Chapter 11
"Did you invite them?" Garuru sat up and Giroro gave a grunt, recovering from having his older brother's weight thrown upon him.
"I don't even know who they are..." Giroro answered as he looked over the slender yet towering ship.
"Nephrodians," Garuru stood and looked it over. "But what're they doing here?"
"Are they friendly, or enemy?" Giroro lifted up his favorite rifle from the rubble and looked up at the teal and gunmetal-colored ship. There were two large obtrusions on either side, looking almost like claws. The ship itself was floating off the ground, it itself hadn't landed, as they previously thought. It was only the large set of stairs that had crushed both the fences and the tent.
"They're mercenaries, and probably one of the last groups you want on your bad side,"Garuru drew his own gun and kept his eyes set upon the door to the ship. "...What did you all do, exactly...?"
"What? W-why would you think we did something! There's no way one of us would do anything that stupid!" Giroro snapped, all the while having the sinking feeling that indeed they were the very reason for the invaders' appearance.
"Where's the green one, Keroro!" the door slid open, and Garuru stanced himself, keeping hold of his weapon. Giroro did the same, now looking over the invaders. They were more lobster like, than anything... But still dangerous looking. They were taller than even a full-grown Pekoponian, and much heftier looking. The four that initially stepped down the stairway were a brownish-red, with yellowed eyes and sharp, large claws that looked capable of crunching even the strongest weapon in Giroro's arsenal right in half.
"G-gero?" Keroro peeked out from the sliding glass door at the sight.
"Gunso, what'd you do now?" Fuyuki moaned.
"Kuku, I knew everything was going too well," Kururu chuckled. "Looks like they found us..."
"What?" all shot their heads in the direction of the kimono-clad Keronian.
"Kuku! Teicho wanted water-based weapon technology for the invasion, the Nephrodians don't have the best... In fact it's terrible, but a good concept! I improved upon it. Kukuku, I was only following my orders, and it made sense, considering their home planet is covered with as much water as Pekopon's, kukuku!"
"You let him do that?"Giroro snarled, clenching his fists and growling in Keroro's direction. "You idiot!"
The leader of the Nephronians didn't seem the least bit impressed by any of this exchange, "...You stole from us... You hacked into our system and then crashed it after doing it, too! We don't let anything go for free... We require some payment! You destroyed priceless equipment!"
"Gero... Um..." Keroro thought for a moment. “Do…. There's no chance you take checks, is there?"
"Grab one of them, preferably the green one! Do what you want with anything that gets in your way!" shouted the leader.
Three of the lower-level Nephrodians went in the direction of the group, Tamama first trying to hold them back with Tamama Impact, only to have it bounce off their shells. They gave a collective laugh at this, and kicked the little black Keronian away, knocking him clear across the living room. Koyuki went next, but was unprepared for what weapon one of the lackeys pulled out. It looked a great deal like a Keronian rifle, but with one hit she was encased in a bubble of water.
Garuru and Giroro attempted to fight off the leader while the others fought off the ever-growing Nephrodian forces in the Hinata household. Mois returned to her natural state and delivered a blow to several troops, knocking them back, but was taken by a sneak attack.
Momoka was caught trying to protect Fuyuki, and they were trapped in their own water prison together. Natsumi managed to beat off a few of the Nephrodians with a heavy metal skillet she'd found in the kitchen, but gave a scream as she was grabbed from behind around the neck.
"Natsumi!" Giroro shouted, breaking from his fight with the Nephrodian leader and running into the house.
"Giro-!" Garuru couldn't finish; the leader took this opportunity and smacked Garuru with the larger of his two heavy claws. This jarred Garuru a bit, and he was briefly cornered by the leader, only to watch the Nephrod leader's face jerk oddly, and then the invader fell to the ground a few moments, Pururu floating over him with a large syringe in hand. Garuru gave a nod, and she winked and gave a small grin in response.
"There's some soft spots in between the plating," she explained as she leaned forward and helped Garuru to regain his footing.
"Good to know," Garuru looked down at the leader and picked up his sniper rifle once more.
"GEROOOO!"
"Kuru..." was added blandly as Kururu and Keroro were rushed into the ship by two of the lackeys, Keroro kicking madly and Kururu simply slung over one of their shoulders.
Garuru rushed toward the opening, and managed to fire a shot before it closed, causing the door to only fold halfway, "That'll stop them from getting too far into orbit. Pururu, contact the ship! Tell Taruru, Zoruru, and Tororo we need them here as soon as possible!"
"Yeah," she nodded, running off to do just that while Garuru stayed by the hostage. "I can't get a signal!" she panted, running back to him.
"There's got to be something!" Giroro shouted from inside.
Garuru jerked his head in his brother's direction, and went rushing back into the house. "Stay with that thing! If he starts to move, knock him out again, this time harder! That's an order."
Garuru walked in to find most of the humans contained in the water prisons. Dororo was banging on Koyuki's, having found that he sword didn't work to break the bubble, and the said sword lay useless at his feet. The ninja girl was fading fast, and the other humans weren't doing much better. Tamama was still passed out on the ground from the blow he'd suffered, and Giroro was getting ready to take aim at the water-filled capsule Natsumi was in with his rifle, as a last-ditch effort.
Garuru looked up at Momoka and Fuyuki's bubble; she looked terrified, and he had grabbed hold of her hand. It was a few moments later the bubble exploded, and both fell to the ground. Saburo looked downward at this, cool as ever, and Kirere stood at his legs, peeking out from behind one to see the soaked duo coughing madly.
Saburo then went to Koyuki, quickly sketching a zipper on a side of the bubble and then unzipping it, allowing for the water to rush out. He then followed up with Mois, and finally Natsumi, who had been the last to be imprisoned.
"They have you Platoon leader and her... Mother," Garuru looked over to Giroro as the red Keronian stood by Natsumi, making sure she was indeed all right. "We've got a hostage of our own."
"We're going to get them back, right?" Kirere chimed in, looking up at Giroro.
Giroro nodded, "Dororo, wake up Tamama. We'll go with Garuru to get them back."
"Pururu can stay to watch over their leader and try to get in contact with my platoon," Garuru added.
"I'm going, too," Natsumi added. "Someone has to help you stupid frogs, you couldn't do it on your own."
"I'll go, too," Kirere called out.
"No," Giroro answered firmly, and looked down at her. "This is no time to fight about it, you'll get hurt."
"I want to help, too! It's why I'm here in the first place!"
"Then... Look after everyone," Giroro bent down in front of her. "You'll have your turn to fight, but this isn't it."
She seemed outwardly upset, but there was no time to talk things over. Dororo had revived Tamama at this point, and they were off after the ship with Giroro and Garuru. Natsumi, now equipped with her power suit, followed last.
Kirere watched from outside the wretched house as they flew upward toward the invader ship, which was still visible in the night sky, and then back to Pururu, who was pacing and still trying to contact her ship.
"It's like they've knocked out all satellites," she muttered to herself, removing her hand from her earpiece and looking upward. "I can't get a hold of anyone."
"My cell phone's out, too," Momoka added, still attempting to redial as she walked out.
Kirere thought for a few moments, looking downward, then went running toward the lab.
"Kirere-chan!" Fuyuki shouted. "Where're you going?"
"To see if there's something Kururu-san has that Pururu can use to contact the ship!" she lied, not looking back at anyone as she disappeared.
She zoomed out a few minutes later, on Kururu's hovercraft, zooming past everyone who had gathered out in the pit that was the backyard. She had to help her parents and prove she was more than an annoyance somehow.
"You don't know where you're going but you're definitely not wasting time getting there," she heard, and snapped her head over to see Saburo riding on something that resembled a large paper airplane. He had on his same cool expression as usual, and smiled as he looked over to her. "You really want to save them, huh?"
"I've got to try," she answered. "Don't stop me, or I'll-"
"Are you kidding? I'm coming to help you... Yellow, short, and creepy said I'm in charge of you if something happens to them, so I guess this is kinda being responsible."
He shook a little bit as they reached the high altitude where the ship had settled, now floating serenely on its side like a bullet or more appropriately fishing lure, and it didn't take long for them to find the action. The Nephrodians had air transport of their own, backpacks much like the ones Giroro and Garuru wore. They were focusing mainly on the weak points in between the joints of the Nephrods, but were still taking a beating.
"H-hey, where're you going?" Kirere shouted as Saburo continued to float toward the ship.
"To fetch my wave buddy! The backup forces are here!"
"Backup?" she asked aloud, and looked back to see Angol Mois, with a grinning and battle-ready Koyuki in her arms.
"Don't get hurt, Kururu will kill me!" he shouted before he disappeared into the depths of the battle.
Kirere then looked about, wondering exactly what to do next; she hadn't planned this far ahead. It didn't take long from her to find something to do, however. The sky was littered with Nephrodians, and two came rushing towards her, laser swords in hand. She pulled out the wrench-looking weapon Giroro had given her earlier that evening and took fire. A laser shot from the end of it, and she managed to blow one back, causing his buddy to fall back as well as the one Kirere hit tumbled back from the blow.
"H-hey, I got it!" she gasped.
"Kirere!" Giroro shrieked as he saw her from across the airborne battlefield. "I told you to stay! You're... You're purposefully disobeying a superior!"
"She's your daughter, she's not supposed to listen to you!" Garuru called out, taking fire and knocking out another Nephrodian's angel pack and sending them tumbling down from the sky.
"Get back, now!" Giroro growled as he shot at another of the large lobster-like invaders. Kirere was about to answer, but both turned in horror as Garuru took a blow to the back, knocking out his angel pack and sending him sailing to the ground.
"Nii-chan!" Giroro shouted.
The blow had been a heavy one. Garuru could hear the fighting going on for a few moments, but then it was all drowned out by the whistling of the heavy air about him.
Time seemed to stop for a moment, however, when he became aware of a new heaviness on his back. As he saw the small pink hand on his shoulder, he knew exactly who it was.