Concept

by Rainbowkittyblossomwings

The Platoon might be in the fight of their lives as dark secrets about their planet's history is uncovered. With Haru back in the Hinatas lives, the strange occult loving pekoponian brings back secrets connected to Keron, revealing a race of aliens that they used to prey upon. Questions start being asked like was the Keroro Platoon really sent to invade Pekopon?

14. Nature and Nurture

Sorry for taking so long to update! But here's the next chapter. So this chapter has a slight focus on Dororo, because the next few chapters focuses on yet again each member of the Keroro platoon talking to Keroro. (Dororo, Giroro, Kululu and Tamama). There's other characters too like Tamama since this is a Kerotama story.

I hope this is okay. School's starting soon so this might be hard to update during the first few weeks. Maybe I can do the next chapter before school starts but don't quote me on that.

---

Keroro wasn't sure how long it took for them to make it to Keron. He mostly stayed in a small room, huddled with blankets during the trip.

He knew space travel wasn't nearly as fast as Fuyuki usually liked to make it out to be. He would have been gone from Pekopon at least for a week while they traveled, but Keroro just couldn't be bothered to count the hours that went by.

Hours, days, weeks, and suddenly years had become meaningless to him. How many years had he existed again? He wasn't exactly too sure.

All he knew was to his previous friends all those hours and days of friendship that they had once had, all those fun invasion plans, they were all now built on lies. He wasn't Keroro any longer. He was nothing.

He just curled up in his blankets. I wonder if Fuyuki misses me. Is he thinking about me? Or is he just going on with his life? He knew Fuyuki had already moved on.

Fuyuki thought he was lying to him after all. And Keroro had been, even if he didn't previously know he was lying.

He hid his head under a rather fluffy blanket. The Demon Sergeant-Someone who no longer was pretending to be Keroro's father, came in every now and then to give Keroro meals. Sometimes the Colonel would tell Keroro how close to Keron they were. Keroro didn't remember.

All he had done was cry since the news had been given. He was still waiting for his friends to visit him and reassure him that everything was the same and that things were okay. But they hadn't. He hadn't seen Tamama once since he cast him aside.

Tiredly, Keroro looked down at a bright light in his hand. It was a phone that he had brought along with him. He hadn't gotten much sleep due to not wanting to think about what was happening to him but he sometimes liked looking at the bright light of the phone.

I remember when Fuyuki and I went out shopping for this pekoponian contraption. He and Lady Natsumi said that I should have a phone so they could contact me if I got lost in the city or something while they were at school. It had taken him months to learn that he could browse the internet on his phone. After that he had happily found lots of manga to distract him from his life.

Right now, a distraction wasn't even helpful. He couldn't even find it himself to load a manga page. That was the old Keroro. An anime nerd. The apparent non-existent Keroro who just lived his entire life based on a lie.

Keroro looked down at his phone. Nobody was with him anymore. Nobody was by his side. Nobody cared about him because it was a different Keroro they each held their affections for.

But there's one person who only knew me. There's one person who wouldn't care. Keroro realized. He quickly started texting Fuyuki- his previous best friend.

Sure they might have had their problems in the past, but when Fuyuki learned Keroro was dealing with something really extreme he'd be there for him, right? Even if Fuyuki could only send a message of support it would help Keroro.

So Keroro wrote, going out on a limb and hoping for Fuyuki's affection.

"Hey Fuyuki!

It's me! Keroro. You might have heard from your Mom or even Lady Natsumi that our platoon has gone missing. Turns out that we've been re-enlisted to help out the military and do our duty for Keron." Keroro wrote. Yeah, that sounds cheerful enough. It will make me sound normal and draw Fuyuki's attention.

He didn't want Fuyuki to realize just how scared he was. How he felt like he was losing himself, how if Fuyuki rejected him too he might crumble.

He knew Fuyuki probably wouldn't reject him. It was Fuyuki after all. But he hadn't thought Tamama would leave him and reject him and he had been wrong about that.

Keroro sniffled as he tried to continue his message to Fuyuki. "Anyway, Fuyuki….Do you remember Dark Keroro? You...You wanted to be his friend, right? I didn't really think much about him at the time besides the fact that he was like an anime twin brother to me, but I've been thinking more about him. He had his own personality, friends and dreams, right? His own life. And then he left to invade his own planet….But you still liked him, and wanted to be his friend. Was it because he was like me and you felt bad for him or because he was his own person?

Basically...What I'm asking Fuyuki is...If...If I wasn't Keroro...Would you still be my friend? Would I have my own life like Dark Keroro? Or would I just be a copy of some guy named Keroro?" Keroro gulped.

He hoped Fuyuki would advise him. He hoped Fuyuki would answer his question.

"I miss you...Please answer soon." He quickly deleted the last part. Fuyuki didn't need to know how desperate he was.

He sent the message.

And then he waited, holding his phone. As he heard the clock tick and the hours drawl on he waited for a reply to come.

But no reply ever did. Fuyuki never answered. Had Fuyuki been too busy to see the message? Or was he still mad at Keroro for keeping secrets from him?

Keroro would never know. All he knew was that his friend wasn't answering.

Keroro thought his tears had dried up from Tamama's abandonment, but once he realized that despite his desperation no reply was coming he started crying again. That feeling of loneliness was bubbling up again.

He bawled loudly for several hours. He was sure that some others heard him because he heard a loud clunking on his wall from whoever room was next to him. Judging by the amount of pounding and strength he guessed Giroro was the one who was trying to get him to shut up.

"Sergeant Keroro." The colonel eventually opened his door, slightly annoyed by the loud crying. "There have been complaints about your...Noise level. We can not have our brave God go into battle against the Vipers with a tear soaked face." The colonel scolded.

Keroro gulped, a pit in his stomach. He had forgotten all about the Vipers and how he was supposed to do battle with them- and mostly him. He didn't know how he was supposed to defeat Vipers who were super strong because of the flyians all on his own.

He doubted the Colonel would listen to his complaints though. He wasn't an average keronian who was held to normal standards. He was a tool. He was their God. This was his job.

He just gave a meek nod as the colonel closed the door.

So this is how Dororo feels. People ignoring you in your worst moments. Keroro finally tried to laugh things off to himself. "H-ha. M-maybe this is some sort of karma?" He did remember leaving Dororo in the corner to cry quite a few times.

Some of his platoon mates and him would sometimes notice Dororo only to politely ask him to decrease his volume of tears, which would just make him sob harder. Keroro had been confused how that had happened at the time, but now he could understand.

I should have been a better friend to Dororo….Keroro shook his head. No, he couldn't be thinking that. For one thing he and Dororo had never been friends. Not in his life at least. Dororo was just his platoon member who he forgot about.

The only real friend Keroro had had that hadn't interacted with a previous Keroro was Fuyuki. And Fuyuki wasn't answering him.

There would have been a time in my life that he would have happily told me that he would befriend any Keroro regardless of their past or characteristics. Keroro realized. Fuyuki was just that kind of happy go lucky guy who just loved making friends.

Fuyuki would have told Keroro that he was Keroro despite his past. That none of that clone stuff mattered. But Fuyuki was growing up. He still cared about friendship but he wanted friendship to be a two-way street and he was beginning to feel like that wasn't how things were with Keroro.

Fuyuki had started suspecting that there was something different about Keroro long before Keroro had known himself. Instead of assuming that Keroro himself was ignorant Fuyuki felt hurt that his friend wasn't sharing with him the burdens that he was caring. He felt that Keroro didn't trust him and that Keroro had kept whatever Keroro was from Fuyuki.

I was in the dark too, Fuyuki. Keroro thought to himself. He had been kept from the truth too. By his father, his mother, and who knows how many others in his life.

He didn't know if he wanted to know the truth though. If he had been told when he was coming to Pekopon that he was a clone would he have just died quickly like all the other clones? What had kept him alive for so long? His ignorance?

So then the situation with Fuyuki was inevitable, despite Fuyuki's hurt feelings.

What I really want though...Keroro shivered. Is for things to be normal again. I don't want to be a God. I didn't want to know this. But he was a God. He wanted to deny that he was, but he could still remember the terrifying power he had gained after Fuyuki had died.

His hands were shaking remembering the power. Briefly a sub-conscious thought struck him. If...If I had let Fuyuki die then...If I hadn't captured the flyians….Would none of this be happening? Would I have not ascended to Godhood if I just allowed Fuyuki to stay dead? Keroro gasped at his own thought process.

How could he think that? He threw his phone against the wall just because he felt the need to throw something. It broke but he didn't pay much attention to it. Instead he fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

"H-how...How could I even want that? T-that's disgusting...I'm...I'm no God. I'm a monster." He shivered and told himself.

The thought hadn't gone away. It felt too violent for him. He didn't like it. But if nobody knew about my past, including me, I'd still have Tamama. Tamama would love me. Giroro and Dororo would be my friends. Mois would admire me. Kululu probably wouldn't look at me like I was a byproduct of science. I'd be just a natural keronian.

He vomited. How could he put his own selfish desires above Fuyuki's life? It wasn't Fuyuki's fault he was going through this.

He just cried again. And again. "I'm...I'm sorry. I'm sorry Fuyuki. For everything. For bringing you back in a way that hurt you. For lying to you. For thinking you might be better off dead. I'm sorry. I'm a bad friend for forever. I'm just a bad friend." Were God's even meant to have friends?

He sure felt he wasn't.

After all his platoon mates had left him instantly when they had learned the truth.

It's true that a part of me should say I don't need them. I have people on Pekopon who have never interacted with a clone of me after all. Lady Mom….She only knows this Keroro. Lady Natsumi...Our fights were only between us. Not some other Keroro...Momoka and Koyuki to a much lesser extent. Keroro tried to list off names.

But it was also true for all of that that his old friends had been much more important to him than Natsumi or Aki ever could be. He had a friend group that made up his past. His most important memories were of Zeroro, Giroro and Pururu. But now….Now that was all gone. He had never lived through any of that.

His past was dead and his cherished friendship of the 'chibi Keroro platoon' was gone. He never existed in Giroro, Pururu and Zeroro's pasts. He hadn't saved Tamama and he certainly had never raised Angol Mois.

It was all gone. It didn't exist. And instead of embracing the new Keroro before them the people in his supposed past instead mourned their dead friends, the other Keroros.

They hated him. He knew that much from Tamama and the way he looked at him. Like Keroro had done a personal betrayal and used his heart. Like he had tugged it along.

Perhaps Tamama just realized what kind of person I really was. That he was incompetent and an idiot and really did have no redeeming qualities. Now that the redeeming qualities that Tamama had seen before was gone Tamama was regretting wasted years of his life doting after Keroro.

Keroro couldn't blame him. But he still felt deep sadness and a pit of loneliness of what could have been. He really hadn't expected that out of everyone Tamama would be taking it the hardest.

I want my friends back. I want my life back. I want Fuyuki to be there for me. I want my past...I want Tamama. There were so many things Keroro wanted. But he had none of them.

So he just cried.

---

Keroro eventually wandered out of his room to check on the status of how close to Keron they were. He weakly and meekly listened to the colonel describe the Viper and various attacks the Keroro platoon would do on them.

Agugu noticed Keroro's quiet behavior after one of the meetings. He approached him trying to be friendly. "Is there anything we can do to cheer you up? We don't know what triggers your power after all and...A lack of self could very well hurt it. You are our god. Please if there's anything we can do don't hesitate to ask." He requested.

Keroro looked down brushing off the politeness. This guy might have been around his platoon's age- maybe younger and closer to Kululu's age, but he didn't feel any real connection to Agugu. Agugu was the one who had brought him here after all.

"What does it matter to you? Why do you want me to be happy?" Keroro demanded, bitterness in his voice.

"We need you at your best condition. We need your strength. We need you to defeat the Vipers, remember?" Agugu reminded.

Keroro didn't shake in fear this time at the mention of just him going up against the Vipers. Instead he felt nothing.

"You need to become the God you were meant to be." Agugu said firmly, "And to do that you shouldn't be feeling earthly feelings. You are an ethereal being. Emotions are intangible, they don't need to be something that represents you." He advised.

Keroro didn't heed any of this advice. Instead he glared at Agugu filled with bitterness. "How...How does it benefit you me destroying the Vipers?" He asked again.

"As I told you before I wish to be the next Emperor, with your help I can win the war-" Agugu explained.

"Yes, but you're not doing any of that! It's me who's going out into the battlefield. I'm doing the heavy lifting. Won't the people worship me instead of you? You should have left me on Pekopon if you're real goal is to become Emperor. Because I can't help you in any way." Keroro pointed out.

Agugu smiled. Keroro's angry speech didn't seem to dissuade him in any way. It seemed to be something he had already thought about and prepared a response for. "We're not just fighting a war, Keroro." He spoke his name.

Keroro didn't know how he felt about his name uttered on anyone's lips anymore. He knew these keronians weren't talking to him. They were talking about their god.

"We're interrupting the cycle of predator and prey. We're making sure we don't get slaughtered by a species that have become even stronger with our own prey's help. We were always a circle, we ate the flyians, the flyians preyed on the Vipers and the Vipers preyed on us, but the Vipers and flyians have now teamed up. Only a God can disrupt that evil cycle." Agugu explained.

"But-Your own ambition's….This has nothing to do with being Emperor!" Keroro pointed out.

"It does. People relate to mortals. Not Gods. Even if you win the war, which we need you to do, it'll be me who's embraced as the hero for bringing you, the God. God's aren't expected to rule over kingdoms. They're better than that. And to be honest people are a little intimidated by them. They wouldn't understand what they're thinking in their heads. But mortals? Mortals make sense." Agugu explained.

Keroro didn't know what to say. Agugu was making a surprising amount of sense. People don't know what's in my head? They can't relate to me? But all he did usually was play with gundam models and watch anime! That was pretty relatable, right?

He didn't say that though. Maybe Agugu was right. Maybe he had lost his chance to have people relate to him. Now that he was a god he was too powerful to have people understand him.

No...My platoon...My ex-platoon surely doesn't believe what Agugu says. I mean I don't want to become Emperor but maybe the knowledge that people can relate to me will make them not want our platoon to go into this war. After all the main goal and ambition to them is to actually to make Agugu emperor. Using me could get in the way of that.

He had to see his platoon. After all, knowing that they still understood him...It would help his mental state and make him feel normal and it might get them all out of a dangerous situation.

---

It was after one of the meetings explaining the locations of various Viper camps and forts that had quickly sprung up on Keron. Keroro finally worked up the courage to approach his former platoon mates.

He went to Tamama first, it was just instinctual. "Hey, Tamama do you want to-"

"No." Tamama said harshly and turned away. Tamama hadn't made direct eye contact with Keroro the entire time during the meeting. In fact he had sat as far away from him as possible.

Really everyone had. Keroro had sat at the end of the table to show his status. Still it felt like everyone except Kululu was piling to one edge.

Kululu was just not really paying attention to the drama and putting his feet on an expensive table as always. He ignored Keroro, but Keroro wasn't sure if that was just normal. He honestly couldn't tell.

Keroro tried to grab at Tamama's arm before Tamama booked it out of the room. "I'm...I'm really sorry for what happened between us. And I'm not talking to you just because I want you to pay attention to me and I want your affection! I want to assure you 100% I'm not after your love. After all you're not in love with me anymore and it would be mean of me to pressure anything-"

"Is this going anywhere?" Tamama asked taking a step back from Keroro so he couldn't try to grab him again. "I have to be somewhere. Anywhere but here."

Giroro tried not to look at the two of them, feeling some amount of second hand embarrassment for Keroro. He might have still been mad about the whole god thing but it just felt sad to watch the fact that Keroro had only learned that Tamama liked him right when his whole life had been revealed to be a lie.

Kululu let out a loud laugh, "Ku, ku, ku!"

"Yeah, it was going somewhere! I wanted to know if you maybe wanted to hang out or...Or try to be friends. I mean...I might not be some hero Keroro, but I'm fun Keroro! I'm relatable Keroro who's always down to play with a gundam model-"

At the mention of 'hero Keroro', Tamama had a distraught look on his face. It was like he had been punched at the memory that that Keroro was in fact dead and he'd never get to be with him. But as Keroro continued to speak Tamama channeled his sadness into anger.

"How did I like you for so many years?" Tamama sighed. "It should have been sooo obvious that you weren't the same person."

"..." Keroro was a bit caught off guard by that. He tried not to look or even feel hurt. It was extremely hard. You liked me because we were friends. I'm...I'm your friend. There were other things you liked about me, right? He wanted to ask. But he couldn't find the words.

He wasn't exactly sure what anyone would like about this version of him. He was just an idiot after all. "I...I know you might have had false expectations of me previously, but I thought...We could maybe start up a new relationship with the real me. We could be friends-" Keroro suggested.

"I was in love with an idea of you. A different you. I didn't want to be friends." Tamama replied. "I'm not going to make the same mistakes that I have in the past." And he walked away.

Keroro reached out as he watched him go. But he knew he couldn't chase after him. He had been rejected and there was no way he was getting Tamama back.

But...Giroro and Kululu...They have to understand me...Right? Keroro had to remember that he couldn't just focus on Tamama. He had other platoon members.

"G-giroro, um...H-hey...Can you...Show me how to shoot or something?" Keroro asked desperately.

"We have no connection." Giroro got up. "We're not platoon mates. We're not childhood friends. My dad's friend isn't even your Dad. He's just had to take care of you. I'd help another soldier shoot but you're no soldier. You're inhuman." Giroro got up. He gave an icy cold glare to Keroro as he passed by.

Keroro knew right then that Giroro felt truly lied to. His connection with Giroro was over. "I'm...I'm Natsumi's friend-" He tried desperately to use the one thing on Giroro that always worked.

"And you lied to her too! She doesn't know that you're some sort of supernatural alien god. She already isn't the biggest fan of aliens! What do you think she'd think of some alien god? And add in the fact that she's clearly superior to you in every way and kicked your butt multiple times—really brings down Keron due to the fact that you supposedly created our race." Giroro just sighed. "I'm really disappointed to be a keronian right now thinking about that."

He walked away and Keroro didn't know what to say.

Kululu's still here. He'll relate to me. He'll understand I have emotions. He and I played DS together a few times. You can't just play mario kart with a god. Keroro turned around desperately to Kululu. "Kululu-"

"Ku, ku, ku. There's the drama bell." Kululu replied.

"Drama bell?" Keroro asked confused.

"Means drama's over. No reason to stay around here." Kululu shrugged. "I was only really sitting here to see Tamama and Giroro lay into you."

"Kululu! I'm having a hard time!" Keroro whined. "Can you stop being a jerk for one moment to try to understand my feelings?"

Kululu just stared at him and then slowly shook his head. "Me? Stop being a jerk? Never. I feast on the drama and misery." He paused, "Anyway. You'll be fine and all. You are a God after all. Scientifically speaking you've started your ascent to godhood. Eventually your memories and your feelings of this life will disappear and you'll stop feeling like you do. You'll just feel whatever god's feel which I would guess is probably nothing or emotions that are superior to all our petty ones. Like arrogance and feeling like you're better than everyone-"

Keroro felt like those statements were contradictory.

"That and you'll probably disperse into universe particles and your existence and body will just be deleted from history. So yeah, nothing to worry about. You simply won't exist soon enough." Kululu soothed.

Keroro tried not to let his face contort in horror. Kululu's reassurance had not helped. In fact it had done quite the opposite. He breathed heavily as Kululu looked at him with a moment of disinterest and then quickly left seeing that Keroro was speechless.

Keroro dropped to his knees and tried to steady his breathing so he wasn't hyper-ventilating. It didn't work very well.

They really couldn't understand me. Maybe...Maybe I am inhuman. Maybe I am not something someone can relate to. Keroro thought to himself.

He didn't realize that his entire platoon hadn't left yet. That he wasn't alone yet.

Quietly Dororo approached him. He hadn't really spoken to him since the incident. He hadn't been avoiding him like the others, in fact he had kept his eyes on Keroro a bit more than Giroro and Tamama had, but he still hadn't spoken to him.

Keroro didn't know it was because he hadn't approached Dororo first.

"When...When I hyperventilate Lady Koyuki would rub circles on my back and try to ground me and remind me that I was here and that she was here for me. She would try to sooth me and hold me." Dororo told him. "Is there anything you do for yourself when you're scared like this?"

Keroro looked up at him. Dororo was still there? And asking? "Pretend I'm not and push it down?" Keroro pretend laughed. "Play with a gundam model?"

"I figured that was your method." Dororo sat down on the ground next to him. "I...I don't know if hugs help you and honestly...I feel a bit weird offering it considering our past together…."

"And the fact that it's non-existent and that your friend is dead?" Keroro asked.

"Actually I was talking about how when I was a child the last time we hugged you stuck a paper on my back with tape that said 'My real name is Zemomo. Please repeatedly call me Zemomo because I get annoyed by people calling me anything else. I like to pretend to be a tsundere and mad about it though'. And it took days for anyone to point out the paper to me." Dororo started sniffling, "But...I guess that wasn't your fault." He awkwardly replied, "That wasn't you. It was a different Keroro."

Keroro frowned at the words 'different Keroro'. He could barely remember that event that Dororo was talking about. All that fake past was slowly disappearing.

"So…..Umm...I feel kind of awkward hugging you but I can sit by your side. Until you calm down. I want to help you after all." Dororo offered, he didn't sound too sure of himself. A little nervous to be offering help, like Keroro would reject it. Or use it.

Keroro glanced up. "...Why are you trying to comfort me? Why are you offering comfort? There's nothing between us."

Before Dororo could answer Keroro just kept speaking. He had been rejected by so many friends. Dororo offering his help was just bizarre to him. "Even in our supposed childhood I didn't get to know you that well. I just used and exploited you. So there's no pretend fake memories for you to be attached to. In my real life I barely know you because I was too busy forgetting you and you were too busy being mad at me. So why try to help me? I'm your fake childhood friend. I'm not real. You've got to realize that by now."

Dororo grabbed Keroro's hand and shook his head, almost as if he felt bad for Keroro for saying that. "You may have been a fake platoon leader. A fake friend… But I want to try to make you a real friend."

Keroro just looked at Dororo speechless. That's...That's what I suggested to Tamama. That's what I wanted from Tamama. Could Dororo be for real?

"The past may be bad." Dororo tried to tell him, "But you've got to look towards the future. There's always something to look forward to and something better. Don't try to live in the past. You're you because you make your own path in the future."

Keroro was just speechless. He felt his face wet with small tears but he didn't touch them or wipe them. "Why….Why don't you hate me like everybody else does?" Keroro just found himself asking.

Was Dororo just giving him comfort out of pity? Dororo was known to be a nice guy. That sounded like Dororo. "All the fun times we had as children were based around lies. Your childhood friend wasn't me. The person you cared for is dead and I replaced them.." Keroro found himself babbling.

Dororo just looked at him with sympathy. "That...That might be true. My friend...My friends since it seems I interacted with multiple Keroros...They're all dead." Dororo replied with some sadness. "Your memories are all that remains of their life."

"Then why don't you hate me? If I didn't exist...They might. One of them could have lived longer. I only exist because they died." Keroro pointed out.

"You've said one thing wrong." Dororo sighed. "I don't miss the past or the 'fun times as children.'" He quoted. "It's true that we were all just children, but a lot of those supposed fun times revolved around a joke at my expense. Those fun times were my torment and are the reason I am traumatized to this day. Even if things might have been an innocent joke at the time they went way too far repeatedly. I broke bones but just from a simple apology I would forgive Keroro and come back."

Keroro paled. Had things really been that bad for Dororo? He never realized. He knew Dororo had said his body had become stronger because of injuries from accidents with Keroro and that it had led him on the path of the assassin, but that sounded terrifying. Dororo's voice carried bitterness and like he didn't care for the past at all.

"Keroro manipulated me so many times. So eventually I became bitter at the fun times and the past." Dororo replied. He glanced at Keroro and saw the grief and regret in his face.

"I'm so sorry! I had no idea I was so bad!" Keroro apologized. "I thought we were just playing around like kids do-"

Dororo smiled a little, to try to reassure Keroro that he was no longer mad and had left it in the past and forgiven him. "Do not worry. You bare none of that guilt. It wasn't you who hurt me."

"But-" Keroro tried to point out.

"If Tamama and Giroro can say you aren't important to them because it wasn't really you in a past incident than I can say you haven't hurt me because it wasn't you during a past incident, correct?" Dororo used Tamama and Giroro's logic. "And either way, I learned to forgive you. I am responsible for my own actions now. I have grown and so have you. I was...Mad at you and ignored the facts that you had changed but if I had been more observant I would have realized just how greatly you had changed. That you in fact were a different person." Dororo looked apologetic. "I am sorry."

Keroro was caught off guard again. This entire conversation with Dororo was not going like he had envisioned it.

"….You...You shouldn't forgive me so easily though...I hurt you." Keroro was stuck in his way of thinking.

"It wasn't you." Dororo replied. "It was a clone-"

"It was me." Keroro insisted. "In a way I mean. All of the Keroro's...I have their memories. They're fading from me, but if I'm truly a god they were at least a tiny piece of me. That means a piece of me has the potential to be that cruel." He cowered and put his head in his hands.

"I've...I've seen that before. I know it. I've seen it when we faced the Garuru Platoon. When they cloned a child version of me and that child was a born invader. Just some selfish child dictator. That was my potential." Keroro reminded. "All...All of the clones are just pieces of the original Keroro. Just as the flawed and terrified version of myself is part of me, those other Keroro's are pieces of me too. Even cruel, ruthless and manipulative Keroros. They're all me."

He waited for Dororo to look angry, storm off or just be disgusted. But instead he listened. He didn't seem all that surprised by Keroro's words and instead nodded along as he spoke as if he believed them and it made sense to him.

"So that mean Keroro was just as much a part of me as the flawed Keroro that I am today." Keroro tried to end, he waited for Dororo to refute him.

Dororo thought for a moment. "You've forgotten one important piece of information though. And that's a piece of information that's relevant to all of the Keroros and how their personalities were formed."

Keroro looked confused. What did I forget? "What?"

"Nurture. You've only explained nature in your speech, but not anything about nurture and how the people around you and your clones interacted. You've got to remember that the people around you and those clones formed the first days of your life and minutes. That probably helped concrete your personality and your life choices in that clone's path." Dororo reminded.

Keroro just looked confused. He tilted his head.

Dororo smiled, ready to explain his theory. "You are a god. And thus you don't follow our rules, the rules of society and the universe. You don't follow the exact same morals that everybody is supposed to learn and follow. You're supposed to form your own morals and pathway." Dororo reminded. "The people around you- specifically the people who knew you were a god and raised you and watched you, knew you followed other morals and rules. Sub-consciously instead of imparting wisdom or boundaries or rules they must have just given you whatever you wanted because how could they refuse their god?" Dororo asked. "In most of your lives you've been insanely privileged with many benefactors watching your every move. Everybody expected you to have the right morals, nobody taught you any."

"I...I don't understand." Keroro frowned.

Dororo sighed. "Even in this life you've been given a lot of leeway with our fake invasion. None of the higher ups wanted to displease you so they never sent any real threats or pressure because in reality they were frightened of you and wanted you to give them priveledges if you ever awakened as a God. They didn't want to be punished. So you were pretty much given everything you wanted." Dororo pointed out.

"Everybody worships you, Keroro. So when you were a child, when you were an adult you faced no real negative repercussions from the important adults in your life and higher ups. There was never any punishments so you were never told not to push children off swing seats like you did in childhood with me." Dororo pointed out. "Some versions of you might have been nicer than others because they were surrounded by more people who didn't know of your God-hood, but it's very likely that the lives that had the adults lying to you featured most prominently were more cruel than the others."

"This is also why being called a failure was such a shock to you when Keron told us the invasion was a lie. You had gotten everything you wanted previously. And when the platoon started leaving you you couldn't fathom it because nobody would ever dare leave your friendship. People were honored to be in your presence Keroro. And it wasn't because you were cool. It was because you were secretly a God." Dororo explained.

Keroro listened in awe. A lot of what Dororo was saying made sense. "What….What about the Keroro that Tamama met then? I don't have any memories of that life but the way Tamama describes him he sounds...Perfect. Super heroic and the opposite of any of those cruel and privileged Keroro's."

Dororo frowned. He really had no answer about that Keroro. Likely only Tamama knew about him. "It's odd that you don't have any memories of him...Shouldn't you have fake memories of all of your lives so that you wouldn't have started suspecting things and they would have kept consistent?"

Keroro nodded.

"...Do you think...It's possible that he could have realized what was going on? I mean...I know it's odd to imagine an observant Keroro, but you are a god. Perhaps he had the power of observation and that was his one skill. Perhaps because he had a bigger view of the universe than just himself and you he was kinder." Dororo shook his head. "But that's just guesses."

"That...That could be it..." Honestly Keroro didn't know. But some of what Dororo was saying made sense. He should have remembered that Dororo had an eye for philosophy!

"You're a clone of the Keronian God. But you're also a child in morals because you actually haven't been alive that long. All your clones have barely been a year old." Dororo reminded, "You are a child and it was the keronian's job to teach you correct morals as a basically baby moral-less God!" He frowned. "But they never did. Instead they just rewarded your entitled ass because they thought it was good and showed your superiority to them and hoped desperately that it was the signs of you becoming a God."

"But...But it wasn't. None of those cruel and manipulative lasted longer than a year. They didn't have my lifespan and they didn't ascend to God-hood." Keroro was mostly talking to himself now.

Dororo shook his head. "No. It was your grief and humbleness that unlocked who you truly were. Nothing like being better than others. Nothing of the sort." He agreed.

Keroro was silent as he tried to recollect his thoughts. Dororo broke the silence though.

"I'm sorry, Keroro." Dororo apologized. "I may lecture the other keronians in your life for not teaching you morals but I'm no better. I didn't forgive you for a long time and held a grudge on you. I should have been nicer to you." Dororo frowned, "I should have been there for you and called you out sooner. I should have been helping teach you right from wrong. I could have made you into a different person than you are today- I was basically there when you were a day old I bet!" Dororo sounded mad at himself for as if he bore some of the irresponsibility.

"Whoa, hold up, Dororo. It's not your fault. You didn't know." Keroro pointed out.

Dororo tried to conceal his anger. He untightened his fist. "I know...But still...When you ascend to God hood...I want Keron to have a benevolent God. One that will lead the people to be better and a kinder species." Dororo admitted. "And...I can't fully say that the current version of you can do that. You haven't ever been taught to be..."

"Responsible? Smart enough to lead people into kindness?" Keroro suggested.

"Perhaps that's just my past grudge talking but I feel like if I had known before...Before the final stretch I could have helped taught you. But now who knows when you will fully ascend to God hood? You've got very little time and to try to cram those lessons into you would probably fall on deaf ears." Dororo sighed.

Keroro nodded. He didn't believe in himself either. I can't be the God you're hoping for. I can't even be Keroro so how could I be a good God?

"I hope...I hope you can be a good God though. I want to believe in you." Dororo admitted with a small smile.

And for a moment to Keroro just someone wanting to believe in him was enough. It was better than anything he had right now.

---

Talking about the younger versions of Keroro had gotten Dororo remembering the person he had once called friend.

A lot of what he had said he had been thinking about over the week. Although part of him still blamed that Keroro, he was realizing more and more that the various clones were victims themselves too.

For a time...They were my friends. He was my friend the young Keroro. He was everything to me. My very first friend. Dororo recalled. His world had revolved around Keroro.

And that made him sad to think about, to realize that there was no path of redemption for the clone Keroro. They couldn't ever get past their previous mistakes because of their tragic fates.

He played with Giroro and I. I can remember him being right there. But...He's gone now. Dororo looked to his side.

It hurt his heart to think that the truth had never been learned by the previous Keroro's. Or worse, what if they had learned in their final moments? The moments that Dororo hadn't been there for and could only guess at. He never knew he was a clone.

Dororo remembered every little bit of their childhood. He remembered every memory of Keroro. He could recall it as if it was yesterday making secret bases with him and Giroro.

"Come on, Zeroro! I'm going to be the King of the Keron kingdom!" Child Keroro would say standing on the top of the fort like a king. "Giroro's my loyal soldier. You can be a villager I guess, Zeroro."

Dororo closed his eyes remembering the moment.

"Wahhh! But I don't want to be a villager! I want to be a soldier like Giroro! You're so mean, Keroro!"

And Keroro would smile and stick out his tongue. That was their childhood days.

As he recalled the various memories of him and Keroro playing together, one floated to the top of his head. One stuck out.

And it made his stomach turn.

---

He remembered it all. But one day in their childhood was extremely different than the other days. Keroro had been sick and missed school.

"Keroro really missed some interesting stuff!" Giroro had gossiped. "But...Maybe I'm just saying that because without Keroro we finally got to listen to the lecture."

"You're being too mean to, Keroro." Pururu scolded. "I always listen. It's your own fault for not paying attention. Then you have to get Garuru to tutor you."

"No! It's Keroro's fault!" Giroro insisted as he walked home with Pururu and Zeroro. They had decided that they would study for a test at his house. Without Keroro they actually had some time to study. Or at least Giroro did.

"Do you think Keroro is okay? It was really sad to hear from the teacher that he had a cold." Zeroro finally said.

"People get colds all the time." Giroro waved his hand.

"Yeah, he'll be fine." Pururu agreed. "Bed rest is the best medicine after all. Nobody died from a cold."

Giroro nodded vigorously agreeing with everything Pururu said.

Zeroro just pouted and glared. "Ummm...That's like incredibly untrue? I get sick all the time and it's really dangerous." He looked away, "I know how bad a cold is and how lonely it is to be sick."

"It's not that bad. You just got the sniffles for a day." Giroro tried to reassure him.

"Not if it's a bad cold!" Zeroro insisted. "Keroro...Keroro would send paper airplanes through my window sometimes when I was sick. It...It was sweet. I...I don't want him to be lonely. So...Why don't we deliver his homework to him or something? I want...I want to return the favor of what he's done for me."

"That's dumb." Giroro told him, "We'll probably get sick if we visit him. Then we'll all be sick."

"I think that's a really sweet idea, Zeroro!" Pururu complimented. "And it will give Keroro no excuse to skip out on his homework. We can study with him and do it together."

Giroro sighed. If Pururu said it was a good idea he guessed he had to go along with it. He was out voted after all.

"Fine. Let's go wish Keroro get well. His house is pretty close to mine." Giroro agreed.

Zeroro smiled. He was so excited to do something good for someone else! Keroro was sure to appreciate the visitors.

---

They made a get well card before they visited. It had all sorts of colorful drawings of the four of them playing together.

"Get well soon, Keroro! I think you might just be sick to skip the test but if you're really sick do some push-ups or something to get better." Read Giroro's part of the card.

"I'm not going to nurse you back to health. That's weird. However I did borrow some shots from my mom. I think they're for Tetanus but I'm sure they'll help somehow. I'll just jam them in! First time for everything, right?" Read Pururu's part.

"Keroro...I know what it's like being sick and lonely. I'll help you in anyway you can. Just remember you're always surrounded by friends. We miss you at school." Zeroro wrote.

He hoped Keroro didn't make fun of him. But he was mostly just worried about Keroro's health.

Giroro didn't knock on Keroro's door. "Dad just barges in." He explained as Pururu organized Keroro's missing homework assignments that they were delivering and Dororo held onto the card.

The door opened slightly but they weren't greeted by Keroro's face. Instead it was the Demon Sergeant, Keroro's father. "W-what...I told you Guchacha, now's not a good time!" For some reason he spoke Giroro's father's name as he spun around.

Giroro looked confused. "It's just me. D-dad said I could come here whenever I needed to and Zeroro and I-"

Keroro's father frowned deeply stressed. "I'm sorry. Now's not a good time. You've got to go." He rushed the children out the door. "I told him to keep his kids away from here today!" He groaned.

Giroro glanced at Zeroro and Pururu confused. The door was slammed shut in front of them.

"W-what now? They didn't even hear our request about wanting to tell Keroro to get well soon!" Zeroro felt distraught like they had been rejected. Was there any hope?

Giroro knocked on the now locked door but Keroro's parents did not come to answer it.

They could hear people talking from inside.

"Come here." Giroro dragged his friend's heads to the wall. "Maybe we can hear what they're saying about Keroro! I have good ears after all."

Zeroro nodded and meekly tried to listen.

It was pretty easy to hear despite the wall. Keroro's mother was letting out loud wails, she was obviously sobbing.

"There...There." Keroro's father sounded to be trying weakly to help her. He sounded like he was trying too hard though.

"I can't do this!" She shouted. "I can't keep doing this!" She repeated.

"You say that every time. But we keep doing it." Keroro's father told her. "I'm...I'm here for you though. I understand you. I...I can think about it for both of us."

"No! I'm serious! I want out! It's too hard!" She sobbed.

Giroro grimaced. "Umm...Should we be listening to this? Oh….Oh no...If Keroro stayed home from school because of domestic stuff..." He tried to pull Pururu and Zeroro away, but Pururu leaned in closer.

"What do you mean, Giroro?" Pururu asked.

"I...I remember my dad saying that same thing to my mom before they split." Giroro admitted.

Zeroro turned pale. Were Keroro's parents fighting? Was that why they didn't want them to visit right now?

Still he continued listening in, along with Pururu.

"You've got to stay. Think of Keron. You're doing your duty. Think of Keroro eventually." Keroro's father tried to convince.

"I don't want to hear that name!" Keroro's mother sobbed. "And I don't care about my duty anymore! I've done enough for the military. I want to retire. I want to stop this. I want...I want to have a kid."

Giroro perked up. "Oh? They're...Not fighting? They just want to give Keroro a younger sibling?" Suddenly he inched closer again.

"I know..." Keroro's father sighed. "But...You know that can't happen. We've tried reproducing, remember? Our harsh truth is that it's just not going to happen." He sighed. "I've heard it's happening more and more in adults. For some reason children are being born exponentially less. The next generation is going to have an even tougher time. It's not just us."

Keroro's mother's crying got softer. There wasn't much more talking they could hear.

"We should probably go. I think Keroro's parents...Are talking about some very important issues." Pururu suggested. She had heard some rumors about reproductive issues and didn't want to get too involved in their private life.

Zeroro held the get well card tighter. "But...But Keroro...We didn't even get to see him..."

"Come on, Zeroro." Giroro tried to get Zeroro's attention.

Zeroro shook his head. "I...I want to see Keroro. He needs me. He needs us."

"Zeroro! We're going home." Pururu insisted. "We want to give Keroro's folks some privacy. It's the polite thing to do."

Giroro watched Zeroro and how he was unsatisfied. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I'll help you sneak in. I know the window to Keroro's room."

"Giroro! You're encouraging him! You're going to get in trouble!" Pururu scolded, gasping.

"I can take it. You can go home though if you want. We don't need to drag you into this." Giroro told her.

She frowned but nodded. She didn't want to get in trouble too.

Zeroro hugged Giroro. "Thanks Giroro!"

"No problem. I know you wouldn't let that get well card go. And it's probably for the best. You're doing the right thing. The good thing." Giroro smiled.

He led Zeroro to Keroro's window. Grabbing a vine, he threw it up to the windowsill, managing to get it to hook in somehow. "Climb in. I used to do this all the time when I was even younger."

Zeroro nodded, smiling a lot. He climbed in first. Giroro followed closely after.

Zeroro smiled. "Keroro! Me and Giroro came to wish you well-" He stopped immediately as he looked at Keroro's room.

It was all white. Everything, the carpet, the wallpaper, had been stripped away. The door was closed and there was no Keroro in the room.

There was no clues that he had ever even been there. None of his stuff was in boxes, his bed was missing, everything was completely gone.

"W-what...What is this?" Giroro asked. "Where's Keroro?" He covered his mouth. Even Giroro felt like his nerves had been frozen.

"T-they...They probably quarantined him." Zeroro came up with an explanation. "It happens in rare cases when you're really sick with something extremely contagious. They even burn your stuff. Keroro's cold must have been much worse than we thought."

"Oh...Oh no!" Giroro frowned. "That's awful."

They heard foot-steps approaching the room.

"I heard voices." Keroro's mother said. "It must be Keroro!" She suddenly brightened up.

"No! He's not here! You know that. I know that. He's not here!" Keroro's father sounded like he was running down the hall to stop his wife.

Giroro and Zeroro glanced at each other. They both knew when to bolt.

They ran for it. Keroro wasn't there after all. Keroro's father had said that. He was away sick somewhere.

So they left the house and ran as far from it as they could.

---

It took two days for Keroro to recover. It was actually surprisingly short for his illness. When Zeroro saw him again at school he bounded up to him and handed him the get well card.

Keroro looked at it confused. "What is this?" He asked.

"A get well card! It's from all of us!" Zeroro smiled

Keroro just continued to stare at him blankly and extremely confused.

"All...Of...Us?" He repeated.

"Yep! Like me-" Zeroro smiled perkily

"And who were you again?" Keroro asked blankly.

Zeroro cried. "I'm Zeroro! Why do you always have to forget about me? Zeroro! Zeroro!" He repeated.

"That's just normal Keroro stuff." Giroro teased. "Glad to see your better, man. Your quarantined had me worried there." He told him.

Keroro looked blankly at Giroro and Zeroro for a moment. And then he smiled. "Oh yeah! My quarantine! Man I don't remember anything from it. I sure must have been sick." He laughed. "Did I already miss the test?"

"Not yet, Keroro." Pururu smiled at him.

"Darn." Keroro frowned.

And they all laughed.

Dororo remembered that laughter fondly. But the memory of Keroro's sickness he was slowly starting to realize the truth behind it.

There was no quarantine. There was no sickness. He as a young child along with Giroro had wandered into a scene where a clone Keroro had died and all his possessions had been removed. Then immediately after a new Keroro had replaced him.

And the only clue that this Keroro was a day old was a 'who were you again?' which Dororo had brushed off as normal.

His stomach was cold at the memories of Keroro's mothers tears. How she had probably seen Keroro's death and how ignorant he had been to the death surrounding him as a child.

One clone died and was immediately replaced by another. The people around him were just supposed to act like they were the same person. I acted like they were the same person. Dororo realized with horror.

Keroro's life wasn't filled with privilege and luxuries. No, the full truth was that Keroro had a tragic life. One doomed to early death.

That moment of almost finding about the cloning etched into Dororo's mind the tragic life of being a Keroro. He was replaceable. The only thing that ever meant a Keroro existed was the memories they had formed. Be that memories in other people or the current Keroro. That was the only thing that etched their existence into the world.

Keroro was still by his side, slowing down his breathing.

"You exist now." Dororo tried to reassure him. He knew Keroro must be realizing too how replaceable the past Keroro's were. "The future holds promise and so does the present you. Do not focus on yesterday. Focus on today."

Keroro smiled. "Thanks Dororo. I'm...I'm glad to have you as a friend. A real friend."

Dororo smiled. He hoped he could live up to being a real friend to Keroro.

I want to agree with him. I want to make a new Keroro. One without this baggage. Keroro thought. But could he?

He could very well try. And there was one person he wanted to be a New Keroro for more than ever. To remedy his past mistakes.

---

Keroro went up to Tamama. If there ever was a person he wanted to be important to this life only it was Tamama.

He...He might have been in love with another Keroro. Keroro reminded himself. He knew that already. But it's also true that our life together was important. He got to know me on Pekopon much more than any clone of me. We spent more time together.

Giroro and Dororo had both known a clone more than him. Kululu….He really knew very little about his take on the matter. Angol Mois he was pretty sure was a lost cause because she had seemed pretty darn obsessed with the old him.

But Tamama had actually gotten to know the current him. They had pulled pranks together on Pekopon. They had caused mischief. They had common interests. They had been friends. And whenever he was feeling down, Tamama had always been there. Tamama would always cheer him up.

I don't want to be typical and run into a lover's arms when I'm feeling sad, but….Keroro couldn't really finish that statement, because he really really wanted to run into Tamama's arms. He wanted Tamama to hold him and say that he was still important to him.

And for a moment he had confidence that that would happen.

There's hope that he'll choose me. That other Keroro couldn't have been that cool after all. He'll definitely choose me. He knew me longer. He was with me more. We had fun together. Keroro told himself.

He walked straight up to Tamama, shushing his fears. "Tamama...I know you were in love...In love with another me, but the current version of me is the one that exists today. You can't truly believe that you don't feel anything for me like friendship, right? We had a lot of fun times together. We have a history-, we have memories." Keroro instantly regretted saying the word 'memories'. Memories seemed very fake to him at the moment.

And Tamama was probably questioning if anything was really real or genuine from Keroro.

Tamama just looked at him with a look of sadness, and almost heart-break. Clearly he wondering if Keroro really had any memories at all. He didn't say anything at all.

"T-tamama...P-please. I thought you'd be there for me. You're...You're-" Special to me. Important to me. I need you. "My friend."

"Am I?" Tamama asked. "Is...Is anything ever real to you? You're a clone. What kind of personality did they implant in you to make their God? Did you ever find me worthwhile? Or did you only ever want me around to stroke your own ego?" Tamama asked harshly.

Keroro groaned. Those words hurt.

"I'm...I'm sorry." Tamama eventually said. "It's...It's just a big shock. That the person I loved isn't you. That he'll never get to thank him because he's dead."

"But...I'm here. He's somewhere here inside me—I'm sure of it. I have my other clone's memories." Keroro said desperately. You can still love me.

Tamama shook his head. "You two are not the same. I...I need to have some time away from the current Keroro of this year." He pointed to Keroro, "I...I just feel so betrayed. I gotta get my thoughts in order."

Keroro couldn't say anything in his defense as Tamama left. He just dropped to his knees. "But...I am him. I am Keroro. I'm none of the Keroro's. And all of them..." He just wanted Tamama back. But Tamama wasn't there to listen.

And he knew he couldn't get Tamama back by using that Clone's life to his advantage. I don't remember anything from that life. Not snippets. Not bits and pieces. Nothing.

The fairy tale romance that Tamama spoke of- the heroic moment- it didn't exist to Keroro. It was locked away somewhere in his mind, in a vault he couldn't access. That Keroro was keeping his secrets from even him.

For a second he remembered something. It was back when Tamama had asked him why he saved him. Keroro of course hadn't known why because he hadn't remembered it, but for some reason words had come out of his mouth anyway.

They were his words. The clone's body is dead but his mind still holds some control. He tried to remember what he had said to Tamama. "Because I wanted something that was just mine. A precious memory to always have when I was sad."

His mind whirled back to his conversation with Dororo and the hypothesis that his clone had started to figure out about his life as a clone and the inevitable doom he faced towards being replaced when he died.

He….He knew? Keroro realized. That made sense why he barely remembered that life. He bet that guy was still hanging around in his memories and mind preventing him from opening them. He wanted something that made him special, that the current Keroro couldn't replace. And that special thing was his bond was Tamama.

He really stuck it to me. Tamama hates me because of that guy. Keroro thought to himself. If he could just remember...But he could not. He knew that sometimes words would come out of his mouth that weren't his own- it was that Keroro who managed to grab onto his consciousness and stay lying in wait.

He wondered if he was just some sort of host body for a million trapped souls of cobbled together clones of a God that was supposed to be dead. Just various clones that were never supposed to exist. He...Hadn't ever thought that some of them might still have conciseness and wishes but that Keroro sounded like he did.

Closing his eyes he tried to focus on that Keroro. But all he could feel was anger at himself for trying to get in Tamama's life. Ah...I get it. Keroro realized.

Tamama was special to you too. You chose him to be the one person to remember you, to have a memory with. That Keroro was in love with Tamama wasn't he? He could feel it somewhere in his heart.

That makes sense why I sometimes feel protective of Tamama. Why I want his attention so much. One of my past selves loved him. Or maybe his current self loved him. He honestly didn't know if it was both or one of them.

He could no longer separate his emotions from his previous selves. He couldn't distinguish them since all his previous emotions and thoughts had been fake memories. Was he at war with himself over Tamama? Did he want Tamama to himself just like that other Keroro had wanted?

He didn't know. At the moment he knew less about himself than anything.

All he knew was how other people perceived him. How Tamama didn't want him, how his friends were mad at him, how Dororo wanted him to become a better person. He knew nothing except others opinions.

The only thing I'm sure about towards my own feelings is that I'm hurt. He had never been that good at not being dense. It hurts that Tamama cast me aside.

That was all that he knew.

---

They finally arrived at Keron after a long flight trip. The ship hovered over what was no longer covered in greenery. Keroro knew enough about war to know it was a battlefield.

"S-so...The Keroro platoon's going out there, huh?" Keroro asked, nervously. He glanced at Giroro and Tamama sitting across the table.

They'd be out there with him at least. He wouldn't be alone.

"They'll be on the ship watching your progress." The colonel frowned. A hatch opened and Keroro could feel the air against his skin.

Giroro handed him a parachute apparently having already been told about things. "Don't sweat like that! You're a god, right? You should be able to handle it on your own. You've gotta defeat the Vipers. They're really tearing Keron apart."

"Ku, ku, ku. You have the power. Just do it quick so we can all go home." Kululu told him.

Tamama just looked away.

Dororo frowned. Is...Is this my fault? He wondered. Keroro has to face a bunch of Vipers alone because I released the flyians….So is this all my fault somehow? "Maybe...Maybe it isn't a good idea to send Keroro out there alone..." Nobody listened to him as usual.

"You're….Pushing me out!?" Keroro asked in shock.

The colonel started pushing him towards the hatch. "You have the power to take out the Vipers and the flyians yourself. Do well and we will be pleased."

Before Keroro could say anything else he was pushed out of the ship. "AHHHH!" He screamed. He opened the parachute as quickly as he could, just as he had usually done in class. A clone did in class. A clone took a class on parachuting. Not me. Keroro reminded.

He managed to drop to safety anyhow landing on the blood soaked battlefield. He covered his mouth when he saw all the keronian bodies over the place. They were half eaten- the other half rotting.

He felt nauseous. Disgusted.

I'll fair no better than them. They're delusional if they think I can do this on my own! Keroro thought to himself. He looked at the ship as it flew a safe distance away to watch him from satellite cameras. "Screw this! I can't do anything!" I don't really have powers like they say I do. I haven't done anything extraordinary since that first time I caught the flyians.

He started to just walk away. He was not going to survive this. He couldn't just go straight out onto the battlefield and say "god powers' and then everything would be over.

He didn't get very far, even when he picked up his pace. He ran into a group of Vipers quickly. The Vipers eyes didn't have any white's in them any longer, instead Keroro saw pure black and it took him a moment to realize that a mass of flyians were wriggling inside the Vipers.

"A Keronian got lost on the battlefield?" One Viper said raising his gun arm. The Viper laughed. "Ha! What did the Keron Military think would happen if they sent one last keronian? They're so dumb."

"We'll just eat him and make things fast. Then we can go conquer some more cities." One of the other Vipers said.

"Is the little frog going to scream and cry? What a dumb looking thing he is." The Viper mocked.

Keroro whimpered. This was like seven super powered Vipers in front of him! He had no weapons, and he doubted he had any real powers.

I will die if I stay here. Just like any of the other Keroro's. Then I'll be replaced just like them. I'll never get to see Giroro, Dororo, Tamama or Kululu again. Keroro realized.

He looked down at his hands. He truly doubted he had any power. He couldn't win a war for the government.

So instead of doing something important he ran- he ran as fast as he could away from the Vipers. "AHH! I'm out of here! I don't want any part of this!"

The Vipers just watched him go laughing.

Keroro continued running for hours. Hoping to eventually get out of the battlefield. He seemed to know the geography of this part of the planet despite never having visited there, and eventually he found a hiding place that he was confident the Vipers and the colonel couldn't find him in.

Then he just cowered for the rest of the night and cried to himself.

---

The colonel frowned. "We've lost Keroro's location."

"What? I thought bringing his precious platoon mates as leverage would get him to do his duty!" The Demon Sergeant frowned. "Well, this Keroro always was a bit of an idiot and a coward...We should have predicted this better."

"He...He ran away?" Agugu asked. "Does he know that we're going to kill his platoon mates and friends if he runs?"

"I doubt it." The colonel frowned. He glanced at the fragments of the Keroro platoon. "They don't look like they've told him. Doesn't really help as leverage if they're ignoring him."

"Perhaps we should have captured Fuyuki Hinata instead. I've heard he's his pekoponian friend." The Demon Sergeant frowned. "But I thought he cared for his platoon mates."

The platoon listened somewhat. Giroro was frowning and pounding his fists on the table about Keroro abandoning his duty. Kululu didn't look happy at all either and was arguing with Giroro about how best to locate him so that they didn't pay for Keroro's mistakes. Tamama just said nothing as usual.

"Send me out." Dororo finally said. "I'll find him. As an assassin it was my job to find runaways. I'm the one with the most skill to locate him."

Agugu looked confused. "You'd willingly go into a battlefield infested with the flyians and Vipers?"

Dororo nodded. "I'm not afraid of the Vipers or the flyians." The flyians bare me no ill will after all. I think they'd let me through pretty easily. He had released them after all.

He didn't want Giroro, Kululu or Tamama to get hurt just because Keroro hadn't known they'd be punished for his cowardice. And he didn't want Keroro to blame himself for a war that Dororo had indirectly started.

"All right. You...You can go. But...If you die, it is not our responsibility." The colonel told him. "This is your own choice."

"If I die, I die as a Keron soldier doing my duty." Dororo lied. He had no intention of dying or being a Keron soldier. Keron could die for all he cared.

They opened the hatch and Dororo jumped out of the ship.

---

It took a few hours of tracking but Dororo was just as skilled as he boasted. It didn't take long at all for him to find Keroro hiding under some debrief.

It looked like a building that had fallen and Keroro was hiding under a slab of concrete. Despite it being actually quite in sight nobody seemed to notice it besides Dororo. Keroro's loud wails of crying seemed to not give away his position either.

The air here...Everything was still like it was frozen in time. As Dororo entered Keroro's little bubble he realized that without Keroro's knowledge, Keroro had made himself a little hidey-hole with his god power. Because Koyuki taught me about the spirits and how to sense them I was able to find Keroro's location. All satellites and enemies weren't though.

It was just like Keroro to think he was hiding when he was in plain view. Dororo smiled thinking back to the child clone version of him too. Keroro always had a sense of childishness.

Keroro wailed louder. "I'm scared! I don't want to die! T-they...They can't make me fight! I don't have any power!" Around him little rocks seemed to move in the air stacking above him to make a bigger fortress of solitude.

Agugu and the colonel was right...He does have power. He is a God. I think he's the only one who won't accept that right now though. Dororo realized.

"I can't do it alone! That's impossible! I'm no God! They just think I am. I'm powerless!" Some of the debrief crumbled around him into ash at those words.

"Keroro." Dororo said gently, making himself known. Would Keroro notice him? Or would his power make him disappear even from him? "I'm here."

Keroro sniffled. "D-dororo…? What are you doing here? Why...Why did you find me?"

"I was looking for you." Dororo smiled gently. He knew Keroro was scared and opened his arms. Keroro needed help. And he needed to give it despite his own feelings. "It's time to go back to reality. We've...We've got to end this war."

"I don't want to!" Keroro screamed. "All I want to do is go back to my platoon mates and my friends! All I want is you guys! I don't want to fight!"

Dororo frowned. "I'm sorry...They...They don't see you as a platoon mate anymore. Or a friend. I...I'm not going to lie to you."

Keroro cried harder.

"I could though. I keep telling you that. I could be your friend. A real friend...Not a plaything like your clone self saw me. Please...Make our friendship a reality in this lifetime." Dororo offered.

Keroro sniffled but tried to wipe away his tears. He nodded. "O-okay...I'll be your friend. Your real friend. I...I want to be your real friend, Dororo. You're...You're the only one forgiving me for not being the real Keroro. So...I'll listen to you." He stood up. "Do….Do I really have to end this war?" He looked timid, scared.

"I think you should end this war. But..." Dororo looked around. They still seemed to be trapped in a timeless bubble where nobody could see. "I don't think you should fight in it."

Keroro looked shocked. That was exactly what he wanted to hear!

"You are a god. You have the power to stop this. To create a New Keron. The reason they're fighting us is because Keronians have been cruel and tried to use people and eat other species that are sentient. You need to create a new Keron that doesn't use other species as tools. That doesn't require useless revenge. A Keron that doesn't trap a God in a mortal body. A Keron that doesn't upset the natural order." Dororo's eyes shined with conviction. "Only you can do that Keroro. Only you can truly stop this war and the many wars of the future that I am sure our people will start."

"I….I don't know how to do that though, Dororo." It seemed a bit too hard. Keroro couldn't even figure out to beat someone in a fight. How could he make a whole new Keron? "How do I do that?"

"Either...You return to the heavens like you are supposed to." Dororo replied, "Or..." He handed Keroro his hand. "You run with me. I came looking for you because I knew only I would have the conviction to run."

"R-run? But I thought you wanted to end this war!" Keroro reminded.

"We can find other methods that aren't battle. Negotiation. But to do that the Flyians should defeat the evil of Keron so you can remake it. The higher ups in the military who created you and trapped you in a mortal body should probably end." Dororo nodded. "Death isn't the worst. As an assassin I learned that sometimes it's necessary."

Keroro just listened unsure of what to do. "W-what do you mean only you have the conviction?"

"Each of us members of the Keroro Platoon have been given a reason to stay and pressure you into fighting. Mine is because my mother is here. They think that I want this world to flourish to keep her safe. They don't realize how capable and strong she is on her own. The Vipers won't be able to touch her." Dororo smiled.

Keroro frowned. They were all being pressured? What had Giroro, Kululu and Tamama been told?

"Let's steal a ship and return to Pekopon. Koyuki and Fuyuki are waiting for us." Dororo smiled. "Then we can start rebuilding."

Keroro listened. He liked hearing that he didn't have to be here, but something tugged at his heart. Oh yeah. This is my conscious.

It wasn't just his platoon mates he'd be leaving. It was all of Keron. He looked up at the sky. The sky looked frozen.

I love Keron. I've loved Keron during every single one of my lives. Keroro realized. If he really was a God...This was a place he had created right?

At one point he had died for this place. The original him. The real God.

"I...I can't." Keroro realized. "The people here might be flawed, but Keron still has some good things. I can't just abandon it and start again. There are...Innocent keronians here. Keronians who have a whole life ahead of them. Ones that don't deserve to get eaten." Keroro replied. "I…I want to protect the legacies of the past and the possible Keron of the future. I am and always was a Keronian soldier. I am Sergeant Keroro."

"So you'll defeat the Vipers then?" Dororo asked. His eyes were shining because although he didn't agree with Keroro's path, Keroro sticking up for something he loved was admirable in its own way. He's growing. He always did have this thing of when he gave a speech to protect something it would inspire others. Keroro had a strong heart. He always had.

"I love this planet and the people here." Keroro realized. "My platoon and everybody else. I...I have to defeat the Vipers, but I stand by the fact that I can't do it alone. Nobody, not even a supposed God can do things on their own. I need help." Keroro reaffirmed.

"I understand. A God shouldn't be strapped down with fixing all of our mistakes. We should be responsible for ourselves and learn how to stand on our two feet." Dororo agreed. "We need to work together."

"I'm here now, Dororo. I know I have a job to do. I'm just scared to be alone. To do it alone." Keroro insisted.

Will I disappear? Will I run? Keroro wondered. He shook his head. He'd refuse all of Dororo's requests. "I...I won't just disappear and go back to Heaven because I'm upsetting the natural order. I'm a new Keroro. They brought me back and I'm here now. I'm here to stay." Keroro said firmly.

"Keron….The way Keron currently is now though...They won't embrace you as their God who loves the planet and wants to protect it." Dororo finally said. "I listened to the story of the original Keroro. I read about it while you were alone thinking about how you were a clone. It got to me. I would have very much liked to know him. I'm sure we would have gotten along." Dororo smiled.

"...But?" Keroro knew there was a but coming.

"They don't want you to be that type of God anymore. They want to use you as a tool and weapon of war. That's why you were created. The people have learned to stand on their own two feet too much. The military believes they make better decisions than even a god. All they care about is conquest. You realized that and tried to leave them so that they wouldn't use your power to gain the flyians to invade." Dororo reminded.

"I've got to make them see then that I'm just me. I'm no powerful super weapon-" Keroro tried to convince Dororo again.

"They will never see that. They don't want you to be you. They don't want you to have an identity. They don't want you to be a friend. They want you to be a tool!" Dororo took Keroro's arms. "Please! Let's go back to the beautiful Pekopon together. I don't want them to use you after this war. Go home to Pekopon with me. Be my friend. Remember me. Let's leave together."

Keroro just shook his head. "I refuse." He replied. "I have to fight the flyians. They hurt people. Just like they hurt Fuyuki."

Dororo dropped his hands off of Keroro. Something snapped in him when Keroro said that they hurt people. They do...He's right...And I have caused so many deaths of keronians because I released them. I may have saved flyians lives and other lives that the keronians would have enslaved, but many of my own people died because of my actions.

I...I thought...If I could take Keroro away from this then maybe...Maybe the flyians could be defeated and I could repent for my mistake. The Keronians wouldn't have Keroro or the flyians and wouldn't be able to hurt anyone. They would be forced to change. Eventually I could help Keroro rebuild….

But Keroro would have none of that. Keroro didn't know how much guilt Dororo was caring. How Dororo was feeling like the deaths that Keroro spoke of- the injured people and even Fuyuki, was somehow Dororo's own fault.

Dororo took out his sword. "I can not allow the Keronians to use you, Keroro. I will save you." He swore. "I will not let you be chained here any longer. Either I will bring you home with me...Or I will somehow release you to the heavens."

Keroro looked confused as Dororo took out the sword. "So you're going to take me to Pekopon by force? Abandon our friends like Giroro? He's your childhood friend, Dororo!"

"I have a job to protect you!" Dororo yelled as he launched himself at Keroro, "I have faith that Giroro can get out of this situation."

"What about Pururu? She lives here. She was your friend!" Keroro pointed out, trying to dodge Dororo's blows. They didn't look like they were there to harm him, just to try to direct Keroro into Dororo's grasp.

"She will be fine." Dororo tried to say.

"NOOO! I'm not going to just look the other way when a ton of keronians are in this mess! I just need to tell the colonel I need help on the battlefield!" Keroro's scream broke the bubble that was hiding him away.

Instantly the Vipers in the area glanced around from the loud noise. They immediately saw Keroro and Dororo.

"Crap." Keroro frowned. "See? Now we're both going to be dead because you thought you idea of what was right and good was better than mine."

Dororo dropped his sword. This was bad. "I...I didn't think it was better. I just wanted to help you. They're going to do terrible things, Keroro….If you truly felt like your opinion was better put your heart on the line and duel me."

"Two keronians spotted!" The Vipers ran over.

Keroro looked worried, he looked like he was ready to bolt. But Dororo knew with horror that the Vipers wouldn't kill them when he saw their flyian filled eyes.

The Vipers looked at the two of them. Instead of capturing them they circled the two of them, freezing and staring.

"W-what's going on?" Keroro assumed they were staring at him, unaware that all of the flyian eyes were on Dororo who they saw as a savior.

"Do not attack them." The flyians voices buzzed in their minds. "We...We recognize that blue one. It would be stupid of us not to."

Keroro glanced over at Dororo. They recognized Dororo and not the Keronian god, him? That was something new.

Dororo gulped.

"What are you doing here? We thought you wished for us to live in peace away from the keronians and be on our way. You released us after all. It is thanks to you that we are alive today." They said.

"YOU...YOU WHAT?" Keroro asked.

Dororo gulped. He didn't answer, Keroro, or look at him. "I am not in this battle by choice. I was brought here by the Keron military from Pekopon. They have told me if I do not remain my mother will be hurt."

"So….So they use their own just as they use us. They are just as cruel as we envisioned them." They buzzed. "We do not wish to fight you."

"And I do not wish to fight you. Please leave so me and my friend can be on our way. I am trying to get us both to leave." Dororo confessed.

"But will they allow that? Or will they hurt those who are important to you, shedding their blood? The keronians are cruel and like that. They will punish you for running." The flyians reminded.

Dororo's eyes widened, in horror. They were right! His shoulders slumped. If he ran with Keroro, they were sure to know it was his fault. They would come to Pekopon- they would probably hurt Koyuki or try to. "So..I am stuck?"

"No. No you are not. You helped us out of our cage. Let us help you. We care nothing for the other keronians, but we know we owe you a great debt." They reminded Dororo. "We have plenty of power and there are plenty of bodies here on the battlefield. Let us make one look like you. Fake your death and then leave. Then we won't have to fight. Go back to your Pekopon and live in peace."

Dororo looked up at the flyians in surprise. They would help him? They would do that for him? He glanced at Keroro. But he couldn't leave Keroro, right? They were just starting a real friendship.

Keroro needed him to. He needed to get Keroro to leave.

Keroro looked disappointed in him. But things were starting to make sense. Dororo's actions, and how the flyians had gotten to the Vipers. This isn't unexpected for Dororo. He picked up Dororo's sword from the ground.

His hand was trembling. He didn't know if it was in anger at what Dororo had done, but he silenced that little bit of anger. "Did...Did you really do it? Did you really cause this whole problem?" Keroro asked.

Dororo nodded. "I did...But...They're offering to help. They've proven they aren't blood-thirsty. The flyians are just trying to take the bad keronians out of the world who would have and tried to hunt them." Dororo realized that it wasn't too different from what he wanted.

He sighed and dropped to the ground with his sword. "You know...Keroro, I never hated the idea of exile. I liked living on Pekopon with Lady Koyuki. I want to be with her again." He glanced at Keroro. "You...You should come with. We can get out of this. We can be friends again." There was hope to his voice, but also some unspoken words- he wanted to leave and he wanted to make sure Keroro was okay with that. That Keroro wouldn't try to stop him or tell the others.

I...I hurt him so much. Keroro realized. Well my clone did. He made his life miserable. Yet Dororo has been the first person to forgive me and be there for me. He's tried to be a friend to me. Tried to understand me. Even though I gave him some serious traumatization. He felt tears well up in his eyes. How could Dororo be so kind?

"I can't abandon my platoon..." Keroro said refusing Dororo yet again.

Dororo frowned. Without Keroro he couldn't leave. Keroro would no doubt tell everybody where he went. I don't know what to do.

Keroro smiled softly. "You know, Dororo...I never learned to let go during my time on Pekopon. You must remember how tightly I clung to the platoon. And then when they all learned I was a clone they left me in one foul swoop. All my clinging was for nothing. Boom!"

Dororo nodded. He didn't know where this was going.

"But let me learn now." Keroro smiled again. He dropped to Dororo's side and hugged him.

Dororo had never realized how much he wanted Keroro to be there for him and hug him, how much he wanted that support.

"I'll let you go." Keroro told him, "Fare-well, Dororo. Please...Have a good time on Pekopon. Tell Fuyuki I miss him."

"Won't...Won't you tell him yourself someday?" Dororo asked, feeling his voice about to break. He knew why Keroro was telling him this.

Keroro and Dororo both knew Keroro would never be allowed to return to Pekopon now that he was a God. He'd never see Fuyuki again.

"Keron will keep me on a tight leash from now on." Keroro replied. "Don't worry, Dororo...I'm going to end this war. And I'm going to end the cycle of Keroro's." He looked at Dororo. "You helped me a lot. I'll remember you if I become a true God. You were a good friend, Dororo. Please...Apologize to Fuyuki that I can't be his friend forever."

Dororo cried and hugged Keroro tighter. He said a million different good-byes to his friend. Eventually he quieted himself. "I'm...I'm proud of you." He composed himself. "I'm glad you were the one to ascend to God-hood. Out of all the Keroro's I've met, you're the one who's grown the most."

Dororo turned to the flyians who weren't really listening and instead preparing a body for Dororo. "Thank you for giving me an out like I gave you."

The Vipers bodies nodded in unison.

"Farewell, Keroro." Dororo waved.

The Vipers left Dororo's fake body with Keroro as Dororo ran off to find some sort of ship to go back to Pekopon.

Keroro silenced the little bit of anger still inside him at the fact that Dororo had caused the current situation. But at least he was no longer blaming Fuyuki.

And then he just waited for the Colonel to find him.

---

The Keronian ship collected Keroro who was sitting by the body that resembled Dororo. He didn't want to touch the dead body.

I couldn't expect anything different from Dororo. He's predictable. He's always the same in every one of my lives. He was the same Dororo as in his memories. Of course he would try to protect those he thought were the victims.

Of course Dororo wanted to go home.

The colonel looked down at the fake Dororo body. "What happened?"

"He died trying to save me from a Viper attack." Keroro replied. "I'm...I'm sorry-"

Giroro pushed the colonel aside. "Dororo!" He yelled in horror as he dropped to the side of what he thought was his other childhood friend.

He looked at Keroro with grief like Keroro had personally killed both of his childhood friends- Keroro and Dororo. "T-this...This is all your fault! If you hadn't run...You aren't a soldier. You're nothing but a heartless clone!" Giroro yelled. "Dororo...You were the best friend I ever had." He just sobbed, harder and harder more and more distraught.

Even Kululu seemed slightly disgusted by the fact that Dororo had died because of Keroro. "Some God you are. Letting Dororo die because of your cowardice. But that's so like you. It's the Sergeant Keroro that I've grown to know."

Keroro tried to ignore their words. Kululu and Giroro had already cast him aside. This shouldn't hurt anymore. And Dororo wanted it this way.

Tamama just looked down at Keroro, his voice emotionless. "My Keroro wouldn't have left anyone to die. He was a hero."

Keroro's heart broke a little at the words 'my Keroro', like he wasn't that Keroro.

"Still...I didn't expect this from you." Tamama sounded a little confused. Like he slightly didn't believe it.

I need to explain it to them. That Dororo's not dead. They don't deserve to think this. To cry this much.

He waited until after the Colonel and Demon Sergeant had scolded him and he had explained that he wanted people to be on the field with him and that he would fight but only with others.

They eventually relented that they would give some thought on the matter and soon enough Keroro was given a chance to be left alone with the body and his platoon.

"He's not dead." Keroro tried to say.

"W-what? What do you mean! He's right here!" Giroro cried.

"N-no. We faked his death. He wanted to go back to Pekopon-. Do you really think I wouldn't be crying if Dororo was really legit dead? Am I that heartless?" Keroro asked.

Tamama shook his head. Giroro looked reluctant to agree. Kululu shrugged.

So Keroro explained the situation to them. How Dororo had freed the flyians and wanted them both to flee the battlefield.

He expected Giroro and Tamama to be overjoyed, but instead of his platoon mates suddenly liking him again their anger at him was suddenly replaced with anger at Dororo.

"We're in this mess cuz of Dororo?" Giroro said gruffly. "So first he dies- then he makes us all go through intense grief for him, then he runs away, but first he started a war just because he didn't want our species to invade? The flyians are evil. He should have given them to the keronians to eat!"

Kululu nodded. "I'm in a heap of trouble because of him."

"Even I'm a bit mad at Dororo!" Tamama agreed. "And right now I was only being bitter and angry at Mr. Ex-Sergeant! I forgot just how angry I could be at multiple people at once! There's enough hatred in me for a thousand people!"

Keroro tried not to listen to his platoon mates argue. He just left the room. I don't want to hear it. Right now, Dororo was the only one who supported me.

He eventually came across one of the meeting rooms with the Colonel, Agugu and the Demon Sergeant.

"So did you think over my request? Will you send people out onto the battlefield with me?" Keroro asked.

"You are a god, Keroro. You don't need soldiers-" The Demon Sergeant tried to reason.

Keroro shook his head. "I'll help fight. I've decided that after seeing Dororo die. But...I want to fight together with Keron, not on my own."

"It won't do any good, you're a god. You're all we need-" The colonel tried to tell him.

"I'm an average keronian. I want to fight as a normal soldier. A normal sergeant. Not as a God." Keroro told them. "That's the only way I'm fighting. This is my planet. I'm a citizen of Keron. I want to protect it as any normal person would. Not as a God."

The group seemed to focus more on that it was the only way he was fighting. They looked among each other, but eventually relented and nodded.

"You're request has been approved. From now on we will not send you out alone." They reluctantly agreed.

Keroro smiled. He was taking his first step at retaking his normalness, and humanity back.

I am a Mortal. I can be an average guy. Keroro insisted. I'm no God. People can understand me. I don't have to become a tool.

He'd make them understand just how normal he was.

---

Alternate title: Zeroro gets told that you can't die from having a cold and looks into the camera like he's on the office.
Also a big thanks to the people reading this story, you've really helped my motivation. It's just really nice to hear that you're enjoying it, even if it's just a small comment like "I love this story." One of my favorite ask/art blogs commented that they liked the story and it made me really happy. So thank you everyone who's been reading my story up to this point!

I'll try to write more soon. And if you would like please review.