Chapter 4:
Okay, I like to think I'm getting a *little* more footing for this at this point, lol. :) I definitely feel a bit more at ease writing this chapter, that's for sure. Thanks again for the feedback, and please enjoy.
"Yes, Mama, she seems to be feeling better already," Natsumi answered, hanging up the phone and looking back on the couch to Giroro, who sat with his hands clasped, looking straight ahead. She took a seat next to him, and smiled a bit, "...You look worried."
"I can't imagine having to explain that to headquarters if it'd turned out for the worst," Giroro muttered.
"At least Dororo was able to get over here quick... Say, where's Stupid Frog?"
Thunder sounded, and Giroro didn't even look away from the wall he was concentrating on, "The roof."
"Hrm. Good place for him. Remind him it' his night for dishes," Natsumi stood and stretched, and laughed a bit. "You can relax, Giroro. She'll be fine."
"Kuku, she's back to resting now..."
"...Babies are so gross," Tamama walked out next to Kururu, his eyes wide and his face sick-looking.
Giroro stood and walked over to the two, then Dororo joined them, "She'll be back to normal in no time, it was all a matter of making sure it got out of her system before it became deadly. Nothing an herbal remedy couldn't take care of," explained the ninja.
"Thank you again, Dororo," Giroro nodded.
"Well, I learned after-!" Dororo's smile faded, and his traumatized, glazed-over look materialized. "...Keroro-kun... We were having lunch, and he told me it was chocolate milk he wanted to trade for my juice, but it was only regular milk, and he'd just put paint in it... I was so sick afterward..."
Dororo retreated to the nearest corner, having activated his trauma switch, and there was another loud boom of thunder. The lights flickered this time.
"Kuku, sounds like it's getting closer."
"Good," Giroro muttered, heading toward the base. He still had his gun with him, from his showdown with Keroro while he waited for Dororo, and carried it at his side as he entered the nursery and looked into the crib. He looked downward; Kirere was now asleep again.
"...I'll wait here until you wake up," he took a seat on the ground, leaning against the crib and polishing his gun.
"Kuku, figured you would be here... Pekopon's made you so soft."
"Quit stalking me, Kururu. I had my piece with you," Giroro muttered, concentrating upon his gun.
"Just thought you'd like a little reading, ku ku ku," Kururu answered, revealing a folder in his right hand.
"What's this?" Giroro leaned forward and took the folder.
"Kuku, proving this isn't a trick," Kururu answered. "My curry's getting cold. Excuse me."
"Kururu, you really...? That's really...?"
"Ku ku! Unless it's involving a bend in the time-continuum, don't tell me I'm not capable. It wouldn't be good for you," then the scientist was gone from the room.
Giroro flipped through the file, having been finally left alone; he didn't understand most of it, but he got the gist of it.
"And this is a medium range firearm," Giroro explained, and held it up.
You look out of the scope here, and lock in on your target this way."
"Meow..." Neko looked a bit worried as she watched this exchange, which took place the day after the scare Kirere had caused. It was a sunny day, and the char marks Keroro had made on the roof were still a fine crispy black. It smelt like they had had a barbecue.
"Ah, this is a personal favorite," Giroro opened a case and pulled out a large rifle, and Kirere sat there, as intent as a baby could. "At full power, this could blow a hole the size of the largest crater on Keron's moon."
While bending over to retrieve another weapon he had laid out on the mat, Kirere leaned and gripped onto his belt, "Hrm? This? It's a long story, but-"
"Stupid frog, can't do his chores, you'd think it was the first time he'd been struck by lightning," Natsumi grumbled as she stepped out, her arms full with a hefty laundry basket. "Giroro!"
"N-Natsumi!" he came to attention and sat back on the mat. Kirere laughed.
"What're you doing!"
"...Well, she has to learn early," Giroro looked downward as he spoke. "It's part of her training."
"Why're you being so nurturing all of a sudden?"
"Well... If no one else is capable enough, I suppose I have to take over as best I can. It's better than Keroro or any of those other lunatics being left with her," Giroro folded his arms and closed his eyes, doing his best to keep a cool looking going.
"What're you doing out here with all of this, anyway?" she bent down next to him, causing a small blush to come across Giroro's cheeks.
"W-well, just some of the basic weapons and their uses. We're training her as our secret weapon, she has to learn early," he was too flustered to notice exactly what Kirere had grabbed ahold now. He was only blown back along with Natsumi from a sudden blast, Natsumi landing on top of him and the sheets flying everywhere.
Fuyuki looked out from the large fresh hole, which was made inches from where he had been standing, looking for a book he'd misplaced. He was clearly shaken, and looked out, wide-eyed.
Natsumi stood up and looked about at the mess. Giroro, too, recovered after a moment, and sat up, his head still spinning. Kirere sat there and laughed, and Natsumi glared down at him, having gone into demon mode.
"Giroro Goucho, how nice of you to take over laundry duty in my absence!" Keroro smiled as he hobbled in on a set of crutches, still pretty banged up from the day before, and saw Giroro glaring at the washer/dryer, his arms folded.
"Hrm, I wanted to ask when did we put in a new window, and one so... Conspicuous?"Keroro asked, Giroro still didn't answer. "I just wanted to throw out another apology... Gero, no hard feelings, I hope."
"Keroro... Another word and I'll have you in here just in time for the spin cycle," Giroro hissed through grit teeth.
"Hehe... Goucho has such a weird sense of humor sometimes," Keroro shook his head and hobbled off toward the kitchen.
"Mm, all right, Mama," Natsumi was leaning against the counter and on the phone. "We will... Don't worry, I won't. Bye, Mama."
"Another late night? Well, don't mind me, I'm just getting a snack," Keroro grinned good-humoredly and headed to the fridge.
"Not so fast. We need the wall fixed," Natsumi announced as he reached the fridge. Keroro hung his head and sighed.
"Kururu Soucho needs to invent an effective brainwashing gun," Keroro sighed as he went off to his task.
"Ku ku...I have, it's out of my hands as to how he uses them," Kururu muttered from his lab, a handpuppet on one hand and Kirere on his lap. She grabbed onto his glasses, but he quickly took these back and pushed them up. "Kuku, no, no, I have an image to keep up here."
Kirere then shifted her attention back to the green Keroro handpuppet, while Kururu resumed work as usual.
"Hrm?" his attention turned to a screen on the far right. "What's that...?"
"You overloaded it!" came a shout from the speaker under another screen. The washer was spewing out soap and water all over the room; it wouldn't take long for the entire room to flood at the rate it was going.
"I-I did no such thing!"
"You can clean this up, too!"
"What? Do I look like Keroro!"
"Kuku," Kururu got a small chuckle from this, then looked back to the screen he had originally been focused on. Whatever blip there was before was gone. "Eh?"
"What smells like bleach?" Tamama sniffed the air as he headed down to the debriefing room beside Giroro. Giroro only grit his teeth and remained in his perpetually pissed-off mode.
"All right, so it's the pastel pink plates!" Keroro's meeting had revolved around party plans for the first twenty minutes, and only came to a halt when Giroro finally snapped.
"How does this have ANYTHING to do with our mission?" demanded the red alien. "Stick to the topic!"
"Gero... Very well, then," Keroro was a bit crestfallen at being interrupted, but it was nothing to be unexpected from Giroro. "Moving on, our next invasion strategy... Operation Get 'um While they're Young!"
"Eh?" Giroro blinked as the lights dimmed and the screen came on.
"Given our recent experience my plan is this. A Pekonponian Daycare. We mold the children's minds from a young age, given their impressionability, we ought to have an effective army in no time! Gero gero, recruiting little minds while in their prime..."
"Idiot! You had one kid with you for five minutes and you nearly killed her!" Giroro snapped.
"It was so gross..." Tamama recalled, his eyes going wide once more.
"...Kukuku, you could always try out our new weapon."
"What?" Giroro snapped.
"Kuku, it's still in it... Infancy stages, Teicho, but I think now would be a good time to test out her potential."
"The more field experience, the better!" Keroro grinned. "Pekopon will be a mere training ground for her! And once it falls to its knees and bows to us, who knows what next? All of the Gunpla factories in the world, ours, gero gero."
Giroro obviously was wary of this, but, it was for the invasion...
Giroro stood, "I need to be excused."
"That's fine. Meeting adjourned for now, I'll see everyone back here in the morning!"
Dororo looked from the hidden spot he had been lurking in, and replaced the tile only after feeling the bite of dejection once again upon being forgotten.
"Kuku, you have a big day, then," Kururu said to the baby, lifting her up and heading back to her nursery.
"She better not get sick again," Tamama muttered hoarsely.
Giroro returned to his tent after the meeting, skipping out on dinner and baking himself a sweet potato instead. The hole in wall had been repaired, and his weapons put back away.
"Hrm?" he looked upward to the few stars he could see in the sky of the brightly lit Tokyo, and noted one falling one. Pekoponians sometimes wished on these, he heard. Another one of their stupid superstitions.