The next morning Garuru had greeted the group once again as was his duty. "Good morning, I trust you all slept well? I've been given the go ahead to show you around so you can familiarise yourselves with the wedding preparations before the big day"
"So we finally get to see the prep work you guys have been up to?" Giroro questioned turning to his friends.
"Yep I think you'll like what we've done, we've all worked really hard on it!" Keroro beamed.
The large building looked amazing from the outside but on the inside. The first thing Giroro noticed when they arrived was all the red juice posters "Why is Red juice's name plastered everywhere?" he asked confused.
"We told them the wedding could be a great commercial stunt and they decided to sponsor it. It's how we got the money" Keroro explained like it was no big deal.
"Though we had to go through several budget cuts because someone spent half the money on toys" Dororo deadpanned
"Gundom aren't toys, they are collectors items!" the Sargent defended.
"Red juice? Isn't that, that soda commercial you guys were in?" Fuyuki asked confused.
"Well it's more of a sports drink, but yes, but more importantly you sold out our wedding for advertisement?!" Giroro shook his leader in anger.
"How else did you expect us to get money?" Keroro questioned annoyed at his friend for acting out in anger.
"We spent the Treaty budget on wedding presents and cake" Tamama explained a bit embarrassed at how bad it sounded.
"You could say, poor money management" Mois added.
"You'll also be preforming the toast over a glass of red juice as per the agreement kukukuku" Kururu laughed.
"Probably for the best Giroro can't handle his alcohol anyway" Keroro teased.
"You could say light-weight?" Mois added in.
"Anything else I need to know?" the Red one said grumpily.
"Oh yeah the whole planet will be watching and they will expect a resonance from the happy couple, no pressure" Keroro stated.
"The whole planet?" Natsumi asked worried, the wedding was already stressing enough let alone one the whole planet would be watching.
"I guess that's the price of diplomacy" Giroro sighed. Truthfully he didn't like the idea of it being televised either.
"No time to get cold feet now, your wedding is in two days kukuku" Kururu loved to hit people while they were down.
"Two days?! It's that soon" Natsumi shouted.
"Well yeah everything is pretty much prepared, all the guests are here, place is rented and set up, all the other stuff is done, why not have it now?" Keroro reasoned.
"I-it just seems so soon" Natsumi said nervously. Though if she was honest she has no idea when she would be ready for the wedding.
"It'll be fine, Natsumi." Giroro said patting her leg "it doesn't matter how good or bad our wedding will be, because at the end of the day it'll be our wedding, and we can finally call off the invasion" he tried to comfort her.
"What will happen to you guys if there's no more invasion?" Fuyuki asked sadly fearing that he already knew the answer.
" I imagine we would-will get dispatched to another planet, we are still soldiers after all" Giroro explained he felt conflicted in his own emotion, a solider was who he was and all he wanted to be to. His warrior spirit fought to be let out and prove itself but he feels conflict eat up his heart for leaving all he has grown to like behind.
"I don't want you guys to leave, we are basically family" Fuyuki whined.
"It's not that easy, we have a duty to Keron, it's our home" Keroro tried to reason.
"And the Earth isn't?!" Fuyuki cried.
"So that's it huh? You'll marry me and leave me to go die on some other god forsaken planet?!" Natsumi shouted angrily.
"Not if I can help it" Giroro said quietly back. "Natsumi I promise you, as long as you are with me, I will not let myself die, even if I have to snap the devils neck I will stay in the land of the living as long as I can, you have my word"Giroro reasoned back at her. His death was an easier promise then to give up on his planet, a solider was his life, he couldn't just abandon it.
"What about me Sarge?, I don't want you to go, or Tamama, or Giroro or even Kururu!" Fuyuki shouted in sorrow.
"What about me?" Dororo whinned.
"I thought you were going to live on Earth anyway?" Fuyuki questioned tears still in his eyes. "I know I'm already going to loose dad again after this because he will leave again like he always does but I can't loose you guys too" he hugged the little frog with all his might. The tears absorbed in his soft green skin.
"I know buddy" the frog's eyes were also swelling up "maybe I can talk to the Colonel, be come a diplomat, I don't know. I don't want to leave Pekopon but this is also my job"
"You tell that colonel, that if he removes you from Pekopon, I will destroy it!" Mois shouted through her own tears.
"lady Mois" Keroro looked up in a sad smile.
"I'll do what ever I can to help to Sargent!" Tamama shouted determined.
"Private. your the best damn platoon a guy could ever ask for" Keroro wiped the tears from his eyes "I promise you Fuyuki I'll do what ever it takes to stay!" he said determined.
Giroro looked on the tearful scene still conflicted his planet needed ever solider it could get and he was no traitor but Natsumi also needed him, he didn't want to finally get the girl only to have it taken from from again. He moved to the opposite side of the room to give them time to grieve.
"It's a tough choice isn't it, it's like watching the new recruits at the academy realising they might never come home again" his brother said in gloom "That's army life, it's all about sacrifice, you bottle your feelings up, down your whisky and go fight for the glory of your planet, that's what dad always said."
"I remember" Giroro confirmed.
"But this is something I have no experience with. Peace does not come easily to those who grew up fighting. A long time ago I asked you if the planet was worth fighting for and you said yes and what I witnessed today only confirmed but I already believed. Pekopon is worth it but not for it's resources but the people and culture. The people you have found are special, maybe Keron could learn something from them" his brother mused.
"They are pretty special aren't they" the red one replied, they really were, a tough family, who've gone through hell and back for one another. They had befriend and defeated anyone that stood in their way. They shared their home with them even when they knew they were invaders. They never told the authorities about them and got to know them as people. Pekopon had shown them compassion.
"If they weren't you would of conquered their planet long ago." like it or not, that probably was the case, there friendship kept them from their goal and Giroro honestly couldn't be mad about that anymore. While the resentment was still there about his failure it felt outweighed by something new that wasn't their when he first arrived on Pekopon. Love.
They were in the common area once again as the platoon stayed behind for some errands "I guess we should practice our Resonance" Giroro said shyly to the pink haired woman.
"I suppose we should, maybe explain it to me first?" Natsumi suggested.
"The Resonance is a display of your confidence, a vocal sign that your here loud and proud, like your in self wanting to be let out." he was struggling to explain just what exactly the sound represented and meant to their people. "To do it with others can be a symbol of solidarity and teamwork, to do it with a love one can also be equally as meaningful"
"I see, so I just say a corruption of my name said over and over?" She asked to make sure she got it right.
"Yes, it's a lot like meditation its about the repetition over the word use."
"Alright let's give it a shot" she said confidently "Natsunatsunatsunatsu" she started but ran out of breath "this is hard to keep going for awhile."
"You get used to it after awhile, how about join me this time? Girogirogirogiro"
"Natsunatusnatsu"
"You guys are sounding great!" Keroro complimented "though maybe don't try to much, you guys wouldn't want to loose your voices on the big day.
"That's probably for the best, my voice is already a little tired, I don't know how you guys do it for so long"
"vocal training was apart of the boot camps regimen"
Later that day Giroro was about to enter the room but noticed a note stuck to it with tape, he ripped it down and read it carefully, after all who would leave him a note? All of his friends were near by.
'Giroro, please meet me at the luminous park tonight at 9:00 PM and bring Natsumi -Garuru' that was odd, why did he leave him a vague note when he could of just called. He guesses it doesn't matter it's 8:30 PM and it'd take him 30 minutes to get there.
"So where are we going?" Natsumi asked confused it was late, as they walked down the dark street, the only light was from the street poles around them.
"Luminous park, I don't know what Garuru wants at this hour but it must be important if he couldn't of called." Giroro explained, still trying to piece together what his brother had planned.
"What's luminous park?" she asked.
"It's a public park where they keep a bunch of bioluminescent fungus" he explained.
He wasn't kidding, the whole park was illuminated in soft lights from the mushrooms littered everywhere. "It's beautiful"
"It's a beloved Keron attraction, just don't eat them" he warned, he didn't want to recount his story of when some kid in school dared him to eat one and his dad had to pick him up from the ER, it was not a pretty sight and he didn't even get his 2000 Kereni ($20 dollars).
"I wasn't planning too" she assured him before noticing something glowing around them that wasn't fungus "You have fireflies too?" there didn't look like the fireflies of earth though they looked like a hybrid of dragonflies and fireflies.
"They are called Nura, they were once a delicacy on Keron to the point where they were almost extinct, then the government banned the eating of them"
"I'll be sure not to eat them too" She joked.
"I wonder where we are supposed to meet him?" Giroro asked annoyed. Suddenly the little Keronian was hit into a tree, startling Natsumi.
"Who's there!" Natsumi shouted aggressively to who ever was behind them but no one was there. Large muscular hands held her in a headlock from behind. "Let go of me creep" she tried to kick the large muscular figure as she struggled in his grasp.
Giroro shook his head, who the hell hit him? He sees the large man, who had his woman in a rough hold. They were under attack. He tried to summon a weapon but nothing was coming to him, had someone disabled his mobile artillery? He pulled out his grenade radio transceiver he needed backup "Skull-1 to-" the device crumbled in his hand someone had shot at it. Seeing no other option he launched out to try and get the man off of Natsumi, even if he was way larger then him that wasn't going to stop him.
A rope flew out at him wrapping around his body and a thick electric current surged through him, he couldn't contain his scream of pain, his eyes blurred as he saw Natsumi's scared and tear stained face. "Giroro!" she screamed out to him, she knocked herself out of their grasp and ran to him.
She crouched before him to help him in someway "Lookout!" he shouted but it was too late as something was jammed into her neck and she felt dizzy. Giroro tried to leap out to catch her back the other man stomped on his leg stopping him in his tracks, the chilly sound of the crack would haunt her just as much as his scream until silence, the real world was slowly being ripped from her view and she couldn't bring herself back, she couldn't fight the wake-less sleep that befell her. The last thing she felt was the smooth skin of Giroro's hand as she landed on it with her own hand.