. Dororo bowed to Keroro. "I'm glad to see you awake, my friend." He turned and looked at the other frogs in bed. "I just wish I could say the same for them…" Koyuki sat next to him. "Will they be okay?" she asked. Concern was on her face. Dororo walked between Giroro's and Moriri's bed, stroking their hands with his thumbs. "From what I have heard from Kululu, Giroro will, but it is still touch and go with Miss Moriri." Everyone sat in silence while the machines continued to beep, showing that the two unconscious frogs were, at least, still alive.
"Gero! Kululu! I just realized that this stupid helmet is still on my head! Can you please take it off now or do I have to keep it on?" Kululu wordlessly reached up to the helmet and typed in a code on the back. The helmet came off with a little "pop." Keroro sighed and scratched his head. "Ah! That does feel better!" Kululu set the helmet down on a nearby desk and walked up to the I.V. that was connected to Giroro's uninjured arm. "Kuku! This is almost empty. He should be waking up soon."
As if on cue, Giroro shot up out of bed screaming, eyes wild. "I can't find her! She's gone! Why can't I find her?" He screamed this over and over, thrashing about in the little bed. Dororo hung onto his friend's arms trying to hold him down. "Giroro! You must calm down! Who is gone? Let us help you!" He turned to Koyuki, who had sprung up when Giroro started thrashing. "Miss Koyuki! Help me hold him!" She nodded and calmly walked over and pinned him using a ninja technique.
Giroro struggled, then began to settle down. His eyes cleared and he looked around as Koyuki released him. "Dororo? Koyuki? What are you doing here? Actually, where is here? What's going on? My arm in numb and I had such terrible dreams…" He closed his eyes to stop the tears. "Maybe if you told us your nightmare you'll feel better! You could say, talk therapy?" Mois suggested. Giroro only shook his head. "I would rather not." Tamama walked over to his bed. "Corporal, you kept saying 'She's gone.' Who is 'she'?" Giroro sat in silence, his face steadily growing redder and redder, despite his natural skin color. Finally, he whispered, "Moriri."
Everyone's face grew dark with this revelation. Giroro noticed this and panicked. "What?! What happened? Where is she? Is she okay?!" Dororo put his hand on his friend's shoulder to calm him. "Do not worry my friend. She is right here, but it depends on your definition of 'okay'…" Dororo turned Giroro's head until he was looking at Moriri. Giroro's heartbeat shot back up and he felt a pit in his stomach. "…What happened?" Keroro cleared his throat. "Kululu, perhaps you could explain it best…" Kululu got up and stood in front of Giroro.
"The situation is this, Corporal," he began, taking Giroro's helmet off in turn.
