AN: Thank you lovelies, Rainbowkittyblossomwings, G66XD66, Erinunu, and Latios381 for your reviews. Unfortunately, answering any questions would be Spoilers ;) But never fear, every character (well, the main ones anyway) will get mentioned; dead or alive. And, unfortunately, updates will most likely be very slow indeed :( sworry.

But, yes G66XD66, Fuyuki isn't his usual cheery self. Alien invasions can do that to a boy. But, Spoilers~ ;)


Fuyuki opened his eyes laboriously. Everything felt too heavy; his eyelids, his eyelashes, even blinking was a surprising effort. His head throbbed as if a gong was being repeatedly struck by an Olympic gong-striker on super-steroids. Then it was as if the pain in his head migrated down his head to his body. His throat was dry and sore. The inside of his mouth felt like sticky, evil-tasting sandpaper. His neck and shoulders felt stiff and achy. Then the left side of his lower back remembered that it had been shot. A horrendous dull ache awakened in his flesh. He tried to sit up but he could barely move. Deciding to simply lay still, Fuyuki came to a decisive conclusion.

He wasn't dead. He had been shot but by some miracle he had survived. Although it was a shame the 'miracle' hadn't spared him some of the pain that gnawed at him, but- hey. Gunshot victims can't be picky.

The pain and grogginess fuelled haze in front of his eyes wafted away the longer he was conscious. He could finally see where he actually was- and it wasn't face down in a ditch. It was a small-ish, brightly lit room. The brick walls were painted with smooth, shiny white paint. Fuyuki realized he was lying on a bed with hospital blue sheets, and a stick thing was standing beside the bed. He vaguely recognised it as an IV stand, then noticed the transparent tube leading from it into his arm. There were a few cupboards and a table shoved up against the opposite wall and an open door in the corner.

An open door...that meant there were people outside of the room, right? Well, of course there were. Someone must have been here, because Fuyuki was here, and unconscious shot people don't get up and go to (what looks like) a mini-hospital without a little assistance.

The corner of Fuyuki's mouth twitched into an expression he had not made for two months and...however many days. He smiled, just a little. There were people. Actual, proper, other people.

He suddenly has a rushing urge to see one of these people, to get someone into the room, right now, and say thank you, thank you for just being another person on this planet. And for saving his life. But when he called out, he only heard a coarse, quiet croak and felt the insides of his throat blister and burn. But, somehow, someone heard him. A woman, maybe in her mid-thirties, with fair hair, came in, carrying a jug of water.

"Ah, you're awake," she smiled, kindly. She quickly went over to his bedside, poured some water into a glass on the table and handed it to him, "It might not be very cold, but at least it's water."

"C- ... Can't get up..." he croaked, feeling his whole back ache even more as he attempted. The woman put one arm around his shoulders and helped him awkwardly into a sitting position, then put the glass to his lips.

"Drink up, now, sweetie. You're dehydrated."

Fuyuki let the water swill around his mouth, trying to wash away the foul taste of not brushing his teeth for two whole months, before swallowing it with great effort. Like magic, his throat felt much better after a couple of gulps and by the time he had drained the whole glass, his headache had lifted substantially.

"Thank you..."

"You're welcome, sweetie," the woman took the glass away and plumped up his pillow so he could lean against it. "I'm Nanoni Shurashimi, but everyone here calls me Nurse Nano."

"Um, okay...Wh-where is 'here'?" he asked. He was immensely grateful that he was somewhere with people, but he did like to know where he was.

"Oh, that's right, sweetie. You were unconscious when they brought you in...Let me get the Sergeant, he'll explain everything."

Before Fuyuki could speak, Nurse Nano had quickly left the room. When she returned, a man was following her.

He was tall and gaunt, with ebony hair and green eyes, glittering with intelligence. He was wearing brown trousers, big brown boots, a dark green shirt that seemed to hang off him...and a black leather gun holster, fitted on his side with a revolver sitting in it. His breath hitched in his throat when he saw the gun. After what happened, he didn't really need to see something that could inflict the same damage.

"Nice to see you awake," the man said, sitting on the side of the bed. His voice was deep and he spoke in a calming manner, which made him almost immediately likeable. "What's your name, kid?"

"...Fuyuki Hinata."

"Good to meet you, Fuyuki Hinata-kun. I'm Watani Katazuchi. I'm the one in charge around here, and I expect you have a bunch of questions, so I'm the guy to ask."

"Um...Okay..." The long list of questions Fuyuki had prepared in his brain suddenly scurried out of reach. This guy...This Katazuchi had a very funny effect on him. He just couldn't put his finger on what it was. "Uh, w-where am I?"

Katazuchi smiled warmly. "You're safe. You're in an underground bunker I like to call the 'Sanctum'. It's refuge for anyone who escaped getting caught or killed by the aliens."

"How many people are here?"

"Only a couple of hundred. I suppose we're hard to find."

"I-is there a woman called Aki Hinata here?" he asked quickly. Hope began to bubble up inside of him.

Katazuchi smiled again, but it didn't reach his eyes. It was more like a comforting smile...and Fuyuki didn't particularly like it. "...The name doesn't ring any bells," he began, "but I'll take a look through our registers. Who is she? Your mom?"

"Yeah, I..." He didn't finish. He didn't even know what he was going to say in the first place. What, was he supposed to spill out everything pent up in his heart to this complete stranger, just because he had a nice voice and looked friendly enough? No. He was just going to ask another question. "How did I get here?"

"Two of my guys I sent out to scavenge for supplies saw you, face down in a ditch with an awful lot of blood spilling out of your back. As far as they could tell, you'd been shot, by you were still alive. So they brought you back here, Nurse Nano patched you up, and we waited two days for you to wake up."

"The good thing about those fancy alien laser guns," Nurse Nano said, still standing in the doorway, "there's no bullet to take out and they cauterise the wound immediately, so no nasty infection to deal with."

Fuyuki thought about making a sarcastic remark about how lucky he was to be shot with a 'fancy alien laser gun', but then decided against it. Nurse Nano then came over, holding something folded up. "Here you are, sweetie. Your clothes, all nice and clean."

Fuyuki looked down and noticed that he had been shirtless (and probably trouser-less underneath the bed sheet) this entire time. He dismayed at how bad he was at noticing things, and pulled on his hoodie after Nano took the IV out of his arm.

"Here, you'll be wanting this back as well," Katazuchi reached under the bed and produced Fuyuki's backpack. He took it and stared at it for a moment. It was beaten and dusty and had a big red-ish stain on it but it was still his backpack. The only piece of home he had left.

"Here you are," Nurse Nano suddenly shook him out of his stupor, giving him a small, brown plastic bottle. "These painkillers should help. Take two every four hours for as long as you need."

"Just don't 'need' them too often," Katazuchi cut in, "Our supplies aren't that glorious, and the only reason you've got one bottle to yourself is because you're a child and because of the seriousness of your injury. Without those painkillers, you might not be able to get up in the morning."

"Oh...um...Thanks then," Fuyuki replied, pocketing the bottle. And then he finally decided on what it was about Katazuchi that made him feel funny. "Have we ever met before?"

The man frowned, and studied Fuyuki, as though staring at him might jog his memory. "I think we might have. Were you ever cornered by the green one of those aliens?"

"Yeah, and then some guy threw a brick at it and I ran away...! You...You must've been that guy, Katazuchi-san. That means you've saved my life twice..." Fuyuki felt his mouth stretch into another smile, "Thank you, Katazuchi-san, thank you so much."

Katazuchi didn't look back at him. He stared at the floor, his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers intertwined. "I'm sorry I couldn't save your sister," he said quietly, solemnly.

He felt his heart get shot through with a shard of ice. For a moment there, for just a moment, thoughts of his sister hadn't dominated his mind. For a moment he was happy to just be alive, but then he remembered that she wasn't. And he was sorry too.

"Hey, listen, Fuyuki-kun," Katazuchi began to look a tad more upbeat again, "I'll get one of the other kids your age to show you around the Sanctum later. For now, just get some rest."

"I thought you said I've already been asleep for two days?"

"Well, get more rest. I'll get you added to the registers and find you a bed...You don't have to worry about the aliens anymore, Fuyuki-kun, you're safe here."


"Alright now, troops, there will be two extra soldiers joining the platoon for the duration on the Pekopon invasion," Keroro addressed the platoon. Corporal Giroro, Private Tamama, and even the reclusive Sergeant Major Kururu had assembled on their sergeant's orders in the docking bay of their ship to greet the new soldiers. Tamama was buzzing with both excitement and anxiety about meeting more experienced soldiers, Kururu seemed to have no interest whatsoever in this topic that didn't concern torture or science, as usual and Giroro was...well, he wasn't unhappy about seeing him again, but he wasn't arranging a tickertape parade either.

"I don't need to tell you to respect these soldiers as you would respect me-"

"HA!"

"Corporal, anymore remarks like that and I'll court-martial your ass! Ahem, so, anyway, First Lieutenant Garuru and Chief Medic Pururu will be assisting us and we'll discuss our Europe-Africa stratagem as soon as they arrive."

"Pururu-chan is coming?" Giroro blinked in surprise.

"I know, right?" Keroro grinned happily. "Apparently, she left the private sector to join the forces. And now, she gets to work with us."

"Um, Sergeant-san," Tamama piped up, "who is Chief Medic Pururu?"

"Oh, she was in the academy with Giroro and me. I guess we're childhood friends!"

"Oohkay...and who's Lieutenant Garuru?"

Giroro was about to answer, but was cut off by an ominous, almost sickening "Kuuukuku..." The red corporal felt a shiver skitter over his skin and groaned. He never liked what the sergeant major was going to say.

"Lieutenant Garuru is Corporal Giroro's big brother," Kururu sniggered. "I can't wait to hear about all of Giroro-senpai's antics from when he was a tadpole..."

"Tough," Giroro sneered, feeling as though his skin was crawling with insects just from the scientists tone. "Garuru is one of the strictest soldiers in the forces. The only thing you'll be talking to him about is how to eradicate the Pekoponian Resistance."

"Corporal's big brother?" Tamama squeaked in surprise, "Wh-what's he like?"

"Ugh...Just slightly terrifying..." Keroro mumbled, his eyes going hazy as childhood memories of being rescued from huge dogs and huger bullies flooded back. "He's one of the best for the job, so it'll be good having him here. But, of course, I'm still the one in command."

After a few more moments of (pointless) debriefing, a small, sleek ship with a symbol a bit like a pointy wolf face painted on the front, flew up to the base and docked. Two Keronians marched down from the gangplank, one purple male and one light pink female.

"Ah, Lieutenant Garuru and Chief Medic Pururu," Keroro saluted as they approached. "Nice to have you as part of the platoon."

"Sergeant Keroro," Garuru returned the salute and spoke curtly, "I am surprised and disappointed-" even from behind that yellow visor, Giroro could tell his brother's gaze shifted accusingly to him, just for a moment, "- that the situation has come to needing to draft in more troops, but you can be assured that I will obey your command."

"Oh, um, g-good..." Keroro stuttered. The purple Keronian was a truly terrifying frog, to the extent that Keroro actually wished for the roles to be reversed. Was this little trembling sergeant really meant to be giving orders to this tall, stern lieutenant?

"Sergeant Keroro," this time, it was Pururu who saluted, in a much friendlier manner, "nice to see you again. And you, Giroro-kun."

Giroro simply nodded in reply. Now that everyone was together, he was going to have to tell his superiors sooner or later...and 'later' would just make for a much worse situation.

"Well, now that everyone's together," Keroro chirped happily, albeit not very professionally, "we can get down to our strategies for taking over the rest of this dump as soon possible!"

Giroro cleared his throat awkwardly. Suddenly, all eyes were on him. He sighed inwardly, "Nii-san just had to be here for this, didn't he?"

"Before we can do that, the Kero Ball situation has developed," he said, grimly.

Keroro suddenly burst out in a petrified sweat, "W-wh-what 'Kero Ball situation'? Th-there isn't a 'situation'! Wh-what on Keron are you on about, Giroro?"

"Kukuku...There isn't a point keeping it a secret, Captain," Kururu giggled. Giroro sneered. He hadn't even told the sadistic jerk and he had already known all along.

"Sergeant Keroro," Garuru's voice was a low, dangerous rumble, "the Kero Ball is a vital piece of weaponry. Losing it would be inviting an execution."

"The Kero Ball was lost on the first day of the invasion," Giroro explained quickly, before Keroro could chime in with some pathetic cover story, "and I found out where it was all this time two days ago."

"Eeh? Y-you never said!" Keroro squealed as if he'd been personally insulted.

"Well, I found out where it had been, but I, um, lost it again."

And then Giroro knew what it was like to feel people in the room lose complete respect for you in an instant.

"You lost it, then you found it, then you lost it again," Garuru summarized, speaking very slowly, a silent threat dripping from each syllable. Giroro swallowed nervously, trying not to let his brother's glare unnerve him totally. "So, pray tell, Giroro," the furious purple Lieutenant continued, "where was the Kero Ball?"

Giroro's mouth suddenly felt very dry. He liked his lips and spoke, "A Pekoponian had it." The corporal could have sworn he heard every amphibian heart in the room skip a beat. Losing military equipment to the enemy meant a court martial...and even the court martial was merely a formality before the inevitable execution. For an entire Platoon.

"And where is that Pekoponian now?"

"Dead. I saw him en route to a possible Pekoponian campsite and he threatened me with it. The fool didn't know how to use it; he pressed Flash Transport instead of Death Beam but he...he was still within range to be shot. When I, uh...When I went to search his body, I couldn't find the Kero Ball."

The room was silent for a moment, except for the usual background noise of Kururu's low chuckle. After mulling over the information, Garuru clicked his tongue and grumbled. "And you decided not to report this until Pururu and I had joined the platoon and therefore would be executed along with you?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry." Giroro didn't admit that he kept the information until his brother joined because he knew his brother would be the only one who could figure out what to do. He didn't want to look even stupider.

Garuru huffed and glared at Keroro. The green sergeant squirmed under the fierce gaze and whimpered, "D-don't look at me; he's your brother..."


Fuyuki rummaged through his backpack, killing time waiting to be discharged from the infirmary by checking inventory. A few pencils, a couple of old tissues, a pocket guide to everyday occult occurrences, the Kero Ball (he gave a silent prayer of thanks when he saw it was still in there, without the alien gizmo, he had a horrid feeling he would be dreadfully lost in the future) and mountains of candy he had scavenged from...that store. His back gave a little spasm of pain when he remembered the standoff...The steely stare of the red alien and the polished shine of its gun. The feeling of blissful freedom upon escape and the agony of a plasma bullet in his back.

He shook his head; a feeble attempt to see if physically knocking the memory out of his brain was possible. He patted his jeans pocket, double-checking the bottle of painkillers were still there. He had taken some an hour earlier and the pain reduced immensely in just a short space of time. Unfortunately, the muscles were still stiff from the trauma and weighed down by the bandages, serving as a constant reminder that the painkillers would wear off and the nasty ache would return all too soon.

"Hey, kid," Katazuchi's ever-friendly, somehow-always-slightly-cheery voice sounded from just behind him. The tall man who had saved Fuyuki's life stood in the doorway and smiled pleasantly as he spoke, "I found someone to show you around the Sanctum. Come on in." He waved in the someone.

It was a girl, Fuyuki's age, with a cute face and long, light blue hair that curled at the sides of her forehead. Her clothes were quite fancy and expensive looking, although a tad worse for wear, patched up here and there and they suited her timid disposition quite well. Ashamedly, Fuyuki only remembered who she was after a painfully long second of desperate memory searching. "Nishizawa-san?"

"Hinata-kun?" she squeaked in reply, as shocked to see him as he was to see her. The girl was Momoka Nishizawa, a classmate of his whom he didn't know very well but enjoyed their brief (albeit slightly awkward) chats.

"You know each other?" Katazuchi arched his eyebrow curiously.

"Yeah, we went to the same school," Fuyuki replied.

"Oh, good. Nice to have a familiar face showing you around." Just then, a pager attached to Katazuchi's belt started bleeping. "Ah, excuse me...I'll leave you two to it then," he said, checking his pager as he left.

"I...I can't believe you're here, Hinata-kun," Momoka said quietly. Her cheeks had a little pink tinge to them.

"I didn't think I'd be seeing you either, Nishizawa-san," he said, grinning. A huge surge of happiness had swept through him; someone that he actually knew had survived! Someone he shared memories of the same school with, the same classroom, the same teachers- the massive wash of relief and joy suddenly gave him the urge to randomly hug her. But he didn't.

"C-can I ask what you're doing in the infirmary?" she asked quietly, worry in her eyes.

"I...uh..." For some strange reason, he felt reluctant to tell her. Either he didn't want to worry his friend or he didn't want to give away a weakness...Which was ridiculous. His friends were his friends. If he couldn't trust them with his secrets and weaknesses, they would collect up inside him like grains of sand and sooner or later, he would suffocate. "I was shot by one of the aliens."

Momoka's eyes widened and her face paled. "You were shot? Wh-where?" He gestured to his lower back. "D-does it hurt?"

"Yeah...But they gave me painkillers."

"Oh..." She looked away from him and there was a silent lull in their conversation. She twiddled her thumbs awkwardly, searching for a new topic of conversation. "Um...S-so, should I show you where you'll be sleeping...?" she offered. Fuyuki nodded and followed her through the Sanctum. After a little while, they came to a huge, rectangular hall with long rows of simple beds separated by a metre of space between them. The 'Sleeping Quarters', according to Momoka. Each bed had a number painted on the wall just above it and a big foot locker at the foot of it.

There were a few dozen people loitering around on their beds, napping or talking with each other. Young and old, babies and pensioners. All looked slightly dishevelled, slightly tired...completely hopeless. Even the cheeriest of people had a certain...dullness in their eyes, as if their chatting and napping was just killing time until...nothing. Or worse, alien enslavement.

"Everyone else is probably in the food hall..." Momoka explained. "This is your bed," she pointed to bed number 199. "And I'm here," she sat down on bed 198.

"Is it just you here?" Fuyuki asked. "I mean, did you come here with any family or...?"

"Paul brought me here but...It's just me now..." She trailed off, her eyes becoming misty and sad.

He was going to ask who Paul was, but decided not to pry into anything upsetting. He tossed his backpack onto his bed and took a good long look around his surroundings, deciding to settle in as best he could. He had a feeling he would be here for a while.


AN:

If you read volume 18 or watched episode 282, you will know that pre-tamama Momoka had long hair, and the only reason she cut her hair was because she met Tamama. Don't ask me why. I liked her hair when it was longer :( But, anyway, since she had not met Tamama in this fanfic, she has found no reason to cut her hair. Therefore, she has long hair in this fanfic. I feel I over-explained that...oh well. Refer to episode 2 for why she is calling him Hinata-kun instead of Fuyuki-kun.

(Although, I do recommend watching 282- IT IS THE CUTEST MOMOKA EPISODE. EVER.)

I wanted to put more in this chapter, but felt like it was getting too long :/ Slower pace, shorter chapters is what you can expect I suppose...Oh, but please do review :3