Work Text:
Even Irk shall die
With the armada on its trail, the Massive drifted through space to form the most imposing fleet throughout the galaxies. The enormous space craft, designed for intimidation and devastation, blasted away any small debris that floated within its vicinity as it wandered around the ever-expanding territory of the Irken Empire. It's own cannons and artillery filling the vacuum with dust, the smaller ships forming a protective shield, vaporized what the Massive had missed.
From within the ship, two Irkens that grew taller than the rest of the entire race, stood or hovered in place as they listened to the latest report of one of their Invaders.
Tenn was on the giant screen that took up most of the windshield of the ship, allowing everyone in the main control room to watch and listen to the Irken assigned to take over the planet Meekrob.
“-I managed to infiltrate their strongest defenses and plant a virus that should disrupt their global communications. And once I do, I shall unleash the battle mech I built to take out each country at a time. And thanks to the sound wave cannon you graciously sent me, I can stop them from using the telepathic abilities on me.”
Tallest Red hummed and nodded “And when do you think you’ll actually conquer the planet? We have a tight schedule we must attend to after all.”
“Yeah, we’re busy.” Purple added, waving around a donut.
“I estimate that the complete takeover shall happen within the next two weeks.” Tenn answered.
“Two weeks?” Red and Purple said in union.
Red crossed his arms and gave a disapproving look “That isn’t good enough, Invader Tenn. We are scheduled to be at our closest to planet Meekrob in just over a week.”
“B-but, my Tallests-” Tenn began before Red cut her off.
“We have two options here. Either WE slow down and give you enough time to conquer Meekrob, even after we allow you to extend your deadline, or you speed things up and take over the planet once we arrive.” Red stood tall and narrowed his eyes “And we do not attend to slow down for anyone.”
“Yeah, what he said.” Purple said with a mouth full of donuts.
Tenn had fear in her pink eyes as her curled antenna lowered and pressed down on her head, but even then, she held her hands before her back and tried to hide her emotions. “Yes, my Tallests. The planet shall be ready for your arrival.”
“Good. Signing off.” Red said as the screen went black. Red sighed, holding his hand out for a small Irken with a platter attached to his head to hobble holding a cup of sugary soda. Red took the drink and the service drone walked away.
“You know what, Purple.” Red said after taking a sip “I sometimes think our subjects don’t appreciate what we pay them for.”
“We don’t pay them.” Purple commented.
“A-allow them to live for.” Red stammered. He swirled the soda in his hand and sneered “They know we are busy leaders and running an empire isn’t easy. All that commanding, all that pointing and yelling. All of those calls, uugh!" he fumed and took big sips from the soda, throwing the cup away and hitting the service drone who was just at the door to leave “They abide by what our time allows, not the other way around.”
He then behind him an Irken who was closest to them in the control panel “Communications Officer, do the thing.”
The officer turned in his chair and looked up at his two leaders “T-the ‘thing’, my Tallests?”
“You know the” Red rolled his wrist around “The thing with the call. Where we pick up audio of whoever we’re calling before they answer it.”
“Oh! Yes, My Tallests!”
The screen went static for a second before audio was heard, Tenn’s voice and shuffling following.
“The Tallests!? But I'm not ready to....ugh, okay, plan starts tomorrow......Greetings, my Tallests."
The audio cut off and Red hummed “Did you hear that? She said she doesn't have enough time. So even the two weeks she offered us was her cutting things short.”
“And?” Purple inquired.
“That means by the time we’re there, the planet won’t be conquered yet.” Red clarified “That means we both have to award her for taking over Meekrob AND punish her for taking so long.”
Purple squinted “How do we do that?”
“I don’t know!” Red threw his arms up and yelled “Ugh, why must everyone act like such an inconvenience! Do they not know we are trying to run the mightiest Empire in history!?”
“Eh.” Purple shrugged “We are going to pass by one of our Amusement park planets pretty soon. We could stop by for a bit and allow Tenn more time to take over Meekrob.”
Red faced him with annoyance on his face. “If we do that, then we will be late.”
Purple smiled and reached his arm out to hook around Red’s shoulders “Red, the only Irkens in existence that tell us we're late are us. And we are never, ever late”
Red brow hardened before he let out a defeated sigh and face palmed. Dragging his hand away, he stood up as Purple took his arm back “Fine. Which planet is it?”
“Planet Clursk.” Purple responded.
“SET A COURSE TO PLANET CLURSK!” Tallest Red bellowed an order out, the entire room sallouting in union.
“YES, MY TALLESTS!”
Red sighed again, turned and left the control room, retreating into the long hallway with Purple on his trail. A guard would pass by every so often, sallouting and hailing their leader as they drifted along the metal corridors. Eventually, Red reached a room that had a large TV, two cushy coaches and a mountain of snacks on either side.
Red went over and plopped himself down, turning the TV and picked up a bag of crisps before being joined by Purple.
They watched and ate together silently, the screen showing the top-rated, Empire-improved movies, which was a long pro-fascism propaganda film. Praise the Tallests, love the Empire, remember that Irkens are superior to all races, height and intelligence are the most important factors of one’s character, and never betray the Empire.
To most this would have been repetitive dribble. To them, they couldn’t get enough.
After half an hour of nothing said between them, Purple glanced over at Red and spoke.
“So. Why do we even have that feature in the first place?”
“What feature?” Red questioned.
“The thing where we record audio of the Invaders through the Transmission thingy just before they answer the call.” Purple waved his arm around “Why do we have that?”
Red sighed “We have it so we can spy on the Invaders to make sure they aren’t hiding anything from us. We can call at random times and catch them in the act of any treasonous acts.”
“Couldn’t we just spy on them all the time? This Transmission thing seems weird to have.”
“If we spy on them all the time, they would just make sure to hide whatever treasonous act they are doing.” said Red as he finished his fifth bag of crisps “If we were to confront them with anything they did outside of a Transmission call, word would spread around that we were spying on them and that would reach the other Invaders. But if we only use the Transmission method-”
“They could think they accidentally revealed their act during the call!” Purple finished Red’s sentence, a smile on his face before it left. “Though it doesn’t sound like the best plan to snuff out traitors.”
“Eh, we’re working on other methods before anyone else finds out. And they better not, cause that could be very detrimental to the Empire.” Red said, his shoulders tensing.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Purple burst out laughing at the screen, causing Red to jump in his seat. Red shot his head to glare at his fellow Tallest, the latter wiping a tear from his eye.
“Heh, sorry, a funny scene came up. But yes” he cleared his throat, fist to his mouth “Very detrimental, yes indeed. But how?”
Red rolled his eyes before he continued “Well, other computers also have this feature, not just our one. Not sure who was the idiot that designed that, but it means that a certain someone could have heard us say something he would not like.”
Purple’s amusement he had just moments ago left, his face dropping “You mean…you mean Zim?”
“....yes. If he finds out the truth of his mission, that could mean our destruction.” Red crumpled up the empty bag he had “That short maniac had almost killed us and our entire race multiple times trying to impress us. Can you imagine the level of destruction if he decided we were enemies!?”
Purple paused to think about it, his face growing more and more horrified at the endless possibilities of what Zim, the defect, the laughing stock and the most dangerous Irken alive could do to them if he had any malice in his squeedlyspooch.
“OH!” Purple’s forehead creased with worry “That’s horrible! I don’t even want to think about it!”
Red nodded “And it’s not just Zim. What if that Tak learns about it? Even though she isn’t as destructive as Zim, she is a lot smarter than he is. And if they were to ever team up…”
Purple gasped loudly and shot up from his seat, holding his head in his hands as he began to pace around the room in an anxiety filled panic “That’s horrible! They could ruin everything we built! Everything we have worked for!” he turned to Red “They can’t ever find out! If they do, they could....they could…OH, I REALLY DON’T EVEN WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT!”
Purple’s arms fell as he went from a full state of panic to a relaxed and mellow state as he sat back down on the couch “So I won’t.” He picked up the remote and reached for a soda “What else is on?”
Red shook his head silently and turned to look at the TV when-
Everything stopped.
It was like they were struck by an unseen attack. They froze in place and felt something was very, very wrong.
It was like they were both on fire while frozen in ice. Like they were injected by a knockout agent and adrenaline at the same time. Like they were both terrified and had a gun held to their head, while also being in the most relaxed state possible. All of these contradictory overwhelming feelings all crashing into each other at once.
What was….what was happening.
The ship groaned then and everything tilted, Red and Purple both fell to the sides as the Massive shifted before regaining position, their piles of snacks crumbling on top of them and on the couch, alarms blaring out in their room and red lights flashed. The Tallests struggled to stand up as they stumbled to the door and out of the room, finding that even their top security was in the same sorry state as they were.
Purple held himself up by the door as Red shook himself off “Wh-what happened!? What’s going on!?”
One guard stumbled over and sallouted as best they could. “We don’t know my Tallests, but we may be under attack! We need to escort you to the safety room and ready the escape pods!”
Red and Purple soon found themselves being escorted by a dozen guards down numerous hallways in a confused daze. What in their name was that? What was that feeling? It was horrible. It was like they felt every emotion and body function lose control at one time. And now still recovering from the shock, they learned they are under attack and are being brung to safety.
After minutes of walking, they reached the safe room, a small circle white room with two escape pods, a small window to give them a view for any danger and a small mound of snacks. Two guards stood in the room with them while the rest stood outside, watching for anything that could come down. Red and Purple floated in place for what felt like hours, though not a lot of time passed at all as they waited for something to happen.
An explosion, the ship being knocked over again, the sight of a foreign ship or space monster coming into view, the intercom warning them to be ready for war. But nothing came. Nothing happened. The strange sensation then finally wore off and they all relaxed when a green light dinged, signaling that all was clear.
Everyone sighed in relief, but Red huffed and growled, pushing past the guard with Purple nervously trailing behind and after a short while of marching his way to the control room, he barged in and shouted to everyone in the room.
“WHAT ON IRK WAS THAT!? WHAT HAPPENED!?”
The Communications officer stood up from his chair and looked up at the Tallest as Purple entered the room “We are still trying to find out, my Tallest. All we know is that an energy wave swept through the entire armada and momentarily immobilized us. We are tracking the source now.”
Red growled again, reaching his hand out for another service drone to fetch him a soda, drinking all of it in one go before hurling it at the service drone as they tried to scurry off, knocking them over.
“Find whoever caused that and have them blow them up into space dust! And find whatever planet they are from, and destroy that as well!” Red commanded in a rage.
“YES, MY TALLESTS!” the room obeyed.
A few days passed and Red and Purple sat in the room still, still very tense and not over what happened before. The lingering sense that impending doom was going to turn on, never left and no snack or movie or anything could cleanse them. They practically lost their appetites.
They did get a few updates. One of them was that every planet they conquered and possibly every other planet in the galaxy and beyond felt the energy, which meant whatever that was, wasn't directed at them. And though this caused many to lose control over their own body, both mentally and physically, it had not directly killed anyone. And the source of it came from somewhere deep in space. And not just deep in space, buy far beyond the Empire’s territory.
There was also audio picked up just as the energy wave, which was traveling faster than the speed of light, engulfed everything. A few members of the control panel listened to it and they were almost driven completely insane and are now being treated/interrogated on what they heard. The only thing they could say was that ‘It was a voice’.
It wasn’t targeted at them, it is from an unknown source far beyond their reach, and no one has a simple idea of what it could have possibly been.
But even despite what was told to them, despite the facts of the matter, despite what they knew,....they already decided who it was. They already made up their mind on who caused that disturbance.
“Zim….” Red growled deeply.
“Eh, what?” Purple, who was curled up on the couch, poked his head up.
“It was Zim!” Red stood up from the coach and threw his fists down “He is behind that energy wave!”
Purple was confused as he sat up “But how was it him? Didn’t they say that source was somewhere deep in space, nowhere near Earth?”
Red glared at Purple “Oh, just think about it! Every bad thing that happened to the Empire was his fault! The deaths of Tallest Miyuki and Spork, Irk being almost destroyed in Operation Impending Doom One, the the two great blackouts, US AND THE ENTIRE ARMADA BEING ALMOST KILLED AFTER BEING SUCKED IN THAT GIANT RED SPACE ANOMALY THAT HE CREATED!"
Purple faced away as he thought over Red’s words as he continued.
“He is to blame for everything! And now you expect me to believe he had nothing to do with what just happened? HA! Don’t make me laugh!” Red reached his hand out again, a nervous service drone walking in with a soda cup, but Red hadn’t bothered to even have it as he snatched the small Irken up and tossed him at the wall on the other side of the room with a loud ‘Bang’.
Purple’s brow then hardened, his own unease being replaced with frustration “Hey, yeah! He is the root of every disaster. He caused this! He must pay for his crimes! He will not get away with this!”
Red nodded before he and Purple stormed out of the room “He has gotten away with his crimes for too long! We are declaring a martial law for each of our subjects to hear and follow. Hunt down and kill that little defect, Zim!”
Purple sputtered "B-but what about the Control Brains?"
Red shot him a look "They already know he's too dangerous to be kept alive, remember? They told us that themselves. And if they disagree, I'll take the heat."
Storming into the control room, Red was about to declare to open up all the communications so he and Purple could order the bounty on Zim’s head, but stopped when they noticed something. Everyone in the control was on their feet surrounding the Communications officer’s station, the latter also on his feet and trembling. Red and Purple both raised a brow at this and the former called down,
“What are you all doing? Don’t you have stations to attend to? I’m about to make an announcement that must be broadcasted!"
The officer said nothing, slowly beginning to back away from the small screen at his station, his right arm slowly raising to point it. His arms shook and his knees wobbled, and his fear began to spread to everyone else around him and even the Tallests were growing anxious at what he was doing. He was looking through the super-ultra telescope that can see into the vast reaches of space, obviously searching for the source of the energy wave, the epicenter ever elusive.
“It’s….it’s...a-alive.”
“Wh-what did you say?” Purple said.
The Communications Officer continued to back away from the screen, more Irkens seeing what he saw and they followed him “It’s alive. Space. Space is moving….it’s alive and moving!”
Red narrowed his eyes, clearly not understanding what he was saying.
“What are you-”
He blinked
“-talking abou-”
And he opened his eyes. One moment, Red was in the control room of the Massive, far from Irk on the edges of the Empire’s region. All he did was blink and now he was no longer in the control room. He wasn’t even in the Massive. He was on Irk.
Standing on one of the two stone podiums with Purple next to him, surrounded by a giant black cavern, the Tallests looked around in confusion and were met with thousands upon thousands of Irkens within the Maximum stadium on planet Irk. An ocean of green, red and purple cheered and waved their antennas, high rows of Irkens from various roles all hailing their leaders.
They were even singing their anthem.
"We love to break their minds, living in an Irken's paradise.
Selling planets at a discount price, living in an Irken's paradise.
Getting snacks at a massive size, living in an Irken's paradise.
We all fight and don't play nice, living in an Irken's paradise!"
As the cheers swept over the two, they looked around again, seeing the three control brains and armed guards behind them.
And when they looked ahead, Red and Purple saw giant screens all around them, broadcasting both them, the Announcer with his cyclops helmet and then outside of the stadium, showing giant crowds of Irkens outside. There were millions of Irkens from what they could see.
What was going on?
Red looked over at Purple “What just happened?”
“I….I dunno. Weren’t we just in the Massive?”
Red looked around him at the crowed before jumping at Purple's voice suddenly emitting throughout the stadium, pulling the microphone that was between them close to him "Hey, what are you all doing here?"
The crowed died down quickly and the Tallests could see confused looks and murmurs shared between them.
One individual spoke up from the stands "You called us here!"
"We did?"
"Yes!" most of the audience answered.
Red reached over and snatched the microphone away from his fellow leader before looking behind him to beckon a guard to come closer. Covering his mouth with his hand, he whispered down to the shorter Irken.
“What on Irk is going on?”
“Pardon, my Tallest?”
Red spoke through gritted teeth “Why is everyone here? Why are we here?”
The guard looked completely bewildered by Red’s question, but obeyed and answered him. “Well, a few days ago, you and Tallest Purple had made contact with all of our planets and settlements for all Irkens to all group up on our magnificent planet Irk. And now we are waiting for your announcement.”
Red blinked “E-everyone is here?” he stammered, Purple trying to lean in for a better listen.
“Everyone.”
“Food drones, service drones, Invaders?” Purple inquired.
"Scientists and soldiers in training?" Red added.
“As by your orders, my Tallests."
Red and Purple botched shared confused glances, both seeing that they were in the same state. All they remember was being on the Massive and now they were suddenly in the super-ultra stadium on planet Irk. But what happened to everything else in between? When did they get here? Why did they call the entire population to come back to Irk, interrupting multiple Invader missions and leaving posts received for Irkens on multiple planets empty? And what announcement were they making?
Did someone wipe their memory? Or….or were they just about to announce the martial law for Zim’s execution and just…forgot in a blind rage?
Red was still unsure of what transpired, but now was not the time to dwell on that. Now there was a crowd waiting to hear his speech. He breathed in deeply and stood up tall to his people, his arms out wide.
“Greetings citizens of the Irken Empire. We are you glorious leaders, the Almighty Tallests!”
The crowd roared with admiration, waves of antennas and arms stretching high and far, showing their love and approval of their benevolent dictators. Like they almost forgot the unclear misunderstanding just seconds ago.
Red continued “As you are all aware, an energy wave had swept through the Empire and had not only caused damage to the Empire, but had almost resulted in the death of your leaders!”
The crowd collectively gasped in shock and horror. Red smiled at the sympathy his subjects gave him and his fellow Tallest. Maybe there was a benefit to this unexpected turn of events.
“And now after extensive investigation, we all know that there is only one pest to blame for all of this. The one burden we all have to deal with and continue to suffer from is his mere existence.” Red held a finger up “ZIM!”
Boos and hisses and shouts of insults rained down at the mention of the infamous Irken’s name, the stadium and the rest of the population making known of their distaste for Zim.
It was Purple’s turn to speak “For years we as a society have paid the price of Zim running rampant, and it has now gone far enough!”
“As of now.” Red bellowed “We are declaring a new law that all just follow. HUNT DOWN AND DESTROY ZIM AND FREE US FROM HIS WICKED WAYS! WHOEVER SUCCEEDS, SHALL BE REWARDED AND GIFTED TO RULE OVER AN ENTIRE PLANET!”
The crowds from within and outside all clamored loudly, shockwaves of the new law to put to end the tyranny of the most dangerous, hated and feared Irken in history. Red and Purple shared devious smiles, excitement and glee running through them now that Zim’s life and burden will finally be put to an end, and all of their worries will finally be gone.
As the Announcer began to repeat his leader's call with more personality, Red could see hundreds of Irkens quickly leaving, to the parking areas where their ships were, obviously starting their assassination attempts on Zims’s life now.
Red stretched and let out a satisfied sigh “Well, that was a success.” he had his hands on his hips and turned over to Purple, speaking over the Announcers loud voice as he held up a crude drawing of Zim “How about we both get jumbo sized sodas and watch that movie you keep nagging me about?”
“I do not nag!” Purple waved his arms “But alright.”
Just as they turned to leave, a low and deep rumble shook the arena, sky and ground, the loud and lively crowd quickly dying down to a few murmurs. Red and Purple stood frozen in place at the drawn out rumble as their bodies shook, the sound punching them in the chest. And for a moment, they felt that same ominous dread.
The rumble died down and everything went still, confused glances and looks being shared between the audience and guards.
The Announcer was the first to break the silence “Uh,....well anyway. You heard it first here, everyone. Our glorious Almighty Tallests have declared martial law to end Zim’s life! You better get your ships, SIR units and weapons ready and get to planet Earth first, cause the reward is literally planet sized!”
The crowd began to stir again at the thought of being in charge of an entire colony and rule over with an Iron fist, only answering to their gracious and grateful leaders, but any high hopes they had died again when the rumble returned. It was louder this time, the noise shaking the screens and titantrons, some almost losing their balance.
“Okay, what is that noise?” Purple called out.
A beeping rung out just then and the Tallests turned to the sound as a member of security, who was near the backstage doors, held out his wrist as a hologram popped up, the brow of the Irken creasing before his eyes widened, a few others leaning in to get a better look.
“M-my Tallests!” the Irken said, antenna straight in attention “Something had just entered the atmosphere!”
Red and Purple barely had enough time to question what that meant before the sky above them darkened and they looked up to see….something.
A gargantuan mass came down from the sky, a mere blur in their eyes thundered down into the cavern, creating a short but violent hurricane within the stadium, shaking the screens and almost breaking them off their hinges, the Tallests wobbling and waving out their arms for balance as their guards rushed over to keep them steady.
“Wh-what was that!?” Red shouted before he and Purple and the rest of the startled Irken’s peered down the hole.
Soon, loud and brutal thrashing echoed out and a mix of snarl and cry was heard from the cavern, and was then followed by the gruesum sound of ripping of flesh. The sounds continued for a couple for moments more before it fell silent. The Tallests continued to peer down, slowly feeling themselves begin to back away and retreat, ready to jump on the nearest ship to escape whatever that was.
But before they could, pitch black smoke began to rise and spread across the ground from the cavern, red sparks striking out from the darkness as loud thumping and clawing was heard. The cavern continued to billow smoke more and more, soon engulfing positioned guards as they tried to waft the smoke away until they began to choke, and before the Tallests could declare an order, low growl emitted from the hole.
And before their very eyes, a giant monster slowly rose from the depths. Using its massive arms to pull itself out from the cavern, an enormous creature with a long box shaped head with two giant horns rose up higher and higher. A dorsal blade that ran down the top of the head gleaned, and golden eyes shone out from the dust and smoke.
The giant moved its head to turn and look down at the Tallests, the motion fanning out the smoke and all of Irk could finally get a better look at this sudden intruder. Its skin was maroon, the horns were silver, as well as its massive cone shaped teeth and rows of spikes on its neck. But it wasn’t just skin that was maroon, as like wearing armour, a tough carapace adorned the upper half of the monster. And from within its maw, the corpse of the great cavern worm that fed on the punished hung limply, purple blood streaming down its body before the monster released its hold, the dead thing falling back into the abyss.
Red and Purple stared up in absolute terror in the presence of the massive creature, their own guards slowly backing away and leaving them to the mercy of this thing. They trembled in place, unable to even process the reality of the situation as the giant stared them down with its golden gaze, its large nostrils breathing out and blowing their antenna back.
“Cccc-cc-c-citizens o-o-of Irk. Protect your-” Red stammered and stuttered, but never had the chance to finish before the giant opened its jaws wide and snapped down, devouring both Tallests in a single bite.
And the last thing they ever uttered before their death, was a frightful scream. The two who showed no mercy, begged for it.
The audience screamed with them in terror as they watched their beloved leaders die and many began to quickly pour out of the stadium into the lobbies and outside to escape. The monster rose further up, reaching a towering height, relieving its massive wings, strong and powerful legs and a long thick tail that swept the smoke around.
The monster turned his head and opened its jaws, and the Irkens caught in the smoke choked more, grasping at their throats as their own blood sprayed out of their mouths and eyes. They collapsed on the ground, dead, their blood collecting together as they rose high and into the monster's mouth.
The announcer watched all of this and stammered before pointing at the creature through the screen “Citizens of Irk…. AVENGE YOUR TALLESTS!”
The armed guards and those in the audience who had not ran away took their weapons out and began to all fire at the giant, the red beast showing no signs of any damage from the Irken assault. Even the large turrets that were positioned on the stadium only seemed to annoy the monster.
The giant roared in response, a loud bellow reminiscent of igniting jet engines and shredding of metal, blasting sound at the puny aliens, and the monster spun and slammed its tail into the stands, killing dozens of Irkens at once. The audience seized their assault before the giant charged forward and smashed through the stadium walls, killing hundreds more and was met with thousands of fleeing beings.
The monster roared again and began its rampage, stomping Irkens underfoot as it rushed forward and smashed through multiple buildings, swiping his tail out and creating great mists of blood and demolishing smaller houses and vehicles. Big red screens of the streets flashed red with the text ‘DANGER’ and ‘EVACUATE’ written across, the civilians doing all they can to escape.
The monster looked up and noticed multiple ships begin to rise from in between the skyscrapers. Sensing multiple lifeforms on the ships, the monster stood up straight and puffed out its wide chest before an eruption of black and red fire came forth from its maws, rocketing forward and vaporizing the ships.
Turrets and military vehicles emerged from the streets and city, their cannons all aimed at the enemy before shooting at the dragon in every direction. Bullets, lasers and missiles all blasted and struck the monster, but none of it worked.
Raising its foot high, the monster stomped down with tremendous force, creating a large crater as rows of jagged rocks and metal shot up from the ground to pierce and rip Irk’s first line of defense.
More ships tried to leave, and more were shot down by dark fire. Growling deeply and blowing smoke from its nostrils, the monster snarled before it huffed and puffed its chest out with its head aimed to the sky.
Opening its jaws wide with glowing golden eyes, heat and light built up in the giant’s neck before an eruption of flames vented up and spread into the sky at an alarming rate. Once the tower of flames reached high into the atmosphere, it began to spread out quickly.
From across the planet, billions of frightened Irkens watched as the very skies of Irk became dark from thick clouds of black smoke and red lightning, spreading further until it expanded over the entire planet in a matter of seconds. The maroon giant’s bellow ended as it watched the ships rise up into the air before disappearing into smoke. Moments passed before pinkish red mist came down and floated into the monster’s mouth as the ships fell from the sky and crashed down onto the city below.
And from that, each Irken that watched this, no matter where they were on the planet, they all realized the same horrifying reality. They were trapped.
Raising its massive arms in the air and clenching his clawed fingers into giant fists, the monster slung down and smashed the ground with fearsome power, a deep crack dozens of miles long and hundreds of feet wide split open to show a bottomless cavern, thousands of screaming and grasping Irkens and buildings falling down into it. Lava surged and rose through, burning Irkens and vehicles and lighting the city up with orange and red, the damage inflicted upon the capital multiplying rapidly.
Just then, missiles fired forth and struck the giant monster’s back and wings, the titan turning to see multiple giant battle war-mechs its size being deployed to stop it. More missiles were fired, but any direct hits were all in vain, merely getting the dragon’s attention.
The monster roared again and spread its wide wings, a single flap bounded it forward to close the distance between it and the mechs and they engaged in battle. With spikes on its fists, the monster easily punched through one mech and bit off the head of another, keeping its momentum to use its claws to pierce and grab onto another mech, lifting it into the air and throwing it into one up ahead.
A war-mech raised its arm and fired two giant plasma blasts at the monster, the latter barely even flinching before it shot back a black and red fire ball that exploded against the mech, knocking away and onto the fleeing aliens below.
The monster rose up again to see two war-mechs charging towards it, but it simply growled before it stuck its arm out as the claws glowed silver and made a wide sweeping motion, throwing five slash waves that raced forward and diced the mechs before they exploded in the distance.
The titan roared at the destruction, focusing its attention to the crowds of fleeing Irkens, all screaming, stampeding and desperately hiding from the wrath of this cursed demon. Opening its jaws, dark flames danced from in between its large sharp teeth before another explosion of fire burst forth and engulfed the fleeing victims and in a tsunami of heat, burning and suffocating and destroying their very bodies, their blood flying up to feed the monster.
To try and retaliate against this onslaught, hundreds of Irken ships began to fly towards the monster and rained down all the ammunition they had, blasting it and smothering it with lasers and bombs. The titan growled as it watched the ships race past before it unfurled its wings, creating typhoons with each beat before it was airborne and followed the ships. The Irkens looked back in shock as they were now being pursued by the giant, now regretting their actions deeply, but it wouldn’t last long as they were swiped, smashed and eaten from the air.
Another war-mech was deployed and began to fire at the now airborne creature, but none of the cannon fired even scratched a single piece of scale or carapace, due to impressive agility, it turned towards the mech and dove into it horns first, smashing through dozens of skyscrapers and streets, killing countless Irkens before stopping just at the yawning abyss it made.
A screen from the stadium that wasn’t destroyed rose high into the air, the panicked announcer calling out to all Irkens. “As the new Tallest of Irk, I implore everyone to listen! Deploy every war machine that we have and destroy that thing before it causes more damage. Everyone else, run and hide! We must preserve the Empire! Don’t let that thing kill-”
The announcer was cut off when a large piece of debris was hurled at the screen by the monster, the giant huffing with smoke billowing from its nostrils before it let out a roar that shook the planet. It was only getting started.
“What on Irk!?”The Announcer stumbled back, fearing running through him as he grabbed onto a chair for balance.
Looking behind him, he was met with the stars of dozens of much shorter Irkens who looked up at him with big pleading eyes.
He really was the new Tallest, was he? It was a crime to randomly announce yourself as the leader of Irk, but since Red and Purple were dead and he was the Tallest Irken next to them, apart from that Sizz-lorr, he was the untitled new Tallest.
“Tallest Atim, what do we do?” one of them asked, fear in their voice.
Atim wiggled his fingers, unable to answer before the doors to the main newsroom burst open, multiple guards and the Irken general, a tall and hardened soldier with purple eyes, rushed in before bowing to Atim.
“Tallest Atim. What are your orders?” The General, head down.
Atim stammered before trying to gain the composer expected from him. “What is the latest report on that thing out there?”
The General looked up before a hologram projected from her wrist, text running across. “We don’t know, my Tallest. Whatever it is, it's big, strong and none of our artillery fire seems to hurt it.”
Atim chewed at his lip before he looked out the window to his right, eyeing the dark clouds above. He pointed at them and looked back down at his subjects.
“What did it do to the sky?”
The General looked at the hologram again, information and data from all of her researchers pouring in all at once as she sped read what they collected. “It seems the monster had created a layer of thick smoke that is now surrounding the entire upper atmosphere of the planet Irk. We do not know how, but no Irken has managed to escape the planet and has perished in the process.”
The room gasped and Akim tensed, a cold stab plunged into his chest as he tried to think of any options. He looked around at all the Irkens, all terrified and confused, but they weren’t even trying to hide it.
“We could try and escape on the Massive!” an Irken piped in.
“Are you crazy? That thing will see us if we try to do that.” another retorted.
“How about we escape underground and hide there until it leaves?”
“Didn’t you see it split the ground open?”
“What do you do about the sky?”
“Is there a giant fan or vent we can use?”
Akim shut his eyes tightly as the Irkens around him began to argue amongst each other, the commotion leaving him unable to think. They can’t hide, they can’t destroy it with their mechs, the sky has been polluted and now his subjects are fighting. So much for being the Tallest. Deploying every war machine at once? What would be left of the city? What was he thinking?
He will be lucky if he managed to even get on the Massive at this point and try to leave after the control brains repro…gram…him.
Wait.
The Massive!
Akim’s eyes shot open and he struck his arm down “The Massive! We can use the planet buster cannon on the Massive to kill the monster! It may be strong, but there is no way it can survive that.”
The General didn’t look entirely convinced, her brow low on her worried eyes “That may work. But we would need to make sure that the blast will be in upward motion so as to not destroy our own world.”
“Then we need ships and war machines to bait it to fly high into the air and fire everything we got at it.” Akim assured, looking around the room with a smirk “Is everyone with me?”
“Yes, my Tallest!” the rest of the room hailed.
Akim smiled and looked back down at the General “Where is the Massive now?”
The General pointed at the door he just came through “Just outside the stadium, my Tallest. I’ll order my soldiers to lead the monster into the air now and to ready the ship.”
Akim smiled with determination as he and the others marched out of the rooms and to the docking stations , the real test of his leadership was thrown at him with the power of a thousand suns.
“I have an announcement to make.”
“I SHOULD HAVE IGNORED THAT STUPID CALL!” Tenn screamed to herself.
Why was this happening? How was this happening? What was she to do?
Tenn ran as fast as she could using her PAK legs, scurrying down roads and allay walls and up walls with thousands of other Irkens with her before she came across an empty street that was already ravaged by that….thing out there. From where she was, Tenn could not see the monster, but could hear it. Its growls, its roars, its stomping. The explosions and mayhem echoing off the walls between the Irken structures and Tenn stopped and fell as rubble came from and hit her head.
She tumbled and rolled, pushing herself off the ground with gritted teeth before limping away while dragging her right leg behind her, the rumbling getting worse.
Tenn eventually reached a large road, looking down both ways with horrified eyes to see hundreds of charred and dry corpses of Irkens. It was a massacre.
She whimpered and hid in the alleyway again, but her PAK vibrated and she jumped when a small metal arm stuck out from it, an even smaller speaker on the end. It was the Announcer’s voice that spoke through a second later.
“Attention all Irkens; Your new Almighty Tallest has authorized a plan to destroy the monster that’s attacking our city.”
“Wh-wha?” Tenn stammered.
“I, Tallest Akim, will be personally using the Massive’s planet buster cannon to vaporize the monster before it causes anymore damage, and I order for all remaining Irkens to get to cover as soon as they can. You better hold onto something, cause this is the final showdown! Tallest Akim signing off.”
The metal arm retreated into her PAK and a knot formed in between Tenn’s eyes. Yeah, right. He’s probably getting on the Massive to escape and let the armada battle that thing. That’s what Red and Purple would’ve done.
Just then, the ground shook as Tenn looked up to see multiple war-mechs emerge before rockets on their backs and feet elevated them high into the sky before she heard a thunderous roar behind her.
Tenn peaked her head out to see the giant maroon monster airborne, its large wings beating and propelling itself forward as it flew overhead, creating huge gusts of wind that lifted and tossed broken machines, debris and bodies into the air. Tenn ducked as her antenna blew in the wind.
“I need to get out of here.” she said to herself before trying to escape again.
Some time passed, and after climbing and walking over debris, scrap and dead bodies, Tenn soon reached a small untouched building where dozens of other Irken’s hid. They said nothing as she entered, and barely even paid any attention to the fact she was hurt. A lot of them wereShe recognized some, didn’t recognize others and sat on the ground by the door to rest her wounded leg.
Look at her. Small, hurt and afraid. How did she ever manage to get the position to invade Meekrob? Because of her height? That certainly didn’t stop her from constantly asking for aid from her leaders. She wasn’t capable, and now she can’t even defend her own home.
And now she sat here and waited for death while her leader took off to escape with his own life. Or was he?
“H-hey! I think they're about to kill it!” an Irken who was looking out the window called out.
Tenn looked up to see the rest of the room stumbling up to gather around to look up at the sky, prompting her to follow. She peeked her head out the front door to see the flying goliath battling mechs high above any of the buildings, and behind it was the Massive, not too far from the stadium. A bright purple ball of pure energy was forming at its front and was growing bigger.
She actually smiled as she stepped out. “Hey, he’s actually going to do it!”
She couldn’t believe it. The old Tallests would have fled and let everyone else do it, but now the Tallest himself is taking matters into his own hands. She was going to get through this. With her survival guaranteed, maybe she has another chance to prove herself again! She was going to live!
“All hail, Tallest Akim!” Tenn cried out, tears of joy and relief forming at the corners of her eyes.
“ALL HAIL, TALLEST AKIM!” the building, the streets and soon the whole city chanted.
“ALL HAIL, TALLEST AKIM!”
Akim stood tall in the Massive, arms folded behind him as everyone in the control room worked around the clock to prepare the planet buster. He stared up at the giant through the windshield, the giant monster tearing the war-mechs apart with ease. This filthy creature dares attack his planet and kill his people? Not under his watch,
“Is the cannon ready?” Akim called out.
“The cannon is ready to fire by your orders, my Tallest!” the General said.
Akim narrowed his eyes and raised his arms to take off his helmet, the others gasping to see that the one eye on the headgear wasn’t for design. Though his right eye was red and stared at the beast with anger and determination, his left eye was gone, only leaving a scar.
He tossed his helmet aside and raised his right arm, and gritted his teeth “Then f-”
Akim stopped when he heard something faintly. He looked down at the city that the Massive hovered over and began to hear shouting down below. But not screams of terror, but chanting. And the chants were….’All hail, Tallest Akim!’
Surprise and pride hit in deep, not expecting this admiration at this time. So this is what it means to be the Tallest. The chants grew louder as well as the purple orb that shined ever brightly, the monster now ripping through the last mech with its horns before turning to look down at the Massive.
“My Tallest?”
Akim smiled and he raised his arm again. “Let’s not disappoint the audience!”
With one final breath, the new Almighty Tallest, Akim, struck his arm down and shouted with all his pride and fury.
“FIRE!”
The Massive’s cannon blasted, an enormous pink beam shooting up at the monster at an incredible speed, bathing the city and Irkens below in bright pink that shined off their hopeful eyes and metal.
The monster seized the movements of its wings as the beam came closer, the air around it oddly starting to distort. And just as the beam was about to strike it down and vaporize it to smithereens, the beam…the beam..
Was swatted aside like nothing and deflected into the sky and into the clouds above.
Akim’s smile dropped, the chanting stopped and all the hope in the world became quiet. Did…did it just..
That’s impossible.
Akim gasped quietly and trembled, slowly backing away from the window as a million thoughts raced through his mind. The main thoughts that shouted the loudest were, ‘How did it do that?’, ‘That’s impossible!’ and most important of all ‘What do we do now?’.
With loud beating wings, the dragon rumbled again, but the rumble was different than before. It sounded like…laughter.
The monster reared its head back and shot a stream of red and black fire down at the ship, the Tallests’ and everyone’s else’s last thing to see was flames before the stream blasted through the ship all the way through before the spacecraft exploded. The shockwave swept through the city, shattering any remaining glass and knocking down anyone hit by it.
Roaring loudly and louder still, the titan bathed the city in the colours of death and chaos, declaring that the world belongs to it and no one alive can say otherwise.
Tenn, with her knees bent and antenna pressed against her head, stared up at the monster, its dark silhouette against the mountain of fire. She was completely petrified at watching her beloved leader die and all of her hope die with him. Why did this monster have to attack now? Why couldn’t she still be on Meekrob and survive the storm?
Maybe she could have abandoned her mission and started a new life? Maybe travel around and find a way to live without the need of her PAK and Irken equipment? She wanted to be an explorer after all, not an invader. Maybe…maybe she could look for Skoodge and her only friend would be with her again?
Those are nice thoughts. They were so nice, they distracted her from the beam of flames heading her w-
Days on Irk passed. Days of carnage, days of Irkens and the very sky being devoured, days of a demon from space bringing the Irken race to extinction . Every city, every town, any trace of civilization of the once great Empire was left in complete desolation. Not an inch of the planet was spared from its war with a gigantic winged god that ravaged all in its path.
Irk was cloaked in darkness, its sun being blocked out by the thick ebony smoke, the planet only being illuminated by the flashes of red lightning, painting the world in a terrible portrait of red and black.
Those who by some miracle survived the initial onslaught from this monstrous fiend hid in the rubble and demolished shelters, even hiding under the torn bodies of their own comrades. Hiding in fear, living in horror and dying in terror.
Carevon stomped through the ruined empire, sensing the life forms of multiple Irkens still alive. A low rumble emitted from its throat as it looked around at the destruction it brought, bodies of Irkens littering the rubble. Little green specks upon the ruins.
Carevon pushed over another building from his way as he walked, the tower crumbling and leaving a giant cloud of dust, the sound echoing in the desolate scene of this massacre. Turning his head when he sensed an Irken’s energy that felt stronger than usual to his left, Carevon looked down to see a lone Irken. They were close to the heights of the two leaders he mind controlled to call the rest back to Irk and ate, with a wider, stockier body and holding a large weapon in hand.
So one last warrior is here to oppose him.
They were injured and were wearing a broken mask, staring up at him before they suddenly took off and raced toward him, thanks to some flying mechanism attached to their back. Such bravery, such will. Even after witnessing what he can do. Carevon narrowed his eyes as he swept his tail up and merely swatted the advancing Irken from the air and watched them crash into the ground.
Carevon rumbled deeply as it sensed the energy of the large Irken slowly seep away before a small ship, that must have been parked where the warrior landed, flew up into the air. The ship disappeared into the smoke layered sky just as the Irken’s life energy sapped away. Carevon wondered for a moment where that lone, empty ship may fly to.
Gazing across the wasteland it created, Carevon, The God of extinction, had decided he was here long enough.
Standing to his full height, Carevon puffed his chest out and the air around him began to bend and distort before his maws opened wide and an eruption a torrent dark fire blasted into the air and the very sky burned. The fire continued to spread into the sky and the atmosphere as turned into a violent frenzy of flames and lightning as all Irkens who were still alive began to bleed from their mouths and eyes, clawing and grasping at their faces, at their throats, at the air, for each other.
Their bodies fell limp as their blood all collected into Carevon’s mouth as he burned the planet with his power before he seized. Now that he feasted upon their essense, its time to wipe out what's left of this small rock.
Raising his arms, he balled his hands into massive fists and began to power up, the fabric of space distorting around his presence, debris and corpses rising from the ground as he concentrated his power to contain the annihilation he was about to unleash.
beating his wings, Carevon took off into the and flew higher and higher before he was surrounded by his own smoke. Now just below the line where he would have left the atmosphere, he twirled in the air, seizing the movements of his wings, oddly graceful for such a monstrous demon. But it didn't last as he turned and dove down, breaking the sound barrier.
Plummeting back down to Irk, Carevon let out a roar that shattered the sky, his massive fists raised high above his head before he struck the ground with prodigious might. The planet beneath him folded before the impact exploded outwards. And in a matter of seconds, Irk crumbled and collapsed, the energy striking and breaking the sun, vaporizing everything for light years around and spread further still until it was all gone.
And from that strike, planet Irk….its sun…its space stations, and all of the planets within the entire solar system where the Empire resided….. was wiped from existence. Its history, its culture, its story and all of life that lived there. Hopes, thoughts, dreams. Gone.
The energy wave from the explosion spread further still before abruptly stopping at the edges of the now vacant solar system, circling and holding the empty space before it soon dissipated. Carevon, with his primordial energy radiating off of him, was still in the middle of all of it, floating alone as he looked around. Now that there was nothing left of the Irken Empire.
Him and his family were now free to wreak havoc upon the cosmos, the universe again under the control and watch of his grandfather.
Well….there were those other three Irkens on Earth that needed to be dealt with, but Venagile can deal with them. And if he somehow cannot in time, well that’s his fault.
As for now, there were plenty of planets and galaxies that were just begging to feel his wrath. Carevon turned in space and laughed deeply as he locked on target before black smoke engulfed his entire body before he raced forward faster than the speed of light.
It was time for the real fun to begin.