Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge a major flaw in the plot of this story. Actually, sis pointed it out to me when I was having her help edit it—Kululu can't build time machines. And since there's a time machine in here, just pretend that there was a magical coincidence and Kululu could build one, because I really don't feel like writing this long convoluted explanation... (sweatdrop)

Anyway, this is another story I wrote way back in December, and it's mostly dialougue... sorry... But it's a little random... I'm just no good with seriousness.

I apoplogize for the length. I was thinking about splitting it into a few chapters, but I'm thinking to just go with this way.

I don't own Sgt. Frog.

Corporal Giroro stared, the dark feeling of envy devouring his being, at his beloved snuggling too close, let alone snuggling at all, with the other small red Keronian. It was enough that they were all stuffed into one tent, but still…. He clenched his fists, knowing that he lost his chance for snuggling with Natsumi when he came in. Tomorrow, he decided, he would challenge this Keronian to a duel, and see how tough he really was. But alone, since the others might make fun of him. This was the true feeling of jealousy. Giroro was ashamed at how quickly the tiny frog had fell, just as he had. He wondered if the other one's crush was just as intense. If he was willing to sacrifice his life and being to please the Pekoponian who he loved. Or if he just got as shy around her, making up random excuses and changing the subjects or shoving sweet potatoes in her mouth. Or if, every time he saw her, his heart would start uncontrollably beating against his aching chest—

"You can stop that already, okay?" Giroro yelled furiously, a vein popping.

(Sorry. Sheesh, just emphasizing the scene.)

Anyway, Giroro wondered if the other one felt the same about Natsumi that he did. Probably. But it was very advantageous if you know the enemy's weaknesses. However, it was not very advantageous if those same weaknesses applied to you.

The young red Keronian nuzzled closer to Natsumi's body and stuck his thumb in his mouth. Giroro gaped. He didn't know he used to do that! A gun fell into his hand via dimensional transport, and he started polishing it to keep himself from blushing. This would be a long night.

And it all started with one of Kululu's weird machines….

(Flash-forward end.)

...o~o...

...o~o...

Allow me to explain what the heck is going on.

'Twas a dark and stormy night.

That is the sentence which I shall not use to open the scene.

In reality, it was daytime, but storm clouds gathered low in the sky, and rain threatened to wash over pedestrians. High winds blew over houses and trees and created havoc. It seemed the only beings enjoying this tormenting weather was the Keroro Platoon.

"Gero, gero, gero. I have a feeling this will be the day we invade!" Keroro announced, hopping up onto his podium dramatically. Everyone cheered. Weather like this always sent their sergeant into a motivated frenzy. "I've already thought up four flawless plans to take over Pekopon!"

"It's just like the way he was back then," commented Giroro. "We're counting on you, Sergeant!"

"Now… for our first plan of action," Keroro began, as the lights faded and a lit screen appeared behind them with images of sparkles and worlds dying, "is that we get Mois-dono to easily invade the planet by threatening all its natives… with sparkle power."

"I'd love to, Uncle!" said Angol Mois. "You could say, ready to spread pain?"

Private Tamama jumped out of his seat, veins pulsing, and his eyes bloodshot. "But Mister Sergeant! You're not really going to let her do all the work, are you? Not that woman! JEALOUSY BALL!" A burst mixture of darkness and jealousy incinerated the light screen behind Keroro.

He anime-sweatdropped. "Wow… okay. I guess that plan isn't going to work. Onto the next one." Keroro unrolled a large poster-banner-thing, which tumbled over the edge of the podium for all to see. On the poster was an image of Natsumi Hinata, enslaver of Keroro's soul and Giroro's heart.

"Whoa…! It's Natsumi!" Giroro ogled.

"Yes, Corporal. You have that right. Our next plan will be to target Natsumi-dono, the source of all our problems," explained the green leader.

"Wh-wh-wh-what are we going to do to h-her?" Giroro dared to ask.

Keroro brushed some imaginary dust off his chest. "Kill her, of course."

Giroro's jaw dropped open and he turned to stone and shattered. "I—I will never let you do that! I mean… isn't there some o-other way to r-rid her besides d-d-d-d-death?"

"Nope!" Keroro gave a huge smile. "Unless you want to veto the plan, Corporal. I must warn you, though, this is a rare moment. One of the only times I'm actually competent."

The entire platoon froze at that word. Competent. It barely came around any of them.

Keroro switched back to normal. "Well, now that I've frightened you all, let's move onto the next idea. I was inspired with this one by Private Tamama and that other… blue… guy!"

Dororo sobbed in the corner. "That 'blue guy' would be me!"

"Gunso-san, I'm so happy I made on impact on your life!" sparkled Tamama.

"Yup. Just this once," he nodded. "But anyway, we'll stop all the wars around the world of Pekopon and put the planet so at peace, that they'll throw aside their tanks and nuclear bombs, and we'll invade, just like that, when their defenses are at the lowest!"

"That's beautiful!" said Tamama.

Giroro took out another weapon to polish compulsively. "This plan may actually work."

"It's fantastic, leader-dono!" Dororo cried.

Kululu scratched his behind. "Tch. I refuse to go along with it. It's just too… nice."

"And you have a problem with that, Sergeant Major?" said Keroro.

"Duh, of course I do. I hate nice and fluffy stuff," Kululu said. "Stuff like sunshine and dandelions give yellow a bad name."

"Yeah… so much for that plan," Keroro mumbled.

"What?"

"That plan could've worked for once!"

"It was great!"

"I know, I know." He tried to quiet them down. "Don't worry, platoon, we still have one more plan left."

"And that is?" They were intent and listening.

Keroro had Angol Mois pin up a map of the world, divided up into five sections. "Our last plan is that we each invade one section of the world, according to which fifth is marked your color." Using a long pointer-wand, he pointed to each of their designated sectors. His eyes scanned the room. "Unfortunately… this job requires five, and we only have four members of our platoon."

"What? No, we have five!" Dororo reminded him. "Fiiiiive! Hello? I'm right here. Don't tell me you can't see me!"

"Mister Sergeant," said Tamama, raising his hand to speak, "I think someone left a window open. I just felt a draft."

"Nonsense, Private. We're in an underground base. It's impossible to leave windows open," Keroro told him.

"It wasn't a draft! I'm right in front of you!" Dororo told them.

But because fate wasn't on his side, and I fear it never will be, his friends who used to remember him (lie) forgot of his existence. Again.

"You're just like the flowers! You never listen!" Dororo broke out in sobs again and retired to his trauma corner, the one where his shadow was permanently plastered to.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku, ku. This is sad, Captain. Even in the state you're in, all your plans are ending up like Giroro-senpai's drawings," said Kululu.

Keroro's black frog eyes watered. "Gero? Like failures?"

The Sergeant Major nodded.

"Hey! My drawings are not—" Giroro stopped midsentence, for there was no denying the obvious truth.

"Aw. And I thought we were actually going to invade for once," Tamama said gloomily. "Oh, well. After meeting Mister Sergeant, I'm used to let-downs."

"Private! You take that back!" ordered Keroro. "Platoon, you don't understand! Our consistent failures are not my problem!"

"Oh? Mister Ibuildmodelsallday?" said Giroro. He crossed his arms over his chest, awaiting a very good explanation.

"At least, this time, they aren't! That's right! They're all yours!" Keroro was so glad he was a sergeant. That way, you could stick the blame on your subordinates and they'd have no choice but to bow down to you and kiss your green feet. That's right. Blame them, Keroro, he told himself. "You there! Tamama!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Tamama said, standing up straight.

Keroro pointed a froggy finger at him. "You're too jealous!" He pointed to Kululu next. "You're too jerkwady!"

"Ku, ku, ku, ku. No denying that," Kululu chuckled.

His finger swerved over to Giroro. "You're too lovesick!"

Giroro was caught by surprise. "I—I admit nothing!"

"And you…" Keroro moved his finger over to Dororo, who had just begun to creep out of his despair. "…are too… um…. Who are you?"

Dororo faced his trauma corner again. "I'm your friend, Keroro-kun!" he whined.

"I have friends?" Keroro gasped. Curious faces turned to him. "I mean, of course I have friends! Heh, heh… we're all friends, right?" Each time he put his arm around someone's shoulders, they just brushed him off. Even Tamama.

"Sorry, Sergeant. I think of you in a more grown-up way," said Tamama.

Keroro's eyes widened in horror. "I shall pretend I did not hear that."

Tamama's eyes drifted to the floor. "I knew you'd say that…."

"I have no problem playing Gundam with you, though," Keroro said.

"Yay!" The two soldiers (?) went off to go do the child's thing.

Angol Mois stared enviously in the background, longing for her day. "Oh…" she sighed. "I wish I could be with those Gundam. How do Uncle and Tama-san expect to blow them up that way? Waving them around in the air accomplishes nothing. It's more like, I need a distraction?"

A ray of light shone through a random crack in the wall that Angol Mois had probably created during one of her more destructive days, and through it a slip of paper found its way in, descending on the girl who masked her emotions and destructive urges behind brainlessness so thick it almost appeared as syrup. In fact, it was, and it oozed down her cheek.

"Awww… I'm syrupping again," she said. The paper landed itself in her hands, and she handed it off to Keroro. "Uncle, I believe this letter is for you. Maybe from headquarters."

"Huh?" Keroro took the letter in his hands. "Nah, this isn't from headquarters. HQ has that weird stampy thing. This one's stamped with a star." He sparkled. "Ooh, a star. Okay, I'll read it." Angol Mois handed Keroro a letter-opening blade, but he had already just torn it open. With no other use for the knife, she threw it over her shoulder and it found refuge in a bystanding Giroro's flesh.

"Ooh! What does the letter say, Mister Sergeant?" Tamama asked, hopping behind him to read over his shoulder.

"Don't know. Let's read it," he said, and unfolded the paper.

...o~o...

Hi, aliens from a far-off planet! My name is Keroro. I have no last name. The world is being destroyed. Please save us. All I can pass to you is this simple message: blah blah blah stuff blah blah blah hurting things blah blah blah toys blah blah blah Gundam models blah blah blah I want ice-cream blah blah blah Hey, let's play a game! blah blah blah I'm writing a letter blah blah blah I didn't break it, really! blah blah blah ooh purple blah blah blah Gundam models blah blah blah where's Zeroro-kun? blah blah blah oh, there you are blah blah blah. The end.

...o~o...

They all anime-sweatdropped.

"Well, that was a poorly written letter, Sergeant. Did you really write this?" asked Tamama.

"I think I did…" Keroro said. "Yes, I remember writing it, now. I wrote this when I was a kid. I was really bored, so I pretended that the world was being destroyed."

"Like, I'd never destroy Keron, Uncle," Angol Mois assured him.

"Wow. You wrote letters pretty bad…" Tamama muttered. "I mean, it's so cute, Sergeant!"

"When you were… a kid?" said Angol Mois. "Uncle… as a kid…. How adorable!"

"Ku, ku, ku, ku, ku. I bet, when he was a kid, he didn't have that horrible Gundam fetish," Kululu chuckled.

Keroro glanced down again at the papar and decided that anything he said would only result in his misery, so he wadded the paper into a ball and threw it into a wastebasket.

"That's true. And as a kid, I wasn't jealous of that woman." Tamama started off cute-sounding, but he ended growling.

Faces turned to him.

"What?"

"You're still a kid… aren't you, Private…?" his idol asked.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot that. You know, I'm actually not sure how old I am," Tamama giggled.

Keroro thought this over. "Oh, my god, you are so right… I have no idea how old you are…. No, wait. That's not what I was thinking." He clapped his hands together. "Attention, Keroro Platoon! We have a new mission!"

"Does it have to do with the invasion?" asked Giroro.

"I'm glad you asked, Corporal. In fact, it does. Sergeant Major Kululu, we require your assistance for this!" Keroro tapped his foot impatiently. "Kuululuuu?"

Kululu popped his headphones out. "Sorry. What did you say? I was busy tuning you out."

"I know." He cleared his throat. "We need you to build a machine. But not just any machine: you're going to build a time machine."

"A… time machine?" Kululu said. "Something like that might take a while to build..."

"Yes. With it, we're going to travel…" He had to jump up onto a table to look more dramatic. "…to the past!"

Crickets.

"Um… why the past?" asked Dororo.

"Oh, hey, Dororo. When did you get here?" Keroro said.

Dororo's eyes pooled. "I was the first one to get here!"

"Oh." Keroro lowered the arm he had been pointing triumphantly into the air. "Well, that just goes to prove my point. Soldiers, we are going to the past so we can recruit our younger selves to our platoon."

"Huh?" Kululu was listening intently now.

"I'm sure all of you have noticed we each have… problems… I won't name any names…." Keroro caught the suspicious stares that went his way. "Okay, you know what? Just… blame someone else. Blame Giroro. Staring at your leader isn't nice."

"H-hey! You can't blame me!" Giroro defended.

"Yes. Yes, we can," said Keroro.

Giroro looked down, knowing he couldn't argue.

Keroro continued his hypocritical speech. "Anyway… now that the shame is put on someone other than me, we each must acknowledge that we have our own problems that… probably didn't occur when we were children. Take Kululu, for example. I'm sure he was a little angel when he was a baby."

"Ku, ku, ku, ku, ku.~"

A sweatdrop slid down Keroro's face. "…Never mind…. But, Dororo. And Giroro. Zeroro wasn't forgotten that much when he was little."

"Yes, I was!"

"And Giroro-kun didn't have his crippling crush. I, of course, have no problems, but I'll recruit the child me anyway." But no matter how much he stuffed the blame on his subordinates, the suspicious looks always came wandering back to him. "Oh, crap. We need a distraction. Kululu!" Keroro snapped his fingers. "I don't hear that time machine being made!"

"Right on it, Captain," said Kululu. He escaped the mayhem by spinning down into the floor with Angol Mois, where they were dropped off at his lab.

"Let us never speak of what just transpired, Platoon," said Keroro.

"Agreed."

Silence.

"So…" Keroro said to Tamama, trying desperately to start a conversation. "How's it… hangin'?"

Tamama blinked. "It's hangin'."

"What about you, Corporal?" he asked. "How's it hangin'?"

"If this plan fails, then the Hinatas' laundry won't be the only things to hang," Giroro threatened.

Keroro's pupils shrunk. "Urk!"

"Um, Keroro-kun, I would like to ask if the Pekoponians are coming over on this trip," said Dororo.

Keroro considered this. "Huh… sure, why not? Fuyuki-dono would be wondering where I was, anyway. Yeah, we'll bring the Hinatas (who matter). Momoka and Koyuki can come along too. And… also that guy with the yellow hat."

"You mean… S-S-Saburo?" Giroro shouted. "No! He's not coming along!"

"Aw, you're just angry because I'm probably going to give him the same pod with Natsumi-dono," Keroro teased.

"You're WHAT?" he screamed. "No, he's not coming along! Never!"

"Woops, too bad. Kululu's already here with the finished time machine," said Keroro. Giroro stooped with despair.

"Wha—? A trip to the past?" Keroro had just told Fuyuki about their plan. Or at least, most of it. "I'd love to!"

Natsumi shut the door behind her as she slipped off her shoes after coming home from school. "What silly invasion plan are the stupid frogs up to now, Fuyuki?"

"They want to take us to the past," Fuyuki told her nonchalantly.

"The past? And how to you expect to go to the past and skip your chores? I bet this is just—"

"Saburo will be coming."

"S-Saburo-senpai?" Natsumi suddenly faded into one of her girlish fantasies about over-the-top weddings in spaceships and eating sweet potatoes. "Wait… why am I thinking about sweet potatoes?" She dismissed it as her own usual weirdness. "I guess maybe traveling to the past… (with Saburo-senpai…) wouldn't be so bad. Sure, I'll come with."

"Triumph!" Keroro shouted.

Once the time machine was finished being built (it only took about an hour), the Keroro platoon, Angol Mois, Fuyuki, Natsumi, Momoka, Koyuki, and Saburo all boarded into the small pod. Kululu set the controls and announced how long it would take. "Twenty seconds till takeoff… fifteen… ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… I lied, we're already there."

Everyone was jerked around as the space pod almost crash-landed. Kululu pressed a button to open the door and they all stepped out into the damp, moist air and onto the milky grass.

"It's as if it constantly rains here," Natsumi noticed. "It's like… some really rainy place."

"Ah, I feel alive again!" Keroro breathed. "Doesn't it just remind you of home, platoon?"

Tamama scratched his head. "Uh… we are home, Sergeant. Just in the past."

"Oh. Right." His shoulders slumped. "Well, guys, who shall we recruit first?"

"Recruit? What do you mean, recruit, Sarge?" Fuyuki wondered.

"Well, you see, Fuyuki-dono, everyone in our platoon has their own issue…." Keroro trailed off, not wanting to include his own.

"Believe me, I've noticed," said Fuyuki.

"I'm glad. But we thought, since we didn't have the same problems when we were children, the younger versions of ourselves—I mean, them—would be less incompetent. I mean, you know how useless they are," explained Keroro.

Fuyuki's eyes trailed among the group and he laughed. "Don't forget your problem, Sarge. I think you're the most useless one out of the group."

"Oh, yeah. I mean, no! Of course I'm not!" He stomped off in denial. "C-come on, troops!"

"Sir, yes sir!" they said, following along.

Keroro fell back from the front and tiptoed over to Tamama. "So… Private… where did you live when you were a kid?"

"When I was a kid…" Tamama put his hand to his chin and thought. "I don't really remember the details. I think I was a tadpole. I mean, a baby tadpole."

"Okay, you're out of the picture, then. What about you, Sergeant Major?" he asked.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku. I can show you, if you'd like….~"

"Yes, please do!" Keroro said.

Kululu led the way, Keronians and Pekoponians plus Angol Mois trailing behind him, to his house when he was a kid. They were astonished (or not so much) to find it surrounded by toxic chemicals and deadly traps.

"You did all this when you were a kid?" Natsumi gasped.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku. Yup. I wasn't like any of the other tadpoles. And they mocked me," he chuckled.

"I'll probably regret asking, but… what happened to them?" It was Fuyuki who asked, and Fuyuki who regretted.

"Oh, not much… they wound up missing," Kululu answered.

Fuyuki sweatdropped. "Poor kids…."

They walked up to the door of Kululu's old house, knocking on it. A trap opened and temporarily bit off the first hand it saw, which was Giroro's.

"Why does this stuff always happen to me?" he screamed.

Fate.

The door slid out of the way and they stepped inside the musty house. "Kululu! Want to be in a platoon?" Keroro bellowed into the hallways immediately. "Helloooo? Kululu! Time to go to war!"

An ominous chuckling found its way into the room, encircling the ten, I mean, eleven, beings. Faint pleas of help sounded through the house, tearing at their ears.

"Ku, ku, ku. This was probably one of the space leeches I loved to shove down trespassers' throats," said Kululu.

"T-trespassers?" Keroro swallowed nervously. "Y-y-you don't th-think you'll…?"

"I might. You never know," he shrugged. "Oops. Did I forget to tell you that my jerkwadness is congenital?"

"Darn it. We don't need two jerks in our platoon," Keroro muttered under his breath. "Well, let's move onto Giroro next, then. And if we can't recruit him for some odd reason, we'll recruit me, 'cuz I'm just that awesome." (No, you're really not.)

"And me, Keroro-kun?" asked Dororo.

"Oh, yeah. You too."

"You think I'm awesome?" Under his mask, the blue ninja blushed.

"No. I meant, we'll try recruiting you too. If we remember."

They moved out of Kululu's house, only to find a shark waiting for them. Kululu suggested using the back door, so they did.

"Sarge, I have a question," said Fuyuki. "Will changing things in the past effect what happens to you guys in the present?"

Keroro opened his mouth to give the answer he didn't actually know, but Kululu spoke up in his place. "No. I was smart enough to transport us into a separate dimension, one that won't effect our real lives."

"So this is like… a clone world, but in the past?"

The yellow frog nodded.

"Oh, that's kind of cool," Fuyuki said.

Keroro and the lot were disappointed to find Giroro wasn't home.

"Try checking other places. According to the clocks, now would be the time we'd all be in training school. Let's check there," Giroro told them.

"Great idea, Corporal. To the schools!" Keroro announced.

Saburo slung his bag over his shoulder. "I think I'll skip. Again."

Giroro turned around to yell at him. "You're STILL here? Why don't you jump off a cliff already?"

He shut his eyes, chin tilted toward the alien sun. "Because… in the fall, when the skies start to wetten… the valleys won't puke it back up. –623 (Mutsumi)," he quoted from himself, who stole it off Kululu, who intended for it to sound like crap.

"? I'm… not going to ask what the heck you just said," Giroro groaned. "And 'wetten' isn't even a word!"

Natsumi swooned. "Oh, so poetic! "

Giroro threw him a death glare. Saburo flinched. "That's right, prettyboy. Be afraid." At least he's the only competition I have besides Koyuki and… all those other random schoolboys Natsumi has a crush on. He tried to be optimistic, but it didn't work. Oh, no! What if SabuNatsu is cannon? (It's not.)

"Corporal, stop fantasizing! We have stalking to do," Keroro reminded him. "Now, have some binoculars."

"Um… why binoculars?" he asked. "Can't we just go up to him—I mean, me—them—whatever, and kidnap him/me/them?"

"Pekoponians, remember?" said Keroro.

"Oh, yeah. Can't we just give them anti-barriers?" Giroro asked.

"No, I'm too selfish."

"Okay… then we'll go on our own and bring them back," he wagered.

Keroro nodded in agreement. "Good idea. Let's go."

At the moment the platoon walked up to the training school, a bell rang and all the children were released into freedom.

"Keroro-kun, I think I spot us!" Dororo said, pointing enthusiastically. "You know, that sounds really weird."

"We know that. Okay, this is how it's going to go: Dororo, you get Zeroro. Corporal, you get you. And I get me," Keroro told them. "Private, Sergeant Major, we're leaving you behind. Keroro Platoon, move out! And remember, don't tell yourself that you're… him!" The three friends (?) spread out in different directions, Dororo into a tree, Giroro behind a wall, and Keroro straight ahead.

Tamama traced a circle on the ground with his foot. "Well… we might as well get comfy while they're gone."

Kululu scooted away, making Tamama blush.

(Before I get into the next scene, I'd like to establish something. Two Giroros and two Keroros is too much for one narrator to handle, so as of now the younger Giroro is going to be Giro-chan and the younger Keroro Kero-chan. That is all.)

Dororo approached Zeroro from the trees, observing him with great pity. That was once me, he inwardly sobbed. That IS me! "Zeroro!" He dropped down from his tree.

"AAAAH! It's another kidnapper!" Zeroro screamed.

Dororo put a hand out to comfort him, but this only scared Zeroro more. "Fear not, child. I mean you no harm. I know what you're like, what you've been through. I know how Keroro-kun has treated you."

"Keroro-kun? You're friends with Keroro-kun?" said Zeroro.

"Well… in a way. He forgets me, but I work under him. A… a different Keroro."

"A different one?" Zeroro appeared disbelieving.

Dororo's eyes smiled. "Would you care to work under him, too? He's rather nice at times. Your friends are coming along as well."

"I don't know… my mother told me not to talk to strangers," he said doubtfully.

"Yeah, well… your mom also wears a wig. I should know," Dororo shot back in the gentlest tone possible, which was ironic.

"Hey!—Wait. You wear a wig too?"

"Sometimes…" he admitted. "Do not worry. Your mother will be fine with this."

"She will?" Zeroro brightened. "All right, I'll come with. As long as Keroro-kun and Giroro-kun come, too."

"I have a feeling they will," Dororo laughed.

Meanwhile, behind the school, Giroro and Keroro each talked separately to their younger selves.

"I'm telling you, I'm not a kidnapper! I know everything about you!" Giroro insisted.

Giro-chan gaped. "I knew it. I knew you were a stalker."

"I am not a stalker!" he shouted.

"Yeah? Why do you look so much like me, then? And you even have Nii-chan's belt." The truth sunk in to the child Keronian. "You stole it from him, didn't you? No, that doesn't make any sense. Nii-chan would totally kick your butt. How'd you get it, then?"

"Secret," Giroro smirked. "Now, what do you say you quit school and run off to battle with me?"

Giro-chan raised a nonexistent eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "You know, if you're trying to lure me into your hovercraft, you're doing a reeeaaally sucky job."

One of Giroro's veins popped. Calm down, Giroro, he told himself. You did not just insult yourself. You did not just…. Oh, my god, this is very very very sad.

"Okay, well… I'm going home now. See you, Keroro-kun… wherever you are," said Giro-chan.

Giroro stopped him, his fist locking on Giro-chan's shoulder. "Not so fast, smarty-pants. You're coming with me whether you like it or not." To emphasize this, he clicked his rifle.

"If you're trying to threaten me, forget about it. I don't get scared that easily," Giro-chan said.

"Crap, he's right…." Giroro lowered his gun, and it magically disappeared. He brightened as an idea came forth. "If you're so intent on leaving, then… why don't I tell you a ghost story first?"

Giro-chan's jaw dropped, his pupils vanishing. "No… no, please, wait!"

"Once upon a time, in a far-off planet called Pekopon, there was a boy with a yellow hat…."

The younger one began screaming. "Wait! Wait! No, stop! I'll do anything! I'll come with…. I'll come…. Just don't continue the story."

Unfortunately, Giroro wasn't that nice. "… and he existed. The end."

"I'm having nightmares tonight," Giro-chan groaned.

"Yes… well, on the battlefield, nightmares aren't something you can help," Giroro said. "Come on, let's meet up with the Sergeant."

"Sergeant?" Giro-chan repeated. "What sergeant? Did something happen? I wanna see a sergeant!"

"Sure, I'll show you. Oh! And I…" For unknown reasons, Giroro just decided to be a jerk. Like Kululu. "…am a corporal."

Giro-chan sparkled. "You're in the military? Wow….~"

"Yup. And so will you be, soon," he smiled.

"Sweet! I'm gonna kill stuff!" he cheered. They wandered off to Keroro, who was still talking with his younger self.

"Does the head connect this way, or that way?" Kero-chan asked.

"Yes, that's right. You're learning, child!" Keroro encouraged. A shadow loomed over him. "Oh. Looks like it'll rain soon."

"The only thing that'll rain is my fist," Giroro growled.

"Sheesh. That's not even a good pun—"

"WHAT THE !#$%^&* ARE YOU DOING, KERORO?" Keroro was knocked back by the force of Giroro's voice. "You're supposed to be recruiting him, not building Gundam models!"

"Oops… guess I got… sidetracked," he giggled, standing up. "All right, Kero-chan. Fun's over; time to go."

"No. I refuse to go," said Kero-chan stubbornly.

"Eh? Keroro-kun? You too?" Giro-chan peeked out at him from behind Giroro.

Kero-chan spotted him. "Huh? Giroro-kun? Why are you here?"

"Uh… um…" He blushed. "They… he… it… it's nothing."

"I, as well, have recruited Zeroro," Dororo announced, swooping down with himself from the trees.

"Zeroro-kun? You too?" said Kero-chan. "Come on, let's go home."

"Wait! Wait! No, you can't!" Keroro frantically tried to grab at them, but it was to no avail.

Giroro hoisted his large gun onto his shoulder. "You're doing it all wrong, Keroro. I'll show you how we deal with brats in the military." Aka, you blow off their heads.

Kero-chan fell to the ground, twitching. "I'll come with…."

The six of them walked back to where they left the rest, Dororo and Giroro being made to carry Kero-chan on their shoulders.

"This is stupid," Giroro complained. "He is you. Shouldn't you be the one to carry him?"

Keroro looked over his shoulder to talk. "Well, you're the one that blew him/me up. You get him."

"I just don't understand why I have to help," said Dororo, his eyes welling with tears.

Angol Mois spotted the six Keronians approaching them (Tamama and Kululu had already gone back), and waved them down.

"Oh, look. There's Mois-dono right now. Let's catch up with her," Keroro suggested. They ran up to the group.

"Uncle, is this you?" Angol Mois lifted up Kero-chan in her arms. "He's so cute!"

"But probably just as incompetent. Ku, ku, ku…."

"You're Zeroro?" Koyuki asked the younger Dororo, holding out a hand. "Hi! I'm Koyuki! "

"S-so kind," he whispered, taking her hand. "Is it possible that I'm making a new friend?"

"Where's the other you, Giroro?" Natsumi asked him.

"The other me?" His head went to either side. "I… don't see him. He was here a minute ago." Where could he have run off to now?

Meanwhile, the young red Keronian had gotten distracted with the alien beings. Giro-chan wandered amongst the crowd of people, confused. "So… many… Pekoponians…." His head turned from person to person, captivated by the feeling of foreignry. He was so caught up in staring at Saburo in disgustedness that he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going. "Oof!"

Natsumi turned her head. "Did someone just bump into me?"

"Most likely," said Giroro.

She stood up and gasped in sight at the clumsy red tadpole sprawled on the ground. "Oh, hey, it's you!"

Giroro exhaled, saying, "Yeah, I guess that makes a bit of sense. This isn't awkward at all…."

"Are you alright?" Natsumi asked, helping Giro-chan up. He used her hand for a support and looked up at her, his eyes bright and blue. Natsumi sucked in her breath. "Oh, my god… HE IS SO CUTE! Could it be…? I'm not thinking about sweet potatoes for once!"

"Wha—?" asked Giroro, shocked.

Giro-chan stared up brightly at the pink-haired Pekoponian. The light caught the gleam in her eyes and her smile melted his heart. "Oh, my god… SHE IS SO PRETTY! Could it be…? Am I in love?"

"WHA—?" Giroro collapsed.

Natsumi looked down at them. "One of you say something?"

A hand magically appeared on Giro-chan's shoulder. "Ah, there you are, Corporal…" Giro-chan turned around to see Keroro. "…wrong one. You're… Giroro… Giroro-kun… Giro-chan? Eh, I'll just call you Giro-chan for now." Keroro's eyes flitted back and forth from Natsumi and Giro-chan. "Oh, her? This is Natsumi-dono. She's the devil. Avoid her. Come on, it's time to meet back up with your friends."

"N-Natsumi… Natsumi…" Giro-chan repeated, hearts in his eyes, as he was dragged off by Keroro. "Natsumiiiiii!"

"Natsumi!" Giroro came back to his senses suddenly, snapping back into a standing position. "What'd that… that kid tell you?"

"Ohmigodohmigodohmigod… he was so cuuuuute!" Natsumi gushed. "Giroro, why didn't you ever tell me you were that adorable?"

"Y-y-you th-think I was adorable? I—I—I—I—I—No, wait! How could you say that? I—I'm an invader!" he said.

Natsumi considered this. "Yeah, I guess you're right, but… how can one not help thinking some of you guys are actually kind of cute?"
"Which ones?" Giroro demanded.

She turned her nose in the air. "Not saying."

"Awwwww…."

Not too far away from them, Keroro began assembling the new recruits. "Now, I want you three to understand that what you're going into is no game. It's an actual battle, and you may even die. Got that, kids?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" all but one answered. Giro-chan was busy staring out into space and fantasizing about the Pekoponian he just met.

"I said, Got that, kids?" Keroro said again. "Helloooo? Giroro? Giro-chan? Mr. I'mnotpayingattention? Why do you look so dazed and—" His eyes widened. "Aw, crap! It's the punched-out-the-window incident all over again."

"What punched-out-the-window incident?" Zeroro wondered.

Kero-chan leaned over to his friend and whispered something into his ear, wherever it was. "Hey, Zeroro-kun," he said, "don't you think Giroro-kun is acting a little… weird? I mean, he's not acting like his usual self."

"I've seen you act weirder," Zeroro replied. Kero-chan stopped there.

"Okay. New plan," Keroro announced, clapping his hands together. "Since your friend Giroro turned out to be completely useless, it's just going to be you two to carry the weight of Pekopon on your shoulders. Got that?"

"Whaaaaaat?" said Zeroro.

Kero-chan blinked. "Do we even have shoulders?"

Natsumi wandered among the group, trying to find Giro-chan again. She hummed quietly to herself, happy with the knowledge that Giro-chan wouldn't be going, now that they had permanently recruited him for the invasion. Hard to believe that someone so cute and adorable was going to invade her. That would actually be a good way to invade. Leaving the Pekoponians defenseless by sucking you in with those adorable, sparkly eyes. She wondered why they even went along with the stupid frogs, but it probably wasn't any of her business.

"Hey! You there." Giro-chan poked Giroro. "Guy that looks like me. Where'd the Pekoponian girl go?"

"Wh-wh-which one?" Giroro asked.

"Natsumi."

He clenched his teeth. Showing weakness in front of himself could only result in something terrible and embarrassing. I will not take my anger out on myself. I will not take my anger out on myself. I will not—Oh, screw this. "NO WAY IN !#$%^&* WILL YOU EVER KNOW WHERE NATSUMI IS!" he growled.

"Oh, Giroro. Who are you yelling at?" asked Natsumi, coming up from behind him.

"AAAH! N-N-N-Natsumi!" he stuttered, falling on his face.

"There you are!" she said and walked toward Giro-chan. "You weren't trying to hide from me, were you? I guess I did overreact when I saw how cute you were… I mean, are…."

"Y-you think I'm c-cute?" he asked, blushing.

"Of course you are," she smiled.

Giro-chan melted. He then recollected himself, his narrowed eyes going back and forth from Giroro (who had face-planted) and Natsumi, who was beaming at him brightly. His tiny tadpole mouth spread into a grin. "Natsumi!" Giro-chan flung his arms around her waist.

...Oh, my god, he is so adorable, she thought. Like a plushie. Only one that hugs you back. And friendly, too. She squeezed him tighter to her body.

Giroro chose that moment to resurface. It took only one glance at Giro-chan nuzzling his face up against her chest for him to collapse again. Only two words were able to process in his mind. Kill me.

The next time Giroro woke up, the group was already heading off to the space pod to return to present-day Pekopon. Giro-chan was forced to go back to his friends, which Giroro made happen so he could have Natsumi all to himself.

"Aww… that Giro-chan sure is adorable," Natsumi sighed. "Oh, no! I'm gushing again, aren't I?"

"Heh. Heh. Heh. Yeah, I hate that guy too." Giroro's eye twitched uncontrollably as other people walked with them to the pod.

"Huh? No, I said he's adorable, not I want to kill him," she said.

"Ha! There! You said it! I heard you loud and clear." Good, so she does hate him. Giroro sighed with relief.

Natsumi lowered her eyebrows. "Why are you so intent on hating yourself? He—you—he's just a kid," she told him.

"I know. That's the problem." He crossed his arms over his chest.

It finally hit her. "Ah! I know why you must hate him!"

"Yeah, I bet you do."

"(Oh, stop it.) It's because it weirds you out that I find him cute!" she said.

Giroro stopped walking, his eyes wide. Crap, she's nailed me. She knows I'm jealous of myself. (Wow, that sounds so weird.) She knows I wanted her to squeeze me as much as she was squeezing… the other me. How much does she—? Oh, wait…. "Yeah… I do find it really weird. So please stop. NOW."

Natsumi pursed her lips suddenly. "Don't make me remind you that he isn't exactly you. He's just a kid. Kids… do very irrational things sometimes. They can't control it."

(Hey, that sounds like you, Giroro.)

"I'm sure you did things like that as a child."

Giroro thought back, though it was unnecessary. Let's see. How many Pekoponians did I throw my arms around when I was a kid? Hm, none. How many other things? Hm, none. Oh, crap, there was that one stupid teddy bear…. "Uh… um… of course I didn't."

"Anyway, it's normal for kids like you… him… that. You shouldn't get upset over it," Natsumi assured him. "You're a soldier. Tough guys like you don't get weirded out."

"Y-YOU THINK I'M TOUGH?" Giroro yelled. "/"

"Of course you are," she said. "Um… Giroro. Giroro? Giroro! We're here!"

"Huh? Who? Where's the enemy?" Giroro snapped back into reality, as did his guns.

"Oh, put your guns away, Giroro. We're at the…" She trailed off. "…pod…?"

A reluctant breeze caught up with them as they stopped to stare blankly at the sight the pod had last been seen in. A faint circle marked where it used to sit on the alien grass.

Keroro stopped marching. "What is the meaning of this? Where's the time machine, Sergeant Major Kululu?" He shook him furiously.

"Don't know, Captain. It must have disappeared. With magic," Kululu answered. "Perhaps the Keron forces took it away. Or maybe it was caught in a random time warp. Ku, ku, ku, ku."

"But Sergeant, how are we going to get home without the time machine?" Tamama asked.

Keroro looked tragically into the sky, a tear trickling down his cheek. "We may never return home, Private."

"What? That sucks. And you're just going to let this end on a cliffhanger?" Natsumi yelled.

"Yup. Pretty much." Everyone glared at him. "Gotcha! Kululu, how long will it take to make another time machine?" Keroro wondered.

"Probably a few days, because I have the tendency to procrastinate. Ku, ku, ku."

"A few days is enough. For now, we'll have to stay out here in a tent. Kero-chan, Zeroro, you're new so it's your guys' job to set it up and anti-barrier it, even though you won't be staying with us. Whoa! How'd you get back here, Giro-chan? I thought I chucked you back to your house!"

"No, that was Zeroro-kun you chucked to my house," said Giro-chan. "I have a feeling he won't be coming back for a while."

In the distance a weeping Zeroro called, "Keroro-kun? Giroro-kun? Help! I got stuck in a tree!"

"We shall go save him," said Dororo and Koyuki.

"Hookay… then, while they're looking for Zeroro, Giro-chan and Kero-chan will set up the tent," Keroro directed.

"Roger," they said.

"Wow. Keroro seems to be a little more… competent on his planet," Natsumi noticed.

It was true until she heard Keroro say, "And I shall go build Gundam."

The rest of them sweatdropped in the background.

That night, a rainstorm came up. Or down, rather. The five Keronians (Kero-chan, Zeroro, and Giro-chan were sent home for the day), five Pekoponians, and one Angol Mois huddled together, desperate to keep warm, in the large tent, blankets wrapped over their bodies. Tamama slept near Keroro, Dororo near Koyuki, Kululu near Angol Mois and NOT SABURO, and Momoka a little too close to Fuyuki. They were all asleep except for Giroro and Natsumi.

"Um… Giroro," Natsumi got out from behind a fit of blushing. Lightning cracked in the distance and she winced. "Uh… well… I have an awkward question."

Giroro looked up at her with caring eyes. "Yes, my lo—I MEAN, l-ludicrous… slave? Pekoponian… woman… thing?"

"What was that about?" she anime-sweatdropped. "Anyway… is it all right if… tonight… I—I—I—I…."

"Yes?"

"C-can…." Natsumi clenched her blanket ferociously. "C-can I snuggle with you!"

Giroro's jaw dropped open, his expression turning into crisp shock, possibly mixed with delight… and a touch of… satisfaction, perhaps. "Y-y-y-y-y-y-you? S-snuggle? W-with m-m-m-m-me?"

Natsumi lowered her gaze to the ground, her face red. "I knew you'd say no. It's just that… I… don't like lightning." A thunderclap sounded in the distance and she yelped.

"Not very warrior-like, fearing mere weather," Giroro told her between nervous swallows.

"I know, but… it's not very soldier-like, fearing sea cucumbers and ghosts," she retorted.

Giroro blushed. "F-fine. W-w-w-w-we'll s-s-snuggle."

She smiled. "Thank you, Giroro. I'm sorry you have to do this." Her last thought before dragging him into her arms was, It's a good thing I'm not actually afraid of lightning.

Natsumi wrapped her arms around Giroro before he could object, went down on her side, and wrapped the blanket over them. Giroro died and went to a better place than heaven.

Suddenly, the tent flap was unzipped and a figure crawled into the tent.

"Who could that be?" said Natsumi, sitting up to take a look. Giroro punched the blankets.

"Um… um… N-Natsumi, I had a b-bad dream," Giro-chan whimpered, clutching his teddy bear.

Giroro's eyes narrowed hatedly. Oh, no. It's THAT bear. Silence passed through his mind for a moment. I mean… Oh, crap. It's THAT kid!

Natsumi opened her mouth in surprise. "G-Giro-chan! Do you need something?"

"W-well… I was wondering…" He pressed his index fingers together uncertainly. "…c-can we snuggle together?"

She sparkled and flung off her blankets, accidentally flinging Giroro away with them. "Yes, of course we can! Come here!" Giro-chan creeped over into her open arms. Giroro died and went to a worse place than hell.

"W-wait one moment, N-Natsumi. I'd like to have a talk with this kid," Giroro said.

Natsumi's eyes flitted back and forth between the two. "All right. Just don't hurt him, Giroro!"

"I won't," they both said at the same time. Giro-chan left his bear with Natsumi, then left.

Giroro met Giro-chan just outside the tent, not too close but far enough away that Natsumi wouldn't hear. He exhaled, taking in the image of his former body. "You didn't really have a nightmare, did you?"

Giro-chan's gaze fell. He didn't want to answer.

"I thought as much." Giroro rubbed his chin as a smirk made its way to his face. "Well, I'd just like you to know that Natsumi and I are a couple. She's my girlfriend, and we're madly in love. And I get VERY ANGRY when anyone, even little kids, touch her. GOT THAT?"

To Giroro's despair, Giro-chan remained as unafraid as ever. "If you're dating, why doesn't she mind me snuggling with her?"

Giroro opened his mouth immediately to answer, but nothing was forthcoming.

"You're lying, aren't you? I can tell. You don't sound very confident when you talk about her." Giroro almost boiled into a rage when he mentioned this. "You like her, don't you." That shut him up.

"H-how did you know?" he asked.

Giro-chan gave him a look. "Everyone does. Except her." He laughed. "But I don't think you have much of a chance with her. She seems to go for the cuter type. Like me!" He flashed him a smile.

"Y-you're not even her age…" Giroro mumbled.

"Oh? And you are?"

"In Pekoponian years, yes. I'm… slightly older. But you"—He waved a finger at him.—"are just way out of her dating range."

"Maybe I don't want to date her," Giro-chan shot back. "I'm coming to Pekopon with you guys, anyway. That's what the guy who looks like Keroro-kun said."

Coming… to Pekopon? Giroro thought. That's right… we're recruiting this kid. He's going to be stuck in my life… forever! He's never going to let me have Natsumi for myself! Oh, my god! It's Giropon all over again! My greatest rival… me….

"So. Are we done here? Because I have some snuggling to do," he gloated. Giroro fell to his knees on wobbly legs as Giro-chan went back into the tent. He soon trudged after sulkingly.

Natsumi spotted him on his way into the tent, just as she was tucking Giro-chan in. "Oh, Giroro! I hope you don't mind. I just thought, since you probably didn't want to snuggle with me, maybe I could get someone else…."

Giroro didn't make it back to his bed. Instead he just face-planted right there.

"Weird. He must have been really sleepy," she said. Natsumi turned her attention back to Giro-chan, who was all huddled up in the blankets with her. Poor thing. Must have really had a terrible nightmare, she thought. He's so cute. I guess he really is just a child after all. She gave him a good-night kiss and wrapped her arms possessively around him.

"You… other me…" Giroro growled, his face still on the mat of the tent, "tomorrow… we duel… and I swear… I will kill you… I swear it on my love for Natsumi!"

Natsumi bolted up to a sitting position. "Huh? Did Giroro just say something about love?"

Giroro waved her away. "It was… nothing… just go back to… sleep… (sweetie…)."

"Oh, okay." She huddled back into the blankets. "Wait… what did he call me?"

...o~o...

...o~o...

Giro-chan awoke the next day, still in Natsumi's arms, to find someone luring over him. His face was in shadow, but he knew only too well who it was.

"No! Not the tooth fairy!" Giro-chan gasped.

Giroro face-palmed. "I'm not the tooth fairy."

"Oh." Giro-chan blushed. "What do you need, guy that looks like me?"

Giroro glanced to both sides, suspicious of anyone who was listening. No one made a sound. "Today we are going to duel. Er, before anyone makes up. This is a test of your strength to see if you've got what it takes to have my Natsumi."

The child Keronian sighed. "You stop at nothing to get what you want, don't you."

"You got that right. Now, are you coming or not?" he asked.

"Something seems ironic about what you're asking me to do," said Giro-chan, painstakingly detaching himself from Natsumi's arms and standing up.

One of Giroro's veins popped. "Sh-shut up!"

The two versions of the same person stepped out of the tent and onto the grass that it laid on. They both took out their guns via dimensional transport and met each other's eyes.

"All right," Giroro began. "Here is the one rule of the match: whoever wins gets Natsumi for myself. I mean, himself. Whatever self. Understood?"

Giro-chan shook his head. "That doesn't seem right. We should have a referee."

"No referees!" he shouted at once. If there was anyone watching, especially Keroro or Kululu, they would make fun of him. And this kid was more than he seemed…. "This is our match, and only our match. Got that?"

"Whatever," said Giro-chan.

"Now… begin!"

Giroro dashed into the trees before his younger counterpart had the opportunity to fire at him. From there, he aimed his guns on the child and started bulleting him like crazy. Giro-chan dodged every single one of his attacks, anticipating each one.

"You're too predictable!" he taunted.

Oh, he's going to pay for that, thought Giroro. Setting his guns aside in the air, he whipped out a sword and caught Giro-chan unprepared from behind him. Using the front of the blade, he was about to sear the child right across his back, when Giro-chan stuck out his leg and tripped him. The sword clattered out of Giroro's hand and Giro-chan stole it as it fell.

"Like I said, I know every single thing you're going to do," he told him, pinning him down by the shoulder. "For a Corporal, you're not all that impressive. No wonder Natsumi likes me better."

Giroro took deep breaths, slowly collecting the most powerful weapons he had into his hands. Giro-chan was caught confused, probably marveling at the shininess of the cannons and rifles, and Giroro's eyes reverted to their battle-like state. He kicked Giro-chan off him and leapt into the air, saying:

"Your ignorance will be your downfall today, foolish brat. Don't you know that you're not supposed to taunt your enemy on the battlefield? And now I have a clear shot of you. BUA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Prepare to die, other me!"

"Well, guess who's a hypocrite," said Giro-chan as he tried to dodge the attacks.

It was futile. Giroro magically bounced up to 50% stronger, since he was fighting with the power of love, and Giro-chan was pummeled with raining bullets, light beams, and heat razors. The sword he was using as a shield eventually melted from absorbing so much heat, and all he had left were his billions of guns, which wasn't actually so bad. Bullets firing, Giroros raging, and red flashing (if this were animated I would say " and theme songs playing"), the battle wore on. Wonder nobody woke up in all that time.

"Natsumi is mine!" growled Giroro. "I'm the one that feeds her sweet potatoes and constantly saves her every other second!"

"Don't count on it. I'm the better snuggler," Giro-chan shot back. In more ways that one.

Giroro caught the bullets and crushed them in his fist, landing on the branch of a tree. "I bet you don't turn human to dance with her."

"Well, if I did, at least I'd tell her."

"I bet you don't text her love poetry."

"She probably doesn't even know it's from you.

"I don't sleep with a teddy bear."

"Well, I'm allowed to."

"Ouch." Giroro tossed a grenade his way. Giro-chan dodged it right as it detonated, but some of the explosion caught on his tail and he winced. "Even though you're a kid who trains every day, I'm still ten times as powerful."

"How'd you know tha…? Oh, I knew you were a stalker." Giro-chan fell to his bottom on the ground. He had a gun poised on Giroro's figure, trying to determine the answer. But how is he so powerful? He uses the same attacks as me. Maybe… His eyes examined the red demon shooting at him. …he's just determined? No, wait, that's stupid. It's got to be something he has on him. Maybe one of his guns. No, better. The belt. Gotta be the belt. I bet it makes him stronger somehow. I'll have to get it for myself.

Giro-chan fired his gun once to distract Giroro, then let it fall, and flitted away into the trees.

"He dropped his gun," said Giroro to himself. "How stupid. What if I caught him unprepared? I'm almost ashamed to call him me." Moving his hand to the trigger of his gun, he shifted the point to various parts of the forest, firing at random. Where is that brat? he thought.

Suddenly, Giroro felt a presence come up behind him. He swiveled around, squinting to make out the figure in the moonlight. But it left just the way it came. That was odd. He felt… different. Lighter, slightly.

"Aha! There you are!" Giroro trained his gun on the red tadpole that foolishly came out into the open, guns in hand. "I have a clear shot at you now…." The lovestruck warrior took no hesitation pulling the trigger. But strangely enough, the bullet ricocheted off one of the trees and planted itself in his own forehead. Blood spurted from the fresh wound like a fountain.

"Wha…?" he said faintly. Then Giroro's gaze shifted to the tadpole before him. The one who had his belt. "You… you de-belted me!"

"Hehe! I knew it was the belt," said Giro-chan.

In his rage, Giroro tried to jump off the tree branch he was on, but he ended up falling on his face. Due to loss of blood, he collapsed. Half-bleeding, half-ashamed of himself, the fallen soldier could only make out a few last sounds.

The sound of a tent flap being unzipped and someone stepping out. The sound of a gasp and Natsumi's voice saying, "Oh, no! You poor thing. How did you get so beaten up?"

The sound of Giro-chan running to her in fake sobs, then, "That mean person tried to kill me! And I only wanted to play dress-up… with his belt."

Liar. We were fighting, Giroro thought.

Then, to his horror, the sound of Natsumi's voice offering, "Oh, I'm sorry. That space toad is such a meanie sometimes. And look at you! You've gotten yourself all dirty. Come on; why don't I give you a bath." Giroro's eyes shot open. "We'll have one. Together."

Hell. That was the world Giroro entered. A pit of darkness, no escape. No! Not the bath! he begged. But because no one could hear his thoughts, the lonely soldier was ignored.

And then, the last sound he heard before losing consciousness: The smirk of Giro-chan and a taunt of, "Seems I won."

...o~o...

...o~o...

"Hey, stupid frog!" said Natsumi. She unzipped the tent flap and stuck her head in. "Do you know where a bath is?"

The green frog yawned and gave a stretch. "Who? Bath? Sure, I'll add one to the tent."

"Add one to the—?" Natsumi remembered it just then. Oh, yeah. The spacefrogs can replicate the data of other furniture and stuff and recreate it. Well, I guess that gets one dilemma out of the way. Sheesh, whoever's writing this is a lazybone. (You got that right.)

After the bath was created and drawn, Natsumi led Giro-chan in. "You'll have to take off that belt before you bathe, you know," she reminded him.

Giro-chan glanced sadly at the belt and slipped it off, knowing it wouldn't last forever. That was weird. It felt hollow. Maybe what makes him stronger is in the buckle, he figured out. Curious, Giro-chan pressed his thumb down on the silver of the belt buckle while Natsumi wasn't looking, and it popped open. He stared at the picture, silent, then shut it closed and set it on a chair.

"All right, the water's ready," Natsumi told him. She undressed and together they stepped into the water. Ahh, this feels really good, she sighed. Then a frown came. Was that… steam? Or smoke? Though… awfully warm. Where is that steam coming from? The stupid frog didn't put in that much hot water, did he?

The answer was no. The real reason the steam was there was because, when Keroro was adding the bath, he added a bathroom, as well as a window. The window had curtains, of course, but the curtains were not being put to use.

Giroro stared enviously through the window, emitting steam from off the top of his head as he weighed the options. (Wait, how did you get here?)

"I just woke up."

(Oh. Never mind.) Anyway, he weighed the options. He needed his belt back. However, Natsumi was bathing awfully close to the window. He could either retrieve his belt, and then she would punch him out of the room and draw the curtains, or he could stay there and watch her bathe instead of getting his belt back. But if he watched her bathe the whole time, then when they were done, Giro-chan would steal back the belt. That, and if he watched her bathe he would have to watch her do it with that other dastardly him, which would just make him feel even more jealous. Of himself. Finally, he decided to just watch her bathe.

"That's odd. Do you feel like someone is watching us, Giro-chan?" asked Natsumi.

"Uh… no," he lied. So he's watching, is he? Giro-chan smiled evilly as Natsumi rubbed some soap on his back. Good. Now he'll see how superior I am, now that I've got his belt and Natsumi to myself. Bua ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. (Wow. I didn't know it was possible to think-laugh.)

"Oh, it is. Just watch me," Giro-chan said. Bua ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… ha ha ha ha ha. Ha.

(Guess you were right.)

"Um, who are you talking to?" Natsumi asked.

"Uh… the… duck," he lied.

"What duck?" She fell silent as a rubber duck floated passed. "· · ·."

Outside the bathroom, a voice spoke. "Gero, gero, gero. Well, somebody's jealous of himself."

Giroro swiveled around. "K-Keroro! How did you get here?"

"I just woke up."

"Oh. Wait, I'm not jealous!" he denied.

"You totally are. I can see it in the heat you're irradiating and the words of hate you're uttering," his commander told him. I'll just keep it a secret that I'm not bringing Giro-chan into our platoon. It's fun to see what Giroro does.

"Sh-shut up. When's Kululu going to make another time machine?"

Keroro tried to remember what Kululu said. "Hmmm… probably going to take a while. Maybe another day or two. We'll be stuck here till then, so you might as well get comfortable."

"Oohhhh… comfortable with Natsumi… mmmm…" Giroro fantasized as Keroro walked off. "Huh? Did he say something?"

Giroro spent that entire morning watching Natsumi bathe, half-ogling, half-envying. He was so caught up in his daydreams that he didn't notice when Giro-chan took back his belt and Natsumi dressed. As the group of eleven (Giro-chan was sent back home for the time being) sat down to eat together, Giroro wasn't aware that Natsumi had taken a seat between him and Koyuki.

"Mmmmm… Natsumi…" he muttered.

"Eh? Did you say my name?" she asked.

"Aaaaah! Y-you're too close to me!" Giroro scooted a distance away.

She raised her eyebrows. "And… is that a problem?"

He crossed his arms over his bare chest. "Y-yes. Yes, it is. It goes against my restraining order."

"You have a restraining order for me?" she said, when in fact, he did. She didn't sign any papers or anything, and Natsumi was actually unwilling to it, but Giroro's restraining order for her stated that anyone, even another him, that got at least a foot near Natsumi would pay the penalty. (The penalty was bullets.) The penalty also happened a lot, seeing as she had a bunch of friends at school.

"Yes, I do have one. And it must not be violated." He pointed his guns toward Koyuki. "You there! Pekoponian! I see you inching toward her…!"

"I—I was just handing Natsumi-san her rice bowl," Koyuki insisted.

Giroro pressed his finger down on the trigger. "Save your excuses for Hell, woman…."

"Wait! Giroro, don't!" Natsumi jumped down on him, about to knock the gun out of Giroro's hand, but it wasn't necessary. The bullet had already fired, and it hit Keroro (who was not near Koyuki in any way) in the side of the head.

"Maybe you shouldn't be playing with your guns without your belt," said Natsumi. "Not that I'm not thankful that you aimed badly, but… you could hurt people that matter."

"Hey! Don't I matter?" asked Keroro. "Mois-dono! I matter, right?"

"Of course you matter, Uncle. It's just…" Angol Mois looked down guiltily. "I delight in seeing your blood, too. You could say, unconcerned about your safety?"

"Awwww…."

Natsumi sweatdropped. "Anywaaay… what were we talking about again?"

"Baths, I think," answered Giroro.

"That's right, thank you. Now, did you know that in the bath—" She stopped. "Wait, that's not what we were talking about. You're trying to change the subject, Giroro!"

His eyes darted to the sides nervously. "Uh… no…."

"I need you to make a promise, all right?" she asked.

"A promise? Anything."

"Good. Don't kill Koyuki."

Giroro put his feet together, an expression of disappointment flickering across his face. "Awwww…."

"Saburo-senpai, too."

"!#$%^&*."

"You got that right. And also Giro-chan. You two shouldn't be fighting."

Giroro snapped his head toward her. "WHAT? I have every right to kill him."

"You heard me. I know you were fighting him," she said. "What you've got against him, I don't know. But you're the same person and it's not right for you two to be hurting each other."
He laughed. "You're starting to sound like my mother. And my mother doesn't even sound like that."

Natsumi felt she should have been insulted by this, but she wasn't, probably because of the quivery tone of Giroro's voice. "You can't blame me. You two really are like little children that need taking care of."

"Well, you can forget about thinking of that brat as a helpless child. Let me tell you that as a kid, I trained every day. I don't mean to brag, but I'm one of the best soldiers in the Keron army," Giroro explained. "If any one of us frogs should be the one in need of taking care of, it would be Tamama, and look how unkid-like he gets when he's mad. As a kid I could at least control my anger, but I was just as deadly. But apparently I was way more mischievous."

"Wow," was all Natsumi said.

"And my parents… I don't even know where my mom is. But my old man cared about me as much as his dirty socks. Which, might I add, he had."

"Your father wore clothes?" she asked.

"Yup. Both my parents never intended for me to be happy or safe. All they cared about was training me. No complaints, no rest, no running with scissors, and no falling in love with Pekoponians. That was what my life was like each day." He sighed in reminisce of his days on Keron.

Now I feel even more sorry for the guy. "Um… I get all but the last two," Natsumi said. "Why would you run with scissors in the first place? And why would falling in love with Pekoponians be an issue for you?"

"For the first one, I don't know. I was a problem child. As for the second one… hey, look! An flying sweet potato!" he pointed.

"What? Where?" Natsumi turned her head to look. She turned it back. "You must have imagined it again, Giroro, because I didn't see—" She blinked. "Hey, where'd he go?"

Her answer: into a wall.

"Giroro! Are you okay?" Natsumi got up from off he seat and ran to him, helping him out of the wall. "How'd a wall get here, anyway?"

Giroro gave a groan. "I don't know… one minute I was dodging your question, the next I had face-planted into concrete."

"That's happening too often. Don't you think you should get your belt back?" she asked, setting him down.

Giroro brushed some dry blood off his arm. "I would, but SOME KID took it from me!"

"Well, next time we see Giro-chan, we'll take it back. That okay?" said Natsumi.

He nodded. "Yeah, all right."

Natsumi couldn't help but smile. "You really are like a child, aren't you."

"N-no, I'm not!" he blushed. "L-let's get moving!" Giroro began walking off, but then he ran into another wall that came for him out of nowhere. Natsumi giggled at his pain.

Meanwhile, back at training school….

"Giroro-kun, where'd you get that cool belt?" asked Kero-chan. The school day had almost ended, and they were cleaning up the classroom. Or supposed to be.

"I stole it," he said proudly.

Zeroro gasped. "From who? Your brother?"
"No." Giro-chan fingered the soft, oversized fabric. "From the other red guy. The one that looks like me."

Kero-chan poked the buckle. "Is something inside? Can I see? Can I see?"

"Sure. It's not much…." Giro-chan pressed a tiny finger down on the front, and the lid popped open.

Zeroro stared at the picture. "Isn't that that Pekoponian girl?" he asked.

"Uh… kind of…"

"You're carrying a picture of her?" Kero-chan sounded disgusted, but his grimace wore into a grin. "Ooh, Giroro-kun likes a Pekoponian!"

"N-no, I don't!" But he was blushing.

"What if your father finds out? Won't he kill you?" Zeroro pointed out.

Giro-chan fell silent. "You're right. I probably should return the belt." He slipped it over his head, staring at it in his hands. "Nah. I'll hide it from him first."

Zeroro was apprehensive. "Isn't that a little mean?"

"Yeah, that's like something I would do!" said Kero-chan.

Giro-chan made a face. "Ew…."

After school, Dororo came to collect the three tadpoles and take them to the pod/base/tent. Whatever you want to call it. When they finally met up with everyone, Natsumi was rushing to Giro-chan.

"Giro-chan!" she called. "I need your help. Giroro's gotten hurt again!"

"No, I haven't," he said.

She began to correct herself. "That other guy's gotten hurt again, and I need your help fixing him."

"Ah." Giro-chan seemed to understand now. He flung Giroro's belt over his shoulder and walked with Natsumi where Giroro had fallen into another wall that... appeared there... out of nowhere. Together they successfully pulled him out, and he had only a few broken bones.

"Falling into walls that aren't there in the first place? You've got to be pretty clumsy to do that," said Natsumi.

Giroro blushed and nodded, off in his own little world again.

Giro-chan remembered what he was there for. He slid the belt off his shoulder and handed it to Giroro. "Here. I got bored with it. Don't want it anymore." Giroro took it gratefully and was about to thank him when he said, "I have the real thing."

"Um… what do you mean?" asked Natsumi. "That's the real belt, isn't it?"

"Wh-what he meant was, he'll have his brother's. Someday," Giroro told her. "RIGHT?"

"Nnnoooooo… yeeaah," he slowly said.

Giroro savoringly put his belt back on, and he felt his strength returning to him, his clumsiness washing away. He sighed. Freedom at last. "Now. About that duel," he said.

"Right. Wait until I tell Nii-chan that I kicked a corporal's butt, and didn't get punished for it for once," Giro-chan responded.

Natsumi jumped into the conversation. "Ha! So you admit you were fighting."

"I don't admit anything," Giroro said back, then covered his mouth.

"Yup, that pretty much confirms it," she said with a sigh. "Giroro, you have to get over this problem. You can't keep trying to kill yourself!"

Giroro took out a weapon to polish. "He is me. I think I should be able to hack him up any way I want."

"No, you can't. He may be you, but he's still just a child."

"Probably not in his mind," he said, giving his grenades some grease. He addressed Giro-chan. "You there, tell me. What did you dream about last night?"

Giro-chan tried to remember. It had to do with running through a field of flowers with Natsumi, escaping his parents and all that was evil. Then she was turned into a Keronian and they ran off together in a ninja yacht, the symbol of romance. "Uh… living in a carrot house." Giroro face-palmed.

"Really? I heard those are in England," said Natsumi.

"England is a real place?" Giro-chan asked.

"Yes. I know someone who lives there. He danced with me at a ball one time," she explained. "Then later, he stopped me before school and told me he was from England."

"Oh, he is?" he said. Giroro watched the conversation, his eyes going back and forth between them, while waxing his snipers.

Natsumi was surprised. "Yup. But personally, I thought my friend was a little… you know, strange. I mean, he said that British people live in carrot houses!" ('Kay, sorry if any of you took that the wrong way... I actually love England!)

Giroro froze. Don't say it, Giroro. Don't you dare say it. One word and I will make sure Saburo has company in the corpse-cart tonight.

Giro-chan stared in awe. "It is? I thought I made that up! I didn't think it was actually—"

"DIE, FREAK!" Giroro screamed, shooting Giro-chan in the head.

"Giroro!" Natsumi scolded. "How many times do I have to tell you not to shoot your head off?"

"Uh… I was just… polishing his head. There was some dirt on it. I was doing him a favor, okay?" He went back to cleaning weapons.

"Killing isn't doing favors," she told him.

"Sometimes it is. For example, whenever I kill Saburo, I'm doing the fans a favor by temporarily erasing the burden of his existence," he responded.

Natsumi's hands balled into fists as her rage increased. "Yeah, well I don't want you killing Saburo-senpai eith—Wait, what fans?"

"Beats me," Giroro shrugged.

Giro-chan had healed now, his face and blood back to normal. He watched the conversation with a bag of popcorn that was magically generated from… uh… wherever Giroro gets his guns from. Or wherever Tamama gets his candy from.

"But that's beside the point. You can't kill Giro-chan, Giroro! I know you probably have a good reason for hating Saburo… what that reason is, I don't know… but this child is you! How would you feel if he shot you, Giroro?" she questioned.

Giroro stopped polishing a minute to think. The answer he gave was, "He… he already has…." In my heart. "That's not what I was going to say!"

(That's what you were thinking, though.)

Giroro's face filled with blush and he started polishing very rapidly.

"Um, I have a question, Natsumi," said Giro-chan.

She walked over to him and bent over. "Yes? What is it?"

"Actually, I have two. The first one—" He pointed to Giroro. "—is, why do you keep calling that person 'Giroro?' "

"Um… he… has the same… name as you." She spoke the truth.

"Well, that's not at all coincidental," he said.

Natsumi exhaled, thankful for the kid's density. Seriously, though. Sometimes I feel like I'm a smart person living in a dumb world.

(No, the first part wasn't right. You're not smart.)

"What? I am, too!"

(Who's hopelessly in love with you?)

"Um… the dog?"

(What dog?)

She looked down, beaten.

(See, this is why people like me take the jobs of being narrators. It's because I'm the smart one living in a dumb world. And did I ask for this job? No. I'm just trying to pay off my gambling debts.)

"And my second question."

Natsumi's head snapped back up. She forgot Giro-chan was still talking.

"Who's that person you and the other Giroro keep talking to? Because I can't see anyone."

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "He's called a narrator, Giro-chan. And he's a frightening thing that nobody likes."

(AHEM. Just then, a tsunami of slugs and sea cucumbers rolled in from out of nowhere and started advancing rapidly on the protagonists of this—)

"Wait! Wait! I take it back! Just… just take the slugs away! The sea cucumbers too!"

(Good. I'm glad we've come to an agreement.)

"S-sea cucumbers?" Both Giroros' eyes whitened. Simultaneously, they both flung their arms around Natsumi's waist.

"They—They're gone now, but…. Oh, never mind." She giggled to herself and stroked Giro-chan's shivering head. Giroro, being a "cold, heartless soldier," was ignored.

That bastard kid… stealing MY Natsumi's loving hand… I'll kill him. (He's you, you know.) I'll show him. This will be a test of his love, to see who clings on to Natsumi the longest!

Minutes past. Long ones.

"Giroro? Girorooooo? Giroro!" Natsumi was calling to him. "You've been clinging to me forever. I've been telling you, the sea cucumbers are gone!"

Giroro looked up. Giro-chan was standing beside her, completely unafraid. "H-how long have—"

"Fifteen minutes. And you clung pretty hard," she told him.

Giroro jumped off and whipped his hands behind his back, blushing heavily. He caught Giro-chan staring at him, and he shot him a glare. Ha. I went longer.

Giro-chan gave him a look that he read to be, How long have you bathed with her? when actually it was saying, You're a wuss of a soldier. That, or you're hopelessly lovesick.

Giroro responded to what he read with a look that said, Soldiers don't bathe. Instead, I save her. Constantly. From Saburo.

Giro-chan face-palmed. That isn't what I said.

Giroro nodded very seriously. I don't buy cheddar, either. I kill it.

"Um… what are you two doing?" Natsumi asked. "It looks like your having some sort of battle between thoughts."

"Yes we are," said Giroro.

"No, we're not," said Giro-chan. They both spoke at the same time.

"Well, stop it. The stupid frog's calling to us. I'm hoping Kululu's finished the pod," she said.

Giro-chan and Giroro shot each other one last glance and then ran off with her.

After a few minutes of running, they took a brief break to catch their break. "We've been running for a while now," Giroro told them. "I thought the camp was right up ahead."

"I thought so too. Could they have moved it while we were gone?" Natsumi wondered.

Giro-chan quickly scanned the area. "Nothing's in sight."

"Maybe someone's elapsing time," said Giroro.

Natsumi and Giro-chan turned to him. "Huh? What does that mean?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone wants to stretch out this scene," he said.

"For what?"

For silence.

(No, wait. That would be boring.)

They began walking again. Mysteriously, a rock appeared in front of Natsumi's feet and she tripped over it. Giroro caught her before she fell.

"Are you all right, N-Natsumi?" he asked, savoring the feel of his gentle soldier's hand touching hers.

"Yes. Um… thank you, Giroro," she said. He wrapped his arms around her gratefully and they held each other's gaze. She sweatdropped. "Y-you don't have to do that, thought."

"Oh." Giroro lashed his arms off and blushed.

Giro-chan became jealous as he replayed the events in his mind. So… there are rocks here. He shook the thought from his head. I mean… they're closer than I expected. I'll just have to prove to that other Giroro that she likes me more. They continued walking, which didn't last long when it was Giro-chan's turn to face-plant.

"Giro-chan!" Natsumi gasped. "Are you all right?"

Giroro waved her back. "Let the klutz be. He'll catch up. (Someday.)"

Natsumi scowled at the jealous red spacefrog as Giro-chan made it back to wobbly feet. "He's hurt, Giroro. Can't you see that?"

"M-my leg hurts," he winced. "I don't think I can walk, Natsumi!"

"Oh, don't worry about that," she comforted, walking toward him.

Giroro crossed his arms. "He's probably faking it. To get attention or something. I know that because—Ack! Why are you carrying him?"

"He told me he can't walk. Do you think I was just going to leave the poor thing here?" she asked, hugging Giro-chan closer to her chest.

"Well… yes, naturally," he answered.

She turned her head and started walking. "Forget it, space toad. Come on; we have a planet to get back to."

"Wha—? But—Aww, (I wanted to be carried.)" Giroro trudged after her. Stupid other me, he thought bitterly. Stealing MY Natsumi. Who does he think he is, me?—Oh, wait. Grr… those two are inseparable. If only I could get him out of the way… but I can't stick somebody else into his life. It's not like I'm willing to pair myself with someone other than Na—Hey, now there's an idea!

"Natsumi-dono!" saw Keroro. "She's here, guys! The Corporal, too!"

Natsumi saw everyone gathered around the new transportation pod that Kululu had built. No one was inside it yet. Could they have been waiting for her? "Thank you for waiting, guys. Giroro is right—Huh?"

She was cut off as Giroro bolted past her, hopping into the pod and slamming the door behind him. "Yoink!" was the last thing they heard of their red friend. Then the pod lifted, and ascended into the stars.

Everyone stared numbly at the void the pod had vanished into. "He… he left," Natsumi muttered, her mind blank of all explanations (that made sense).

"He probably never intended to bring us back to the present in the first place," said Keroro. He shed a tear. "Corporal… how heartless you are. Or have you just locked us here so you could invade on your own, without the hindrance of my incompetence and Natsumi's safety burdening you? Ah, yes. Well, we'll be waiting."

"He's… not coming back, Sergeant," said Tamama, putting an arm on his shoulder for comfort. Or maybe something else.

"Whoa… how did we get here, Zeroro-kun?" Kero-chan asked his friend.

"I'm not sure." And he, too, stared up into the sky.

"I feel like I haven't had a single line in the story till now… but at least I'll be on this planet forever now with my Fuyuki-kun!" Momoka said, nuzzling her face against Fuyuki's sleeve.

Fuyuki anime-sweatdropped. "Um… Nishizawa-san, are you smelling me or something?"

"Yeah. Sure. Just smelling," she answered.

"Do you think we're going to be stuck here, Dororo?" asked Koyuki.

Dororo shut his eyes."Probably, Koyuki-dono. Probably."

"It's more like, this was unexpected?" Angol Mois commented. "Like, a whale beaching into a forest to drink soda wrapped in a potato!"

"Ku, ku, ku, ku, ku. Yeah… sure…" said Kululu.

"I don't have anyone to talk to, so… I guess it's just you and me, schoolbag," Saburo flirted, making his schoolbag (that he had brought along) face toward him. The schoolbag ran away in fright.

"Giroro… he's really gone?" Natsumi murmured.

"So does that mean you guys will be staying here?" asked Giro-chan, completely unaffected by Giroro's leave. "Sweet! I mean… I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry. It's not your fault." She ran her hand along his reddish-brown hat-ear-thing. "I just… never thought he'd actually invade." Natsumi sniffled and wiped something from her eyes.

"Are you sad?" he asked, scooting into her lap. She didn't seem to notice. Maybe she did, and she cradled him there nonetheless.

"No. He is an invader, after all," she sighed. "But to leave so soon… without saying good-bye…. Who does he think he is?"

Giro-chan let his fingers play with her slender hand. "Me."

Natsumi jerked her head down at him, surprised. "Wh-what did you say?"

"I know about it. I'm not that dumb, you know. It was kind of obvious. Why we pretty much looked the same, why we had the same name…." He trailed off, forgetting to add, why we liked the same person. "You knew the older Keroro wasn't going to let me come along, didn't you? That's why you were giving me the attention instead of the older me. Because it wouldn't last."

Natsumi stared, unblinking. She hadn't actually known. The only reason she gave Giro-chan more attention was because she thought he was cute. "Wait… what do you mean, attention?"

He shrugged. "Just seemed like it."

They sat there together, looking at the stars, waiting for the second which the pod would come bursting through space. But it never came.

"Tell me a story, Natsumi."

Natsumi raised her eyebrows. "A story? Why?"

"It might take your mind off him."

"Okay," she said. Seemed to work. "Let me think… a story…. Oh, I know." She shifted her position as she sat with Giro-chan on her lap, cleared her throat, and began. "Once upon a time, there was… a princess. She lived in a castle, and near the castle was a forest and in the forest was a well, where the princess went a lot. One day, the princess fell into the well. She tried to get out, but the walls were too narrow and slippery for her to jump off of.

"And then, this frog appeared before her. He asked her what she would give him if he saved her. And so she told him he could have her clothes, her jewels, possibly even her crown. But the frog only said, 'I don't want any of those petty things. But if you will love me and be my friend, if I can live in your backyard and sleep in your bed, then I will get you out of there.' She agreed, and the frog whipped out his guns and exploded the well. Delighted, she ran home, abandoning the frog.

"The next day, when the princess was dining with the queen, the frog appeared at the door. And she didn't let him in. The queen asked, 'Who was that?' and the princess answered with, 'A frog.' So the mother, thinking her daughter was crazy, sent her to bed.

"However, when she was in bed, the frog came into her room through the window. It was the same frog, but this time he was psycho and trying to kill everything. 'Only a kiss of true love can rid this madness,' her shoulder angels advised."

"Did she do it?" Giro-chan asked frantically.

Natsumi shushed him with a finger to his lips and continued. "So the princess, picking the frog up to her lips and planting a gentle kiss on his, was astounded to find him, not only back to his normal friendly self, but also a human! He had red hair. And then they ran off into the sunset in a ninja yacht," she ended.

"But he's a blond," said Giro-chan.

Natsumi blushed stubbornly. "Who is? I wasn't implying anything real."

"I know I'm a spacefrog and all, but… it's within common sense to know that Pekoponian frogs don't carry guns," he told her.

"I… know that," she whispered.

He fixed his gaze to the sky. "Will you miss him?"

"Yes. I will." Her eyelids drooped, her eyes occupied with the grass at her feet.

Everyone in the group was silent for a few minutes, until a beam of light shot through the sky.

"Look! It's a shooting star!" said Fuyuki.

"Oh, wow," Natsumi gaped. "How beautiful… if only… Giroro could be here to see it with us."

But he wasn't. Because Giroro was not coming back.

"I guess we all have to abandon our friends and the ones we love someday," said Keroro wisely. They looked up into the stars, the lonely stars that were billions of light-years apart from each other, shut their eyes, and sighed.

THE END

(I lied :3)

"The shooting star!" Natsumi realized. "It's… heading toward us."

"Huh?" Everyone scrambled over to look.

As the shooting star zoomed through the sky, it started getting bigger and bigger before them. As it entered the last layer of atmosphere, they were able to make out the shape.

"Hey, it's the pod!" Koyuki yelled.

Mumbles rolled through the group, and they made a large pocket of space as the pod landed, detonating a small crater in the earth. Er, dirt. Whatever it is. Dust gathered around the machine, and as it cleared they could make out the sound of a door being opened and a figure stepping out.

"Giroro!" Natsumi cried, running to him with Giro-chan.

"Thought I might pick someone up before we left," Giroro said, coaxing a child out of the pod. She was whimpering, afraid and confused, and clinging to Giroro. Giro-chan's eyes sparkled as he saw who it was. "Other me,"—Giroro presented the small girl with the short pink pigtails.—"Meet child Natsumi." (Natsu-chan for short.)

"You're… red…" Natsu-chan muttered, using her hand to examine Giro-chan's face. "Like that other guy."

"You're… Natsumi?" he asked. She gave a gentle nod. "I—I—" He turned to Giroro, pointing at the older Natsumi. "I guess she's yours now."

"Yeah, I planned that," he said.

"She was never mine in the first place, you know. She probably thought I was like a son."

"That makes two of us."

"How can it? We're the same."

"Oh… so you know," Giroro fumbled.

Natsumi was watching the conversation, utterly confused. What does Giro-chan mean, I'm Giroro's now? Am I being sold?

"It's probably only fair. You have known her longer. And love her more, what with your whopping crush on Natsumi," said Giro-chan.

The group fell dead silent. Someone, probably Keroro, uttered out an, "Oooooooohhh…!~"

Giroro froze. "(Sh-she doesn't know….)"

"Oops." Giro-chan put his hands over his mouth, as if that would undo what he admitted.

Natsumi looked back and forth between them. "Who? What? Giroro has a crush on me?"

"NO! NO! NO! NO! No, I don't! Of course I don't!—He's only joking…! Done meeting each other here? Good. In the pod you go," Giroro told them, shoving the two kids into the pod and sending them off. "I give it about five minutes until it comes back. Now, forget what you heard."

Everyone stared wordlessly at him. "Giroro… you have a crush on me?" Natsumi gasped.

"No… it's not a crush…" he started.

"Oh, okay."

"…it goes… way beyond that."

She shot her eyes at him, confused but secretly grateful. "It… does?"

He nodded. "A lot."

"Did Giro-chan feel the same way?"

He looked guiltily at the ground. "Yes. Probably not as much as I did, though." The sentence caught at the end, leaving everyone quiet.

Natsumi broke the five seconds of silence by laughing.

Giroro looked up at her. "What's so funny about it?"

She wiped away a tear. "I'm sorry… it's just… it's almost like it's written in your blood," she got out before giggling again.

He blushed and turned away. She's… right. "I didn't think it was funny. For a while, I was almost afraid you'd forget about me completely for my younger self."

She started laughing again. "Giroro, your younger self can't feed me sweet potatoes. He can't save me, either. I still think you're much cooler." Her lips played into a smile. "And… you're the one I love."

Giroro jerked his head up at her. "You… wha—?"

"I love you, Giroro," she said again. "I guess I'm kind of pathetic, too… I mean, I only realized today…" (Yeah, uh... can't deny that one at the moment. Sorry.) "…how happy you make me feel."

"Whaa—? Really?"

She nodded.

Silence again. Then it was Giroro's turn to burst out laughing. Partly from shock, and partly because he was showing a little of his somewhat insane side. His laughter trickled to a chuckle and he finally wiped his eyes and looked up at her. Just to be extra sure, he added, "You… you wouldn't cheat on me? Not even with another me?"

"Not even with another you," she promised. Natsumi turned her head toward Saburo. "Or you. I know I had a crush on you once, but… you kind of suck."

"I get that a lot," said Saburo, smirking.

Yeah, you'd better, thought Giroro proudly.

"Oh. Giroro," Natsumi said. "One other thing."

"Yes?"

"I'm not actually afraid of lighting."

Giroro couldn't help but grin. "You won't be needing that excuse anymore."

"I won't use the sweet potatoes as one, either," she said.

He held her gaze, staring into those brown eyes that were so captivating and beautiful. "You didn't have to in the first place."

They kissed.

"So… other green guy." Kero-chan addressed his older self. "Are you still wanting to drag Zeroro and me over to Pekopon? Because we have lives we need to get back to."

"Right. I think we'll wait on recruiting you guys after what happened to your red friend," Keroro told them. "Go off and play. I'm building more Gundam models."

"Do you think Giroro-kun will be coming back?" Zeroro asked his friend as they walked off.

Kero-chan shrugged. "He'll have to visit sometime. He has friends here too, you know."

Zeroro nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

The pod landed again in front of the group. Saburo entered first, followed by Keroro and Tamama, Koyuki and Dororo, Fuyuki and Momoka, and Kululu and Angol Mois. Then Giroro and Natsumi entered the pod, hand in hand, inseparable by any force, even another one of them. And then the pod transformed into a ninja yacht as it zoomed through space.

Okay, the last part was a bit of a stretch.

Off in a planet called Pekopon, two children held hands, running through the crashing waves of an ocean, bonded by their hearts, the writing in their blood, and a sweet potato.

THE END

(For real this time.)

Okay, I THINK I got all those random "/ / /"s out... If I didn't, be sure to tell me. Also, my apologies if the ending was too abrupt. And the time machine issue. Heheheh... nervous laugh. Ahem.