Professor Membrane heard his doorbell ring. He walked up to the door. How strange. Was that . . . mewing he heard at the other side. He cautiously opened the door. There, in front of him, he saw three kittens in a basket. Two were grey, and one was an orange-ish color. They were all tabbies. "I can't take care of you guys," said Professor Membrane softly. One of the little grey puffballs cuddled against Professor Membrane's leg. Professor Membrane took off his glove and pet the little thing on the head. The grey tabby nuzzled his hand. "Meeeeeeeeeew." It let out a little mew. "Mew (purr, purr). Mew." Professor Membrane rubbed his chin. "I suppose I can make this work somehow." The little orange kitten tried to walk, but fell over. With closer inspection, Professor Membrane saw that he had only three legs. "Need help?" He scooped up the kitten and put him on the couch. Then, he brought the grey kittens inside and put them alongside their brother. "Hmm . . . what should I name you? I'm going to name you because if I let my son name you, he'll name you something insane like 'Bigfoot.' My poor, insane son." Professor Membrane shook his head. "And if I let my daughter Gaz name you, she might name you something scary like 'Vampire.'" Professor Membrane looked closely and found out that one grey kitten had green eyes and one had yellow. That was a good way to tell him apart. He looked at the kitten with yellow eyes. "I'll name you 'Hydrogen.'" Hydrogen mewed. "I'll name you 'Nitrogen,'" he said to the other kitten. Nitrogen rolled on his back. "And you? I'll name you 'Lithium.'" The three-legged orange tabby purred. Suddenly, Dib appeared. "Wow! Kittens! Dad, can I have one? Please, please, please?" Professor Membrane sighed. "Fine. I'll hive you Hydrogen. Be careful with him, though." Dib made a face. "Hydrogen? Can I change his name?" Professor Membrane shook his head. "No no. You'll name him something insane. By the way, the others' names are Nitrogen and Lithium. The orange one is Lithium." Dib looked at Lithium. "Aw. He only has three legs." Professor Membrane shook his head again. "That's fine. Nobody's perfect. Go fetch your sister. I'm giving her Nitrogen." A couple minutes later, Dib returned with Gaz. "Dib, I swear if you ever disturb me from my game again, I will bash you brai—" "Gaz! Look what Dad's got for you!" "Dib, you're voice is dumb, and someday I hope all your braincells die tragically." But she stopped being mad at Dib when she saw what her father had for her. He was holding out a kitten towards her. "D-dad? Is it mine?" Gaz had a gentler tone in her voice. "Yes. I already named him. His name is Nitrogen. You MAY NOT change his name. Neither can Dib." Gaz turned to Dib. "Idiot, what's yours' name?" Dib, despite annoyed at being called 'Idiot,' answered her in a normal tone. "His name is Hydrogen. Dad's is Lithium." Gaz shook her head. "Leave it to Dad to give them all chemistry names." Dib mouthed back "I know right." "Kids, I'm going to the pet store downtown to pick up some cat supplies. I'll be right back." Professor Membrane put Lithium back on the couch. And he left. Epilogue: After a while, Lithium became a pet in Professor Membrane's lab. Everyone adored him. He would sleep with Professor Membrane every night. Professor Membrane didn't mind. Not at all. Dib was living up to his promise so far. He took very good care of Hydrogen. He would feed him and give him plenty to drink and clean the litter box when it needed to be cleaned. He also played with Hydrogen in his spare time. Gaz, although she would never admit it, really loved Nitrogen. Like Dib, she would take good care of him. She let Nitrogen do his own thing, but she would also play with him quite a bit. All three kittens were well loved by their owners and vise-versa. So . . . what did you think? I made Professor Membrane name the kittens the name they are is because it's more in character. Heh . . . whenever I wrote "Lithium," it reminded me of the Evanescence song. Okay so . . . I do not own Invader Zim, but wouldn't that be cool if I did? db InvaderProfessorMembrane out!