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Part 20: This Quest Is For the Birds
Last time, we started our search for the princess, with Rein allowing us passage through Boltstrike Mountain. There's a town right next to the mountain's east exit.
It's Roughsvale, which Rein mentioned before.
It serves as a hub for adventurer-types. Expect to see more spiky-haired dudes with giant swords here.
And expect all hidden Gold to be stolen.
This kid teaches you how to backstep (double-tap left or right while guarding), as it's totally possible to get this far without knowing backstepping is a thing in Tales Of games.
More importantly, there's a KeroCard machine right above him. Guess what happens next!
Fired Up
Raises attack power. Now show 'em what you're made of!
Foot Soldier Tamama 1
Even a lowly foot soldier can hold his own in battle.
Foot Soldier Tamama 2
His cute exterior hides a warrior's spirit.
Ghastly Ghost
It not only scares, but licks victims, too. No one knows what kind of ghost it is.
Giant Squidge
It's hard to tell how many tentacles it has. It's a squid, so maybe 10?
Grunt
Lives like a grunt, works like a grunt, and can't escape the rank of a grunt.
Hermit Armor
Carries a giant shell on its back. Sometimes mistaken for a crab.
Musha Kero 2
Spot the enemy's opening, and take them down in one strike!
Ninja Master Dororo 2
He's much more noticeable than usual.
Quack Kururu 2
His outfits may change, but his policies won't.
Ronin Giroro 1
It's a Musha Cosplay, but he's gotta have his heavy artillery.
Ronin Giroro 2
Annihilate the enemy with a single cannon blast!
Shabby Shinobi
You'll find them swarming everywhere you go. Nin nin!
Snow Crystal
It's hard to tell if it's made of snow, or something else. Its body is cold to the touch.
Solid Iron
Raises defense power. Let's see enemy attacks get through THIS!
Wolf
Bites at random. Not playful in the least.
The adventuring ladies in Roughsvale have zero time for anyone's sweet talk.
But we're busy too, so it's just as well. Wow what's over here!
VIDEO: Leader of the Volunteer Army
That's right! We, the volunteer army, are the kingdom's last hope!
Tha... that's the...!
Listen up, everyone! We're going to storm the tower, and beat the magician once and for all!
Princess Summer!
Princess Summer is the game world analogue for Natsumi Hinata, with the "natsu" in her name meaning "summer."
I already introduced her in the first part, so I'll expand on that a little. After Keroro and Tamama reunited at the start of the anime/manga, Giroro showed up at the Hinata house, all pissed off, because Keroro was doing chores for the enemy. 
Giroro decided to kick things into gear, took control of the house, and loaded it and the yard with booby traps.
Then Natsumi came home from school, blocked all damage from the explosive traps with a scallion, and shielded herself from the missiles in the house with her school bag. She made it to Giroro, sidestepped more missiles, and clocked him in the face.
Giroro's response as he broke through a window in slow motion? "I'm in love."
His feelings for Natsumi are one-sided and forever unrequited, and I am really glad about that.
Oh, hi there, Rein. What's up? I'm in the middle of an important speech right now.
Weren't you kidnapped by the magician's underlings?!
What? Kidnapped?! Rein, what the heck are you talking about?
One fade-out and an implied explanation later...
So I'm gathering a volunteer army to take down the magician ourselves.
Because if we just sit around, they'll keep coming to Royal City, and try to take one of the 3 Legendary Armaments for themselves...
This legendary sword!
Gero! The legendary sword!
Oh, you know about this sword?
Not necessarily, though we are on a journey in search of legendary weapons such as that one.
Hmm. So you want it, huh...
Ah... oh yeah! That's not a bad idea at all!
If we don't have the legendary sword, then no one will bother the kingdom about it anymore. So, if you guys punish that magician for us, I'll give you this sword.
What?! But that's a treasured heirloom of the royal family! You can't just give it away without the king's permission...
What's a legendary sword or two compared to a nuisance like this? The safety of my kingdom comes first, you know.
Putting the lives of her people before her own... she's just as kind as Natsumi...
All right, then. All of you should take the volunteer army recruitment test.
The recruitment test?
Yup. You too, Rein.
Huh? I have to do it?
Well, yeah. You haven't joined the volunteer army yet, have you? Of course not. So you'd better take the test.
But, your Highness... I'm one of Royal City's knights. Why should I have to...
Do you have any objections with this arrangement?
It's no use, Rein. You know full well how stubborn the princess can be.
The test is actually very simple. There's a bird that lives atop Mt. Solar called the Godbird. I want you to bring me one of its eggs.
Got that? Now go on, get to it!
So, to sum up: everyone assumed the princess got kidnapped by the magician because princesses exist to be kidnapped. But she actually snuck out while her overzealous personal guard wasn't looking, and gathered an army to stamp out the problem, because she's a badass.
Too bad for Rein. Princess Summer is most definitely not in distress.
But first, let's explore the rest of Roughsvale, starting with Ruida's Tavern the adventurer's inn.
Talking to the newbie waitress...
...Gets drinks spilled on us.
"The volunteer army leader may be strong and smart, but she's still a GIIIRRRLLL." 
And this guy just calls Princess Summer a tomboy, as if that's an insult. Tavern, more like kindergarten.
Meanwhile, this lady hears there's some badass swordfighting girl running around, and wants to challenge her to a match sometime. Finally, an adventurer with her head on straight.
The woman behind the counter says they're fresh out of Heroes, Soldiers, Priests, and Wizards. Clearly inferior to Ruida's establishment. 
One-on-one card battle time!
Blind your opponent with your rare holographic, then rip up their card before they can recover to achieve victory! (Holo KeroCards don't actually do anything.)
Winning gets us a new item card.
Confuse Wave
Confuse the enemy. These are some treacherous waves!
This guy won't join the volunteer army, because he doesn't wanna be tied down by anything. A True Adventurer?.
Lending this lady a Better Herb gets us the recipe for Croquettes, a favorite of this inn. Croquettes raise the party's defense by 10% for a few battles.
This guy gives out sidequests! It would've been awesome if they implemented this as a fully fleshed-out side thing, but you can only squeeze two assignments outta this guy. They're both item collection quests, and the first one needs 3 Farming Shovels and 8 Magical Sticks.
It's pretty easy to find out what monsters drop those--Kobolds and the fairy-looking enemies wield them as weapons respectively.
Handing in the items earns us a Black Leather Jacket. None of the platoon can wear it, but that's because...
...It's a Support, featuring Richard Miller from Time Crisis. He'll shoot at the enemy the player's currently targeting six times. It's pretty expensive to use, eating up half the battery meter.
The Guardian Shop in Roughsvale carries only one item, the Gundam.
Also known as the White Mobile Suit, famously piloted by Amuro Ray in the original Mobile Suit Gundam series. It raises HP, defense, and speed. It also has two stat-boosting Guardian Skills, Strike II and Magic II, raising attack and magic power both by 10%. A solid Guardian, if you can't decide what to equip.
I get two Gundams after selling off a couple of extra things, leaving me completely unable to upgrade my weapons. Roughsvale offers the latest in water- and earth-themed arsenal.
Stole that Deluxe Curry Spice right off the cutting board.
Fished that Best Herb right outta the stew pot.
She's more worried about her husband joining the volunteer army than her collard greens disappearing.
And her kid just wants to play cards all day.
What is the world coming to?!
KeroCard Opponent: Little Girl raises her attack power, then loses.
She gives us the card we beat her with.
Hey, free Crab Claw! It's an ingredient in exactly one future dish, so we'll just hold on to it for now.
This guy talks about temporary status buffs. Another unread page for the Guidebook.
Roughsvale's Keparrow list is pretty small. Hidden around town are a Cleansing Chalice, a Crimson Crystal (meant to be sold for cash), and the recipe for Kururu Curry.
This is a page from the manga, but Kururu only really has a thing for curry in the anime. Eats it, cooks it, bathes in it... then eats it. He claims the secret ingredient that perfects the flavor of his curry is ~love~, but that's just him marinating in the pot.
Seriously.
Kururu Curry is one of two curry dishes the whole party can eat, permanently raising everyone's attack, defense, and speed by 1. Unfortunately, we're missing one ingredient, the ultra-rare Kururu Spice.
Anyway, we have a recruitment test to ace. To Mt. Solar!
Hungry Wolves and Summit Blossoms try to block our path.
So let's shoot 'em.
Richard starts shooting in the direction of the enemy you're targeting when you call his Support--not at the enemy itself.
So even if the monster moves, Richard's aim won't. That just means more enemies can walk into the line of fire.
It finishes with a familiar message.
Mt. Solar has ivy-covered cliffs that branch off into other areas of the mountain.
You can still get into fights while on the ivy. This time we get an upgraded version of the hawk enemy, a Soaring Condor.
The ivy even goes sideways.
I'm having so much fun gunning down wolves that I actually deplete my BT for once.
This is what the bottom screen in battle looks like when you can't afford your Support. Using one of the BT-restoring items or sleeping at an inn solves the problem, of course.
Crushing monster skulls earns Tamama his second Pirate Cosplay Arte, Tyrant Axe.
He winds up...
...And knocks enemies skyward with an impressive swing.
It's a little slow, but great for delaying enemy action while they're flying up helplessly. That axe must weigh a ton.
Keroro, Tamama, and Dororo are all frontline fighters. If they're in the main party, most normal battles end really fast by this point.
This chest contains a Garand rifle for Giroro. It offers a little more attack power over his current weapon, and nothing else. Into the gun pile it goes.
Here we have our first recolor of the Mountain God's Familiar, Beary Violent.
It has all the same attacks,
including the knock-your-ass-out attack.
It's not like we can't dodge it, of course.
Also, I found out Cross Edge actually shoots a little cross-beam, too! It's not as basic as I thought it was.
Another level gets Keroro his second Musha Cosplay Arte, Swallow Strike.
It's fast and spammable, just the way I like my Artes.
This save circle marks Mt. Solar's halfway point.
We're pretty high up.
Waiting for us a little further above is some cold, malleable cash.
Here's a new move Dororo learned while leveling up on the sidelines, Whirlwind Strike. He slices upward, vanishes...
Reappears from above...
And does a diving attack. As the name suggests, it's wind-elemental.
A super-long sideways ivy path leads to this Power Stone. It maxes out the BR gauge of one party member.
At the top of Mt. Solar are two final branching paths. One leads to a chest with a Zeong in it.
It was a mobile suit designed especially for Newtype pilots, and first piloted by Char Aznable. It offers HP, Defense, Speed, and two Guardian Skills. Resurrection will randomly revive the user if their HP hits zero, but the real treasure here is Magic Spell II, which speeds up cast time for spells by 10%. That means Kururu gets the Zeong.
The other branching path leads to a save circle right before the summit. Time for Mt. Solar's Keparrow list:
-Deluxe Curry Spice
-Speed Berry
-Curry Spice
-Black Crystal (sell for cash)
-Bandit Eyedrops
Just one last thing to loot...
VIDEO: The Godbird
Look, over there!
Those must be the Godbird's eggs! They're gigantic!
If we take one of those back, our mission'll be complete. Then we'll be members of the volunteer army.
All of you, wait just a moment! A bird that hatches from an egg that large must be...
The music fades out.
...? Why did it get dark all of a sudden?
According to my calculations, based on the egg's size...
SKREEEEE!
Rein! Above you!
...The parent's about as large as I figured.
WAAAGH! I don't care if it adds up, this bird's just way too big!
SKREEEEE!
Hey there, pretty birdy! Let me explain myself. We're just here to look at the nest. We'd never do something as awful as stealing an egg, or...
SKREEEEE!
They didn't fall for it!
Sheesh. What does Keroro think he is, a cartoon character?
The Godbird's our toughest boss yet. She's loaded with HP and some nasty moves, which is why Roughsvale sells weapons with the elements she's weak to.
And I blew the money on Gundams. I'm becoming Keroro.
First, her pecking attack knocks HP chunks off the close-range fighters.
Her flying attack has two damaging parts. Getting buffeted by her wings as she rises takes off single-digit HP and knocks you back a bit, stopping whatever spell or combo you had going. Keroro's not flinching here because he's in Blazing Rise mode.
Once airborne, the Godbird charges up...
...And dive-bombs the battlefield.
Anyone who's in her way and isn't guarding gets knocked out.
But she's not immune to getting stunned herself. Combos are the solution to everything, and a little Support Character use doesn't hurt.
The Godbird's worst attack is when she flies up and spits a bunch of semi-homing fireballs. I say "semi-homing" because when I remember to guard, some other poor fool eats them instead. Like Kururu, who Keroro is totally not using as a meat shield.
Welp, the battlefield's in ruins. Time to go (get some space).
Eventually, Keroro gets the final hit on this giant turkey. There were other notable moments, but they weren't easy to express in screenshot form. Just watch the dang video if you haven't.
A 40-hit combo is 10 away from the next combo milestone title.
SKREEE! SKREEE!
The mother bird's willing to sacrifice herself to protect her eggs...
The Godbird flies over to her nest.
SKREEE!
And...
Cheep cheep!
This is, unmistakably, a mother bird's love for her baby chick. Moves you to tears, doesn't it?
Stealing an egg from its mother is not the way of the ninja...
It'd be way too mean...
Gero... but what about the recruitment test...
Giroro walks up to the egg shell that fell off when the chick hatched.
This egg shell should be good enough. I'm sure Natsumi--I mean... Princess Summer would understand.
Hm... you're right, I believe she would. Let's head back, then.
One cutscene teleport later!
Excuse me? I thought I told you to bring me an egg!
There's no need to get so angry about it... After all, we couldn't do something as cruel as stealing an egg... right, Rein?
...
Hey, you're the one who agreed with me on this! Don't play dumb!
I love how Rein is randomly an ass here. Maybe he's picked up on Giroro's infatuation with the princess.
It's all right. If Rein says you made it to the nest, it's probably true. Plus, you've got that egg shell as proof...
So with that done, you're now official members of the volunteer army.
The Keroro Platoon is part of two armies now! 
Now, our objective lies in the southern desert: Magician's Tower! As the volunteer army's advance unit, we're going to make our attack ahead of the main group.
Gero? So it's just gonna be us out there?
It's best if only a few of us go, in order not to attract too much attention from the enemy.
In that case, I'll upgrade the Support system to increase our fighting power.
'Cause it looks like we'll finally get to see some real combat. Kukuku...
I've increased the battery cap, and the amount of Supports you can equip, so be sure to check it out later, Commander.
Okay, volunteer army advance unit!
We're departing for the southern desert! To Magician's Tower!
...But don't forget to prepare for the journey before leaving town. Got it?
The platoon should be ready to move out by Part 21.
Artes/Skills learned this update:
Keroro
Swallow Strike: Keroro's second Musha Cosplay Arte. Like Crescent Slash, this is another two-hitter, but much faster.
Tamama
Tyrant Axe: Tamama's second Pirate Cosplay Arte. Tamama winds up and slashes up and backwards with his giant axe.
Giroro
Raging Rush: Giroro's second Pirate Cosplay Arte. Fires several shots from both flintlock pistols. Differs from Instant Threat in that he stands still and shoots constantly for this one, but keeps the cool spinning-his-guns-at-the-end part.
Kururu
Sudden Blast: Kururu's second Pirate Cosplay Arte. Kururu launches a gradually rising missile out of nowhere because YEAH MISSILES!
Dororo
Whirlwind Strike: Dororo's second Pirate Cosplay Arte. Attacks to launch the enemy upward, ninja-vanishes, then reappears to strike from above. Wind-elemental.
Next time, we do more sidequests, and march the platoon to their inevitable deaths!
YEAH MISSILES!