For Better or For Worse
Chapter 9
Giroro woke up to a scream from Natsumi, a Pekoponian female he had become quite attached to due to her amazing fighting ability.
Shamefully, he too had been outwitted by the Pekoponians, and now resided in a simple tent in the Hinata's back yard.
He was actually using Natsumi to distract himself from thoughts of Zeroro, who in turn was distracting him from the invasion. Ending the relationship had put more strain on the mission than he would have hoped…
No. His heart had been weakened by love, and he was determined to complete the invasion without any such distraction taking place.
He scrambled outside along with the rest of the platoon, all of which except Tamama resided in the residence of the Hinatas.
With the lanterns they held to aid their vision, it was clearly obvious that a girl had tried to sneak into the house.
"N-Natsumi-san, I can explain…!" The girl cried in an attempt to calm Natsumi down.
"Oh, so you're a friend of Natsumi-dono! My, My… I'm terribly sorry for the shock!" Keroro chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, which Giroro quickly bludgeoned with his fist.
"You fool! Don't shrug her off so easily… look at her outfit… it clearly isn't normal…"
He pointed a machine gun at her face and growled.
"You're a spy who used Natsumi to get to us, right?"
"W-wait, you don't understand-"
"Answer me!" He fumed, cocking his weapon, ready to fire.
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, an entity much shorter than Koyuki landed in front of her, hand hovering over the hilt of the weapon on its back.
"How… nostalgic" It said as it stood up slowly, eventually exposing itself in the dim light of the lanterns.
He was a light blue keronian with a grey ninja veil, a matching mask and a katana strapped behind his back. But with the shuriken symbol and sky blue eyes, it could only be one person.
"Ze… Ze…" Giroro choked out, too shocked and disbelieving to make his vocalisation audible.
"Zeroro!," Keroro cried out happily, ignoring the excited cries coming from Fuyuki. "Wow, long time no see! I was so worried about you!"
He turned to his platoon.
"Shall we?" he said before beginning to resonate, the others following suit.
"Gero Gero Gero Gero"
"Tama Tama Tama Tama"
"Giro Giro Giro Giro"
"Kuru Kuru Kuru Kuru"
"I refuse."
The platoon all turned to look at Zeroro in confusion.
"I have rid myself of my terrible past. Zeroro is dead. I have been reborn as Dororo, protector of the planet Pekopon"
Giroro stared at Zeroro – Dororo, now – as he spoke. He had cast his past aside with venom, treating it as if it had never happened… did Giroro do that? And now he was protecting the planet they had been ordered to invade? Giroro glanced at Kururu, realising that what he'd said about the atmosphere of Pekopon was true.
"I am resigning from the platoon. Don't you DARE try to find me" Dororo almost growled as he and Koyuki disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind only his resignation form, coupled with his new signature. Keroro slowly picked it up and studied it.
"Even though he was the only person left to search for, we still should have searched harder…" Tamama mumbled.
"I have to be honest… I kinda forgot about him…" Keroro replied sheepishly.
"Y-yeah… me too…" Giroro lied. No-one had ever found out about Giroro and Dororo's past together, and he wasn't about to let them. The Pekoponians and the platoon went inside, but Giroro didn't follow. Instead, he climbed onto the roof of the Hinata house and stared at the stars.
"Giroro-kun! I'm so happy that you're still my friend!"
"No… we were finished… I just… wanted to kiss you again"
"Oh, this is Japanese… it says forever…"
Giroro snapped out of his thoughts with teary eyes. All that history… thrown aside like it was nothing. A tear dripped down his cheek.
"Dororo…" He tasted the new name on his tongue and winced. It felt as if he was cheating on Zeroro. This new Dororo didn't seem anything like Zeroro… yet he was.
"I don't care who you think you are… in my heart, and somewhere in yours, there will always be a Zeroro" he mumbled as he climbed off of the roof and retired to his tent. He opened a small, wooden box he kept safe at the back of his living space and opened it, sliding out the contents and clutching it. It was a photograph. One he had replaced with a photo of Natsumi to try and forget about his past.
It was the one of Giroro and Zeroro taken the day after they met.
Giroro awoke the next morning with a splitting headache. He had never cried himself to sleep before – it was an unpleasant and completely alien experience to him. He noticed the sunlight glowing through the fabric of his tent – how far into the day had he slept?
No sooner had he emerged from his tent, he heard a thunk and a shocked cry from Keroro. Once he got into the house, he noticed that a letter had somehow embedded itself in Keroro's scalp.
"That's a letter from Zeroro!" He cried, briefly forgetting the name change. He plucked the letter from Keroro's forehead and everyone gathered around as he scanned through it.
"He needs help! He and that Pekoponian female have been kidnapped by a Viper!"
"Viper? Emergency Take off!" cried Keroro.
"Rodger!" came the platoon's reply.
"Gara Gara Gara Gara!"
A panicking Koyuki looked over to Dororo, who had not moved since being tied up, and had just hung his head for about 25 minutes now.
"No-one is going to save you now! And without the rest of your platoon, you can't even ATTEMPT to save yourself or the pre-pubescent girl that is your companion! I'll finally get the chance to destroy a Keronian, and avenge my aunt's sister's cousin's grandfather's-"
"That's enough!"
The viper and both captives snapped their heads up at the voice. There, on the cliff top, stood Keroro and his platoon. Although Dororo was just as relieved as Koyuki to see his former platoon, he knew they stood no chance as an incomplete unit of four, so even as he watched them fall, his gaze never wavered, his hopes neither rose nor fell. He muted out the sounds around him and attempted to meditate… maybe his death would be less painful that way…
A voice.
"Dororo… no… Zeroro!"
He focussed his eyes upon the caller.
"Keroro-kun…"
"Zeroro… if we don't make it out of this alive, I want you to know… the one who broke your precious music box… was me! I could never tell you, I was a fraid that you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore!"
Dororo stared at Keroro. Although the green keronian forgot about him often, he never really meant to, and he cared about the blue ninja very much. What kind of a friend would DORORO be if he didn't help his leader now?
The assassin gathered all of his strength, unsheathed his katana and slashed himself free of his bonds.
With renewed energy, the platoon fought as one, delivering a mighty deathblow that finally brought the viper to his inevitable end. Upon regrouping, Koyuki gently pulled Keroro and Dororo's hands together, encouraging them to make peace with each other.
"You say you want to protect this planet, don't you Dororo?" Keroro asked with a smile.
"That is correct, Taichou-dono"
"Then we shall try our hardest to complete our invasion, while at the same time creating world peace. That's hitting two birds with one stone, I would say"
"I understand" Dororo smiled slightly before catching a glimpse of Giroro, who was looking at him with sad eyes. He quickly withdrew his hand from Keroro's. He quickly came up with an excuse.
"You were the one to destroy my treasured music box, weren't you, Keroro-kun?"
"Y-yes… that is correct…"
"You totally screwed me over. That was one of my most important ornaments. My father gave it to me on his very last visit home before his death. I punished my brother, and even blamed my own mother at one point!" The ninja-assassin whimpered before disappearing in a puff of smoke, as he had done the previous night. This time, he left a note saying that he would need time to think before officially re-joining.
"I didn't expect him to be so… stubborn" Said Tamama in bewilderment.
"Well… let's head back. I'm sure we can come up with a reasonable invasion plan that will be to Dororo's liking this week" Keroro smiled optimistically before leading his troop back the way they had come. Giroro looked back sadly at the place where Dororo had disappeared just moments earlier. He stayed there for a bit, just staring, his mind blank, before deciding it would be best to go back to his tent and rest.