shed back to the ship.
"Why're they retreating?" Natsumi looked over to Tamama, who shook his head and held onto the arm which he had injured during battle.
"Maybe we were too much for them," Giroro muttered.
"Get serious," Garuru snapped, and they finished entering the large, still broken entrance, which folded back up to the best of its ability. Then the ship was off suddenly, with such a sonic boom that they all flew back from its backlash.
"UGH!" Giroro fell back into Natsumi, and he caught him, and held onto him, even as they stopped flying back.
"We should get back and check on the others," Garuru floated in front of them, as well as Tamama and Dororo. "See if we can figure out what they're planning from there."
They returned to the Hinata house, and Kururu walked out, carrying his laptop, "They've got a main base, kukukuku! Looks like they're returning to get help."
"Well, what're we standing here for!" Tamama shouted. "Let's go after them!"
"Kukuku! It's under the ocean," Kururu explained, and the Nephrodian leader gave a laugh.
"Best of luck getting to it... Even if you stole our technology, it's a poor copy."
"Kukuku! I didn't copy anything. I took a piece of garbage and reworked it into something usable," Kururu answered, taking a seat on the ground and typing away at it. "Plus your second in the command is the fool who decided to park that close near a fault line. But you didn't think you'd be here this long, did you? Kuuukukuku!"
"Wait, where's Kirere?" Giroro looked about quickly, but not seeing any sign of the pink Keronian.
"Doing her part, kukukuku!" Kururu answered with a laugh. "Kuuuukukukuku!"
"Y-you're sure this thing's safe to fly?" Keroro clung onto the steering of the watercraft, the same one Kirere had sunk on Kururu only days before.
"The flying's okay... It's the underwater part that I'm not sure about," Kirere muttered as she sat in the co-pilot's chair.
"Eheheheh," Keroro gave a nervous laugh, and sat back a bit.
"The radar says it's right ahead, Keroro-san," Kirere glanced at the screen and looked back at Keroro. "Keroro-san?"
Keroro was shaking horribly; nearly every time he'd been around this girl, something had gone awry. And they were getting closer and closer to the water, the waves getting more and more distinct as he now tilted the ship downward toward the said green ocean. They disrupted a sleeping flock of seagulls as they finally broke through the water, and Keroro shut his eyes tight, praying to whoever would listen to him.
Then silence. The lights to the inside cabin flickered on, and Kirere looked over to Keroro and gave a smile. The sergeant slowly opened his eyes, and looked about.
"H-hey, it... This isn't so bad," Keroro looked around at the black ocean that filled the windows now. "How much further are they?"
"Pretty far, but we're going pretty quick, right?" Kirere looked over to Keroro for confirmation. "Hey, Keroro-san... Why were you looking so scared before? I mean, I thought you were a brave soldier, and... You kinda looked like a chicken."
"Um... W-well..." those bright blue eyes were large and innocent, much like Angol Mois'S. He couldn't tell her she was a jinx, even Keroro, who wasn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, knew what this would result in. "I'm afraid of... Angler fish!"
"Angler fish?"
"They're much more menacing than anyone gives them credit for, Kirere-chan!" Keroro answered seriously. "They're the scourge of the Pekoponian oceans!"
"Hey, I think I see them!" she stood and pointed out the window to the quickly-approaching sea floor, and the large silver bowl off in the distance. It was lit by rows and rows of windows, giving them a good idea of exactly how large it was. It would have been a better idea to take a larger craft, Keroro thought with a twitching eye as he looked upon the size. It was easily twice as tall as Nishizawa tower, and the girth... Keroro didn't even want to try to figure it out, it would only make him feel more sick.
"Kururu-san, we're here!" Kirere called into her headset.
"Kukuku, very good, you're already there and you're not dead, so you're doing better than I thought," Kururu chuckled. "Satellite systems are back on, Teicho."
"Kururu Soucho, how exactly do we go about subduing this... Army?" Keroro looked out the window, his gut churning at the thought of how many lobster creatures laid inside, prepping a full-out Pekopon assault.
"Kukukuku! With something I developed from their technology, Teicho," Kururu explained. "They're anchored near a fault line for the time being, so we're... Kukukuku! Going to use it to shake things up a bit!"
"I didn't like that laugh, but all right," Keroro looked over the control panel and glanced over the buttons, and pressed the yellow one. Their craft floated down onto the floor of the ocean, near one of the very fault lines. Next, Keroro pressed the blue button to the left of the yellow one.
"What's he doing, Kururu-san?" Kirere asked as she felt the watercraft shake a bit.
"Kukukuku, we're going to make an earthquake," he answered, "A specialty attack of the Nephrods, but poor in its original form. Kuku, you might want to cover your ears!"
Kirere was about to speak, but anything she said was quickly drowned out by a booming, shaking humming noise. Keroro himself gave a yell at this, and both covered their ears and waited for the shaking, which was now even more violent, to stop. It only became worse, and the ship began to rattle dangerously close to the fault. Keroro managed to remove his hands from his ears long enough to pull up, before they fell too deep into the darkness, and landed them back safely on the ocean floor.
The Nephrodian ship wasn't so lucky, and teetered back and forth from the dramatic vibrations before turning onto its side and slipping down into the dark fault.
"Hey, we did it!" Kirere shouted as she watched the large metal base continue to slip down and the bright lights from the mothership eventually dim and then disappear. Their happiness ended quickly, however, as both became aware of a new wetness on the floor.
"I've got this!" Kirere shouted as they looked back and saw where some of the rivets in a corner of the ship had popped off from the vibration.
"Right!" Keroro nodded, and pulled up hard at full force, sending them shooting upward. "We can't die! I've got a stack of Gunpla at home that I haven't even touched!"
"Senpai, it looks like you're taking on water," Kururu said blandly from his side of the earphones.
"It's just a small leak!" Keroro reassured him with a laugh, when in fact it was up to Keroro's ankles already.
"It better be!" Giroro's voice growled over the frequency. "If she's hurt, you're going to wish I killed you, Keroro!"
"G-gerooo! We've got this under control, Giroro Goucho! There's nothing to worry about at all!" as Keroro spoke, another rivet popped off, sticking right into the glass and making yet another hole.
"I've almost got this!" Kirere shouted back to Keroro as she continued to work on applying adhesive to the gaping holes. The water was now approaching her waist.
"G-good, because I've got another project for you up here, Kirere-chan!" Keroro shouted. The pressure from the depth they were in and the speed they were going was taking its toll on the ship; Keroro kept pulling upward at full power, however.
The water was starting to look less dark, but it was still pouring in by the bucketload, now from the window as well. The window itself was beginning to form a spiderweb of cracks. The water was up to Kirere's shoulders as she trudged over with the tool bag in her hands.
She hopped up on the control panel and went to work apply the adhesive when suddenly the ship jerked to a halt. She went flying back, landing right against Keroro full force and giving a yelp while Keroro had the wind knocked out of him.
"W-what happened?" she sat up on Keroro and looked about, dazed at the new brightness that filled the cabin. "A-are we dead?"
"Eh?" Keroro adjusted in his seat a bit, and looked straight ahead. "It... It looks like... Gero gero gi!"
Kirere gave a laugh and put her arms around Keroro's neck, and the sergeant joined in this laugh, and carried her out to the escape hatch of the ship.