Well, here it is. The chapter we've all been waiting for. A little quick warning before you go any further; this chapter contains one hell of a shocker by the end. Hope you're ready, because as I've said before, it is arguably the most important plot point in the entire story. Okay, let's stop wasting time and get going!


*static*...-llo? Hello, is this...? Is it on!?

Oh, thank frog. *clears throat* It's me again. I'm alive. I don't know how, but I'm alive. The last thing I remember was laying against a tree, bleeding out. Now I can't feel anything, at least when I stay still. I tried to get up and leave the second I woke up, but I couldn't. Every time I try, it feels like the bullet in my stomach is twisting. I'm stuck here.

I'm in a cave. It's dark. The only way I can see is with this recorder's green glow. I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do when it runs out of power. I still don't know how I got here, but I'm covered in bandages, so I guess someone found me and decided to patched me up. I wish I knew who. I'd like to thank them. I've been laying here in silence for what feels like hours. This place is huge. I don't know if they're here or not. ...Watching me.

I don't like this place. I'm overjoyed to be alive, but I don't feel safe. Maybe it's just been my lifelong fear of the dark, but something about this place sends chills down my spine. I hope someone finds me soon. Just...not anyone from the camp. As I've already said; I can't run. If one of them finds me here...

Look, I have to cut this short to save power. I don't know how long I'm gonna be here, and I just wanted to make sure whoever's hearing this knows what happened to me and that I'm still alive. I'm gonna try and stay awake for as long as I can. I hate the idea of what could happen to me if I'm not awake to see it. Though I'm not sure if I'll make it very long. I just have to try. Journal Entry: Offline.


A dark blue officer with a squad of lower ranked troopers huddled behind him heard his earpiece suddenly begin beeping, alerting him that someone on the ship was trying to contact him. He placed his hand on the side of his hat, activating the earpiece. "This is Officer Yatoto."

"This is General Borara. I have a new set of orders for you and your team."

"Yes, General?"

"The Corporal's ship is still disabled. You and your squad sneak around the carnage and make your way to the ship. Place explosives outside the ship and make sure you're far enough away from the craft before detonating it. If we can't kill this keronian, we can at least make sure he has no means of escape. If you find anyone alive in the ship, kill them all before you do anything. We don't want them interfering in any way."

Yatoto gazed over to the distant ship, watching it drifting slowly through space and nodding in response to his new objective. "Yes, General." He said before deactivating his earpiece and signaling his men to follow him.


Natsumi kept her hands steady as she held her gun out to fire at anything that might come near the ship while the constantly spinning stars in front of her from the ship's uncontrollable drifting made her feel dizzy. She considered lowering it a few times, but decided against since the army could turn their attention back to the ship for any reason. Teri continued to cry as loud as he could, Natsumi only able to hear it as a muffled scream through his oxygen mask. She hadn't the slightest idea how long Giroro had been out there or how well he was holding up, but the bright flashing lights that covered most of space whenever they appeared at least let her know he was still alive.

The squad of keronians silently made it to the front of the ship, their cloaking devices still fully active. They focused all their attention on the woman and child strapped to the two chairs behind the controls, who luckily didn't seem to notice that they were approaching. They held their guns out as they landed quietly around the broken glass above the two passengers. While trying to get decent footing on the outside of the vessel to keep his aim stable, he took an extra step too far and planet his foot on the edge of the window.

He clumsily slipped on the unexpected smooth surface and knocked into one of his comrades, causing one accidental, misfired bullet to fire over Natsumi's head and into the wall of the ship. Natsumi's eyebrows jumped in shock when she saw the bullet trail appear out of nowhere. She scanned the area in front of her for only half a second before cocking her gun.

"SHE KNOWS!" Officer Yatoto shouted to the rest of his team.

Then, at the exact same moment, both Natsumi and the keronians opened fire.


Giroro released another shock wave, propelling him across space while he spun his body in circles, obliterating every keronian above and below him with the yellow beam in a massive whirlwind attack. After watching the beam flatten when it made contact with the invisible soldiers around him, he saw it abruptly fly past the accustomed ceiling and off into open space, indicating that there were no keronian left to kill.

Putting his shield up and coming to a stop, he panted heavily from the battle while his body drifted calmly through space. Swallowing a few times, he waited with bated breath for something to happen. He kept his shield up to avoid any sneak attacks, even though he knew they could just try shocking him like they did last time he had his shield around him. All he could do now was prepare himself for when they eventually try it again. But that was all depending on whether there were any keronians left.

Two soldiers floating a few meters below Giroro watched in fear at the floating red killer. He hadn't noticed they were there thanks to their cloaking devices, but since they had miraculously survived his massive slaughtering of their friends, they both were just as unlucky to be the only two soldiers left alive.

"Shit, shit, SHIT, SHIIIT!" the first soldier screamed.

"Calm down! I have an idea, but you're going to have to help me. We can still finish him off. Now I'm going to get closer to him. Stay here and do exactly as I say." the other keronian answered.

Giroro waited. He waited tensely for something to happen. Anything. He kept his eyes and ears open, even if they were barely useful at the moment. He thought there had to be more out there, but he was slowly beginning to reconsider. Perhaps being exposed to the pure silence of space for so long had made time seem sufficiently slower.

A keronian holding a red taser staff suddenly appeared in front of him, its cloaking device seeming to unexpectedly shut down. Wasting no time, Giroro impulsively shut off the Keroball's shield and fired the yellow beam straight at the keronian, watching as he desperately tried to dodge before dissolving into ash. Just as he shut off the beam, a single bullet shot through the Keroball, creating a busted hole in the weapon that caused broken pieces of its interior to drift out and disappear in space.

Giroro peered to where the bullet came from, seeing nothing, indicating that a second invisible keronian had fired it. It didn't take long for him to realize it was a trick. The keronian he had just killed purposely shut off his cloaking device to distract him while the second one attacked from the side when the shield was down. Giroro instinctively aimed the Keroball in the same direction and pressed the button to release the yellow beam, only for nothing to happen. The keronian fired another bullet, shooting Giroro in the hand. He let out a painful groan as the broken Keroball slipped out of his fingers and floated away.

The keronian repeatedly huffed in a panic as he lowered his gun after his enemy dropped the only weapon he had. Giroro grabbed hold of his hand, feeling the bullet still caught in his palm. Taking in one final deep breath and exhaling steadily, the keronian activated his earpiece. "The target is eliminated. Repeat; the target is eliminated. Permission to be teleported back on board."

There was a short pause before the voice of the General was heard, which the keronian did not expect. "Permission granted, soldier."

In the blink of an eye, the keronian found himself standing in the deck of the main ship, standing face to face with Borara. He quickly shook off the sudden surprise of where he was and saluted proudly. "Th-thank you, General."

Borara only nodded back, turning back to the hologram at the front of the deck, seeing Giroro holding his bleeding hand under his armpit while floating around open space. The screen then zoomed in on the Keroball as it drifted away from him, a giant hole shot through it as the General had ordered. "Good work, but he's still alive out there." he said, reaching below the control pad and pulling out another cigar, lighting it, and placing it in his mouth. "Fire another round of missiles. He won't be escaping this time."


Giroro could feel his pulse through the wound. He struggled to ignore the pain, wondering if there were any soldiers left trying to kill him. He turned his head, watching the Keroball drift away and almost out of sight. He immediately took his hand out from his armpit and stretched it forward, as much as it hurt to do so. The Keroball was already far beyond his reach, and still going. He tried throwing his arms back in a swimming motion to try and move forward, but it wasn't any use in space. He needed something to propel him forward.

He summoned a small pistol into his still functioning hand, pointed it behind his back and fired wildly. The force of the bullets escaping the gun was enough to slightly propel him forward. Reaching as arm out when he got close enough, he snatched the Keroball by the antenna and held it correctly in his hands, feeling the full sting of its ice cold shell against his bleeding palm.

He pressed as many buttons as he could, getting no results from any of them. The ball had lost a lot of power after the bullet shot through its core. He looked at the one button he hoped would still be active; the teleportation button. He deeply wished that it didn't have to come to this, but they were out of options. They may wind up lost in space, but at least they'd survive.

He looked out toward the ship, which thankfully wasn't that far away. At least close enough to where he could make it by rocket propelled force fairly quickly. He dropped both the pistols and summoned the largest rocket launcher he could think of, firing it behind his back and soaring forward in the direction of the ship. Dropping his gun the second he noticed his body beginning to lose speed, he summoned another as soon as the first gun was out of his hand and fired again. He continued this cycle as fast as he could, inching closer to the ship with each push.

Puffs of far away smoke appeared around him. The second round of missiles had been fired. Giroro reached out for the ship, believing he could feel its cold metal exterior getting closer. Then, with this arm extended as far as it could go, he felt the ship's outside slide over the tip of his fingers. Pressing the teleportation button immediately when he made contact, both him and the ship vanished in a split second, barely avoiding the missiles as they flew past where it once was and collided with each other before exploding.


The deck of the ship was silent. Everyone looked to the General, who watched his target vanish without a trace and was now staring at empty space. He slowly took his cigar out of his mouth and crushed it in his bare hand, making everyone around him flinch. The soldier who had damaged the Keroball carefully turned around and attempted to leave, taking a sluggish step away from the clearly enraged General. Borara instantly spun around when the keronian took his first step and fired a bullet straight through the back of his head.

The frog who was just being congratulated by the General less than a minute ago now laid dead on the floor, blood seeping out of his head. Borara put his gun away as two other frogs quickly dragged the body out of the room. He turned to a group of three keronians by his side, who swallowed all of their fear when they saw his gaze and gave a respectful salute. "We're aborting the mission. Inform the fleet, then put me through to the Supreme Commanders. Now."

The keronians ran off after their orders were given. Borara turned back to the screen, glaring at nothing. He began to wonder where the squad he had sent to destroy the ship disappeared to. They couldn't have been killed by any passengers, could they?

A keronian sitting over a computer called out for Borara's attention. "General! Officer Yatoto wishes to speak to you! He requests immediate rescue!"

Borara rolled his eyes. 'Seems they could.'

"Put him through." the General ordered, causing the keronian to nod obediently and resume typing.

His earpiece suddenly activated. He placed his hand on the side of hat, finding the voice of a distinctly injured Yatoto. "...G-Gen..." the Officer coughed. "General...B-Borara. ...We made it to the ship. My men were shot dead. I..." he coughed for another eight seconds as Borara squinted in rage. "I'm the only one left. I...need help. I've been shot."

"You're saying you failed?" Borara asked, rhetorically.

Yatoto winced while attempting to speak. "Please! I have good news, though! I swear!"


Giroro opened his eyes, finding that the fleet of ships that encompassed them had vanished. The universe was completely empty around them. Only the dim, far off glow of a thousand stars could be seen wherever he looked. As predicted, he had no idea where they were in the universe, nor had any means of finding out. He climbed over the ship, reaching the shattered window he had escaped from. He held tightly onto whatever he could reach, crawling through the hole and treading carefully inside the ship. He placed his feet on the floor of the ship and sighed in relief. It was over. They were finally safe.

He looked up, finding Teri sitting beside Natsumi crying through his mask, and his wife, slumped back on the seat with blood dripping down the side of her head.


"You failed!?" the youngest and most tempered Supreme Commander who stood to the left of his superior yelled at the picture of Borara that hovered before him and his two partners. The General lowered his salute and continued with his report, disinclined as he was to do so.

"Yes, sir. I followed procedure as instructed, and did everything I could to weaken their defenses. But in the end, it wasn't enough."

The youngest one was ready to happily sentence the General to torture for his mistake when the highest ranking Commander stepped forward, waving his staff in front of his wrathful friend to shush him. "Your older brother and his assassin unit also failed us when given the same task. Is there anything going on in relation to your family that might be causing the two of you to slack off on your performances?"


Giroro's heart stopped. "NATSUMI!" he yelled, running forward to help her.


"No, sir." Borara answered, feeling the pressure of Sutete's lack of success now added to his own. He knew the moment he saw Giroro's ship vanish that he was going to be disciplined for his failure, but being compared to his brother and realizing that both their punishments had likely just been doubled was just as terrifying as it was shameful.

The leading Commander eyed the anxious General without speaking, making note of every miniature signal his admittedly well attempt at a straight face made. He studied the General's mood and considered what the appropriate way of utilizing it to get more information. "You know, General, your brother lost one of his men during their last mission. The Corporal may have escaped, but had one of his assassins not died in the process, there really wouldn't have been anything of value lost. Is there anything you managed to accomplish that might put your report above your brother's?"


Giroro rushed over to the side of his wife's chair to see where the blood was coming from, since it was still spreading out over the seat as large gushes of it overlapped the stains that were already there. He nearly let out a petrified screamed when he found it.


"...Sir...I lost over a hundred troops today. Sutete may have-" Borara tried explaining before the Commander cut him off.

"Sutete had only four others to look after. You are a far higher ranked superior, which is why we supplied you with so many more followers. ...But if you truly don't have any extra news to give us, I suppose you could be right. You and your brother SHOULD be equally punished. That is, only if we were to ignore the, as you put it, hundreds of other troops you let die."

Borara's forehead was now extremely damp as his nerves caused his stomach to violently twist in every way possible. He took in a deep breath and spoke with angst. "There is still one more thing, but I'm...not certain if it will ultimately matter."

The Commander fought the urge to smile. "Anything you can tell us will undoubtedly help to eliminate this threat."


Giroro grabbed her by the head, staring in disbelief at the small hole that had been made through her skull.


"I received a report from Officer Yatoto before he died of a bullet wound out in space. One of the passengers he was carrying aboard his ship, an adult alien woman,...is dead."


The Corporal's hands were now covered in blood as he gazed into her horrifyingly static eyes. He screamed out her name, begging whoever might be listening to hear his broken cry.

"N-Nat-Natsumi! No! Please, God, NO! NOT AFTER ALL I'VE DONE TO PROTECT YOU! I CAN'T END LIKE THIS! IT CAN'T! NATSUMI!"


The Supreme Commanders thought about this new information profoundly. They remembered how it was after a similarly sounding woman back on the Grand Star was slapped that Giroro's program was triggered. Why would he care so much about some random alien woman? But then again, Giroro was able to somehow disguise himself as a different colored Keronian when he returned to Keron, so it was entirely possible that the alien woman he was protecting was in fact someone else wearing the same sort of disguise. Someone he cared for enough to cause the program to unexpectedly activate.

"I think you both know what I'm thinking." the leading Commander whispered to the others. They nodded solemnly.

"Natsumi." the Commander to his right answered.

All three of them turned back to Borara, who they could see was now more nervous than ever. "Thank you for telling us. That small detail is more important than you know. As such, your punishment will now be made less severe."

Borara lowered his shoulders, thankful for this miraculous blessing. He raised his arm back up and gave another salute. "Understood. Thank you, Commanders."

He made sure to keep his salute stiff until the Commanders ended the transmission. The three of them then strolled over to a nearby window and gazed out into space, visualizing where Giroro may have disappeared to. His ship is powerless, making it impossible to track. They didn't even know where to start looking, since the Keroball could have literally taken them anywhere in the universe. They had no leads.

"What do we do now?" the left Commander asked as he turned to his partners. The leader paused to think for a moment before replying.

"We wait. It would be pointless to send out a search party for him. The odds of us finding him are near non-existent. If we hear of his whereabouts or find any leads, we shall act immediately. Until then, we wait."

The youngest Commander suddenly found it his obligation to interject. "Sir, you know what the program is capable of. This enemy is the most unpredic-"

"We don't have a choice. Since searching for him would be a fruitless act, all we can do is wait for Giroro to show himself or, if he doesn't, assume he died out in space. A ship without power is completely uninhabitable. If would only take a few months for one to die of starvation, lack of oxygen, or simply freezing to death. If he manages to find a way off his broken vessel, he'll have to make himself known eventually. But for now...there's nothing we can do."

It was extremely rare for any of the Supreme Commanders to feel fear. Now they all felt it. The program had never been tampered with before, especially not to this degree. It was always a very high-risk piece of technology in the past, but now that they were no longer in control, the implications of what it could do without proper guidance was simply terrifying. Taking one last look out into open space, the Commanders quickly accepted that there was nothing they could do at the moment, despite the still standing fact of the matter regarding their latest lack of success. As long as the program was still inside him, none of them were safe. The entire keronian race was now in jeopardy.

'It doesn't matter how many of your loved ones must pay the price, Giroro. Natsumi was the first, but I promise she won't be the last. Hide all you want for now. We will find you. Very soon.'


...Well...there it is.

Like I said, everything that happens in story is for a good reason. Some of you may be understandably angry that I've killed off Natsumi, but I promise, it carries a very important purpose for the remainder of the story. Just keep reading and it'll all make sense. Trust me.

Also, since it appears no one has caught it yet, I sort of hinted at Natsumi's death in this story's cover. Notice how there's blood drops coming in from above and making a small stain on the photo? Notice whose face the blood is covering up?

God, I LOVE symbolism! XD