Chapter 16: Unforgivable

Unknown Time, Unknown Place

Sergeant Major Kururu stirred groggily. He tried to turn over, but the straps that bound his arm heavily restricted his movements. A beat passed in which Kururu's brain entered the correct time zone. His eyes flew open and he struggled hard against his bindings. Kururu tried to yell out for help, but his mouth had been securely gagged. His mind raced as he attempted to conceive of an escape plan, but without moving and stripped of his technology, no ideas were to be had.

The door opened and a guard walked in holding a heavy club. At first, Kururu's mind froze over at the prospect of being beaten, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that this one guard could shift the balance in his favor. Kururu strained his eyeballs to look down at his hands. A two shining metal padlocks constricted his arms, and two more kept his legs from flailing around. There was a slot on each one which Kururu identified as a keycard lock. Sure enough, the guard approaching him with a dumb smirk on his face had a keycard tucked in his belt.

As the guard approached him, Kururu's spirits soared. If he was as stupid as he looked, tricking him would be a cinch. The Sergeant Major opened his mouth to begin a conversation, but the guard quickly leapt forward and smacked Kururu hard across the head.

Reeling from the sudden blow, Kururu performed a few basic head movements and felt a surge of relief to know that nothing was broken. "I was told not to let you speak!" cried the guard, holding the club up to his face like a security blanket, "The commander said you might trick me with your words."

Kururu swore quietly. They hadn't brought in a professional interrogator, but they gave a mindless drone, the orders of a pro. "Alright then, we'll jus-" Kururu's second attempt was met with a vicious kick to the side.

"DON'T SPEAK!" cried the guard, "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! LA LA LA LA LA LA!"

As his tormentor tried to block out all sound of Kururu's voice, the Sergeant Major felt a painful tug on his ego. Is this all the Command thinks I'm worth? I don't even get a professional interrogator? Am I that lame of a criminal?

Suddenly, the guard stopped and a euphoric expression crossed his face. "I know how to make you not talk! The Commander gave me all sorts of gadgets and told me I could use them how I like!" He skipped outside for a minute, before wheeling in a squeaky metal cart. Kururu looked at the cart in horror. Not even his own torture collection had that many metal instruments and he had been collecting Pekoponian artifacts for years. All at once, he knew the Command's plan. A professional interrogator is trained in special ways to inflict massive amounts of pain with minimal blood loss in order to ensure the subject's survival. With this brute however, it would be messy, slow, and would surely result in his death.

Command doesn't care if I snitch on my team. They just want me dead, and if I do cave in, all the better.

The Sergeant Major felt fear welling in his heart for the first time in years. He had been in far more dire situations, but always with his platoon and technology to back him up. This time, nobody was coming for him.

Kururu mentally slapped himself. If there was ever a time for quick thinking, now was it. The guard began slowly examining all the instruments on the cart which gave Kururu's brain time to cover all the facts:

The guard has the keycard. I need the keycard to unlock my legs and arms. From the looks of it, this table is made to fit a much larger captive. If I can get my arms free, I could pull my legs out in mere seconds.

Kururu strained to look behind himself.

Looks like there's a computer terminal behind here; it's old but it still should be hooked up to the Grand Capitol server. If I can get on this computer, I can locate all the other teams and provide the backup which I'm sure they need.

The guard had gone through all the tools, but looked confused. In the end, he simply hefted up his club and slowly stumbled over towards Kururu.

This guy is a serious idiot, but that's what makes him so dangerous. He knows only how to follow orders. I think the only way to get through to him is to invoke his soldier instinct.

"HEY!" called out Kururu, startling the guard for a second. He whipped around, club raised, a horrible grimace on his face. The Sergeant Major pretended like he was bracing himself for a blow, but then unexpectedly put on a stern scowl.

"SOLDIER! HALT!"

Faster than Kururu could have believed possible, the guard threw the club down and straightened up, uttering the obedient phrase: "Yes SIR!"

A moment passed in dead silence as Kururu struggled to refrain from bursting into hysterics. The first phase of his implausible plan had worked. It was now time to manipulate his mind. It took only a few seconds for the guard to recover. His hostile look changed to one of pure fear and guilt.

"You-you-you're not my commander," he stuttered, backing up against the wall, "H-how did you do that?"

Standard reflexes. When you're trained from a young age, your mind becomes like a robot's coding where you respond instinctively and without thought to certain key words. Naturally, I can't tell him that, so what should…

A thought came to Kururu's mind and he smiled with grim satisfaction. "I'm using my psychic powers."

"W-what?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but you just experienced it first hand," said Kururu, carefully picking his words to heighten the guard's sense of insecurity, "None of your bodily functions are safe from my mind's power. If I tell you to shoot yourself, you would."

"Impossible," the guard snorted, "You have no power. This is just the kind of trick my superiors said you might try and pull. I'll beat you good for trying to fool me!" With a yell, the muscular Keronian charged at the Sergeant Major. Kururu gritted his teeth in frustration. He knew that in a few seconds, he would be dead.

"TRIP!"

With a look of terror, the guard stumbled over his own feet and slammed into the metal wall of the torture chamber. Kururu laughed uproariously and for several minutes as a feeling of relief washed over him. No matter how much the guard tried to deny it, he really had believed in Kururu's powers.

"Suggestion: it'll get you every time," the Sergeant Major giggled, "Maybe I should teach an advanced psychology class once this is all over." As the guard had stumbled him, Kururu had managed to swipe the keycard from his belt loop. With a hiss, the locks holding his right arm fell away. Using his freed appendage, he quickly disengaged the security around his two legs and remaining arm.

He got up and casually stretched, feeling the pleasure of normal circulation. After two minutes, his face grew serious. Grabbing the guard's unconscious form, he dragged him into a closet and shut the door, sliding the cart full of torture instruments in front of it. Rushing over to computer terminal, he sat down and readied his fingers for what he did best.

Within seconds, the military grade security had been breached and the Sergeant Major was pouring over the live feeds from all of the complex's security cameras. It didn't take long for him to find Momoka and Fuyuki on the roof. The cannon was a burning wreck, its parts strewn all over the roof next to dozens of dead soldiers. Fuyuki and Momoka were crouched behind a metal doorway, exhausted from the looks of it, but nevertheless alright.

"I had no idea you were such the badass, Fuyuki," Kururu smirked, "I guess when your girl is in danger, you grow something of a spine. Good work."

Finding Natsumi and Giroro was even less trouble, as they had a left a river of twisted steel, fire, bullet holes, and bodies in their wake.

"Nice subtlety," the Sergeant Major commented, "You got us the ride, so I don't really care how you did it. One more team to check on."

It took Kururu a surprising half a minute to locate his team, and by then, he was red with anger. It was madness, like something out of a monster movie. Kururu's rage drained away as he watched his comrades battle a huge monster in what looked like the pits of hell. No matter how many Tamama Impacts and turbo rockets it took point blank, nothing seemed to be able to put it down. The Sergeant Major swore violently and dived for the intercom.

"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN!" he shouted. The surprised expressions from Aki and Keroro told him that his message was getting across loud and clear. "WHEN I TELL YOU TO JUMP, DON'T HESITATE OR YOU'RE DEAD!"

Quickly, he hacked into the generator's mainframe. He calculated it would take over twenty minutes to gnaw his way far enough into the security to turn off the generator, but he could change power allocations without much effort. Smiling at his genius, he rerouted several currents to the intercom system in the monster's chamber.

The artificial surge was too much for the system, and the intercom blew, causing a shorted wire to rocket toward the water. "JUMP!" cried Kururu, but then his blood turned cold. He had just destroyed the intercom system. Luckily, Aki, who had anticipated Kururu's plan, scooped up Keroro and Tamama in her arms and leaped into the air. The wire struck the water, causing the monster to fry on the spot. Immediately, Kururu shut off all current, allowing Aki to land safely back on the metal platform.

The Sergeant Major was filled with pompous glee. He had destroyed a Keronian sea monster with only his hacking skills and in less time than it took Aki to jump and land.

Kururu was the first to arrive at the extraction point, using his pocket generator to power a teleporter inside the torture room. Fuyuki and Momoka were next, stumbling out of a back entrance, having climbed the long stairwell once again. Natsumi embraced her brother, and Momoka promptly fell asleep in the back of the truck. Fuyuki covered her with a blanket and sat down to talk with Giroro about what was going to happen next.

It was not long after that, that Aki, Keroro, and Tamama came rushing out of the Grand Capitol with smiling faces. The complex was dark now, as all power had been cut. It was only a matter of time until…

Dororo and Koyuki melted out of the darkness. They both look solemn, rare for Koyuki.

"It is done," whispered Dororo, "Kamimi is dead."

Though some guards gave chase, they couldn't keep up with the truck, seeing that Natsumi and Giroro had destroyed their whole convoy. As Giroro steered the vehicle through the dark smoke of a burning city, he made a vow to himself. The monsters that had really been pulling the strings: they would not escape.

"Using Keronians to enslave Keronians," Keroro snarled, "It's unforgivable."

"What's the plan now?" asked Aki, ready for action.

"It's really simple," answered Keroro, a dry smile spreading across his face, "We go to wherever Dimentio came from and we do what we've been trained to do. Invade."

"But this time," Tamama added, "It's for revenge."