She gave a growl in return, and swung at him; the Dororo managed to dodge up into the trees, and disappeared. She swiveled her head about, looking about for the ninja's whereabouts, and ducked just as he came down, rolling and a few yards away from where Dororo stood.
"We mean you no harm, Lupapa-dono!" Dororo called out just as she went to strike with her staff, and her tense expression lessened, molding into one much more bewildered than anything else.
"How do you know my name?" she stood upright, with her staff at her side. Dororo let out a breath of relief and he also relaxed and sheathed his sword.
"From a few good friends of yours," Dororo answered, and just then out of the brush came the rest of the group, including Keroro, who was being carried piggyback style by a grumbling Giroro.
"Wow!" Chunini snorted and laughed as she looked about. "Our little former felon has made quite the life for herself!"
"What's the meaning of your coming here, you—Romama Shosa, you're alive as well?"
Romama nodded, and stepped forward, and Chunini gave another chuckle.
"We're one grumpy soldier, brat kid, lunatic, and angry ex of yours away from a reunion now… How wonderful," Chunini laughed.
"….We aren't safe here," Lupapa announced at the sound of a jeep in the distance. "Come on, step on it!" she hopped up and disappeared into the brush, and Romama followed.
"You've got to be joking," Giroro looked up at the tall tree and gave a sigh of defeat.
"You have fun with him, I'll send out a search party if it gets too late and we still can't find your bodies!" Chunini said cheerily as she clicked on the charm from her choker collar twice, and from it came an angel pack that formed on her back.
"Where do you think they went off to?" Kirere asked after a moment of silence that was filled only with the jungle noises around them. There was a screeching noise, like that of a bird, and she flinched at the shrillness.
"I can sense them, come on, it's not too far now," Dororo reassured her, patting her shoulder and then taking off.
"I hope we're home in time for that cooking show I want to watch, at least… This traveling's starting to cut into my TV and junkfood dedication time!" Tamama kicked at some loose brush and then they took off, meeting up with Romama halfway and then being led by the boy major to Lupapa's home, which Giroro gave a balk as he saw exactly how high up it was in the trees.
"Kirere-chan, here, I'll help you up it," Dororo suggested.
"Oh? Um… All right," she nodded, and allowed the blue ninja to take her into his arms and then jump up into the treetops. Tamama focused his energy and was soon climbing up with only use of his bare hands, and Giroro gave a snort as he looked to Kururu.
"Looks like you'll actually have to work or you're going to end up food for a Pekoponian carnivore," Giroro said with some satisfaction, and Kururu gave a laugh and pulled out his remote, as well as a pair of shoes, as if from dead space.
"Kukuku! Levitation shoes. They're not my color, but they'll do," Kururu slipped them on, and with one press of the button he was floating up to the treetop.
"You bastard," Giroro seethed as he was stuck on the ground with Keroro still on his back.
"No, thank you, no more tea for me…" Keroro laughed weakly, then proceeded to fall back into his stupor.
"I didn't sign up for this," Giroro grumbled as he dug his bowie knife into the tree and began to scale it.
Meanwhile up a distance, still right below the thick leaves of the trees, Lupapa had gone to tending a small stove she had set up. Her home was large, flat, and only partially covered by a tarp in one area, which served as her bed. The rest of the home was made up of old boxes, which served as furniture, and barrels, which served for food and weapon storage. There was a broken mirror and water basin attached to one tree, as well as several heavy hemp ropes crisscrossing about the trees. There were several smaller platforms as well, that could easily be jumped down onto.
The Keronian herself was a full-grown female, with a dark gray cat-eared hat that had her symbol in the center of it, a blue circle that looked like a Japanese yen coin. On either side of the hat hung an emerald bead as well as a gold tassel, and she also wore two thick golden bracelets with flat jade emerald stones on either of them. Her skin color was that of purple violets, and her eyes about as green as the tree canopy above all of them, one being slightly lighter than the other. They were small eyes, like Chunini's, but narrower, that matched a serious face. On her stomach was a blue yen sign.
Lupapa took a seat on the floor and looked about at the crowd, which including a still amused Chunini.
"You're in the depths of poverty, I love it!" Chunini laughed.
"I'm not poor! I chose this life, instead the decadent one of a spoiled, softened brat!" Lupapa snarled in return, and noted Kirere hopping about and looking about the flat.
"Don't break anything!" Lupapa called out in such a tone that Kirere was taken aback, as was Romama, whose yellow eyes opened a bit. "What are you all doing here? Shosa, who are these people?"
"We're his nephew's platoon, Lupapa—"
"Gocho," she finished for Dororo. "Who are you, his representative?"
"Romama-kun lost his voice, isn't that great?!" Chunini said, clapping her hands together once cheerfully. "His nephew's a bigger idiot than he is, they're not a threat, don't worry."
"Why do you take that?" Tamama wondered aloud to Romama. Romama only looked across to Kururu, who gave a laugh. "Yeah, you have a point," Tamama muttered.
"They're looking for Kodada," added Chunini, and Lupapa looked a bit puzzled at this.
"She's your sister, why wouldn't you know?"
"Your sister?!" all gasped, and Chunini gave a shrug.
"Now you know why he puts up with me… My little sister was on the same platoon as me, it's true. She was a pilot, though," Chunini answered. "And she dated this little creep, that's also true."
"So that's why you don't like him!" Tamama snapped his fingers.
"No, I don't like him because I don't like him. And Lupapa-san's got her own reasons, too," Chunini added with a knowing grin. Lupapa gave a growl at this.
"You speak anymore and I'll feed you to the buzzards!" Lupapa snarled.
"Well, I was just—" Lupapa didn't allow Chunini to say anything else; she only lunged for the sergeant, and a fight among the two started up, with both rolling on the floor, pulling at one another's ears, and whatnot. Giroro, exhausted, had finally made it up with Keroro onto the platform when he was knocked down from his shaky footing by the cat fight going on.
When they were finally separated, Lupapa grunted and retreated to a lower platform to tend to her wounds.
"I should've gone with the left hook," Chunini muttered as she bandaged her hand. "Or used something more powerful on her, she's lucky she's faster!"
Lupapa, meanwhile, continued to work on her own bandaging, and stopped as she became aware of a pair of eyes behind her, "It's rude to sneak up on my blind side."
"I wasn't aware you had one, Lupapa Gocho, from the way you fight," Dororo held out a small bag to her. "This should help heal the wound inflicted on your shoulder. It's from where I reside on Pekopon."
Lupapa hesitated for a moment, then took the bag and opened it up, "Thank you, I'll put it to use…. What's wrong now?"
"Those vines… They grow so far from the ground, yet they're still growing, and they don't look like they'll ever stop!" Dororo exclaimed. "There aren't trees this tall anywhere on Keron, and I didn't know such a thing existed on Pekopon until this instance!"
"You like to talk a lot about nothing," Dororo flinched at Lupapa's biting words.
"N-not really, I'm just impressed by your home, Lupapa Gocho!" he answered sheepishly.
"It is beautiful, and I must keep it this way, I made a promise to the Pekoponians who helped me."
"You… You're a friend of the earth, as well?!" Dororo asked, stunned.
"Not at first… I hated this place, and barely survived on my own… It was only with the kindness of a group of Pekoponians I managed to live at all. Now I protect them, to make good on my promise."
"So your village is still intact… I'm sad to say it isn't the same with mine…."
"…I'm sorry to hear that," she looked away from him, and there was a period of silence.
"…It's all right. I must preserve what's left on Pekopon. I'm just a bit to relieved to know that I'm not the only one fighting for such a cause!"
"Yeah, me too," she flexed her left arm and stood. "I suppose owe you some thanks for sparing my life, so I'll cooperate as far as letting you stay the night, and providing any information to finding Kodada, although it isn't much."
"That's the most we've gotten so far," Dororo answered. "Is something the matter?"
"There's a tear on the side of your helmet," she took hold of one of the sides and looked it over for a moment, then gave a start as she realized the invasion of personal space she'd committed. Lupapa scrambled for her sewing kit, which she produced and offered to Dororo with lightning reflexes.
"H-here, since it was my fault for that," she answered, looking offward with a frown.
"It's greatly appreciated, Lupapa Gocho," Dororo took this, and hopped back up onto the main platform. Lupapa's shoulders slumped, but just as quickly tensed back up as she heard a familiar laugh.
"You seem to be getting along better with these new Keronians than me, Lupa-chan!" Chunini laughed.
"Bitch!" Lupapa yelled, and flung her first aide kit at Chunini. Instead, it bounced off of Keroro's head, but the sergeant gave little more than a grunt to this.
"You two really don't like one another, it looks like!" Tamama noted, and Romama's body language showed a laugh.
"They've always been like this," Dororo explained for Romama as he went to sewing up one of the fabric sides of his helmet. "Just like children, or—"
"Kukuku!"
"Yes, that," Dororo added with a sigh.
"Hrm? Hey, where's that little pink tomboy who's always following you all around? I haven't heard anything breaking in minutes," Chunini looked about, and the others did as well, only noticing now that Kirere was nowhere about.
"Afro Gunso… Gunso's got the afro…" Kirere sang to herself as she, too, was on one of the lowered platforms, and she picked another flower, a good-sized white one that grew from the side of one of the trees. "Yeah, he'll love these! I wonder why it's usually the girls who get flowers, though… Ahh… ACHOO!" she sniffed and then grumbled. "They just make me sneeze…"
"Eh?" Lupapa perked up first by the sound of a sneeze, then she continued to listen, hearing a buzzing sound in the distance. "They started early… Damn it!" she hopped up onto the main platform and made a dash for her weapons, gathering up her bow and arrows and her long staff, as well as a leather backpack.
"W-where are you going?" Giroro asked as he stood up, and Lupapa rushed past him.
"Illegal loggers… They've been harming the jungle and terrorizing my village," Lupapa answered bluntly.
"Let me accompany you, Lupapa Gocho," Dororo stood, having finished his sewing. Kirere was back on the platform just in time to watch this.
"Really?" Lupapa blinked.
"Kukuku, that's getting a bit off-track, don't you think?" Kururu chuckled.
"We won't be long," Lupapa reassured them as she jumped out and grabbed onto one of the vines, and slid down.
"I'll return shortly—Oh, those are very pretty, Kirere-chan!" Dororo smiled as he passed the girl, stopping briefly at her to look at the flowers she'd picked. "It's wonderful you're getting an interest in plant life!" with that, he was gone, and Kirere frowned; the point had been totally missed.
"That's odd, don't you think, Roma-kun?" Chunini admitted. "The only other person she'd let work with her on something like that was—"
Romama nodded, and Giroro chimed in, "It seems she likes him the most out of any of us… At least he's the one of us she hates the least. I'll be glad when she's on our side… Dororo's the best fighter out of any of us, and they appeared about even in skills."
"Oh, I don't think that'll take a lot," Chunini chuckled.
"Heh, well, they both seem zealous with similar—OW! Kirere!" Giroro snapped at the young girl, having been hit on the back of the head with the very bouquet she'd picked. She then threw it down and stormed away, leaving the others silent. Romama looked over to Tamama, bewildered, and Tamama sniffed the air.
"Ah, I know that smell! Jealousy… It smells even better than fresh cinnamon buns!" Tamama answered with a serene grin.
"J-jealousy?" Giroro blinked. "Damn it, I forgot all about that…"
"Kuku, she's feeling threatened for silly reasons," Kururu laughed, and stood.
"Wh-where're you going?" Giroro asked, turning toward Kururu. Kururu looked back at Giroro and laughed.
"She's mine, too, I can talk to her…."
"Y-you!?" Giroro choked. "You better not say anything cruel to her, Kururu, or so help me—"
"Kuku, so little faith…" Kururu then hopped down onto one of the platforms, and was gone. Giroro, naturally, scooted over to listen better.
"I made you so I would have someone else intelligent around for a change, instead of these emotional idiots, and you act like this?" Kururu took a seat on the platform beside Kirere, who had her knees up at her chin and was staring straight ahead. "…You'd be even more foolish to try to run away again."
"I'm not," she snapped. "You don't understand, you don't like anything, so how could you?! You don't like them, or any Pekoponians, or even me! You didn't make me because you wanted me, just… So you'd have someone to help you out around the lab, and as a tool!"
"Kuku…. You're smarter than you think. But you're wrong about a lot of that," Kururu answered. "And you're too smart for someone who would never see how much potential there is."
"Huh?"
Giroro would have continued listening, but a sudden panic broke out behind him, and he turned around to see all that was keeping Keroro from turning into the Keroro from before had broken off, and the sergeant was now pumped, and ready to fight.
"Who dares go against me!?" Keroro cried out, followed by a maniacal laugh. Giroro gave a sigh and slunk away from the two while the rest of the group began to run after Keroro, who had challenged Romama. Keroro hopped off of the platform and down into the green and black jungle, with the others following. This only left Chunini on the platform, who after a moment, allowed her smug smile to fall, and she rubbed her forehead.
"I know you're out there," she spoke into the jungle sounds. "And… They're annoying, but if you have any humanity left in you, Rokiki, you won't go through with this… And if you are, don't harm this idiot platoon, they haven't done anything to you, all right? Just do what you want to us… But leave them alone. They're not your fight."
Meanwhile, while Keroro was laughing and hopping through the forest, and the others were spread out in the jungle, Natsumi, Fuyuki, Mois, and Momoka were all finished packing and were on their way out the door. They were about to head to the airport when there came a frantic knocking.
"It better not be that Haruki," Natsumi muttered, and opened the door wide. "Huh?"
"Who is it, Nee-chan? Mahihi's wife?" Fuyuki blinked as indeed there stood Daisy, in the front doorway of the home.
"Come in, what's going on? Where are your children, and Mahihi?" Natsumi wondered as Daisy stepped in.
"They're with my family," she answered. "Mahihi's missing… All that he left was your address… I… I think he's in trouble. He's never done this to me before."