Consequences Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

“Hehehe, friend of your guys?” Haruki pointed to the brown-cloaked figure, and both Koyuki and Dororo jumped, taking off in different directions but both coming back in at attempt to attack it from either side. The brown-cloaked figure quickly disappeared into thin air, however, just as soon as both landed on the stairs.

“G-guess not…” Haruki stuttered, taking a step back. Tamama glared at the mechanic.

“You better not be going chicken shit on us that quick,” Tamama warned, and Haruki felt another chill. What was it with all of these scary people Kirere hung out with? Was he just as scary?

“….I can smell him, Dororo!” Koyuki announced after sniffing into the musty air a few moments.

“Yes… He smells like… The forest…” Dororo looked about, clearly puzzled by this.

“Well, maybe he went back there,” Keroro relaxed a bit and leaned against the stairway. As soon as he did this, the floor fell out from beneath them, and they all went sliding down the stairs, floor after floor.

“Yoooouuuuuu idiootttttt!” Giroro called out as he passed Keroro on the slide.

“I’mmmmm sorrryyyyyy!” Keroro cried as he desperately tried to turn and stop by digging into the carpet with his fingers. As soon as he managed this Haruki impacted with him, and both went sailing down into a black pit that opened up in the bottom floor, after Giroro but before anyone else.

“UGH!”

“Neh!”

“OUCH! Get off of me!”

“Hey, that’s my foot!”

“…S-stupid Frog!?”

“N-Natsumi-dono!?”

“Natsumi?!”

“Gunso? You, too?”

“Kukuku, looks like we’re all here!”

“Natsumi-san, are you all right?”

“Someone get this grease monkey off of me!”

“Oops, sorry little black tadpole thingy!”

“Gunso, where are we?”

“Wait, I’ve got a light.”

“You’re still on me!”

“Neh… Here!” Haruki pulled out his zippo lighter, and now got a better look at the small room around him. With further inspection, they all realized it wasn’t a room, but a prison cell. The opening above them had shut back up, and anything beyond the bars was enveloped in darkness.

“I’ve got this!” Koyuki sprung forward, and struck before Dororo could even finish his warning. She quickly fell back from the electric shock she received, and Natsumi and Dororo ran to her.

“Electricity? In a place like this?” Giroro wondered aloud.

“Stand back, this is a man’s job!” Tamama stood, and intook a large puff of air, filling his chest and cheeks. “TAMAMA…. IMPACT!”

After the loud boom, and the dust cloud that followed, everyone’s hearts sunk as they saw no change in the bars or the room. They found the lock, which Giroro attempted to shoot off, but it also was no use.

“…If someone could just get a hold of it and open it….” Fuyuki said as he studied the limited scenery of the stone cell.

“Well, I’ve got some rubber gloves on me,” Haruki pulled out a pair from his back pocket and held them up. “My hands are too big to get through the bars.”

“I can do it,” Natsumi stood, and Giroro immediately jumped up, objecting to this.

“Natsumi, don’t! It’s too dangerous!”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry,” she pulled on the rubber gloves and looked back behind herself. “Anyone have anything we can pick it with?”

“Kuku! It’s basic, but ought to do the trick,” Kururu revealed a simple Swiss army knife, opening its blade and passing it to her. Natsumi cautiously bent her hands around the bars and began to pick at the lock, under Haruki’s instruction. It clicked open, and the door swung open.

“You did it, Natsumi-dono!”

“Way to go, Nee-chan!” Fuyuki breathed a sigh of relief while Natsumi pulled off the gloves, and Haruki lifted up Koyuki. At that time Dororo had managed to fashion a torch out of some materials that had been lying on the ground of the cell, and he led the way with Keroro and Fuyuki down the hall.

“So what was that thing? Dressed in the brown cape?” Haruki asked Natsumi quietly as they walked down the silent dungeon.

“Brown cape?”

“Yeah, I mean, that’s how you guys got down here, too?”

“Well, it was something… But it was Stupid Frog’s height, and dressed in white…”

“White? You sure?”

“Yeah,” Natsumi nodded. “It was definitely white.”

“Kuku! So there’s two of them, then,” Kururu concluded.

Giroro glanced at his tracking device during this time, and noted it was no longer beeping. His stomach sunk, and he looked back at Kururu. “Did you cheap out on the batteries?!”

“Kuku! There’s no way it would’ve died. She’s not wearing it anymore, someone overrode it, or it was destroyed,” Kururu explained. “Or she’s right over us.”

“Gero… Well, if that’s the case she should make herself known already,” Keroro answered. “…This place is awfully eerie!”

“Gunso-san, maybe she still can’t,” Tamama suggested.

“She… Can’t...?” Giroro said, looking straight down at the ground. Natsumi noted this, and even she, who usually wasn’t good at reading Giroro’s feelings, understood what was going through his mind at that moment.

“Hey! You think she’d want you getting like that!?” Natsumi snapped to Giroro, who jerked his head up as though he’d just been reprimanded by a higher-ranking soldier. “What kind of soldier are you if you get mopey that easy? I thought you were the best so don’t… Don’t go getting all depressed! We’ll find her, Giroro, but we can’t if you’re going to obsess like that! She’s all right, knowing her!”

“Right!” Keroro chimed in. “If it’s one of the last things we do, we’ll get her back!”

“Kuku, I wouldn’t let an invention that took that much go without a fight. There’s a lot invested in her program,” Kururu even chimed in. Whether or not he was actually trying to offer his own sort of support or just being his usual snide self was debatable. Either way, Giroro was moved at this.

“So she means a lot to you, too, huh, Red?” Haruki looked down at Giroro. “Is she your niece?”

“She’s my—” Giroro only stopped when they finally came to a heavy steel door. Keroro gulped, and first poked it with one finger, relaxing as no electric shock came from it. In fact, it pushed open even with his slight touch.

“Keroro. Let me,” Giroro held up his gun and stepped in front, and led the group into the room.

It was surprisingly well-lit, and much more modern-looking than the rest of the home. After a few more moment’s inspection, it became clear it was more of a lab than anything else, with a large computer in the center and machines going all along all of the walls.

“I had to do extensive remodeling to get this room up to standard, but I think overall I helped the property value,” out from behind the computer stepped Kezanstav, who stood with his hands behind his back and a smirk on his face. It wasn’t the same at-ease one that he had used in public, though. It was much colder, much more menacing.

Fuyuki clenched his fists, and was the first to take a step forward toward Kezanstav, “Give Kirere back!”

“Kirere? Is that her name? Makes sense…” Kezanstav looked away and sighed, then looked back at the group. “Five little useless aliens, an out-of-commission ninja, two children, and one loser at life. Even with numbers at your side, I think it’s safe to say you’re outmatched.”

“Fool,” Giroro aimed his gun straight at the blonde man and stood in front of the entire group. “You think one bodyguard will stop us? It hasn’t done such a great job if we made it this far.”

“Unless that was the plan,” Kezanstav answered, his grin growing.

“…I… It was part of the plan?” Keroro repeated, and Kezanstav only gave a laugh.

“Fuyuki, you have some very interesting friends indeed…” Kezanstav laughed a bit, then looked at Fuyuki’s expression. “Don’t feel bad, I would’ve found out about them either way. That story I told you about what happened when I was a boy wasn’t a lie… But I did forget to mention one thing. I found my own friend…”

“Eh?” all watched as the brown hooded figure stepped out from behind Kezanstav, and the Russian bent down and patted the hooded being on the head, as if it were a child.

“My little companion here would’ve done all the finding for me,” Kezanstav explained, still remaining crouched down next to the little being but now looking at the group. “He’s quite the good little tracker. Found that little pink Keronian for me, after all.”

“Keronian?” Fuyuki repeated. He didn’t get much else in; Giroro went running right for Kezanstav, guns drawn and sharp teeth bared. He didn’t even get close to Kezanstav; the brown hooded alien vanished, appearing back in between his keeper and Giroro, and he held out a teal hand to Giroro. The arm was covered in a brown and metal armor, but it was difficult to tell exactly what sort of armor it was wearing.

A wave of energy shot out, knocking back not only Giroro but the whole group. Strangely enough, when Koyuki fell atop Haruki, who was still carrying her, she slowly came to, raising her head and looking about, dazed.

“Koyuki-dono!” Dororo stood, and grabbed for his sword. Koyuki nodded, and jumped up, standing next to Dororo.

“Hey, Red, you okay?” Haruki reached over and shook the KO’d Giroro back to consciousness.

Koyuki and Dororo once again went to attack, and Dororo managed to land a hand on the unknown creature, although gripped onto his sword blade, and held onto it. Dororo was stunned, but got a good look at the face of the attacker for the first time. He gasped before being tossed back like a rag doll.

Koyuki, meanwhile, had gone to aide Dororo, but was busy with an alien of her own; the infamous white-hooded partner to Kirere’s attacker. This one was the same size as the other alien, but when Koyuki went to disable the creature with a shuriken, she saw the glint of a yellow visor from beneath the hood.

The female ninja didn’t land her blow, either. The white hooded figure only held out a hand and Koyuki went flying back.

“Gunso-san, I’ll take care of them!” Tamama jumped up as both aliens joined their master at either of his sides.

“Tamama Nitohei, wait a moment!” Keroro held out a hand to motion Tamama to stop.

Kezanstav gave a laugh as he looked over the beaten group, “…Hehehe… And that wasn’t even them at their full power. You have to love alien technology.”

“That’s all this place is, isn’t it? Kukuku!” Kururu chuckled as he studied the room. “Technology stolen from aliens.”

“Yes! From all over the galaxy! After my one incident, my friend opened up all new doors for me!” Kezanstav answered, giving a sweeping motion with his arms. “Wealth! Intelligence! Power! …Long life. Why, I myself am over one-hundred years old! That incident? It occurred in 1908. I forgot to mention that, though, didn’t I? Well, thank goodness for editors; I have a bad habit of leaving out important facts for a story.”

“You don’t scare us,” Giroro grunted, and sat up from his spot on the floor of the lab. “You have a drone or two under your power and you think you’re all-powerful. You’ve never faced the Keron army, you have no idea of our strength.”

“No. But I know the power of a Keronian. In fact, I’ve managed to harness the power of whatever alien species I come across…” he revealed from his pocket what looked to be a jeweled bronze collar, that looked like it would clamp down easily around the neck.

“My, how gaudy,” Keroro muttered.

“Yes, undoubtedly. But the wearer has access to their full power,” Kezanstav answered. “The only drawback is that they’re not in control of it, much less their own minds. The wearer of this is, however.” He held up one arm, showing a bronze-colored gauntlet with an oval emerald jewel in the center.

“You shouldn’t use anyone like that! It’s wrong!” Fuyuki shouted.

“Oh, like they wanted to do anything different when they came,” Kezanstav snorted as he looked directly at the Keroro platoon. “It’s not my fault they don’t have the guts or the brains.”

“Guts?! Brains!?” Keroro shouted, and balled his fists. “You’ll be seeing your guts and brains by the time we’ve run you through the wringer, foolish Pekoponian!”

Kezanstav gave another laugh, “How’d you even make sergeant? From what you’ve shown you couldn’t lead a group in Christmas carols.”

“Gunso’s a better leader than you think!” Fuyuki shouted.

“Yeah!” Natsumi added. “He’s an idiot a lot of the time, but he’s saved this planet before!”

“I don’t doubt that. I just think this time will be a little different,” Kezanstav answered, and looked down at the two creatures at his sides. “I don’t think it’s necessary you two wear those anymore.”

And with that, both removed the robes. A collective gasp was uttered.

“K-Kirere!” Giroro shouted.