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On that fateful day, the skies would be overrun with terror. Alien invaders would descend upon the helpless earth, reigning terror across the globe as they usher in the dawn of a new age.
A special advance team of five was deployed to carry forth this mission, however, the situation soon became dangerous as they made contact with the earthlings. Abandoned by their mothership, these invaders were left to fend for themselves and conquer the Earth how they pleased.
Alerts blared across the Grand Star as the cream-coloured keronian ran frantically across its expanse. Awash in crimson light, he ran, looking for his commanding officer desperate for an explanation. It was then that he heard an announcement from the ship’s intercom.
“The Pekoponians have discovered our presence,” the intercom blared throughout the ship, “the Keroro Platoon will remain stationed on Pekopon and will be tasked with continuing the invasion on their own.”
Aghast, the keronian ran to the window, watching as Pekopon drifted farther and farther away. “They’re alone on that barbarous planet without a medic,” he thought with dread.
And so, the medic made a rash decision.
Before the planet could vanish into the depths of space, he ran over to the ship hold. Discreetly, he took a vessel and flew to Pekopon. “This is the Medic, Tonana,” he announced, “send a transmission to my platoon on the Grand Star.”
The vessel’s ai spoke up, “abandoning the main fleet without a direct order may result in corporal punishment.”
“I don’t care,” the medic replied, “the Keroro platoon’s life is at risk, along with the Pekopon invasion!”
However, the keronian’s little tail wagged at the prospect of corporal punishment. “And, should I be caught by the higher ups or the pekoponians, I would get hurt.” He thought to himself, drooling at the mouth as he imagined all the pain he’d endure.
“Occupants of The Grand Star, this Medic Tonana of the Fallback platoon. Due to the dangerous situation on Pekopon, I have taken it upon myself to come to the aid of the Keroro platoon as a medic and a bioweapon engineer. I pray for your safe retreat and for my own safety. Signing off.” The medic saluted a look of utmost seriousness on his face, then ended the transmission and focused on driving the spacecraft.
Tonana awoke to blinding white lights, strapped to a table surrounded by creatures dressed in black. He heard mumbling he couldn’t decipher, either because it was too quiet or it was spoken in some other language. Confused, the medic closed his eyes and thought back…
The last thing he could remember was red. Alarms blared at him as he pressed and pulled random buttons and levers on the dashboard. Turbulence rocked the ship and Tonana had no clue how to fix it. “How idiotic of me,” he scolded himself, “running off as if I had any idea how to drive a spacecraft without assistance!” Alas, he had little experience when it came to Keronian technology outside of medical equipment. Indeed, the ship’s autopilot had been compromised alongside its ai assistance, so Tonana was left helpless as he barrelled through space. With no way to save himself (or accidentally since he’d been pressing buttons at random), he activated the ship’s stasis mode, falling into a deep slumber until the day he crash lands.
At long last, Tonana awakened from his crimson slumber. Now, awashed in the light of a new sun, Tonana groggily attempted to get his bearings. He stood and faced the sky which shone through the open door.
“It’s so bright,” he wondered to himself as he climbed out of the vessel. Soon, the muffled murmurs he heard became loud gasps and screams, confusion which addled his already disoriented mind.
He blinked once,
Twice,
And a third.
It was then when he saw he was surrounded by gaggle of pekoponians, all staring at him from a distance. Horrified, he ran back into his ship before he felt a sting at the back of his head, a sting he knew all too well.
Anaesthetics.
As he drifted off into an uncontrolled slumber, he saw Pekoponians surround him. He heard directives in a language he couldn’t grasp. He felt himself being carried off.
He felt, then he didn’t…
And next thing he knew, he was strapped to a table surrounded by Pekoponians. “My universal translator must be broken,” he surmised as he stared helplessly at the Pekoponians who became significantly more lively as they noticed he had awakened. He tried looking around, yet he could barely see anything under the bright light.
The Pekoponians approached Tonana once more, this time with all sorts of tools. Normally the keronian would be elated, however with no certainty for the future, he was scared out of his wits. Desperately he struggled against his restraints, squirming as much as possible to slip at least one limb out. Shocked, the Pekoponians ran to restrain him and Tonana only squirmed further. From the corner of his eye he could see another syringe of anaesthesia along with a table full of medical instruments he knew all too well. He panicked, assuming he’d be dissected, and thrashed as much as he could. However, no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t break free from the Pekoponians’ grasp. Hopeless, he froze as the syringe drew near. He closed his one good eye as the needle went in and he could feel the anaesthesia kick in.
Much to his dismay, the anaesthesia was simply a paralytic drug. He was still conscious and he could still feel. Tonana couldn’t figure out why. His first assumption was that they are simply cruel, barbaric creatures, however would uncivilised barbarians be capable of such foresight? Would barbarians even have the intelligence to create such anaesthetics?
Could it be that they wanted to see him suffer?
Could it be that they wanted to see how an alien would react?
Regardless of the reason, Tonana absolutely dreaded what came next.
From his place on the table he watched as they fed a breathing tube down his throat.
He watched as they pulled out their tools.
He watched as they cut him open and examined his organs.
He wanted to close his eyes but he couldn’t.
He wanted to look away, but for some reason he couldn’t.
And so, he watched the entire time as they cut him open and sewed him back up before administering the medication to undo the paralytic.
As the medication set in the facility’s alarms blared and the Pekoponians ran out of the room. There Tonana laid, anxiously looking back and forth between the restraints, the table, and the blinking red light of a camera in the corner of the room. He wanted to thrash again, to run as far away as possible, but he felt like he couldn’t move at all.
And so he was left in silence.
Silence and hyperventilation.
Soon the room rumbled and the door was pried open.
From it emerged a Pekoponian youth.
Tonana was terrified.
He thrashed about as the youth approached. The youth seemed to panic in response. It put a finger to its mouth and spoke in its Pekoponian language. Tonana wouldn’t listen, he wouldn’t even try, instead he tried his best to keep his distance. The youth seemed to recognise this and it backed off, only for a sound to startle it before it got closer than before.
Tonana was horrified.
Then, the keronian noticed, he was freed.
He stared up at the Pekoponian who freed him for a moment, then towards the door, and tried to run.
Tried to.
Unfortunately the paralytic hadn’t worn off fully, so he struggled to keep his balance. And so it wasn’t long until he was scooped up by the Pekoponian youth and taken away. He wanted to squirm, but once in the grasp of the Pekoponian he froze completely in fear. And so, from fear and exhaustion, he passed out as he was carried off…
Tonana awoke to blinding white lights, lying on a medical cot under the comforting aura of a sterile medical bay. He heard mumbling he could barely understand. It was familiar, however it was incredibly quiet.
Coming to his senses, Tonana jolted up out of his cot, breathing deeply and heavily. He backed himself up against the frame of the cot, grabbing his chest as he looked wildly around the room.
Through his blurry eyes he could see figures of lavender, red, green, blue, yellow, and black. The lavender one seemed to approach and Tonana retreated further, pushing up against the wall as his tail let out an fearful flick. “Shh, relax,” he heard faintly. The lavender one appeared to hold up their arms, their voice soft and reassuring. Tonana relaxed against the wall at the words, relieved he finally encountered someone he could understand. Supposedly sensing that the keronian before them calmed, the lavender one approached once more, slowly and carefully bringing something to Tonana’s face. Squinting with his one good eye, Tonana peered at the item in the Keronian’s hands, ecstatic to find they were his glasses. Quickly, he took them and took another look at his surroundings.
The lavender one before him was the first thing Tonana noticed. A keronian female with a bumpy hat adorning a duo-toned heart emblem. Behind her were a group of five: one a scarred red, a keron-starred green, a masked blue, a twitsed yellow, and a young black. Tonana seemed to beam upon recognition, “The Keroro Platoon!” He exclaimed to himself. Now, confirming the absense of Pekoponians in the room, Tonana was able to completely relax. He scooted himself away from the wall and faced the lavender one.
“It’s nice to see you comfortable,” they remarked before pulling out a pain scale, “I am Chief Nurse Pururu of the Garuru platoon, you came to my office in a pretty bad condition, how are you feeling?”
Tonana looked at the little faces and numbers. He never understood those faces, after all he rather enjoyed the rush of a level 10 pain, however now that he’d experienced a pain he was unsure he’d recover from he stared scarred at the crying, agonised expression. “A ten,” he said simply, his mind replaying the pain of the dissection alongside the gut wrenching dread it accompanied.
“Oh dear,” the chief nurse replied, “Well, through my examinations I’ve found you’ve sustained heavy internal damage. Your ship crash landed here, correct? That’s the suspected cause. Now, you were brought here stitched up rather poorly, so I re-did it. I suppose it’s those Pekoponians who cut you open like that, correct?” the lavender one turned their head towards Tonana whose eyes went blank at the thought. The chief nurse cleared their throat, “additionally, there was a third condition I couldn’t quite pinpoint.” They pointed to their eye.
Tonana looked up at the mirror across from him. He looked horrible. His emblem sticker had been peeled off, in its place was a large bandage wrapping around his torso. His one good eye, his right eye, was incredibly bloodshot and exhausted. In contrast, his left had been entirely covered by bandages.
“Your eye was paralysed and cloudy when you were admitted into my office,” the chief nurse continued, “even so I’ve wrapped it in a bandage for you.”
Tonana stared at the bandages under the 4-pointed star sticker on the left lense. “It’s nothing important,” he responded, clawing at the bandages as he tried to remove them, “just a failed surgery from before I left Keron.”
The Keronian stepped out of bed, stumbling a bit before Pururu steadied him. He stood, trying to balance himself, before saluting to the others.
“I am the Medic Tonana of the Fallback Platoon. I’ve come to Pekopon to assist the Keroro Platoon since the Grand Star announced its retreat.” He glanced at the chief nurse beside him, “although I’m a medic, I also develop bioweapons and miracle cures which justify my place on the Fallback Platoon, the Keron Army’s final resort against resisting planets. Rest assured, I do not doubt the capabilities of your platoon, I simply came to act as your medic; however…” he glanced at Pururu once more, “It seems I’m no longer needed, so I shall report back to my platoon.”
The Keronian tried to wobble to the door, however the chief nurse stopped him.
“You’re still healing.” They said, but Tonana ignored them.
“I’ll be fine, my platoon is waiting for me” He responded, continuing his wobbling until he noticed the other blue keronian in the corner of the room. He recognised that silhouette, that little mushroom cap he once thought was so adorable. “Jashushu?!” he exclaimed, hobbling over to that familiar face before collapsing over them. “What are you doing here?” A barrage of questions which Jashushu so kindly answered.
“Luchacha and I deserted and we’re not returning. The Keroro platoon and their benefactors have so kindly provided us shelter.”
“Benefactors?” Tonana responded with confusion as the door to the office opened.
And in stepped
One
Lone
Pekoponian youth.
Tonana felt his eyes widen and heart quicken, and without even realising it he was hidden behind his dear friend. He felt the eyes of the others follow him as he shuddered from behind Jashushu’s back. Tonana looked on, watching as the Pekoponian leaned towards the Keroro Platoon’s very own Sergeant Keroro.
It spoke and Keroro nodded.
It spoke again and Keroro whispered “he’s a bit jumpy right now.”
It spoke once more and Keroro responded again.
Tonana anxiously watched as they conversed, grasping his friend tightly as if they were a shield. He then felt Jashushu putting something in his hand, a hat pin of their emblem, the 6-pointed star. He replaced the broken antler emblem on his hat with Jashushu’s 6-point star and he was finally able to understand the Pekoponian.
“…dissected in area 51,” the youth said, “taken after his spacecraft crashed a few years after you arrived.”
“A few years and he says he came when the mothership left! Must’ve had trouble with the ship,” Keroro responded, “I thought we’d never find him, it’s all thanks to you, Kururu!”
“It was a pain but at least he’s valuable, Kukuku,” Kururu replied.
The group stared at Tonana once more, and Tonana glared back at the Pekoponian to hide his own fear.
Tonana remained tense until the Pekoponian took their leave. “Pekoponians are cruel, barbaric creatures,” he muttered under his breath.
“Not all of them are,” Jashushu countered, “that boy, Fuyuki, saved you from that place.”
Tonana hesitated.
“His sister and mother provide housing and food for the platoon.”
Tonana looked silently at the floor.
For the next few days, Tonana remained locked up in the clinic. Slowly he recovered from the dissection, the skin healed and the stitches fell off until all that was left was a large scar spanning across his body. Every so often, he would attempt to sneak out, yet every time he was caught and brought back to his cot. During his bedridden period, he was compelled to research the world of pekopon thanks to Jashushu and he discovered something absolutely amazing: the animal Cervidae, commonly known as deer. Tonana was absolutely entranced with the creature and he soon found something to love about Pekopon. The medic was obsessed, and suddenly he had styled his hat with little bumpy antlers and fuzzy little deer ears. Soon the medic was allowed to get out of bed and was happily allowed to wander the base, albeit accompanied by Jashushu. As happy as he was to be able to wander, he was incredibly insecure of the scar across his body, so he had an idea. He created a sash he would wear across his body, that way he could carry around the medical supplies he loved so much while also covering up his scar. After some time, Tonana was able to be independent again, and he reintroduced himself to the platoon.
“Good morning, men of the Keroro platoon!” Tonana exclaimed, saluting to the five Keronians before him. “I am the medic Tonana, and now I am, albeit unofficially, a member of the Keroro Platoon!”
He gave a regal bow and stood back up with a smile and a tail wag.