Sorry for being late with the chapter. I've been really sick.

But here it is, the long awaited chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku." - Pride

Giroro polished a gun - one of the ones he had salvaged from his inter-dimensional transport - and looked outside the cave where his new teammates rested.

The volcanoes have been angered. It was the only way to explain what was in his thoughts. He could see and smell the fumes from the volcanoes erupting all around them, but no lava getting close enough to drift near their cave. However, the temperature was increasing drastically, and ash was sprinkling down as if it was rain.

Something big must be happening in the Underworld. The Sin of Wrath is going crazy with loss of control. Although Giroro no longer had control over the land and the Sin, he did have years of experience knowing what the reactions from the Sin of Wrath were... how the land reacted to the emotions of the one governing it.

Did I make the right choice? he wondered, thinking back to how he had left the Underworld for his own selfish desires - and how he had left Kululu, of all people, in control of the Sin of Wrath. He had thought it was a good idea at the time, but would it have been safer for Natsumi if he had stayed, to keep the evil Sin of Pride out of control?

No. I saved her life. I made my choice. I choose Natsumi over everything else. Mortals, the Heavens, and Hell. I will protect her no matter what, even if Kululu tries to mess things up, Giroro thought to himself.

Still... did he have the power to protect Natsumi? To protect his brother and his brother's friends? He had given up all his power to become a mortal again. All he had now was experience and knowledge.

"Maybe I should have taken him up on his offer..." Giroro thought to himself aloud, thinking back to Dororo's offer to help Giroro protect Natsumi in return for his own assistance. No! I made the right choice. I'll protect Natsumi on my own without being a pawn for anybody else. Not the Lord of the Underworld, and not the Heavenly King, either. He's not done enough for this world for me to trust him, he thought. "Fuck Dororo," he swore, grinning to himself as if he had said something big enough to win a war, even though he still lacked any power to make any difference.

"Um..." an awkward and soft voice coughed behind him. "Uh... what about me?"

Turning his head slightly to the side, he saw Dororo, the Heavenly King himself.

"What the heck are you doing here?" Giroro asked, growling quietly as to not wake up his new comrades. "I'm not a Sin anymore, I'm not a deity, I have no power. I can't help in your stupid war that isn't going anywhere."

"You still have power. At least some. The way you wield your guns could indeed be helpful to us still," Dororo told him. "You aren't out of this war yet."

"This isn't a war! It's a one-sided slaughter," said Giroro. "The Underworld has always been winning,. Just cuz you recruit an old Sin won't make you any more powerful."

"Giroro..." Dororo frowned. "I didn't come down here just to recruit an old Sin. I don't want my war to be a one-sided slaughter anymore. I want to win in a glorious new attack. The Heavens are moving onto the offensive, and on Fuyuki's advice, I've decided to ask the mortals who've changed everything for help."

"You... you want to bring Natsumi into this war, too..." Giroro realized. "You can't. She's just a mortal! She might die..."

"She beat you! You, who used to be a Sin. I think she's strong enough to fight," said Dororo.

"That doesn't matter. Putting Natsumi in unnecessary danger for your war is wrong," he growled.

"It's not just my war, it's hers. She has a strong love for her home, this planet. If she found a chance to end all this destruction herself, she would take it. I'm going to bring the decision to her," said Dororo.

"Wait... you're going to reveal the World of the Heavens to her? Why? She's just a mortal. You can't do that."

"Why not? I'm God," he said. "She may be just a mortal, but she's been in an important key in turning the tide of the battle. ...And her brother would love to see her again."

Giroro silenced himself at those words and the possibility of Natsumi reuniting with her Virtue brother.

He would be silent, for now, no longer protesting against this reveal to her. He wanted her to have the reunion she so desperately wanted.

Natsumi... please think with your brain... instead of your heart. He had never seen Natsumi interact with her brother, but she seemed like the type of person to do anything if her brother requested it and it could help him. She was a family sort of person.

With that, Giroro stood up and waited by the Heavenly King's side, making sure Dororo didn't interrupt what was so important to Natsumi.

"Natsumi?" Fuyuki's voice greeted Natsumi's ears. She was dreaming. She knew this for a fact. It was the same dream she had had every night since Fuyuki's death.

Opening her eyes, however, she saw Fuyuki's and Aki's bodies standing before her in the cave she slept in.

"Mom... Fuyuki..." Natsumi smiled softly.

"You're awake..." said Fuyuki.

"You take a lot less to wake up than Fuyuki," Aki laughed. Natsumi slowly brought herself up to hug them. Her dreams were the only place she could hug her family, after all.

"I think she's still half-asleep, Mom. She's not reacting that much about us." Fuyuki looked over at his Mom, frowning as his sister hugged him.

"Poor girl... She might think she's dreaming... But how can you wake up from something that isn't a dream?" Aki wondered.

Mom... Stop... It's a dream... Stop trying to make me believe it isn't. It just makes me a lot sadder when I wake up. Natsumi didn't want tears to come down her cheeks. They never had before in her dream. But this time, they did - small tears dropped down her cheeks as she hugged Fuyuki.

"Natsumi. Remember when I died?" Fuyuki asked, trying to awaken his sister to reality.

"Of course I do, Fuyuki," she told him.

"Remember how I told you to stay safe?" he asked. Natsumi nodded. She had imagined his words, she knew she had, but she liked Dream Fuyuki telling her it was him.

"Remember how Giroro came back from the dead and saw Garuru?" Fuyuki asked. Natsumi stopped nodding.

Aki pinched her daughter's arm, hoping to make Natsumi realize she was awake and that reality was upon her.

"Ack!" Natsumi made a loud squeaking sound, rubbing her arm and looking around wildly.

Wait... Am I awake? If so... why are they here? Wait... they mentioned Giroro... Natsumi pushed herself off of Fuyuki.

"You're a Sin, aren't you? If I'm awake and you're alive, you must be a Sin... Like Giroro, just like you said... Mom too... Which Sins are you? Maybe... Ummm..." Natsumi threw out the first Sins she could think of. "...Lust and Pride?"

"Ew... no. I'm the opposite of both of those!" he protested. "I'm not a Sin, Natsumi. I was reborn as a Virtue. That's why I'm alive. Mom and I both... Wel,l we're part of the Heavenly Kingdom."

Natsumi stared blankly at Fuyuki for a few minutes before slapping him in the face and doing the same to her Mom.

"If you were alive all along... with your memories intact and as benevolent spirits... why didn't you contact me?" Natsumi punched them both in the arms again.

"Well, uh..." Fuyuki paused for a moment. "It was because we're Virtues and you aren't. You're a mortal, so we couldn't contact you. I only got permission from the Heavenly King recently to... talk to you about something important," he admitted.

"Oh?" Natsumi didn't buy this. "You were alive all along and you didn't tell me because I was a mortal, yet Giroro came to attack us and that was fine and you didn't help at all?"

Aki tried to soothe her daughter's anger. "We watched you from above. And we talked to Giroro."

"So... Giroro knew you were alive and didn't tell me either?" Natsumi frowned. She wasn't pleased.

Fuyuki gulped. "I... I'm sorry..." he apologized. Natsumi raged in anger for a moment, breathing heavily and glaring. She eventually calmed herself by realizing her greatest wish had come true, that her brother was alive and well. She took a deep breath and gave him another hug.

"I still love you, don't worry... Nothing's ever going to change that," she told him. Fuyuki hugged back, happy she had forgiven him, at least a little bit. "So you couldn't see me because I was a mortal and always would be, not destined to be a Virtue?" she asked, figuring things out.

"Yes. But I personally think you're more virtuous than any other mortal," Fuyuki told her, holding her hand.

"It's all right. I don't want to be a Virtue, anyway. I belong as a mortal, and I'm okay with that." Natsumi was proud of who she was now, not the possibility of her future. She stopped hugging Fuyuki to hug her mother too. "But... how did you get approval to finally see me?"

"We need you, Natsumi," her mother told her. "We need help. We need you to help us fight the Underworld. You've been one of the few people who can, having brought a Sin of the Underworld for the first time into the Mortal Plane, making him give up his powers because you beat him."

"So... the Heavens are taking a new approach, recruiting mortal soldiers instead of fighting their own battles?" said Natsumi.

"We're doing what will let us win. Things have gotten... more difficult... Can I show you?" Fuyuki asked. Natsumi nodded.

"Wait... Let me get the rest of my team... They deserve to know too. You want them as your soldiers, too, right?" Natsumi asked.

"Yes. Giroro's already at the outer edge of the cave talking to Dororo - the Heavenly King, I mean. We'll get Garuru, Pururu, and Chiroro then," said Aki.

Natsumi nodded and sat there, waiting.

It didn't take long to awaken Garuru, Pururu, and Chiroro. Garuru had just been pretending to be asleep, quietly listening to Natsumi's conversation.

"So... the Virtues need us and acknowledge our strength," he spoke, sounding a bit proud. "Doing something new since all your techniques haven't works sounds like a good idea," he agreed.

"We wanted to show you what's happening to the world now." Fuyuki led his sister to the outside of the cave to show her the volcanoes - now much more active and dangerous. Natsumi saw Giroro before she saw the volcanoes and punched his arm.

"What was that for?" Giroro asked, still standing by Dororo.

She frowned at him. "You didn't tell me my mother and brother were Virtues."

"I-I'm sorry..." Giroro admitted. "It... Well..." He had no real excuse for why he hadn't told her, besides not wanting her to be sad since she'd never ever see them again. "I didn't want you to be sad about never seeing them again, since you were only a mortal," he admitted.

"Just knowing they were alive would have made me happy enough," Natsumi told him. Giroro, feeling like a puppy who had been kicked and then sent to the doghouse, backed away, knowing she was mad at him.

"I'm sorry," he said again before Dororo cut him off.

"I've called you mortals here today to ask you of your help against the Underworld," Dororo explained, "which, despite all my best attempts, I've never beaten, or made any progress against. However, you mortals managed to beat a Sin, the old Wrath, and make a difference in the battle."

"So we've impressed you and you want our help?" Natsumi asked. As she stood by Dororo's side to listen to his speech, her eyes adjusted to the volcanoes, and she noticed others appearing as if they were starlight.

"Keroro? Tamama?" Giroro asked, his eyes widening. "What are you doing here?"

"Shh... Dororo's speech will get to us soon. Be patient," Keroro told him.

"Who are you to lecture me on patience? You're not the Virtue of patience!" Giroro growled.

"Yeah, but she is." Keroro pointed to Koyuki. "And she's been lecturing me to be a better person since I first went to the Heavens."

Natsumi looked briefly at the stupid-looking green frog and the navy blue one, who seemed to be Giroro's friends.

Dororo cleared his throat to keep talking. "I thought that the battle could start changing if they lost the Sin of Wrath. However, the Sin only left to find a new host, the worst guy around, the Sin of Pride. That's why these volcanoes are all more active. He purposefully likes being a jerk, for some reason, and hurting others. He's a true Sin, and a true villain."

Natsumi nodded, listening to his speech.

"But I didn't give up hope, thanks to Fuyuki's input. We decided to try to recruit other old Sins, Keroro and Tamama - the Sins of Greed, Sloth and Envy, and Gluttony," he continued.

"Wait... Greed? Which one was Greed?" Natsumi demanded, rolling up her fists. Giroro pointed to Keroro and she greeted the green frog with a punch, too.

"Because of your Land of Greed, my family died and I had to hide from the Scavengers almost every day, idiot!" Natsumi felt rage in her soul toward Keroro.

"Mr. Keroro was just doing his job!" Tamama put himself between Natsumi and Keroro to try to protect him. Natsumi gave up, not wanting to beat up the younger-looking guy.

"So now Pride has all the Sins..." Garuru rubbed his chin.

"Yes. That's what I'm saying. We have to beat them, the Lord of the Underworld and Pride, once and for all," Dororo suggested. "And believe me, they are both tough opponents. That's why I wanted to ask you for your help."

"I want to know who my comrades will be first, if I am to battle with anyone." Garuru narrowed his eyes, wanting more information. "And what threat are we up against? How strong are these two?"

"I am Dororo, the Heavenly King. I will use all my power to protect you mortals, if you are worried. I should be just as strong as the Lord... I think. This is... my wife, Koyuki. She is the Virtue of Patience and Kindness." Dororo introduced one of the girls who had materialized earlier, a girl with a green ponytail and ribbon.

She looks nice. Almost about my age... Darn... Another virtue that seems cool but I probably would have never met under normal circumstances. Natsumi sighed.

"This is Momoka. She's the Virtue of Charity and Love! And she's got a piece of Wrath, making her immensely strong against the Sins. She's helped me so many times. She's cool. Natsumi, do you like her? Do you? Do you?" Fuyuki asked impatiently as he dragged Momoka, a blue-haired Virtue, into Natsumi's sight.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Natsumi asked, picking up on Fuyuki's need to have her approval of this girl.

Fuyuki blushed, along with the Momoka girl.

"N-no..."

"Y-yes..."

They both answered at the same time, Momoka's answer being different than his. They both blushed, looked at each other, and then glanced away.

"She's nice. Don't worry. You two look good together," Natsumi smiled. Fuyuki blushed as his fingers entwined with Momoka's.

So my brother is dating a Virtue, too... I wonder... When all of this is done, will I be able to see the Virtues on a daily basis? Natsumi asked herself, wondering if life with her brother was once again a possibility.

"This is Keroro and Tamama, both reformed Sins and friends of mine and Giroro's," Dororo introduced.

"They might be your friends, but they aren't mine." Giroro crossed his arms. "When the heck did they even become your friends?"

"While you were away," Keroro answered. "And what do you mean I'm not your friend, Giroro?" he cried, clinging onto his friend's arm.

"Fine. You are," Giroro admitted, "just stop being annoying."

"Aki and Fuyuki, both Virtues in my court, are the family members of Natsumi." Dororo gestured to both of them. "Now... you wanted information on Pride and the Lord?"

Garuru nodded.

Natsumi stopped teasing Fuyuki to listen.

Dororo looked at some of the former Sins, hoping for them to explain.

"Kululu... Pride... is a super genius with many weapons, electrical powers, and now an army of all seven of the Sin monsters. He has every Sin power now, and power over the whole world. He may be the most powerful being in the world right now," Keroro explained.

"And the Lord?" Garuru asked.

"She can make earthquakes. That's all we know," Tamama put in.

"We don't know much about her powers. So they might be weak... or they could be strong. We do not know..." Dororo nodded. "So... do you want to take a risk and fight with us?"

Natsumi, Giroro, Garuru, Pururu, and Chiroro all looked at each other curiously, wondering what their decision would be.

"I will." Natsumi was the first to speak. "I've always been wanting to end this once and for all. I will fight with you."

"If Natsumi's fighting, I'll fight, too." Giroro nodded. "I will not make her fight alone. My life is hers and I will protect her."

"Not Chiroro. Chiroro won't help," Pururu told them.

"Awwww... But I need to punish the place that made our old friend kill Tororo!" she whined.

"She needs to be safe. Please keep her safe and I will help. I promise," Pururu vowed.

"No. Pururu, you should stay by her side to help her and out of danger. You're not much of a battle soldier," Garuru pointed out. "And I want you to be safe, too."

"I may not be a battle soldier, but I am good with healing. I will help everybody keep healthy," she promised.

"I was always going to help you. I just wanted information," Garuru growled. "But if my brother or Pururu are hurt, it's your head that I'm taking, Heavenly King."

"That is fine," Dororo agreed, smiling since so many had agreed to help.

"Then I think it's time we made a plan..."

The rest of the day was dedicated to training skills and strength, and to making a battle strategy, so that all of them could attack where the Sins lived, the Underworld itself.

Fuyuki and Keroro worked together to design a strategy.

"So we should definitely go to the Underworld to attack," Keroro confirmed.

"Yes. That way we might be able to have a surprise attack. It's true that the Lord might be strongest in the Underworld, but Kululu will be weakest there, since his new powers center around our world, and it's not like they'll accept a challenge card or something and meet us on the battlefield," Fuyuki agreed.

"And then?" Keroro continued. "It would be best if Giroro, Tamama, and I fought Kululu. We know him best... However, we won't be strong enough with just us. Tamama still has some battle skills, but I'm no good at much anything, and Giroro won't fight with anybody but Natsumi. So I guess Natsumi is in team Attack Kululu as well." Keroro drew in the sand some stick figures to try to figure out the formation.

"So the rest of us attack the Lord? I don't think that'll work out much at all. I've met her, once, and just the sight of her left me terrified. She knew too much about me. I'm pretty sure the only one who could take her in a fair fight would be Dororo. So let's have Dororo and one other attack her, and the rest of us fight Kululu," Fuyuki suggested.

"All right, then. Dororo and Koyuki seem like a pretty good tag team," Keroro finished. "Let's add Pururu to the mix to make sure neither of them get hurt, and it should be good. When we take down Kululu, we'll join them in battle."

Fuyuki and he shook hands and begin to negotiate surprise attack tactics and any special moves to use.

The rest of the team trained, Dororo meditating to gain all of his strength to be most in-tune with his powers. Garuru did target practice along with Koyuki, who used knives and stars instead of bullets. Pururu gathered medical materials. Natsumi traded blows with both Tamama and Momoka, while Giroro desperately tried to apologize.

"I'm so sorry, Natsumi... I didn't mean to hide anything from you, I just wasn't thinking much about your brother." Giroro tried to make her understand, wanting to set things right with her before he trained to become any stronger. "Is there any way you can forgive me?"

"Save my world and live in it with me and I'll forgive you," she spoke.

"I will. I'll beat that Kululu up as much as I possibly can. I will punish the Underworld for what they have done to you," he promised. Natsumi gave a small smile before blocking another attack from Momoka and going back to her sparring.

Giroro watched her for a second before leaving, knowing she was safe. He needed to get in top condition, too. It was time for some rigorous training, so that he could protect the girl he loved. Leaving the caves, he instead went to the volcanoes, where he felt most at ease, dodging the lava and using the adrenaline of explosions to train himself.

He would beat Kululu, whatever it took.

Everybody but Fuyuki and Keroro, who were still talking, lay down on the ground, tired from their activities and ready for a good night of sleep.

"We've got plenty of time to strike, do not worry. They do not know of our plans yet," Dororo assured everybody, letting them rest.

Natsumi lay down, snuggling up to her mother who she had missed so much. Closing her eyes, she heard the last thing she expected - laughter.

Nobody could have predicted that it would happen.

Everybody stopped resting, their bodies inwardly panicking, and getting ready for battle as they looked at the cave entrance where a yellow Keronian stood. Natsumi had never met him, but she knew right away by the way Giroro stood in front of her as if he was ready to die that the Keronian was the one called Kululu, the Sin of Pride - or, well, Sin of everything now.

The laughter once again filled the cave, ear-cracking and echoing terribly against the walls. He had sneaked up on them. They hadn't noticed when he entered, but he was in.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku. Happy to see me?" Kululu spoke, breaking all of the Virtues' and mortals' hearts with his words. Their plan was over, gone. He had attacked them first. He had ruined everything.

And he was being extremely casual about it.