"Ku-ku-ku-ku~! Look what we have here, sergeant."

Kururu crawled out of the way as the three dirt-encrusted frogs and Mois crept out of the tiny hole. They all stared in amazement.

"Wow!" Keroro murmured. "What is all this stuff?"

They were in a large, blue (and surprisingly very un-white) room, with shelves upon shelves upon shelves. They were heavy with weapons and valuable items and gold and silver and.. Things! Lots of things!

"My katana!" Dororo cried out cheerfully, grabbing the hilt of his sword. He examined it thoroughly before concluding that it was still in good working order and slipping it into the sheath behind him.

"And it's our sub," Tamama said, more than relieved. "Isn't that great, Sarge?"

"More than great," Keroro agreed. "Finally! And I'm sure that the queen wouldn't mind letting us borrow some of this stuff…"

"Sergeant, come here."

Kururu had somehow already managed to get inside the submarine, turning it on and reading the coordinates that were previously typed in. "We found it; it's in here."

"What's in here?" Dororo cast Keroro a curious look.

"…Nothing," Keroro said after a second, less than innocent. "It's nothing." He hopped over to Kururu before Dororo could ask any other questions.

Dororo stared at the two while Tamama and Mois, at their 'brilliant leader's' request, began to search for whatever he had asked for. Something relating to the heavily blinking radar that Kururu and Keroro were quietly talking over.

Dororo crossed his arms and watched them all with a suspicious eye.

Momoka tightened her hands together, putting them nervously on her lap.

"I say we help them."

"We should wait a little longer, miss, before we do anything that could prove to be consequential."

"I just wish we knew what they were doing," Momoka sighed. "It's been almost two hours."

"We'll wait just one more hour," Paul promised, squeezing the wheel of the submarine. "I don't want to put you in any assumed danger."

"I suppose you're right…"

Don't know where I'm going Don't know where I'm going Don't know where I'm going…

Giroro slid at a corner, screeching to an almost immediate stop, and continued running at an uneven pace. His heart was beating so rapidly, the sweat practically cascaded down his face.

Ha, that rhymed.

He could hear the soldier's voices and footsteps behind him; sometimes they sounded so close, and sometimes they faded away.

Giroro shivered slightly as a very familiar feeling slithered across his skin. He smiled, but decided to still try and get away as fast as…

Suddenly the air felt cold, bitter, bleak. He stopped and clutched at his arms, desperate for warmth.

Why can't this wait until I get further away?!

He rubbed his arms rapidly, his breaths now coming in short, nervous gasps. Frog it… why is it so c-c-cold…?

His sweat felt like freezing drops of rain, falling against him and scalding him under his hot skin.

It's beginning to burn…!

There was at least one guard watching over them.

Natsumi glanced at Koyuki. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Chocolate turtles?"

"No!" Natsumi sighed. She lowered her voice, "The guards."

"Oh," Koyuki gazed at them briefly before grinning and winking at Natsumi. "I am now."

"What… what's wrong with him?"

"I dunno, I just kinda found him like that."

Giroro panted heavily, shivering. The air was hot. It was cold. It was tight and hard to breathe; it was too much. It burned. It burned. His skin…

"Is that supposed to happen? His skin feels all hot."

Something tapped at his face.

"I don't think so…"

Patches of his skin were different shades of red.

"I don't think the queen is going to be happy…"

"What happened to him?!"

The Ningyo made way for their feminine leader, who looked both irritated and worried at the same time, if the expression was possible in itself at all. She stood in front of him, her hands planted on her hips, staring down. "What's wrong?"

Giroro gave her a wry smile. "I'd tell you if I knew…"

To her disgust, he began to shrink into his previous little red space frog form. When the transformation was complete, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

"…You're a… what…?" She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "What is he-?"

One of them flung himself at Giroro, his slimy fins clapping against his cheeks and his body. Giroro tried to inch away from the freaking stench the fish man was emitting, but the guard already stood up.

"I believe he's a frog, your Highness."

"A frog." She repeated, spoken as if the word were foreign or repulsive. "A frog. Why are you a frog?"

"That's just me, ma'am," Giroro grunted, standing up. The horrible burning sensation had passed, but his surroundings that now seemed so large in comparison when he was taller began to take a slight effect on him, not that he'd let her notice.

"A frog." Queen Vivianne had folded her arms now, tapping one of her fingers on her chin. "…Wait. Why does that sound so familiar?"

"You are probably thinking back to the old fairytale, your Majesty," One of Ningyo proposed humbly. "The Frog Prince. You have the book on your night stand."

"I… don't recall-"

"Every. Night."

Both she and Giroro gave the Ningyo a similar look, a "how-the-heck-would-you-know-something-like-that" look, but they concluded that it probably wasn't important and decided to overlook it.

"The Frog Prince," The Queen mused. "Ah. I remember."

"…What?" Giroro snapped, as she gazed down at him. There was this creepy smile on her lips and he wasn't sure that he liked it.

"I'll assume that you're not aware of the story 'The Frog Prince', am I correct?"

"…No.Why should I?"

"Why? Why, it is the means to your salvation!"

Giroro shot her the same crazy look that was given to one of her stinky minions. "What?"

"Tell him the story."

The Ningyo who had spoken a little ways earlier cleared his throat. "There once was a man in Nantucket-"

"Not that story!" The queen snapped. "The frog one!"

"Oh." He had to pause to bring back the memory of the said fairytale, but he quickly gathered his thoughts and cleared his throat again. "Okay. There was this one princess who dropped her ball in a well, and then the frog came along, and then he gave the ball back to her, and then he said he had to live with her, and then she threw him against the wall and then she kissed him and he became a prince and they lived happily ever after."

Giroro and the queen stared at him in bewilderment.

"So. Uh. What was the significance of the ball again-?"

"I have to kiss you!" Queen Vivianne blurted. "And then you will be my king. Do you understand now?"

"….No. Actually, I don't."

"Well, then, you will when I kiss you. Pucker up, buttercup!"

"Stay away from me!"

"Don't touch the button."

"But it looks-"

"Don't touch the button."

"But it reminds me of-"

"Don't. Touch. The button."

"-a doughnut."

"You're not going to touch the button, okay, Tamama?"

"What happens if I do, Sarge?"

"Well, uh… I dunno. Why not, Kururu?"

"Ku-ku-ku-ku~ it won't be good."

"…I know, but I want to know why."

"I know, but I'm too lazy too explain. All I'll tell you is that this whole cave will collapse under its tremendous action that the button is connected to."

"So that's why you don't press the button?"

"That is why you don't press the button."

"You could say, like this?"

"MOIS YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO PRESS THE-!"

The whole world around them shuddered like an earthquake.

Giroro was shoving her Highness away from his face when suddenly the earth began to shake. The Ningyo talked to each other all at once, turning to each other worriedly and to their queen, who had a serious smoocher face going on. That was mangled with a look of confusion afterwards, however, when she noticed the ground vibrating.

"Ningyo!" She called out, straightening immediately. "What is happening?!"

"I-I do not know, your Majesty!"

"I sense a disturbance," One cried out from behind the rest, one of the older ones, "The entire establishment is collapsing!"

"Oh well, so much for our summer home," The queen frowned, looking around the place.

"…This was your summer home?"

"Well, duh. You didn't really think this is where I could've possibly lived. It's still under construction."

Pieces of rock from the ceiling collided with the ground. The queen sighed almost snobbishly. "Well… it was under construction."

More pieces fell.

"We're going to have to leave, men."

"What?! Just like that?!" Although I can't really argue…

"Well, I can't take you as a frog, now, can I?" The queen wrinkled her nose again. "I'll just wait until you're your handsome self."

"…What exactly is that supposed to mean-?"

"Let's go before everything falls on us and we all die." The queen nodded to her escorts and was about to leave the scene until Giroro remembered something.

"H-hey, wait, what about the boys?"

"The boys?"

It took a long time for her to remember. And when she did, she seemed more annoyed then ever. "Right." She turned to the others. "Go get the dogs ready for them to use and have them take the boys home."

"But what about your husband-?"

"I'm not getting any older, am I? I'll think of something." She paused to gaze at Giroro, making him cringe and shudder. "I'll come back for you."

"Um, no thank you."

"Ah, well, you don't have a choice."

The walls began to crumble dangerously.

"Well, if I were you, I'd go to where the boys are; tell them to go in the dogs before they're all drowned or crushed to death. Their lives are in your hands. No pressure."

Giroro formed his mouth into a grim line. "Thanks."

"Whoa!" Koyuki stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening at the hallway in front of her- debris, falling. "Is that supposed to happen-?"

"I don't think so," Natsumi said anxiously, her eyes sliding to the decaying foundation. "Uh…"

"We need to find Rio and Devon-"

"Natsumi! Koyuki!"

Natsumi was shocked. "Giroro?! What are you doing here?"

"Ha, I wish I wasn't," Giroro responded. And I wish you weren't either. He never calculated the possibility of having Natsumi and Koyuki present... In fact, if it were the right time, he would wonder how they even managed to get down here. His eyes suddenly turned large and gray as they peered briefly at the ceiling. "Look out!"

He shoved them out of way just as a huge chunk of rock crashed into the white ground. Water slowly dripped after it. Giroro stared at it worriedly.

"We have to get out of here."

"But what about Rio and Devon?" Natsumi glanced behind her nervously. "I don't want to leave them behind-"

"I'm sure Devon is with the others," Giroro decided. "And I'm sure Rio is okay." Before she could complain he pushed them on, forcing the two to run back to the others. Koyuki seemed calm for some reason, like she knew Devon was alright. But Natsumi kept gazing over her shoulder, a look of uneasiness in her lovely face. Giroro immediately felt responsible for this mess, but swore himself that he would make sure that Natsumi knew Rio was alright. Even if was jealous of the fact that she was more worried about his safety than his own. Rio's, and not his. Was it normal to be angry at himself?

He decided not to let it bother him. He didn't want to add another Momoka to the mix of this already complex relationship (to which at the same time Momoka sneezed, and wondered if anyone was talking about her [she hoped it was Fuyuki]). So, instead, he decided to do something very uncharacteristic of himself and resolved on making positive thoughts while he led the two girls to safety.

Thank frog we didn't get stuck in that maze…

"Uh… I wish we could yell at someone but I don't think I could yell at Mois…"

"I'm so sorry, Uncle…"

Tamama was seething and was producing that strange purple aura, while Kururu promptly laughed, annoyed, as he tried to at least get the submarine into working order.

"What about the other boys?"

"Huh?" Keroro turned to Dororo, surprised at an additional voice inside the sub, obviously forgetting the lance corporal yet again. "Um. Right. What other boys?"

"The- you know what? I'm going to stay behind and make sure they're looked after."

He was gone before they could stop him, or ask him what in the frog he was talking about.

"It's falling! It's all coming down!"

The men were panicking, running around like headless chickens in a slaughter house for poultry.

Or, maybe they shouldn't be phrased like that.

Yeah.

"The sea urchins," Fuyuki murmured, staring at the rows of the little black, toothy creatures that had brought them to the abyss in the first place. All the young men immediately shrieked upon the memory of being dragged down the cold waters and began to back away from them. Fuyuki felt himself nearly crushed against the stony wall, hardly breathing. They were so intent on staying away from these sea urchins that they didn't notice the boys behind them, who were also struggling in their own form of survival.

Fuyuki deduced that this was worse than a death hug than Natsumi… there was no love.

"Dororo!" Giroro called out, relieved to see the familiar black zip of the ninja frog.

The lance corporal paused in his tracks and turned. When he saw the familiar party, he jumped down in front of them, comforted in the fact that they were safe.

"D~!" Koyuki said cheerfully, getting to her knees. She hugged him happily. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"I'm fine, Ms. Koyuki," Dororo replied with a smile. He gently pushed away from her and gazed at both Natsumi, who didn't seem to realize at the moment that Dororo shouldn't be there as her mind was transfixed on something else, and Giroro was just staring at him,

Dororo had this obviously dishonest expression of surprise.

"Giroro," Dororo said robotically. "What are you doing here-?"

"Natsumi and Koyuki," Giroro interrupted impatiently, nodding at the girls. "We need to get them back with the others."

"Yeah, I know. I was going to see if I could help them."

"The queen said that these 'dogs' were going to show up; apparently they were going to take them back home."

"Let's go, then. Before-"

There was a deafening rumble; more fragments of this stony temple-like cave thing were falling down in dangerous weights. Water was also beginning to sprinkle down, not unlike the beginning of a deadly outpour. Giroro and Dororo ushered them down the halls, toward the large room where the boys were frantically running to one side of the wall, where the black sea urchins were lining up in wait for any to step up inside them.

…Those are the 'dogs'?

"My thoughts exactly," Giroro muttered.

"Was the queen talking about them?" Dororo asked, gesturing at the little black animals.

Giroro looked over them, taking in the large number of the army of sea urchins, and nodded with a sense of finality. "Yes."

"I hope you're right, Giroro," Dororo said dubiously. "But I think our biggest problem is convincing them that these 'dogs' are harmless."

After making sure that his device was off, so that the others could see him, Dororo ran to the middle of the room, a small section that was left empty in between the army of the dogs and the mob of young men.

"Everyone!" Dororo cried out. "Everyone please listen to me! These things are safe! Just… uh… step inside them, and they'll carry you home!"
No one would listen. They were all in a rather distressed frenzy, trying to get away as far as possible from the Ningyo's tiny minions. Not that Dororo could blame them.

"They're safe, everybody!" Dororo yelled reassuringly. "They're safe! They'll take you home!"
At this point, a huge chunk of ceiling smashed into the ground, and water gushed out from the gaping hole at the top. The boys' passionate screams for help increased to eleven (which is a big number I assure you), and Dororo gazed helplessly toward Giroro.

Giroro walked toward Dororo, materialized a gun into his hand, and rose it to the hole on the ceiling. He fired once-twice-three times, loudly, catching the immediate attention from the men. They stared at the two frogs in utter confusion.

"LISTEN to me!" Giroro said in a thunderous, booming voice that projected well over the group of the once potential bridegrooms. "This place," he waved his weapon around him, "is coming down. And we're really deep down underwater, so lots of water is coming down here too. So here's what I want you to do. You are either going to live, and go home on those… uh, dogs-" he pointed it at the black sea urchins, "or, you're going to die. But not by drowning. Or being crushed to death. Oh no. You're either going home, or getting shot." He brandished the glistening bazooka in front of them threateningly. "So… who's first?"

"And we're off, Sergeant."

The submarine slid off into the black ocean, away from the underwater He…llington.

Tamama watched the glass anxiously. "Do you think he'll be alright, Sarge?"

"Kero?" Keroro glanced at Tamama, but just for a second, a moment. "Who?"

"That one guy. The one that was in here like ten minutes ago."

"Oh, him. Yeah, I'm sure he'll be okay."

Keroro was too busy staring at the orb that glowed fantastically inside the glass case. It changed colors every so often; it was purple when they found it, and then it had turned red, and now it was blue. It was too beautiful to not stare at. And besides… it was the means of their invasion.

"You were right, Kururu," Tamama said, the one-sided goggles reflecting the sphere's energy levels. "It's so strong. It can probably even match Natsumi."

"Ku-ku-ku-ku~ You're wrong there, Tamama. It will outmatch Natsumi. I can guarantee it."

"Especially since she's under our trap," Keroro added, smiling sinisterly.

The orb faded for minute, fidgeted, dimmed, before it exploded bluntly to a vibrant, vivacious orange.

"Natsumi, you've got to go. I don't want Fuyuki to go alone-"

"Just take him with Koyuki. He'll be fine-"

"Natsumi, he's your brother. You need to be with him."

Natsumi bit her lip, understanding that she was being completely unreasonable, but Rio…

"Giroro, I can't." The water was beginning to rise to her ankles. Many of the young boys were taken, presumably, back to their homes, where they were abducted in the first place. When the black blobs didn't repeat it's frightening sharpy-teeth trick like it had in the beginning, and instead inflated themselves into large, rubbery black bubbles, the boys relaxed and did what they were told. Even though some were hesitant, they always went inside them in the end, especially with that shiny gun encouragingly pointed at the back of their heads.

"Giroro, Rio- he wasn't here."

"I-I'm sure you missed him, Natsumi. He's alright."

There were few men left. Some just needed a little push (figuratively and literally, both provided by Dororo) to get inside the 'dogs'; just a few more, and all that would be left would be Giroro, Natsumi, Koyuki, Dororo and Fuyuki. Normally Giroro wouldn't mind leaving- especially with Natsumi- but the few men that were still behind still needed his assistance, and he was worried that they would be too late to get into the dog-bubbles to save Natsumi, her brother and her friend if they waited until all the men were helped. Before he didn't mind; few things fell and the water wasn't that bad. Now, lots of things crashed into the earth, and the water was flooding almost rapidly. He wanted Natsumi out of there.

"No, he's not," Natsumi shook her head. "Giroro, I have to go look for him."

There was a violent, loud splash! as more rocks collided into the water. Giroro winced slightly.

"Natsumi, do you know why I'm here?"

Another splash.

"No."

"I came here to protect you, to make sure you're safe. Th-that's my job."

Giroro blushed slightly as he licked his lips. Natsumi assumed it was due to the stress of this unnerving situation.

"Rio needs to be safe too-"

"Natsumi-"

"No, Giroro, you can't talk me out of this-"

"Natsumi, Natsumi look at me." He tugged on her hand, pulled down on it hard, forced her to look at him. For the longest second, they stared at each other intently, letting the panic of the world around them sink in. He let the danger overwhelm her, the rocks splashing and crashing into the slowly rising waters and some of the still but barely stony pavement. She took in the sounds, the noises, and for a brief moment, his eyes that so intensely gazed into her own.

"Rio will be alright," Giroro told her. "I swear to you… Rio will be alright. I'll personally make sure he gets back safely home, alright? I guarantee it- a soldier's promise."

"What about you?"

"I'll be alright too. I need to stay to take care of the others. Please, Natsumi. I promise we'll both be alright, okay?"

There was a long pause as Natsumi weighed the legitimacy of his solemn oath to her.

Finally, Natsumi nodded slowly.

"Now go," Giroro said, reluctantly letting go of her hand. "I… don't want your death- o-or your brother's- hanging over me… we soldiers feel guilt too you kn-"
Natsumi, like her friend, fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around Giroro, holding him closely to her, tightly, who was now blushing so heavily he was afraid he might pass out.

"Thank you, Giroro," Natsumi whispered.

"N-no problem," Giroro said quietly, hoping his stutter was subtle enough to go unnoticed. When Natsumi released him, she began to head for Fuyuki, who was waiting for her by one of the sea urchin bubbles. She stopped midway, and Giroro was about to curse her thick-headedness and try to come up with another serious speech as to why she should go with her little brother and not look for his alter ego when Natsumi put something in his hands. He was startled, obviously not expecting this.

"Good luck," She said with a strengthening smile, before turning away for the final time.

That smile is all the luck I need… Giroro looked at his hand.

And realized that it was a tiny, delicate, seashell bracelet.

Commercial Break~