"Ahhhhhh, going to Pekopon is like being on vacations... I can't believe the Keroro Platoon is having so much trouble invanding the planet." Private First Class Taruru said, folding his arms behind is head and his legs on top of the partition between his seat and Recruit Tororo's. The tadpole, feeling the blue Keronian's feet invading his personal space, shoved them off.
"With such incompetent people like Sargeant Major Kururu, no wonder pu pu."
"Incompetent? I thought you were the one that still hadn't won-"
"Don't talk about that!"
Their argument went on for a few more seconds, until a calm, but strong and stern voice spoke.
"Private Taruru, Recruit Tororo, I'm sure we all would appreciate it if you could be quiet for a few moments. I thought you both were tired from the last mission." After listening to the Lieutenant's voice both frogs quickly moved away from each other. Taruru looked bored and Tororo relieved that he could finally dedicate himself to do what he was actually good at, if not the best.
...Well, as long as Kururu wasn't concerned, at least.
Truth was that if they didn't stop immediately, the alternative was having a bullet lodged in their brains (or what's left of them, anyway), and Taruru knew that having the Lieutenant completely pissed was something that no one wanted. He only saw him truly mad once - and he promised himself it would be the last. The sight of the Rifle of the Platoon's leader aimed at him was something that he wanted to forget urgently.
"It's going to be nice seeing Keroro, Giroro and Dororo-" Chief Medic Pururu started, but was quickly cut off by the Lance Corporal Zoruru.
"Zeroro." He corrected her coldly, which made her sigh.
"Are you going to give anything to your brother, Lieutenant?" She asked her leader, moving her eyes towards him. She continued to clean her needle as she did so, but being distracted she accidentally got the huge thing a bit too close to Tororo, who immediately jumped once he saw the object just a few inches from him.
"Keep that thing away from me!" He yelled, which made Taruru laugh.
"Are you scared of needles, recruit?" He asked tauntingly, poking Tororo's cheek with his index finger.
"Aren't we all scared of that needle?" Zaruru commented, nodding his head towards Pururu's "best friend". Taruru made a face, nodding his head in agreement.
"Well... yeah, even the Lieutenant."
Garuru started at him threateningly, and Taruru immediately regretted his words.
"Come again, Private?"
"N-Nothing, Lieutenant. The starts look nice, don't they?"
There was an awkward silence for a few moments until Tororo cleared his throat, remembering Taruru's words.
"No, I'm not scared of needles, I'm scared of the old woman pu pu."
He sat more comfortably in his seat once he realized the needle wasn't close to his face anymore, but he heard his name being called almost immediately.
"Recruit Tororo, I believe we already had this conversation." The purple space alien spoke, staring at the Chief Medic, who was staring at her face in a mirror with the darkest expression ever and muttering "I'm not old... no, no, not old...". Garuru glared at Tororo, who in return shrugged and got back to what he was doing.
"I'm not going to apologize pu pu."
"Now."
"But it's the truth!"
"Now."
Tororo knew that when the leader's tone of voice got so threateningly in all its calm, it was better not to give any more steps towards "the line". Tororo perfectly knew what happened if someone crossed it, and remembering Taruru's incident, he didn't want to risk it. He certainly didn't want the huge Rifle aimed at him, too... Reluctantly, he swallowed his pride, turning his head towards Pururu's direction, who was furiously cleaning her oh-so-famous needle.
"I'm sorry." Seeing one of the Lieutenant's irises appear under his visor, he quickly rephrased. "I'm very sorry, Chief Medic Pururu. It won't happen again."
It was like he could hear Kururu laughing in front of him, laughing of his submission... The Sargent Major would never let his leader make him apologize for such a tiny thing.
Truth is, Sargent Keroro isn't the Lieutenant pu pu. I'm pretty sure not even Recruit Tamama takes him seriously most of the time. Tororo thought, which made him feel a lot less embarrassed about what happened. Truth is the Chief Medic would end up forgiving him anyway, her being the soft-hearted frog she is, but his apologize made it a lot easier (and faster). The violet Keronian glanced at him, giving him one of her soft smiles, and shrugged. "It's fine". She then turned her head to the Lieutenant, waiting for his answer to her question.
"Yes, I am. I brought some things to every platoon member, actually. Sargent Keroro's father asked my father, who in turn asked me, to deliver something to his son, and seeing that they enjoyed the presents that I brought to them the last time, I thought that it wouldn't be... too bad if I also brought something to Recruit Tamama, Lance Corporal Dororo and Sargent Major Kururu, since I already had something to give to Giroro."
"I hope you didn't bring candy to Tamama, Lieutenant. The last thing I need is having him running after... unhealthy things while I'm trying to check his diabetes."
"The Master has candy everywhere. He's going to be a pain in the..." Seeing the look the Lieutenant gave him, Taruru thought about what he was going to say. "...butt, anyway."
The Chief Medic sighed, and noticing that they were approaching Pokopen, she looked outside the glass. "It's a really beautiful planet." She muttered with a soft smile on her lips, letting her chin rest in her hand. She heard the Lieutenant say they were going to pass through the atmosphere soon, but she was so lost in thought she didn't really pay much attention.
o - o - o - o - o
"Unbelievable." Pururu groaned as she sunk her head in her pillow, as if she was trying to repel a bad memory. She turned around, lying on her back, and stared at the ceiling as she put her hands on her temples, rubbing them softly. She realized she needed to take something for her headache, but she was too tired to even bother. She spent a day, a single day with the Keroro Platoon and she got the most horrible headache she had ever experienced. She didn't recall them being so restless and... annoying the last time she had visited them, but truth was her teammates weren't helping. Keroro was so nervous with the fact that Garuru was in the same room as him that he couldn't stop stuttering and talking nonsenses, and Giroro wasn't doing much better. Tororo and Sargent Major Kururu... Well, let's just say the little tadpole wasn't helping Pururu in the slightest, and Taruru was pursuing Tamama, which made the recruit run all around the place, trying to escape the light blue frog. Zoruru and Dororo were able to keep it cool, but the looks the robotic frog was giving the shy ninja were definitely helping the bad environment.
As a consequence, it took the Chief Medic twice the time it would usually take to give all the injections and to see how their health was.
Perhaps she shouldn't be so angry at her teammates, but she couldn't really help it. Taruru could've stayed in a corner quietly, Zoruru could've pretended he wasn't there as he usually does, Tororo could've easily ignored Kururu, and Garuru could've left the room as soon as the Chief Medic told him he wasn't helping. Actually she told them all, but do they ever listen to her?
That's why she has her needle. Now that she thinks about that, she could've blackmailed them.
When they got back to the ship, she didn't even bother to stare at any of them, not even at the Lieutenant. She placed her reports of the Keroro Platoon in the leader's secretary and quickly walked to her room, not wanting to end up having to face any of her colleagues. She started to think that she would probably get into trouble for not saluting her leader, but quickly shook her head in an attempt to turn her thoughts into something else.
Maybe they'll understand why I'm like this, she thought, closing her eyes. The quietness didn't last for long, however, as she heard a knock on the door a few minutes later. She seriously considered not opening it, but it could be Garuru, and she didn't think that not answering her Leader was a smart move. With that in mind she sighed, walking to the door, and once she opened it, a certain light blue frog appeared in front of her.
"Please don't close the door!" He begged, waving his arms in front of his freckled face. Once he realized the pinkish Keronian wasn't going to do it, he scratched the back of his head as if he was embarrassed about something. "I wanted to... hm... apologize for my behavior down there." He finally said, a red color appearing on his cheeks. He tried to hide it though, and Pururu realized she really couldn't be mad at him for too long. "The Lieutenant was mad because you didn't salute him, but I think he soothed a lot once he started reading your reports. I could see him perusing them in his office. He looked, like, super pleased."
Pururu felt like her cheeks caught fire, and that little observation Taruru made was enough to make her forget she was angry at all.
"R-really? He looked pleased?"
Taruru nodded his head lively, and a huge grin spread across his face.
"Totally! He even-"
Something crashed into the ship, keeping her from hearing what he said next. Both Taruru and Pururu hit the wall violently, and one of her bookshelves missed her for a few inches. For a few seconds everything was quiet, but it wasn't too long before a new impact was felt, making whatever was still on its place get knocked out. It took the nurse a while to stand up, and when she finally did she realized there was a cut on her leg, but nothing too big. She considered treating it, but once she laid her eyes on Taruru, she immediately forgot her injury. She ran towards him, and as soon as she got to him, he started to sit down, his hands making their way towards his head, as if it was hurting him.
"Ouch." He groaned, looking around the room. "What the frog just happened?"
"I have no idea." Pururu said, sitting down next to him to make it easier for her to examine his wounds. He had a few superficial cuts and a few bruises, but nothing too bad. She quickly put some Band-Aids on his scratches and got up, telling him to follow her. "We need to go check on the others."
He nodded, finally standing up and following her along the ship. The pair found Zoruru in the kitchen, but he waved his hand dismissively as he saw Pururu approaching. "I'm fine. Tororo is trying to understand what just happened, but he said one of our engines stopped working. He's trying to fix it, but he said he can't guarantee us anything. We'll probably have to land in Pokopen to take care of ship." He was going to say something else, but the Lieutenant's voice prevented him from doing so.
"Everybody, get down NOW!"
It took them two seconds to obey to his order, but as soon as they did so, an explosion occurred.
The "only" problem was that this time, it was inside of the ship.
It took them a while to understand what just happened, but Pururu didn't wait. She rushed towards the leader's office, and grew a horrified expression once she saw the state of the room, but even worse once she saw Garuru's body.
"Garuru!" She yelled, rushing towards him. She could feel her heart racing, but felt a little better once she saw him moving.
"What... Chief Medic... Are the others okay?" He immediately asked, forgetting all about his injuries. He stood up, but the nurse stopped him from doing anything else.
"Lieutenant, I have to take care of your back. It's all burnt."
"There is no time." He said, starting to move towards de main room.
"But Lieutenant...!"
"There is no time." He repeated, taking his seat. She let out an exasperated sigh as she did the same, and she only remembered that the ship wasn't in its best condition in that moment.
"Recruit Tororo?"
"I don't understand!" He half-yelled, taking them all by surprise. He was clearly frustrated. "The shields were supposed to be up, and there is no way someone entered the ship to plant that bomb in the Lieutenant's office. This doesn't make any sense!" He said, typing something furiously on his keyboard. Pururu and Garuru shared a glance, and she could tell by the look on his face that he had something on his mind.
"What about the engines?"
The tadpole gulped before answering.
"I wasn't able to fix it. The other one is still working, but not for too long... I doubt we can make a safe landing without it failing before we reach the ground." Pururu knew that the little guy was nervous. His hands were shaking and she could clearly see little tears in the corners of his eyes behind his glasses.
"We still have the parachutes, correct?" Garuru asked, his gaze moving towards Taruru. He got up and saluted, answering with a "yes, sir!" before leaving the room. He got back almost immediately with five parachutes, and handed one to each of his teammates.
"Recruit Tororo, I need you to lead the ship into Pokopen. Once we pass the atmosphere, I'm going to need you all to jump." This order made Taruru's eyes widen in horror as he stared at the leader like he had lost his mind.
"Have you lost your mind?! We all need to jump, Lieutenant! Not just the four of us!" He snapped, completely forgetting that he was talking to his superior.
"It is my duty to keep you safe. All of you. Besides, the more time you spend arguing with me, the less we have to get out of here." He simply said, and then moved his gaze to Tororo. "Recruit, you are the youngest. I want you to go first."
"You know what's going on here!" Taruru's sudden outburst startled all of them, but he seemed far too upset to care. "I heard you talking to the HQ; they gave us a mission and ever since that you've had this… this uneasy look on your face. I know the mission is in Pekopon, so I don't understand the reason why you are hiding it from us!"
The Lieutenant glared at him for a few moments before returning to his normal neutral expression.
"Some aliens are invading the planet, and obviously the HQ wants us to take care of it. Most of the creatures are quite unpleasant," He actually had to take a break there, almost as if he didn't know which word to use. "so I wanted us to go back to Keron so we could get ready and get everything we needed." He paused for a moment. "I think that one of this species might have heard our conversation, and is purposely trying to make us crash."
"And successfully." Snapped Zoruru, seemingly annoyed.
"And you didn't think this was useful information?!" Taruru asked his leader, looking him dead in the eye. The Lieutenant was visibly starting to lose his temper.
"Do I have to remind you that you're talking to your superior, private?"
"We're about to crash!" He looked terrified and desperate now, waving his arms in front of Garuru's face. "We are probably going to die! I couldn't care less about the fact that you are my superior, we could've avoided this entire mess if you had been a better leader!"
Pururu and Zoruru wanted to shout You're overreacting!, but none of them dared to speak after that argument. Tororo's hands were shaking while he stared at the Lieutenant who, in turn, didn't look mad.
He looked absolutely pissed. However, he didn't say anything, turning his head to the orange frog.
Tororo stopped typing on his keyboard as he stared at Garuru, terrified. The ship started passing the Pekoponian atmosphere, and the tadpole knew what that meant.
"But, Lieutenant...!"
"It's an order, Recruit."
The little guy jumped on his seat with the Lieutenant's sudden tone change and grabbed his parachute, his hands shacking. He slowly walked towards the gate that was supposed to open so they could jump and waited for Garuru's orders.
"Open the parachute only a few seconds into the jump. Go when I say."
The gate was opened, and Pururu could see the fear hidden behind his glasses. He wasn't crying, but he surely would be if he wasn't so in shock.
"Now!"
The little tadpole closed his eyes before he jumped.
The Lieutenant then turned to Taruru, who had is arms folded over is chest and a defiant expression on his face. His little show didn't last for long, though.
"Don't give me one more reason to shoot you, private. Believe me when I say that I am trying very hard not to." Warned the Lieutenant, and that seemed to actually work. Taruru probably remembered the Rifle incident, and didn't want it to be the last thing he ever experienced. That being said, he grabbed the parachute, walking towards the open gate.
"I want you to do the same as the Recruit. On my sign."
Taruru took a deep breath, closing his eyes.
"Now!"
He jumped.
Pururu saw Garuru's gaze move towards the Lance Corporal.
"Zoruru."
"No."
The cybernetic frog saw one of the Lieutenant's irises appear under his visor.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Pururu's going first."
The purple Keronian seemed to actually consider that option, but Pururu shook her head violently.
"No. Zoruru is... Zoruru. He needs to go first, Lieutenant." She then turned her head to the Lance Corporal. "Please!"
He seemed uncertain, and Pururu was starting to lose her patience.
"Please, Zoruru!" She begged in despair. "We're running out of time! If you don't hurry the ship will crash with us inside of it!"
The ninja muttered something to himself, grabbing his parachute and walking towards the gate. Before he jumped, though, he stared at the Lieutenant.
"Garuru."
He turned his head in his direction.
"It has been a pleasure."
He saluted, and then jumped.
The Lieutenant finally moved his head towards Pururu.
"Chief Medic."
"You have to promise me you'll make it."
He stood silent for a moment, until he nodded. She didn't seem satisfied, however.
"Say it."
He glared at her for a few seconds until he got back to his normal expression.
"I promise, Pururu."
She didn't know if her heart was racing because of the adrenaline or because of the way her name sounded when said by him, but that really wasn't relevant at the moment. She walked towards the gate, waiting for his order.
"Pururu."
She turned her head to him, her cheeks red.
"Thank you for taking care of us."
She gave him a soft smile.
"I should be the one saying that, Garuru."
An alarm went off, telling them the engine had stopped working.
"Go, now! I'll try to make the ship crash in a more remote area."
"But..."
"Now, Pururu!"
She breathed heavily, closing her eyes as she jumped.
The last thing she remembered was seeing and hearing the ship crash, and not seeing the Lieutenant getting out of there.
o - o - o - o - o
~ guess who's back, back again ~
ANYWAY! i suppose i owe you an apology... lots of them, as a matter of fact. so, i hope you can forgive me for simply starting this story and then not going through with it, but i am happy to announce that i will begin working on it again! hence the reason why i'm republishing all of the chapters, because i want to change a few things. this one is pretty much the same, but the others might have a few different things, so... yeah. there's that
english isn't my first language, so I would appreciate it if you could NOT be an ass about it. criticism is always welcome, just don't be rude
as usual, leave a review! i love to know what you guys think
