Nice to Smeet Juu!
Edit: Changed a small but important detail in this chapter about Skit's birthday...
Edit: Some minor changes made; hopefully it's easier to read
Tallest Purple peered through the glass of a large tank. Inside was a small, dark green smeet floating in the bubbly, life preserving liquid. He cringed, the smeet was so tiny. It was hard to believe that one day it might be as tall as he. Purple looked away from the tank to see if any of the drones were paying attention to him. None so much as looked in his direction, underestimating his capabilities. Quickly, he typed something in the panel; a command to the program building this particular smeet. The drones hadn't figured out how to make this particular clone function, but Tallest Purple knew exactly what was wrong with it. He didn't know why he cared about this particular clone while so many before it failed horribly. But there was something about its cute purple eyes that the Tallest hadn't seen in its predecessors, something worth saving.
Skittles woke up in a cold sweat. She had woken up from a disturbing dream, but couldn't quite remember what it was about. A dark curly mass of green hair shook violently as she shook herself awake. The hair settled in a nest about her head, sticking up at odd angles and twisting up and around in all directions. Turning to her left, she squinted at the blaring red numbers on her alarm clock signaling that it was just after three o'clock in the morning. Skittles groaned; it was the third time this week she'd woken up so early. From prior experience she knew that going back to sleep was futile and she would just have to busy herself for the next few hours.
Skittles started by getting ready for the day; though she wasn't a morning person, she also wasn't the type of person to sit around in pajamas. She grabbed some clothes off the floor, sniffing them to make sure they were wearable, and made her way into the hall to the bathroom. She snuck her way to the end of the hall, careful not to wake any of her other family members. Once in the bathroom, she looked in the mirror. The reflection of a not yet eighteen year old girl stared back at her. The messy halo of green hair-yes it's a natural green-framed her head, and her dark eyes were half-lidded with sleepiness. Her skin was a dark color, unlike her paler family members, and she was pretty tall standing at five-foot six and still growing (because of this she usually wore skirts, which are much cheaper than buying pants every couple of months).
After getting ready, Skittles spent most of the morning playing video games and snacking on Cheese Doodles. Sure that's not the making of a well balanced breakfast, but anything that wasn't overly processed gave her a stomachache. So there she was, sitting at the table, mindlessly playing her GameSlave, munching of cheesy snacks and sipping Poop Cola. As the sun started to rise, she got a rare glimpse at her beloved foster father, Ted, who worked in a lab and rarely had time to spend with his family. But Ted was a really great guy and did his best to spend as much time with his family as he could.
Ted rushed past Skittles with a piece of bread hanging out of his mouth. He ruffled her hair, which she didn't bother to try and fix, as he walked past.
"Mornin' Skit! See you tonight."
He called to his young ward. It occurred to him that in a few months she would be free to leave his home if she chose. He shuddered in anticipation, dreading the changes her eighteenth birthday would bring.
Zim stared helplessly at the screen. It had been nearly two years since he'd bothered contacting the Massive. It wasn't that he had given up his mission of conquering this piece of space dirt called Earth, but his plans had taken the past two years to complete. Not to mention his hiatus of world conquest threw his nemesis Dib for a loop. But now, after two years of silence, he had contact with his Tallest. Surprisingly, it wasn't he who had called them, but rather them who had called the all mighty Zim. Zim though back to the moments prior.
Zim was busy putting the final touches on his ultimate plan of world destruction. It seemed that several years in this earth training facility called 'Skool' had paid off. He learned a rather disturbing amount of information about earthlings that had tried to conquer their own planet and used their ideas, along with a few of his own, to create the perfect plan. Just as he was drawing up the final batch of schematics, his transmission screen started to buzz with static. Alarmed, Zim stopped what he had been doing to stand at attention.
"ZIM! Zim are you there?" a voice called. Some grumbling was heard in the background.
"Geez, he's really our last hope? Pur, I don't think-"
The other voice cut it off with more yelling. Finally a picture came on the screen revealing the Almighty Tallest of the Irken Empire. Zim bowed and greeted the Tallest.
"My Tallest! It is a pleasure for ZIM to hear from you."
Tallest Purple rolled his eyes and Red stared at the screen, dumbstruck.
"Who are you? We don't remember sending another Invader to Earth."
Zim cocked his eyebrow in confusion.
"It is I, the great Invader ZIM!"
"No way, you're so-"
"TALL!"
Tallest Purple interrupted Tallest Red. Zim's face brightened in pride. Indeed, the Earth atmosphere had been very beneficial to him in increasing his height. He now stood at a mighty six-foot five, taller than his Tallest.
"Anyway, we need you to do us a favor,"Tallest Red began as Purple eyed Zim wearily.
"Tallest Purple lost something of his a few years ago, and we seem to have located it on your planet."
"I did not lose it! It was stolen!"
"Anyway, we are sending you the details. If you succeed, there might be a very bright future here on Irk for you."
"YEA! Now that you're tall and all. Tallest out."
Tallest Purple ended the transmission.
The transmission had completely taken him by surprise. In all his time on Earth, the Tallest had never really asked him to do anything outside of his mission, not directly anyway. And now it seemed that he was being trusted to retrieve a very sacred item for his Tallest Purple. A grin spread across his face as he realized that this was just one more chance for him to prove himself. As the instructions and briefing came through, Zim realized he was only months away from being the greatest Invader of all time.
Skittles glared at the man-no, boy-in front of her. Her 'uncle' Blu was casually sitting at the table, munching on dry cereal. Blu was a modest height for a man of 25 years, being a mere six feet, with dirty blonde hair and eerie blue eyes. He was a lean build and very muscular, Skittles noticed as he sat without his shirt on. Skittles never liked Blu; he was strange and touchy and too close to her own age for her to acknowledge him as her uncle. Blu stared smugly back at Skittles. Blu's sister, Ted's wife, Cree, made herself pancakes on the other side of the kitchen. Cree was a petite woman with long blonde hair and the same creepy blue eyes as Blu.
Cree either ignored the tension in the room, or didn't notice it. But the latter wouldn't be surprising since Cree tried to ignore Skittles on a daily basis. As nice as Ted was, Skittles couldn't understand why he surrounded himself with these people.
"So, you're turning eighteen years in a few months, right, Skit?" Blu asked casually.
Skittles nodded wearily. Blu licked his lips.
"That means you'll be old enough to-"
Cree cut him off by throwing a pan at his head. Skittles looked up at her in surprise, she'd never stopped Blu before, so why now? But as Skittles looked over it, seemed as though Cree never moved from her spot at the stove. Blu nursed the bumped forming on his head and glared at his sister. Skittles took this time to hastily leave the kitchen.
Zim sat in his desk quietly, for once. Dib, who had managed to get himself in all of Zim's classes, sat a few desks behind him. Dib was unnerved by Zim, to say the least. It had been years since the alien had attempted anything, and Dib was wondering what he had been planning. It was highly unlikely to Dib that maybe the alien grew bored of conquest, or just stopped trying. He knew that something big was underway.
Zim was anxious. The way the Tallest acted, he wouldn't have thought that His Tallest Purple had lost his own clone. It seemed that the clone had been missing for ten Earth years, and it was expected to rule as the next Tallest, if it was still alive and tall enough. The file he received had no other description except 'female smeet of His Tallest Purple', which put him on edge. How was he supposed to find another Irk on Earth? Luckily, Zim was able to calculate the exact Earth age of the Irken female and, assuming she was human, deducted that she would be in Hi-Skool. The file also stated that the clone would most likely be wearing a Haaz jewel to conceal its appearance. Zim spent the better half of the night and morning trying to narrow down his search, at which he had not done as well as he would have liked. Zim was so lost in thought, he hadn't realized that someone was talking to him.
"Hey, green kid, get out of my seat," Skittles demanded. The boy in front of her looked as though he was in deep though. Not that Skittles cared or anything. His dark hair was styled in a bouffant style that was dorky when she first saw it but, due to recent trends, was now quite good looking. His eyes were blue, but he had this funky red undertone to them, making them look a little purple. His skin had a strange green tint to it, which he attributed to gangrene, as well as slits for a nose and holes for ears. Zim wasn't attractive in the least.
Zim looked up at the annoyed human worm baby. He scowled, taking in her petty human appearance. This Skittles, he remembered, had been in classes with him since the year after he first came to Earth. She wore a dark purple shirt with a long brown skirt, usual attire for this Earth monkey. However, his eyes lingered on the small orange jewel around her neck. It seemed to glow eerily and emitted a faint orange aura around her body that humans were unable to see. His eyes widened for a second as he realized what that jewel was. Zim quickly stood up and resisted the sudden urge to bow.
"Ugh, erm. I was wondering if you'd like to join me for pizza after Skool?"
Zim panicked as he thought of the easiest way to get her alone. He hoped that his invitation for a date was not rejected by her, because the other plan he thought of involved pigs, tacos, and rope.
Dib could not believe what he was seeing. Zim was asking Skittles out on a date. The very same Skittles he had asked out numerous times before. There was no way she'd ever consider going out with that alien. What disturbed Dib most was the fact that Zim wanted to go out with her to some place other than Skool, and he could not help but be suspicious of what Zim was planning.
Skittles was surprised to say the least. She was used to being asked on dates by Dib, but Zim had never so much as uttered a word to her since she moved to this town. Zim wasn't the least bit attractive to her; however, the thought of someone other than creepy Dib asking her out did flatter her. She shrugged, taking in Zim's hopeful and nervous expression.
"Sure."
Dib could not believe his ears. She said yes? The words he'd been hoping to hear from her were directed at the alien and not him.
"YOU CAN'T GO OUT WITH HIM! HE'S AN ALIEN!" Dib yelled, drawing attention to Skittles' and Zim's exchange. The other teens in the class started to make kissing noises and other obnoxious sounds at Zim and Skittles. Skittles didn't look too annoyed, but Zim looked like he was about to explode.
"Dib, don't be jealous that Skittles likes someone other than you," red-headed Gretchen screamed from the other side of the class room.
Dib sulked. Zim had to have devised a plan concerning Skittles, that's the only way she would have ever agreed to date Zim over himself and the only reason Zim could be interested.
Skittles hardly blinked at the commotion Dib had caused. It was annoying and would probably be talked about for the next few months. But she shrugged, hardly caring and took the seat next to her new friend. She was sure that this outing would result in something wonderful, like friendship or maybe homicide.
Skittles and Zim walked, in what she assumed to be the direction of Zim's house, after school. She had never been to this strange child's house before. As they walked up to it, she wondered how on Earth she could have missed it. It was tall, green with a pink roof, and had Gnomes, plastic Flamingos, and 'I heart earth' flags all over the place. She cringed; Zim's parents must be freaks. Zim walked up to his mail box and took a key out of his pocket. He looked around to see if anyone was watching, and took out the mail flag and stuck the key in the hole. A loud 'kish' sounded over Zim's yard.
"Security System," he explained as he walked across the lawn to the front door. Skittles hastily followed.
Dib wanted to follow them. He should have followed them, but he had to work. After turning eighteen, he left his house to live on his own. And after finding out that he was a clone, he disassociated himself with his dad completely, not that Prof. Membrane ever noticed. As much as he wanted to follow Zim and save Skittles, he also needed to work to pay for his living expenses. On the bright side, he had enough money to complete his prototype weapon to, hopefully, sell on the black market.
Zim and Skittles sat on the couch, eating cheese pizza. Zim had, apparently, asked his 'parents' to order some before they went off to 'work'. The box had been seated on the coffee table with two brain freezies and a plethora of snacks. She and Zim happily ate the food provided and chatted about pointless stuff.
"So, Skit. Zim wants to know where you got that necklace." Skittles rolled her eyes at Zim's annoying habit of referring to himself in the third person.
"It was a gift from my birth parents," Skittles wasn't embarrassed that she was adopted and didn't keep it a secret.
"Oh? Did your adopted family know your birth parents?"
"No. They said they just got me through an agency when I was younger, but I don't actually remember being in an orphanage."
Zim's eyes narrowed in concentration. Her background was strangely vague, but it didn't confirm anything. The only piece of real evidence he had was the Haaz jewel that he suspected hung around her neck.
"May I see your necklace?" Skittle shrugged, faintly remembering when she first got her necklace and Ted told her to never, ever take it off. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Skittle took off the necklace, suddenly feeling cold as the trinket left her hand. As Zim took the necklace, he stared in surprise at Skittle. She shifted uncomfortable under Zim's gaze.
"I thought you wanted to look at the necklace."
"It's not the necklace I wanted to see, but what it was hiding."
Zim stared at Skittle in surprise. He couldn't believe his great skill, having found the missing smeet in less than twenty-four Earth hours. The being in front of him was almost a foot shorter than himself. Her skin was a dark green color, and her eyes were large and purple. Besides her height, the feminine curl of her antennae, and her thick eye lashes, Skittle looked just like Tallest Purple.
"I think I know who your real parents are," Zim stood up, the delicious snacks forgotten, and beckoned Skittle to follow him into the kitchen.
"I have something you may want to see."