Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Okay, the nine circles of hell from Dante's inferno, quickly stated for those who don't want to google it are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery.
Mostly Giroro chapter.
I'm going to answer some questions and stuff from reviews now.
Coy Serum, I'd love to flesh out more of the revolution, but from my notes didn't have much time in this story. I tried to flesh out more of the coliseum however, to make it better, and if I ever write a prequel to this I will flesh out the revolution and focus on them. But thank you for liking them so much!
Kohizou is around five.
And thank you stuffedcrustlord. I will continue jamming everything I write with kurumois.
Umm...The starfish guy in this chapter is a small reference to Tales of Vesperia's coliseum. Because I'm a big Tales of fan. Not important plot wise though, so don't worry.
About thirty people were placed in the large gladiatorial ring. Only Natsumi looked like she was ready to do battle.
She scanned the group of people for a small Keronian, but Giroro was not there.
"Hey!" she yelled at someone who looked like they were shivering. "How many rounds does it take to get a battle with the champion?
"A-are... Are you one of the people who tried to get captured just for glory?" the person spat at her with a bit of a stutter. "I was captured here because my daughter was part of the resistance! Well... she was. They killed her and found her ties to me... And now I will die because of her choices. You will die in this coliseum, and you will regret your actions," the person hissed.
"I am sorry." Natsumi frowned. She knew most people hadn't come willingly here.
"Nine rounds," someone answered for Natsumi's question. "Just like the nine circles of hell..." they shivered. "The ninth, you fight the champion... But only if you've impressed the crowd enough to let you win."
Natsumi took mental note. Only nine rounds. And the ninth was with Giroro.
"What's the first round like?" she asked.
"It's against alien monster scum. Heard of the andromedan husky?" the person asked. Natsumi nodded. The stupid frog had used it against her a lot.
Seven gates all around the fifteen people entered. Seven animals came out, each with a name tag of a virtue.
They each looked intense, huge, and monstrous. Nothing like Natsumi had ever seen.
Well, except Bigfoot. Fuyuki must have hunted that down, she realized.
"The goal is to bring all seven of the monsters back into their cages. But they're ready to kill... to eat you alive!" an announcer yelled.
Natsumi put her gun away. This match wasn't about killing. It was about herding. Herding, she could do. Using her own strength to fight.
"Nine circles of hell, huh?" So she was in limbo? Fuyuki did always like his mythology. She gave a mighty kick to Bigfoot, but he grabbed her leg and gave a mighty roar.
You don't scare me. She glared straight into his eyes. She heard once to never back down with monsters and animals. Giving another mighty kick, she let herself to a flurry of pushing, finally getting Bigfoot in its cage.
Screaming was behind her. The stuttering man had been eaten. A little bit of blood splashed on Natsumi.
She couldn't afford the time to close her eyes and avoid the sight. So she focused on the other six monsters.
Everybody except Natsumi was out of breath. They were breathing hurriedly. She noticed their numbers had dwindled to about seventeen. Twelve people had died.
"Second round! Drop all armor you're wearing. If you're not wearing any armor, take off your clothes. You will be undefended in this battle!" the announcer shouted.
Natsumi hurriedly took off her golden gladiator outfit.
She kept her gun on her. They hadn't told her she had to drop her gun.
"Seventeen women that have been captured will be released into the ring. Kill them, or be killed yourself by them in hand-to-hand combat," the announcer said.
Natsumi waited for the doors to open. One woman for each of the contestants, it seemed. These women probably had won the right to stay in the coliseum, until they were killed by the second round.
To Natsumi's surprise, the doors opened and seventeen butt-naked women entered the arena. Some of them looked scared, humiliated, trying to cover up.
Some of them looked like they were just determined to win. The one standing in front of Natsumi looked like such.
"If I kill you, I'm free to go," she told Natsumi. "So die for me."
Natsumi felt terrible for the people in front of her. Why had Fuyuki designed for them to be humiliated in such a way?
It was inhumane.
"You're wondering what we did to land us in here, aren't you?" the woman asked, noticing Natsumi's shaking arm. Nothing unnerved Natsumi more than the sexual harassment the crowd was leering at all of them.
"Yeah," Natsumi admitted.
"All of us tried to win over the Emperor, or at least someone in charge. The Emperor needs an empress, after all. Unfortunately, he wasn't interested and punished us for our lust. He said this round symbolizes our sin. We... We just wanted better lives... Something to ensure we wouldn't die..." The woman launched herself at Natsumi's neck.
Natsumi silently shot her, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I'm sorry," she told her as the sleep drug took its effect in her.
The bell chimed.
Only fourteen of them were left.
"Third round!" The doors opened and instead of people, a tray of food came out. "Half of this is poisoned. All the food must be eaten. Try to choose something that isn't poisoned."
Natsumi's heart fell as she started panicking. Food was what got her in this mess to begin with!
So... people are going to have to die during this... She scanned the table as everyone started eating. She noticed some alien foods, some delicacies, that smelled delicious.
And some were normal, everyday things like wine and bread.
Immediately she knew what was poisoned and what wasn't. The delicacies... the food that's alien is poisoned. Fuyuki remembers how I got sick. She could predict this.
For once, she ate the normal food.
Three people collapsed, their mouths foaming from poison. Natsumi wasn't one of them.
Eleven people were left.
Greed. Natsumi remembered the fourth circle of hell. As predicted, eleven giant rocks entered the ring.
"To win, you must crush another person. You can choose between your fellow contestants, or these..." A door opened and some babies crawled out. "...children of revolution scum."
Natsumi weeped. She pushed the rock forward - it was tough, but she could do it.
She cornered one of the other contestants instead. Quickly, she whipped out her gun and shot them, to make them appear like they were dead.
Ten contestants were left. Everybody else had chosen to kill a baby they didn't know.
The fifth challenge was something she had expected. Just a normal fight.
"You can try to prove yourself to take a break. To live another day. The girl with pink hair will go first, to fight one-on-one," the announcer yelled. The doors opened and someone with a bandana over their head entered the ring.
"Where's the starfish? I'm going to get me a starfish!" The heat of the coliseum had probably driven them near insanity.
She looked away as she shot her gun, easily dispatching them.
Three more until I see Giroro, Natsumi reminded, trying to steady her breathing. She had been quick but hadn't done anything nearly impressive to let her live another day.
The floor moved below Natsumi, and half of it was replaced by flaming coals.
Heresy, Natsumi recalled.
"Walk through the flaming coals. The first twelve to reach the exit won't burn to death." This time fifty people were with her. Probably from all sorts of other coliseums across the world.
It was a race. And Natsumi excelled at races.
She felt bad for the others.
She was glad for her armor that she had picked up again. It kept her feet from burning from the coals.
She made it in fifth place. But she was still alive. She closed her eyes and turned her head as she heard the screams of the others burning.
Natsumi was dragged inside the coliseum, as the ring changed again. This time it seemed to have three rings.
She was given a number on a piece of paper, by a guard. Third ring. She was placed in the outer most ring.
For murderers, she recalled. All the rest that had been put in the third ring looked around.
"Kill three people and you will be able to move on. Do it in a way that you impress the audience, and you can live another day instead of doing your coliseum run all in one sitting," the announcer ordered.
Natsumi pulled out her gun. She wouldn't need to do it impressively. She just needed to hit three people and make them seem dead, something that would ensure their corpse taken out of the coliseum and they would be freed.
She smiled as she easily hit three people.
One more ring to go before Giroro.
In the eighth round, Natsumi found herself face-to-face with a genetically spliced flying monster. Its face looked like something in distress.
Everyone was cheering for her to be eaten. She had impressed no one.
"Kill it and you'll see the champion," the announcer told her. She was the only one on the coliseum floor. Everybody else had either died or impressed the announcer enough to live another day.
Natsumi took her gun and shot at it, but it didn't work. The gun had been made for humans, after all, not monsters.
"Natchi..." Tamama whispered in the crowd as he watched her run around and try to fight the monster. He was dressed in a cloak so nobody could see his face.
She needed help.
"Tamama Impact!" he yelled quietly, in the front row behind Natsumi. Hopefully, the crowd would think she did it.
In his powerful blast, the monster was slain. Natsumi breathed heavily, her weapon having been useless against her.
"Congratulations. You've won the right to die at the hands of the champion! Everybody applaud for our very own coliseum champion... undefeated and ready to kill!" Everybody applauded as the doors opened.
The announcer threw a sword out to Natsumi, the only weapon she'd get to fight against someone with guns.
Giroro walked out of the door, dressed in battle garb. He held two guns in his hands. His eyes were cold like a machine.
"GIRORO!" Natsumi yelled, smiling when she saw him. Giroro did not smile back.
Instead, he waved to the people, not paying attention to the person in front of him - Natsumi.
"Giroro?" Natsumi asked again. He wasn't listening to her.
"I have a job to do," were the only words he spoke. He turned to her, readying his gun to shoot at her.
Natsumi's breath caught in her throat. She recalled the final circle of hell - treachery. And Giroro... Well, he was definitely acting treacherous. It was like he barely remembered her!
Or... the years in the coliseum had taught him only one thing... How to fight like a machine.
"Where are you going?" Fuyuki had asked him the day that Angol Mois had returned with Keroro's body. The funeral service had been held for his friend, and that had been the end of it.
Dororo had been the first one to jump sail and leave to the mountains, no longer wanting the memory of the Keroro Platoon. Giroro had read the writing on the wall. Still, he had tried to convince Dororo to stick with him... But their trio of childhood friends just wasn't the same without Keroro leading them stupidly. Their friendship had crumbled to pieces.
"Leaving. Dororo had the right idea," Giroro replied gruffly assembling everything he needed from his tent into a backpack. "Take care of Miss Furbottom for me."
"You can't leave!" Fuyuki pleaded. "You... have to stick by sis's side... What if she wakes up and you're not here? Natsumi needs you!"
"No, she doesn't," Giroro replied. "And... it's taken me awhile to realize it Fuyuki, but your sister isn't waking up. It'll be fifty years minimum, and most likely thousands of years. Neither of us will probably be alive when she awakens." He told him the facts. "I... I can't stay by her side. I've been with her for a year, but it hurts to see her like this. You know I love your sister, Fuyuki, but I need to do my own things. Find my own path. The fact is, she's not coming back. Although... I wish my warrior princess was."
Fuyuki cried. "But... she needs you. I... The whole platoon is leaving... Sarge wouldn't want this..."
"Keroro is gone, Fuyuki. He died for us and our purpose here died with him," Giroro hissed, remembering his friend.
The Keroro Platoon was over. Dororo had shown him that. And there was no reason to stay. Natsumi's sickness had nearly broken him, and the loss of his brother and two other friends in his life was just too much for the little soldier.
Giroro just shook his head and left Fuyuki alone to his grief, a decision he'd later regret.
The only one he really said good-bye to was Natsumi, his warrior princess. Koyuki was happy enough to let him see her. She was the true friend among them who was sticking by Natsumi's side.
"I'm sorry I couldn't keep her updated on life, too," Giroro apologized to Koyuki.
"It's no problem, I know you're dealing with some hard stuff. Dororo is, too," Koyuki smiled, understanding. "You can come back to her whenever you're ready, though."
Giroro smiled, nodding. "Thanks," he told her. He then turned to Natsumi's pod that kept her asleep. "Good-bye, my warrior princess... Keep recovering. Stay safe. I love you," he told her, before gently kissing the glass between their lips.
He had to go, though. And he soon left.
Giroro didn't know what he wanted anymore. He didn't know his purpose. For years, he wandered around the universe lost and aimless, mourning the loss of Natsumi, and the Keron Empire.
He was no longer an invader of Keron. And that's what truly harmed him. His identity was gone.
He just wandered, lost and aimlessly, until finally in a tavern, he heard some people talking.
"Milk," he ordered his usual. He couldn't handle a drop of liquor. So he only had milk. It was good for the bones.
"I can't believe Pekopon's been invading so many planets! I never thought they'd become the new Keron empire!" some people behind him spoke.
"Yeah, that place seems really strong. Any alien that threatens it gets their entire race destroyed!"
"Who's the self-proclaimed emperor again, some brat named Fuyuki Hinata?"
Giroro's ears perked up. Fuyuki? Fuyuki was the emperor of Pekopon? He was invading the universe?
Maybe he did have a purpose again. Maybe he could be a warrior for Fuyuki.
It didn't take him long to realize that something was seriously wrong on Pekopon. The people lived in fear and most of all, the most unsettling thing was the giant statues of Keroro.
Cults seemed to worship him like a religion.
"Keroro..." Giroro felt himself get nauseous at his friend being used in such a way. The people in the cults wanted to kill and sacrifice people for him... so he could eat them?
This was wrong. Way wrong. And he couldn't go along with something like this. He had to figure out what was going on and get to the bottom of this.
He found out about the Harvest pretty quickly, when guards were lining people up to be taken away.
"What the heck?" he asked when he heard what was happening and what the Harvest was about. "You can't do this! These are innocent people! This is gross and wrong!"
"Ah... someone protesting the Harvest. Let's bring him to the executioner..." They grabbed Giroro, and Giroro went along with them. It was the only way he could find Fuyuki and hear what was happening.
He was given to Angol Mois instead.
"Finally, a familiar face!" Giroro growled.
"So you were the one protesting the dear Harvest?" Mois asked. "I suppose I'll have to kill you, then!"
"Wait... What...? It's me, Giroro!" he tried to remind her. Mois brought the pointy part of her staff down, like an ax. Giroro dodged.
Mois just giggled like a school girl as she went after him. Soon enough, she had cornered him.
"Fun, fun, bloodshed is so much fun~!" she hummed, in a tone that made Giroro shiver. She brought her spear down.
"STOP!" Fuyuki ordered. Mois made a disappointed grunt and stopped.
Giroro felt relieved. "Fuyuki..."
"That's Giroro! My sister... Natsumi really wouldn't like it if we killed him. When... When we find her... When she wakes up, she'll want to see him. Even if he abandoned her once, I won't let him do it again," Fuyuki explained.
"Fuyuki... What's going on? What happened to Natsumi?" Giroro only registered one word. Natsumi was missing.
"She's gone... We lost her. But... But she'll come back! We'll find her!" Fuyuki sounded filled with delusion. Natsumi must have died while she was healing. That's why she was gone. Giroro frowned.
Is... Is this my fault? Should I have not left him to his grief? he wondered.
"I have just the place to put Giroro, too. To keep him safe until sis wakes up," Fuyuki recalled.
"The coliseum? We haven't opened it yet!" Mois reminded him.
"Well, it's time to have our first match then." Fuyuki rubbed his hands together.
When Giroro was being transported to the coliseum, he learned quickly enough that Fuyuki and Mois were not the same as they were before. He learned about the Harvest and why it was going on.
He also learned that he was to live their prisoner. He felt hopelessness around him. He didn't have much better to do, and fighting back against Mois seemed impossible.
He tried to speak up that Keroro wouldn't want this, but they never listened to him. Fuyuki eventually spoke up, though.
"You know... I just realized something, Mois." Fuyuki recalled.
"What?" Mois hummed.
"We don't need two love interests for Natsumi when she wakes up. I think I know what our first match will be..." Fuyuki laughed.
"But... You told Kululu - " Mois's pleas were cut off by a quick slap by Fuyuki.
"Don't speak up against me. You promised to be my loyal doll, remember? And the person who caused Momoka sadness must prove he deserves to live... And anyway, he's revolution scum."
Mois rubbed her cheek. "Lose," she told Giroro, training her eyes on him.
The first match was upon Giroro, and for the first time in a while, he was given an arsenal of nice new weapons.
The people cheered, wanting to distract themselves from their own folly. Giroro knew this sort of scenario. It was a kill-or-be-killed sort of deal.
If he won, he could live. Fuyuki wouldn't have him ever killed. He wanted him to be there for Natsumi. To be the protector of Natsumi's heart. Even... Even if Natsumi was dead.
The doors opened and for the first time in a while, Giroro felt like a warrior again as people cheered his name. It was a nice feeling.
"Giroro? They got you too?" The voice of a familiar pretty boy greeted his ears.
"Saburo," he hissed. Saburo had only a pen in his hand.
"The rules are simple," Fuyuki announced at a special stand for him that he and Angol Mois sat at. "The winner is the one who kills the other. The winner will be the one who wins my sister's heart when she returns, and will be the one by her side. She only needs one lover, after all. He'll also be the coliseum champion, who I will ensure their life and honor. The loser dies. If you two don't kill each other, I'll have to have Mois violently torture you both until you're willing enough to," Fuyuki told them, "Or I'll decide on my own. And let me tell you, both of you are not very high in my heart today. One hurt my fiancee back when I should have been treasuring her, and if he dies it will be in her honor. The other betrayed my sister and left to find his own path. So who cares which one of you wins? I sure don't. Prove to me which one of you deserves to be by my sister's side," Fuyuki ordered.
Giroro noticed Mois holding Kululu in her lap, his face buried in the front of her shirt to keep from seeing the action. He seemed to be worried for his best friend.
"BEGIN!" Fuyuki announced.
Giroro turned his attention back to Saburo. "What did you do to hurt his fiancee?" He tried to make conversation as he walked along the ring.
"I... I kissed Fuyuki and confessed my love to him. Unfortunately Momoka saw. I... I just wanted to tell him I was there for him, that I could help change him from his evil ways. After she deported me across the planet, I realized Fuyuki wasn't going to change. So I joined the revolution over there and tried to stop this ridiculous Harvest. Unfortunately, I was caught and have been imprisoned for maybe the past three months? Kululu negotiated that they wouldn't kill me and I'd be the coliseum champion instead. Seems Fuyuki changed his mind, though." Saburo looked up at Fuyuki.
Giroro darted forward, to trip Saburo on his feet. Saburo jumped up.
"Giroro, we don't have to fight. Let's accept the torture. Torture doesn't mean death. Maybe we can both live and escape..." Saburo tried to tell him.
"I've been in these sort of coliseums before, Saburo," Giroro told him. "Had to go on a few undercover missions with Dororo and... and K-Keroro... Back in the day. Both of us aren't surviving this," he told him. "So... fight me in earnest."
The reality was sound.
"I'm not a killer," Saburo told him.
"Too bad I am," said Giroro. Saburo tried to draw a shield, and Giroro charged. The two of them began fighting.
The sound of a bullet echoed the coliseum. It was a valiant fight. But it was over now. And Giroro's first victory had been achieved.
Saburo's blood drenched the floor as he just held a now red piece of paper in his hands. Giroro didn't look away. He felt bad, but he knew he'd have to accept this if this was his new life.
"I suppose neither of you are losing any fingers," Fuyuki decided. His threats had gotten worse and worse as time had gone on.
"SABURO!" Kululu screamed looking down. Giroro did look away from Kululu's sobs as Mois held him closely so he wouldn't fall off the ledge and down to Saburo's body. "Y-you promised he'd live!" he hissed at Fuyuki.
"You aren't my master. I don't need to promise you anything," Fuyuki told him. "Mois, keep him restrained."
"I'm sorry," she apologized to Kululu. "He lost."
Kululu's wails were soon drowned out by the loud wave of clapping Giroro got. "GIRORO! GIRORO! GIRORO!" they chanted.
Giroro felt the applause get to him. He felt... like he had a purpose again.
He felt like a warrior. Someone with honor. Even if he was working for a twisted purpose.
That was how his life as the coliseum champion had begun.
Every time Giroro fought, he recalled his first victory, the time he had killed Saburo. Eventually, killing people had stopped hurting. He just worked as a machine. The coliseum's puppet.
It was better than being purposeless. He almost even liked it.
Natsumi spun and rolled on the ground, trying to dodge Giroro's barrel of shots. She had no leek in her hands to defend herself.
"Giroro! Giroro! Snap out of it! It's me, Natsumi!" she yelled. Giroro only heard one thing, though - the loud cheers of his name as the audience beckoned him to kill his prey.
"GIRORO!" Natsumi screamed. He continued to fight. He got closer and closer to her to do the finishing blow.
Instinctively, she stretched out her much larger arms and punched him in the jaw, hurdling him across the coliseum ring.
He rubbed his jaw. In all his time in the coliseum, nobody had managed to land a punch on him. His eyes focused on his opponent.
"Remind you of how we first met?" Natsumi asked. She didn't approach him, afraid he'd shoot her.
"N-natsumi...?" Giroro asked. Only one person punched like that. He could feel it in his warrior blood.
"In the flesh." She pointed to herself. "Going to try to shoot me again?"
He threw down his weapons. "No. No of course I wouldn't!" he promised. "I... I had no idea it was you. I... How? I thought you were dead! Or sleeping!"
"I made a miraculous recovery." Natsumi shrugged. "Why did you attack me?"
"I'm... I'm so sorry... I've been in here for so long. Six years almost. The only thing I've lived for in that time is fighting in this coliseum. I was like a machine. I... I didn't focus on your face, your words... Only the battle... Natsumi! I'm just so so happy to see you..." Tears were coming out of his eyes.
The audience was confused. Natsumi threw down her sword.
"I missed you too, you big red idiot," she smiled, outstretching her arms. Giroro ran into them, hugging her tightly.
To her surprise, she felt Giroro's lips softly touch hers. Her eyes widened as he kissed her.
"I'm sorry. I just... I regretted so much that I never told you that I love you. I... I wanted to tell you if I ever saw you again. I wanted to kiss you."
"You love me?" Natsumi was so shocked, but instinctively she pulled Giroro closer to her to continue their kiss. She hadn't seen him for so long.
She missed him, and it... it just felt right to kiss Giroro. It felt like thousands of people including Tamama weren't watching them as his hands entangled themselves in her hair and their tongues became quite acquainted in a passionate kiss.
She'd question this later. Right now her actions felt right. She wanted to be close to Giroro, having missed him so much.
The audience didn't know whether to boo or cheer. They were confused. They hadn't paid money to see this sort of show of two people getting down, but they weren't completely sure if they disliked it.
"I missed you so much, my warrior princess..." Giroro whispered to her between kisses, before capturing her lips with his again. "Every moment in this coliseum I thought of you, every moment I had to kill someone, every day, every moment, I wished I was in your arms, but at the same time I wouldn't wish this life on you." He continued kissing her.
"It'll be over soon," she comforted.
"I felt so sorry for you when I killed Saburo, but at the same time I thought of you and how happy I was to be alive because maybe... Maybe you were alive too and I could see you," he confided.
She took her lips off of Giroro and put her finger to his mouth so he couldn't kiss her again. "YOU WHAT?"
"Thought of you a lot?" Giroro looked confused. Why did she suddenly look mad at him? She slapped Giroro almost immediately.
"Ow!" He rubbed his cheek.
The audience decided to cheer. The fighting had begun again!
"You killed Saburo?! You killed him?" Natsumi was horrified. "And you decided the best time to tell me you murdered my schoolgirl crush was when we were kissing?!" She was flabbergasted at his stupidity.
"Uhhh... yes? I thought it was best to get this out in the open. You know... to pursue a relationship..." He was cut off by her angry yelling and look of loathing at him.
"Ever heard of wrong time wrong place?" she asked, yelling in rage.
Giroro shook his head. He cowered, feeling sad that she had made him mad at him.
Suddenly, the doors opened. Natsumi and Giroro turned to look at what had interrupted their argument. Nothing should have been sent into the ring while she was fighting the coliseum champion.
"Hello,~" Angol Mois hummed. "Found you, Natsumi~!"
Giroro darted out out in horror as Mois brought her spear down onto the ground. He shoved Natsumi out of the way of the fissure, saving her.
"Oh geez..." Natsumi had forgotten that there was a risk of Mois finding her.
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