Chapter 10:
"Hurry up!" one of the loggers shouted. "Come on! We're losing light here!"
"We already have lights out for the night, why's he so concerned about how fast we're going? Is he thinking that village is going to come after us? They don't have anything to fight with!" whispered one of the workers to another as they stood amongst the sawing and the buzzing of the machines around them.
"He's just superstitious," answered the other one. "They say there's some kind of spirit around here that keeps this part of the forest safe. Why do you think we're doing this at such a weird hour? If the wood wasn't so valuable we wouldn't come through here at all anymore!"
"Heh, yeah, I'd like to see that for myself… Probably just a large bird…." he took up his chainsaw, and had barely graced the tree with the teeth of it when he heard a series of yells behind him. He then stood there, stunned, as there was a white flash, and his chainsaw immediately stopped. He then dropped back and gasped in horror as it slid in half, a clean cut.
The worker then looked about, and saw numerous arrows in the now non-functioning machines around him, as well as the other workers, who were running into the darkness of the forest.
He joined them soon after in their terror and their retreat.
"Hrm, they were faster than the last group," Lupapa hopped down onto the ground and Dororo hopped down next to her. There were only the tools and a bit of garbage left as remnants of the loggers.
"Do they come here often?" Dororo asked, and Lupapa gave a firm nod.
"Not as much, but they still try… And I still hold them back… Eh?" she jerked her head over to a hurried noise, what sounded like a mixture of panting, running, and the crunching of leaves. Lupapa held up her staff and stood stanced next to Dororo, who had his sword drawn, but her serious expression quickly faded into an eye roll as the Pekoponian boy rushed out.
He was dark-skinned with shaggy black hair, and not much older than nine or ten. He wore a pair of flip-flops, as well as a striped blue T-shirt and khaki shorts. In his hands was a staff of his own, decorated to look much like Lupapa's.
"Does your mother know you're here?!" she immediately started with, relaxing her grip on her weapon and sighing. "It's late, Marco, and you should be in bed!"
"It's not, and I want to help you! And—Who's this?" the young boy now noticed Dororo, who silently surveyed this exchange between the two. Lupapa grunted and went to work scavenging through the tools, picking up whatever parts she deemed as useable, and tossing these into her backpack.
"He's an alien, like me…" she answered, her back turned to both of them.
"Oh! You got a boyfriend!" he laughed, and Lupapa slipped from the tall yellow machine she'd been scaling, shaken.
"N-no, it's not like that!" Dororo held up his hands and laughed. Marco bent down and examined him.
"You only have half a face," he muttered poking the ninja in the shoulder with one finger, "Hehe, you're just as squishy as Auntie!" Lupapa sighed.
"Marco, don't be rude, he's helped us out just now," Lupapa removed the backpack from her shoulders and passed it up to him. "Those are some good parts, they won't help out the village much, but… Whatever I can do to help out."
"Are you sure that's ethical?" Dororo wondered aloud, and Lupapa snorted.
"With what's been done to them it's more than fair," she answered coldly.
"I… I'm sorry, I wasn't aware."
"…It's all right," her expression softened, and she folded her arms. "We should make a stop by the village before heading back to your friends."
"So you can introduce them to your boyfriend and see if they approve," Marco nodded.
"He's not my boyfriend!" she reiterated, her face at this point starting to redden.
"Good, because he'd have to get through me, first!"
"You wouldn't be much of a challenge," Lupapa grumbled.
"Well, if you're nice at all, this means I can have an uncle!" Lupapa, normally graceful, fell to the ground at this.
"Lupapa Gocho, are you—"
"I'm fine," she grunted, standing and dusting herself off. "Family's just annoying sometimes."
"Family?" Dororo asked aloud.
"Come on, creepy eyes, you know you can do better!" Keroro laughed heartily in the woods; Giroro looked up with worry as a storm began to sound above them… That was never a good sign in Keroro's condition. He'd managed to avoid him and Tamama, as well as Romama, who was growing increasingly frustrated by this.
"He's impossible in his state!" Giroro grumbled, and hopped from one close by tree branch to another, following the sergeant's sounds. "At this point I think a nyororo would be a godsend."
Romama and Tamama, meanwhile, were neck and neck, Tamama a bit concerned by the look on Romama's face. It was… Determined… Not much unlike Keroro when he was the Sergeant from That Time.
Keroro finally stopped and stood on one tree branch, sweating but not fatigued-looking in the least.
"Come on, Ojiisama! Let's have a battle of the ages!" Keroro called out to his uncle. From Romama's face, and the catlike jump that followed, it was clear to Tamama that the Major had accepted the challenge.
"Gunso-san, I don't think that that's really—"
"Nitohei, I didn't get to be platoon leader by my awesome gift for words alone! I have fighting prowess, as well!" Keroro clenched his fists, and glared across to Romama. "Come on, Ojiisama, I'll even let you-"
Romama didn't have to be told. One strike with his wooden sword, and Keroro went flying, looking like a shooting star in the Brazilian sky.
"…Home run…" Tamama gulped.
"You need my help tracking down your friend, who landed somewhere in the jungle?" Chunini looked up from her magazine, which she had made the front cover of as Chu, and looked across at Giroro, Romama, and Tamama. At this same time, Kururu stood up and walked over with Kirere, who was still sniffling, but otherwise smiling.
"All right?" Giroro heard the scientist ask, and Kirere nodded in agreement.
"Well, I suppose I could offer a little assistance," Chunini set aside her magazine and stretched. "I'll help you find him, but just until I start to feel tired."
She walked to the edge of the platform and then hopped off, going to press her choker. It was her horror to find it was gone when she went to press it.
She gave a groan, and cursed Lupapa's name as she hit the forest floor.
"Am… I the only one who's happy to see that happen?" Giroro asked after a pause.
"No," answered Tamama, Kururu, and Kirere. Even Romama gave what looked like a chuckle.
Lupapa tossed the choker up and down in her hand and hummed on her way back to the village. When Marco asked what she was holding, she quickly hid it and dismissed him.
When they came to the village, Dororo found it was indeed small, and right on the water. There were a good three or more dozen wooden huts on stilts, as well as canoes resting in the nearby river. There weren't many people up, but the ones who were looked out at the sight curiously, but silently. A woman Dororo determined to be Marco's mother rushed out from one of the home, and immediately took him by the arm and inside to the home she had emerged from.
"Also my niece," Lupapa gave a small smile and took a seat in front of the fire. Dororo joined after a moment, and looked over to her, as if waiting for the rest of the story. "Their family adopted me when I first woke up, and they made me part of the family."
"That's wonderful!" Dororo smiled through his mask. "Sort of like Koyuki-dono and myself!"
"Koyuki?" Lupapa sat upright a little bit.
Dororo nodded, "She's my friend, and another protector of the Earth. She and her village taught me many of the ways I have now, not just those of an assassin."
"Assassin… I remember those well…"
"Oh? Were you that in the Keron army?"
"No, they're the reason I'm half-blind," she answered, and Dororo went cold. "I wasn't lying about a blind spot, I have a large one on my right side, where the eye doesn't see anything…. I ended up having two sent after me after I stole something important from the Keronian government… Then I was caught, and told to join the military, or face a worse option. Lupapa the thief, made into a puppet."
Dororo for the first time noticed how much more muted-colored her right eye really was, "And… You're still able to fight quite well. That's impressive, Lupapa-dono."
She looked over the slightly less formal term and there was a moment or two of silence between them, "With your abilities, there's probably a lot you've overcome as well. Eh?"
"GEROOOO!" Romama's major league-worthy pitch landed at about this time, hurling into the village and then onto one unsuspecting Keronian.
"Keroro-kun!" Dororo bolted up and yelped, rushing over to both Keroro and Lupapa. Lupapa growled and pushed off Keroro and then stood, looking down at him in contempt.
"This idiot's your leader!?" she snapped in such a voice several of the babies in the village began to wail.
"There he is! Gunso-san! Gunso-san!" Tamama emerged first, followed by Kirere and Romama, then Giroro, who was now carrying a dazed Chunini piggyback, and then finally Kururu.
"This ought to keep your friend calm," the old woman announced with a smile as she placed a few leaves into Keroro's mouth and made him chew them gently.
The sergeant came to after a moment, and groaned, then sat up in the hut and looked about. "It's morning? Wait, where am I?"
"Giroro! Your idiot's awake!" Lupapa shouted from the hut doorway. Keroro was laid out on a mat, as was Chunini, who had, for the last few hours, still been cursing Lupapa's name in her sleep.
"Why does he have to be my idiot!?" Giroro shouted back from outside.
Giroro headed over to check his burden out while Dororo watched the children play a soccer match outside. Tamama was teaching them a few good moves, while Romama proved not a bad player either after being instructed.
Kirere took a breather after getting hit with the ball for the fifth time, and sat down next to Dororo. It was morning now, and none of them had gotten much sleep. It was starting to show on Kirere as she nodded off sitting there, all through Dororo's talking about the beauties of the rainforest.
He only realized she'd fallen asleep when she leaned against him, and began to snore softly, making a small "ki,ki,ki" noise as she snored. He sighed in resignation, lifted her up, and walked her into the hut.
"Did she finally get knocked out playing?" Giroro asked.
"No, I think it's just the mission is getting to her," Dororo laid her down next to Chunini, and Keroro gave a yawn.
"I wish she could have had the same sleep as me! I haven't had one that great in years!" Keroro announced contently.
"I'm glad someone did!" Giroro snapped from his corner.
"Ah, Gocho, you're just mad because you've gone days without seeing Natsumi-dono is all!" Keroro replied, and Giroro went red in the face at this, but said nothing.
"See, Mama, that's him there!" Marco dipped into the hut and pointed directly to Dororo, who was puzzled and not all that sure he enjoyed not going unnoticed for once. Lupapa shut her eyes and sighed.
"I've got to go get some firewood," she snapped, and stomped out of the room. The old woman who tended to Keroro and Chunini followed soon after them.
"…What? What are you looking at?..." Dororo looked at Keroro and Giroro, who were silent but with the most bizarre looks on their faces.
"It'd seem as though one of us as been up to a little more than the rest, gero gero gero!" Keroro laughed.
"She does seem like your type. Congratulations…" Giroro answered, following by a chuckle on his own. "I wouldn't have thought you, out of the three of us…."
"N-no, everyone's reading too much into this!" Dororo countered quickly, holding up his hands and laughing weakly. "Lupapa-dono's another protector of Pekopon, I've simply been helping her preserve this beautiful place!"
"Come on, Dororo, your Mama would be so grateful to her!"
"G-grateful?!" Dororo choked.
"Hrm… We already have the first Keronian born on Pekopon, a wedding would distract the media from figuring out we've been getting a whole lot of nothing done and it would be some sign of success, I'm sure," Keroro added.
"We'd have to explain her, though, and we're running out of relatives," Giroro added.
"Now wait just a moment!" Dororo yelped in between all of this.
"We could think of someone!" Keroro added. "Pururu-chan's not one to get in the way of these things, maybe she could have Lupapa Gocho pretend to be a cousin…."
"Kukuku, when you're done with this nonsense, I think I have something to show you," Kururu stuck his head in the doorway, and Dororo was secretly thrilled for this distraction.
"Where have you been?" Giroro wondered aloud as the three walked out of the hut.
"I think my health's nearly at its limit," Dororo muttered to himself miserably.
"Kuku! It took a lot of research, but I found out who Rokiki was," Kururu had set his laptop on a picnic blanket towards the outskirts of the village, along with his curry-making supplies. "He was the one originally supposed to lead the research team to Pekopon, but was replaced last minute by a young upstart… It was a move to show off what a good soldier had been made at such a young age, kuku!"
"So he was tossed out for no good reason," Giroro concluded. "That would have been helpful to know in the beginning."
"Is there anything else you found, Kururu-dono?" Dororo asked.
"The pilot was a last-minute change, too, to someone with relatively little experience with such distances," Kururu added. "The pilot's name was Kodada, she was little more than a first-class private."
"Such a big job for a low rank," Giroro said to himself. "…I wonder what else he's keeping from us."
"Ojiisama would have a good reason if there was anything, Giroro!" Keroro answered with a wave of the hand. "If it's important, I have my complete faith in him that he would tell us exactly what it was!"
"I'm most worried about why we haven't heard of Rokiki, or why someone tries to stop us whenever we want to talk about him… I think there's a lot more to this than your uncle's telling you, Keroro," Giroro turned away from them at this and began to walk toward the jungle. "I'm going to do some training."
Dororo left as well, and then Keroro finally left the scientist. The sergeant felt ill at-ease, for some reason.
"And that's another way to make them apologize, even if you were in the wrong," Giroro walked in, thoroughly exhausted but with a sense of relief at getting his pent-up anger out in the form of training. Kirere laid out on the floor, taking notes about something on a notepad, while Chunini, who had come to a little while ago, dictated to her.
Tamama sat a ways away from them in the hut, but it was obvious he was listening intently as well. Romama, on the other hand, sat with his arms folded, and blushing slightly.
"What are you two talking about?" he asked innocently enough, and Kirere looked up at him and smiled.
"She's teaching me how to bend men to my will," Kirere answered casually, while Giroro was literally floored by this revelation.
"You… You're too young for that!" Giroro answered, flustered, and lifted the young girl up under his arm and carried her out. "I won't have her setting a bad example for you!"
"Heh, looks as though she already has someone bent to her will," Chunini mused to herself.
"Fujuju lives here… I know Kodada's in Europe as well, but out of everyone he's the closest, so he would know how to get you there," Lupapa explained to Dororo as she drew out on the large European map for him in red pen. "That isn't much, but…."
"It's enough," Dororo took up the map and stood next to her. "Thank you for your help, Lupapa-dono, I'm just sad you're declining to join our own platoon… But I understand your reasons, you have a wonderful family here."
"It was nice having a little extra help for at least one night, it felt almost like a vacation," Lupapa answered, and this seemed to cause something to click on in Dororo's mind.
"So are we really going?" Kirere laughed a bit now as Giroro continued to carry her under one arm like she was a knapsack; she was having a good time as he carried her around, and the corporal himself seemed to be doing this more than for her amusement than anything else. "Couldn't we stay a little bit longer? I was just learning not to catch the ball with my head in soccer!"
"We'll play more at home, what's important now is that we keep on with our mission, and get some kind of results…"
"All right," she mumbled, and Giroro stopped, and set her down onto the ground.
"…Are you sure you're all right with….?"
"I'm fine," Kirere nodded. "Papa didn't say anything mean, I promise…"
"But what did he…?"
"That's a secret," Kirere giggled and winked, and Giroro's shoulders fell.
"You're scary when you act like him," Giroro muttered.
"All right, I think we're ready to move on!" Keroro announced as he met back up with the group, who was almost all present that afternoon, save for the ninja assassin of the platoon.
"Say, where's Dororo?" Keroro wondered aloud.
"I… I'm right here, Keroro-kun," Dororo held up his hand weakly, although part of him was glad he had gone back to being sometimes forgotten. He'd gotten too much unwanted attention for his liking as of recent. Lupapa was next to him as well, her face serious as always.
"Ah, and Lupapa Gocho, not packed yet, or nothing you're wanting to take?" Keroro asked, leaning forward. "You look eager to start your new life!"
"What? I'm not leaving, I never was," Lupapa answered.
"I'm the one staying," Dororo replied.
"What?!" all, including Lupapa, were stunned by this.
"I…. I'm needed here, for a great good," Dororo answered, his head drooping. "Please understand."