CHAPTER 20

A tall man with sharp purple eyes, stood imposing even while wearing a purple business suit, walked through a dirty alley. His blue hair had several strands going to the side, resembling spikes, and he had a trimmed beard on his face. A white muffler was wrapped around his shoulders, hanging symmetrically on both sides. He was surrounded by two towering buildings while walking through a small and dirty corridor.

While walking through it, a large white man suddenly appeared from the shadows in front of him. He had a yellow Mohawk and wore a leather jacket with torn sleeves and black leather pants. He held a large chain on his hands, and was easily towered over the man in front of him, even though that man was rather tall himself.

The punk had a large grin, showing his broken teeth, while marching forward with his chain. An easy prey, he thought. Whoever was that guy, he looked filthy rich. Baio Nishizawa smirked. He had taken that path just because he was kind of late for a meeting in a nearby building, but that visage brought nostalgic memories of his street fighting days.

In a blink of an eye, the larger man flew into a nearby wall, without even realizing what had hit his chest and caved it in. Baio prepared to walk forwards, but a cell phone tune came from the pocket of his pants, and he stopped again, picking up a blue cell phone.

"Ouka?" He raised an eyebrow, but quickly smiled. "I knew you'd appreciate stopping those travels for a-" The smile disappeared, replaced by an uncharacteristic cold sweat. "What?" After a few seconds of silence, his face just had an expression of pure horror, "WHAAT?!" Breathing heavily, he raised the phone again, partially recovered, "Yes, yes. We have a space ship prototype but it wouldn't be able to… What?! Understood."

/

The air was… cold. Lieutenant Garuru's consciousness returned, but his body felt numb and his eyes were heavy. He remained still for a feel seconds, gathering strength to go back to reality. He opened his eyes, seeing only the blur of a yellow clarity before closing them again.

Slowly, he reopened them, finally understanding where he was. He stood in the center of a dark room, his arms and legs surrounded by small metallic rings. The floor, walls and ceiling seemed to be covered by monotone metal tiles creating a large cylinder around him. A bright thick yellow line emitting crossed the room, providing the only light source there. The line abruptly stopped in the section of the wall that was in front of Garuru. That section stood straight, without the round format of the other sections of the wall. "A door?" The lieutenant muttered. He tried to move forward, just to feel a sudden weight on his limbs, keeping them in place.

"These rings…" Garuru tried to pull his arms forward, but he felt the same weight from before, just keeping them in place, "Gravity chains." The purple Keronian tried to imagine himself holding a machinegun, but, like expected, nothing happened. They'd obviously cut the dimensional weapon system.

After a few minutes of dead silence, the metallic door cried, rubbing on the wall while it rose into the ceiling. The silhouette of a Keronian slowly marched towards Garuru. Red skin, a black helmet with a similarly colored mask covering his eyes and a golden bird emblem on his chest and a black cape attached to shoulder pads… Garuru immediately recognized that person.

"Colonel Charuru… The man behind the creation of the KNG. Of course, it'd have to be you." Garuru spoke coldly. "You want to remove the Keroro platoon from Pekopon, and use that planet as a testing ground for your own KNG. Of course, we were attacked and you tried to separate us from the Keroro platoon to ensue your success. Don't think this is over." The purple Keronian glared at the masked colonel in front of him, who demonstrated no reaction.

"Do you… really think so? If that were my objective… why would you still be alive, lieutenant? Your existence, even if ephemeral, would constitute a menace to my supposed objectives."

Garuru remained in silence, waiting for him to continue.

"You see, lieutenant, I'm not doing this for glory, neither mine nor of my team. The fact that none of them came from standard military recruitment is nothing but a minor part of my plan."

"And your real plan is also the reason I'm still alive?"

"Correct. For a while anyway. I must confess that your death would be extremely useful for my agenda. However, it must be done in a certain way… In any case, I don't want to be saddled with another death on my shoulders."

Garuru watched the red Keronian carefully. What was the catch?

"I can let you and your platoon live. I won't even request your help." Charuru spoke coldly, his white lenses reflecting Garuru's face, "If you don't want to follow my path, you're free to do so. However, don't obstruct with my plan." He grinned, "Although I guess this would be impossible for you. However, I ask you to think about your other platoon members too. Living or dying, you'll all share the same fate."

"Where are you going with this?"

"The Keroro platoon, including your brother, or should I say… sister? In any case, corporal Giroro will need to be sacrificed for my plan. They'll be sent to Keron, captured as traitors to the planet, in order to give me the opening I need to execute my actual move."

Garuru's face was frozen while hearing those words, not with fear or surprise. It was just blank, with his ever present scowl unmoved. Afterwards, he grinned. "I'm sorry, but-"

Breaking Garuru's reply, the echo of a loud impact entered into the room. It was low, but, due to the almost absolute silence around them, easily reached their ears and caught their attention.

"I assume your reply would have been negative, anyway?" Charuru glanced sideways at the captured soldier before silently walking towards the still open door.

Sometime later and somewhere else, a Keronian with his body covered by a brown body suit stepped through a metallic sliding door, standing by the side of a white cardboard box while looking at the room in front of him with his large slanted green eyes. Kumomo's eyes observed a large cylinder in that center of that large room. It was gray, thick and tall, easily as big as a building with several floors, reaching the ceiling of that room. On its base, several boxes were bent inwards, their color burnt into a black, and several cords lying around them, cut or simply burnt too.

"Hey, hey, hey…" He placed his hands on the back of his large head, apparently speaking alone, "Look, I know you're there… so, just give up. Come on! It'll be better for everyone." Receiving only silence, he didn't say another word. Kumomo picked up the cardboard box by his side, revealing a certain Pekoponian inside.

"!" Momoka, sporting her powered armor, raised her arm cannon shaped like Tamama's original head towards the Keronian assassin, "Momoka Impact!"

Yellow energy surrounded the Keronian who seemingly disappeared amidst it, covered by an explosion. However, without even waiting to see him again, the thrusters on Momoka's boots ignited, sending her backwards. Even while spider webs became visible around the explosion, Momoka showed a dark grin while hovering in the air.

With her left armored hand, she removed the cannon on her other arm, pressing Tamama's eyes which changed to a red color. Immediately, she threw it into the smoke, flying backwards even more to distance herself from it.

The mechanical head rolled in the smoke shinning yellow… and quickly blew up, covering most of the room in a yellow light.

"So, spider frog, did you like that?!" The angry girl boasted, raising her armored fist in commemoration, however, the light faded away. Although the center of the explosion had been burnt, the room wasn't nearly as damaged as it should have been, with even the walls near that point intact.

"Tsk. Are you really having problems with a kid, Kumomo? Oh, I forgot, you're still just a kid too, right?" A Keronian in a red body suit, with a dark metallic helmet and gray skin visible under it, grinned while looking at Momoka. His arms were raised defensively, showing two large claws which shone with a yellow energy for a few seconds before going back to their natural dark colors.

"Oh, shut up!" Kumomo protested. "Anyway, you have nowhere to escape now, Pekoponian! Just give up!"

"… Another Keronian?" Momoka was surprised for a few instants, but soon a smirk returned to her face. "Hm. It doesn't matter."

"Eh?" Zuriri seemed puzzled for a moment, but quickly smiled too, "So, you have an ally here? Too bad, you should have acted sooner if you expected to do anything."

"What?!"

"The others are already here." Zuriri grinned.

Elsewhere, Koyuki raced through a small corridor, not even high enough to fit her standing straight. In spite of that, the young ninja lowered her torso and ran silently, her brown sandals touching the weak metallic plates around her didn't produce even a faint noise, but she was almost just a blur to untrained eyes.

However, even her own acute senses could barely see the small ray of yellow light that pierced through one of the plates in front of her. She immediately took a kunai from her dark gab, stabbing the floor to stop herself. Before she had even done so, the block in front of her exploded, throwing the plates away. She closed her eyes, feeling a small cut by her side while her blue mask fell by the side.

She opened her eyes just to look in surprise at the figure floating amidst the smoke. It was a Keronian who instantly reminded her of Keroro… Green skin and a yellow hat. The emblem on his chest was a green ball with a yellow star inside. However, a white visor covered his eyes, and his hands and feet were covered by yellow gloves and boots. A yellow scarf hanged from his neck somehow. Behind him, 4 triangular energy wings seemingly kept him floating. He held a gray machinegun in his right hand, pointing it at Koyuki.

"Give up."

/-

A lone red Keronian walked through a ruined corridor. He adjusted his black battered hat, while briefly holding onto one of the walls for support.

He carried tired eyes on his face, looking at a crumbled metallic door, several times bigger than himself, at the end of that corridor. Step by step, he approached it… Without even moving the door, he could see the room behind it through the large cracks there.

Rocks lied around, and small flames burned several different points. Sparks still flew from some torn wires… "The base… everyone… is…" His eyes trembled while he kneeled in front of the broken door.

"Colonel?"

He blinked… An amused green Keronian smirked in front of him, the same one that had found Koyuki earlier. "With due respect, aren't you getting old for this, sir?"

"I've been like this for years, it's nothing new, Major Gamama." Charuru replied, shrugging it off quickly.

They stood on a gray floor, with geometrical runes inscribed throughout it. Around the room, there were several green panels and windows covered by glasses, showing the infinite universe beyond that room. That was the main control bridge of the Alien Street Robot. Standing behind Gamama, there were four Keronians. Standing behind Gamama, to his left, there was one with his body covered in a brown outfit, and large slanted green eyes, Kumomo. To the major's right, there was one with a red outfit and a metallic helmet, leaving his gray skin and mouth exposed, Zuriri.

Standing further behind those three, on the far left, there was a blue mechanical Keronian. A robot? Or just someone in armor? It was hard to tell. He had perfectly round yellow eyes, staring forward emptily, surrounded by blue layers of armor shell. Two white lines crossed the center of his face vertically, connecting with a white area on his chest. The mark, on his belly and forehead, was a pointy yellow shield with a while rectangle in the center. His joints were lighter armored, colored gray, allowing better mobility and, on the sides of his head, there were large white and black headphones. He was Ganene.

On the opposite side, there was a yellow Keronian dressed in an orange Samurai armor. He stood uptight, with his head slightly raised, clearly having a royal aura about him. His face was adult, mostly yellow colored, with livid white eyes looking forward. On his open orange helmet, there was a large yellow star crest on the front, with the edges extending past the helmet, even beside his eyes. The center of his armor was white, with a similarly large yellow star reaching past it and up to the orange areas. He wore two orange and white shoulder pads on his upper arms, alongside similarly colored gloves and boots. A sword rested on his side, with a yellow hilt partially covered by a large red star. The sword's blade was hidden inside an orange case attached to his armor. He was Ryusese, the samurai.

"The time is approaching…" Charuru spoke gravely, "In 2 days, Keron's history will have changed forever. We'll end its foolish ambition. We'll protect every single child under those starry skies."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Four of the platoon members replied in unison, while the Samurai just watched him silently.

/KeroGirls – 20: Keroro, take care of yourself. Yes, sir!/

"I've failed completely… as a leader… as an invader… I'm nothing…"

Keroro opened her eyes… Wind blew her hair and jacket, while she seemed to fall freely through an empty white void with open arms. Even her body seemed to be nothing but black lines in a white space. "The world of nothing… the world of freedom… Yes, freedom."

A deep voice broke the silence, "You don't know anything, that's why you end up like this." That deep voice was instantly recognizable to her… Giroro. Not the redhead girl, but the red Keronian.

"Gero… What's happening here?! What should I do?!"

She moved her head, aside, immediately stopping, like she had hit the ground, although she didn't feel any impact. "I gave you a constant." The voice of an older Keronian, the colonel that had overseen the Keroro platoon's activities, echoed in her head.

"Why…. Why am I disappearing?!" Keroro yelled, looking at the lines that composed her body in terror.

"Because there's nobody, but you, Kero." Aki Hinata's voice was the one which echoed on her ears that time.

"Gero?"

"Because there's nothing beyond yourself, you can't figure out your own shape. One gets to know their own self only by comparing with the shapes that exist around yourself."

An explosion of colors surrounded everything. After a few seconds of confusion, Keroro saw herself standing in front of the Hinata residence, back on Earth. People walked around, but she could see her hands… feminine human hands, again. She stared at them stunned for a second, but soon smiled, her green ponytail raised by the wind. "I get it! This is also a possibility within me! There is a me who is not an invader!"

"That's right, stupid frog. You usually see things as they are taught by the others." Natsumi stood in front of her, arms crossed and wearing her usual orange dress.

"Ku, ku, ku… But you can enjoy sunny days too, right?" The female Kururu appeared by his side, wearing a long white lab coat while giving her usual dark smirk.

"But… Don't you hate me…?"

"The only one who hates you is yourself, idiot!" Female Giroro appeared with a scowl on her eyes, standing behind Keroro, alongside the other platoon members. After a moment of dizziness, she saw everyone there. The Keroro platoon, the Hinata family, even her old self and his companions were there. The green Keronian stood in the middle of the group, smiling alongside everyone else.

"I… might be able to love myself. I can live like this! I can stay here!" Keroro told herself gleefully, her eyes shinning.

"Congratulations!"

"Congratulations!"

"Congra-"CONGRANOTHING! WAKE UP, YOU LAZY IDIOT!"

"Ge-Gero?!" Giroro angrily held Keroro's green jacket, shacking her violently. "La-Lady Natsumi, I'll-"

"How the hell do you mix me up with Natsumi?!" The redhead angrily threw her leader against the metallic wall of her cell. They stood inside a spacious cell, with a gray door on the back and an orange barrier in front of them, horizontal lines flowing into the floor constantly while the orange light irradiated the cell a little bit. There was a white bench on each side, Dororo, Kururu and Tamama sitting on each one. They all wore their standard uniforms, aside from Kururu, who seemed to be missing her headphones.

The blond girl giggled briefly while watching Giroro's outburst. "While you were dreaming about stupid things, we finally started to plan a way out of here!" Giroro finished.

"Gero… Sorry…" Keroro muttered, looking shocked only for an instant, just to put on a cheerful face in the next second, holding her hands together too, "So, how are you planning to escape?!"

"They have a machine nearby that disrupts dimensional techniques."

"So, your Assassin Magic doesn't work?" Keroro asked the masked girl, who just nodded.

"However, the ninja techniques I learned back on Earth couldn't be blocked like this."

"Mine still works perfectly too." Tamama complemented, smiling proudly. "If we unite our abilities, we're certainly breaking through that thing!" The young girl said, excitedly pointing at the orange barrier. "Alright, it's time to use THAT!" Tamama clenched her fists.

"THAT?!" Keroro involuntarily asked, almost by reflex. "Hm… What is 'That'?"

"This barrier is strong enough to block any of Tamama's or Lance-Corporal Dororo's techniques." Kururu grinned, seemingly amused.

"Yeah, but… They forgot an important detail." Tamama stood proudly in the center of the room, pointing at the barrier, while Keroro took a few steps back. "I'm stronger than you think!"

"Why is she talking to herself?" Giroro wondered from the sidelines…

White light exploded around Tamama, covering her for a second. Strands of her black hair lifted up alongside it… moved by the wind created by her power. Seconds later, the white energy became yellow and the wind flowing around the room even faster. Surrounded by golden energy, the second class private raised her palm to the barrier. Without a word, a gust of wind blew forward, almost knocking down everyone else in the room.

An invisible force hit the orange barrier alongside the wing, pushing it slightly. The energy door flickered for a second, but, right afterwards, was completely solid again.

"Do it again, Tamama." The blue ninja stood by her side, her light eyes focused intently on the door. Without her usual weapons, she just stood by the private's side, seemingly unaffected by her large aura.

"Prepare yourself…" Tamama smirked, "This time, I'm going to finish this battle with one blow!"

"What is she going on about…!?" Giroro raised a single eyebrow while silently looking at the youngest platoon member.

Tamama breathed heavily for a second, quickly replacing her usual cute features with bulging eyes and inflated cheeks. "Super Tamama Impact!" She yelled moving her arms back and spreading her legs as a large wave of yellow energy flew from her mouth, hitting the orange barrier and showering the room. The yellow trails clash nearby creating several small explosions. Kururu, Keroro and Giroro quickly moved to the back of the room, looking apprehensive.

Meanwhile, Dororo leaped forward, raising her hands. "Dororo Ninpou… Hurricane Slash Doro!" She yelled while moving her arms forwards and diving right into the beam and barrier. She slashed the air in an "X" shape with her hands. The barrier shone for a moment, and quickly cried. Its electric voice shout alongside an orange light spread around the room, while everyone closed their eyes.

Seconds later, the blue ninja stood outside, he clothes battered and partially burnt around her back. She stumbled once, but regained her footing seconds later. The room outside was large and spacious, with more than 10 cells similar to the ones where the Keroro platoon was locked. Many lights spread around the room gave it a strong clarity, and, of course, the place seemed completely empty, besides a few other cells. The barriers in front of all of them faded out. "Ku, ku… How convenient. The damage seemingly powered down the entire system for a while." Kururu smirked while stepping outside, alongside Keroro and Giroro. The room behind them, curiously, seemed to be completely unarmed.

There was a large mechanical gate to the left of that room, several times taller than a Pekoponian person. Two doors connected with each other horizontally, while several large horizontal bars kept it in check.

"Well, let's leave!" Keroro said cheerfully, just to be stopped by Giroro, who held her shoulder.

"And… how are you planning to open that?" The redhead spoke, looking at the thick white gate.

"Eh… that's a problem, right?" The sergeant scratched her cheek with a meek smile, before quickly turning to Kururu, "Well, sergeant major Kururu, do something about it!"

"Hm…?" Kururu just raised her hands aside, with the same annoying grin from before, "I'm not a magician, you know?"

"…" The green haired girl was down for a second, but her sights quickly started flying around the large hall, staring into the empty cells... she quickly caught a glimpse of a girl in a blue dress stepping out of one of the rooms on the opposite side. Keroro ran through the hall quickly, ignoring everyone else. She stopped in front of Faii, who just stared at her, startled, while putting on a red headband on her face again.

"Sergeant Keroro…?"

"Hi!" The green haired girl saluted with a smile, "Hm… We're all in the same boat now, so… could we just forget about those past problems and help each other get out of here?"

Faii instantly put on her best smile too, holding hands with Keroro. "Alright!" She barely had time to reply before she was left with the wind by the Keronian Sergeant, who ran into the cell behind her. A girl with her white hair tied into two pigtails by blue ribbons, wearing a sleeveless white jacket and skirt sit on a white bench close to a wall to the left of the door, looked down. Her head rested on her arms, looking strangely unmotivated. "There!" Keroro pointed at her as soon as she entered in the room, ignoring everything else.

"Ah… Sorry about doing that to you, Warrant Officer Makuku," Keroro talked while scratching the back of her head, "But… Could you use your weird powers to get us out of here? You should be able to open a simple gate, right?"

"…" The girl didn't move one inch, just keeping the same position.

"Everyone wants to get out of here, right?" Keroro placed her hands together, smiling worriedly, so, we should collaborate and…"

"I'm useless…"

"Gero?" Approaching her, Keroro noticed that the girl was repeating that almost like a prayer.

"Completely useless…"

"You wanted Makuku's help?" A girl with long olive colored hair and crimson eyes, wearing a green uniform similar to Makuku's, aside from her metallic red boots, looked at Keroro from the opposite side of the room, a large smirk on her face. "Heh. Why do you think we were all stuck here until the barrier disappeared?"

"Gero… What do you mean?"

Yavivi spoke with a gleeful smile, apparently not caring at all about her friend's condition. "Makuku obtained those powers after modifying his own body. He was something beyond a normal Keronian. Whatever you did to us…"

"So… she's just a normal human girl without any of those powers from before?" Keroro raised a finger, somewhat fearfully, pointing at the depressed girl.

"Exactly. He's useless now. "

"That's… quite harsh…" Keroro muttered.

Outside another cell, Giroro looked disappointed at a light blue Keronian with freckles on his face. "So, my brother isn't here…"

"They didn't bring Lieutenant Garuru to this place at all." Taruru answered somewhat worried himself.

"Tsk. What are these idiots planning?!" The young orange Keronian with thick glasses complained, standing behind Taruru. Curiously, rather than his usual dark green cap, Tororo sported a generic dark green military hat, without even his mark on it.

The noise of a loud explosion echoed throughout the large hall, making everyone look towards the gate, covered by smoke. Tamama, breathing heavily, without the golden aura, stood in front of it. Her black eyes trembled when the gate came into view, without even a scratch. "This is not going to work…" She sighed disappointedly.

"Speaking about idiots…" Taruru looked aside. The gray cyborg stood behind Dororo, he glanced at her burnt marks for a second, quickly looking away.

"They've disabled your armor system?" Dororo wondered, while Zoruru nodded silently. "Even breaking out of that place… it looks like we're going nowhere." The ninja seemed disappointed. Zoruru moved his organic hand, almost like he was about to speak, but stopped himself.

Kururu stood in the center of the room, grinning while she looked upwards at a large light on the tall ceiling of that place. There were actually 9 lights together in the center, behind a glass that stood on level with the metallic ceiling, "It'd have to be quite a design oversight, but… this thing is ancient, after all. Ku, ku, ku…"

/

The large gate to the prison division slowly opened, revealing a strong light from outside, slowing entering into the dark room. Gamama stepped forward, the other four special forces members right behind him. The lights had been turned off, and, through his visor, he could see that the central light had been completely blown apart.

"Man, what a mess…" Kumomo stepped forward, carefree in spite of the situation.

The group soon followed, silently turning their heads while walking through the hall. The barriers in front of the cells were off too, and standing under the central light, a huge hole was fairly obvious.

"They escaped." The major muttered, visibly annoyed. "That briefing with Charuru was useless."

"That won't be a problem, Major." Ganene, the armored Keronian, stepped forward, "I brought some toys that will be useful in this situation…"

"You'll follow my guidelines in this operation, Neo Keron Guardians." Charuru's voice echoed from speakers located around the room.

Gamama silently looked at the small black ball fixated on the ceiling, from where the colonel's voice came from. After staying silent for a while, receiving curious glances from Kumomo, he agreed. "Understood, sir."

/-

The Keroro platoon, Faii platoon and three members of the Garuru platoon walked through a narrow metallic corridor, but it wasn't even large enough to fit two keronians beside each other, much less humans. Metal plates with geometric inscriptions were at their sides, with a faint lights spread throughout it, although no one really was calm enough to stop and just look at those walls.

They tried to walk quickly, but Keroro stumbled by herself, blocking everyone. They soon ended up just pushing against each other, almost trapping themselves. Giroro was squished in the middle of the group, angrily shoving Faii forward, who just stumbled out of the collective, falling in front of Keroro.

The green haired girl crouched next to Faii, looking at her curiously. "Even if you aren't the actual special forces… You know something, right? What is going on here?!"

Faii sighed, while pushing her body up with her arms. She chose to sit behind Keroro, while everyone else stopped too. "Like I've told you, we aren't the actual special forces. However, I had received a mission to send a secret briefing to them, from a certain Colonel Charuru…."

"Colonel Charuru?" Giroro's eyes almost shone with recognition. "The war hero? The sole survivor of the One Month War, who killed White DeViper…" She crossed her arms. "That guy is known not only as a great military leader, but as an actual hero. Very different a certain idiot here. Why am I in the wrong side…?" She complained.

"What are you talking about, Corporal Giroro!?" Keroro looked incredulously at the redhead. "He's obviously the villain here!"

"He can't be! If it's really Colonel Charuru, then… then… there must be a reason behind this!"

"We already know that reason, Giro… Ku, ku, ku…" Kururu giggled with a dark smile, standing behind the others.

"But-"

"That might sound nice…" A dark form moved towards Keroro, who just fell on the floor, again, sitting there with her eyes staring in surprise. The form stepped forward, showing blue colors as light hit her.

"GAAAH?!"

"What was that cry?", Dororo spoke, coming into view in front of Keroro, who just stared at her in surprise for a few seconds, before blinking and recovering.

"Anyway, If lord Giroro is right, then we should be able to solve this problem by meeting and talking with him. There's still a possibility this whole situation is just a misunderstanding, isn't there?"

Faii sighed, "That… sounds too optimistic."

"Don't you think so, lord Giroro? Giroro?" Dororo looked over at the line. Keroro was in front, Tamama behind her, looking at the floor curiously, and behind them there was the Faii platoon and finally the Garuru platoon members. "Where was…" She suddenly noticed the redhead, sitting in fetal position hiding her face.

Everyone looked at Giroro, who slowly lifted her head again, just to notice everyone was looking at her. Almost instantly, she stood up, trying to hide how scared she had been just a few seconds earlier. "A-Anyway, I-I agree!" She spoke

"Heh. Even as a teenager girl, your fear of ghosts is pathetic, corporal. Maybe you should have been turned into a middle school student." Tamama spoke, smirking while shrugging off her shoulders. Somehow, it seemed much easier to look at the corporal head on in her current form.

"Shu-Shut up!" Giroro yelled embarrassedly, her face flashing red and fists raised in front of it. Almost in response, everyone burst out laughing.

"What is this…?" Makuku wondered. The white haired girl stood on the back of the Faii platoon's line, looking incredulously at everyone in front of her laughing. She smirked, "I lost to these people? Not once, but twice…" She sighed, looking away from them. Silently, she touched the blue ribbon that tied her pigtails.

"I wonder why I ended up looking like this anyway… I guess I've always valued myself too much... In the end, I was just another soldier…"

/

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

AUTOMATIC COUNTDOWN INITIATED - 2 DAYS REMAINING

/

/

Notes:

Initially… I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I hope someone is still actually following this fanfic. In any case, for some random comments…

Well, this is the first part of the conclusion of this story! These chapters were originally supposed to be parts of a single story. However, they became too long and ended up divided in separate chapters. I'm actually several chapters ahead this time, so the updates will be much more frequent than before.

In addition, I've added a poll for the later part of this story in my profile. After the special forces story ends, this story will continue, and I'm taking suggestion for future Kerogirls. There are several planned already, but, I could add some other characters depending on the poll results. If you don't want to vote, there's no problem either.

Well, the next chapter will be out in one week, and this will be the pace of this fanfic while I finish the special forces arc. However, afterwards, the chapters will become biweekly.