Chapter Four
"The plan?" Seruru smiled a creepy grin. "Find our originals-obviously-and prove to Geriri and them how good we are." He gave a small chuckle. "Sounds like a good plan!" Wasusu smiled, though it quickly morphed into one of confusion as he thought of yet another problem, "But, uhhhhhhh....Wait, where are our originals?" "Pekopon is a big planet... I doubt we'll be able to find them easily." Yakuku pointed out. "Oh, and by the way, WOULD ANYONE BE SO KIND AS TO UNTIE ME NOW?!" Kanini rolled her eyes and irritably drew her blade. "....Please be gentle." "No promises." "I can find their exact location. I mean, I have the coordinates to Pekopon already but their exact location should be easy enough to find." Seruru pulled up some of the ship's main computers to try to figure out if the Keroro platoon's location was in their databases. They were nearing pekopon, the big blue planet was in view. "Oh, wow, it's pretty!" Wasusu chirped. "What is it called again?" Sosasa ignored him. "Well, bro?" "Just a sec, I think I've found the location. I just need to zoom into it..." Seruru clicked some buttons, using his fingers to dilate a particular area on the computer screen. "Ship's fuel has been depleted: a reminder to refuel," the ship beeped in a low monotone voice and a small red light in the corner of the screen grew brighter. "You didn't get any fuel before we headed off?" Sosasa asked. She hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Geez, idiot." "I thought it had already been restocked." Seruru admitted. "It's all right. How much fuel to we have left?" Wasusu asked, peeking over his shoulder. The power of the ship shut off just as they got into the atmosphere of Pekopon. "None." Seruru answered. The ship begin falling. "WHAT! WE'RE GOING TO DIE, WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" Sosasa was the one who freaked out mostly. "Maybe we can figure out how to get out of this. Keronian technology should have a button to soften the crash. Everybody grab onto something!" Yakuku suggested as he found the button on the ship and pushed it. "Tch." Kanini grabbed onto something as instructed. "How burdensome." She ended up having to grab Wasusu as well, knowing the poor confused idiot would more than likely forget what to do just as they were going to crash. Yakuku held his glasses in place as Sosasa clutched on to him fearfully. Seruru stood by hiumself. They all closed their eyes and prepared for impact only thinking and subconsciously glaring at the black Keronian for not restocking the fuel. The impact was an understatement to say painful. It broke apart most of the ship and scattered the five keronians inside. Most of them were knocked out for a while before they awoke but Wasusu managed to be the first to awaken. "I'm alive! I'm alive!" Wasusu danced and celebrated that obvious fact. Glancing around he saw only the chair that he had clung onto for dear life. "W-where's the rest of them?" He finally asked looking around. "We made it to Peko-what's it called, right?" He covered his face with his bandana a bit frightened of his missing platoon. "I have to go rescue them and find them!" He decided over enthusiastically. He then, turned around and walked in the opposite direction of where they probably were. *** Sosasa rubbed her head tiredly. "The next time I see Seruru...Urgh, geez...I wonder where everyone else is though?" she thought for a moment. "I could look for them or I could beat them to the Keroro platoon! I'm sure we're close to them after all!" And, having no idea where the Keroro platoon were, she ran away from the wrecked ship, hoping to find them before her platoon mates. *** Yakuku awoke, certain that his platoon mates had been seperated by the wreckage. "Well, at least we're probably not dead." He brushed off the dirt from his yellow skin and adjusted his glasses. "Knowing them, they're probably all searching for the rest of us, so I'll stay by my wrecked ship. It's easier to find some wrecked spaceship verses a Keronian after all." He reasoned, logically. He sat down and waited. *** "It was not my fault. Really, it wasn't." Seruru kept telling himself. Thinking for a moment he decided it was best to try to make it up to his family. "I'll just go into one of those store things over there and purchase something to cool their nerves when they find me." He decided. "Being a keronian with anti-barrier technology it should be fine to just grab something. I'm so wicked." He smiled. *** Kanini surprisingly was the last to wake up. She at first examined the wreckage to see if any other keronians were in there. "I guess I have to go find them..." She trailed off and began, carefully searching, trying to remember where in fact the part of her ship was if she needed it. *** Yakuku waited for his teammates and sat on some of his ship's wreckage and trying to hide himself from prying pekoponian eyes. In case their curiosity was stronger than his anti-barrier he had pushed the small part of his ship into a bush in the park and just sat down on a park bench. Not many pekoponian's came buy the part of the park he had picked. "I wonder how soon they'll be here....." He wondered. A teenage pekoponian girl jogged by as if she were training for something. Do pekoponians train for battle too? Yakuku thought trying to distract himself from his lost family. He didn't want to admit it, but he was worried for them. Watching the tan skin girl practice for battle and punch a nearby tree cheered him up a bit. She was obviously training for something and her battle spirit was almost admirable. She was pretty cute too but no way was he going to admit something stupid like that. "Got to win, it's the last competition of the season!" she chanted to herself, pacing her punches and her kicks with each breath she took. "Win what?" As soon as the words left his mouth he instantly regretted it as his anti-barrier technology sub-consciously let her see him. She paused for a moment and then gasped, eyes widening. ....Frog. *** "Where are they?" Kanini wondered irritably, looking around the sidewalk she stood on. There seemed to be no signs whatsoever of her teammates. "Ruff!" A small, fluffy, dog like creature sniffed at her. It can see me? Kanini thought to herself, looking down at it. It didn't seem to have any sort of tag and was obviously a stray. She leaned down to pet it and it wagged it's tail. It's so cute.......... She melted a bit, completely entranced, as she started petting it and actually smiling a bit. She had never seen something so wonderful and fluffy. Getting distracted, she just continued petting the small tiny creature. "Will you help me find my teammates?" she asked, not wanting to leave this small creature. It barked in approval. "You're a smart thing aren't you..." She scratched it behind its ears. This creature was a sacred beautiful creation and must be protected at all costs. *** Seruru approached the ice cream shop and walked straight in. "Hmm... Don't know much about these things... Maybe I should try it on my own..." He managed to weasel himself behind a counter and, while the pekoponian cashier wasn't looking, grabbed a cone and dished out a white sort of cream. "It looks gross...." He stuck out his tongue and took a lick. Pausing, he cherished the flavor. It was delicious! Forgetting about his friends. He casually left the shop as pekoponians screamed about the floating ice cream. Eating it he felt his stomach hunger for more. "Fine, I'll get some more." Getting side tracked by his hunger he entered the store next to the shop though. "This isn't the same place..." he realized, sniffing the air and smelling a delicious flavor. A sign above him read 'curry shop'. "Maybe this is a topping for that wonderful cream?" Having some ice cream left he stepped into the kitchen and stole some curry putting it onto the creamy confection. His mouth became inflamed with the flavor. It was single-handily the most delicious thing on the face of the universe. Nothing could compare. "I have found my deity." He smiled. *** "No, no, no.... not another weird thing!" the blonde girl moaned, kicking the root of the tree she was by harder than when she had been when she was practicing. "I thought I was all done with this after the doppelganger thing!" "Doppelganger?" Yakuku asked, staring up at the very angry female. "Can't you guys just leave me alone? I went back to martial arts and put my life back on the right track, didn't I?" she asked, "Please, don't turn into me also..." She begged. Yakuku continued to stare blankly at her. Pekoponian females were a bit weird. "No, no, I wouldn't do that..." he assured her, raising his hands up defensively. "Sure you won't... I know you will," the girl added under her breath. After a still, concentrated moment, she smiled. "All right, how about we do something? I'm a martial artist. I need a bit of extra practice, so.... If I beat you, you have to agree to leave me alone, got it?" "And if I beat you?" The girl scoffed. "That's not going to happen." Yakuku smiled. "Very well." Might as well train a bit while I wait. If he couldn't beat this pekoponian it meant he was no better than the Keroro platoon after all. "I agree to your wager since you seem pretty strong. Be careful though, I'm not in the best of moods." He smiled in a sort of sadistic way. "Trust me. I'm not particularly cheery after seeing your face either," she said coolly. Without so much as a second to let him prepare, she charged at him. With the little time he had to concentrate, he attempted to calculate and beat her every move. There was no way he was losing this. *** Sosasa squeaked fearfully as rush hour began to set in. Thos was NOT this crowded when I started walking on it!!! she whined, crying hysterically as she attempted to evade the cars that roared by her. "No, no, don't touch me don't touch me don't touch me!!" *** "What's this?" Wasusu stared perplexedly through the glass. "Uh..." He watched people wearing these strange outfits... Is this how Pekoponian normally dress? Hats. That's what intrigued him the most. He ran inside and helped himself to the hats, piling them over the other. One had a brown belt with fringe, one was blue, one had a llama right on top of it... "Can someone please take care of the little kid by the snowglobes?" the annoyed voice of the shop keeper asked one of the associates. "What kid?" "The kid with the ha-..." They realized to their horror that all the hats seemed to float on their own. "JIMINEY CRICKETS IT'S THE GHOST OF STINKY PETE!" "SAVE THE GOATS!" Wasusu eventually gave up wondering why everyone was screaming and running away with their hairy dogs over their heads. *** He lost. "H-how did you do that?" Yakuku asked, panting. He ran the back of his hand against his mouth... She's so strong... "I've been practicing since I was little," she replied. Ah, so it's more practice than me... he thought. He felt weird, inside and out. She had completely beaten him. It was impressive. No, no, I am not impressed by this. By her. Not at all. He immediately felt his face turn hot just by looking up at her as she smiled. "You were a pretty good match. I feel a lot better now that I've beaten you, thing." She smiled. "I'm not called thing. My name is Yakuku," Yakuku replied irritably. He stopped short, not knowing why he wanted her to know his name. "Asami. My name is Asami," she said casually. It seemed she as if she was more easy going towards him after a good sparring match. That's a pretty name. Suit's her. Wait, what was that? What is this..?! For the first time in Yakuku's life he realized how charming this girl was and how impressed he was by her. He panicked. What the heck is this?? Is this... No, there has to be a logical reason... Maybe something's wrong in my genetics? Why do I keep looking at her? Oh god it hurts, make it stop.... "Thanks for the match." Asami told him, "Now can you go away as promised?" "Y-yes, yes. I'll do that. After all, that was the deal," he assured her. "...That was a pretty good match though. It assisted me in learning quite a bit about you- a-about battle, I mean." "I train a lot, I guess. It was a pretty good and fun battle." She nodded in agreement. "Since you promised not to turn into me, I suppose you could become helpful and spar again if you want." She paused for a moment. "Just a sec." She got into her pocket and wrote something down. "That's my phone number. Maybe we can meet in this park again and spar?" She suggested. "I need the extra practice after all." "Y-yes..." Yakuku didn't want to agree. He really didn't want too. But the extra practice seemed like a logical thing to want after he had been beaten so easily. She smiled and left. Yakuku just put his hands to his head and screamed internally. He didn't know what was wrong with him. Talking to a pekoponian and even sort of befriending one. And worst of all he couldn't get her out of his head. He needed his teammates. He was in desperate need of their help. But strangely enough he didn't want to tell them about this awful weakness. It must have been his genes. Something must have gone wrong. After all, they had inherited the Keroro platoon's strengths... ...But what about their weaknesses? "Where are you?" Yakuku just asked dejectedly, wanting to be distracted. He needed them to find him. A drop of ran fell on his nonexistent nose. Oh, this could not have gone better. *** "Well. Uhhhhhhhhhhhh....How the heck did I end up here?" Wasusu wondered as he sat aboard a small raft in the middle of a lake. "Where did everyone go again?" *** “Milk, eggs, cheese, and basil…” Abigail studied over the list as she jogged back from the store, a weighty series of plastic bags in hand. “Yep, looks like I got everything.” All of the items on the shopping list had their English name followed by a transcript of the item’s name written in hiragana, her mom’s way of hoping to accustom her to the new language she was still struggling to master. She snorted a huff out of her nose in disillusionment, loathing the task of learning Japanese was an understatement. It had started to rain torrentially as she returned home, making it more difficult to run. She drew her hood over her, rushing to a bus stop for temporary coverage so she could briefly set aside her groceries to pull the umbrella she brought out of her bag. It was as she was fumbling through the bag’s contents for the umbrella that a conspicuously loud groan caught her attention. Following the source of the unsightly cry, she could faintly make out a small form at far the corner of the bus stop’s shelter. Her aqua-green eyes dilated as she made her way towards the shape. It was of a green hue and appeared to be in poor condition. Unsure if she should speak to it and fearing what would happened if she touched it, she nudged the small figure with the end of her umbrella, hoping to turn it over when- “OWIE! HEY, WATCH IT, DOODY-FACE!” The shaped screamed in a voice akin to a kitten falling into a cooler. Abigail jumped back and readied a defensive stance. The shape stood up only to fall back down again, grunting in disgust. It looked up disgustedly and studied the girl with large, glimmering black eyes. Abigail could make out the creature’s shape more clearly now. It appeared wet and amphibious, with bright emerald skin and a large, white spot on its face. The entity appeared to be a young girl of its species, with her delicate frame, bright, inquisitive gaze, and high, cutesy voice. She wore a yellow-green hat with ear flaps akin to that of an aviator’s, with a distinct badge in the center of a star split in to two separate shades, a matching badge affixed to her chest. There was a small tail that protruded from the back of the figure as well, which brought to Abigail’s mind the many days she had spent in summers past trying to catch tadpoles in the pond behind her old house. “A-are you… alive?” Abigial ventured to ask, unsure of exactly WHAT the apparition before her was. “Well, DUH, I’m alive, stupie!” The frog-child retorted. Her countenance then shifted to one of skepticism, “Wait, you can see me?” Hearing the creature speak was strange enough, but then the shock fully hit her- that thing had addressed and responded to her in her own language. “Hehe, guess I can,” Abigail grinned nervously and raised a brow. She must’ve dehydrated herself again; suddenly her mother’s incessant nagging to bring a water bottle with her when she went out made all the more sense. She looked closer at the probably illusory being and cocked her head, “but, what are you?” “Nothing that’s your business,” the creature crossed her arms and raised her head with a small huff, “I’m Sosasa and that’s all you need to know!” She struggled to stand again only to fall over. “Well, whatever you are, Sosassy…” “SOSASA!” “Well, whatever you are, Sosasa, you look beat up. Here, I have some first aid and bandages at home and it’s only a block away. If you want I could run these groceries back and then pick up some bandages and medicine for you.” “Hmph, no good!” The frog-girl retorted. “I don’t think your kind’s medicine would heal me all too well, and I might be a little dead froggie by the time you get back! Ohhh, the aches… the pains!!!” She cried melodramatically, reeling back. “Well if medicine won’t help you, than what would?” The small frog-like creature turned her face away, feigning as if she were to begin weeping, but in all reality to conceal a twisted grin that had crept across her face. “Cheesecake…” Sosasa whispered, “I need cheesecake…”