KeroGirls

by Z2

After an accident with a new invention, the five alien invaders are transformed into human girls. Meanwhile, believing that the Keroro platoon had disappeared, the Keronian Army starts a countdown for a new invasion...

14. Giroro, Character Change!

This chapter was originally posted after new years', but it has been updated with some new scenes and some details changed. It's still the same chapter from before though, not a completely new one.

CHAPTER 13

The sun had set and the lights of the Hinata residence were off, but a small bonfire burned in front of Giroro's tent. Garuru was next to Giroro in the backyard looking at Garuru's damaged escape pod, which they had brought over there. The Keronian lieutenant stood next to it, looking at its interior, while Giroro sit by the side.

"Hi, boss!" The image of a light blue Keronian with freckles appeared in a screen inside the open spherical pod. The transmission didn't seem to be perfect, maybe due to the damage to the pod, it was filled with static in both video and audio.

"So, you're fine, Private Taruru." Garuru said, without showing much surprise, unlike Giroro, who curiously looked at her brother.

"Of course!" Taruru exclaimed, raising his arms. "I had to defeat some stupid robot, but that was nothing! So, where are you right now, lieutenant Garuru? And who is that Pekoponian with you?"

"I'm currently in the residence of the Pekoponians who live with the Keroro platoon. I'll debrief you more thoroughly on the current situation when you get here."

"Roger!" Taruru saluted his commander as the image faded out.

"Hm… if even he's fine, I guess nothing must have happened to Pururu or Tororo either." Garuru concluded.

"So, you aren't going to search for them?" Giroro wondered, looking curiously at her brother.

"Hm… Maybe for Tororo, he can be quite troublesome if left alone. There's a bigger problem that needs to be solved first."

"What's it?" Giroro wondered, looking away from him. Garuru exhaled noisily.

"Mental and physical contamination."

"Eh?"

"Do you remember when my platoon was sent to test you?" Garuru wondered, looking through the yellow lenses that covered his Keronian eyes straight into Giroro's uncertain face.

"Ye-yes."

"The Keronian army makes a strict selection of its soldiers, analyzing each one's potential. However, if adverse conditions encountered in the battlefield end up damaging the soldiers mind and body, their memories and body are reset to their previous condition, to restore the soldier's potential. If that can't be done…"

Giroro sweated cold while looking at her own reflection in Garuru's eyes. "The soldier is replaced by a clone, who inherits the original's identity and position for all official records, while the original…" The redhead said, looking at the grass.

"…is deleted. Executed." Garuru stopped while Giroro silently thought about that, trying to digest that information. "Currently, you've lost even your bodies. I assure you, even if there's no actual conspiracy, the Keronian army won't receive you with open arms."

"But… but… I'm not like that idiot, Keroro! I'm still the same inside!" Giroro protested.

"Really?"

Giroro didn't say anything, just looking away from him while letting herself sit on the ground. "Maybe… I've changed a bit… but… Not enough to hurt our mission!"

"However, I don't plan to abandon my brother… or sister." Giroro cringed at Garuru's last word, but she was relieved anyway. Her face softened up briefly.

"Thanks, Garuru."

The lieutenant blinked while looking at his "sister's" face. Although the characteristic scar across her face was there, and she also had that usual scowl, he still often had to remind himself that his brother was inside that body somehow. Looking at Giroro's face at the moment, he could only see the smile of a Pekoponian teenager. Was that due to some change in Giroro, or was he just looking at the female body in front of him?

"A smile is just a smile. I see a young girl smiling because that's what Giroro looks like right now…" Garuru concluded, sighing, "What am I thinking? If I stay here for too long, I'll end up contaminated too…"

/

In the middle of a large department store, there was a stage set with lights aiming at its center. Lulu Tsukichima stood there, wearing attention grabbing clothes, a short white skirt and a glistening white top, with sparklingly yellow stockings that reached past her knees and similarly colored gloves covering her arms. Large earphones covered her ears and she held a black microphone with her nimble hands.

Saburo observed her from the first floor of that building, leaning on a short wall. He wore inconspicuous gray pants and blue jacket, sporting earphones similar to Kururu's own. The next phase of his plan was about to start. It wouldn't be the first time Kururu acted as some kind of female idol, so this shouldn't really be hard. Of course, this time, he was decided to go through with it, rather than just playing around due to boredom. "I guess this is why he's using this 'Lulu'. He doesn't intend to stop this time, but if he got bored midway through this, he'd certainly forget this plan… and I'm sure he's not very fond of asking for my help either…"

Lulu lightly tapped the microphone twice. Some speakers around the stage produced an annoying noise that quickly caught the attention of the people walking by who previously were just ignoring her. Saburo and Lulu smirked in unison, as they pressed a small orange button with a spiral pattern located in the center of their earphones.

The malice disappeared from Lulu's smile as she started to sing and dance on the stage, the nearby speakers reproducing her voice throughout that store. People immediately stopped walking, looking at the girl on the stage. The lyrics initially were nothing special, talking about how the world was boring, accompanied by an unfitting upbeat melody, typical from Japanese pop music. Her voice, although good enough to sing, wasn't somehow magical sounding. Yet, every single person who walked in front of that stage, man or woman, young or old, stopped to look at her and just stood there afterwards.

The song continued as Lulu danced on the stage, waving to an audience that just stood completely still in front of her as soon as they stopped to listen. The lyrics started talking about how people could change the world. The workers in nearby stores soon stopped too, constantly looking at that girl with empty looks in their faces. In less than 5 minutes, a huge crowd had gathered there. The white floor tiles of the mall had been almost completely covered by the sea of people around her.

The change mentioned early in the song was revealed to be destruction, chaos. Even as the lyrics seemingly changed direction completely, she kept the same upbeat rhythm from before. She finally stopped her presentation, waving her left arm to the large crowd surrounding her, who slowly returned to their senses, clapping to the smiling girl on the stage.

Mutsumi's eyes, unlike the people around him, were still alive, shinning. He grinned. That went just as expected. Of course, he didn't plan to let Kururu conquer the planet, but he wanted to see where that plan was going.

Stored away from there, amidst the shadows of a dark room, a purple diamond started shinning faintly, a small light source inside it increasing and decreasing repeatedly, beating like a heart.

/KeroGirls – 13: Giroro, Character Change! Yes, sir!/

It was still early in the morning when Giroro woke up inside her tent. She slowly opened her eyes, getting used to the light coming from outside.

Afterwards, she sit up, getting the skull hairpin that was lying right beside her. Her red hair, although short, was rather messy after waking up, and she wore only the black shorts, sleeveless white shirt and her characteristic belt, with her red jacket, knee pad and boots lying around the tent. Garuru had seemingly slept sitting still, next to some crates, rather than lying on the ground.

"This is so annoying…" She mumbled while getting out of the tent. After standing outside, she smiled to answer the 'meow' of the white cat that patiently seemed to wait for her, patting its head. Afterwards, through the sliding glass door, she observed the living room, and, after certifying that it was empty, opened the sliding glass door from outside and ran through it, opening the door to the entrance corridor and opening another door right that was just beside it, getting to the bathroom and closing it just as quickly as she had gotten there.

"This is too humiliating." Giroro thought while staring at the image in the mirror. Even though she insisted that she didn't like that body, every morning she had to go through that routine to get to the bathroom unseen and fix her hair. She drenched her face and hair with water from the sink and afterwards combed her hair, finishing by placing the skull hairpin on there again.

Although she was just keeping the look she had gotten when she was turned into a girl, she felt like she should just ignore that and let that face remain like it was before. She didn't need to care about her looks or anything like that… That's what she told herself repeatedly, yet, every single morning, she ended up shamefully repeating that routine.

"I told Natsumi that I didn't see myself as this… but I guess I was just lying to myself…" She sighed. "That stupid weapon destroyed even my self image!" Giroro snarled silently, scowling at the teenage girl in the mirror.

"You look better with your hair like this."

"Huh…?" Giroro jumped back in surprise. Garuru apparently had just gotten to that bathroom and had been just silently observing her.

"It's not what you think!" Giroro screamed, red spreading through her face.

"And… what do I think?" Garuru just smirked.

/

Although it was early at morning, with the streets still empty, a certain alie sergeant was already up for once. Keroro frantically walked from one side to another of the Hinata's living room. She was sweating slightly, throwing some glances at Giroro's tent, through the glass, and quickly walking away, stopping next to the door.

"Sergeant…?" A sleepy Fuyuki, still in his blue pajamas, opened the door, looking confusedly at the worried Keroro.

"Lord Fuyuki?!" Keroro stopped immediately, quickly a large smile formed on her face. "Do you want breakfast? I know! I'll get your school uniform for you!"

"Eh? What's this all about?" Fuyuki wondered. He could see right through her forced smile. Was it something related to the invasion?

"I couldn't think about anything for the invasion!" She cried out, attempting to hide behind Fuyuki, without taking in account that she was just as big as him.

"Come on, Sergeant." Fuyuki smiled at Keroro's usual antics. "This happened before, Giroro won't do anything."

"But… but… lieutenant Garuru is there too!" She insisted, frantically waving her arms.

"Lieutenant Garuru isn't the only one you should fear, stupid frog!" A small salmon colored Keronian stood next to Keroro, crossing her arms and looking angrily at her. "WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME?!"

"La-lady Natsumi?!" Keroro stepped back, but the fake Keronian leaped towards her, grabbing the collar of her jacket.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?! I went to sleep perfectly human yesterday, and woke up like this!"

"I didn't do anything!" Keroro protested. She certainly had nothing to do with that!

"It's a bit cloudy outside," Fuyuki said, pointing at the skies through the glass door. "Maybe that's it."

Natsumi, still hanging on Keroro's clothes, faced the window for a brief moment, but quickly focused on the girl again. "That kind of thing isn't enough!" Natsumi protested, repeatedly pushing Keroro's jacket.

An annoyed Keroro picked up the light red Keronian by her head, holding her with a single arm.

"What are you doing, stupid frog?!"

"Gero, gero…" Keroro smiled maliciously. Natsumi attempted to punch and kick, but just ended up flailing her limbs uselessly.

"Hey, hey, aren't you looking rather stupid right now? What are you trying to do, make me laugh?" Keroro teased Natsumi, just getting an angry Keronian greeting her teeth.

"Hey, Sergeant…" Fuyuki tried to get in the way, but was just ignored.

"Not only stupid… Don't you think you're looking rather… froggy… these days, lady Natsumi?"

Natsumi took a second to digest what Keroro was saying, quickly glaring furiously at the ponytailed girl. "Don't even think about saying that."

"Too late." Keroro grinned.

"Stupid. Frog." The green haired girl spoke with a large smirk on her face.

"Eh?" Fuyuki just stood aside, half heartedly smiling. Natsumi had just asked for that, but he also knew she was genuinely hurt by that Keronian form. She probably feared ending up locked like that forever.

"I'll get you! I'll get you! STUPID FROG!" Natsumi became a little furious devil, almost taking flight from Keroro's hold. The little Keronian started shaking around more and more, almost escaping from her grasp, when Keroro just threw her at a nearby wall.

"Heh. You're really a stupid frog." Keroro snickered while Natsumi just lied by the wall, dizzily.

"Sergeant!" Fuyuki protested.

"Don't worry, lord Fuyuki! Keronian's bones don't break like that! She'll be fine in a few minutes!" She excused herself while Fuyuki just sighed.

"If she goes after you again, I won't help this time, Sergeant." He smiled while Keroro did the same too, quickly saluting him.

"Roger!"

"How… did I end up… like this…" Natsumi attempted to get up, but quickly a bright light appeared in front of her. She stared at it puzzled, when a small white door suddenly opened from the light, slamming her against the wall again.

"Natsumi?" Fuyuki looked at his sister, but didn't move to help her, quickly focusing on the light that had appeared by Keroro's side.

The form of another Keronian stepped out of the shinning entrance, closing the door behind him as soon as he crossed it. With a quick flash, the door vanished, leaving only the light purple colored Keronian there. He had blue eyes, a white cap and large metallic earphones covering the sides of his head, alongside a microphone connected to the right earphone. His emblem was a red exclamation mark, standing straight in his helmet, but upside down in his white belly, making it look like a necktie drawn on his skin. He held a gray suitcase with his right hand. That was Urere, the professional invader, someone famous through space for quickly and efficiently conquering planets.

In the past, Keroro had convinced him to go away when he appeared trying to start an invasion on Earth, fearing that he'd conquer the planet and everything Keroro had done would be pointless. Afterwards, they had met each other again once in a while and there he was again, standing in the middle of the Hinata residence.

"Urere?" Keroro looked puzzled at him.

"I'm looking for Sergeant Keroro, but couldn't locate him in the underground base. Would you happen to know where I could find him?" The Keronian wondered, looking at Fuyuki, who was the only face there he seemed to know, even if only vaguely.

"This might be weird… but she's the sergeant." Fuyuki pointed at the girl standing right next to him, getting a confused look from Urere, but only for a second. The Keronian executive seemed to accept the suggestion fairly quickly.

"A Pekopon suit or transformation device, I suppose?" The professional wondered idly. "Well, your identity isn't very relevant to me, actually." He revealed. "I'm not here due to personal matters, but business. There's a new invasion product I've finished …"

"What?!" Keroro froze, staring in fear at the small alien standing before her.

"However, I'm actually rather busy these days, so I've started selling some of these products rather than using then personally for invasions."

"That… sounds… good?" Keroro smiled. If it were something from Urere, it'd certainly work. She wouldn't need the useless Kururu!

"I meant to sell this to sergeant Keroro, but it doesn't matter if you are him or not. Would you be interested in my newest system?"

"Of course!" Keroro quickly lunched herself at the floor, kneeling before Urere while holding his hands.

"Very well…" The Keronian opened his suitcase, revealing what looked like a small handheld pistol. It looked gray, and, aside from its slightly oversized, and strangely square, tip, looked exactly like a gray conventional revolver, unlike Kururu's often oversized and toy-like special guns. "This is the Fashion Jigun". Basically, it can change the exterior appearance of a target, giving him new clothes, and the target's personality will change to suit the new outfit."

"Really?" Keroro looked at it puzzled.

"So, it's like some of those weird machines that Kururu made?" Fuyuki interrupted them. "There was that time the Sergeant and Dororo's personalities were inverted, that day Mois was walking around with Kururu's laugh, that other time Giroro was walking around dressing up as a creepy girl…"

Urere looked at the boy, annoyed. "Don't compare this to the amateur inventions of someone who hasn't conquered a single planet." He objected, crossing his arms. "This is just meant to be a demonstration of the product. The real power lies elsewhere. With a projector I've prepared, you're able to reconfigure the entire planet at once."

"So… I could just turn everyone into my butlers and maids?" Keroro pondered for a second. "Invasion complete…" She smiled. "This sounds great!"

"What are you so happy about, Keroro?" Giroro opened the sliding door to the backyard, dressed in her standard uniform, looking curiously at Keroro and… "Urere?" A smirk quickly formed on Giroro's face. "It seems I was wrong about you, Keroro. So, you have been trying to get help for our invasion?"

"Gero, gero! Of course!" Keroro agreed enthusiastically. "So, how much does it cost?"

"One billion space yens." Urere replied calmly.

"Alright, so-… GERO?! One billion space yens?!" Keroro's smile soon turned into panic. She just looked at Urere with her dark eyes, completely shocked.

"Conquering planets isn't cheap. This is actually a lot cheaper than what one would need to pay to actually buy a planet."

"You might not look like a frog, but you're still a big idiot." Natsumi smirked in her Keronian body, standing next to the living room's entrance.

Keroro and Giroro looked at Natsumi, but they had barely time to react as the door behind her was abruptly opened, pushing her against the nearby wall. Aki Hinata stood behind it, dressed in white pants and brown biker jacket. "Fuyuki, Kero, I'm leaving!"

"Huh… good morn-" Fuyuki couldn't even reply before Aki closed the door just as quickly as she had opened it, leaving a flattened Natsumi sticking on the wall.

"Natsumi… you're really unlucky today…" Fuyuki concluded while he went to pick up his stunned sister, her eyes still dizzy after the last incident. Giroro briefly followed them, but quickly turned her attention back to Keroro.

"You didn't even know the price of that thing… you didn't really think about any invasion plans yesterday, right? Urere just happened to pass by today!" Giroro yelled. She stared angrily at Keroro. "Why do you still take everything so lightly?! We might lose everything if we don't conquer Pekopon soon!"

"Invasion, invasion, invasion. Is that everything you talk about?" Keroro was annoyed by Giroro's complaints, but, in a sudden flash, that annoyance became an evil smile. "Gero, gero! Urere, can I test this for free?"

"Of course. This wouldn't be very useful by itself anyway." Urere put his suitcase on the floor and picked up the gun, giving it to Keroro.

"What-What is this anyway?" Giroro curiously looked at the weapon that Keroro held in her hands. She knew Keroro was up to no good, but couldn't even react before her platoon's leader suddenly raised it, aiming it right at her head.

"You're sure this isn't just a normal gun, right?" The sergeant wondered, briefly hesitating.

"Not at all. You just need to visualize in your mind the clothing that you wish to materialize while you press the trigger."

"What are you doing?!" Giroro sweated worriedly, picking a small grenade from her belt defensively. "If-If you shoot that thing, I…!"

"Too bad…" Keroro grinned deviously. She glanced at a magazine that was left in the nearby sofa… There was a teenage girl, with short black hair, wearing pink shorts and jacket on the cover, making a v sign and smiling, clearly an idol. Shadows spread across Keroro's face while a giant smile cut across it. "Why don't you try to be cuter, eh, corporal?"

"What?!"

Keroro pressed the trigger of the gun, aiming at the surprised Giroro, who couldn't even move before the beam of light hit her, enveloping her body in a layer of what looked like solidified light.

Giroro worriedly looked at herself in confusion while her body disappeared behind the blinding light. "What is… this!?"

Keroro just continued smirking. "It's just a little thing to make you calm down. Don't worry, it should be over soon."

The light around Giroro slowly faded out… and soon, the redhead reappeared, sporting clothes closing resembling the magazine idol, although in different colors. She wore red shorts and a long sleeved red jacket with a white sailor collar, leaving her belly button exposed. The knee pads disappeared and slightly smaller and cleaner red boots replaced her previous ones. The belt strapped around her and the little skull hairpin were the only things that remained unchanged. She had a blank expression for a few seconds, but quickly smiled and made a horizontal V sign with her left hand, right in front of her left eye.

"Hi! Giroko here!" The girl announced cheerfully, leaving Keroro stunned for a moment.

"Giroko?" Keroro raised an eyebrow, but soon just smirked. "You should be happy, Giroro. I could have given you a much more humiliating look!" Keroro thought to herself, before looking at Giroro again. "So, are you still going to complain about the invasion?"

"Huh? Invasion? Ah, I was talking about that…" The redhead yawned, looking completely disinterested. "Forget it…"

"Yahoo! It worked!" Keroro raised her arms triumphantly, quickly smiling mischievously. "Now, that I've gotten rid of that annoying person…"

"What… do you think you're doing, Sergeant Keroro?" Keroro immediately froze after noticing the lieutenant standing in the backyard, glaring at her with his usual piercing gaze.

"Gero…. I… I mean… Of course, let's proceed with the invasion! I just wanted to see if Urere's equipment really worked, that's it!" A nervous Keroro scratched the back of her head while talking, worriedly looking at Garuru.

"Lieutenant Garuru?" Urere looked at the purple Keronian in admiration for a moment. "Interesting… if he is here… I guess this girl might really be Sergeant Keroro… If that's the truth…" The Keronian's blue eyes shone while he looked confidently at the human girl who had called herself Keroro, "Sergeant Keroro? I'm interested in your current state, actually." Urere looked at the taller girl, who looked back at him confusedly.

"Gero?"

"This is not a Pekopon suit, right? That machine would have removed it if Corporal Giroro had just been using one…" Urere wondered, pointing at Keroro, who was quick to confirm it.

"Roger. This is an actual transformation. An annoyingly perfect one actually." Keroro replied, briefly glancing at her hands.

"Hm… sounds interesting. You still have the equipment that did this, correct?"

"Yes, it was a weapon made by Sergeant Major Kururu. Giroro, could you show it to him?" Keroro wondered, looking at the redhead who had turned on the Tv and sit on the sofa while the others talked.

"What? Why do I have to help one of your weird invasion things…?" Giroro turned away from Keroro, but immediately saw her own brother, glaring at her. She froze for a second but quickly stood up, facing Urere again. "I-I was just kidding! Of course! Come, Urere!" Giroro held Urere's head, hurriedly disappearing with him into the corridor outside of the living room.

"Heh, much better like that." Keroro grinned for a moment, but quickly stopped when she noticed that Garuru's stare.

He walked through the sliding glass door, slowly approaching the sergeant, who was frozen by the Keronian lieutenant's piercing gaze. "You're the commander here, if you think this will help the invasion, proceed as you wish."

"Gero?" Keroro was confused for a moment, but quickly raised her hand, standing upright and saluting the superior officer. "Y-Yes, sir!"

/

Natsumi had returned to her original body, and left home without facing Keroro again. She was feeling guilty for accusing her like that… but was also annoyed due to getting beaten up several times, and the only one who helped her was Fuyuki.

Hours later, she was in the large green field on the back of her school, dressed in a white shirt and orange shorts. Many other girls in similar uniforms stood around her, while they faced another group of players in a blue colored uniform.

Natsumi advanced through the adversary's defense, easily passing by the other girls while kicking the ball forward. Quickly, she stood in front of the goal. Only the goal keeper, a girl with short black hair, a dark blue jacket and white gloves, remained. The keeper's hand trembled while she watched the redhead, who had been nicknamed the "red comet" by her adversaries.

Natsumi was about to kick the ball, raising her right foot, when she suddenly felt weak. She fell on the grass by herself, unable to move before one of the blue players recovered the ball and kicked it out of their field.

"I'm still weak…?" Natsumi looked at herself confusedly as she slowly gathered strength to stand up. What was happening there?

"Hinata, aren't you feeling well today?" A slightly overweight man wearing an orange jacket and cap asked from the sidelines.

"Don't worry, I won't repeat this mistake!" She smiled, but the old man's expression wasn't so confident. He looked aside, at a long haired girl that was sitting on the bench, right beside him.

"Doro Azumaya? Hinata isn't well today, could you go?"

"It's done! It's your chance Dororo!" Koyuki was standing behind Dororo, having just finished tying her long hair into a ponytail.

"Thank you, Koyuki." Dororo talked politely, nervously looking at Natsumi.

The ball flew outside of the field and a whistle quickly signaled the substitution. A disappointed Natsumi was called back to the bench, while Dororo went to the field.

Natsumi sighed as she sit on the sidelines. It was weird to leave a game without any cheering. Participating in various clubs was tiring, but she was competitive, and felt proud of herself for her victories. And yet, after that horrible morning, it seemed like her school day would be taken away from her too.

"It's okay, Natsumi. Everyone has a bad day once in a while!" Koyuki put her hand on Natsumi's shoulder, showing her characteristic feline smile.

"I guess you're right…" Natsumi smiled weakly, trying to cheer up. "Eh… What is he doing here, anyway?"

Zoruru concealed by the Anti-Barrier, stood behind the bench, with his arms crossed, just watching the match silently.

/

"So, what is this, Fuyuki?" In a corridor of the Kisshou Academy, the newspaper's club president held a piece of paper in front of Fuyuki's eyes, who just looked annoyed at it. Momoka stood behind him, but her eyes showed worry. Also known simply as Desk, the president of the Newspaper Club held a confident smirk, accompanied by two other members of his club, although they seemed rather indifferent. The president of that newspaper, also known as KGS, was a show off who liked to stand out from the others, as easily noticeable by his irregular open green blazer and hair tied in a short ponytail.

Chiruyo, the sole female member of the newspaper club, just watched the scene silently, from behind her thick glasses, writing down something in a small notebook. The young girl was one of Fuyuki's classmates, and, aside from her habits and weird habits, was actually fairly good looking, although she usually kept her hair with straight bangs and tied into two tiny low twintails, which didn't help her much. Teimei Yamaura stood imposingly behind her, although he was somewhat overweight and had a fairly inoffensive face, round and with a large nose, his size by itself made his presence there known.

"What?" Fuyuki looked at the KGS's president in surprise.

"This is a notice for the disbanding of your stupid Occult Club." Desk explained, while holding the paper in his grasp.

"Wh-Why now?" Momoka worriedly asked.

"Your pathetic club is useless. That's it. Do you really need another reason? However, if you want to let it continue, you could help publishing some article about the aliens that live with you… and I could use some of my influence to save your pathetic club." The president of the KGS arrogantly smirked. He certainly had gotten Fuyuki pretty well this time.

"It's fine, isn't it, Nishizawa? We don't really need that club, right? You didn't even have much free time these days." Fuyuki carelessly said, apparently completely unaffected by the threat, surprising everyone else there.

"Fu-Fuyuki?!" Momoka looked at him with teary eyes.

Fuyuki immediately took notice of Momoka's reaction. Truthfully, he had been somewhat disappointed to learn that she probably had no actual interest in the Occult Club's activities, and was only there for him… If he was the only one who cared about it, there was no reason to keep it. "Don't worry, we can just hang out elsewhere, Nishizawa!"

"It's not the same… Our memories of the club… everything we've done together. Are you willing to give up on everything?!" Momoka cried out, frustrated, but still clearly herself, no signs of the other personality taking over.

"Nishizawa…" Was she really hurt by that? Fuyuki glanced at her pained expression, feeling bad about himself. He didn't want to hurt her, he just wanted to avoid unnecessary conflict, but if the result was someone suffering... "Am I a coward?"

Fuyuki suddenly raised his face, looking straight into Desk's eyes. "You're assuming that my club's activities have been pointless and that I wouldn't be able to show any results for them. Yet, you know that I can easily do that if necessary."

The president of the newspaper club froze. That card certainly was in Fuyuki's hands and he knew it, even if he couldn't prove it. Desk wanted to get it from him, after all… but… he'd never play it… The newpaper's club president smirked. "Do you think I'd fall for such an obvious bluff?"

Fuyuki smiled confidently. "The ones you know about aren't my only trumps."

"What?" The newspaper club's president was taken aback, stuttering after noticing Fuyuki's unexpected assertiveness.

"Aside from that…" Fuyuki grabbed the piece of paper from Desk's hands, looking at the sign form down bellow. It was supposedly form the principal, but the lines looked rather stiff... "Wasn't this written by yourself?"

"What?!" Desk stepped back in surprise, letting his reaction tell the entire story. Furious, he looked at Teimei. "Damn it… Teimei, get him!" Desk yelled frustrated, but everyone just started at him in confusion.

Fuyuki broke the silence. "Aren't you… thinking about someone else?"

"Hm… There isn't anyone around…" Teimei noted, clenching his fists. "Sorry, Fuyuki, but if you don't want to help out of your own will…"

A blur suddenly moved past Fuyuki and Momoka, hitting Teimei and sending him flying into a nearby wall, which slightly cracked as the teen hit it and dropped on the floor.

Tamama had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, grinning confidently. "Ha! The hero doesn't make the first strike!" She said triumphantly pointed at the scared members of the newspaper club, who ran to Tepei's side.

"Wha-What are you?!" Desk just stared in surprise at the small girl who had basically shown super human strength in front of his eyes.

"I knew I couldn't do that…" The failed bully commented as Chiruyo and Desk held his large body, helping him stand up.

"It won't end like this!" Desk protested, but afterwards just left slowly and silently, carrying Teppei with some help from Chiruyo.

"Ha! You're cowards!" Tamama stood proudly, just watching as the trio escaped.

Momoka sighed. That problem had been solved, but there was still another one… After her revealing her feelings to Fuyuki but just getting cut off by Keroro, she could hardly look at his face anymore. Her hands were together, trembling nervously, while she slowly became redder and redder.

Fuyuki looked uncertain at her. They really hadn't talked after that incident. It was obvious that she was nervous, but he also didn't exactly know what he should be saying. He wasn't certain about his own feelings on this matter.

"Eh?" An annoyed Tamama looked at them, getting irritated by the awkward silence. "Aren't you going to thank the hero?!" She yelled frustrated. Momoka and Fuyuki looked at her, laughing off their tension, but quickly their attention turned elsewhere.

"Private Tamama! So, you're here!" Keroro had arrived, looking annoyed at the younger soldier.

"Sergeant?" Fuyuki looked confused at the girl in a green jacket and brown shorts that had somehow gotten inside the school without problems. Momoka, meanwhile, just glared angrily.

"What do you want?" Tamama's cheerful attitude instantly disappeared, replaced by a mask of annoyance. "Get out." She said, pointing to outside through a nearby window, but Keroro just blinked in confusion.

"Gero? Anyway, I'm ready to start an operation, so you can't waste time in some Pekoponian school! You didn't even answer my calls!" She complained, ignoring Tamama's bad attitude and grabbing her hand, ready to pull her through the school back to the base.

"What operation?" Tamama complained. "Every time I've look at you, you're getting all love-dovey with Fuyuki and trying to steal him from Momochi!"

"Eh…?" Keroro released Tamama's hands, looking embarrassed for a second. "I-I don't know what you're talking about! Anyway, I just came here to get you, private Tamama!" She protested, briefly looking at a confused Fuyuki, before running away, holding the private's hand and dragging her along the corridor.

Fuyuki and Momoka just continued in silence, speechless after that incident. Meanwhile, a small mechanical ant, colored red, stood upside down on the ceiling. Its red eyes and antennas observed that scene…

Tororo sit in the middle of a cramped dark room, filled with computer screens lying everywhere. The equipment seemed to be composed by standard Earth keyboards, monitors and CPUs, but interconnected through a complex web of cables that would make no sense to most humans.

"Interesting… pu, pu, pu… Very interesting!" The orange Keronian smirked satisfied as the image transmitted by the insect was reflected by his round glasses. "Keroro platoon, eh? I don't know what's happening here, but this just became even funnier… pu, pu, pu…"

/

Dororo entered into one of the school's bathrooms, her skin and physical education uniform drenched by sweat. She held a small blue bag and immediately headed to one of the booths.

She felt uneasy about watching other girls changing clothes, so she always went there when she needed to do it. Koyuki didn't particularly care, but Natsumi was bothered by it, and Dororo agreed to do that. Some weird rumors could start if she continued doing that for too long, but she hadn't even thought about how long she'd continue going to school.

Dororo approached the booth closest to the entrance and opened it, just dropping the bag on the floor afterwards. "Zo… Zoruru…?"

The Keronian cyborg stood on top of the closed toilet, looking ahead with his usual emotionless expression.

"What… is… this…?" Dororo just stared at him, completely bewildered. What did he think he was doing?

/

"Here's it, Urere..." Giroro unenthusiastically pointed to a colorful gun that was kept inside a transparent case, on top of a small gray pedestal in the middle of a room with metallic ceiling, walls and floor.

"Huh? Interesting design choice…" Urere was slightly taken aback by the appearance of that tool. The bright green color coupled with the blue circles and yellow stars spread around it just made it look like a toy. "Truthfully, I guess it should be expected, coming from someone who is known for his eccentricity."

"Does this only work on Keronians?" Urere wondered. He left his suitcase on the floor, stood on the tip of his toes and removed the glass container, leaving it behind him.

Urere held the weapon on his hands. Although it looked like a big toy, it was heavy like a real weapon.

"I want to test this weapon. Is there something I could use?" Urere received no reply. He looked around, finally noticing that he had been left alone.

"I'll just find something by myself." Urere placed the weapon on the floor, leaving it behind him. He turned around and opened his suitcase, but stopped when he noticed a small noise behind him.

"Huh?"

Urere looked at the place he had left the supposed transformation tool. A green Keronian stood next to him, holding it. His skin was lighter than Keroro's and his emblem was a blue "J". Rather than a hat, he had short black hair around his head, with a badly cut beard around the lower part of his face.

"Certainly an odd one…" Urere thought.

"Have you ever heard the saying of the good lunch? It goes pretty much like this… if you want to prepare a good lunch, you need to taste it yourself."

"What?" He looked at the green Keronian in confusion. Was he trying to speak about some moral? He didn't look like an army member. In fact, he just looked like a hobo. Urere just stood there as the other Keronian raised the weapon, aiming it at him.

"Wa-wait…" Urere tried to speak, but couldn't even say anything before the unknown one pressed the trigger of the weapon. The beam of light quickly hit him, enveloping the purple Keronian into a sphere of light, which increased in size, before slowly fading out...

/

Natsumi stood inside a small dark room among brooms and various cleaning tools. She looked frustrated at own her pinkish Keronian hands. Somehow, that stupid transformation had been triggered again during class and she barely had time to run out of there... "Twice in a single day…"

The front door was opened by two girls in the school's uniforms. Natsumi immediately tried to hide behind a large gray bucket, but just ran into it, knocking herself onto the floor. She was shacking as she raised her head, but quickly noticed they were Koyuki and Dororo. "It's just you…" She sighed, finally remembering to activate the anti-barrier afterwards, pressing the small "n" on her forehead.

"Are you feeling well, Natsumi?" Koyuki wondered. The small Keronian just nodded negatively.

"Of course not!" She protested, but soon silenced, showing regret in her large orange eyes.

"I should not be here…" Dororo said, looking away from Natsumi. "Lady Natsumi, Lady Koyuki, I'll search for Sergeant Major Kururu."

"Wait, Dororo!" Koyuki protested, grabbing her hand before she could leave. "You can search for Kururu later! You don't need to leave!"

"But…" Dororo looked uncertain at the small Keronian.

"Don't worry, I'm just an idiot." Natsumi admitted, "Just make some excuse for my absence, I'm going back home for today."

"Lady Natsumi…" Dororo silently watched the small Keronian leaving the room, walking through the school's corridor completely unnoticed by the other students. "This is wrong…"

/-

Keroro entered in the meeting room, shortly followed by Tamama, who still seemed to be unhappy to follow her and didn't hesitate to show it. Their eyes soon focused on a stranger sitting in the front row...

"Gero?" Keroro curiously walked towards that person. Soon she stood up, waving to Keroro.

"Who's that, Sergeant? Some singer?" Tamama asked, forgetting her annoyance for a moment. It was a young teenage girl, who looked about as old as Keroro and Giroro in their current bodies. The girl had light purple shoulder length hair and deep blue eyes. Large gray headphones could be seen on the sides of her head, and a small red microphone was connected to it, standing next to her mouth.

She wore a light purple blaze that mostly covered her arms and shoulders over a white shirt and a business mini-skirt colored similarly to the blazer. The Blazer had large sleeves, hiding her hands almost completely. Her legs were covered by large purple stockings, with a few yellow lines through it. A large upside down red exclamation mark, looking similar to a necktie, was drawn on her shirt. Keroro shivered when she noticed that emblem…

"It…it can't be…right? You…you aren't… aren't…?" Keroro pointed at the girl as she approached her, trembling.

"Right, I'm Urere!" She answered calmly, with a satisfied smile on her face. Somehow, her voice carried an uncharacteristic childish enthusiasm. She played with the large sleeves or her outfit, hiding her hands inside them as she talked. "So, how long does this last? Giroro left before that weird Keronian appeared..."

"Eh… That's…one of the problems…" Keroro spoke hesitantly, fearing Urere's reaction.

"So, how long?" She inquired, walking right next to the nervous sergeant.

"It's… permanent…" Keroro said, looking away from her with a dry smile.

"Oh, really? Better than expected."

"Gero?! Aren't you angry?"

"Of course not!" Urere smiled. "It worked perfectly, and the result was even more impressive than I expected. Now, you, of course, have a way to reverse this, right? That weapon can do it? Or is it a second machine?"

Keroro felt a chilling sensation spreading through her body. So, that's why Urere was calm… "Actually…" Keroro scratched the back of her head nervously, "If you return to your original form… you'll die…" Urere's light hearted attitude vanished after she heard those words. "Gero! Gero! Quite a problem, isn't it?" Keroro tried to laugh it off, but stopped after noticing Urere wasn't going along with it.

"This sounds bothersome." Urere said, finally taking the situation seriously. "However, I still believe it can be useful. I'll copy its schematics and, in exchange, you'll receive the main component of the Fashion Jigun."

"A-Are you serious?" Keroro asked, surprised.

"Yes." Urere nodded. "I'll probably be able to revert this process somehow or find someone who can undo it. The universe is a vast place, after all. There's no need to be worried about this."

"Yahoo!" Keroro jumped triumphantly, cheerfully commemorating, like a little child that had just received a new toy.

"Could that plan work?" Tamama asked herself… they were going to use one of Urere's weapons, wasn't it? "Then… chances are… this will work…"

"Exactly!" Keroro was radiating confidence, feeling certain that victory was near. Meanwhile, the small mechanical insect continued to silently watch her, while standing upside down on the ceiling.

/

The class had just ended and most students got up to leave. Fuyuki closed a book that was on his chair, but, before he could even put it away, he noticed that Momoka was standing at his side.

"Fu-Fu-yuki…"

"So-sorry, Nishizawa!" Fuyuki quickly put the book away into his bag, standing up and holding it. "The sergeant probably is going to attempt some weird invasion plan, so I have to go home right now!"

"But…" Momoka raised her hand, but didn't speak anything as Fuyuki rushed outside.

"COWARD! Are you going to let him run away?!" A voice inside her head yelled frustrated.

"I'm sorry, Nishizawa…" Fuyuki stopped to take a breath as he left the classroom, but quickly left. Although what he had said wasn't a lie, it also wasn't his only reason to leave so hurriedly…

/

Under Okutokyo, there was a large underground complex inhabited by aliens, kept hidden away from humanity, Side Six. It main area was a large market, with stores selling all types of products and services. Almost every alien that visited Pekopon, specifically Japan, visited that location.

Inside that restricted location, there was an even more exclusive space. A large space port, only used by famous visitants, like government officials from other planets or their elite, remained mostly empty and silent. Three large ships were parked in that vast and dark location, all three deactivated. One had a traditional silver saucer shape, another looked like a gold metallic egg, with four legs keeping its stability. Behind those two, there was a third ship.

The air around it was still hot, and several lights could be seen through various glass windows spread through its structure. It looked like a large silver airplane, easily twice as big as any transport airplane built by humans. It lacked tires, touching the floor directly, and large thrusters were located on the back of its wings and main body.

A wall of light burst forth near a door located at the lateral of the vehicle. A small white door opened, and a purple haired girl crawled out through the small doorway. "This entrance wasn't very good… I'll have to adjust its size later if I stay like this." Urere thought while getting up in front of her spaceship.

She approached the gray metallic door at the spaceship's side. A small green line on top of the door reacted to her arrival, briefly shinning, just to flash red.

"Ure?" She stared at the door for a moment. "I guess my ship isn't recognizing myself, right now? This is… certainly a problem." She sighed, placing her suitcase on the floor and opening it. She'd just have to open that door forcefully.

/

After a long walk, Natsumi returned home, tired. Her mouth was open and she panted heavily as she crossed the small corridor at the house's entrance. She was too tired to bother trying to dry her body to return to normal, so she just went to the living room, hoping to watch some TV to forget the bad day.

She opened the door to the living room and immediately noticed that the TV was on, showing some drama she didn't really care about. She looked at the couch, and, like expected, Mois was sitting there, but, right beside her… there was Giroro wearing some casual clothes, rather than the standard uniform, and, curiously, watching tv.

"Eh?" Natsumi curiously observed her and the tv show on. It seemed to a clip showing a girl with similar clothes to the ones that Giroro was sporting, although pink colored, singing on stage.

Giroro moved her lips, seemingly following the music, although with a very low, almost inaudible, voice. "I can't believe I've been missing this!" Giroro exclaimed, standing up excitedly. She was about to run out when she ran into Natsumi.

The redhead looked at her in surprise for a second, but quickly that turned into anger. "Get out, froggy." Giroro yelled, shoving Natsumi aside with a single foot. The small Keronian was left stunned, holding her cheek and looking at the redhead in surprise.

After a few moments, Natsumi sighed, turning back to leave that room, attributing that weird encounter to her bad luck. She was just too tired to try to understand what was going on. "I just want this horrible day to end…" She thought, slowly walking away from there.

/

Desk stood in a small corridor inside his home, having just arrived there, still wearing his school uniform, although without the blazer. He looked annoyed at the door of his room while trying to open the door. It seemed that the little alien had locked himself inside it. He punched the door frustrated.

He had followed the instructions of that stupid alien, but Fuyuki had just stood up to everything and now Tororo had locked himself inside his own room. Desk was alone at the time, so it was the perfect opportunity to break through that door. He punched it several times without success, finally taking some distance and kicking the door. It was old and not really well maintained, so the lock couldn't hold on after that last hit, opening.

Desk just looked in surprise at what had happened to his own room. It was completely unrecognizable. Some strange metallic web covering everything and the room was just dark. The windows had apparently been shut, so he turned on the lights.

The little alien had somehow transformed it into a huge computer central, with monitors and cables spread everywhere around the room, lying on top of his bed and also other furniture. Of course, the alien himself was nowhere to be seen. Desk just wanted to punch himself. He should just have captured that annoying… thing… while he had a chance.

He looked around, trying to find where the cables were connected, to clean that thing before his parents returned home, but quickly stopped when his cell phone rang. "Why now?" He complained, opening the small black phone, "Who is it?!"

"Chair! You're Chair, right? Chair from Kishou, right? It's me, Lulu!"

"What?" Desk quickly recognized the one calling him, the new student who quickly had become popular, but had disappeared the last few days. "It's… Desk." He spoke slowly quickly changing his tone, "Sorry, what's up, Lulu?"

"I need a really big favor! You can help me, right, Mr. journalist?"

"I'm busy right now…" KGS's president briefly looked at his room, but decided to just close the door. Trying to fix up that thing would be just a headache. "I'm free! So, what's it about?!"

/

The metallic door at the side of Urere's ship fell to the floor, cut perfectly into four pieces. She held what looked like the hilt and lower half of a small sword, while the other half slowly floated through the air, recombining into one weapon with the piece that she held.

Urere threw it away behind her, satisfied, letting it join a pile of useless equipment that had failed to break the door of her ship. She started walking towards her ship, but stopped after a single step, when a small hole somehow opened in the air. Light poured from it, revealing its nature as a warp hole, like the ones used by the space police. Urere just looked at it calmly. Soon, a policewoman jumped from inside, landing right in front of her.

She looked mostly human, light skin, blue short hair, large lateral strands reaching her cheeks but with two white antennas sprouting on top of her head and bright purple eyes. Her uniform was a short sleeved shirt, with a small red necktie, not even covering her belly completely, a blue mini-skirt, with a large and thick yellow line running through the bottom and a similar white line where the belt would be, white gloves and round blue shoes. Her uniform, although considered perfectly normal by most aliens visiting Earth, would never be accepted as a standard police uniform anywhere on Earth.

"Space Policewoman… Poyan!" She smiled dazzlingly, holding a small alien revolver, which resembled a toy more than an actual weapon, with two hands. For a moment, she looked more like a model posing for some photo than an actual officer.

"Space police?" Urere blinked.

Poyan's smile quickly disappeared, replaced by a focused scowl. She aimed her weapon at smaller girl, looking at her face.

"Wait right there, poya! This is Urere's private propriety and you're attempting to trespass it! Besides that, you've already damaged his ship! Come with me to the police department!"

"This is just a mistake," Urere smiled worriedly, "look, I'm Urere…" she almost stopped midway through her sentence, noticing that Poyan obviously would be having any of that.

"Poya! You look nothing like Urere! You aren't even a Keronian! Wait… Are you a Pekoponian!?"

"This isn't good…" Urere shivered silently, cursing her own fame. There's no way the space police would have been so efficient if it were the ship of some unknown Keronian…

/

Keroro and Tamama were sitting in the audience chairs of the meeting room looking at the wall and floor while Urere didn't return, completely bored. "Why is it taking so long?" The sergeant yawned.

"Can't you use the freebie by itself for the invasion, sergeant?" Tamama gathered forces to make a question, raising her head to look at Keroro, but quickly let herself fall on the chair again as soon as she asked it.

"I don't know…" Keroro turned around, wrapping her arms against the back of her chair and resting there. The sliding front door of the meeting room suddenly opened. Keroro just fell with her chair on the floor, in surprise. She instantly got up, standing up but her energy disappeared just as quickly. It was Fuyuki…

"Eh… Disappointed?" He just looked puzzled at the girl. "What are you doing, Sergeant?"

Suddenly, something inside Keroro lighted up. The weariness vanished, replaced by an evil smirk. She raised Urere's special weapon, aiming it at the boy. "You want to know about my invasion plan, lord Fuyuki?" She playfully asked. Fuyuki took a step back. He really didn't like that look in her eyes.

Keroro smirked. "Well… now you're going to be part of my operation!" She announced, raising the jigun and aiming it at Fuyuki.

"Se-Sergeant? What's this about?"

"Well, let's just say… I'm going to change Pekopon's look, got it?" Keroro grinned, pulling the trigger of that small revolver. The energy beam flew through the room like a flash. Fuyuki didn't have time to react before his body was surrounded by a bright light.

A formal black suit with a blue bowtie replaced Fuyuki's clothes. He silently walked up to the place where Keroro was standing, kneeling down.

"Gero! Gero! Gero!" Keroro laughed when she saw that it had worked perfectly.

"Milady," Fuyuki raised his head. He held her hand, looking at her face. "I pledge servitude to you."

"Eh?" Keroro felt hesitant for a moment, almost moving her hand away, but she stopped, allowing Fuyuki to hold it. She was mesmerized for a moment, admiring Fuyuki in those formal clothes. There was something strangely alluring about it, even if she couldn't understand why.

"SERGEANT!" Tamama's angry glare appeared right in front of the Keroro's face. She pushed away her leader, staring at her angrily. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked, with a lower voice.

"Gero…" Keroro blinked, returning to reality. "Sorry, sorry!" She excused herself embarrassedly. Yet, her eyes soon shone with a radiant spark. "Forget Urere! We'll do this operation by ourselves! Private second class Tamama, pay attention!"

"Eeeh?" Tamama hesitated for a second, but reflexively saluted the other girl. "Yes, sir!"

/

Giroro walked through busy streets of a shopping district centered around a large square. Rather than her natural scowl, she carried a light smile while walking through the crowds around her. Everyone there was as colorful and varies as the stores that surrounded them, small children, young couples walking holding hands and even families were there. Walking by herself, the redhead approached the edge of that square, next to a similarly busy place on a lower area.

She smiled while the wind blew her hair and she closed her eyes. She felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Invasion? Why did I care so much about that anyway? It's not like it'd ever go anywhere…"

Two girls walking together in the street bellow soon caught her attention. There was a slightly smaller girl with long dark hair tied by a red bow into a large ponytail, latched onto the arm of a girl with long blue hair. "Dororo?"

Koyuki was wearing her usual long sleeved green shirt and blue shorts, while Dororo sported a similar shirt, but white, with a small blue vest worn over it, and also similar shorts, although also with blue tight high socks. The redhead smiled, quickly raising her arm and waving it. "Doro! Up here!"

"Huh?" The blue haired girl stopped, glancing curiously at the upper floor, only to see a girl waving from there. "Huh? Who is tha… lady Giroro?" Dororo blinked, looking curiously at her.

One minute later, they had walked around the square to meet the corporal. Giroro was leaning on the white metallic bars behind her, her head inclined to the right while she smiled, her hands behind her. Dororo looked at her curiously. "Are you really… Giroro?"

"Huh? Of course! You're not the only one who can go through an image change, Doro!" The girl pointed at herself with a smirk, but Dororo just stayed in silence. "Hey? What are you doing here anyway?!" Giroro asked enthusiastically.

"Manner of speech, posture, vestments… It's like I'm looking at a completely different person."

"Hey, Doro?" Giroro's head was right in front of Dororo's, their noses almost touching. Startled, Dororo took a step back, her light blue eyes looking distressed at her friend.

"Giroro… You… aren't yourself right now… so…"

"What's with this stuff, Doro?" Giroro spoke with her hands on her hips, "Am I not allowed changing? You're pretty different from before already!"

Dororo continued in silence, looking at the palm of her hands for a moment, before sighing. "I guess that talking with you won't help… Still, something clearly happened with her. No one can change like this in a single day."

"What's up with those sad eyes?! They're annoying!" Giroro muttered, turning away from Dororo and ready to step away, but Koyuki held her hand.

"Giroro! Can't you see that Dororo is just worried about you?!"

"I know that!" The redhead said, looking away, "But I don't want her worry. I don't want to be 'fixed'! I'm better this way!"

Dororo thoughtfully looked at the annoyed redhead, "We've lost our bodies, but we still exist because our mind still is with us… but this girl I'm seeing right now… She has Giroro's memories, but neither his body nor mind. Giroro certainly didn't become like this out of his own will overnight. Yet, without understanding the situation, antagonizing her would be pointless." Dororo suddenly appeared like a shadow in front of Giroro, a big smile on her face. "I'm sorry, Giroro."

Both Koyuki and Giroro just stared at Dororo. "What's up… with this weird change of attitude?" The younger ninja thought.

"I don't know what you're trying now… but it doesn't matter," Giro said with a satisfied smile. "Hey, Koyuki, can you help me buying some new clothes?"

"Eh?" Koyuki blinked.

"Go on!" Dororo said with a smile to Koyuki's bewilderment. "There is something else I need to do, so, I'll see you later!"

Koyuki's eyes opened with understanding, "Dororo, you aren't thinking about going after-"

"Do not worry, Koyuki! I will take care of myself."

"Doro-" Koyuki extended a hand towards her friend, but her image disappeared in a cloud of smoke. One second later, she just held a log on her hands.

"Dororo…" Koyuki looked silently at the log, glancing at Giroro afterwards.

"Why does she need to be so worried…" The redhead muttered, lowering her head for a moment. Maybe meeting Dororo hadn't been a good idea…

"Then, let's go, Giroro!" Koyuki held Giroro's hand, somehow the worry on her face having been replaced by a smile.

"Koyuki?"

The young girl nodded with her usual feline smile. "Relax, Giroro! Relax!"

/

It was already sunset when a lone male student, wearing Kishou's uniform, stood in front of a large department store, handling pamphlets to the people that passed by that place.

Desk wondered about how he had agreed to do that, and cursed himself for it. Thankfully, no one that knew him had passed by that place. He stopped for a moment, looking at one of the pamphlets. A picture of Lulu in her show clothes was there, alongside an announcement for some free show that would take place in two days, inside that large store behind him. Was this some marketing campaign to launch her as an idol? "If so, I don't see how they intend to do it in two days. Could it be just a marketing campaign for this store?"

"Hey, aren't you the guy from Kishou's Newspaper?"

"Huh?" Desk looked in surprise at the redhead who had stopped in front of him. She had one hand raised towards him, waiving. "Who… is this?" He asked himself, puzzled.

The girl standing in front of him had short red hair, with a skull hairpin and marine colored eyes. There was a light scar mark on her face too, but it wasn't very distracting. She wore a tight red and white short sleeved shirt, which only covered her torso a little past her breast, exposing her midriff. The shirt itself was divided into four sections by yellow lines coming from the center of the shirt, which was adorned by a dark green stone in the center, resembling a jewel, although it seemed too big to be real. She also sported a red mini-skirt, with black biker shorts covering her legs past it. Desk just kept staring at her, without saying anything.

Giroro just ignored him afterwards, looking at Koyuki who, stood beside her, carrying a small paper bag. "Hey, thanks, Koyuki, it was fun!"

"No problem!" Koyuki nodded with a smile, although, silently, she wondered about Dororo.

/

Standing atop of a tall building, illuminated a large full moon behind her, Dororo, in her ninja garb, placed her hands together while her long hair strands blew around her body, pushed by the night's cold breath. She closed her bright blue eyes, extending her senses to reach all around her. Every noise, every breath, every sign of life around the city could be felt by an attuned body. However, that wasn't her intention. She focused on a single, twisted presence, a certain person whose personality was as twisted as a spiral, Kururu.

And, yet, when she ignored everything to focus on that presence… She couldn't find anything. It was almost like the sergeant major didn't even exist anymore.

/

"Hi!" Giroro raised an arm excitedly when the front door of the Hinata resident opened, but quickly scowled when the person behind the door turned out to be Natsumi.

"Who… are… you?" Natsumi stammered, even though she knew perfectly who it was. Natsumi herself was just wearing jean shorts and a long sleeved pink shirt, very differently from Giroro in her new and expensive looking clothes, and carrying a large bag behind her. "And what is that?"

"This…?" Giroro closed her eyes, walking past Natsumi, "I'm not going to sleep outside anymore, of course."

"Eh? I've… already seen this movie before." Natsumi muttered, "Make sure you don't make anything stupid, otherwise you'll be really angry whenever you go back to normal."

"I'm not going back to normal!" Giroro yelled angrily, just to see Natsumi glancing sideways at her, with eyes full of contempt.

"Right, right, just go already…" The oldest Hinata sibling spoke, crossing her arms. An annoyed Giroro walked through the entrance corridor without saying one other word. Raising an eyebrow, Natsumi almost couldn't hold back her laughter, "What is she wearing anyway?"

/

The next day, Natsumi opened her heavy eyes, after noticing the first rays of sunlight going into her room. She raised one hand, sighing disappointedly after noticing the salmon skin. Her body still was in that stupid Keronian state… Annoyed, she jumped from her bed, slowly walking towards the yellow curtains, pushing them open, it was cloudy outside.

"I'm spending more and more time like this these last few days…" Natsumi silently observed the gray sky behind nearby houses and buildings. It actually eased her somewhat. She was much more worried the previous day, when she went to that form for no reason at all.

"Giroro!" Keroro's voice came from below, reaching Natsumi's room, in spite of the locked door. They seemed to be loudly arguing about something.

"At a time like this…" Natsumi angrily marched out of her room.

When Natsumi got there, Keroro was standing in the living room, with her arms crossed, indignant. Tamama and Mois were right by her side, alongside… "Fuyuki…?" in a black formal suit.

"What's up with the butler get up?" Natsumi wondered, but Fuyuki didn't answer. Keroro grinned.

"So… what do you think, Lady Natsumi? Doesn't he look great like this?" Keroro pointed at Fuyuki, who didn't react, just standing in place, uptight.

"What's this all about, stupid frog?"

"Don't insult lady Keroro!" Fuyuki suddenly acted, standing in front of a surprised Keroro and staring at Natsumi.

"Eh… what… 'lady' Keroro?" Natsumi just looked in bewilderment.

"Gero! Gero! Gero!" Keroro laughed. "Soon, every single Pekoponian will obey me! I'll rule over Pekopon in less than one day!"

Natsumi grit her teeth, looking at her own brother, looking completely out of himself. "Fuyuki considers you a friend… and that's what you do to him!?" The small Keronian burst out genuinely angry, taking aback Keroro. Everyone just remained in an unconformable silence afterwards.

"Do you want to remove that annoying person, milady?" Fuyuki asked, just making Keroro feel even worse. She lowered her head, looking away from Natsumi.

"Right now… I… I have less than 9 days to conquer Pekopon…" The green haired girl revealed. "If I can't do it quickly enough, who knows what else Keron is going to do… Besides, you've known since the beginning, I'm supposed to invade this planet!"

"Stupid frog…?"

Keroro's dark eyes were shinning. They were wet, although she was trying to hold back the tears. "Even… even if he's like this… I… I didn't lie to him…"

"Uncle…" Mois looked worriedly at her leader, but Keroro quickly grinned again, wiping away that sad face.

"We're going to Okutokyo Tower now, and, in less than 12 hours, Pekopon will be ours!" She announced, quickly turning to the open glass door. "Lady Mois, Private Tamama, let's go!"

Natsumi just stayed in silent as they left. Tamama gave a worried glance at her while leaving, but didn't say anything either.

"He's really…. Stupid…" Natsumi muttered. "Why did he say where he's going? Does he want to be…" she stopped for a moment, opening her eyes wide in surprise. Without another word, she ran outside, activating her Anti-barrier.

/

In the middle of an open square, Yoshiokadaira, uncharacteristically dressed in casual clothes, a white long sleeved shirt and blue pants, stood in front of a small shop, holding two baked potatoes with toothpicks.

"Thanks!" He said, heading back to a nearby table.

Giroro was sitting there, back to the red sailor jacket and shorts, sitting on the table while just admiring the location. Thinking about it, although she had lived in that city for a few years, she didn't even know it too well… Giroro's usual mind would just curse the current situation. He had no interest in living there as a normal person. Or, even if he felt like it, he'd never admit, even to himself.

However, that wasn't really Giroro's usual self. Thanks to the Jigun's influence, the girl sitting on that table just blamed herself for wasting so much time with the pointless invasion.

Yoshiokadaira looked at the girl sitting next to the table. He happened to meet her again while going out in one of his rare free days. Curiously, she seemed somehow different from the other two times he met her, but he didn't know her well, so trying to look too much into it was pointless. But, still, there was something else about her that bothered him…

"Here!" He sit on the opposite side of the table and gave her the potato, receiving a bright smile as thanks. "Actually, there's something I'm wondering about… You said that your name was Giroro, right? Hm… Are you one of master Tamama's friends?"

"Eh?" The redhead blinked, looking at him nervously. "Ri-right…"

"I really wouldn't have guessed if you hadn't said your name last time. What happened anyway?" Giroro… that was the alien with red skin right? The one looking angry all the time. Thinking about it, that girl did have a similar scowl the other two times, but her expressions were completely different now…

Giroro blushed, looking at the Yoshiokadaira with dodgy eyes, "Hm… I never really cared about this city before, so… I still don't know it very well…"

"You want me to show it to you?"

"Hm…. Right… if it doesn't bother you…" She seemed almost unable to say that, lowering her face and speaking inwardly. Yoshiokadaira had gotten suspicious after learning her identity, but he decided to go with it. He didn't know what had happened, but her actions seemed genuine.

"Ok." Yoshiokadaira spoke decidedly, surprising the shy girl sitting across the table. "So, let's go, Giroro?"

"Alright!" She jumped to Yoshiokadaira's side, holding onto his arm. Masayoshi felt embarrassed, but didn't complain.

/

In the middle of Okutokyo, there was a giant rectangular tower standing far above any nearby building. It had been build by the Nishizawa Peach Group as a giant antenna, quickly becoming one of Okutokyo's favorite tourist spots. Yet, soon that place was surrounded by stories involving ghosts and aliens, which, rather than attracting interested people, oddly just lessened the number of visitants.

Most of the higher levels of the structure were composed by connected metallic bars, without a proper place to walk around. Keroro, Fuyuki and Tamama floated next to the peak of the tower, a large spike-looking antenna, in small saucers, holding onto levers to keep themselves there. Mois floated next to them, in her true form, sitting on her Lucifer Spear.

A small yellow star had been placed there, next to the top of the antenna. Keroro looked at it intently, holding the Keroball in her hands. She'd use that antenna in conjunction with the Keroball to amplify the power of Urere's weapon, making it cover an area as large as possible.

"Well… it's about time…" She looked regretfully at Fuyuki.

"Do you need something, milady?" The little butler asked, just making Keroro feel even more guilty, "You don't seem to be well, so,"

"No, I'm fine." Keroro smiled, gripping the Keroball with her free hand. "Let's conquer Pekopon now!"

Unnoticed by them, a small metallic fly landed on the other side of the star. Its legs grew, piercing the star's surface lightly as small micro cables connected with its internal system...

Standing amidst near bystanders in the base of the tower, hidden by the Anti-barrier, Tororo laughed by himself. "Pu, pu, pu…"

/

Inside a small booth, Giroro latched on Yoshiokadaira's left arm with a big smile, making his heart jump, while a camera took a picture of them together.

She quickly released him, running outside to check the picture. Yoshiokadaira followed a while after her, still somewhat stunned. Ever since he had gone to Okutokyo and joined the Nishizawa's body guard group, he hadn't just spent much time hanging around with someone else while walking through Okutokyo's streets. He mostly used his day offs to rest in his apartment, and in work days he was basically working 24 hours, there was no time to go in a stroll.

"Hey, Yoshiokadaira!" The redhead waved with the picture they had just taken right after he left to the streets. "Can I keep it?" She asked while holding it right in front of his face.

"No problem." Giroro entered inside the booth again with the picture, quickly returning without anything on her hands, but with a satisfied smile.

"Then, where are we going now?" Giroro asked enthusiastically, putting her hands on her back and leaning towards him.

"Well-"

"Giroro?" A sudden cry caught their attention. A small reddish Keronian appeared next to them, floating right above the streets in a small red saucer, the faint aura of the Anti-Barrier shone around her. Giroro briefly glanced at Natsumi, but instantly looked away, annoyed.

"Giroro!"

"Let's go somewhere else!" Giroro said, grabbing Yoshiokadaira's arm and pulling away from the Keronian.

"Giroro, I need your help!" Natsumi insisted. Giroro attempted to walk away, but was held down by Yoshiokadaira.

"She wants to talk with you…" He said, surprised by her sudden behavior.

"I don't want to look at her!" Giroro protested, irritated.

"The stupid frog is attempting to transform everyone into mindless slaves! You were fighting with him this morning, right!? Then, help me!" The small Keronian pleaded, floating in front of redhead, who just walked past her.

"I was just telling her that I didn't care for this stupid invasion!" Giroro protested. "I don't want to be involved with those things anymore, so, just forget it!"

"Giroro…" Natsumi looked at the girl standing in front of her, finally realizing that she wasn't acting like Giroro at all. Keroro probably had done to him the same he had done to Fuyuki, although the effect seemed to be different for him… Rather than a servant, he had become a… feminine girl…?

Natsumi remembered how she had attempted to conquer Earth when she was initially transformed into that Keronian, and Giroro's attempts to snap her out of it failed completely, but she couldn't just stay still.

"I guess I'll just find Koyuki and Dororo…" She thought, ready to leave, but stopped for a moment, staring at Giroro.

"Wha-What is it!?" Giroro asked, visibly annoyed.

/

"Huh… Sergeant…?" Tamama looked curiously at the green haired girl, who seemed be lost in her own thoughts, her dark eyes focused on nowhere. Tamama flew next to her, shacking her leader's shoulders. "Sergeant! What are you doing?!"

"Ge… Gero…" Keroro looked confused for a moment, but soon smiled. "Of course, let's activate it!"

Keroro aimed the Keroball, pointing at the yellow star on top of the tower. She closed her eyes, visualizing men and women dressed as maids and butlers serving her and finally pressed a white button. A small beam crossed the skies, passing through the yellow star, which immediately lighted up.

Answering the first shot, the shinning star shot a yellow beam straight into Keroro, who just looked in horror as she was enveloped by the light.

"Uncle!" Mois tried to fly to help her, but quickly was hit by a second light and the same happened to Tamama. More and more beams were released from the star flying and falling all over the city, weaving amongst themselves. The whole area around the antenna became a giant shinning sphere created by the individual shafts of light.

Tororo floated above the antenna, partially immersed in the shinning sphere, but beams weaved around him, keeping him untouched. Pu, pu, pu! Take this, Kururu! I've done it! I've done it! Pekopon is mine!"

In those streets below, Giroro was staring angrily at Natsumi, a little before the rain of light. "Cho! Cho! Go away, froggy!"

"Fro-froggy?!" Natsumi looked at the redhead in disbelief, quickly fuming, "I know your head isn't working correctly right now… but… I'm really angry!" The small Keronian jumped from the saucer, landing on Giroro's face. Giroro quickly lost her balance and fell on the sidewalk, with Natsumi still grabbing her head.

"He-Hey! Calm down…!" Yoshiokadaira hurriedly approached them, but a white beam flew through him, stopping him in his tracks. Both Natsumi and Giroro looked at him in surprise when more beams descended, flying through them. Everything around them was seemingly covered by light.

When Giroro's sight returned, she was still lying on the ground, Natsumi's small Keronian body holding onto her shoulders. Apparently, nothing had happened to her. Yoshiokadaira stood next to them, looking at the skies for some reason. He was wearing a formal black suit, rather than his casual clothes, but Giroro attempted to just ignore it. She promptly removed the stunned Keronian from her and stood up. "Hey, let's go somewhere else." She said, grabbing his arm again, but…

He didn't reply. He stood still, just looking at the sky.

"What's the problem?" She pushed his sleeve, but he didn't look at her. "Huh…. Yoshiokadaira…?"

"Isn't that… the stupid frog's new weapon?" Natsumi wondered, with one hand on her forehead. The people on the street all around them either wore similar black suits or black maid uniforms, and they all stood similarly still, looking at the skies, towards Okutokyo Tower.

"What? You mean…" Giroro looked at her own clothes, stunned. "… Urere's weird weapon… I guess I wasn't affected because he had used it before…"

"And nothing here because… it doesn't work on Keronians… I guess?" Natsumi looked at her own hands, sighing. That body had been finally useful for something. "So, are you willing to help me now? We need to force him to make everyone go back to normal!"

"But… I don't want…" Giroro looked at her hands, almost trembling. "If I destroy the weapon, I'll become… like before…"

"If you know that, then you understand that you don't actually want to act like this!" Natsumi protested.

Giroro took a quick glance at Yoshiokadaira, quickly yelling in frustration, "Giroro is an idiot!" She sighed and looked at the little Keronian. "So, do you have any plans?"

"If you're willing to help me now, then…" Natsumi smirked. She went to the small red saucer that had fallen by the wayside after she jumped from it. She approached the vehicle, touching the control lever to open a small cavity in the middle of the vehicle. She put her hand inside, quickly taking a small red collar. It was metallic and hard, looking like a dog-collar.

"So… Wear this and go stop Keroro." Natsumi said, an evil smile drawn on her white Keronian face.

"Eh… that is…" Giroro hesitantly picked it up, holding it with only three fingers, almost like she didn't want to touch it.

"That's right. It's the trigger of the Powered Suit you gave me a while back. I can't use it with this body, so…" Natsumi smirked. She really hated that embarrassing design, and finally someone else was going to suffer with it.

Giroro blushed, looking hesitantly at the collar, even as she slowly put it on. "Is this some out of timing revenge?"

"Alright," The redhead closed her eyes just as she locked the collar, pressing a green button on the front. "Here it goes!"

Two heavy gray blocks closed around Giroro's forearms as red gloves materialized on her hands, simultaneously as the rest of her arms were covered by a white shoulder pad connected to a metallic cloth. Mechanical white boots, reaching past her knees, covered her legs. Two small metallic plates, mostly blue, but with some white and red on the extremities, covered her breasts, and finally, a blue belt with a white crotch guard appeared. Her red shorts and red jacket faded away immediately afterwards, giving place to what looked like a blue school swimsuit, under that armor. Finalizing, two metallic bows appeared on the back of Giroro's head, tied to her hair.

As soon as the transformation was finished, she cringed. "This is embarrassing!" She protested, while Natsumi just kept smirking.

"Alright, I'm going there." Giroro said, launching herself to the skies without any visible thrust. She opened her arms as she flew towards the tower in the distant horizon. "This isn't so bad…"

Natsumi jumped on the small red pod. Its small back thruster roared as she launched after Giroro. "Stupid frog… What are you doing?!"

Flying quickly, Giroror's surroundings became nothing but a blur around her. To an outside viewer, she was just a red streak. Leaving a red trail on her way, Giroro quickly reached Okutokyo Tower.

"Huh?" Tororo stared at the comet moving in his direction, quickly looking over the screen of a white laptop that floated at his side. "A Pekoponian with a Keronian weapon…?" He grinned, "Is it the same stupid girl from the last time?"

Giroro came to an abrupt stop in front of tower, staring surprised at the 4 figures there. Fuyuki, she already knew, was floating there on a small saucer, dressed like a butler, however, around him, Tamama, Keroro and Mois, in her true form, were standing uptight, dressed in black French maid uniforms.

"Keroro…?" Giroro stared incredulously at the green haired girl. If she had been controlled then… who was behind that?

"Hm… It's not the girl from the last time…" Tororo said, pink energy wings sprouting from his back as he floated beside his small computer. He smirked, "Red hair…? If those two are Tamama and Sergeant Keroro… are you Corporal Giroro? Pu, pu, pu, pu! How pathetic!"

"The only pathetic thing I'm seeing is a two feet tall brat!" Giroro retorted, raising her arms defensively, "Stop this right now!"

"Eh? And why should I?" Tororo's eyes were shinning through his glasses. "You're so incompetent you ended up in this sorry state! However I conquered Pekopon in a matter of minutes!"

"You've just stolen someone else's invasion plan!"

"Eh. Not stolen, improved!" Tororo looked at his computer, grinning, "As it was originally, the effect of Sergeant Keroro's improved antenna wouldn't even effect 50 meters."

"So… from up here… it wouldn't reach even ground level?" Giroro looked in disbelief. "THAT IDIOT! I always tell him to put some effort, but everything that he does is completely half assed!" A familiar scowl and eyes were on her face for a moment, but quickly disappeared, giving place to some dizziness as Giroro held her own forehead in pain.

"Huh? There's another intruder incoming? Very well, girls, attack them!"

"Right, master Tororo!" The three spoke in unison, flying towards Giroro, who backed away.

"Tamama Impact!" The black haired girl took a heavy breath and quickly threw out a yellow energy blast through her mouth. Giroro spun around it, easily flying past Tamama.

"Hellmargeddon, reduced 1000000 million times!" Mois spun her spear pointing its round head at Giroro. She answered by raising her hands towards Mois while several cylindrical cannons appeared floating around her, quickly opening fire. Giroro's pink beam and Mois' yellow one collided with each other, creating a small star in the sky.

"Gero, gero, gero! You can't defeat us!" Keroro laughed, just watching the battle from the sidelines.

Tororo giggled, "There's no way that idiot will last…Huh?!"

"Make milady return to normal!" Fuyuki stood on his vehicle, staring angrily at Tororo.

"Well, well, isn't this ironic? A brainwashed idiot standing up for another one. I guess that's why you didn't change… However," After pressing one button on his floating computer, a strong electric current burst towards Fuyuki, but it was disrupted when a red saucer flew right in front of Fuyuki, taking the hit. Natsumi leaned back, using her pod as a shield to protect her brother, jumping back as soon as it exploded. She landed on her brother's shoulders, looking angrily at him.

"What do you think you're doing!? You won't help anyone like that, idiot!"

"So-sorry, my dear sister!"

Meanwhile, Tamama attempted to kick Giroro, descending from the skies, while Mois swung her spear towards him, both attacks, however, stopped in their tracks thanks to an orange octagonal barrier that appeared in front of them. Giroro raised her arms and the barrier spread, cutting into two walls that pushed away her two opponents.

"Now, it's your turn!" She raised her hand, pointing it at Keroro, who stood right in the way of the star on top of the tower. Quickly, shinning lines were drawn around that hand, and a white arm cannon materialized on Giroro's hand. Blue particles flew around it, forming an energy ball, "Get out of the way!"

Keroro sweated for a moment, but kept her position. Tamama stabilized her small pod and Mois stopped herself, ready to restart an offensive. Giroro noticed that. She had no time to lose. "GET OUT!" She yelled while launching the attack which crossed through the sky, scratching Keroro's shoulder as she barely moved out of the way. The blue sphere ate the top of the tower, blowing up with the star.

The clothes created by Urere's weapon started getting blurry, slowly fading away, giving place to everyone's standard clothes.

On the busy streets below, Yoshiokadaira looked around, confused by the way he was just acting. Everyone around him continued standing still for a moment, wondering about the same thing.

On the skies, Keroro, Tamama and Mois returned to their usual selves, looking confused at each other. Fuyuki almost fell from his saucer just as his school uniform returned.

Giroro had a faint smile on her lips for a few moments, but her expression slowly was replaced by her standard scowl, although she continued on the powered suit.

"No!" Tororo started frantically typing on his computer, unable to accept his loss. "I'll reactivate that! I've got enough da-" He stopped abruptly when he felt cold metal touching his head.

"You've already lost, private Tororo. Stop right now." Garuru asked, hovering behind Tororo with two energy wings, a small machinegun planted on the back of the young Keronian's head.

"Li-li-lieutenant… Ga-ga-garuru… it's… it's not…" He barely could speak, cold fear spreading through his entire body.

"I'll hear your excuses later, little clown." Garuru looked over at the redhead floating in the sky. "Even in these conditions, you weren't too bad, Giroro."

Giroro had been just floating in the sky, angrily looking at Tororo, but she quickly realized the previous situation, immediately attempting to cover her legs embarrassedly. "This stupid outfit!"

"My, my, don't you think you look great like that, corporal" Keroro teased her, but…

"This is all your fault!" Giroro snapped back, the cylindrical cannons appearing around her. "What were you attempting to do by making act like THAT!?"

"Gero! Wait! Wait! Wait! It was just a joke! A joke!"

"A joke!? I'll show you a joke!" Giroro started firing repeatedly, her shots almost scratching Keroro, who hurriedly flew away, while everyone else was left smiling. At the very least, things would calm down for a while.

/

Later, after the sunset, Giroro sit alone in front of her tent, wearing her usual uniform, the red jacket, white shirt and black shorts, while looking at a small campfire under a starry sky.

"GI-RO-RO!" Natsumi appeared, suddenly coming out of the house. She was finally back to her human form, wearing a simple purple dress.

"Natsumi?" Giroro looked curiously at the smiling girl.

"It's nice to see you back to your usual self." Natsumi said, lowering her head closer to Giroro's.

"I wouldn't call this my usual self." Giroro replied, looking away from her.

"Oh, come on, you know what I meant!" Natsumi complained, crossing her arms in protest, but her face quickly lighted up again. "So, did you like that powered armor?"

"Eh?! Of course not!" Giroro complained, getting embarrassed just by remembering it.

"Now you know how I felt when I wore that thing." Natsumi said, with her eyes closed, but quickly opened them again, as she crouched next to Giroro. "Anyway, I'm just curious… why was your other self so irritated by my presence? I mean, the stupid frog said that the changes in personality were based on the clothes… But I don't see how those clothes translate into "I hate Natsumi"! So, what happened?"

"Huh…? That's…" Giroro blushed, looking at the grass.

"What?" Natsumi asked again. Giroro raised her own head, facing Natsumi's eyes from up close. Natsumi's face was as pretty as it always had been, but there was something… different. Usually, he'd be way too nervous to face her like that, however…

"I guess… it doesn't matter anymore…" Although she tried to keep a confident smirk, Giroro's eyes showed some sadness as she looked at Natsumi. Natsumi couldn't quite understand, and was quickly annoyed by the charade.

"What about that guy you were with?" Natsumi wondered, approaching Giroro with interest. Giroro jumped back, almost like she had been pushed by some invisible force.

"I-I-I had never seen him before!" She protested, "That wasn't really me! So don't look too much into it!" Giroro complained, her face becoming red, although the darkness of the night helped hide it.

"Of course, you had seen him. Isn't him one of Momoka's bodyguards?" Natsumi said, not impressed.

"Even if I had seen him before, with such a generic face, I must have forgotten him! That's it!" Natsumi's look didn't change at all after Giroro's second explanation, but she soon dropped the subject.

"Teasing you is so easy…" Natsumi revealed, smiling again. "Anyway," She said, grabbing Giroro's hand. "Mom is calling you to eat dinner inside with everyone else!"

"Wait, I'm not about to eat an enemy's food!"

"Sure, sure… just come, Giroro!" Natsumi said, pulling the other redhead to their house.

/-

VITAL SIGNS OF KERORO PLATOON: NEGATIVE #1 THROUGH #5

AUTOMATIC COUNTDOWN INITIATED - 8 DAYS REMAINING

/

Dororo walked alone in the underground of Okutokyo. She had found a spacious room underneath the city, following a sensation of dread that she had felt under the ground. Koyuki and Zoruru had gone to check other points, searching for Kururu, so she was there by herself.

Although it was part of the sewer system, there was no water in sight, just large tall pillars sustaining the ceiling. The entire room seemed to be painted by a dead brown color, and the only sound Dororo could hear around that place were her own light footsteps, moving the dust of the room. Even the cars, probably passing through the streets above, were completely inaudible down below. She kept walking through that dark gallery, following a strange feeling, that, although cold, wasn't just a low temperature.

After walking slowly through what felt like an eternity, the long haired ninja stopped in front of a particular pillar. What looked like a purple diamond was engraved on the center of a pillar, with a faint shine, which decreased and increased in strength constantly, almost like a heart beating.

"What is that?" Dororo wondered, looking at the object in front of her eyes with dread. "Whatever it is, it's certainly evil." She gripped her small sword, ready to jump on it.

"Can't let you do that, Dororo!" A second female voice yelled as a girl walked out from behind the pillar that contained the crystal. She was a blond girl, wearing a shinning outfit… or not. Dororo immediately recognized her face, in spite of the idol clothes, the uncharacteristic lively smile and the small glasses.

"Sergeant Major Kururu." She said through her gray mask, not very enthusiastic.

"Bingo!" Lulu said, although she quickly leaned her head to the side, "Well, you're halfway there, but it counts for something, right, mr. Ninja? Or should I just call you school girl these days? Or is it assassin? Really, Dororo, you change identities so often I don't know what you're supposed to be!"

"What are you doing, lord Kururu?"

She smirked. "Conquering Pekopon, of course! Such a boring thing…"

"If you want to bring any danger to Pekopon's people, I'll stop you!" Dororo announced, raising her sword towards the other girl.

"Fight! Fight!" Lulu yelled as her earphones moved to the sides to reveal tubes with her usual sonic cannons. She held them and fired. The soundwaves flew apparently instantly, cracking the floor and pillars as it spread through the room. Dororo swiftly jumped around the combined blasts, circling Lulu.

"Stand still!" Lulu complained impatiently, turning around with the earphones, until her sonic blast scratched Dororo's face, ripping off her mask.

"This is…" Dororo jumped to the ceiling, disappearing completely.

"Wha-What?" Lulu looked around in confusion, but soon the ninja reappeared right in front of her, pushing the hilt of her sword against Lulu's stomach, throwing her at the pillar.

"… the end!

Lulu tried to gather strength to stand up afterwards, but she could barely move her arms.

"Sorry, lord Kururu, but I'll stop this."

The sound of claps echoed through the empty room. Dororo looked around confused, but quickly her eyes were fixed on a particular space, between two pillars. Various papers sheets started falling out of nowhere, breaking the camouflage and revealing a previously unseen Saburo, wearing black jacket, and pants with a white cap.

"Lord Saburo? You knew about this?"

"Thank you, Doro!" Saburo smirked.

"Are… you going to fight too?"

"Why? Your first match hasn't finished…" He shrugged his shoulders, looking aside.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku, ku…" Lulu, or rather, Kururu, stood up. Although her physical features and clothes hadn't changed, somehow her face was darker and her red eyes started intently at Dororo. "Conquering Pekopon… It's such an easy matter… that's why it's so boring… Ku, ku, ku… However, I do need to finish this mission in a few days, after all… so, could you all remain out of the way?" She spoke with a forced childish tone, quickly switching to her usual confident one, "Of course not. It'd be no fun, right? I'm really disappointed I couldn't beat you like that. Doing something so simple is boring, you know?"

"Lord Kururu…" Dororo raised her sword, "Why did you disappear? Natsu-… I mean, we need your help!"

"Really? Too bad, I have some bigger problems to take care of." Kururu smirked.

Dororo pointed at the crystal with her sword. "If you won't stop, then…" she vanished again.

Kururu picked up a small blue gum and calmly threw it behind herself. Dororo reappeared in that exact position, and the gum entered into her mouth. The blue ninja fell on her knees, initially coughing. Her eyes became heavier and she soon fell asleep on the floor.

"Sleep gum, what did you think?" Kururu spoke to the unconscious girl, smirking.

"So, you really hadn't been taken over by some creepy alternate personality." Saburo concluded, walking next to the grinning girl.

"Cheh. Who do you take me for? I'm only using those gums as a tool. If it's not necessary, it can be easily eliminated." She said, glancing at Saburo sideways.

"How annoying." Kururu looked at her fallen opponent as she picked up another yellow gum for herself, quickly starting to chew it. Soon, the shadows vanished from her face, and Lulu was as cheerful as ever. "Alright, now, for the next step! Tomorrow, Pekopon will be mine!" She raised her hand triumphantly. Saburo just watched her silently… until she held her arm, unexpectedly pulling him alongside her. "Come on, Mutsumi!"

"He-Hey!"

/-

Next chapter, the ending of this Kururu plotline. Kururu's plan is finally revealed and executed!