"Whoop, I got it!" Pleecy called out in the dark. When the lights in the room flickered back on, Dib saw Pleecy leaning on the wall by one hand, mark glowing like crazy, a smile almost as bright as the mark. Well, a lopsided smile, anyway…
Dib blinked and rubbed at his eyes and temples for a few moments, looking back up at the Mystic when his recently retweaked eyes readapted. Who would've thought he'd still have partial Irken eyes? (Well, he did just remember what had happened last Easter, so no wonder he didn't notice) And for that matter, who would have thought that Irken eyes were so light sensitive?
"Power outage," she said. "Must've been some bolt to make half the labs go out."
"Only half? How do you know?"
" 'Cause I can feel it. Like in I feel energy, pretty much. Electricity is just another form of it. I sent an energy pulse into the electricity wires for certain rooms, like this one, but it won't last long." She started toward the auto door, pausing in the doorway. "I have to go down and reboot the system, I'll be right back. I'll need you to watch her until then. The house's computer will monitor the room in case," she said while leaning out the doorway, turning back into the elevator before it closed behind her. Dib could slightly hear the machinery whirring as the elevator descended.
Another boom of thunder resonated through the base, countless tons of rock and cold hard metal muffling it. Even so, Dib flinched a little. His find stirred on the bed, and he thought he heard her moan or squeak. His eyes flicked to her when her head turned to the side, eyes scrunched momentarily. Dib thought he heard her pant, too…and he noticed that her mark had begun to spark like a severed wire.
"Uh, i-is that a bad thing…?" he asked to the air, more to the computer, somewhat to himself. He felt silly talking to thin air, but hey, how else was one to communicate with a house?
Something in the ceiling sent down a red, angled scanning light, which flickered a little as it moved over the Irken's body. "It appears that she's starting to regain consciousness. However, the fluxuating of her mark may be a bad sign."
"What!? Why?"
"She's a Lightning Mystic: the lightning strike hit the house and went into her body. Her instincts kicked in and summoned it to help her regain consciousness. I'm afraid that if this continues, the house may short circuit."
"What would happen then?"
"…Hard to tell. Most likely, horrible things."
Well, an alien computer just hesitated and said horrible things: that doesn't sound good. "So, will she wake up soon, hopefully, yes, maybe…?" Dib asked in a sort of tiny voice, partially starting to cover his mouth in anxiety.
"Oh, she's waking up at the moment. Though I must warn you, sir Dib, that Mystics in self-defense mode are highly –"
The being cringed in on herself, sitting up partially from the action, small tails of static lashing out briefly from her mark.
" – dangerous," finished the computer's voice.
"Self-defense mode? What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's when a Mystic's subconscious instincts take over; a defense mechanism, like growling for an Earth dog, except they don't realize they're doing it since they are not in control at that present time. For example, that static that erupted just now."
"instincts?" Dib mused out loud to himself (poor child). He heard a moan from the gurney and turned his attention from the tube-and-wire-covered ceiling back to the girl.
She had sat up, rubbing at her head and squeezing her eyes shut. Her odd, large, spirally antennae swayed a little. "Uh…what happened? C…computer? Ow…"
Dib hurried over to the gurney's left side and laid a hand tentatively on hers, the computer cautioning him against it, "Sir Dib, I wouldn't do that – "
The girl flinched away from him, withdrawing her hands to herself, leaning away and looking down at Dib with wide eyes, and Dib looked at his hand (as the brief touch had shocked him) quickly before meeting her eyes.
Terrified.
Her eyes looked as wild as an abused dog. He could just hear her shaky breathing. She squeezed her eyes together again, head cringing in, as her mark began another series of sparks and her hands flew from being pressed to her chest to being pressed to her temples. She cried out somewhat, too.
"A-are you okay?" Dib tried asking, warily reaching a hand up at her.
The sparking sputtered out, and she deflated in relief. Her eyes went wide when she opened them and noticed the hand her face had stopped in front of. The Irken looked down the arm to the pale face, bespectacled nose and tiny-irised, tawny eyes.
"W-what's wrong with your eyes? Why are they so…so tiny?" she suddenly asked, panic laced in her shy-sounding voice. It sounded to Dib that her voice was similar to Pleecy's, except that this Irken's voice was more quiet and airy.
Dib blinked at the question, looking down at the middle of his glasses. Something's wrong with his eyes?
"Yeah, t-they're all…s-shrunken…" she replied.
"What?" Dib furrowed his brow. This one doesn't read minds too, does it?
"Y-you asked if something was wrong with your eyes after I asked."
Oh great, I thought out loud again, the human thought to himself, what a first impression. "Well, uh…m-my eyes are fine, except, y'know, for the nearsightedness, but uh…" he cleared his throat. "I-I'm a human. I-I don't think you'd…know what that is, but, uh…w-welcome to Earth, I guess…you-re not like, invading or anything, are you?"
The Irken girl blinked, seeming to have calmed down. He appeared to be nervous too. She scooted to the edge of the bed, hopped off the bed's left side, wandered a few steps between her bed and the next, placed a hand to the wall with a serious face. "Yes, I-i've heard of humans, somewhat, and no, I'm not an invader. What are you doing in an Irken base? A-and where am I? You're human, you said, s-so am I on…Errth, then?" She had to pause and remember the word that had been floating around the Massive the past few moons.
"Earth, yeah. A-are you okay?" Dib asked again, walking up to her.
She put a palm to her forehead with a little pressure, "I-I-I don't know. Last thing I remember is the computer's proximity warning, a-a-and then I hit the atmosphere…" the female Irken leaned on the hand she'd placed on the wall above the gurney's sidetable.
Dib glanced around the room, letting her catch her breath and collect her thoughts. It'd been so long since he had been in this room (and allowed to remember). Just being in it gave him chills. It didn't help that only half of the lights in the room were on, sending the lower half they faced into shadows. Fresh memories of that last night came to mind when he turned around, eyes crawling over the gurney that had once been his, the tables, the door, the first gurney in the row on the right side of the other bed.
His find's slightly airy voice broke him from his trancelike thoughts; "Where's this place's owner? …P-…pleecy, it's pronounced?"
"She's turning the lights back on. Y-you kinda caused a power outage, I-I think…" he stuttered automatically, not really having paid attention to her question, lost in his own thoughts. He snapped out of them, blinked in slight surprise, turned back to her. "Hey, how'd you know her name, anyway?"
"I hacked into the house's memory banks."
"You can do that sort of stuff too, huh?" he asked blandly. (More of a statement than a question, really.)
"What do you mean? 'Too'?"
"Pleecy's all magic-y, like you are, I'm guessing…?"
"Mystic," corrected the computer. "Master Pleecy is an energy Mystic. Sir Dib, she's on her way back up, by the way."
Dib brightened up a little. "O-oh, good." God, can this be any more weird? Just my luck. Like there aren't enough Irkens on this planet. At least Zim's not one of these mystic-things.
"Dib, watch your thoughts, bud," Pleecy chirped as the elevator door opened. She stood with a jesting smirk on her face and her pelvis tilted, a hand on her left hip. Dib felt his face heat up a little.
"Really, Pleecy?"
"Yes, Dib; really. Now then," she lightly clapped her hands together, "let's get to know our visitor, shall we?" The Blue Irken walked up to the ashened Irken girl and stuck a hand out. "Hi~, I'm Invader Pleecy, assisting Tactics Commander Diz's with the Invader Checkpoint in the Milky Way." Pleecy looked her up and down, "I take it you're a Mystic, too?" she stated, quirking a nonexistent eyebrow. Dib thought he heard a twinge of hope in her voice.
Dib's find did the same, looking Pleecy over with divided, golden orbs trained to miss nothing. "Estat'," she said finally, and took Pleecy's hand with a friendly shake and tiny, tiny smile; Dib almost thought she had a blank face. "And I take it you're the famous Pleecy I've heard about."
"Heheh, yeah, t-that's 'prolly me," Pleecy responded, rubbing the back of her head lightheartedly. She cleared her throat, "Well, uh, how in the world did you end up on this world?"
Estat' glanced down, suddenly interested in her ash-covered boots. "It's a bit of a story. A-aren't you an energy Mystic? You couldn't just find out yourself?" She sounded even more anxious than before.
Pleecy sighed, putting a hand on Estat''s shoulder and looking down, exasperated. "Estat', sister, let me explain something to ya: I have to meditate every few days to help keep my abilities in check. So do you. I haven't gotten to do that today. Also, I can't go very long using my abilities willy-nilly; I have to tune out sometime. Then I have to meditate much later."
"Oh…" Estat' just barely understood.
Pleecy picked this up and facepalmed, "Who's your instructor?"
"Pardon?"
Pleecy sighed again. Oh, my God, she thought. "The Pacifist training you?"
"I…I didn't have a Pacifist training me," Estat' replied, slightly wide eyed.
Pleecy went wide eyed too, "…Wait, didn't? What the heck?!"
Estat' looked back down. The corners of her eyes shined.
"Oh, no, no, it's okay. Here, c'mon Dib, let's sit down, eh?" Pleecy said, taking Estat' by the shoulders lightly and moving back toward the gurney. The trio hopped up and sat on it, Dib to Estat''s left, Pleecy to her right still.
She rubbed a dulled-gold, billowy sleeve over her face, smudging both the ash on her face and on the sleeve more. "…The-the Tallests had me convicted for something that wasn't even my fault…" she started, her wispy voice hoarser.
