The Indokani Beginner's Guide to Raising an Indokuro.
Chapter 5 - Dealing with Separation Anxiety
Indokuros are very social creatures. From the moment they hatch, they see their indokani not only as their progenitor but also as a member of their 'pack'. The first weeks it's okay if you feel like pampering, but when it reaches two months old you should start the separation process. No, this doesn't mean it'll be taken away. It means that you should get the Indokuro used to the idea of being away from you, as some missions will require you to be separated for some time.
The best way to go is to leave your hatchling with a caregiver for brief periods and short distances at first. As it gets used to separation, you can gradually leave for longer and travel further. Use positive reinforcement whenever the hatchling behaves when you're not in sight. Another recommendable method is to have it put with some other indokuro of the same age so that it won't feel as anxious about you're absence.
Failure to properly prepare your indokuro can result in the clinginess becoming a more serious case of separation anxiety disorder. It will become increasingly aggressive, anxious, and it the worst of cases, depressed. Should its indokani disappear from its sight, it will become increasingly violent, particularly around strangers, and it might even try to look after its 'progenitor'.
Indokani
Chapter 2- Not-so-Welcome to Sobr
The Massive came out of hyperdrive an hour later. The Sobrekt homeworld, Sobr, loomed up ahead in all its greenish glory. As a 'gesture of good faith', they did not bring the entirety of the Irken Armada, mostly to avoid giving the Sobrekt a reason to fire their orbital cannons at the Massive.
Since the planet probably lacked any sort proper docking platform big enough for the Irken flagship, the wedding attendees-which included the Tallest and some Invaders-would take a Ring Cutter to the orbital docking terminal, the proper way to go into Sobr, as Ilk explained in her message. They'd be checked to make sure they didn't carry any bombs, weapons, illegal substances and if they were clean they'd take a teleporter to Igano, Sobr's capital. She mentioned something about somebody going to pick them up at the orbital spaceport, but the message was truncated due to length.
"What do you got there, Skoodge?" Lena asked curiously when she noticed the short Invader with some electronic flashcards.
"Since it's the first time we're going to Sobr, I wrote some information about their culture to avoid misunderstandings."
"And where did you get that information, if we may know?" Larb asked suspiciously.
"Masouri and I have been chatting through Spacebook, I mentioned him we were coming for the wedding and he sent me the Dummies' Guide to Surviving in Sobr Without Losing your Head." Skoodge and the Kryvtor pilot of Blue's squad, Masouri, had struck up a sort of friendship while in Hoth, stemming from the latter having been the first to have actually given the unappreciated Invader his due.
"Does it say anything about Hybrekts?"
Skoodge looked through his flashcards. "Approximately seventy-five percent of Sobr's everyday life involves at one type of Gesset."
"Gesset?" Tenn asked.
"That's how they call Hybrekts."
At that moment Red and Lena walked into the hangar. "Okay, I'm leaving, whoever is coming, hurry up!" The former shouted impatiently, prompting the Invaders (and Bob) to enter the ship.
Purple caught up seconds later, followed by Cheesecake. "Cheese we're going to Sobr!" Before either could enter the spittle runner, however, the door slammed shut.
"That thing stays," Red growled through the ship's speakers.
"What? No way, I'm not leaving him alone!" Purple protested.
"How do you think we're going to look with an indokuro who thinks his own shadow is a prey? Besides, there's no room for him!"
There was a brief murmur in the cockpit before Lena spoke. "Purple, think about it: Cheesecake was not gifted to us, he snuck into the Massive, remember? The Sobrekt might think he was stolen and take him away. Is that what you want?"
Purple stared at the cockpit and then at Cheesecake. She had a point there. Cheesecake was going to be brought back to Sobr, but he had somehow escaped the Tyrannus and snuck into their ship as they returned to the Massive. Blue himself had been very surprised when he found out they had the Hybrekt.
Yes, the Sobrekt could consider him stolen or something like that. And if they didn't react well to a flower being taken without permission….
Purple sighed and patted Cheesecake's head. "I'm sorry, Cheese, but it's best if you stay here. Well only be gone for a month, okay?"
Cheesecake tilted his head to the side, confused. Why was master sad? Why had the door closed? Was he sad because it had closed? Then master said he'd have to stay behind. Why? Cheesecake rubbed his head against master.
Purple felt guilty. He knew Cheesecake wouldn't stay on his own accord. Reluctantly, he made the 'donut' sign with his fingers. As soon as Cheesecake ran off towards the kitchen Purple quickly walked into the spittle runner.
The ship flew out of the hangar and towards one of the docking stations. The flight there took twenty minutes, during which Skoodge tried in vain to educate his leaders and fellow Invaders with his flashcards, but they were more preoccupied with recording whatever they deemed important into their PAKs than avoiding any offensive behavior. The only ones who bothered listening to him were Bob and Lena.
The spittle runner was hailed from the station, probably space traffic control. "Identify yourselves or we're blowing you up." Threatening and curt. Just like the Sobrekt themselves.
"Chill out, lizards, we're not here to conquer your planet." Yet, Red thought. "We're just going to attend a wedding."
"Well, forgive me for finding it hard to believe when your flagship is in orbit and within firing range!"
"We're friends of Blue the indokani!"
"Who is that?"
"Er… We know the captain of the Tyrannus?"
"What's his name?"
"Don't start with that again!"
Lena rolled her eyes, then she got an idea. There was one person he surely must have heard of. "We're friends of Hitorken Zim."
There was a brief sound which the Irkens could only interpret as the guard spitting whatever he had been drinking. "Why didn't you say so before?! Hangar twenty-five!"
Red muttered a 'you have to be flirking kidding me' as Stink drove the runner towards the said hangar.
For some reason no Irken could understand, Zim was hailed as a sort of deity by the Sobrekt. They found the fact that he had caused the Empire lots of drawbacks and headaches admirable. Back on Hoth, they were close to worshipping the ground he walked on. Red growled at the memory. Just for the record, Zim is not his friend! He's a little menace that cost the Empire two of its previous leaders, the first attempt at galactic conquest and a significant portion of the Armada since his little blunder with the planet Mars, not to mention he nearly destroyed Irk during the above-mentioned event. How could the Sobrekt not see that or maybe they did and that is why they admire Zim so much.
Hangar twenty-five was filled with ships of different sizes and colors, some belonging to different species, some departing and others docking just like them. Most ships were of green and cyan hues and either resembled an animal of some sort or had painted fangs and eyes; these belonged to the Sobrekt.
The air was tense when the Irkens walked out of the spittle runner. All heads, single, multiple or otherwise, turned to them; many gasped in shock when they realized it was the Almighty Tallest themselves coming. Resentful glares and murmurs were sent into their direction, mostly from the non-sobrekt-races, many whose planets had been conquered by the Irken Empire. The Sobrekt themselves were mostly indifferent, but they did keep an eye on them in case a fight broke out.
"Out of the way, superior beings coming through!" Red said rudely in about ten different alien languages while making his way through the crowd, with the rest of the group trailing not far behind.
"I don't think it's a good idea to act like that here…" Lena whispered hurriedly when he unceremoniously kicked a round, furry creature out of the way. "They can attack us."
"That's why we need to remind them who's in charge and not show any weakness."
Once they managed to get across the multitude they came upon a series of revision lines where 'tourists' would go through a scanner that would flash orange if it detected any illegal substances. The Irkens were fortunate enough to witness when that happened: the Sobrekt guards would bring a bipedal lizard and have it sniff at the infractor to locate the substance. If it found something, it would let out a loud shriek while expanding and rattling two long frills on the sides of its neck. Afterward, the forbidden assets were confiscated and the infractor would be taken away, probably to some dungeon or be devoured by a large, hungry Hybrekt.
"Take a look at that!" Invader Skutch pointed at a particularly funny scene. A Vortian was shrieking obscenities as his cargo of yellow, round vegetables of some sort was devoured by a large Hybrekt with a flat snout and gray hide.
"Guess the Sobrekt don't like vegetables." Tenn shrugged it off, but couldn't help but join in at the laughter of the Vortian's misery.
"Yeah, it's a good thing we don't bring any—" Tallest Purple hadn't finished talking when he stepped into the scanner and the orange flashes lit up. The kryvtor guards surrounded the Irkens while one of them brought the same, frill-necked lizard from before.
"Get that thing away from me!" Purple almost kicked at its snout but was frightened into submission when the Hybrekt shrieked and spread out its frills in a threatening display.
"Register them!" The sobrekt in charge of the group ordered to the kryvtors. Soon enough they were running long detectors held a few inches away from the Irkens until it beeped right when it was passing over one of Purple's pockets. Before he could react a sobrekt with a black glove got his hand into it and took out the leftover donut bag he had been saving for later.
"Hey, give it back!" Purple protested, but two charged plasma blade spears were crossed right in front of him before he could move forward. His PAK-legs emerged, but he was shocked into submission before he could strike the 'thief', causing them to retreat.
"Purple!"
"My Tallest!"
This was not their day. Definitely not their day. Being brought to the docking station's detention area and put in a holding cell with inferior species was humiliating enough, but having every single snack confiscated was the last straw!
"I'm hungry," Purple whined.
"You've repeated that for the past hour, Purple, will you knock it off?! I'm trying to think!"
"At least they didn't shock you!"
"You think that hurt? You try to get one of those fucking umbrella-neck lizards off your leg." Red looked down at his torn robe.
The Invaders were in no better shape, but none had it rougher than Bob. "Why did they attack me? I was trying to break off the fight."
"Why did they make such a ruckus over the snacks?" Lena pointed out.
"The Sobrekt's slow metabolism impedes any sugar consumption because the high levels of sugar send them into a semi-aphrodisiac, semi-dormant state. For this reason, bringing any sugar in any form is against Sobrekt laws and will be treated as a toxic substance" Skoodge read from one of his flashcards, eliciting angry glares.
"Don't you think it would have been nice if you pointed that out?!" Red snapped.
Lena sighed. "Red, he did on the way here, but you didn't pay attention."
"Do any of those cards say for how long we're going to stay here!"
Skoodge searched through the device again. "Nop."
Purple had to admit he knew what the whole sugar thing was about. The kryvtors had pointed out they never consumed any sugar; Purple couldn't believe it at first until he offered Masouri a donut and the pilot became limp and unresponsive with an idiotic face for two hours straight. He wasn't going to point it out, however, or Red would also pin the blame on him for this.
A rotten fruit flew through the air aimed at the Tallest's head; acting quickly he grabbed Stink and shielded himself from the projectile, which made contact with the Invader's face. The Irkens looked at the perpetrator: a squid-like creature, whose four eyes were glaring at the Irken leaders alongside the many other retained aliens.
"How does it feel when you are in the cage, huh?" A female Vortian sneered.
"Mind your own business, Vortian!" Larb snapped at her.
At that moment the door leading outside opened and a big, crocodilian sobrekt entered. He stopped in front of the cell holding the Irkens.
"You're free to go…" he said opening the door, but then pointed at Larb. "Except you."
"What?! Why?!"
"My Tallest!" A familiar voice alongside its annoyingly familiar owner stopped right next to the sobrekt with that irritable smile of his. "Don't worry, the great Zim has come to save you!"
"Zim?" Red rubbed his ocular orbs to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "Is that you?" He was joined in by the rest of the Invaders and Purple. Lena merely gasped in surprise.
It wasn't because they were surprised to see him-well, in part it was-but rather because he was taller. Taller! The short little defective had grown a considerable amount of inches. He had surpassed even Larb, previously considered to be the Tallest Invader.
"Wha- B-Y-!"
"What are you doing here, Zim?" Lena got ahead of her husband.
"Ilk-smeet and Blue-lizard invited the great Zim to their wedding, of course! I offered to come to pick you up, and then I learned the sobrekt-beasts had retained you here." Zim furrowed his brow at the sobrekt, who looked down like a scolded child.
"I wasn't aware they were your… friends, Hitorken Zim."
Red and Purple exchanged a dismayed, but subtle glance. They were going to hate themselves in the morning, but any chance to get the Irk out of here was good. "Ah, yes! We're very good friends!"
"Yeah! Like, the best of friends!"
"We've known each other since we were smeets! Now how about we go reminiscence about the good times, Zim?" Red forced himself to smile, speaking through grit teeth.
The look in Zim's face would have put the 'smiling emoji' to shame. Lena almost felt bad for him; they were only using him. "Why of course, My Tallest! Let's get out of here!" Zim turned to the guard. "Sobrekt-beast, they all come with me…" he momentarily stopped and pointed at Larb. "Except him."
"Wha-?! Zim-!"
"Good enough for me!"
"See you later, Larb!"
With that, the Tallest and the remaining Invaders sped out of the holding cell, not looking back as the door closed again with Larb still inside. Zim whispered something to the guard, probably telling him in how much time he could release him. It was no surprise Zim was relishing in the chance to spite Larb; neither had ever gotten along and Larb always looked for a chance to rub all his achievements in Zim's face. Well, now the roles had been reversed and Zim was going to enjoy every second of it.
"Isn't there any way we could have the snacks back, Zim?" Red asked as they made their way to the teleporters.
"Like, maybe you could use your 'divine status' to convince the lizards? I'm getting hungry!" Purple added quickly.
"I've taken care of that, My Tallest. They will send your snacks to the Blue-beast's house to save you the bother of carrying them!" At the very least he did something useful for once that did not blow up in their faces, figurative and literally.
There was one final security post before reaching the teleporters to the planet's surface. It wasn't as well-guarded as the others, but the line was even longer. Thankfully they didn't need to get in it; all Zim had to do was to demand one of the guards to let them through and she did so without hesitation.
All that's left is that they make a statue of Zim.
"They made him a flirking statue."
They materialize in the middle of Igano, and what's the first thing they see? A mithrilium sculpture depicting Zim in a yelling pose right on top on the entrails of a mendigo, one of the creatures they found of Hoth. No doubt he had told his own version of the story and the gullible Sobrekt didn't stop to consider he might be twisting the facts. Oh, Larb was so going to have a fit.
Purple made a face. "I'm going to throw up." A passing by kryvtor struck his legs with her tail. "Hey!" But she was gone.
"So which way now, Zim?" Skoodge asked. He had the feeling he was the only one who could talk to Zim naturally. Judging by the astonished look on the other Invaders as they stared at the statue they wouldn't be too happy to be near him right now.
"Follow me! Blue-beast's house is on the outskirts! If we get there on time, you'll get to witness the main event!"
"Main event?"
Zim was already making his way through the crowd, prompting the others to follow, if only because proximity to Zim would mean fewer chances of being assaulted, killed, arrested, etcetera. Purple was not so fortunate, however, as every now and then he'd be pinched, kicked or smacked with either a hand or a tail, much to Red's amusement. In one of those occasions, it came from him but he managed to pin the blame on passing by Sobrekt.
Sobr's sky was a different mixture of greens with grayish lime clouds and its single white sun moved very slowly. The buildings and skyscrapers that made up most of the city were tall and with sharp shapes. Around the sky, they managed to spot some ships and a flying creature or two.
Speaking of creatures, they soon figured out what Skoodge meant when he said that seventy-five percent of daily life involved hybrekts. Some buildings had long-necked giant reptiles instead of elevators, all you had to do was offer them something to eat so they'd lower or lift their heads so you could walk unto them. Chameleon-like animals acted as traffic lights, changing into orange to signal ships to stop and yellow to move forward. They even spotted a large lizard with long curved horns, short legs, elongated body and spines running down its back being led by a leash in the manner of a common pet. Most of the Invaders subtly signaled their Tallest that they were recording it.
"So, Zim, for how long have you been here?" Lena asked.
"A Sobr week ago, which is about four earthen weeks, and a Sobr day is the equivalent to four human days. Hopefully, I was smart enough to make all the Skool hyoomans believe I'd go on vacation somewhere nice so they wouldn't wonder why I was gone for so long."
Purple contained the urge to roll his eyes. Grin and bear it, for now, Pur. "Well, Zim, in all your time here have you found out where the Sobrekt make their hybrekts?"
"Make what?"
"You know, those." Red pointed at another pet-lizard as it released the nutrients it didn't need in the manner of green liquid coming from… under its tail.
"Ahh, you mean the Gessen-beasts! I tried to ask, but when I did they'd change the topic and instead offered me something to eat." Guess not even Zim was good enough for the Sobrekt to trust that information with.
A kryvtor child approached Purple; it noticed he was levitating, so it picked up a stone and hurled it at his head. "OUCH-! Why you little-!" The hatchling was gone before he could punish it. "Why is everybody here doing everything they can to physically assault me?!"
Zim perked up his lekku. "Oh, that. It's Indokuro Week and you're not wearing any black clothing."
The Irkens exchanged looks. "Indokuro... week?"
"Fury-beasts hold a greater significance in sobrekt-beast culture than we originally assumed. There's a week-long period that celebrates them and during that time all citizens must wear at least one black piece of clothing."
Purple blinked. He glanced at the others. The invaders, Zim and Lena have black gloves. Red has black in his armor. He, on the other hand, hadn't a single speck of the dark color in him. No wonder he'd been the main target!
"Don't worry, My Tallest, Zim was smart enough to predict this and I got a piece of black for you!" He held down a sort of hat. It looked like the cartoonish head and upper jaw of an indokuro.
Purple only needed one glance at it to know he didn't like it. "There no flirking way I'm going to wear that-!" Out of nowhere, a sobrekt shoved him with such force he fell into the ground with a loud thud. "Give me the stupid hat." He snatched the hat and put it on his head.
The Invaders and Lena tried their best not to laugh. Red burst out into a laughing fit
The quickest way to the outskirts was by taking a train. Purple was happy to say that, though he still felt ridiculous, now that he was wearing the silly black hat the physical assaulting stopped. He still felt uncomfortable in the overcrowded train, though. It was tiring to keep every part of his body as far away from sobrekt contact was possible.
After twenty minutes the train stopped at their destination. Unlike the metropolis they left behind, the outskirts were more…. rural-looking. The buildings weren't made of metal and bricks but seemed to have been built with wooden structures coated in mithrilium layers of paints. The air was cleaner too.
Purple soon saw the reason for that. This area was mostly inhabited by kryvtors, the raptor-like subspecies, smaller and weaker, but faster and more agile than the true Sobrekt. Talking from his own experience, kryvtors were far more laid back than their more aggressive cousins.
As Zim led them through the area bragging about something (perhaps another of his failed schemes), Purple couldn't help but note how there were black banners with colorful stripes adorning each lamp post, and many of the sobrekt had a hat identical to his. "You say there's a festival going on here?"
"Yeah, the Indokuro Week-something. The sobrekt-beasts who have Fury-beasts of their own have special showcases, demonstrations, contests and there's even an aerial show!"
The other Invaders exchanged knowing glances. "They have flying indokuros?" Red inquired.
"Not exactly. They're called OTF."
"What does that stand for?"
"I'm not sure, My Tallest, Blue-beast wouldn't go into details."
Red arched an eyebrow. He silently sent a PAK-message to the other invaders to divulge into that during their reconnaissance.
"And here we are!" Zim stopped in front of a particularly spacious-looking den with a large garden. Two female kryvtors, one light blue with darker stripes and another green with orange, were talking outside. "Those are two of Blue-beast's clutchmates. Hey! I have successfully retrieved my Tallest! Where are the Blue-beast and Ilk-smeet!"
The kryvtors turned to Zim excitedly, only to turn serious when they saw who accompanied him. They warily walked closer. The blue kryvtor ignored the Invaders and addressed the Tallest directly. "So you two are Ilk's family and hitorken Zim's leaders."
"That's right, you… two… whatever you're called."
The other female took a quick look at the two Irkens. "I thought they'd be taller."
"Excuse me?!" Red hissed, flattening his antenna, but Lena stopped him before he could do anything stupid.
"Take it back, lizard! Nobody insults the Almighty Tallest in front of me and lives to tell the tale!" Tenn snapped, only to step back when both females snapped her teeth.
"Behave yourselves, sobrekt-beasts! As long as Zim is here you shall show my Almighty Tallest the respect they are due!"
Both females lowered their heads apologetically. "Sorry, Hitorken Zim." Grimly, they looked at the Irkens with rather forced smiles.
"My name is Chakra, and this is my sister Brava." The green female introduced herself and her sister simultaneously.
"Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you, but I'd like to speak with my daughter Ilk if you don't mind."
"Like, she's the only reason we came to your swampy planet."
Brava bared her teeth at the two Tallest, but a motion from Chakra's hand was enough to make her recede. Lena decided to intervene before someone got hurt. "Please ignore their… rude comments," she frowned at Red and Purple. "We mean no harm. My name is Lena." She held out a hand, but both kryvtors held out their tails instead.
She received a quick PAK-mail from Purple. "Oh, I forgot to mention. Sobrekt aren't fond of physical contact unless they are really close. They usually shake tails instead of hands."
"And you tell me now" Lena responded through a PAK-mail of her own before gently shaking the tails. She spoke out loud again. "Is Ilk here?"
"Irken-Ilk is out with Blue for today's festival. They will be back later." Brava said. "You can wait for them if you wish."
Though sorry disappointed by the news, both Tallests exchanged a look. Then Red spoke. "Actually, we'd rather go look for her. It's been a long time since I last saw my baby.."
"A really long time," Purple added quickly.
"But she called just last month-" Bob was cut off as Purple unceremoniously kicked him away.
"And we'd rather give her a surprise."
Brava and Chakra seemed like they were ready to protest, but Zim spoke up before they could. "Of course, My Tallest! Since we're on it, you may also take a look at the Sobrekt-beasts' festivities!" He didn't notice the look exchanges between his fellow Invaders. "Zim suggests we split up to cover wider terrain!"
"Actually, Zim, would you mind giving us a grand tour?"
"What?" Purple, Lena and the rest of the Irkens looked at Red as if he had gone insane, especially when the insufferable grin on Zim's face returned. The former coughed loudly. "Would you mind us for a second…?" Purple dragged Red out of earshot, just behind the entrance wall. "Have you lost your mind?! It's bad enough that Zim is here to have him sniffing around like a lapdog!"
"In case you forgot, and believe me it pains me to admit it, it's thanks to Zim that we're not still stuck in that damn cell," Red argued. "While we're here, it might be of our convenience to keep him around. You see how the lizards worship the ground he steps on!"
"But it's Zim!"
"I know! But just think about it this way: you'd rather walk around here having to watch your back if any of those lizards decide you're invading their territory?"
Purple crossed his arms with a pout and looked away. Red counted down. Three. Two. One.
"...I hate it when you're right," Purple momentarily glance in the direction of the Massive. It was notably visible even from here. "I'm worried about Cheesecake."
Red groaned. "Come on, Pur, it's the first time in a long time you don't have that thing following you around twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Try to enjoy it while it lasts!"
"What if he gets sick while I'm gone? Or if he gets hurt?"
"Oh, please, we're talking about a three-meter tall lizard with sharp teeth and claws, what's the worst that could happen to him?"
Cheesecake was not happy.
He was not happy.
Master told him to go fetch the tasty round food, but when he returned he was gone. He called out for him, but he didn't come. He looked for him all over the nest but didn't find him. Where did master go? Why did he leave Cheesecake behind? Didn't he want him anymore? In despair he wailed loudly in hopes master would hear him.
The other green ones-master called them shorties, so Cheesecake called them shorties too-tried to put him inside a cage, but he was too smart for that. After every failed attempt he'd chase the shorties around until they ran out of sight, then Cheesecake went back to looking for master.
"W-What are we going to do about that thing?!" the guard panted heavily, then made sure the door was locked behind him. That creature had learned how to open doors not long ago.
"I'm not going near him again! I was lucky he didn't eat me!"
"What do you complain about? He tore my favorite uniform!"
Most of the Massive's crew had gathered in the bridge and barricaded the doors. Ever since Tallest Purple left, the indokuro lost it completely. He ran around the Massive's corridors, shrieking and letting out frantic cries of desperation. Whoever was unfortunate enough to get in his way was carelessly thrown against the wall, bitten, snapped at and even mauled around, particularly scientists and medics.
The service drones were used as bait to try and lure Cheesecake into one of the detention cells in the prisoner brig, but they underestimated his intelligence. He realized their intentions the moment he noticed other life forms behind the electric bars and proceeded to push the unfortunate Irkens into the cell themselves. The other captive aliens had cheered, though sadly for them the indokuro paid them no heed and left the brig.
"What do we do? It's out of control!"
"I have no idea, but we're not going to achieve anything by locking ourselves up here like cowards!"
"If you're so brave, why don't you go deal with it?"
"I can't, I'm not very… important."
For half an hour they discussed ideas and plans of how to get Cheesecake into any confinement without actually hurting him: as much as they hated and feared him, he was still Tallest Purple's beloved pet and he wouldn't take kindly to find a scratch on him when he returned. During one of those instances, one of the technicians accidentally put a recording of security feed with Tallest Purple's voice on the loudspeakers. The Irkens noticed how Cheesecake stopped rummaging through a fallen snack stand and looked around in alarm. This gave them an idea.
The technicians would strategically use the same recording on different loudspeakers, which Cheesecake followed frantically, leading towards the escape pods. The indokuro stopped before an open one, however; something was off. He could hear master's voice, alright, but it sounded… off. Repetitive and unchanging.
Before he could fully understand he had been tricked, one of the guards pushed him into the escape pod and closed the door shut.
The celebration was short-lived, however, as the guard had been so relieved he wasn't torn limb-to-limb that he didn't notice he had leaned against the button that sent the pod off until he heard it shoot out of the Massive and fall down towards Sobr.
*The short with the Vortian and his vegetables is a reference to the cabbage seller from Avatar: The Last Airbender, a recurring character whose vegetables were always destroyed in a humorous way.
*Zim's height: Headcanon. Since Earth's gravity is lower than Irk's, irkens who live there for a prolonged period of time start growing. Don't worry, he won't get taller than the current Tallest.
*Lost, chapter
*Reference to a day tradition in Ireland in which you're supposed to wear green clothing or people will do this.
*OTF: Reference to the anime Dragon pilot: His one and Masotan. You'll see why soon enough.