Chapter 10

The escape pod made it as far as the nearest planet where Garuru was able to get a ship from Headquarters to pick them up. When the time came, Garuru arranged for Kururu to be dropped off back at the Keroro Platoon's base. And before he knew it, pekopon was in sight.

Kururu frowned, sad that Keroro hadn't been able to prove his suspcions wrong since he had last spoken to Giroro. Had Keroro really abandoned him? Kururu didn't really want to know the anwser, but knew the inevitable when he saw it. Once they had broken pekopon's atmosphere and stopped over the Hinata household, Kururu was more than ready to leave the preceeding events to history. Waiting in the departure bay, Kururu sighed to himself. 'The end... huh?' he thought. However the doorway from the ship opened and all of the Garuru platoon stood lined up, even Tororo.

"What's this...?" Kururu asked, not expecting any sort of good bye from them.

Garuru raised his hand to his forehead; his subdorinates doing the same. They saluted him together, as one whole platoon. Garuru seemed unchanged by what had happend since they had kidnapped him. "Recovery Mission: EXE has proven to be a failure. All data containing information about the project will be disposed of as soon as we report back to headquarters." Garuru announced.

Kururu looked up even more surprised. "But doesn't that mean you all will be-"

Garuru raised up a hand to silence him. "That's not your concern." he said casually. All the other members seemed to nod in agreement. "You've done enough." he finished. "Good bye, Kururu Souchou." Kururu looked at them, a bit helpless and displeased. He never really liked goodbyes, because they always seemed so uncertain if not in a fit of rage. But even then, all goodbyes were said with the wish that things weren't so. Although reluctant to do so, Kururu straightened himself, raising a hand to his forehead, returning the salute. "Seargent Major Kururu of the Keroro Platoon...to dispatch!" he said as the departure bay door closed, and Kururu was transported back down to pekopon.

He touched down at the Hinata household. However when he looked up to see the familair building he had once called 'home' he saw the remains of what used to be the Hinata household. "What....?" he gasped not taking the time to reminsce his last sight of the household, but instead rushed inside. From the remains, he could tell a battle had taken place. Whole walls were taken out and weapons lay about abandoned. Kururu wandered through the house wondering if anyone was still there. But what he really wanted to know was what in the hell happened? He ran down to Keroro's room, sliding down the ladder and burst into the white room, panicked. "Keroro! Keroro, I'm back!" he called out. However when he opened the door, Keroro's room was a complete disater. His gunpla lay in pieces all over the room, his TV destroyed and smoldering and the rest of the room cinged and collasped. "Keroro!" he called again. The only thing that remained intact within the room was the small refrigerator that lead to thier base. A fallen book shelf that once held all of Keroro's manga had fallen over it, but once he pushed it out of the way he threw the door open and transported himself into the base.

When he jumped through, he came back out back in Keroro's room. He crashed into the bookshelf he had pushed aside, bewildered. "The connection-" he gasped, looking at the refrigerator as it stopped glowing and turned back into a regular empty refrigerator. The connection with the transport to the base was broken. Kururu ran from the room, and didn't stop until he was back on the street, at the front gate. "No....where is everyone!?" he gasped, breathing hard from all the running. Something must have attacked them. Or perhaps....

"They tried to invade pekopon without me...?" he wondered for a moment. The thought made him panic deeply, wondering just how badly he had been betrayed. However, when he remembered all the times he had assisted Keroro in taking over the Hinata household (despite them all being failures) he knew that couldn't be right. "Keroro's useless without my inventions, right...? Right...?!" he gasped, falling back against the ramins of the white fencing and sliding down to the ground.

Not knowing what to do with himself, Kururu wondered if he waited long enough, something might happen. He knew pekopon and it's areas like the back of his hand. All the research he had, there was no way he could be so helpless, at least not now. But worn from all the panic and his deepest expectations to return to the life he once knew, so easily shattered and crushed; his head was cluttered with worry. "Someone...anyone...!" he mumbled.

"Kururu....?"

Kururu looked up as soon as he heard a familiair voice. However when his eyes met the sight of Saburo, instead of delight, he felt horrible regret. Was it really Saburo? Standing Kururu couldn't believe it. "S-saburo!"

Saburo looked at him with surprise. "Kururu!" he called running to him from down the block. "Kururu! You're back!" he cheered. Saburo dropped to his knees wrapping his arms around his friend, more than happy to see him. Kururu at first didn't know what to do or say, but clinged to Saburo in desperate confusion. After their reunion, Saburo set Kururu down in front of him. Before Saburo could ask the questions first Kururu quickly repeated his original question. "What happened? Where is everyone?" he demanded again. Saburo's smile faded at his questions.

His head turned looking at the remains of the Hinata household. "You've been gone for a month"

"What?" Kururu snapped. A whole month seemed impossible. But then again, time passed differently on pekopon than compared to other planets, or in a place where there was no sunrise and sunset. Saburo nodded continuing his explanation.

"In that time, everyone did everything they could to recover you, especially Dororo and Giroro. They arrived back safely a few weeks ago, and they were able to help us locate you. However, before they were to depart to launch another attempt to recover you, Headquarters sent sentries to the base. The four of them battled for as long as they could, but in the end, everyone split up."

Kururu glared at Saburo in disbelief, his gaze then falling to the ground. They split up? Why did keron go after them? "We're disbanned...." he muttered. However, when Saburo said they had 'split up' he didn't understand what that meant exactly. Looking up at him again he tilted his head to the side. "Why are you still here?" he asked, to which Saburo smirked.

"You could call it a hunch, but I had a feeling you'd be back." he said.

Kururu shook his head. "Where are they?" Kururu demanded, hating how Saburo was completely calm about it all. He had just spent a full lasp of a month in a horrible battle against fate, all these things happening, and yet to come back to having everything he had known and somewhat loved before, destroyed to bits, and he was calm? It made him wonder how Saburo faired in comparison to him in terms of morality...

"The Hinata family moved to a different part of Japan. Nishisawa-san moved in with her father in Scotland, Koyuki-chan has outright disappeared, and your platoon has split up and gone to different parts of the world. To where in the world, I don't know." he said grimly. Kururu fell to his knees, so suddenly regretting everything he ever knew. He almost wanted to believe it was a simple act of time and chance, but he couldn't resolve to imagining such foul play as it's results. No, this was the work of Keron for the second time. If he could imagine getting down to the bottom of anything, it would be going AWOL and going after Keron, one frog against an entire planet.

Reverting his thoguhts back to the situation- he had been gone, but now he was back, and now they were gone?

Saburo lifted Kururu into his arms and started heading down the street. He DID seem calm. "Funny how fate works huh?" he said. "Sometimes people could swear that if there's a god out there, that god hates them."

Saburo's words only felt like salt to barely healing wounds. New cuts covering where the old ones were. "I'll find them..." Kururu said in a low voice.

Saburo grinned. "I know you will."

"I'll find them, and I'll make Keroro reestablish the platoon. We'll invade pekopon even if it's the last thing we do."

Saburo frowned as they turned the corner, leaving the ruins of the Hinata household behind. "They split because if they stayed together, it would only cause the ones they loved more pain." said Saburo. Kururu's ideas stopped dead at his words. "Eh...?"

"That thing you were hiding from everyone, EXE? It seems it's information was leaked. The sentries weren't the only ones looking for you. At one point, Keroro made the decision to scatter his men across earth so their enemies wouldn't go after the Hinata's anymore. It was an all out war, and Keroro turned it into a wild goose chase.... I'm sure this doesn't mean disbanment."

Kururu put his hands over his headphones. "Enough....tell me later..." he groaned, relatively hurt. Saburo was surprised by the pain in Kururu's voice.

"You've been through a lot huh?"

Kururu kept his head low, resting it on Saburo's shoulder. "Saburo, don't leave." he said. Saburo was all he had now that everyone was gone. Now that things were seemingly over and done with, he wanted nothing more than to

Saburo managed a small chuckle, "You don't have to worry, I'm not going anywhere." he reassured him. "I suppose we should find somewhere else to live though. We don't need to stay in japan only to have our enemies find us." he suggested. Kururu found a bit of hope in this when his memories ran back to a small scene that he could barely remember.

He had stood in a house that didn't look like something in japan. In fact it looked more foreign than anything. Those two girls, or rather, that girl and that woman. But Giroro was there too wasn't he? Thinking a bit harder on it, Kururu wondered what that small splurt of a memory was. He had never seen those people before, and he wanted to know more than ever who that woman was. The one that looked at him so helplessly, but happily at the same time. "We'll find somewhere else to live." he said. His hopes seemed a bit higher when Saburo stopped in front of the park.

"We can go anywhere, huh?" Saburo suggested setting Kururu down. Kururu looked up at him a nodded.

"Anywhere." he reassured him.

"But Kururu, there might come a day when Keroro brings the Platoon back." Saburo said quickly.

Kururu simply shrugged. "If my leader wishes for my assistance, then I will assist him." he said sternly. It felt good to be able to say something like that. To pledge his loyalty to his Platoon. He vaguely remembered the day him and all of the Keroro Platoon had departed from Keron to invade pekopon. The parades, the crowds, and press conferences. It all seemed like a pleasent dream so far from him. "I'll be there..." he said lowering his voice. "And I'll save them from whatever trouble they face, I'll destroy whatever stands in our way." he said proudly. Whether it be Viper, or a security system that needed hacking, Kururu would do whatever it took to invade pekopon, or even to just fulfill his orders; he would remain Keroro's loyal subdordinate, no matter where he went, or how much time passed.

Saburo nodded to him pulling out a sketch pad and his pen, drawing a replica of Kururu's saucer. "Find whatever it is you're seeking, then come find me alright?" he said. Kururu looked up at him surprised. He thought Saburo would be coming with him, but he supposed this would work as well. Hopping onto the saucer he looked at Saburo once more. "Alright, alright," Saburo laughed, drawing Kururu his white remote and a backpack. Kururu grinned, pleased with the gifts. Saburo kneeled down to him once more, "Take care of yourself alright? You can tell me about whatever happened while you were gone when you find a new home." he said smiling at him. Kururu couldn't help the bashful blush, clinging to Saburo in a final goodbye hug.

Kururu soon took to the skies over the small town of Japan. The sun was already high in the sky, and before he was a new day. The preceeding events were to become the past, and the power he had gained in the process would always be with him. Knowing this, Kururu decided that he would never again allow himself to be consumed by that monster. He could never use EXE's power ever again. "And when my time comes..." he tried to say, trying to think of something to let die what had once lived. However he got the feeling that perhaps...his time might never come. Somehow, through some unforseen feeling, Kururu believed that, his hourglass of life had been shattered. No, perhaps his time WOULD never come.

The wind rushed past Kururu as he left that island of Japan behind, in search of the woman he had seen- now becoming his only lead to further any sort of destiny- and the path of his life he had caught a glimpse of. He seemed a lot better off than before, now knowing that his Platoon didn't abandon him afterall, but was crushed by the wheel of fate that had sealed his own. He would find that woman, and he'd find Giroro, and whomever that girl was, and bring Saburo to live with him. And perhaps Keroro will bring back the Platoon, and then one day pekopon will be theirs. Whatever path lay ahead of him, nothing could match what he had already been through. For what layed before him was a new life, and a new adventure. The end of his destiny, was really just the beginning of a new chapter.


AN- I suppose I can appreciate the traditional ending, but as this story, which in all honesty, is nothing more than what my brain farts out in the midst of sleep deprivation, it became the birth of a two year long private role play with a artist friend of mine who loved my story. My story thus served it's purpose to me, for my readers, I hope you simply enjoyed it. I can say that I definitely forgot, in the long year it took me to finally post up the last two chapters, how much fun it had been to write this story. That's all this story is for me, just something fun. So if you enjoyed it, I'll be glad, if not, it's alright.

Will there be a sequel? There is one, but I can say in my years of procrastination, Destiny: Gouchou may never see the light of day. All it really is, is this story but from Giroro's point of view, however, I'll admit it reveals the battle that took place on Pekopon in Kururu's absence, as well as whatever had become of Keroro during this amount of time and more information about Keron's new Commander. I've only completed one chapter of that, and I haven't touched it during my elongated Haitus' that I love to take...

Anyway, if you made it this far and had fun along the way, perhaps were sparked with ideas of your own, what have you, good. Feel free to drop me e-mails or comments if you want, and above all, Thanks for reading.