The queen and Kai shared unamused expressions as they stared at the ground.

The Ningyo was at a loss.

"What happened?"

"He passed out."

"Oh." The Ningyo blinked his dead eyes. "…Wait. Excuse me, Your Highness, but… why?"

"It must be from the potion," Kai mused, folding his arm and rubbing his chin. "Maybe there was something in it that caused this reaction?"

"But I told him all the ingredients," Queen Vivianne protested. "Maybe that's why he didn't want to take the love potion for me?"

"…Yeeeeahhh. That must be it, my queen," Kai said, rolling his eyes skeptically.

Vivianne glared at him sourly, but said nothing else.

…Did you by any chance put any liquor in it?

"Yes, yes I did, Oh Mystical Voice From Above.

"….Wait. What?"

Why does she have to be so cute? Dororo lamented, watching Koyuki's dreaming face. He turned his eyes toward Natsumi, who was just aimlessly staring out the dark glass windows of the submarine, her cheek resting on the palm of her hand, her elbow propped against the pane.

Dororo cleared his throat, making her glance at him.

"What?" She whispered.

"I'm sure he's fine, Ms. Natsumi," Dororo assured her.

Natsumi jumped and turned toward him, eyeing him suspiciously. "…What did you call me?"
"I-I mean," Dororo stammered. "Y-you know." He chuckled nervously before clearing his throat again. "N-nothing- y-your name, you know? N-Natsumi."

Natsumi watched him far longer than he thought was necessary before she turned back to the window.

Geez… I keep forgetting Natsumi's smarter than she makes herself out to be- and that's saying a lot. Dororo leaned against his seat. I need to be more careful.

Natsumi's gears were turning. Why did that sound so disturbingly familiar? Her eyebrows furrowed, staring hard at the reflection on the glass. She didn't notice her look of intense concentration that was glaring back at her. Ms. Natsumi… Ms. Natsumi… who calls me that…? And that voice too. It sounds familiar. The mask…? The pink hair… The speed… His addiction to panty hoses… Who does that remind me of?

Natsumi finally shrugged and sighed. Nope. Can't think of it. Must not be very important for me not to remember.

(Dororo cried on the inside)

Giroro awoke to a veil of blackness.

"What the fudge?"

"Ah. You're finally awake."

"…Sky?"

"It's KAI! Ocean, OCEAN. How can you mistake that?! I'm a fish, not a bird!"

"Jeez, sorry I asked," Giroro muttered, wrinkling his nose. He rolled his shoulders around, trying to bring up his arms. He was stunned to realize that his wrists were taped together, disabling his mobility.

"…Why am I tied up?"

"Uh, so you won't get away?"

"Case in point." Giroro concluded it was futile to struggle. He attempted it anyway. "…Second question: Why am I blindfolded?"

"You consumed the love potion."

"I WHAT?!"

"You heard me."

Giroro could hear footsteps across from him; he assumed that Kai was pacing around, maybe even waving his arms as he spoke.

"The love potion was designed to make the person who drank the liquid fall desperately in love with the first person they see."

"Uh… huh. Even if they're a guy."

"Even if they're a guy." Giroro heard a sort of tone that could have easily ended his sentence as and I do NOT want you drooling at my feet, Goldie Locks.

Giroro sighed heavily. "So I'm assuming you're going to tell the queen now."

There was a slight pause.

"…Yes."

"…You sound… reluctant?"

"I-I do not!"

The stammering. The denial? The lack of enthusiasm along with not wanting Rio to marry the queen? Sounded familiar….

Why am I taking this love potion thing so calmly?

"I'M NOT MARRYING THE QUEEN! DON'T MAKE ME SHOOT YOU!"

"…That sudden burst of, uh, random emotion made no sense compared to the rest of the context of our conversation."

"Yeah, I know, I'm just trying to speed things along." Giroro was quiet for a moment. "Hey. Before I make the biggest mistake of my life, I want to ask you something."

Kai whistled. "Shoot."

Believe me, I wish I could. "What are you doing down here?"

"…What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're serving this woman who wants 'attractive' men. And you're, uh, by her definition, 'attractive'." Giroro felt his eyebrow perk up. "Has she ever attempted to marry-?"

"Don't even go there," Kai said coldly.

"…What? You related to her or something?"

"U-um… n-no."

"Then… why not? Heck, I'm going to be brainwashed into some mindless zombie lover; you might as well tell me while I have the frogging decency to think like a normal person."

Hesitation.

"She wants to marry only human men."

"You look like one to me-"

"Yeah, but I'm half Ningyo. She won't look twice at me."

Half, huh? That actually makes sense. Giroro cocked his head to the right, contemplating on the man's words. Wait. Don't that sound familiar.

"Has she told you that personally?"

"H-huh? No, I mean, I just assumed…"

"How would you know how she feels unless you ask her?"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to try and confess your love to someone who may not love you back?"

What do you think? For years I've been trying to wrack up the nerve to tell my beloved Natsumi who I feel… I have the courage to be the only one to step up on the front line in war, protecting my comrades, fighting for Keron, waging in a war against the skirmishes of the color purple, but I don't have the frogging guts to tell the beautiful girl next door the feelings trapped in the far, dark corners of my heart….

"Nope! Can't say I do."

"….I see."

The worst kind of liar is a hypocritical kind of liar. Or an I-didn't-mean-to-leave-the-Narrator-out kind of liar. Or a the-Narrator-isn't-funny-so-I'm-going-cut-short-his-

Natsumi had forgotten.

"CRAP!" She snarled, slamming a curled fist into the control panel.
The original entrance that they had used to get in through before was completely barricaded with huge chunks of fallen rocks.

"I forgot that something blew up the cavern," Natsumi said faintly, irritated.

"There has to be a place that isn't blown up," Dororo tried helpfully, his fingers gently dancing across Koyuki's hair. "Let's swim around. They had to have gotten in a place that was somehow protected from the earthquake-thingy."

"Or they took Rio somewhere and all we're doing is leading a wild goose chase," Natsumi huffed. She deactivated the Autopilot and squeezed the handle bars, hoping the submarine was similar to her directing all the other crazy contraptions Keroro had shoved her into. "…Fine. We're here anyway. Might as well just try." She glanced at Dororo. "…We might get lucky and find Giroro."

Dororo jumped and stared at Natsumi, his pupils dilated. "…You know?"

Natsumi gave him the same reaction as he to her. "Do I know what?"

The ninja watched her unsteadily and swallowed, realizing his horrendous mistake. He looked down at Koyuki's dark green hair and continued to run his hand through it. "U-uh, you tell me."

"Seriously, D, I don't know what you're talking about."

"N-nothing," Dororo said quickly, his cheeks burning.

Natsumi stopped the sub and swiveled her body toward him, her eyes narrowed. "Look, it's bad enough that I don't know you, but keeping secrets that involve people I do know gives me enough reason to hold you under suspicion."

Dororo provided her with a weak smile. "Th-this is something that a friend of mine doesn't want me to say. I-I'm sure of it." He was quiet for a moment, before his eyes rose to Natsumi's; the brilliant, pacific pale blueness of those eyes faltered her glare. "…I do believe he wants to tell you himself."

"…Alright." She turned back toward the steering wheel. …That was… disturbingly familiar. Where have I seen those eyes before…?

Another submarine was drifting through the dark waters.

Keroro was driving with Tamama next to him, who was snoring softly against his shoulder. Any other circumstance would have made him shove the private off of him, but the poor little guy had been working his tail off for the past few hours now. The least he could give him was a little time's worth of sleep- even if he did have cheese-puff breath and tended to hum copyrighted theme songs in his sleep.

From the corner of his eye, he could see that the Lieutenant behind him was also fighting the urge to nod off. Garuru had summoned several weapons and laid them on the floor, disassembling them, cleaning the gunpowder, reassembling them, and then starting the process all over by dissolving its matter and materializing another to reality.

Worry fuels exhaustion, Keroro thought. "Y-you know, Lieutenant… y-you could… sleep. If, uh, you wanted to."

Garuru grunted in what seemed like a forced back yawn. "Not likely."

After his dazed reverie, the elder brother had hardened more than before. Keroro understood how fatal emotions could be in the battlefield; emotion encouraged hesitation, and hesitation prevented action, which, in the end, could possibly end in death. He knew only too well.

…Had to change his approach if he wanted Garuru to take a well-deserved rest before they had to get off.

"I'm just sayin'," Keroro said slowly, returning his attention back to the black waters on the screen. "Don't want you to be, y-you know, sleep-deprived when we rescue Giroro… you know?"

Garuru didn't respond, and Keroro didn't repeat. He only hoped that the former would take his advice.

Keroro heard quiet footsteps tap lazily behind him. Kururu hopped into the seat next to his leader and opened up the laptop he had been carrying.

"Any luck with repairing Word Choice Chooser?"

"Yes. Ku-ku-ku-ku! Only, we're a bit too far under the water to receive any service. The only way we may truly be able to communicate with Giroro is if we're somehow around his area."

"Geez," Keroro said under his breath. "Okay." He sighed and decided to change the subject, just for the heck of it.

"Where's Mois?"

"Sleeping." Kururu snapped his computer shut, making Keroro wince slightly. "Speaking of the devil-"

"I think you mean 'speak of the devil'-"

"No, I meant what I said, ku-ku." Kururu noted, then continuing as if there was no prior interruption. "I have been wondering, captain-"

"Yeah?"

"Why in Pekopon did you keep sending Mois to check up on my building the DestructuBug? Ku, because frankly, I was getting anno-"

"What?"

"You know, the machine. The one on the blueprint-"

"No. I meant, my sending Mois to check up on you? By that did you mean more than once?"

"Yes, yes. What was that about, ku?"

"I never told her to do that."

Being tied up sucks. No one needs to tell you to let you know that. Also bound. Being bound sucks too. And hearing high pitched whines from your dog, getting a headache from said whining…

Oh, wait. Wrong story.

Giroro sighed, frowning.

Kai had informed him that he was going to leave now to inform the queen. Happy happy joy joy.

Giroro could feel some of the guards nearby, pacing around. He relaxed his shoulders, trying his best to appear nonchalant as his fingers attempted to tug at the tight ropes around his wrists. One of his index fingers slipped into a loophole and curled into a hook, pulling it hard. He silently scowled. It was too tight.

Let's see, let's see…

He played around with the knots, closing his eyes to visualize how it was tied around his hands.

If he was able to free himself from the Shoelace Armada, where they were claimed to be the most efficient in tying their prisoners in impossible knots, than he could get out of ropes that were tied together by blind fish people.

Of course, amidst this deep concentration, Giroro's mind would wander a while, as he mindlessly jerked at the binding strings. He thought of- surprise, surprise- Natsumi.

He exhaled again. He was struck with the humiliating prospect that the last time he had seen Natsumi, he had practically rejected her and run away from her, leaving her, no doubt, horribly, horribly confused and hurt.

He hated this.

He hated this mission before, but he never, ever thought he would get this far. What if Natsumi loved him? Could he really sacrifice his own self and continue to take on this fake persona? Really? Was that even love…?

Giroro squeaked a little bit upon realizing that he had struck a cord.

No, no, the actual cord. Of the bi… you know what? Never mind.

I think Natsumi should know who I am… Giroro mused, swallowing nervously at the mere thought of confessing. But really… could he really continue to keep up this… this lie?

He kissed her. And she enjoyed it. She liked him- he was sure she liked him. A lot. He got I-would-like-to-be-more-than-friends vibe from her, and he was positive that she sensed one from him too… hopefully a genuine one.

He wasn't selfish- if he declared his feelings, his identity, and his real motives for entering into this relationship with her, he would promise he could stay in this form… if it would make her happy. Of course he would. No second thought about it.

But she has to know who I am, Giroro thought solemnly. I have to tell her.

His worst fear was her rejection… he had so much to lose.

But could he really continue lying to her face?

He just hoped that deep, deep down she would have the frogging integrity to either accept him who he was or at least realize the sincerity of his confession and apology if she wasn't interested.

I'm going to tell her. Giroro shook his head slightly.

Can you please stop using italics, Mr. Author? It's really distracting.

"Hey, D, I have a question."

Dororo weaved his fingers into Koyuki's silky, dark hair. "Yeah?"

"Do you like Koyuki?"

His hands froze midway in in the air.

"Wh-what makes you ask th-that?"

"Just wondering."

"I-I don't… n-not in that way," Dororo insisted, his cheeks going into a fluorescent blush.

"Really?"

"R-really. U-uh… w-we're just friends… r-really."

"Hm," Natsumi said.

"'Hm'? Wh-what does that mean? I-is that a good thing, o-or a bad thing, o-or…?"

"No, it's more like a 'huh'."

Like that answers my question.

"I don't think I understand…"

"Didn't you do the legend with Koyuki?" Natsumi asked, jerking her chin to the direction where Dororo and Koyuki sat, her eyes on the glass.

"Yeah," Dororo said, perking a brow. "I did. Why?"

"Because, you know, couples are more inclined to do that-"

"Wh-?!" Dororo stopped himself, remembering that one of the passengers was currently asleep. He lowered his quavering voice to a thin whisper, "…what?"

"Didn't you know that?"

"N-no," Dororo said innocently. "Sh-she kinda implied that, but all she said was that we'd be 'friends forever'." Now having repeated that out loud, he realized how stupid it sounded. "Koyuki told me, the uh, legend. It was kind of a surprise."

Natsumi was quiet for a moment, no doubt surveying the area around the sub, looking for an entryway. "Well, it's usually for lovers. They say they'll be blessed with eternal happiness." She turned a smooth corner. Dororo swayed slightly, gripping Koyuki's shoulder gently. "One of my friends told me that they actually knew a couple who did the legend together."

"No kidding," Dororo said tiredly. "And?"

"They got married. They're still together to this day."

BONK.

Natsumi immediately looked over her shoulder. Dororo's head was against the window. "Uh. Are you alright?"

"I wish I was wearing the Cone of Shame."

Natsumi went back to her wheel. "The what of what?"

"It's something one of my friends would make me wear as a kid. He would steal cookies from the cookie jar, get caught, frame it on me, then make me wear this huge cone made from the Monster Monthly magazine when no one believed him…" He felt himself beginning to succumb to his trauma switch, but then he remembered his position, and he fought hard against it.

"Yeah? That's mean. But what does the 'Cone of Shame' have anything to do with Koyuki?"

"I feel like I'm doing something wrong, but I don't know what it is."

"I don't think you're doing anything wrong," Natsumi replied, stopping suddenly. Dororo lurched forward slightly from his seat, and he carefully held on to Koyuki, again, to keep her from falling off.

"What's… wrong?" Dororo inquired, curiously stretching his neck to see what Natsumi stopped for. "Did you find any-?"

"Don't hurt Koyuki."

Dororo was now staring into the pink-haired girl's eyes. She wore a serious, no-nonsense expression; her brows knitted, her mouth a grim line, her eyes almost cold.

"Wh-what-?"

"Don't hurt Koyuki," Natsumi raised up a finger and pointed it at him. "If you have no intention of getting together, and you send her all the wrong signals making her think you are, you will hurt her. With you being, 'we're only friends' and 'it's not like that' and blah-blah-blah, you're confusing her." She paused to rub her temples. "You may or may not know, but Koyuki wants to fit in with our society- she wants to be a normal girl."

"I know," Dororo said quietly, but Natsumi continued, not hearing him.

"I'm just saying; if she sees a normal girl with a guy, and she thinks that that typically means that they're romantically involved… and then she hangs out with you-…"

"I got it," Dororo interrupted, embarrassed at doing so. "I got it. But I'd rather not talk about it now." He looked at the window beside him.

"D-…"

"I think I see something down there."

Natsumi walked over to his side and peered out with him. "…Yeah. I think I see something too…" She went back to her seat and directed the submarine down the cavern that the two had seen. "It looks similar to the way we came in before…"

"So we found it?"

"Only one way to find out, right?"

Dororo nodded, stroking Koyuki's shoulder.

"Oh, and D?"

"What?"

"We're not done talking about this."

The pink-haired ninja ducked his head timidly, blushed, and nodded again.

"I think I found something, captain."

Keroro sleepily turned his head toward Kururu. "…Yeah? Like what?"

"Ku-ku-ku, it seems like it's a cavern of some sort," The scientist said pointedly, coughing into his shoulder in what seemed like a vain attempt to hold back a yawn. "And seeing as the Word Choice Chooser is beginning to act up, Giroro is or somewhere in there."

"Good," Keroro nodded. "That's good." He gazed over his shoulder, noting Mois sitting at desk, sleeping into her arms, and Garuru, sitting against the wall, sleeping with his head cocked slightly to the left.

Keroro swerved gently into the direction of the cavern. "See if you can communicate with him."

"Will do, captain."

"What do you mean it's gone?"

The Ningyo cowered in fear. "W-we don't know, Your Highness. It-it's just… it's just gone."

"This is what I get for hiring rookies," The queen muttered irritably. "Find it! It might have been lost during the Earthquake of Inconvenience."

The fish men nodded and ran in opposite directions, desperate to find the missing item to appease their queen.
Vivianne growled impatiently. Things were just not going well for her. This had never happened before- abductions of the young men, marrying the chosen one, living with that chosen one until he was dead had always gone so smoothly. But this year, it was nothing but trouble. The abductions were interrupted by an earthquake, her groom ran away, and now the Gem of Sacred Sacredness had disappeared.

Could things get any worse?

There was the sound of an explosion somewhere off, but it was still loud enough to be heard. A low rumble and the shaking of the ground followed shortly after the noise.

Queen Vivianne groaned.

To those who lack in genre-savvy, do not ever say 'could things get any worse' or anything of that nature. Discretion is advised.

They had run into a wall.

"Well that could have gone better."

Garuru jumped to his feet and materialized a gun into his hands. Mois woke up, wondering where the rainbow kitties and running scissors flew off to. Tamama mumbled about foot-flavored cookies, and Keroro stood up, forgetting that he was currently the private's pillow, who then fell on his face flat against the chair.

"I had a nightmare, uncle," Mois whimpered, rubbing her eyes. "First I was with you, and then I was with Tamama, and then after that I was with Kururu, and then I was with Koyuki! It was so scary!"

You could say, 'fan fiction'?

"Yeah, and I dreamed that Saburo was getting beat up, for some weird rea- WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WERE WITH MR SARGEANT YOU EVIL WITCH OF EVILDOM?!" Tamama roared, his pupils dilating. "TAMAAAMAAA-!"

"TAMAMA!" Keroro snapped. "We have no time for that now! We have to find Giroro now. Did you find him, Kururu?"

"Still somehow unable to communicate with the old man, ku-ku-ku."

"Great," Keroro muttered.

"Where are we?" Garuru asked, walking over to Keroro to peer at the screen.

"We're close to wherever he is," Keroro explained, trying to pull the submarine away from the hole in the wall that they had made. "We're trying to get through to him, but it doesn't seem like it's working…"

"May I see it?"

Keroro nodded at Kururu, who handed it to Garuru. The purple frog grabbed it, slammed it against the desk (startling everyone in the sub), and then tossed it back to the demented inventor.

"Turn it on," Garuru ordered, flicking a finger toward the Word Choice Chooser.

"…pbsshht Gir…? Psshhht…."

It was too quiet for him to hear. And besides, it's not like he could talk. It would definitely give away his position.

Giroro felt sweat drip down his face. Geez, how long has it been? A while, right?

The queen might show up any second now…

His fingers felt numb, detached from his hand. He imagined that they must be a swollen reddish color, if not purple, from tugging on the cords.

The doors opened, and he straightened, his hair on end.

"The Queen is doing something at the moment."

Giroro relaxed immediately. "Oh, it's just you."

"And what is that supposed to mean?!"

It means he doesn't like you.

Unknowing to Giroro, Kai looked up at the ceiling for a moment, almost as if he was trying to find something. Giving up, he turned back to the blonde and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"She'll be here soon, though. She just needed to clean up a few loose ends, you can say."

"Like…?"

"All in good time, future king. It'll be your business soon enough."

Giroro frowned despondently and involuntarily shuddered, tugging the weakening strings with his dancing fingers.

"Relax," Kai said, his voice leaning toward being both sympathetic and bitter, if that was possible. "With the love potion, you won't know you're under a spell at all. It'll feel natural."

"Well, whatever's the case," Giroro said with an indifferent shrug. "I guess it's Fate's decision to choose where my life goes." The twine loosened, and his hands were free. He kept them behind his back, deciding to continue his stoic expression. "...Right?"

Kai jumped at this, a bit taken aback that the usual stubborn, hardheaded boy was beginning to subject to this horror so easily now. He wasn't beginning to give in… was he?

"…Right," Kai said slowly, almost suspiciously. "Sure."

Frog, now if I only had a gun…

Suddenly, the doors burst open again, and cries of unpleasant surprise, and some cheesy kicking/punching sounds you would probably only hear at a 1900's black and white kung-fu movie.

Giroro immediately reacted, his hands flying over to the blindfold and untangling the knot. But then he felt soft, warm hands cover his own fingers and untie the cloth for him. It was then he was struck with the most horrible realization that he had just recently drunk a love potion.

"W-wait, hold on- don't-!"

The darkness receded, and he winced at first contact in the light.

"Rio?"

Giroro opened one eye and gazed up at his savior. Natsumi seemed to be enveloped in the light, her beautiful eyes full of worry and concern.

"N-Natsumi…"

Natsumi smacked the back of his head.

"Okay, ow."

"That's what you get for getting us into all this trouble," Natsumi scowled.

Giroro smirked a little, blushing slightly, rubbing the part where she struck him. "Yeah. I deserved that."

"Yes you did."

"Natsumi! We defeated all the bad guys!"

Natsumi and Giroro turned respectively toward the pile of unconscious Ningyo soldiers, with Kai at the bottom. Dororo and Koyuki were clapping their hands of the dust and shaking the slime off their fingers.

A thundering stampede was easily heard around the corner.

"Um, not all, Koyuki," Natsumi said, a tad too melodramatically. She grabbed Giroro's hand and pulled him up to his feet.

"C'mon, we have to go-"

"Wait, Natsumi-"

"Rio, not now. We have to-"

"I'm Giroro." Giroro's pupils dilated, and he immediately covered his mouth with his hands. Why?! Why of all times does the stupid Word Choice Chooser have to work NOW?!

Natsumi shot her head toward him. Her eyes were wide, flickering from his own to his feet, but other than that, no expression shone through her face. She glanced at the ground, shook her head, and raised her head to give him a stern look. "No time for that. C'mon, we've got to get out of here first."

Giroro was absolutely struck dumb, confused, and terrified, but he nodded and followed her, Dororo, and Koyuki out of the grand room.

The queen was unamused.

In front of her, her glorious room was ultimately trashed.

Her bed was broken. Her desk was broken. He robes were scattered about, and broken.

And her guards were on top of each other like a pizza tower.

Queen Vivianne rested her palms on her knees and leaned down. "…Kai."

The blue eyed man moaned in response, his face plastered to the floor.

"…What happened to my groom?"

Kai rose his head from the ground and gave her a stupid look. "Gee, Your Majesty. What do you think?"

Commercial Break~

Author's Note: I apologize for the out-of-characterness of this chapter. Please forgive me. *bows, embarrassed*

I can cheerfully say I'm almost done with this story! Yes! I'm guessing maybe only several more chapters until it's really done... no more than one or two. Possibly three. But safe to say I'm really excited... this will be the first time that I've ever really completed a story as long as this one.

It'll be sad to see this story end, but not to worry! I'm in the process of writing another fan fiction that will hopefully be as well-liked as this one.

Happy writing, everyone!