Sunshine came in through the open windows of a small cabin in the mountains. A girl with long, dark green hair was dressed in ninja garb and was sweeping the floor. Despite the broom seeming to be big and uncomfortably bulky, the girl went at it at top speed.

A light blue Keronian came in, wearing a gray mask over his face, concealing it.

"Good morning, Dororo!" the kunochi stopped sweeping and looked at the Keronian. She wiped a few beads of sweat off her brow. "Where were you?"

"Out in the woods," Dororo replied, sitting down on a seat cushion. "I wanted to see the flowers." The kunochi continued sweeping. "By the way, why are you wearing your ninja garb, Koyuki-dono?"

Koyuki put the broom in the corner, done with the sweeping. "It's easier to do chores like this." She gave a smile to Dororo. "Are you going to see your friends today?"

"Yes," Dororo said. "Keroro-kun asked us to all come over for a meeting today. Most likely another ridiculous plan…how many times do I have to say that this planet should be left alone?"

Koyuki kneeled down next to him. "I'm sure it will all work out, Dororo. Say, when I finish with my chores, I can come over, too! I've been wanting to see Nachii, anyways. She's one of my best friends!"

"Friendship is a beautiful thing," Dororo said, nodding.

"I have two best friends," Koyuki said. "One of them is Nachii."

Dororo looked up at her. "Who is your other best friend?"

Koyuki looked at Dororo with her large teal eyes, and then gave a big smile. "It's you, of course!"

Dororo felt his cheeks flush, and he stood up. "I…I have to get going," he said, turning his back to her. "Farewell, Koyuki-dono."

With a whip of cold air, Dororo had vanished. Koyuki was surprised at his reaction, but shook it off.

"Well, I should start washing the floors now."

"Wake up, Gunso-san!" Tamama was shaking Keroro, who was still fast asleep in bed. A bubble indicating deep sleep increased and decreased as Keroro inhaled and exhaled.

"Just ten more minutes, de arimasu…" Keroro, who was drooling onto his pillow, rolled over in his sleep so that his back was turned to Tamama, Giroro, Angol Mois, and Dororo.

"Uncle won't wake up!" Mois said, her hands shaking. A bead of nervous sweat was forming on her brow. "You could say, not a morning person?"

"Alright, that's it!" Giroro exclaimed. The hotheaded frog tried to slap Keroro awake, and after the attempts being unsuccessful to the oblivious Keronian, pulled a large machine gun from out of nowhere and fired at Keroro.

"GEEEROOO!!!" Keroro flew high up into the air and landed on the floor with a loud CRASH!. He now was severely burnt, wore a charred afro, and was wide awake.

"What was that for?!" Keroro yelled at Giroro from the floor. Dramatic tears were falling down Keroro's face.

Giroro crossed his arms and scowled. "First of all, I really can't take you seriously with that afro. Second of all, we've been trying to wake you up for at least half an hour! The meeting should have started long ago!"

"Worry not, dear corporal!" Keroro said, jumping up. The afro, by this point in time, had disappeared. "The meeting will start all in due time, de arimasu! But first—,"

Keroro sat down next to his infamous Gundam Model shelf and started to open a new box. "Gundam model time!"

"Oh no, desu…" Tamama sighed. He walked over to the sergeant. "Gunso-san, if you don't stop making Gundam models, the meeting will never happen, desu!"

"Don't be silly, private! There'll be plenty of time for meetings later, de arimasu!" Keroro was fitting the arm of what looked to be a robotic raptor into its socket, using a large bottle of glue and a paintbrush.

"Keroro-kun…" Dororo walked over to Keroro, holding out his arm. "Come on, let's start the mee—,"

"GERO!"

Keroro, startled by Dororo's "sudden" appearance, jumped and accidentally splattered glue down the length of Dororo's outstretched arm.

"Oh, sorry Dororo! I didn't notice you, so you startled me, de arimasu!"

Dororo curled up in a corner. "Why, Keroro-kun…? Why do you ignore me…?"

And so, after long and tedious work of getting Dororo out of his trauma mode and washing all the glue off his arm, knocking out Keroro so he could be dragged off to the meeting room while trying to deal with a very angry Angol Mois, and searching for Kururu for the meeting only to discover him in his secret lab spying on Aki, everyone was in the meeting room. The total time span;

"THREE HOURS?!?!?!"

Giroro stood on his stool, pounding a red fist onto the table so hard that it cracked. "Damn it, Keroro! Just get the meeting over with! No more stalling!"

Keroro was on the stage, wearing sunglasses and a red bathrobe, an unlit cigar dangling from his teeth. "No need to fear, de arimasu! My plan is to help invest more money for the good of the platoon!"

The red Keronian scowled. "When you say 'the good of the platoon', you really just mean for Gundam models, don't you?"

"Maybe," Keroro said. "Anyways, I call this mission—,"

"STUPID FROG!!!"

Everyone turned to see a very angry pink-haired teenager standing in the entrance of the meeting room. She stomped up to the nervous green Keronian, grabbing him by the top of the head so that they saw eye-to-eye.

"You never did your chores today, did you?" she yelled. "I'm the only one here to clean the house, and you expect me to clean it all on my own?!"

Dororo, watching the scene, noticed Natsumi say that she was 'the only person in the house'. "Natsumi-dono," he said, standing up, "Did Koyuki-dono ever come here?"

"Huh?" Natsumi looked over at Dororo, still holding a shivering Keroro in her tight grasp. "Koyuki-chan never came. Was she supposed to?"

The blue Keronian clenched his fists. "She said she would after she finished cleaning…"

Tamama turned to him, holding a bag of chocolate chips that was already half-empty, for the other half had been devoured. "Maybe she's not done cleaning yet, desu."

Dororo shook his head. "That's impossible. I've seen her clean the entire house in less than ten minutes. And she wouldn't go somewhere else. She really wanted to see Natsumi-dono."

Natsumi dropped Keroro, who landed on the ground and fainted. "Are you sure she wanted to come here?"

Dororo nodded, and then turned towards the exit of the room. "I have to go now," he said. "Please pardon my absence."

He disappeared with a small puff of gray smoke.

When the Keronian ninja arrived at the small cabin, the first thing he noticed was that the door had been broken, as if someone outside used a great amount of strength to break it and get inside. Once Dororo noticed this, he started to run as fast as possible to the cabin.

Everything that Dororo saw appeared to be distant and vague, as if he was in a dream. The inside was in shambles. The broom that Koyuki had used was broken in half. Dororo suspected that Koyuki had tried to defend herself with it, but the broom had been too weak and cracked apart. The ashes from the small fireplace had spread all around the floor, as if someone had run through it one too many times. The small, old-fashioned radio that Koyuki loved so much had been thrown across the room and shattered into small fragments.

Dororo grew more and more worried about Koyuki as he looked around. Where was she? Who had done this? Was Koyuki safe?

Dororo turned to the entrance to see a note folded and tacked up to the wall with a kunai. He pulled the kunai out of the wall and unfolded the note. Something blue fell out, but Dororo was too busy reading the note to notice.

Zeroro,

Your Pekoponian kunochi friend is currently in my custody. If you want to get her back, meet me at the top of the Nishizawa radio tower at midnight. Be prepared for battle.

Zoruru

The letter fell out of Dororo's trembling hands. This can't be happening, he thought. I'm dreaming, and I'll wake up any moment now, and Koyuki-dono will be safe…

Dororo looked at the blue thing that had fallen out of the letter when he had opened it. He picked it up with shaking blue hands. It felt like silk, but stiffer and lighter. When he held it, the blue mass unraveled to reveal itself as a mask, which was split in two, that Koyuki wore with her ninja garb.

The blue Keronian felt as if his heartbeat had stopped. Until now, everything—the reckage of his cabin, the letter left by Zoruru, his very emotions—had all been numbed. It felt as if everything was a nightmare, like it was never really happening, and everything he had seen was so far away from reality. Now that he was holding on to something of Koyuki's, the only piece of her he had left, the realization of everything crashed on him like a ferocious wave.

The torn blue mask dropped to the ash-covered floor. Dororo picked up the letter that Zoruru had written. In an instant, the paper was in pieces that flittered to the floor, and Dororo was standing with his unsheathed katana, his eyes cast downward away from the letter's remains.

Dororo put the katana back in its sheath, and walked outside the cabin.

It was clear to him that he had to face Zoruru. Tonight.

It was the only way to get Koyuki back.