Here's the next chapter. Sadly I still suck at fight scenes.
Currently the story is only going to be 22 chapters in all, unless I merge a couple chapters, which I might because it looks like there might be a short one.
So seven chapters to go.
Natsumi scurried to the side of the coliseum and hung onto the wall as a fissure opened up where she used to be standing.
Giroro wheezed and hung onto the wall with her.
"What is wrong with you? You almost killed me, Mois!" Natsumi yelled. She knew Angol Mois had changed a lot, that she was one of the lead perpetrators in this terrible world, but she had thought that Mois wouldn't directly try to kill her.
"That was the idea." Angol Mois took her spear off the ground, ready to hit again. Giroro grabbed his gun.
"I'm the champion of the coliseum here! You can't defeat me!" he tried to bellow at her and scare her out. Mois barely paid attention to Giroro, and hopped over the chasm she had just created.
"We have to fight her," Giroro told Natsumi. "Come on... She's tough, but I'm sure together we can - "
"No." Natsumi glared at Giroro. "You freakin' killed Saburo. What did he ever do to you?"
Giroro paled. Maybe he should have confessed that to her at a better time, but now it was too late. "We... We have to try, or else we'll both be dead."
Natsumi glared at him. She pulled at her gun on her belt with the sleeping drug. She pointed it at Mois and shot.
Angol Mois disappeared for a moment. Then she rematerialized behind Natsumi. "You never did really focus on any of my abilities, did you? As an Angolian, I would like to remind you that I can move faster than the speed of light."
She pushed Natsumi forward, toward the chasm. Natsumi lost her footing for a moment and Giroro desperately grabbed at her, to pull her back towards land.
"I still don't forgive you," she hissed, glaring at him. Giroro looked apologetic.
"I don't care," he told her, "But we need to team up. We need to fight together or else we'll both die. We outnumber her. We can do this... And we have good teamwork."
After twelve years, Natsumi wasn't too sure. She barely knew Giroro anymore. He had changed so much, and she... She had remained exactly the same. But he made a point. They had to use their numbers to their advantage.
"Let's come at her from two different angles," Natsumi suggested. Giroro nodded, and they charged at her.
Mois flew up and they ran into each other. Natsumi moaned in annoyance and rubbed her leg from the impact.
Mois watched them. She knew Giroro and Natsumi weren't getting along for some reason, and because of that, their teamwork was faltering very much.
They tried to charge at her, communicate orders, but neither of them listened to each other. Sometimes they would get distracted yelling at each other about Saburo, and Mois would get in a hit on the ground.
Overall, it would be easy enough to take out Natsumi.
Kululu watched from the coliseum seats as Angol Mois trashed Natsumi and Giroro, constantly grabbing one of them and throwing them against the wall or swinging her spear at them. Honestly he was surprised at their endurance that they hadn't given up yet.
Sitting back, he spotted Tamama running off, probably to grab back-up or try to tunnel his way into the pits. He didn't care. He didn't follow him or talk to his former platoon mate.
Giroro was thrown against a wall again and coughed up some blood. Mois turned her attention to Natsumi as Giroro struggled to get up.
"K-Kululu..." Giroro noticed Kululu sitting above him, drinking a soft drink with a straw as he watched. "H-help..." he begged.
"Why?" Kululu asked.
"She's... going to kill Natsumi. Natsumi won't listen to my ideas and my help because she's mad at me. There's nothing I can do to save her. Please... Save her..." Giroro begged.
"I know why you want me to, idiot. I'm asking why I should." Kululu took a loud sip again.
"B-because unlike Fuyuki and Mois, you aren't entirely evil. I know you've helped me before... Given me extra food, made my life here a bit more comfortable... Visited me. Please... I know there's part of you that can help..." Giroro begged weakly.
"Ku, ku, ku. Sorry. The dictator has spoken. She wants her dead. Nothing I can do," Kululu told him. Giroro hissed and turned his attention away from Kululu.
"Nice try, but you could say, this is the end?" Mois stood over Natsumi's crouching body, her spear hovering over her head.
Giroro clenched his leg muscles, ready to spring in between Natsumi's head and the spear, and take the hit.
Kululu sighed as he watched this pathetic display. Natsumi and Giroro hadn't put up much of a fight at all. At this rate, they'd both be dead soon.
And he knew that nothing good would come of Natsumi dying. Especially if the truth were to become exposed to Fuyuki that Mois had killed her.
He'd... hurt her. He'd lash out in anger. And Kululu didn't want to see that. He was frightened for this. Mois couldn't just play dumb if she did this.
Kululu quickly called Fuyuki up on his phone and turned away. "Hey, Mois and I are at the coliseum," he told the dictator, "but we didn't find Tamama like we thought."
"Oh? Pity." Fuyuki seemed disappointed in their failure.
"We did find someone else, though. Mois's currently in battle with her, so it's likely she won't survive very long against her," Kululu confided in Fuyuki.
"Who?" Fuyuki seemed disinterested.
Kululu grinned. "Ku ku ku. Natsumi Hinata." The line went dead.
Kululu turned back to the coliseum to see the end of the battle. Hopefully Fuyuki could come in and stop Mois before the finishing blow.
Mois's spear hovered above Natsumi's head. Giroro came running in to stop it with his body and sacrifice himself in the process, take the hit for her to amend what he had done wrong.
That was when a giant television screen flipped on, and Fuyuki's voice stopped Mois's movements. "STOP!" he yelled.
Mois paused and whirled around. "Fuyuki, I will deal with this threat. It's just someone from the revolution."
"It's my sister, alive and well. You know very well that Natsumi should not be harmed. You will not touch her," Fuyuki ordered. "Stand down."
"B-but..." Mois bit her lip. Fuyuki had found out. Now... would he give up the Harvest?
"Hey," Tamama whispered to Giroro and Natsumi, having put a ladder in the chasm Mois had created. His head popped out of it, having found a tunnel to freedom. "Now would be a nice time to escape while they argue."
Giroro coughed and nodded. He smiled at Tamama. Tamama was a lot stronger than him. He had kept the fight going when he could only play pretend at being a warrior. "You first, Natsumi," he requested.
Natsumi slid down the ladder, trying not to be in Fuyuki's line of sight as Fuyuki argued with Mois over if she would kill Natsumi or not.
Giroro came following after, soon enough.
By the time Fuyuki and Mois had stopped butting heads and Fuyuki ordered Mois to retrieve Natsumi, Natsumi was gone.
Fuyuki hissed. "This is your fault, letting her escape!"
"No! It's yours! I could have dealt with the threat easily and quickly, yet you insisted we let her live!" Mois yelled again.
Their arguing continued.
As soon as Tamama, Giroro, and Natsumi were in the caverns below, they rejoiced at their narrow save. Tamama hurriedly brought them both to a revolution safe house underground for medical attention.
"Tamama... I'm so glad to see you after all this time." Giroro wasn't the hugging type, so he just slapped Tamama on the back. "Good job saving us," he smiled.
"No problem. We succeeded in the mission to rescue you, so I'm glad," Tamama grinned.
Giroro looked at him. "I... I owe you an apology for leaving, Tamama," he said. "I left you to handle this crap on your own and let the platoon split up and I... I should have been here to fight with you, to fight against Fuyuki." Giroro clenched his fists. "But I left instead, because I didn't know if I was an invader anymore."
"You can make it up to me by fighting with me from now on," Tamama offered. "I need help," he explained to him. "This Harvest is... wrong, inhumane... It isn't what Mr. Sergeant would have wanted. They're using his dead body in wrong ways."
Giroro nodded. "I can agree with that. I didn't want this for him, either... But... I didn't fight against it as hard as you did. I gave up. So it would only be fair for me to devote myself to helping to make up for the wrongs I committed," he told Tamama.
Tamama jumped on him and hugged him. Giroro moaned in pain from his open wounds.
"Yay! You agreed way more than Dororo did!" Tamama smiled.
"Dororo? You saw him too?" Giroro looked at Natsumi and Tamama. Natsumi still wouldn't look at him. "Where is he? How is he doing?" His face expressed worry for his friend.
Natsumi was quiet. "I'm sorry..." she apologized. "He... He got captured by Mois. We don't know if he's still alive or not."
Giroro's face turned to horror. "Oh no..." He hadn't seen him in the coliseum. It was likely Dororo was killed.
"He entrusted me to look after his son, though. I... I might be mad at you, but you were his friend too... If you want to help take care of him, meet him... I'd be fine with it," Natsumi told him.
Giroro nodded. "Dororo... has a son?" he asked, confused.
"His name is Kohizou. He's five. He's Koyuki and Dororo's son," Natsumi explained, smiling sadly.
"And... Koyuki... Was she also... dead?" Giroro asked. Koyuki had stuck by Natsumi when he hadn't. She didn't deserve to die.
Natsumi nodded sadly. "Angol Mois killed her."
"Damn. She's worse than I first thought." Giroro punched the wall angrily.
"Welcome to my world," Tamama told him.
Giroro fought back sobs.
"So... how did we escape, anyway?" Natsumi asked. "How did Fuyuki find out I was in the coliseum?" She was secretly pleased her brother didn't want her dead, that there might still be a bit of Fuyuki in there who loved her, but she wasn't going to tell everyone she was happy that the evil dictator cared for her.
"Kululu, probably." Giroro shrugged. "I asked him to save you, and he refused, but Kululu doesn't really act based on what he says," he said. "He probably called him up and told him you were there."
"Why... Why would Kululu save my life?" Natsumi hadn't even noticed Kululu was there.
"I told you! Kululu's, like, all flip-flopped nowadays! He's nicer, he's not as evil as the rest of them. Sure, he appears that way, but he's saved my life before," Tamama defended.
"He's saved my life, too. He... Admittedly was mad about the Saburo thing, but I don't think he blamed me. He blamed Fuyuki for making us fight in the first place. Sometimes he would visit me, give me food, and talk to me like we were in a platoon again, like the old times. Honestly, in all these years, Kululu's the only one I've had contact with that I know... So it might be a little weird for you to hear me jump on the train to defend him, but he's nicer than you give him credit for," Giroro told her.
Natsumi blinked, not really believing it. She hadn't been asleep that long for Kululu to turn nice. And he was still on the side of evil.
"Honestly... I think Kululu might be a double-agent," Tamama admitted, crossing his hands as Natsumi and Giroro laid down in beds as people bandaged them. "He might be against this Harvest thing and what that woman and Fuyuki are doing, but they might keep him on a tight leash... So I suggest for our next move to get him to our side. To liberate him from their control."
Natsumi seemed baffled. "You... You want to ask Kululu to join us? I mean... I can understand asking Dororo and Giroro for help, but Kululu might be pushing it."
Giroro thought for a moment. "It would be a good idea. It would bring your revolution to a better technological superiority. If we captured him and convinced him out of what he was doing, or convinced him we could keep him safe, he might help us. And it's likely he won't tell about our plans if he disagrees with our views." Giroro was all aboard for the plan.
Tamama looked at Natsumi with big eyes. She sighed. "Fine, we can try. But if any of us is in danger, we ditch out. No more losing people like we did with Dororo."
Tamama nodded, eagerly agreeing.
After being thoroughly chewed out by Fuyuki, Mois marched over to Kululu's lab where he was working. She knew only one person knew about Natsumi and could have told him. Fuyuki wasn't very interested in watching her work, so he couldn't have found out himself.
She felt livid. She had confided in Kululu! He was supposed to be her confidant, loyal to her no matter what! Yet, he had betrayed her and told Fuyuki something he knew was against her wishes.
She threw open the door and spun around his chair. She glared at him, her eyes brimming with anger. "Why? Why'd you tell him?" she asked, the anger evident in her voice.
Kululu looked at her, barely taking offense to her anger and betrayal.
"You're supposed to be loyal to me. You said you'd be my servant. That I could trust you..." she continued, her eyes were now brimming with tears.
"I couldn't let you kill Natsumi," Kululu finally answered. "Fuyuki would have been mad."
"S-so... So that's it! Your true loyalties lie with Fuyuki, because he can give you the power you desire? I own just as much of this world as Fuyuki!" she reminded him.
Kululu shook his head. "My loyalties don't lie with Fuyuki. They're with you," he reassured. He brought his hand up to her cheek to stroke it. He never wanted to be the one to cause her pain, and although he wouldn't have changed his actions, he did feel sorry.
Mois slapped his hand away, carefully so it wouldn't hurt his scrawny body. "Then why?"
"I didn't want you to get hurt," he said simply. "We both know that if you had killed Natsumi. Fuyuki would have been mad. He would have hurt you... I've seen him lash out before. And I... I mean, the Captain wouldn't want that, would he? It wouldn't help your goal at all." Kululu knew Mois wouldn't care if he was hurt by her being hurt. She would care if it had something to do with Keroro, though.
Mois thought for a moment. "Oh..." She nodded. "I suppose it wouldn't help my goal... I don't want Uncle sad."
Kululu smiled. She was getting it.
She sat down in a chair next to him, her anger fading. Kululu watched her, thinking for a moment.
"Fuyuki punishes you a lot when you've done wrong, doesn't he?" Kululu asked.
Mois shook her head. "I'm his doll. I don't care." It was only really when she brought up Aki's or Momoka's deaths, though. Usually when she spoke of Natsumi, he just tried to get her to replace her.
Really, she knew only their grief for Keroro linked them. And although she had nothing to do with Momoka's death, sometimes it was easier for him to think that she had. She was fine with it, though. If she was in the same situation, she might have done the same.
She understood him.
"Why... Why haven't you ever done the same to me? Even now, when I've betrayed your trust, you went through great effort not to hurt me when you moved my hand away," Kululu pointed out. She had never laid a hand on him like Fuyuki had to her. He appreciated it, and he knew it was totally against Mois's character to do such things like that, but he was still slightly curious why she hadn't broken from the abuse she suffered.
He would have started picking on other people, if it was him. But she never did. "Do you care about me?~" he teased.
"Kululu..." Mois's voice was soft.
"You can't," he said. "You can't care about me. Remember? Sorry, it was wrong of me to tease about that. Just don't care about me. Cuz... you and I both know I'll be dead." Kululu gave her a sad smile and squeezed her hand. "Although, as your loyal servant I would willingly die for you."
She solemnly nodded. "I would never hurt you, though. You should know that," she reassured him. "The demonic rituals might be taking a toll on mine and Fuyuki's souls every year, but I'm no monster. I'm not corrupt yet, and I would never do something like that," she reassured.
"I know," he told her. He knew her soul was becoming corrupt, just like Fuyuki's. He had seen her coughing up black masses sometime, but unlike Fuyuki toward him at least she hadn't shown much difference in her personality.
He knew she delighted more in bloodshed and pain and suffering than she had previously, but he honestly believed that she had always been intrigued by it, and it wasn't that much of a change. She was just more active in her pursuits now.
He kissed her gently on the forehead. "You don't have to forgive me for betraying your trust. I'm just glad you're not hurt."
Mois blushed. "I forgive you. You were just thinking logically. If... If Fuyuki gives up on the Harvest for Natsumi, I'll just continue on without him," she decided.
Kululu nodded. He assumed that.
"Speaking of that... I better go talk to Fuyuki about his plans," she told him. Waving, she left Kululu on his own.
And he went back to his work, unaware Giroro, Natsumi and Tamama were scheming on how to kidnap him.
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