Chapter 2:

"Like this?" Kirere swayed her hips back and forth, Tamama, Natsumi, Mois, and Koyuki joining in.

Momoka sat at the table with Fuyuki, while Dororo, Keroro, Giroro and Kururu also finished their meal at the table. Haruki was awkwardly leading the girls (and lone effeminate boy) in a hula, with the girls varying in success. Giroro was transfixed as he watched Natsumi dance, and Dororo and Keroro clapped to support the girls and Tamama.

"Yeah, kinda, but your arms are a little stiff," Haruki answered.

"You're a natural, Koyuki!" Natsumi said with a grin that made Koyuki squeal with happiness.

"Wonderful job, everybody!" Dororo added, grinning from beneath his mask.

'I would, but… In front of Fuyuki-kun? I couldn't….' Momoka thought to herself , meekly squirming in her seat.

"Romama-kun?!" Kirere gasped suddenly, stopping and causing Tamama to bump into her. This caused a chain reaction where all of the girls, Haruki, and Tamama ended up falling into a dogpile, Tamama on the very bottom.

"Get the hell off of me!" Tamama growled from beneath Haruki, then proceeded to lift and toss aside the mechanic as if he were nothing.

"Ojisama! It's been a while! To what do we owe this pleasure!?" Keroro sat up and chirped happily, totally ignoring the scene of disarray in front of him. "…I was starting to think you didn't like us!"

"Well, the pink and blue one are all right. The rest of you I don't like at all," Dororo said aloud as Romama looked to him. "…Well, thank you for including me in those you like, Romama-kun…. What's that now? He says he got a signal… From his ship!"

"What?" Fuyuki gasped.

"You mean the ship's still in good enough shape to send out signals?" Giroro wondered aloud, clearly skeptical of this.

"Kuku! It could be a malfunction," Kururu chimed in, and Romama spun about and glared at the yellow scientist. "A ship that old, it wouldn't be impossible to think some wires could still send out pulses and send out a signal."

"He says that it's impossible, someone with a specific code must have activated it," Dororo answered, and Kururu only gave his usual snort of indifference at this.

"So your team's still alive, Romama-kun?! That's great!" Kirere chimed in. "Maybe they could help us with the takeover!"

'Oh, no….' a chill went through both Fuyuki and Natsumi, and their eyes met for a moment. Then Fuyuki looked over to Keroro, who wore a wide, wide smile on his face, and said nothing, surprisingly, but only nodded. The wheels in the sergeant's head were in rare form, turning at full speed and smoking at the rate at which they were going.

"Heh, there's no proof except some malfunctioning equipment," Giroro folded his arms, and opened an eye to Kururu. "I hate to agree with you, but I'm afraid I have to. It'd be a waste of our time checking to see if it was a person or just a fluke, and a waste of our own takeover efforts to spend on someone who doesn't even like us, much less want to aide us in any way."

"I'll get dessert!" Haruki chimed in as he noted the quickly tensing atmosphere. "Kirere, why don't you come help me?"

"Huh? I—"

But the little girl was picked up and pulled along by Haruki before she could say anymore, and both vanished back into the house.

"Kururu Socho, there must be a way you could check and see if the signal came from somewhere, right?" Keroro scooted closer to the scientist, who only gave a laugh and took another bite of his food. "If we find the source for Ojisama, we could see if there's a comrade of his there or not! It won't take that long at all, Giroro Goucho!"

"I'm going to need some funding for it, however," Kururu chimed in, and Keroro gave a sigh of defeat.

"I'm not surprised."

"Kukuku!"

"This is a waste of our time, he's not a member of our platoon, he's not even a member of the Keron Army anymore. He's an AWOL soldier," Giroro muttered. "He only comes here now when he needs something, after months of nothing. Why he came here at all is a mystery to me, he doesn't seem to have a need for us any other time…. I'm all for helping a fallen comrade, but seeing as how he has no interest in anything not benefiting the invasion, only himself…"

"Hey, cake!" Haruki called out cheerfully as he walked out with the said dessert, his best attempt at diffusing the sudden tension between the platoon and Romama, who looked ready to strike Giroro. "And it's got… Pineapple!"

"And there's a spicy one, too!" Kirere chimed in, holding a much smaller cake in her own hands.

"Goucho, don't think of this as helping an AWOL soldier, but as helping a relative!" Keroro suggested.

"I can say happily that he's no relative of mine," Giroro snapped.

"…Well, he and Kii-chi are about the same age, he could be a relative someday, Gocho," Tamama muttered, thinly veiling his innocence in this. Giroro faltered, and Kururu looked up from his plate of food.

"He… He says not to worry, she's definitely not his type, anyway," Dororo explained, and Kirere's smile fell. Dororo almost immediately regretted saying it as soon as the words left his mouth, and he took a step back, feeling the sudden chill of the dark aura about the young girl.

"…What's that mean?" Kirere asked gravely. Romama could only hear her low voice, as he back was to her, and then he saw the expressions of those at the table. They were expressions of worry and fear, save for Kururu, who only gave another laugh.

"Cake!" Haruki called out frantically.

"We're not helping you, and that's final!" Giroro snapped. "And stay away from my daughter!"

"Kuku, it could be bad for you," Kururu added.

"I'm not going to date her!" Dororo spoke for an increasingly frustrated Romama.

"You're absolutely right about that, I'll be damned if she'll be seen with an army deserter. The only reason I don't turn you in personally is because there'd be an investigation, meaning we would have higher powers here and they'd be able to see exactly how poorly your fool nephew is doing."

"Ouch, Gocho. That really hurt…" Keroro muttered, his shoulders slumped.

"Quit embarrassing me!" Kirere added in a moan, and Tamama laughed.

"Kii-chi and Roma, sitting in a tree…" sang the black Keronian,
coming up from behind Kirere.

"Someone make him stop!" Kirere shouted, shutting her eyes.

'….I would have so been better off just hiding out in my apartment and watching stolen cable,' Haruki thought with a pang of regret as the little aliens fought amongst themselves at his feet.

"I can see where Keroro's own thickness comes from if you really think we'll help you, especially with the uncooperative attitude you've shown us," Giroro growled.

"Are you calling me an idiot?! Don't put me in the same category as that stupid frog. I… I didn't make major this young based on looks alone. It… It looks like you didn't make corporal on yours, either…. I'm so sorry, Giroro-kun," Dororo finished in a near-whine of apology.

"The cake's going to get warm here, guys, and it's best cold."

"We know there's a damn cake!" Momoka growled, slamming her fist down on the table and causing Haruki to flinch. "Shut up about the cake already, you weirdo!"

"Goucho, you're missing the big picture here! What if Ojiisama's Platoon is active, and they do indeed want to help us in our endeavor?" Keroro asked.

"And what if they don't? Then it will be a monumental waste of our time. But you excel in time wasting, that's one other thing you and your uncle seem to have in common."

"I have to find Kodada!" Dororo called out, and both Giroro and Keroro snapped their heads over to Romama.

"And… Who is Kodada?" Giroro asked.

"Our… Pilot… And my…." Dororo trailed off here. Romama looked away, and his face went bright red, and he rubbed one of his arms.

There was a silence among the entire backyard, only luau music playing quietly in the background. Kururu reached over and switched off the radio, making it absolute silence.

"Gero gero gero… So that's how it is…" Keroro gave a chuckle, and a grin. Romama's hand reached out, gripping onto the sergeant's neck as Keroro approached him. Keroro gave a choke, kicking in the air as Romama lifted him off of the ground by the throat, and it was only after Natsumi called out he let go of his grip.

"Don't go killing the Stupid Frog, he's on dishes tonight!" she snapped, and after one more squeeze Romama let go, and Keroro collapsed to the ground.

"Gero…. Natsumi-dono, thank you for your kindness…." Keroro coughed as he stood up with the aide of a sympathetic Mois.

"Well, I didn't want to have to do all of these," Natsumi pointed over her shoulder to the table, which was indeed full of dirty dishes.

"Eh?" Keroro and company watched as Romama jumped back, and onto the roof of a neighboring house. "O-Ojisama, where are you going?!"

Romama didn't answer, however. He only jumped to the next rooftop, and kept doing so until he was out of sight. Koyuki leaned forward, intending to follow, but Dororo held out an arm, motioning for her not to do so.

"Koyuki-dono, I think Romama-dono only wants his own space right now," Dororo explained, and Giroro snorted.

"Aw, Kii-chi likes moody pretty boys!" Tamama said in a low voice, and nudged the young girl.

Kirere did then what any rational girl her age, Keronian, Pekoponian or otherwise, would do when being tormented by her older brother. She tossed the cake aside and ran after Tamama, giving a loud scream the entire time. Kururu was quick to catch the cake and watched beside Haruki as Tamama dodged Kirere. The little girl finally ran into the large wooden bench, full force, and passed out cold.

"….Gero…..?" Keroro's eyes went wide as he looked down at the fainted pink Keronian.

'Shit!' Tamama gulped, and slowly backed away. By the time Giroro looked up from Kirere towards Tamama, the black Keronian was also gone.

"….I need to make more friends, ones who aren't aliens or unstable…." Haruki said beneath his breath, looking down at his cake sorrowfully.

Romama gave a kick to the first thing he saw as he entered the attic of the dance studio, and he sat down, cross-legged beneath the old window. It was near nighttime now; he had chosen the long way home, his invisibility shield now working. He walked freely among the Pekoponians, and was able to get a better look at them… They had changed so much since the first time he had met one.

Romama sat back, his eyes half-lidded as he looked at the old wooden floor, and allowed his thoughts to flow back to happier times. Even the bad times on Keron were relatively better to those on Pekopon.

"That's our leader…? You're kidding, right? He looks like he just got out of diapers."

"Fuuujujujuj! You should see the pilot, Chunini-chan. Not much better, I'm afraid."

"…Even Lupapa would have been better, and she's lucky if she can find the knob on a door…"

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?! Say it again, Chunini, now that I've got my weapon on me! Come on, once more! I beg you!"

"Fujujuju!"

"All three of you knock it off and grow up! You know who's not gonna be happy about this."

"…I'm not telling him that Romama Shosa was chosen over him to lead. You can do that, Mahihi."

Romama then turned the corner, and glared at the group of Keronians; he had heard it all, and honestly, he felt the same way. He didn't want to lead the Pekopon research team, either, but… He was a bit of a celebrity, and caved into the pressure. He stood in front of them, looking stern as a Major should, and all stopped, stood, and came to attention at the sight of the proud yet angry-looking young boy.

"…It's good to know I'm familiar to you all already. Our pilot, Kodada, ought to be here soon."

The doors to the room swung open with such force even Romama gave a jump, and turned, knowing that it was definitely not Kodada who had stormed in.

"What's the meaning of this?! This brat's getting even more handed to him!? Why, I—"

"Romama-dono?" Romama bolted up, and in a matter of moments Dororo had a wooden blade at his throat; Romama had Dororo's blade at his; neither Keronian was in any place to move, but after a few moments, Dororo chuckled and laid his blade at his side, Romama doing the same moments later.

"Your trail was easy to follow. I… Hope you don't mind my being here, I was just on my way to my home" Dororo held up his hands and grinned. Romama gave an expression of worn indifference, and turned away from Dororo. He did look over his shoulder a moment later, however, to make sure the blue Keronian was following. Dororo indeed did follow, looking about the attic and taking a seat at a low children's table across from Romama.

"This is a beautiful home you've made for yourself," said Dororo as he looked about. "I wanted to offer my apologies… I think Gocho's just been under a bit of stress, lately, and once he decides he doesn't like someone he's often set on just that. Plus he doesn't look that kindly on military deserters."

Romama's eyes focused on Dororo as he went to setting up a tabletop kettle, and Dororo continued, "I'd like to offer my assistance at least. I realize I'm only one person, but I know the loneliness of being away from your Platoon. I'll take my leave now, I'm sure you want some time to yourself to gather your thoughts. But please entertain the idea at least. I will be at Keroro-kun's tomorrow if you wish to find me."

With this, Dororo stood and hopped out of the window, and Romama removed a card deck from beneath the table, and quietly settled on a solitaire game, all while his mind raced.