Being The Weapons Assistant ~ Sgt. Frog Oneshot

Being The Weapons Assistant

Suki smiled a little as she stepped along the side of the road, heading towards the Hinata household since school was out. She wasn't sure if Fuyuki or Natsumi were there, but she knew that the Keronians would be, and they were plenty fun to hang out with.

The girl stepped up to the door and then knocked quietly, waiting for a moment. She didn't wait too long, though, because the door was pulled open barely a few moments later by the little yellow Keronian called Kululu.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku... Sergeant, look who's here," cackled the creepy Keronian.

"Don't you dare touch her, you freak!" boomed the deep and rageful voice of Corporal Giroro, the weapon's specialist of the A.R.M.P.I.T. invasion squad. The little red creature flung himself to the doorway, gritting his teeth together, and then pointed rigidly over to the sarge, who was building Gundam models. "Go build those stupid toys with Keroro!"

Kululu gave Suki one more glance, obviously trying to figure something out, but then obeyed wordlessly. The human girl crouched down to Giroro's level, saluting and saying respectfully, "Assistant Suki Furukawa, reporting for duty, sir!"

He returned the salute and then demanded, "Have you brought your manual I gave to you, Assistant Furukawa?"

The girl nodded and then replied, "Sir, yes, sir!"

A bit of pride gleaming in the stern Keronian's eyes, Giroro simply inclined his head and then called an order of at-ease, leading Suki to the back yard where he stayed. She greeted Keroro, Aki and Tamama, who tossed her a piece of chocolate. She thanked the young private with a salute and then stepped into the damp, dew-dotted ground out back.

"Ah, smell the humidity," Giroro said,a bit of satisfaction in his tone. He plopped over beside his tent and began to pull out several of his weapons, laying them out on a neatly placed towel. He motioned to one of the phasers, a pistol-looking gun, a big silver gun that resembled a funnel attached to a long camera and then a blade resembling a kitchen knife. The corporal then crossed his arms over his chest, declaring, "Today, Assistant Furukawa, I want you to polish these weapons until they gleam. Then, I want you to tell me how they work exactly and what specific reason each should be used for."

Suki got down on her knees in front of the towel, not minding the driplets of rain tickling her legs. She bowed at the hips and then replied eagerly, "Sir, yes, sir!"

The girl began to set out the things she had brought in the bag Giroro advised her to purchase, which were rags, a few bottles of special cleaner and a book. Giroro had written down everything Suki needed to know to be a Keronian warrior, and she went over one section every week. Up until now, she had only been taught about the weapons. Never had the strict frog alien allowed her to actually touch and polish his blasters and weapons of Keron.

She began just how she had seen the corporal do dozens of times, and carefully cleaned off all of the streaks, stray scratches and rust marks. Of course, most of these were just things the corporal had grudginly allowed to befall his beloved weapons of mass destruction. He wanted Suki to be able to clean them perfectly, just like he did, and for that, there needed to be actual stains and whatnot.

It took about two hours to get everything done right, and then their mechanics and causes in battle. By the time she had done that and then answer a few questions, the Hinata kids had been home for almost an hour. Suki didn't stop once, though, and almost refused the bottle of water Natsumi offered her.

"All right, then, Assistant," Giroro began gruffly, "get up and put away my weapons. I'm going inside for about five Earth minutes, and that's how long you've got to put them away exactly how they are to be put away. Understood?"

"Understood, sir!" Suki replied, saluting.

When he went inside, Suki stared at the weapons lying out on the towel before her for the first whole minute.

Maybe you should start to put them away.

"Shh," she whispered to the narrator. "I'm thinking."

The next four minutes were nothing but Suki carefully placing all of Giroro's weapons back how they were before he got them out for her. She had seen the inside of his tent a handful of times, but that was usually to help him get something out, duck under it to hide or to stay out of the odd burst of rain. She preferred the corporal's company when it came right down to it, but she enjoyed Keroro, Kululu, Tamama and the Hinatas as well. They were nice, even though Kululu was freaky as all get out.

"Well then, apprentice?"

Suki froze and then carefully set down the Keronian sword she had failed to put away correctly. She stood up, knowing the corporal gave her five minutes, and five minutes only. Dusting off her skirt and then slapping her hands together to clear them as well, Suki stood up straight, hands at her side and then took a deep breath.

"I spent my first minute remembering exactly where everything needed to go, sir," she told him. "I didn't want to screw up and place them wrong, so I considered my plan first. All of the guns are put back in place, according to my memory, but then again, I have pretty frogged up recalling skills."

"Language like that while addressing superiors isn't tolerated on Keron," he suddenly said harshly. "Now, as for your first minute: you planned that wisely. However, you should have only given roughly fourty-five seconds to it. You have better memory than you think, but it gets scrambled when you get nervous. Stop being nervous.

"I know for a fact that it takes exactly three and a half Earth minutes to put my weapons back in place after getting them out like that," he continued, putting his hands behind his back as he held the respectful gaze of his apprentice. "You fumbled, or you spent longer than you actually say on recalling."

A light bead of sweat slipped down her temple. She swallowed a lump in her throat and then replied as flatly as she could, "I unintentionally removed the blade from the hilt of your blade. I put the pieces back together with careful precision, so that took me a bit more time than intended. It's why I was putting it away last."

Giroro flinched ever so slightly. However, he was training Suki to notice everything, so the involuntary twitch of shock didn't go unnoticed by the human. She almost allowed her shoulders to sag and a sigh of dejection slip through her lips, but she held her ground still, and then took a deep breath.

"I'll gladly receive any punishment, sir," she said respectfully.

Uh-oh.

Shut up! Suki hissed inwardly at the man speaking from wherever.

What a rude little Pekoponian!

"For failing the test, your new chore is to engineer something that can snatch up something by simple touch," Giroro said, trying to keep his cool. "Your goal is to capture Kululu. He's smart, so that's your punishment."

Suki nodded, anxiously awaiting further orders.

"And for almost breaking my sword, you are not permitted to touch any of my arms for two more lessons," he finished.

This time, the girl was the one to flinch. She gritted her teeth behind closed lips, hoping her shame wouldn't show too much. It wasn't just the fact that she was no longer trusted to handle her mentor's most prized possessions, but Suki also felt awful for basically slapping Giroro with such carelessness. His weapons were everything, and doing something stupid like that was a big disrespect.

She bowed her head, saying in an unstable voice, "Please forgive me, sir. I'll... I'll make the best trap I can, and.. and I won't even look at your guns and swords for the whole punishment length. Again, I apologize deeply."

Giroro sighed and then pushed open the back door, motioning for Suki to go inside. "Just get inside. Go steal something from the imbecile's secret base to make a trap for Kululu. Unless you don't see Kululu, in which case, stay as close to Natsumi as you can. I can't promise you'll leave here the same, physically, emotionally nor mentally."

"Sir, yes, sir," she mumbled softly, walking past Giroro with a heavy air of gloom and shame hanging over her like the flu.

"What was that!" he barked.

"Sir, yes, sir!" she cried louder as the door slammed shut behind her.

Keroro, Tamama and Fuyuki were in the middle of the living room, still building Gundams, but they all three looked up in perplexion. Tamam blinked and then inquired, "Miss Furukawa, are you okay?"

Suki massaged her brow, shaking her head. "Noo...," she moaned dejectedly as she walked over to the couch. She collapsed on it face-first, grabbing a pillow to push it over the top of her head. "I frogged up, bigtime."

"Watch the language, Tamama's in the room," Fuyuki said chidingly.

The girl sighed and then whined, "Why can't I at least treat the corporal's weapons right? I could have broken his sword! He would hate me forever."

"That cloud of gloom is going to depress me, and I don't even care," Keroro remarked, trying to scoot away as Suki's glumness started to get heavier. "Look, Pekoponian girl, just ignore Giroro! He's a drama-queen anyway."

The door shot open, a sharp object flew through the air and then Keroro hit the floor with a squeal of agony.

"AND THAT'S WHAT YOU GET!"

The door slammed again.

The girl whined again. "I hate it when I make Sir mad...."

Tamama pounced onto the couch and then sat down on Suki's thighs, but he was extremely light, so it didn't bother the girl. He patted her foot comfortingly, saying sweetly, "Don't worry, Miss Furukawa! He'll stop being mad soon. I bet if I just give him some Sour Patch Kids, he'll be fine!"

Suki was still for a moment. "Tama-chan, hop off so I can sit up," she mumbled. He did so, and then launched himself into the girl's lap as soon as she sat up. Suki smiled a little and then puffed out one more little sigh. She began to stroke Tamama's head affectionately, thanking him.

The girl hung around a bit longer to watch the trio of boys play with their Gundams, but then she left to go and do as she was told, finding Natsumi first, seeing as how Kululu was nowhere to be seen.