Thanks for all your reviews jozs001, ZanyAnimeGirl (the blonde Kururu's lab wasn't Mois, it was Saburo :) ), FutileCrux (triple review makes me feel loved xD ), Keroro Platoon, Heinous966 (the friendzone is the only appropriate zone Saburo should be in :P ), Rainbowkittyblossomwings (there might be some kurumois in...I just have to figure out where to wedge it in. When I was planning this out, I forgot all about the loveable planet destroyer xP),Malsyn, Latios381 and SnowWolfAlpha (not gonna lie, you looking to me for a frog fix made me jump up and down happily :D )!

As mentioned in the previous chapter, Funimation has shelved the Sgt. Frog dub. For more information on how we might be able to change their mind, you could go to thebiganimation's deviantart journal, found (if the link shows up/works) here- : / / thebiganimation dot deviantart dot com / journal / SIGN-THIS-PETITION-FOR-THE-DUB-317619343

Oh god, this took far too long and I'm sorry for the wait...but On with the joy! (Oh, even though Koyuki only calls Dororo 'D' in the Funi version, and this is based more so on the original Japanese version, I just really like how she calls him D. So yeah, felt I needed to example that :P )

-=X=X=X=-

Dororo flicked a shuriken at the lone security camera in the room, before landing nimbly by Tamama. "Zero-" The private's eyes were big and hopeful and his voice much too loud, until Dororo clamped his hand over his mouth.

"Be silent and listen," he whispered, already working on the knots in the rope. "I will untie you and lead you far away from the Sanctum and then I will activate your tracking beacon, but you must stay silent until then, understand?"

Tamama nodded, and Dororo took his other hand away to finish the knots. "Everyone thought you were dead, Zeroro-senpai!" he whispered, and the ninja shot a deadly glare at him. Obviously, he hadn't understood.

"That is no longer my name," he hissed. "I am now Dororo, no ally of the Keroro Platoon."

"Hurry up, D!" Koyuki whispered from above. Judging by Tamama's expression, the appearance of a Pekoponian ally did nothing to ease his unbridled confusion. Just then, the sound of the door unlocking interrupted them, just as Dororo had undid the final of the private's binds. "Damn!" Any moment a Pekoponian soldier with guns and knives and a pure hatred for the beings that wrecked their home would burst through, or worse; it would be Katazuchi. Swiftly, he loosely wound the ropes back around Tamama and leapt back into the safety of the shadows in the vent.

-=X=X=X=-

"Katazuchi-san...Nishizawa-san wants to know if she can visit the alien we found."

The tall, friendly sergeant's brow furrowed as he looked at Fuyuki. It furrowed even more when he turned to Momoka. "Why on earth...?"

"I-I'm just a little concerned about him," she replied, nervously. The atmosphere between her and Fuyuki had been strained and awkward before stepping into his office, but now it was palpable and awful.

"...We're treating him well enough," Katazuchi reassured her, smiling his usual, unwavering smile.

"I'm not saying you're not, I-I just-"

"Katazuchi-san," Fuyuki cut her off, "the alien might trust Nishizawa-san. I mean, she did protect it, so she could question him and maybe we'll actually get some answers."

"Oh, I see. That's a good idea, Fuyuki-kun," Katazuchi's smile got bigger. "You would be okay with that, wouldn't you, Momoka-chan?"

"I- um, y-yes...!" It wasn't like she could refuse the smiling sergeant. And she really did want to see Tama-chan; she had this horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that handing him over to the soldiers was a dreadful thing to do. He was so little and young...Sure, he was an alien but he was still a living thing, right? That would be something Fuyuki would say...if Fuyuki weren't the way he was now. And never mind what Katazuchi said, something inside told her that the soldiers weren't treating him well enough.

"Alrighty then! If you could, ask it these particular questions- these are very important..."

The scene continued to play over in Momoka's mind as Katazuchi went over the list of questions and a soldier unlocked all the latches on the door to Tama-chan's cell.

"But remember- the alien thinks all his movements and conversations are being recorded by the security camera...but it...doesn't actually work," Katazuchi explained.

"What? But- why not?" Fuyuki asked.

"We just don't have the resources to power the camera when the Infirmary, the kitchens and my office need electricity. Don't worry though; the little guy isn't going anywhere."

"Still, sending Nishizawa-san in there and we don't know what's happening sounds kinda dangerous..." He turned to her with eyes filled with concern and care, making Momoka's heart flutter and her cheeks hot. "You don't have to go in there if you don't want to."

After barely willing her heart to calm down and her tongue to untie itself, she managed to reply, "N-no, I'll be fine!"

The last latch was unlocked and everyone fell silent. Through the open doorway, she could see Tama-chan's small frame tremble, even under all the ropes that tied him to the chair. Her worst case scenario that haunted her mind was that he was bloodied and beaten, being hung on a wall with chains like a torture victim in those crummy horror movies Paul didn't know she watched. Thank god it was nothing like that, but it still seemed...uncomfortable. Not even aware what she was doing, she had walked into the cell and right up to the chair, only realizing when the clang of the door slamming shut woke her up. She knelt beside Tama-chan, who didn't appear to realize she was there until she cleared her throat. He almost jumped out of the chair from the small sound and when he looked at her, his eyes were wide...but not with fear, like she worried. More like...a little hopeful?

"Ah! You're...Momo, right?" he said, a tiny smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.

"Momoka, yes. Are you alright, Tama-chan? I mean, have any of the soldiers hurt you?"

"Nuh-huh. Well, that Katazuchi guy might've...But he didn't."

"Katazuchi-san threatened you?!" she gasped, in total disbelief. Katazuchi was a good man; he was kind to everyone in the Sanctum and everyone liked him. But he was still a soldier, and a soldier in a time of invasion no less. So it wouldn't be impossible that he would employ fear tactics and threats against an invader, even as one as harmless as Tama-chan, would it?

"Yeah...He's a scary guy, Momo-chi. Be careful around him, okay?"

"He's not...D- did you just call me 'Momo-chi'?"

Tama-chan blinked, "Erm, y-yeah I guess I did. I sometimes give people nicknames...don't you like it?"

"It's okay," she smiled. "It's actually kind of cool for an alien to give me a cute nickname."

He gave a little giggle and a smile of his own and he was freaking adorable. This little guy should not have been an invader; more like a living cuddly toy. Which then brought her to a question that had been bugging her for a while. "Tama-chan...why did you become an invader?"

He shrugged a little. "Don't know, really. On Keron, after you leave the training academy, you either join the army, or the civilian sector, or the police or something. Everyone in my family had gone straight to the army so I just did that too." He quickly added, "But the army doesn't just invade other planets; we protect the planet and help out allied planets if they get stuck in wars and...lots of other stuff..." It sounded like he was trying to justify it and by all rights it should have made Momoka even angrier about the state of her planet...But she just felt sorry for him.

"It sounds like you don't have any choice," she mumbled. "Why is your army invading Earth?"

Tama-chan shrugged again. "I don't know. I didn't really pay attention to planetary political history in the training academy. But it's probably to do with fuel resources or land to grow crops though...The Sergeant would know..."

Suddenly, a sorrowful sound filled the room: -Grrrroooooooaaaawwwllll-

The white cheeks of Tama-chan's face flushed bright red. "I-I-I haven't eaten in a while..."he explained.

Momoka giggled. "So being embarrassed by your stomach growling is a universal thing!" she thought. Then she remembered the candy bar in her pocket. After she got over the shock of Fuyuki actually giving her it, she thought of the little invader and wondered if he was being fed. Thinking that he wouldn't be, or at least not being fed enough, she saved it for when she visited him. "Tama-chan, your planet has candy, right?"

"Of course it does!" He looked at her as if she were the alien invader.

"Well then, you can have this if you want."

His eyes grew so wide they looked like they might fall off his face along with his massive grin when she brought out the candy bar. "Seriously?!"

She smiled, about to tear open the wrapper and planning to hold it up to his mouth and feed it to him, considering his arms were tied down. However, she didn't need to. Tama-chan threw out his hands to take the candy and the ropes binding him to the chair simply fell away onto the floor. The very stunned, slightly awkward silence that followed was finally broken by him saying, "I-I... guess Pekoponians aren't very good at tying knots!"

Momoka laughed nervously, partly out of surprise and partly out of lack of any other reaction, and Tama-chan laughed back. He took the candy bar but stopped just short of biting into it, looking down shyly. "Y'know, Momo-chi...You're the nicest Pekoponian I've ever met."

"Aww, Tama-chan..."

He grinned, about to bite a chunk out of the candy again when he stopped again! His eyes widened, as if he just remembered something, and he slapped the symbol on his yellow hat. The symbol must have been a button; it depressed smoothly into the fabric and lit up, making a barely audible 'boop...boop...boop...'

-=X=X=X=-

The Keronians were short, militaristic, stupid, invading douche bags but out of all the things Natsumi could call them, they weren't slave drivers (ironically enough). It was probably something to do with that 'Protection Of Indigenous Species Blah Blah Blah Act'. Once again, she had finished all her chores early and was given the rest of the day as free time and she was at a loss of what to do. "...I might go see if Giroro's not busy," she mused. "I guess I could chat with him. Get to know him, maybe. He already knows a bit about me and my family...Couldn't hurt to know about his."

She was annoyed with herself for wanting to go see him. She had to keep repeating to herself several times that she did not have a crush on him. It was ludicrous; he was an invading alien. He wasn't even that cool or caring...And he certainly didn't have any feelings for her because of the same, pure and simple reason that they were different friggin' species!

But she still wanted to go see him, to hang out with him. Honestly though, what else could she do? It was a surprisingly small ship, there weren't exactly any good television shows on at the moment considering all of Earth's actors were now servants, and she slept in the same room as him. There was no avoiding him and nothing else to do. So...Why not hang out with him?

Surprisingly, Giroro wasn't in their quarters- no, his quarters, it wasn't theirs, she was stuck there not willingly sharing...However, what was there were two sheets of paper on his desk. Natsumi wouldn't have given them a second glance, not a second thought, she would have assumed they were invasion plans or weapon statistics if she hadn't have noticed that on the sheet closest to her was a picture of her mom. And on the other sheet was a picture of her brother.

She raced over to the desk and swiped up the papers, not even registering that she had moved a muscle. "Why would he have these...? What are they about?!" She needed to read them, needed so desperately to have any scrap of knowledge possible about her family but she couldn't focus. Her eyes wouldn't make sense of the writing and it wasn't even in their alien language. Her head felt light. Her knees were about to give out.

She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath. "Come on, calm down...Fainting isn't going to get you anywhere, Natsumi." And she breathed out. In. Out.

When she was a little more confident that she wasn't about to have a panic attack, she sat down on the very corner of Giroro's bed (which was massively oversized, considering his body). The papers were in her hands and she was capable of reading them again yet she couldn't look at them. She looked all around the room, at her futon in her tiny closet, at Giroro's desk where she noticed the teeth marks on the ends of his pens, at the weapons rack with the rows and rows of smallish guns that always had their safety on, anywhere and everywhere but the papers in her hand. She was scared, terrified, hell- petrified of what they were going to tell her. Something along the lines of "Lol, this stupid human begged for their life and we shot them anyway after torturing the crap out of them! Trolololo" maybe? Unlikely, but...Natsumi took another deep breath and began reading.

"Subject name: HINATA, AKI

Subject location: Holding Ship #3, Pekoponian Medical Ward #5.

Subject status: Hospitalized. Subject incurred severe head injury from falling debris and is currently comatose. Subject is unresponsive to conventional attempts to wake them from coma however scans indicate that once subject has awoken, no critical lasting brain damage will remain. UPDATE: A humanoid neurological specialist has been contacted."

She was alive...Her mom was alive. She had been pretty hurt and was in a coma and it sounded like she wouldn't be waking up soon but she was...She was somewhere and she was being taken care of. It might have been on a ship full of aliens but it was better than being god-knows-where and...and dead. Much better than that. Maybe they would even let her visit? She put the thought to one side, for now, and looked at the other data sheet.

"Subject name: HINATA, FUYUKI

Subject location: Unknown, otherwise Pekopon.

Subject status: Subject came into contact with ground forces in initial attack and since disappeared. UPDATE: Subject encountered ground forces more recently yet escaped again. Shots were fired but presumed alive."

Presumed alive...He was alive too! Her family was alive! She still had her mom and she still had her little brother. She would definitely go visit her mom, definitely, she would kill the stupid frogs that tried to stop her and she would find her brother. It would probably take a while, but she would find him. They would all be together again.

She found herself blind again, but this time from floods of tears than shock. Try as she might, every time she wiped her eyes, more and more tears trailed down her cheeks. Water dripped onto the papers, smudging the ink. Random words became indistinguishable stains of purple and black, but she managed not to let any drops fall onto their pictures. She had thought, for so so long, that they were dead...That something terrible must have happened and that they were shot, or blown apart by a bomb or trapped under a demolished building. But the falling debris only put her in a coma and even though shots were fired, he was presumed alive. They weren't gone- They weren't!

"Na-Natsumi?"

She started crying more when she knew he was there. She still couldn't see straight from rivers of tears, but she heard Giroro's swift footsteps and felt his presence next to her. He stood there in silence for...for however long it took her to finally subdue her sobs.

"I, uh..." she sniffled and cleared her throat, trying her best to speak clearly, "...I found these on your desk. I...You found these...f-for me?"

Giroro opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, struggling with what to say. He looked just a flabbergasted as she did when she first found them. Strange...He'd seen her cry before (as much as it burned her to admit that).

Natsumi carried on talking. "I told you about them, s-so you found out what had happened to them for me...?"

The soldier finally managed to spit something out. "W-well, I...uh-" He didn't finish his sentence. She scooped him up and hugged him to her chest, burying her face into the fabric of his hat flap. It was soft on her cheek, like cotton, and warm from his body heat.

"Thank you, Giroro," she whispered, incapable of anything else. "You...You're a really great guy...Thank you so much."

"I...I...! Nats-...It...was nothing..." he finally said.

Just then, the realization that she was cuddling an alien struck her and she put him down on the bed beside her. His face seemed redder than usual...much redder. "Keronians aren't...capable of blushing, are they...?" Saburo's words from before floated into her mind.

"Hah, he must have a crush you!"

"Um...Giroro," she began, slowly and for some reason extremely nervously. "Why...Why did you find these for me?"

"Uhm...Well...You see..." It took him a while and he spent the whole time fidgeting awkwardly. Kind of 'cute' awkwardly, though... "If...If I was in your position, I'd want to know what had happened to my family." She got the feeling that was the best answer she was going to get, even if it wasn't the entire truth. But she didn't press the matter any further...for now, anyway.

"May I?" Giroro held out his hand for the papers. "I haven't actually read them." Natsumi handed them to him and watched his expression as he read them. His face had returned to its normal shade of red and his eyes were all serious again, following the lines of text. Slowly, she saw a frown appear. She guessed he got to the bit about her mom being in a coma.

"When it says 'conventional attempts', what does it mean?" she asked. "Does your race have a way of waking people up from comas?"

"We have a few methods which always seem to work for Keronians, but seeing as your mother isn't a Keronian, I can see why they didn't work..." Giroro replied, looking away from the report and right at her. It made her feel kind of funny...giddy, even. Like when Saburo looked at her when she still had a thing for him. "Honestly, Keronian doctors aren't that experienced with comatose patients. We don't fall into comas as easily as Pekoponians do."

"How come?"

"Our skulls are thicker."

"Hah," Natsumi laughed. "Thick-head." In retrospect, she probably shouldn't have called a skilled soldier, whose guns were only a short distance away, that he was a thick-head. She just couldn't resist.

The corners of his mouth tugged into a little smirk. "Well, our brains are considerably more precious than Pekoponians, so it makes sense they're better protected."

"Excuse me? Are you calling us thick, now?!" she laughed even louder, too amused that this guy was actually able to crack a joke to be insulted. He chuckled too, shaking his head. And then he looked at Fuyuki's sheet and fell stone silent.

"This is...Your brother..." His voice cracked and his wide eyes almost shook in their sockets.

"Yeah...What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's...I-I..." He licked his lips nervously and Natsumi could have sworn she saw his hands tremble. "I-...It says he was shot..."

"But, he's presumed alive, right? And it just says 'shots were fired' not that he was actually shot. So...So he's okay, right?" Her heart drummed in her ears and all the air in her lungs dissipated. Giroro had to say he was fine...He was a solider, hardened in war, he knew about this sort of stuff, so if he said that there was even a chance Fuyuki might not be okay, then he'd be right...No, he needed to be okay- Giroro needed to tell her that!

"Yeah, yeah, it says it here, so he'd be alright," he finally said, not looking up at her. "I...I just thought, if I were in your place and I'd heard my brother had been shot at...It freaked me out."

Relief had almost made Natsumi turn to jelly and fall off the bed. It took her a moment to process what he just told her. "You have a brother, Giroro?"

"Yeah- Garuru."

"Seriously, that purple one's your brother?"

"You didn't know?"

"Erm...w-well I guess I can see it now. You two are pretty alike. Both really tough and serious."

"Heh...We were close growing up. I-uh...sort of idolized him. Saw him as a perfect soldier and wanted to grow up to be just like him."

"Really? That's...That's cute." She smiled at him and he smiled back. He looked away quickly again, his cheeks redder again, like he was gushing.

Natsumi sighed. "Guess I can't keep telling myself he isn't a nice guy...But, is he nice for being nice or...is Saburo right? Does he have feelings for me...? I...I want to know."

"Hey, Giroro...Why did you really find out about my family for me?"

Whatever words he mumbled next were drowned out by a wailing siren tearing through the entire ship. Suddenly, the pervy frog's voice called out over it via a tannoy, "Private Second Class Tamama has activated his tracking beacon and I've got a lock on his location," and Giroro sped out of the room.