I just want to remind you, readers, that there are humans, toons, animals that talk and aliens in this story. Why? Why not, I say!
Also, the vehicles Red and Purple, Zee, and Tenn drive are Australian vehicles so the drivers seat is on the right. Just a note and an interesting fact! Oo! You, probably, just learned something!
Another reminder, just in case you forgot. Irkens in this story do NOT need PAKs to survive. The PAKs are just apart of the show's props.
I underlined this one because it's particularly important … not really, but this topic peeves me. I HATE OCS! There, I said. All caps and everything. The reason why I hate OCs is because they take over the story and they tend to be Mary-Sues. That's why I try to keep the number of OCs to a minimum in my stories. And some characters in this story who you think are ordinary OCs aren't really. In fact some will reappear in the show. Example, the Vortian, Ike, from ZIM's barbie last chapter will be (spoiler alert) Vortian Prisoner 777! Oo! Yeah, yeah. I know. Coolio!
One more thing about Irken anatomy! Irken pregnancies only last for six months! Because Irkens are so tiny when born they don't develop as much as humans do. They develop more outside the womb. (The only reason why I made up this rule is because I noticed I put Zee and Tenn's birthdays are too close together! Silly me! I could sworn they were one and a half years apart! Oh well.)
Haha! I lied! You get one more note. You pronounce Red's middle name like this, Elias (Eli: as if you're saying Elijah, then As after Eli.) Oh and I made a mistake on the pronunciation of ZIM's name. It's like ZAY-DEN not Zay-DAN! just putting that out there. and Zeiden I found out was a real name! But it's a surname not a first name from the Yiddish/Hebrew culture. But then in that culture it's pronounced ZIE- (rhymes with Die.) Dun (like dun, dun, dunnnn!)
To my readers! I love you guys! I love everyone but I love you guys just a little bit more! Seriously the comments are so sweet they give me cavities. (Knee Slapper) Thank you!
Anyways, Enjoy!
8 Months Later
September 31, 1994
"Careful ZIM! If you fall then I'm gonna have to scrape up your remains with a shovel." A familiar high-pitched voice called from below. Purple's voice. Purple, Red, and ZIM were gathering samples of plants by a waterfall to study. ZIM currently on top of the tall fall. Red was docking ZIM's findings. And Purple was like the nervous mother waiting anxiously.
"I do this stuff all the time, Purp! Need not to worry!" ZIM called down. "I found some weird looking flower. Kinda like a cross breed of a lotus and a lily. There's only one do you want me to pick it or take a pict-AHH!" ZIM screamed as he slipped on a wet rock and went crashing down. He felt his elbow smack the stone hard. He groaned as he stood back up, relieved he didn't go over the fall. He heard Red and Purple laughing below.
"A-are you o-okay?" Red called in between gasps for air. ZIM peeked his over the falls edge with a scowl on his face.
"My elbow is more than likely shattered but I'll live! Thanks for your concern!" He said. "Jerks …"
"Eh … to answer your question, pick the flower so we can run some tests on it!" Red said. ZIM nodded and picked the peculiar-looking flower. "Careful on your way down, ZIM! It's very slippery as you probably just found out." ZIM grumbled. His elbow was throbbing. ZIM noticed blood soaking through the fabric and sliding down his arm. He rolled up his sleeve to see the damage. A long cut from his elbow down to midway of his forearm. Deep enough to gush out blood.
"Um, I'm bleeding pretty bad Red."
"Good thing Zee can stitch, huh?" ZIM did a sharp intake of breath. Last time Zee stitched him up, not only did it hurt like Irk, but it was too loose and fell out meaning she had to do it again. Of course she improved over time but he didn't want to take any chances.
"Can we go to a hospital instead?" ZIM asked as he climbed down the fall. "I'd feel more comfortable."
"Don't be a wimp." Red said. He was standing directly underneath ZIM to make sure that he'd catch his brother if he fell. ZIM saw him and kicked a stone down. The stone and some sand landed on his face. Red coughed and tried to get the sand out of his mouth and eyes. "Ack! Ugh … besides Z, we're in the Never Never parts of Australia. We're miles away from any hospital!" ZIM was finally close enough to the ground to jump off the steep cliff-like wall. He landed like a cat.
"Lets see the bloody mess." Purple said, getting on his knees so he's closer to his little OBFAM. Yes, they finally abbreviated, 'Other Brother From Another Mother'. And it was so much easier and faster to say. The purple-eyed Irken looked over the cut carefully. Purple sighed and reached into a bag they took with them whenever they went on little mini-ventures, as they called it. He grabbed some gauze, medical tape and rubbing alcohol along with some cotton swabs, and a small hand towel. "You gotta be more careful when you're helping us with things like this."
"I tried to, but it's very, very, very, very slippery up there." ZIM moaned in pain as Purple pressed the towel against his wound. "I don't know how this happened. I didn't see no sharp rocks up there."
"Grammar." Purple mumbled. ZIM rolled his eyes. He's been told more than once to watch his grammar, punctuation and pronunciation of certain words and sentences. Purple even once went as far as to tell him to start taking online homeschooling like Tenn and Zee. Red only agreed. "This might sting a bit … a lot." He said quietly, putting the alcohol on a swab and gently cleaning the cut ZIM sustained. The youngest brother yelped in surprise as a burning, stinging sensation shot through his arm. He pulled his arm away quickly only to be snatched and held steadily again.
"Calm yourself, mate. You don't want to get infected do you?" Red asked not expecting an answer. Purple continued to disinfect the wound as Red kept ZIM as calm as possible. Once the cut was finally bandaged and properly dressed they headed back to the jeep to go home.
"Stupid rock. That fricken' hurt." ZIM mumbled to himself holding his injured elbow. "We going home?" He asked climbing in the backseat as Red and Purple took the front.
"Well yeah. You need stitches."
"Isn't it a bit early to quit work?"
"We're heading back out once you're stitched up." Purple said.
"Why cant I go out again?"
"Why do you think?" Red asked absentmindedly. He started the jeep and drove in the direction of their temporary camp area. They were currently living in the east coast of Australia, about 50 miles south of the coastal city, Dongara, studying the plants and animals there and comparing them to the plants and animals on the west coast.
ZIM slouched in his seat. Now Zee was gonna baby him for the rest of the day. She grew to pretty much believe that she was his mother over the past 6 and a half years. The young Irken held tightly to his arm. This was gonna suck.
Later
ZIM cried out in pain as the needle penetrated his skin. He was told to sit still while Zee stitched him up, but it was so hard. Every time the needle went in he either yelped, groaned, or cussed in Irken which resulted in a slap to the back of his head, courtesy of Tenn who was helping hold ZIM still.
"There," Zee said, finally. "All done! Take it easy for awhile okay? Why don't you go watch T.V. for a bit?" ZIM frowned. He could think of tons more fun things to do. Most involved his boomerang and finding that annoying kookaburra that kept waking him up at four in the morning.
"Fine," He mumbled, jumping off the table. "I'll be in Red's room." ZIM walked steadily to the older brother's room and settled himself in Red's bed and turned on the T.V. and flipped through the stations until he decided on Tiny Toon Adventures. He didn't know why, but ZIM really liked American cartoons. They were so much funnier. Maybe it was because Americans are crazy, but then again, so were Australians … humans in general. "Our scripts were reject, expect the unexpected …" ZIM mumbled with the theme song. ZIM liked the fact that life was not predictable. It kept him on his toes. Red told him a quote their mother said when she was in labor with ZIM, 'Life throws many curveballs, we just have to be prepared to catch them'. ZIM hung on those words of wisdom.
ZIM raised his antennas as the door to the room opened. Tenn poked her head in. "Hey, Zei-Zei."
"Yeeesshh?" He drawled.
"Red has huge news when he gets home from work."
"Something to do with his job, I'm assuming?"
"What else would it be?"
"Wombats are attacking New Zealand." ZIM said, staring blankly at the T.V. Tenn chuckled.
"Silly head, there are no wombats in New Zealand. No ZIM I think we might be moving soon."
"What? But his year and a half isn't up yet!" ZIM looked at her.
"I know, but the head scientist said that he had enough sufficient data from the outback and that Red and Purple can move along and do the next expedition in the States." ZIM's eyes widened.
"B-but . . . I-"
"We'll talk more later. Just stay still for now okay? I just wanted to give you a heads up." And with that Tenn left. ZIM curled his lips downward. They were moving?
That Night
"So," ZIM swallowed a lump in his throat as he looked down at his lap. He was sitting on Zee's lap in the small living room of their RV. "When are we moving?" Red frowned. He new ZIM would be upset about leaving the country so early.
"Next month. The plane is already booked and Mr. Walker had bought us a nice two story house on the lakeside." Mr. Walker was the the man who took care of the finances for the science headquarters Red and Purple worked for. ZIM sighed and leaned back and cuddled into Zee. "It's gonna be a new experience, ZIM."
"Yeah, Zei! It'll be fun! We'll be pretty close to Canada! Maybe I could go show you where I grew up!" Purple exclaimed.
"Oo! I always wanted to go to Canada! Maybe we could see what it's like to be a lumberjack and go moose tipping." Tenn said in a very nasally, high-pitched, voice with a Canadian accent twanging her speech. Purple rolled his eyes.
"Cute …"
"But I thought we had a couple more months until we left. This is very sudden." ZIM whined, ignoring his other brother and sisters argument..
"Life throws curveballs, Zeiden," Red said, winking.
"You just got to be prepared to catch them." ZIM finished.
November 3, 1994
ZIM leaned his head on the window of the plane. He sighed and looked out at the clouds hovering below them. Red put an arm around his little brother.
"I did some research on the place we are going to live. In the summer there's a place called the Silver Lake Sand Dunes that we could go to and ride quads and dirt bikes and sand rails through. It's supposed to be really fun. Would you like to go there when it's summer?" ZIM turned his head to Red.
"Hah! Like you'd let me ride a dirt bike there."
"I might. All you need is an ORV license."
"I have and ORV." ZIM said. Red smiled.
"Yes you do."
"Would you really let me ride?" ZIM asked hopefully. Red shrugged.
"Yes. As long as you stay within my sight and don't go in the bad lands."
"Passengers, please fasten your seat belts. We will be landing in ten minutes at Custer Airport in Detroit." The pilot said over the intercom. Red looked over at his younger brother and stroked his antenna.
"Excited?" He asked.
"Meh." ZIM said, weakly. "I can almost feel the temperature drop."
"It's a good thing our family runs really hot blood, huh?" Red said, nudging ZIM in the side. Purple leaned over the aisle to talk to the two.
"Believe me, if you think this temperature is cold, then you won't last a day in the winter." Purple said. The blood related brothers looked at him.
"Can't wait." Red muttered, puckering his lips. He felt someone kick the back of his seat. He groaned and turned his head. "What Tenn?"
"How long will it take to get to Silver Lake?" Red thought for a moment.
"Like … 4 hours. Why?"
"I've gotten motion sickness. I was just in the bathroom throwing up my slushy and burrito I had for lunch." ZIM wrinkled his nose.
"Ew, what color was it?" The youngest asked. Red swatted the back of his head. "Owies!" Tenn chuckled.
"Well, I guess we'll just stay the night in Detroit so you don't get sick in the car." The jet shook a bit as it shifted and started going down and down and down. ZIM could feel his antenna pop. He grabbed them and moaned as he rubbed them. The plane bounced as the wheels touched the ground and started to come to a slow halt.
"Ugh! What time is it? I think I have some serious jet lag!" ZIM said and reclined in his seat.
"Not surprised. There is a 13 hour time difference." Red stood up and opened the over-head storage compartment and pulled out several bags and tossed them at ZIM and Purple. "Come on, mates. We gotta get the rest of our bags and book a hotel cause whinny here can't take another 4 hours of being cramped up in a stuffy vehicle." Red said pointing at Tenn. She rolled her eyes but said nothing. As the family got off the plane ZIM nearly fell back as he felt a strong wind smack him hard. It was cold. So cold!
"Ahhhh." Purple breathed heavily. "I missed you lung freezing air!" He exclaimed. ZIM shook his head at his brother.
"This will take some getting used to." He muttered. Purple turned to him.
"Hey Zei-Zei, have you ever seen snow before?" ZIM's teeth chattered as more wind hit him.
"N-no." Purple smiled deviously. 'Oh Irk. What is that man thinking.'
Next Day
ZIM jumped out of the van he sat in for the last 4 hours and looked at his surroundings. He did liked Detroit, but he didn't like the noises of sirens all night long. That kept him up. It was worst than kookaburras back at home. The Macale's gawked at the house they were going to live in. A beautiful beach house. It was white and had a deck leading to lake Michigan. There was a stone path leading up to the patio in front of the house. Surrounding the stones was beach sand and grass.
"Huh. I'm sure it's tons more pretty in the summer." Red said. He was probably right. The trees were bare for the winter.
"It's prettyful now." Zee countered. "Just look at it! It's like the one we had in Red Rock when Zeiden was born."
"A two story with a basement! We'll have a lot of room." Red said. "It will be so much better than that cramped RV." ZIM cautiously stepped toward the home. The door was facing east towards the inland.
"I think … that I … should get the biggest room." ZIM said calmly. He slowly looked at his family as they stared back. "Good idea, Zeiden." He whispered to himself, loud enough for his siblings to hear too. Red scoffed.
"Um, I think the smallest here should have the smallest room." The others nodded in agreement.
"Pfft, whatever."
"How many rooms are there?"
"Like 5, I think. Plus a game room, living room, kitchen, dining room, and home office. A few bathrooms." Red walked up to the door and unlocked it with his copy of the key. The others followed. They entered the nice beach house and looked around. They found themselves in the foyer. Deeper into the house were stairs on their right leading up to the second level of the house where most the bedrooms were. The foyer lead to an empty living room with huge glass windows that overlooked the lake and dune leading down to the beach. The living room was next to the kitchen and dining room to their left. On the opposite side of the living area was a door to the basement.
"It's big." Zee said. Red nodded.
"That might change when we buy furniture for it." Red said. "Lets give ourselves a tour, eh?"
"Sure," Purple said, making his way toward the living room. "How many of the bathrooms have toilets in them?"
"All, I think. This house was built for a human family. Why do you ask?"
"Well maybe if we remove the toilets we'll have more room in the bathrooms."
"That's not a bad idea actually." Red considered the plan.
"Shouldn't we leave at least one toilet just in case we have human visitor?" Zee asked. ZIM rolled his eyes. The whole ride there from Detroit was filled with boring conversations and now he had to endure yet another one. He felt someone grab his hand. ZIM looked up and saw Tenn looking back at him.
"Let's go explore." She smiled at him. He returned the smile. Tenn and ZIM walked up the stairs to where all the bedrooms should be. When they climbed all 18 steps, ZIM counted, they saw a one-sided hallway with doors lining it on the left side. Tenn and ZIM peeked over the railing of the catwalk-type thing to see the three others in the living room directly below.
"I'm tempted to slide down the railing." ZIM said, eyeing the hand rail of the stairs. Red must've heard him because he looked up at his two younger siblings.
"Don't you dare, Zeiden Macale." He warned. ZIM pouted and looked back down at Red, Purple, and Zee.
"I won't hurt myself." ZIM said. Red glared at him.
"Tenn make sure your brother doesn't do anything stupid and hurt himself."
"Aye, aye, Sir Red! ZIM don't be a tard."
"ZIM's not a tard." ZIM muttered. Tenn picked him up and carried him. To the first door on the left. She opened it and entered. The two of them looked around. This room had hardwood flooring and a wall, opposite from the door's wall, made completely of windows. It gave a beautiful view of the Great Lake and beach. It also had a walk in closet and … was that a jacuzzi in the corner of the room?
"Cool beans!" ZIM exclaimed. Tenn set him down.
"Go see the other rooms." Tenn told him. "Red will probably assign you your room." ZIM groaned.
"Why would he do that?" He asked loudly. Tenn shrugged.
"Well knowing you, you'd probably choose a closet or the kitchen as your room." ZIM scoffed.
"I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid!" Tenn raised a brow.
"Doesn't dumb and stupid come hand in hand?" ZIM lifted his antenna then slicked them back flat against his head.
"Shush your noise making tubular device you call a mouth."
"Every time you talk you just make my point more and more."
"I'm am going to cry." ZIM said not really meaning it.
"Did you just say, 'I'm am'?" Tenn asked. ZIM stared at her for a very long time before doing something completely spontaneous and out there. He screamed and ran out of the room saying something about his grammar was perfectly fine, a crash followed his dramatic exit. "Yeah, that's something only ZIM would do." Tenn said to herself. She calmly walked out of the room to find her unstable brother. Red came up the stairs to see what the ruckus was all about.
"I heard ZIM scream." He said.
"Yup, he doesn't like it when you correct him."
"Well where did he go?"
"Irk if I know." Red groaned.
"Zeiden! ZIM! Get over yourself and c'mere! We're choosing our rooms now! ZIM?" Red walked down the hall a bit until he got to the last door in the hall that was slightly ajar. He opened the door all the way. He saw ZIM sniffing in the corner. He was holding his nose.
"Aww, Zeiden, did Tenn make you cry." ZIM looked up at Red with a questionable look on his face.
"No, but I did run into a door. Smacked my nose pretty hard." Irkens did have noses. You couldn't see them without a microscope because they were just little minuscule pores where the nose should be. Irken noses were not prominent by any means. Red snickered.
"Was that the crash we heard?" ZIM let go of his nose and looked at his hand covered in bluish-red Irken blood. It was gushing out of his pores. ZIM couldn't help but laugh at himself.
"Maybe I'm dumb and stupid." Red walked over to him and picked him up.
"Tenn I told you to watch him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid to hurt himself!" Red called.
"Is he hurt?" Tenn asked from a different room.
"Yes."
"Oops."
"Let's go get yourself cleaned up." ZIM smiled at his brother as they walked out.
November 17, 1994
ZIM woke up in his bed feeling really cold. He groaned as he opened one eye. The windows on the opposite side of the room revealed the outside to be very cloudy and … something white was falling from the sky. This made the young Irken curious. He got out of bed and ran to the window.
"Holy Irk! Is that ash?" He yelped.
"It's just snow, ZIM." Purple said. ZIM whirled around to face his brother. Purple was dressed in nothing but long plaid sleep pants. He was leaning against the doorway. ZIM then turned back out the window.
"Oh, duh." ZIM said meekly. He laughed nervously. "I was- I was just, Uh, reading a book on the holocaust last night and, ya' know, they, um, Nazis burned innocent people and the ash kinda looked like snow so everyone thought it was snow and they'd eat it not knowing that the 'snow' was coming from smoke stacks at a concentration camp-"
"ZIM! ZIM, you're rambling. And … I guess I understand." Purple said cutting him off. The violet eyed Irken walked into the room and scooped up the tinier one. "There was kind of a blizzard last night when you went to sleep so we don't have to work today. Oh and Red has some exciting news for you too." ZIM frowned. Exciting news usually meant boring news. They just said it was exciting to grab his attention and make him listen.
"Ace," ZIM mumbled. "Can't wait." Purple grinned at him. Purple kissed his little brothers temple and put him down.
"Dress warmly. And maybe later today, I can teach you how to snowboard!" Purple said, leaving the room. ZIM rolled his eyes.
'How hard could it be?'
Later
"Ack! Shit." Red yelled as he fell on his rear. Purple swatted his shoulder.
"Language. We got young antennas here." He said pointing at ZIM who was trying to latch his feet onto a snowboard he had just gotten. The three of them rode vehicles called snowmobiles five miles away from their house to a really big hill so they could snowboard. So far Red has been cussing up a storm because he could not find balance. ZIM couldn't even get the stupid board to stay on his feet. Purple was making fun of them. Maybe he was getting them back for making fun of him when he couldn't surf. ZIM huffed, adjusting his slim blue and orange Tigers jacket that he got in Detroit.
"Purp! I need help!" He finally said. The tall Irken looked at him.
"Keep trying, Z. You'll get it soon." ZIM stuck out his lower lip and made the most adorable face he could muster. It seemed to work on Purple. After awhile of staring at each other, Purple finally sighed and went over to help. Success.
"You little brat." He mumbled. ZIM just smiled cutely up at him.
"Uh, hey! Purp, you wanna help me get back up?" Red asked, mimicking, or trying to, ZIM's puppy face. Purple looked over his shoulder at his friend. He laughed when he saw Red's pathetic face and only helped him up because he looked so helpless.
"First and last time I'm helping you today, Reddy." He said, offering a hand which Red held onto gratefully.
"Whatever Purp, I will more than likely won't need your assist-" Red was cut off by a feminine voice from behind them.
"Excuse me," The two tall Irkens whirled around. Even ZIM seemed startled at the new voice. A woman stood behind them. A human woman with long red-ish, brunette hair and crystal blue eyes. "Um, I don't think I've ever seen you guys around here. You new?" she asked nervously. Red's heart fluttered.
"Yes, relatively new. I'm Red Macale-"
"I'm Peder Kinley!"
"I'm Zeiden Macale Junior!" ZIM called from sitting on the ground.
"Quiet ZIM. Uh, we moved in a few weeks ago." Red said. The woman smiled.
"Are you guys from Irk? Because it sounds like you just moved here from Australia?" Red cleared his throat.
"Yes well, we are Irkens but we were born and raised in Australia, yeah."
"I wasn't!" Purple cut in. Red waved him off. ZIM glanced at Purple. They shared a devious smile.
"He's from O' Canada! His home and native land! Or if you wanna be all fancy like and sing it in French it would go a little like this, 'Ô Canada! Terre de nos aïeux'," ZIM continued to sing on as Purple shook his head at the younger. Maybe he shouldn't have taught his little OBFAM how to speak French.
"I don't think I caught your name." Red changed the subject, giving the woman a heart warming smile.
"Leslie Strud."
"Strud Muffin!" ZIM called his voice muffled, he was still on the ground but this time laying down with his face in the snow. Purple probably pushed him like that in order to make him stop singing.
"Zeiden hush." Red hissed. Leslie chuckled.
"Aww, he's so cute. You're his father?"
"Brother." Leslie cooed.
"Aw, I wish my brother took me snowboarding when we were younger."
"Yeah, well I made a promise to my mom saying that I would take care of him by any means possible."
"Is your parents back in Australia or are they here?" Purple and ZIM quieted down, knowing this was a touchy subject for Red. Red took a deep breath.
"My father is a P.O.W. and my mother called home when Zeiden was born." Leslie's eyes widened and blushed a bit.
"I-I am so sorry, I won't talk about anymore, I'm very sorry."
"No! No, no, no. You didn't know. You're fine." Red said recovering from the question.
"So, um, I just came by to see if your little one would like anyone to play with. My daughter would just love to make new friends, and she's off for Thanksgiving break so …" Red's heart sunk when he heard the word daughter. ZIM jumped up, snowboard still bound to his feet.
"Heck fluckin' yeah! ZIM needs more friends!" The tiny Irken exclaimed. Leslie was shocked by this outburst and cracked up.
"He is not shy is he?" She asked.
"Not unless he wants to be." Purple stated, smacking ZIM hard upside the head at the really close swear word. The woman nodded.
"Mm, it's hard being a single mom and raising an adopted child. Maybe if she makes more friends it will be easier." Red nearly jumped with joy. Purple must've saw the excited look on his face cause he laughed and put a hand on his shoulder to make him calm down. Red composed himself.
"Yes, well, I know how you feel. I had to raise two kids and a smeet by the age of 19 with little to no help."
"Tak's parents helped you!" Red covered ZIM's mouth with his hand.
"Wow!" Leslie exclaimed. "That's amazing! And here I am feeling sorry for myself."
"I see chemistry," ZIM said in a intellectual voice to Purple as his brother and his new lady friend talked. "Two atoms are bonding. The two atoms are Red and Leslie, bonding means they are finding things they have in common … or something … was, what I just said, not insightful?" ZIM asked very proud of himself. Purple squinted one eye at him.
"Are you sure you're 6? You're talking as if you actually went to school." ZIM shrugged.
"I is a smarty pants." He said, he lost his balances and fell to his knees. When he looked back up he noticed Leslie was leaving and making her way down the hill to a house at the bottom. "Where is my future sister-in-law going?" ZIM asked. Purple playfully swatted his rear. Red had a dorky-looking smile on his face.
"She is nice." Red said, promptly. "She's getting her daughter and coming back to hang out some more, I also just found out her adopted daughter was from New Orleans, ZIM, isn't that great?" ZIM squinted at him. What a dweeb.
"How old is she?"
"The her daughter is half a year younger than you." ZIM beamed with anticipation. This mystery girl would be the first friend he made since he got to the states.
"Hey Zimmy, why don't you take a practice run on your board while you wait?" Purple asked.
"How 'bout you first, Mr. I Can Snowboard Like A Pro So I'm Gonna Make My Brothers Feel Jealous Of Me Cuz I Can Snowboard And Stuff!" ZIM said. The older Irkens looked at him as if he were crazy. Which he was.
"Umm, I think I will then." Purple said, he quickly latched his black and red snowboard to his feet and jumped up. "Take notes, Z!" ZIM looked up from eating a snowball he made, confused.
"Wha …?" Purple launched himself off the hill with intense power as he swerved trees and bushes and jumped in the air going down the hill, doing tricks all the way. ZIM feigned being impressed, faking 'Oo's and 'Ah's when really, deep down he really was impressed. ZIM and Red watched as Purple skidded to a stop at the bottom. He looked up the hill.
"Y'all see dat, dawg, Purple-Nurple shredded it up!" He yelled as he walked carefully back up the steep hill. Once at the top he saw ZIM making a snow angel and Red was still in a daze. Purple sighed. "You Macales just can't stand it when someone is better at something than you are, can you?" ZIM sat up and cocked a brow.
"What was that?" ZIM asked as if he didn't see a thing. Purple smirked and bent over and packed some snow into a tight ball and threw it at his face. ZIM cried out and held his abused nose. ZIM got ready to pounce on Purple until he saved himself by pointing down the hill at some people.
"Hey look, it's your new friend! Why don't you go greet 'er?" Purple asked standing ZIM up and pushing him down the hill. ZIM still had the snowboard attached to his feet but instead of using the board he slid all the way down on his stomach face first. When ZIM finally stopped he had snow all over him and some got down his jacket even. He looked over when he saw two shadows loom over him. It was Leslie and her adopted daughter.
"Are you okay?" Leslie asked, concerned. He stood up and brushed himself off.
"Yeah, I'm used to this kind of abuse." He said, nonchalantly. He looked at the new girl who was gawking at him. ZIM took note of the girl with purple hair. That was certainly an odd color for hair but not impossible, especially if you were a toon like she probably was. "Hi! I'm Zeiden! But you can call me ZIM! And you are?" The girl didn't respond and just continued to stare. "Um, is there something in my teeth?" ZIM asked covering his mouth. Leslie nudged the girl with purple hair.
"Gaz, this is the boy I told you about, he is new to the neighborhood." ZIM smiled widely.
"Why does he sound funny?" She whispered. ZIM's smile deflated and he suddenly felt self conscious. He sounded funny? They sounded funny with their nasally voices and their silly phrases. Leslie glared at her daughter.
"That is very rude, say you're sorry." The girl looked at him and didn't say anything.
"But he does sound funny." She stated again. Now ZIM was flat out frowning.
"Gazelle!"
"A-Ha! Excusez-moi, I just recently moved here from Australia. So if you mean my accent sounds funny then that is understandable. But just remember, to me, you sound funny too." The purple-haired girl smiled at ZIM, he couldn't help but return the friendly smile. "So you are from New Orleans! Vous parlez français, oui?" The girl cocked a brow. ZIM shook his head. "Never mind." Leslie smiled. He was hitting it off pretty well.
"Hey, Hun? Where is your brother?" ZIM looked at her.
"Which one?"
"Your biological one."
"He is up the hill with my non-biological brother." Leslie chuckled and thanked him before walking up the hill. ZIM turned his attention back to his female companion.
"Gaz, is it? I like it, it's very … original." He said to her.
"Gazelle LeRoy Strud is my full name." She said. "What are you?" She asked, pulling one of ZIM's antenna. The tiny Irken cried in pain at the rough touch. ZIM flicked his sensitive feelers away from the nosy human.
"I am Irken! Surely you have heard of the mighty Irken race!"
"I have. I hear they are very advanced and live for a very long time and have a awesome military." Gaz said. ZIM smiled. Why did she ask if she knew what he was. Maybe it was to make conversation.
"Heh, yeeeaaahhh . . ." ZIM drawled.
"So … ZIIIMMM." Gaz said, making his name sound weird, as if she didn't know how to pronounce it correctly. She was staring at his Tigers jacket. "Do you like baseball?" ZIM nodded vigorously.
"I used to play cricket all the time back in Oz. It's like the same thing..."
"But better." Gaz said.
That Night
"Purple said you had exciting news for me." ZIM said as the family sat down for supper. Red snapped out of his train of thought. He had a stupid look on his face so, obviously, he was thinking of Leslie.
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Red cleared his throat and looked at his younger brother. "You're behind on school, ZIM. You should have started first grade last fall and you totally skipped kindergarden" ZIM scowled. He knew this conversation would eventually come.
"But, I'm so much more advanced and smart than those human kids! I have the intelligence of a seventh grader in a 6 years olds body!" Red groaned and rubbed his temples. He knew ZIM was gonna put up a fuss.
"Sorry, ZIM. I can either enroll you in public school or you can be home schooled like Tenn and Zee are right now." ZIM wrinkled his nose.
"No way am I going to public school! I'm not gonna let those humans hold me back." Red rolled his eyes.
"Prejudice, aren't ya?" Purple muttered.
"The other thing, ZIM, the Griffons are coming for to visit for nine days next week." Red reported. ZIM nearly doubled over. He hasn't seen Tak in almost a year! Maybe over a year! He only got to talk to her on the phone and through transmissions.
"Are you for cereal!" ZIM exclaimed. Tenn and Zee chuckled.
"Yay! ZIM gets to see his girlfriend!" Zee snickered. Purple shook his head.
"That ain't nothin'! You shoulda seen Red with his new lady friend today!" He said. Red shot him a glare.
"Shut up, Purp." ZIM perked up at the chance to annoy his brother.
"Oh yeah! Man! It was so pathetic! It's like he doesn't know how to flirt! I got a real kick outta him when he commented on Leslie's shoes asking if she was wearing UGGS and even went as far as asking if he could try them on." Zee turned to her older brother in disbelief. Red puckered his lips.
"And she let me, and they were very warm."
"Aww, Red has something for Leslie!" Purple sung. "I don't blame ya' bro. She is pretty."
"Don't be daft, Peder! Redward is too young to date!" ZIM said in a motherly tone.
"First of all he said nothing about dating, second, don't call me Redward." Red said.
"I'll call you whatever I want!"
"Oh will ya?" Red questioned.
"Yes! Redward! Redhead! Redwin, Red-… etcetera!" An evil look crossed Red's features.
"That's it!" He said getting up. He yanked ZIM out of his chair and held him by his ankle so he was dangling upside down. For a brief moment ZIM had Déjà Vu.
"Eep!" ZIM tried to make Red let go but with little success. "What are you doing?" ZIM felt himself being dropped. He was now on his back by the dining table. Red had him pinned and it looked like the older Irken was about to spit on him.
"Take back all those names. You know I hate them." Red said with a wicked grin.
"Nevah! Prepare for Zimpact!" ZIM shouted. He started to shake and thrash wildly from underneath Red. The others watched at ZIM's pathetic performance of escaping. Red stayed on with no problem and it looked like ZIM was about to explode from effort of trying to get him off. After a few more moments of that madness ZIM finally settled and gave up. Red stared at him with his mouth gaped. "Purple! Get this beast off me!" Purple shrugged and got out of his chair and lunged at Red making him topple over. Now the two oldest were wrestling on the ground now in a brotherly manner. They do this all the time.
"Boys! Stop! Careful, one of you will end up crying!" Zee shouted at the two in a tussle. ZIM suddenly jumped on his chair and declared loudly,
"We are a family! We do not fight each other! We love each other!" Red and Purple looked at him as well as Zee and Tenn. "You two," He pointed at Red and Purple. "Hug, kiss and makeup!"
"You sic'd him on me!" Red said, getting up from the ground and pointing at his other brother.
"That's how I assert my dominance. By telling people much older than me to do my bidding."
"You think you're dominate over us?" Purple inquired. The dining room got deathly silent as Red, Purple, Zee, and Tenn stared at ZIM with intense eyes. ZIM seemed to shrink a little.
"Eh … of course not! We're … equals. Uh, you guys have authority over me. Yeah … Is it hot in here? I feel cold." He said hopping off the table not really knowing what he'd just said.
"Now then," Zee sighed. "we got the craziness out of our systems, can we please have an adult conversation?"
"Can't." ZIM said bluntly.
"Why not?" Tenn asked.
"Cause you're only 17 and I'm 6." ZIM said, making a stupid face. "A-duh!" Tenn ignored him.
"ZIM, go to bed. This Leslie chick sounds nice. When do I get to meet her?" Zee asked.
"Depends." Red said. He had a great after noon with Leslie. It started off her teaching him how to snowboard then it turned into a snowball fight. Adults against kids. Kids were out numbered and out matched. Then she invited the three Irkens for coffee or hot chocolate. The only downside was that ZIM gotten into the coffee and was bouncing off the walls ever since.
"And I hear you made a new friend." Tenn said to ZIM.
"You heard right. Her name is, Gazelle. She thought I sounded funny. Something about my accent."
"Well you do have an authentic Aussie accent."
"Meh, she was probs just jealous of me then."
"Why would anyone be jealous of you?" Tenn asked. ZIM gave her a lopsided smile.
"Who wouldn't? I mean, look at me!" The four others did and rolled their eyes. He could be so arrogant sometimes. His siblings could easily accuse him of having megalomania.
"Uh-huh. Well changing the subject, when the Griffons come you better be on your best behavior! I can tell your opinion on girls are changing by the way you were looking at that Gaz, girl today." ZIM made a weird snorting sound and leaned back in his chair.
"She was looking at me funny too!"
"That's because you're an alien! These people don't see our kind a whole lot. No Earthlings do. They expect all Irkens to live on Irk."
"What? Why would Irkens live on Ir- oh. But we don't."
"My point exactly." Red said, taking a swig of his drink. Everyone stopped their conversations as they heard a knock at the front door. "Someone's here. ZIM, try to act normal. Purple, see to it that he does. Tenn and Zee, keep doing what you're doing." The Purple and ZIM saluted him as he went to the front door and answered it. It was Leslie and she was smiling widely. "Hey!" Red exclaimed.
"Hi, I came by to-"
"Leslie Strud-Muffin!" ZIM ran to the foyer and jumped on the woman to give her a hug. "What brings you here at such an odd hour? Did you have plans with my brother? Huh? Huh? Huh?" Leslie laughed as she held onto the tiny Irken. Red growled and grabbed ZIM by his sides.
"Zeiden! Purple, I told you to watch him!" Purple trotted to the front door and helped Red pry ZIM off the lady.
"I was eating a yummy taco." Purple grumbled, carrying ZIM back to the dining area. "C'mon you little hellion." Leslie just continued to chuckle.
"Your family is so cute." She said.
"Yes, well. They're also annoying." Red chuckled. "Gotta love them."
"I believe on of you left this on my counter at my house." Leslie said pulling an Irken brand cellular device out of her pocket. "Is it some type of cell phone? I looked at a few times and couldn't find out what it was because it's all foreign."
"It's an Irken communication device. It's kinda like a cell phone, just a bit more advanced. It's called and Imp." Red said taking it. "Thanks it's probably Purple's. He'd forget his antennas if they weren't attached." Leslie giggled and looked into Red's eyes. Red gazed back at her. "Um, would you like to come in?" Red asked.
"Thanks but I need to get back to little Gazzie. Maybe tomorrow we could hang out again?" Red nodded as Leslie shook his hand. She slipped something in the palm of his hand.
"I'd like that." He whispered. Leslie nodded back and turned on her heals and made her way back to her car. And with one final wave she got in and was gone. Red looked down and noticed she gave him a phone number and a sticky note. The oldest Macale was ecstatic. He spun around and sauntered back to the dining room where everyone was waiting for him. "Tenn would you like close with prayer?" Red asked with that same dorky smile he had on earlier.
"Uh, sure." Tenn said looking at Zee who just shrugged. Tenn started to pray but instead of listening, Red's mind wandered to the pretty woman he met that day. Life just threw a curveball named Leslie at him, and he caught it.
One Week Later
November 24, 1994
"Zeiden, oh my God!" A young female Irken screamed and ran over to her friend. ZIM opened his arms and caught her in an embrace.
"I missed you too, Tak." He said calmly. She pulled back for a moment to pepper him with sweet little kisses all over his face. Tak's parents and ZIM's siblings watched making cooing noises at the cute scene. ZIM didn't fight Tak like he normally would, but that was only because he hasn't seen her in over year. Longer than he expected not to see her.
"Remember that journal I gave you?" She asked. ZIM gave her a confused look but remember almost immediately.
"Oh yes! It's in my room. I filled out every page and even added some photos and drawings." Tak seemed to glow. She was so happy.
"So where is this Purple character you've been talking about over the transmissions?" ZIM almost forgot that Tak has never met his OBFAM brother before.
"Oh yeah, he's over there." ZIM said pointing toward the house. They could see Purple shaking Mr. Griffon's hand as Mrs. Griffon kissed Red on his cheeks and asked if he had grown when they were gone.
"Whoa! He looks like he could be Red's twin! Except he has purple eyes. But other than that, same facial structure, height, and body build. That's crazy!" ZIM shrugged.
"That was my first reaction of him too." He said. "I made a new friend while here. Maybe you'll get to meet her today cuz Red invited Leslie over for dinner cuz he forgot you guys were coming today but he didn't want to cancel her cuz he likes her." Tak squinted an eye at him.
"Do you have onomatomania?" She asked. ZIM tilted his head not understanding.
"Eh?"
"The irresistible desire to repeat a certain word? Example, 'cuz'." Tak said. ZIM scoffed.
"A-heh. I only said, 'cuz' three times. Or four if you're counting this sentence too." ZIM pointed out. Tak raised an eye ridge.
"Whatever, and who's Leslie?"
"One of Red's lady friends who lives about five miles away. She's a single mom with a really cute daughter named, Ga-" ZIM cut himself off when he saw Tak's death glare. "Gabs! She's a … uh. Puppy! Little springer spaniel! Leslie likes to call her, her daughter." It wasn't entirely a lie. They did have a springer spaniel, but it's name was Todo. Tak smiled.
"Can't wait to meet them." She said, walking past him. "Why don't you show me around your new home, Eh?" She said and stopped for a brief moment to introduce herself to Purple.
"Yeah, sure." ZIM muttered. That was too close.
Later
The Macales, Griffons and Strud along with the one Kinley and LeRoy were all in the dining room area of the Macale's abode sharing a nice meal of homemade Thai food that Zee and Mrs. Griffon prepared.
Currently Tak was giving Gaz hard looks. Tak fought her for the seat next to ZIM. Gaz merely shrugged and let her have the seat on ZIM's left while Red was on his right. Gaz was now sitting across from ZIM and ignoring the evil looks casted her way by the purple-eyed female. ZIM was just glad Gaz wasn't that into him and was playing it cool. Cooler than how Tak was taking it. The adults were having a conversation where the younger kids couldn't put in any input. Mostly because they had no idea what they were talking about. Typical.
"So ZIM," Tak drawled his name out. "What have you been up to whilst we were apart?" ZIM looked at her.
"Um, I wrote pretty much every interesting thing in that journal you gave me."
"So then tell me about the things you didn't write." ZIM thought a moment.
"Uh, well, I made new friends." He pointed to Gaz. "We obviously left Australia. Oh, on the way here we had a mini vacation in the Caribbean! Of course it was not a planned vacation because our flight was cancelled for the night due to fog." Tak's eyes were watching ZIM harshly which made him uncomfortable. "What were you up to?"
"Thinking about you."
"The whole time?" Tak raised the ridge of her right eye.
"Yes, is that weird?" ZIM saw her hard look and gulped but shook his head.
"Not at all." Gaz looked at Tak then at ZIM with her squinty eyes. She almost laughed. ZIM was like Tak's little bitch. She thought.
"Good." Tak smiled and rubbed his thigh with her hand. ZIM tensed. She was getting very touchy ever since he introduced her to Gaz. Gaz just shook her head and continued to eat.
"What are you doing to his leg?" Gaz asked loudly to Tak. The adults turned their heads to look at ZIM and Tak. ZIM groaned. Red looked under the table and saw Tak's hand on his little brothers inner thigh. He gave Tak a look that told her get her hand away from there. She did.
"Gaz, please quiet down." Leslie said.
"But she was touching him." She said. Tak's parents looked at her with curious looks.
"Um, I … Uh." ZIM started. He quickly looked around for something to change the awkward subject. Finally Purple jumped in to rescue him.
"You guys ever try extreme snowboarding?"
"Like down a mountain?" Gaz asked.
"It's like wake boarding but on snow." ZIM almost jumped at the idea. He loved wake boarding behind his grandpa's boat before he died.
"That sounds awesome." Said Gaz. Leslie looked nervous at the idea.
"I'm up for it." ZIM said, cooly. Red had the same expression as Leslie.
"Eh, I dunno. You could get hurt, Z? You have a knack for getting injured, you know." Red said. ZIM frowned.
"Aww, C'mon!" ZIM pouted. Red always gave in to his pout. The oldest Irken sighed.
"I guess. But I'll drive and we're going no faster than 15 miles per hour."
"Only 15?" Maybe if he milked this long enough, Red would give him more freedom.
"Take it or leave it." Darn. Oh well, at least he's still going wake boarding … snowboarding? Snow waking? Whatever it's called. Tak looked at him.
"Can you even Snowboard? Let alone wake surf?" ZIM nodded.
"I've been practicing for a week now. Purple said I'm a natural pro." Purple shrugged.
"He's got strong legs and terrific balance. He should be in the Irken Olympics." Red shuddered.
"Irken olympics is hardcore. The training is like training for the U.S. Marines, and the actual competition is dangerous."
"Lighten up. Let the boy have some fun." Purple said eyes half closed.
"The boy is young and … not very bright." Red whispered the last part to Purple. ZIM heard this.
"Wow! Rudeness!" He declared. Gaz giggled. Red smiled at his little brother.
"Sorry bro. Just trying to protect ya'."
"By insulting me? Good job!" ZIM rolled his eyes as Gaz's giggles got louder. "Why don't you let Purple drive me around so I can school you on the do's and dont's of snow waking." Red furrowed an eye brow ridge.
"Snow waking?"
"What else would we call it because, 'Snowboarding while being pulled by a motorized vehicle' would get a little redundant after awhile, don't cha think?"
"Don't you need wakes to do any type of wake boarding?"
"The wakes would be the tire tracks, duh!"
"So are you challenging me to a competition?" Red asked, squinting an eye. ZIM crossed his arms and sat up as straight as possible. An intergalactic pose of showing superiority.
"Maybe I am." Red smirked.
"You're on little mate!" Red and ZIM clasped hands and shook. Purple sighed.
"Why does everything have to be a competition with you Macales? I'm telling you, enjoying the sport would be so much more fun." ZIM and Red ignored him as they darted off to get their snow gear and snowboards ready. "And they don't even listen. Shocker." He stood up and helped clear the table. Why did he have to open his mouth?
Later That Night
There was a fresh puffy blanket of snow on the ground. It wasn't too deep and it wasn't too shallow. Around 3 to 6 inches. Soft flakes continued to gently fall from the sky as a party of Irkens and Humans made their way to an empty field by using big trucks and snowmobiles. The gang got out or off the vehicles and looked around at their spot.
"This is a perfect area." Purple said. He started hooking up the wakeboard rope and handles the Macales had laying around in their garage right next to their grandfather's boat, to the pylon of the snow machine. Red decided he'd let ZIM have the liberty of going first just so he could use ZIM's wakes by using them as makeshift jumps. Not that ZIM knew that. He just thought his big bro was being nice.
Once ZIM got the bindings on his feet tightened he prepared himself. He hadn't wake boarded since he left Australia. And he never wake boarded on land before.
"Now each of you will get 10 minutes to impress the spectators." Purple informed them motioning to their friends. "They will judge you guys by using the scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest possible. Now, Les, is the clock ready?" Leslie held up her cell phone and nodded.
"Yuppers."
"'Kay ZIM, you're up first." Purple motioned for him to get behind the snowmobile and hold on to the rope. Purple revved up the engine and went forward a little till there was no slack on the rope. "Hit it, Les!" He shouted over the engine. Leslie hit the button that made the stop watch start it's countdown. Purple started by going slowly and gradually accelerating.
'Okay, I need to keep my knees bent, lean back, and remember the snow is denser than water which means I'll need to have a stronger hold.' ZIM thought to himself. He always went through a mental check list whenever he was in a competition or doing something for the first time. ZIM allowed himself to be pulled around for a bit before he did any tricks. Just to get the hang of it and so he wouldn't fall right off the bat. The judges would deduct points if that happened.
ZIM saw Purple was about to make a hard left so he wouldn't hit a bank of snow, which means ZIM would whip out and he would hit the bank right on. Perfect for his first trick. He hit the deep snow and jumped a good 4 feet in the air. He grabbed the nose of his board with one hand had the handles in the other and did a 180. He landed it kinda sloppily but he didn't fall. That is good. Now his sides switched. Good thing he's ambidextrous or he would have a problem. He could hear a few cheers from the sidelines but ignored them as he prepared his next move. He was about to his a snowmobile rut and was gonna do an aerial move. He hit the wake and jumped a lot higher than he did on the snowbank. He twisted twice in the air before, this time, gracefully landing and doing a perez on the far outside of the snow wakes.
"Stump!" Someone yelled. It might have been Zee. ZIM saw the stump Zee was talking about. ZIM tried avoiding it but hit another bank and landed on it and toppled over hitting his head on the piece of tree in process. He let go of the handle and let himself slide to a stop on his back.
"Ooh …" ZIM groaned. He rubbed the back of his head by his right antenna where he was hit and looked at his hand. His reddish-greenish-blue blood covered his hand. Before he knew it Purple was at his side.
"Sorry, Zei-Zei. I didn't see the stump in time." That was when Purple noticed the blood staining the snow. "Red was right when he said you were prone to injury. Stay right there, ZIM, you might have sustained a concussion." Purple said gently pushing ZIM down into laying position. The older Irken took off his coat and put it underneath ZIM's head.
"I think it's okay, Purp. Just a scratch." ZIM slurred trying to sit up only to be pushed back down and held there.
"We don't know that yet." Purple said, calmly. "Hey, Red! M'ere!" Tak was already dashing across the field. She knelt beside ZIM and started to yell at him for scaring her.
"Tak, I'm fine I promise!" He tried sitting up again but Tak kept holding him down.
"Zeiden! If you knew you weren't able to-"
"Tak it's okay!"
"No it isn't! You're hurt!"
"I'm … prone to injury." ZIM said meekly.
"You see! You should be more careful! Play sports that won't hurt you!"
"Stop shouting! You're hurting my antenna!" ZIM shouted stumbling over his words. He opened his eyes but couldn't see anything.
"See you're sensitive to sound! You have been concussed!"
"All Irkens have sensitive antennas!"
"Both of you be quiet!" Red shouted over them, walking over. "Where did you get hit?" ZIM sat up and groaned. He had a massive headache when he was in sitting position. He fell back to laying on his back again.
"My head, by my antenna." ZIM was weak now. "I think." His head was throbbing, he could feel his antenna twitching unintentionally, and it felt like something was gnawing at his eyes from the inside. His vision started getting blurry and the pain intensified. "I think my 10 minutes are up, Red. It's your turn." Red smiled and picked up his little brother. Purple put his coat back on. It was stained where ZIM leaked his blood on it but the violet-eyed Irken didn't seem to care.
"I don't think we should finish this compet-"
"C'mon! You either compete or you forfeit!" Red shook his head.
"Nah, we should get you to a hospital." He carried ZIM back to the vehicles and layer him in the bed of the truck. "Hey, Les, know any hospitals around here?" She nodded.
"Oo. Uh, the closets ones I can think of are in Manistee or Muskegon." She informed.
"Red! I wanna see you shred up the snow with your not as awesome skills as mine but still quite awesome . . . skills!" ZIM exclaimed. The young Irken thought for a bit. "Did that make sense? I'm kinda disoriented at the moment." Red chuckled and stroked ZIM's antenna.
"Fine, you stay right here though." Red looked around.
"Tak, where did your parents go?" He asked noticing their car was gone.
"They left already. Went to the hotel. I'm staying the night with you, remember?" Red nodded.
"Right." He gave ZIM's head one last loving pat and told Purple to start the snow machine again as he got his snowboard on his feet. Once ready Red gave Purple the thumbs up and off they went. Red immediately decided to show ZIM up by doing an aerial move, a barrel roll then the next move was a osmosis. One of Red's favorites. He did all the tricks and stunts like a pro. After many minutes of hard-to-master moves ZIM scoffed.
"Hah! Show off." He muttered. Tak was gonna smack him upside the head but remembered his current condition. Instead she just pinched his leg. Red was about to jump again but he lost his grip on the handle and decided that he should just end it there. He did a 540 degree turn while doing a front flip, almost landing it but fell on his knees. He was never to good with flips. Tenn though. She was a professional. Red got up and looked triumphantly to his little audience. They all cheered except for ZIM who was holding his head in pain at the loud noise.
"10 all the way!" Leslie exclaimed. Gaz only grunted in reply. He was showing off for Leslie. Totally obvious.
"I coulda done better." ZIM insisted, still holding his area of pain. Red and Purple walked over to them, or rather, Red was more like stumbling. Maybe he hurt his knee.
"That was great!" Leslie said.
"Aw, stop." Red said, modestly.
" No! Really, that was terrific!" Leslie said. ZIM huffed, loudly. Leslie looked at him.
"You did great too, Hun." She said to him quickly.
"Well, thank you." ZIM lied down in the truck's bed again. "Congrats, Red for your fabulous win." Red knelt by him.
"You ready to go to the hospital now?" ZIM shook his head.
"It's getting dark."
"So? Hospitals are open 24/7." ZIM moaned in pain.
"I just want to go to bed after I get stoned with ibuprofen or vicodin."
"Yeah right. Like I'm gonna let you use those drugs. Especially vicodin. Last time you used that you were more demented and delusional than a high native American hippie."
"I remember that. He thought he was a Vortain and his name was Bert."
"I was watching Sesame Street while hanging out with Ike before I took that stuff." ZIM muttered remembering his Australian friend and their tradition of watching that show on week days. It was weird for kids their age to be watching things like that but, then again, they were weird kids and they liked making fun of it.
"Understandable." Purple said, walking up from behind them. "I found this in the snow." He said, setting a purple sock on the bed of the truck. "I thought it was … pretty." He said, nonchalantly.
"What's a sock doing out in the middle of a field?"
"Wouldn't know. Are we leaving now?" Red nodded.
"Why don't you take the girls and go home. Me and Leslie-"
"Leslie and I." ZIM said weakly.
"-are gonna take this little accident waiting to happen to the hospital to see if he has any serious problems." Red said.
"Silly Red! We already know he has serious problems!" Purple said childishly. Red started to act like a kid too.
"Oh you! You is so funny! What are you doing being an assistant scientist? You should have your own stand up comedy show!"
"Errrbody be sayin' that to me!" Purple giggled and walked back to his snowmobile. He suddenly snapped out of his playful manner an gave orders to Zee to gather Tenn, Gaz, and Tak up and get in the truck and go home.
"C'mon, lil' mate." Red picked ZIM up as if he were and infant. "We're taking the car to the hospit-able." Red mispronounced the word on purpose. ZIM moaned in reply. His injury was just now taking a toll on him.
"Why what happened?" The little Irken asked. Red looked down at him.
"Huh. Uh … you hit your head, remember?"
"When?"
"Like half an hour ago." Red said. He turned to Leslie. "We better hurry." He walked to the car and opened the door and rested ZIM down in the backseat. "Hang in there." ZIM didn't respond, he just snuggled down. Red got in the drivers seat as Les got in the passenger seat.
"When you pull out take a left then the next street we see take a right." She said. Red nodded.
"Where are we going?" ZIM's voice was slurred and quiet.
"To the hospital ZIM."
"Why?" Red groaned. He knew he shouldn't of let ZIM wake snow, or whatever he called it. He was supposed to watch him and keep him safe like he promised his mother six and a half years ago.
"You're hurt, sweetheart." Leslie answered for Red.
"How?" Red almost snickered. ZIM was gonna be out of it for awhile.
"Snowboarding accident."
"I can snowboard?" His voice sounded a little excited.
"Not really, considering you just got hurt." Red said turning right onto a deserted street.
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
"Who is that?" ZIM sat up and pointed to Leslie.
"I'm Leslie, dear. Your friend."
"Nuh-Uh! Since when?" ZIM sounded even more excited. He liked making friends. The Irken flopped back down.
"Since a week ago." She said.
"You're pretty." ZIM mumbled. Leslie chuckled.
"Thank you, Hun. You're pretty cute yourself." ZIM made a chirping noise and didn't say anything after that. They rode in silence for a little bit before the two adults heard soft snoring in the backseat. Red sighed.
"If he's snoring that also means he's drooling. I'm gonna have to clean that when we get home." He said. Les smiled.
"You're the best older brother I ever met." Red blushed.
"Naww. Not the best."
"No! I'm serious! Your siblings love you so much! And Purple does too. You are great." Red blushed harder.
"Thanks. You're a pretty good role model yourself, ya know."
"You really think so?" Red nodded.
"Oh yes." The two went quiet for a little bit. "He spoke for both of us when he said that." Leslie looked at Red.
"Said what?"
"When ZIM said you were pretty. You are. That wasn't just his potential concussion talking." Leslie beamed. Something inside her fluttered.
"I-I … Thank you. That means a lot to me." They shared a smile. Red turned his attention back to the road ahead of him. He pretty much just admitted his feelings toward her and now he was feeling nervous. Red's eyes widened as he felt a pair of lips on his cheek. He looked to his left. Leslie was looking out the window again. Probably embarrassed. Red placed a hand on her leg and gave a soft squeeze.
"I like you, Red." She muttered. Red felt sky high.
"The feeling's mutual." He said, softly. They looked into each others eyes, smiling again for a long moment before a small, slurred and annoyed voice interrupted.
"Where are we going?"
2 Hours Later
"He's suffering from a mildly-severe concussion." A female doctor, with the name of Murrey, said to Red and Leslie. ZIM was currently resting on a bed. He needed six stitches. "I'll fill out a prescription for him. He needs to take these pills until he stops having headaches when he wakes up in the morning. He will need a lot of bed rest, drink lots of water, and no physical activities, which I know will be hard for him. I can tell Irkens are very active. Some symptoms he may have are: confusion, headache, vomiting, nausea, fever, blurred vision, loss of short-term memory, and perseverating."
"Perseverating is like repeated something over and over again, right?" Red asked. The doctor nodded. "What if he does that anyway?"
"Then he might be an onomatomaniac." Red almost laughed. Tak said something like that to him earlier. The three turned when they heard ZIM groan.
"I feel sick." He said. "Do mind if I vomit here? It would add some color to this plain white room." Red snorted as did Leslie. The doctor quickly ran to get a waste basket before he did puke. When she came back with the trash can in hand she set it by his bed.
"I'd appreciate if you'd at least try to aim for the garbage disposal." Doctor Murrey said picking up the little Irken and held him over the bin. ZIM felt something rise in his throat. He lurched the contents of his stomach in the waste basket. The doctor was rubbing his back to comfort him. He could sworn he heard Leslie say something about his barf being a blue tinted color. When ZIM was done he looked down. Score! He didn't miss! But his vomit was starting to burn through the bin and was making sizzling noises. Irken stomach acid was powerful stuff. That's why they would puke only liquid and nothing too solid. Their food disintegrated when it came into contact with their acidic squeedily-spooch as it was called. A weird name sure, but they had different names for all their organs than the humans. Like on Irk, there hearts were called, 'tomds'.
Doctor Murrey sat him on Red's lap as she cleaned his mess. "Come back in a week for a check up." She said and left the room. ZIM rested his head back against Red's chest.
"Well, we better get back." Leslie said.
"Go back where?" ZIM asked.
"Home." Red answered. He gave his little brother a warm smile and got up. "Lets go."
1 More Hour Later
Red sat on the couch in his living room and relaxed. Gaz and Tak seemed to be getting along a bit better. It seemed they had a lot of things in common. Like the fact that they both like video games and listen to the same music. The two girls were upstairs. Gaz was also spending the night now. When Red, Leslie, and ZIM got home, Red put ZIM to bed and Leslie put the two girls to bed in a separate room so ZIM could get his sleep. Red opened his eyes when he heard light foot steps coming down the stairs. Expecting it to be Leslie, he was slightly disappointed to see it was Purple.
"Hey, Purp. I thought you went to bed." Purple scoffed.
"I am in bed." He said. Red cocked a brow.
"No you're not." Purple and Red stared awkwardly at each other before Purple retreated back upstairs and Leslie came down. She sat by him and sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. He rested his own head on hers.
"This is nice." Red finally said.
"Uh huh." They sat like that for a some time.
"How's your knee?" Leslie asked.
"It just hurts. Probably pulled something. I'll be fine." They sat in silence for a bit longer. "Les?"
"Hmm?" Red picked up her chin in his hand so they could see the other. Red leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. She smiled.
"Is that all you got?" She said, quite smugly. Red frowned.
"What do you mea-" He was cut off by Leslie pushing him down and smashing their lips together. "Mmmhh." Red moaned. He let her tongue invade his mouth as she lied on top him. "Controlling, aren't ya?" He asked between their enclosed lips. She didn't answer but continued to grope his chest and stroke his antenna. This made the Irken shake with pleasure. Red's own hands traveled up her back and pressed her closer to him. After several seconds they broke apart and stared deeply into each others eyes. Leslie gave Red another kiss and sat up. A blush was apparent on her face. Feeling his own face he supposed there was one on his cheeks too.
"I never done anything like that before. Who knew my first kiss would be with an alien?" She said. Red stayed lying down.
"I never thought I'd get together with a human." He said. Leslie bent down for another round but was stopped by a booming voice.
"And just what do you think you kids are doing?" Purple asked coming down the steps. He deepened his voice to sound threatening but all he sounded like was an overprotective father. Anything for a laugh, with that guy. "Ma'am, I'm sorry but I think it's time for you to go." He pointed Leslie to the door. Leslie stood up and chuckled.
"Sure thing, Pur." She said, giving him a hug and walked to the door. "I'll be back at noon to pick up Gaz." She said. And with that she closed the door.
"As for you young man! I can't buh-lieve what I saw! Get up, boy, and face me when I'm talking to you!" Red rolled his eyes. "Go to your room and think about what you've done, you naughty, naughty, boy, you!" Red got up and made his way to the stairs. He felt a sharp slap to his rear end. He whirled around to face Purple who was now holding his hand in pain. "Gah! That hurt." Red smirked.
"Glutes of steal, baby." Red said, smacking his own butt twice and bounded up the stairs.
"Yeah, you better run away! Hell hath no fury like Peder when he's lacking sleep, Eh?" Purple called after him. When he heard Red's bed room door close, he sat on the couch and turned on the tube. "Hockey time."
Well, wow! I figured you guys would like long a chapter so here you go! Quite eventful huh? They leave Australia, move to the United States, Red found a girl, Tak arrives again, ZIM got a concussion and Purple likes hockey!
Also, truth is. I typed this chapter a long time ago! I'm actually in the middle of writing chapter nine! I'm just too lazy to update. Please smack me if you think I'm slacking off.
I hoped you like it, and there is a HUGE surprise in the next chapter so stay tuned!