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Another flashbacks, this time from the Keronian's perspective of what happened after they left.

Nine Months Ago

The Keronians all stood in radiation suits outside the Hinata House. They didn't have time to get nauseous from the scenery. They didn't have much time at all.

"We have six hours before the oxygen in these suits wears out. The radiation will crack them afterward," Kululu told the group. At the time, the air was still thick with smoke and radiation. It was clear it wasn't a safe environment.

Keroro bit his lip. "We better find Tamama quickly, then." They could only see his face from inside his helmet. The way things were outside made him worried. Had Tamama survived this long?

Please be okay, he hoped. I should have never left you out for so long.

"Do we know where we're going?" Dororo asked.

"Alien Street. That's where I sent them," Keroro responded quickly. Hopefully they were still there. His nerves were jittery to reunite with the people he had sent out.

He hoped they weren't dead.

They looked around the area desperately for Tamama. Four of their hours had already been used up searching.

Giroro wrote his note to Natsumi as they continued their search. Keroro acted like a mad man, calling out Tamama's name to try and find him.

They hadn't seen any signs of anyone being alive yet. They saw a few rats, sure. A little larger-than-normal rats, but nothing else.

"I think I hear something," Giroro suddenly told them.

"All right." Dororo used his superior tracking skills though to help them find their friend. He pointed deeper into the passage of Alien Street.

They followed him.

There were just as many corpses in Alien Street as there had been in the Pekoponian districts of the city. None of the aliens had survived.

Keroro grew more and more worried for Tamama's safety. "That... That was a Viper's skeleton we passed, wasn't it?" he asked.

Giroro nodded. He didn't want to think the worst, but it was likely Tamama was already dead. He didn't know if they could survive the radiation, but he knew nobody could survive bombings.

Eventually the four came upon a small, run-down shack. It looked tilted and ashed-soaked, but much sturdier than the other buildings. Probably designed to withstand intense earthquakes probably.

"Ku. Come over here!" Kululu directed. The small shack didn't seem to be very impressive on the outside, but it looked strong. And it looked like it would have withstood the bombing. "The architecture looks like it was designed to withstand intense earthquakes. I remember reading about a design plan to refurbish Alien Street to have more buildings like these so that it wouldn't be ruined every time Mois hit the planet and felt like trying to destroy this place," he said. Then he chuckled at the memory. "Ku, ku, ku."

"Your point?" Giroro asked.

"This is probably a tester building for that. If somebody stayed in here, there would be a chance for survival," Kululu continued. The door looked busted, like some bricks might have collapsed on it, but it was mostly intact.

"But that's just hope that they hid out here," said Giroro.

"No. It isn't. Mois was with Tamama," Kululu said. "She knew these buildings because I read the article with her. She would have been smart enough to seek shelter. He might have been here."

Keroro grinned hopefully as Kululu talked. "Let's open the door, then! Maybe he's in there, waiting for us!"

Giroro nodded and started shooting at the door. Eventually the rubble was cleared and the entrance was open.

The four peered into the dark room. Kululu turned his flashlight glasses on.

The inside looked a little bigger than the outside, and pretty intact.

"AAAAAHHHH THE LIGHT... IT BURNNNSSS..." Tamama's voice screamed as Kululu's flashlight eyes scanned the area. "Turn it off..."

"Tamama!?" Keroro was overjoyed and instantly jumped into the deeper parts of the building. His arms outstretched to a hug.

Kululu dimmed down his glasses so everybody could comfortably see. They could see now that the floor was littered with clothing of various alien species, and scraps of skeletons. Tamama might not have been the only one hiding out there.

But what was the most shocking was Tamama, who was now curled up in a ball in the corner adjusting to the light. He didn't look like Tamama as much. His body seemed a tiny bit larger, his arms and legs slimier and longer, more elastic. These features could be passed off as malnutrition, but what was more horrifying was the rest of his body.

His eyes were even larger, but his pupils were smaller and more slanted, as if compressed. It didn't look like he could see well.

His hands were the worst, though. His fingers were long and bony and the skeleton was exposed, like the skin had melted away from acid.

The most noticeable feature was Tamama's long tongue, coiled around his entire body for warmth and to protect himself from the light.

"Wh-what happened to you, Private?" Keroro asked. He put a hand on Tamama's head, his arm shaking a bit from fear. "It doesn't matter... I'm just so glad you're alive!"

Tamama looked up and stood. "M-mr... Sergeant?" he asked, putting his hands up to his face in shock. He got close, because he couldn't see very well. His tongue flicked onto Keroro's hand, as if to taste him to see where he was.

"Yeah, it's me. And I brought Dororo, Giroro, and Kululu too," Keroro smiled. He tried not to let Tamama's tongue feel how much he was shaking.

"What happened?" Giroro asked again. It appeared almost like Tamama was mutated. Tamama was silent for a moment, not caring much for Giroro and keeping his attention focused on Keroro.

"You happened, Mr. Sergeant. You didn't come for me." His voice was mad, accusing. Keroro stepped back a little bit.

"I... I know... I wanted to, but..." Keroro paused. "F-fuyuki needed me."

"I don't care. I thought about you every moment. Every single moment. As the radiation seeped through my body and everything else became numb, I thought of you. And what did you do? YOU ABANDONED ME! I've been waiting days for you to come for me. And you never did," Tamama hissed. He looked like he wanted to bite into Keroro. To punish him.

"I... I am so so sorry," Keroro apologized. He honestly was.

"I should hate you. But don't worry, I still love you," Tamama assured him. "But you need to be punished. As I ate the others who were here, I thought of you. But I won't eat you. I thought about how I would make you mine. I've waited so long." Tamama's tongue darted forward, wrapping itself around Keroro's helmet.

"Wh-what...?" Keroro gasped for breath as the tongue constricted around him, crushing the helmet and exposing Keroro to the radiated air.

Tamama let go as Keroro dropped to the ground, gasping.

Dororo, Giroro, and Kululu watched in horror as Tamama's tongue licked Keroro's face, leaving a trail of saliva. Keroro gasped.

"K-Keroro..." Giroro looked like he was about to run up to his friend's side and punch Tamama, but Keroro put his hand up.

"D-don't... You heard him." Keroro told Giroro. "I-I need to be punished. He waited so long." Keroro's eyes were swirling, as if he was thinking straight.

"You'll mutate just like me," Tamama told him. "And then the only thought in your head will be me. I'll make it so."

Giroro put his hand on his gun. "Tamama's a lost case. I need to save Keroro," he grunted. He didn't like what was happening. "It looks like the radiation didn't kill him, but he mutated... How long can Keroro survive this environment?" he wondered.

"It's... It's already happening, his mutations..." Kululu glanced at Keroro. "It's too late."

Keroro's eyes weren't clear. They were glassy. He was going blind. He just gasped on the ground, struggling out of his suit so it wouldn't weigh him down.

Giroro drew his weapon and shot at Tamama, despite Tamama being his platoon member. Dororo threw a ninja star at the bullets, deflecting them.

"We came here to save him! Not to kill him! Keroro wouldn't want us hurting him!" he reminded him. Giroro nodded.

Kululu's mind was on a different subject, instead of Tamama's tongue entwined around Keroro's body.

"Where's Mois?" he asked quietly.

Tamama grinned as he headed toward a hole in the ceiling that he had made, probably to sneak out while he was waiting for them. "I ate her, of course. After my mutation, everything's tasted so much better, and she was the first meal I had. At least that woman was good for something in the end."

There was silence in the air as the implication that Tamama had killed one of their friends settled into their minds.

It was Kululu who reacted first. "I'm going to kill you." Unlike Giroro and Dororo though, he didn't have any weapons on him and was at a disadvantage.

He tried to launch himself forward to tackle Tamama, to strangle him or anything else he could do, but Giroro grabbed Kululu before he could.

Tamama just laughed as Kululu tried to struggle free, anger and terrible threats filling his voice instead of the tears he was fighting back.

"H-he's getting up!" Dororo tried to focus Giroro and Kululu's attention to Keroro, as Keroro started to move. Tamama helped him straighten out.

"You taste so good, Mr. Sergeant!" Tamama's voice got all lovey-dovey. "Should we ditch these losers, my love? You haven't fully mutated yet, I think."

Keroro didn't look around. He couldn't see. "I don't even know who these people are," he answered. "But whatever you want, Private!" Keroro's voice was also weirdly lovey-dovey.

Giroro weakened, but kept his grip on Kululu firm to save Kululu's life. He knew they didn't know what they were facing with Tamama, and Tamama's tongue seemed way too strong. If Kululu attacked Kululu would be killed, but his blood still ran cold with what Keroro said.

"What do you mean you don't know who we are?" Giroro asked. "Keroro! It's me! Giroro!"

Keroro didn't even seem to hear him. He just draped his arms around Tamama and Tamama used his tongue as a rope to drag them up to the ceiling.

"KERORO! COME BACK!" Giroro screamed. Kululu got out of his grip and tried to jump up to Tamama to murder him. Keroro kicked him the face, causing him to be sent flying.

In mere minutes, they were gone.

Giroro and Dororo sat blankly outside, horrified at the loss of Keroro and the mutation of Tamama.

"Th-they're gone..." Dororo whispered. "Do we go after them?"

"We should. How long do we have, Kululu, before our suits where out?" Giroro asked. Kululu weakly and limply looked at a timer.

"Five minutes," he responded. "Even if we went at our top speed, we wouldn't make it back to the Hinata House in time to release our suits. We should be thinking less of Keroro and more of us," he told them. "Ku, ku, ku. Tamama's proved something to us, though. We won't die. We'll mutate if the air touches us. And our minds will be altered... We might forget everything about us, or just some. Anything could happen to our minds."

Giroro's arms started shaking in rage. Dororo started crying.

"What do you suggest to do, Kululu?" Giroro asked. "Do we try to make it back to the house? Can you extend our time?"

Kululu shook his head. He didn't even care at the moment. "We have a tough choice to make now. Kill ourselves before becoming monsters or mutate into one of them. We might not even be ourselves after it." He paused. "Ku, ku, ku. So what do you guys choose?"

They were all silent. "We should die. We all know that was a risk when we took the mission. We're all willing for it to happen. I think we should separate, and each spend our last minutes as ourselves... And commit suicide in the end," Giroro suggested.

"Separate? Why's that?" Dororo asked.

"If someone does choose to mutate, we don't want him attacking the rest. Also, we don't want anybody killing each other, forcing his choice on the other two," Giroro explained.

Kululu nodded. "Suicide it is?"

"Suicide," he agreed.

Dororo gave a small nod. "Good-bye, my friends," he politely told them.

Giroro smiled sadly. "Good-bye, may I see you again in another life."

Kululu didn't even say good-bye.

And they all turned around and headed for different directions.

Giroro sat in front of the letter to Natsumi he had written. He knew he should kill himself, but his love for Natsumi prevented him.

He didn't want to leave her. He knew that suicide had been his suggestion and that he was the one who had pushed for it, but he didn't want to leave her.

Even though it would mean turning into a monster. He loaded his gun, ready to shoot himself in the head.

I can't. I can't put herself through that pain. At least with me alive, there will be hope. Even if I am a monster, I can hope that I retain my memories for her. In a moment's decision, Giroro shot at the ground instead, letting his potentially alive comrades hear the shot of his gun, but not shooting himself.

He took his helmet off.

It was a stupid choice, one he made in a moment's notice, and a dishonest one to his friends. But he did it anyway.

And he waited for the radiation to sink into his body.

Dororo, too, didn't commit suicide. He betrayed the pact. It wasn't because he wanted to be a monster, it was just that he couldn't betray the planet he loved and leave it.

I need to help you, Pekopon, he realized as he tossed his blade to the ground. He had to wait and become one with the planet.

A tear slid down his cheek as he heard gunfire echo the air. Giroro had died. But he wouldn't. He'd live on for the both of them.

Tamama was a monster. But he was a strong monster, Kululu realized. Rage still filled his mind at what Tamama had done.

He wasn't just letting that go. And he knew from what he had seen from Keroro and Tamama, if he focused on his rage, he might remember it.

He never had any intention of dying. He was going to become a mutant.

And he was going to take Tamama down.

I'll kill him for you, Mois. I won't let that monster get away with eating you. He wasn't ready to experience any grief yet. He just felt anger.

None of the three died. And they all mutated in their own way. They went their separate ways, never really rejoining and being on their own, but they all fought on their own.

Unknown to them, they had each mutated into something that embodied one of each of the five senses.

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