Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
Lots of stuff happens this chapter. I hope you like it.
Natsumi's group had found a temporary shelter of an old house. They had tried to straighten it up and make it into something somewhat homely. They didn't need it to be permanent. They just needed to be able to camp so that they could continue their search for food.
They had been out there for eight days altogether. And they felt pretty confident about how well they were surviving.
They were close to the beach, actually. Natsumi was hoping to find some fresh sea food and see how the oceans were faring from the apocalypse.
She had good memories of the beach. It was always a fun place.
They hadn't encountered Kululu in days, which was very good. Natsumi kept on the lookout for Keroro and Tamama, but she hadn't seen them, either.
It was quiet. A little bit too quiet.
She was unaware that in the shadows, a distance away Keroro, Tamama and Giroro were waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"They did multiply," Keroro murmured. "Should we take them individually? There's three of us, and four of them."
Giroro sneered. They sounded overly cautious and optimistic. They were probably weak. He couldn't see what they looked like, but it probably didn't matter.
"There's two males and two females. I'll take whoever is the strongest," Giroro volunteered.
"The one with the most vibrating footsteps seems to be one of the females. She had a tough muscle mass," Keroro told him. "The one with the angry-sounding voice."
"Hm. I'll take her then." Giroro called dibs.
"I'll take the weak one. The small boy. I might as well take the other dude too, and that leaves Tamama to have a rematch with the tough ninja lady." Keroro glanced over at Tamama and gave him a kiss on the top of his head. "You ready for your rematch?"
"My tongue's regrown. It's strong. I'll swallow her whole," Tamama smiled.
They all laughed and resonated. It was time to strike.
Keroro tried to take the lead, appearing first.
"Gero, Gero, Gero!" He announced his presence. "Pekoponians! I see that you're trying to make this land your own. But this is already territory of the Keron army!"
"Crap," Natsumi whispered to herself. Behind Keroro, Tamama approached ,showing his presence. Giroro stayed out of sight, ready to shoot whoever made the most noise.
"S-Sarge...?" Fuyuki asked. Although Keroro was mutated and looked different, he recognized his friend. "SARGE!" Tears streamed down Fuyuki's face. He slowly took a few steps forward.
"Fuyuki, no!" Natsumi told him. As Fuyuki walked toward him, Keroro slapped Fuyuki away, onto the ground.
"Get away from me, pathetic Pekoponian!" Keroro snarled. Fuyuki cried parenthetically in the dirt.
"Y-you're alive...Sarge, why? Why would you hurt me?" he asked.
"He doesn't remember you. None of the frogs do," Natsumi explained. "It... It was a side effect."
Fuyuki cried. Natsumi approached her brother to comfort him, but a bullet shot forward, nicking her arm.
"Got ya." Giroro revealed himself out of the bushes. Natsumi's face grew pale as she saw Giroro's face. His eyes were completely gone. Black holes remained in their place - wide, sad sockets. His deranged, twisted grin didn't help give any expression to his face. His skin was so incredibly course that it made her naseaus. Slits like scars were all along his knees.
He looked hideous. Natsumi fell to the ground, not even bleeding that much. She just vomitted at the sight of him.
Stop this... He's alive! You should be celebrating! Don't... Don't vomit at his appearance... Don't vomit... THAT is your lover... Natsumi begged herself, but she just kept emptying her stomach.
"I thought you said this one was the strongest," Giroro told Keroro. He walked up to her, placing his gun at her face to tilt it up. To hear the pathetic sound of her desperate sobs.
"I thought she was," Keroro shrugged. "The little boy is weak, too."
Koyuki got her ninja blades ready. It seemed Saburo and she were the only ones not out of commission. Tamama's tongue entwined around her arms, though, keeping her from throwing any attacks.
Excreting a tranquilizer from his saliva, he made her fall to the ground. He'd play with his food later. He needed to deal with Fuyuki.
"You take the other male. I want to eat the smaller one," Tamama instructed as Fuyuki continued to sob on the floor.
"Okey-dokey, my love. Kill him good!" Keroro smiled. Saburo shook his head. Without a pen, he was defenseless.
Keroro approached him, a vibration rippling through the ground with every step. Saburo was agile. - he could jump so that Keroro couldn't effectively locate him, but he couldn't remain in the air forever. And when he came down, Keroro was ready to beat him.
Tamama had other plans for Fuyuki, though. He was going to make him suffer and die. He's from Mr. Sergeant's past. He talked to him like he was a friend. For Mr. Sergeant to be mine, I can't let him remember anyone. Not even this guy. He didn't want Keroro to leave him. And if Keroro found a stronger connection with this Pekoponian, he was in trouble.
Fuyuki just sobbed and sobbed as Tamama approached.
Giroro put his gun to his side at his belt. "Do you care about Pekopon?" he asked the pathetic Pekoponian that gagged whenever she so much as looked at him.
"Y-yes!" She finally got a word out edgewise.
"Good. Then I can effectively beat you until you're dead fully. This will be fun," he spoke. He wanted to make defeating a Pekoponian soldier last, to savor the moment of crushing a defender of Pekopon.
Natsumi felt his fist make impact with her face. Even his skin felt disgusting against hers. She tried not to gag again as she was pressed into the dirt.
As Giroro punched and beat her, the disgust started fading from her stomach as she begin coughing up blood. Instead sorrow replaced it.
Giroro... You're alive... But you don't remember me, you hate me... Giroro had told her he'd always love her. He had promised her. But she was nothing to him anymore.
For some reason, Keroro could remember Tamama, but Giroro didn't remember her. She continued crying, more silent.
"Y-you're alive... But you want me dead," she finally murmured out.
"Yes, I'm alive. And with no wounds. You're a weak Pekoponian," Giroro mocked.
Natsumi struggled against his body. She rolled out of the way of his next hit, kicking him in the stomach. "I'm sorry!" she yelled out, letting him easily find her.
Giroro grinned and shot at her leg. She fell to the ground, trying not to cry from the pain. "Do you really not remember me, Giroro? Do you really not remember us?"
Giroro paused. I knew her? he wondered. Was this Pekoponian a slave of his? Or a companion? "The past doesn't matter. Only the invasion does. I live for invasion," he told her. He put the gun at her head, fixing his finger on the trigger. "Game over... Natsumi."
Giroro hadn't realized that for a brief moment he had remembered her name. It had always been a part of him. He just assumed she had mentioned it in their fight.
She looked up at him, confused. He remembers my name!
Fuyuki was in a sorrier shape than Natsumi. As expected, seeing Keroro's new form and how he cared about him very little broke Fuyuki's hopes.
And Tamama was right there to destroy the rest of his body. His tongue slithered around Fuyuki's foot, taking off the shoe.
"T-Tamama... Th-the sarge... H-he doesn't remember me!" Fuyuki cried, hoping Tamama would listen to him.
"I know," Tamama smiled. His tongue entwined Fuyuki's foot, crushing it in his mouth. Fuyuki screamed as the bones in his toes shattered.
He screamed loudly. But he made no attempt to struggle. "Sarge..." he moaned out, begging for help.
Keroro didn't even glance at him. He was too busy focused on Saburo, throwing him onto the ground like a rag, over and over again.
Koyuki just slept, thanks to the tranquilizer.
Fuyuki sobbed. Hope was lost.
Dororo gritted his teeth. He could smell blood. Blood of all his friends.
They attacked, despite what I told them! He frowned. His legs started moving on his own, closer to the battlefield.
No! he told himself. He could feel his eyes dilate. He covered his nose.
He couldn't help his friends. If he got any closer, the smell of their blood would make him go insane with hunger. It was one of the few times his willpower lost himself to his mutation, in the presence of blood.
His sense of smell was just too good and he desired the blood too much.
So he couldn't help his friends. He couldn't protect them.
I need to get help. He couldn't let them die. That would be wrong. So quickly he went into his tunnels and moved as fast as he could to allies he could ask for.
He first asked Kululu for help, a mistake.
"Nah, I don't feel like it," Kululu told him easily. The fight did interest him, though. And as soon as Dororo was gone, he departed for it himself.
I don't want to fight, but if I could isolate Tamama after the fight... Ku, ku, ku. It would be a perfect time to end him! Kululu plotted.
Dororo frowned. But he had figured Kululu wouldn't help, anyway.
There was only one person who would help, and had the means to protect the weaker friends. But seeing her... He just hoped his note-writing would reach her.
The Nishizawa fortress had been made mostly underground to keep Momoka's family safe. They were living in luxury with no need to risk going up to the surface. They still suspected it was radiated.
Momoka sat in her large room, playing with her Fuyuki plushy. She missed him, but there was no way to contact him.
All she could do was rely on the fact that the Keronians had probably saved him, taking him off planet or something, and although he might be far from her, at least he was safe.
That was enough for her.
Fuyuki... She thought to herself, squeezing her plushy. Did he think of her often? Did he have an alien girlfriend?
Was he having fun with Keroro?
All that mattered to her was that he was safe. And although she really had no confirmation, she could imagine him safe.
Unbeknownst to her, Dororo dug a hole under her bed and sneaked toward her wall. He wrote a quick message and then quickly disappeared, teleporting away with his ninja abilities.
"Huh?" she asked, seeing something new on her beautifully perfect wall. A message.
Fuyuki is in trouble. He'll die without your help. A location was specified. Get a helicopter or something... The air is safe. Save him.
Momoka immediately got up.
"Fuyuki needs me?" she spoke. It didn't matter if the atmosphere was poisoned or if someone was trying to lure her out. All that mattered was Fuyuki.
Quickly she ran to the hovercraft place in her fortress. Her father was planning to launch them into space if the atmosphere never showed signs of clearing up.
She kicked a few guards out of the way. She didn't need to know how to pilot a helicopter much, but it didn't matter.
"I'm coming, Fuyuki!" She pressed a button and the ceiling disappeared. Soon, she was in the air.
She'd fight hell itself for Fuyuki. Nothing could stop or hurt her if Fuyuki was in danger.
As the gun was held to Natsumi's head, she saw her brother crying in the background. He couldn't face the frogs' mutation. He wasn't fighting back.
He couldn't face losing his friend. Similar to how she couldn't face the new Giroro.
No. I can't let this happen. I can't be weak. My life is worth more than this. She had been shocked for a little bit, but she had to focus on her primary goal - survival. Her hand shot forward as Giroro's finger hit the trigger.
A risky move, but she was faster.
She knocked the gun out of the way, just barely nicking her pigtails. Her ears rung from the gun shot, but she didn't need to hear to fight.
She stood up and balled her hand into a fist.
And with all her strength, she punched her old boyfriend in the face, sending him flying.
Giroro flew in the air, shocked. I thought she was weaker than this! In one hit, she had easily thrown him aside and recovered from her injuries.
He grabbed some grenades from his side and started throwing at her. Like lighting, she hit them away, in different directions and not batting an eyelid as they exploded.
He could hear Natsumi's determination. Her grunt of not even paying that much attention to him, but being focused on the battle.
She was leagues above him, and his legs started shaking as he just felt the weight of her skills.
He ran toward her and he made a sound to locate her weakest point. Finding it, his hand shot forward, ready to punch it.
Her arms were longer, though. And a second punch landed on Giroro's jaw.
This time as he flew he felt something much different - admiration. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. But he was confused by it.
Why... Why am I happy? he wondered. A gleeful happiness clouded his mind at getting punched. He couldn't even feel where her fist had punched him, but there was this sort of nostalgic glow about her touch.
Who... Who is Natsumi? How do I know her name? And what is she to me?
Giroro wasn't able to think for very long, because there was an explosion in the sky as a helicopter exploded.
Everybody looked up, slightly confused, and stopping their battles for a moment.
A girl skyrocketed down like a superhero. Her hair was long and light blue.
"Sh-she's going to fall!" Natsumi realized. She didn't recognize the girl at all.
However, the girl pressed a button for an emergency parachute moments before the fatal moment.
"I'M COMING, FUYUKI!" she screamed.
Tamama stopped his torturous bone-crushing for a moment. "Who are you?" he asked as the girl landed. She just glared at him.
"Even if it's you, Tamama, I'll still destroy you for touching my Fuyuki!" Momoka kicked him in the abdomen, sending Tamama flying. Then she dropped down to Fuyuki's side.
"F-Fuyuki! Are you okay?" she asked, pulling him into a tight hug.
Fuyuki's eyes slowly gained color again as he realized who was in front of him, though slightly older than he remembered. "M-Momoka?" he asked, shocked.
Momoka smiled and nodded, little tears coming out of her eyes. "Yep!"
Fuyuki sobbed and weakly put his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. "I... I thought you were dead! You aren't dead! Unless I'm dead, of course. But... you're here, in my arms! I missed you so much..." Fuyuki just placed his head on Momoka's shoulders, crying in happiness more than from his terrible terrible wounds.
Natsumi smiled. One person had come back to them in the flesh and still her everyday self. And that was enough happiness to spark hope and optimism in her.
And Giroro was alive as well. Even if he wanted to kill her and was a terrible mutant.
There was hope. And that was enough for that day.
It had been a victory.
Keroro, seeing he was outnumbered, helped Giroro onto his feet. "Let's find where Tamama was sent flying," he told him. Tamama had been sent flying a far way. "We're more outnumbered right now. We'll come back later."
"Working together was a failure," Giroro noted. We no longer need to cooperate." He had a lot to think about. He weakly stumbled away from Keroro's side.
So Keroro turned away to look on his own.
Tamama woke up by the cliffside of a beach. The blue-haired girl that had kicked him had been familiar. It brought a sort of happiness to him that he thought he could only feel in Keroro's arms.
But it was sort of the safe happiness, the sort of happiness that didn't require constantly fighting for, controlling. The steady happiness.
Was... Was she his friend? Tamama hadn't really thought about his life much. Keroro was all he needed, so losing a chunk of his memories hadn't bothered him.
He remembered Keroro, his platoon, and that woman. That was enough.
But he didn't remember the blue-haired girl.
"Huh." He rubbed his head.
"Ku, ku, ku. So you're awake. I was hoping you'd wake up soon," Kululu spoke, a knife was pressed up against Tamama's neck.
Tamama slowly realized what position he was in. Kululu had been waiting for him.
Maybe... Maybe I've been too focused on the sorrow of how Mr. Sergeant left me, Tamama realized. He wanted to live. He wanted to find out about the blue-haired girl. He wanted to focus more on who he was instead of controlling Keroro.
But Kululu seemed rather angry at him. He hoped he could play his cards right to get Kululu to not murder him.
"You're going to tell me some things," Kululu instructed. "And if I like them, I might not kill you right now. I might wait until later."
Tamama knew the situation. He gulped. He knew he had to answer well.
"Who is the girl with sparkly eyes?" Was Kululu's first question.
Tamama hadn't expected that. He started laughing. "Out of all the things you could ask me, you ask that? That's hilarious!" Tamama laughed. Kululu pressed the knife closer. "She's that woman!" Seeing that Kululu didn't like that answer, he corrected himself. "Angol Mois," he uttered out.
"Mois..." Kululu whispered. "That sounds right. Her name is Mois." He smiled and stopped pressing the knife to Tamama's neck. "Now... why did you kill her?" he asked. "And be careful with this answer, because it won't ensure your life. It just will ensure how painful your death is."
"Wait... Is the reason you hate me so much because I killed that woman?" Tamama asked. He laughed again. "That's hilarious! She was worth nothing, so why would anyone hate me over killing her?"
"She wasn't nothing!" Kululu hissed. "She was more important than your pitiful life!"
"No she wasn't. She was a terrible whore who lied, was extremely shallow and petty, and was stealing my man. She deserved to die," said Tamama. He hated that woman, and even after she was gone, he'd always hate her. She was one thing that echoed in his mind, extremely clear.
"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY GIRLFRIEND LIKE THAT!" Kululu drew blood from Tamama's neck with the knife, twisting it into the skin until it bled. Tamama whimpered in pain.
"Girlfriend?" he asked between his tears. Kululu was mad, and Tamama knew he should be negotiating for his life, but he couldn't help but laugh. This whole situation was a surreal level of hilariousness. If he died, at least it would be laughing at how pathetic Kululu was. "You think she was your girlfriend?"
"Of course she was my girlfriend," Kululu told him simply. "She's constantly on my mind. We shared a very close bond."
"She's not your girlfriend, dude. I remember her better than you do," Tamama said. "You might think she's your girlfriend because you can't remember her, but I can assure you she's not. So there's no reason to try to kill me." Tamama tried to negotiate for his life. "She was a wicked woman. She never loved you."
Kululu took a deep breath. He didn't want to hear this.
"She loved Mr. Sergeant. There was absolutely nothing between you. She might even have hated you, like everyone else did. You were frightened of her, and now your confused because of your memories. I can help you, though. We'll destroy the memories of the wicked whore together..." Tamama tried to convince him.
Kululu shoved him off the cliff before he could finish. Tamama yelled, reaching out for something to grab onto, but there was nothing.
He just tried to look around, but his sense of taste could only taste sea air. He fell to his doom, to the salty waters below.
"Good riddance," Kululu hissed, cleaning off his hands from the Tamama. He turned away from the cliff side, but dropped to his knees to cry.
She... She wasn't anything to me? Really? Kululu didn't know how to cope with this news. Tamama might have been right. His words about how she never loved him made sense. He had never actually confirmed they were in a relationship. He had just assumed. But he still cried.
My mind is jumbled and confused. Maybe she is nothing to me. Earlier he had desperately wanted memories of this girl... Mois. But maybe he didn't want those memories. Maybe having no memories was better than the pain of having them.
She was dead, and in his memories, they weren't even happy together. He didn't need to go through heartbreak of a dead person. It was better to just cut himself off from it.
But... deep down, he knew at least he had loved her. He cried, mourning the relationship they never had.
He knew he cared about it. That was why there was a crushing disappointed feeling.
Keroro called out for Tamama, even though neither of their hearing was superb. He could feel his small movements a tiny little ways away.
But suddenly, he was gone from the land. Keroro picked up his speed, running, just as Kululu left the area.
"Momoka..." Fuyuki spoke as he saw his old friend Keroro run off. And unlike Natsumi, his new figure didn't cause him nauseous. He still had hope of returning to the old days. "My feet are damaged...Can we...?"
"Follow him?" Momoka asked, still hugging Fuyuki. She was a little disappointed that after reuniting, he wanted to go after Keroro, but she supposed that was one of the reasons she loved him. His kind heart. He had many people important to him.
She nodded and helped him onto her back, chasing after Keroro.
Keroro got to the cliff side. He knew Tamama had been there, and he knew where Tamama was. He had somehow been pushed off the cliff to his death.
"TAMAMA," he screamed, "TAMAMA!" he screamed again, crying. He couldn't lose Tamama. Not again.
He remembered very briefly leaving Tamama alone for three months. It was part of the reason he had stuck by Tamama after the mutation. His guilt.
His mutated self was Tamama's lover, but the guilt was the real Keroro cared very much for Tamama's well being as a platoon mate and as a friend.
Suddenly, the image of Tamama skewering himself on a sharp rock and dying filled Keroro's imagination. Tamama might have died.
Tears fell down Keroro's face. He wiped them off, feeling his own hands and how sad he was.
"Sarge..." Fuyuki whispered behind him, seeing him crying. "It's okay."
Keroro continued crying as images filled his head. The images weren't imaginative pieces, though. It was his own life. His memories had awakened from the death of Tamama.
"Fuyuki..." he whispered, turning around.
Fuyuki smiled, weakly. "You remember me."
Keroro nodded. "A little bit," he admitted. "I'm sorry for hurting you."
"It's okay. Just come back to me," Fuyuki smiled calmly. He reahced out a hand to Keroro.
Keroro shook his head. "I don't know what to do without Tamama. He's dead now."
"You can be my friend again," Fuyuki soothingly told him.
Keroro shook his head. "It's all my fault we've ended up like this. All Tamama wanted was for my life to be his, to pay for my mistakes. I didn't care if my life was ruined because I ruined his. I was yours for three months, and three months Tamama suffered having to eat people," he said.
He was silent for a moment. "He's calling me... in my head. He wants me to be his again."
"You don't have to go," Fuyuki pleaded.
"Keroro, Tamama wouldn't actually want you harmed," Momoka tried to help out. "It's just some weird thing. Tamama honestly loved you. He didn't want you to repent for some mistakes or something."
Keroro shook his head. "I promised him we'd be together. He needs me." And with that, he walked off of the cliff side, to the watery death below.
Fuyuki screamed loudly, but Keroro couldn't hear.
And soon, he was gone. And only Fuyuki's sobs filled the air.
He was gone. Along with Fuyuki's chances of repairing their friendship.
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