Yeah…I haven't updated this in a month…
Sorry. I would say I was busy, but everyone is busy so that makes for a lousy excuse…anyway, continuing on.
Chapter 11: Reunion
Natsumi leveled her gun, a moment passed in silence. She gulped as the last fragments of ceiling clattered noisily on the ground. The thin film of dust that had floated up from the ground slowly settled again. Tamama opened his mouth, ready for anything. Momoka pulled Fuyuki close as they huddled on the sleeping bag.
Three figures dropped down. One was as large as Natsumi, but the other two appeared to be around Tamama's height. They were all dressed in black robes. "HANDS UP!" Natsumi shouted as she poked the foremost figure in the face with the barrel of the gun. Immediately, the two robed entities in the front raised their hands and back up. However, the other small robed figure refused.
"It's us! Don't shoot!"
Natsumi fell backwards in shock. "Koyuki?"
"The one and only, and look! Dororo too!"
With a flourish, the two figures ripped off their robes revealing the unscathed forms of Dororo and Koyuki. Looking around, they frowned. Dororo was the first to speak. "It seems you fared worse than us."
Natsumi smiled weakly and gestured to Tamama and Fuyuki, "At least they're still alive. Keroro didn't quite make it. He sacrificed himself to save us," the words just slipped out of her mouth like water over a cliff. Her mouth felt numb.
Suddenly, Tamama screamed. Startled, everyone turned in his direction. With a shaking finger, the tadpole pointed at the final shrouded figure, tears filling his eyes, "Corporal Giroro?"
"Hmf…yeah it's me." Giroro took off his hood revealing his dark red face.
Natsumi's heart skipped a beat. This was a dream. It had to be. Giroro flew into a sun, right? But there he was, in the flesh, standing right before her. Slowly, painfully, Natsumi crawled toward him on her hands and knees. With a trembling hand, the girl placed her hand on his shoulder. She felt his skin; definitely corporeal. A pleasant warmth engulfed her heart. There would be time for explanations later.
"Giroro, when you were gone, I felt…incomplete. Now that you're back, I feel that I can go on. I love you, Giroro."
"When I was thrown out into space, only the thought of you kept me alive. I love you, Natsumi."
They embraced and the basement erupted in cheers. Embarrassed, the two quickly stopped hugging and looked away from each other, blushing intensely. "There will be time later," muttered Natsumi out of the corner of her mouth. Giroro nodded in agreement.
Giroro walked over to the table and glanced down at the sheet of paper Natsumi had been writing on. "According to this, both Kururu and Keroro are missing. This means that I'm the leader now. We have to finish what Keroro started."
"What Keroro starts, Keroro finishes!" the voice came from somewhere underground. It sounded muffled and far away. Everyone looked around in a panic. A beat passed, then, the ground slightly farther north in the basement began to swell. A huge drill smashed through piles of canned goods as it burst from the earth. The body of a massive industrial machine followed. As the engine sputtered to a stop, the door opened.
"Even if Keroro were dead, I would be the captain, not you." It was Kururu, flanked by Aki, carrying a heavily bandaged Keroro. "We found him barely alive inside the ruins of an exploded house. Was it mutiny? Ku ku ku…"
Natsumi noticed that Kururu had a few long scratches on his face, but decided to keep quiet as it was probably a touchy subject. Instead, she turned back to the matter at hand. "Somehow, someway, though we were all split up and left for dead, we're back together here in this basement. I don't know how we did it, but we gotta stick together from here on out!"
Giroro nodded in agreement. Even if she hadn't said it, there was no way the Corporal would leave Natsumi unguarded again. The rest of the platoon readily agreed. They were all definitely stronger as a unit.
A moment of silence passed as everyone realized exactly how big of a foe they were up against. A voice broke the grim still: "Um…who exactly is in charge of the invasion?" It was Momoka, and she was very confused, "Aside from the lack of people, this place doesn't seem like the site of a war or anything."
"That's because no war took place here," muttered Giroro, sitting down on the ground, "His name is Kamimi. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but from the best of my knowledge, after the apocalypse machine thing-"
"AVCW, Apocalypse Vortex Climactic Weapon!" chimed in Kururu from the side.
"Ahem…after the AVCW failed to destroy Pekopon, our mysterious enemy tribe decided that direct invasion of Keron would be too difficult seeing they failed to destroy a world with far less advanced technology, no offense. Instead, they started what is known as a Pacifist Armageddon."
"I've been hearing about a Pacifist Armageddon a lot lately," commented Koyuki from the side, "But I still don't know what that means." Blushing, the ninja girl put her hands in her lap and looked down.
"Understandable," continued Giroro, "It's not a term that you'll come across in a Pekoponian history book, because such a thing has never happened on Pekopon yet. A Pacifist Armageddon is the destruction of an entire race. In the most basic and crude forms, Armageddon could involve a nuclear attack or some kind of destructive laser, or ground forces pillaging and burning the entire planet. On Pekopon, I believe that Armageddon means some kind of final battle between good and evil's respective deities?"
Fuyuki nodded, "Not exactly, but something like that, yes."
"Well out here, Armageddon can be used to describe any war that results in the complete and utter destruction of one side. The "pacifist" part in Pacifist Armageddon comes from the method of attack, and this is also where Kamimi comes in. Our enemies found Kamimi, probably a weakling with serious power-lust, and gave him some special abilities. Now this is where my info gets kinda foggy. I don't know exactly what they did to him, but over a few months, through favorable public image and a bit of good-ol assassination of the higher ups, Kamimi wormed his way up to the rank of Emperor. Once there, though, he began mercilessly killing any and all dissenters. In distress, Kamimi's advisor sent out the distress message we got, before being killed himself."
"Whoa!" cried Tamama, eyes sparkling, "When did you find this all out?"
"When I was in prison before my 'trial', I talked to the others in my cell."
"Then the path we take is clear then!" cried Tamama.
Everyone gave him a confused look. "Um…Tama-chan, we haven't even come up with a plan yet," said Aki, voicing the confusion of the rest.
"Here's the plan," began Tamama, holding a flashlight underneath his face for dramatic effect, "We exit this place in the dead of night. Using Dororo's assassin magic, we infiltrate the Grand Capitol."
The rest of the group leaned in closer.
"I'm sure the place will be crawling with guards, so we need to be extra quiet as we make it past the gates, and then…"
"And then?" asked Giroro.
"And then, WE SLAUGHTER THE LOT OF THEM AND KICK KAMIMI'S ROYAL ASS!"
Everyone fell over in surprise and Kururu face-palmed. "I can't believe I didn't think of a plan that brilliant!"
"Hm…" started Dororo, "That plan sounds good (especially since I get a large role in it) up to the part where we slaughter all the guards. They have been brainwashed by the promises of their twisted leader. It wouldn't be fair to kill them, when our only real target is Kamimi.
"Right. Though we'll all be generally in the same place, breaking into teams is the best option." It was Keroro, standing on the table. "The teams this time will be simple. Natsumi and Giroro, it's likely that once we assassinate Kamimi, the entire planet will be against us. You need to secure us a safe passage out. Whether that means finding some kind of vehicle or teleportation, I don't know. Fuyuki and Momoka, climb to the summit of the Grand Capitol once inside and disable the weapons system on top. Escaping will be plenty easier with it out of the way. Tamama, Kururu, Aki, you're with me. We will sneak down into the basement and disable the Grand Capitol's generator. Without light, Dororo and Koyuki's assassination should be even easier. Any questions?
"Yeah…" spoke up Fuyuki, "Did you purposely set up these teams to revolve around our character pairings?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Fuyuki. Alright men and women, move out!"
