"So, you just press the button, and depending on w"So, you just press the button, and depending on what button it is it'll do something?" Nikolai turned over the ancient bronze ball in his hands, studying it and the symbols, while Romama and he sat and ate in the Paris apartment they'd recently acquired. It'd been ten years since their first meeting, but this was the closest Nikolai had come to the Kero Ball, which he'd been taking more and more interest in lately.
"Mm," Romama nodded. "You should put it away now, it's not a toy. It's not something a civilian should even hold."
"Come on, let me hold it a little longer! Out of any of the things or technologies we've seen, this is still the best of them all! Could you become a human with this?"
"The last thing I'm interested in being is a Pekoponian," Romama shot back, finishing the soup he'd been eating while seated on the dark red couch, and he set down the bowl. "I'll go lock it back up now."
"You don't trust me at all, do you?"
"I-It's not, that, it's just…"
"I thought we were best friends! Come on, just a little longer. I won't do anything bad with it, I promise. Not like with the laser gun."
"You're lucky you didn't go starting another war with that thing," Romama grumbled, and plopped back down on the couch across from Nikolai.
"I'll take good care of it! Plus I got you a gift, so it's only fair!" Nikolai reached down and pulled up a bag, and set it on the coffee table.
"A gift? Some Pekopon holiday today?"
"Just for fun," Nikolai answered, and Romama's mouth twitched as he pulled out the golden necklace. "Don't you like it?"
"It's a bit… Showy for me," Romama answered, not wanting to admit how very gaudy he thought it was.
"Here, turn around, I'll help you put it on!" Nikolai lifted Romama off the couch and set him on the coffee table. Something felt off about this to Romama… Nikolai was so… Eager.
And now he stood, looking across at Nikolai, who had the Kero Ball in one hand. He had only his wooden sword and a deep glare. Kezanstav spun around toward Romama, and gave a smile through the bandages.
"Beautiful, isn't it? And this could've been both of ours. Shame, really. Now you get to watch them all destroy themselves."
"You're wrong," Romama snapped, and Kezanstav looked outwardly surprised at Romama's speaking. "They're strong. If I can't stop you… They'll do it. They're not as blind as I was to you. They… See right through you. Everyone sees through your tricks."
"Ninety years you say nothing, and when you finally do, it's babble," Kezanstav gave a laugh, and tossed the ball in his hand. "Ninety years was a long time to learn how to use this! Let's see if time's been so kind to you. What's going to win here… A little naïve runt, or the man with all of the power?"
"Enough words. We end this," Romama snapped, and Kezanstav's visible eye narrowed.
"Missing a piece?! What's that mean!?" Keroro yelped.
"Just that! There's a piece that's supposed to be here that isn't!" Kirere answered, holding up the open portion of the Kero Ball to him.
"Does someone have something that could be used, maybe?" Fuyuki asked, looking around at the group of humans and Keronians. At this, Lupapa pulled out her lock-picking kit, and dumped it out in front of Kirere, and began to hold up various pieces of metal, only to have Kirere shake her head "no" to each one.
"Huh?" Mahihi looked up from watching this to a buzzing sound, and ventured over to the edge of the woods, which was near them. "Well I'll be damned. It's the slacker."
It was Haruki, who had just thrown a large rock at the forcefield and thrown out his shoulder in the process. Mahihi waved at him dully, and Haruki lit up. Mahihi pulled out a card from his belt, and placed it on the forecefield, opening up a doorway Haruki was able to drive through with his scooter.
"If you'd just knocked I would've let you in," Mahihi sighed as he placed the card back in his belt and walked back to the group. Lupapa now had a good-sized mound of keys, picks, locks and other various other tools of her trades laid out in front of the little girl. Giroro was starting to offer up parts of weapons, and Keroro pieces of Gunpla.
"Lupapa-dono, that's… Astounding," Dororo admitted as she continued to hold up pins to Kirere. Koyuki stood beside her Keronian friend, and gave a nod.
"She used to carry a lot more," Rokiki answered, and immediately cringed and looked away as Dororo's eyes fell upon him. "When we… Were on the same Platoon together."
"You're more transparent than Giroro," Keroro said with a huff.
"Haruki!?" Kirere gasped as the human knelt down next to her. "How did you—"
"My family spirits helped, I guess. What's going on here?"
"There's a piece missing, but… I don't know what! I don't know where I could find it," Kirere said with a shake of the head.
"Those things are getting closer," Giroro muttered to himself, and Haruki looked up to see exactly the "what" was. After a brief grimace of shock and terror, he pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lighter, and shook his head.
"I should've just been a doctor," he muttered as he shakily attempted to light the cigarette. Kirere went to complain about the scent of the smoke, then the lighter caught her eye; more rather, the clear inner-workings of it.
"That's it! It's in your lighter!" Kirere hopped up. "Give it to me!"
"Manners, manners!" Kururu chuckled his reminder from behind his computer screen.
"Give it to me or we all die!" Kirere shouted, and Haruki, a bit surprised by this tone, tossed her the lighter, which she popped open and had disassembled in moments.
"It was in a cheap lighter, the missing piece…" Keroro muttered numbly to Giroro and Dororo, who were equally stunned.
"Hey, one-hundred yen is a lot for me!" Haruki answered indignantly.
"There!" she snapped it together and held it up. "It should work now!"
"Should?" Keroro repeated as she placed it in his hands. "Yes… The power… All coming back now…."
"G-Gunso, I know you won't go and do anything bad with that!" Fuyuki reminded him.
"Urk… O-Of course not, Fuyuki-dono!" Keroro answered. "Not when one has a vendetta to settle! That takes top priority."
"If we're ready to go kick some ass, I'm game," Mahihi took up his board and dusted it off, waiting for the others.
"Kukuku! Our front lines can't hold them back much longer," Kururu announced.
"We're off, then!" Keroro held up his weapon triumphantly, while Giroro hopped onto Mahihi's board.
"Hey, pigtails," Rokiki tossed up a small tag to Natsumi, which she immediately recognized as the tag that controlled her power suit. "If you get to him before me, give him a good punch in the face."
"Kirere," Giroro looked back at his daughter, and she gave a tired expression, waiting for him to bar her from this as well. "…Stay close, know your limits."
"What?" she blinked, but he was off then with Mahihi. Lupapa, Dororo, Koyuki and Rokiki were soon afterward.
"Go on ahead, we'll be okay here," Haruki reassured her as she looked back at him, and Kururu only gave another laugh.
Keroro gave a salute to Fuyuki before Natsumi lifted him up and flew off, and she also grabbed the little girl in her other arm as she took off towards the moving statues.
Romama gave a puff of breath and continued to pant while holding on to his aching arm, one of the results of the very one-sided battle. Kezanstav was about to make another move, when he turned his head sharply in the direction of the three statues. It was now two, as one tumbled to the ground. Romama took this opportunity to run full-force and tackled him successfully, causing the Kero Ball to roll out of his hand. This started a scramble for it.
While this happened, Chunini spoke into his microphone to Kururu proudly, "One down, two to go! Hey, Kuru-kun, if we make it out of here… How about karaoke, my treat?"
"This doesn't seem like the time to ask for a date," Kururu said, briefly stopping his typing away at his keyboard.
"I told you before, you're not my type," she answered. "Plus I'm never the one who asks out. I'm the one who's asked out!" at this, she gave another load screech, causing one of the hands of the statue, that had been trying to swipe at her, crumble a bit at the fingers.
"Stupid Frog, I'm going to get you to your stupid nepew!" Natsumi called out to him.
"That sounds fine, Natsumi-dono, but how do you plan on—GEROOOOO!" she tossed the green frog and he went flying towards the mansion. Kirere's grip on Natsumi's arm tightened.
"Don't throw me!" the little girl begged. She didn't need to be. Natsumi pulled out her shield to block one of the large hands of the statue, and Kirere went falling to the ground. Before she made impact, Mahihi's surfboard flew down, and Giroro grabbed her by the top of the head and set her on top of the board.
"We're gonna go see how Romama's fairing. From my point of view, it's not that good," Mahihi announced, and Giroro nodded. He flew close down to the mansion, and hopped off of his surfboard, and looked about. He as well as the other two gave a cough at the black smoke pouring out of the house; Fujuju and Tamama's handiwork was starting to spread throughout the home.
Kezanstav was standing opposite of a beaten Romama as well as a terrified-looking Keroro, who held out his own Kero Ball shakily.
"Keroro!" Giroro barked. "Take care of him! Come on!"
"I can't think of the sequence… My mind… It just went blank," Keroro admitted with a mumble.
"A-Are you joking!?" Mahihi, Giroro, and Kirere yelped.
"Gero…" Keroro muttered.
Kezanstav gave a laugh at this, "Even if they defeat those three, there's a button on here that will send reinforcements… You think these are the only things available to me? I have the powers of a god, even without this thing! That one little Kero Ball's no match for the firepower I've spent my whole life attaining!"
"He's right," Romama spoke quietly, and Keroro looked at his uncle, shaking. "He does have a lot of power… A lot more than even us. He'll be able to bring more, he'll destroy the planet if he has to. If he wants to. Even if we defeat these… They'll just keep coming."
"O-Ojiisama! We can't give up like this!" Keroro said in a shaking tone. "We've worked ourselves out of tighter spots!"
"I brought you into this. I'm sorry," Romama said in a hushed tone. "Please forgive me."
"What's he saying?" Kirere whispered to Giroro. "He's tricking him, right?"
"I don't know," Giroro admitted. Kirere was a bit worried by this, and showed it by scooting closer to Giroro. He returned his with a hand on her shoulder, and looked behind him, out at Natsumi. Another statue had fallen, and they were working on the last one, all fighting to disable it.
"Hrm, looks like they'll be done with those quickly. So what am I going to call out next? Something from the Angols, maybe? Or maybe the Maronians," Kezanstav said thoughtfully. "Maybe we should ask all of the people throwing away their lives as we speak how they want to end them… Ah, wait, I know! Axolian weaponry, that'll do it!"
He pressed down on a few buttons, and all watched this in horror. He Kezanstav laughed the entire time he did this.
"I… I can't believe he actually did it…" Mahihi said shakily. "He's lost his mind."
"Teicho," Kururu came onto Keroro's frequency. "Are we launching our plan of last resort into action?"
Keroro looked over to Giroro, and Giroro looked away, as did Mahihi, "Wait just another minute, Kururu Soucho. Just one more minute."
"Copy that," Kururu answered.
Romama looked down at Keroro's Kero Ball, which was now at his nephew's side. He grabbed it quickly and before her could say anything he was walking toward Kezanstav, his hand over a triangular button. Kezanstav took a step back, and all watched this with confusion.
"This will call our Keronian forces into action, to stop you," Romama explained. "But I don't want that."
"You've gone soft," Kezanstav spat, and Romama took this opportunity to throw the ball, knocking Kezanstav's out of his hand and sending both flying. Keroro made a slide and managed to catch them, but his victory dance ended briefly as Kezanstav lunged for him.
"Stay away from my nephew!" Romama growled, coming in between the two and stopping a puzzled Kezanstav. "This is between you and me, and what I made you!"
"What you made me? You're taking a great deal of credit," Kezanstav laughed, and went to go for Keroro, but Romama blocked him again.
"I… I wanted you to be my friend so badly I ended up being a horrible one, and letting you destroy yourself!" Romama answered. "I'd been such a liar, I overcompensated when I met someone new; I gave you too much power for a Pekoponian! Too much power for anyone! I… I want you to forgive me, because I forgive you, Nikolai!"
Something curious happened to Kezanstav at these words. He straightened up, slowly, and looked down at Romama, straight in the eye, "…You would have left me, like the others had. I had to keep you from leaving me."
"No, I wouldn't have," Romama answered. "You… You were my only friend."
"Teicho—" Kururu came over the communicator once more.
"J-Just five more seconds, Kururu Soucho!" Keroro begged, and Kururu gave a huff.
"I treated you horribly, yet you never ran," Kezanstav muttered. "I… I should have seen that."
Romama went to take his Kero Ball, but Keroro hesitated at first, not letting go of his grip. Romama finally pulled it out of his hands, and handed it up to Kezanstav, "I trust you. You'll make this right."
"I'm very tired," Kezanstav admitted, looking down at the Kero Ball.
"Then rest," Kezanstav knelt down, and Romama placed a hand on top of his. "It's time for you to rest, Nicky."
Kezanstav looked down at the ball, and nodded, and began to press a series of buttons, "You'll always be my family."
Romama gave a small smile of relief at this, and then backed away. Giroro was too taken by the scene to realize for a moment what was going on, but when he did he took Kirere by the hand and jerked her back up onto the board. The force field around them was now flickering, and Kirere helped Keroro and then finally Romama onto the board.
"What's he doing!?" Kirere asked.
"He put on the self-destruct on that thing… I'd only ever heard stories about guys doing that!" Mahihi admitted. "We've got about two minutes before everything in this bubble he's got goes the way of a Saturday night with Fujuju."
"How's that?" asked Keroro.
"Up in flames," Mahihi answered.
"I think there's enough gravel to make another mountain," Chunini floated down to where the others fought. Fujuju gave another long laugh as he tossed out another bomb, chipping away at even more of the stone, while Rokiki, Lupapa, Dororo, and Koyuki worked on restraining the rock monster.
"Just like the old days, huh, Rokiki?" Lupapa huffed as she jumped back with a rope, and Rokiki and she met again moments later, crossing the ropes again.
"No, a lot's changed with you… And I'm all right with that," Rokiki answered. "PULL!"
All four did this on command, and Tamama only just got Fujuju out of the way of the collapsing creature. Fujuju was still laughing wildly, and Tamama delivered a hard slap across the British Keronian's face.
"Eh…?" Fujuju's voice changed back to its usual lighted tone. "Tama-chan? Did we win yet?"
"Boy we've gotta get that under control with you," Tamama said in a tired tone.
Fuyuki, Haruki, and Lee came running through the forest brush, with Kururu stored in Fuyuki's backpack.
"Nee-chan! This place is getting ready to self destruct!" Fuyuki said throat gasps of air as Natsumi landed down near her brother.
"What?" Natsumi spun around, wide-eyed.
"And… There's some other nasty things on their way," Haruki added in a pant. "I… I need to get more in shape."
"How can we get out of here?!" Tamama asked, holding up his hands to his mouth.
"I wouldn't get too worried," Chunini grinned coolly. "We have a ride, afterall." She then pointed, and all looked up at the rotating spaceship.
"Gunso!" Fuyuki gasped happily as now Keroro came into sight, at the front of Mahihi's board and clinging onto it for dear life.
"Natsumi!" Giroro hopped off the board and ran to her. "Are you all right?"
"I think we'll all be better once we're on that ship," Lee reloaded her gun and looked up at the ship.
"How do we get up there?" asked Fuyuki.
"Oh, I've got that under control," Chunini twisted the star on her choker, and the reactions ranged from surprised to terrified to exhausted as the small army was teleported to the ship, landing right in hub of it. The Romama platoon went to their stations immediately, taking their seats like it were second nature.
"I think you need to get to your seat," Rokiki instructed Romama as he headed to the controls of the ship.
"No, it's yours," Romama answered, and Rokiki turned around to him, "It should've always been yours."
"You earned it," Rokiki replied, returning to the numerous switches and buttons. "Plus, someone has to pilot this thing."
Romama nodded and smiled, and took a seat at the captain's chair.
"Hey, crazy-eyes! Pull up a chair, we need extra man-power!" Chunini pulled, and Kururu gave a grunt and then took a seat on the floor next to her chair, and plugged in his laptop. She glanced at him as he held onto one of his headphones and gave a laugh, "Kuku! Yes, it's me, I'm going to need you to divert your attention to some incoming forces. No, that won't be necessary."
"You!" Romama hopped out of his chair and hurried over to Keroro.
"Me?" Keroro blinked and pointed to himself, and Romama gave a huff.
"…Yes… Follow me, we're going above deck!"
"When did Romama-dono start talking?" Dororo wondered aloud.
"Ah, I'm being so rude, we need to get you all some seats! This could be… Bumpy," Fujuju stood from his chair and entered in a few codes on a wall panel, and from beneath the Pekoponians and Keronians there came out a few chairs. "For when we would do dealings with other aliens."
"Would you QUIT playing homemaker for five minutes and get to work?!" Lupapa snapped as he went to showing them out to buckle the belts of the seats.
"Y-Yes, of course. Sorry," Fujuju stuttered, and took his seat once more.
"Where do you think Ojiisan went?" Kirere asked Tamama, and he shook his head.
"No clue… But I hope Gunso-san's all right," Tamama muttered.
"What are we doing here?! This is where it's going to blow up!" Keroro cried frantically as Romama opened up the hatch and walked up onto the flat surface of the ship.
"If we don't get that force field secure, the explosion's going to go for miles!" Romama explained. "Hurry! We have less than thirty seconds!"
"R-Right!" Keroro nodded, and gave a yelp as the ship took off. Romama gripped onto him and vice-versa, and moments after making it past the flickering barrier, Keroro pressed down on two of the buttons, causing the ball to shoot out a force field that replaced the old one. It came not a moment too soon. From inside, Fujuju's eyes sparkled at the contained blast.
"Marvelous…" he said beneath his breath.
"We're not out of the storm, yet!" Mahihi called out. "That moron also called a bunch of backup infantry."
"Already taken care of," Kururu gave a thumbs up from his laptop, and Mahihi leaned back in his chair.
"What did you do exactly?" Mahihi asked, and Kururu only gave a laugh.
"We… We did it…" Keroro looked up from the blast, where there was now only a fresh crater. He yelped, and dropped the sparking Kero Ball, looking down at it with awe. "Looks as though that was a little much to ask of it… Eh? Ojiisama?"
Romama was standing still, not bothered by the quick speed of the ship, looking down at the vanishing black hole. Keroro shakily rose, the burnt Kero Ball in his hand, and looked down at the wreckage with Romama.
"It's all right, Ojiisama," Keroro placed a hand on his uncle's shoulder. "After all, you have us now!"
Romama grimaced as Keroro's shoulder pat transformed into an all-out hug, "UGH! Get off of me, you dunce!"
"Eh?" after Romama had successfully pushed Keroro away, the green Keronian looked up at the sky. Romama, too, looked alarmed for a moment at the approaching snake-like machinery. This was replaced with curiosity, however, as both squinted at the small shining figure in the approaching sunlight.
"Mois-dono?" Keroro muttered. A weak call, which sounded something like, "Hellamgeddon, 1/1,000 could then be heard, and the silently approaching weapons were turned into a white brightness, then a fantastic rain of sparkling white glitter.
"Yay, Mois-dono!" Keroro jumped up happily, and Mois turned, and waved to her uncle, although Keroro could not see it.
"Ojiisama!" came her weak call.
"So you're really quitting?" Kirere's eyes lit up, and Haruki nodded.
"Yeah, I figured after tonight I need my lungs working at full capacity, if I want to hang out with you guys," he nodded, and then removed the pack from his shirt pocket, and tossed the pack of cigarettes into the kitchen trash can. She gave a happy squeal and hugged onto his leg, and he gave a laugh.
Marco sat on the open porch with Lupapa in front of him, and Rokiki on her side, "So long story short, yes, we did date…. And we might've been engaged, too, but that was a while ago."
"So what do you think of her new boyfriend?" Marco asked, leaning in to Rokiki to hear his answer.
"New boyfriend?" Rokiki repeated, "Is that who that is?" Lupapa slapped her face and gave a groan.
"What a long day… Lee, hold me?" Chunini asked weakly, and Lee did so, lifting up the yellow Keronian into her arms as they stood in the Hinata house together.
"Kukuku! I wonder about you…" Kururu said as he walked past them in the living room.
"I like to keep people guessing," Chunini sighed with a content smile. "I have a crick in my neck, Lee."
"We'll take care of it, Miss Chu," Lee answered dutifully. "I'll call your masseur as soon as we get home."
"Wow, you have a lot of new friends, Gunso!" Fuyuki sat on the couch and laughed, and Keroro nodded, but gave a small sigh of frustration.
"Not a single one for my new world order," Keroro said with a bit of disappointment in his tone. Tamama, who was nearby with Momoka, overheard this, and perked up, then went off to find Fujuju. He was in the kitchen, back in his usual red and yellow scarf and cooking at the stove with help of a stool, and using all of the burners to cook several more dishes; he'd already worked on getting drinks set up.
"Fujuju-san!" Tamama said in a sing-song tone, and Fujuju turned to him, and looked down at the young boy. "Huh? What's wrong?" he asked, puzzled by the melancholy look on Fujuju's face.
Fujuju didn't say anything, but Tamama looked back to see what he was seeing, and it became apparent. All of the other Keronians were with their human friends, save for him. He was the only one there without anyone to greet him home; even Kururu had had Mois to greet him.
"It's all right, I have lots of friends!" Tamama exclaimed. "We'll get you a nice one who's afraid of fires!"
"I might just have to take you up on that, Tama-chan," Fujuju said with a pleasant grin.
"I… I know I did an awful thing, but don't make me beg, Daisy!" Giroro had gone into his tent to put away his weaponry, and had unbeknownst to him also walked into a conversation taking place outside of his tent.
"Eavesdropping is wrong… But… If I happen to overhear them, that's not the same thing," he said to himself, crossing his arms and leaning against the tent wall to hear better.
"What're you doing?" Kirere asked, and he jumped, having not heard the young girl walk in.
"Shh!" he held up a finger to his lips, and she nodded and leaned down, her ear also at the tent.
"I already promised you that part of my life is over with, I'm not going with anyone. I'm staying with you!" Mahihi continued. "Just say something, please?"
"I'm pregnant," Giroro's jaw dropped at this proclamation, and Kirere gave a small gasp.
"….Are you like… Sure of that….?" Mahihi asked after a long silence.
"Mm," she answered.
"I-If that's possible, then…" Giroro trailed off.
"I can have little brothers and sisters!" Kirere cheered, and Giroro gave a jump, as well as a yell. This caused the tent to bounce up, and there was a silence, then Mahihi pulled back the flap to Giroro's tent.
"…Hey, Aka Baka, did you get bit by something?" Mahihi asked. "If you're going crazy my wife's not going to let you be godfather, Dude."
Romama sat stoically, watching this all from his own seat on the couch, and then stood, and walked towards the glass door.
"Ojiisama, where're you going?" asked Keroro, who also hopped off of the couch.
"To find Kodada," Romama answered, walking to the ship, which was parked floating above the house but with an invisibility field around it. "It's the one last thing I have to do."
"Are you sure that's what you want?" Rokiki asked.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Romama countered, and he only looked to aside.
"I'm coming too, then," Chunini walked out, and took her place next to Romama. "It's only right I check on my sister. Lee, you keep everyone safe."
"She's in Germany, right?" Tamama poked his head out. "I hear the candy's great there!"
"And they've got the Autobahn!" Kirere chimed in. "Can we come? Please?!"
"I finished all of my cooking… I should be able to go," Fujuju removed the pot holders from his hands and stepped out.
"Looks like you're taking all of your friends, even if you don't want to," Mahihi said with a laugh. "I'll be right back, Daisy. I promise."
"You better," she looked down at him. "You have a room to paint when you get home."
"I love when she tells me to do things," Mahihi said with a smile.
"I don't know about letting them all off like that…" Natsumi said to Fuyuki with a bit of worry, and Fuyuki gave a laugh.
"They'll be all right, Nee-chan! I trust Gunso. Plus Romama Shosa seems to like to keep him in line," Fuyuki said lightly.
"We'll be back for dinner!" Keroro waved.
"Be back for your chores!" Natsumi called out, and Keroro gave a grumble as he was transported onto the ship with the others.
The Romama platoon took their positions as before, and Romama had an unusual smile on his face as he took his seat. It was noted that the others didn't look quite so optimistic, but they took off all the same.
"Kodada-san… I've got so much to tell you when we get there…" Romama said to himself, gripping onto the arms of his seat as they took off.