Episode 25:
Keroro Shotai: Old Versus New! Keroro Shotai Versus Romama Shotai!
Part 2
Been a while. Too too long of a while T.T Anyhowwwww here is an update *huzzah*. Just letting you know, there will be a part three to this, and, also I'm planning on doing something sort of like a Q&A … If you have any questions about this series, please feel free to ask them, I'm going to try to do something like a Youtube answer session :3 (just for fun, hehe). So please send in any/all questions/hatemail/thoughts/things that have nagged you but you never got around to asking about this by April 21st, 2010. I would love to hear from you! ^_^
Natsumi continued her fall down toward the earth, still gripping onto Giroro's collar, and she clenched her teeth together, using both her own strength and that of the power suit to pull the golden collar apart. It went flying up into the air, and vanished, having been carried away by the strong wind. Giroro immediately relaxing his shoulders, and, noting that he was now sailing towards earth, gave a yell.
"Gi… Giroro! You're all right!" Natsumi called out cheerfully over his screaming, and grabbed onto him tightly. This pressing against her switched his flight pack off, and he turned around, still disoriented but not lost on the fact that Natsumi had him in an embrace. His face flushed a deep, bright red.
"N-Natsumi! What… What's going on?!" Giroro asked.
"I'll explain later! Right now we need to get down there and help Kirere!" she shouted out over the strong wind.
"Kirere?" Giroro looked over his shoulder, and saw the little girl sailing down to the ground. He broke out of Natsumi's grasp, switched on the flight pack again, and swooped down to her.
"You tired yet, fatass?" Chunini panted.
"Not nearly, you spoiled brat," Lupapa huffed, then faltered in her step. Both Keronian women were worn from the fight, and neither Dororo nor Kururu looked out of sorts at all. Dororo came at Chunini with his blade again, and Lupapa helped to block this, while the blade stopped a mere inch from in-between Chunini's eyes, and instead was jammed in Lupapa's staff.
"A-All right, maybe a little…" Chunini admitted, her mouth twitching.
A shot fired, knocking Dororo's sword out of the staff and across the large docking area. Dororo turned to the source of the shot, and Lee stood there, gun still drawn. Behind her was Koyuki, still holding the large folded glider she and Lee had flown in on.
"Miss Chu! Are you all right?" Lee called out.
"Lee!" Chunini's eyes lit up at the sight of her manager. "You came to do my fighting for me! How thoughtful of you!"
"You're so lazy-Get down!" Lupapa fell to the ground with Chunini as more wires slithered out from Kururu's headphones, the pointed things aimed at both of them. The wires destroyed the ground that they stabbed at, and with one swipe, they were disconnected from Kururu. More came, though, and Koyuki again sliced these, and others that came out toward her.
"…There's easier ways to tell me you like me than this, Lupa-chan," Chunini giggled.
"Don't call me Lupa-chan!" Lupapa barked. She pulled up Chunini by the arm, and both ducked out of the way as Mahihi passed by with Tamama, and a series of explosions went followed them. "He needs help-Get out there and help, you're being useless here!" Lupapa snapped.
"Now, Lupa-chan, I already-GWAA!" Chunini had no sooner been lifted up by Lupapa and thrown out of the docking area. She went falling toward the ground for a few moments, soon rising back up again as she switched on her flight pack. "…So pushy…." Chunini sniffed.
"…I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this…." a smile came across Rokiki's face as he circled Romama. All while he did so, though, Romama remained sedentary, only his eyes following the red Keronian.
"…Some people say they wait millions of years for one thing…. Well I really did…. And now we get to end it, Romama, right here," Rokiki went for the first blow, and Romama quickly lunged out of the way, standing again silently and only watching Rokiki.
"…So that's what ballet does for you… I might have to try that!" Rokiki laughed, and his smile fell quickly. "But for now, let's try to snap you out of whatever it is they did to you… It's in that collar, isn't it? It was the first time… You know… I don't even think your idiot nephew would fall for the same trick twice, hahaha!" he went to strike again, and Romama fought back now, with his wooden sword, although with the quick maneuvers Romama used, the metal scrap of ship Rokiki used as a blade had barely any effect against the wooden bokken, aside from a few small scratches.
Romama's blows came at such a quick rate that Rokiki didn't even notice he was slowly being back into the large hole that Keroro had left with the Romama platoon's ship. It wasn't until he nearly slipped off that he gasped, and held out his makeshift sword, his arms shaking against the force of Romama and his weapon. Rokiki reached out, and kicked out Romama's legs from beneath him. Romama lost his balance with this surprise trick, and before either could do anything, he had slipped. Romama gripped onto the side of the ship with one hand, though, and tried in vain to pull himself up, all while Rokiki rushed to his aide.
He could see a fear in Romama's yellow eyes that overrode any spell or machine's influence he was under. Rokiki attempted to help him up, but Romama fumbled with this, and lost his grip.
He quickly plummeted toward the earth, all while Rokiki stood there, slack-jawed and shaking, not fully realizing what had happened until Romama had vanished. He then switched on his own flight pack, and went in search of the Major.
"NEH!" Giroro finally gripped onto the back of Kirere, and her collar. It didn't take long for him to pull apart the collar, and the little girl quickly transformed back into the younger Kirere. Her head was slumped, and Giroro could tell she had fainted. He gripped onto her, burying her head into his shoulder, and braced for impact. They landed together in the oversized catcher's mitt, Natsumi following behind them and flying down into the mitt to check on them.
And while this went on, from the sidelines inside the ship, Rita stood behind her camera. She sidestepped away from the camera on the tripod, frowning at what she had just seen.
"…That looked like an awful long fall…" she muttered to herself, and jumped at the voice that spoke out in the silence.
"Like I said before, they're soldiers, all of them. Trained from a young age to be bloodthirsty. This sort of thing is their true nature," answered the Kezanstav clone, crouching down beside her and placing a hand on her shoulder. Rita blushed, and looked up at him.
"You know… You don't have to stay in that silly Pekoponian form anymore," she said gently, and put a hand over his. "When we're done, no one will think twice about seeing us walk down the street!"
"I realize this, my dear," he answered, and sighed. "But… This, too, is part of the greater plan. I'll be in this form for only a little while longer, don't worry."
"…You know… It's astounding, the things I saw them put up with when it came to those Pekoponians…" Rita said almost bitterly. "They act subservient, almost."
"The opposite of what your mother strove for…"
"…She was in love with a fool, but… My mother did a lot of good, or at least attempted to…" Rita said quietly.
The false Nikolai smiled, and patted her on the shoulder. He then smiled and stood, "We're so close now, it would be wonderful if she were here to see it."
"Yes…. I wonder what she would think of all of this…." Rita said quietly, her voice falling. She had a clear view of Botan and Mois's fight now, and she gasped sharply as the Time Bender took a hit. Rita flinched, and slowly went back to her camera. For some reason, she had started feeling ill.
Botan held on to her shoulder, and struggled to raise her staff to block Mois. The Angol was about to strike again, but a laser shooting in between her and the Time Bender broke both out of their concentration.
"Heh," Momoka smiled and held up her arm, with the still-smoking gun attached to it. "I thought you could need a little help."
"…It is appreciated," Botan nodded.
"Not a problem-This is just what my fighting spirit needs!" Momoka grinned, and gripped her fist triumphantly.
Keroro watched as Fujuju paced back and forth, looking out the window again, and then he started pacing again. He rushed to the window as he saw Botan get hit, and remained there, watching as Momoka joined in the fight. The green Keronian's famous streak of luck had hit again, and he'd managed to hit the autopilot. They were circling in such a distance from the battle, however, no one went to attack them.
"Eh?... Keroro-san?" Kodada's eyes opened slowly, and she sat up in the pilot's seat that Keroro remained vigilant beside.
"Ko-Kodada-chan! You're all right!" Keroro gasped happily.
"Koda? I… I fainted? I ….I knew I would…." Kodada's voice dropped.
"We have to get back there! Please!" Fujuju rushed over to them, a desperate look on his face.
"I-I-I can't do it!" Kodada yelled. "I couldn't do it before, I can't now!"
"Koda-chan," came Keroro's voice in a calm, soothing tone. "You can. I know you can."
Kodada was silent; she looked to Keroro, then looked over to Fujuju, and she saw the panic in Fujuju's face. She gave a firm nod, adjusted her helmet, and put the spacecraft into the fastest gear it would go. She waited until it was off and both men had flown back to the other side of the ship from the sudden speed to tell them to buckle up.
"Thank… Goodness my body has already developed a heightened pain tolerance by living with Natsumi-dono…" Keroro choked.
"I can't see anyone!" Mora said worriedly , sticking her head out of the bag. Karara was out of Chandi's backpack, and watching the skies while sitting cross-legged on the giant paper airplane.
"Oh, I see someone!" Karara exclaimed, tugging on Mora's arm. It wasn't clear who it was at first, and Saburo had his pen and pad of paper readied for attack. All relaxed as they say it was only Rokiki.
"Rokiki-kun!" Mora called out to him. "What's wrong?"
Rokiki stopped, and frowned, looking down towards this earth, "I lost Romama and I'm trying to see where the little brat landed…."
"I'm going to help you," Mora rose up, stopping in front of him.
"I… Fine," Rokiki muttered.
"Oh! I'm leaving you!" Karara called out to Rokiki with a wide smile.
"You were too annoying for me, anyway. Come on!" Rokiki nodded for Mora to follow him, and Karara gave a giggle.
"Let's see if we can get closer and help, too," Chandi called to Saburo.
"I'm usually a stand and help on the sidelines guy, but this could be interesting," he admitted, then flew off with her and Karara.
Mora could see the worried look on Rokiki's face, and seeing this, called out to him, "I want you to be able to wear your uniform for the wedding, all right?!"
"…Whose wedding are you dragging me to, now?" he muttered, not taking his eyes off of the ground in search for Romama.
"Ours!" Mora answered, and Rokiki shot his eyes up to her, and Mora only giggle and flew a little further in head of him.
"…You wouldn't want that…. There's a tattoo ceremony involved…"
"That's okay, I already have one!"
"I-Wait, what? Where?" Rokiki jerked his head up, and Mora smiled, then flew further down, closer to the city. Rokiki wished he could be happier with all of this, but… The image of Romama's fear-filled eyes still remained with him.
"Eh?" Kirere blinked a few times, and surveryed the situation. She was in something large and cushy, and Giroro on top of her, his eyes shut tightly and his arms around her just as tight. "…Dad? What?... Where am I? And why are we dressed like this? Are we at a party?! Eh…? Dad, what's wrong?"
Giroro slowly open one eye, and then the other, "We… We didn't die?"
"No!" she giggled, and sat up, wriggling out of the weight she'd been trapped in. She fell back against the catcher's mitt, and laughed again.
Giroro rose uneasily in the giant mitt, and took up his gun again. "I have to help. Kirere, stay here."
"I'm going with you," Kirere answered, stumbling toward him and grabbing onto her father's arm for balance.
Giroro shut his eyes and sighed, "…We always go through this, and you find some way to undermine me and show up anyway… If you go, consider yourself grounded for a month."
"That's all right… Papa will just reverse ground me…"
"H-He'll what?!"
Kirere looked at her father earnestly. "Well, he says he gets tired of having me in the lab so much…."
"I'll kill that bastard… I give him parenting book after parenting book, and he just laughs at them," Giroro muttered as an aside. "I-If he does that, then you're un-reverse grounded!"
"….Now you're just confusing me with all of the uns…." Kirere muttered.
"Come on," Giroro helped her up, and flew up again into the air, with his daughter in tow. "Keep close to me, all right?"
"Are you two all right?" Natsumi panted, stopping and joining them midway in the air.
"We're just fine," Giroro answered.
"Good. It looks like we're not out of this yet," Natsumi sighed, looking out at the fighting still raging on above them.
"Nee-chan!" Natsumi snapped her head toward Nishizawa tower, and saw Fuyuki waving her over, Haruki behind him on his motorcycle.
"Fuyuki?!" Natsumi gasped, and flew over to him, dodging Mahihi and Chunini's fight against Tamama as she did so. "What are you doing up here?!"
"I came to help Gunso," Fuyuki answered.
"I don't know where Stupid Frog even is…. Do me a favor, if you see him tell him that it's the collars."
"The collars? Then it's just like last time! False Kezanstav-san must have the control device!" Fuyuki gasped with realization.
"Right! Now-Stay safe!" Natsumi called out, and took flight again.
And the fight with the Tamama continued, Mahihi bending over and catching his breath on his surfboard for a moment. He gave a yell and fell back as Tamama shot another energy beam, and grunted as he climbed back onto his surfboard.
"Getting tired, old man?" Chunini giggled. Tamama gave another blast, nearly hitting Chunini now.
"Getting tired, Chunini?!" Mahihi laughed.
"Mahihi!" Giroro called out. Mahihi nearly fired, but Giroro stopped short. "We're all right!" as soon as Mahihi saw this was true, he lowered his gun and laughed.
"Great! Feel free to hop in at any time!" Mahihi laughed.
"I… I think I know what to do!" Kirere's eyes lit up brightly, and she flew over to Chunini, and whispered something to the yellow Keronian that made Chunini jerk back in horror.
"There's just no way!" Chunini snapped. "You say it!"
"I can't do voices…." Kirere said quietly.
Tamama gave another blast, shooting it in between the two female Keronians, and Chunini groaned. "Fine!"
Kirere nodded, and floated behind Tamama, and Chunini cleared her throat, and then sped towards Tamama. She stopped, grabbed onto him, and whispered in a tone matching Keroro's voice.
"Tama-chan… Tama-chan is…" she started, "…Tama-chan is the only one my heart has room for."
Tamama was stunned, and he stopped. Kirere took this opportunity to pull off his collar, and Tamama changed back into his tadpole form. He looked about, dazed, and Kirere giggled. Mahihi and Giroro exchanged disbelieving looks, and Chunini looked and acted as though she'd just swallowed something sickening.
"I can't believe I talked cute-talk to a boy!" Chunini cringed.
"What… What happened?... Kiichi!? Where are we?"
"It's a long story…"
"Come on, Kururu, Dororo, and Mois are all left," Giroro nodded.
"Tama-kun and I will help with the Angol," said Mahihi, "Everyone else can help with the other two… Then we're going to pay back the person who started this in the first place…"
"…Why am I in a skirt?" Tamama wondered aloud, still dazed.
"Come on…" Kirere pulled him over to Mahihi and set him on the board with the surfer Keronian. She gave a yelp as the Romama Platoon spaceship beat them to the docking bay. It screeched along the bottom of the docking bay, and separated Kururu with Koyuki and Lee on one side and Lupapa with Dororo on the other.
"Ah, you did it, Koda-chan!" Keroro exclaimed, and the shaken orange pilot still clutched on to the controls tightly. "I-It's all right to let go now, Koda-chan…."
"R-Really? You promise?" Kodada asked shakily.
"Come on!" Fujuju rushed out of the ship first, and Dororo quickly turned his attention from Lupapa, who he had pinned and was about to strike, to the scientist. He lunged for Fujuju, but stopped just short. Dororo he was pushed away, Lupapa standing over him. Keroro's jaw fell to the ground, and Kodada gave a gasp. In pushing him away, he had been cut with his own sword in the shoulder. She almost immediately realized this, falling to her knees in front of Dororo. She quickly pulled off the collar and turned him over.
"Dororo? Oh… Oh, no…" her voice was quiet.
"Lu… Lupapa-chan?" Kodada quietly stepped over to Lupapa.
"He's breathing," Fujuju bent down and examined the ninja. He turned his head as Chunini floated down, and then looked toward the entrance. "I… I have to go. I have to try to save her…"
"…That idiot will need help," Chunini sighed, clearly taking a break helping with Mois to check back in with Lupapa. She lightly touched the ground, then speedwalked over to the Keronians. "Teicho, it would be best if you accompanied him… You, too, Koda-chan. Your Nee-chan says so…. Someone will have to save the boys when they run into trouble, afterall."
"Right," Kodada nodded, and Keroro and Kodada followed after Fujuju, while Chunini knelt down on the other side of Dororo and removed the orange ribbons from her helmet. "Here, Lupa-chan. This will stop the bleeding."
Lupapa was stunned silent by this gesture and for a few moments was too shocked to move. She then quickly went to work bandaging the wound, her breathing becoming heavier as she did so. By the time she finished bandaging the wound, she had broken into tears. Chunini reached across, and placed a hand atop Lupapa's shoulder, and said nothing.
On the other side, Giroro and Kirere joined the fight to free Kururu. They surveyed the fight with Kururu, Lee, and Koyuki for a moment, and Giroro jerked his head back, an idea suddenly striking him.
"Koyuki Azumaya!" he shouted out, and the ninja girl turned her head. She rushed over to them, avoiding the snaking wires as she did so, and stopped in front of Giroro and Kirere. "Kirere, I have an idea…"
"Really? But… Papa says you couldn't have one of those if your life depended on it!"
"….It's hard enough saving him without you saying that…." Giroro sighed, and lifted up the little girl into the puzzled Koyuki's arms. "Get her close to him… Kirere… I think Kururu's had a hard day… I think it's time for a hug."
"Oh?" Kirere blinked. "Hehe, I get it!"
"You take care of her!" Giroro shouted out as Koyuki hurried away with Kirere in her arms.
"I will!" Koyuki called out, and flipped to avoid the needle-sharp wires. A few reached out for her feet, but Lee shot these out of the way, and finally the ninja girl was able to get close enough to toss Kirere onto Kururu. The yellow Keronian gave an odd yell, and stumbled back, falling on the ground. In the process of this, his helmet came off, revealing a pair of shattered glasses.
Giroro stepped forward and pulled the collar off of him, "….Really he's so dramatic about this…."
"What's wrong?" Rita turned around as the fake Kezanstav walked in, his mood switched from jovial to grim.
"Nothing. It's but a minor setback," he reassured her.
"It seems like all but one has been released. What are we going to do about that?"
"Why do you have so many questions suddenly? Do you not trust me, Rita? After I gave my trust to you… After I accept you, when no one else did…"
"You… You're right. I'm sorry," her head bowed down. "I just…. I'm just wondering where we're going to go from here…."
"Well, we're going to have to take care of these… Pests…. And then reformulate our plans. Our plan will come to fruition. No matter what the cost."
He left the room, and Rita was left to herself. She replayed the footage from her camera; she winced as she watched the fight scenes play backwards through the footage.
The door opened again, and she was half-expecting to see her partner-Her smile faded as soon as she saw it was Fujuju, Keroro, and Kodada.
"How… How did you escape?"
"Gero, well, it wasn't easy," Keroro scratched the back of his head. "It took a lot of guesswork."
"Rita, you're in grave danger. Come on now," Fujuju took her by the arm, and she pulled away from Fujuju. She then smacked him across the face, and gave him an intense look. Keroro and Kodada immediately backed away, into the hall. They were too busy avoiding the family showdown to notice they were no longer alone in the hall.
"You… You never came to look for me, so why are you doing it now?!" she yelled out, her voice echoing through the metal room.
"I… Rita…"
She turned away from him, and began to fix her camera back onto its tripod, "I went to visit you. Right after Mum died. And… You know what I saw? You with those two little blonde Pekoponian children. And that Time Bender. You were in your Pekoponian form, but I knew it was you. You… You looked so happy with them…."
"I am," he nodded, and walked close to Rita, "…Very. And I'd like you to be part of that as well, if you'd like. I… Rita, I'm sorry. I thought it would best to give you your space, but I had no idea it would affect you this way. I… I didn't know what to say to you. I don't really know how to be a father, but… I'll be your friend, if you wish."
"…He loves me, you know that?" she sniffed. "He's the only one aside from Mum and her family who ever did."
"And you would do anything for him and you have. And someone I love is out there," Fujuju pointed out the large window to where Botan still fought against Mois in a stalemate. "And she's going to have a baby, and-"
"What? She's… She's pregnant?" Rita was stunned, and Fujuju nodded.
"That's why I have to do everything I can for her right now, and I want be able to do the same for you, but… He's just using you, Rita! No good will come from this. I've known monsters, and that is a monster…. There's an entire family waiting for you, all you have to do is trust me this once. It will be all right. I promise."
Rita studied his outstretched hand unsurely, and reached out for it. She was about to take hold of it when there was a loud booming noise. Both looked out the window, and watched the stalemate become a win for Mois, with Botan plummeting toward the ground.
"Come on!" Rita grabbed her camera and took Fujuju by the hand.
"What?! We have to get her!" he exclaimed as they rushed out.
"We'll convince him to help, then!" Rita answered. "She'll be fine, I promise!"
"Gya!" Fuyuki fell onto the ground roughly as he hopped off of the large paper airplane piloted by Saburo.
"Watch your step, little brother!" Saburo chuckled.
"Eh? Azumaya-san? Is everyone all right?"
"No," Lee answered for the distraught ninja girl. They joined the other side of the dock now, and Koyuki walked over to Dororo, kneeling beside Lupapa. Giroro walked out of the ship and placed his hands at his sides.
"Kirere's looking after Kururu…" he hopped off of the side of ship and walked over to Fuyuki. "You're a danger here, you should get back on the ground where it's safer."
"I came to help Gunso," Fuyuki answered. "Chandi-san and Saburo-san told me he was in here."
"Fine," Giroro sighed and turned around. "I was just going that way. This is your own funeral, understand." While Giroro said this, however, he promised himself that no harm would come to Natsumi's brother, no matter what the cost. He passed by his friend as he walked toward the entrance, and looked away from Dororo quickly.
"I'm going to help out with the Angol… She's the only one left," Chunini announced, and stood. She backed out of the bay, and then exited with her flight pack.
"Doro….? Koyuki-dono?... Lupapa-dono?..." both the ninja and the thief lit up as Dororo came to. "What…. What has happened just now….?"
"Let's get him into the ship," Lee instructed. She removed her jacket, and Koyuki lifted Dororo up in it, carefully carrying him into the ship. Lupapa followed close behind.
And Fuyuki and Giroro continued down the long halls, in search of Keroro, or any other friendly face. They turned the corner, and ran into Fujuju and Rita. After giving yells of surprise, Fujuju clutched onto his chest, panting.
"Eh? Fujuju? Where's Keroro? And what's she doing here?" Giroro demanded, nodding to Rita.
"No time!" Rita exclaimed, and pulled Giroro along with Fujuju, toward the center of the ship. Fuyuki followed close by them, stopping short of the opened doorway. Rita poked her head around the corner, and saw Kodada and Keroro standing in front of the fake Kezanstav, who was now greatly changed from the composed young man. He looked angry, angrier than Kezanstav had ever looked, and the two Keronians only watched, looking for any escape. Keroro's face immediately lit up as Giroro looked out, and Giroro made an angered gesture for Keroro to stop. Keroro nodded, and went back to watching the angry Kezanstav in front of him.
"That Kero Ball will be quite helpful in the takeover…." Kezanstav snapped. "Or, it would be, if you would give it over, Sergeant. I'm going to ask once more now."
"Gero gero ge…. You're going to have to do a little better than that, non-Kezanstav-san! You underestimate the power of the Keron army!"
"…Gunso… Your acting is so bad," Fuyuki moaned.
"We have to find her! Who knows what happened!" Rita whispered to Fujuju. She went to enter the room, but Fujuju pulled her back.
"I'll go find her on my own, Rita. Stay with them, listen to what they say," Fujuju whispered, and sped away from the group. Rita turned back to the room.
"…It's a lovely planet…" the false Kezanstav mused. "…And a shame that there's going to be such a body count, but… There are sacrifices to be made."
"Body count?" Rita frowned. She stomped into the room, before Giroro could grab her to pull her back, and he turned around, smiling congenially to Rita.
"…My dear. This is a surprise. And I see you have friends," he looked past her to Giroro and Fuyuki. "I told you there would be sacrifices."
"But not a body count," Rita retorted. "What did you mean by that?"
"…These warring Keronians, they would be no good… As I've said before, they're a violent and brainless group of aliens. They wouldn't take kindly to an invasion of a planet they've been working so hard to invade."
"I'm a Keronian," her voice fell.
"And Pekoponian," he reminded her.
"…How many would be in this "bodycount"?" Rita asked, stepping closer toward him.
"…They're much too dangerous to have around, Rita. You know that as well as I do."
"…Are… Are you saying all of them?"
"In the end, you'll realize this was for the best, Rita."
"You don't get acceptance by…. By killing off people!" she snapped.
"As if you would be accepted any other way?"
"What?" she stepped back, shocked.
"You know… I've found that… Keronians aren't the brightest bunch of invaders, either…. That was part of the fun of trading with them, they never knew the value of what they had, truly," he continued. "Take this planet, for example… Full of resources."
"…My God, you… You want a foot in the resources… The Keronians, they're just in the way! You… You used me to get to them!"
"There's the Pekoponian in your talking now," he grinned. "They were one of my bigger threats… By the time I'm finished with Pekopon, their own planet will cower at me. And it will continue, and then an empire will be born… It's all for a good cause, my dear, I assure you."
"Because it's easy to have equality when there's no one there to argue…"
"Now you're catching on! Good girl. And I couldn't have done it without my lovely accomplice, the wonderful filmmaker Miss Grant."
"Gunso! He's controlling everything in that ring!" Fuyuki shouted out to Keroro.
"You! Quiet!" he bounded for Fuyuki, and along his way, he was knocked over by Rita. "What-What are you doing?!"
"I wish my mother would have been here to see this…. She would have been able to tell me what an idiot I was for believing you!" she snapped. "I have a father to tell me, fortunately! Get it! Get it quick!"
He swung at her, knocking her away from him, and against one of the metal walls. The chartreuse Keronian immediately was knocked unconscious. Fuyuki quickly reached down, and removed the ring from the alien's finger.
"Gunso!" Fuyuki called out, and tossed the ring to the unsuspecting Keroro.
"I've got it, I've got it!" Keroro ran backwards to catch it, only to trip and fall down. Kodada caught it, and she yelped, and took off running away from him. He ran after her, only to be shot at by Giroro. The shot scraped the fake Kezanstav's arm, and he stopped, clutching onto it. A purple smoke began to pour out, and Kodada ducked behind Giroro.
More of the alien's arm was transforming into the same smoke, and he too concentrated on the horror of this to notice Fuyuki bending down and picking up Rita then Keroro.
"He's changing into his original form!" Fuyuki called out.
"What… What the… What is he?" Giroro stepped back another step, then recovering, picked up Kodada and began to run with Fuyuki.
"Gunso! Do you have something to stop him?!" Fuyuki asked.
"Make it quick, Keroro!" Giroro looked over his shoulder, and down the hall was a rushing streak of the smoke.
"Gero, let's see…" Keroro pulled out his Kero Ball, and began to examine it. "This one-No, that's the USB adaptor. How about-No, that's the calculator… Maybe-"
"Just push something, you idiot!" Giroro barked.
"R-Right!" Keroro yelled, and pressed a few random buttons, praying for even mild success. The ball lit up, and Fuyuki and Giroro stopped, watching as the Kero Ball acted as a sort of magnet to the alien, sucking it in. The ball shook, and the alien gave a great howl, right until the last puff of smoke was sucked up into the bal. "Gero! Hot, hot!" Keroro yelped, tossing the warm Kero Ball back and forth between his hands.
The found the exit, and the ship. Mahihi was directing everyone into the ship, including Momoka and Natsumi, who, on either side, supported an exhausted Angol Mois.
"M-Mois-dono!" Keroro exclaimed.
"Could you say…. The most vivid dream I've had in a while?" Mois yawned.
Fuyuki climbed into the ship, and further below them, Fujuju looked around in vain for Botan, calling out her name.
"Hey!" he thought he heard someone call out to him. "Over here!" again came the voice. Fujuju turned around, and Chandi and Saburo flew over to him. When they got closer to Fujuju, he saw, laying in between them, was a familiar, tall alien, dressed in a purple gown. "…I think you two know one another."
Fujuju landed on the airplane, and Botan opened her eyes slowly, "…I'd like some lemon squares when we return home."
"Y-Yes! Of course," he nodded, and then gasped. "Rita! We have to go check on Rita!"
"All right then. Going up," Saburo replied, and directed the paper airplane toward the ship.
"…What a nice, in-control sort of guy…" Karara thought to herself with a giggle. Already, the young girl was back to thinking about her perfect prince.
Chandi and Saburo helped Botan into the ship, and Fujuju and Botan followed.
"We're only missing Rokiki Tai and Ojiisama, it seems!" Keroro said happily.
"Well, we've got to take off soon… We've also got to figure out what to do with the little matter of this huge ship…" Mahihi said to himself. "…There's no way we can store it at my place, I barely have a one-car garage!"
"I have just the idea for it," Rita muttered. She had awoken, and stumbled toward the exit. She tumbled out, and everyone took a moment to assess the damage on one another, while Fujuju looked out the window, awaiting her return. She did with a smile on her face, a smile he knew well and that worried him seeing it on his daughter's face.
"It's set to cruise in autopilot… We may want to hurry, it's… Also on self-destruct," she took a seat in the ship, and Kodada yelped, and rushed to the controls, hurrying the ship out of docking bay.
"…How are you?" Giroro walked over to Kururu, while Kirere protectively clung to Giroro's side.
"Kuku… Well, I'm fairly certain I died and ended up in Hell, but I can't say any part of that surprises me, kukukuku!" Kururu answered.
"…I'm glad you're all right," Lupapa said quietly to Dororo in another corner of the ship. She took hold of his hand, and the couple soon realized the looks they were drawing with this gesture. Lupapa quickly removed her hand and both turned deep red.
"You should kiss him, Lupa-chan, that would be cute," Chunini said nonchalantly.
"Oh, Dororo, it would!" Koyuki gasped.
"K-Koyuki-dono!" Dororo yelped.
"…If tormenting me is your idea of a hobby, Chunini, then I'm deeply sorry for you," Lupapa said with a sigh.
"Gunso, what are you going to do with that?" Fuyuki sat in the middle of the room, beside Keroro, who sat in the captain's chair, the ring still in his hand. Keroro studied it, and murmured to himself.
"…It would be a sure-fire method of invasion…." Keroro mused, then closed his hand around the ring, "…But it would also be cheating. If Ojiisama's constant verbal abuse has taught me one thing, it's that I need to do it myself without any cheats if I want to invade the right way."
Fuyuki smiled with relief at this. Momoka walked past him, Tamama talking up a storm to her cheerfully, as if nothing had happened, "Oh, Nishizawa-san!"
"F-Fuyuki-kun?" Momoka turned her attention away from Tamama to Fuyuki at breakneck speed. "I… It's wonderful you're all right, Fuyuki-kun!"
"You, too. I was worried about all of us for a moment there!" Fuyuki admitted.
"He… He was worried about me!" Momoka squeaked cheerfully to herself.
"He said everyone, Momotchi," Tamama corrected her. This was met with a swift kick by Momoka.
"Don't ruin my dreams!" she snarled. Fuyuki only gave a nervous laugh.
"….You're welcome to live with me, if you wish," Fujuju noted Rita looking out the window at the fading ship. It faded into a hazy blue existence, popping up again as a faint orange explosion.
"….It's a shame we weren't closer to that…." she murmured.
"It… It really is…" he remained hypnotized by the explosion for a moment, then shook his head and gave a nervous laugh. "I think we have a bit in common!"
"I… I need time before I decide anything like that…. I may try to carry on Mum's work… She always dreamed that aliens and Pekoponians could live and work together… I want to see that. I don't think I'll be as good as her, but… I'll try."
"You'll be good in your own way. And that's how she would have wanted it," Fujuju reassured her. "….It's so peculiar hearing someone say "Mum" with an American accent."
"You're still not over the accent?" she giggled.
"I… I am… I just expected…"
"It's all right," Rita laughed. "I understand… I just hope it's all right."
"It's you, so it's just fine… Plus, maybe you could teach me," he finished by attempting an awful American accent, and Rita only broke out laughing at how truly terrible it sounded.
"…It must be British humor, I heard it's weird…" Tamama explained to a confused Keroro.
The ship landed, and the aliens and Pekoponians piled out together. Fujuju yelped as he was practically tackled by the Martin twins, and Rita and Botan watched this with amusement. Kirere immediately ran up to Haruo Suzuyama to embrace him, and them, as Haruki pulled up, she lunged for him too, gripping him tightly about the neck.
This was interrupted when Rokiki flew down, Mora at his side. In his hand was a helmet, the same one Romama wore in his adult form.
He walked past the jovial group, and knelt down as he approached the puzzled Keroro.
"This… This was all I could find…" Rokiki said quietly, holding out the helmet as an offering to Keroro.
"….Ojiisama…." Keroro's smile fell, and he took the helmet from Rokiki quietly. Everyone fell silent, looking down to Keroro.
This silence was broken by a whirring noise. All looked up, and the Keroro Platoon and the Romama Platoon both sunk into a sense of dread. It was a Keronian leader's ship heading toward them.
