CHAPTER – 3
Far away from the Milky Way, there was a giant green cloud that extended itself into five protuberances, resembling a star drawing. Inside that system, known by most of its inhabitants as the Ganma Nebula, there was a green planet orbiting around a yellow sun. There were yellow star shaped structures floating over its atmosphere, making that planet resemble a spherical painting floating in the black canvas of space.
On that planet, a young salmon colored Keronian stood in front of a large field of green grass, bellow blue skies. If it were not for the star shape of the white clouds above her, that scene could just as easily take place on Earth. Her orange eyes looked at the clouds, as the wind blew past her, moving the hair-like earflaps of her pink hat. A stylized yellow "n", almost resembling a tilde, was the mark on the center of her hat and on her white belly. She opened her arms, closing her eyes and smiling while the wind caressed her.
"Peaceful, right, Hinata?" An older male Keronian had approached her, standing by her side, one of his arms by his hip. He was purple colored, with his hat darker than his skin, yellow lenses covering his large eyes. Rather than an emblem, he had a belt strapped diagonally across his chest. That was Lieutenant Garuru, Giroro's brother and famous officer of the Keronian army.
"Your planet is amazing!" Natsumi said with a smile turning around to see Keronian buildings in the distance behind them. However, rather than buildings, they looked more like giant white dices arranged on top of each other. Smaller houses on the outskirts of the city took domed shapes. Vehicles resembling cars and busses, but without wheels, flew around the buildings. A couple flew near the hill where they stood, but with little noise and no smoke.
"So, did you think about the army's proposal?"
"That's – that's kind of complicated…" Natsumi raised her arms defensively, although attempting to put on a smile, "I'm grateful for you attempting to find a way to get me back to normal…" She lowered her head, glaring at the grass bellow, "After the stupid frog's toy left me stuck like this…", but soon raised her head again, putting on a smile on her young white Keronian face, "But, I can't really promise to help people who want to conquer Earth."
"Your rating in the invader level test was surprisingly high." Garuru mentioned with a smirk.
"Eh…? I don't know how a bunch of random tests like those measure anything." Natsumi complained, dropping her shoulders while closing her eyes. "Well, it was kind of fun." Turning inwards, she opened and closed her small Keronian hands, sighing, "In fact, it's kind of terrifying how natural everything here feels like. This stupid body…"
"We have a bargaining chip though." Garuru crossed his arms, his eyes pierce through his yellow lenses while looking at the girl next to him, who currently resembled a young Keronian in every way. "We can't give you a true human body for now; however, after seeing your grade, the superiors are willing to give you an A Class Pekopon suit. An artificial mimicry almost completely indistinguishable from an actual human body both to outside viewers and to the wearer."
"Wait- what?! Just like that?!" Natsumi's large orange eyes blinked, while she took a step back. "Isn't that just for A Class invaders? If I joined you there's no way I'd automatically jump to that level."
"Assigning positions based on talent and potential is how the Keronian Army, no, Keron itself, operates." Garuru crossed his arms behind his back.
Natsumi's large eyes moved away from him. She soon closed them, sighing. "That stupid frog turned me into this and even attempted to change my mind to make me help him. Joining their forces makes me feel like I'm just going along with that…" She clenched her fists, "But it's not like I have a better choice right now."
"Alright!" Natsumi saluted Garuru, "I'm not sure you're expecting out of me, but I'll do my best… As long as you aren't talking about invading Earth. I mean, Pekopon."
"Actually, we've detected some suspicious activity there." Garuru said, crossing his arms. "If the colonel's fears are confirmed, the invasion might be indefinitely postponed once again."
Natsumi opened her mouth in surprise, her eyes trembling when she noticed the implication of that "Wait, but that would mean the stupid frog and the others would be removed from Pekopon?!"
"That's a possibility. Depending on how the situation develops."
/Encounter 03 – Hien, Game of Fire and Ice/
A young human boy and a girl stood in the middle of a grassy field under Earth's blue skies. The young girl, around nine to ten years old at most, had long blue hair, falling over her shoulders, and long straight bangs almost covering her eyes. She stood patiently looking at the boy, her small hands put together in front of her oversized long sleeved green coat, with a large collar that wrapped around her neck, almost covering her mouth. She also sported a light green skirt, almost covered by her shirt, thigh-high white socks and brown shoes.
The boy in front was similarly slim, sporting a black shirt with a flame drawn in the middle, and red shorts. He had slicked back auburn short hair, with a few strands falling on his face. His skin was almost pale, clearly not someone used to going out and playing under the sun. Both were standing next to an old and decrepit Shinto temple. Its wooden walls had partially fallen over the years, and the paper walls only had a few traces of the paper that should be covering them, with only pieces of crossed wood remaining there. The gray roof above them building was similarly decrepit, many roof tiles missing altogether.
The boy inscribed some lines on the sandy ground with the backside of a pencil. After being satisfied, he stood up, his orange eyes beaming. "You said you liked the Occult, right Momoka?" The boy said, looking at the building, before glancing at the young Momoka with a smile.
"Can you really do it, Arihagashi?" Momoka leaned her head to the right slightly, while curiously looking at the boy.
"It's Arahigashi! Hien Arahigashi!" The boy muttered annoyed, but quickly put on a big smile, "And of course! I told you I'd show you a real yokai! A Koppa Tengu! I saw in an old book from our library!"
"I wish Hinata were here to see this…" Momoka muttered for a moment. Still, she could just bring whatever he was going to summon and show Fuyuki later, right?
The boy raised his left arm, and opened his palm. "Common spell 12 – Minor invocation. Ignorant spirit that lost its way, Koppa Tengu!"
The circle in front of the boy and the lines crossing through it suddenly shone in response to his call. A suddenly chilly wind flew past them, blowing Momoka's skirt. As the light in the circle increased, it took the shape of a sphere for a second before quickly blowing up into a large sphere of flames that covered both children.
The fire disappeared as soon as it had appeared, leaving behind a trail of smoke and charred grass. Hien emerged from the explosion, mostly fine, but covered in gray ashes, with burnt clothing and an afro on his head. He did not seem hurt but coughed smoke. Momoka, who stood further from the impact point, looked in surprise at her clothing arms and hair all covered in dirty and burnt grass.
"Sorry, it failed." Hien said embarrassedly, scratching the back of his head. Momoka looked at him almost frightened initially, but soon her eyes twisted into an angry glare, while her hands closed into fists.
"Idiot!" Momoka screamed angrily, her soft features and educated behavior replaced by loud fury.
/
Paul Moriyama, dressed in his usual black suit, stood in front of one of the various large wooden doors in one of the spacious corridors of the Nishizawa mansion. He sweated slightly, his hand stopping for a brief moment before opening the door. He was usually a fierce warrior with a cold heart, even if facing a stronger opponent, there was only a single person who could make him hesitate like that.
Paul pushed open the door, revealing a large library, with many books spread around corridors of bookcases. There was only a single person there, Momoka Nishizawa. She stood alone among the large stands, seemingly occupied reading a thick book. She sported a pinkish dress with long sleeves and a sailor collar, contrasting with the dark book held by her.
As the large doors cried open, her eyes glanced at Paul. Raising an eyebrow. She closed her book, "What is it, Paul?" She knew that he would not interrupt her there unless it were something important.
"Miss Momoka, do you remember the Arahigashi clan?"
"Hm… that one yakuza clan that you dragged me into visiting sometimes?" The Nishizawa heir wondered, putting the book back on its place. Her hand trembled slightly, as she just had a hunch about where that conversation was going. "I never got why they're a big deal. And there's also that annoying boy there…"
"They aren't just a yakuza family. The Arahigashi family have their tentacles in every aspect of the underworld in this country. From politicians to small criminals, their name is often tied to them in one way or another. There are even rumors about them being involved with demons and magic. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them the King of the Dark. Even if the Nishizawa Peach Group controls the day, some say the Arahigashi control the night."
Momoka stood in silence for a few seconds. There would be only one point in glorifying a group like that so much in that situation. "Spill it out already!" Her face contorted into an angry glare, her side bangs becoming spikes while anger took control of her.
"Well," Paul wiped a drop of sweat from his face, "There are always tensions between us, and they've been growing lately, especially due to Mistress Ouka's recent return to Japan. We'd like to promote a meeting between the Nishizawa's heir and Arahigashi's youngest son as a showing of good will."
"Have you been reading something stupid lately?!" Momoka glared at Paul, standing at the tip of her white shoes to increase her height. "We're the Nishizawa! We control 51% of the world's economy! Why can't we just crush a bunch of thugs?!" She grabbed onto Paul's blazer, glaring furiously.
"We could crush them, but if we escalated the conflict to that point, it'd be basically a war. We'd spread chaos and destruction throughout the entire country. We'd win, but it'd be a meaningless victory."
Momoka sighed, her eyes still glaring at her butler, even while releasing him.
"Weren't you good friends with Hien Arihagashi before?" Paul wondered.
"Friends?! He was just an annoyance!" Momoka reminisced his failed summoning, and how he tried it again and again, just failing and blowing up themselves all over again. Not only in that one vacation, even the few times they met afterwards he attempted, and failed, repeating the same routine. Momoka grabbed Paul's suit, glaring angrily at him, "and don't even think about having any funny ideas."
"Why don't you at least meet each other again? It's just a showing of good will, nothing else." Paul had a worried smile. Paul knew that it likely would not work out, but it's not like she had made much progress lately regarding Fuyuki either, so it wouldn't hurt to meet someone else.
Momoka stayed in silence for a while, angry. "Are you playing matchmaker now, Paul?! I didn't ask for this. In fact, this just makes me want to see that clan destroyed." Suddenly, a dark smirk took her face.
"Fine, I'll do it. However, I'll prepare everything regarding that meeting." A sudden cold sweat ran through Paul's face. Maybe that had not been a good idea…
"What kind of training outfit is this?!" A bucket suddenly flew towards Paul's head, who just leaned leftwards to dodge it, while his legs remained perfectly still. Tamama appeared next to private library's entrance, wearing her standard black uniform, while holding a black dress with a white apron tied to it.
"If you'd prefer it, I could provide a butler uniform." Paul said, seemingly unconcerned by her failed attack.
"Tama?" Tamama blinked, blushing lightly while scratching the back of her head, "I think a maid uniform is cuter anyway…" Seemingly realizing her mistake, she immediately glared at Paul again, "THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM HERE!"
"You have strength, miss Tamama, but your movements lack finesse."
"What?" Tamama smirked, while Momoka took a few steps back from her butler, rather than her usual soft voice, it was a lower and arrogant one, "You think that just because master Ouka won't be here for a couple of weeks you can just tell me what to do? Get this, old man, at my current level," A golden aura flared around her, surrounded by black lightning in a bizarre mix. "You're nothing."
"So, that's the famous power of the super warrior, very well then."
"You two realize what you're doing… right?" Momoka muttered staring at them incredulously, although neither paid any mind to her.
A sudden force burst from Paul. A strong gust of wind pushed against the walls and bookcases, throwing the room behind him in disarray as a column of fire surrounded him. "Seal of the Butler – Break!"
"Huh… Paul…" Momoka muttered as a book cast fell behind her.
From the middle of the flames, Paul stepped dressed in a black karate gi with torn sleeves, his muscles bulging and his eyes shining red like a demon.
The warriors in flaming and golden auras quickly rushed towards each other. Tamama's fist rushed forward piercing through Paul's chest. At least that was what she thought. One moment later, she noticed that she just punched a shadow image. With his knee raised, and his other leg on the floor, somehow he slid to behind her, breaking out of that stance to lower his right fist, preparing an uppercut.
Tamama quickly turned around, attempting to leap backwards and gain distance, but she saw Paul easily following her movement.
"Here I go!" Paul yelled.
"Tamama Imp-"
Paul's fist hit her gut, interrupting her attack cry, "Paul Reppa!"A strong whirlwind covered both, spiraling through the ceiling, breaking it. Outside of the mansion, several security guards stood alongside the huge grass field surrounding it, in their standard black vests and helmets, looked with surprise at the raging cyclone right in the middle of the mansion just as it disappeared as quickly as it surged.
"Di-did something happen there?!" One of them, standing next to a tree, raised his helmet's glass, revealing a young looking face with thick eyebrows. Yoshiokadaira closed his fists while running towards the mansion, only to feel a strong pressure coming from the place where the cyclone had appeared.
"YOU STUPID IDIOTS!" Momoka's furious voice echoed through the mansion, inside and outside. Sparks flew around her, her hair having spiked as her furious personality took control.
"What exactly is the problem, miss Momoka?" Paul held Tamama by the back of her jacket and politely put her on the floor, seemingly not worried at all.
"Isn't it obvious Paul?! I'm talking about the-"
"TAMA?!" Both Tamama and Momoka just stared in silence at the scene around them. The bookshelves, chairs, tables, and books themselves were back in their places, neatly arranged without anything out of place. Momoka's aggressive face disappeared into pure astonishment.
"This is…" Tamama's eyes lighted up while she fell to her knees.
"The finesse of a butler." Paul said, crossing his arms. "My wind didn't bring disorder, but rather neatly arranged everything with precision and class."
"Paul's real power…"
"Hm… but what about that…?" Momoka wondered, pointing at the hole still open in the ceiling
"Ah. Huh. I'm sorry!" Paul bowed to her.
"Did you give up on that silly idea already?" Momoka asked with a smile, just to receive a negative nod.
"Then, I guess I'll need that idiot's help, after all." She said, crossing her arms while thinking about a certain alien.
/
Some hours later, Momoka sit anxiously in the backseat of a large white limousine, which moved through Okutokyo's calm streets. Rather than the simple outfit from before, she now sported a short white dress, but with an open long sleeved blue blazer worn on top of it. The blazer had long sleeves, but the center was rather short and unbuttoned, with a similarly colored and sized vest also worn over her dress' upper area. The outfit's collar resembled a white business suit's, with a pink necktie tied to it. The tie went under the vest, going through it and reaching her belly. Thigh high dark blue boots covered her slender legs.
In front of her, there was another seat facing her own. Keroro and Tamama sit there, looking through the windows. Rather than their usual outfits, both sported Nishizawa maid uniforms. Keroro's was a dark purple mini-dress with short sleeves. There was a white trim in front of her neck, her signature yellow star tying a thin ribbon on it, with a white half-apron, covering the lower dress, tied into a large white bow on her back. Long white gloves, ending in a petal pattern, covered her arms, the same pattern adorning the sleeves. Thigh-high pantyhose accentuated her legs. A ruffled white headpiece adorned her green hair, finishing a cliché "maid" look.
Tamama sported a similar uniform, although it had a couple of differences – for one, it carried her signature black color, rather than the purple of the generic Nishizawa uniform. Rather than short sleeves and gloves, it had long sleeves, ending in a similar petal pattern, and almost covering her hands. She also sported earrings carrying her green and yellow shield emblem.
Keroro looked at the tall buildings of the commercial district being left behind, giving way to shorter ones - the extravagant houses of some rich residential area.
"I trust you've planned everything already?" Momoka wondered, looking at Keroro.
"Of course!" The green haired girl turned to Nishizawa with a smirk, hitting her own chest proudly. "This kind of surprise attack operation is my specialty!"
"Surprise attack…" Momoka covered her mouth, giggling politely. Inside her head though, there were dark thoughts running about, "That airhead certainly will fail, like she always does, of course, not before causing a big commotion. The Arahigashi will end up humiliated and, rather than taking revenge on the Nishizawa, they'll go chasing UFOs."
Keroro, however, had her own dark thoughts, "So, there's some rich boy interested in Lady Momoka… and she expects me to get in their way? It'd be much more convenient if they hooked up and she stopped bothering Lord Fuyuki. And, of course, I've bought something perfect for that. Gero, gerori." Keroro's dark eyes almost shone while she looked at a small pink capsule that she carried on her hand. "Essence of Sakura Sakuura, one sniff of this, and she'll quickly fall in love with anyone. And, of course, I bought this with the Nishizawa's own money!"
"On the other hand," Momoka stared at the green haired girl, focusing her sight on the girl's beaming eyes. "On the other hand, it's also possible that she plans to betray me considering how current situation regarding Fuyuki. However, either way, she'll certainly create the chaos that I want." The young girl smirked, "Even in the worst case scenario, we'd just force the Nishizawa to destroy these Arahigashi thugs by ourselves." She held a large confident smirk, menacingly looking ahead with her usual glare.
The scenario around the limousine suddenly changed from modern buildings to a large wall of a layer of stone bellow wood, with nothing visible behind it. "Reminds me of the Warring Planet." Keroro mentioned, looking by the window.
"Don't you mean Warring States era? What even is a Warring planet?" Momoka said, raising an eyebrow curiously. In front of the limousine, there were large wooden gates. Without a word or visible men in place, they slowly opened.
"It'd be a long story, Lady Momoka." Keroro said with a smile, "I hadn't thought about it, but after we conquer Pekopon having a castle like this would be rather nice. Of course, it'd need to be 10 or 50 times bigger!"
"Wow! I can't even see the other side!" Tamama said, hands and face on the glass window, in the horizon, there was a large green field, seemingly surrounded by a forest, and, rising in front of them, there was what looked like a large Japanese style castle, with its angular ceilings, the ones here covered by red tiles. The castle also seemed surprisingly large as they approached it, with more than five floors. "I didn't think they'd have a mansion comparable to the Nishizawa's!"
Behind the castle itself, there was a separate, but also much larger building, a tower also seemingly made with traditional Japanese architecture, but its height would make that seemingly impossible. It towered over the mansion or anything else in the propriety, easily having more than 20 floors.
"Looking at it, you can easily tell that all the rumors about ghosts and curses here might be true, right?" Fuyuki's head popped from behind Keroro's seat, immediately receiving surprised stares from the three girls.
"Fu-Fuyuki?!" Momoka stuttered, while her features actually softened. The occult enthusiast sported an uncharacteristic black butler suit, similar to Paul's, but smaller, only a little loose for his size.
"Sorry sergeant, but I eavesdropped your call." Fuyuki smiled. "I couldn't miss this chance, so I kind of went along with you."
"And the outfit?" Keroro blinked, touching his black blazer with a finger, "it looks good, but…"
"I got from that dresser room in the secret base."
"Hm… Fuyuki, this meeting might become a bit dangerous if something goes wrong," Momoka said, putting a hand above her heart.
"Don't worry." Fuyuki smiled confidently, "We've already gone through a lot of stuff in these last few years, right?"
"Don't expect me to protect you." Tamama muttered crossing her arms annoyed.
"Huh… you still can't summon Amefurashi, right? Did you… bring the Keroball?" Keroro raised an eyebrow, while Fuyuki just smiled embarrassedly. "He brought it." She muttered under her breath.
The limousine stopped in front of the large wooden gates of the castle. Paul soon opened the door beside Momoka and all others quickly got up and left too. There were several bodyguards in the usual black full body armor, faces hidden behind the gray glasses of their helmets, as well as a couple of other young female maids wearing purple dresses similar to Tamama's.
"Master Fuyuki, I must say I didn't expect such boldness from you, but I don't dislike it." Paul said, placing a hand on Fuyuki's shoulder. The boy just looked at him wordlessly, sweating cold.
Without any warning, the large front doors slowly started opening inwards, and just like before, they could not make out any servants.
"So, this is it." Momoka muttered, glancing at Keroro and smirking, "let's start this show at once."
Standing behind the open doors, in the center of a huge entrance area, there was a tall older man, dressed in a white kimono with a black coat. Before even his face, his silver hair in the shape of a cylindrical pillar would catch anyone's attention. He seemed in his 40s, but still carrying a certain handsomeness in his harsh facial features and trimmed hair, including thin eyebrows. There were black lines highlighting the kimono's silhouette and a black cloth belt wrapped around his waist. "Miss Momoka?"
The mansion behind him resembled a traditional Japanese castle, with wooden floor and walls. Several scrolls with stylized yellow wings hanged up behind him, with the statue of a large horned Oni in the center of the room. The man stood in front of the statue and somehow seemed to have a bigger presence than the gargantuan statue behind him.
"I'm Kisei Soden, humble servant of the Arahigashi clan. Master Hien is waiting for you Miss Momoka."
The entire group took a step forward, which seemed to make Kisei's eyes shine for a moment. "It's an honor to receive the heir of the prestigious Nishizawa clan."
"It's a pleasure." Momoka answered politely, putting on a smile while her lowered hands held onto each other.
"Momoka, it's been a while." A young masculine voice came from behind the statue. Steps echoed through the room, and soon a teenager clad in white appeared from behind it. Although young, around Fuyuki's own age and barely taller than him, he had piercing orange eyes and slicked back reddish hair, with a couple of strands falling on his forehead. He sported black pants and a closed black jacket, with a flame pattern starting from its sleeves and reaching up to its shoulders. There were also a fiery twin wings mark emblazed on the jacket, above his heart. Curiously, he also wore fingerless black gloves. "Oh, where are my manners? It's a pleasure to meet you again." Hien spoke with a confident, almost arrogant, smile. "I'd like to show you our mansion, Momoka. Could you leave your attendants for a while? I don't think you'd be able to relax under so many gazes."
Momoka glanced at Fuyuki, Keroro and Tamama, who stood in the middle of her servants. Turning away from them, and walking beside Hien, Momoka smirked maliciously. "Alright, soon the show will be start."
"Yes, sir." Keroro answered with a salute and a smirk. Silently, the sergeant, alongside Tamama and Fuyuki, stepped away from the crowd, standing in the shadows of the large entrance door.
"Lord Fuyuki, good luck!" The green haired girl said, saluting the boy beside her.
"Private Tamama, let's go!" Keroro said. She moved away her hair, revealing red star shaped earrings, which she tapped as a faint rainbow colored light enveloped her body before fading away. Tamama soon did the same, touching her own earrings and disappearing too. "It's been a while since I used the Anti-barrier like this." Keroro muttered excitedly.
"Sergeant," Fuyuki blushed a bit, while placing a hand above her left shoulder, "take care, ok?"
Keroro replied with a large grin. Her dark eyes crossed with Fuyuki's own, gazing at each other for a few seconds, before Tamama quickly pushed her away from the crowd. "Let's go already, sergeant!" The black haired girl complained, grabbing Keroro's arm while pushing her away, looking annoyed at her platoon leader's smile which soon turned into a similar annoyance as she was dragged away.
"Now, let's try to find something about the Arahigashi clan." Fuyuki smiled, while pulling a small red star shaped pin from inside a pocket on his suit.
/
Hien and Momoka went through a wooden sliding door, going into a large open room in the middle of the castle. The ceiling around the edges was very high, leaving no space for upper floors, and most of the room just had no ceiling at all, being directly illuminated by the sunlight above them. There were a few benches on the sides of the room, but otherwise it seemed mostly empty. Doors similar to the one they had just gone through were in the other sides of the large room, small square holes letting the light and wind that entered there get to other rooms in the castle.
"This is…?" Momoka wondered. Somehow, she had a bad feeling about that place.
"I just want to show you how much I've grown." He closed his fists, "This time, for sure, the summoning will work!"
"Eh?!" Shivers ran down Momoka's spine when she noticed the runes spread on the wooden floor all around them. Red marks were all around the floor, with pentagrams, circles and crosses around and inside each other, while kanji were inside or beside them.
"Yon (Four), Tori (Bird), Kami (God) Aka (Red), Ake (Vermillion), Jaku (Sparrow), Kemono (Beast)" Momoka's eyes scanned the room, finally noticed that all those lines formed a larger drawing of a bird there.
"Father forbid me to try this again… but, I barely could wait. This time for sure!"
"Won't you just blow up everything again?" Momoka's polite smile was almost cracking.
"I've been studying a lot. I've found many tomes I didn't even know existed! I've had no success yet, but this time…!"
"Upon hearing those words, Momoka took a few step backs, returning to the entrance. "Don't mind, me. I'll wait outside."
"I'm going too! Let me just start charging it!" He said with a smile while hitting with floor with a closed fist. "Grand spell 12 – Grand invocation. Guardian Vermillion Bird of South Fire, I call upon your power, Suzaku!"
A wave of hot air quickly filled the room, as the red runes started shinning. Momoka attempted to push open the sliding door, only to notice that it somehow didn't bulge one inch. "EH?! Idiots, open this door!" She said while kick it, but somehow the wooden board still held up against her.
"Momoka!" Hien reached her, "Even if this summoning works it might be dangerous to stay here! Let me open this! Arahigashi spell 108 – Onibarai!"A flame burst onto Hien's right hand and he swung it downwards causing the fire to rush through the floor like a fire serpent, crashing into the door and exploding into a crimson eruption. However, the fire soon vanished, seemingly unable to push the door.
Standing on the other side of the door, in the middle of a corridor, there was a certain green haired girl with an evil grin on her face. She held what resembled a small toy white fighter jet, pressing it against the wall. "Gero, gero, gero! With this portable pinpoint barrier generator, you'll never leave that room, no matter how much strength you use. And when you start to despair, I'll use the Space Sakura essence to make you two fall in love! Combining those two factors, the love won't be just temporary!"
"Hm… Momocchi seems to be worried about something, Green." Tamama said, finger next to her mouth while watching the door from a safe distance.
"Who is 'Green'?!" Keroro complained turning her back to the door, while leaving the airplane somehow fixed there. Suddenly, a strong red light pushed through the small holes in the wooden door, "Gero…?" Keroro turned her head just in time to hear a loud explosion, following by a strong force blowing wind around them. The small fighter jet exploded, soon followed by the wooden door flying on top of Keroro, crashing against a wall as it fell apart.
"Of course it ended up like this." Tamama muttered, crossing her arms. "Momocchi!" Tamama ran to the now open room, only to see Momoka standing by the door, holding her shoulder, but seemingly unhurt. "Are you okay?"
"That airhead actually took the hit for me." Momoka mused for a moment, "I'm fine Tama!" She said with a smile, before looking at the wreck of the door. Arahigashi was lying on top of it, facing the rubble. "Arahigashi, are you okay?"
"Who… are you…?" Hien's orange irises shrunk, as he looked stunned at the green haired girl under the wooden pieces.
"Gero…? Did the impact break the anti-barrier?!" Keroro reached to the bow on her back, pulling from behind it a small cylindrical hilt. She held onto it firmly as a pink energy blade sprout up, cutting through the wood as she stumbled away from the hubris.
"Wha-What's that?!" Hien just stared at her, completely frozen in place.
"Eh- I'm sorry for this! Please forget that you ever saw me!" Keroro yelled quickly dashing away through a nearby corner.
"Who is that girl!?" Hien looked stunned, with an empty gaze towards her, before turning it into a glare. Without saying anything else, he quickly ran after her, leaving Momoka and Tamama behind without a single word.
"Well, I guess you got rid of your problem, at least." Tamama muttered, crossing her arms. "That stupid Green."
"I wonder if they'll be fine…" Momoka muttered, putting her hands together, "I've never actually seen Hien angry before."
/
Still surrounded by the thin layer of the Anti-Barrier, Fuyuki looked through a yellowed old book, in a room surrounded by old books and bookcases, leaving little space to walk between them. He sighed, putting the book back on the shelf. "These are just standard books. I guess if the rumor about them were true though, they wouldn't leave something like a grimoire so easily accessible."
Fuyuki untied the Keroball from his belt and held it in front of himself, pressing a button on its back. The top of the ball projected a faint blue light soon seemingly taking a solid shape. Inside that light, a three dimensional model of that Japanese Castle appeared. Noticeably, under the front gate, there was a wooden wall extending downwards. Fuyuki touched the model, which blinked for a moment. A model of the room where he stood replaced the previous one and, like with the first one, there were rooms bellow them.
"There are underground floors, of course!" Fuyuki wondered, tapping the floor tiles bellow him with the shinning black shoes of his butler suit. His eyes shined as his mouth opened with a large smile. "This place is so cool!"
"Keroball… I hope this will work." Fuyuki muttered, closing his eyes while pressing a button on top of the Keronian weapon. There was a bright flash, and afterwards he had disappeared from that room.
/
"Did I escape from him?" The green haired girl had cold sweat dripping through her face as she stood next to a corner of one of the castle's corridors. However, hearing multiple steps hitting the wooden tiles of the castle, she quickly moved away. There was another large sliding door on the corridor and she pushed it open, closing it behind herself afterwards and pushing a wooden lock to stop it from being open from outside.
Surprisingly, the room she had just found herself in was a complete mess. It looked like a rich and well-furnished bedroom, with a large bed, two book cases covering an entire wall, a desk and two wardrobes, but the entire thing was a mess, with clothing thrown around, a notebook left on the floor, alongside a black videogame - even two wooden swords lying on the bed around a red kimono. There was a large flat television built on the wall to the left of the door, but at least that one was off. "Such a typical boy's room." Keroro muttered with a frown.
After recovering her focus, she noticed the large open window to outside from there. It was the first floor, so getting out would be easy. She would just activate the anti-barrier again and- Her hand froze once it came into her view, almost touching her earring. The faint rainbow aura that shone around her body when the Anti-Barrier was active was still there. "Ge-Gero!" Keroro muttered in surprise, although quickly shutting off her own mouth "The Anti-Barrier is still active, so how did-"
The door suddenly slid open, revealing three bulky and tall men wearing black kimono with flame patterns on its sleeves, alongside a red collar and sash. They also sported black fingerless gloves, under their long red sleeves, alongside wooden sandals, and trimmed dark hair. "Is that the girl the young master mentioned?"
"There are more!" Keroro raised an eyebrow, trembling. She quickly turned around, launching herself through a nearby closed window. It was forced open, while she fell on the grass outside, quickly getting up while stumbling around, and almost falling once more while running.
"What is she doing?!" The man yelled while running to the window.
Keroro looked around herself, but any exits from that mansion were too far away – she could only see a forest in the distance, and even she could reach the walls they would be too tall anyway. Aside from the large Japanese castle she had just left, there was a similar stylized tower in running distance. She looked behind herself, noting that those men seemingly had not followed her through the window. Maybe she could hid there for a while and hopefully the Anti-Barrier would actually work afterwards?
The tower's horizontal area felt small coming from that castle, but it extended itself into the skies like a giant lance. The large vertical wooden wall was broken by two sliding windows visible on each floor, alongside ceiling tiles layered between each floor. The green haired girl soon reached the two large wooden doors in front of the building, sliding both open to the sides as she ran into it. Inside, it seemed to be a warehouse.
Light came from the windows near the ceiling, although the visibility was not good.
There were many paper boxes and wooden crates lying around, some open revealing clothing, books and scrolls, while others remained closed. In the middle, there was a staircase leading to the upper floors.
Keroro looked at her white gloves after closing the door behind her, now grayish. "They're so rich and don't even bother cleaning something like this!" She complained, rushing to push a crate to beside the door, stopping it from sliding open. As soon as she was finished with it, there was a knock on the door. "Is someone in there?" Hien wondered from outside, while Keroro jumped back, startled by his strangely peaceful tone.
"He's here already?!" She immediately ran upstairs, hearing an explosion as she left the floor, without even looking back.
"He's going to kill me!" She screamed while running upstairs again and again, sweat starting to drop through her face.
/
Fuyuki saw himself standing in the middle of another private library, several rows of bookcases around him. Odd blue fiery lanterns hanging on the ceiling gave the room a faint light, enough to wander around it, but dark enough that reading would be uncomfortable. Looking closer, right alongside the books, mostly old and thick hardcover editions, there were also rows of paper scrolls. Fuyuki's heart beat fast with excitation. He knew he had found something unique – even if he was not sure how he would proceed from there. Touching or taking them was out of question, he was not about to damage them or become a thief.
"I wonder if the Keroball can copy the data from these?" He silently wondered. Even if it could copy, he would likely need Keroro's help to access the data later.
"Well, I've gotten up to here, so let's go all the way!" Fuyuki thought while pressing a button on the bottom of the Keroball. A faint, almost inaudible noise spread around the room, as the Keroball sent special waves through the surrounding books.
"Hm… Is there a rat down here? A Nishizawa rat perhaps?" A curious young female voice broke through the silence. Fuyuki crouched next to a wooden bookcase, cold sweat dropping through his face. Staying in complete silence, he could hear as the speaker's strangely heavy feet hit the floor, the impact echoing through the room.
"Tricky rats should be punished. I guess?"
Fuyuki stopped even his breathing, holding onto the Keroball, while the steps seemed to get closer and closer - but suddenly they marched forward, starting to distance themselves. Before he could even finish a relieved sigh, the Keroball started ringing like a telephone receiving a call.
"Eh? What a brave little rat!" The voice said with excitation. Fuyuki quickly mashed various buttons all around the Keronian tool, hurriedly vanishing into a burst of smoke.
/
"This is the end!" Keroro screamed internally, seeing herself on the top of the tower. No more staircase, only open windows leading to certain death if she jumped through them.
"I'm telling you to wait!" Hien's voice echoed with annoyance as he hit a locked sliding door, unsuccessfully attempting to open it.
Keroro looked through the window, sighing and turning back to the door with her glittering eyes. "Alright, so there's no other choice. I'm the leader of the Keroro Platoon, Sergeant Keroro! I won't run away or hide!" She said closing her hands into fists while the door leading downstairs almost broke down after another impact.
"Arahigashi spell 108 – Onibarai!" The young man's words flew past the door, followed by a small explosion blowing it up, sending various pieces of burnt wood flying past the green haired girl.
"Maybe I should just hide somewhere." Keroro said, glancing at the broken pieces of burnt wood lying around her.
"Who are you?" Standing in front of the smoke, Hien wondered with a serious expression, his orange eyes fixated on Keroro's own.
"I'm… Lady Momoka's friend, kind of? I'm Serg- I mean, I'm Keroro, sir." Hien took a few steps forward, standing in front of Keroro with an odd glare. His focus seemed lost, like he were in a daze.
"You're beautiful."
"Gero?"
"Otherworldly so…"
"You weren't trying to kill me…?" Keroro held a broken smile.
Hien extended his hand to the green haired girl, opening his palm to reveal a small dancing flame that resembled a flower. "I know this is sudden, but would you accept my-" A flash of light covered the room, and suddenly Fuyuki saw himself falling through the hair, on top of the orange haired boy.
After loud cries of pain, Fuyuki rolled aside, holding his aching head, the Keroball lying on the floor at his side. "Lord Fuyuki, are you alright?!" Keroro quickly rushed to his side, sitting down on the floor while holding his left hand.
"Sarge?" He smiled looking at her worried face, "I'm fine." He glanced at the Keoball lying next to them, realizing what had just happened. "The Keroball's abilities are supposed to be based on the user mind. I shouldn't be surprised the Keroball would take me to you."
"Just, who are you two?" Hien stood behind them, looking annoyed, his hands closed into fists.
"Ah, I'm sorry! I'm not sure where we are, but-" Fuyuki was soon interrupted.
"You two obviously know each other. And are close." Hien crossed his arms, his eyebrows twitching.
Keroro and Fuyuki just looked at him in confusion, while standing up.
"Maybe I'm just thinking too much, but… Are you dating?"
"Eh?!" The couple looked away from him with reddish faces.
"Hm… you could say that…" Fuyuki muttered, looking towards the floor.
"It's kind of embarrassing if you say it like that…" Keroro scratched the back of her head.
"Why is a goddess with such a commoner?!" Hien silently wondered, closing his hands in fists, but soon realized there was something more important to wonder. "Just who are you people?! You just appeared out of nowhere up here! And she earlier wielded some light saber looking thing! Are you from a rival magis clan or something?"
"Magis clan?!" Fuyuki's eye lighted up upon hearing those words. Keroro walked up, standing between them, her hands pointing to both. "Wait, you're Hien Arahigashi, right?"
"And you are?"
"He is Fuyuki Hinata, president of Kishou's occult club and I am…" Fuyuki looked hesitantly at the green haired girl, who gave a bold salute.
"The 58th planet of the Gamma Galaxy's-" Before she could continue, Fuyuki stood in front of her, raising his arms.
"Biggest fan! She's a club member! She's way too into things and sometimes let her imagination run wild!"
"That doesn't explain what I've just seen today." Hien said glaring at him. Silently, Keroro took a few steps back, picking the Keroball, while glancing at him.
"Nishizawa is also a club member! Sometimes we play around with some experimental stuff from them!"
"Now, lord Fuyuki!" Keroro's yell was followed by a bright flash of light which covered the entire room. Soon afterwards, Hien Arahigashi saw himself standing alone in the tower's top floor, not even a sign of the two people who previously stood there.
"What just happened here?!" He ran to the windows, looking bellow only to see only a few bodyguards standing in front of the tower. "She said Kishou…"
/
Keroro and Fuyuki reappeared alongside a flash of light in the middle of the Hinata's living room, floating several feet above the floor only to fall immediately afterwards.
After grunts of pain, they slowly stood up. "Back home." Fuyuki muttered, stumbling to the nearby couch. In spite of being tired and weary, he had a satisfied smile.
"So, I guess your little invasion was successful, lord Fuyuki?" The green hired girl leaned her face close to his, her arms hidden behind her.
"Maybe. I actually did find some interesting stuff there, but I'm not sure if I used the Keroball correctly yet."
"I couldn't achieve my extra goal, but I guess it was mission accomplished for me too, sir!" She stood straight up, making a salute gesture, before winking. "Being told that I'm otherworldly beautiful was nice too!"
"Eh? You mean Arahigashi…?" Fuyuki blinked.
"Right! I thought he wanted to kill me for a while, but it seems like he was just smitten by me!" Although Keroro had a beaming smile, Fuyuki didn't seem as enthusiastic.
"Ah, what? Are you jealous, lord Fuyuki?" She held a playful smirk between her rosy cheeks.
"Eh?" Fuyuki raised an eyebrow, a pink blush covering his face "Maybe…" Fuyuki lowered his head, his face becoming completely red, "Although… you actually look really cute in that dress."
"Geh?" The green haired girl turned away from Fuyuki, attempting to hide her own embarrassment, "O-O-Of course!"
An awkward silence covered the room for a while, until Fuyuki broke it, looking at her with serious eyes.
"Still, I wonder if he'll bother going after us after seeing all that…" Fuyuki continued, looking more seriously at Keroro.
"Don't worry, lord Fuyuki. Some spoiled brat won't suddenly move the world just for curiosity's sake!"
"Maybe you're right…" Fuyuki mentioned, putting his hands together while sitting on the couch. "Although somehow... Nishizawa is coming to mind right now."
/
Momoka and Tamama walked past the front gate of that giant traditional Japanese castle, two Arahigahishi men in black kimono overlooking them. Paul stood beside the entrance, in front of the white limousine, several Nishizawa troops in full body gear and maids also were lined up, patiently waiting for their mistress.
Right after Tamama crossed the large front doors, Hien's confident voice called for Momoka, who still stood inside. "Momoka!"
She grit her teeth. They took too long to get out of there. Here he was pestering them again.
She turned back, being surprised at a look of annoyance from his orange eyes.
"Who was that green haired lady? She doesn't seem to be among your servants here."
"Huh? Yes." Momoka half closed her eyes, looking away from him while covering her mouth, "She wasn't a servant, just someone from… school… who somehow slipped in my entourage."
"Kishou, right?" Hien wondered, a smirk drawn by his lips.
"Eh?" Momoka opened her eyes in surprise.
"I can already see where this is going…" Tamama muttered, standing on the sidelines.
/
A couple of days later, a certain orange haired teenager stood in front of class 3-B, sporting a white version of Kishou's pants and blazer. Fuyuki, sitting in the center of the class, just looked at him incredulously.
"Idiot." Momoka muttered.
"I wonder what he's going to do when he realizes green isn't here." Tamama looked at him curiously from the back of the class.
"I'm Hien Arahigashi, scion of the Arahigashi clan. I hope we can get along well." He said with a smile, while his auburn eyes looked through the room, failing to find a certain girl. However, rather than surprise or frustration, he just held a confident smile. "When we looked into the school register, there wasn't anyone resembling her, so I'm not surprised. However, the key certainly is here, with Momoka and that boy. I'll find you… my mysterious beauty!"
/
"One more." Tomosu pasted a newspaper clip on a bulletin board in the Occult Club's room. Juunishiro who had just arrived there, glanced curiously.
"Missing people? Is that really related to the supernatural?"
"I'm actually not sure Hinata will even approve this." Tomosu gave a cheeky smile, scratching the back of his brown hair, "but there have been a string of missing people lately with completely unknown causes."
Kaneami suddenly appeared, standing between the two boys, with a cool smile. "Friends and relatives reportedly mention nightmares in the night before the disappearances, but the actual cause is completely unknown. They just vanish overnight." She explained putting a finger over the newspaper cut, keeping her mysterious smile.
"Doesn't Fuyuki's alien girlfriend know anything about it?" The older boy wondered.
"I'm not completely convinced that she's an alien." Tomosu muttered, "I mean, some floating device isn't too out there considering the type of crazy technology the Nishizawa Group has. Still, I'd love to get to talk to her, although I can understand why she wouldn't return here after that chaos last time..."
"I'm sorry. Her situation is bit complicated." Fuyuki muttered, standing by the club's door. "I'll tell you everything eventually though. And what's this about missing people?"