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Chapter Text

Indokuro behavior study.

Test subject: Cheesecake (stupid name from stupid Zim)

Day 1

Red insisted I make a diary of Cheesecake's behavior for 'future generations'. The Control Brains want that information for two reasons: so future soldiers will know what to expect should the Sobrekt ever send indokuros against our troops again (who knows? I mean, we parted on more-or-less good terms, but it's the Sobrekt we're talking about) and to see if it would be possible for an Irken to successfully train one. Cheesecake's pretty young, so it shouldn't be that hard.

Day 2

We tried to change Cheesecake's name, but he won't respond to anything else. Damn you, Zim! That aside, Cheesecake is always following me around wherever I go and goes completely nuts if I'm not within his sight. Reminds me of when Ilk would always come looking for Red when she was a smeet, except she didn't bite any foreign hands that tried to grab her.

….

Day 4

I'm starting to like Cheesecake! Red hasn't been able to lay a hand on me since he's around. Every time he suspects Red is going to strike me, even in play, Cheesecake bites his hand. His growls are so cute! The only bad thing: Red grounded us (we were sent to the corner of my room).

Day 5

Cheesecake is very intelligent. When I tilt my head, he mimics the movement. He shows interest and great curiosity. He stares at people when they do stuff. Do all indokuros do this when they are infants? Perhaps I will ask Blue sometime.

….

Pur, your 'pet' is using my carpet as a toilet! Do something about it before I throw him out of the airlock!

Red

…..

Day 8

I've taught Cheesecake some tricks. My favorite is 'fetch doughnut bag from cafeteria': it takes him only three minutes to go from the bridge to there and back. I have to teach him to not eat the doughnuts before bringing it, though. Another favorite is to attack Zim on sight. That one was Red's idea.

Day 9

Cheesecake has grown a few inches. Ilk compared him to a collie-something, a sort of canid hyoomans keep as pets. He started climbing unto my lap when I'm on the bridge. Red doesn't like it, but I reminded him he used to do the same with Ilk. He responded that Ilk wasn't a scary hybrekt with sharp claws and teeth, but he didn't lift his hand when Cheesecake stared at it warily.

….

Day 11

I took Cheesecake to the labs so they'd take blood samples and see what genomes the indokuros are made of; if we learn it we might be able to create an irkenkuro. Hey, I like the name! His hide was very thick, though, 400 needles were broken trying to pierce through it before Lena brought a big one. Cheesecake wouldn't stop shrieking and biting hands whenever he saw one. Lena nearly lost a finger. We're both grounded again.

….

Day 13

It's official: Lena and Red are dating. He took her to foodcourtia for a date while I stayed behind at the Massive. It would have been lonelier if Ilk and Cheesecake weren't here. Ilk doesn't seem to mind the idea of a stepmother; she and Lena get along wonderfully, after all. Who would have known it would take getting stranded on a retrograde, backwater planet for Red to get a girlfriend*?

…..

Day 15

Turns out Indokuros are even more intelligent than we initially assumed. Cheesecake has learned to open electronic locks by himself through mere observation and understands hand signs. He also associates certain things with positive or negative experiences he previously had: ever since the disastrous visit to the laboratories all the medics or those with white or blue PAKs are afraid to come into the bridge because he attacks them. Lena is the only exception, but even she is on edge when she's in the same room with Cheesecake.

Day 16

Cheesecake got sick today. He wouldn't move from bed and was constantly whimpering; he pointed at his stomach with his snout, almost as if he were saying that was the part that hurt. We had to call Blue and he asked what we fed him with. He almost had a heart stroke when I told him I fed him snacks. He said indokuros need lots of meat. Raw meat. Red threw up when we fed Cheesecake with a raw burger.

….

Purple, my carpet!

Red

….

Purple, please do something about Cheesecake. Five scientists are presenting PTSD after his attacks on them.

Lena

…..

Day 25

Cheesecake is growing very quickly. The tip of his little head spines reaches my hips. This has proven to be a bit… inconvenient. He is too big for my lap now. Why does he have to grow so fast?!

…

Day 30

Ilk has departed for the academy. I miss her already! Red is almost inconsolable and is always calling her every half an hour. At least he has Lena to comfort him. On the bright side, I taught Cheesecake a new trick: toy with Bob.

…

Carpet. Cheesecake. You. Something. Airlock.

Red.

…..

Day 31

Red is upset with Cheesecake because we ran out of burgers just when he had a craving for one. It takes about 100 pounds of meat to quench Cheesecake and he eats four times a day. I don't mind, I'm not a fan or burgers anyway. Besides, it's not like we have trouble with restocking.

…

Day 33

Cheesecake started to nibble on anything that doesn't move. There are teeth marks all over chairs, tables, and even walls. How can his teeth pierce through metal, anyway? I got a good laugh when Red's seat in the bridge broke with him on it: apparently, it's Cheesecake's favorite nibbling toy. Grounded again.

…

Day 40

Okay, the growth spurt is ridiculously fast! Cheesecake is half of Fury's size… I think it would be easier if he were here to compare them. Cheesecake has taken the habit of curling around my seat in the bridge and growl at whoever comes too close. The only exception is Lena-who has become a frequent sight around here-and the drones who bring the snacks. Bob had to be reassigned to the cafeteria because Cheesecake leaps unto him whenever he comes in. I miss watching him toy with the drone. Oh, well, I can always teach him to toy with Skoodge.

….

Purple, I'd thank you if you kept Cheesecake out of my room. He took a habit of tearing my skirts apart!

Lena

….

Purple, I've already gotten lots of anonymous complaints about Cheesecake's behavior, and I don't blame them! Frankly, I agree with them! Put a leash on that lizard or something!

Red.

P.D. You owe me 45 carpets already!

...

Day 50

Now I'm certain Cheesecake is almost Fury's size. Tenn and Larb pointed out he's much smaller than him, actually, but to me, he looks almost the same size. Somebody called him fat: I had them thrown out of the airlock.

….

Day 61

Okay, perhaps teaching Cheesecake to attack Zim on sight was not such a good idea after all. Today he called and Cheesecake leaped at the screen: he broke the monitor. Red was pissed. He nearly had him thrown out of the airlock until Cheesecake snarled at him. That made him back down for now. But we still got grounded all week until I fixed the monitor.

….

Day 74

Who would have known? Cheesecake seems to understand what airlock means. When I inadvertently said the word he picked a random soldier and threw him out. Why didn't I think of it before?

….

Purple, I swear, if you don't teach the mutated lizard to go… evacuate elsewhere I'm throwing you both out of the airlock! I'm serious!

Red

…

Day 90

Red proposed to Lena! I still can't believe it! He carved the question on the surface of one of the recently-conquered planets with the Massive's lasers. And he was particularly happy Cheesecake didn't 'ruin' it.

…..

Day 101

Okay, the wedding didn't exactly go as planned, in part thanks to Zim and that Rexy* pet of his! I gotta admit that lunar rock covered in the sweet substance called 'honey' wasn't that bad, though: Cheesecake spent most of the time kicking it.

Bright side, We got to see Ilk! She's grown so tall now that Red cried!

Day 103

Red and Lena have left for Vacatio to spend some days alone while I'm in charge. I'm glad Cheesecake is here, he makes me feel less lonely. Besides, we got to relax now that Red's not here complaining about his dumb carpet.

Cheese, wait—! Haha, no, bad boy-! Look what you made me write!

Indokani

Chapter 1

The first thing Purple sees in the morning nowadays is Cheesecake staring at him, his piercing golden eyes almost glowing in the darkness.

"You know, perhaps one of these days you could sneak into Red and Lena's bedroom and startle then like this." Purple chuckled, patting Cheesecake's snout and receiving a delighted purr in return. He could imagine their reactions: Red would curse him and chase him around the room with a baseball bat Zim sent once. Lena would scream and fall off the bed, trying to wrap herself in the blankets.

Purple made a gesture with his fingers, forming a small circle. Cheesecake darted out of his bedroom. This gave him about ten minutes before he returned with the thing he just asked him to bring. He used to take shorter in coming back, but now he got distracted with the medics and service drones he found along the way: anyway, it gave him enough time to take a good, warm gel bath and get dressed.

He was just coming out of the bathroom, bathed, dressed up and ready for the day when Cheesecake returned with three or four bags filled with donuts… wait, on the second inspection, only two bags were bountiful in the pastry, the other pair was empty. The crumbs on Cheesecake's mouth said everything.

"What am I going to do with you, you big donut eater?" Purple said, lacking any sort of annoyance, and instead scratched the indokuro's head just behind the spines, where he knew he liked it. Cheesecake closed his eyes and purred in content delight, wagging his tail like an earth puppy.

"Come on, boy, we better get down before Red sends anyone to fetch us." For some reason, his co-tallest has been sending elites to look for Purple every few days, all of them armed to the teeth. Cheesecake attacked them at first, but soon he learned they wouldn't hurt Purple and now just stared at them in annoyance.

The Tallest's bedchambers were located in the upper decks of the Massive, which led out unto a corridor that led to their private lounge, and this, in turn, had an elevator that took them directly to the cafeteria. While this made it easier to go get snacks in the middle of the night since they didn't have to walk too far, it placed their living quarters farther from the main bridge. Oh well, snacks before anything else.

On their way to the bridge, all the shorter Irkens saluted their passing by Tallest but shrunk back at the sight of his indokuro trailing behind him. It wasn't the little nuisance anymore, it was a big menace with diabolical intelligence, as Red put it once. Many had lost a finger, limb, snack, etcetera to the creature's sharp jaws. The worst of all: it was untouchable. Tallest Purple never disciplined it and whoever tried to do so in his stead was thrown out of the airlock.

Once on the bridge, Purple found a particular sight: Red was missing. Usually, he was the first to come down because he always got up earlier nowadays. Instead, he found Lena on his seat, expectantly staring at the door. "Hey, Lena, where did Red go?"

"Well, someone made cinnamon rolls and he wanted to be the first to try them out." She said.

Purple's antenna perked up. Those were his favorite pastries, after chocolate donuts and the earthen chiscak*. The proof? He once left Ilk alone with a whole bag of donuts when she was a smeet because he smelt the cinnamon rolls in the oven. This resulted in Ilk getting a sugar rush and controlling the Massive with a remote controller*.

"Cinnamon rolls!" Purple chirped, dropping his donut bag, which Cheesecake started eating without a second thought, snarling at the engineers who tried to grab one. Like a little smeet, Purple left the bridge and made his way back to the cafeteria, even going as far as to let out squeals of delight. He failed to notice the exchange of glances between Lena and the engineers.

When he got there, however, he found no cinnamon rolls.

"Purple, we need to talk about your pet," Red growled from the table he was seated in, arms crossed, features twisted into a deep frown.

"Can we talk about that later? I'm looking for cinnamon rolls!"

Red smacked his forehead. "There are no cinnamon rolls, Purple! They told you that so you'd bring your ass over here!"

Purple stopped in his tracks. If there was something he hated only slightly less than Zim, it was people lying to him about his snacks. "That's not nice!"

"As I was saying…!" Red grabbed the tablet in front of him. "Let's see the pros and cons of having that monstrosity here!"

Purple's glare matched Red's. "Cheesecake is not a monstrosity!"

"Con: he eats five hundred pounds of meat three times a day and it's annoying having to go restock every month!" Red wasn't fond of meat, but the soldiers and elites that saved them a lot of work needed to eat.

"Pro: we can throw more people out of the airlock by just speaking the word out loud!" Purple countered. It was a habit Cheesecake had developed a while ago when he noticed the Tallest loved doing that. Whenever either said the word airlock he'd grab the closest Irken, regardless of height or rank, and did so.

"Con: he attacks all the service drones that come into the bridge and it's hard to get a refill without having to go get it ourselves!"

"Pro: for the first time ever we have an Hybrekt at our disposal that won't tear us to shreds."

Red narrowed his eyes. "Con: the infirmary is overcrowded because of him."

"Pro…!" Purple stopped. What else did Cheesecake provide other than good entertainment and some insight into Sobrekt Hybrekts? "... he's cute!"*

"Con: he broke the monitor thrice when Zim called…"

"Teaching him to attack Zim was your idea!"

"...he has nearly bitten Lena's hand a few times…"

"She caught him by surprise-!"

"...he has bitten mine…!"

"But-!"

"He uses my carpets as his fucking toilet!"

Purple groaned. "So this is about your stupid carpet! Just buy another one, you can afford them!"

"That's not the point, Purple! That beast is out of control and you do nothing to correct his behavior! What needs to happen so you realize you ruined him!"

"Ruined?! How did I ruin him?!"

"Did everything I just pointed out enter one lekku and leave through the other?!"

Before they could argue any further a large blur of black flew into the cafeteria, inadvertently knocking Red out of his seat and into the ground, and in turn, causing the blur to trip and fall over against another nearby table with a painful growl. Purple was in the exact middle of both fallen figures, but given the circumstances the priority was clear. "Cheesecake! Oh, my poor Cheesecake! Are you okay?"

As Red painfully sat up and rubbed his head, he stared agape at the scene of his co-Tallest picking the lizard over him. "Poor Cheesecake? Poor Cheesecake?! Are you kidding me!"

Purple, of course, ignored him, and instead fawned over the whimpering indokuro. "Oh, it's okay, little one! You didn't get hurt, did you?"

Red grunted and called out with acid sarcasm. "Oh, don't worry! I think I broke my spine and got internal bleeding, but I'm fine! How nice of you to care!"

"Look what you did, now Cheesecake got a scratch on his nose!"

Red got to his feet and floated his way over to Purple. If he were walking he'd be stomping his feet. "That's it! I want that animal out of the Massive!"

Purple got in between his co-tallest and Cheesecake. "You can't do that, he's mine!"

"You wanna bet? I wonder what the Control Brains will have to say about the misbehavior!"

"In case you forgot, it was the Control Brains who said I could keep Cheesecake!"

"Yeah, but to turn him into a military asset, not a pampered house pet!"

"You take that back!"

"M-My Tallest?"

"WHAT?!" Red and Purple shouted in unison, glaring at the Irken who had approached them. It was Invader Skoodge, who jumped in fright at the sudden hostility.

"S-Sorry to… interrupt you, My Tallest, b-but… we have a message from… Ilk-!" He couldn't finish the sentence as the moment he uttered Ilk's name, Red rushed out of the cafeteria and back to the bridge, carelessly knocking the short Invader aside. Since Ilk went to the academy on Irk, and then to Devastis to become an Irken Elite, they hadn't seen her much. She'd call every now and then, but it just wasn't the same. The only time they saw her in flesh and all was at Red and Lena's wedding; she was granted permission to attend by the Control Brains, in part thanks to who her father was.

Everybody aboard the Massive missed her, but no one held a candle to how Red himself missed her. The first few weeks she was gone he'd call her every twenty minutes or so, sometimes in the middle of an exercise or a test until the Control Brain on Devastis blocked his signal so he'd only be able to call twice a day. He went completely nuts until Purple literally smacked some sense into him.

He might not be able to communicate that often, but at the very least he could access the databases to see how she was doing. Red literally threw a party when he found Ilk was not only amongst the best soldiers, but she had grown even more since the last time they saw her at the wedding.

Lena's lekku perked up when her husband entered the bridge. "It's not a live transmission, Red, it's an irk-mail." She said with notable disappointment. She had been hoping to hear from Ilk in person too.

Despite the bitter let-down, Red nevertheless made his way unto the platform. "How did the talk with Purple go?" He muttered and rubbed his back at the question. "That bad?"

"I'm starting to consider dropping that creature off at some asteroid when he's not looking," Red said with a deep frown. Oh, well, leaving that aside, he glanced at the navigators just as Purple (and by extension, Cheesecake) caught up. "What are you waiting for? Display the message on screen!"

"Yes, My Tallest." The empty vacuum of dark space in the monitor was replaced by an irk-mail. Instead of irken characters, however, it was written in rough Sobrekt letters. Confused, Purple had the technicians translate it into Irken language.

You have been deemed worthy of being invited to the Kekkonshu of Blue, son of Kobato and Deltra, and Ilk, daughter of Irken Leader Fred. The ceremony will be held within a month in Sobr, but familiars and close relations are required to attend beforehand for the pre-Kekkonshu ceremonies.

"Fred?!" Red glared at his miswritten name. "Wait until I get my hands on whoever wrote that!" His angry murmuring was joined in by the rest of the crew. Who'd dare to miswrite their Almighty Tallest's name?

Lena coughed impatiently. "Red, I think you should worry more about what Kekkonshu means, don't you think? And why would Ilk send it in Sobrekt?"

"On it!" Larb was already looking through his irkpad for a translation of the word. Seconds later he went pale.

"Well?" Purple asked in between munching a donut, then flinging one at Cheesecake, who caught it in mid-air.

"M-My Tallest, you might want to sit down…"

"What is it? Just spit it out-! Nevermind, give me that!" Red snatched the tablet from Larb.

Kekkonshu: sobrekt wedding ceremony.

"My Tallest! My tallest!"

"Red, can you hear me?

"Someone bring a doughnut!"

"Think it'll wake him up?"

"No, I'm hungry."

"Purple!"

"Hey, you tricked me about the cinnamon rolls and I didn't get to eat anything!"

"Wait, he's waking up!"

Red came back to his senses with a groan. "What on Irk…?" He rubbed his head painfully as his vision cleared. Lena and Purple were above him with concerned stares. A navigator was quickly flapping an old magazine, courtesy of Zim a few weeks ago, in the manner of a fan while some others were holding donuts close to his lekku. No wonder it smelt so good.

"You fainted." Purple shrugged simply.

"I did what…? How did it…?" Wait, it was coming back. "I think I remember. I had an awful nightmare, we received an invitation in Sobrekt and it turned out that the Blue lizard and my Ilk were getting married." He noticed everyone around him exchanging nervous, awkward glances. "What?"

"Um, Red…" Lena rubbed the back of her head. How could she tell him? "That… wasn't a nightmare, it was ten minutes ago.

He reacted as bad as expected. "WHAT?!" Red went back to his feet and snatched the irkpad from Skoodge, who had taken a look out of curiosity. "No, no, no, this can't be! There's gotta be a mistake!"

"We already checked it, it isn't, My Tallest."

"She would have told me if she took such a big decision!"

"Um, My Tallest, it appears the Irk-mail I opened was actually the…" the technician gulped. "... the second one. I was supposed to open this one first." He pointed at another message in the inbox with the label 'read THIS ONE first, dad', just beneath the mail labeled 'invitation'.

Red's eye twitched. "Throw him out of the airlock." He glared at another navigator, ignoring the frightened yells of the other one as the guards (and then Cheesecake, who ended up dragging even the guards themselves) carried him away. "You, open that other mail."

With a nervous nod, the order was carried out. This irk-mail was written in Irken.

Hey, dad, Uncle Pur and everyone else! How is everything going? I guess you're wondering why I sent a written irkmail instead of sending a transmission. No offense dad, but knowing you you'd probably keep interrupt me while trying to explain, something you can't do with a letter. (Purple laughed and this last sentence, to which he received a quick smack on the back of his head from Red now that Cheesecake wasn't around).

Anyway, remember Blue? Well, I didn't… tell you this exactly, but he and I have been dating during some of my free days. He's such a sweetie when he's not out for your head, and I… Well, a few weeks ago we had yet another friendly duel, which I won after three hours of being evenly matched.

Skoodge and Bob, you two might want to take cover for when dad throws you at the wall to vent off. (It was already a bit too late for that, but nevertheless, they were touched by the fact that she remembered them),

Blue proposed. And I accepted. We're getting married next month, and it would mean so much to me if you'd all attend without trying to blow up the planet. It's going to take place in a month on Sobr, but Blue said family members are expected to come even sooner than that to discuss… certain things.

See you guys son!

XO, Ilk.

"What does XO mean?" Purple asked. All he received were shrugs.

"That-That lizard dared propose to my Ilk? Without asking ME first?!" Red snarled at the screen. "He isn't supposed to do that, right?!"

Tenn quickly looked it up in the irkpad. "In most sentient species, particularly mammals, it is common for a suitor to talk to the female's male parental unit for approval in courting and then marrying the girl."

"See?! But no, I have to find out about this through a flirking irkmail?! Why couldn't she call me and tell me face to face!"

"She mentioned the reason in the letter, remember?" Purple reminded him. The only thing that saved him from another smack was the fact that Cheesecake had just returned with neither the navigator nor the guards.

"Red, calm down!" Lena decided to intervene before he did something he could regret. Again. "Look on the bright side, the wedding will take place in the Sobrekt homeworld. Do you know what this means?"

Red was momentarily brought of his angry ranting to exchange a glance with Purple. No Irken, other than they themselves when they stole the Moondrop Flower to save Ilk from Drilo's disease, had been to Sobr and lived to tell the tale, and they were being invited there.

"Taller Lena has a good point, My Tallest," Larb added, stepping forward with a devious grin. "If they are inviting us over to a private event, it means they'll allow us into their homeworld. We could use this chance to learn about everything. Their technology, culture, weapons, but especially their hybrekts. And we can do all that without worrying about losing our heads!"

"Oh, come on, after what happened with the Moondrop flower you think they'll just let us in with open arms?" Invader Skutch pointed out. "What makes you think they won't use a sort of security measure while we're there, such as a tracking device?"

"Especially if we are going," Lena added. Besides, they were not invited by the Sobrekt leader or any political or important figure, they were simply invited to a wedding, whatever they called it. They'd probably be treated like normal tourists.

There was a brief debate over the issue, mostly held between the Tallest and the present Invaders. On one hand, this could be the only chance they ever got to exploring Sobr properly. The Empire's databases didn't have much information about the lizards other than what they managed to directly take from the brain of one of the kryvtor assassins once sent to the Massive. But Skutch did make a valid point. The Sobrekt were no fools, they wouldn't allow the Irkens to freely go where they pleased after stealing the Moondrop flower. Sure, since their 'misadventure' on Hoth with Captain, a high-ranked member of the Sobrekt military, and his kryvtor squad both species parted on more-or-less good terms, but they also knew of the Irkens' tendency of betraying their allies. Just ask the Vortians.

Red was mostly worried about Ilk would take it, however. Not kindly, of course. She grew particularly close to the lizards while on Hoth, and the Blue-lizard started courting her after she single-handedly defeated him in combat (silly Sobrekt courtship traditions). And from what he could tell in that letter, she kept in touch with him afterward, a time the Blue-lizard took advantage of to keep courting her like he said he would. The point? Red didn't want to be at odds with his smeet again, especially now that he'd see her face to face after a whole Irken year*.

After some more deliberation, the two Irken Leaders exchanged a solemn nod and turned to one of the navigators. "Set course for Sobr."

Chapter Text

The Indokani Beginner's Guide to Raising an Indokuro.

Chapter 5 - Dealing with Separation Anxiety

Indokuros are very social creatures. From the moment they hatch, they see their indokani not only as their progenitor but also as a member of their 'pack'. The first weeks it's okay if you feel like pampering, but when it reaches two months old you should start the separation process. No, this doesn't mean it'll be taken away. It means that you should get the Indokuro used to the idea of being away from you, as some missions will require you to be separated for some time.

The best way to go is to leave your hatchling with a caregiver for brief periods and short distances at first. As it gets used to separation, you can gradually leave for longer and travel further. Use positive reinforcement whenever the hatchling behaves when you're not in sight. Another recommendable method is to have it put with some other indokuro of the same age so that it won't feel as anxious about you're absence.

Failure to properly prepare your indokuro can result in the clinginess becoming a more serious case of separation anxiety disorder. It will become increasingly aggressive, anxious, and it the worst of cases, depressed. Should its indokani disappear from its sight, it will become increasingly violent, particularly around strangers, and it might even try to look after its 'progenitor'.

The Massive came out of hyperdrive an hour later. The Sobrekt homeworld, Sobr, loomed up ahead in all its greenish glory. As a 'gesture of good faith', they did not bring the entirety of the Irken Armada, mostly to avoid giving the Sobrekt a reason to fire their orbital cannons at the Massive.

Since the planet probably lacked any sort proper docking platform big enough for the Irken flagship, the wedding attendees-which included the Tallest and some Invaders-would take a Ring Cutter to the orbital docking terminal, the proper way to go into Sobr, as Ilk explained in her message. They'd be checked to make sure they didn't carry any bombs, weapons, illegal substances and if they were clean they'd take a teleporter to Igano, Sobr's capital. She mentioned something about somebody going to pick them up at the orbital spaceport, but the message was truncated due to length.

"What do you got there, Skoodge?" Lena asked curiously when she noticed the short Invader with some electronic flashcards.

"Since it's the first time we're going to Sobr, I wrote some information about their culture to avoid misunderstandings."

"And where did you get that information, if we may know?" Larb asked suspiciously.

"Masouri and I have been chatting through Spacebook, I mentioned him we were coming for the wedding and he sent me the Dummies' Guide to Surviving in Sobr Without Losing your Head." Skoodge and the Kryvtor pilot of Blue's squad, Masouri, had struck up a sort of friendship while in Hoth, stemming from the latter having been the first to have actually given the unappreciated Invader his due.

"Does it say anything about Hybrekts?"

Skoodge looked through his flashcards. "Approximately seventy-five percent of Sobr's everyday life involves at one type of Gesset."

"Gesset?" Tenn asked.

"That's how they call Hybrekts."

At that moment Red and Lena walked into the hangar. "Okay, I'm leaving, whoever is coming, hurry up!" The former shouted impatiently, prompting the Invaders (and Bob) to enter the ship.

Purple caught up seconds later, followed by Cheesecake. "Cheese we're going to Sobr!" Before either could enter the spittle runner, however, the door slammed shut.

"That thing stays," Red growled through the ship's speakers.

"What? No way, I'm not leaving him alone!" Purple protested.

"How do you think we're going to look with an indokuro who thinks his own shadow is a prey? Besides, there's no room for him!"

There was a brief murmur in the cockpit before Lena spoke. "Purple, think about it: Cheesecake was not gifted to us, he snuck into the Massive, remember? The Sobrekt might think he was stolen and take him away. Is that what you want?"

Purple stared at the cockpit and then at Cheesecake. She had a point there. Cheesecake was going to be brought back to Sobr, but he had somehow escaped the Tyrannus and snuck into their ship as they returned to the Massive. Blue himself had been very surprised when he found out they had the Hybrekt.

Yes, the Sobrekt could consider him stolen or something like that. And if they didn't react well to a flower being taken without permission….

Purple sighed and patted Cheesecake's head. "I'm sorry, Cheese, but it's best if you stay here. Well only be gone for a month, okay?"

Cheesecake tilted his head to the side, confused. Why was master sad? Why had the door closed? Was he sad because it had closed? Then master said he'd have to stay behind. Why? Cheesecake rubbed his head against master.

Purple felt guilty. He knew Cheesecake wouldn't stay on his own accord. Reluctantly, he made the 'donut' sign with his fingers. As soon as Cheesecake ran off towards the kitchen Purple quickly walked into the spittle runner.

The ship flew out of the hangar and towards one of the docking stations. The flight there took twenty minutes, during which Skoodge tried in vain to educate his leaders and fellow Invaders with his flashcards, but they were more preoccupied with recording whatever they deemed important into their PAKs than avoiding any offensive behavior. The only ones who bothered listening to him were Bob and Lena.

The spittle runner was hailed from the station, probably space traffic control. "Identify yourselves or we're blowing you up." Threatening and curt. Just like the Sobrekt themselves.

"Chill out, lizards, we're not here to conquer your planet." Yet, Red thought. "We're just going to attend a wedding."

"Well, forgive me for finding it hard to believe when your flagship is in orbit and within firing range!"

"We're friends of Blue the indokani!"

"Who is that?"

"Er… We know the captain of the Tyrannus?"

"What's his name?"

"Don't start with that again!"

Lena rolled her eyes, then she got an idea. There was one person he surely must have heard of. "We're friends of Hitorken Zim."

There was a brief sound which the Irkens could only interpret as the guard spitting whatever he had been drinking. "Why didn't you say so before?! Hangar twenty-five!"

Red muttered a 'you have to be flirking kidding me' as Stink drove the runner towards the said hangar.

For some reason no Irken could understand, Zim was hailed as a sort of deity by the Sobrekt. They found the fact that he had caused the Empire lots of drawbacks and headaches admirable. Back on Hoth, they were close to worshipping the ground he walked on. Red growled at the memory. Just for the record, Zim is not his friend! He's a little menace that cost the Empire two of its previous leaders, the first attempt at galactic conquest and a significant portion of the Armada since his little blunder with the planet Mars, not to mention he nearly destroyed Irk during the above-mentioned event. How could the Sobrekt not see that or maybe they did and that is why they admire Zim so much.

Hangar twenty-five was filled with ships of different sizes and colors, some belonging to different species, some departing and others docking just like them. Most ships were of green and cyan hues and either resembled an animal of some sort or had painted fangs and eyes; these belonged to the Sobrekt.

The air was tense when the Irkens walked out of the spittle runner. All heads, single, multiple or otherwise, turned to them; many gasped in shock when they realized it was the Almighty Tallest themselves coming. Resentful glares and murmurs were sent into their direction, mostly from the non-sobrekt-races, many whose planets had been conquered by the Irken Empire. The Sobrekt themselves were mostly indifferent, but they did keep an eye on them in case a fight broke out.

"Out of the way, superior beings coming through!" Red said rudely in about ten different alien languages while making his way through the crowd, with the rest of the group trailing not far behind.

"I don't think it's a good idea to act like that here…" Lena whispered hurriedly when he unceremoniously kicked a round, furry creature out of the way. "They can attack us."

"That's why we need to remind them who's in charge and not show any weakness."

Once they managed to get across the multitude they came upon a series of revision lines where 'tourists' would go through a scanner that would flash orange if it detected any illegal substances. The Irkens were fortunate enough to witness when that happened: the Sobrekt guards would bring a bipedal lizard and have it sniff at the infractor to locate the substance. If it found something, it would let out a loud shriek while expanding and rattling two long frills on the sides of its neck. Afterward, the forbidden assets were confiscated and the infractor would be taken away, probably to some dungeon or be devoured by a large, hungry Hybrekt.

"Take a look at that!" Invader Skutch pointed at a particularly funny scene. A Vortian was shrieking obscenities as his cargo of yellow, round vegetables of some sort was devoured by a large Hybrekt with a flat snout and gray hide.

"Guess the Sobrekt don't like vegetables." Tenn shrugged it off, but couldn't help but join in at the laughter of the Vortian's misery.

"Yeah, it's a good thing we don't bring any—" Tallest Purple hadn't finished talking when he stepped into the scanner and the orange flashes lit up. The kryvtor guards surrounded the Irkens while one of them brought the same, frill-necked lizard from before.

"Get that thing away from me!" Purple almost kicked at its snout but was frightened into submission when the Hybrekt shrieked and spread out its frills in a threatening display.

"Register them!" The sobrekt in charge of the group ordered to the kryvtors. Soon enough they were running long detectors held a few inches away from the Irkens until it beeped right when it was passing over one of Purple's pockets. Before he could react a sobrekt with a black glove got his hand into it and took out the leftover donut bag he had been saving for later.

"Hey, give it back!" Purple protested, but two charged plasma blade spears were crossed right in front of him before he could move forward. His PAK-legs emerged, but he was shocked into submission before he could strike the 'thief', causing them to retreat.

"Purple!"

"My Tallest!"

This was not their day. Definitely not their day. Being brought to the docking station's detention area and put in a holding cell with inferior species was humiliating enough, but having every single snack confiscated was the last straw!

"I'm hungry," Purple whined.

"You've repeated that for the past hour, Purple, will you knock it off?! I'm trying to think!"

"At least they didn't shock you!"

"You think that hurt? You try to get one of those fucking umbrella-neck lizards off your leg." Red looked down at his torn robe.

The Invaders were in no better shape, but none had it rougher than Bob. "Why did they attack me? I was trying to break off the fight."

"Why did they make such a ruckus over the snacks?" Lena pointed out.

"The Sobrekt's slow metabolism impedes any sugar consumption because the high levels of sugar send them into a semi-aphrodisiac, semi-dormant state. For this reason, bringing any sugar in any form is against Sobrekt laws and will be treated as a toxic substance" Skoodge read from one of his flashcards, eliciting angry glares.

"Don't you think it would have been nice if you pointed that out?!" Red snapped.

Lena sighed. "Red, he did on the way here, but you didn't pay attention."

"Do any of those cards say for how long we're going to stay here!"

Skoodge searched through the device again. "Nop."

Purple had to admit he knew what the whole sugar thing was about. The kryvtors had pointed out they never consumed any sugar; Purple couldn't believe it at first until he offered Masouri a donut and the pilot became limp and unresponsive with an idiotic face for two hours straight. He wasn't going to point it out, however, or Red would also pin the blame on him for this.

A rotten fruit flew through the air aimed at the Tallest's head; acting quickly he grabbed Stink and shielded himself from the projectile, which made contact with the Invader's face. The Irkens looked at the perpetrator: a squid-like creature, whose four eyes were glaring at the Irken leaders alongside the many other retained aliens.

"How does it feel when you are in the cage, huh?" A female Vortian sneered.

"Mind your own business, Vortian!" Larb snapped at her.

At that moment the door leading outside opened and a big, crocodilian sobrekt entered. He stopped in front of the cell holding the Irkens.

"You're free to go…" he said opening the door, but then pointed at Larb. "Except you."

"What?! Why?!"

"My Tallest!" A familiar voice alongside its annoyingly familiar owner stopped right next to the sobrekt with that irritable smile of his. "Don't worry, the great Zim has come to save you!"

"Zim?" Red rubbed his ocular orbs to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "Is that you?" He was joined in by the rest of the Invaders and Purple. Lena merely gasped in surprise.

It wasn't because they were surprised to see him-well, in part it was-but rather because he was taller. Taller! The short little defective had grown a considerable amount of inches. He had surpassed even Larb, previously considered to be the Tallest Invader.

"Wha- B-Y-!"

"What are you doing here, Zim?" Lena got ahead of her husband.

"Ilk-smeet and Blue-lizard invited the great Zim to their wedding, of course! I offered to come to pick you up, and then I learned the sobrekt-beasts had retained you here." Zim furrowed his brow at the sobrekt, who looked down like a scolded child.

"I wasn't aware they were your… friends, Hitorken Zim."

Red and Purple exchanged a dismayed, but subtle glance. They were going to hate themselves in the morning, but any chance to get the Irk out of here was good. "Ah, yes! We're very good friends!"

"Yeah! Like, the best of friends!"

"We've known each other since we were smeets! Now how about we go reminiscence about the good times, Zim?" Red forced himself to smile, speaking through grit teeth.

The look in Zim's face would have put the 'smiling emoji' to shame. Lena almost felt bad for him; they were only using him. "Why of course, My Tallest! Let's get out of here!" Zim turned to the guard. "Sobrekt-beast, they all come with me…" he momentarily stopped and pointed at Larb. "Except him."

"Wha-?! Zim-!"

"Good enough for me!"

"See you later, Larb!"

With that, the Tallest and the remaining Invaders sped out of the holding cell, not looking back as the door closed again with Larb still inside. Zim whispered something to the guard, probably telling him in how much time he could release him. It was no surprise Zim was relishing in the chance to spite Larb; neither had ever gotten along and Larb always looked for a chance to rub all his achievements in Zim's face. Well, now the roles had been reversed and Zim was going to enjoy every second of it.

"Isn't there any way we could have the snacks back, Zim?" Red asked as they made their way to the teleporters.

"Like, maybe you could use your 'divine status' to convince the lizards? I'm getting hungry!" Purple added quickly.

"I've taken care of that, My Tallest. They will send your snacks to the Blue-beast's house to save you the bother of carrying them!" At the very least he did something useful for once that did not blow up in their faces, figurative and literally.

There was one final security post before reaching the teleporters to the planet's surface. It wasn't as well-guarded as the others, but the line was even longer. Thankfully they didn't need to get in it; all Zim had to do was to demand one of the guards to let them through and she did so without hesitation.

All that's left is that they make a statue of Zim.

"They made him a flirking statue."

They materialize in the middle of Igano, and what's the first thing they see? A mithrilium sculpture depicting Zim in a yelling pose right on top on the entrails of a mendigo, one of the creatures they found of Hoth. No doubt he had told his own version of the story and the gullible Sobrekt didn't stop to consider he might be twisting the facts. Oh, Larb was so going to have a fit.

Purple made a face. "I'm going to throw up." A passing by kryvtor struck his legs with her tail. "Hey!" But she was gone.

"So which way now, Zim?" Skoodge asked. He had the feeling he was the only one who could talk to Zim naturally. Judging by the astonished look on the other Invaders as they stared at the statue they wouldn't be too happy to be near him right now.

"Follow me! Blue-beast's house is on the outskirts! If we get there on time, you'll get to witness the main event!"

"Main event?"

Zim was already making his way through the crowd, prompting the others to follow, if only because proximity to Zim would mean fewer chances of being assaulted, killed, arrested, etcetera. Purple was not so fortunate, however, as every now and then he'd be pinched, kicked or smacked with either a hand or a tail, much to Red's amusement. In one of those occasions, it came from him but he managed to pin the blame on passing by Sobrekt.

Sobr's sky was a different mixture of greens with grayish lime clouds and its single white sun moved very slowly. The buildings and skyscrapers that made up most of the city were tall and with sharp shapes. Around the sky, they managed to spot some ships and a flying creature or two.

Speaking of creatures, they soon figured out what Skoodge meant when he said that seventy-five percent of daily life involved hybrekts. Some buildings had long-necked giant reptiles instead of elevators, all you had to do was offer them something to eat so they'd lower or lift their heads so you could walk unto them. Chameleon-like animals acted as traffic lights, changing into orange to signal ships to stop and yellow to move forward. They even spotted a large lizard with long curved horns, short legs, elongated body and spines running down its back being led by a leash in the manner of a common pet. Most of the Invaders subtly signaled their Tallest that they were recording it.

"So, Zim, for how long have you been here?" Lena asked.

"A Sobr week ago, which is about four earthen weeks, and a Sobr day is the equivalent to four human days. Hopefully, I was smart enough to make all the Skool hyoomans believe I'd go on vacation somewhere nice so they wouldn't wonder why I was gone for so long."

Purple contained the urge to roll his eyes. Grin and bear it, for now, Pur. "Well, Zim, in all your time here have you found out where the Sobrekt make their hybrekts?"

"Make what?"

"You know, those." Red pointed at another pet-lizard as it released the nutrients it didn't need in the manner of green liquid coming from… under its tail.

"Ahh, you mean the Gessen-beasts! I tried to ask, but when I did they'd change the topic and instead offered me something to eat." Guess not even Zim was good enough for the Sobrekt to trust that information with.

A kryvtor child approached Purple; it noticed he was levitating, so it picked up a stone and hurled it at his head. "OUCH-! Why you little-!" The hatchling was gone before he could punish it. "Why is everybody here doing everything they can to physically assault me?!"

Zim perked up his lekku. "Oh, that. It's Indokuro Week and you're not wearing any black clothing."

The Irkens exchanged looks. "Indokuro... week?"

"Fury-beasts hold a greater significance in sobrekt-beast culture than we originally assumed. There's a week-long period that celebrates them and during that time all citizens must wear at least one black piece of clothing."

Purple blinked. He glanced at the others. The invaders, Zim and Lena have black gloves. Red has black in his armor. He, on the other hand, hadn't a single speck of the dark color in him. No wonder he'd been the main target!

"Don't worry, My Tallest, Zim was smart enough to predict this and I got a piece of black for you!" He held down a sort of hat. It looked like the cartoonish head and upper jaw of an indokuro.

Purple only needed one glance at it to know he didn't like it. "There no flirking way I'm going to wear that-!" Out of nowhere, a sobrekt shoved him with such force he fell into the ground with a loud thud. "Give me the stupid hat." He snatched the hat and put it on his head.

The Invaders and Lena tried their best not to laugh. Red burst out into a laughing fit

The quickest way to the outskirts was by taking a train. Purple was happy to say that, though he still felt ridiculous, now that he was wearing the silly black hat the physical assaulting stopped. He still felt uncomfortable in the overcrowded train, though. It was tiring to keep every part of his body as far away from sobrekt contact was possible.

After twenty minutes the train stopped at their destination. Unlike the metropolis they left behind, the outskirts were more…. rural-looking. The buildings weren't made of metal and bricks but seemed to have been built with wooden structures coated in mithrilium layers of paints. The air was cleaner too.

Purple soon saw the reason for that. This area was mostly inhabited by kryvtors, the raptor-like subspecies, smaller and weaker, but faster and more agile than the true Sobrekt. Talking from his own experience, kryvtors were far more laid back than their more aggressive cousins.

As Zim led them through the area bragging about something (perhaps another of his failed schemes), Purple couldn't help but note how there were black banners with colorful stripes adorning each lamp post, and many of the sobrekt had a hat identical to his. "You say there's a festival going on here?"

"Yeah, the Indokuro Week-something. The sobrekt-beasts who have Fury-beasts of their own have special showcases, demonstrations, contests and there's even an aerial show!"

The other Invaders exchanged knowing glances. "They have flying indokuros?" Red inquired.

"Not exactly. They're called OTF."

"What does that stand for?"

"I'm not sure, My Tallest, Blue-beast wouldn't go into details."

Red arched an eyebrow. He silently sent a PAK-message to the other invaders to divulge into that during their reconnaissance.

"And here we are!" Zim stopped in front of a particularly spacious-looking den with a large garden. Two female kryvtors, one light blue with darker stripes and another green with orange, were talking outside. "Those are two of Blue-beast's clutchmates. Hey! I have successfully retrieved my Tallest! Where are the Blue-beast and Ilk-smeet!"

The kryvtors turned to Zim excitedly, only to turn serious when they saw who accompanied him. They warily walked closer. The blue kryvtor ignored the Invaders and addressed the Tallest directly. "So you two are Ilk's family and hitorken Zim's leaders."

"That's right, you… two… whatever you're called."

The other female took a quick look at the two Irkens. "I thought they'd be taller."

"Excuse me?!" Red hissed, flattening his antenna, but Lena stopped him before he could do anything stupid.

"Take it back, lizard! Nobody insults the Almighty Tallest in front of me and lives to tell the tale!" Tenn snapped, only to step back when both females snapped her teeth.

"Behave yourselves, sobrekt-beasts! As long as Zim is here you shall show my Almighty Tallest the respect they are due!"

Both females lowered their heads apologetically. "Sorry, Hitorken Zim." Grimly, they looked at the Irkens with rather forced smiles.

"My name is Chakra, and this is my sister Brava." The green female introduced herself and her sister simultaneously.

"Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you, but I'd like to speak with my daughter Ilk if you don't mind."

"Like, she's the only reason we came to your swampy planet."

Brava bared her teeth at the two Tallest, but a motion from Chakra's hand was enough to make her recede. Lena decided to intervene before someone got hurt. "Please ignore their… rude comments," she frowned at Red and Purple. "We mean no harm. My name is Lena." She held out a hand, but both kryvtors held out their tails instead.

She received a quick PAK-mail from Purple. "Oh, I forgot to mention. Sobrekt aren't fond of physical contact unless they are really close. They usually shake tails instead of hands."

"And you tell me now" Lena responded through a PAK-mail of her own before gently shaking the tails. She spoke out loud again. "Is Ilk here?"

"Irken-Ilk is out with Blue for today's festival. They will be back later." Brava said. "You can wait for them if you wish."

Though sorry disappointed by the news, both Tallests exchanged a look. Then Red spoke. "Actually, we'd rather go look for her. It's been a long time since I last saw my baby.."

"A really long time," Purple added quickly.

"But she called just last month-" Bob was cut off as Purple unceremoniously kicked him away.

"And we'd rather give her a surprise."

Brava and Chakra seemed like they were ready to protest, but Zim spoke up before they could. "Of course, My Tallest! Since we're on it, you may also take a look at the Sobrekt-beasts' festivities!" He didn't notice the look exchanges between his fellow Invaders. "Zim suggests we split up to cover wider terrain!"

"Actually, Zim, would you mind giving us a grand tour?"

"What?" Purple, Lena and the rest of the Irkens looked at Red as if he had gone insane, especially when the insufferable grin on Zim's face returned. The former coughed loudly. "Would you mind us for a second…?" Purple dragged Red out of earshot, just behind the entrance wall. "Have you lost your mind?! It's bad enough that Zim is here to have him sniffing around like a lapdog!"

"In case you forgot, and believe me it pains me to admit it, it's thanks to Zim that we're not still stuck in that damn cell," Red argued. "While we're here, it might be of our convenience to keep him around. You see how the lizards worship the ground he steps on!"

"But it's Zim!"

"I know! But just think about it this way: you'd rather walk around here having to watch your back if any of those lizards decide you're invading their territory?"

Purple crossed his arms with a pout and looked away. Red counted down. Three. Two. One.

"...I hate it when you're right," Purple momentarily glance in the direction of the Massive. It was notably visible even from here. "I'm worried about Cheesecake."

Red groaned. "Come on, Pur, it's the first time in a long time you don't have that thing following you around twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Try to enjoy it while it lasts!"

"What if he gets sick while I'm gone? Or if he gets hurt?"

"Oh, please, we're talking about a three-meter tall lizard with sharp teeth and claws, what's the worst that could happen to him?"

Cheesecake was not happy.

He was not happy.

Master told him to go fetch the tasty round food, but when he returned he was gone. He called out for him, but he didn't come. He looked for him all over the nest but didn't find him. Where did master go? Why did he leave Cheesecake behind? Didn't he want him anymore? In despair he wailed loudly in hopes master would hear him.

The other green ones-master called them shorties, so Cheesecake called them shorties too-tried to put him inside a cage, but he was too smart for that. After every failed attempt he'd chase the shorties around until they ran out of sight, then Cheesecake went back to looking for master.

"W-What are we going to do about that thing?!" the guard panted heavily, then made sure the door was locked behind him. That creature had learned how to open doors not long ago.

"I'm not going near him again! I was lucky he didn't eat me!"

"What do you complain about? He tore my favorite uniform!"

Most of the Massive's crew had gathered in the bridge and barricaded the doors. Ever since Tallest Purple left, the indokuro lost it completely. He ran around the Massive's corridors, shrieking and letting out frantic cries of desperation. Whoever was unfortunate enough to get in his way was carelessly thrown against the wall, bitten, snapped at and even mauled around, particularly scientists and medics.

The service drones were used as bait to try and lure Cheesecake into one of the detention cells in the prisoner brig, but they underestimated his intelligence. He realized their intentions the moment he noticed other life forms behind the electric bars and proceeded to push the unfortunate Irkens into the cell themselves. The other captive aliens had cheered, though sadly for them the indokuro paid them no heed and left the brig.

"What do we do? It's out of control!"

"I have no idea, but we're not going to achieve anything by locking ourselves up here like cowards!"

"If you're so brave, why don't you go deal with it?"

"I can't, I'm not very… important."

For half an hour they discussed ideas and plans of how to get Cheesecake into any confinement without actually hurting him: as much as they hated and feared him, he was still Tallest Purple's beloved pet and he wouldn't take kindly to find a scratch on him when he returned. During one of those instances, one of the technicians accidentally put a recording of security feed with Tallest Purple's voice on the loudspeakers. The Irkens noticed how Cheesecake stopped rummaging through a fallen snack stand and looked around in alarm. This gave them an idea.

The technicians would strategically use the same recording on different loudspeakers, which Cheesecake followed frantically, leading towards the escape pods. The indokuro stopped before an open one, however; something was off. He could hear master's voice, alright, but it sounded… off. Repetitive and unchanging.

Before he could fully understand he had been tricked, one of the guards pushed him into the escape pod and closed the door shut.

The celebration was short-lived, however, as the guard had been so relieved he wasn't torn limb-to-limb that he didn't notice he had leaned against the button that sent the pod off until he heard it shoot out of the Massive and fall down towards Sobr.

Chapter Text

Excerpt from Vortian book Sobr, Planet Bathed in Blood.

Of all the bloodsports I've seen down here (and believe me, I've seen MANY down here), indokuro fighting is perhaps the most popular. It consists of pitting two indokuros against each other in a ring. The rules are simple: the one who keeps standing at the end is the winner. You can enter an indokuro of any gender, age or size, though most recommend waiting until they are at least three years old.

Non-sobrekt find this sport to be cruel and unnecessary (me included), but for the lizards, these fights are much more than mere entertainment. They are meant to test your worth as an Indokani, or 'indokuro trainer' if you prefer. Tournaments are held every now and then, but the most important one takes place in the third spring year. The all indokani enter their indokuro to see how far they've come in their training, but regrettably, not all make it alive from their first encounter.

The atmosphere was surprisingly lively. The festival area was located in a wide-open field outside the outskirts.

There were small awning food stands all lined up around the place. The smell coming from them was admittedly delicious. Purple would have been tempted to try them all if they weren't exclusively made or derived from meat. Live-squirming phlak on a tortilla, fried pakuf rib sticks, fresh n' juicy baisok liver, among other things. The only acceptable-by-Irken-standards-snack they found was something similar to curly fries made from a lime green vegetable, fried in baisok oil and salted. Red found they tasted exactly like the fries they had back at the Massive, so they got about a hundred bags. The best part? They didn't need to pay for them since they were a courtesy for Zim by the stand-keeper.

"Told ya," Red muttered to Purple with a smug grin.

"Whaffeveff." Purple retorted with his mouth full of fries.

"Does all the food here involve meat?"

"Sobrekt diet is predominated by meat and carbohydrates, which is obtained from Gessen especially bred for this single purpose."

"Skoodge, what are you doing here? I thought you had gone with Stink, Grapa, and Skutch."

"I did, but they left me behind," Skoodge said rather dejectedly. "Thankfully, I spotted you through the crowd, My Tallest."

Ah, the only disadvantage of their mighty tallness. "So all snacks here are made of meat."

"Don't feel bad, My Tallest. Everybody here eats meat. Look, even the meat!" Skoodge pointed to a large triceratops-like beast that was munching on a great pile of green meat.

"So, Zim, where are the indokuro- I mean, Ilk!"

"Ilk-smeet and Blue-beast are witnessing a blood sport here involving the Fury-beasts. Ah, it's over there. Follow Zim, My Tallest!"

Zim led them towards an improvised arena-like building in the fields, through the long lines and into the seat sections. Purple calculated there were about fifty thousand people there, all of them cheering and roaring at the pit, where two indokuro were engaged in a gruesome fight.

"This way, sirs!"

Purple had to duck his head several times as pieces of raw meat were randomly thrown and nearly collided against his head. Red wasn't so lucky and ended up with a live, squirming creature covered in sauce against his face, which he threw at Skoodge, much to Purple's amusement. Zim led them towards the lower rows, where the fight could be seen more clearly.

"There they are! Ilk-smeet! Blue-beast! Over here!"

"Ilk!" Red called out when he spotted the familiar curly lekku over the crowd.

The reaction was instantaneous: when Ilk's gaze met his, her face lit up and she ran through the crowd to embrace her father. "Daddy, you made it!"

"Of course I made it, sweetie! I wouldn't miss it for anything in the entire galaxy!" Red laughed before pulling back to see how much she had grown. Much like he hoped, Ilk had had a massive growth spurt after the Academy; she now reached up to his chest. She was wearing the Irken Elite uniform, but it had been customized into a light pink and white garment. "You've gotten even taller since we last saw you!"

"Um, Red, Ilk, I hate to interrupt the reunion, but the crowd is looking at us funny…"

"I think it's because we're blocking their view of the arena," Skoodge pointed out.

"You should sit down before they throw you at the indokuros." And there he was. Their least favorite kryvtor was staring at them with half-closed eyelids. He hadn't changed a bit since the last time, it seems.

"Let's sit down, My Tallest! The main fight is about to begin!"

There was a brief debate as to who would sit where, since Red wanted to sit next to Ilk, but eventually they were forced to take their seats by a burly Sobrekt who snapped his- oh, sorry, her teeth at them, just in time as a levitating screen showing a female kryvtor-probably the announcer- flew down. The only one who didn't get a seat was Skoodge, who was forced to stay on his feet and carry the bags of fries.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the main event you've all been waiting for! Who's ready for some blood spilling!" The crowd roared in excitement. So loudly Purple had to cover his lekku. "Alright, you asked for it! On the green corner, we have fresh meat from the Military Training planet Midosis, belonging to rookie Indokani Griler, welcome Skyler"

The barred door on one side of the arena was lifted open and an indokuro reminiscent of Fury stepped out; the main difference was that this one's stripe and eyes were a bright vermillion instead of golden, and the rest of its body was a few shades of a lighter black.

"And now, on the yellow corner, belonging to senior Indokani Sendou, we have the Black Terror of Sobr, Whiplash of the Indokuros, twenty times winner and unbeaten champion of the Indo-fighting Tournament, MAUGRIIIM!"

From the opposite side of the arena came the largest indokuro Purple had ever seen, bigger even than Fury. The stripes running down his body were a blood red and had more intricate patterns. There were patches of wine feathers growing on its head, elbows and the tip of its tail.

A sobrekt painted in black and vermillion stripes (Purple guessed he was the referee) stepped towards the center of the arena. "Face off the indokuros!" Both creatures were brought closer by the guards in the arena by pulling on their thick leather collars with long, electric ropes, but were then pulled back to prevent them from attacking each other yet. Both Indokuros was staring into the other's eyes. Their pupils had turned into thin lines. Their spines and feathers bristled.

"What are they doing?"

"It's to provoke them into fighting. Indokuros from different packs are very territorial and show aggression to those who are not in their group."

"Look, my Tallest! Here comes the best part!"

The referee squeezed an inflated bird-lizard, which let out a high-pitched shriek.

The ropes were deactivated and the battle began. It didn't last longer than a few minutes, however. Skyler tried to attack Maugrim, but the larger indokuro only needed a tackle, a swipe from its claws and a powerful bite to severely injure its younger rival. Skyler tried another tactic and lunged directly at his opponent. This time he managed to take him down, but both rolled unto the ground, exchanging bites and swiped with their claws, mostly coming from Maugrim. The sand on the arena was stained with drops of dark purple blood.

Soon Maugrim had pinned Skyler against the ground by pressing a talon against its neck. Skyler was hissing and shrieking in distress, wiggling and trying in vain to get free. The referee started a countdown until he cried the number ten. "The winner is Maugrim!" The crowd erupted into excited roars which augmented when Maugrim roared, victorious, just as its opponent scurried away. Skyler was covered in bloodied injuries and fresh wounds as it ran back to its Indokani, a distressed-looking female kryvtor.

Purple threw up into one of the empty fry bags. Definitely not a good idea to eat so much before such a match. He glanced at his companions. Ilk and Lena had looked away, their eyes closed shut. Blue seemed mostly indifferent at the violence, but there was a deep frown in his face. Red looked like he was about to faint. And Zim… He was just staring at the bloodshed, eating a bag of popcorn.

"This is savagery!"

"Lower your voice unless you want half of the stadium to come after your head…" Lena whispered hurriedly, warily glancing back at some Sobrekt who were giving Red dirty looks.

For a few moments, he found himself in a tight, dark space that was shaking violently. Cheesecake hated it. It reminded him of the time the mean one locked him into a closet until master let him out. He cried out for master, but he didn't come either. He was getting desperate. Where had master gone? Then the dark space crashed against something with such strength that he was knocked over and hit his head hard against the metal.

Everything went black for a few moments before a loud hissing sound followed by very bright light awakened him. Cheesecake jumped to his feet. Ow! His head banged against the ceiling. He had forgotten he was still inside the tight, not-so-dark-anymore space. He warily poked his head out of the space.

Cheesecake stared in awe at his surroundings. There were no corridors and rooms, but instead a wide, open field. There were no mauves and pinks, but greens in both the sky and the ground. The air was overwhelmed with unknown scents, causing him to sneeze. There was a pleasant breeze blowing against his face.

As he pressed a hand against the ground he quickly lifted it back again when he felt a ticklish sensation. Curious, he pressed his hand on it again. Then the other. Soon he found himself stepping out of the round, mauve nest that brought him there. The tickling was nice! It was just like master's carpet! Cheesecake started rolling on the ground, trying to make as much contact as possible with the ticklish ground.

"Hey, look over there! What's an indokuro doing all the way here by itself? Where is its indokani?"

"Must have run away from him. You know how the newbies can't keep their indokuro under control without a leash. We should take him back."

Cheesecake lifted his head in alarm when he heard unfamiliar voices. Two strange creatures were coming closer towards him. Although both had reptilian features, one was larger and bulkier than the other. The shorter one was making strange sounds while holding out an arm. Cheesecake stepped back with a loud snarl.

"Hey, boy, it's okay. Come 'ere, we're taking you back to your indokani…"

What was an indokani? He didn't know, and he was sure he didn't want to either. With an angry shriek, Cheesecake ran to the opposite side of the field. Both lizards looked confused. "That's weird, he didn't respond properly..."

"You said it yourself, newbies need a leash to control their indokuro. It's probably not properly trained yet."

"More of a reason to take him back before the guards find him."

When they tried to come closer again, Cheesecake didn't bother to warn them. He lunged at the smaller lizard and bit on his hand. It shrieked in pain. Cheesecake almost immediately released its hand when he noted it tasted different from the green ones' blood. PUAJ! The lizard stepped back while looking at its torn limb, horrified.

The bulky lizard took out a weapon of some sort and aimed at Cheesecake's head. The young indokuro knew he was in trouble. It was different, but its shape was reminiscent of the weapons the green ones often used to shoot at things they didn't like. He disappeared through the foliage just as the lizard started shooting at him.

He'd trip with a log or with a big stone every few steps, but nevertheless, he kept running. Eventually, he could go no further and he stopped to take a break, panting heavily. He had never had to run so much in so little time! Once he was sure he was out of danger, Cheesecake took a look at his surroundings. Unlike the field back there, there were tall trees and lots of bushes around here. It was noisier in here than on the field. Within the cacophony of wild sounds, chirps, and wildlife around him, Cheesecake managed to make out a particular sound.

"CURSE YOU, VENDING MACHINE! CURSE YOUUUU!"

Hey, he knew that voice! It's the annoying one he's supposed to attack! He darted out in the direction it was coming from.

"Okay, then, would you mind telling me why you couldn't tell me in person?"

"Red," Lena warned him, squeezing his arm lightly.

After leaving the arena (neither Tallest felt like witnessing another 'street fight meant to amuse the crowds'), the party made their way to a nice park to enjoy their snacks. Zim, of course, started a war with a vending machine while trying to get more snacks for his leaders. Blue and Skoodge went to lend him a hand, giving the three taller Irkens some time alone with Ilk.

"But he has a good point, Ilk," Lena continued. "Why didn't you tell us in person that he proposed?"

Ilk lowered her lekku. "I wanted to, but…" she guiltily averted her gaze. "He kind of… proposed the same day I sent the message."

As expected, the soda Red was drinking went flying out of his mouth and aimed at Purple's face. "WHAT?!" He yelled, not bothering to apologize to his co-Tallest even as he wiped some of the soda from his face while glaring at him.

"Red, lower your voice…!" Lena squeezed on his arm again, tighter this time, and glanced around at the passersby who were looking at Red like he had lost his mind.

"Nothing to look at, people! Just mind your own business!" Purple waved at them dismissively with his hand and received some growls in return.

Red took a deep breath. "Let me get this straight. That lizard proposed to you on the same day you sent the Irkmail?"

Ilk laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "Sort of." She quickly changed the subject when she noticed dad's eye twitching. "So, how are you two doing so far? How did your vacation go?" She exchanged a small glance with Lena.

"We're good, thanks for asking! Red showed me a nice spot on the beach and we..." Red coughed loudly. Lena got the message. "...Well, you know."

"Hey, Why do you show her nice spots?"

Red sighed and glanced at Purple's pouting display of immaturity. "The last time I showed you one you spilled the beans and half the academy picked it as a snacking spot."

"I was drunk, it doesn't count!"

Sigh. "Ilk, don't take me wrong. I'm very happy to see you, but I'm also quite hurt that you couldn't have sent a transmission to tell us in person. Besides, that lizard was supposed to ask me for permission first!" Oh, well, he'd deal with Blue later. He wasn't going to let the misunderstanding sour his reunion with his baby girl. "Anyway, that message said something about pre-marital stuff before the actual wedding."

"Oh, that! Turns out the Sobrekt have quite some customs before a wedding, mostly to see if the couple is worthy of each other. It usually involves families from both sides."

"And why did you invite Zim of all people?"

Ilk rolled her eyes. Some things never changed. "It was mostly on Blue's insistence, but I am happy to see him after all this time. He's gotten taller, in case you haven't noticed."

Both Red and Purple shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, we noticed." The latter muttered. "Did he casually mention how he did it, by the way?"

Ilk told them what she had managed to figure out from conversations with Zim. Apparently, Earth's gravity was much lower than that of Irk's. After living there for so many years, his growth spurt must have finally kicked in and caught up in the height he never achieved back on Irk because the gravity halting it*. In other words, should shorter Irkens live on a planet with such low-gravity for a prolonged period of time, it would trigger similar growth-spurts. Both Tallest made a mental note not to allow any shorters near that planet.

"Hey, speaking of which, did only the four of you come down?"

"Actually, we came with Tenn, Skutch and some others, but we split up to look for you after meeting with Blue's sisters," Lena explained.

"Who are very rude, by the way!" Purple added quickly.

"I already sent them Irkmails to inform them we found you and to meet us back at Blue's home."

"What about Cheesecake? Didn't he come?"

Red's face soured almost immediately. "Don't mention that beast."

"I wanted to bring him," Purple frowned. "But someone whose name I won't mention but is right next to me didn't let me."

"You really think the lizards at the immigration port wouldn't have made a ruckus?"

They heard a scream coming from Zim, followed by loud cries and yells from Blue and Skoodge. Purple's lekku perked up at the familiar shriek. Turning around, he gaped. "Cheesecake?!"

Cheesecake was attacking Zim, flinging him around by the uniform while Blue tried to get to him to let go and Skoodge ran around in circles. As soon as Purple called for him, Cheesecake aborted the attack and lunged at the tall Irken to start licking his face. "Cheesecake, no-! Haha, stop that!"

Red looked absolutely dismayed. "What. Is. That. Thing. doing. Here?" He pointed a trembling finger at Cheesecake."

"Just got an Irkmail from the head technician," Lena sighed in dismay. "He went nuts after we left. They put him in an escape pod, but accidentally set it off." Purple made a mental note to throw whoever did out of the airlock when they got back.

Oh, right, they had forgotten about the others. Zim was screaming and throwing whatever bad words he could think of at Cheesecake. Red and Lena were clearly displeased, mostly the former judging by the frown on his face and his arms crossed against his chest. Ilk and Blue were staring at Cheesecake.

"Oh, my, he has certainly gotten bigger!" The former started laughing as Cheesecake acted like an Earth puppy.

Blue, on the other hand, was staring at them with his brows furrowed. He didn't say anything, but Purple knew a disapproving stare when he saw one.

They arrived back to Blue's house almost by nighttime and the first thing they saw was a big, black mailbox with the words 'biohazardous material' written in sobrekt letters in orange. And next to the box was a female kryvtor, much older than Blue and reminiscent of Brava but with duller scales, tapping her claw talon impatiently. "Would you mind telling me why there is a box with toxic food in front of my house?" This was Deltra, Blue's mother.

As soon as she and Red saw each other for the first time, he decided he did not like her. The way she looked at him made him feel nervous. He never showed it, but he could tell she wanted blood, his blood. Part of him couldn't blame her, though. He had killed her mate and her father-in-law, after all. Blue kept more-or-less civil about it for the sake of Ilk, but he had the feeling Deltra wouldn't have the same courtesy.

They were introduced to the rest of Blue's family. His remaining sister, Kepra, some uncles and aunts from both paternal and maternal sides of the family, a well as cousins. Sobrekt were known for having numerous families, after all. Red and Purple almost found it overwhelming having to memorize so many names. Thankfully there were also familiar faces. Skoodge happily went to catch up with Masouri and Foxtrot, a sentiment shared by Tenn as she found herself in a conversation with Echo. And none other that…

"Captain," Red muttered as he found himself face to face with the crocodile.

"And we meet yet again. What did I tell you, Irken?" he chuckled.

"Are you going to keep calling me 'Irken'? Would it kill you to properly address me as your superior species?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but in your culture, the taller ones rock…"

Red clenched his fists and grit his teeth, especially when Captain gave him a toothy grin, knowing he had won the argument. How he hated him.

They also discovered Zim had brought a 'date'. None of the Irkens could actually believe any girl in her sane mind would be interested in Zim. Soon they understood why: his date wasn't an Irken, she was a hyooman. Just when they thought Zim couldn't embarrass the Irken race anymore. Admittedly, though, the hyooman in question (Purple heard Zim refer to her as Gaz) didn't bother them much. All she did was sit next to Zim, playing with an earthen electronic device meant for sole entertainment purposes.

Lena had the feeling there was more to her than met the eye, considering how even the sobrekt gave Gaz space and didn't bother her. Zim, however, seemed to be madly attracted to her in his own, strange way. Once or twice she heard them exchange curt, semi-hostile words, and then Zim would go back to keeping Gaz as close to him as possible despite her indifference to… well, everything around her.

"Hey, where is Fury?" Lena asked Blue upon noticing the Indokuro was missing.

Blue took a quick look at the electronic clock on the wall. "He'll return in ten minutes sharp."

"Wait, you mean you let those things roam around freely?" Red raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah," one of Blue's cousins laughed. "Indokuros can't stay in one place for long, they need to run. You know, exercise their hearts, take out all their energy, otherwise they'd go nuts, just look at him." She pointed at Cheesecake, who was busy biting into the couch, ripping off large pieces of stuffing and fabric.

"So that behavior means he has a lot of repressed energy?"

"Yes. What does he do all day?"

Red, Lena, and the Invaders glanced at Purple, the former two with deep frowns. "What?"

"How did an indokuro bond with an Irken, by the way?"

"The egg hatched while we were captive on Hoth, and unfortunately that Irken was the first thing he saw." Foxtrot explained.

"No wonder the poor animal is overweight."

"And he doesn't seem too smart, in my opinion."

"Not to mention he's small for his age. Fury's head already surpassed mine by a few inches."

The negative comments about Cheesecake prompted Purple to lead the indokuro outside into the garden. It was very wide, and there was a nest of straw, leaves and dried grass underneath a shelter a few meters away. Guess that's where Fury sleeps. Cheesecake rolled unto the grass, purring in delight at the ticklish sensation. Purple chuckled.

"I know, Cheese, it's the first time you've ever experienced grass, right? Right?" he spoke in the smeetie voice he'd use when Ilk was a smeet as he started rubbing Cheesecake's belly. Cheesecake wagged his tail in response.

At that moment they heard a noise over the wall and turned their heads just in time to see yet another indokuro, this one with a golden stripe, climbing over and landing near the pond to start drinking. Purple recognized him. "Hey, Cheesecake, look! It's Fury! Remember him? Come on, go say hi!"

For once in his life, Cheesecake didn't listen to master. He was staring at the giant, black lizard that was drinking from the wet puddle. He looked and smelled familiar. Then he remembered. It was the big yellow-stripe he had seen long ago! He didn't look as big as that time, but it had to be him. When master ushered him to go meet him again, Cheesecake rushed towards him.

Fury instantly lifted his head when he noted a new scent, both strange and familiar. He lifted his head in time to see. Another. Indokuro. In his territory. And it was coming right at him. Fury got into a fighting pose: slit pupils, bristled spines and a snarl. But to his confusion, the intruder didn't attack. Instead, it started jumping and speeding around him. Then he spotted the purple irk-thing from a long time ago. Fury figured out the identity of the indokuro and lowered his guard slightly.

Why was the yellow-stripe growling at him? Didn't he want to play? It stared at him for a few seconds before it visibly relaxed and made some strange sounds with his nostrils and throat. Cheesecake tilted his head, confused. What was that supposed to mean? He stepped closer, but yellow-stripe stepped back and made the same sound again; this time, however, it sounded a bit angrier.

"What is he doing?" Purple wondered out loud as he watched their… curious interaction. Fury crooned and snorted while Cheesecake tilted his head. Cheesecake then tried to step closer, but the older indokuro stepped back with a growl.

"Fury is telling him to back off. Indokuros aren't much into physical proximity from each other unless they're in heat."

"Wah!" Purple jumped at the new voice and found Blue standing right next to him. "Don't scare me like that!"

"It's not my fault you have poor senses, your Tallest." Blue shrugged.

"What were you saying about physical proximity?"

"It's like we explained back on Hoth; our people aren't much into physical contact unless we're mates or very close. The same applies to indokuros, they seldom let others touch them if you're not their indokani."

"That kind of explains why Cheesecake doesn't let anyone pet him. Lena tried to pet him once when he was a baby and he nearly bit her hand off."

Blue frowned again but said nothing.

Meanwhile, Ilk led Red and Lena into the living room, where Deltra was waiting for them. According to Sobrekt tradition, once an engagement is made the couple's parents came together to talk about their children's future, mostly their living arrangement amongst other things.

To say the atmosphere was tense would be an understatement. Deltra was glaring hard unto Red, while he merely fidgeted with his claws to avoid looking at her in the eye. He was pretty certain that Ilk's presence was the only thing that kept the kryvtor from leaping at him and digging her teeth into his throat. Red contained the urge to gulp the lump in his throat. An Irken never lost his composure in front of inferior species.

"So you're the one who killed my husband and my father-in-law."

Ouch. Did she really have to start with that? Ilk coughed uncomfortably. "Ma'am, I don't think now's a good moment to talk about… the past…"

To Red's surprise, Deltra stepped down with a snort. "Very well, child. For your sake and that of my son's, I won't… touch that particular topic." Her slit-pupils, however, let Red know she would deal with him sooner or later.

Lena quickly asked before Deltra could change her mind. "So, will Blue be joining us, or…?"

"Blue insisted he stay outside to make sure the rest of your companions won't get into trouble," Deltra stated matter-of-factly.

"Okay, then, if we're done talking about the past, how about you explain to me what these pre-marital' traditions are?" Red inquired impatiently.

Deltra snorted again. "There are a few steps before a kekkonshu can take place, meant to show if the couple is compatible with each other."

"Wait, then you mean it's not official yet?"

"Not until we've passed the 'trials'," Ilk muttered.

"And what are these trials about? They're not going to 'behead' an animal and eat its heart, are they?" Lena squeezed Red's arm and glanced at him in disapproval. He shouldn't play on Deltra's patience right now.

"Dad, this is the first."

Red blinked. "This…?"

"It's to see if our families can co-exist without ripping each other apart."

That's all? It didn't sound that hard, considering he was still breathing and with all his limbs intact. "Okay, then we're supposed to talk about where our kids are going to live? Easy, they're coming to the Massive. I don't like the idea of having a liz- Err, non-Irken on board, but I can put up with sobrekt germs for my baby girl."

Both Ilk and Lena smacked their foreheads simultaneously.

Afterward, there was a lot of yelling on both sides, but thankfully no limbs were lost.

Thank Irk, they managed to come to an agreement of sorts. Given both Blue and Ilk had military careers and probably wouldn't see each other too often, it was agreed they'd alternate between the Irken flagship (or wherever Red was at the time being) and Sobr every time they came together. Additionally, Ilk would spend the three winter aestivation years with her father, since she was non-sobrekt and couldn't hibernate.

Afterward Ilk chose to accompany her family to spend the night. It had been a while ever since they were all together like this, in the flesh, after all. Blue saw no problem with it. He offered to show them a good place to sleep, but the Tallest politely declined the offer; they had already thought ahead of that, after all.

"Well, that didn't go that bad…"

"Didn't go that bad? I thought she was going to kill me!"

"You gotta admit you were a little too rude, Red."

"They should be honored we're willing to allow a lizard aboard the Irken flagship without a cage!"

"Speaking of Zim, why didn't he come?"

Skutch shivered in disgust. "He and his… 'girlfriend' are already staying with Masouri. The damn kryvtor wouldn't stop bragging about it as if he had been promoted to fleet commander."

"Okay, this looks like a nice place." They stopped in front of an empty lot. Red glanced at his wife. "Did you bring it, honey?"

Lena still had to get used to being referred to like that by Red, who apart from being her husband was also her Tallest. "Yes, here it is."

Ilk recognized the tiny device Lena took out of her PAK. It was the BasePad Invaders were given to create their operational bases on their assigned planets. This explained why dad and uncle Pur declined the offer to be taken to an inn. The Tallest would never sleep in an alien bed, after all.

She had to say, it was amusing to see dad and uncle Pur bicker as they snatched the pad from one another to put their own ideas into their temporary home. Eventually, Lena rolled her eyes at their immaturity and confiscated the device from them to add a finishing touch and send it into the ground.

"Okay, now we step back and wait."

The whole process took about ten minutes or so. The house they designed was two stories high with mauve and purple walls, making it stand out from the duller sobrekt homes. Inside there was a lounge with a large screen, a bathing room with cleansing gel and three more rooms: one for Purple, one for Ilk and the last one for both Red and Lena. Ilk sighed. She didn't need to ask why there were so few rooms.

"Okay, the rest of you," Red addressed the rest of the Invaders. "You are to stay outside and keep an eye around in case any lizards get too curious."

There were no protests or complains. They saluted with notable enthusiasms. "Yes, my Tallest!"

"Hey, where is Cheesecake going to sleep?" Lena inquired.

"Come on, Cheese. Hopefully, this bed won't be that bad…"

Red stepped in front of the door before Purple and Cheesecake could try to get inside. "No! That thing stays outside!"

"But Red-!"

"Outside!"

"But-!"

"OUT!"

Chapter Text

Rogue Indokuro Report.

Alert to all units. There was an incident in the western park. A young male kryvtor was attacked by a Rogue; it was on the loose and there was no sign of its trainer. The victim, an experienced Indokani himself, tried to get it to bring it to the IK-CADCOM, but the Rogue reacted violently and tore off his hand before fleeing. The victim was taken to the nearest regenerative clinic to recover.

To all RACU units available, be on high alert for the Rogue. The victim's companion described it as an adolescent with a white stripe. He noted that it was notably overweight, and it didn't respond to basic Indokani commands, so it can be assumed it was not properly trained.

Capture it alive. You may open fire at will if things get nasty

The next morning, Red woke up in a particularly neutral mood, which surprised even him considering all that transpired the previous day. He woke up in bed with quite a beautiful sight; Lena was still asleep, snuggled against his embrace and her head resting against his chest. A few months ago he felt it weird to sleep with someone else, but now he couldn't imagine going to bed without her.

His long, thin finger stroked her cheek tenderly, and he casually spotted a scar on her shoulder. The wound the Hothians had inflicted on her had healed, but it left a mark, a constant reminder that he had almost lost her once. Red leaned forward and planted a tender kiss on the scar. Unfortunately, this caused Lena to stir awake. "Good morning," he whispered with a small grin.

"Hmm… What time is it?"

"I have no idea," he glanced at the ceiling. "Computer, what time is it on this planet?"

"It's 19:25 N.C, master

"In Irken, computer."

"N.C. stands for 'Night Cycle', while the opposite is D.C, 'Day Cycle' for short. Each cycle is divided into 24 hours, which summed up results in the 48 hours of an entire day cycle in Sobr"

"Yeah, yeah, I get what you mean," Red mumbled. Sobrekt and their ridiculously slow solar cycles. Technically, that meant it was still nighttime. Then again, it meant he had more time to sleep. He wrapped his arms tightly around Lena's waist when she tried to get up. "Oh, no, you don't." he purred.

"Red, we should see how the others are."

"Come on, they're Irken Invaders, surely they found someplace to spend the night."

"It's not like they could have just barged into a home and occupied it, right?"

"So what? As long as we have Zim on our side, they won't mind."

"Oh, so now you brag about having Zim here when you always do everything you can to keep him away as much as possible."

"Believe me, honey, I have very good reasons for that. Who do you think plunged Irk into darkness not once, but twice?"

Lena looked thoughtful. "I guess you have a point there."

Red smirked. "See? Now how about we go back to cuddling…?"

"Master, there is someone at the door."

"So what? Tell them to come back later."

"Who is it?" Lena asked.

"It's Invader Larb, mistress."

Red muttered under his breath. Sorry for Larb, but he wasn't leaving bed early for anyone. "Tell him to wait until we wake up." With that, he buried himself under the blankets.

They slept for a bit longer until the computer announced it was 03:00 D.C, meaning the sun either had risen or was in the process. They woke up, though Lena literally had to drag Red out of bed, got ready for the day and walked out of their bedroom.

Red frowned upon spotting Cheesecake on the couch, his head resting on Purple's lap as he fed the indokuro with doughnuts. He considered reprimanding him, but decided not to; it was pointless, trying to convince Purple to start treating that beast like a war asset was like trying to convince a rock to sprout legs and learn how to walk.

His mood enlightened considerably as he watched Ilk struggling with her PAK-legs as she carefully tried to balance out a tray with lots of snacks. He quickly stepped forward and helped her regain her footing before she could drop the tray. "Need a hand?" He asked with a chuckle.

Ilk blushed deeply. "How come you make it look easier than it actually is?"

"You just have to get used to it, sweetheart."

"How did you sleep?" Lena inquired. From what Zim mentioned, Sobrekt don't have beds, don't they?"

"Yeah, kryvtors prefer the traditional nest-type bedding. It's not uncomfortable, but I'm glad to have slept on an actual Irken mattress. And that's only the kryvtor bedding. I've heard crocodilian sobrekt sleep in water tanks." Lena noted how both Ilk and Red went blank for a few seconds with a dismayed look. Guess they were imagining Captain sleeping in one of those. She giggled. Like father, like daughter.

There was a knock on the door. "It's Invader Larb again, master."

Red sighed. "Would you mind if I deal with him and the others?" Both Lena and Ilk shrugged. "Hey, Purple, are you coming or what?"

"I think so. I'm quite curious as to what took Larb so long. Besides, I think Cheesecake needs to stretch his legs a big, don't you, boy?"

Larb was outside alongside the other Invaders, but he looked terrible. There were bruises and claw marks all over his flesh, one of his eyes was black and swollen and his uniform had been partly ripped. He was trembling and hugging his knees while his fellow Invaders made no attempt to comfort him; in fact, they seemed to be amused at his state.

"Larb?"

He instantly reacted, knocking over Skoodge and Tenn as he jumped to his feet. "My Tallest!" He saluted.

"Sweet Irk, what happened to you? You look like you were run over by one of Zim's hellish inventions." Purple asked, plainly disgusted.

Thus Larb began his sad tale. He was kept detained in the cell for hours, and when the Sobrekt finally let him out he had to wait on line to get to the teleporters for another two hours. Then he wandered around the city trying to find them and was assaulted by a pack of frill-necks. To get an actual idea of where to look he asked a sobrekt where Zim was staying, and she directed him to the suburb area. When he got off the train he found himself at the indokuro festival and was attacked by a roaming pack of said animals.

So they weren't kidding when they said they let those beasts roam free, Red thought.

"...I am lucky to be alive! But while I do admit I had a bad time, I must say it wasn't a complete waste of time."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Grapa asked.

"While on the train, I sat by a kryvtor scientist. Not a common scientist, though, he was a geneticist that works on HybGen*, better known as Hybrekt Genetic Technologies, the sobrekt institution responsible for the creation of all hybrekts, which includes the indokuros." Larb smirked upon noticing he had caught their interest. "While he was distracted I managed to hack into his datapad and I found something... interesting."

Larb used a mini-projector from his PAK to project an image against the wall. It was written in sobrekt, but it was clearly something related to a new genetic hybrid, judging by the Shuryo's approval signature in his own blood (P.S: ask Captain if they use actual blood to sign documents). From what Larb could figure out, the Shuryo himself must give the green light for any new hybrids before even the initial designs and genomes can be worked on. The curious thing was the first three letters of this project's name in particular.

"Zim…? What does Zim have to do with this?"

"Maybe they're naming it after him."

Red stared at the document with a thoughtful look. "Larb, translate this thing however you can. Additionally, I want you to sneak into that place where they make their genetic mixtures and find more information about this Zim-named project."

"Yes, my Tallest!"

"Since we're on it, how about we gather information about the military?" Purple muttered. "Yesterday I heard their military academy is in Midosis."

"Tenn, Skutch, Spleen. You three go to Midosis and learn what you can." said Invaders saluted. "The rest of you… find something to investigate while we're here!"

With the matter taken care of and the group dispersing, Purple patted Cheesecake's head. "Well, boy, how about you go explore around here? You could find Fury and catch up, don't you think?" To his surprise Cheesecake started pulling him by the robe.

"Why don't you take him for a walk? I think some people here would like some peace and quiet for a while."

"Hey, Cheesecake isn't noisy!"

"I'm not talking about him."

Purple pouted and quietly pretended to be squashing his co-Tallest's head with his fingers as he went back inside, but Cheesecake didn't stop pulling on his robe, so in the end, he had to follow suit.

As they walked through the neighborhood he spotted some of the inhabitants, mostly kryvtors, were on their way to… wherever they were going. He sensed some glances going his way and caught a few staring at him and Cheesecake, and not in a good way. He remembered one of Blue's cousins showing surprise over Cheesecake belonging to him. Guess he was the first Irken 'indokani' ever.

They came upon the park from the previous day. Unlike yesterday, however, there was a pack of four indokuros near the pond, one of whom both Purple and Cheesecake recognized. "Hey, Fury!" The former called out. The indokuros lifted their heads in their direction. The other three looked like they were going to attack until Fury got in their way and growled before making some strange purrs and hisses. This seemed to placate them for now. Purple took a look at the other three. Two of them looked just like Fury, but their stripes were green and orange respectively. The last one looked just like Maugrim, but his stripes and spots were lavender.

"Why don't you go make some friends, Cheese?" Purple said, rubbing Cheesecake's head. "Go on, I'll be right here."

Cheesecake excitedly made his way towards the pack of indokuros but stopped a few inches away from them when the three strangers bared their teeth at him. He tried to approach again, but this time the lavender-striped one responded with a painful bite on the neck. Cheesecake shrieked in pain and ran back to hide behind Purple just as the indokuros chased him off despite Fury's attempts to intervene.

"Cheese! Are you okay, Cheesecake?" Purple was instantly fawning over him. The bite marks were not very deep, but they had drawn a bit of blood. "Oh, what has that savage done?"

"Wow, Blue wasn't exaggerating when he said you pampered on it like a house pet."

Purple recognized that voice. It was Blue's cousin from last night, the one who had started with the criticism session. He frowned at the pale kryvtor. She was leaning against a light post, staring amusingly at them. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"You should know better than to let him out just like that." She said, all humor gone. "He is not trained properly and from what I just witnessed he doesn't even understand his own kind's body language. He was lucky Fury was around, otherwise, they would have mauled him to death."

"Why are they so savage?!"

The kryvtor raised an eyebrow. "Savage? That's how an indokuro should be: wild, untameable and aggressive. Quite the opposite of your little lap-dog."

How did she even know what that word meant? Probably heard it from Zim. "My Cheesecake is not a lapdog!"

"Cheesecake? What kind of dumb name is that?"

Purple smirked. "Zim named him." The temptation to laugh when the color drained from her face was overwhelming, but that moment he received an Irkmail.

X0X

"Hey, where is Tenn? I thought she came with you."

"Skutch and Spleen are missing too."

Red coughed uncomfortably. "They... They went to fetch more snacks." He lied, averting his gaze lightly.

"You took the ones that were mailed to my mother's home to… wherever you are staying, didn't you?"

"We did, but they are from the previous day and we want fresh ones." Blue rolled his eyes. The idea that this Irken was going to be his father-in-law made him feel… uncomfortable.

The mini-stadium from the day before had been taken down to make way for an empty space the size of ten football courts, as Zim put it, with matching seats placed at the sides meant to house about half of Igano's population. This time there were no Indokuros, however. Instead, they witnessed the aerial sideshow Zim had mentioned the previous day, performed by the OTFs.

Speaking of OTFs, the Irkens learned what the things were. They consisted on big, black flying creatures reminiscent of wyverns from Draconis 54, dressed in transforming armor shaped like Sobrekt combat ships; the whole spectacle consisted of the animals doing aerial maneuvers while changing in-between forms. When they finally landed in the empty court, Red and Purple noticed they didn't have any sort of rider on their backs and couldn't help but wonder if they were perfectly trained… until each of the creatures vomited a sobrekt or kryvtor from within. This prompted Purple to throw up in Skoodge's snack bag. Captain laughed.

"I don't find it any amusing!" Red snapped at him. "It's disgusting! Why can't you use computerized ships like everybody else?!"

"Because mechanical probes can break down and computers can be hacked, unlike animals*. The kurokran, on the other hand, have their pilots well-protected inside their bodies." The Sobrekt explained.

Red took a noisy slurp of soda. That explains why none of our attempts to hack those things ever worked.

"Hey, I thought you said they were called OTFs." Lena pointed out.

"That's how they are classified, the species name is kurokran."

"And how come those pilots don't turn into a meal in that thing's stomach?"

"That's confidential information, Irken."

Purple noticed the public were leaving their seats to go towards the kurokran, oft, whatever their names were. "Oh, so we can take a closer look at them?"

"Well, yes, but- Hey, Irken, where are you going? Irken!" Ignoring Captain, Red and Purple left their seats and got into the line to approach the kurokran. Ilk and Zim followed suit if only to prevent them from messing things up.

Once it was their turn (it didn't take too long thanks to Zim), they chose to approach the nearest kurokran, the smallest of the group. It's pilot, referred to as 'kurokani', was a male sobrekt wearing a green and black suit which covered all of its body. The Tallest assumed the suit was made of a material that was immune to the kurokran's stomach acids. Hopefully, Tenn and the others would be able to get that information.

"Hey, Blue, this guy was just expelled from the beast's intestines through its mouth and yet it's not covered in saliva. Why?" Purple asked.

"Experienced kurokani can trigger the expulsion without excessive salivating nor vomiting," Blue explained.

"But being in there is not nice," Ilk muttered.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad."

"Have you ever been inside somebody else's stomach? It's disgusting!"

Blue smirked. "Is it?"

"Hey, My Tallest! Look at me! Look at Zim!" They looked up and found him right on top of the kurokran's head. "I have subdued this beast in the name of the Empire!" Blue and Ilk chuckled fondly while Red and Purple rolled their eyes.

"Are there any chances he'll get eaten?"

"Not likely, buddy."

"Damn it."

When their time was up and they were ushered away so others could take their turn, they went back to the side of the field to catch up with the others. Ilk had the feeling something was going on judging by the worried looks in Captain's face. Lena and the other Irkens looked concerned as well.

"What's up? Where's the fire?"

Lena gulped the lump in her throat. "Purple, where is Cheesecake?"

"Cheese? I left him back home, he looked like he could take a nap. Why? You miss him already?"

Captain rolled his eyes. "When did he arrive?"

"Yesterday at about midday, I think, why?"

Captain and Lena exchanged glances before the former showed them his datapad. There was a more-or-less accurate digital illustration of Cheesecake, exaggerated to make him look aggressive, with big, sobrekt characters written in orange right under it. Purple frowned. "Hey, what is that?"

"It's a wanted poster, Irken. The I-KCADCOM are looking for him all over. Apparently, he attacked a senior indokani and tore off his hand. They've labeled him as a rogue indokuro."

"Rogue?"

Blue averted his gaze. "Severely misbehaving, hostile or trainerless Indokuros are marked as a rogue and captured by the I-KCADCOM before they can become a danger to others."

Purple furrowed his brow. "Cheesecake is neither of those things! Right, guys?" No reply. "Hello?"

The others were averting their gazes. Red was additionally whistling a random tune absentmindedly.

"It doesn't matter what you think of him, Irken, the problem is that as far as the committee is concerned, your indokuro is a danger to others."

"You should keep him indoors during your stay lest you want them to confiscate him."

Purple swore his squeedly-spooch sank. "They can't do that! Cheesecake's mine!"

"Not by Sobrekt laws. They can and will take him away if they find him, more of a reason for you to hide him," Captain glanced at Zim, who was in the middle of a one-sided chat with Gaz. "Not even Hitorken Zim would be able to help you if the committee takes Cheesecake."

Purple felt a shiver down his spine.

Midosis turned out to be even more heavily-defended than Sobr. It wasn't just an orbital ring with laser cannons, it was literally armed to the teeth. The reason Grapa and Stink didn't have so much trouble infiltrating last time was that they had landed in an uninhabited area with the only intention of obtaining an ingredient for Ilk's medicine.

In this occasion, however, the trio of Invaders assigned to infiltrate Midosis had a hard time getting past the orbital defenses even with their camouflaged zhook cruiser, and only narrowly avoided being detected. They landed near one of the buildings and hid their ship amongst the trees.

The standard paper-thin disguises wouldn't work here. Sobrekt were amongst the few species that could see through an Irken Invader's disguise under certain circumstances, such as smelling them closely or one of their hybrekts being the ones to actually figure it out, as Captain had pointed out to Tallest Red on Hoth. The first Invader sent to Sobr had been discovered for trying to seize an indokuro, but the hybrekt saw through his disguise and attacked him, which led to his discovery. Because of this, they used more advanced, holographic disguised to make themselves look like kryvtors.

"Okay, we should split up, that way it'll be unlikely we get caught," Skutch whispered as they made their way to the first building. "Spleen, you hack their main database about the hybrekts they use on the battlefield. Tenn, you go take a look at their aircraft and learn about their training sessions if possible. I'll go take a look at their so-famous hand-to-hand combat. We'll meet back here in three hours."

With that, the three went in different directions. It wasn't hard for Tenn to find the hangar, but it was quite far from their current position and had to take a transporter there. She made sure to keep her distance from the sobrekt she'd run into. Hopefully, they wouldn't notice an extra addition amongst their ranks. She couldn't help but notice most of them here were younger and shorter than Captain, Blue and the others. She had even seen some young hatchlings once or twice.

Once she arrived at her destination she saw some trainees and cadets leaving a particular area, all of them dripping wet with water… at least she thought it was water. When she analyzed the substance with her PAK, however, it turned out to be saliva of an unknown creature. Even odder, it had traces of DNA of different animals from other planets. There were hybrekts here? She should go take a look in there.

All she found inside were pools of dark water, however. Every few seconds a large group of bubbles would make their way to the surface. Tenn figured the hybrekts were underwater. She quietly released a mini-probe into the pool; the device sent images to her ocular implants. It was a large, black draconian beast with long appendage-like ears, a sleek dark body with wyvern-like locomotion. The animal was sleeping peacefully.

Tenn kept staring at the creature. It was immobile and hadn't taken notice of her presence. She grinned. Larb might have gotten the HybGen project, but surely the Tallest would reward her even more if she brought them actual DNA samples of an hybrekt. She released another device into the pool. Not long after both probes returned, one of them with a small vial of dark blood. Tenn wasn't satisfied with just one, though. She went from pool to pool, taking blood samples from each of the sleeping hybrekts.

Then she noticed one of the pools was a bit farther from the rest. Perhaps that specimen was bigger or had a reason to be apart from the others? Tenn's hidden lekku twitched when she heard the water's surface rippling and swaying ever so slightly. The more she approached, the stronger they became until she found herself a few feet away from the edge. The dark shape underwater was starting to shift.

The Irken Invader was caught completely off guard when the creature emerged from the water with a loud shriek. It spread out its long, black wings, sending large droplets everywhere around the pool. Its piercing golden eyes stared down at Tenn with slit pupils. It would have been a nice idea to run, but Tenn found herself frozen in place, trembling. Any wrong move might incite an attack and it would be the end.

It happened so fast that before she knew it, the creature's open maw snatched her and sent her down its throat.*

Despite their strictly militaristic lifestyle, Sobrekt weren't immune to the caress of vices. Gambling is amongst the most common, if not the most. Unlike most cultures, the art of wagering is considered a debt of honor. Because of this, Sobrekt always, always, keep their end of the deal should they lose a bet.

In order for this to apply, though, the wager must be made at an approved establishment, which makes the bet itself legal. Some species refer to these places as 'casinos', but the Sobrekt simply call them betting houses. Unlike many of the buildings in Sobr, betting houses are decorated in neon colors such as blue, green and yellow, making them easy to distinguish. Aside from the games and gambling services such as contracts, betting houses provide patrons with bars where alcoholic beverages were served.

Lena wasn't happy. "Why are we here, again?" she asked her husband.

"If we're going to learn everything about these guys, we might as well do it well." Red shrugged. He could understand why she wasn't happy, though. There was a loud of noise in that place, in between roars, laughter, music, and shouts from drunken sobrekt as they were carried away.

"Where did Bob and Skoodge go, by the way?"

"I don't know, maybe they're betting all their monies in a bet, who knows?"

"You should be nicer to them, you know."

"Why should I? They're short."

"What makes you think they won't end up growing taller as Zim did?"

Red felt a shiver down his spine. "Don't remind me. The last thing I want is Zim growing taller than me and Purple!"

"So what's the problem with that?" Oh, he had forgotten Captain was there, drinking from a mug. It's hard to remember when he's not used to seeing the croc in civilian attire (which consisted of light leather garments accompanied with soft fabric) instead of his military armor.

"Are you seriously asking me that? So many things could go wrong should it happen that I don't even know where to begin!"

"Hey, Irken, from what I hear you knew hitorken Zim since you were… smeets, right?"

"Who told you that?"

"Zim."

Red sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. Purple and I were hatched a few weeks before Zim. Everything was fine until he came along; we were in the dark for five fucking years three minutes after he hatched!"

Captain sighed dreamily. "Even that young he was amazing."

Red would have argued but desisted. Trying to convince a sobrekt that Zim is not cool was like trying to convince him or Purple to start eating vegetables.

"Um, Captain, you mentioned you had a mate, right? When will we meet her?" Lena asked, changing the topic.

"My Okotto*? He should be meeting us soon." Captain replied.

"He?"

"There you are!"

Red and Lena watched as a male crocodile approached and share a snout rub with Captain. His scales were of different shades of greenish brown, and he was wearing a civilian attire much like Captain. Both Irkens exchanged surprised looks but shrugged it off.*

"Okotto, remember the Irkens I told you about? Well, here they are. They are Tallest Red and his mate, Lena." Captain gestured at them.

Okotto stared at them with narrow green eyes. "I thought he'd be taller."

Red clenched his teeth and wordlessly bent his fork in two.

"So you two are attending Blue's wedding? I must say, I never thought that boy would pair up with an Irken."

"You've met Ilk?" Lena asked curiously.

"Yeah. She's a nice girl, very un-Irken like if you ask me, but then again maybe it's a good thing."

Red frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Here, Okotto, have a drink." Captain handed him his mug. "You look like you need it, honey."

Okotto took a big gulp. "You have no idea, those newbies will be the death of me. Too soft."

"What are you guys drinking?"

"It's called grootbeer," Okotto lifted the mug for emphasis. "It's the most popular alcoholic beverage here on Sobr."

"Can we try it?" Red inquired. He noted the concerned glance the crocodiles exchanged. "What?"

"I'm not sure it's a good idea, Irken." Captain said. "Grootbeer is very strong, outsiders usually can't handle a spoonful of it."

"Please, Captain, I've survived Vortian fire whiskey, you think I can't handle a bit of Sobrekt beer?"

"You can't compare them, Vortians are softies."

"Red, I think they might be right."

"Come on, Lena, surely they exaggerate, you know how they like to dramatize stuff. Hey, bartender! Would you bring us some of that alcoholic beverage?"

Captain stopped him."No, wait. If you're going to taste it, at the very least let me give you a small quantity to make it less likely you'll get slammed." He asked the bartender to give them two tiny shot-type glasses, and Okotto poured a tiny bit of the grootbeer on each.

Red half-closed his eyes and gave them both an annoyed stare. "Seriously?"

"Do you know how to drink shots, Irken?"

"It's on one gulp, right?" Okotto nodded.

Lena and Red grabbed the shots and exchanged looks. With a nervous nod, they clinched their glazes and gulped the whole thing down.

Chapter Text

From HybGen's databases:

Kurokran. Scientific name: Comedelacerta volcrum reptilis.

Genomes used

- Lux Furore Draconis*. DNA was taken from a healthy female. Traits obtained: cloaking method consisting of scales with mirror-like qualities.

- Noctus Furore Draconis*. DNA was taken from a healthy male. Traits obtained: black coloration, tail rudders and wing structure, retractable teeth, and high intelligence.

- Pandoran Mountain Banshee*. DNA was taken from a healthy male specimen. Traits obtained: a lifelong bond with a rider behavior, wyvernid locomotion, shape of the head.

- Steelmitus. DNA was taken from a female specimen. Traits obtained: metabolism dependent on metal, capacity to survive in the vacuum of space.

- DNA obtained from the samples in the storage. Traits obtained: body flexibility

The Kurokran was designed to replace the space aircraft given the actual war with the Irken Empire. Unlike many other mounts, however, this new species' consumes its chosen rider, who will then control it from within. Their stomach acids aren't strong enough to dissolve a biological being, but it will cause irritation without the proper gear.

The method on which they pick their riders is not fully understood. The chosen person can be of either gender, and there were a few instances in which Kurokran even swallowed non-sobrekt individuals. It is widely accepted that they will choose people who harbor no feelings for others.

Purple was bored. Very bored.

There wasn't much to do here in Sobr for an Irken, especially since the Sobrekt weren't particularly friendly to them, even if they had last parted on good terms (except for stupid, taller Zim). Red and Lena had gone out with Captain a few hours ago, most Invaders were doing their assignments and Ilk was with Blue, leaving him alone in the base with Cheesecake.

Irkens are usually solitary creatures. From birth, they are trained to be alone, and all feelings for companionship are repressed in order to prepare them to go into solo missions for months at a time. Nothing but the Empire matters, after all, so this made sure the soldiers wouldn't compromise the Empire by such a trivial thing as friendship.

There were exceptions, though. Though mostly liking to work alone, Irkens do prefer to be amongst their own kind than with other species. He and Red has been a unique case: both were hatched at the same time, in the same clutch, and since their first meeting they had been inseparable. Whenever possible, they tried to get assigned together in team exercises and often shared their snacks. Something very rare in an Irken.

It had always been like this, but ever since Lena and Ilk got into their lives, Purple noticed Red's priorities had... shifted. First or had been Ilk; he was mostly centered on looking after her and sometimes Purple had felt a bit left out, especially on the 'bad nights'. But he could never be mad at Ilk for that. Children came first, after all.

Then Lena came into the picture, and Red's priorities shifted yet again. Ilk was still on top of the list, but Lena had won the second place ever since she and Red started dating. They'd go on dates and leave him behind. After they got married, this became more often, and they'd spend more time... well, doing married people stuff, which in turn made him feel left out, especially since Ilk went to the Academy.

Cheesecake was his only companion during all that loneliness. The indokuro always followed him around and came looking for him ever since he hatched. When he was left alone, Cheesecake always kept him company. He always seemed to sense he was down and tried to cheer him up. It made being left out less... painful.

Speaking of Cheesecake, he wouldn't stop scratching at the door, wailing and growling. He hated to be locked. There was one occasion when Red locked him in a closet and poor Cheesecake was stuck inside for hours until he found him. He still hadn't forgiven Red for that. He didn't like to see Cheesecake like this, but part of him was afraid of Captain's warning. Cheesecake was a 'wanted criminal' now and would be treated as such. He initially thought he was exaggerating, but he had seen the news streaming on the T.V.

"No, Cheesecake, not this time." Purple sighed sadly as his indokuro pulled his robe, whimpering. "We have to stay here until things cool down." Cheesecake didn't seem to understand, or he did and it frustrated him more. "Here, have a doughnut!" he threw the snack at the indokuro's head, but Cheesecake didn't even bother to try to catch it.

Purple's lekku twitched as he heard a commotion outside. "Computer, who's outside?"

"It's... Tallest Red and Lena with two Sobrekt, master."

"Let them in."

As they came in, however, he instantly knew something was wrong. For starters, Captain and another male Sobrekt (Okotto, as he'd later learn) were carrying Red and Lena in their arms bridal style. The latter two were giggling like kids and their faces were a deep shade of green.

"Weee! Look, Pur, I'm flying!" Red cried out happily in-between hiccups.

"What on Irk...?" Purple murmured as he jumped to his feet. "What happened?"

"What does it look like, your Tallest? They wanted to try out grootbeer despite our warnings," Okotto explained. "And they only drank a tiny shot."

Purple gulped. If this is what a little grootbeer did to an Irken, he didn't want to imagine what a whole pint would do.

"Heey, Red, what's *hick* a big, mouth *hick* cocodrile doing in the *hick* base?" Lena asked in-between hiccups.

"I don't *hick* know... Hey, lizard! What are you *hick* doing in my house?!"

Captain seemed to be getting uncomfortable, especially when Red started toying with his snout. "Hey, Irken, would you mind telling us where to put them so we can go? This is getting a bit.. awkward." He murmured the last word as his cheeks went green.

Purple signaled them to Red and Lena's room. Seconds later both Sobrekt came out without the Irkens. "Those two are going to have the hell of a hangover...*," Captain said with a glance back at the door.

"Hey, Captain, how long do you think Cheesecake has to stay hidden? Look at him, he's bored!" Cheesecake even put on his 'begging' face to make an emphasis. Captain seemed unimpressed, however.

Okotto was more sympathetic. "A walk wouldn't hurt it, would it, sweetheart?" Sweetheart? Captain didn't mention his mate was a male. Purple shrugged it off. Oh, well, everyone has their tastes.

Captain shrugged. "Okay, Irken, we're going home. When they wake up they'll feel like they were run over by a pack of dakkul, so don't be surprised if they barf a lot. I'd keep a bucket just in case." That said, they departed.

Cheesecake banged his head on the door when it closed before he could get out. The Indokuro whined in dismay. "I'm sorry, Cheesecake, but I can't take you out..." Purple stopped abruptly as he heard something in Red and Lena's room, mostly giggling and moaning.

"Well, now that we're *hick* alone, how about we *hick* try the doggy?"

"What's the- Oh, sweet Irk, Red!"

Purple gulped. "Then again, it's early, so I don't think anyone will spot us, right?" He certainly didn't want to stick around to hear what those two were up to.

It was still early, so most of the streets were empty. Good, it would be less likely to be spotted. He watched fondly as Cheesecake ran and jumped around just like the earthen 'ponies'; one of the many films Zim sent involved said animals. Cheesecake happened to see it and started mimicking their movements. He found it adorable, especially when in one of those instances Cheesecake knocked a whole tray of snacks on top of Bob and Red. They got grounded, but it was worth it.

Speaking of Red, what was he going to do about him? Knowing him, he'd probably try to eventually get rid of Cheesecake the old-fashioned way. Red and Cheesecake had never gotten along. He didn't understand why, though. Cheesecake was cute, how couldn't Red see that? But nooo, he was always looking for an excuse to complain. The soldiers sent to the infirmary, running out of burgers, Lena getting bitten, his stupid carpet, etcétera.

He didn't really understand the issue with his stupid carpet. He can replace it as many times as necessary, it's not like they'd go broke, right? Purple never complained when Red broke his guns during training.

They arrived at the park from the previous day. Fury and his pack were nowhere in sight. Instead, there was a pick of frill-necks scavenging a trash can they had previously overturned. Cheesecake approached curiously.

"Be careful, Cheesecake!" Purple cried out. Those things hadn't left a good impression on him on the orbital station. And that had been only one. Here there were five of them, and none of them had a leash.

They became alarmed when Cheesecake approached. Purple noticed one of them had pristine white scales, so he decided to dub this one Albino. It hissed at Cheesecake threateningly when he got a bit too close.

Cheesecake smelled snacks from the trash can, but as he approached the strange lizards raised their heads and looked at him. A white one stepped forward, hissing loudly. Cheesecake tilted his head to one side. This one looks curious. He tried stepping forward to sniff it, but the white lizard spread out its frills and spat a black substance right into his eyes. Cheesecake shrieked in distress. He couldn't see anything, but he heard master's voice calling frantically.

"Cheesecake, are you okay?!" Purple managed to remove the black, sticky substance from the indokuro's eyes with a napkin taken from his PAK. What the hell did that beast do?! He saw the pack of frill-necks scurrying away in the corner of his eye.

Ouch! That substance hurt his eyes. Cheesecake got mad at the Albino. How dare he do that to him?! He spotted the bastard running away from the spot with his pack. Being used to getting away with almost everything, this included getting even with anyone who did things like this to him. So naturally, he was going to chase after the Albino and make him pay for this.

Before Purple could do anything to impede it, Cheesecake shrieked and went right after them. "Cheesecake, no! Get back here!" He spread out his PAK legs and darted out after him, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the indokuro's surprising speed.

He panicked when Cheesecake turned around a corner. His lekku unconsciously pointed forward when he heard panicked yells and shrieks. It turned out the street he had disappeared into was a marketplace. On the bright side, he'd only have to follow the trail of broken stands and merchandise scattered on the ground to find him, right?

"Excuse me, did you see an indokuro with a white stripe pass through here?!" Most of the shopkeepers responded with angry hisses, but a few pointed in the direction he had gone. He didn't even bother to apologize as he made his way down the street. It's their fault for putting their stuff in Cheesecake's way.

A black creature-Purple recognized it as a kurokran- flew overhead and sped up ahead. Seconds later he heard another shriek, this time of pain. Purple quickened the pace and made his way to a plaza; his squeedly-spooch sunk when he saw Cheesecake in an electrical net, being poked with electric spears by sobrekt clad in black light armor. "CHEESECAKE!"

Cheesecake didn't know what was going on. One moment he was chasing after the Albino, and the next he was trapped with a bright net. Every time he tried to get out of it, he was poked with the painful, shiny sticks by the lizards clad in black. He saw Master coming towards him only to be blocked by the black lizards. Cheesecake tried to go save him, but then a giant winged monster descended upon him and pinned him down with its talon.

"Cheesecake, it's okay! I'm here, buddy!" Purple knelt down to stroke his indokuro's head but was abruptly pulled back by two kryvtors. How come they could pull him away with such thin arms, anyway? "Let him go, you savages!" He managed to get their hands off him, but two sobrekt blocked his way with electric spears.

A male whose black suit had additional orange markings stepped forward. He was probably the one in charge. "Who's the indokani?" He asked the crowd that had formed around the scene.

Purple was momentarily confused until he remembered that 'indokani' was the Sobrekt word for those who owned an Indokuro. He quickly raised his hand. "Me! I'm his Indokani!"

The sobrekt eyed him once, examined him for a few seconds and then turned back to the crowd. "Seriously, who's the owner?"

"Are you deaf?! It's ME! I am the owner!" The sobrekt in armor and the crowd exchanged looks and burst into laughter. Purple frowned, chagrined, especially when even the kurokran joined in. "What's so funny?!"

"Don't make me laugh, Irken! There's no way you can be its indokani!"

"He's mine! I raised him from the egg!"

The squad leader snorted. "Can you prove it? Do you have an indokani license or the registration number?"

Purple blinked. "License?" Man, Skoodge's flashcards would come in handy right now!

"You don't even know what those are, do you? More points to my favor."

"Ask Hitorken Zim! He can tell you!" Damn it, this is the second time he has to depend on Zim to appeal to a sobrekt.

Unfortunately, this time it didn't work. "Is that so? Well, then you can ask him to come to IK-CADCOM and maybe they will consider it." He turned to the Kurokran. "Deliver the Rogue Indokuro to HQ."

His squeedly-spooch sunk. "NO! LET HIM GO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Purple desperately tried to push past the guards, but the gust of wind created by the Kurokran's wings sent him flying backward, alongside most of the crowd. As he recovered from the hit, he saw the creature taking Cheesecake's net in its talons and fly away. "CHEESECAKE!"

It took her a while to process what had happened. The beast had abruptly emerged out of the water and eaten her. Tenn panicked as she was dragged down the creature's throat and then fell into its stomach. Or at least she thought it was its stomach. It certainly didn't feel like one. She could feel the acids burning her skin, but it wasn't strong enough to dissolve her into a pulp.

Tenn activated her ocular implant's night vision. She was surrounded by large intestine-like organs covered in slime-like acid, but that couldn't be. She should have dropped into the stomach directly. Then again, she didn't really know the internal anatomy of this hybrekt; perhaps it had been designed like this. Okay, now to get out of here before she gets severe burns, or worse.

Tenn had to cover her lekku when the kurokran roared. Damn it, it was even louder from in here. The sound caused her a bit of a headache. Three seconds later, there was a violent movement that sent her against the intestine walls. Ouch, they were harder than they seemed.

Her lekku twitched again. She managed to hear voices from the outside. Damn it, had she been caught? She couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but they sounded panicked.

Won't let... out!

...emetic serum!

Get the...!

Her panic started again when the digestive juices increased to the point of pooling. She tried to move, but the acidic water overwhelmed her and she was dragged back and up the way she had come. Soon she was expelled out of the creature; Tenn managed to turn around as she so her PAK wouldn't receive the hit. Instead, she landed right on her head. Tenn rubbed her sore skull. Ouch, that hurt.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw blurry shadows all around her; some hands were shaking her to make her react. Irken pride made her swat them away with a snarl; no alien meat should touch her. managed to hear someone asking if she was okay. It wasn't long before everything went black.

She was awakened by a splash of cold water. Tenn coughed whatever liquid had gotten into her lungs and rubbed her eyes. She half-expected the sobrekt to be pointing their weapons at her, but they were looking down at her in concern instead. Then she noticed her disguise was still working. Thank Irk!

"You okay?" One of the kryvtors asked.

"I'm not okay! In case you didn't notice, I was eaten by that... that... thing!" Tenn snapped. The kurokran had apparently retreated back into the pool, as he was nowhere to be seen.

"Out of the way, let me through!" A female kryvtor with minty-green scales pushed past the crowd. Unlike the ones wearing maintenance suits, this one was wearing a dark green military suit. She looked down at Tenn. "This one?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"What's your name, soldier?"

"Tenn." She introduced herself. She didn't bother to give a fake name this time. She shivered in disgust when she felt the kurokran's vomit trickling all down her body. "What's with that animal?! I'm covered in its internal body fluids!" She snapped.

"Interesting," the kryvtor rubbed her chin. "Rather than being afraid of the Kurokran, you seem more concerned with being vomited out."

"What did you expect?! Would you like to be vomited out by a monster?!"

"Hey, you have no idea of how fortunate you are! Not everyone gets chosen by a Kurokran!" One of the maintenance workers said excitedly.

Tenn raised an eyebrow. "Chosen?"

"You know the drill: if it eats you, it has picked you to be its pilot, and they are very selective."

The kryvtor was silent for a few moments. "What are you all looking at? Get back to work!" she snapped at the workers. The crowd dispersed instantly. She looked back at Tenn with a stoic expression. "Have you heard of the OTF?"

"A bit," Tenn lied. Actually, it's a half-truth, she saw in the Irkpad forums that some of her fellow Invaders had been present in an aerial demonstration back on Sobr. They didn't mention they fucking EAT you!

"It stands for Organic Transformed Flyer*, a branch of the Gessen Division. It's one of the most coveted ranks in the army. Very few manage to be recruited into the OTF program, in part because it's the Kurokran themselves who pick their pilots."

"Ma'am, with all due respect, where are you going with this?" She actually knew the implication. Some of the trainers had used this tactic back on the Academy whenever she showed exceptional promise in certain areas.

The kryvtor smirked. "Meet me in my office in an hour."

Tenn returned to the meeting spot where she was to reunite with Spleen and Skutch. They looked terrible. Spleen was covered in bite marks and one of his lekku was twisted while Skutch was covered in ash and smoking. "Don't ask," they muttered in unison as they saw her approach.

"I take it things didn't go well," Tenn snickered and deactivated her camouflage.

"How about you? Did you go for a swim or something? You're all wet."

Tenn felt a shiver down her spine. "You could say so," she told them about her experience with the Kurokran. As expected, they started to laugh. Tenn rolled her eyes. "Well, at the very least I did make some progress."

"So what now? Why did the lizard lady want to see you in her office?"

The Irken invader smirked. "I think I have a good idea."

The first thing Lena felt when she woke up was a throbbing headache. As she stirred awake, she brought her hand to rub her head in a feeble attempt to diminish it. It took her a few moments to recognize her surroundings as her and Red's room back on the base.

She saw Red on the other side of the bed, completely hidden under the pillows and blankets, snoring. How did they get here? All she could remember was drinking something, but as she tried to recall the following events her organic brain pulsated with pain. Her PAK sent painkillers into her system, but they only alleviated the pain slightly.

Almost immediately she also felt very thirsty. She was covered in sticky sweat, so it was no wonder why. She must have lost most of her bodily fluids throughout the night. With some difficulty, Lena managed to climb out of bed, but when the lights automatically turned on she quickly covered her eyes; it hurt. "C-Computer, turn them off!" She ordered, and they extinguished.

Unfortunately, the brief exposure to light caused her headache to return. Lena blindly made her way to the bathroom to get a glass of water, but on the way there her squeedly-spooch squirmed violently. She took a hand to her mouth when she felt the acidic sensation of vomit coming up her throat. Despite the darkness, she somehow managed to get to the sink and throw up.

"C-Computer..." she croaked throughout the forced expulsion of digestive juices. "Could you... run a diagnostic on me?"

"Judging from the state you and Tallest Red returned in last night, I'd say you're experiencing a hangover."

"State...?!" She puked again.

"You were brought in a deep alcohol intoxication state. The hangover is the result of said experience. Symptoms include headache, drowsiness, dry mouth, dizziness, fatigue..." Lena didn't listen to the rest of the explanation. She was actually well aware of the symptoms. She was a doctor, for Irk's sake!

When the puking episode finally ended, Lena was covered in even more sweat. After a quick, shower with refreshing cool gel, she made her way out of the room. She asked the computer to put a bucket within Red's reach. She had the feeling he'd throw up when he woke up.

"Mistress, Ilk and her significant other are at the door."

"It's okay, let them in..." Lena said, taking sips of her water and slipping into a robe. She was in no condition to put on her armor right now, anyway. As she walked into the living room, she found them sitting on the couch.

"By the ancestors, you look terrible," Blue commented as soon as he lay eyes on her.

"Don't tell me," Lena muttered and took another sip from her glass.

"How's dad?" Ilk asked.

"Still asleep. I got the feeling he'll be in a terrible mood when he wakes up." Lena noticed them flinching. "What?"

"Umm..." Ilk rubbed the back of his head. "You see, there's a situation."

"What do you mean?"

At that moment, they heard painful groans coming from the room, followed by the clear sound of vomiting and then some cursing in Irken. Yup, her hunch was right. Shortly after Red came out in a robe and holding a bucket. "Would somebody get me some ice cream?!" He noticed they had visitors. "Oh, hi sweetie and... you."

"Greetings, your Tallest," Blue said simply.

"Are you okay, dad?"

"Oh, I'm fine. My head is throbbing and I feel like Zim ran me over with the Massive, but I'm fine." Red retorted with acid sarcasm. Definitely not in a good mood. "Wait until I get my hands on Captain!"

"You can't blame him for this, he did warn us about it."

"But he didn't try to stop us either, did he?"

Blue cleared his throat. "Well, your Tallest, I really hate to sour your morning even more, but there's something you should know."

"Don't take it wrong, lizard, but unless it's got to do directly with the wedding or that Zim was eaten by one of your hybrekts, but I'm not the mood."

"Actually, your Tallest, it kind of involves you."

Ilk looked at the ceiling and held up the irkpad. "Computer, would you mind playing this video?"

"My pleasure." A screen lowered down from the ceiling and connected to the Irkpad Ilk was holding via wifi. It showed a video feed from Spacebook. It was apparently uploaded last night by a Screwhead (she was still mad at Smikko for it). The title read The Almighty Drunkest make fools of themselves.

Red dropped his bucket and stared at the screen, all color drained from his face. Lena did similarly with her glass of water.

The video showed a sort of commotion outside the betting house they had gone to the previous night. It was an authentic brawling circus, especially when some sobrekt soldiers arrived at the scene to stop the fighting via poking at people with electric spears. He thought he spotted Bob and Skoodge amongst the crowd somewhere.

But their sole attention was on themselves, flailing their arms around in the air while Captain and Okotto tried dragging them away from the scene. Red, in particular, was quite violent and was shouting his discomfort.

"You can *hick* all go to *hick* hell, lizards... You do have a *hick* hell, don't you?! If you don't, then go to *hick* wherever you go!"

X0X

"Give me that bottle, lizard!"

"Drinking is what got you into this mess in the first place, your Tallest!"

"That's not your bloody alcohol, it's Vortian whiskey!

"It's the same thing!"

"Dad, you're already in a hangover! Don't make it worse!"

Red groaned loudly and let himself fall unto the couch, burying his face in his hands. "Damn it..."

"Come on, Red, it could have been worse. "

"Lena, in case you didn't notice, we made ourselves look like idiots and half of the universe has witnessed it by now!"

"It's got approximately three billion views, and it keeps increasing." Red groaned and hid his face in a pillow.

"At least Captain and Okotto had the kindness to bring us home." Lena pointed out.

Red frowned. "Well, yes! It's the last they could do when they caused this to begin with!"

"Red, they warned us not to try it and we didn't listen. You can't blame them for this."

Right then, Purple almost flew inside, looking beyond terrified. "Everyone, something terrible has happened!"

"Don't tell me! I look like a complete idiot in that stupid video!"

"What video?! I'm talking about Cheesecake, he was taken by the sobrekt police!" Ilk and Blue got to their feet. Lena gasped. Red, however, glared at his co-Tallest.

"Purple, right now that mutated lizard is the least of my problems! Somebody uploaded a very compromising video and my reputation is completely and utterly ruined!"

"Who cares about your reputation?! I want my Cheesecake back! Blue, where did they take him?!"

"Rogue indokuros are taken to the IK-CADCOM's HQ to be held until their Indokani reclaim them, or-"

"Can you take me there?! I need to save Cheesecake!"

"Well, we can go, but there's not really any guarantee they'll give him back. He was never registered and he has several misbehavior problems, so he's classified as a Rogue."

"JUST TAKE ME THERE ALREADY!"

Blue sighed.

Chapter Text

From the Intergalactic Dictionary.

Defective: Something that is defective, has a fault in it and does not work correctly. The most known example of this is the so-called Irken defective. Any Irken fit with a faulty ID PAK is considered a defective; these individuals possess a high level of free will to the point the Irken Imperial Control Brains cannot brainwash or control them, turning these Irkens into dangerous assets due to their unpredictability. Most Irken defectives are either executed or given menial labors.

Curiously, the Sobrekt have a similar stigma, in their case for their genetic hybrids, particularly the trademark Indokuro. The organization that keeps track of and controls the indokuro population, IK-CADCOM, has strict quality control and a set of strict rules and standards for the indokuro trainers, better known as indokani. Should any indokuro not meet the standard, it is often confiscated and, in the worst of cases, put down before it can become a danger to others.

Cheesecake was terrified as he hung from the flying creature's hold. They were very high in the air. He called out for master for the hundredth time, and again he didn't come. The flying creature shrieked at him. What is that supposed to mean? He didn't care, he just wanted to go home! He was smart enough not to try wiggling out of this creature's hold, however, especially not at such height.

The flying creature brought him to a dark, scary building. As soon as he was on the ground again he tried to flee, only to find himself surrounded by even more lizards, all of them poking at him with the long, painful poles. Cheesecake hated that sensation. He tried snapping at one of the poles, but it didn't scare them away. He didn't notice he was being cornered into a cage until the doors slammed shut, trapping him inside. He slammed against the bars, but they didn't budge.

"Okay, he's in! Sedate him!"

He wasn't sure of what that was supposed to mean. A strange smoke started filling up his cage. It had a very pleasant smell that made him feel sleepy. Cheesecake tried his best to stay awake; he had to be when master came to save him, and he didn't want to sleep surrounded by the mean lizards. They could more easily poke at him with the painful sticks if he did. But as minutes went by his eyelids became heavier and heavier until he succumbed to the sleepiness.

He awoke a while later. He was still in a cage, but a different one. This one consisted of cold, gray metal walls and an invisible wall that shocked him if he came into contact with it; he found the latter when trying to make a run for it. This didn't stop him, however. He banged against the wall again and again until he was all sore over. Cheesecake called out for master endlessly until his throat hurt.

Soon after, he felt hungry. He looked around for anything to eat, but all he found was a moving little critter inside a thick glass. He stared at it curiously as it moved around the case, staring back at him with dark eyes. Cheesecake tried to play with it, but the glass made it impossible for him to grab it. He tried breaking it a few times but failed. Eventually, he lost interest and went to drink water from a plate on the corner of the cage.

As he got bored and started roaming near the invisible wall, Cheesecake noticed he wasn't the only one in here. There were others that looked like him, all in cages, some bigger, others slightly younger, but like him, they seemed to be bored out of their wits. The one from the cage in front of him, whose stripe was a sky blue, somehow had gotten a living critter similar to the one in his own cage out of its glass case, but to Cheesecake's confusion, she didn't play with it. She killed and ate it. So those are supposed to be food?

Minutes later some lizards arrived. Cheesecake snarled and ran to the corner of his cage. They weren't interested in him, however, and instead went over to the blue-stripe in the opposite cage. Her invisible wall disappeared, but she didn't try to escape. Instead, she just sat down and stayed completely still, not moving an inch. The lizards were doing something to her with a small device similar to the one master would often play in.

"Yeah, it's her alright. Cikrada, belonging to indokani Tangrok."

"Should we give her back already?"

"Yeah. It's only the first time, and there were no fatalities. But do inform Tangrok she'll be paying a fine."

Cheesecake watched as the blue-stripe was led out of her cage and down the corridor. She calmly walked alongside the lizards, ignoring the shrieks and growls from the others. Then the lizards approached his cage. Cheesecake growled.

"What about this one?"

"I don't think we can do anything for this one," the taller lizard looked down at the device. "It's very aggressive, and according to his victim, he didn't respond to basic indokani commands. The officers who brought him said he was out of control. Besides, his test results showed he's overweight, malnourished and has unusually high sugar levels. It's clear he didn't have the proper diet."

"What about its indokani?"

"It doesn't have one. This indokuro was not registered, perhaps it was stolen as an egg and raised outside of Sobr. That would explain why it doesn't behave normally."

"The officers said an Irken claimed to be his owner."

"You know how opportunistic Irkens are. They've been trying to get their hands on any hybrekt they can ever since their Invader failed."

"Remember his execution?"

"I got the video."

"Cool! You gotta show me sometime. Anyhow, what will happen to this one if it can't be fixed?

"What happens to the ruined specimens?"

"Oh."

Cheesecake had no idea of what they were talking about, but the way they were looking at him gave him a bad feeling about it.

"WHERE IS HE?!"

"Purple, calm down or they'll kick us out!"

"I'd like to see them try!"

Blue was trying his best to be patient, but it's hard when Tallest Purple didn't listen to reason. Then again, his indokuro was taken; Blue could remember how he got the first time Fury was taken for misbehaving out in the city. He wanted to tear the officers' heads with his bare hands at that time.

They used Blue's ship to get to Igano downtown, where I-KCADCOM's HQ was located. It was a cold, sterile-looking building in shades of dark green. Purple imagined it as a sort of jail for indokuros, reminiscent of pounds where ownerless animals were put to either wait to get a new master or… Purple pushed the thought out of his head and instead went back to being uncomfortable in the tiny space.

He felt relieved when they finally parked in front of the building. Purple didn't even wait for Blue as he made his way to the doors just in time to see a female kryvtor leave with her blue-striped indokuro, the former looking deeply relieved. So they can be taken out of here! "Blue, where do I go to get Cheesecake out?"

"You have to go make a petition at the reception and then- Wait, Purple!" There he went, the idiot! Blue sighed in dismay.

Purple made his way to the reception desk. "Who is in charge here?!" he shouted.

Any other would have jumped off their chairs or fallen backward from the fright, but the sobrekt receptionist didn't even flinch. "State your business, mister…"

"I'm Almighty Tallest Purple, and I'm here to retrieve my indokuro!"

The crocodile stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Your indokuro?"

"Yes, his name is Cheesecake! He's black with a white stripe!"

The receptionist checked his computer. Minutes later, he snorted. "There's no indokuro registered as Cheesecake in the databases, mister."

"YOU LIE! He was just brought in-!"

Blue caught up at that moment. "Purple-!" He turned to the receptionist. "Excuse us for a moment, sir." He dragged Purple away from the desk, allowing another indokani to take his turn. "What are you doing-?!"

"What do you think I'm doing?! I'm trying to get my indokuro back!"

"It's not that simple in your case!"

"Why not?!"

Blue took a deep breath and explained. "When an indokuro egg hatches, its indokani must come to I-KCADCOM to register it. Both the indokuro and its indokani are registered in the databases so that I-KCADCOM can supervise their progress; that way, should the indokuro misbehave or cause any trouble, its indokani can be identified and fined for the trouble.

"Cheesecake is a different case. As you know, his egg was stolen and never returned because it hatched and imprinted on you. It means he was never registered in the database, and neither are you. By law, this means Cheesecake is a rogue indokuro* because he doesn't have an owner-"

"I am his owner!"

"Legally you aren't!" Blue snapped. He was finally getting impatient at Purple's stubbornness. He took another deep breath. "You never took the exam, you didn't earn the right to have an indokuro, so it doesn't matter if you raised Cheesecake from the egg. Even if all your army in the Massive came to act as witnesses, he will not be returned to you, especially after the Invader your people sent tried to steal one before.*"

"If they won't give him back, what are they going to do to him?!" Purple didn't like the silence that followed, especially when Blue looked away with a troubled expression. "Answer me! What will happen to Cheesecake?!"

"There are two options: the first is that he gets reassigned to another indokani who lost his first indokuro and wishes to keep working. However, Cheesecake was not properly trained as a hatchling, and since he never learned proper behavior from others of his kind, it'll be very hard for him to get used to another person. Rehabilitating him would probably cost more time and resources than the I-KCADCOM will be willing to spend."

"What's the second option?" Blue didn't reply immediately. Purple frowned, impatient. "What is it?!"

"He'll be put down."

Purple froze and felt a knot in his squeedly-smooch. Put down…? As in… killing an animal when it's deemed too old, sick or dangerous…? No, no, no! Not his Cheesecake, it couldn't…! "Isn't there anything I can do?!"

"You could try and appeal to postpone his execution while you take the Indokani exams, but-"

"Hey, you, lizard! Do you hear that?! I want to make an appeal!"

Blue smacked his forehead.

X0X

Purple had never been in an office before… that many times. Okay, you got him. In the Academy, he had been called to the office to be raked over the coals a few times, but those times were mostly Red's fault, Purple just had the bad luck to be dragged down with him. In this occasion, though, he was not in a superior's office. He was inside a sobrekt's office, about to formally beg that his Cheesecake is spared, and maybe negotiate a way to return him. But the damn person in charge was surely taking his time!

"How long are they going to keep us here?! And they didn't even give us snacks!"

"Well, perhaps if you hadn't beaten the receptionist with a pole..."

"It was that or breaking my hand like Red.*" Blue merely rolled his eyes with a sigh.

At last, the door opened, and a sobrekt in dark yellow robes stepped in. Her gaze was fixed unto a datapad as she walked over to the desk.

"At last!" Purple cried, but Blue stopped him before he could step closer to her. Right. Physical proximity equal to flirting. "What took you so long?!"

"You are mister Purple?"

"It's Almighty Tallest Purple to you, lizard!"

The sobrekt raised a thick, spiny eyebrow. "I'll take that as a yes." She glanced down at her datapad again. "So you want to make an… appeal for an Indokuro?"

"Yes! His name is Cheesecake and he's mine!"

"I'm afraid I'll need more information, that name is not registered in the databases."

"What kind of information?!"

"Usually his age and the color of his stripe are enough, but given that there's no record for this one, anything that could help identify it will do."

Purple forced himself to take a deep breath. "He's about two Irken months old*, his stripe is a pearly white… He's very playful and loves snacks… He was brought here not long ago by a kurokran!"

"A… white stripe?" The sobrekt frowned and looked through her datapad. "I see. There is a white-striped specimen brought in an hour ago."

Purple raised his lekku. "Yeah, that's him! He responds to Cheesecake!"

"He doesn't have an indokani, as far as we're concerned…"

This time, Blue took it from there before Purple could say anything stupid. "There's a good explanation for that, miss." He explained how they recovered Cheesecake's egg from a black market auction, how it hatched on Hoth and imprinted on Purple, and then it snuck into the Irken flagship when they were about to leave, omitting the part where he and Captain had decided to let Purple keep Cheesecake. It might sound selfish, but they had reputations to maintain too.

"That would explain some of his… habits," the sobrekt frowned. She sighed. "I'm afraid that indokuro was labeled as 'ruined'."

"What do you mean?" Purple asked.

"It's a way to say he was badly trained, your Tallest. It lacks communication skills with others of its kind. It's severely malnourished due to lack of proteins, and there are high levels of sugar in its blood. It has very little stamina and strength from lack of exercise. Not to mention it's not very..." she coughed uncomfortably. "..smart. Some senior indokani have taken a good look at it and determined it cannot be reassigned given its poor condition. Your people have a similar status, as far as I know. You call them… defectives*."

The 'D' word sent shivers down Purple's spine. He clenched his fists with a deep frown. "My Cheesecake is not defective!"

The sobrekt raised her eyebrow a second time. "It's unpredictable and dangerous because of faulty training, or 'programming' if you will. It cannot follow commands from other indokani nor be controlled, just like defective Irkens can't be controlled by Control Brains. Should I continue?"

"Well, if you don't want him, why don't you just give him back to me?!"

"It's a danger, your Tallest. It tore off the arm of an indokani who tried to calm it down, and it caused quite the destruction in the marketplace. Who knows how many people would get hurt if it's on the loose again."

"Oh, please, you guys can regrow your limbs! What's the big deal?! And the issue in the market wasn't his fault, there were some frill-necks-!"

"Did you tell it to stop?"

"Yes, I did!"

"And did it obey?"

"What does that have to do with-?"

"Did it obey?"

"He was chasing after-!"

"Did it obey?" The tone in which she spoke left him speechless. "So I figured."

Purple's resolve started to crumble. "I-I will keep a better eye on him-!"

"It's no use if it won't even listen to you, in the long run, you'll only give it more reasons to be permanently incarcerated."

He froze. "Y-You can't…!" Did this mean…? His Cheesecake was going to…?

"Besides, the committee has already reached a consensus regarding this specimen in particular. Given that it cannot be re-assigned to another indokani and rehabilitating it would consume too much time, it's been decided that the specimen IK-W01 is of no use to the Sobrekt Military, and shall be put down in two days-"

She didn't get to finish as a PAK-leg came into contact with her shoulder.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Do you mean it physically or emotionally?"

"Both."

Red snorted. "Let's see. There's a bloody video in the bloody interweb of me acting like a fool, my reputation is in shambles, Purple just got arrested again, and now Zim has to go get him out! Other than that, I'm fine, thank you very much."

Lena sighed and took a sip of her tea. Apparently, Purple got into a fight at the I-KCADCOM and he and Blue were dragged off to sobrekt jail until their bail was paid… or Hitorken Zim went personally to get them out. Zim had been more than delighted to go 'save his Tallest', of course. Guess Cheesecake was not coming back soon. She was particularly worried about Purple; he was very attached to that animal.

"I swear, if I were superstitious, I'd think somebody cast a curse on me."

"A curse?"

"You know, when somebody uses magic to have bad things befall unto someone who made them angry. It's not normal that so many bad stuff happens to me in such a short period of time!"

Lena rolled her eyes. "I didn't think you believed in those things."

"I don't! I'm just saying it's weird. Ever since we got here, it's been one thing after another. First Zim grew taller, then Blue's female parental unit got it against me, Purple's pet comes down and causes more trouble, and now this!"

"You cannot blame Deltra for that, Red. You did kill her husband and father-in-law."

"I told you back on Hoth, and I repeat it: it was either their lives or mine and Ilk's*. Besides, if you think about it, if I hadn't killed them then Blue wouldn't have Ilk."

"He knows that, Red. We all know. It's just that there are others, such as Deltra, who don't see it that way. How would you feel if I left on a mission and never returned?"

Red pouted and pulled his wife into a tight embrace. "Don't say that! You'll bring us bad luck!"

"What did you just say? You don't believe in curses?" Lena questioned.

"I'm not taking any chances, my dear. Besides, if what Captain said is correct, the universe is currently on a conspiracy to make us both as miserable as possible*."

"Since when do you take Captain seriously?"

"Ever since he saved my life on Hoth*, and then did it again with both our drunken asses last night," Red quickly added. "Just don't tell him I said that."

Lena giggled. "My lips are sealed." She leaned in against the embrace with a purr. Red rubbed his cheek against her head affectionately. "So what do you want to do today?"

There was a loud knock on the door. The computer announced Captain's presence, additionally showing him on the screen. Red opened his eyes slightly when he noticed the crocodile looked somewhat… anxious. Had something happened? "Tell him to wait." There was no way he'd receive Captain in his bathrobe. Once he and Lena were properly dressed five minutes later, he opened the door. "What? Are you going to make fun of me?"

"Usually I would, Irken, but right now's not a good time for that."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"You see…" Captain looked uncomfortable. "Something came up…"

Red raised an eyebrow. This wasn't like Captain at all; instead of bluntly going straight to the point, it looked like he was avoiding the topic. Before he could question him about it, the computer announced a transmission from the Massive. Red sighed. "Patch them through."

The image on the screen was not what he expected.

"M-My Tallest, we're under attack! The Sobrekt—!" The engineer was cut off as he was roughly shoved aside by a crocodile and the screen turned to static.

Lena dropped the cup of tea she had been drinking. Red stared at the screen for a few minutes, unresponsive, until he turned to Captain. The bastard was grinning nervously.

"Err… surprise?"

The next half an hour consisted of Red chasing after Captain around the base with a metal bat (a Christmas present from Zim he and Purple had tossed aside until they found a proper use for it), while the sobrekt merely dodged the blows and tried in vain to get the Irken to calm down.

"Irken, cool down-!"

"YOU BACKSTABBING, TREACHEROUS CROCODILE!"

"It's not like that, let me explain-!"

The bat missed and struck the wall. "COMPUTER, MAKE HIM STAND STILL!" Before it could, Captain had gone to hide behind Lena. "THATS A LOW BLOW, CAPTAIN!"

"Red, don't you think we should at least listen to what he has to say?!" Lena snapped.

"Don't make me take that thing off your hands, Irken! You won't like the result!"

Red snapped and held up the bat. "I'd like to see you try, Captain!"

"Just listen! This is not my doing!"

"Oh, really?! And who's behind it?! The transmission clearly showed a Sobrekt in the ship!"

"I don't know!" Captain snapped. He took a deep breath. "I noticed something was going on up there and came to tell you what was happening!"

"And how did you know that if you had nothing to do with it?!"

"Irken, that ship's so big we can see it all the way from down here."

"Well, if you're not behind this, who is-?! No, wait I don't even need to ask! Take me to your leader!"

"That was what I wanted to suggest." Captain frowned. "But I can assure you, if the Shuryo were behind this, I would have been amongst the first ones to know."

Red half-closed his eyelids. "Right. And what assured me you wouldn't have held that information for as payback for me doing the same on Hoth*."

Captain rolled his eyes. "Irken, on Hoth it was our lives on the line. This is only a ship."

"The irken flagship, idiot!"

"Are we going to keep arguing in cycles all day or are we going to see the Shuryo?"

Red let the bat fall to the ground, but his glare never left Captain as they left the base towards a nearby ship, probably the sobrekt's. Lena tagged along just in case Red did something stupid. Ignoring the questioning Invaders, they took off and left towards the Shuryo's fortress. On the way there, Lena and Red watched as hundreds of Irken ships flew out of the Massive, some of them even coming down.

The Shuryo's stronghold, dubbed Karajork* by the Sobrekt, sent shivers down Lena's spine. It was almost as big as the Tallest Tower on Irk, but there were dark green spines protruding from the external walls, and the atmosphere gave an almost tyrannical feeling. As the ship flew closer to a hangar in the upper levels, Captain exchanged some words in Sobrekt with someone with the ship's communicator, and they were granted clearance to land.

Red was the first to step off the ship… or rather, he jumped out of the shop and tried to go straight inside only to be stopped by two guards with ivory black scales. Captain's prompt interference was the only thing that saved his limbs.

"What's wrong?" Red asked impatiently.

"Usually any foreigners who wish an audience with Shuryo must undergo a series of tests to prove they are worthy-"

"You gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"Let him finish, Red," Lena warned, squeezing his arm.

"But given the… circumstances, the Shuryo has decided to make an exception this time. Besides, Hitorken Zim has spoken wonders of you." For a reason, I can't understand. Captain muttered this last part to himself.

"Good! Then take us to your leader, lizards!"

The interior of the fortress was not as dark as the exterior, but there were lots of old-fashioned weapons and trophy heads of different creatures hanging on the aqua-green walls. Lena was startled when she noticed there were sobrekt and kryvtor. Captain explained it's a sobrekt custom to cut off the heads of the greatest Shuryo that ever ruled to hang them on the walls. Red was glad Purple was not present; he would have probably thrown up.

The throne room, if it could be called that, was more reminiscent of the feasting halls some inferior alien cultures had, complete with the rustic, an orange bonfire in the middle and weapons-hanging-on-the-walls décor. Some sobrekt and kryvtors, probably generals and high-ranking warriors, were having some cuts of meat on the long table while enjoying a cold mug of grootbeer. Red glared at the drink.

The Shuryo himself was seated atop his mithrilium throne. Much like his subordinates back on the table, he had scars all over his body, but his were more prominent and noticeable and he made no attempt to hide them. In fact, he was proudly exposing his bare, deeply scarred torso and face. Red noticed there were no guards posted near his throne, he was completely defenseless. Then again, he didn't look like he could be dispatched that easily if he had survived all those injuries.

Captain saluted and stamped his tail. "Shuryo, I've brought one of the Irken Leaders, as you requested."

"Where's the other one?" Lena and Red felt shivers down their spine. His voice was very deep and demanded respect.

"Tallest Purple is…. Indisposed right now," Red stated, omitting the reason why. The raging fire had cooled down considerably, but it was still there. "But that's not the issue here, your... " How is he supposed to refer to him? This one didn't look like it'd take kindly to being referred to as 'lizard'.

"Shuryo," Captain whispered quickly.

"Yeah, Shuryo! Would you mind telling me why you attacked the Irken flagship?! We came here to attend my daughter's kekkon-something, not conquer your planet! If we wanted to, we would have blown it up already!"

"It's not my doing."

"Is this because of Invader Dren? Get over it already, I wasn't even the Tallest when it happened! And your planet has been taken from the list of marked planets ever since, so you don't really have to worry about it!"

"It's not my doing, your Tallest."

Red continued on his ranting. Lena noticed the Shuryo was digging his claws into the throne's armrests, and his pupils had turned to slits. "Red…" She quickly tapped her mate's shoulders but was ignored.

"Or do you want to take revenge because of your precious flower? I thought we had already settled that down-!"

The Shuryo had enough. He abruptly stood up, baring his teeth and spines. "I said…!" Red jumped unto Lena's arms at his outburst. Satisfied, Shuryo relaxed. "It's not my doing, you Tallest. I didn't order the attack on your flagship."

Lena dropped her mate to the ground. "What?"

"I have no current interest in your Irken flagship nor starting a war with your people. As you said, the issue with the sacred flower is in the past, and it would be dishonorable and outright boring to take the Massive without a fight."

Red got back to his feet, rubbing his sore back, frowning at his wife momentarily before turning back to face the Shuryo. "Well, if you are not behind this, then who is? Because I received a transmission from the Massive, and I have two witnesses here that saw a sobrekt in that transmission right before it cut off."

The Shuryo glanced sidewards to a kryvtor technician. "Contact the Massive." As the kryvtor dialed something into a nearby console and a large screen lowered from the roof, Shuryo turned to Red again. "If the attacker is a Sobrekt like you say, he won't dare to ignore a call from me."

The screen was static for a few minutes until the call was finally taken, and a very confused sobrekt appeared on it. As soon as he realized who had called, he went stiff and saluted. "Shuryo, sire!"

Lena noticed it wasn't the bridge. "Wait, is that the hangar?"

"Soldier, what are you doing on the Irken flagship without permission?" Shuryo asked sternly.

The sobrekt seemed hesitant. "Our boss ordered us to take arms, sire, and we obeyed."

"Well, get your scaly asses out of my ship now before I go up there to personally throw you all out of the airlock!" Red snapped.

"Who is your boss?"

"He's currently in the bridge, trying to figure out how this ship works. I can transfer the call over there."

"Do so."

The sobrekt rubbed the back of his head. "Err… which button should I use? Irken technology is not my forte…"

After twenty minutes of having to explain which buttons to press, during which the soldier pressed the wrong ones and ended up removing audio and turning off the screen amongst other things* (Red nearly lost it for a second time), the call was finally transferred to the Massive's bridge. It was filled with Sobrekt and kryvtor alike, all of them looking around the consoles curiously.

And there was another Sobrekt, larger and more scarred, sitting… on… Red's chair. Lena and Captain saw his clenched fists and his twitching eye. Both knew it would be a matter of time before the bomb exploded

"Shuryo," The Sobrekt saluted and stamped his tail, followed by the rest of the Sobrekt.

"State your name and rank, soldier."

"Sendou Grikal, senior Indokani." Sendou…? Where had she heard that name?

"Would you mind telling what the hell are you doing in MY SHIP?!" Red roared. He almost lunged at the screen, but Captain held him back. "GET YOUR FILTHY ALIEN MEAT OUT OF MY SEAT!"

Sendou stared at Red. "Your ship?" He chuckled. "I'm afraid it's no longer your ship, your Tallest."

"WHAT ON IRK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT-?!" Red was abruptly cut off when Captain quickly grabbed an old cloth and gagged him with it. Red retaliated by bringing out his PAK-legs and trying to strike him with them, leading to a rather violent scuffle between the two.

Lena smacked her forehead. Shuryo sighed and directed his attention back to the screen. "What do you mean with that, soldier?"

"With all due respect, Shuryo, this matter should be solved in person. I'd rather go down to discuss this with the Irken Tallest…" Sendou's gaze went to rest on Red and Captain as various soldiers tried to break them apart. "...unless he's busy."

Lena took it from there. "No, no! Pick a place and time and we'll meet you there! Please, the sooner we solve this issue, the better!" She laughed nervously. "Please forgive my husband, he's not taking this… very well, as you can see."

"That's plainly obvious."

"Why, you-!" This time Captain used his hand to cover Red's mouth. The Irken tried to bite it, but his softer teeth didn't even leave a mark.

"Meet me back on the Betting House from last night in an hour, your Tallest." With that, the transmission was cut off.

Lena and Shuryo glanced back at Red and Captain's fight before both exchanged an annoyed look and shook their heads.

Chapter Text

From the sobrekt newspaper DAILY CROC, Twenty-sixth edition.

IRKEN FLAGSHIP STOLEN? IRKEN INVASION?

Today at about 13:24 D.C., some witnesses claimed to have seen a good number of Sobrekt aircraft heading up to the Massive, the largest vessel of the Irken Empire. Not long after, thousands or smaller Irken ships started coming back down from the Massive and landed in the outskirts of Igano. The crowds fear this may be the beginning of an invasion on the Irkens' part, but so far they have shown no hostility nor begun any movement against the citizens.

One of our reporters managed to talk to an Irken who came down in the first rows of ships, and she claimed they had been kicked out of the Massive by a small army of Sobrekt. This has raised even more questions. Who is the mysterious attacker? Is the Shuryo behind this? Our leader has refused to give an interview and has made no commentaries on the matter.

Commissioned by Almighty Tallest Miyuki, designed and built by Vortians, the Massive is famous across the universe for being the Irken Armada's flagship as well as the vessel of choice of the Irken Leaders, the Almighty Tallest. Stories of the Massive's powerful laser cannons are enough to give even our species the shivers, the reason for which our military never directly attacked the Irken Armada.

These past days, the Tallest have been sighted in Igano's outskirts hanging out with a particular group of Kryvtors, particularly members of the House of Cobalk, one of Sobr's most ancient kryvtor clans. Their purpose here on Sobr is yet unknown, though the Purple Tallest has claimed to own the rogue Indokuro that tore the arm of an indokani not long ago.

Or perhaps the claiming of the Massive has to do with the rather compromising event at the Skrallik Betting House the previous night, in which the Almighty Tallest got involved into a drunken fight, causing a commotion that required the intervention of the Owsla*.

"Did you really have to bite me?! You nearly tore off my PAK-leg, you savage!"

"I am the savage? You started it!" Captain retorted indignantly.

Lena rolled her eyes. These two were just like smeets. "Will you two stop bickering? We're almost there."

The ship landed in front of the gambling house from last night. Red's Squeedly-spooch sank. Would the people working here recognize him? Hopefully not. But considering he was the only Irken, alongside Lena, here that night, there was a good chance. His fears were confirmed when some of the aliens inside took one glance at him and started muttering, some of them even snickering.

Okay, Purple was supposed to meet them here. When they mentioned the issue with the Massive, he said he'd get here ASAP. Indeed, they found him inside pestering the bartender over not having any doughnuts.

Unfortunately, accompanying him was none other than Zim."Hey, my Tallest Red! I'm here! Look at me!" The little defective waved his arm wildly to get his attention. "I saved Tallest Purple from jail!"

"What did you do to get arrested, now that we're on it?" Lena asked.

"Those idiots from the I-KCADCOM want to kill Cheesecake! They called him a defective, can you believe it?!"

Red raised an invisible eyebrow. "Yes, I can."

"Hey, what happened to you? You look like you were run over by Zim."

"You can thank Captain for that."

"You started it." The sobrekt frowned.

Red grunted. "Anyhow, where's that damn crocodile!" He looked around the place. Unlike that night, now it was mostly empty except for a few patrons.

Captain pointed towards one of the tables. "Over there."

There weren't many people at that hour, so it wasn't that hard to spot him. Sendou was having a pint of grootbeer while some of his mercenaries were playing billiard or throwing knives at the target on the wall. His indokuro, Maugrim, was curled up around it's master's chair, soundly asleep. Its presence was the only reason Red didn't blow up Sendou's head like he would have deeply wanted.

"You!" He snarled as they made their way over to him.

"Ah, your Tallest, I was wondering if you'd come," Sendou said, examining his drink absent-mindedly.

"I will handle this, Irken. If you speak, you'll probably lose your tongue. Literally." Captain stepped forward. "Sendou."

"Captain. It's been a while."

"You two know each other?" Purple asked curiously.

"We were hatched from the same clutch, though we have different fathers." The Sobrekt said simply. "Sendou, what happened? Why do you say the Massive is yours?" He asked his one-time clutch mate.

"You better have a good explanation for it!" Red added with venom in his voice.

Sendou put his drink aside. "The night you brought your… irken presence, I was in a round of 'life and death*'. After we finished the latest one, two small Irkens came in and insisted on joining. They tried to bet with monies, but 'life and death' only accepts objects. Ships, properties, weapons, you get the picture? The point is those two joined the game and they won a few rounds."

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

Sendou rolled his eyes. "I'm getting there, Irken." This time he did take a big gulp of grootbeer. "Those two had evidently drunk too many shots because their victories started getting to their heads. They insisted on betting the Irken flagship in the last round." Sendou chuckled: "they lost."

"Let me get this straight: two Irkens bet the Massive?" Red's eye was twitching.

"Yup."

The three Irkens were silent, processing what they just heard. Purple was the first to snap out of it."That can't be! Who would be that stupid!"

"Zim…" Red hissed, glaring at the defective as he distracted himself over with some of the weapons in the wall. He was already imagining what sort of punishment he would give him for this when Sendou shook his head.

"It wasn't Hitorken Zim, Your Tallest. If it had, I wouldn't have accepted his wager."

Red took a deep breath. "Well, lizard, sorry to disappoint you, but the Massive is the property of the Irken Empire. Two Irken soldiers don't have the authority to bet it without the Tallest's authorization. So I'd thank you if you'd get your filthy scaly meat out of my ship!"

Sendou blinked. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"You did authorize it."

"LIES!" This time Lena and Purple had to restrain him to keep him from actually attacking, especially after Maugrim lifted his head and growled warily. "I never gave the consent for such a transaction!"

Sendou searched into his satchel and took out a piece of parchment. "Here." Captain snatched the paper and took a quick look at it. The writing was blurry and whoever wrote it had been drunk, but he could still read it.

I, Almighty Tallest Red, hereby authorize the Massive to be wagered.

And just below was a signature in crimson ink.

"Um, Irken, i'm afraid he's right." Captain looked back at Red. "You authorized it."

Red went pale. No, he didn't…! He couldn't have! His face twisted into another angry expression. "You must have forged it, I never signed that!"

"You did. The Irkens left to get your signature so as to make the transaction valid." Sendou said simply.

"I don't know what you're talking a-!" Red brought a hand to his head as his organic brain pulsated with pain. Lena asked him if he was okay, but he didn't hear her. His mind went back to that night; it wasn't clear, but he remembered something…

My tallest-!

What do you two *hick* want?

We kind of… need your autograph for something very big!

If I *hick* give you an autograph, will you *hick* leave me alone?

Yes, sir!

Give me a stupid pen!

Lena saw her mate's face draining of all color and his eyes open up like plates. He looked like he had seen Tallest Miyuki's ghost. "Red…?" She asked tentatively.

"Damn it, I…" Red fell back on the chair, rubbing his temple. "I was drunk and I had no idea of what I was doing… I remember two short soldiers coming and…"

Fuck.

Sendou brought him out of memory lane. "Judging by your expression, I guess you remembered it."

By then, Purple had lost all composure and was stuttering in panic. ""You hear that? He was drunk! Then it means it's not valid, right? Right? Somebody tell me I'm right! Zim!"

"You are right, my Tallest!"

"See?! Haha! Then it's not valid!"

"Actually, he was not the one to make the bet. It was those two little Irkens, and although they were partially drunk they were still conscious enough to make the deal valid. And your flagship was located in Sobrekt-controlled space, so yes, this makes it official. You can ask for the contract to give it a revision, blah, blah, blah, the point is that from this moment, the Massive is my property."

The next few minutes were spent fanning both Red and Purple with napkins and snack menus as they started hyperventilating, the latter was additionally using a paper bag to inhale and exhale rapidly. Zim brought them glasses of water and some Krispy Kreme doughnuts, while Sendou recorded the entire thing in his datapad. It's not every day you see the Irken Leaders having a panic attack, after all!

Lena was flapping one of the menus closest to her mate's face. "Red, Pur, calm down! Take deep breaths!"

"Well, well, the 'Almighty Tallest' can't take bad news with dignity!"

"Captain!" Lena snapped at the Sobrekt with an annoyed frown.

"What? I'm just being honest!"

Once he got over the shock, Purple snarled. "Who were the two pea-brains behind this? Do you remember their names or how they looked like?"

Sendou rubbed his chin. "Mmm… one was very short and ugly, the other was even shorter and… I think his name was Rob or something."

Blue's house, a few hours later.

Every Irken's worst nightmare is making their Almighty Tallest angry. They live to serve their leaders and make them happy, earn their favor and praise, etcetera. Upsetting them is almost the equivalent of the Armageddon or the universe blowing up on itself. There are many things that can upset the Tallest: coming into direct contact with them, talking to them without being spoken to first, being shorter than them, being ugly, losing or wasting their snacks in any way, being ZIM, etcetera.

But none of those things could compare to the Tallest's wrath upon the loss of the Massive in a bet, as Bob and Skoodge learned the hard way. Their anger was scary enough, but the inferno of ire coming from all the crew of the Massive merged with it into a deadly combination. So the two short Irkens hid in the only place they knew none of them would dare reach them: behind Ilk.

"Dad, Uncle Pur, calm down!"

"WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU WORMS!"

"We're s-sorry!" Skoodge whimpered as he timidly poked from behind Ilk.

"OH, YOU WILL BE SORRY WHEN WE'RE DONE WITH YOU!"

"Everyone, calm down!" Lena shouted and put herself between the Tallest and Ilk, spreading out her arms and PAK-legs to keep them apart. "We should at least listen to their version of the story!"

"Oh, please, it's very clear what happened! Those two put the Irken Armada's most powerful vessel in the hands of a bloody Sobrekt! Do you have any idea of what this means?!"

"Yeah, no more doughnuts!" Purple cried.

"Yes, no more- What?! No! Not that, though it is a serious problem on its own! If all the universe finds out about this, soon every single enemy of the Empire will rise against us!"

"But the doughnuts, Red! The doughnuts! And the cinnamon rolls, the curly fries, everything!" By then, Purple had fallen to his knees and began to weep.*

Red made a mental note to find a way to get his secret stash of Miyuki rolls back before the lizards find it. He glared murderously at Skoodge and Bob, who tried to hide behind Ilk's legs.

"Guys, what happened that night? What did you do?" Ilk asked.

Skoodge took a deep, shaky breath. "W-we accompanied Tallest Red and Lena," he flinched when Red glared at him. "Y-you know, to make sure they didn't get hurt. We took a look around and found some Sobrekt playing something called 'life or death'."

"That game consists of putting ten tiny swords inside a cup on top of a board…" Masouri trailed off when he noticed the annoyed frowns in his direction. "Sorry." He yelped when Echo smacked the back of his head.

"We got curious and joined a round. We won a few times, and since we've never… well, we have never won anything ever, we got excited and…"

"Those swords were rigged, I know it!" Bob exclaimed.

"And we took f-few shots of Vortian whiskey, and…"

"And you bet the Massive, you little-!"

"Dad." Ilk frowned. "Blue, isn't there any way to undo it?"

"Legally, the only way you could get it back is by winning another bet against Sendou, but I wouldn't recommend it. There's no guarantee that you will win and you'll end up losing more of your stuff. You have to bet something equally or more worth the thing you lost to catch the rival's interest, and I doubt you have a spare Massive parked somewhere, right?"

"Why don't you just build another one?" Foxtrot asked.

"Are you kidding?! It took fifty years to build the Massive, and we don't have the Vortians to do all the work!" Red snapped.

"This is what happens when you depend too much on another species' technology, Irken."

"Shut up, Captain!"

As they argued, most of the Massive's crew, all forced out of the Irken flagship upon its takeover by the Sobrekt, waited outside Blue's home, taking up much of the streets around the neighborhood. The inhabitants weren't happy and ended up driving most of them off to the unoccupied plains outside Igano, much to their disappointment. They wanted their own share of pummeling Bob and Skoodge.

When Tenn, Skutch, and Spleen finally returned from Midosis after her talk, they found the rest of their fellow Invaders outside with deep frowns. Their reaction to the news of the loss was as one would have expected.

"They did what?"

"That's stupid even for those two!"

"I swear when I get my hands on them…!"

"Hey, speaking of which, how did your mission go?"

Despite the tension, Tenn smirked proudly. "I will soon start training as a kurokani." Her smirk turned into an annoyed frown as the others exchanged perplexed looks. "I'm going to pilot a kurokran from the inside."

"No way! They didn't even suspect you were an Irken?" Stink inquired.

"Nah, Sobrekt aren't known for using their brains as much as they use their brawns."

"And how did it happen?" Grapa asked.

Spleen and Skutch shivered, disgusted. "She was eaten by the kurokran." The latter muttered.

"Eaten like… swallowed whole?"

Tenn shivered in disgust herself. Recalling that event was not particularly pleasant, especially after being vomited by the beast all covered in its gastric juice. "Do know of that kind of experiences you only get to live once in your lifetime? This is not one of them, and I don't want to talk about it."

Grapa could tell she was serious, and her body language clearly expressed she didn't want to remember it. Then again, it's not like anyone would want to remember being inside someone else's stomach. "Any word from Larb?" He asked, changing the topic.

"None. You know when he gets a personal mission from the Tallest, he forgets about everything else. From what I've heard, he's been lurking around the HybGen HQ trying to find a way in."

"So what are we going to do about the Massive?"

The more or less enjoyable calm was broken when a familiar voice cried out. "Hello, my fellow but still inferior Invaders!"

The Irkens sighed in irritation as the taller-but-still-as-annoying-as-ever bane of the Irken Empire's existence approached, accompanied by….

"Hey, What is he doing here?" Stink pointed a finger at the Sobrekt, a deep frown on his face.

"I come in peace, Irkens," Sendou said simply while lifting his hands.

"Thanks to Zim's incredible eloquence, I have managed to come to an agreement with the Sobrekt-beast!"

The other Irkens exchanged looks. "Oh, really? And what kind of agreement?" Tenn asked.

"That's something I will only discuss with your leaders. Tomorrow, at the Indokuro fighting arena at midday."

"Why not now?"

Sendou smirked. "It will be better if I show them." And with that, he was gone.

When they relayed the message to their leaders, there was a brief debate regarding if they should take Sendou's word for it or not. Purple wanted to think he could actually be reasoned with, in desperation to get his supply of snacks, but Red thought there was a trick to it. Like, he'd make them beg or do any other humiliating task in order for him to give the Massive back. The rest were in a sort of gray area.

"Come on, who'd be stupid enough to actually return the Irken Empire's flagship and most powerful vessel?" Masouri pointed out, to which he received another smack on the back of his head, this time from Foxtrot.

"Zim, how exactly did you convince him?"

Zim puffed out his chest proudly. "I just had to demand him to give back the Massive and he said he'd think about it. Impressive, right, Ilk-smeet?"

Ilk sighed. How did he do it? Oh, well, at least it was better than nothing.

"We could take it back by force. Those guys wouldn't know how to defend themselves. Irk, one of the soldiers couldn't even transfer the call to the bridge!" Red snickered somewhat at the memory, though it did little to appease him.

"That would ruin your reputation amongst our people, not that it was that good, to begin with actually," Blue muttered the last sentence. "Sendou won the ship fair and square," all glances centered on Skoodge and Bob again as the two shorter Irkens shrunk. "And other than that, they haven't actually provoked any aggression on your part."

Purple whined. "Oh, so we can't attack, but they can take our stuff! That's not fair!"

"Look, why don't you go listen to what he has to say?" Blue suggested. "Who knows? Sendou might be a bit too arrogant and especially insufferable when he's winning, but he's a man of his word. Just ask Captain, he knows the guy better than anyone."

Captain snorted. Just because he and Sendou hatched in the same clutch and were half siblings didn't mean he knew him that much precisely. They were never very close, and Sendou was always the lonely one in the clutch. The only times Captain saw him back then was during feeding time.

When they were sent to Midosis, Sendou immediately applied for the Indokani exams while Captain was more interested in Spec-Ops; he spent lots of time working out in the field, so he rarely even spotted his half-brother. He did hear that he was the top aspirant at the Indokani exams and successfully obtained an indokuro egg.

Nowadays, their interactions were scarce and not exactly friendly, as both were stubborn and had different opinions in many things, but Captain still couldn't help but feel the tiniest amount of camaraderie towards his sibling, even though if it didn't seem like it was reciprocal most of the time.

"Just take care of your tongue and you'll be fine, Irken." He said after a while.

Igano's Colosseum, the next day...

They had to admit. Judging by the festival taking place, and now this giant Colosseum, the role indokuros had in Sobrekt culture was even more important than they initially believed. The great oval-shaped structure was similar to the mini-arena they had seen back on the festival grounds, but this one was bigger and had more room. Currently, it wasn't filled to its maximum capacity, as the fights occurring were mostly for training purposes, and there were only a few people present, mostly Indokani, their indokuro and veterinarians.

Sendou was waiting for them in the lower seats like he said he would. He was casually eating one of those bulbous, juicy pieces of meat they had seen back at the festival. Maugrim was nowhere to be seen, he was probably back at Sendou's house or wandering around in a pack like Fury did. Too bad he left the bat back at the base, or maybe he should ask Blue to punch him in his stead.

Ilk guessed what her father was thinking. "Dad, Blue's not going to punch him in your stead."

"Ilk, come on! That's not my intention at all!" Red stuttered with a nervous chuckle.

"Dad."

"Zim can punch him in your stead, my Tallest!"

"Oh, I'd like to see that." Purple snickered. He could already imagine Zim getting hurt and screaming something like 'noo, the beautiful hand of Zim' or something similar. Red went through a similar experience back on Hoth when Captain made a nasty comment*.

Blue sighed, shaking his head. Why did he come again? Oh, right, moral support, according to Ilk. She wanted him and her family (mostly Tallest Red) to get along, or at least tolerate each other's presence without tearing each other apart. He tried his best to be patient, but sometimes his father-in-law made it harder with his attitude. "Hey, Sendou!"

The Sobrekt acknowledged their presence with a smirk as he lifted his treat. "Ah, you did come! What do you think of the Colosseum? It's a good place to settle one's differences, get some entertainment or to watch final tests for certain branches of the military." Sendou looked around forlornly. "I remember my first pit fight. I was pitted against ten Slaughtering Rat People. We used to get them from Blorch to test a warrior's ability and skill, before…. Well, before you turned it into a parking-structure planet. After that, we're struggling to get non-sentient species for that purpose."

"Why don't you use war prisoners?"

Blue and Sendou averted their gazes awkwardly. "We ran out of... captives." They omitted the part where said captives were mostly Irkens.

At that moment two indokuro were released into the arena below, both dark, but their stripes of different colors. The referee cried something in sobrekt, and the animals were brought to the center of the arena by their Indokani, stopping inside a circle drawn in black paint. Just like at the festival, their snouts were inches away from each other, causing both beasts to bristle their spines and turn their pupils into thin slits; their indokani holding them by their thick collars was the only thing preventing them from starting the fight.

"Get to the point, lizard," Red growled, glaring at Sendou. "Why did you want us to meet you here? And what's this agreement you mentioned last night?"

"I'm getting to it, Irken."

"It's Almighty Tallest Red and Purple for you, lizard." Purple snapped. The position of 'jerkish sobrekt who never showed them due respect' was already taken, thank you very much.

Sendou rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, your Tallest. Anyway, as a way to properly finish Indokuro Week, the I-KCADCOM organizes an indokuro fighting tournament in which all indokani who wish to make themselves known participate. There are no rules as to who can enter and it doesn't matter what species you belong to, the only rule is to have an Indokuro of your own."

He looked down at the arena, where the two Indokuro had already started their fight. No blood had been drawn yet, but judging by their snarls and shrieks they had already taken quite the damage to their insides.

"So?"

The sobrekt chuckled. "Here's the deal: if you can beat my Maugrim at the tournament, I'll return your flagship to you."

Purple and Red exchanged a glance. "That's all?"

"You're saying that all we have to do is to win this... Tournament, and then you'll return the Massive to us just like that?"

Sendou sighed. "Should I repeat it again until you understand it, your Tallest? I can use some flashcards if you wish."

Purple glared at him. "Okay, Zim, you can punch him in my stead now."

Lena stopped him before he could, however, to Purple's disappointment. "Look on the bright side. It could have been worse." She said.

"Okay, Sendou, what's the catch?"

Sendou glanced at the blue-striped kryvtor. "Excuse me?"

Blue frowned at the crocodile, crossing his arms while his talon claws tapped against the ground. "I know you, Sendou. You have the most powerful vessel in the universe at your beck and call now. If you're really willing to give it up that easily, I'll shave my crest and learn how to swim."

Purple almost protested, but Red covered his mouth with his hand before he could say anything stupid. Blue did have a point. This was far too good to be true. Something he learned throughout his life was to never take these type of offers or events for granted; just like when he had been momentarily happy when Zim was apparently eaten by the mendigo on Hoth, only for the defective to cheat death yet again*.

His suspicions were confirmed when Sendou chuckled. "Ah, Blue, you were always the sharpest."

"So there is a catch." Ilk concluded.

"I have a condition. One simple condition," Sendou looked down at the indokuros again. Their wounds were open and bleeding, but the fight went on and on. The one with the orange stripe, however, was clearly losing.

"What's this condition, sobrekt-beast?"

"It's simple, Hitorken Zim. Knowing your leaders, and I don't mean to offend them, they're already thinking on using Fury to fight against Maugrim. That indokuro is exceptional and is amongst the best ever trained, so he would stand a good chance to win, thus making things easier for them." He glanced at them. Their half-panicked expressions told him everything. "My condition is that you must not use someone else's Indokuro."

They reacted as he expected. They instantly started complaining, despite attempts from the two female Irkens to make them stop. Sendou shook his head. How is the Irken Empire still standing with these two brats leading it? "You Irkens have the habit of taking shortcuts and easy paths to achieve things. The purpose of this tournament is to prove how well you've trained your indokuro and to prove yourself as an indokani. Using one that you didn't personally train is an insult because you're taking credit for someone else's job, yet another habit of your kind. If you don't believe me, ask the Vortians. Who do you think is actually behind the design and creation of your beloved Massive?*"

"That was a hard blow, lizard!" Red snapped.

Blue looked oddly indifferent to the revelation. He whispered something to Ilk, and then to Zim. Ilk nodded and watched them go. Zim was skipping happily with a grin on his face. Purple and Red didn't notice, however, they were too busy glaring at Sendou.

"And where on Irk do you expect us to get a trained Indokuro of our own?"

Sendou's eyes glinted evilly as he glanced at Purple. "You already have one, don't you?"

Down in the arena, the injured orange-striped indokuro fell to the ground as its opponent roared triumphantly.

Chapter Text

The Vortians and the Sobrekt were nothing alike.

For starters, Vortians weren't naturally violent and only resorted to it in extreme circumstances, such as the organic sweep in which they stood their last ground, only to lose. They were a race of scientists and engineers, dedicating every second of their lives to create new technology and do science-stuff. You could call them intergalactic nerds if you'd like.

Sobrekt, on the other hand, only needed the slightest provocation to send them into a murderous rage, and they'd defend themselves and their brethren with fangs and claws. They weren't as much into technology unless it involved security or hybridization. They were warriors at heart.

So Larb bid his time to study the layout of HybGen's HQ, the security levels on each area, the guards' shifts, and overall digital blueprints he found in that scientist's datapad. The information about Project Zimkro was on the upper levels of the facility, in a computer on the laboratories. This area was where the newly-obtained DNA samples of different creatures were analyzed to check their compatibility and pick which one would be used.

Who knows? Maybe he'd even find the hybrekts in development.

He finally made his move at night, taking advantage of the shift change between the guards. Using his PAK-legs, he climbed through the outside of the facility, additionally using active camouflage to avoid being spotted by the kurokran flying around the place, looking for intruders. From there, he made his way inside by making a hole on the roof with silent lasers and into the ventilation ducts.

Along the way, he managed to take a peek into the rooms below and learned a bit about the hybridization projects. He saw scientists in white coats, most of them kryvtors (though he saw a few sobrekt as well), running around the lab with blood samples, having coffee breaks, he even saw some eggs being moved around in floating trolleys.

Finally, he found his way to the computer he was looking for, which was located inside an empty area of the lab. Larb scanned the area to make sure there was no one around before dropping down. It didn't seem to have any sort of security system; guess the sobrekt were really confident about their external security, or they knew no intruders would dare show their nose around here lest they wanted to lose it. Logging into the system was a bit too difficult, but he had it worse with the Vortian computers.

He found many documents regarding the current hybrekts the Irkens already knew, most notably the indokuro genome. It mostly had DNA of something called 'indoshiro*' and…

Larb nearly choked on the doughnut he was eating. The bloody animal possessed kryvtor DNA! This might explain why most indokani he had seen were kryvtors.

As he examined the rest of the hybrekt documents, even downloading the information into his PAK to present to the Tallest later, he finally found the file he was looking for.

PROJECT ZIMKRO

Diet: Omnivorous.

Av. Lenght: 17 meters.

Av. Height: 5.6 meters

Genomes used:

-Comedelacerta volcrum reptilis*. The DNA sample was taken from a healthy female. Traits gained: will swallow up the pilot and keep him in its stomach.

-Nigrum venandi reptilis*. The DNA sample was taken from a healthy male. Traits gained: loyalty to one pilot only, cunning intelligence, dark coloration.

-Anguis iterspatium. The DNA sample was taken from male captured in the outskirts of Terrova. Might be the last of its kind. Traits gained: can travel at speed of light by absorbing light particles around it.

-Lux furore draconis*. The DNA sample was taken from a healthy female found in Draconifors*, very hard to obtain. Traits obtained: cloaking method consisting of scales with mirror-like qualities, a deep sense of empathy.

-Irken. The DNA sample was taken from Hitorken Zim. Traits gained: yet to be properly studied. However, it is expected it will gain some personality traits from Hitorken Zim.

"Wait, what?!" Larb's ocular implants nearly popped out of their sockets. "They used ZIM's DNA on this thing?!" He(unfortunately) knew they had a blind admiration of Zim, but this takes the cake! Wait, there's a log diary of some sorts in here too.

Log 1.

Date: Mrah 31, 30XX.

Of the eight fertilized eggs, only three hatched, all males. During the imprinting process, recordings of the biological parental unit's (I wonder how they managed to get Hitorken Zim's DNA) voice and a doll in its likeness was used so that the hatchlings will imprint on the intended person even if he's not personally present.

Log 2

Date: Akrill 1st, 30XX.

One of the hatchlings was mauled to death by its siblings. The remains have been incinerated.

….

Log 6

Date: Akril 5th, 30XX.

ZK-002 is growing bigger than its brother. ZK-001 seems to be the submissive of the two, given its smaller size. Both show obedience only to the biological parental unit, as expected while showing aggression to other Irkens. Both hatchlings sho a quick growth rate.

….

Log 15

Date: Akril 14th, 30XX.

After some tests, both assets show the intended Kurokran effect, in which they will swallow their riders and keep them inside their stomachs until stimulated from the inside to expel them. ZK-002 had to be given emetic injections, however, as it refused to expel the test subject.

...

Log 40

Date: Armk 4th, 30XX.

It finally happened. Both assets fought over dominance. ZK-002's larger size assured its victory. ZK-001 didn't survive. Its remains have been incinerated.

…

Log 45

Date: Armk 9th, 30XX.

ZK-002 has grown too large for the HQ's pens, so arrangements will be made to transfer it to Caphractus to further study its behavior. Hopefully, it will be ready in a few more weeks.

Okay, then, from what he could tell with this information, Zimkro is a new hybrekt with Zim's DNA. Why on Irk would they use Zim's DNA on anything?!

"Who's there?"

Shit. Larb barely managed to download all the information he needed before retreating back into the air ducts.

The Tallest were so going to like this.

"This is bad. This is so bad." Red repeated for what felt like the hundredth time, clutching one empty glass on one hand and a bottle of alcohol (not sobrekt-made, he wouldn't make that same mistake twice) on the other.

Echo groaned her frustration out. "We've heard you a dozen times already, your Tallest, so it would be really nice if you just shut up."

"Echo!"

"Can you blame him? I think he's had about two bottles of Vortian whiskey."

"How come he's still in his senses?"

Purple shrugged. "He has more resistance to alcohol." In fact, back on the Academy days, Red was always the designated driver after a party. Purple drank too many shots.

"I find it hard to believe after seeing him rolling drunk in the Interweb." Foxtrot said with a small chuckle.

Blue frowned at Foxtrot. "It's cruel to make fun of people on the internet, especially when they're around*."

Foxtrot ignored him and replayed the footage, leaving a few comments in the process. Blue shook his head and glanced back at Red. Wow. He must really be depressed if he didn't react to being made fun of.

"What are we going to do?!" Red shouted. "We're done for! We're never getting the Massive back!"

"Dad, don't say that…" Ilk said.

"Yeah, we have Cheesecake to enter the tournament."

"That is the problem!" Red snapped, glaring at Purple. "That animal is useless! You turned it into a lap dog! You saw what that Maugrim thing is capable of, do you really think your pet is going to stand a chance against it?! If you do, then you're more stupid than I thought!"

Purple returned the glare. He knew Red had never liked Cheesecake, but he was crossing the line this time. "Come on, we still have a month to train him!"

"You talk much considering he's still stuck in the IK-CADCOM and you said they won't give him back, not to mention they'll put him down!"

"Blue and Zim are solving that issue," Ilk said. "Blue said he knows some who might be of help, and Zim could use his 'divinity' to convince the IK-CADCOM."

Red raised an eyebrow. "You know someone? Who?"

"Let's say the Indokani job runs in the family. My uncle is a veteran and he has worked with 'spoiled' indokuro before, so he might be able to help." Blue explained. "Convincing him might be hard, though, especially since he's my paternal uncle, and…" He trailed off, but the glance he directed at Red left things clear.

Echo demoralized them further. "Even if you do manage to get him back, and even if Blue's uncle agrees to help, that indokuro in a terrible condition. A month might not be enough to train him to fight against a battle-trained and far more experienced indokuro." It wasn't out of malice, but sugarcoating wasn't going to make things easier for them.

Red dropped his glass hard against the table, glaring at Purple. "This is your fault!"

"What? How is this my fault?!"

"If you hadn't taken that thing outside, to begin with, it wouldn't have been taken in the first place! Oh, even better, if you hadn't spoiled it rotten-! Would you stop eating when I'm trying to scold you?!"

"I eat when I get stressed*!" Purple whined with a mouthful of nachos. He carelessly spilled some of the extra cheese unto Blue's tea table. "We're eventually going to run out of snacks and my poor Cheesecake is in a cold cage without doughnuts, water, and his favorite toy!"

Red groaned. "You-! See?! That's what I mean!" He snarled with stronger hostility.

Ilk had enough. "Stop, the two of you!" She stamped her foot. "Instead of bickering, why don't you try thinking of a solution to the problem?"

"You know, we could always paint Fury's stripe and say he's Cheesecake. I mean, all indokuros look alike!" Purple suggested.

Foxtrot snorted, barely managing to stop himself from laughing. "That just shows how little you know about them, your Tallest! Two identical indokuros don't exist, every single individual has its perks and certain characteristics personality-wise that make them stand out. Yours is the most disobedient, spoilt and immature indokuro ever created. I think the judges will notice the difference."

"Besides, Fury is in a much better condition than Cheesecake is. From what I saw on the reunion, he couldn't even run for fifteen seconds." Echo shrugged. "Face it, you're stuck with Cheesecake on this one."

Red smashed his head against the table. "We're bummed."

Ilk worriedly glanced in direction of the corridor. When they arrived a while ago, Lena had hurried straight to the bathroom and she hadn't yet returned. What was taking her so long? "Dad, think Lena is okay?"

"Perhaps she's curious about the feces and urine disposal device thing. You know, since our bodies no longer require that function, we have no need for them." The four kryvtors shivered. Red rolled his eyes. Inferior species. "Yeah, I think I'll go make sure she's okay."

As he left, Blue tapped his claw. He better tell them at once. "Your Tallest, there's one more detail I should mention. In order for the fight and entry to the tournament to be considered legally valid, you must become Cheesecake's owner."

"I already am!'

Sigh. "By sobrekt standards, I mean. And to do this, you have to partake in the Indokani Exams."

Purple souped on his soda and then asked. "Exams? No way, I had it with exams back on the Academy!"

"You don't understand. If you want to… keep Cheesecake, you have to register him in the IK-CADCOM. And to register him, you must register yourself as an indokani. To register yourself as an indokani, you have to pass the exams."

"I thought you said Zim would convince them to spare and give him back!"

"It would just be a borrowing. Afterward, Cheesecake would have to be returned. Then he will be put down."

Purple felt a shiver down his spine. He didn't want to imagine his poor Cheesecake trembling and calling out for him as those lizards prepared to kill him.

"So, how are the exams like?"

"It's not easy to explain, Ilk. It's a series of difficult tests meant to pick out who's worthy to work with an Indokuro." Masouri explained.

"Blue already took them, right? He can explain what to do," Blue averted his gaze, humming nervously. Ilk raised her lekku. "What?"

"The thing about the exams is that they're always changing every five years, precisely to avoid that*. Even if I told you how mine was, it's likely they will be different this time."

"Besides, we don't even know if the supervisors will even accept him. I mean, he's an Irken." Echo added. "And no offense, but your kind has the habit of stealing information to use against other species."

Purple raised his lekku and dissimulated the nervous gulp by sipping on his soda. Damn it, that kryvtor was sharp. Thankfully, Red returned with Lena at that moment, giving him an excuse to change the topic before Echo noticed. "Hey, Lena, are you okay? You look terrible.".

Indeed, her skin was a paler shade of green and her eyes looked tired. "I'm okay…" She said, wiping some sweat off her forehead. "I think I ate something bad…"

"I told you not to try those meatballs." Red frowned.

"I couldn't help it, they looked tasty."

"Tasty? Lena, they were alive and squirming!"

Blue coughed. "Okay, then, what do we do? Tallest Purple, are you willing to take the indokani exams?"

"Can I think about it? I mean, it's been some time since I was in action if we don't count the whole issue on Hoth."

Someone knocked on the door as Zim cried out from the outside. "My Tallest! Zim has returned victorious!" Victorious? Did that mean…?

A blur of black burst through the door. Zim yelled as he was mauled around by a large indokuro with a white stripe. Purple jumped to his feet. "Cheesecake?"

Cheesecake immediately lifted his head at the familiar voice. As soon as he spotted Purple he forgot all about Zim and lunged at his master, knocking him, the chair and all his snacks down. "Cheesecake! You're okay!" Purple managed to embrace the indokuro's neck even as Cheesecake continued to lick his face. He was so happy he ignored Red's irritated muttering and forgot about the snacks. Ilk was the only one to join in greeting him with some pats on the back, everyone else kept their distance.

"You okay, Zim?" The defective could only lift his arm with a thumbs up before dropping it back down. "I think we should take him to see a doctor."

"Zim needs no doctor, Masouri-beast!" Zim jumped to his feet in a swift recovery. "My Tallest, permission to take a break! I have to make sure my Gaz-demon is happy!"

Red waved his hand dismissively, prompting Zim to flee, barely avoiding collision with someone else at the doorway. Blue turned his head towards him. "Sakr!" He went to greet the newcomer, but it limited to sharing some purrs and chirps while making head motions. Oh, right. No physical contact for the sobrekt unless they were lovers*. Red shivered. He took a look at the kryvtor. He had darker shades of gray than Blue and he lacked the namesake stripe, but his crest was of the same electric blue color.

"Nephew, it's been a while since I saw you face to face. I swear, with every day that passes you look more and more like your father!" the kryvtor, Sakr, laughed while patting his shoulder. "Sorry I couldn't attend your engagement reunion, but I was doing an errand on Caphractus."

"That's okay, don't worry."

"Ah, you must be Ilk!" Sakr sped past Blue and stopped right in front of Ilk and started sniffing her. "I've heard lots of things about you! I must say, I was surprised to learn an Irken actually beat my nephew..." As he spoke, he circled around Ilk, sniffing every part of her body, to Red's chagrin.

"Excuse me, but that's my daughter you're sniffing at, lizard."

As soon as Sakr turned to face him, all politeness vanished. The kryvtor's pupils became slits as he frowned deeply, but contrary to his expectations did not lash out. Instead, he turned to Cheesecake. "I must say, of all the spoiled Indokuro I've dealt with, that's the worst."

"Hey!" Purple snapped, offended. Cheesecake growled.

"How did you get him out of IK-CADCOM, sir?" Lena asked politely.

"In part thanks to Hitorken Zim…" Sakr explained how Blue had called him a few hours ago, explaining him about the bet regarding the Massive (he even asked who was stupid enough to bet such a powerful vessel, to both Tallest's chagrin) and how they'd need help in retrieving Cheesecake to train him for the upcoming fight. He met up with Zim at the IK-CADCOM facility, where they started the procedure to 'rent out' Cheesecake. It helped that Zim was the one to explain the situation, and since Sakr was a renown Indokani with a specialty in badly-trained indokuros, the higher-ups decided to give him a try. Red and Purple couldn't help but feel dismayed at the idea of getting increasingly indebted to Zim, particularly Red.

"Okay, so can you help us?" Ilk asked hopefully.

"It might be harder, since this one didn't hatch in a clutch and was raised in space with little contact with others of its kind, not to mention it's been spoiled rotten."

Purple frowned when Red shot him a smug grin. Save the 'I told you so' sermon for someone who actually wants to hear it. He wordlessly spat at him.

Sakr began his inspection on Cheesecake to check in which condition he was in. It mostly consisted of checking his teeth and touching certain parts of his body. A few minutes later, he gave a verdict. "There are so many problems with this one that I don't even know where to start."

"Just spit it out, lizard," Red said dryly.

"He's got more fat than muscle due to lack of physical activity. His teeth and claws are not as sharp as they should due to lack of calcium in his diet… Speaking of which, what did you feed him?"

"Snacks," Purple said. "You know, donuts, nachos, all that."

Sakr looked like he'd have a heart attack. "No wonder the poor creature's like this!"

"Hey, but we started giving him meat on Blue's suggestion…! Though he didn't like it very much."

"Because you got him used to your fatty foods too much. Indokuros need at least two hundred pounds of meat to make up for all the energy they consume throughout the day, plus the calcium helps their teeth and claws develop properly."

"Right, and you can tell all of this just by touching him?"

"Purple, shut up and let him do his job!"

"Since when do you care about what a lizard says?"

"Well, considering he's our only chance at getting the Massive back…!"

Sakr shook his head as the two began to argue. "Who's his opponent, if I may know?" he asked Ilk.

"Sendou's Maugrim."

"That Maugrim?" Sakr's eyes widened. He stared at Cheesecake for a few seconds, then sighed. "It doesn't have the age, experience nor muscle mass to go against such an opponent. He'll be torn limb to limb."

Purple gulped and hugged his indokuro's neck again. Red looked affronted for a while. "I can't believe I'm doing this…" He snapped his fingers, prompting a short Irken soldier (how he heard it from all the way here was a mystery to the kryvtors) to burst in from the door and get on his knees in front of Sakr and started to beg.*

"Please! We're desperate, we're running out of snacks and we're stuck in a filthy alien planet! I'll give you anything, but please help us!"

Ilk smacked her forehead. Sakr, on the other hand, seemed amused. "I like begging Irkens." He glanced at Purple. "Take your 'pet' to the indokuro sanctuary tomorrow in the morning. I must make some arrangements. If you're late, I'm leaving." Before leaving he cast Blue one more friendly glance. "See ya later, dear nephew! Expect to see me at your pre-kekkonshu ceremonies!"

Once he was gone, Red sighed in relief. "Don't be so relieved, your Tallest. He said he'd help, but we are yet to see if it will work. Your indokuro is not the sharpest claw in the hand." Masouri told him.

"Well, indokuros tend to get traits from their owners."

Purple frowned. "I heard that!"

Chapter Text

From the Indokuro Study Field Guide, Chapter 5: Pack Behavior.

Indokuros are social animals, and it is ill-advised to isolate them for too long. In the wild, they form packs to hunt and overall interact.

Every pack has its own distinct set of traits and behaviors. Some might prefer stealth when hunting and use limited vocalizations, while others prefer complex trapping and are more vocal. What all packs have in common, however, is that they are respectful of each other, especially their leader, or Alpha. The Alpha sometimes displays mild aggressive behavior to assert its dominance over the pack, however.

Of course, there may be exceptions. Certain packs show certain levels of aggression, and some may even try to overthrow the Alpha. Aggression is normally saved for newcomers and those who don't belong to the pack. The 'newbies' are kept at a margin until formally accepted by the Alpha.

The next day was perhaps the worst up to then. At least for Purple, it was. It started with Red coming to wake him up before dawn, even having the computer drop a bucket of soda on top of him, leaving him sticky and wet. After a quick shower to remove the stickiness from his body, he found Blue outside on the living room, looking like he had a rough wake up call as well on Ilk's part.

Ah, like father, like daughter.

"Come on, you two! Go to that hanging spot for indokuros before Sakr leaves!"

"Please, Red, I don't think he was serious! Right, Blue?"

Rather than agree with him, Blue sighed. "I wish he weren't."

And so they left on Red's beckoning, taking Cheesecake, on a leash this time, with them. Blue led the way. Cheesecake was particularly handful today and constantly whined or groaned due to the itchy thing around his neck. He didn't like it. It choked him when he tried to get away. He tried biting and scratching it off but was unable to. Master patted him on the head a few times to calm him down.

"One thing, your Tallest," Blue said upon noticing the comforting gesture. "If you really want the training to work out, you need to stop treating him like a pet."

Purple groaned, annoyed. "Why does everyone keep saying I treat him like a pet?"

"Because it's the truth. You're always pampering and overprotecting him. According to what I've heard about him from Tallest Red and other Irkens, you never trained him to use a designated place as his toilet."

Again with that?! Damn it, Red!

Blue continued. "He is high-strung and attacks at the slightest provocation, and overall he has a severe case of separation anxiety," The kryvtor read the clueless expression on Purple's face. He sighed. "He can't stand being away from you for five minutes without getting severely anxious."

"Red just says that because he never liked Cheesecake! He doesn't know him as I do!"

Their argument settled for the time being as they arrived at their destination. The Indokuro sanctuary consisted of thousands of acres of virgin forests, glades, and overall long extensions of open, grassy fields. Apart from the Indokuro, there was a wide variety of other wildlife for the hybrekts to hunt and feed themselves, or so Purple read in the sign at the entrance of the sanctuary's terrains. Yes, he had installed sobrekt written language into his Universal translator before coming here. He wasn't that forgetful, thank you very much.

"So where are we supposed to meet your uncle?"

"Right over here, your Tallest," Looking up, Purple spotted Sakr resting right on top of the sign. The kryvtor dropped off and landed right in front of them. Cheesecake growled at him, startled. Purple patted his head. "Don't do that."

"What?" Purple turned to him.

There was a frown Sark's face. "Don't pat his head when he growls at people. You're encouraging him to do so." He stated matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean? I'm trying to calm him down!"

"No, calm him down would be speaking firmly and letting him know his behavior is not acceptable. A pat on the head is a gesture of approval, so basically you're telling him it's okay to be aggressive at people." Purple felt a shiver down his spine at the tone. Sakr might be shorter, but the vibes he gave of made him feel like he (Purple) was the shorter one. "If you want me to 'fix' him, I need to know how you trained him."

Blue had the feeling Purple wouldn't be completely honest, or would omit key details, so he explained that Cheesecake's misbehavior actually came from lack of proper training and no discipline. The more he talked, the more Sakr's frown furrowed.

"Basically, all he did on that ship was eat, sleep and attack people?" His uncle asked after he was done.

Blue nodded."And use carpets as his evacuating spot."

"Would you get over it already?!" Purple snapped impatiently. He had enough of Red's stupid carpet. "Look, can you help or not?"

"I can, but the problem is that we don't have much time. You're asking me to teach him in a month what would usually take years."

"It takes that long to fix misbehaving indokuros?"

"In his case, yes."

Cheesecake shrieked, offended at the remark.

Grin and bear it, Purple. Grin and bear it, he's going to help you get the Massive (and the snacks) back. "What do we do now, then?"

"In order to fix him, he must learn to behave like his kind." Sakr motioned them to follow him deeper into the woods. On the way to... wherever he was taking them, he explained the issue. In order to stand a chance against Maugrim, Cheesecake needed to learn how to read body language and anticipate movements. Usually, hatchlings learn it from older indokuros when they are old enough to join a pack, but Cheesecake had never been with his own kind before; this made it harder for him to communicate.

"It's like… he doesn't even know what he is. I wouldn't be surprised if he thinks he's an Irken."

"Big deal, you also raise your indokuros in captivity, do they think they're kryvtors too?" Purple shot back.

Blue rolled his eys. "We raise them, all right, but they grow in Sobr and get interact with others of their kind, especially for combat and behavioral training."

"Here we are!" Sakr announced, stopping right on top of a cove with a wide, deep lagoon. Purple saw Fury a few meters away. "Nephew, do the honors."

Blue made a shriek-like call. Fury instantly reacted and came running towards him. Cheesecake shrieked and wagged his tail at him, but the older Indokuro ignored him and stopped in front of his master. Blue patted Fury's head approvingly.

Purple grunted. Show off. "Okay, what now?"

"The best option is to put him in this pack because Fury already knows him.. Sort of. It might help if Cheesecake screws up."

"Hey!"

Sakr put the thick, metal collars he had been carrying on both Cheesecake and Fury. He pressed a few buttons and a long plasma rope cackled to life for a few seconds before disappearing. "These collars are meant to keep these two close to each other while the training lasts. I adjusted them so that they can get away from each other for a few meters, but no more.

"Well, better go, your Tallest. The sign-up booths for the indokani exams will open up soon, and we'll want to be at the front of the line. Only two hundred applicants are accepted per four years."

Purple glanced worriedly at his indokuro as it tried to get Fury to play. "What about Cheesecake?"

"He'll be fine, Irken. Fury is with him. We'll come back for him in a week-"

"A week?!" Purple snapped and hugged Cheesecake's neck. "No way, you didn't tell me he'd be here for so long!"

Blue and Sakr exchanged a glance. The latter sighed and rubbed his temple. "The idea is for Cheesecake to be detached from Irken influence, and for that, he needs to spend more time with other Indokuros and less time with Irkens, especially you." Sakr pointed a finger at Purple. "You want him to survive against Maugrim? Then stop treating him like a house pet."

"Besides, think about your precious snacks," Blue added quickly.

Purple's hold on Cheesecake started loosening up. He hated to admit it, but they were right. He had seen the monstrous Maugrim wipe the floor with that opponent. If could do that to a trained indokuro, he didn't want to imagine what would happen to his Cheesecake. "Can I at least…? Can I have a word with him?"

He thought they'd mock him, but surprisingly both kryvtors nodded. He let go of Cheesecake's neck and turned his head to face him. "Hey, Cheese… Listen. We're… Well, I have to go and… We will not be able to see each other for some time. Only for a few days, don't worry..."

Cheesecake tilted his head. What was wrong with master? He sounded sad. What did he mean that he had to go? Go where? He purred and rubbed his nose against him to make him feel better.

"Cheese, listen... You are going to stay with Fury and those other indokuros. Learn from them. Watch them. Do the same as Fury and listen to what he says. Show Red that he's wrong about you." Purple pressed his forehead against the indokuro's nose, closing his moist eyes shut, then he slowly released his nose and stepped back. "See ya later, Cheesecake."

Where was master going? Why wasn't he taking him along? Cheesecake called out for him, but he kept walking away. Don't leave! As he tried to go after him, the thing around his neck abruptly choked him. He realized he was attached to Fury though a long, shiny rope. He shrieked, but Fury didn't move from his spot. Cheesecake kept pulling against the rope, but it was no use. In desperation, he cried.

Purple stopped momentarily when the wailing started. The only time he had seen Cheesecake making that sound was when Red locked him inside a storage room. It was a sad, desperate cry. It broke his squeedly-spooch. He was about to turn around when Sakr stopped him, silently shaking his head. Purple took a deep breath and resumed walking without looking back.

X0X

Try as he might, he could not get Cheesecake's cries out of his head. Not long after leaving the sanctuary, the worries returned. What if Cheesecake got hurt? Or what if the other indokuros didn't accept him? What was he going to eat?

"Your Tallest, snap out of it! It's almost our turn."

Oh, right, the signing up. Unfortunately, Blue was right when he said they should have come early. The booths were located in Igano's downtown, and they had to take two subways to get there, which took them one hour and a half. Then Purple refused to move any further until he had something to eat, so he had Sakr buy him lots of vort dogs and told him Bob would pay him later.

Blue had left them a while ago and reminded them to be back at his house for the second pre-kekkonshu. Oh, right! He had been so worried about the Massive and Cheesecake that he had forgotten the reason they were here in the first place.

"Next!" He and Sakr stepped forward. There was a female sobrekt on the booth. She seemed to recognize his companion. "Mr. Sakr? What are you doing here? You already have an indokani license."

"It's not for me," Sakr muttered and motioned to Purple with his head.

The female stared at Purple, then glanced back at Sakr. "Sir, is this your idea of a joke?"

"It's not a joke, lizard-lady! I need a license so I can get my indokuro back for a fight to get back the Massive from Sendou!" Purple pointed at the Irken flagship, visible even from that height.

The sobrekt was unsympathetic, however. "The indokani exams only accept sobrekt and kryvtor applicants."

"Come on, it's not like I'm going to steal that information to use it against you later, right?"

Sakr groaned and smacked his forehead.

"...Okay, now I'm definitely not accepting your entry. Next!"

"Hey!" Purple angrily shoved the person behind him back."Listen here, lady! I'm not moving until you admit me!"

"Unless you can change species in the next five seconds, that's not happening."

"What is going on?" Purple's lekku twitched and swayed in the direction of the new voice.

It was a dark green female in a white lab coat. However, he couldn't tell if she was a sobrekt or a kryvtor; she looked like a mixture of the two. She had the thick body frame and head spines of a sobrekt, but her body was far less bulky and her head shape was more reminiscent of a kryvtor, though her teeth stuck out like a crocodile's.

"D-Doctor Scylla!" the sobrekt stuttered, her body language changing abruptly. She lowered her gaze and tensed up.

"I asked you a question, Charek. What's going on?"

"I will tell you what's going on, lizard-lady! I'm being discriminated for my species!" Purple snapped.

"This Irken wishes to partake in the exams, ma'am, but I've already explained to him that we don't accept non-sobrekt applicants."

"No, you don't want to accept Irken applicants, that's different! I bet you wouldn't do this to a Vortian!"

Dr. Scylla raised an eyebrow. "At least a Vortian wouldn't use that information against us." Ouch.

"Look, doctor, it's a complicated situation, but this Irken really needs an indokani license," Sakr explained about the bet and the issue with the I-KCADCOM. Purple found it hard to read the scientist's expression. She merely listened, her pupils turning to slits. "In other words, in order for the bet to be legally valid, Tallest Purple needs an indokani license."

"Oh, I'm a pal of Hitorken Zim, by the way!" Purple added quickly. It had worked before.

Dr. Scylla looked slightly amused. "I see… You are one of the Irken leaders, aren't you? I thought you'd be taller."

Purple almost snapped at her. He bit his tongue at the last moment, clenching his fists. If this woman could help him get into the exams, he needed her on his side at least right now.

"You say you know Hitorken Zim on a personal level?"

His eye twitched. Of course, she'd only care about Zim. "Oh, yes! We went to the Academy together! Tallest Red and I even gave him a secret mission!" Please buy it, please buy it, please buy it!

Dr. Scylla only stared at him with an unreadable expression. Time passed. Some of the other aspirants started to protest. Eventually, Dr. Scylla turned to the female on the booth. "Charek, sign him in."

"B-But ma'am, this is against protocol-!"

"May I remind you that I wrote that protocol myself? If this…" Scylla eyed Purple skeptically. "...gentleman wishes to give it a try, who are we to deny him this chance?" Purple felt a shiver down his spine when she met his gaze. "After all, what a better way for the 'Almighty Tallest' to prove his worth?"

"Invaders, report."

Spleen and Skutch were the first to step forward, explaining what they managed to learn on Midosis regarding the combat training, their types of ships in development and the usage of certain hybrekts in warfare. Tenn narrated her little… adventure inside the kurokran's insides, and apparently this was the only requirement to be accepted into the kurokani corps. "I'm only waiting for a 'package' to arrive. The croc lady said I'd need it for my first flight."

"That would explain why we got this weird thing," Stink was examining a piece of green clothing. Tenn recognized it as the suits used by some of the kurokani back on Midosis. How did she know where to send it, anyway?

"Nice, Tenn." Red grabbed the suit and took a look at it with half-interest. "Though it doesn't look like you'll fit in there, anyway."

"I can make a brand new one my own size and adjust my disguise to make it look like I'm wearing it-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Larb, how did your reconnaissance go?"

Larb stepped forward, smirking. "You'll be pleased to know that I successfully infiltrated HybGen's laboratories and I found more information regarding not only Project Zimkro, but also some of the plans for future hybrids and some of the genome formulas for some of the species that have been already created."

"Ha! Way to go, Larb! All of you should learn something from him!"

Larb relished at the praise and the jealous looks he got from the others. Zim might be worshipped by the Sobrekt, but he was the Tallest's favorite Invader.

"So what's this Project Zimkro thing?" Red asked.

"Apparently, it's a new hybrid being created with Zim's DNA-"

The reaction was instantaneous. Red started choking unto one of his doughnuts, prompting him to quickly take a big gulp of soda and swallow it (he wasn't going to waste snacks now that they couldn't access the Massive's kitchens). The rest of the Invaders responded with a loud 'WHAT' almost noisy enough to shatter the nearby windows, followed by incredulous murmurs.

"Are those lizards out of their scaly minds?!" Oh no, the last thing he wanted was yet another Zim wreaking havoc throughout the universe. "Larb, go find that experiment and terminate it before it can be unleashed!"

"Y-Yes, my Tallest!"

As Larb ran off, Zim's hyooman girlfriend walked into the base. "Hey, get your filthy alien meat out of-!" Spleen was abruptly grabbed by the lekku and thrown against the wall. He was soon joined in by Skutch and Grapa when they tried to stop her. The hyooman came to a halt in front of Red. She was just as tall as Zim, maybe a few inches shorter.

"You, move your green ass out of here and to the lizard's home. They won't start making the food until you arrive, and I'm hungry."

The nerve of-! "Do you know who you are talking to, little girl?"

The hyooman didn't seem impressed. "Zim's boss, leader, or whatever you are called. Look, the sooner we get there, the sooner I can go back to my game while enjoying a good slice of pizza, so move it out, tally."

"How dare you talk to Tallest Red like- AAAHH! IT BURNS!"

Lena felt a shiver down her spine as she watched Tenn roll on top the carpet, her skin steaming as the sticky, gaseous liquid burned her. Whatever it was, it didn't seem pleasant. "Um, Red, perhaps we should listen to what she's saying..."

"Come on, Lena, you get intimidated by a shorter hyo- Hey, what are you-?! Unhand me, you nasty-! I'm going to kill you-! OKAY, OKAY, I'M WALKING, BUT LET GO OF MY LEKKU!"

Afterward, no one dared to get closer to the hyooman. They followed her from a distance, while Red rubbed his sore lekku with pained whimpers. Additionally, he made sure to walk behind the Invaders so they'd get burned by the liquid weapon instead of him should the hyooman female use it.

Blue's house was filled with his family members and friends much like the last time. However, this time they were all gathered outside, sitting in distributed tables around the courtyard. All heads turned to them momentarily before the sobrekt went back to their own business. A few kept a wary eye on the Irkens, however. Red noted Captain was not present. Wasn't he invited? Or maybe he had other things to do.

Then he noted all of the tables were full. "Hey, hyooman, where do we sit?"

She didn't dignify Red with a verbal answer, and merely pointed at another table at the far end; this one had a bright yellow tablecloth instead of the green the other ones had. Blue's mother Deltra was there with Brava and Kepra. The latter was keeping an eye on three tiny kryvtor hatchlings running around the table. They doubled the size of a newborn smeet, and from what he could see they already ran.

On the other side of the table sat Zim (the empty seat was most likely for the hyooman), and none other than Skoodge and Bob. "My Tallest, I'm over here! I saved your seats!"

"We can see you clearly, Zim." The hyooman muttered, going to sit next to him.

Skoodge and Bob quickly changed seats so that Gaz and Zim would be in between them and Tallest Red. Red and Lena sat to the right of Zim but left Purple's seat empty. He must still be signing up for the indokani exams. There were two empty seats meant for Blue and Ilk, but they were currently unoccupied.

The rest of the Invaders had to look for empty seats amongst the other tables, and found a particularly empty table, though the slowest ones had to sit on the ground while Tenn, Grapa, and Spleen got the three chairs.

"Okay… So what now? Are we going to have lunch or something?" Red inquired.

"It's the second pre-kekkonshu phase, Irken," Chakra explained.

"Is it? Looks more like a family picnic to me."

Skoodge searched through his flashcards. "In the second pre-kekkonshu phase, the groom will hunt prey with his pack-mates and bring it back to his bride, showing he can successfully provide for his future mate. The bride and groom must then work together to cook said prey into a dish."

Red frowned deeply. "Did any of you hear something? I think there's an annoying bug around here."

"You should be grateful that at least one of your own actually researched our customs, Irken," Brava said dryly.

"You mean the two idiots who lost our flagship in a damn bet? Oh, I'm grateful all right!" Red almost shouted sarcastically so both Bob and Skoodge could hear him. Lena gave him a warning glance, but the grip on his arm was a bit too tight. "Umm… Lena…"

Bob yelped in pain. "Ma'am, would you mind telling your kid to let go of my leg?" Skoodge leaned in and saw one of the hatchlings was biting unto his friend's leg.

"Aike, knock it off, you'll damage your still-delicate teeth!" Kepra cried out.

"His teeth?! What about my leg?"

"Don't worry, his teeth won't tear off limbs until he's at least six months old."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better!"

"Hey, where's Tallest Purple?" Zim asked.

"Signing up for the Indokani exams." Red frowned when Blue's sister snickered. "What's so funny?"

"Good luck with that. Aliens are not allowed to participate, especially your kind."

"We don't have a choice." Lena sighed sadly. "If he doesn't pass, we can't reclaim Cheesecake officially. And if that happens, we will never get the Massive back."

Bob and Skoodge shrank when Red threw them a fulminating glare.

"When do we get to eat, sobrekt-beasts? My Gaz-demon is hungry!"

"Don't worry, Hitorken Zim, we're having entrees before the main course," Deltra said.

"Good! When are you bringing them? We're starving!"

"As soon as Sakr and your co-Tallest- Oh, how timing, here they come." Deltra waved her arm. "Sakr, over here!"

"Hey, Purple, how did it go?"

Purple didn't respond. He only sat in the empty chair next to Red, pressing a piece of fabric on top of his recently-cut hand. "Stupid lizard-lady."

Blue returned with Echo, Masouri, and Foxtrot not long after Purple arrived. They were dragging a large, bulky herbivorous-looking animal carcass. Ilk also returned from grocery shopping with Chakra.

After greeting their guests, they went back inside the house to start the main course. At this point, Deltra and Brava went to 'supervise', though Red and Purple had the feeling they were afraid Blue would blow up the kitchen. Foxtrot, Masouri, and Echo returned to their table to find their seats had been occupied. Rather than complain, they merely scooped in between the other Invaders. Guess they were too exhausted to argue over a chair.

The snacking round began soon after while the main course was prepared. Or at least Deltra said it was snacking. The problem is that Sobrekt and Irkens have different meanings for the word 'snack'. For Irkens, a snack means nachos, doughnuts, curly fries, candy bars, and actually edible food. For the Sobrekt, a snack means a little, live critter squirming and screeching as it is chewed on or any part of an animal's body.

The first dish was a curled up yellow snake, but the actual snack was its live offspring inside its body. Sakr cut a long opening on the snake's side and the worm-like baby snakes squirmed out of the carcass. Red shrieked when one squirmed unto his lap and threw it at Purple's face, who in turn threw it at Zim. The second course was steamed scarabs of some sorts. Skoodge nearly broke his teeth trying to give it a bite; Kepra then explained they had to remove the outer shell to eat the insides due to their 'softer' teeth. Purple threw up in an empty doughnut bag.

The only actually edible thing was Gaz's pizza, but judging by the murderous glare she threw at Red when he tried to steal a slice, he guessed she wouldn't take it kindly.

"I hope he's not planning to feed my Ilk with this." Red pointed at one of the remaining snakes as it slithered through the table, staring at it in disgust.

"It's not that bad, Red. You just have to get used to the taste."

"Lena, what the-?! You're eating those worms?!"

"What? They are tasty." Lena slurped one of the worms like a piece of spaghetti.

Red contained the urge to throw up by focusing on his co-Tallest. "Okay, so you were accepted into the famous exams?"

"Yeah."

"How did it happen?" Chakra asked, giving the tall Irken a skeptical look. "They are very strict on those exams. The last time, a Vortian tried to enroll and was rejected."

"Let's say I had a little help. A weird-looking lizard lady told the sobrekt in the booth to sign me in."

Kepra and Chakra exchanged a look. "Define weird-looking."

"She looked like a mixture of… well, a kryvtor and a sobrekt, neither too much of either."

Sakr took a long gulp of grootbeer. "It was Dr. Scylla." He said afterward.

Purple had a bad feeling when the two females exchanged looks again. "What?"

"Who is that ?" Red inquired.

"Head of the Gessen Creation Department, creator of the Indokani program and main supervisor of the exams. In other words, Sobr's best geneticist."

"And you say she personally accepted you?" Purple nodded. "Ancestors know what she's up to this time."

"What do you mean?"

"Dr. Scylla is, to put it lightly, a bitch. When she wants something, she gets it even if it will take it a thousand years. She's cold, calculating and sees people as her test subjects. If she accepted you, she probably wants to conduct an experiment," Chakra took a bit off the head of a scarab. "As for her 'weird looks', she's a hybrid herself. Her mother was a sobrekt, and her father a kryvtor."

A hybrid in charge of more hybrids? How ironic.

Purple's lekku twitched as a pleasant smell came from within the house. Soon after, Blue and Ilk pulled out a large piece of cooked meat on a trolley. They actually cooked it? That's… surprising. Sobrekt hated cooked meat and would rather eat it raw. Was it part of this phase? Ilk momentarily approached the table to greet them. "Hey, Dad, Uncle Pur, Lena- Wow, you're actually eating these?"

Lena shrugged and scrapped a scarab's remains with her tongue.

"How did things with Cheesecake go, by the way?"

"Thank the Control Brains, he's far away and I can enjoy my snacks without worrying about that thing coming and trying to bite my hand off."

"Hey!" Purple frowned. Taking a deep breath, he responded properly. "He's with Fury and his pack. Sakr here says he needs to learn how to behave like an actual indokuro before teaching him how to fight."

"And he's right!"

He frowned at Blue. "Who asked you?"

"So if he learns to behave, does that mean he'll stop being… well, him?"

Sakr shook his head. "Well, certain… habits will probably disappear, but there are other things that can only be removed by training." He read the look on Red's face. "Yes, that includes the place to use the bathroom."

"So, Ilk, what exactly did you cook?"

Deltra glanced at Red and Purple. She smirked. "It's roasted trekoratops on herbs and then bathed in its digestive juices." She got the reaction she wanted.

"D-Digestive juices?" Red's eye twitched. Purple felt his squeedly-spooch squirming as he brought a hand to his mouth. Bob and Skoodge weren't so quick and they had to duck under the table. Ilk sighed. It's a good thing she had purchased some extra bags in case this happened.

Chapter Text

From the Inquisitorians' Archives.

Mating Habits and Natural Reproduction of Irkens

Irkens didn't always use cloning to augment their numbers. In the old days, they used to reproduce similarly to organic beings. It wasn't until the appearance of the Control Brains that the cloning method was implemented. Tallest Laven's prohibition of natural reproduction following the death of his wife and smeet in childbirth further caused it to be outdated. Even after Almighty Tallest Miyuki lifted the ban, cloning continues to be favored over N.R. because it takes less time to supply the Irken Empire with soldiers .

After an Irken female, known as Irkenette, is successfully courted and fertilized, she has cravings and mood-swings, normal behaviors in most pregnancies throughout the universe. Some unique behaviors to the Irken race include making a nest to protect themselves, and highly territorial attitudes. She will attack other Irkens that are not her mate.

Irkens are partly oviviparous. The embryo will grow considerably before the egg starts forming around it, allowing the Irkenette to feel the movements during the fifth month. The mother's abdomen grows considerably during this time. The egg is laid at ten months, after which the female incubates it for one more week before the smeet finally hatches.

Cheesecake continued to call after master long after he left, but got no reply. And he didn't see any signs that he'd return. He said he'd come back. Why did he leave in the first place? Why did he leave him behind again? Didn't he want him anymore? But then he remembered his words. Stay close too Fury. Learn from him. Do the same as him. So Cheesecake reluctantly followed him after he started going somewhere.

After Cheesecake was done crying out for his master, Fury grew impatient and started heading back to where his pack had been before Blue called him. He was surprised when they put him in a leash with Cheesecake, but nevertheless, he obeyed like the good Indokuro he was. Still, Fury couldn't help but worry on how his pack would react to Cheesecake: the younger one hadn't left a good impression the last time. It wasn't easy to win Hornet over.

The two indokuros arrived at a clearing in the forest a few meters away. The rest of the pack was there, napping as they waited for their missing member to come back. Fury's pack consisted of Fury himself and three others: Cougar (the green stripe), Panther (the orange stripe), and Hornet (The purple stripe with feathering), the alpha.

Fury stopped a few meters away, prompting Cheesecake to do the same, and made quick, short calls to announce his presence. The other three Indokuros rushed to meet their companion, only to stop at the sight of Cheesecake, who hid from view behind Fury, or at least he tried to. Hornet growled, recognizing him. Fury responded with a low growl of his own, telling them to back off. He never looked at Hornet in the eye, however. Such a gesture was seen as a challenge.

Cheesecake just watched as they exchanged growls, croons and other sounds he had never heard before. He even tilted his head, trying to understand what they were supposed to mean. Growl means angry…? No, wait, this one didn't sound exactly angry. He accidentally met Cougar's gaze. Cheesecake jumped back when Cougar shrieked at him, Fury got in the way before he could attack. Cheesecake tried to flee, but the collar and the shiny rope prevented him from getting any further. Then he remembered master's words: stay close to Fury.

Cougar clawed at the ground with his claws, bristled his spines and shrieked, but Fury stood his ground and didn't let him pass. Hornet snapped his teeth at Cougar, forcing him to back down for now, but then he focused on Fury once more. He made a low, guttural sound by vibrating his vocal cords and then chirped a few times. He was asking what he was doing with the runt. Fury responded with calls and purrs of his own, letting him know he was no harm. Then he started pushing Cheesecake closer to his three other pack mates.

Indokuros have a strict social hierarchy. Packs consist of four to six members, led by an alpha. It could be either male or female and were usually the strongest and most experienced indokuro around. Indokuros within a pack form strong attachments to each other and often react to strangers with hostility.

Young indokuros are often put in older packs to learn proper behavior and corporal language, but first, they must be accepted into one. The newbies must appeal to the alpha and convince it that its no threat. The alpha will then test the younger one to see if it can contribute to the pack. In other words, Cheesecake had to win Hornet over in order to be accepted.

Cheesecake, of course, had no idea of this and instantly panicked, but Fury wouldn't let him flee. He started trembling when the three indokuros stared at him, particularly Cougar's slit-pupils indicating aggression. Hornet crooned and purred while tilting his head to the side, but Cheesecake didn't know what he wanted or how to respond. Desperate, he looked at Fury for some assistance.

Hornet was asking who he was, but of course, the runt wouldn't know. Then he looked at him, expecting help. Fury snorted in dismay. He lowered his body and tail and made whimper-like noises. That posture meant he was no threat. Newcomers were to make that posture in response to the Alpha's inquiry.

Unfortunately, Cheesecake misinterpreted the gesture completely. He rolled over onto his back and started wiggling, kicking his legs and wagging his tail, sending sand flying straight to Hornet's face. The older indokuro shook his head and sneezed, removed the remaining sand with his paws and frowned at Cheesecake, clearly irritated. Oops.

Okay, plan B. Master loves this one. Cheesecake stood on his hind legs and started walking on top of them in circles. Additionally, he pulled his front legs close to his body and moved them like wings, and even let his tongue loose. However, this had the opposite effect. Now the other Indokuros stared at him in confusion. Even Fury had tilted his head to the side. In a panic, Cheesecake went completely nuts: he started bucking and jumping around to kick the air just like the four-legged animal he had seen in the big screen once, screeching as he did so.

Finally, Hornet decided he had enough. He ran straight at Cheesecake and pinned him to the ground by the neck with his jaws. Fury watched but did not interfere. This was a disciplinary measure; the alphas do it on misbehaving youngsters, or sometimes it was simply done to assert dominance. Cheesecake shrieked in pain and tried to get free, but stood no chance against Hornet's larger form and better condition. It wasn't until he stopped struggling that Hornet finally let him go. He scurried over to hide behind Fury again.*

X0X

Afterward, Cheesecake tried to stay as far away from Hornet as possible, but this was hard to do, considering Fury went everywhere with the pack and Cheesecake had no choice but to follow. And keeping was even harder, as the others had more stamina and better-developed muscles, which allowed them to run up to seventy kilometers per hour in an open field. Cheesecake, on the other hand, never had to run very far (on his defense, there wasn't enough space on the Massive to do so even if he wanted) for so long, and his quick sprints didn't last more than forty seconds before he had to stop to catch his breath. This further irritated the other indokuros, as he was constantly holding them back. Cougar often took out his frustration on Cheesecake when Fury was not close enough to defend him.

When they stopped to drink at a freshwater creek, Cheesecake tried to mimic the way the others ran on their hind legs, as he noticed it was much more aerodynamic and saved more energy than running on all fours. Sadly, he tripped more than once and landed headfirst unto the grass. He even ended up in the water in his last attempt, splashing Fury and the others all over and earning another angry bite from Cougar.

Soon after, Cheesecake became hungry. Master would usually give him lots of tasty round snacks and many other delightful treats until he was quenched, but master wasn't here, which meant there would be no snacks. Cheesecake opened his mouth wide and asked for food, a trait he had kept from his hatchling stage. Fury looked back at him and growled, telling him to stop.

Hornet lifted his head and sniffed the air. He spotted a flock of birds up ahead, looking for worms on the ground. He looked back at his pack, then at the flock, tapping his claws rhythmically as he planned a strategy. He crooned at Panther and made a small motion with his head. The orange-striped Indokuro darted off. The remaining three indokuros lay low on the ground. Fury silently growled at Cheesecake, prompting him to do the same.

Cheesecake was confused. What was going on? What were they going to do? Where had Panther gone? His answer came in the form of a shriek and a black blur running towards the birds, which took off and flew towards them. Then Hornet, Cougar, and Fury leaped and caught each a bird into their jaws. Even Panther was fast enough to jump higher and close his jaws on one for the flying critters before it could escape. Cheesecake realized what had happened: Panther frightened the birds into flying in their direction so the others could hunt them. It was then that he realized he had none.*

As the others started to eat, Cheesecake's stomach growled again. He first approached Panther, who was the closest. The older indokuro snarled and pulled his meal closer with his paws, additionally turning his back on him. He got similar reactions from Hornet and Cougar; the latter even swiped his paw and struck his nose. This left Cheesecake sore and hungry as he went towards Fury, his last hope of getting something to eat.

Fury didn't growl, but he still pulled his prey under his body warily in case Cheesecake tried to steal it. Younger indokuros with little to no experience in hunting tended to do this. Fully-fledged hunters never shared their meals unless they hunted a big prey enough to feed them all; one must put the meat on their own table, after all. This time, however, Fury decided to toss a small piece of meat to Cheesecake. His own master had told him to look after the younger one, after all.

Cheesecake stepped back and sniffed the piece of red meat warily. Was is this? Is he supposed to eat it? It didn't smell like the snacks Master gave him. This one had a stronger smell, similar to the pink liquid that came out of the green men when he scratched or bit them. For a few minutes, Cheesecake pondered if he should eat it or not. But as spoiled as he can be, he was still an indokuro. A hunter. A carnivore. The smell of blood sent signals to his brain, awakening his carnivorous instincts and prompting him to eat the meat.

Not only this red snack looked and smelled differently. It also tasted differently. And Cheesecake liked it. He had to get more! Since the other indokuros would share their food, he tried to get his own whenever he could.

Hornet seemed to realize what was going on when he saw Cheesecake chasing fruitlessly after the birds, and crooned something at Fury, who led Cheesecake awake from the pack and towards a field with holes on the ground. There were many other indokuros there. Most of them were Cheesecake's age or younger, but even they looked bigger and healthier than he did.

Cheesecake noticed they were chasing after something. Small, fat scaly animals that were surprisingly fast for such body mass. They tried to run back into their holes to escape the predators, but even that was not enough, as the young indokuros would start digging into their dens.

Under Fury's supervision, Cheesecake began his first hunting lesson. For the first two hours, all he did was chase the closest critter around, but his low stamina and the slippery ground caused him to trip or get exhausted. Then he tried to dig them out of their holes, but they'd come out of another one and get caught by other opportunist indokuros. Finally, when he did manage to catch a lizard out of sheer luck, a younger rival stole it and sped away. By the time the sun was at its highest, Cheesecake gave up, hungry and exhausted.

Soon after, he started to whimper. He missed Master. Where was he? He wanted to see him. But he had no idea of where to look for him, and he couldn't get away from Fury. Maybe Master would come later to pick him up, right? Cheesecake got in a sad mood afterward and refused to move from his spot. He lay down under the shade of a nearby tree and drifted off.

He was awakened a few minutes later when Fury dropped something at his feet. He had hunted one of the lizards for him this once, but it would be the only time, as he wouldn't be driven to learn if he thought Fury would always feed him every time he failed. He merely watched as Cheesecake gorged the whole lizard, bones, claws and all, which would make him sick later. Fury snorted, shaking his head.

X0X

The remainder of the day was spent sprinting around aimlessly, just so that Cheesecake started developing his stamina and lose the extra fat. He struggled to keep up with Fury as he ran, jumped, climbed and made him follow move for hours, not to mention his stomach started to ache terribly soon after eating. By dusk, Cheesecake was panting heavily and covered in cold sweat as he tried to recover his breath.

Fury led Cheesecake to a small wooded area with lots of nests scattered around. Some were already occupied, others were empty. Cheesecake tried to take a closer look at one, but its occupant bared her teeth at him, telling him to back off. By then, Cheesecake learned that he shouldn't intrude into others' personal space or they would attack.

They found an empty nest a few steps away. Cheesecake made sure nobody around had claimed it before examining it thoroughly. It was made with dead leaves and grass. It smelled of other indokuros, but it seemed like the one who slept here previously wouldn't come back in a while. Fury stepped into the nest, moved in circles as he clawed at the leaves and then stepped out of it, motioning him to do the same with his head. Cheesecake pressed his paw against the leaves warily. They were a bit itchy. He stepped in, circled inside, clawed at the materials and then lay down.

It was itchy and rough. It was nothing like Master's nest, which was soft and warm and squishy. Cheesecake shifted around in the nest trying to look for a comfortable position, but try as he might he couldn't. He finally distracted himself by watching Fury make a nest from scratch, picking out big leaves and small branches from the trees and then bringing them back, scattering them in a way that eventually formed a nest. Then he lay down, curling up in the process, and fell asleep.

Cheesecake mimicked that sleeping posture and found it was much better than laying down on his side or back. He didn't immediately fall asleep, though. He looked up at the starry dark green sky instead, particularly at the two moons. What was master doing? When would he come to pick him up? He missed him! He tried to cry out for him, but some of the others lifted their heads and snarled at him. They didn't like to be woken up either.

And so Cheesecake spent his first night out in the wild and away from Master.

She was sick. There was no doubt about it. It started since Captain brought her and Red back from their 'crazy night'. The dizziness and vomiting didn't wear off even after the hangover passed; in fact, they became frequent. And she couldn't use the Massive's equipment to scan her organic body's condition due to the current circumstances.

"Um, Lena?"

"What is it, Ilk?"

"Why did you bring the frozen brain-meat ice cream?"

Lena looked down at the dessert, served in a bird's open head in the manner of a bowl. "I liked it." She took another spoonful into her mouth.

Dinner wasn't that bad… at least that's what Blue said. It turns out salt is a must even in semi-raw meat, otherwise, it's insipid and tastes like rubber. So Ilk had added a bit of salt. But she hadn't taken into consideration that Sobrekt have different palates and taste buds than Irkens. What tastes insipid for Irkens is the perfect taste for Sobrekt.

Dad, Uncle Pur and the others enjoyed the meat upon getting over their distaste of the gastric juices. But Blue's family only needed to take a bite to be provoked into vomiting.*Masouri ended up throwing up on top of Tenn, and she attacked him, and everyone around cheered for the fight. Then Bob and Skoodge ended up being staged into the fight when they tried to intervene, prompting Echo and Foxtrot to eagerly jump into the 'sparring session'. Heck, even Zim picked up a fight to impress Dad and Uncle Pur.

They still had no idea how on Irk he could face off against five kryvtors at once and come almost unscathed.

And by unscathed, in Sobrekt terms, this means all bruised and injured but with all his limbs still stuck to his body.

"I feel like an idiot!" Ilk buried her face into her hands, her cheeks red. "They must think I am an idiot!"

"Don't say that, Ilk. There was no way you could have known."

"But I should have assumed it! They always ate their meat raw on Hoth and on all of our dates Blue never spiced up his meat!"

"You couldn't have known it was an all-species thing."

"Get over it. They're overgrown raptors, it's not like a little salt will kill them." Lena glanced over at Gaz, who was seated on the opposite couch. She was still concentrated in her game. How did she know what they were talking about, then?

"Lena, how are you feeling? Any nausea lately?"

"A few hours ago. I just hope I won't have any right now…" Lena felt a shiver down her spine.

"When did you say it started?"

"Since your father and I got back from the bar."

"You got back from a bar?" Gaz did lift her gaze from her game this time. "And then what?"

"I don't really know, I don't remember much…"

Gaz raised an eyebrow. A few seconds of silence later, she shrugged. "You're pregnant."

Lena nearly choked unto the yogurt. Ilk dropped her glass of water. "What?" Both Irkenettes almost shouted simultaneously.

"It's pretty obvious. You and your… boyfriend get drunk in a bar, you end up making love, and afterward, you get nausea and you eat weird stuff you wouldn't otherwise touch." Gaz eyed the bowl-head of yogurt. "Pregnant."

Lena went pale. P-pregnant? Her? "That can't be, I can't…!" but what Gaz said made sense. And the symptoms matched with the information she had regarding pregnancy. Nausea and cravings were two of the main symptoms. She didn't exactly remember what happened that night after they were brought home, but her PAK had registered certain things from that time lapse, most notably drunkard words and Red being on top of…

Sweet Irk.

"Oh my god."

Ilk's lekku perked up. "Wait… this means…?" She slowly went to her feet and her lips slowly curved into a smile. "Lena, you're going to be a mom! And I'm going to be a big sister!"

"W-Wait a minute…! We can't know that for certain, it could be something else entirely!" She noted Gaz shaking her head.

"Then why don't you take a pregnancy test?" The hyooman suggested. "You know how to use them, right?"

Lena thought about the issue on the way back to the base. Pregnant? Irkens nowadays rarely reproduced the old-fashioned way. It was far too risky; females' bodies weren't made to breed biologically anymore. A few still did it, but mostly preferred not to die to the risks involved in the process.

Having gotten ahead to the base before Red and the others (she didn't want to give them false hopes), Lena and Ilk instantly asked the computer to run a body scan on the former. A few minutes later, the results came in. "Mistress, your spooch-sac is currently housing a fertilized ovule. In other words, you are pregnant."

Lena slowly sat down as the words sank in. She was… this meant… "What am I going to do…?" She brought her hands to her face.

"Come on, Lena, it's not that bad! You and dad are having a smeet!" Ilk cried happily,

"It's not that I'm not happy, I'm just… worried. When I worked on Irk as a medic, I saw many cases of females who had trouble during their gestation period. Some of them didn't even make it…"

"Actually, mistress, your superior height makes it less likely for you to have complications. You have a longer waist and your hips are slightly wider, which makes it easier at the time of the egg-laying."

"See? It's going to be alright. Besides, it was bound to happen eventually, right?"

"I guess so…" Lena looked down at her still-flat abdomen. A part of her had always wanted smeets of her own. She had seen sad cases, yes, but also the happy ones. The new mothers who cradled their newborn smeets or those who watched the egg continuing its development in the incubator.

"Oh, sweet Irk, Dad is going to be so excited-!"

"No!" Lena cried out suddenly. She grew nervous when Ilk stared at her in confusion. "I mean… I don't think we should tell him yet."

"What? Why not?"

"Think about it, Ilk. Right now, your father is already very stressed over the Massive, the fight and your wedding. How do you think he'll react to a smeet?"

Ilk flattened her lekku. "Well… when you put it that way… but when will you tell him, then?"

"I'm not sure, but… I think I'd rather wait a bit longer."

"Mistress, I don't mean to intrude, but the Masters are here."

Lena gulped. "Computer, not a word of this to Tallest Red and Purple!"

"My non-existent lips are sealed, mistress."

The door opened. Purple helped Red walk inside; the latter was pressing a pack of ice against his black eye.

"Sweet Irk, what happened to you?" Lena asked her husband as he sat down on the couch.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"One of the hatchlings- OW!" Purple yelped in pain when his partner's boot came into contact with his leg.

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Red hissed.

"Chill out, at least you're in a better condition than Grapa and Spleen."

"What happened to them?" Ilk asked.

Purple snickered in amusement. "They broke their arms and had to be taken to the camp's infirmary."

Red groaned. "How come Zim was the only one who got out of that unscathed?"

"Knowing the Sobrekt, perhaps they wouldn't want to actually hurt him."

"Hey, Lena, speaking of which, how are you feeling? Did the computer run tests on you?"

Lena did her best to remain calm. "Y-Yeah! Apparently, those scarabs didn't do me good."

"Why did you eat them, then?" Lena gulped at Red's inquiry. She had no idea of what to say that didn't arouse his suspicions.

Ilk saved her. "So you signed up for the Indokani exams, Uncle Pur? When do they start?"

Purple sighed sadly. "Tomorrow. I have to show up at the IK-CADCOM facilities at seven in the morning. Yaay," he whined sarcastically. "I wish I knew what it's going to be about."

"Zim can get you that information, can't he?"

"Please, Ilk, as if you didn't know him. Just because he's taller doesn't mean he's less of a defective as he was the last time!"

"Yeah, if only, his new height will go to his head!"

"Will you two leave Zim alone? You're always looking for new ways to mess with him!"

"Sweet Irk, Lena, now you are on his side? Should I remind you of all the times he fucked things up for the Empire? Because the list is very long!"

Purple ignored the following argument about Zim and instead went to his room. Once in there, he sent a probe to the Indokuro Sanctuary to check on Cheesecake. Sakr never said anything about checking on him on long-distances, after all. It didn't take long to find him: Red isn't the only one who puts trackers in the things he loves*. Cheesecake was curled up on a nest, with Fury not far from there.

He couldn't help but smile a bit when Cheesecake started wagging his tail in his sleep. It wasn't long before he started moving his limbs as if he were running. He must be having a very pleasant dream. Purple remembered the indokuro would often come to his bed at night and curl up next to him, sometimes awakening him with such unconscious movements. On one occasion he even mistook Red's bed with his own and went in, ruining Red's 'physically intimate moment' with Lena. He got a good laugh about it even after Red sent him to the corner for the entire week.

He had to pass this exam for Cheesecake ... and the doughnuts.

Chapter Text

TO ALL APPLICANTS OF THE INDOKANI EXAMS.

The first stage of the exam will take place in the IK-CADCOM HQ at seven D.C. tomorrow. You must present yourselves alone at the accorded time and place. Failure to comply will result in automatic elimination.

*The following note was only added to Irken aspirant's message*

This goes double for YOU.

 Midosis, OTF Hangar.

"Okay, Tenn, let's begin with introducing you to the Kurokran."

Tenn took a deep breath. She was led back into Midosis's OTF hangar, wearing the anti-acidic suit in both her real and holographic forms. She saw most of the Kurokran were out of their pools being tended to by the maintenance workers. Maintenance consisted mostly of pouring cold water on top of the creatures; whenever the water touched their scaly bodies, it released steam. They reminded Tenn of the overheated ships in the Academy that had to be cooled down this way.

"The OTF units are ordinarily deployed from here, Hangars 5 to 12." General Abilk motioned to one of the sobrekt near the pool to come closer. "This is Airman Konoga, the OTF maintenance leader."

"Nice to make your acquaintance, miss!" the croc said with a youthful, happy voice. "I must say, you're very fortunate for being chosen!"

"Why are they kept in pools?" Tenn couldn't help but ask as she leaned in at the edge of the pool where her Kurokran lay at the bottom.

"Oh, that. You see, to disperse their intense metabolic heat, Kurokran need to fly. But even when most of the heat is released, the temperature continues to rise when they are on the ground, so they rest inside the pools to keep it from going too high." Konoga glanced back at the one pool that was still occupied. "That one, however, hasn't accepted any kurokani for the past fourteen years. Without a kurokani, Kurokran can't fly much less navigate an emergency situation. It has to stay all the time in the pool to keep itself cool, but even with that it's at its limit."

"So you are its savior." Abilk finished. "Raise the Kurokran!"

"Raising Kurokran on the lift!"

Tenn stepped back when the ground vibrated and waves formed on the pool's surface as the Kurokran was raised out of the pool. Giant black, leathery wings spread out from beneath the water, sending droplets flying everywhere. The wyvern-like creature emerged, looked down at Tenn with its toxic green eyes and shook the excess water off, creating a massive gust of wind that nearly sent her flying. She could now take a better look at it. It looked like the rest of its kind, but she noticed there were lighter patterns on its wings and chest.

"He's actually behaving today. Usually, he's like a spoiled brat." She heard one of the maintenance workers say.

"Okay, now you may try to touch it." Abilk pushed her forward. "Just imagine you're about to pet your frill-neck, except this one's big enough to swallow you whole."

Tenn stepped forward. Her gaze never left the Kurokran. His eyes were interlocked with hers. She found herself mesmerized with those large ocular orbs. The Kurokran tilted his head with a purr and lowered his head, arching his slender long neck in the process. Tenn felt a shiver down her spine when it snorted right in her face. His breath was very hot. She heard more workers murmur in awe that the creature had made the first move, a clear sign that she was the 'real deal'. Even Konoga cried out that she was amazing.

"Okay, before starting the flight training, the first step is to learn how to camouflage the Kurokran as aircraft. Prepare for embarkation immediately."

The hangar was bathed in green light. All the kurokran went stiff and spread out their wings. A series of green lasers materialized pieces of armor on their bodies. Tenn found some parts reminiscent of the sobrekt aircraft she had seen in space battles against the Sobrekt in the past.

"OTFs are set up and ready to go," Konoga announced.

"Okay, Tenn, just do exactly as directed in the training videos we sent you," Tenn smirked internally. She had already downloaded those videos into her PAK, so it would be a piece of cake. All she had to do was to stand in front of the Kurokran and-

Before she knew what was going on, the kurokran opened its jaws and ate her, sending her back into his intestines. This time, the suit protected her from the stomach acids, but she still shivered in disgust. Before she even had time to get in the proper position, the kurokran started moving. She was abruptly sent backward by a strong movement, followed by loud roars and cries from the kurokran. This continued for a few moments before the movement stopped. Her lekku tingled under her holographic disguise as she heard someone on the communicator.

"Tenn! You okay?!" She recognized Konoga's voice.

"I'm in a bit of a helter-skelter, but I'm fine! What the hell happened?!"

"Looks like he's really excited to go flying again. As soon as he swallowed you he ran out of the hangar and took off."

Bann took over. "Remember the videos. Start up the PT-V2 module."

Right. Tenn tentatively searched for the button on the back of the helmet. When she pressed it, some colorful 3D triangles appeared on the visor. Tenn looked at the tiny yellow sobrekt characters next to said triangles until the found the one she was looking for.

To her astonishment, the dark, nasty inside-meat surroundings disappeared and were replaced by a holographic display showing the exterior. Tenn momentarily panicked as she saw they were very high until she recalled she was actually inside the kurokran. She saw a few holographic buttons and lights in front of her; according to the training videos, those were sensitive spots within the stomach that caused the kurokran to react in a certain way.

Currently, though, the kurokran was flying on his own. With a happy shriek, it spread out its wings and started gaining altitude with graceful twirls. "Hey, would you mind going a bit slower?!" Tenn snapped, though she wasn't sure if he could hear her at all. The only response was a loud roar.

Tenn saw other kurokran beneath them. They all looked alike, though some were bigger than others. The smaller ones were probably younger.

"Are you still in one piece?" she heard a new voice in the communicator. Probably one of the other pilots. She confirmed she was. "Okay, if you paid attention, then you should know how to get your kurokran into Asola mode. Do so and get ready to fly in formation!"

Tenn watched as the other kurokran shifted their bodies while their pieces of armor extended and covered their bodies, transforming the animals into the sobrekt battleships she had often seen during the war. Okay, she had to press a particular button...There it is, the green one. She pressed her hand against the circle. Her kurokran roared, but otherwise, she couldn't see what was going on or if he had changed. She did feel a small temblor, though.

"Not bad, newbie! Now come down here and get into formation!" Tenn carefully pressed down the corresponding part of the stomach. Her squeedly-spooch sunk in discomfort when the surroundings around her changed as he descended. She had taken part in holographic simulations back on the Academy, but this one was completely different.

So this is how the sobrekt did it. No wonder the soldiers who managed to make it alive out of those battles often said the kurokran appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They probably shapeshifted in-between these forms to hide their numbers. The pilots' location inside the stomach protected them from any harm, and just like Captain had said, an animal couldn't be hacked.

They practiced different formations for an hour and a half before Bann gave them permission to return to the hangar. The Kurokran were required to land in Asola mode; admittedly, Tenn had a bit of difficulty for this part. She was used to landing spaceships, not flying beasts! After a shaky landing, her Kurokran stretched out his limbs with a mighty roar that gave Tenn another headache.

"Alright, newbie, see that button on your feet? Put pressure on it to be expelled!"

Tenn did as told, but to her utter dismay, the Kurokran's stomach acids pooled all around her. Like the last time, the Kurokran expelled her via vomiting. Tenn gagged in disgust as she got to her feet and wiped the vomit off her suit. "Is that necessary?! I'm all covered in your stomach acids again!"

The Kurokran purred and tilted his head. Was it an apology?

To her confusion, the other pilots weren't vomited out by their Kurokran. The beasts merely made a regurgitating gesture and opened their jaws, allowing their kurokani to step out of their mouths, covered only in a mild coating of saliva. "How come you weren't vomited out?!" She almost shrieked.

Bann chuckled as she stepped closer. "Experienced kurokani can trigger regurgitation without excessive fluid. You'll get the hang of it, eventually." She smirked. "It wasn't that bad for your first time, newbie."

Tenn returned the smirk. "Thanks, ma'am."

"Well, have you thought of a name for him?"

"Name? Doesn't he have one?"

"Here! Eat up!" Tenn raised her lekku under her disguise. A vermillion kryvtor covered in large pieces of green meat dashed into the hangar and stopped right in front of her Kurokran. He waved his arms, trying to catch the animal's attention. "I'm here!"

The other pilots and the maintenance workers groaned, exasperated. Even Bann seemed anything but happy to see the newcomer. The only one who seemed actually concerned was Konoga. "Zaku, not again!"

"He only chose Tenn for her green skin, right?!"

"He sure is persistent," Konoga muttered under his breath.

Zaku ignored him and kept waving his arms. "Come here and eat me! Come on! Eat me!"

Her Kuroran lowered his head and sniffed at the kryvtor. He ate him for a few seconds only to spit him out towards a group of maintenance workers who caught him in the air. If she didn't know any better, Tenn would think this had happened a few times already if they knew where Zaku would land. She noticed the meat was gone. Guess her Kurokran only wanted to eat something.

"That's Zaku," Konoga explained. "He's applied for being a kurokani a few times already, but he's never been eaten before. He's been trying to get this one to choose him, but as I said, he refused to eat anyone else... until you came along, that is."

"So, Tenn, have you thought of a name for him yet?"

Tenn looked up at the Kurokran again. "Could I give it a thought?" In reality, she had no time to think of a silly for a beast. She had a report to give. The Tallest would certainly be pleased.

Sobr

The first day of the Indokani exams finally arrived, and with it, the two hundred aspirants to the rank. The next morning, at seven D.C. sharp, the IK-CADCOM HQ was overcrowded with sobrekt and kryvtors of all sizes, ranks, and colors. Most of them were young soldiers fresh out of Midosis, others were more experienced individuals who wished to go up in ranks, or others simply wanted to train Indokuros because they had seen how cool it is. The aspirants were gathered in one of the auditoriums, chattering amongst each other. Many of them had met in Midosis, so a few groups of old training partners gathered to talk and catch up.

The only empty area was the spot where Purple was seated. As he imagined, his attendance wasn't… well-received by the others. A few even tried to kick him out, only to bitterly retreat when they saw the cut on his hand, similar to their own. So that's what it is for! Even so, he could feel their disapproving, resentful stares every now and then. He even heard some of the whispers in between the nearest soldiers.

"What is an Irken doing here?"

"I think it's one of the Irken Leaders."

"The selection process is going soft if he was allowed to participate."

The message was clear: he wasn't wanted there. Purple ignored them. He didn't care about what they thought. He was here for Cheesecake and the Massive. He had no time to worry about such trivial matters. There was one particular female sobrekt, though, that didn't stop staring at him with slit pupils. She didn't even bother to dissimulate it. He had already caught her glaring at him. She almost reminded him of Echo, but with yellow scales and blue eyes.

He glanced at the clock on the wall. Eight D.C. "Does anyone know at what time this will start? I'm hungry!"

"What? You can't spend five minutes without gorging yourself in processed sugar?" a young sobrekt snickered. This prompted the rest to explode into laughter.

A kryvtor snorted. "Don't you want your cookies and a glass of milk too?"

"Oh, maybe we should bring him a stretcher for when he goes comatose from lack of doughnuts!" A third one cried out in-between snickers.

"Hey, leave the doughnuts out of this!" Purple snapped at the lizard who made that last comment, but this earned another round of laughter. The Irken had to bite his tongue to stop himself from ordering someone to throw them all out of the airlock and adding more fuel to the fire. Remember that you're better than them, Purple. Don't let them get to you. The yellow kryvtor was the only one who kept her serious demeanor.

A loud voice echoed within the room. "Quiet!" The laughter died down as a female kryvtor clad in light armor with a dark green sash around her waist stepped atop the podium. Most of her chest was exposed in a v-cut; Purple spotted a sort of black tattoo in the left side. All the aspirants (minus Purple) went stiff and stamped their tails.

"Okay." The kryvtor glanced around the room. Purple felt a shiver down his spine when she fixed those orange eyes on him for a few seconds longer. "So you think you're good enough to become an Indokani? Or that raising and training an Indokuro is like raising a clutch of frill-necks? Well, let me knock you out of that stupid fantasy of yours."

She snapped her fingers. An indokuro with a deep blue stripe went on stage and sat down next to her. She stroked its head. "An Indokuro is like your own child. In order to successfully train it, you must teach it discipline, and in order to do that you must earn its respect-"

"Lady, would you save us the intro speech and just tell us what the exam's going to be about?" The rest of the aspirants looked at Purple as if he had gone insane. "What? You're going to tell me you don't want to get this over with too?"

The kryvtor raised an eyebrow at him. "I suppose you're the… 'special guest' talked about." She chuckled. "You wish to go straight to the point? Fine by me." She glanced at the rest of the aspirants. "I am sénior indokani Bann, and I will be the judge of the first stage of the Indokani Exams. Now you better pay attention because I won't be answering any questions." Bann tapped her talon claws. "Now who can tell me what is the first step to training an indokuro?" She saw a hand raising. "You."

The female with the yellow scales stood up, her back straight and her hands behind her back. "The first step to training an indokuro is to form a connection with it, and the best way to do this is to incubate the egg, simulating a mother raising her children, ma'am."

"Ah, it seems someone here did her homework. Very good." Bann nodded in approval. "Indeed. If you pass, you will be given an Indokuro egg to raise. So naturally, the first stage of the exams will consist of this."

Bann walked towards a conveyor belt on the side of the room. She pressed some buttons on a nearby panel on the wall. The conveyor moved. Purple saw lots of incubators coming forward. They were just like the one Cheesecake's egg had been in before hatching. Speaking of which, each incubator had an egg inside, all of them black. Were those…?

"Don't get your hopes up, these aren't real indokuro eggs. They are too valuable to be wasted like this. These…" Bann tapped one of the incubators. "Are unfertilized Caggor eggs. Your first task will consist of taking care of these babes for one day."

"That's all? That's easy." Purple shrugged. This earned him irritated looks from the other aspirants.

"You think so? And if told you that these eggs require a constant temperature to hatch and the slightest change can cause the embryo to die? Or that a single crack can cause the yolk and fluid to leak out, killing the fetus because its lungs are underdeveloped?"

Purple gulped. So that's what could have happened to Cheesecake on Hoth.

Bann continued. "As I was saying, you will each be given one incubator with an egg inside. You must look after it for an entire day cycle and return it completely unharmed. Now listen carefully," Bann picked up one of the incubators. "The egg must be kept at a constant temperature of 20º- 25º Celsius, no more, no less. If the temperature is higher or lower than that, the incubator will sound an alarm. If you don't fix the temperature before the timer runs out, the incubator will mark the egg as 'dead'. Additionally, another alarm will sound to let you know it's time to change the egg's position."

"Why must we move the egg?" Purple asked.

"Because eggs must receive warmth in both sides equally, Irken." the yellow female frowned.

"Exactly," Bann nodded her head approvingly at her. "Listen carefully. If your incubator marks a dead egg, you will fail. If the egg has one single crack on its surface, you will fail. If you try to tamper with the incubator, you fail. Understood? Good, then form a line, take and incubator and I'll see you tomorrow here at the same hour."

One by one, the aspirants grabbed an incubator and left. Purple made sure to hold his incubator carefully in his hands. He remembered Cheesecake's incubator back on Hoth, and how he had to help him hatch after accidentally cracking the egg while he was supposed to look after it. He couldn't make that same mistake here. He'd keep the egg in his sight all the time and follow the instructions. It couldn't be that hard, right? He just had to make sure the temperature was unchanged, keep certain defectives-prone-to-destroying-everything-they-touched away from it and everything would be okay!

X0X

"Purple, that thing is beeping!"

Groaning, he had to place his doughnuts aside and press the buttons on the incubator. The light went back to blue, which meant everything was okay. Damn it, this thing was like the alarm clock back on the Academy. The main difference was that this one would sound every half an hour, and he just couldn't leave it because it was annoying. Oh, right, and he needs it to pass the indokani exams.

"Doesn't that thing have a mute mode or something?"

"It can't modify anything or I'm disqualified."

Red groaned. "Then take it somewhere else! It's annoying!"

"Not a good idea. With how clumsy he is, he might drop it."

"Who invited Captain?" Purple muttered.

"He has the tendency to self-invite himself," Okotto said. "Wanna hear about the graduation party?"

Captain bristled his spines. "Don't you dare!" He snapped with green cheeks.

"Aww, you're cute when you're embarrassed!"

Red coughed uncomfortably. The last thing he wanted was to witness the lovelizards getting too affectionate. Captain rolled his eyes. "So what's the next pre-wedding step thing?"

"Ah, well, the bride and groom engage in a duel to determine if they are equals. To pass, neither must defeat the other, both have to keep standing."

"This is the most important part of the pre-Kekkonshu. Should they fail, it means they aren't compatible with one another."

Red and Purple exchanged a surprised glance. The former asked. "Wait, so their engagement is not official yet? We can still call this off if either of them loses this 'duel'?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Okotto responded.

Red's eyes lit up. "Think you can take get Blue drunk before the duel?"

Captain narrowed his eyes. "Forget it."

He felt a shiver down his spine when Okotto's tail brushed against his. "Hey, Capi, remember our duel?" Okotto whispered as he lay his head on his shoulder.

"How could I forget? You literally tore my hand off." Captain murmured. True, Sobrekt tended to get a bit too violent during their fights, especially their pre-mating rituals. "I spent two weeks in the reggel clinic, remember?"

"Ah, come on, sweetheart. You've had it worse. Besides, you already got even."

Red coughed uncomfortably. "I'd thank you if you stopped reminiscing about your masochistic love life." The incubator started beeping again. "Purple!" No response. "Hello, Pur? Purple!" He saw his co-Tallest was staring at the Irkpad intently. Red grunted. "Captain, do you know how to turn that thing off?"

Purple didn't listen to the following scuffle. He was trying to find Cheesecake in the reserve through the drone, but he was nowhere to be seen. He spotted some indokuros who also had white stripes, but it didn't take him longer than five seconds to figure out none of them were his Cheesecake.

Was he doing okay? Was he eating well? Had any of the other indokuros hurt him somehow? Did he miss him? All these questions were buzzing around in his organic brain. He had never been apart from Cheesecake for so long. What if something happened to him? He had thought of going to look for him a few times, but he was so worried about the indokani exams that he hadn't gotten time to go. Maybe he could drop by after the egg phase just to see if he was okay.

The next morning they reunited with the rest of Fury's pack, and the latter greeted his pack-mates with chirps and croons. Cheesecake stayed behind Fury timidly, but it seemed like Hornet had no interest in him. Cougar, on the other hand, greeted him with an irritated snarl, prompting Fury to snarl back, telling him to back off. With that, they departed the nesting area

Cheesecake was terrified of Cougar. He was mean. He was always bullying him or looking for any excuse to attack him. If he got too close, Cougar would bite him. If he tried to grab food from big prey, Cougar would chase him away. In fact, Cheesecake couldn't even get close to the others without Cougar coming after him. Fury merely watched the aggression exchange and did not intervene unless Cougar went too far. Whenever Cheesecake tried to go to him for protection, he'd step aside.

Hornet and Panther were mostly indifferent to the quarrels, preferring not to take sides. Cheesecake wasn't really part of the pack, so they let Cougar chase him away… but unfortunately he was still attached to Fury, so they were stuck with him.

Cheesecake watched bitterly as Fury was allowed to step closer to the carcass the other three indokuros had just hunted. The scent of blood was enticing him to go closer, but Cougar's divided attention between him and the carcass made him stay in place. Instead, Cheesecake kicked the newly-acquired bite marks on his back.

Cheesecake observed how the other indokuro communicated. Growls mean 'stay away' or 'you're making me angry', but they were similar to purrs, which mean 'this feels nice, I'm happy'. The difference was in the body postures. Growls include bared teeth, slit pupils and stiff demeanor. In fact, most of the communication and mood shows involved body language. He learned the 'thirteen inches rule': keep this distance from other indokuros and they won't bite you.

His stomach growled again. A few minutes went by until he couldn't help it anymore. He tried to creep his way around the carcass, looking for any blind spots where Cougar wouldn't see him coming. Behind him? No, too risky, he'd have to creep close to him to get close to the carcass, giving him a chance to bite him at the neck. Cheesecake had learned that his throat was a vulnerable spot; Hornet had pinned him down by digging his teeth into it, and Cougar always targeted that area, in particular, so now he tried to keep his head away from their teeth.

He saw a window of opportunity when Cougar snapped at Panther, moving his gaze away from the carcass. Acting fast, Cheesecake sped forward and grabbed a big piece of meat before speeding away as fast as he could. Unfortunately, Cougar was faster and went after him with angry shrieks.

Cheesecake ran from Cougar for a few minutes, but the shiny rope attaching him to Fury made it harder to escape; it limited how far he could go. He cried for Fury to help him, but he didn't lift a claw. Eventually, Cougar caught up and brought him down by a hard bite on his leg. Cheesecake tripped and fell to the ground with a painful thud. But it didn't end there; instead of merely grabbing the meat and moving back to the carcass, Cougar went after his throat. Cheesecake tried blocking him with his front legs to no avail; the older indokuro's started digging his claws into his arms trying to force them away from his neck.

Cheesecake cried out for Fury again, and once more he didn't move. He was merely staring at the scene intently as if waiting for something to happen. He wasn't the only one. Hornet and Panther were watching Cougar savagely attacking Cheesecake. The younger indokuro shrieked in pain as Cougar finally breached his defense and dug his teeth into his neck.

Something inside Cheesecake snapped. His fear turned into rage. Something in the back of his brain awoke, telling, no, screaming at him to respond. His vision turned red as his pupils became thin slits for the first time in his life. The shrieks of fright and pain became angry snarls and growls.

He kicked Cougar in the stomach with his hind legs, sending him flying. Then he got to his feet and lunged at him without giving him time to counterattack. Despite the difference in size, Cheesecake managed to get the upper hand for some time, digging his teeth into Cougar's arm and trying to pin him down, but it didn't take the bigger indokuro long to get free of his hold to finally retaliate.

Cheesecake fought against him for a few minutes. Sadly, soon his lack of stamina caught up and he grew tired of sparring, allowing Cougar to finally subdue him. Instead of whimpering cowering in fear, however, Cheesecake continued to snarl and growl at him, unconsciously bristling his spines in the process.

Fury finally intervened. He pushed Cougar off Cheesecake with his head and snarled at him to make him back off. Cougar growled, but Hornet's warning (which consisted of baring his teeth and snarling loudly) was enough to make him back off for now. The green-striped indokuro glared at Cheesecake in contempt as he stalked away from the pack to lick his wounds.

Cheesecake's anger shifted targets as he snarled at Fury for not coming to his aid earlier. Fury growled and smacked him in the head with his head; this time, Cheesecake did submit by lowering his body to the ground and purring. Fury snorted in approval. The younger one still had a long way to go, but he was learning. In order for him to do so properly, however, he needed to awaken his dormant aggressive instincts.

Indokuros are, by nature, aggressive and territorial, but also had a need for social interactions. As hatchlings, their indokani would take them to play with other young indokuros to play with. The tug of war, sparring and jumping on top of others was actually honing their future hunting and fighting skills. Then they learned the social interactions and 'the Law of the Fang' from the older indokuro.

It's during this tender age when an indokuro's survival instincts awaken, and these instincts became stronger as time went on thanks to spending most of their time in the wild, feeding by themselves, sparring with their pack mates and defending their hunts from other packs who wished to steal it.

Younger one, however, never had any of these experiences. Fury could tell it from the very beginning. He had never been around his own kind, so he not only failed to learn the corporal language and etiquette rules, but his instincts never awoke. This resulted in him lacking the killing instinct and blood lust that drove their kind. The younger one was a hatchling in an adult's body.

Fury let Cougar attack because he knew this would trigger younger one's dormant instincts, and he needed to learn that he had to defend himself. The younger one couldn't just expect his master to come to save him every time he was in trouble, Fury himself wouldn't either. They wouldn't be able to save him in the fight against Sendou. He had to stick for himself.

Hornet approached. Cheesecake lowered his gaze and lay his body close to the ground, showing submission. Hornet was purring and growling softly in a non-aggressive manner. Cheesecake contained the urge to flee as he felt his hot breath on top of his head.

Seconds later, Hornet returned to the carcass, tore off one of the legs and dropped it in front of Cheesecake. He looked up at the alpha suspiciously. He nearly rejected it until his stomach growled again. He made sure Cougar wasn't around before he started to eat the meat ravenously. It was tasty, even tastier than the last time. To Cheesecake's surprise, Panther and Fury brought him more pieces of meat, which he happily ate. As they returned to the carcass, Hornet turned back to Cheesecake and beckoned him to come closer, allowing him to come to feed to the carcass alongside them.

He had been officially accepted into the pack.

Chapter Text

The next day, the aspirants returned to IK-CADCOM at the set time, each carrying their respective incubator with their egg. A few were twitching their tails or tapping their claws nervously, while others had glum expressions as they stared at their incubator's screen marking a dead egg.

Bann examined each one carefully. Forty percent of the aspirants had dead eggs. Twenty-five percent had cracks, large or tiny. The remaining thirty-five percent managed to successfully bring their egg without a single scratch.

Bann took a look at the egg brought by the yellow kryvtor from the day before. "What's your name, soldier?" She inquired.

"Akkono, ma'am." Was the reply.

"You did an excellent job, Akkono. You kept the temperature constant and there's not a single scratch on your egg. Everyone, this is a perfect example of how you should look after your eggs."

Akonno puffed out her chest proudly.

"Okay, I think that was the last one. So let us continue-"

"Ma'am, the Irken is missing." One of the sobrekt pointed out.

Bann raised her crest. Oh, right, she had almost forgotten. "Irken?" She called out, but there was no reply. In fact, she didn't spot the Irken amongst the crowd.

"Maybe he chickened out."

"Or maybe he ate his egg."

Bann shrugged. She wouldn't waste any time waiting for the Irken. "As I was saying-"

"WAIT!"

Purple burst through the door. He was covered in sweat from head to toe, panting heavily to catch his breath. Damn it, of all the times for his hover-belt to run out of juice! He had barely made it; better late than never, right?

He was received with stunned looks from most people, a few others shook their heads or sighed in disappointment. The yellow female (Alonzo, he heard later) shook her head at him with half-closed eyelids.

Those looked like sugar compared to Bann's expression. "Didn't you see what time it is? You were supposed to be here at seven, Not a minute later."

Purple winced. It was just like the Academy. "Sorry! I had a little complication…!"

"Where's your incubator?"

He froze. She had finally noticed. Purple laughed nervously. "It's a funny story…!" He stepped a bit backward, grabbed someone by the lekku waiting just outside and dragged him in. "Maybe he can explain better!"

Most of the aspirants gasped in awe. A few fainted or drooled, or a combination of both, there were a few, repressed squeals of excitement.

"Oh, sweet ancestors, it's him!"

"He's even bigger in person!"

Bann's expression remained stoic, but her eyelids did open in the slightest. The irken has brought Hitorken Zim to the exams? What was he thinking?

"Well, Zim, tell them what you did to the egg!" Purple said in between grit teeth. It took him a lot of willpower not to strangle him then and there.

"Yes, My Tallest! Sobrekt-beast, you must know that what happened was entirely Zim's fault!"

Bann got impatient. "What do you mean 'what happened'? Where is the egg?"

Still forcing a nervous smile, Purple looked for something in his pocket and took out a transparent bag with blue scrambled egg in it. He started sweating again at the agitated looks staring at it.

"What is that?" Bann asked.

"It's what's left of the egg, m-ma'am," Purple said.

"What?"

"It was Zim's fault! You see…"

….

An hour earlier

Looking after the damn incubator all night was a nightmare. The alarm would go off in shorter time periods due to the lower temperature, so he had to keep it close to turn it off as soon as possible before it woke Red up. Unfortunately, he failed a few times because he was too distracted going to the kitchen to get various midnight snacks, which resulted in a loud 'TURN THAT THING OFF, PURPLE!' once or twice.

It's a good thing he had been saving his energy reserves, so he could go through Sobr's forty-eight hour-lasting night without sleeping, but it was hell as bored. He downloaded a few movies and series to watch, some of them of Earth origin. He was particularly interested in the snack cooking contest shows in which hyoomans had to bake pastries and those who made the best won.

At about forty-seven N.C, the incubator announced it would keep the temperature stable by itself for about four hours so he could take a break, so Purple took advantage of it to recharge his energy reserves.

His PAK-alarm sounded at

He found Red, Lena, and a few Invaders in the living room looking over something in the irkpad. Taking a peek, he realized they were scrolling through pictures of the Massive. "Look at this one! It's when we destroyed one of the Resisty's orbital stations!"

"Aawww!"

"Hey, Pur, remember this one? We had a doughnut-eating competition and you won!"

"The good old days," Purple sighed. "Hey, did you guys see the incubator?"

"You mean the infernal device to warm the egg that would sound every damn hour? I thought you had it."

"I left it right on the table while recharging my PAK..." Purple's lekku twitched as he sensed a pleasant smell coming from the kitchen. "Hey, who's making breakfast?"

"I have no idea, but I'm hungry. Hey, whoever you are, hurry up!"

"Coming up, My Tallest!"

That voice! Purple choked on his doughnut. When did Zim come in?! More importantly, how?! He asked the Computer about it. "Somehow he hacked into the door." It replied.

"And why didn't you stop him?!" Red almost shrieked.

"You programmed me to only act upon your orders, master. Since you were both asleep or in a state of dormancy, I couldn't do something to kick him out if you didn't tell me to do so."

Zim walked out of the kitchen wearing an apron and a chef hat (must be a hyooman custom), holding a big plate of a strange blue-colored dish. It smelled nice. Really nice. Too bad it was made by Zim, otherwise Purple might have eaten it. But knowing the defective little menace, he probably put something poisonous in it.

"What's that?" Lena asked curiously.

"You see, it's an earthen custom to make morning meals to your 'friends', so Zim decided to make something for you, My Tallest!"

"That's… interesting, Zim," Red murmured. He poked at the blue dish with the irkpad's stylus. "What is this thing exactly?"

"Scrambled egg!"

Purple froze. He felt an uncomfortable sensation in his squeedly spooch. He exchanged a glance with Red, who had a similar expression. Sweet Irk, please don't let it be what they were imagining!

"Zim, where did you get the eggs?" Lena asked warily.

"Good thing that you ask, ma'am! Zim found a big black egg inside a case, and I thought it would be a tasty meal for my Tallest!"

Purple didn't hear the rest of his explanation. Neither did Red. They were too busy hyperventilating on the couch, both frozen in horrified realization.

…..

Bann couldn't believe it. She had dealt with reckless or idiotic aspirants before, but this takes the cake. "What you are telling me is that you… cooked your egg?"*

"He did!" Purple hurriedly pointed at Zim.

"I am willing to take the punishment for this in my Tallest's stead, lizard!" Zim said with a salute.

You idiot, the punishment is that I'll be disqualified and we'll lose any chance to retrieve the Massive! Purple thought bitterly, glaring at Zim with hatred. Of all the things the defective could do to screw everything up again, he had to destroy the goddamn egg! He'd be lucky if he wasn't disqualified for this!

Bann was yet to react. She was staring at them intently, but her gaze was mostly focused on him. Purple felt a shiver down his spine. Why didn't she say anything? Did she want to make it worse by letting the doubt linger for a little longer?

The other aspirants weren't helping. Most of them were snickering or openly laughing at his bad luck. A few were already protesting and telling Bann to kick him out already.

Just as it seemed Bann was about to give a verdict, someone cried out. "Hey, this one is cracking!"

A male Sobrekt was pointing at his neighbor's incubator. Indeed, the egg had started to crack by itself, releasing the leftover albumen and yolk as a tiny horn pierced through the shell.

Bann immediately made her way towards the incubator. It was hatching? How could this be? These eggs were unfertilized, they couldn't hatch… unless.

She caught a moving shape in the corner of her eye. "You! Don't move!"

The perpetrator, a male kryvtor, stopped in his tracks. Gulping, he turned round to face Bann. She had straightened up. Her talon claws were rhythmically tapping the floor. She wasn't happy.

"Did you replace your egg?"

The kryvtor shook his head vigorously. "No, ma'am! M-Maybe that egg was fertilized all along! I mean, people can make mistakes, right?" He chuckled nervously.

"People can. Embryo scanners and computers can't, soldier, especially when they are being personally supervised by Dr. Scylla herself." Bann was closing in on him until she cornered him against a nearby pillar. "I will ask again, soldier. Did you replace the egg, something I expressly told you was forbidden?"

"I-I…" the kryvtor broke down. "I'm sorry, ma'am! I didn't want to! But my egg cracked after my incubator fell off my lap when I was napping and-!"

"The next time you try to cheat, at least make sure your replacement isn't at the end of its incubation cycle." Bann finished matter-of-factly with a loud growl. "Get out of my sight. Now." She watched the cheater scurry out of the room in-between frightened whimpers.

Purple snickered at what just transpired but quickly regretted it when Bann twisted her neck around to glare at him. He quickly lifted Zim off the ground, intending to use him as a live shield in case she attacked him or something like that.

"As for you, I have every single reason to disqualify you too. For one, you didn't bring your egg intact," she glanced at the scrambled blue egg. "Secondly, you cowardly tried to completely pin the blame on someone else when the egg was YOURS to look after. Whatever happens to it is YOUR responsibility."

Purple was very tempted to choke Zim right then, right there.

"Unfortunately," Bann sighed and scrolled down her tablet. "Without that cheater, we're down to sixty-nine aspirants, and the minimum quota is seventy. And since you're the only failure who's still around here," she murmured something under her breath.

"Hey, wait a minute!" A Sobrekt snapped. "That's not fair! He didn't even bring the incubator!"

"Why does the Irken get special treatment?!" Another shrieked.

The rest of the sixty-nine began to protest Bann's decision, many of them shooting Purple nasty looks. Purple felt a shiver down his spine, particularly when he noticed the venom in Akkono's eyes.

"BE QUIET!" Bann snarled, scaring the aspirants into silence. "If you have any complaints, then go to the higher ups. Those of you who were very lucky to pass," she glanced at Purple, "The next stage of the exams will take in the training circuits in Midosis tomorrow at twelve N.C. If you have a ship of your own, you can go by yourselves. You only have to show the mark in your hand and the orbital guard will let you in. That will be all. You're all dismissed."

Purple was the first to scramble out of there before any of the other aspirants could maul him. He could defend himself, but he'd rather not waste his time on the lizards. It wasn't because he was afraid of losing his head, no sir!

"You did it, My Tallest!" Zim cried on the way out.

Purple's eye twitched as he made his way to a trashcan a few steps away.

Caphractus is the fifth planet in the Dylinae system, so naturally, it's climate is far colder than Sobr's during the winter months. Even during springtime, it's perpetually covered in thinner layers of snow. Most of the planet's biome consists of boreal woods eternally bathed in white frozen water with gentle snowflakes or devastating snowstorms. Judging by the climate and how most of this planetary system's natives were cold-blooded, one would think the Sobrekt wouldn't set foot on this planet.

Larb soon learned this wasn't the case. The climate was extremely cold, yes, but there were greenhouse-like domes spread out throughout the planet. The climate inside most of these domes was similar to Sobr's own, but a few had desert or tropical biomes. There was a great variety of organisms living inside these artificial habitats.

From what little information he managed to get on Sob and judging by the development diary, Caphractus was used to test and watch the behavior of newly-created hybrids, which are then cloned and bred with genetic differences between specimens. When one shows the wanted behavior, its genome is taken and used for mass production.

The dome used for Project Zimkro seemed to be of the forestal biome, but there were additionally some cliffs included and wide aerial space. Larb broke into the laboratory area first to learn whatever he could about this creature's behavior and appearance. Just like in HybGen's labs, there were many computers around the room, all of them seemingly empty. Security wasn't as tight in here, probably because access to Caphractus itself was restricted to all but the scientists involved in each project.

He saw one of the computers was on. Even better, there was a paused video feed in it. Oh, this was good! Larb snickered to himself as he went to take a closer look. To his surprise, he realized it was the Tallest's Irktube channel, 1000 Ways Zim Ruins Anything. He also saw a compilation of Zim's screaming moments and yells. The logs mentioned something about imprinting. They wanted the creature to think of Zim as its parent? Why?

Larb's lekku twitched in direction of the door. Someone was coming! He hid under one of the desks just as a kryvtor in a white coat stepped in. He seemed to be talking to someone, but there was no one around. Must be talking through a communicator.

"Up to now, the asset has shown to have learned certain behavior traits from the parental unit, and additionally from Hitorken Zim's own DNA, ma'am. Hyperactivity, fondness of destruction, the tendency of yelling loudly—"

"Then he's ready." A female voice concluded.

"No, ma'am. The asset won't expel its pilot without external intervention. We're not sure why. Additionally, it doesn't follow commands and is completely unpredictable."

"Don't give me excuses. Just solve it." She sounded angry.

"We're trying to, ma'am, but the asset won't let us within a mile of him, he's already sent a few people to the infirmary."

"NO excuses, Killick. This creature is my masterpiece, and I want to present it to Hitorken Zim at its best."

Larb quickly moved from that desk to the next one while the kryvtor was distracted. The lizard was so deep into the conversation that he didn't notice the hand slip into his pocket and take out his keycard. As soon as the scientist moved down the hall, Larb made his way down the opposite corridors until he reached the door that led into the habitat. After making sure there were no guards, he used the keycard. The scanner's light turned yellow and allowed him entry.

The invader felt a deep relief when the air around him warmed up considerably. He hated snow and ice. If this thing has Irken DNA, that would explain why its habitat was considerably templated. Larb noticed the place used holographic panels to simulate a clear green sky. Most of the plants seemed to be native from Sobr, but he recognized a few other species from other planets.

Larb moved through the thick foliage slowly, using his PAK's binoculars and heat detention scanners to look for any signs of the creature. Along the way, he found big piles of black excrement in different stages of decomposition. He had to make a temporary stop to throw up.

Damn it, judging by the size of that discharged bodily waste matter, this animal must be very big. This was confirmed as he came across a footprint that was roughly the size of his zhook runner. Damn it, this would make the job harder. Poison wouldn't do for a quick job.

A twig snapped behind him. He turned around, PAK-lasers at ready, but there was no one there. The heat scanners didn't catch any heat either. Another twig. And another. And another. And every single time he saw nothing.

This made him realize he didn't know just how intelligent this animal was. How smart the Sobrekt designed it to be. He wanted to think it was as dumb as Zim, but this strange behavior was proving otherwise. It didn't have only ZIM's NDA, it was a combination of many other beasts; maybe one of those components was intelligent.

A drop of something splashed unto his head. Larb jumped back in disgust and wiped the water off…

Wait a minute. This couldn't be water. It was far too thick and viscous. Larb took a closer look at his humid glove. It was a clear, semi-transparent substance with a pinkish hue. A second, larger drop splashed against his head, almost soaking him completely. Larb shrieked and frantically started wiping it off until he realized this substance had to come from somewhere. *

By the time he realized what was going on, it was too late. A large shadow descended upon him with a deafening hiss-like shriek.

"I'm nervous."

"Chill out, you just have to stay on your feet and pummel your boyfriend."

"But I can't beat him! That's the point of this!"

Gaz shook her head, sighing in irritation. What the hell does she want to hear, then? From what she could understand, she and the blue lizard had to fight, but neither could beat the other in combat. What's the point of the fight then? Oh, well, must be something normal for these type of aliens. From what she had seen of the Sobrekt so far, coming to a physical altercation and blow exchange was the equivalent of a marital argument.

Ilk didn't realize Gaz wasn't paying attention and kept venting. "I mean, I fought him before when I was shorter, but I think he wasn't really going all out on me back then. And Echo said he's a really fast opponent when he doesn't hold back. What if-?"

Gaz had enough. She walked over to Ilk and smacked the back of her head. Once she had her attention, she growled."Shut up and listen, if you really want it to work out, then show him who's in charge. Don't let him intimidate you, show him that you're his equal.'

Ilk rubbed the back of her head, rather intimidated herself. How come Zim was dating this hyooman? Don't take her wrong, she was happy for him, but Gaz was scary. Heck, half of the Invaders and even dad were afraid of her. She took a deep breath. "Okay, then. I think I'm ready."

Ilk and Gaz walked out of the house and into the courtyard, which had been completely cleared out of tables, leaving enough space for the combat. Blue was already there, and he looked even more nervous than Ilk herself. His uncle Sakr offered him a few pats on the head before walking over to a side, waiting for Ilk to approach. Once there, both were asked to stand on the marked spots, facing each other.

Gaz separated from Ilk and went to the chairs, where Blue's direct family, Zim's red boss, the latter's wife and a few other Irkens were seated. They were supposed to watch the fight to act as witnesses to the couple's worthiness and compatibility with each other.

"When does this start? The sooner it does, the sooner it ends." Gaz asked rather impatiently.

"As soon as Purple and Zim show up, again," Lena sighed.

"Hopefully they won't arrive and we can call this off," Red murmured nervously. He wasn't worried about Zim's little blunder: Purple had sent them a PAK-mail, telling them that he managed to get to the second round by sheer luck. It was this pre-wedding stage that was freaking him out. What if the lizard seriously hurt Ilk?

"Red!" Lena hushed him sternly. She spoke a bit too harshly than intended, though.

"Geez, you okay?" Brava asked her.

"I'm fine!" Lena said quickly. She quickly grabbed her bag of steamed scarabs and started eating them, averting her gaze from her mate.

Purple arrived twenty minutes later and took his seat next to Red, but the deep frown on his face let them know he didn't want to talk about the issue, so they let him be for now. "Hey, can we get started?"

"Where is Hitorken Zim?" Chakra inquired. "We're not starting without him."

Red's eye started twitching in irritation. "As far as I know, this is supposed to be a family-only thing, isn't it? Zim is certainly not part of the family."

"They aren't either," Brava said matter-of-factly as she pointed a claw at Tenn, Skutch and the others.

"That's different, we don't hate them," Purple said. He glared at Skoodge and Bob in their little corner, away from their fellow Irkens. He quickly added, "Except those two."

"Hitorken Zim is our guest," Deltra growled.

Zim arrived shortly after, but there was an awful stench reeking off him. Gaz was about to ask why but realized she didn't need to when she saw the dark spots all over him and the fly-like bugs flying all over his head.

"Don't worry, my Tallest, Zim is safe and sound! I managed to find my way back to Blue-beast's house!"

Purple's only response was to take a mouthful of chips into his mouth.

"What happened to you, Zim?" Gaz inquired.

"Tallest Purple accidentally left me behind, but thanks to my incredible sense of orientation I have returned." Zim held out a bouquet of carnivorous plants. "Zim brought you flowers, my Gaz-demon!"

Gaz raised an eyebrow. Zim only gave her details like these when he wanted something; probably that she let him sit next to her despite the awful smell. She usually wasn't fond of flowers, but these ones were actually nice. They'd snap at people who tried to touch them, just like the short, ugly Irken who just got a nasty bite. If anything, she could put these on Dib's bed when they got back.

"Thanks." She said, accepting the bouquet rather reluctantly. As she suspected, Zim happily sat next to her and proceeded to hold her hand. Good thing she brought a gas mask.

Red, Purple and the rest of the Invaders moved away with disgusted groans.

"Are you guys done?" Sakr asked, tapping his claw impatiently. "Where was I? Oh, right," Clearing his throat, he took some electronic flashcards out of his pocket, courtesy of Skoodge. "I bid thee welcome to the second pre-kekkonshu of Blue, son of Kobato and Deltra, and Irken Ilk, daughter of Tallest Fred."

"It's RED!" Red shouted angrily.

"Red, sit down!" Lena snapped at her mate.

"He did it on purpose!"

"If I may continue," Sakr growled as he bristled his crest at Red. "This fight is meant to test your skills, strength and if you're worthy. The rules are simple: you fight until either your opponent can't continue or surrenders. In order to pass, however, both of you must get into a stalemate after an hour of combat. This will prove that you are compatible and can stand as equals."

Purple muttered something about a compatibility test being easier before being shushed by Lena.

"You are free to use any sort of martial art, but the use of weapons or gadgets is strictly forbidden. Should any of you break this rule, the fight will be rendered null. Any questions?"

"Does that rule apply for my PAK?" Ilk asked.

"Does it carry weapons and gadgets?"

"Yes."

"Then it applies. No spidery-leg things, no guns, you get the idea?"

Ilk shifted in place. She had been hoping to at least be allowed to use her PAK. Then again, she still wasn't used to the PAK-legs. Besides, she had downloaded lots of martial arts from Earth's native action Zim for that.

"He's not going to dismember my baby, is he?!" Red practically yelled the question.

Sakr and Blue rolled their eyes. "Dismemberment is not allowed in these fights, your Tallest. Other than that, every type of martial art is acceptable." The former said. "Okay, any more questions? No? Okay…" Sakr stepped back, raised his hand and made a cutting notion. "Begin!"

It happened to fast that none saw it coming, not even Ilk. In the blink of an eye, Blue dashed across the arena and kicked Ilk in the head, sending her to the ground. Red instinctively jumped to his feet, but Lena and Purple held him back. They couldn't intervene. Ilk was a fully-fledged soldier now. She could take care of herself.

Ilk fell to the ground with a painful thud, but she didn't waste time and rolled aside and got back to her feet before Blue's talon struck the spot she had been on. Damn it, he really was going all out on her! His movements were swift and deadly. If he wasn't holding back, then she wouldn't either. She had to get through this for an hour.

She responded to Blue's attack with one of the earthen martial arts, something called 'kungfu'. It was a bit complicated at first, it had lots of sub-branches with the names of animals, but she finally picked the 'mantis' and 'snake'. In this instance she found the PAK to be very useful: it downloaded the information into her organic brain and her body did the rest.

The movements caught Blue by surprise. He dodged most of the attacks, but he had never seen this fighting style before. Ilk had certainly toughened up since their adventure on Hoth, something which attracted him to her even more. He missed the cue and received a nasty punch in the stomach that incapacitated him momentarily.

Ilk got worried when Blue fell to his knees, clutching his abdomen. "Blue, are you okay?!" She tried offering a hand, but he grabbed it and lifted her off the ground to smash her on the ground.

Blue got right on top of her, smirking. "The first rule: don't show concern over your opponent until you're certain he's completely defeated."

"That was a dirty trick, lizard!" Red shouted, but again he was stopped from going over to the arena by Lena.

"Red, be quiet!" She snapped.

Ilk responded with a strong kick in his stomach to throw him off a few feet away. "Second rule: if you're going to pummel someone just do it, don't blabber about it."

Purple laughed. "I taught her that! Yaaay!"

Blue snickered. "You sure are a fast learner!"

"Of course I am. I am an Irken Elite soldier, the best of what the Irken Empire has to offer." Ilk responded with a smirk of her own.

Red swore there was something in his eye that made it produce the liquid lubricant- thing. That was his smeet.

The rest of the hour passed quickly for Ilk and Blue. Both received and dodged blows, but fought at the limit of their strength, forcing themselves to keep going despite the pain. By the time they were finally told to stop, both were sore, sweating and covered in bruises. Their minor cuts and scratches healed in only a few seconds thanks to the regeneration gene both had.

"You both are still standing after an hour of open combat," Sakr said as he stepped forward with a grin. "You are equally matched and worthy of each other. May your children cut as many heads as your combined strength!" That said, Deltra and Blue's sisters made chirping-like calls while stamping their heads.

Red shivered at the idea of his baby girl being touched by the Blue-beast's filthy alien meat. How did the Sobrekt make hatchling-smeets, anyway? Not by cloning, that's for sure. He noticed Lena stiffening at the mention of children. "I know, I don't wanna imagine it either."

"Huh? What?"

"You know, the lizard-meat putting his… his…" Red shivered in disgust again. "Whatever they call it inside my baby!"

Chapter Text

The more time Cheesecake spent with Fury and his pack, the more his once-dormant instincts started to awaken. The prey drive and the aggressiveness were only the beginning. Soon he felt the need to chase after prey that ran and stay in the company of his pack mates. He no longer wanted to lie down all day. He wanted, needed, to run and take out all the repressed energy he had. He still couldn't keep running for too long, but the more he moved, the more resistance he gained little by little.

Most of their pack members got used to his presence and started including him. Even Cougar's constant attacks diminished, though he'd still make dominance displays every now and then. They taught him their lifestyle: Always on the move, never stay in one place for long. Whatever moves, they hunt it. Whoever is not part of their pack is an intruder.

Cheesecake learned by watching them do stuff. He learned how to build a nest and how to hunt birds. He learned that in big hunts, each has their assigned role to bring down prey. He learned that the alpha must always be obeyed. He learned to only eat the soft meat from his prey, and even to save some for later. He also learned the body language, overall that one should never approach another indokuro or violate the 'personal space' if he didn't want to receive as a smack on the head or a painful bite.

The greatest change was that Cheesecake's longing for master started to diminish. He still missed him, alright, but he learned that he shouldn't expect him to come every time he cried. He could take care of himself, and master probably knew that. That's why he left him with the pack. Every now and then he'd stop and listen, hoping to hear Master's voice in case he came back, though.

Fury continued to keep an eye on him, but he also started to leave him alone. He didn't intervene as often and let him learn things by himself. He had improved considerably in such a short period of time for a newbie. The runt had lots of potentials, he just needed some hard work to bring it out.

That day, the pack went to a grassy field with a large body of water. He saw lots of wild fauna gathered around the watering hole, drinking. Most of them fled as soon as they appeared, but the largest one didn't move and instead continued to drink. Hornet led the pack closer to take a drink before they headed to the plains.

Cheesecake saw lots of other packs gathered there. They seemed to be fighting amongst each other, but at the same time, the quarrels didn't seem to be that serious. They never went too far from a few scratches and bite marks, none of them bleeding heavily. It took him a while to realize that they were sparring to practice their skills in combat. Younger ones, like hatchlings, seemed to be doing this out of playfulness, while the older ones were doing actual sparring.

One of the hatchlings clumsily tripped on the grass and hit its head with his paw. Cheesecake looked down at it curiously. For some reason, it brought back memories of when he was a smaller one and could fit in Master's lap. For the first time in his life, he noticed he wasn't the same size anymore. He was way bigger, which would explain why he couldn't get on Master's lap, or why everyone was afraid of him. How come he didn't notice before? Perhaps because Master had never treated him differently as he grew bigger, he didn't feel like he had changed at all.

Cheesecake heard a chirp-like call. It sounded similar to the one Fury's master had made, but it felt different. One of the younger indokuros in the field raised her head and responded with a call of her own before darting off towards a lizard near the woods. Another call, this one a low, bellowing-like growling followed suit, and with it, another indokuro, this one with vermillion feathering similar to Hornet's, and the one who called him was a bigger lizard.

Over the next few minutes, more of the two-legged lizards would arrive and call for their indokuros. Most ran straight to their masters, others ignored or didn't hear the call at all, and a few got distracted with something else on the way there. Cheesecake wondered what was going on. Soon the indokuros who were called by their masters either left with them or started doing things at their master's command.

The little hatchling from before was trying to catch a knotted rope his master held slightly out of reach. When he finally caught it in his jaw, his master rewarded him with a piece of meat. Cheesecake tilted his head curiously. Was it feeding time? No, wait. They weren't always giving them treats. The indokuros only got food when they obeyed or did a trick right.

Cheesecake recognized Fury's master, the lizard with the blue stripe. Fury immediately ran to him as soon as he called, and Cheesecake had no choice but to follow. Like the last time, Fury stopped a few centimeters away from blue-lizard and obediently sat down. Cheesecake mimicked the action, hoping he'd get a treat.

"Hey, Cheesecake! You look pretty good!" He said but didn't look like he'd give him any food. "Good job, Fury." He patted Fury's head in approval.

Cheesecake almost snapped at the blue-lizard when he approached, but a warning growl from Fury made him go quiet. Blue-lizard was circling around and checking on him, murmuring things to himself meanwhile. Once he was done with his inspection, he took out a piece of meat of his pocket. Cheesecake wagged his tail and stuck out his tongue expectantly. Much like Master did, blue-lizard threw the treat into the air and he caught it.

"Cheesecake, I need to borrow Fury for some time. How about you stay with his pack meanwhile?"

Blue-beast removed the collars and started to take Fury away. Cheesecake remembered master's words of staying close to Fury and tried to follow, but the older indokuro snarled at him. Confused, he tilted his head and got the same result when he tried a second time. Fury didn't like being so hard at him, but this was another lesson he had to learn. He had to take care of himself. Fury wouldn't always be there to look after him, after all.

Cheesecake felt hurt when Fury snarled at him and then left him alone. He was momentarily disoriented and unaware of what to do. He became nervous when he found himself surrounded by strangers. He tried to find his way back to Hornet and the others, but they had moved somewhere else. Cheesecake tried to find them with the smell, but he was far out of practice and he couldn't distinguish their scents from all the others'. To make things worse, some indokuros had the same color in their stripe patterns. Cheesecake got a nasty smack on the head when he mistook a female with a green stripe for Cougar.

Eventually, he panicked and ran throughout the packs, calling out loudly for Hornet. He was so distracted he didn't see where he was going and ran into another indokuro. Ouch! Cheesecake rubbed his sore head with his front paw. He jumped back when the indokuro in question bared his teeth. It was a large, black male with blood-red stripe and feathering.

Indokuros are known to have a volatile temper. While most become calmer as they become older, those who are specifically trained for war do the opposite. The smallest trigger can drive them into a blind rage. Because of this, these specimens do not form packs and roam in solitary instead, often robbing prey from younger packs by driving their owners away.

Such is the case of Maugrim, who was frequently used in battle on the Irken-Sobrekt war a few years ago. Because of this, he got pissed when a runt bumped into him out of nowhere. The rest of the indokuros stopped whatever they were doing and looked at the scene. Most knew and feared Maugrim. They stared at the white-striped indokuro apprehensively, knowing the timer had been set.

Cheesecake made a submissive posture to say he was sorry, but it apparently wasn't enough for the larger one, who lunged at him and dug his teeth into his neck. Cheesecake shrieked in pain, but his attempts to get away only resulted in Maugrim's teeth going deeper into his flesh. This wasn't a corrective bite. Maugrim was attacking.

It would have continued all day if Cheesecake's cries hadn't reached his pack members. Hornet rushed to his aid, lunging at Maugrim and abruptly pushing him off the younger indokuro. The fight between the two was short but brutal. It ended when Panther and Cougar arrived as backup, forcing him Maugrim to back off.

He could have fought against the entire pack, but not even Maugrim was stupid enough to waste his energy on a lost cause. Snorting, he shot Cheesecake one last warning glare before disappearing into the gathering of indokuros. Cheesecake was so terrified that he didn't move from his spot until he was sure he had truly left.

Midosis

Unlike the previous stage of the exams, the second phase was not private. Aliens from all over the Dylinae system were allowed entry into Midosis to act as witnesses to the famous Indokani Exams. Non-Sobrekt aliens such as Vortians, Planet Jackers and any who possessed Sobr citizenship was allowed in, though they weren't allowed to wander away from the permitted area. This made it easier for Red, Lena and everyone else to get in without the need of disguises.

The aspirants, Purple included, were asked to go into the training arena while the spectators were seated in large, anti-gravity seat rows. Zim and Gaz, of course, were given a front-row seat, fanned and given food by hand by female kryvtors.

"Stupid Zim." Red murmured in-between mouthfuls of popcorn, glaring bitterly at Zim, who waved his hand happily in return.

"Why didn't we go there?"

"I'm not going an inch near that defective after he nearly got us disqualified."

"But you didn't get disqualified, get over it already!" Lena snapped unintentionally. She snatched a nearby bag of fried vort dogs from Masouri and started devouring them ravenously.

"Sure, you can have it. I don't mind." the kryvtor murmured.

"What do you think they'll do?" Grapa asked.

"I think it's fairly obvious, they're going to run through a course. Tallest Purple will surely ace it." Skutch said.

Red took a nervous slurp from his drink. Purple had never been that good at this kind of exercises. He always had to lend him a hand and sometimes this cost them the race. It wasn't until he took melee combat classes that his physical condition improved. But it had been a long time since then. In fact, Purple himself looked quite nervous. Red could tell even from that distance.

Anti-gravity screens flew down from upper towers, displaying a male sobrekt with wine-red scales and wide goggles. "Helloo, everyone!" He cried out, prompting all the crows to erupt into cheers. "Welcome to the second stage of the Indokani exams! I am the examinator, Karadras!"

"Blue, where have you been? It's about to begin!" Ilk said as her fiancée finally arrived.

"I had to take care of an issue," Blue said simply.

"What are they going to do, lizard? Run through a military course?" Red asked.

"In a way, yes."

The seventy aspirants were asked to form lines of ten. Purple ended up right at the corner of the fifth line next to Akkono, who stood straight and with her chest puffed out proudly. He subtly glanced at the seat rows. It wasn't hard to find Red and the others, considering they were a speck of green and pink, plus they were only a few rows behind Zim's entire front row. The defective seemed to think he was looking for moral support (well, he was, but not from him) and waved his hand happily with a foam finger that read 'go, My Tallest'.

He didn't hear the speech from the examinator. Instead, he was looking around at his opponents, particularly at Akkono. If this was a race, there was no way he'd outrun a kryvtor even with the PAK-legs. He hated to admit this, but it had been a long time ever since he exercised. Perhaps it would be good to get on someone's good side. The opponents to his front and back, both taller Sobrekt, didn't look like they'd take it kindly if he spoke to them, so he glanced at Akkono.

"Do you know if that guy will take long?"

Akkono didn't even look at him. "You're not going to distract me, Irken."

"Distract you? You should be honored than an Almighty Tallest is deeming you worthy of his superior saliva!"

"Your 'height' has no merit here. This is a test of ability, but what would a spoiled Irken know of it?"

The nerve of the lizard! Purple was about to retort when a pair of metal doors slid open and seventy indokuros ran out, coming to a halt in a large group a few meters away from the aspirants. Purple rubbed his eyes in disbelief. He thought he saw Fury's characteristic yellow stripe amongst black scales.

"Indokani must not only know how to work with their own indokuro, but they must also learn how to work with another's in case they get separated and are stuck with a differently trained specimen. I might sound dumb, but believe me, it can happen." Was it just him, or Karadras looked like he was remembering something? "Anyway, in this stage, aspirants will be paired with an already-trained indokuro, and they must lead them through the obstacle course and cross the finish line together.

"Sounds easy? Hate to break it to you, but indokuros only obey their own masters and it takes a lot of discipline and skill for an indokani to get a different indokuro to listen to them. Those who cannot do so are not worthy of being called indokani. The last twenty-five to cross will be eliminated."

Purple shivered. How was he going to work with a completely foreign indokuro if he didn't even know how to order them to do stuff?

A sobrekt painted in referee colors walked to a spot in-between the aspirants and the indokuros, holding a long black vase. "Inside that base, you'll find slips of colored paper. The color matches the stripe of each indokuro. Once you get a color, you must go find your partner for the exercise ASAP, and you better not take long. They haven't been fed!" A few of the aspirants flinched nervously at the comment. Hungry Indokuro were known to be more disobedient than usual.

One by one, Karadras would call the name of an aspirant to step forward and take a paper. Afterward, they would approach the large group of indokuros and look for the one whose stripe matched the paper's color. Akkono was called before him; she slid her arm into the vase and took out a fuchsia slip. By then the pack of indokuros was considerably smaller, so it didn't take her long to find her partner. It was big, black and had a feathering similar to Maugrim's. Purple wondered why some indokuros had feathers and others didn't. Was it a genetic thing, or did they come with age?

"Next… Purple. That's so unoriginal!"

The stadium went quiet as Purple stepped forward. The only sound was Zim's excited yells and the cheering from Red and the Invaders. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes shut, he slid his arm into the vase and grabbed of the papers. He was afraid to look. What if the indokuro he got was scary? What if he lost a hand? There were so many 'what ifs' that he could have continued, but in the end, he forced himself to open his eyes.

His paper was yellow.

"Well, keep moving, Irken! We don't have all night!"

At the coach's prompting, Purple made his way to the group of indokuros. Most of them lifted their heads and looked at him curiously before losing interest. Others growled at him. He looked for an indokuro with a yellow stripe, and found none other than…

"Fury?" Purple rubbed his eyes just in case he was hallucinating, but no. This was Fury, alright. The indokuro seem to recognize him too. This was perfect! There was no way he'd lose with Fury as his partner! With that in mind, he went back to his place with a smug look and a weight off his shoulders, followed by Fury.

Red laughed for the first time in a while as he received a PAK-mail from Purple, informing him the identity of the Indokuro he had picked. "This is great! We're going to win this! Fury already knows Purple!"

"What makes you think that?" Blue asked, raising an eyebrow. "Fury knows him, alright, but Indokuros only obey their own masters. The whole point of this exercise is to see who is apt to work with stranger Indokuros."

A few minutes later, all the indokuros had been picked. Karadras spoke up. "Okay, everyone to the starting line! Remember, you must cross the finish line with your partner!" The aspirants did as told, forming at the starting point in a long line. "Ready, set… GO!"

Purple was the first to dart off the starting point. He ran for a good few meters until he realized he was completely alone. Fury wasn't following.

In fact, none of the other competitors had moved. The indokuros were sitting or lying down, yawning lazily, and refused to move while the aspirants tried everything they could to make them comply.

"Fury, come on! We have to get to the finish line!" Fury's only response was a wide yawn. Purple groaned and went back to his side. He tried to push him forward from behind, but this only prompted Fury to sit down. "Are you kidding me?!"

To his utter dismay, Akkono was the first to make a break for it, followed closely by her assigned partner. Then a second one. Third. Fourth. By the time the eleventh took off the aspirants got desperate, and many resorted to Purple's method of trying to push their indokuro into moving.

Up in the seat rows, the Irkens didn't understand what was happening. Why wasn't Fury obeying? Red, in particular, wasn't taking it very well. "Lizard, are you responsible for this?!" He snapped at Blue.

Skoodge searched through his electronic flashcards. "'Indokuros are known to only obey one person, usually the indokani who raised them from birth. They will often act aloof and disobedient to other people unless they're experienced indokani who know how to deal with this habit'." He read.

"Who asked you?!"

"He's right," Blue said.

"Well, couldn't you have told him to listen to Purple or something?!"

"There was no way I could have known they would have been paired up!"

As they argued, Purple grew desperate as the forty-third competitor darted off. There were only two positions, Irk it! He abandoned Fury and ran towards the finish line, ignoring the indokuro's calls. He could do this, he just had to get in forty-fifth to pass!

All the years of lazy lounging and snacking started to catch up. His stamina ran out at twenty meters, his breathing quickened and his PAK worked at its maximum capacity to keep up. His body was begging him to stop to catch his breath, but Purple didn't stop even after his chest and legs started to hurt. One of the Sobrekt competitors ran past him with his indokuro partner and reached the finish line first, but Purple managed to cross seconds later.

"I… *pant*... I did it…!" He murmured in-between breaths before collapsing to the ground with black holes in his vision.

The next few minutes were a blur. He heard hurried whispers and saw shadows around him. He was put on a soft surface and felt sweet, sweet oxygen into his system. As he started regaining consciousness, he saw Red, Lena, and Ilk worriedly on top of him and realized he was on a stretcher. His arm hurt.

He heard Red asking if he was okay. "I'm fine, I'm fine…" He realized they were surrounded by the rest of the competitors, Blue, the Raptor Squad, the Invaders, and even Karadras's anti-gravity screen. "What happened?"

"You fainted from exhaustion," Lena explained. "Your body isn't used to so much physical activity anymore."

"I swear, I never thought it was possible to die from running a few meters." Karadras murmured. "Though I'm not really surprised. I mean, look at his arms! They look like green dip-sticks!"

"Way to lose, loser!" one of the kryvtor competitors said in-between laughter. He was joined in by his fellow lizards.

"Hey, forty-fifth is not a bad place!"

"You mean forty-sixth, Irken."

"What?!" Purple and Red shouted in unison, the former jumping off the stretcher.

"What do you mean? He arrived in forty-fifth place!" Ilk exclaimed.

Akkono shook her head with a deep frown. "You didn't pay attention, did you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I said you had to arrive with your assigned partner, Irken. You left it behind and tried to cross by yourself. The indokuro crossed seconds after the forty-fifth participant, so technically that counts you as the forty-sixth. Too bad, Irken!"

Purple froze. "What?! That's bullshit!" Red snapped at the screen.

"That will teach you to pay attention when someone gives instructions, Irken," Akkono said.

"Nobody's talking to you!" Skutch growled.

Purple glanced at Blue, but the kryvtor only shook his head with a disappointed frown. Fury's gaze momentarily locked with his, and in those brief seconds, he noticed his pupils were slits. His opponents were snickering, even the ones who also lost. He didn't notice he had fallen to his knees until his hands touched the ground. He didn't hear Red's argument with Karadras.

I failed. The two words buzzed constantly in his head much like Zim's endless 'my Tallest' cries. This time he couldn't pin the blame on the defective. It was his doing. His failure.

A loud whistle pierced through the atmosphere and distracted the spectators. Everyone looked at the coach, who had brought a frill-neck to sniff the forty-fifth participant. The frill-neck spread out its collar after the first sniff. Another coach scanned the Sobrekt with a small datapad. Looking back at Karadras, he slid his finger across his throat.

"Well, well, now this is unexpected! Pazuk from the Yiina Clan is disqualified!" Karadras frowned at the perpetrator. "The use of unauthorized substances to make an indokuro follow you, such as sargrass, is a cause for elimination!"

"What?!" The sobrekt protested, but one of the coaches found a small piece of grass in his pocket. The nearest indokuros who caught its scent jumped on top of the coach and tried to take the piece of sargrass.

"This means that the forty-sixth participant takes his place. It's a miracle!"*

Red and the rest of the Irkens released the breaths they didn't know they had been holding. Once again, the other participants started to protest, and once again they were dismissed.

Akkono, in particular, was glaring murderously at Purple. "Sooner or later, your luck will run out."

Purple didn't hear what she said. He had collapsed again into the stretcher with loud snores.

Sobr.

A few hours later.

After the disastrous event, they had to carry Purple back to base. After some tests, they determined he had simply fainted out of exhaustion. Lena applied a sugary-serum to his unconscious body (this was the only time they could get a syringe anywhere near him) and they left him to rest.

"Well, it could have been worse. At least he passed."

Red groaned. "Yeah, by a lekku. But we have to do something about his condition! Just look at him! " He motioned to his co-Tallest's sleeping form. "If the next test involves exercise too, he won't last long!"

"I thought Uncle Pur would get a heart attack." Ilk said.

"Seriously, Red, did you two become that lazy?"

Red blushed deeply, his lekku straight up. "W-What are you saying? Of course not!" Lena raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, perhaps we're a tiny bit rusted…"*

"Just a bit?!"

Ilk shushed them, motioning to Purple. If there's something he hates more than Zim, it's being awoken in the middle of a nap, as Red learned during their training days and he ended up with bite marks in his leg. In fact, that warning made him gulp. "Okay, I think I'll go get something to eat. With all of this stress, I haven't had my evening snack."

Once she and Ilk were alone, Lena sighed in dismay. "My gosh, I knew that Tallest duty keeps them from having active roles in the military, but this is ridiculous!"

"Dad isn't in such a bad shape, he does still train sometimes. It's Uncle Pur who thinks that moving his arm to grab donuts counts as exercise." Ilk sighed. "How are you feeling?"

"I have on idea why he likes Sobrekt food so much," Lena frowned at her abdomen.

"From what I've heard, pregnant women tend to crave for the opposite of what they usually eat. If she likes sweet things, she'll want for bitter food."

"I'm worried. Irkens haven't reproduced naturally for millennia. Reproductive spooch-sacks are not what they used to be, what if something goes wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong, Lena. You're tall, I hear that helps. Besides, you're a doctor." Ilk glanced at the doorway. "...how do you think dad will react?"

"That's what I'm worried about. I mean, I bet having a smeet is not in his plans. No offense, but… I wouldn't entrust him with one."

"I can't blame you. I mean, from what I heard, he couldn't even change my diaper when I was a smeet. It's not really his fault, though. It's not like there's a manual to parenting."

"What worries me is how I'm going to tell him the news. It's not like I can just go and say 'hey, Red, guess what? I'm pregnant!"

"You're pregnant?!" Both Irkenettes jumped, startled. Purple had abruptly sat up in bed and was staring at Lena in shock.

"H-How much did you hear?" Lena inquired.

"Not much, I only heard the part where you mentioned you were… Sweet Irk, so you…?" Purple somehow managed to get on his feet to hug Lena, laughing. "I'm going to be an uncle! Again!" He said in-between excited yelps. "Oh, just wait until Red finds out, he's going to be so happy-!"

Lena shushed him, pulling back from the embrace. "Purple, please don't tell him anything! Not yet!"

Purple blinked. "Why not?" he asked, confused.

"Uncle Pur, he's quite stressed out lately with the wedding, the bet, and the indokani exams," Ilk explained. "How do you think he'd take the news of pregnancy right in the middle of it?"

"I see where you are coming from, but you know Red hates to be the last to find out about something."

"Purple, do you really think he's going to jump around in joy when he finds out? His main priority right now is getting the Massive back. I'm not saying he has to be the last, just that we should wait a little longer until he's calmer."

Purple sighed. He had the feeling he was going to regret this. "Fine, I'll be your accomplice on one condition."

"What?"

Purple looked around and took a peek outside the room to make sure Blue wasn't around. "Help me go see Cheesecake! I know Blue and Sakr said I shouldn't, but I'm dying! What if he got hurt? He needs me!" he pleaded. "And I miss him!"

Chapter Text

"My head is killing me! I said my head, not my shoulders, Grapa!*" Red snapped as the Invader massaged the wrong part of his body.

"Sorry, my Tallest!"

Red rubbed his temple. "Someone bring me ice cream!" Damn it, these stupid exams will be the death of me. And then there's the fact that the lizard is going to defile my little Ilk eventually! What were they going to do? Purple had managed to pass by a lekku again, but that female lizard was right, it would eventually run out. And if he failed the next exam, everything would go to hell.

To kill time, he decided to see how Larb was doing with his assignment. He had the computer send a transmission, but he didn't pick it up. Confused, he sent another. When Larb finally picked it up, Red almost spat his soda but managed to swallow it. Their prized Invader looked like he had a big pummeling. He had a purple eye, bruises and bite marks all over his body, a twisted lekku and his uniform were almost torn to shreds.

"Larb, what on Irk happened to you?!" Red spat, ignoring the chuckles and sneers from the other Invaders as they relished in Larb's state.

"G-Greetings, my Tallest!" Larb managed to stutter in-between pants. "With all due respect, now's not a good time!"

"What's going on over there?!"

"I'm afraid there's been a complication with my assignment! This Zimkro creature is just as unpredictable and destructive as Zim!"

"Well, yeah! That's exactly why I sent you to terminate it!"

"My T-Tallest, this monster cannot be killed! It's been toying with me like a- HOLY IRK, STAY AWAY FROM MEE-!" Larb's yells were deafened by a loud shriek before the transmission was abruptly cut off and the screen changed into static.

"Larb? Larb!"

"It appears that Invader Larb has been knocked out, master." Stink murmured his hopes that Larb had been eaten by Zim's clone. One less Invader, especially Larb, meant less competition to have the Tallest's favor.

"Is his PAK still working, computer?"

A few seconds later, the AI said. "It's working at its full capacity to heal Invader Larb's physical injuries." The Invaders groaned, disappointed.

"Get access to his PAK-memory. I want to see that creature with my own eyes."

The screen turned black with a small loading message depicting the Massive shooting lasers at virtual planets (his idea). The first image appeared a few seconds later. The picture was blurry, but it depicted open jaws with sharp teeth and a long, tendril-like tongue reminiscent of an Irken's. More pictures appeared, most of them out of focus and blurry. Red had the computer make a sketch of the Zimkro from the pictures. The drawing revealed a serpentine-like creature with a green head, a long black body and wide orange wings with black patterns. He felt a shiver down his spine.

"Damn it, can you imagine that thing running rampant?" Grapa murmured, shivering.

"What are they planning to do with it, anyway?" Skutch added.

Ilk walked into the room, followed by Purple. "Dad, we're going- Sweet Irk, what's that creature?!" She pointed at the screen depicting the Zimkro's sketch.

Red panicked. If Ilk found out they had been spying on the Sobrekt, she'd have his neck. "Nothing, sweetheart!" He chuckled, grinning nervously as he got to his feet and put himself between the screen and Ilk. "Just watching an educational film that depicts the lifestyle of animals!"

"Documentary?"

"Yeah, a documentary about... something." He sent Purple a PAK-mail, telling him to lend him a hand.

"Oh, that one? It wasn't that interesting!" Purple said quickly.

Ilk looked like she didn't buy it, but she didn't seem to suspect anything either. "Okay... Anyhow, Uncle Pur and I are going out for a walk!"

"You sure he can walk? I wouldn't like him to faint like an old lady again*." Red said, snickering.

Purple frowned at his co-Tallest. "Very funny, Red. I'm not going to drop dead, I just want to take a good walk."

"Purple, that was the reason you blacked out in the first place, remember? Besides, since when do you like moving around without the hover belt? Irk, you don't even like moving with the hover belt! You made me carry you once, remember?"

"Dad, that's the issue. Maybe it's time he starts gaining up his lost stamina before the next exam, don't you think? What if it's another race?"

"What did Lena say?"

"She agreed! She just said that I shouldn't run nor do any extensive exercise yet." Purple said quickly.

Red raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off. "Okay. Just be back before sunset and don't get arrested again, for Irk's sake."

Ilk and Purple sped out of the base quickly without saying anything else. He had the feeling that they were up to something, but decided to leave them be for now. Pur did deserve a break after what happened in the race. Besides, he wouldn't like him to know what he was going to do.

Not long after they left, Spleen and Skutch returned. "Status."

"My Tallest, I hate you bring you bad news, but… Well… Spleen will tell you!"

"What? We said you'd tell him!"

"You're taller than me, so you should be the one to tell him."

"Spit it out already!" Red growled.

Skutch gulped showed him a photo from the tablet. It depicted the Massive, but half of it was already painted in blue-green. "Sendou appears to be 'redecorating' the Massive."

X0X0X0

"Uncle Pur, is it me or was that dad yelling?"

Purple recognized his co-Tallest's screaming a big 'what?'. "Nop, that's definitely your dad." It was a sort of habit. When Red got really mad, his screams could be heard from miles away. People used to laugh when they were at the Academy, but now they took it as an omen that their Tallest wasn't happy. Sometimes he wondered how he did that.

"Um… Maybe it has to do with the Massive being painted in blue-green."

"What?" Purple quickly looked up at the Irken flagship. As Ilk said, half of it was already painted in the Sobrekt's colors. "They can't do that! It's the Massive, it's supposed to be pink! It's like painting an Irken zhook cruiser in yellow! It wouldn't be the same!"

"Maybe I should go back and make sure dad won't get into trouble…"

"Chill out. He might have a short fuse, but he doesn't make the same mistake twice… most of the time." Purple muttered the last part to himself.

Bless the PAK-memory for saving the route to the sanctuary! Since becoming Tallest, he didn't bother to use his organic brain that much anymore, since he always let Red do the thinking. Even before their ascension, Purple wasn't known for thinking things too much. In the Academy, he started out as being smart and was sometimes dubbed a 'living encyclopedia'. He was cleverer than most of his fellow cadets, Red included, and practically aced knowledge tests. When he became Tallest, however, many of those talents got lost as he spent more and more time snacking and lounging around lazily. It pained him to admit him, but perhaps he should have at least kept himself in condition.

They arrived at the sanctuary a few minutes later, but that was actually the easy part. Finding Cheesecake was the hard part. If what Sakr and Blue said was true, then this place was very big. Cheesecake could be anywhere around here and it wasn't like he had a map. He had to take out his tablet and trace the signal from Cheesecake's tracker. Yes, he put a tracker on him. Big deal, Red also put one on Ilk.

"Wait, you put a tracker on Cheesecake?"

"It's just in case he got lost in the Massive! Remember that time I couldn't find him because Red locked him in a cleaning supply wardrobe? I was worried sick about him! So I put the tracking decide so I can know where he is."

Ilk couldn't blame him for that. Her dad had similarly put a tracking device on her; she found out about it last year when Masouri scanned her by accident. In the end, she decided not to confront dad about it; thanks to the device, he was able to find her location on Hoth*. "Let me guess: you did it because you love him, right?" She asked teasingly.

"Yeah, that's right! Oh, look here it says he should be a few meters up ahead. Let's go!"

They came out unto wide-open prairie. The irk-pad directed them a few meters further in towards a small pond. There was a pack of Indokuros sleeping right next to it. Purple recognized three of them. It seemed like Fury was yet to join them. But his main concern was the smaller, white-striped indokuro sleeping on top of the green-striped one. "Cheesecake!"

That voice! Cheesecake instantly awoke (it helped that he was a light sleeper), accidentally knocking Cougar and awakening him, receiving an irritated snark. He didn't mind him and looked around in alarm until he spotted a familiar speck of purple up ahead. With a happy shriek, Cheesecake took off and ran off to meet Master. At the last moment, he recalled that now he was way bigger than master; instead of knocking him over, he came to a halt a few steps in front of him like the others.

Purple was half-perplexed and half-impressed when his indokuro didn't jump on top of him. Instead, he stopped and sat down just like Fury. He couldn't contain himself and hugged Cheesecake by the neck. "Cheese, I'm so happy to see you! Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"He looks fine to me, Uncle Pur." Ilk pointed out. She noted Cheesecake didn't look that fat anymore, and his scales had gotten a tiny bit darker than the last time.

"What are you saying? He's got bite marks all over his neck!"

"Well, I'm sure even indokuros must have their disagreements sometimes. Besides, they don't look that deep."

Purple ignored her as he took out a small bag of donuts and slid one of the said snacks out of it. "Here, boy, I brought you a snack!" He launched the donut into the air. Instead of catching it, however, Cheesecake stood still as it came into contact with his nose and fell to the ground. The indokuro sniffed the crumbled remains of the donut and bristled his spines. "Hey, what's up? It's your favorite flavor!"

Cheesecake recognized the tasty round food Master always fed him, but now he found it less appetizing. He preferred the red meat and the small lizards. Instead, he dug up the remains of his last meal and placed it at Master's feet so he could taste it.

Purple didn't know what to say when Cheesecake placed a dug-up, half-decomposed carcass of some creature at his feet. This is what Cheesecake has been eating? No wonder he's so thin!

"Aw, he's sharing his food!"

"Sharing?"

"Indokuros sometimes take their catch to their Indokani to share their food. It's a way to show they trust you. Fury is always bringing Blue small carcasses." Ilk explained.

Purple gulped. "Does he eat it?" The look on Ilk's face told him what he needed to know. Puaj! Still, he didn't want to hurt Cheesecake's feelings. "Thanks, boy!" He smiled through gritted teeth and picked up the carcass, pretending to be taking bites off the rotten meat. Thankfully, Cheesecake seemed to buy it. At the first chance he got, Purple disintegrated the carcass with his PAK-laser to get rid of the evidence.

That awkward moment aside, Purple was more than happy to catch up with his indokuro. He'd throw Cheesecake's favorite toy a few good meters away and he'd bring it back. He rubbed on Cheesecake's belly and watched him wag his tail in delight while purring. He also noticed new behaviors such as digging a hole to bury his poop, rubbing himself against rocks or the ground to shed dead skin or scratch his back. What surprised Purple the most was that Cheesecake had been seemingly accepted into Fury's pack; the other indokuros were not as aggressive to him as before.

After an hour of playing, Purple sat down on the grass to recover his breath and enjoy his doughnuts. Cheesecake lay down next to him and lay his head on his lap. He might not fit in Master's lap anymore, but his head did. It was, even more, relaxing out here in the fields than in the lair, where everything was cold and there was no wind. Cheesecake let out purrs of delight as Master's hand ran down his head and neck.

"What did those savages did to you, Cheese…?" Purple murmured mostly to himself as he stroked Cheesecake's scarred neck.

"At the very least he seems to be doing okay, Uncle Pur."

"Believe me, he won't truly be okay until he comes back home," Purple groaned. "Why must Sobr have such long days? I miss Cheesecake!"

"Actually, Uncle Pur…" Ilk hesitated. "It seems like Cheesecake is pretty happy to be here."

"It's because I'm here. When I go, he'll go nuts again! That's how he ended down here in the first place, remember?"

"The circumstances are different and you know it."

Cheesecake had no idea of what they were talking about exactly, but he had the feeling it had to do with him. The smell of blood aroused him. He saw Panther approach with a medium-sized carcass. Cougar tried to steal it and both ended up quarreling about it. Cheesecake's predatory instincts took over as he went to join the quarrel.

Purple felt the weight of Cheesecake's head off his lap. "Cheese, what are you-?" He panicked when he saw him fighting over another carcass with the other two indokuro. "Cheesecake, no!"

Ilk raised her lekku when he got to his feet and went towards Cheesecake. "Uncle Pur, don't bother him when he's feeding!" She warned.

"Oh, Come on, Ilk, I've been close to him while he was eating!"

"But that was before-!"

Ignoring her, Purple stretched out his arm towards his indokuro's tail. "Cheesecake! Come on, boy, stop it! It's not worth fighting over a-"

*SNAP*

"UNCLE PUR!"*

Midosis, OTF Hangar.

Tenn spent most of the time in the hangar with her assigned Kurokran. She preferred his company than that of the Sobrek, mostly because he didn't question her about anything. Her fellow kurokani had been a bit too curious lately. They'd ask her where she came from, what clan she came from and things like that. She could lie, of course, but she didn't want to arouse suspicions. She had the feeling her superiors would investigate to see if she was telling them the truth about her background.

Because of her prolonged periods with the Kurokran, Tenn began to feel a strange sensation in her squeedly-spooch whenever she was near it. Irkens are aware of what love is, but this wasn't exactly love. It was similar but considerably weaker. She didn't see the Kurokran as a potential mate, but she did begin seeing it as part of her. Why was she feeling like this? Is it just her or did all kurokani feel like this?

The first rule of the Invaders is to never get attached to the natives of their assigned planet, for it could eventually compromise the mission. A few in the past had made this mistake and found themselves unable to complete their missions because of their 'affection' for the alien meat. This led to their execution by the Control Brains after being labeled as defectives. But sadly, there are certain matters not even the PAK's filters can control, and love is one of them.

And so while Tenn succeeded in keeping her distance from her fellow kurokani (who seemed to limit their interactions with others on their own accord, anyway), she couldn't do anything as she felt a deep attachment to the Kurokran. This left her confused and at war with herself for the first time in her life. She had never gotten attached to any inferior life forms because she always had good control over her emotions. Why did it fail her this time?

After each training session, the kurokani are required to give maintenance to their own mounts. It was then that Tenn noticed their attitudes were quite different from when they talked to other people. With the Kurokran, the pilots were affectionate (the level of affection varied from individual to individual), while with each other they were formal, stand-offish and she might even say cold.

"You okay, Tenn?" She heard Konoga asking.

"Huh?" Looking at him, she noticed he was looking at her with a concerned look. "I'm fine, I was just thinking…"

"Let me guess: you're emotionally overwhelmed about how you feel for your Kurokran?"

She glanced at him, surprised. "How do you know?"

Konoga shrugged. "It's part of the job, sort of. I mean, when you work with kurokani, you learn to read them. It's the only way to know what they are thinking since they usually keep to themselves."

"Why?"

"It's a requisite for the job. If you're chosen by a Kurokran, you must reserve your feelings exclusively for it. If you develop feelings for someone else, the bond between you is broken."

"It's like cheating," a female worker pointed out while glaring at a sobrekt a few meters away.

Tenn's lekku twitched under her disguise. Reserve feelings? Cheating? "I don't understand."

"Think of it this way: a Kurokran chooses a person, and trusts him or her with its body. In turn, their pilots reciprocate this gesture by keeping their feelings exclusively for their respective OTFs. It's like…" Konoga twitched the tip of his tail. "Having a relationship with your kurokran, in a way."

"That's why Kurokran are so picky," a nearby kurokani explained. "They are only compatible with people who can be completely devoted to them, even at the cost of any other relationships. What you're experiencing is the 'kurokran effect': the process of 'becoming one' with your partner."

Becoming one… "You mentioned this Kurokran had a previous pilot before me," Tenn motioned to the creature as it toyed with its tail.

"Ah, Yeah. Nokana," Konoga sighed sadly, "She was his first pilot. She died in the war against the Irken Empire a couple of years ago. He took her body and left for a few months. We thought he wouldn't come back, but he did, as you can see. He didn't accept any more pilots ever since, though. Well, until you came along, that is."

Later that day, Tenn stayed behind in the hangar when everyone else left for the day to have some time for herself. Currently, the other Kurokran were asleep within their pools except hers; his head was sticking out of the water and he was staring intently at her as she searched through a datapad.

"Nokana," Tenn said out loud. The Kurokran perked up its ears and looked around. He reacted like this whenever he heard his previous pilot's name. Guess part of him never got over his loss. She sighed. "Sorry for your… loss." She said rather awkwardly. Irkens weren't good at comforting people because feelings were deemed a weakness. Besides, being mostly solitary creatures, they never felt the need to comfort anyone.

Tenn tucked the datapad away after sending all the information she learned to the Tallest. As she was about to leave, she stepped onto a water puddle. The Invader lost her balance as her foot slipped and sent her tumbling backward. She had no time to turn and her PAK struck the ground with a loud metal thud. It wasn't damaged, but the impact caused the holographic disguise to malfunction and disappear. Tenn panicked as she realized she was back to her normal shape. She tapped unto her wrist device's buttons, but it would take a few minutes for her PAK to fix the holographic display.

Tenn looked up at the Kurokran: it was staring at her with slit pupils and raised ears. It was clearly confused. He probably thought She got back on her feet and stepped back warily as it lowered its neck to sniff at her. Normally she would have used her PAK-legs to try and blind it so she could escape, but this time she couldn't bring herself to hurt the Kurokran even as its snout was inches away from her face.

She heard footsteps coming from the corridor. This time she did bring her PAK-legs out for when they discovered, taking a deep breath. She didn't realize the Kurokran had left its cooling pool until large droplets of water fell on top of her and she found herself inside its mouth. He didn't swallow her this time, however, he merely kept her inside his jaws. Tenn shivered in disgust as the creature's saliva pooled all under her, but frankly, it's a little price to pay compared to being busted.

"Hey, why are you out of your pool? Where's your kurokani?"

Tenn recognized Konoga's voice. "I'm right here!" She said.

"Tenn? What are you doing in there?"

"Oh, you see, he had something lodged in his teeth and I came to take a look! You know, they get picky when they got a bad tooth!" Tenn laughed nervously.

"I know what you mean," Konoga sighed. "They act like little kids when their teeth ache. Need a hand?"

"Nonono! I don't think he'll be so permissive of you inside his mouth!"

She imagined him shrugging. "Okay, then. I'll leave you to it. Just make sure to put him inside his pool when you're done, you saw what happens if they overheat."

"Okay, no problem! See you tomorrow, bye!" Konoga's footsteps disappeared back the way he'd come. The Kurokran spat her back out, placing her on the ground with its tongue. Once she got over the dismay of being covered in Sobrekt germs all over, the full realization of what just happened came over her.

The Kurokran hid her. It knew she was an Irken and it still saved her from being discovered. This could only mean that he had seen through her disguise from the first day, and it still 'chose' her. Was it possible? So far, all the Kurokani she met were sobrekt or kryvtors, and they never mentioned a non-sobrekt Kurokani ever-existing, much less an Irken one. She found herself staring intently into the Kurokran's large eyes. Its pupils were back to ovals.

"...Thank you..." Tenn murmured, unsure of what else to say. Then it struck her: a perfect name for her one-of-a-kind beast. "...Drenko*."

Chapter Text

Sobrook online

Prívate conversation

Users: dwnIrk, florpus05, KrunchKroc

dwnIrk: is it done?

florpus05: all done. I tampered the information given to Hitorken Zim and deleted a few crucial parts of the next phase. The irken won't know what hit him until it's too late.

dwnIrk: Irkens are so predictable, sending Hitorken Zim to send their asses because they know no one will say 'no' to him.

KrunchKroc: Guys, you won't believe this. No, wait. In reality, it's not surprising coming from the Irken. I mean, he's got the mentality of a five-month-old hatchling and-

florpus05: spit it out!

KrunchKroc: someone saw him almost getting his hand bitten off by his indokuro! Too bad they didn't take a picture, I would have liked to see it!

dwnIrk : One more proof that the Irken is not worthy of becoming an Indokani. Thankfully this will decrease his morale considerably. If it's not enough to get him out of the exams, then we will have no choice but resort to plan C.

KrunchKroc: I thought it was plan B.

florpus05: THIS is plan B. Plan C is a more drastic measure in case Plan B fails.

KrunchKroc: Okay, I'm confused.

florpus05 has logged out.

dwnIrk has logged out.

KrunchKroc: Hello? Is anyone there?

 When Larb finally started regaining consciousness; the first thing he felt was soreness all over his body. The stinging sensation of his fresh wounds was almost unbearable. His PAK was working at full capacity to heal external injuries, but the internal ones would take a visit to the medic. Thankfully, his PAK didn't appear to be damaged.

It took him a while to remember what had happened. He managed to sneak into the Zimkro's pen, but his quest to terminate it took a drastic turn when he became the prey instead of the hunter. The monster was as unpredictable and dangerous as Zim, but the main difference was that this beast knew what it was doing. It let him escape only to catch him again seconds later. It allowed him to think he was getting away only to crush his hopes. In other words, it toyed with him.

As he tried to get to his feet, he found he couldn't move his arms. Confused, he tried a second time, but a jolt of electricity turned him immobile again. As his vision cleared, his squeedly-spooch dropped as he realized he was no in the habitat anymore, but inside a cold, sterile room. Looking down, he found his arms were bound in electric plasma ropes. Realizing what was going on, he panicked and tried to bring out his PAK-legs, but they were unresponsive, just as most of his tools. Damn it! They must have used the same virus Captain, and the raptors had used back on Hoth.

He looked down at his body to check his condition. Most of his uniform was torn in shreds and stained in his blood, leaving the injured parts of his body exposed. There were bruises all over his arms and body. One of his eyes felt swollen; it must be black. The injuries inflicted by the Zimkro were still fresh to the point his PAK sent painkillers to make the pain more bearable. It still stung whenever he moved in the slightest, though.

Examining the room, Larb realized it was a detention cell. He saw a door and crystal window in front of him, though he couldn't see anything. This place must be an interrogatory chamber. He couldn't see the sobrekt, but they could see and hear him. Thankfully, his ocular implants had X-rays. He saw the scientist from before, a few guards and another sobrekt female in a white lab coat.

The door on the side of the room opened, and the female came in. She looked like a mix between a kryvtor and a sobrekt, probably a half-breed. She certainly didn't look happy. Larb tried to crawl away from her, but his restricted arms hindered his attempts. She immobilized him by pressing a talon against his leg.

"I see, so you're the little bug which was peeking his antenna in others' business? I thought you'd be taller." She said casually. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Syberia Scylla, HybGen's head geneticist, creator and chief supervisor of Project Zimkro. How should I call you?"

Larb bit back a snarky reply. This half-breed was the mastermind behind that monstrosity. She couldn't find out why he was here or that the Tallest had sent him.

The half-breed eyed him for a good few minutes. "I see my little project left you in quite a bad shape. Good, it means it will be able to protect Hitorken Zim." He said nothing yet. She frowned. "You are in so much trouble, you know. Not only because you trespassed into restricted Sobrekt territory, but because you allowed the Zimkro to escape."

Larb raised his lekku. "Escape?" Damn it; he had done what the Tallest had wanted to avoid!

"That's right. In your rush to leave the habitat, you left the doors open, and the Zimkro flew out. It usually wouldn't be a problem, but it's designed to survive in the vacuum of space, so you surely understand how this complicates everything. Zimkro can go anywhere in the universe at this moment."

"Why did you even create that monster, to begin with?!" Larb found himself asking. "Do you realize what you've done?! There's a fucking clone of Zim out there!"

The sobrekt merely raised an eyebrow. A few seconds later, chuckled. "I suppose you are not a friend of Hitorken Zim, are you?"

"I'm not, and I'm not ashamed to say it! That maniac is a disgrace to the Irken Empire! Frankly, I don't understand why you lizards put him on a pedestal!"

"Of course you wouldn't understand it, Irken. Your people only see the part of the picture you want to see. As soon as your soldiers don't match with the standards set by your Control Brains, you label them as 'defectives.' You fail to see the true potential of a white indokuro*."

"What do indokuros have to do with the issue?!"

Dr. Scylla pinched the space between her eyebrows. "It's a saying, Irken. The point is that everyone, even such a complex person such as Hitorken Zim can have their perks if properly harnessed."

"I thought you were crazy, but now I'm sure you're completely and hopelessly demented!"

"Anyhow, we're not here to talk about Hitorken Zim; we're here to talk about the consequences of your actions. I could very well hand you over to the K'agek so that they extract the information from you, and I must warn you that their methods are much more orthodox. I'm sure the Shuryo would be glad to deliver your head to your Tallest personally."

Larb had always been good at reading people, stemming from his extensive Invader training, plus the need to think ahead of his victims. Vortians weren't that hard to figure out; they were naturally trusting of others, which led to their downfall. Sobrekt were the opposite. They knew how to conceal their emotions and thoughts perfectly well. This characteristic applies tenfold on this half-breed. He had no idea what she was planning to do with him, if she'd be faithful to her word and leave him at the mercy of the Shuryo's bodyguards or if she'd use him as a guinea pig of some sorts.

A few seconds later, Dr. Scrylla leaned down and held out a claw. Larb closed his eyes shut. He heard the unmistakable sound of her claw cutting through something, but it certainly wasn't his flesh considering he wasn't feeling any pain. Opening his eyes, he realized she had cut through his bindings.

"You're free to go."

Wait; what? "Just like that?" Larb looked up at Dr. Scylla with narrow eyes. "Why?"

"Frankly, I have no time to waste on a puny Irken like you. Besides," Was it the Invader's imagination, or did the corners of 's lips twist upwards in the slightest? "Your mauling by the Zimkro was punishment enough."

Larb grit his teeth, both in pain as he got to his feet and in indignation upon realizing she was making fun of him. She had caught him in his own game and was rubbing it in his face. He glared at her venomously as he limped his way out of the room under the watch of two guards.

"Oh, and Irken?"

"What?" Larb hissed, not bothering to look back. But he imagined the half-breed's mocking sneer.

"Tell your leaders to send Zim the next time."

Sakr looked down at Ilk and Purple... Or rather, the correct term would be that he stood in front of the couch while staring at Ilk and Purple with a deep frown. "Would you mind telling me what were you thinking?"

"Uncle Pur was desperate to see Cheesecake; I thought it wouldn't hurt if we went to see how he was doing…" Ilk confessed.

"And judging by his face, I guess their reunion was not like you imagined, right?"

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Red asked.

"It depends, but he'd awoken his primal instincts, and that is a good thing. It means he'll fight back."

"He bit me…" Everyone glanced at Purple. Those were the first words he had said ever since the encounter with Cheesecake went awry. During all that time, he had gone into shock, holding his left hand and staring into nothingness with his eyes wide open as if he had just watched the universe imploding on itself. "M-My Cheesecake, he… He almost bit me…"

The events were replaying inside his head. As soon as his fingers came into contact with Cheesecake's tail, the indokuro abruptly turned around and snapped his teeth at him, closing his jaws in the air where his fingers had been. The only reason he didn't chew them off was that his reflexes were somehow still sharp, and he moved his hand away just in worst thing was the way Cheesecake had looked at him: his baby, his indokuro snarled at him as if he were a stranger. Not only that, but he didn't even look like he was sorry afterward. He merely went back to the quarrel over the carcass with the other indokuros.

"Pur, you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay!" Purple snapped, jumping to his feet. "I knew this was a bad idea! My Cheesecake is not like this; those animals are changing him!"

"Purple, that was the idea, remember? He was supposed to learn to behave like his kind."

"Well, I don't like it! He's not the cute little Cheesecake I raised!"

Sakr's frown became more profound as he narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms. "That's the issue here, your Tallest. He's an indokuro, not a doll nor a plushie bear you can hug. Those creatures are meant for war, not to be kept as pets."

"What are you talking about?! You keep them as pets!"

"No, we don't." Sakr insisted. "They aren't our pets, they are our teammates, and as you know, you must get along with your teammates to work harmoniously. Sure, they are working animals, but we see them as more than a mere house pet waiting for food." His pupils became slits. "But what else can I expect from an Irken who only sees people around him as his toys?"

"Take that back, lizard!" Red snapped.

Ilk got in-between them before a fight could break out. "Okay, okay, let's calm down! Sakr, is it normal for him to get that aggressive?"

Sakr took a deep breath to calm himself down, but he was still glaring at Purple. "Training is supposed to moderate an indokuro's aggressive nature to make them easier to work with on the field. A well-trained specimen won't show aggression to his master."

"Oh, so you're implying it's my fault?!" Purple growled.

Red looked away absentmindedly.

"It IS your fault, Irken. Indokuros, or any trained animal, aren't to blame for misbehaving if their owners don't make time for teaching them proper behavior. In fact," Sakr's crest spread out. "I'm starting to wonder if you really care about him or you simply want him as your plaything?"

Purple was known for having a shorter fuse than Red. Many crewmen of the Massive would confirm it if they hadn't been thrown out of the airlock. All those times, however, paled in comparison to his reaction. He spread out his PAK-legs and lunged at Sakr with an angry wail before anyone could stop him. Ilk, Red and some of the other Invaders tried to separate them, with the former two managings to pull Purple off the kryvtor, but it was too late. There were bite marks on his arms and a bleeding wound on his cheek. Sakr seemed to have no scratches on him, but he looked pissed.

"That's it; I've had enough with you." The kryvtor snapped, shaking off some dust off him. "Good luck with your fight, you're certainly going to need it."

Red panicked. "Wait a minute; you can't possibly mean-!"

"I do, your Tallest. Go find someone else to deal with your 'partner's tantrums." Sakr stomped his way out of the base, ignoring Red and Ilk's pleas.

"Damn it; they're going to leave marks…" Purple noted the looks he was getting from the others, particularly Red's glare. "What?"

"What?! WHAT?!" If Irkens had hair, Red would have probably plucked thick strands off his scalp. But instead, he grabbed his lekku and pulled them, which further increased his stress. "What were you thinking?!"

"He started it!"

"You do realize that you chased away the person who was going to help us get the Massive back over a stupid tantrum of yours?!"

"Tantrum?! Cheesecake is not the same, Red! He's-!"

"I don't care about your stupid lizard, Purple! All I want is to get the Massive back before those lizards ruin it any further! They bloody painted it green! GREEN!"

"Big deal, we can repaint it or reprogram it! But what if Cheesecake is never the same again after this?! Have ANY of you even thought about that?!" Purple glanced around at Red, the Invaders, and Ilk. "Of course not, all you care about is getting the Massive back!"

Red narrowed his eyes, flattening his sore lekku against his head to show his discontent. Ilk noted he was trembling with rage. "Purple, you're not going to compare the most powerful vessel in the universe with a puny little lizard! We live, breath, and eat in the Massive! We blow up planets and entire enemy armadas with the Massive! What has your stupid pet done other than sending half the crewmen to the infirmary, nearly biting off people's hands or-"

"Red, I swear, if you mention your irk-damned carpet one more time-!"

Ilk had seen her father and uncle bicker before. Sure, they might have known each other since childhood, they went to the Academy together and all that, but even the closest of friends had their arguments sometimes. But this was unlike any argues they ever had before. They were angry and stressed. This fight was escalating into a war from which neither would recover if it went too far. It frightened her. This feeling is what drove her to stand between the two and yell at the top of her lungs.

"STOP!".

Both Purple and Red ceased their argument when Ilk screamed at them to stop, looking like she was about to break down.

"Please, just…! Stop fighting!" she whispered with tears in her eyes. "I don't want you to fight over this..!" She rubbed her forearms, containing a few sobs. "This is all my fault…"

"What? No, sweetie, none of this is your fault."

"But it is! If you hadn't come here, none of this would have ever happened…! I just...! We should have held the wedding somewhere else without the IK-CADCOM and the indokuro fighting and…!"

Both Tallest panicked as the tears trickled down her cheeks. They exchanged a half-guilty look. They said nothing to each other but silently agreed on what should be done.

"Sweetheart, none of this is your fault." Red helped his daughter sit on the couch, sitting down next to her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "If anything, we're the ones who should be apologizing for ruining your ceremony in which you become mates with the person you love."

"Wedding," Stink murmured quickly.

"Yeah, your wedding. It's supposed to be your big day, and we ended up dragging all of our problems into you."

Ilk sniffled. "It's not your fault…"

Purple took it from there. "In a way, it is, Ilk. If I had sent Cheesecake back to the Massive, none of this would be happening."

"Or I should have…" Red bit his lip; It pained him as heck to admit this out loud. "listened to Captain and never drunk that stupid distilled alcoholic beverage. We wouldn't have lost the Massive if I had been in my senses that night. All of this mess is as much my fault."

"We're sorry for souring out what's supposed to be the best time of your life, Ilk." She didn't say anything; she just kept sniffling and trying to calm down. Red tentatively pulled her close and rubbed her shoulder. She didn't reject the show of affection, so she didn't seem to be mad at them.

There was a knock on the door. "It's Invader Zim, masters." Purple was about to tell the computer to dismiss him, but to his confusion, Red ordered it to let him in.

"Greetings, my Tallest!" Zim stepped into the room with a wide grin.

"Why are you wearing a kryvtor disguise?" Purple inquired. Well, disguise would be an overstatement. Zim had merely painted himself orange with stripes, much like Masouri's pattern, attached a fake tail with tape and put on the silly indokuro hat painted orange along with big clawed shoes.

"At the behest of…" Zim paused as he glanced at Tallest Red. "Myself, I snuck into the indokuro pound's headquarters to extract information about the next exams!"

Ilk blinked. "You're telling us that you stole classified information?"

"I didn't need to! Thanks to Zim's charisma, I got the lady at the desk to pass me a drive with the information!" Zim inserted the drive into the nearest USB port. The computer lowered a screen depicting a report written in Sobrekt, which the AI quickly translated for them.

"Hey, those are the next phases of the exam!" Stink pointed out.

"How on Irk did Zim get his hands on it?" Skutch murmured.

Red read through the first half of the document. "If this information is correct, then the next stage of the exam will be quite easy. All you have to do is tell your assigned partner apart from the rest; it can't be that hard even for you, Pur."

Purple took offense from the statement. He might not be at his top shape anymore, but he wasn't an idiot.

"And the final stage?" Ilk scrolled down the screen, but that part was empty.

"The lizard-lady said that information is not uploaded until the current phase is completed to avoid eavesdropping, Ilk-smeet!" Zim said.

"At least I don't need to worry about the next phase if all I have to do is tell Fury apart. I mean, The Blue lizard can give me a tip or two, right?

Chapter Text

To: Blue Cobalk

From: IK-CADCOM

Mr. Cobalk, due to an unexpected event, the next phase of the Indokani Exams have been postponed until previous notice. There's no need for you to bring your Indokuro Fury.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

" I swear, if this whole examination thingie doesn't kill me, the wedding will."

"Red, calm down. It'll be okay. Only two more phases and we're done."

Red sighed. "That's one thing. There's also the Irk-damned right, and now that we lost our trainer," he frowned at Purple but said nothing. "I'm not even sure we'll make it."

"Surely Blue will talk some sense into Sakr, and if he can't then at least he should be able to help," Lena offered her husband a smile as she stroked his cheek. "Everything will turn out alright, you'll see."

She bid Red and Purple goodbye in the early afternoon as they departed for the next phase. Red insisted that she stayed behind after she got another nausea episode. She thought he suspected something, but thankfully it didn't seem to be the case. He was too preoccupied about Purple not messing it up to notice. Up to now, he only saw her vomiting, but he attributed it to her tasting Sobr's bizarre food. Purple exchanged a knowing glance with her, offering her a reassuring smile before they departed.

With nothing to do back at the base all by herself, Lena went to take a walk around the area. On more than one occasion she ran into some of the Massive's crew, who had decided to earn a living however they could until the issue with the Massive was solved. One of the engineers had a sign that read 'any work for donuts,' a service drone was cutting somebody's lawn, and she even saw Invader El washing a ship a few streets away. Lena felt terrible for them. What were they going to do if…? She shook the negative thoughts out of her head. They'd figure something out.

She casually ran into Zim's hyooman girlfriend just outside Blue's home. "Hey." She said indifferently, her attention completely fixed on her gaming device.

"Where's Zim?" Lena asked curiously.

"I don't know. Probably went to witness his purple leader make a fool of himself again."

Lena frowned. "I'd thank you if you showed a little more respect."

Gaz chuckled. "Yeah, right. Respect for a guy who can't run ten meters without fainting like an old lady." Lena hated to admit it, but she had a good point. "So where are you going?"

"Nowhere in particular. I'm just taking a walk around."

This time, Gaz did raise her gaze to her. "You know, in your current state, you should be resting. Who knows when you might get the preggy symptoms and faint. Why don't you come inside?"

Lena glanced at the door of Blue's house. Is anyone home, or did they go to see the next exam? "What if there's no one home? I don't think Deltra will like that I go inside uninvited."

"Chill out, as long as you're friends with Zim; you can rob a bank and get away with it." Gaz made her way to the doorway. "So, are you coming or not?"

Reluctantly, Lena followed her inside the house. It was dark inside, which was odd since it's nearly midday, and yet Gaz seemed to know where she was going. Instinctively, Lena twitched her lekku to look for any sounds. She thought she heard hushed whispers up ahead. "Um, Gaz?"

"What?"

"Where is everyone?"

"The Blue-guy probably went to make sure the purple guy won't mess things up."

"And Zim-?"

It happened too fast. The lights abruptly went on, and a multitude of voices yelled 'surprise' at the top of their lungs. Lena reacted by shrieking and jumping behind Gaz; her lekku flattened against her head. Once she got over the shock, she took in her surroundings. The living room was hastily decorated with a few balloons and a hanging sign that read 'happy smeet shower,' though the words were severely miswritten. She saw Zim, Bob, Skoodge, Blue's family, the Raptor squad, Captain, Okkoto, and some other Invaders inside.

"What's going on…?" She asked after a few seconds of taking the scenery in.

"Ah, miss Lena! It's me, Zim!"

"I know, Zim. What's all of this?"

"Why, it's a party to bath the smeet!"

Lena blinked. "Bath the smeet…? I don't understand."

"Zim's scary girlfriend said you were pregnant. Congratulations!" Skoodge threw a bunch of confetti into the air.

"She.. what?" Lena frowned in Gaz's direction, but the hyooman had gone back to her game.

"You said you didn't want your husband to know; you didn't say anything about Zim," Gaz said.

"My Gaz-demon mentioned that hyoomans throw parties to bathe smeets when a female is about to become a parental unit, so Zim decided to throw you one!" Zim said happily.

"How are we going to bathe a smeet that hasn't even been born yet?" Bob pointed out.

"Silence!"

"What she said was that people are supposed to give lots of gifts to the new mother; thus the term 'shower' actually refers to being showered with gifts.'" Masouri said.

Tenn glanced suspiciously at Deltra. "And you're into it because…"

"It's been a while since we had a nesting party after Kepra's." The female kryvtor said, fondly recalling the event. Sadly, her daughter didn't seem to share her enthusiasm.

"Mother!"

Lena didn't know what to say. "Okay…" She cleared her throat. "Zim, it was nice of you to do this, but-"

"Haha! I knew you would love it! I bet Tallest Red will be delighted to learn that his favorite Invader bathed his smeet!"

"Zim-"

"Hitorken Zim, how about you keep the smeet a secret for now?"

Zim glared accusingly at Foxtrot. "You dare imply that I lie to my Tallest? How dare you!"

"Think about it this way; your Almighty Tallest would rather hear this wonderful news from his wife's lips, just like any father to be. He would be sorely disappointed if somebody else told him, don't you think?" Foxtrot said slyly with a small grin. "And you wouldn't like that, of course. The Almighty Tallest's favorite Invader wouldn't do anything to disappoint him, right?"

Usually, whoever tried to tell Zim that he was wrong directly or even to give him a suggestion got rebuffed, as Zim thought himself too superior to make mistakes. The way Foxtrot mouthed it, however, was neither of those. He had merely planted the idea into Zim's head and let it take root on its own. Indeed, his words made Zim go blank for a few minutes. Lena and Gaz leaned in to see his reaction. The other Invaders merely rolled their eyes.

Their annoyance turned into shock when Zim finally spoke again. "Hey, wait a minute, I don't think Tallest Red will like it if I spoil the surprise." He shrugged. "Very well! Zim shall keep the smeet a secret until Lena-doc decides to break it!"

"Hitorken Zim, since you're the host, how about you give your gift to miss Lena first?" Chakra spoke similarly.

Zim instantly reacted. "The present! I must get it!"

"How in tarnation did you do that?" Grapa asked once Zim darted out of the room.

"Do what?"

"THAT! You said something and Zim listened!" Skutch said. "Usually, the only things that go through his lekku are his own self-praising words!"

Foxtrot shrugged. "From what we've seen of Zim, his ego is the size of your beloved Massive. As such, you have to be careful with your words. It's no use outright telling him something when you can let him figure it out by himself; we merely gave him a little push."

"Wait a minute, you are aware of his megalomaniac tendencies, and you still kiss the ground he walks on?!"

The sobrekt merely exchanged looks between one another and shrugged. "Zim did kill two of your leaders and ruin your first attempt at galactic conquest single-handedly, didn't he?" Okotto said.

"And he plunged Irk into years of darkness twice," Skoodge added quickly. He yelped in pain as Tenn smacked him.

Okotto laughed. "Wow, he is a Hitorken!"

The next phase took place individually in a moderately-sized, dome-like building in downtown. It was right next to IK-CADCOM's HQ. Did they own it? Unlike previous tests, the participants didn't go inside collectively. Instead, they were called by name one by one. A few minutes later, they'd come out either with a deeply-relieved or looking like they wanted to smash the closest thing nearby.

Purple, of course, had nothing to worry about, as they were only supposed to tell their assigned indokuro apart. It wasn't that hard. He just had to look for Fury's yellow stripe, and everything would be okay. He was glad it was an individual test; he was sick of the other Sobrekt making fun of him. The only bad thing is that the other aspirants surrounded him, and they all looked like they were going to murder him then and there. Good thing Red was there to keep him company.

"I'm bored," he told his co-Tallest through a PAK-mail. They agreed beforehand that it'd be better to speak like this to avoid eavesdropping on the lizards' part. If they found out that they had illegally gotten information about the exam, he'd be kicked out of the exams.

"I know, Purple. You've been saying that for the past hour." Red retorted while giving him an annoyed frown.

"What's taking them so long? I mean, I don't think they are that dumb not to be able to tell their partners apart!"

Akkono stepped out of the building's main door. Unlike both other types of aspirants, she had neither expression of relief or bitterness. Instead, her face was serene and confident, as if she had known from the beginning that she'd pass, just like in all the previous tasks. Purple had to admit he was jealous of her ability with indokuros. He thought she'd glare at him just like the others, but she didn't even spare him a glance and merely walked off. Then the speakers called his name. Purple took a deep breath.

"Okay, here goes nothing."

"Good luck, Pur!" Red cried to his co-Tallest as he disappeared into the doors, leaving him alone with the remaining aspirants. He frowned at them. "What are you looking at?"

The room he stepped in mostly dark and only dimly illuminated with a few lamps. There were higher bench rows on the sides and white lines painted on the ground. It's probably a court for some sport. Currently, though, the place was filled with a few indokuros, most of whom were lounging around or napping. On one of the benches sat a kryvtor with black scales and silver feather crest, who was staring down at him with a bored expression.

"I guess you already heard what you're supposed to do out there, but I'm obliged to repeat it in case it didn't go through your thick skull," Purple frowned. Why did he have the feeling that the lizard was mocking him because of what happened in the race? "There's a bunch of indokuros in here, you have half an hour to pick your partner apart from the rest, bla, bla, bla, time starts now." the kryvtor snapped his fingers, and the electric clock on the wall started counting down from thirty minutes.

Purple took a deep breath and walked closer to the indokuros, looking around for Fury's yellow… Wait a minute, where we're the stripes? All of these indokuros were utterly black; their color stripes were missing. "Um, excuse me, …"

"It's Ikanor, Irken."

Purple contained the urge to snap at him for referring to him in such a disrespectful manner. "Their stripes are missing."

Ikanor snorted. "What did you think? That we'd make things easier for you? Their stripes were previously covered in black paint so that you'd have trouble identifying your partner by looks alone. You have to check for other traits."

Purple's squeedly-spooch sank. The information didn't mention this! "That stupid!"

Ikanor shrugged. "You can quit if it is too hard for you."

Damn. The only clue Purple had to identify Fury with was his stripe, but it was gone, and all indokuros looked utterly alike without it. Purple quickly sent Red a PAK-mail, informing him of what had happened.

The reply came in seconds later. Shoot! Okay, don't panic! If you can't use the looks, then try something else! I don't know, the little things he does that are unique to him! Err… Personal traits or something like that!

Personality traits? Okay, Purple, what do you know about Fury other than he's… Then he realized that he didn't know much about Blue's indokuro personality-wise. Panicking, he sent a PAK-mail to Ilk asking her if she knew any peculiar traits. Who better to know Blue's pet than his fiancée, after all.

Well, Fury's a bit aloof with strangers and only shows his playful side to Blue, and more recently me. Also, there's something else. If you scratch gently under his throat, he goes into deep relaxation mode and collapses to the ground. Blue said every Indokuro is different, so I guess it must be a quirk unique to him.

The throat? Purple gulped the lump in his throat. How would the non-Furies react if he touched that part of their body? Would they bite his hand off or attack him? Looking at the clock on the wall, he realized he only had twenty minutes left. He took a deep breath and approached the first Indokuro, who lifted its head and stared at him warily. Purple tried his best not to tremble, remembering that these things smelled fear. His hand reached under its throat, but the indokuro jumped away like a frightened feline when he scratched it. Nop, that's not Fury. One by one, Purple repeated the step with the rest of the indokuros, getting different reactions as he did so. One snarled and bristled its spines. Another wagged its tail like a canine beast. Like Ilk said, none of them had the same reaction. Eventually, he ran out of indokuros to test.

Purple frowned. Wait a minute, if none of these collapsed when he scratched their throats, then none of these could be Fury. If Fury isn't here, what's the point of this test? The information from Zim said he had to pick his assigned indokuro apart, but Fury wasn't here. Is this part of it? Did they do this to all the aspirants? "Excuse me, Ikana, or whatever your name is."

"Ikanor."

"I think you forgot to put my partner here because none of these is him."

Ikanor frowned and jumped off his seat, landing a few feet away from Purple. "Are you sure?"

"What do you think I've been doing all this time, genius? My partner collapses to the ground when you scratch under his throat, but none of these did. What does that tell you?" Purple tried to sound sure of himself, but he was freaking out. What if he was wrong and he had not scratched the right part of the throat?

Ikanor seemed to be having similar thoughts. He looked down on his wrist and typed something in. "Well, that's odd. According to this, your assigned indokuro should be here. Do you happen to know the color of his stripe?"

"I can tell you more than that, pal. His name is Fury, and he belongs to Blue."

"Fury?" Ikanor narrowed his eyes. "I know who he is. Indeed, according to his records, he does have a sensitive spot under his throat, and he becomes limp when you touch it. You did that to all the indokuros here, and none of them reacted like that…" The kryvtor took a napkin off his pocket and started wiping off a bit of the paint, revealing part of the color stripes. Purple saw red, orange, lavender, green, blue and many other colors, but none of them had golden yellow.

Ikanor looked troubled. "Looks like you're right, Irken. Fury is not here. Someone must have misread the list and picked the wrong one," he chuckled dryly. "The higher-ups are so going to have a heart attack."

"Hey, I don't mean to sound in a hurry or anything, but what does this mean? For me, I mean."

"Well, usually the exam is canceled in these instances," Ikanor glanced at him. "But I must say, I'm impressed. Most indokani take a few years in learning their partners' quirks and traits, yet you noticed the difference between an indokuro you barely know and a bunch of completely stranger ones. Not bad for an Irken."

"Does that mean…?"

Meanwhile, Red had been pacing outside the door, ignoring the sobrekt's taunts. Not long after, his co-Tallest finally came out of the building. Before he could ask if he had succeeded, Purple ran over to him and hugged him, repeating over and over in-between laughter that he passed. Red noticed some dark looks from Purple's rivals.

Admittedly, the 'smeet shower' was not that bad. The only bad thing was that none of the Irkens knew what they were supposed to gift her with; the idea of throwing smeeting parties was utterly foreign to them, after all. The Sobrekt weren't helping. Most of their gifts involved chewing toys, a toy plasma gun, a real weapon (apparently, Sobrekt young were allowed to play with firearms from a young age) and a few other trinkets. At least it was better than Zim's present: a bathtub with water and a rubber duck to 'shower' the smeet, the explanation having gone through one lekku and left through the other.

"Aw, Masouri, it's pretty!" Lena said, fawning over a small basket adorned with an orange ribbon, much more fitting for a newborn smeet.

"That's the basket where my parents abandoned my egg in the orphanage." Masouri sniffled.

Or maybe not. "Thank you." She placed the basket aside with the rest of the presents. At least she could disinfect the basket and use it as a cradle later on.

"Ma'am, I hope you will like this!" Skoodge handed Lena over a small box wrapped in kitchen napkins. Don't judge him; he didn't have enough money to buy proper wrapping paper.

Lena opened the improvised present and found a small, hand-made rattle shaped like an indokuro. "It's beautiful, Skoodge! Did you make it?"

"Bob and Foxtrot helped me."

"I didn't know sobrekt we're into crafting." El pointed out, looking at the purple kryvtor.

Foxtrot shrugged.

"Hey, where are Ilk and Blue?"

"They're spending time alone without disturbances of any kind." Deltra noticed the looks she was getting from the Irkens. "They are not making eggs if that's what worries you?"

The group released collective sighs of relief. "So what are they doing, then?"

"Oh, just the usual. Cuddling under the stars."

"It's still daytime," Gaz pointed out. "Do you happen to have more pizza?"

"Zim will get your cheesy earthen snack, Gaz-demon!" He barely avoided collision with Tallest Red and Purple as they walked into the living room. Thankfully, Zim managed to slide right under their legs at the last minute. "Sorry my Tallest!"

Panicking, Lena grabbed the nearest smeet blankie, courtesy of Invader Skutch, and threw it over most of the toys and the basket, but Red and Purple came into the living room before she could try to hide the things she didn't get to put in the cradle, including Skoodge's rattle.

He had the feeling something was off when they returned to the base and found it empty. They wondered where Lena and Ilk would be, and concluded they must be at Blue's place. They found Lena there, right in the middle of what seemed to be a sort of party. "Hey, what are you all doing here?"

Captain greeted him with the trademark snary comment. "Looking for christ. What does it look like we're doing, Irken? It's a social gathering."

Red narrowed his eyes. "Right." He saw something hidden under a small, colorful blanket with lots of animal patterns. Didn't they want him to see what it was? What caught his attention was the toy on top of the tea table. "Hey, what is this?" He picked it up (was it his imagination or did Invader Tenn try to snatch it before he could grab it?) and examined it. It was a crudely-made rattle, similar to the one he had made for Ilk when she first arrived at the Massive. "Why do you have a rattle?"

"Um... It must belong to one of the hatchlings!" Purple said beside him. There was something off about his voice. He sounded nervous. Lena, the Invaders and some of the lizards looked apprehensive too,as if they were hiding something. Frowning, Red removed the blankie, revealing an old-school, nest-like basket and a few trinkets for infants in the early stage of development. Red blinked.

Lena swore, she started to sweat as she recognized the look on her husband's face. It was the expression he got whenever he discovered something shocking. His gaze was fixed on all the presents, and then he glanced at her. Lena gulped. "R-Red, I c-can explain it… Y-You, see…"

"Hey, guys, where are Ilk and Blue?" Purple asked, changing the topic quickly before Red caught on.

"Oh, something about cuddling under the stars or something," Grapa replied.

Red dropped the rattle. "They are doing what?" The color drained from his face. "Ilk is pregnant?!"

"My son hasn't touched your daughter, Irken," Deltra said dryly. "We don't believe in sex before marriage." Okotto and Captain looked away awkwardly. Red could only guess what they were thinking.

"And how do you know that? You keep a tracking device on him or something?! I swear, lizard, If I find out that he dishonored my daughter...!"

"Big deal, your Tallest, they're going to get married anyway, so what if they decided to explore their bodies a bit before time?" Echo pointed out.

Red's left eye twitched. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. So if she's not pregnant, who is this-? No, you know what? I don't really care right now." Lena internally sighed in relief. "Do you know when he's coming back? There's an issue we have to discuss with him."

"What is it?"

Purple coughed. "That's something I'll only discuss with Blue, all you need to know is that I passed." The Invaders breathed out in relief.

Chapter Text

Zim, I have an important task for you. As you know, Tallest Purple will be taking a series of tests in order to get the Massive back. He'll be competing with lots of Sobrekt for the rank of Indokani, and it's the Empire's best interests (and ours too) that he passes.

I want you to make sure he wins. You are the most qualified soldier for this secret mission. The Sobrekt will never suspect you. Besides, the importance of such an assignment requires the exceptional abilities of our best Invader.

Just don't blow it up this time, Zim.

Blue and Ilk returned not long after, both dismayed to have missed the smeet shower. Purple dragged Blue aside from the after-snacking round, as Red called it, to tell him about what happened at the test. Blue was confused: apparently, he got a message informing him that the exam had been postponed, so he didn't bother to send Fury. Purple couldn't help but swell with pride when the kryvtor praises him for somehow noticing Fury's absence.

"Let's say I had a little help," Purple said.

He was about to go back inside when he noticed Zim's old, outdated ship was parked outside. Didn't he steal a shook runner after their 'Hoth adventure'? Then again, it's Zim. He probably blew it up or something.

Curiosity peeked at him. What did Zim keep in here? He shouldn't care, but maybe he got a lot of presents from the Sobrekt. Surely Zim won't find if he takes a look and one of the said gifts for himself; Purple loved free stuff, after all. So he walked closer to the boot runner and took a peek into the cockpit. Sure enough, there were a few things in there, mostly meat-derived dishes, a weapon or two, and jars with unknown substances. Purple spotted a big, black egg. He initially thought it was an indokuro egg until he noted it was inside a case reminiscent of the ones from the first exam. On closer inspection, Purple realized it was the same. How did Zim get it? Then he found a plastic bag filled with strong-smelling cyan grass. He recognized it as sargrass, the thing found in that competitor's pocket in the second exam.

Wait? Sargrass? Fake incubator? How did Zim acquire these?

"Ah, my Tallest! I see you're looking at Zim's collection!"

Purple jumped with a girly scream, taking a hand to his chest and turning around to find the defective approaching with a wide grin. "The Sobrekt-beasts have been gifting Zim with lots of things ever since my arrival!"

"I can see that… Hey, Zim, who gave you this?" Purple pointed at the incubator.

"Ah, that! It's one of the incubators from the first part of the examination phase!"

"I know that Zim, what I mean is how you got it." Zim's demeanor shifted from overexcitement to uncertainty. Purple frowned. "What?"

"Well… Tallest Red said I shouldn't speak of this…"

"Wait, what does Red have to do with this?" Purple narrowed his eyes as Zim's expression became nervous. "Zim. As your Tallest, I'm ordering you to tell me."

Zim looked back at Blue's house, then all around the garden. Was he looking for something? Seconds later, his egomania returned tenfold. "Okay, sir, there doesn't seem to be any recording devices around, so Zim shall tell you!"

XOXO

"Any word from Larb yet?"

"None, my Tallest."

"Damn it. I give that Invader one job…!"

"What job?"

Red panicked. He had forgotten Lena was with them. "I sent him to Foodcourtia to re-stock some of the snacks, and he hasn't returned. I don't want to deal with Purple's DAS now of all times, thank you very much."

"Speaking of Purple, where did he go?"

"Probably back to the base. Pur needs all the energy he can get, considering the last test is tomorrow." Red felt a shiver down his spine. "If he loses…" He glanced up at the Massive.

Lena smiled sympathetically. "He'll be fine, Red. He's not your co-Tallest for anything, is he?"

"I guess."

Lena stopped just as they got to the base. "Oh! Red, I think I forgot something at Blue's house!"

"Spleen, go back to the lizard's home and look for… What did you forget?"

"Actually, Red, I'd rather go look for it myself. You know, to avoid any misunderstandings. Besides, Ilk asked me to help her with something for Blue."

Red had the feeling she was up to something but decided to let her get away with it this once. All he wanted right now was to take a long nap before the test tomorrow. He had Tenn and Grapa accompany her back to Blue's place while he returned to the base.

It was dark when he went in. Why didn't the lights go on as he entered, as usual? "Computer lights on!"

"Don't bother."

Red jumped. Activating the Night Mode in his ocular implants, he found Purple on the couch, his back turned on him. "Pur, don't scare me like that! One of these days you're going to give me a heart attack…!"

No reply. Red felt something was going on. Why was Purple sitting here in the darkness? Why did he sound so severe? He knew that tone of voice. Nowadays his co-Tallest rarely used it, but during their Elite days, his temper was infamous. Combined with his natural lack of patience and tendency to tantrums, this made him a ticking bomb that could be triggered with the slightest provocation. Purple, however, often liked to pretend it was the other way around; he'd hide the raging inferno under a stoic mask, taking his victims into a false sense of safety before unleashing his wrath. Red was the only one who knew which buttons never to press.

"Pur?"

"You know what's the only good thing about Zim?" Purple said, changing the topic. "He's got a big mouth, and he's not good at keeping secrets." He turned to his co-Tallest with an icy stare. "The next time you pick an accomplice, choose someone smarter."

"What are you talking about?" Red stepped warily when Purple got to his feet. He felt a shiver down his spine.

"I have to give you credit, though. Telling Zim to incriminate those two lizards was a smart move. I mean, they would never suspect him should he get caught in the act, considering that they believe everything he says no matter how absurd it sounds."

Red mentally cursed Zim. "Come on, Pur! I don't get what you're so mad about! What matters is that you passed!"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Purple insisted. "Why did you have to keep it a secret, huh? Why did you keep it from me?"

"What difference would it have made, Pur? The idea was to ensure you wouldn't fail!"

"So you think I'm not up to the task?"

"What?! I never said that!"

Purple was trembling, his hands clenched into fists. "I know you, Red. I don't need to hear the words, I know you believe it."

"Pur-"

"You're just like the Sobrekt!" Purple snapped, stepping back. "You think I'm useless! You believe that I don't have what it takes to be an indokani!"

"And why do you think they believe that, Purple?!" Red snapped, finally at his limit. "You couldn't take care of an egg for one day, and you fainted in a short race! I was just cautious! Thanks to that, you're still in this competition! You don't seem to understand what's at stake here!"

"Oh, I know it perfectly! You are always repeating it, how it all depends on me that we get the Massive back or not, but you forget something else, Red! I'm not the one who's going to fight against Maugrim, Cheesecake will!" Purple's voice was quivering now. "He's the one who's going to risk his life to get the ship back, not me!"

Red groaned. "Must you bring up that overgrown lizard now?!"

"You don't get it, do you?! Even if I pass, the final verdict is on my Cheesecake! What if he loses?! What if he gets hurt, or worse?! What if he DIES?! Have you ever thought of that?! No, you haven't!"

"Purple, I repeat: You CAN'T compare the Irken flagship with that little pet of yours!"

"I'm not comparing it, Red! I'm saying that you could show a bit more concern over my Cheesecake as well instead of just complaining and criticizing him for everything!"

"How do you expect me NOT to complain, for Miyuki's sake?! That beast was out of control!"

"Will you get over your stupid carpet-?!"

"It's not only about the fucking carpet, Purple! You never taught him any discipline or how to control himself and many soldiers, medics and staff got hurt!" He wasn't talking out of concern for their welfare, though, but because fewer workers mean he has to do most things himself instead of telling the workers to do so. "He almost tore off Lena's hand once! Her hand, Purple! What would have been next? Her head?!

"Having a 'pet' is not only about cuddling it and saying how cute it is! A pet must be appropriately educated and taken care of! Your lizard was overweight and didn't have any stamina! You think he stands a chance against Maugrim in that state?!"*

Purple took longer to answer, trying to find an excuse. "Hey, it's not like I had a manual!"

"That's your excuse, Purple? Not having a 'manual'? You didn't need one, the Blue-lizard is technically a living manual about indokuro training! You could have asked him for advice, but you didn't! If he hadn't been the one to call to check on your overgrown lizard, you'd still be feeding him donuts! And let's not mention that you made the person who was helping us fix YOUR mistakes away!"

"Fix?! He was turning him into a-!"

"Into what? An actual indokuro?" Red said flatly. "What were you expecting, Purple? Cheesecake is not an earth puppy nor a cuddly gimball. He's supposed to be a military asset, not a common house pet. Sooner or later, his true nature would have resurfaced. And you're lucky it didn't happen on the Massive, or the Control Brains would have had him put down for being dangerous."

Purple yelled in despair. "You don't get it! You just..!" The corners of his eyes felt humid as he finally broke down. "You don't understand! You have Lena! You have Ilk! You…!" He barely stopped himself from revealing Lena's secret. "You have a family, Red. You never noticed, but ever since you and Lena began dating, you left me alone in the bridge with no one to talk to! You started going out with her more often and left me behind! I wouldn't have minded at least you tried to take some time for me, but you didn't! It was as if I didn't exist for you anymore unless you wanted to complain about something! And during that time, Cheesecake was the only acceptable company I had!*

"But now what, huh?! Even that is being taken away for me because of that stupid bet YOU made! Even if he somehow makes it alive out of that fight, my Cheesecake will never be the same ever again, and I will be all alone again…!"

Red stared at his co-Tallest, shaken. Purple was crying. He had never seen him cry aside from when Miyuki died and when that Irkenette rejected him on the Academy. Purple might be more emotional than him sometimes, but he had vowed to never cry after that. Red tried to reply, but the words died in his throat as he didn't know what to say. He had never noticed Purple felt this lonely ever since he and Lena started dating and got married. Had he been that neglectful of his friend?

"Pur…"

Purple didn't dignify him with another word. He walked into his room and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Master, incoming transmission from Invader Larb."

"Send it to the voice message exchange thingie. I'm not in the mood to see anyone." Red said, never removing his gaze from Purple's door.

"Sending to voicemail…"

"Um, my Tallest? I'm afraid there's been a further complication..."

There's a saying commonly used throughout the universe: 'I leave you alone for a moment and everything falls apart'.

Lena could say this applied to the current situation. After gathering her presents and putting them on Ilk's ship (she kindly agreed to store them there until they found a way to sneak it into the base without Red noticing), she returned to the base and found her mate on the living room in a deep thoughtful state. She asked where Purple was, but Red didn't respond. He merely pointed at Purple's door with a glum expression.

"Did you fight again?" she asked.

"Lena, please, not right now…" Now she was certain that something was wrong, but she knew when Red wanted to be alone, so she left him be for now.

Red was not in bed when she awoke the next morning. He was still on the couch, looking down. Had he stayed there all night? Now she was getting worried. Lena took a deep breath and sat down next to him. "Red?" No reply. "Are you alright? Where is Purple?"

"He left for the final phase already…"

"Didn't you get to talk to him?"

"He made a window in his dorm to leave through it. He won't talk to me for a good while…" Red said sadly.

"Red, what happened between you last night?"

He sighed. "Lena, there's something I must confess. I… The reason Purple passed the first two stages of the exam was that…" Red closed his eyes shut. "I asked Zim to sabotage two participants."

"You what?"

"Lena, I had no choice! What if I hadn't? Purple would have been out of the exams since the first round!"

"Red, you don't know that."

"I couldn't take any chances," Red insisted. "If he fails, we'll never have a chance at getting the Massive back! We can't just leave it in the hands of a bloody Sobrekt! Do you have any idea of what could happen?! All the races we have enslaved and all our enemies will lose their fear of the Armada and retaliate against the Empire. Besides, if the Control Brains ever find out that we lost the Massive, they will hold me responsible for it because as far as they are concerned, I am the one who authorized those two to bet it even if I wasn't fully conscious." Lena partly understood where he was coming from. The Control Brains might be reasonable every one in a while, but they were also ruthless judges and executioners. How would they react if they found out about Red's blunder? Losing his position as Tallest would be the last thing he'd have to worry about. "I just wish Purple could see that."

Lena placed a hand on his shoulder. "Red, you should try to put yourself in his shoes too. It's not only the Massive that is at stake."

"That lizard-!"

"Red," Lena frowned sternly. "Maybe Cheesecake is not such a big asset and has all the defects of the world for you, for me and for everyone else. But for Purple, that indokuro is almost like his own child. Think about it: he raised Cheesecake from the egg, fed him and grew to love him. It's just like you and Ilk, if you think about it."

"Ilk is not an animal."

"No, but you raised her and there's nothing you wouldn't do for her. If she had any negative traits, you overlooked them or wouldn't acknowledge they existed at all because you didn't want to believe your baby could be flawed. It's similar to Purple. Sure, he made mistakes in educating him, but who doesn't make mistakes when educating his kids? Especially if you're a first time parent."

"Hey, I didn't…!" Lena raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't you forgetting the 'I don't want to be an Invader' thing?"

Red blushed. "Oh. Alright, maybe I'm not the perfect parent either…"

"And you hate when people say bad things about Ilk in front of you, right? That's how Purple feels like about Cheesecake. He may have all the defects you want, but it hurts Purple that you blatantly rub it in his face without taking his feelings into account. I don't think Ilk has ever made him mad, but if she ever did, do you think he'd make a fuss about it as you do with Cheesecake? Of course not. Not only because he loves Ilk, but because he knows how much she means to you."

Red gazed down. He had never thought about it that way. He knew Purple was very attached to Cheesecake, but he didn't imagine he'd love him the same way he(Red) loves Ilk. "Lena, do you think I'm a bad friend?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Last night, Purple mentioned that ever since we started dating and got married, we've been leaving him out. I have been excluding him because I figured he'd make things awkward or I simply wanted time alone with you, but I didn't realize I was shutting him out completely. And since Ilk was on the Academy, Cheesecake was his only companion…" Red rubbed his temple. "Damn it, I'm such an idiot. What if he never talks to me again?"

Lena embraced him sympathetically. "I'm sure he'll come around." She pulled back, smiling. "When this is all over, you two can have a talk to sort things out."

"I sure hope so, Lena…" Red looked out the window, staring sadly at Sobr's moon. "If I'm honest… I'd rather lose the Massive than my best friend."*

Stupid Red! He doesn't understand! All he does is complain about Cheesecake and that stupid carpet of his! That kind of thoughts kept buzzing inside Purple's head all the time as he left the base, arrived at the meeting point and all the way up to Sobr's moon. He paid no heed to the other nineteen aspirants as they were loaded onto a ship.

Akkono was amongst the first to notice something was off with the Irken, especially since she was sitting next to him. He hadn't uttered a word since take-off and looked absent-minded, not to mention tense. Soon the others stopped trying to provoke the Tallest when they realized their words had no effect on him today.

"You okay?" she found herself asking.

"Huh?" Purple blinked and glanced at the kryvtor. "What?"

"You've been awfully quiet. It's not like you."

Purple frowned. "None of your business, lizard."

"I'll take as a yes," Akkono said but didn't insist any further.

An hour later, their examinator, a male hybrid like Dr. Scylla, stepped into the cargo hold. "Alright, you lot. This will be the last test to determine who of you will be worthy of working with an indokuro. My name is Gark, I'll be your examinator and hold your fates in my claws, so you better behave.

"Indokani spend most of their time working on the field, often without communication and on their own with no other support but their indokuro. Well, in this final test, you will be dropped off in different parts of the moon's boreal forests, where you will have to make your way towards the finish line. You'll have five days. The first six to arrive will be fully-fledged indokani." Gark held up a backpack. "Each of you will be given a backpack with a plasma knife, a first-aid kit, a flashlight, a map, and a Bengal light. There's also a communicator, but it will only work when the final six have reached the finish line." Purple raised a hand. "What?"

"Don't we get food and water?"

"Believe me, you'll have lots of places to get water from. As for the food, there's plenty of wildlife. Your indokuro will do most of the hunting, so all you have to worry about is making it to the finish line before your opponents. And guess what, Irken? You're the first stop!" That's curious. Purple thought he'd be the last. Oh, well. Purple picked his backpack up and approached the ship's door when it started to open.

Brr! Damn it, it's cold! Purple realized everything was bathed in a perpetual layer of snow. Damn it, why did no one tell him Sobr's moon was in the middle of winter! He stepped off the ship, trying his best to pretend he didn't mind about the climate, but the truth was that it brought him rather unpleasant memories of his time on Hoth.

Fury dropped down from the Sobrekt vessel, this time from the cargo hold, landing next to Purple, the snow crunching beneath his talons.

"Remember, Irken! Five days!" That was the last thing Gark told him before the ship's door closed and it departed, leaving Purple and Fury alone in the wilderness.

Purple took out the map out of the backpack, but to his dismay, it was an old-fashioned paper one. He guessed the black circle was the finish line, and the 'X' his current location. The little green triangles are forests, the blue lines streams, and the larger black triangles mountains. It didn't look that bad. Apparently, his location was the farthest from the finish line. Damn it, he should have known it was too good to be true.

Okay, if the map isn't altered (hopefully), then he should head northwest. Thankfully, he should be arriving in two days if Fury doesn't play him a trick like on the race. "Well, looks like it'll be you and me for some time." Fury snorted. "So... What's for breakfast? I kind of didn't have time to grab my snacks."

Fury rolled his eyes and turned away. Purple sighed.

Chapter Text

Midosis

"Hey, Tenn! Do you want to hang out? We're going to a bar."

She hadn't been expecting the invitation and tried to decline the offer, but Konoga was far too stubborn. Besides, she figured they'd suspect something was off if she didn't spend time with them, so she had no choice but to accept Konoga and the others' offer. They took her to a bar in Midosis known as Stray Treep where the cadets went to take a break in their free time. It reminded her of The Pink Irkorse on Devastis. The only difference was that they didn't serve any alcoholic drinks, and there were hatchlings serving drinks.

"Here ya go, guys!" Tenn stared at the small kryvtor smeet as she placed a pizza-like dish on their table and then left to serve some drinks.

"How old is she?"

"Probably five months old," Konoga said, grabbing a slice of the dish. "She's lucky; I came for training when I was six."

"You waited all that time?

Admittedly, maybe it wasn't a bad idea after all. The Invader learned a few things about the Sobrekt culture; not military procedures or something related to their hybrids, but their pure culture. She learned that Sobrekt and kryvtor had different stages of development: the former took about a year in reaching sexual maturity while the latter took only six months, but after that, both subspecies were considered 'grown-up' and sent to military training.*

She learned a few things about her colleagues too. Konoga's family was one of the primary Garb'ek filet providers to all respectable establishments in Sobr, so he grew up around lots of animals, which drove him to want to work with animals. Vrak wanted to be the youngest shipmaster of his time but was eaten by a kurokran, and he got automatically dragged into the kurokani corps because of it, so at first, he was resentful of his kurokran. Izina sacrificed her engagement after being eaten into the ranks, but she still kept in touch with her boyfriend as a friend.

Tenn couldn't help it. At first, she was faking the friendliness, but soon she found herself genuinely fond of the group. She had never interacted this closely with anyone, not even her fellow Invaders, whom she had only seen as her rivals even on the Academy. Irkens weren't programmed to make 'friends,' especially Invaders. They were a naturally competitive species who fought tooth and nail for their Tallest's approval. Organic species, however, are dependent on relationships with others to be mentally and emotionally healthy, which Irkens saw as weakness. She wanted to convince herself of this. She always repeated it in her head since the whole ordeal started, but the more time she spent with the lizards, the more she grew attached to them.

"Hello? Earth to Tenn!" Tenn blinked. She realized she was the center of attention.

"Huh? What?"

"You went blank. You okay?"

"I'm fine. Just getting over the fact I was vomited half an hour ago by a giant dragon."

"Oh, yeah. The first times aren't pleasant, but you'll get used to it. You need a bit of practice to get out without extra-OW!" Konoga rubbed his sore snout and glared at the perpetrator, the green kryvtor with the scar across his left eye. "What was that for, Vrak?!"

"We're eating, Konoga. Would you stop talking about that?"

"Hey, Tenn. Can I ask you something?"

"Depends on what you want to ask."

Izina, a female sobrekt with dark brown scales and golden eyes, toyed with the straw on her drink. "You have an interesting name. It reminds me of someone… I think the Irken who conquered Meekrob." Tenn froze, but she dissimulated it.

"Who?"

"Hey, I think I know who you mean. I think her name is also Tenn. Man, she must be outstanding if she took down the Meekrob."

"Sweet Sobr, speaking of coincidences." Vrak chuckled. "Hey, Tenn, have people mistook you for that Invader without meeting you?" Tenn panicked. She had hoped they didn't know her Invader persona's name. Sobrekt usually didn't care about whatever happened to other planets unless it was within their territory. She had to pick her words carefully.

"You have no idea. A Screwhead once attacked the place I was eating at because he thought I was the Irken." The three lizards burst out laughing.

Tenn, this is Larb. Meet me on your ship.

Larb? What the hell did he want? Feigning an angry frown, she got up. "Excuse me; I must go to the bathroom." She ignored the lizards' half-apologetic, half-laughter calls and stepped out of the bar and towards the secluded area amongst the trees where she had hidden her ship.

As Larb said, he was waiting there, leaning against her vhook runner, which was smaller compared to his newer zhook cruiser, courtesy of the Tallest. "Finally! What took you so long?" Tenn frowned at his smug tone.

"What do you want?" she asked coldly.

"Would you mind getting your disguise off? It bugs me."

"Deal with it. I'm not risking anyone spotting me out of my disguise on this planet. In case you haven't noticed, we're in a fucking enemy military planet. I'm surprised you went past their defenses."

"It wasn't that hard. With my runner's holographic displays, I managed to make them think I was Zim and they let me land. Puaj." Larb shivered.

"Jealous?"

"Me, jealous of him? HA! Don't make me laugh!" Tenn rolled her eyes.

"Look, what do you want?"

"Tallest Red wants a status report. He has been trying to contact you, but you're not taking his calls, and you know that's a sign of disrespect to our Almighty Tallest."

"Look who talks, the guy who got mauled by an animal in the middle of a transmission," Tenn smirked as her long-time rival frowned. She had struck a nerve. "So much for the 'favorite Invader,' huh?"

"Shut up. I just came to tell you that you must call Tallest Red as soon as possible. You know he hates waiting…" Suddenly, Larb straightened his lekku and looked around in alarm. "Did someone follow you?"

"No, what are you-?" Tenn heard a branch snap. Before she knew what was going on, Larb unleashed his PAK-legs and fired his lasers at the bushes. Panicking, she lunged at him and knocked him down. "Have you lost your mind?! You'll get me exposed!" A groan of pain from the bushes distracted her enough for Larb to kick her off him.

Tenn ran towards the charred spot where the bushes once grew and recognized the unconscious, half-burned sobrekt on the ground. "Konoga!" She rolled him onto his back, but he was unresponsive. Tenn sighed in relief when she found a pulse. She glared at Larb. "You could have killed him!"

"Your welcome," Larb said coldly.

"You-! I'm not thanking you, you almost killed him!"

"So what? He saw you talking to me, which might have compromised your mission. Or did you forget the training…?" Larb noted she had turned his back on him and had pulled the Sobrekt to a tree to sit him up against the bark, checking for his vitals. "Oh, no." He started to laugh. "You didn't! After all these years, you grew soft!"

"If you have no more messages, then get the Irk out of here before you get me in any more trouble!" Tenn hissed, not bothering to look at him. She waited until Larb took his leave to reanimate Konoga with a small jolt from her PAK.

"IRKEN! SOMEBODY-!" Tenn smacked his cheek to calm him down. Konoga shook his head. "What…?"

"Konoga, are you okay?"

"T-Tenn, there's an Irken nearby! I saw him-!"

"It's alright, I already took care of him," Tenn assured him. It wasn't a complete lie.

Konoga got back on his feet, rubbing his sore head. "Did he hurt you? Are you alright…?" He inquired as he started checking on her.

"I'm fine, nothing I couldn't handle."

"Is that your ship?" Tenn froze. Konoga was staring at her vhook runner. Damn it, she had forgotten to camouflage the ship.

"Um, yeah… Its original owner parked it outside a bar on Foodcourtia. I figured he wouldn't miss it…" Konoga stared at the ship, then at her. To her confusion, he started to laugh.

"Oh my Ancestors, Tenn! You are something! I mean, stealing a ship from an Irken? And you got away from it unscathed! You gotta tell us the story!" Tenn laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head.

"Y-Yeah… Maybe I will."

Sobr's Moon.

The place reminded Purple of Hoth. The main difference was that the trees were healthy and there weren't any bunches of mad people with pointy ears lurking around. Then again, when it happened, he was stuck inside the Hothians' base while Red… Purple angrily pushed the thought of his co-Tallest out of his head. He didn't need his help! Sure, Red might be the one who does most of the job, and the one people looked up to most, but he…! He…

A branch coming into contact with his face brought him back to reality. Purple yelled in pain and rubbed the area with tears in his eyes. "Damn it, Fury! A little warning could have helped!" The indokuro merely rolled his eyes and kept moving.

These past three hours, Fury had been anything but helpful. He merely went on his own and ignored Purple's commands or attempts at conversation. Guess he was still mad about what happened back at the race.

"Will you get over it already? You were just standing there while I ran out of options!" Another snort. "Look, just help me finish this final phase and then you can go back to hating me, okay?" Again, he got no answer other than an irritated growl. How did Blue put up with this animal?!

Eventually, his stomach growled. He had packed a bag of doughnuts, but it wouldn't be enough for five days. Guess he'd have to hunt his food, or rather, let Fury kill their meals, as Gark said. The indokuro, however, refused to stop until the sky started to darken, after which he disappeared into the bushes. Meanwhile, Purple found shelter under a small rock formation acting like a mini cave. The snow didn't reach inside, so it was considerably warmer. Shelter, check. Now he only needed a fire and food. Fury would take care of the food, so he guessed the bonfire would depend on him.

Purple spent twenty minutes looking for branches and sticks. It wasn't that hard since he was in a forest, but when he tried to start a bonfire with his (thank Irk, virusless) PAK, it wouldn't lit up no matter how many times he tried. Then he realized the wood was humid from prolonged exposure to snow and tried drying them up. When the second attempt failed, he accommodated the sticks in various positions until he finally managed to start it. However, he didn't notice the map was too close to the fire until he found himself pulling it away and waving the piece of paper in the air trying to put it off. Sadly, the damage was already done, and the map had lost half its length. Great. Just great. That embarrassing moment aside, the warmth of the fire felt like paradise on his cold hands. He just had to keep the fire burning by adding more sticks or shifting the woods every few minutes.

Purple's stomach growled again. Luckily, Fury returned not long after with a furry animal carcass of some sorts held in its jaws. The indokuro lay down close to the fire and started eating. "Finally!" As Purple tried to take the carcass, he jumped back when Fury suddenly snarled at him and pulled his prize closer with his front paws. "Oh, come on! You're not even going to eat all of it! Besides, you're supposed to hunt for me!" Sadly, this commentary seemed to offend Fury somehow. He turned his back on Purple, taking the carcass with him, forcing the Irken to deplete his emergency donut stash a bit more.

The first night he spent in that place, he was cold, hungry, and tired. Try as he might, he just couldn't find a comfortable position to sleep in. The ground under the rock was devoid of snow but hard and rocky, so unlike his soft mattress back on the base or the Massive. His PAK made things even harder, as he didn't dare remove it here, since it could be exposed to virtually anything. Eventually, he shifted himself and slept on his side, using a nearby rock as a pillow.

XOXO

"Cheesecake! Come back, don't go!" Purple pleaded, but his words fell on deaf ears. Cheesecake turned his back on him and ran with the other indokuros, ignoring him completely. He tried running after him, but the ground at his feet turned into a cliff. Cheesecake moved further and further away without sparing him even a glance.

Desperate, Purple tried to find a way around the cliff, but his foot slipped, and he found himself falling into a seemingly endless void. As he fell, Purple heard every single mocking voice he had heard ever since the start, telling him that he wasn't up to the task, that he was a failure. Akkono, the other aspirants, the examinators, Sakr, Blue, even Red's stinging words were shooting right through him like plasma bullets.

You couldn't take care of an egg for one day, and you fainted in a short race! Thanks to that, you're still in this competition!

Soon or later, your luck will run out.

Way to lose, loser!

The fall stopped, and the voices with it. He was no longer on top of a cliff, but in the middle of an arena. He recognized it as the colosseum where Sendou had asked them to meet him, but this time it was crawling with people, all of them cheering and jeering. He soon realized why: a few meters in front of him stood Maugrim in all of its monstrous glory, and at his feet was…

"CHEESECAKE!" Purple didn't care if Maugrim mauled him to death, he ran across the arena and fell to his knees in front of his indokuro, who was injured beyond recognition, laying on his side over a pool of his purple blood. "Cheesecake, hang on! You'll be fine-! I'm here; daddy's here-!"

"It huuurts…"

Purple jumped back when a raspy, hollow voice came out of Cheesecake's maw just as his bloodshot eye opened and his slit pupil fixed on him. "C-Cheesecake…?" Bones snapped as the indokuro got on his feet like the earthen zombies.

"It hurts, master… why did you hurt me…? I thought you loved me..." The voice sounded sad. It would have moved him if the owner didn't look like a reanimated corpse.

"C-Cheesecake, please, I…! I didn't want you to-!" Purple didn't realize he had been cornered against the wall until his back came into contact with it. "Cheesecake!"

Maugrim leaped, his jaws aiming at his throat...

XOXO

"CHEESECAKE!"

Purple awoke with a start, knocking his head with the rocky ceiling. Biting his lower lip, he rubbed his sore forehead. How come he was sweating with this cold? Wait, this isn't sweat… it was trickling down his cheeks, and it was partially frozen. Purple sighed and wiped the icy tears from his cheeks. Fury was still asleep. Wow, what a deep sleeper.

Purple rubbed his forearms to warm himself up a little. His PAK usually kept his body temperature in check, but extreme conditions such as these made it overwork, and it failed to keep him at a stable temperature. Dammit, why hadn't he brought a blanket or sweater? Sighing, he crawled out of the hideout and went to take a short walk around the woods to clear his thoughts.

The Irken felt another shiver down his spine, but not because of the temperature. That nightmare… The image of Cheesecake's all torn and bloody body was still fresh in his mind. What if that happened to him in the real fight? He had seen what the indokuros were capable off in combat. One had torn Ilk's leg when trying to kidnap her. Fury had decapitated Iraa the Hothian with his jaws alone. And those were clean kills: how long did an actual fight between two indokuros last? Blue and Sakr had said that the matches in the tournament were to death, and he overheard people saying that rookie indokuros who got signed up didn't even make it off the first round alive. Was that the fate awaiting Cheesecake? He wanted to withdraw him from the stupid fight, he really did, but deep down he knew… he knew Red was right when he said he couldn't compare Cheesecake to the Massive. His blood started to boil as he remembered Red's words. Who did he think he was?! Even if he had a point, Red had no right just to disregard Cheesecake like that.

Purple got so drawn in his thoughts that he didn't see where he was going and ended up tripping on a rock, then rolled down a small snowy hill, crashing against a fallen tree. That was the last straw. With a loud, painful yell of frustration, Purple brought out his PAK legs and shot his lasers at whatever he had in front, unintentionally setting the hibernating trees and dead bushes on fire. Well, that felt good. At least he got something to warm himself up a bit. He stood a few feet away from the fire, holding out his arms while rubbing his hands, gladly receiving the heat.

A branch snapped behind him. His lekku went straight. Rusted as he may be, the 'snapping-branch-means-something-is-off' instinct remained. Purple moved away in time just to see a dark blur move swiftly across the forest floor; it ended up going into the flames, but it was going so fast that it came out on the other side unscathed. Purple tried to run before it could come after him, but something struck him right in the face and sent him flying for a few meters. This made him realize this wasn't a random predator trying to eat him: he was under attack.

Purple managed to run a few meters away before he was struck again, this time on the back. It didn't stop there; before he knew it, he was assaulted from all sides by lots of blurs and shadows, receiving kicks and punches in his face and body until he was sent spiraling against the ground. Desperate, he unleashed his PAK-cannons all around him, blindly trying to scare off his attackers, or hopefully kill them off. A laser kusarigama-like weapon flew through the air and wrapped itself around one of his limbs: Purple de-attached it just as the long-chain pulled it back and a long-thick plasma ax chopped it in half. To think that could have been him!

"Damn it, where's Fury when you need him?!"

He was awakened abruptly by a loud, distant explosion. Sadly, he had forgotten that he was under a rock and hit his head. Fury shrieked in pain and looked around; the Irken was gone. Fury snorted in irritation. Great, he'd have to go looking for him before he got into trouble… if he hadn't gotten into trouble already, that is. He better hurry. Sniffing the air, he sensed explosive powder, ash and fire nearby. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw a column of smoke behind the trees.

Fury started running in that direction until the ground began to tremble. He caught a new scent; it was partly familiar, but at the same time different. Something moved from behind the tree line. It was a Sobr creature, but it was no hybrid. This one was a pure-blooded animal. The indokuro stepped back warily as a huge white creature stepped out of the trees, tearing them aside with its hand-like claws as its giant feet crushed anything underneath it. Crimson eyes with slit pupils looked down at Fury.

Master and others called it 'Indoshiro,' but Fury and his kin only called him Pale Hide due to its white scales.*

Pale Hide roared at him. It was a warning to get out of its territory, but Fury needed to go through here to get to the Irken, so he shrieked in defiance. Pale Hide reacted like he anticipated it would; it sprinted at him, jaws wide open. Fury tried to pass underneath it, but Pale Hide effortlessly reached out and grabbed him by the waist with its 'hand,' lifting him. Fury bit onto it before the monster could bring him too close to its mouth; Pale Hide threw him against a tree in retaliation.

Realizing the only way to continue would be to defeat the animal, Fury roared back at the Pale Hide and dodged its frontal arms to bite at its legs. Pale Hide grabbed him by the waist again, this time with its jaws, and threw him against another tree. Fury hissed in pain at both the impact and the fresh wounds on his body. He barely got out of the way as Pale Hide's jaws tried to grasp him again only to close in thin air. Fury took advantage to jump onto its back and dig his teeth unto its neck, one of its sensitive spots. Pale Hide roared in pain and knocked him off with his tail.

Fury could have taken advantage of the distraction to run, but the metallic taste of blood had awakened his thirst for blood. Pale Hide didn't look willing to back off either, leaving both animals at a stalemate until either died or ran off, and since none were willing to do the latter…

Fury leaped off as Pale Hide burst forward, its jaws wide open...

With his PAK-legs taking care of the movement, Purple could look back to try and identify his attackers. The trees and the snow made it harder, but he got to see the shapes from before running after them. He couldn't see their faces because they wore dragon-like masks, but it wasn't hard to tell they were kryvtors and sobrekt. Purple counted seven in total: four kryvtors and three Sobrekt, though the latter were having it more difficult to keep up. Was this part of the test?

He ended up running straight into the entrance of an old, abandoned building. Purple activated the night vision and saw lots of statues and paintings depicting a great white beast. It must be a temple of some sorts, maybe from the days when the Sobrekt were still primitive and revered their wildlife. Purple moved throughout maze-like corridors and dark passages, barely lowering his head in time to dodge a fallen stone pillar.

He stopped at an intersection. With no time to consider the options, he took the right one, which led him into a vast underground chamber underneath the giant roots of a giant with lots of glowing bugs fluttering within it, almost making it look like a sort of chandelier. It would have been a pretty sight if it weren't for hundreds of coffins spread across the room. Purple couldn't help but chuckle at the irony.

"Okay, what now?" Were these occupied? There was no way he was going to hide inside someone's coffin! He wasn't that desperate, for Irk's sake. Purple spotted a throne in the middle of the room, right under the 'chandelier,' and seated on it was the skeleton of a long-dead Sobrekt clad in ancient armor. There was an old battle-ax next to the throne. It might come in handy; surely the guy wouldn't mind if he borrowed it, right? He's dead, so it's not like he could use it anymore, anyway.

Echoing footsteps from within the temple let him know his attackers were close. There wasn't time to be picky. Purple gulped the lump in his throat; if he makes it alive out of this, he's going to take a long bath. He quickly picked the ax, ran to the nearest coffin to push the lid off and jumped into it (its occupant seemed to have turned into dust a long time ago), sealing it off again. Alright, he just had to stay here until they got bored.

As he took deep breaths to recover, he analyzed the situation. This didn't make any sense; no one mentioned anything about crazy weirdos in masks trying to kill the aspirants. Or had that been added to him only just to spite him? Had the Scylla lady planned this all along: let him into the exams to kill him?

To hell with this, he better call someone to tell them what was happening. Red was out of the question; he wouldn't give him the pleasure of asking for help after he made it clear he thought Purple would eventually do precisely that. Lena was probably with Red; Ilk was busy with Blue, he didn't have Captain's number… That left him with one option.

Purple cursed under his breath as he called the number through his PAK and brought out PAK's communicator.

"Who is this?"

Purple sighed. "Hey, Sakr." He whispered in a low voice. There was an uncomfortable silence, and for a moment he thought the lizard had hung up.

"Oh, it's you. Why are you calling me? I thought you were supposed to be in your final examination."

"Hey, how do you know that?"

"Miss Ilk is always talking about you, though frankly, I believe her admiration is misplaced," Purple grunted.

"Look, I have no time for this. I only wanted to ask you something: is sending assassins after one part of these exams?"

"What?"

"I'm being hunted down by a group of Sobrekt."

"That can't be! The indokani exams are no place for assassinations; it's a formal examination to see who's fit to work with indokuro."

"Well, it's clear that these guys didn't read the rules!"

"Are you sure it isn't any of the other aspirants playing a joe on you? No offense, but it's easy to do that to you."

"A prank? Seriously?! Do you think me that dumb?! As far as I know, pranks don't involve kicks, bites, and punches, do they?! You're the expert in this kind of things!" Sakr didn't reply for a few seconds. Had he hung up? "Look, I know our last meeting didn't exactly go well, but this is beyond any petty arguments we had. Someone is trying to kill me, and I'd like to know why."

Sakr sighed on the other end of the line. "I'll see what I can find. Just stay alive until then, okay?" Wow, that made Purple feel better!

"Okay." Purple quickly hung up as he heard a tapping noise. The Irken held his breath. That irritating claw! Wait a minute, Kryvtors only tapped their claws either as a tic or to communicate…

Purple jumped out of his hideout just as seven weapons struck it, shattering it into tiny pieces of stone and gravel. Fuckfuckfuck! One of the Sobrekt struck Purple right in the chest with its tail, cracking his armor and leaving him in his black underclothing.

"Hey, do you know how long it costs to repair?!"

One of the kryvtors threw a spear aimed at his PAK. Purple dodged it in time, but the kusarigama from before wrapped around his ankle and sent him flying through the air. Purple managed to land on his feet this time. Dammit, there was no way he could outrun a kryvtor in an open space; good thing he still had one of his smoke machines inside his PAK.

"Have a smoke machine, lizards!" He pressed the button and threw it go the ground, releasing a vast cloud of smoke*. The coughing was a good signal.

Purple took advantage of the distraction to run off towards another entryway and back into the corridors. Okay, he just had to 'keep himself alive,' as Sakr put it until he figured something out. He saw one of the passages more illuminated than the others. There must be a way out! He just had to get there; he could do this. He turned around the corner…

… And barely dodged a plasma twin sword as it nearly collided with his head. One of the kryvtors must have taken a different route to catch up to him. Purple managed to block a few strikes with the ax and his PAK-legs until the former was knocked off. In desperation, Purple headbutted the kryvtor's head against the wall, cracking its mask. Owowow, that hurt! The action seemed to have momentarily disabled the kryvtor; moment Purple took advantage of to snatch one of the twin swords and cut the lizard's throat.

Purple stepped back in shock as the lizard's body slid down against the wall and then fell limply on the ground, its purple blood pooling beneath it. The mask slit in half, revealing a male kryvtor with minty green scales. Purple recognized it him: he was the guy disqualified in the first round because his egg had hatched.

His abdomen was hurting. Purple tried to press his hand against it, but winced in pain… Wait, why did it feel humid? He went pale as he saw a small dagger had pierced through his black underclothing and dug right into his flesh; pink blood poured out of the wound like a small waterfall. Purple grit his teeth in pain as the injury stung when he tried to remove it. Damn it…

He couldn't stay here for long. The others were going to catch up, and there's no way he would stand a chance against them in this state. He picked up the discarded twin swords; who knows? They might be useful later on. Purple grit his teeth again as he took heavy steps towards the entrance up ahead. It had been a long time ever since he got injured like this. The pain eventually forced him to lean against the wall to stay on his feet.

The fresh air was only slightly relieving. Purple realized too late that this wasn't a door; it was a window. There was a long fall to a river with turbulent waters. Great. Either I drown or get mauled. Purple looked back at the dark corridor when he heard echoing footsteps.

Well, if I'm going down, I might as well bring them down with me.

With a trembling hand, he reached into his PAK and placed a detonator on the wall just as the exhaustion and blood loss finally took their toll, and his consciousness slipped.

The last thing he felt before everything went black was the river's cold water enveloping him in a deadly, watery embrace.

Chapter Text

To: MightyRed

From: ZimIrksGreatestInvader

First of all, your Tallest, it's me, Sakr Cobalk. I had Zim send you a PAKmail from his own because it's the fastest way to reach you. I wanted to inform you that your co-Tallest called me not long ago. In short, he's in trouble. Somebody's after his head. Somebody from the outside. I'm trying to find out who is behind it, but meanwhile, you should go inform the Shuryo-

Hello, My Tallest! It is I, Zim!

"You can't go in-!"

"Irken, you'll get yourself killed-!"

"Red, wait-!"

He ignored the voices and kicked the door open. The Shuryo was floating in a pool of greenish water inside his chambers, apparently asleep. Still, he didn't react to the intrusion. He merely cracked an eye open, looking up at Red in annoyance. "Don't you know it's considered polite to knock on the door?"

"We need to talk, lizard!" Red snapped. Just then, Lena, Captain, and the guards finally caught up, but none of the latter entered the Shuryo's chambers.

Shuryo raised his head from the water, sighing. "This better be important if you dared to come to my private chambers." there was a small hint of irritation to his voice. He wasn't happy with Red.

"Curious, I'm not happy with you either! I just got word that someone's trying to kill my co-Tallest!"

"Wait; what?" Captain asked from the outside.

"What are you saying, your Tallest?"

"Purple called Sakr and told him someone's trying to kill him!" Lena exclaimed. Shuryo opened his eyes lightly.

"An assassination attempt? In the Indokani exams?"

"Are you deaf? That's what we're saying!" Red snapped.

"Irken..!" Captain hissed.

"Sakr… Sakr Cobalk?"

"Yeah, that one! Purple called him, and he called us! He's being hunted down by who knows how many assassins!"

Shuryo leaned unto the edge of his tank, rubbing his chin. He had heard of failed aspirants who tried to get even by killing their more successful rivals, but an Irken Tallest being the target? "I don't think I need to ask if you have enemies amongst my people, your Tallest." Captain coughed uncomfortably.

"Shuryo, we'd like to ask your permission to go look for Tallest Purple."

"He's in the middle of the exams. Going in and aiding him aid would disqualify him automatically."

"I don't CARE!" Red yelled. Lena and Captain looked at him agape. "I don't give a damn about the stupid exams! My best friend is somewhere in the wilderness, lost and probably injured! He might be DYING for all I know! I'm not going to stay idly by while that happens! I didn't come to ask for your permission, I came to inform you that I'm going to your moon to look for Purple and nothing you do will stop me!" That said, Red stomped his way out of the room, followed by Lena.

She caught up with him outside Karajork, finding him talking to someone through his PAK communicator. "This is an emergency code: Tallest Purple is missing and might in danger. Invaders, meet me back at the base to discuss the next course of action! Zim," he uttered the name through grit teeth, "convince the lizards to let them in."

"Yes, sir!"

"Never fear, my Tallest! Zim shall go save Tallest Purple!"

Lena blinked. "Red... did you just ask Zim for help?" Her mate sighed.

"I can't let him die, Lena… Not after the last thing we did was fight… I don't…" Red brought a hand to his face. "I don't want him to think I didn't care…"

"Red…"

"We might have our differences every now and then, and my annoyance at his immaturity might get the better of me sometimes, but… He's my best friend. In the worst of cases… we could somehow build another Massive, but I cannot make another Purple..." Red trailed off as he noticed something off. Lena looked a bit pale and exhausted. "Lena, are you alright?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You look pale. When was the last time you ate something?"

To be honest, she hadn't eaten anything yet since last night. She had been so worried about Purple and stressed about the smeet that she didn't have any appetite. But she couldn't let him know that. "Oh, Red, don't worry. I'm fine…" She trailed off as her consciousness slipped away. The last thing she saw was Red's panicked expression as he caught her in his arms…

XOXOXO

Red would have kicked the base's door open. Since it opened automatically, however, he instead vented off by kicking the nearest Invader, who happened to be Skutch, against the wall. "Clear the sofa!" He didn't even give Spleen or El time to move away when he pushed them off with his PAK-leg and placed Lena's unconscious figure on top of it. "Computer, make an analysis on Lena! She just fainted!" Some of the Invaders exchanged worriedly knowing glances.

"Um, sir…"

"And while you're on it, locate Tallest Purple's PAK signal in Sobr's moon!"

"There's interference from this planet's natural satellite, master. I cannot pinpoint to Tallest Purple's location." Red groaned. He should have known that the Sobrekt would come up with something like that.

"Is the planet guarded?!"

"No, master. It's usually open to the public, but right now, a certain area is restricted due to the Indokani exams."

"All of you go to that area and find Tallest Purple! If you run into any lizards that might look like an assassin, open fire at will! Computer, why aren't you scanning my wife for something?!"

"Umm, My Tallest…"

"What?" Red noticed the scared expressions. "You know something, don't you?"

"Err…"

"MY TALLEST!" The monitor lit up, and Zim was on the other side, waving his arm in excitement. "I am happy to inform you that I have convinced the lizards to let us look around the examination area!"

"Just a thing, your Tallest. You're not allowed to interfere with the other participants." Wait, is that the Blue-lizard?

"Where are you, Zim?"

"I'm on board the Sobrekt beast's ship right on the moon's orbit, just waiting for your approval to go down and rescue Tallest Purple!"

"Don't move from there! The rest of the Invaders will join you shortly, and so will I once I figure out what's wrong with Lena!"

"Lena doc? She's fine, she's just carrying a smeet!"

"ZIM!"

Red blinked once. Then twice. "What?"

"Lena Doc is going to have an almighty smeet, my Tallest!"

Ignoring the following argument, he glanced down at Lena, who was still unconscious. She was… carrying a fertilized egg inside her spooch-sac? It couldn't be… They didn't-! No, wait, the night after the scuffle at the betting house! It was fuzzy, but he more or less recalled having sex with Lena. This would also explain why she had been so odd: nausea, mood swings, her unusual liking for Sobrekt food… The 'smeet shower' was for her. How did he not notice it before?

"Sir?"

"Lena… smeet… I'm going to…" His heart skipped a beat. He was going to be a father… again, this time with a female he loved, and he'd get to see the gestation period… His hand unconsciously touched Lena's abdomen.

"Your Tallest, sorry to break it to you, but now's not the time for that. Your co-Tallest is missing, and from what Sakr said, he might be injured or worse if whoever's trying to kill him catches up." Blue said.

"The thing is your moon is interfering with Tallest Purple's PAK-tracking signal ad we can't find him!" Larb snapped.

"Irkens, there is more than one way to skin an azelle." Echo pointed out. "If you can't find him with your technology, then you'll need to track him the old-fashioned way. You could use your indokuro for that." Red frowned.

"How is that lizard going to help?!"

"Indokuros can track anything. If you give him something with Tallest Purple's scent, be sure that he'll find it."

"Look, your Tallest, I know you and Cheesecake have never gotten along, but think about this: he loves Tallest Purple as much as you do. He would give up his life for him just like you're giving the Massive away for him."

"How did you-?"

"Rumors spread faster than you think, your Tallest," Blue said matter-of-factly. "If you truly want to help Tallest Purple, perhaps it's time you bury the hatchet with Cheesecake. Ilk's already looking for him at the reserve, but she may need a hand."

Re-activating.

Purple's eyes snapped open as he found himself underwater. Panicking, he made his way up to the surface, taking a bit mouthful of air. Purple managed to swim to the riverbank not far from there. Brrr! It's freezing! Damn, couldn't they have picked a warmer place for the last exam? Crawling out of the river, Purple took a look at his surroundings. It was nighttime already. The river must have carried him downstream for some time.

Purple growled in pain and clutched his bleeding abdomen, falling to his knees. Damn it, the dagger was still down here. His PAK couldn't heal the wound until he took it out, but he couldn't do it here in the open, where the psycho lizards would easily find him and end the job. He had the feeling that they wouldn't be happy now that he killed one of their own.

It took him a great deal of effort, but finally, he managed to get back on his feet, advancing slowly through the woods, his hand clutching his side as the blood trickled down it, leaving a small trail on the snow. Every step was exhausting; he must have lost too much blood in the river while he was unconscious; the temperature had numbed the pain somewhat, but it still felt like a nightmare. Purple used every little bit of his emergency energy reserves to keep moving; otherwise, he might have fallen unconscious.

At long last, he found a cave at the side of a small rock cliff. It wasn't as cold as outside, but it wasn't a place he'd like to spend the night in either. Then again, it wasn't like he had many options to pick on, did he? At last, Purple collapsed on the rocky floor, panting heavily. Sweet Irk, he hadn't been this tired and sore since his elite days. He looked down at the dagger; he had to take it out now, or his PAK wouldn't be able to heal the injury, and he'd bleed to death. Purple tore off his black underclothing, bundling up a small part and putting it in his mouth in case things got…. Nasty.

Taking a deep breath, Purple grasped the handle but had to quickly release it when it sent sharp, excruciating pain throughout his waist. Damn it, it was stuck real deep, but he had no time to be picky right now. He grabbed the dagger again, but this time he kept a firm grip on it despite the terrible sensation and jolts of pain; his PAK sent painkillers, but it didn't seem to help. Purple bit hard on the cloth, closing his eyes shut as he carefully pulled the dagger out. Cold sweat ran down his face. With a blood-freezing scream locked inside his throat, he pulled the tip of the blade out with a quick pull, letting it fall to the ground with a loud clang. Purple somehow used his remaining strength to wrap his underclothing around the wound to stop the bleeding before his body finally gave in to the blood loss, exhaustion, and pain.

XOXOXO

When he next awoke, it was daytime. Grrr, stupid sunlight coming through the entrance. Purple covered his eyes with his arm. Great, another lost day. At this rate, he'd be disqualified. Then again, what is he was? Surely the five fortunate ones had already reached the finish line, and he was just wasting his time, risking his life for nothing. Part of him was glad; at least Cheesecake wouldn't have to fight against that monster and be killed.

Purple managed to sit up. His waist was still sore from last night, and he was cold. Very cold. He unwrapped the black fabric and took a look at the injury; it hadn't fully healed yet. Probably because he hadn't eaten any sugars to help his PAK with the healing. Just what he needed. He'd have to rest for some more time. He couldn't afford to move too much, or it could re-open again.

His lekku twitched as he heard footsteps coming from the outside. Just what he needed. Were the lizards that fast? He couldn't defend himself in his current condition. Is this it? Was this the end of the road for him? Well, he wasn't going down without a fight this time. With some effort, Purple brought out his PAK cannons and aimed it at the cave entrance just as a shadow appeared…

As his vision got adjusted to the light, Purple realized this wasn't a kryvtor or sobrekt. It was an indokuro. Its body was dripping with purple blood, and its head was hanging instead of being held up high; evidently, it had a nasty encounter too. The indokuro locked eyes with Purple; the Irken spotted a flash of gold on its body, hidden by all the blood.

"...Fury?" A weak, painful growl was all the confirmation he needed. "Guess I'm not the only one who had a bad day…" Fury limped into the cave and sat a few meters away from Purple to lay down and lick his wounds.

Purple saw a long-abandoned skull filled with water; it must have filled up during the night. He grabbed it and threw the water on top of the Indokuro to wash up some of the blood. Fury shrieked in surprise and bared his teeth, bristling his spines. Purple rolled his eyes.

"Your welcome."

XOXOXO

At some point, he fell asleep again. When he started regaining unconsciousness, he noticed the air was notably warmer. Rubbing his eyes, he saw a fire a few feet away, and Fury curled up not far from it. Something was cooking… It smelled pretty good… Gluttony before wariness, Purple awoke and looked for the source. There was a fish on a stick, slowly being cooked over the small bonfire.

"You're finally awake." Purple jumped back, hitting his head on the wall. He bit his lip as he glanced at the source, none other than the female kryvtor herself, sitting next to the fire and looking at him with half-closed eyes. Damn it, just when he didn't have any clothing. He scrambled to get what remained of his underclothing and covered his bare chest, his face pink.

"What on Irk are you doing in my cave?!" he shrieked.

Akkono raised an eyebrow. "Your cave? I don't see your name on it."

"Well, I got here first! Fury, what kind of guard animal are you?!" The indokuro merely opened an eye slightly and shifted away. Purple murmured under his breath.

"You should stop treating him as your servant, Irken," Akkono said. Purple stopped himself from snapping 'what do you know,' especially after her assigned indokuro entered the cave with a gigantic carcass and dropped it at her feet. Akkono made a purring sound and rubbed the animal's head in return.

"Hey, if you're going to stay here, the least you could do is give me some food. Someone here whose name I won't mention didn't bring me any!" Purple frowned at Fury.

"Considering that you treat him as if he were part of your endless army of servants who are always at your beck and call, it doesn't surprise me in the least."

"Okay, lizard-lady! What's your problem with me?!" Purple snapped, but he winced in pain as his side stung.

"Be careful, you idiot!" Akkono hissed, glancing at her partner hurriedly. Its eyes were fixed on the Irken, looking for any weakness. She bared her teeth at it, to which it replied with a submissive purr-like sound as it lowered his head. Akkono glared at Purple. "If you draw blood from that wound, he might go into a frenzy, and if that happens, I won't be able to stop him."

"Fury would protect me, wouldn't he?" Akkono scoffed.

"Judging by the way he has been ignoring you, I doubt it."

"Must you be so harsh on me, lizard?" Purple insisted. "You seem to enjoy burning and making fun of me, why is that?"

Akkono frowned. "To answer your first question, I don't hate you, your Tallest. True, your Empire stole from my people, and we were at war for a few years, but I personally don't have anything against you."

"Then why do you-?"

"Let me finish, or I'm not telling you anything," Akkono warned sternly. "You know why your entry into the indokani exams was frowned upon?"

"Duh! Because I'm an Irken, and you think I might eventually use the information I learn against you!"

"You're half-wrong, your Tallest. It's part of the reason, that's right, but what irks everybody the most is the fact that you only got accepted because of your connection ti Hitorken Zim." Akkono read the expression on Purple's face. "You might not know this, but Dr. Scylla holds him in high regard."

"Oh, believe me, I know it perfectly," Purple muttered bitterly. Hell, the woman had created a hybrid with Zim's bloody DNA! "In fact, your bloody race has put him on a pedestal he doesn't deserve!"

"Doesn't he? What exactly has he done for you to hate him?"

"Are you asking me that?! He killed two Tallest, ruined Operation Impending Doom 1, and sent Irk into darkness twice! Not to mention, he hacked unto the Massive once and threw us around space for a good while, wiped out a portion of the armada with a planet named Mars, and compromised the mission of one of our best real Invaders! Do you want me to continue? Because if I told you all the times he's screwed things up, we'd stay here a long time!"

"In other words, he has nearly brought the Irken Empire, perhaps the most powerful power in the Universe, down not once or even twice, but more times than you can count. Your people don't find it admirable because you're Irkens. To other races who have been conquered or who are in danger of being conquered, this makes him a savior. To natural-born warriors like us, one single man being capable of this feat is worthy of admiring, don't you think?" She took the ensuing silence and Purple's stunned expression as a sign to continue. "That's why we call him 'one-Irken army,' your Tallest. He alone can do what would require an army of one million soldiers.

"You, on the other hand, have no personal accomplishments to your name. You are lazy, immature, and expect everyone to bring a magical solution to your problems. You blame other people for the things you do and refuse to take responsibility for your actions. Someone with those traits is not fit to become an Indokani. But you only needed to say that you're 'friend's with Hitorken Zim to be admitted; otherwise, you wouldn't be here."

"So basically you're saying I'm a good-for-nothing!" Purple growled, offended.

"Considering that you didn't last fifteen seconds in a short race and you needed a whole medical team to give you oxygen, it's hard to think otherwise."

"For your information, I lead the Irken Empire!" Akkono scoffed.

"And the only reason you do is that you're tall. That's the biggest 'accomplishment' of an Almighty Tallest: being tall, because all of your hierarchy is based on height. A random guy who doesn't know how to even read or write can get into a high-ranked position just because he's tall. In fact, I'm surprised that the Irken Empire still stands with you in charge, though perhaps it has to do with having a co-ruler. I might not know him, but it's evident he's the one who does all the work while you just gorge yourself in calories. Who knows how many other Irkens are much more worthy of being in charge than you are-" Akkono cut off as she moved her head to the side, avoiding a small stone thrown towards her head. "See what I mean?"

Cheesecake had the feeling something was off. He hadn't seen Master nor Fury in a long time. Master never stayed away for too long. Was he hurt? Cheesecake couldn't shake off the sensation that Master was in trouble. This put him in a tense mood, prompting him to momentarily get away from the pack and vent off. It felt good to gnaw unto wood and stuff, but it didn't calm down his nerves.

Then he heard someone calling his name. At first, he thought it was Master until he noticed it was higher-pitched. It wasn't him, but he did know the voice. Curious, he darted off in the direction it was coming from, which led him to the outskirts near the city. He recognized the red-eyed female green one Master likes so much. What was she doing here?

"Cheesecake, here! Come here, boy!" She called once she spotted him. Cheesecake tilted his head to the side. He could tell she was upset over something. "Come here, Cheesecake." He was about to step forward when he sniffed another scent. He recognized it. Cheesecake stepped back with an angry hiss as the other tall one, the one clad in red, approached.

Red sighed at the hostility. He expected no less, considering he had never gotten along with… him. He stopped a few meters away, not wanting to provoke the lizard into attacking. If what Purple and Sakr said was correct, then Cheesecake had grown a backbone during his time in the wild.

"Dad… Did they tell you?" Ilk inquired.

"I never thought I'd be begging him for help." Red sighed, rubbing his temple. "I swear, the things I do for Purple…" He noted the look on Ilk's face; she looked like she was about to cry. "Are you alright, sweetie?"

Ilk wiped her eyes. "Do you think Uncle Pur is okay...? I mean, he's alone up there with those… We saw how poor his condition was in the race, he c-can't stand his ground against seasoned Sobrekt warriors…" Red placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and pulled her close.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. True, he's lost his edge, but he still got his smarts." Hopefully. "He'll find a way out of it. But since his tracker is offline and Fury is not here to track him down, we'll need another one…" Red sighed. "And nobody knows his scent better than the overgrown lizard." Cheesecake hissed resentfully.

"Dad, maybe you could start by calling him by his name instead of 'overgrown lizard.'"

"Working on it." Red took some wary steps towards the indokuro, stopping right in front of him. "Cheesecake."

Now he was sure something was off. The tall red one never called him by his name. He always called him awful names like 'lizard,' 'beast,' or similar things. He wasn't angry either; he Instead he looked… sad and worried.

"Cheesecake….I know you and I… Well, we…" Red felt like an idiot for talking like this to an animal. He took a deep breath. "You and I have had our differences, and I admit I've never liked you, but… Purple is in trouble. We have to find him before he gets hurt, or worse. And for that, we need your help, as much as it pains me to admit it. You know his scent better than anyone, and I know you would do anything for him just like I would." Red sighed and locked eyes with the indokuro. "We might not like each other, Cheesecake, but we are both Purple's best friends."

Cheesecake tilted his head. He didn't understand all the words the tall one said, but he understood the word 'trouble.' He had heard it a few times aboard the big ship, and eventually learned that it meant bad things were happening. This said something terrible had happened to Master, and the tall red one wanted to help him; tall one had this regretful, almost pleading look on his face. It's the first time he's ever looked like this, at least in front of Cheesecake.

Red wasn't sure of what to interpret of Cheesecake's body language. Did he even understand what he was saying? He might not be as dumb anymore, but he still wasn't as sharp as Fury. He froze as Cheesecake stepped forward… and pressed a nose against his chest, purring. Red blinked.

"Okay…" He tapped Cheesecake's head awkwardly. "Good boy."

Chapter Text

"My Tallest! Don't worry, Zim is here to save you!"

"Why is he in charge again?"

"Don't look at me, Captain was the one who made the teams, and Tallest Red refused to be an inch near Zim."

With Zim at the front, search group C, composed of Larb, Grapa, Spleen, Stink, and Tenn, made their way through the woods, calling out for Tallest Purple and trying to locate him through the PAK-tracker to no avail. Meanwhile, teams A (Tallest Red, Ilk, and the Raptor squad) and (Captain, Okotto, Sakr, Blue's sisters, and Deltra) went in different directions to expand their search area.

"Think Tallest Purple is okay?"

"You kidding? Surely he will turn the lizards into wallets!"

Larb snickered, glancing at Tenn. "Be careful with your words, Tenn might kick your ass if you talk like that about her 'friends'."

"I certainly will kick yours if you don't shut up," she hissed in reply.

"My Tallest!" The Invaders glared at Zim as he continued to yell, his voice echoing into the distance.

"You idiot, you'll attract a predator or worse!" Stink snapped.

"Then again, that might not be a bad thing."

"Who knows? Maybe the thing Larb failed to terminate will come and do the job." Grapa and the others snickered when they saw Larb's face. Tenn sneered at him.

"Hey, you! I won't find Tallest Purple if you're wasting your time back there!" Zim stood to his full new height, raising his lekku in an unconscious attempt to make himself look taller. Larb, in particular, glared at him resentfully. Zim merely sneered. "That's right, Larb! Zim is now taller than you!"

"Please, it doesn't matter if you're taller! I've conquered twenty more planets ever since Vort in less than five years while you haven't conquered a tiny backwater planet in all that time!"

"You're lying! LIES!"

Larb merely chuckled at the outburst."Typical."

"Hum, guys, did you hear that?"

"Big deal! You're jealous because Zim is Irk's finest Invader!"

"Please, you can't even conquer a burrito stand!"

"For your information, I did conquer a burrito stand!"

Larb and Zim were so immersed in their argument that they didn't notice a long shadow had passed over them. The other Invaders had quickly gone to hide behind some nearby trees when they spotted it. It wasn't until the creature landed right behind Zim that Larb's bravado disappeared, and he darted off for the nearest bushes with a frightened yell. Zim, of course, didn't notice the presence behind him and interpreted Larb's reaction as submission.

"Ha! That's right! You better run, Larb, or risk facing the wrath of Zim!" Zim turned around, only to bump his face into something as he tried to go forward. "OW! Who put this in front of Zim?!" Looking up at the tree, he realized it wasn't a tree at all, but a long and tall serpentine creature, which was staring down at him with round, magenta eyes.

The other Invaders were staring at the scene apprehensively. The animal resembled the hybrid displayed on the base's monitor. This creature was the Zimkro. Currently, the beast only stared down at Zim with a tilted head and wide eyes, making chirping and purring sounds. Zim, meanwhile, stared up at it blankly, as if he were still processing the thing in front of him.

"What do you think will happen?" Tenn whispered.

"Who knows? We don't know the purpose of this animal."

"Whatever it is, let's hope it'll lose interest and go away!" Stink said.

"Hey, look at that!" Zim had tilted his head to the side, then the other and blinked, actions which the Zimkro mimicked.

"It's almost like looking in a mirror."

"Considering that thing has his bloody DNA, that's true in a sense."

"Look, it's moving!"

Zimkro lowered his head to sniff at Zim, unintentionally pushing him back, making him fall unto the ground. The action seemed to break Zim out of his daze as he got back to his feet, glaring at the creature. "How dare you push Zim, you overgrown lizard?! I will cut off your head and offer it to my Tallest-!"

He didn't get to finish the sentence as Zimkro opened his jaws and closed them on the Irken, swallowing him whole before taking off with a flap of his wings to disappear through the clouds. The remaining Invaders stared at the spot Zim had been standing on, processing what just occurred.

That thing ate Zim. Just like that. In the blink of an eye, Zim had finally being wiped out.

"Please tell me anyone recorded it."

Meanwhile...

Purple refused to talk to Akkono for the next three hours. A time he spent mentally cursing her, murmuring that she didn't understand anything. He lay down on the ground with his back turned on her, letting his PAK finish healing the injury. Since he hadn't eaten anything, the process was slowed down, and it starts getting energy from his emergency reserves. If he didn't get any food soon-

"Your Tallest, no offense, but your stomach can be heard from Igano."

"Mind your own business, lizard." Purple retorted bitterly. There was a brief, uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before she spoke again.

"Why do you want to become an Indokani?" Purple stiffened.

"None of your business."

"There are rumors that you need it to get back your beloved Massive in an indokuro fight. Is it only because of that?"

Purple sighed. It wouldn't hurt if she knew, did it? The sooner he gave her an answer, the sooner she'd leave him alone. "It mostly has to do with that, but I also need it to keep my indokuro from being put down for being' rogue.'"

"You own one already?" She sounded genuinely surprised. "More of a reason, it doesn't make sense!"

Purple took a deep breath, arming himself with patience. He explained how he obtained Cheesecake, his capture, and the verdict by the I-KCADCOM. How Bob and Skoodge lost the Massive in a bet and Sendou's offer, but especially that he needed an indokani license for the new stake to be legal. By the time he finished with the tale, Akkono looked surprised.

"So, the indokuro who tore an indokani's arm is yours?"

"It wasn't his fault! He was scared and-"

"Your Tallest, he tore someone's arm. What if it had been a child? Even better: what if it had been your co-Tallest, his wife, or your niece? Would you brush it off just like that too?" Akkono took the ensuing silence as her cue to go on. "In other words, you only want to become indokani to get your flagship back, and then you'll forget about it and brush it aside. Meanwhile, others would kill their mothers to become indokani because they want to work with indokuros."

"Hey, it's not like that! I need a license to keep Cheesecake!"

"What for? Keep him in a tiny space and only pay attention to him when you feel like it? Fatten him up with food that will be harmful to him in the long run?" Purple tried to argue back, but the words got stuck in his throat. "There's a big difference between a pet and a partner, your Tallest. Pets expect you to come and feed them; partners will share their catch with you and feed you when you're unable to do so by yourself. Pets rely solely on their owners for everything; partners can be relied on. Pets are one's property, partners belong to no one, and their loyalty has to be earned. As you can see, your Tallest, what you want is a pet."

"Look, you might not think so, but I love Cheesecake! I was there when he was born, and I watched him grow! He was there for me when Ilk left and when Red started spending more time with his girlfriend! He's the closest thing to a child I have or might ever have, and he might…! They want to kill him…! Is it so bad for me to want and keep him safe?!" Akkono's expression softened considerably. Maybe it had to do with the fact that his eyes were humid. Damn it!

"I never said that, your Tallest. What I meant to say is that having an indokuro is more than just hatching them and watching them grow; it means to become one with them. The more time you spend training together, the closer you become, and the better you work together. An indokani's worth is deemed by how he and his indokuro synchronize with each other. In your current state and judging by what I've heard of your indokuro, you two aren't even close to the necessary level of synchrony. You are friends, but no further than that.

"If you want to become an Indokani, the best thing you can do is to take it seriously. Instead of babying your indokuro as if he were a pet or trying to domineer him like a servant," Akkono motioned to Fury with her head. "Treat him as your equal, take his feelings into consideration when you make a decision, but overall you have to earn his respect."

Purple stared at her for a long time before averting his gaze and looking down, appalled. He wanted to lash out at the lizard again, but he was utterly speechless. Her words were sinking into his organic brain despite his attempts at blocking them out. Purple has never liked being criticized or told he was wrong, and he hated it even more when the people who did so were right. Still, he couldn't deny this any longer as much as he wanted to.

She is right. They were all right.

With a defeated sigh, Purple fell back to the ground, wincing in pain. "I got the point, lizard. I'm a terrible dad!"

"I never said that," Akkono replied in a softer tone. "I just said you lack discipline and commitment. If you love your indokuro, think of what's best of him."

"I've tried to, but…" Another sigh. "It's hard to accept that he's no longer the little hatchling who would cuddle up next to me in my bed. I'm afraid that our relationship will never be the same if he becomes a 'true indokuro.' He snapped his teeth at me, and he had never done so before he was put with Fury's pack!"

"You should never touch an indokuro when he's feeding."

"Hey, how did you-? Nevermind, you probably have a whole encyclopedia in your organic brain." Akkono chuckled. It was the first time he had ever seen her laugh. "Oh, so you do have a sense of humor!"

"Of course I do, your Tallest. I know when I can use it and when it's better to hold it back." Now it was Purple's turn to chuckle.

"Okay, then. Since I told you why I want to become an indokani, how about you tell me why you want to become one." Akkono's expression became serious again. "Unless you don't want to talk about it."

"That's all right... I come from a long line of indokani. My parents, my siblings, all my ancestors come from a long line of indokani. Naturally, it was my turn to become one. Since the moment I hatched, I was surrounded by Indokuros and taught how to look after them, how they thought, and how to earn their respect. All my life, I was prepared for this, so failure isn't an option." Wow. This made him glad Irkens don't have families.

"That explains why you are so damn good at dealing with another person's indokuro. Would you mind giving me a tip… and that leg?" Purple half-expected her to make fun of him, but instead, she tore a leg off her carcass, held it over the fire until it was cooked, and then tossed it at him; good thing his PAK-legs were still working.

"Nice throw, lizard!"

"I was aiming it at your face."

-IZ-

Half another day passed before the wound on Tallest Purple's side finally healed. It left a mark on his waist, but other than that, there was no permanent damage. Fury partly recovered, but he didn't look like he could run or stand his ground against another predator should they encounter one. Akkono hoped this wasn't the case, Fury was an excellent specimen, and it would be a pity if got eaten. She knew of Blue Cobalk, his master, and admired him; she strove to be like him someday.

Admittedly, the Tallest was not as bad as he had seemed. Her first impression of him wasn't entirely wrong. He was spoiled and childish. Clearly, he was used to getting away with everything. But beneath that facade, he had his own insecurities and fears. He genuinely loved his indokuro, and he wasn't in this only for the Massive, he wanted to save his indokuro from certain death. She had her insecurities herself, mostly about not keeping up with her family's expectations.

Sadly, soon, they had to leave their cave and get back on track. If Akkono's calculations were correct, it was highly likely that no one had yet gotten to the finish line. Since the other aspirants and their indokuros didn't have the level of communication she had with her partner, they were probably having trouble getting them to even move.

"Are we there yet?" Akkono sighed. Tallest Purple claimed he wasn't following her, that she was walking in front of him, but she decided to let him tag along.

"If nothing happens, we'll get there in two hours or so."

"Define 'nothing happens.'"

"You know. Predator attack, a sudden blizzard, the usual."

"Tell me something: is the purpose of this last part to get rid of the weaker ones via being fed to a monster?"

"Not exactly, but it can happen to careless people."

"Wow, that makes me feel better!" Akkono rolled her eyes. There he was again.

Suddenly, her partner stopped and sniffed the air. She grew alarmed when he snarled. Fury made a similar gesture as he looked around warily. Akkono ignored Purple's question about what was wrong, instead motioning him to be quiet as she too sniffed the air and listened to her surroundings. She caught a foreign yet familiar scent. She sensed her kin, but they smelled of blood, and from the echoes of hurried footsteps in the forest, she realized they were coming in their direction.

"They're coming."

Purple went pale. "Damn it, not those guys again!"

"Run, your Tallest," Akkono activated her laser sword. "I'll keep them busy."

"What? Against all of them? You will not stand a chance!"

"Relax, your Tallest. I was the top of my class in close-ranged combat, plus Katakan can fend them off. But Fury is in no condition to fight, and neither are you. Keep running north, and you should reach the finish line."

Part of Purple didn't want to leave her. Even with the indokuro, she was at a disadvantage against six. Still, Fury started nudging him away towards the woods, leaving him no choice but to move. He tried using his PAK-legs to avoid leaving a trail they could follow. Unfortunately, Fury was leaving his footprints in the snow. A few minutes after sprinting, he heard distant sounds of laser blades and echoes of roars and shrieks. Purple came to a halt and looked back. Fury called out for him.

"They're coming after me…" Purple murmured, clenching his fists. He wasn't going to run away this time, not anymore. He was an Irken soldier. "It's my fight, Fury. Akkono is right; perhaps it's time I become worthy of being an Almighty Tallest." He looked back at Fury. "She said the finish line is up ahead a few miles away. Go get some help."

Fury whined.

"You are in no condition to help me, Fury. It's my responsibility to keep you alive, so stop whining and go already!" He snapped at the indokuro with a seriousness he didn't know he still had. Fury stared back at him for a few more seconds before nodding and darting off in the opposite direction.

Okay, now to figure out how to deal with the lizards. Purple looked down at the deactivated twin swords. Good thing he had taken the swordsmanship extracurricular in the Academy...*

"What do we do now? This wasn't part of the plan!"

"Big deal. Everyone will think that Akkono Makroto died of hypothermia if the scavengers don't take care of the body first."

"What about the Indokuro?"

"Don't worry; the venom will only knock it out for a few hours, nothing more, nothing less. Now shut up and keep moving, the Irken couldn't have gone far!"

The remaining six made their way through the woods, following the footprints the Irken had foolishly left. It looks like he was the dumbest of the two Tallest if he didn't take them into account. They had to reach him before he got to the finish line, but it couldn't be that hard. He and his indokuro were still injured.

"Too bad she wouldn't join our cause. She was certainly hot," one of the kryvtors murmured, wiping wiped the purplish blood on a nearby tree.

"She's from the Makroto Clan. Those guys take honor very seriously." One of the Sobrekt retorted, snorting as a snowflake fell on his snout. "Damn it; it just had to snow now. Anyway, we are nearly there."

Soon after, snowflakes were falling from the cloudy sky, turning all of the surrounding woods into a white, shapeless landscape. It's a thing on Sobr's moon: during winter, sometimes the atmosphere becomes so foggy that you can barely see your own feet. It doesn't usually last more than a few minutes, but it makes it harder to know where you're going. Soon, the group of assassins found themselves lost amongst a sea of white, even tripping with an unseen log a few times. One of the kryvtors, the one at the back, whipped his head around as he heard a branch snap from behind… then at the left- No, the right.

"Guys, I think I heard-!"

He could never finish the sentence as a thin, sharp piece of metal emerged from the snow and pierced through his abdomen. The blow sent him flying against the ground, staining his surroundings with purple blood. One of the Sobrekt recovered from the shock first and smashed the spot the spear had come from, but his mace crunched against an empty place.

"Is he…?" One of the Kryvtors approached their fallen comrade and checked his pulse; there was none.

"He's gone." He growled, letting the body's arm fall limply to the ground. "Damn it!" He grabbed the weapon used to impale his comrade and examined it. "Wait, this isn't a spear, it's an Irken PAK limb!"

"Come out, you coward!" Another kryvtor threw one of his sai towards a blur of black. The sai impaled its target, a bird, and stuck it to a surface, probably a tree. Whatever it was, the Irken came out of hiding and fired his second PAK-limb at him. The kryvtor dodged it at the last moment, but one the Sobrekt wasn't as fast and was impaled right at heart, knocking him back as his blood pooled into the snow beneath his body.

Purple didn't hide this time. Instead, he ran in the opposite direction, dodging rocks and trees. Good thing his ocular implants could see through this thick fog, this gave him an advantage over his pursuers.

Only four more to go.

The kryvtors finally caught up to him as they reached a clearing. Purple had to bring out his battle mode PAK-limbs; these were thicker than the normal ones and were covered in blades, so it would be hard to slice them off, even with laser weapons. He somehow managed to block blows with both his PAK-limbs and the swords, but the chain-like weapon was giving him trouble. He didn't realize they had been cornering him against a tree until he felt the bark touching his back. The good thing about his thin waist was that it's hard to aim at it. He dodged the scythe and the spear and took advantage of the opening on his right to push himself up and deliver a painful knee-kick in the Sobrekt's jaw to knock him backward.

"DIE!"

Purple arched his body backward at the last moment, barely dodging a butterfly sword. He responded with a slice of one of his blades, tearing through the kryvtor's wrist and forcing him to drop his weapon.

"You know, if you're going to kill someone from behind, be sure to keep your mouth shut!"

"You'll pay for that, Irken!"

"I'm waiting, lizard!" The taunting worked; the kryvtor leaped forward with an angry shriek and outstretched claws. Purple slid under him and tore his abdomen open with his blades. His attacker fell lifelessly to the ground. Purple didn't dare turn around and see what would come out of the lizard's guts. He was afraid he'd throw up if he did.*

Three left.

"Surprised?" He sneered at the remaining attackers, imagining their shocked expressions under the masks. "You weren't expecting me to know how to handle a sword, did you?"

The Sobrekt was the first to speak. "I admit you are a remarkable warrior." He raised his kanabo. "But, I'll be dead before letting you become an Indokani!"

"Why? Because I'm an Irken or because you're sore that I beat you?"

"The only reason you did was that you were lucky, Irken! You do not deserve the title-!

"Yeah, yeah, 'there are others who are worthier than me,' bla, bla, bla. Can you spare me the speech? I already got one from Akkono." Purple regretted that choice of words when the lizards charged at him, all three at once. He spread out his PAK-limbs again, waiting for the right moment.

CRASH!

The Irken landed safely a few feet away, watching his opponents scrambled on top of one another, knocked out. A chuckle escaped him; one thing he learned in Hoth was that when Sobrekt got mad, they let anger blind them into making mistakes such as this, something that can be taken advantage of.*

His lekku twitched. Something was coming. And judging by how the ground was trembling, it was huge. He certainly didn't want to be here when that thing arrived. Purple made his way away from the clearing and back the way he came just as a large, white-scaled predator stepped out of the trees. Purple briefly glanced back to see if it was coming after him, but its attention was centered on the three fallen lizards as it crept towards them. He certainly didn't want to witness that.

As he ran through the woods, his mind drifted to Akkono. Was she alright? Was she even alive? The lizards looked like they wouldn't leave loose ends, what if they had killed her to protect their cover? He usually wouldn't care about what happened to an inferior alien species, but Akkono had shared her food with him. To many, it wouldn't be seen as much, but to Irkens, sharing snacks is a sign of trust and camaraderie. So against his better judgment, he returned to the spot he had last seen her at.

Just like he feared. Akkono was on the ground, completely immobile, the snow all around her purple with her blood. Panicking, he read her vitals with a scanner integrated into his PAK and ocular implants. She had a feeble pulse. Phew. Some feet away from her was her indokuro. Its pulse and breathing were far more normal; it was merely knocked out. Damn it. He couldn't afford to wait until it woke up. Akkono could die at any second now.

Wait. The bengal light! Hopefully, he didn't lose it at the river… No, here it is, inside his PAK. Purple hesitated for a few moments. If he pulled the trigger, he'd be disqualified. Then again, he could always fire it and hide until the rescuers found Akkono. Yeah, that might work. Taking a deep breath, he pointed the small pistol skyward and pulled the trigger. A bright yellow light flew up and exploded.

Okay, while they got here, he might as well try to keep Akkono alive. Purple dragged her towards one of the trees and accommodated her so that her back was against the trunk. He cut through her clothing and exposed her wounded chest; Red once said Captain hadn't minded being naked in front of him in Hoth, so he guessed Akkono wouldn't mind either. There was a large, bleeding wound across her chest; the blood had started clotting to avoid any further blood loss, but it needed a good cleaning and bandaging. Good day to forget the emergency healing gel at the base. He looked for the first-aid kit in Akkono's backpack; damn, the stuff in here was primitive, but it would have to do. He disinfected and cleaned out the gash with distilled alcohol, applied some of the reggel ointment to speed up the healing, and wrapped a bandage around Akkono's chest. Alright, this should be enough for the time being.

Purple had been so focused on treating the kryvtor that he didn't hear the rustling leaves and creaking branches. He didn't even feel the ground trembling until the animal making those sounds emerged from the treeline. He quickly got on his feet and looked up at it; it resembled Zim's 'Trex' pet, but it was way more prominent, with spines running down its back, bigger arms, and white scales. The creature locked its chops; Purple noticed violet blood dripping from its teeth. It must be the same one from before, and it probably just ate his attackers while they were down.

Damn it. It must have smelled Akkono's blood and had come looking for another easy meal. His suspicions were confirmed when it spotted him and moved forward towards them. Purple pointed his PAK-cannons at it but didn't fire them just yet. This creature looks very familiar. Purple made a quick consultation on his memory banks to see if he had seen this creature before. He found the answer in old information from the Academy's xenobiology classes, directly taken from the Inquisitorians' archives.

Indoshiro.*

Diet: Carnivore

Height: 6 meters

Length: 15.5 meters

Range: Dylinae System, particularly special wildlife reserves in Sobr's moon.

This pale, indomitable predator native from Sobr is believed to be the only pure non-hybrid animal left in the planet's native fauna and its record. Because of this, its hunt is strictly forbidden, and a sanctuary has been created in Sobr's natural satellite for this animal's conservation. Poachers would have a hard time against them, anyway. Indoshiro has thick hides that are immune to plasma, lasers, and most weapons.

The indoshiro has one of the most giant brains in a predatory creature throughout the universe. Cunning and resourceful, it's smart enough to deceive its prey and even understands the concept of traps. We have documented cases of Indoshiro working together, luring herds of prey towards a location where more of its kind lie in wait to make the kills. The Sobrekt themselves have sometimes fallen victim to their traps.

Great, then his weapons won't be of use. Its hide was far too thick for plasma to burn through it; it would make it angry. The best thing he could do was try to keep it away, but what could he do against this monster? Maybe a smoke machine would distract it long enough? No, he used the last one with the lizards.

Wait a minute. The Indoshiro is a large predator, and he and Akkono are certainly small prey. In these cases, certain animal species of minor size develop anti-predator adaptations toward potential threats. These are mostly composed of patterns of threatening or unexpected behavior to scare off or momentarily distract a predator, thus allowing the prey animal to escape. Or in this case, distract it until help arrived. Purple gulped. He was so glad nobody would see him.*

Purple fully spread out his PAK-limbs and raised his lekku in an attempt to make himself look bigger, emitting a series of shrieks, hisses, and growls. This was the Irkens' threat display; in the past, they used it amongst each other as a dominance display or to long-forgotten predators to ward them away from their nests. It hasn't been performed in centuries, and yet here he was, the Almighty Tallest using it as a desperate measure.

The Indoshiro stopped in its tracks and stared at Purple in confusion. It wasn't used to prey showing this behavior. It's used to its prey either fleeing or directly trying to ram horns into it, but not this… strange display. Not many know this, but a large brain not only grants intelligence to be an efficient predator. It also grants its owner other aspects such as curiosity and inquisitiveness. To Purple's dismay, the animal seemed to want to investigate him. It tried sniffing and then grabbing one of his PAK-limbs with its jaws. He retracted it with an angry hiss, containing the urge to poke at him.

The Indoshiro lowered its head and turned its head to the side so it could take a better look. Its pupils had a rounder shape than a while ago. Purple saw himself reflected in the ocular orb; his PAK was working at its fullest, trying to keep him from fainting. Please lose interest, please lose interest!

The indoshiro seemed to decide he wasn't worth eating (that or he was quenched from eating his attackers). It snorted in Purple's face and turned around to disappear the way he came. Purple just stood there, tense and breathing heavily for a few seconds until the adrenaline passed, and he finally collapsed.*

Chapter Text

When Purple regained consciousness, he realized he wasn't cold anymore. He felt warm instead, and it felt like he was on top of a bed. Where was he? As his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized he was in a medical ward. Purple sighed. They must have found them while both were out. Guess it's over. He had failed. They could kiss the Massive and Cheesecake goodbye-

Grrraaa!

Purple wasn't prepared for a large, humid tongue assaulting his face, but he was undoubtedly thrilled as he recognized it. "Cheesecake!" He cried, pulling the indokuro's head closer in a hug. "Oh, boy! I'm happy to see you!" Cheesecake was making happy growls and crooned, wagging his tail like a puppy as he rubbed his head against his body.

"Guys, I think he finally awoke!" he recognized Blue's voice. Purple twitched his lekku as he heard Red's voice from the outside.

"Out of my way! Superior being coming through!" The door opened moments later, and Red rushed inside. "Pur!" Before Purple knew it, Red had pulled him into a tight embrace.

"R-Red… Can't breathe…!"

"Are you okay?!" Red started checking up on every part of his body, ignoring him completely. "Did those bastards hurt you?! Where are they?! I'm going to make them wish they had stayed in their stinking holes!"

"Irken, you know we can hear you, don't you?" Captain entered the infirmary, followed suit by Ilk and Blue. The former rushed forward and joined in Red's embrace, asking Purple if he was alright.

"Captain, I don't respond as I should because right now, I have no time to deal with your unwanted comments."

Purple coughed impatiently. "Would you mind explaining what happened? How did you guys find me?"

"You must thank Cheesecake and Fury for that," Blue explained. "They encountered each other out in the wilderness, and Fury led him back to where you were. They dragged you, Akkono, and her indokuro to the finish line, which happened to be the spot we had regrouped at." Purple sat up at the mention of the kryvtor.

"Akkono, is she okay?" he asked. "Please tell me she's not buried two meters in the ground!"

"Chill out, your Tallest. She's fine, she needs a long nap," Blue motioned to the bed on the opposite side. Purple sighed in relief as he saw Akkono on top of it with a few cables connected to her chest. "She hasn't woken yet, so we were kinda hoping you'd tell us what happened."

"Why do you even care about the kryvtor, Purple? The last thing I knew was that you hated her guts," Red gave his friend a quizzical look.

"Long story."

"Well, since you're going to stay here until you're one hundred percent okay, you'll have plenty of time to tell us what the hell happened out there." Before Purple could reply, the doors parted open again, and Dr. Scylla herself strode in.

"That won't be necessary, your Tallest," she said. "With all due respect, you're likely to omit details or outright lie to avoid talking about certain things."

"What are you doing here, doctor?" Captain inquired curiously.

"As the creator of indokuros and the indokani program, naturally, I must be present in the final phase of the examinations."

"What did you mean that it 'won't be necessary?'"

Scylla started typing something into her tablet. "During these types of tests, participants scatter individually throughout a considerable expense area, so it's hard to keep track of them to make sure they don't cheat." The device projected a holographic screen with the HybGen logo on the wall. "The easiest way to solve this is to use remote cameras hidden in plain sight."

"W-Wait a minute!" Purple and Red glared at Scylla as the former hissed. "You mean you saw what was happening?! You could have stepped in right then and done something about those assassins?!"

"Indeed." Red didn't know what infuriated him more: the fact that she could have saved them all this trouble or that she was so casual about it. Before he could say something, she glanced at him; her pupils turned to slits. "Save it, your Tallest. You have no right to complain, considering you sent an Invader to HybGen to steal information and ended up releasing a hybrid in an experimental stage."

"He did what?"

Red froze. Damn lizard! He slowly turned around. Ilk, Blue, and Captain were glaring at him. Uh-oh. Purple merely averted his gaze, trying to hide his nervous expression. Red laughed nervously. "I can explain it."

"We can talk about that later, Irken." Captain said. He sounded calm, but Red could tell he wanted to tear off his head on the spot. "So, doc, you say you recorded everything that happened?"

"Indeed. It will save your Tallest precious saliva and save me precious time."

The recording started right when Purple and Fury were dropped off. From there, it followed Purple when he separated from the indokuro as he went for a walk, the attack and the persecution through the temple, and Purple taking down the first assassin. Scylla confirmed the first victim had been a failed candidate. Then the recording showed Akkono and Purple in the cave (thankfully for Purple, the video had no audio), splitting up when the assassins caught up and then Purple sending Fury away.

Everyone went silent as they saw Purple wielding twin swords and dispatching each of the remaining assassins one by one, all on his own. Red, in particular, was staring agape at the scene in disbelief, his jaw hanging open. Unfortunately for Purple, the last part depicted him trying to ward off the indoshiro with the threat display. My life is ruined. He hid beneath his blankets, his cheeks a deep shade of pink, just as the recording ended. He heard Captain and Blue snickering, and even Ilk sounded like she was trying to contain giggles.

"I must say, your Tallest, I'm impressed." he heard Dr. Scylla say. "Not everyone encounters an indoshiro and lives to tell the tale."

"What are you doing here, lizard?!" Purple snapped unintentionally. "Did you come to make fun of me before telling me I failed?"

"I wouldn't say you failed, your Tallest."

Purple instantly threw his covers off. "What?" He and Red spoke simultaneously. Both Irkens exchanged a quizzical look before the former inquired. "What do you mean?!"

"Well, the objective was to arrive at the finish line with your indokuro," Scylla fast-forwarded the video to the ending. Fury and Cheesecake were dragging Purple, Akkono, and the latter's partner into the camp, where three other candidates were already lounging around. "Well, technically, you did. Not only that, but you showed prowess in combat by standing your ground against seven fully-fledged assassins and Sobr's apex predator. You didn't do perfectly well in the previous stages, but you made it all the way here and made up for your errors. Not only that, but the rogue indokuro you claim is yours did show great loyalty for you."

"What are you saying, doc?"

Scylla offered Purple the tiniest of smiles.

"Tallest Purple, I am pleased to inform you that from this day forward, you are part of the indokani corps."

When Lena woke up, she found herself alone in her room, tucked in under blankets. "Red?" There was no reply.

"Tallest Red has gone to Sobr's moon to look for Tallest Purple, mistress." Oh, right! Purple is in trouble! She nearly dashed out of bed when the computer lowered robotic arms from the ceiling and gently pushed her back down.

"Computer, what's the meaning of this?" Lena asked.

"Tallest Red ordered that you stay in bed, ma'am." Another pair of robotic arms offered her a glass of water, chips, and Irken snacks. "He also ordered that you eat something from this variety."

"What? Why?"

"He's found out about your state and wishes that you are as comfortable as possible."

Lena paled. "Wha-? He knows? How?"

"Tallest Red brought you here unconscious, so I assume you must have fainted. He wanted a full scan on you to see what was wrong, but then Irken Zim revealed your pregnancy." Damn it, Zim! Lena groaned and fell back onto the bed.

"How… how did he take it?"

"He seemed surprised but other than that it's hard to tell, as he was concerned about Tallest Purple's situation. Tallest Red ordered me to keep you comfortable. Then he had me download information on pregnancies onto his PAK, which led to his instructions on which types of snacks to feed you- Oh, he's back."

Almost on cue, the door swung open, and Red came in. Without warning, he picked Lena by the waist and twirled around, laughing. "Purple's alive, Lena! And he's passed! He passed!"

"Red, I'm getting dizzy!" Lena covered her mouth with a hand as her squeedly-spooch churned from both the twirling and the pregnancy. Red sheepishly placed her back down.

"Sorry, but I'm so happy! Purple kicked those lizards' scaly asses; you should have seen the video-! Oh, well, I can show you later, but what matters is that he passed!"

"That's nice, Red…" Lena didn't sound as excited as she would have liked. "That means he can keep Cheesecake, and he won't be put down any more."

"Yeah, he just needs to fill out some paperwork, but he can handle it…" he noticed the look on Lena's face. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but… Well, the computer said you already know of my… state."

Red blinked. Man, he had been so happy about Purple winning that he forgot about Lena's pregnancy. He wasn't going to let her notice, of course, or she'd think he didn't give it much importance. "So you're... carrying a fertilized embryo in your belly… thing?"

"Pregnant."

"Yeah, pregnant?" Lena nodded, closing her eyes shut. Red shifted in place awkwardly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I… I didn't know how you'd react; you were very stressed already with the Massive issue and the Indokani exams. I didn't want you to get worried."

"Then the smeet party was for you?"

"Yeah…"

Red sat down on the edge of the bed, silent. Now that Purple was safe and sound, he could properly process what he had learned a few hours ago. Lena was pregnant. She… they were going to have a smeet. Red felt conflicted. He wanted to be happy. He mostly was, but the more cautious part of him was uncertain about it. He had no idea of how the pregnancy was; all he knew for sure was that it was hazardous for Irkenettes to have a natural pregnancy. A few crew members had lost their mates this way and had to resign to have more time to look after their smeets.

However, he'd be lying if he said he didn't look forward to having another smeet. Ilk was all grown up, and was about to start a new life with… the lizard. He wasn't sure if he'd see her that often, and even if he did, there was another man in her life now. He missed the laughter through the Massive and the echoing of little feet around the halls. As unbelievable as it sounds, he even lost the diaper changing. He didn't realize Lena had been speaking to him until he felt a gentle hand shaking his shoulder.

"Red?" Lena didn't know what to think. Red had a vacant, almost unreadable expression on his face. Was he upset? She tentatively grabbed his shoulder and shook it, hoping to get any reaction. When she did, he pulled her onto his lap and gave his wife a long, passionate lekku-kiss, pressing his forehead against hers.

"I'm going to be a dad! Again!"

Lena felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Smiling, she wrapped her arms around her husband's neck. "Yes. Can you imagine it? We're going to be…"

"Ilk and Purple are going to be so happy!"

"Um… Red, about that…" Lena blushed sheepishly. "They kind of know already." This caused him to pull back.

"What? They knew?" Red blinked. "Who else knew?"

Lena laughed nervously. "Zim's girlfriend told him, and he spread it out to everyone else."

"You mean to tell me that everyone knew about this except me?" Lena nodded slowly. She knew he hated to be the last in finding out about something. Contrary to what she expected, Red didn't show any signs of being mad. Instead, he merely shrugged.

"Oh, well."

Irkens might be jerks, but they surely know how to throw parties… their definitions of parties, that is, which mostly involves eating, eating, and more eating. Sadly, given their current status, they didn't have enough snacks for a big party, so instead, they threw a small one in the base. It was temporality made bigger to make space, much to the chagrin of the Sobrekt neighbors, but frankly, Red didn't care about that. The menu included doughnuts, slushies, popcorn, amongst other things Irkens loved eating, but which Sobrekt were unable to eat due to sugar.

With the healing gel and proper medical treatment, Purple finished recovering and was well enough to move around. He joined Blue and the Raptor Squad, mostly to learn what he was supposed to do now that he passed the exams. Blue explained he just had to present himself to IK-CADCOM and fill out some forms, after which usually the new indokani picks an egg to be fertilized. In Purple's case, though, he'd register Cheesecake as his own.

"So, do I get an ID card or something?" He inquired curiously.

Blue briefly moved the left side of his tunic away, exposing a black tattoo shaped like an indokuro. "You get one like this."

Purple went pale. "I'm not letting a lizard violate the sanctity of my body!"

"Chill out. It doesn't hurt."

"No offense, but you think losing a damn limb doesn't hurt!"

"Crybaby." Foxtrot murmured as he took a sip from his drink.

"Hum, Blue..." Purple rubbed the back of his head. "Not that I care, but... did miss Akkono pass? I repeat, I don't care, it's just curiosity!"

Blue raised a scaly eyebrow. Thankfully, he made no further questions. "I'm not sure, I didn't see here there. Either she's still recovering, or..."

"Nervous, your Tallest?" Masouri piped in, changing the topic. "I mean, the big fight is in two days."

"I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about Cheesecake," Purple responded. Sighing, he leaned against the wall. "Honestly, do you think there's even a slim chance to win this?"

"Nope, you're boned."*

"Foxtrot!"

The violet kryvtor merely shrugged. "He wanted honesty, didn't he?"

Purple looked around the living room. He spotted Captain and Okotto being cozy on the couch, Ilk chatting with Lena and Deltra, and the Gaz-hyooman playing on her portable video game console. The Invaders were scattered around celebrating Zim's blessed demise (how ironic, being eaten by the beast that was supposed to be a present for him). Red was nowhere to be found, however.

"Hey, where's Red?"

"I think he's outside."

As Blue said, Purple found his co-Tallest outside, staring at the Massive. The lizards hadn't yet painted half of the ship; guess it was so big it's challenging to repaint it even for them. The two of them stood there, in silence, for what seemed an eternity, hearing the distant bustling of Igano. He had to admit this part of the neighborhood wasn't that bad. On Irk, there weren't 'suburbs' of any sorts, ninety-five percent of the planet was composed of cities, terraforming all the formerly 'green' areas into buildings and factories. This made it hard to find a beautiful spot to relax. Sobr, on the other hand, kept the right amount of wildlife protected areas. Purple found it… pleasant to go into the forest, away from the cold robotic surfaces and into a living environment. It would be better if the place weren't reeking with Sobrekt germs all over, though.

"Red..."

"Purple, I…" Both stopped sheepishly. "Sorry, you go first."

"No, no, that's okay. You can go first."

Red took a deep breath. "Well, first of all," he patted his co-Tallest's shoulder, smiling a bit. "Congratulations on passing."

"Thanks."

"I mean, I still can't believe you held your own against seven… And then that creature. Instead of panicking, you stood your ground and drove it away," Red sighed sadly, lowering his gaze to the floor. "It seems like I underestimated you…" Another deep breath. "I… I'm sorry, Pur. For everything. For making you feel left out ever since Lena and I came together, for always complaining about Cheesecake and not appreciating what he means to you, for not believing in you…" He took the ensuing silence as a sign to continue. "Pur, I swear with every fiber in my body, I never wanted to hurt you or make you feel like I didn't want you around anymore. It's just that sometimes I would like to spend some time alone with my wife. There are certain things I do with her that we can't do if you're around. As for the issue with Cheesecake…"

"Red…" It was Purple's turn to sigh. "You weren't completely wrong about that. You were right," he looked over at Cheesecake, "I pampered Cheese and spoiled him rotten without considering how that might affect others, particularly you and Lena. I should have disciplined him, but… I couldn't bring myself to. I thought that if I did, he'd become afraid of me, and I didn't want that to happen. I didn't realize the damage I was doing to him until it was too late."

"Even so, I should have been more understanding. Instead of just complaining, I could have helped you, but I didn't."

"I doubt I'd listen if you had tried. I was so bent on refusing to see any faults on my Cheesecake I didn't take it kindly to anyone saying he was anything but perfect. It's just like you've never liked anyone criticizing Ilk."

"You've never criticized Ilk. Even if she did something stupid, you never called me out on it. You supported me, another reason I should have supported you in return. I just… I didn't realize Cheesecake means to you the same as what Ilk means to me…"

"Sincerely, I never thought I'd see the day you two would work together."

Red chuckled. "I might not like Cheesecake, and he certainly doesn't like me," he moved his head sideways to glance at his co-Tallest, smiling a bit as he placed a hand on Purple's shoulder. "But, we both care for you."

Purple twitched his lekku. "I heard you went into the Shuryo's bedchambers when you learned those lizards were after me. You could have lost the Massive, but you didn't care." Red sighed.

"Pur, I know I've said you couldn't compare Cheesecake to the Massive, but… The truth is the Massive can't be compared to you." Red looked at his co-Tallest again. "You are more than my best friend, Purple. You are my… like my brother, but unrelated by blood." He frowned when he noticed Purple was trying to suppress a laugh. "Hey, I'm… opening up emotionally! Stop laughing!"

"S-Sorry, but… Your lack of vocabulary makes it funny- Haha! Ow!" Purple rubbed the side of his face. Before he could protest, though, Red had already pulled him close into a tight hug.

"Dork."

Purple found himself smiling too as he returned the embrace. "Please, if it weren't for me, you'd still be stuck inside your room."

Both turned when Cheesecake shrieked and came running towards them. Red hid behind Purple just in case the indokuro was going to pounce at him, but instead, he just stopped in front of them and growled. Red relaxed a bit, but he still hid behind his co-Tallest.

"Hey, Cheese…" Purple patted the indokuro's head gently, smiling a bit as he pulled his head close. "Looks like I passed my test… Now it's… It's time for you to pass yours."

I thought you loved me.

Purple felt a shiver down his spine as memories of the nightmare flashed through his organic brain. The image of Cheesecake on the ground, bleeding himself to death after being torn apart, haunted the Irken leader. What if the nightmare became a reality? Cheesecake might not be in such a bad shape anymore, but he was still far from holding a candle to Maugrim, who had years of combat experience and as in better physical condition.

Cheesecake tilted his head as he noted Master was upset. Why was he sad? He didn't want him to be sad, so he pressed his nose against master's chest and purred. That always made him laugh.

"Pur…" Red took a deep breath. "Whatever happens at the fight… I want you to know that you can count on me regardless of the outcome."

"I know, but… What if he-? What if Maugrim-?"

"Pur, remember when Blue said that Indokuros tend to get traits from their owners?*" Purple blinked.

"Sort of. Why?"

Red smiled. "No one believed in you, and yet you succeeded. Who knows? Perhaps Cheesecake here will surprise us."

"I hope so, Red." Purple sighed sadly, stroking Cheesecake's head one more time before letting him go back to his nest. "I hope so."

Chapter Text

The colosseum boiled with life. Neon lights danced through the area and bathed the spectators in green, blue, and blue-green. Unlike that time, when they met Sendou, all the seats were full with a cheering audience. They were mostly Igano's inhabitants, though a few rows housed outsiders both from faraway cities and towns throughout the planet. There were even alien species who managed to get tickets at the last moment, even if they ended up sitting at the far back.

This wasn't the case with Zim's guests, of course, who were put in the front rows and offered a wide range of snacks for the Irken spectators, most of which were mostly for the Tallest. Currently, though, the two Irkens were not in the seats: they were down in the cages where the Indokuros were placed until their turn to fight. The indokani were not allowed in the arena with them, as the fights got too nasty, and they might end up becoming collateral damage. Cheesecake timidly followed after them, jumping whenever any of the other indokuros banged against the bars of their cages or reached out to grab him.

The Sobrekt in charge of putting each animal into their respective corner when the time came greeted them with a snort, twitching the tip of his tail. "You must be the Irken whose pet is up against Maugrim. I can take it from here, but you might want to share a few words with your indokuro before you go. It might not live to see the light of day."

Purple felt his squeedly-spooch squirming. Red placed a hand on his shoulder. "I can give you time alone if you wish."

"N-No, it's okay…" Purple gently cupped his two fingers on Cheesecake's lower jaw, bringing him closer. "This is it, boy." He rubbed the indokuro's head reassuringly. "We're all counting on you. But know this: no matter what happens, you'll always be the best indokuro ever for me. You're not going to lose, I know it, but just in case..." His eyes swelled up with tears, but he blinked them away. His Cheesecake was going to make it.

"Hurry it up, your Tallest, I don't have all night!"

"Go feed the indokuros or something!" Red snapped at the crocodile.

"I have to go, Cheese…" Purple shared one last hug with the indokuro. "See you later." It took him a great deal of effort to let go and turn around. Cheesecake only called out to him once this time before being led away.

"Irken." That voice! Purple whipped his head around and found Sendou on the doorway leading back to the seats.

"What do you want, lizard?" Red's hissed, clenching his fists.

"May the best Indokuro win." That was all Sendou said before disappearing down the hall.

The Irken leaders made their way back to their seats in the front row. Ilk, Blue, Lena, a few Invaders, and Sakr were the only ones present, as there weren't enough seats for everyone. Instead, the others had opted to watch the fight on the TV in their homes. Red and Purple took the chairs meant for Zim and Gaz; they told the guys in the entrance that Hitorken Zim was… indisposed, but had insisted that his almighty leaders take his seating accommodations. Thankfully, he bought it.

"It's going to be okay, Uncle Pur," Ilk reassured." Right, Blue?"

The kryvtor took a while to respond. "Y-Yeah. Cheesecake might be inexperienced, but he's got movements that are un-indokuro-like."

"I thought you said that's a bad thing," Red retorted.

"Not necessarily. Maugrim won't be expecting that kind of moves precisely because they're unindokuro-like. Cheesecake could catch him off guard if he can use them to his advantage." Sakr said.

"How long does each fight last?" Purple asked plainly; his gaze entirely focused on the arena.

"It depends. A match ends when one of the indokuros emerges victorious. To win, they must either disable or kill their opponent or have a higher blood score-"

"Blood score? What is that?"

"How much bleeding wounds they inflict."

Red groaned. "Great, just great."

The spectacle of lights went out, and the floating screen from before with the same announcer came down. "Welcome to this year's Traditional Indokuro Fighting Tournament! What a better way to conclude Indokuro Week than watching the progress of Indokani and their partners?!" She was met with cheers and roars from the crowd. "You know the saying: only the strongest will survive, so I hope you prepared your indokuros for this and said whatever you had to them before dropping them off. Who knows? Perhaps those were the last words you said to them."

"You all know the drills, but for outsider visitors who had the stomach to come here and witness this bloodshed, I'll give you a brief explanation." Purple wondered if she was referring to the non-Sobrekt audience in general or if she was specifically referring to him and the other Irkens. "Each round involves two indokuros fighting each other, most often to death. If you're lucky enough that it doesn't come to that, the loser is either whoever has the most wounds or whoever becomes incapacitated first. Then there's those who chicken out of the fight," The Sobrekt audience laughed. "Yeah, those are are automatically disqualified."

"Fuck." Red smacked his forehead.

"Hey, you can't be certain he will run away," Lena stated.

"You can't know that."

"Well, without any further ado, let's begin!" Two spotlights illuminated two iron slide doors on the opposite sides of the arena. "On the green corner, belonging to veteran Indokani Okana…!"

Purple didn't pay attention to whatever she announcer said. For the past few hours, his full focus was on the indokuros every time they were brought unto the arena. They were bigger than Cheesecake, sometimes even more than Fury. A few had the same feather crest as Maugrim. He watched as the animals tore each other apart. From this short distance, Purple even swore he could hear the claws and teeth ripping the flesh apart, tainting the arena in shades of violet.

The fight duration varied from a few minutes to an hour, just like the severity of the wounds. Red threw up when one of the indokuro's entrails were strewn out of its body. Purple closed his eyes shut as he heard the agonizing wails coming out of the creature's maw. The image of Cheesecake's mangled body flashed back again.

Please be safe, Cheesecake.

After what seemed like an eternity (and the latest carnage was cleaned up), his squeedly-spooch sunk as the kryvtor on the screen announced the 'main event.' "I suppose all of you have heard of a little issue regarding the Irken flagship stationed in our orbit." Red murmured something about her having to cry it out loud'. "Well, tonight, the next fighters will settle that score! In the green corner," the limelight illuminated one of the gates. "We have the infamous indokuro who tore a hand from an indokani! From the Irken Empire, belonging to Indokani Purple, the challenger: Cheeeesecake! Wow, what a dumb name!" As the doors opened, his Cheesecake timidly stepped out, looking around warily. The audience started laughing and jeering.

"And on the yellow corner, you all know him! The Black Terror of Sobr, Whiplash of the Indokuros, and unbeaten champion of the Indo-Fighting Tournament! Belonging to Indokani Sendou, MAUGRIIIM!"

XOXOXO

Cheesecake spent a long time inside one of the cages. The others in the rest of the pens were taken out and led down the hall, and if they returned, they were grievously injured and covered in blood. When his door was opened, he didn't want to go outside, afraid he might end up like them, but there was no other choice as the lizards approached him with the sharp flashy sticks.

He was led out unto a wide-open circular area with hundreds, no, thousands of more lizards making strange sounds. He never liked big crowds. Cheesecake was pushed out of the doorway by a painful jab in his rear with a painful stick before the doors closed shut, making running back inside impossible. He looked around for Master, but it was hard to find him amongst all those people.

Cheesecake froze when the doors on the opposite side opened, and a very familiar indokuro with a crimson stripe and crest stepped out of the shadows. Crimson-stripe seemed to recognize him too, as he bared his teeth at him. Cheesecake desperately clawed at the door to make them open, but they didn't move an inch. The lizards all around him started laughing.

"Sorry, fella, too late to back out!" A lizard-lady in a floating screen said.

An electric rope similar to the one Fury's Master used to attach them pulled Cheesecake towards the center of the arena. When he was a few steps a few feet away in front of Crimson-stripe, the latter bristled his crest in a threatening display. Cheesecake trembled as a lizard with painted stripes stepped forward and raised his arm.

"Fight!" Before Cheesecake knew what was going on, crimson-stripe rushed forward, dug his teeth unto his neck, and threw him away. Cheesecake landed painfully and rolled on the hard ground.

Purple instinctively stood up with his heart inside his throat as he witnessed Maugrim grab his indokuro by the neck and throw him feet away with his bare claws. Cheesecake's neck was visibly bleeding even from a distance, judging from the violet stains on the sand. He heard Lena gasping and Red groaning in horror, the latter chanting 'stand up' like a sacred mantra. All around them, the spectators were laughing and jeering at his Cheesecake.

"My, my, looks like one single attack was enough to end the fight before it even began- No, wait, Cheesecake's standing up!" Red sighed in relief.

"Don't sound so relieved, your Tallest. That was only the opening move," Sakr said.

As the announcer said, Cheesecake was getting to his feet. Maugrim shrieked and went in for the kill again, but this time Cheesecake ran away from him. The white-striped indokuro ran around the arena with Maugrim in hot pursuit, eliciting laughter from the audience.

"Are you sure that's an indokuro? In all history of Indo Fighting, I've never seen such a scaredy one!"

"If he runs, he'll be disqualified!" Blue pointed at the referee; the kryvtor was raising his arm. If Cheesecake didn't stop before he let it fall in a karate strike, the match would be over. Red, Ilk, and the Invaders instantly reacted, yelling at Cheesecake to stop running while flailing their arms in the air. Purple got to his feet and called out at the top of his lungs.

"Cheesecake, STOP!"

That voice! Coming to an abrupt halt, Cheesecake frantically looked towards the front rows. There he was! Master! Cheesecake wagged his tail at him. He forgot he was running from crimson-stripe until the latter's thick, heavy tail came into contact with his face, sending him against the ground again. His head spun. It took Cheesecake a few more seconds to recover from the whack to the head.

Red fell back on his seat and released the breath he didn't know he was holding. Tenn and Larb quickly fanned him with napkins while Stink held some doughnuts for him to grab. "G-Get those away! I'm not in the mood! No, forget it, give me that!" He snatched the doughnuts and started devouring them.

"If it keeps on like this, Cheesecake will be knocked out in a few more minutes." Ilk said.

"Sakr, you said that Cheesecake's antics could be useful?"

"It depends."

"Cheesecake, pony jumping!"

Cheesecake only needed to hear the word 'pony' to know what Purple was asking of him. He started jumping like the 'pony-creature' and kicking the air. This caught not only Maugrim off-guard; the audience and even the announcer on the screen were staring at Cheesecake with perplexed expressions. Seconds later, the whole place was echoing with laughter and jeering, some recording the strange move.

"What's he doing? Is that a sort of dance?"

"Purple, what did you-?"

Purple ignored his co-Tallest. "Please work...!"

Just like it happened with Fury's pack, Maugrim didn't know what to think of this particular behavior. He tried to attack again, but the movements made it hard to aim for the whelp's neck. Cheesecake had forgotten entirely that he was in the middle of a fight and just let his body move, unknowingly dodging Maugrim's attempts at pinning him down. In the last moment, he didn't realize his leg was aiming right at Maugrim's head until he felt his talon coming into contact with something hard.

The audience, Red and company included, gasped in utter shock.

"I don't believe it! Cheesecake just delivered a perfect kick to Maugrim's jaw! Ouch, it looks like it's going to hurt in the morning." A bell rang. "And just in time for the end of the first round! Uh-oh, the champion doesn't look happy. I'd hate to be in Cheesecake's scales right now!"

Just as the announcer said, Maugrim was fuming. He ran towards Cheesecake, fangs bared and claws outstretched, but the bell rang before he could retaliate. He almost ignored it, but Sendou called him from the other side of the arena, making the indokuro stop. Cheesecake similarly ran towards the area where he had seen Master. Both creatures locked gazes. Maugrim's pupils were two thin black lines as he stared at his adversary for a few seconds before darting off in the opposite direction.

Although not allowed inside the arena, indokani can go into a special chamber located at both sides of the arena. It's a spot where they can take a closer look at their indokuro throughout a thick but transparent window. Purple was the first to enter the room. "Cheese!" He ran straight to the looking glass and knocked on the window, calling the indokuro's attention. Unlike him, however, Cheesecake didn't seem to be aware that there was a window in-between them and got a nasty bump on the nose.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but that was cool!" Red cried out. "Who would have thought that silly move would have saved us?"

"I swore I heard Maugrim's jaw cracking!" Ilk added.

"Nah, a kick isn't enough to even dislocate an Indokuro's jaw," Blue said. "But he did catch Maugrim by surprise. He didn't know how to counter that move and got hit while trying to attack."

"Perhaps, but it'll take more than kicking to defeat Maugrim. Cheesecake has to use his teeth and claws to pierce through his flesh and draw blood."

"Hey, Lena, how do you see those wounds?"

Lena leaned in closer to the window to take a better look at Cheesecake's neck. There were tiny bleeding holes right where Maugrim had dug his teeth. "I don't know much about indokuro anatomy, but they don't look profound. They are bleeding, though."

"Cheesecake," Purple spoke to his indokuro in a stern voice for the first time. "Fight back. He might be larger and stronger, but you're smarter than him. Use your smaller size and your tricks to your advantage. Remember what you learned with Fury's pack."

"Guys, I don't know much about indokuro body language either, but… I don't think that's a good sign, is it?" Lena pointed to Maugrim on the other side of the arena. Though at a considerable distance, she noticed the animal's crest was vibrating.

"It's a threat posture. It means he's pissed," Sakr explained. "But in a way, it's a good thing; it means he sees Cheesecake as a possible threat."

"And how exactly is that good?" Purple inquired.

"He'll more likely react to provocation and make a mistake in trying to assert dominance. It's just like you, your Tallest, except indokuros, aren't funny to look at."

Red glared at Sakr. "Say that again, lizard! I dare you!"

The bell rang again.

The following hours were tense. Every round lasted forty minutes each, plus ten minutes in-between. Purple couldn't believe how much damage an indokuro could inflict in such a short time. Every time he saw Maugrim digging his teeth or claws unto Cheesecake, he'd close his eyes shut, unable to bear the sight. Red had fainted or hyperventilated a few times already when Cheesecake was thrown to the ground and didn't seem like he'd get back up, but to their relief, he did.

Speaking of Cheesecake, the young indokuro had already caused an impact on the audience. While smaller than Maugrim, this gave him the advantage of being faster and more agile. During the second round onward, he finally started retaliating against Maugrim, losing his fear of the larger indokuro. His tactics were unusual and even silly, but… they worked somewhat. One of his tactics involved grasping unto Maugrim's rear as if he were to mate. Then he'd hop on top of him so he could bite unto the scruff of his neck and dig his claws into his shoulders. It had taken Maugrim ten minutes to shake him off, and during the process, he got nasty scratch injuries on his back. He retaliated by tearing off the tip of Cheesecake's tail; Purple fainted when this happened.

All in all, both indokuros looked evenly matched, complementing each other in their deadly blood dance. Maugrim was big and had superior strength; Cheesecake was small and far more agile. Despite this, Cheesecake got more grievous injuries than the ones he managed to inflict on his larger rival. Both his sides and neck were lined with open, bleeding wounds; his left rear leg was limp, and his tail was pouring out violet blood. Maugrim, meanwhile, had wide gashes on the left side, some of his crimson feathers had been plucked out of his crest, and he had teeth marks under his throat, a susceptible part. When the latest round, the thirteenth, was over, both indokuros limped back to their corners.

"Oh, Cheese, what has that animal done?!" Purple desperately wanted to touch him, but the glass was sealed shut.

"Okay, listen, now Maugrim will bring out his best moves."

"What?! All the previous moves were the bad ones?!" Red nearly shrieked.

"Rule number one: save the best for last," Blue said curtly. "But take a look at him; he's exhausted. He's not used to fighting for so long; usually, his matches end in the first round. It will be easier to take him down."

"If Cheesecake makes it alive out of this round, that is."

"Sakr, if this is how you mean to make me feel better, you're fired!"

As the next round started, Maugrim brought out a secret move, as Sakr said. He sped up, leaped high into the air, and outstretched all his talons, unsheathing his claws. "Finally! The champion makes his signature move: Leap of the Violet Ribbons!"

"What?!" Ilk inquired. "Violet ribbons?" Purple snickered at the stupid name.

"It's called that because he'll slash through his opponent's flesh and slice it into tiny pieces which will spread around the arena coated in the victim's violet blood like violet ribbons."

Red gagged. "Shut up, lizard! Can't you see I just ate?!"

Maugrim struck the spot Cheesecake has been standing in with such force that he caused a cloud of dust to go up, obscuring the actual strike. When it cleared out, however, Cheesecake was nowhere to be found; in his place was a big hole in the ground.

"Is that a hole? By the Ancestors, did the whelp do what I think he did?"

Cheesecake burst out of the ground* right beneath Maugrim seconds later, landing a painful head butt right in his stomach and sending him flying. The fight resumed shortly after with Maugrim digging his teeth unto Cheesecake's back as retaliation, to which Cheesecake countered with a nasty scratch on the right side of his face. By the time the bell rang again, both indokuros had even worse injuries.

"Well, this is unexpected! Who would have thought the whelp would give Maugrim such a fight? The crowd is going wild!" Indeed, the audience had gone from jeering to rhythmically chanting Cheesecake's name. Purple felt his chest swelling up with pride. "Sadly, the blood counter favors Maugrim. If Cheesecake can't incapacitate it... Well, the Massive will have a new owner!" The screens showed the words 'last round' in orange Sobrekt characters.

Red gulped. "What are the odds knocking that beast out?"

"Want honesty or kindness?"

"I'm serious, lizard!"

Sakr sighed. "Cheesecake would need a miracle."

Cheesecake was not accustomed to pain. Due to his sheltered life, he'd never even known pain existed at all. Sure, he had gotten a few bumps before, but those were mild and didn't last for long. It wasn't until his recent experience with Fury's pack that he started seeing the pain in a different light: it was awful. Very much terrible and had to be avoided at all costs. Then he learned that it couldn't be avoided entirely and had to be dealt with on such occasions.

But the pain he back when he got bit by Cougar or whacked in the head was nothing compared to the sheer agony he was experiencing right now. His fresh wounds stung worse than the shiny spears, and it didn't last a few seconds; this pain remained and seemed to increase with exposure to the air. Even breathing was painful for Cheesecake.

From what he could understand about this, he's supposed to beat crimson-stripe until he can't stand up again. What could he do? He'd tried everything he'd learned with Fury's pack, but it didn't seem like it affected him in the least. Crimson-stripe bared his teeth with an angry snarl. Cheesecake retorted with an aggressive gesture of his own despite the pain it caused.

"Cheesecake!" That's Master! He looked at the upper rows where he sat alongside the other tall one and Fury's master. "You can do it, boy!"

"We believe in you, Cheese! Not much, but we do!"

"Knock him out, whelp!"

Cheesecake and Maugrim shrieked, ran forward and leaped with blood-stained claws and teeth. The impact force caused both to roll onto the ground and lift a considerably big cloud of smoke as the animals trashed about. The audience could hear the snarls and shrieks of pain until they stopped. When the dust cloud dissipated a few minutes later, both Cheesecake and Maugrim were lying on the ground on their sides, unmoving. Purple got to his feet, his heart in his throat.

"What is this? Are they both..?" the announcer looked offscreen for a few moments, as if someone was talking to her. "I'm getting a report that both animals are unconscious. My, that must have been the hell of a scuffle! According to the tournament rules, they have five minutes to stand up. Whoever gets to his feet first within that time will be declared the winner! Otherwise, it's a draw."

Purple leaned on the railing, fixing his gaze on Cheesecake's unmoving body as his nightmare seemingly came true. Behind him, the others were desperately yelling at Cheesecake to get up, though Red's cries were far more aggressive, even going back to calling him 'overgrown lizard'. He could tell his co-Tallest wasn't angry, though, but concerned and masking it with anger. Purple caught sight of Sendou on the opposite side; the crocodile was staring down at his indokuro, twitching his tail. Was he worried about Maugrim? Maybe he was, they always looked like they worked nicely together.

Come on, Cheese!

"Hey, Cheese! Cheese!" Ugh. Master, it's still morning! He wanted to continue sleeping!

"Hey, lizard, get your scaly ass off bed! Purple won't let me eat until you show up, so come on!" Grrr, bad tall one! Bad! You're lucky he didn't want to get up.

"Come on, Cheese, I got your favorite snacks!"

Ohh, snacks! As he tried to get up, though, his body didn't respond. He tried again, but it felt like someone was stepping on top of him. Grunting, Cheesecake kept trying for a good while, but try as he might, he couldn't move. He heard many more familiar voices. Small one, blue-eyes, the other green men, Fury's master and everyone else. They were all encouraging him to get on his feet. With some difficulty, Cheesecake tried again, but this time he didn't give up in trying to stand up despite the pressure and weight of his body. His limbs shook and ached deeply as he tried to get to his feet. It almost felt like his bones would shatter at any moment, but he kept going.

It took him a long time. But at last, Cheesecake stood up.

Chapter Text

From the sobrekt newspaper DAILY CROC, Twenty-sixth edition, published this morning.

ROOKIE INDOKURO DEFEATS CHAMPION!

The unthinkable has happened! Maugrim, who until now had been the unbeatable champ of the Indo-fighting tournament, has been defeated!

The indokuro behind this, Cheesecake, is better known as the rogue individual who tore an arm off an indokani. He is said to be only three years old, the youngest age of any indokuro in the tournament. Not only that but during the fight, he exhibited some strange behavior patterns, such as the peculiar dance that delivered a kick right to Maugrim's jaw. Despite its infamous reputation, this young up-and-coming indokuro has undoubtedly made a name for itself this past month.

With this defeat, Maugrim's owner, the senior indokani Sendou Grikal, has returned the Irken flagship to the Tallest, as per the agreement. Many officials and soldiers gave voiced their disagreement with this decision. Still, Mr. Grikal has so far refused an interview regarding the wager. He's only said the following statement:

'The better indokuro won. I admit I didn't see it coming, but that's how this works. Before you know it, you're being eaten by a pack of gebraks."

"Irken, this is getting weird."

Red ignored Captain's comment and continued to hug and kiss the wall. "Oh, Massive! I'll never let any filthy aliens take you away ever again, I promise!"

True to his word, Sendou returned the Massive without putting up much of a fight. Purple, Red and the others had half-expected him to try and back out from the deal or something like that, but he didn't. He merely congratulated Purple with a tail shake, called his men on the Irken flagship, and ordered them to abandon the ship as soon as possible. This allowed the thousands of Irken soldiers, engineers, and drivers to return to it and disinfect everything before the Tallest went back up.

Purple had insisted he wanted Cheesecake treated on the Massive with the best medical technology available. He was very stubborn about it no matter how many times Blue and Sakr pointed out that it'd be better to take him to a specialized reggel clinic. Finally, they gave up and took a barrel of reggel up to the Massive so they could use it on the indokuro's wounds.

Cheesecake was put on an anti-gravity stretcher, making it easier to move him around with all the crew hugging and kissing the walls and floor. Red soon joined in when they got to the infirmary, for once not caring about the odd looks the lizards were giving him. He only stopped when he realized Lena had gone into the infirmary with Sakr. Apparently, the lizard offered to aid her in treating Cheesecake's injuries, given she had no experience in treating indokuros. Red banged on the door for a good twenty minutes until Ilk suggested he make sure his Miyuki roll stash* hadn't been found and ransacked.

"Why don't you go check on your donuts, Uncle Pur?" Ilk suggested.

"I'm fine, Ilkie. I'll stay here," Purple said.

Blue and Captain exchanged looks. They might not know the Irken that well, but from what they learned in the past month, whenever he refused anything related to snacks, it meant he was distraught.

"Hey, Blue… What're the chances of Cheesecake getting sequels from this episode?"

"You mean physical or psychological?"

"Psychological? Those lizards can get those types of problems?" Tenn inquired.

Blue frowned. "Of course they can, they might be animals, but they aren't dumb, you know."

"Physical," Purple said quickly. Right now, he wasn't in the mood for a pointless argument.

"Be sure that he'll get lots of scars from the big injuries. The reggel should take care of minor injuries, but I'm not sure what your machinery can do about broken bones…"

"The Massive is equipped with bone-repairing lasers." Wow, that felt good. Admittedly, he too missed the Massive's superior technology.

The doors opened. Lena and Sakr stepped out, the former wiping some sweat from her brow. "I swear, this must be the longest surgery I've ever done." She said.

Purple stepped forward. "How's Cheesecake?"

"Heavily sedated. We healed most of Cheesecake's wounds, but he's got scars on his sides and a few on his lower jaw."

"That's good!" Captain said.

"How's a scar good?" Purple asked him with a glare.

"It's proof that he survived nasty wounds, which in turn means he's a survivor*. That's a good thing! Nobody will want to mess with him."

"Is that why your leader shows all of his scars?" Lena inquired curiously.

"You have no idea of how many battles he's survived to get to where he is now."

"And he gets more while defending his position," Blue said.

Unlike most alien cultures, Sobrekt leadership isn't passed from father to offspring. Instead, the Shuryo or the high ranks, such as Fleet Commander, can be challenged by a subordinate for the position. The fight is long and brutal; Purple had read about lizards losing not only limbs in those combats, and it has no rounds nor breaks. The battle goes on until either fighter surrenders or dies. And the warriors would rather die than surrender, as the loser is obligated to commit a sort of ritualistic suicide for his failure, anyway.

And what a better way to die than in battle?

"Really, why can't you lizards just vote to pick your ruler or something?" Larb said in understandable disgust.

Sakr snorted. "Says the race who pick their leaders based on such a superficial and pointless thing such as height."

"Say that again! I dare you!"

"Anyway," this time, it was Lena who broke up the fight before it even began. "Other than that, Cheesecake will be fine. He'll wake in a few hours; we had to sedate him so he'd let me do my work and to speed up the process." She looked around. "Hey, where did Red go?"

Almost on cue, he reappeared in the corridor a few seconds later, carrying lots of cinnamon rolls in his arms. There were blue crumbs all over his face.

"The Miyuki rolls are fine!" He cried one between munching and putting more into his mouth.

"I thought they were for emergencies only," Purple pointed out.

"These are normal rolls! I only ate one Miyuki roll!"

"Miyuki roll?" Blue repeated.

"Long story," Ilk replied.

"Anyhow, now that the issue is taken care of, we can focus on the reason we came to Sobr in the first place, sweetie," Red said with a smile once he was done with the cinnamon rolls. "Your wedding."

"Wait, there are no weirder pre-wedding customs, right?" Purple piped in quickly.

"Nope. The official ceremony will be held tomorrow; Cheesecake should be better by then."

"Have you thought about what you're going to wear, sweetie? I know someone who could make you a spectacular attire…!" Red noticed the awkward look on Ilk and the lizards' faces. "What?"

Captain decided he'd be the one to break the news. "Um, Irken… the couple doesn't use any clothing in the ceremony.*"

Silence. Red just stood there, staring at Captain, seemingly unresponsive. Purple felt a shiver down his spine, knowing what was going to happen next. Sakr learned into Blue.

"Nephew, you may want to start running."

"Is it that bad?" Blue yelped and ran off when Purple started counting down from five to zero.

Red spread out his battle PAK-limbs and cannons and went after the kryvtor, screaming obscenities in Irken as he fired plasma charges at Blue.

Ilk smacked her forehead.

"Maybe you should have mentioned that they allowed an exception to that rule in our case." She said, glaring at Captain, whose only response was a chuckle.

"Sorry, but I couldn't help it."

"Well, we have to stop him before he kills my groom!" That said, Ilk darted off towards the corridor, followed by Lena and Captain, leaving Purple alone with Sakr outside the medical bay.

Purple coughed uncomfortably. Sakr averted his gaze.

"Sakr?"

"What is it?"

"Do you happen to know if miss Akkono…?"

"She passed if that's what worries you. She picked up her egg yesterday."

"And… do you know where she lives?"

Sakr looked at Purple this time. "Why?"

"None of your business!" Sakr raised an eyebrow. Purple gulped. "Well… Let's say we… found we had a few things in common."

"Well, I do know where her family state is…"

-IZ-

Purple stared at the modestly-sized home amongst the bigger houses. "This is her family state?"

"Yup."

"Are you sure?"

"Not what you expected?"

"I imagined she'd live in a bigger house. I mean, she made it sound as if her family was influential."

"They are, but it doesn't mean they are rich. Having to maintain one Indokuro is expensive, so imagine how much it costs to maintain at least six… seven counting Akkono's."

"Tell that to me," Purple murmured. He spent a good amount of monies in Cheesecake's meat.

The Irken stepped forward towards the metal gates. Was she home? Would she open the door? Or one of her family members? Would she want to see him?

Wait, why was he so worried? Damn it, Red's reassuring would surely come in handy right now! He'd have to confirm with Sakr. Purple looked back at the kryvtor, but he merely shrugged. Geese, this guy!

Finally, he knocked on the door loudly. A few minutes later, the doors opened; a small kryvtor hatchling with dark mustard scales was looking up at him with bright yellow eyes.

"Hey…" Purple said awkwardly.

The hatchling didn't reply.

"Does Akkono live here?"

"Akko big sister!" Akko? Must be a nickname. Purple chuckled; it's cute.

"Would you tell her I wish to talk to her?"

The hatchling pointed at him. "You tall, iken idokani!"

"That's right, little guy. Would you go fetch Akko for me?"

The hatchling disappeared through the door of the house. Purple glanced at the garden; it reminded him of Blue's, but smaller. Akkono came out of her home shortly after.

"Your Tallest," she greeted, sounding surprised.

"Hey, Akkono." Purple waved a hand awkwardly. "I'm… I'm glad you're okay."

"Thank you, your Tallest. I heard that your indokuro won the fight. Congratulations."

"Thanks…" Why did he feel like someone had put fluttering snagogs inside his squeedly spooch? "Um… You have a pretty house, though frankly, I imagined you lived in a mansion..."

Akkono chuckled. "Maintaining indokuros is quite expensive, so we have a small home."

"How many are you? Do you even fit in there?"

"Yeah, it's just me, my parents, two uncles, and my little brothers. My elder siblings have already moved out."

"So… I guess you already got your indokuro egg?"

Akkono went back inside the house and then returned, holding an incubator with a shiny black egg. "I did." She said with a bright expression. It's the first time he's seen her smiling, and admittedly, she looks even prettier like this.

Purple had to turn away momentarily so she wouldn't see him blushing. "It's cute!" He said, chuckling nervously. "So, how are you going to name it?"

"It's hard to say when I don't know its gender."

"You could try something for both genders… I mean…" Purple bit his lower lip, trying to remember the word for it. "Unisex! Yeah, it's a name you can use for either male or female!"

"I will think about it."

There was a small moment of awkward silence while Purple gathered up some courage to bring his question up. "So… Akkono… You probably know this, but my niece gets married tomorrow, and… Well, we're supposed to bring a sort of companion… I wanted to ask you-"

"If I want to go with you?"

"Hey, I'm the one who should be asking!" Purple cried out in an unsurprising show of immaturity. "But yeah, that."

Akkono had to admit she was surprised. She didn't expect the Tallest actually to invite her to such a… personal event as a companion. Then again, it's been a while since she went to a social event, plus she heard Hitorken Zim was a guest of honor, so why not?

"It'd be an honor, your Tallest."

Purple felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He smiled a bit. "You know, we could start by not being that formal anymore. You can call me Purple."

"Is that your real name or a nickname?"

"You could say it's my Tallest name. It's how everyone knows me as, but it's not my birth name."

"I guess your partner's actual name isn't 'Red' either then, right?"

"That's right. Our real names are top secret; no one knows it, and if anyone does, they aren't allowed to call us that or they get a one-way ticket out of the airlock. Only we can call each other by our names... No, wait, Lena can call Red by his name too because she's his wife."

"Well, Purple, in that case, you may call me Akko."

Purple's smile widened. "It's a pretty nickname."

She might not know Gaz that much, but Ilk was worried. It had been a while since Zim was… eaten, and she was yet to say a thing. Isn't the hyooman concerned about Zim? Sure, she might not act like an overly affectionate girlfriend. Still, Ilk expected she might at least show concern over her boyfriend's state!

It didn't help that Dad and the others threw an anti-Zim party on the base, and Gaz had attended. However, she just sat on the couch with her video game console, ignoring the Zim piñata and anti-Zim posters.

Lena has similar thoughts, but in her case, she was concerned about their Sobrekt neighbors shooting them dirty looks. It wasn't such a good idea to throw such a party in a place where Zim had a statue in his honor.

"You okay, Gaz?" Ilk asked tentatively,

"Aha," Gaz said.

"Doesn't it bother you that Zim might be-?"

Gaz scoffed. "Please. We're talking about Zim. An overgrown snake cannot kill him."

"You sound sure about that."

"You know how many times he's gotten into life-threatening situations and always comes out of it? Sometimes very injured, but always alive."

"Kind of," Lena said awkwardly. Red and Purple, we're always complaining about that.

"The same will happen. Besides, the Sobrekt made that thing for him, right? I doubt they'd want it to kill him."

Hey, Ilkie! Want to throw darts at Zim?"

Ilk frowned at uncle Pur, who wore a party hat matching his eyes. Everyone wore them except for her and Gaz; Lena only wore one to make Dad happy. Speaking of Dad, he was stuffing himself in green cupcakes with pink frosting.

"My Tallest, don't you think it's a bit too soon to be celebrating? I mean, we don't really know if Zim is truly gone, his PAK signal is still-"

"Man, this guy!" Purple rolled his eyes. "Why don't you go bother someone else?"

Ilk felt terrible for the Communications officer, Jack. He had worked in the Massive for years, or so she heard, and Dad and Uncle Pur never bothered to learn his name. They didn't know the name of any of their workers. They only memorize the names of people they either like or don't let them forget; Zim was of the latter case.

"Dad, I think he's right. You can't confirm he's dead until his PAK's signal disappears."

"Oh, come on, Ilk! It will surely deactivate in a while; it can happen sometimes."

"Yeah, Invader Dren's PAK made it back to Irk before it expired."

"Hey, speaking of which, where's you, lizard fiancée?" Gaz asked.

Ilk glanced warily to make sure Dad was out of earshot before whispering hurriedly. "He's hiding until Dad calms down." She noticed Lena was prickling her lekku in the air. "What's wrong, Lena?"

"Do you hear that?"

Ilk raised her lekku. She was right; there was a faint sound… it was almost like wing flapping… It was becoming louder-

The wall burst open as something came right through it, sending pieces of debris everywhere: Whoever was near that wall got buried right under it. Red reacted quickly and threw himself towards Lena and Ilk, forming an energy shield with his PAK-limbs. Purple did similarly with the snacks.

"What on Irk?"

Ilk felt a knot in her stomach. Zimkro was standing on top of the debris where the wall used to be. His size had nearly destroyed half of the base, sending furniture and anti-Zim posters against the other half. Larb was being crushed under the creature's weight, but the other Invaders had been either trapped under the debris or knocked aside with the beast's tail.

"Computer, defensive mode!"

"No, don't!" Lena hissed. "If you start shooting in the middle of Igano, we'll become a target!"

"Don't… move…!" Purple whispered. "If you have doubts, stay still and hope it will lose interest."

Zimkro sniffed the air. It seemed to be looking for something. Maybe food? Had the snacks attracted it? Or was it something else? It lowered its head closer to Red, Lena, and Ilk, though it's gaze was locked on the latter.

Ilk silently sent a PAK-mail to Blue's communicator, telling him to contact HybGen and report the missing hybrid had broken into their base… literally, in this case. Hopefully, it wouldn't take long for help to arrive.

Ilk felt a shiver down her spine when Zimkro's nose released hot air right into their faces. Dad silently and carefully brought out his PAK-cannons, aiming them at Zimkro's head. For a few seconds, nobody moved… until Ilk suddenly found herself in Zimkro's jaws and sliding down its throat and esophagus before anyone could do anything about it. She heard Dad, Uncle Pur, and everyone else screaming, but Zimkro's body mass and intestines muffled their screams.

Soon after, she came into a dark space, probably the stomach. All her surroundings felt damp, but oddly the acids weren't burning her skin. Still, she better get out of here soon; just because she couldn't handle it didn't mean that the stomach wouldn't dissolve her body mass into pulp to be digested. Maybe if she could find a sensitive organ to stimulate vomit…

"Who's there? Helloooo!"

That voice! Ilk activated her night vision and looked around the considerably vast space. This was unlike any stomach she'd ever seen in biology books and dissections: The rugae were full and almost cushion-like, and the stomach acid didn't pool at the bottom. Crawling a bit deeper into the stomach, she found none other than….

"Zim?"

"Ah, Ilk-smeet!" Zim cried out happily. He was laid down on top of the rugae as if it were a comfortable sofa. "You came to save Zim!"

"What are you doing here?!"

"You see, while I was searching for Tallest Purple, this beast swallowed Zim. But I have managed to survive inside its stomach, waiting for a chance to get out of it!"

"Why didn't you use your PAK limbs or cannons to get out?"

"I tried, but the creature's stomach shrunk and squashed me for an hour. Curse you, beast!"

Ilk wondered if she should tell Zim. Then again, what's the worse that could happen? "Hum, Zim… This creature's name is Zimkro, and it's a genetic hybrid made for… Well, you."

"Hey, do you have any of what this animal is?"

"I just told you."

"You're making it up!" Ilk sighed.

"Anyway, we should get out of here."

That seemed to snap Zim back into action, as he tried to get on his feet, but his new height and the unstable 'ground' made it hard. "That's what I was saying! I have to go find Tallest Purple!"

Ilk sighed again. Guess she might as well catch Zim up on what happened while he was here.

-IZ-

"Calm down, your Tallest-!"

"HOW AM I GOING TO CALM DOWN WHEN THAT THING JUST ATE MY BABY?!" Purple smacked the back of his co-Tallest's head. "PURPLE!"

Wow, he must be pissed if that didn't work. Purple hid where he knew Red wild never dare go after him: behind Captain.

Instead of flying off like last time, Zimkro curled up on the base's ruins and napped. Red instant sent the nearby Invaders to save Ilk, but the creature's hide was so thick that Spleen's PAK-limbs broke when he tried to cut it, and plasma cannons didn't seem to do other than annoy Zimkro. Larb, of course, pretended to be still unconscious to avoid having to deal with the monster again. Thankfully, Lena stopped Red before he could try to force Zimkro's jaws open, guessing it wouldn't be pleased.

Shortly after, Blue and Captain arrived, accompanied by Dr. Scylla, though frankly, the latter was being anything but helpful. She just stared at Zimkro's curled up body curiously.

"So, he swallowed your daughter?" She said after a while. "Interesting."

"Interesting?!" Red repeated loudly, his lekku flat straight up in a threatening pose. "My baby is stuck in that monster's stomach, and you call it interesting?!"

"I genetically programmed Zimkro only to accept Hitorken Zim as his rider. It senses the smell of his blood to know his identity."

"Well, obviously, your precious Zimkro is defective if he can't tell that defect apart from by perfectly normal baby!"

"Wait, blood?" Purple rubbed his chin. "Red, you mentioned that Ilk needed a blood transfusion when we escaped from Hoth, and the only person with the same blood type was Zim." he shivered disdainfully.

Scylla opened her eyes slightly. "That would explain it. He probably got confused by the smell of Hitorken Zim's blood in your daughter and swallowed her."

"Well, how do we make him unswallow her, spit her out, or whatever?!" Red snapped.

"There might be a problem with that. For some reason, Zimkro will not expel his rider from his stomach." Scylla frowned at Red, cold fire in her eyes. "We were working to fix that issue when your Invader set it free and ruined everything."

"So what, I'm supposed to leave my fiancée inside that creature?!" Blue growled.

While they argued, Gaz decided she had enough and approached the sleeping beast. Zimkro opened an eye. It bared its teeth at the hyooman, but she didn't even flinch. She stopped right next to Zimkro's head, holding out a long, slimy dead eel. Without thinking it twice, she snapped the eel's body in half and bit off its head, all the while glaring at Zimkro and making it clear that this eel was him if he didn't expel her boyfriend out.

The good thing about having Zim's DNA was that Zimkro had some of his traits, even if unconsciously. One of those traits was awe and respect for Gazlene. This silent, but direct treat made somehow seemed to make something in Zimkro's brain snap. It got to its feet and tensed up its body, making regurgitation sounds. This caught the attention of the others.

"What is he doing?"

"It appears that something, or someone, finally triggered the expulsion reflex," Scylla said.

"Expulsion? Does that mean he's going to-?" Red went pale. "Nonono, not on my floor!"

Zimkro vomited out on the floor before anyone could do anything to stop him. Red and Purple used their PAK-limbs to get their feet off the floor before the stomach acid touched them. Lena, Captain, and Blue climbed onto the couch. Scylla, however, merely stood there, watching her creation expel two people out of its stomach before retreating outside and taking off.

"ILK!" Red and Blue cried out at the same time as they rushed to her side, helping her get on her feet.

"Sweetie, are you okay?!"

Ilk coughed, wiping some of the slimy stomach acids from her face with an arm. "Define, okay."

"You don't seem to have any burns from the stomach acid; you just need a long bath," Lena said once she took a look at Ilk's skin.

"Wait a minute…" Purple took a closer look at the other body. "Is that…?" Please, no!

"My Tallest Purple!" Zim cried out happily, rushing forward and hugging Purple by the waist, staining his robes with Zimkro's stomach acid. "You are alive!"

The Invaders groaned their disappointment while Red smacked his head. "And unfortunately, so is Zim," he murmured bitterly. Once again, Zim somehow eluded death.

Gaz snuck up behind Zim and pulled him away from Purple by the lekku. "This is for getting me worried, you idiot."

"Owowow! Gaz-demon, let go of Zim! Ahh, the pain!" Gaz relented, her point made clear.

"Hitorken Zim," Scylla spoke. Was it Purple's imagination, or her voice had gained a slightly happier tone? She didn't certainly sound as cold and calculating as always.

"Ah, you must be the Scylla-beast!" Zim cried though he looked confused. "Odd, I thought you were supposed to have six necks that devour hyoomans."*

"Pardon?"

Gaz rolled her eyes. "Zim, she's not that Scylla."

"Huh, she has a sister?"

"Zim, this , the main geneticist at HybGen," Captain introduced her before Zim got any wrong ideas.

"I see. Greetings, Scylla-beast!"

"My, would you look at that?"

"What is it?" Lena inquired, glancing at Captain.

"I've never seen Dr. Scylla so happy before."

"Happy?" Purple glanced at Scylla's stoic expression. "I don't see any difference." The former pointed out.

"If that's her happy face, I certainly can imagine her excited one," Red added.

Chapter Text

Sobrekt weddings are, by tradition, short; at least in comparison to the whole pre-kekkonshu stages previously held. It only consists of the couple making a cut in their palms: not too deep, just enough to draw blood, which is then mixed together and used to paint patterns on their foreheads and naked bodies*. Meanwhile, the guests sit around them in a circle acting as witnesses.

Thankfully for Red, Ilk was allowed to wear a thin, blue silk robe of sorts. Still, he forced the Invaders to close their eyes during the duration of the ceremony. He didn't want their inferior eyes to violate the sanctity of his baby's body.

Lena and Sakr painted the patterns on Ilk and Blue respectively, while Zim just stood there holding the ceremonial bowl of blood paint mixture with an insufferable grin on his face. His role was akin to the guy who carried certain objects up to the altar, while Lena and Sakr were the equivalents to a 'maid of honor' and 'best man' respectively.

"Nice dress, Irken."

Red frowned. He and Purple had chosen to wear their ceremonial robes, consisting of long silk robes of vibrant colors*, for the occasion, and Captain took every chance he could to tease them for it.

"For the hundredth time, Captain, it's a ceremonial robe!" Red hissed in a low voice.

"Whatever you call it, it's not good attire for the grass."

"I thought we'd at least get some chairs!"

"What do you complain about? You are sitting on 'chairs', aren't you?" Echo inquired, glancing at Skoodge and Bob. Both were wearing a service drone's table and acting as literal seats for the Tallest, given the Irken Leaders outright refused to get their precious dress- sorry, 'ceremonial robes' dirty.

"So that's your niece?" Purple glanced to his right, where Akkono was sitting. She was staring at Ilk curiously, her head tilted to the side. She looked cute like that!

"Not exactly by blood, but yes, that's my niece who's getting married," he chuckled.

"She must be a wonderful person if you and your co-Tallest were willing to steal the last Moondrop flower to save her life."

"She is." Purple glanced at the familiar hill the couple was sitting on. "You know, it's quite curious. That's the very same spot where we stole the first flower."

"I know. I used to come here as a hatchling to watch rebloom in spring." Akkono said, smiling a bit.

Once the painting was done, Blue and Ilk held each other's hands, locking their eyes with one another.

"Aik'ateru," Blue whispered

"What was that?" Purple inquired.

Skoodge took a look at one of his flashcards. "It means 'I love you' in Sobrekt, my Tallest."

Ilk struggled to repeat the word just like he did, but her tongue nearly knotted inside her mouth. "Ak-ka.. Aikte…" Blue looked like he was trying not to burst out laughing. Ilk furrowed her brow, pouting. This elicited a small chuckle from Red.

"You can say it in a normal language if you wish." Blue piped in after a few more failed tries.

Ilk made a mental note to get even at Blue later. For the time being, she smiled. "I love you."

Instead of sealing the union with a kiss, as more species did, Blue and Ilk leaned forward and rubbed their heads together, purring loudly. The crowd around them erupted into loud cheers and whoops. Purple additionally fired confetti wrappers and colorful smoke bombs from his PAK, whooping loudly.

Red didn't verbally join in, but he clapped his hands loudly, staring at his little Ilk with a broad, tender smile. If learning to let her go was hard enough, watching her accept another man in her life was even worse. Sure, the bond he and Ilk shared as father and daughter would never be broken, but now he would have to share her, something he was still not sure about. What if Ilk got hurt? What if things didn't work out and she ended up with a broken heart? There were so many possibilities…

Then he remembered this was Ilk they were talking about. She had grown into a fearless, strong, independent irkenette. Whatever it is that the universe has cooked up for her, she's more than capable of dealing with it. He'd always be there for her, that is right, but she was no longer a smeet.

Red's eyes met with Blue's for a few seconds. He said nothing, but the kryvtor could tell what his… father-in-law meant to say: 'Take good care of her, lizard, or I will drag you to the Massive so I can personally toss you out of the airlock.'

Blue nodded solemnly.

Purple glanced at the budding white flowers around Ilk and Blue. One, in particular, had already bloomed into a beautiful white iris-like plant. It was almost identical to the original, except its color has a mild reddish hue and its petals curled in a way that reminded Red of Ilk's curly lekku.

"So, what did you call those ones?" he inquired curiously.

"Ilkdrop flowers*," Akkono said.

For once, Purple liked the name.

The following few days were, thankfully, calmer. Unfortunately, it was time for Red and Purple to depart and continue with Operation Impending Doom 2, but they decided to take at least a few more days before actually leaving. In the meantime, many things happened.

Thankfully, the Control Brains had been dormant during the whole issue and they didn't know all the details as to why the Sobrekt had invaded the Massive, much to Red and Purple's relief. This meant they could modify the events to their convenience, and so the official story was that Bob and Skoodge had forged a permission slip to bet the Massive behind their backs. They lost the bet, but Red and Purple managed to negotiate its safe return in a peaceful manner.

With the Massive securely returned and the wedding going on without a hitch, Red could now pamper his pregnant wife, and he was happy to do so. Another check-up revealed that the smeet was healthy and growing: Red literally cried once he saw the picture of a tiny, curled up body in the ultrasound monitor. According to the information, a soft eggshell would form around the smeet and then it would be laid. To Lena's chagrin, though, Red got a little carried away with what things she could eat or not, and he made sure that nobody could give her Sobrekt related food. Echo was kind enough to give her some fried adaarksscotch on a stick when he wasn't looking.

Tenn made a full report about all she had learned about the kurokran program and insisted that she stay behind to keep digging into the war hybrids. The Tallest didn't have a problem with that, but in truth, Tenn's actual reason for staying was that she felt… drawn to her kurokran and didn't want to leave it. Besides, she had taken a liking to her new teammates and figured she could 'get some more information out of them', as she put it.

Purple decided to give Red some time alone with his family and instead hung out with Akkono a bit, claiming it was amusing to be around her. He'd spend some time in her home or in the indokuro sanctuary, and she'd give him some tips regarding indokuro training so he could take better care of Cheesecake. Sakr and Captain would tease the Irken leader, saying he was head over heels for the female kryvtor. But frankly, Purple didn't care what they thought.

Cheesecake finished recovering and was soon back to his playful self. As Lena said though, most of his injuries hone across the left side of his muzzle. Not only that, but it seemed like his jaw had been permanently become partly offset. It was nothing to worry about, according to Lena, but it gave Cheesecake a funny look. From then on, Red referred to him as 'Elvis'*. Oh, well, at least it sounded less insulting than 'lizard'.

The day before the Irkens' departure he was brought back so he could enjoy the grass and the open fields one last time. For the first time ever, Purple could properly play with his indokuro and teach him tricks, putting what Akkono taught him into action. The day before their departure, they spent most of the day in the indokuro reserve, playing or just taking a break. Cheesecake brought his master lots of animal carcasses; Purple didn't have the heart to tell him he couldn't eat them, so he opted to throw them away when Cheesecake wasn't looking.

Afterward, Fury arrived with his pack and Cheesecake went to greet them happily. Purple smiled at the sight and sat down under a tree, watching his indokuro playfully chase after Panther and Cougar. It's been a long time ever since he saw him so happy. It's a pity he wouldn't be able to do this very often in the Massive. Purple considered adding some of those treadmills he had heard so much about or even a whole habitat in one of the empty spaces. He'd have to talk to the Control Brains about it...

"Hey."

Purple raised his lekku, recognizing Akkono's voice. "Oh, hello there! What brings you here?"

"I needed a break from my little brother," Akkono explained, sitting down next to the Irken. She momentarily placed her incubator aside. "He wouldn't stop bugging me about wanting to feel the egg no matter how many times I've told him the embryo is not big enough to feel its movement yet."

Purple chuckled. "Just don't leave him alone with the incubator. Believe me, I know it by experience." He recalled how he'd accidentally broken Cheesecake's egg back on Hoth*. He was fortunate the egg had been close to hatching, or Cheesecake might not have been born at all.

Akkono smirked. "I'll take it into account." She glanced at the white-striped Indokuro bickering with its packmates over a bird carcass. "So what will you do now? About Cheesecake, I mean."

"I'm not sure. I mean, I know things won't go back to the way they were before." Purple sighed. "I mean, the Massive doesn't precisely have enough space for him to run. But there's a lot of unused spaces in there, I could make a replica of this reserve so he can run and play. I'd just have to ask the Control Brains for permission."

"Is that what you really want for him? To be stuck inside a holographic illusion, completely alone for the rest of his life?" Akkono pointed out. "No matter how advanced those projectors are, they really can't be compared to actual grass."

"He won't be alone, he has me."

"Indeed, but indokuros are social creatures that need to live in packs. Now that Cheesecake has experienced life in a pack for the first time in his life, it'll become a need he'll need to fulfill to remain emotionally and psychologically healthy. No hologram can replicate that. Prolonged isolation will have a negative impact on him later on."

By then, Purple had learned not to snap back, but he still furrowed his brows. "But I'll get to see him..."

Akkono leaned back, sighing. "Do you know why we let Indokuros loose?"

"It's because they need to exercise and burn all their energy, right?"

"That's one of the main reasons, that's right, but there's more to that. Indokuro hatchlings are always following their indokani around as if they were their mothers because they need to feel protected, but as they age, the indokani starts to treat them less like babies and more like partners. The indokuro learns not to become clingy to their indokani, and this, in turn, will lead them to try and join a pack, where they will learn to hunt and to fend for themselves. The Indokani visits periodically to continue the training, and then they cooperate with their indokuro during assignments, but they keep distance most of the time.

"However, even if they are separated most of the time, their bond remains as strong as ever. Just because they don't see each other every day, or sometimes even for weeks, it doesn't mean that they are not friends anymore. But sometimes, what you want is not what your friend needs. If you truly love someone you think of what's best for them, even if you have to… let them go. Even if it hurts, you want them to be happy and healthy."

Purple didn't know what to say to that but was interrupted when Cheesecake came over to him and curled up around him to lay his head on his lap.

"Don't forget to call me when you come over, sweetie!"

"Ilk, we said we wouldn't use the nicknames on public!"

"It's okay, they're family." Ilk shared one las nuzzle with Blue. "See you in two weeks!"

Red had to admit, he was glad Ilk would be coming with them this time around. Apparently, Blue had just been given an infiltration mission with Fury and he agreed that Ilk should spend some time with her family in the meantime. She would have gone with her mate, but Sobrekt have a strict policy regarding bringing family members to infiltration missions, thinking it might… compromise them.

"Ah, my Tallest!" Zim greeted happily, skidding to a halt just as they were leaving Blue's home. "I just wanted to let you know that I will be returning to Earth and continue with my mission! You'll be hearing about my next diabolical plan to destroy the hyoomans soon!"

"That's nice, Zim," Red lied. "So, where is that abomination?"

"Abomination? Ah, you mean Zimkro!" Zim glanced skyward, took a deep breath and screamed. "ZIMKRO, COME TO ZIM!" A few seconds later, the animal landed right next to him, wagging its tail. Zim laughed. "I have successfully trained him to come on my command! I shall be taking him to Earth to aid me in my mission!"

"As long as you keep that thing away from the Armada, I don't mind."

Zim ran off with a wide ear-to-ear grin, Zimkro in tow. Lena glanced at Purple, who hadn't said anything during the whole exchange. In fact, he had been 'absent' all morning: he didn't even touch his meal. His body was there, but his mind was not.

The group returned to the grassy field where a spittle runner was already waiting for them. They found none other than Bob and Skoodge waiting, both twitching their lekku anxiously.

"Hi, guys!" Ilk greeted cheerfully. "I hadn't seen you since Zimkro crashed into the base."

"You could say we were… indisposed," Bob murmured, rubbing his rear. "Damn frill necks."

"Um, sirs…" Skoodge laughed nervously, glancing up at the Tallest, but avoiding looking at them directly in the eyes. "We sort of… We wanted to ask you… N-Nobody wanted to give us a ride to the Massive… And, well, we were wondering…"

Red and Purple exchanged annoyed glances, before the former spoke. "Bob, Skoodge, you two are permanently banned from the Massive."

Skoodge went pale. Bob raised his lekku."S-Sirs?"

"What?" Ilk and Lena looked at Red.

"You heard me!" That said, Red stamped two seals depicting a crossed-out icon of the Irken flagship on the two shorters' foreheads with his PAK. "You cannot put a foot within nor within aerial space of the Massive. If you do, you'll be charged with treason and sent to Judgemetia. Is that clear?"

Skoodge was about to say something when Bob interrupted: the bastard was laughing, and holding up his arms triumphantly in the air. "HA! You two can serve yourselves from now on!" He looked sympathetically at Ilk and Lena. "But I'll miss you, miss Ilk and doctor Lena."

"B-But Bob, where are we going to live?!" Skoodge cried.

"Um, you guys could ask Zim is he needs any help in conquering Earth.' Ilk suggested. "I think he'd appreciate the help even if he won't admit it."

"Besides," Lena motioned the two shorters to come closer so she could whisper into their lekku. "Look at how tall Zim's gotten. Who knows? Perhaps spending some time on Earth might help you grow taller."

Bob and Skoodge exchanged a glance; a fraction of a second later, they were rushing towards Zim's voot runner. "ZIM, WAIT FOR US!"

"Dad, don't you think that was a little too harsh?" Ilk said once they were out of earshot.

"That was actually a mild punishment in comparison to what the Control Brains would have done," Red said simply. "Besides, they are short."

"My Tallest, we are ready to go." The pilot announced.

"Wait a minute, where's Cheesecake?" Lena inquired.

Almost on cue, the indokuro appeared from behind a tree line and ran towards Purple, stopping a few steps from him while wagging his tail. Behind Cheesecake, the Irken spotted Hornet, Cougar, and Panther stepping out of the line of trees, looking towards the Spittle Runner. They knew what was going on. They knew they were leaving, and take Cheesecake with them. Panther made a strange sound Purple recognized as a call. Cheesecake turned around and momentarily went back to the pack to share some chirps and croons.

"Pur?" Red called out, but there was no reply. "Purple?"

"Uncle Pur?"

Purple watched as Cheesecake rubbed snouts with the other indokuros and then came back to his side; he looked less lively than a few seconds ago. Purple looked up at the Massive, then towards the forest.

He couldn't do this. He couldn't force Cheesecake back into a cramped space, away from his natural habitat and the friends he just made. What awaited him up there? A fake environment and an almost perpetual feeling of loneliness? It would be selfish of him to think Cheesecake wouldn't mind it when in truth he'd notice the difference. What if Akkono was right and it did more harm than good? What if Cheesecake went back to being the same as before? True, he had been cute and funny, but that's not what an Indokuro needs.

Cheesecake just stood there, waiting for master to say something. They were going home, right? Why wasn't Master saying anything? In fact, he looked very sad. Cheesecake tried to make him feel better by rubbing his nose against his chest, purring.

"Oh, Cheese…" Purple took a deep breath and rubbed the indokuro's muzzle. "You know how much I love you, don't you?"

"Rawr!"

"You know… I wanted to go back to the Massive and go back to the way we were, but…" Purple grabbed his indokuro's head gently. "In all this time, I never thought of what was best for you. I just thought of what I wanted and didn't realize that you have your own needs."

Cheesecake purred, blinking.

"Cheesecake, I…" Another deep breath. "I've never seen you so happy before we came to Sobr. Not at this level… I just didn't want to accept it because I wanted you to be with me forever. But now I see that I can't take this," Purple glanced around. "Away from you. I can't turn you into a housepet again."

Now he's certain that something's off. Master's eyes are wet and leaking liquid. If he could, Cheesecake would be crying too. He had a strange feeling in his gut; he had an idea as to what was going on. He understood what Master meant to say.

"Even if it hurts me, I have to let you go and be yourself, let you be an Indokuro. That's something you can't do in the Massive." Tears rolled down Purple's cheeks as he stroked Cheesecake's head, meeting his gaze. "I want you to stay here, in Sobr, with Fury and his pack. Your pack. Get better at fighting. Get in better shape. But overall, be happy." He smiled a bit. "It's time I let you take care of yourself."

Red, Lena, and Ilk were staring at the scene, stunned. Was Purple doing what they thought…?

Purple wiped some tears away with his arm. "Be a good boy for me, Cheese, okay? Don't go around tearing off limbs. Eat well, and all that. But overall... Don't forget me, okay? I'll visit you every now and then, but… Well, to be sure-"

Purple was cut off when Cheesecake did something unexpected. He stood on his hind legs and pulled the Irken close with his arms, wrapping them around his torso*. When did he learn how to hug? He didn't really care; Purple returned the embrace, burying his face into his indokuro's chest.

His mind drifted back to Hoth, where he witnessed Cheesecake's hatching and they first met. Then the following hours in which they got to know each other. He remembered the little hatchling struggling to climb into his bed and curling up next to him to sleep. He remembered the snacking sessions in which he'd throw donuts into the air and Cheesecake would catch them. He remembered the many misadventures aboard the Massive in which both ended up grounded.

Hornet called out again. Cheesecake turned at him, and then back at Master; master nodded slowly, smiling sadly.

"See you later, buddy."

Cheesecake stared at Purple for a little longer before going back to the pack and disappearing behind the tree lines, their shrieks and calls echoing within the forest.

"Pur…?" Red asked tentatively, walking over to his friend. There was a vacant, glum expression on Purple's face.

He couldn't believe what just happened. Purple just… let Cheesecake go, just like that. Red never imagined he'd do such a thing, but right now the last thing his friend needed was another reprimand.

"Are you okay?"

"Remember when Ilk left for the Academy and you cried?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Is this how it felt like?"

Red placed a hand on his co-Tallest's shoulder but was caught off guard when Purple reacted and leaned into him, breaking down into tears. With nothing else to say, Red pulled him into an embrace and let him cry.

Chapter Text

Returning to the Massive and leaving Sobr was actually a bittersweet victory; at least for Red, it was, in a way. True, his room smelled of pandorian pollen perfume instead of indokuro excrement, and the number of incidents decreased considerably to non-existent, but Purple was not the same. Not in the wrong way, though.

At least, not entirely.

On the bright side, Purple began taking his duties more seriously. He would actually have a more active role in them, sometimes even personally taking care of specific issues. He also spent more time in the training room to recover all his lost endurance and condition; Red would eagerly join him to polish his own skills.

However, he had also become… less lively. Purple was no longer amused by blowing up newly-conquered planets or Resisty ships, nor did he take joy in messing with the table drones anymore.

Everyone knew he missed Cheesecake; he wouldn't say it out loud, but it was evident from his behavior. He even banned the indokuro's namesake dessert from the Massive's kitchen when he was around, even though it used to be his favorite treat. Every time he saw anyone eating it, Purple left the area and went straight to his bedchambers. He wouldn't come out for the rest of the day.

Red, Ilk, and Lena began to worry. Red, in particular, was very concerned about his friend. Not even he had been that bad when Ilk departed for the Academy.

"How's Uncle Pur doing?" Ilk asked that evening. She was staring at Purple's door; he hadn't come out just yet.

"Remember the cinnamon rolls I left on the fridge?" Red went over to the refrigerator and opened it. Ilk and Lena gasped.

They were still there. When Purple refused even cinnamon rolls, they had to start worrying.

"What are we going to do about Purple?" Lena asked.

"I wish I knew. I blew up an entire star system, but Purple didn't even blink." Red sighed. "Damn it, I haven't seen him this sad ever since he broke up with a girl during the Academy training."

"Well, Cheesecake was his companion. You didn't take it kindly when I left, remember?"

Red refrained from commenting on the apparent differences between her and Cheesecake. He knew better than that now.

"Wait a minute…" Lena rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Red, what does Purple like other than snacks?

"

"Puppet shows…" Red raised his lekku. He knew where this was going.

"That might be a good idea. It's been a while since we had one since Probing Day," Ilk pointed out.

"Great! There's no way he'll refuse to a good old puppet show!"

"Shh!" Lena glanced hurriedly in the direction of Purple's door. "I actually think we should make it a surprise. If he's that sad, he might say no even to a puppet show. I mean, if he doesn't even want cinnamon rolls…" She had a good point.

"Then how will we attract him?"

Red grinned. "I might have an idea for that…"

Days later, Purple awoke and found himself alone in his bed. He glanced at the empty space to his right. Frankly, he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss having the whole bed to himself. It did wonders to his spine and posture. And yet he was anything but happy about it.

Thankfully, the lizards hadn't bothered to come into the Tallest quarters during their takeover. In spite of their defects, they still respected privacy, something for which they were grateful. They didn't find their personal snack stashes, though frankly, Purple doubted they would have done anything with them had they done so. They couldn't eat sugar.

Purple grabbed a white caramel doughnut from his stash, which he had hidden in a secret compartment in his bed, and quietly left his room to walk into the elevator.

"T-Tallest Purple, sir!"

Frowning, Purple looked at the elites posted outside the elevator doors. "Why are you just standing there?" The guard was trembling. "In case you fools haven't noticed, there's no need to 'protect' me anymore. Cheesecake is no more," he said these last words with an undertone of sadness. "So, you better get out of my sight before I have you replace Bobby."

The elites scrambled away. That was a severe threat, considering how Bob was treated before his… banishment.

Silently, Purple made his way towards the bridge, where he was met with mostly silence. Good, he wasn't in the mood to deal with the shorters today.

Then he noticed Red's seat was empty. That's odd, he's always the first to show up. Did he oversleep? Nah, Red never overslept.

"Where's Tallest Red?"

"In the cafeteria, sir. There's a fresh batch of cinnamon rolls."

Purple saw through it. He didn't really feel like getting a lecture right now. "Okay." He said coldly, heading over to his seat.

"Um, sir?"

"What now?"

"He also asked me to tell you this," the head pilot read through a tablet. "'Pur, found your donuts.'"

That got his attention. Depressed as he could be, Purple would never ignore anything related to his personal donut stash. In his hurry, he didn't notice all the pilots exchanging glances.

Purple ran throughout the Massive's corridors, having found that moving around on his feet instead of relying on the hover belt helped rebuild his stamina. Soon he went through the cafeteria doors, panting heavily.

"Red, get your hands off my-!" Purple trailed off as he noticed a good part of the tables had been moved aside to make space for a small, hastily improvised puppet stage.

"Hey, Pur, you're just on time!" Red called, raising a vortian vanilla and whipped cream milkshake. "The show's about to begin!"

"Red, what's going on?"

"I figured you'd like to enjoy a puppet show. It's been a while since we had one since Probing Day, and with all the problems on Sobr, we both need some cheering up. We got cinnamon rolls!"

Purple didn't actually feel in the mood, but he didn't have the heart to leave Red hanging. Besides, it's not every day that he makes these gestures. Sighing, he sat down next to his co-Tallest but left the cinnamon rolls untouched.

The curtains parted shortly after. The background was the tallest lounge. Mini-Red and mini-Lena were already in the 'stage.'

"It's a good morning, isn't it?" Purple recognized Ilk's voice even though she deepened it to sound more like Red.

"Indeed, honey!" Lena, acting like herself, chirped. "It's a nice day about the Massive," mini-Lena looked around. "Hey, where's Purple?"

"Here I am!" If he weren't on a sour mood, Purple would have chuckled when mini-him stepped into the stage. He had to say, though, Ilk's interpretation of his voice needed a bit of practice. "I was eating donuts!"

"Pur, we have to go to work now!"

"Okay, just wait a minute," mini-Purple was turned towards the right side of the stage. "Here, Cheesecake! Come here, boy!"

Purple blinked as a small, stuffed indokuro doll uncannily resembling Cheesecake entered the play. It looked somewhat cartoonish and was out of proportion in comparison to the other puppets, but Purple found it cute. It looked like Cheesecake when he was a hatchling.

Mini-Cheesecake headed over to the door and sat down, releasing small brown balls.

"Nooo, not on my carpet!" Mini-Red cried. Purple had to cover his hand to contain a snicker.

"Oh, come on, I didn't make such a big fuss!" Purple narrowed his eyes at Red. "Okay… maybe I did a few times."

"A few times?" Lena inquired, breaking the 'fourth wall.'

"Not you too, Lena!"

"Red, what's the purpose of this?" Purple pointed to the puppet stage. "I mean, I think it's nice on your part, but why?"

Red smiled sadly. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't try to cheer you up when you're down? We guessed it'd do you some good remembering the good times with Cheesecake."

Ilk and Lena came forward, the former bringing the stuffed doll with her. "We even made you a mini-Cheesecake. We stayed up all night doing it, and Dad pricked his fingers a few times."

"And in the end, Ilk and I had to finish it because Red fell asleep," Lena added as she frowned at her husband.

"Hey, I came up with the idea of the chocolate dispenser!"

Purple blinked. "Chocolate dispenser?"

"Oh, right! I'll show you!" Red grabbed the mini-Cheesecake, opened its maw, and inserted a small chocolate sphere. Then he raised its tail to make it fall into his expecting tongue. "See? It's like you 'feed' it, and it 'feeds' you!"

Purple didn't know what to say. He gingerly grabbed the stuffed doll and took a look at it. It looked just like Cheesecake… j-just like when he was a t-tiny…

"Pur, you okay?" Red inquired tentatively once he noticed tears in the corners of his co-Tallest's eyes. Purple was just staring at mini-Cheesecake with an unreadable expression. "Did you like it?"

"Like it?" Purple hugged the puppet. "I love it!"

Phew! They had been worrying Purple might find any defect in the doll, as he tended to be picky when it came to snacks and puppets, the two things he liked the most. Hearing him say that he loved one was considered a great compliment, even if his tone said otherwise.

"Say, Pur, there's some cinnamon rolls if you want them?"

"How long since they came out of the oven?"

"Twenty minutes."

"No way, they aren't fresh anymore! Besides, they got the white sprinkles I don't like! Who made them?"

Red sighed in exasperation, but there was a content smile on his face. There was the Purple he knew so well.

Within the nesting site in the indokuro reserve, Cheesecake didn't join his packmates in the nest. Instead, he made his way out of the woods and into the outskirts, passing by the house of Fury's master and moving through the streets until he arrived at an empty lot where Master's nest once stood. Now it was only a patch of grass with holes on it.

Cheesecake looked up at the starry night sky, wondering what Mater was doing right now? Did he miss him? Because Cheesecake certainly would.

It would feel weird to wake up and not find Master around anymore. Fury and the others at least had their own masters living in this same place, even if in different locations, but they could still visit. Master, on the other hand, had departed and would be nowhere to be found.

Cheesecake was about to leave when he caught a familiar smell. He followed it to a particular spot where a seemingly discarded pillow lay on top of the grass. Cheesecake recognized it: it was the pillow he used to sleep on top of when he was small!

Cheesecake shrieked happily and rubbed his body into the cushion. It smelled just like he remembered!

Master still loves him!

Cheesecake took one last look at the starry sky before picking up his pillow and running back into the woods.

You are the reason to go on livin'

I need to try this and be on my own

We'll always be friends but keep our distance

We'll be together from afar forever

The End