"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'tget 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 diddeserve 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."
XOX
"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!"*
-IZ-
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*."
-IZ-
*A call to a Rugrats episode involving Phil and Lil filming a commercial, and the direction crying this out in frustration because none of them will listen to him. Come on, they're babies!
*Reference to Avatar the Last Airbender. Toph teased Sokka with a similar phrase when he fainted overseeing a woman giving birth.
*Red placed a tracking device on Ilk because he loves her. This helped them track her to Hoth, which led to the events of Lost.
*This whole segment is taken more or less from GoT, particularly the part when Drogon first snaps at Daenerys as she tries to intervene in a quarrel with his siblings. Let's hope Purple's hand is okay.
*The name Drenko is a call to Invader Dren, who was Tenn's previous love interest in Shades of Purple.