Author's notes: Yes I will be leaving next Saturday or Sunday for a whole... ten days I think it was. Everyone else is all excited; I hardly talk about it. Then again, the Furthest I've been is California -laughs at self- I'm hoping there will be alot more IZ fanfiction when I get back. I like to read it almost as much as I like to write it. No more Notes next chapter. Only Reviewer recognition.
Unwanted Memories
Lasers flashed through the sky as battle ships from the Irken military and the Resisty fought. Zim looked up as he was running… this wasn't good! There were more Resisty ships than Irken vessels!
His foot struck something and he fell forward, his body crumpled wearily as he hit the pavement. He had never run so much in his life! Cringing a little, he managed to lift himself up with his arms, and he glanced back to see Purple slumped lifelessly against the battered wall.
At first Zim was too stunned to move… surely that couldn't be the Tallest! But it was; Zim recognized this well enough… He stood up and limped over to the fallen Tallest who was beginning to turn pale with the promise of death. What was wrong with him!? There was no blood; there were no wounds of any kind! Zim leaned forward and touched his former leader's shoulder, and Purples head fell forward revealing an empty spot where his pack had once been.
-
Mean while, back on the massive, Red was searching around Purples room. He lifted his head with a very serious expression on his face.
"Purple's in trouble," he suddenly stated flattening his antennae against his head.
His fellow Tallest hadn't been keeping his usual snack reserves in his room!
"I told him to keep some extra snacks around, but he goes and eats them all anyway!"
-
Purple was a goner…
Oh well, it wasn't Zim's problem! They shouldn't have made a fool out of Zim at planet Judgementia… but then… the Tallest! Stupid squiggly spooch! He had grown up with Red and Purple; they had trained together, and Zim could have sworn that the smeet he crammed back into the shoot was Purple, now that he thought about it… though he still believed blacking out Irk for five years was pretty neat.
Sure the Tallest had tried to kill him, apparently they had tried to kill him several times, but Zim was still alive, and Purple was dying. In a way Zim had won, but won what? There was no satisfaction in this! Besides, it wasn't Purple who was the defective…. By all Irken law, Zim's data should have been deleted.
The Tallest had been doing the right thing.
Zim crept forward and peered around the corner, he could see the human Dib crouched beneath an overhang… in the sky the ruthless battle continued. An Irken spacecraft was falling through the air, and it crashed noisily into a building far off in the distance. Fire spurted into the sky along with thick black smoke. Since he couldn't call to the Stink-pig, he grabbed a piece of debris and threw it at the boy's large head.
"Ow…" Dib complained rubbing the back of his head before glancing over his shoulder to see where the piece of rock had come from.
"Zim? This is also your fault!!" Dib immediately accused. There was water coming from the boy's eyes. He was crying?
"I don't know why Rin kept insisting on rescuing you! Purple even said you were a defect! You should be dead!"
Yeah so what's your point? Zim wanted to ask. Maybe his data was messed up… but there was nothing he could do about it. That's when he saw the red stain on the pavement which smudged, leaving a trail right to Dib. The earth-pig didn't seem hurt though. Zim's eyes widened a little… Where was Rin?
"She's dying Zim," Dib answered having read the Irken's expression. He moved out of the way of the girl lying motionlessly on the ground… most of the bleeding had stopped thanks to Purple's Pak, but her eyes weren't opening and the internal wounds weren't healing right leaving her body covered in deep purple bruises.
"Purple gave her his Pak, but she's still going to die if we don't do something!"
It was dark cold place. She had never been in such a dreary place before. Where was this…? For some reason it seemed familiar… was she inside herself? Where were all of her happy thoughts?
Suddenly everything lit up. She was standing in a room lit by cameras of some kind… they seemed to be built differently, and the people standing behind them were Irken. There were crowds of Irkens gathered to watch, and in the center of it all was Zim chained up and staring hopelessly at the floating brains hovering before him.
Purple was explaining how the trial was going to work to an adorable baby Irken. When he had finished explaining, a sudden shocked look fell across his features and he gestured angrily at the child. Guards appeared and took the frightened smeet away…
"Wait, don't take him!" Rin called, but no words came from her mouth. Everything was dead silent except for her own thoughts… what was this place?
"Oh yeah, that," Purples voice echoed in her head.
"Purple?"
"I told the child too much information, so I sent him to the dungeon."
"He was a child Purple… he couldn't hurt anyone."
"So what I did was wrong…?"
His voice faded, and the scene returned to darkness.
"Everything I've said has always been right though," Purple mused. "No one argues with the Tallest."
"What if I argue with you?"
"Look… I'm here trying to save your life… if you make me upset I'll just stop and we can both die."
Rin's eyes widened in surprise. "W-what do you mean Purple..? We're dying? How?"
"You got in the way of the Resisty's laser gun when they tried to kill me," Purple paused and Rin heard him give a quiet sigh. "You saved my life earth creature… why?"
"If you're dying, I guess I didn't do such a good job."
"Don't be silly, you blocked the whole thing. I didn't even get a scratch."
"Then how are you dying?"
"I let Dib use my Pak to save you. My body is currently shutting down… it won't belong before my Pak is unable to return to my body."
"But… that defeats the whole purpose of me saving you."
"Why did you save my life? You don't even know me… we aren't even from the same species! I need to know why you did that!"
"I…" Rin paused and bit her lip. "I'm not too sure… I guess I thought that you'd be missed by your people. You are their leader after all, but why do you want to help me? Don't you have to return to govern your people? What are they going to do if you die?"
"Under normal circumstances, I guess I would have left you there to die…I mean it was your own stupidity that got you in this mess."
"Thanks Purple..." Rin said flatly.
"But I was in a pretty uh... strange mood today… I guess, and besides, Red can take care of everything when I'm gone. He's wanted to try ruling solo anyway."
Despite their predicament, Rin couldn't help but giggle at the mention of 'Red.'
"Red and Purple… that's kind of silly…"
Purple coughed, ignoring the girl's statement. "Red will be able to handle things on his own… I don't really help that much, and really, there's only supposed to be one Tallest."
"Do you…" Rin began; her voice filled with uncertainty. "Do you really feel that way Purple?"
"I'm not really sure..." his voice quietened a little. " Yeah. I guess I do."
"Well, I'm not going to let you die Purple…You shouldn't be thinking those things, you're going to have a wonderful life filled with… what do you like?
"I like snacks…"
"You should look forward to that. I'm going to attach your Pak to you… as soon as I can figure out how to move my body."
"Impossible, you're deader than I am."
"Then come over here and take it from me… please?"
"That's also impossible…I can't move."
-
Zim had never seen anything like it before… an Irken Pak attached to some-thing not Irken… it was strange, yet it seemed to be effective. Most of the blood had dried up and the large gaping wound in her body was nearly closed. There must have been a lot of damage done though, because Rin wasn't waking up. Also, Human's internal structures were far different than Irken's… Zim doubted that the Pak would be able to fix any kind of human organ… but there was always the possibility that it could.
"Stay here," Dib said rising to his feet. His hands were covered in Rin's blood… it was an awful sight which made Dib feel a little light headed. The sight of human blood made him queasy.
"I'm going to get her some help… I don't know from where… but, I can't just sit around here anymore!"
Dib left, and Zim sat down and wrapped his arms around his knees. The Rin human was still breathing, but her eyes still refused to open. He leaned a bit closer when he saw her eyelids flutter. She could wake at any moment, Zim decided. Stupid Dib-pig worrying over nothing!
-
Purple and Red could be seen drinking sodas together, laughing cheerfully as they watched a rather entertaining puppet show from one of the more prominent Invaders.
The scene flashed and Purple and Red were descending on a large platform waving to a crowd of Irkens below.
Everything fell into darkness once more, and Purple let out another sigh.
"If we do happen to survive, you better give those memories back to me."
"I thought you were sharing them on purpose."
"Of course I'm not. That would just be weird."
"Your memories are more interesting than mine are."
"Alright, then you don't have to bother sharing them…" he hesitated for a moment and cleared his throat. "I mean, it's only fair that you should share some of your memories with me since my Pak is letting you take glimpses into my past!"
"Uhh… ok sure… lets see if I can find my earliest one…"
The blackness morphed into living room, and young Rin was sitting on her daddy's knee playing with a stuffed teddy bear. Her father, in turn, was playing with a small plastic UFO.
"Rin look, the aliens are going to abduct your teddy," her father said in an overly cheerful voice. Rin let out a mock squeal and slid off her daddy's lap.
"Oh noo! I must save Teddy!"
The image blurred, and Rin stared at fading image of her small self looking slightly embarrassed. "I didn't even know I had that memory!"
Purple chuckled. "That was you as a smeet huh? … Who was the taller human with the horribly outdated version of a space craft in his hands? Wasn't he the same creature who was with you before?"
"That was my father."
"Father..? What is that?"
"You don't have a father?" Rin questioned wrinkling a brow. "How can I explain this…? It takes two humans to make a baby… A father is one of them."
"Oh… I don't get it. Show me another memory."
"Ok. How about this one?"
The nothingness around them blurred then slowly changed into a picture of a brightly lit kitchen. Her father had just finished putting in the wrong type of bulb. He clutched his eyes and fell of his step latter just as Rin's mother walked in with a bag of groceries.
"What are you doing Ron?" she asked placing the bags on the counter before standing over her husband who was lying on the floor clutching his eyes. Rin was sitting at the table eating a bowl of chocolate pudding. Her face was covered in a chocolaty mess, and she stared wide eyed at her father her mouth open for more pudding which slid off her spoon.
"Don't do dangerous things in front of our daughter," Rin's mother scolded him, and she lifted Rin into her arms.
"That female human is very round," Purple noted.
"She was pregnant with Max."
"Pregnant…?"
"She was carrying a baby."
"How is that possible?"
"You don't have pregnancy on your planet?"
Silence answered her.
"Purple..? Are you there…?"
"Oh sorry, I forgot you couldn't see me. I was shaking my head no."
That had been bothering Rin for a while now… She could see herself and her memories very clearly. In fact she could wave a hand in front of her face right now, yet Purple didn't seem to have a physical body in this place… The only reason she knew he was there was because of his voice.
"Purple, why can't I see you?" she questioned into the darkness.
"Because we're in your brain right now silly human," was the simple reply. "Anyway… I don't really need a body here considering my physical body is still somewhat functional… if you call blinking a function…"
Rin tried to smile, but she found she was unable to. "I have to get out of here…" he murmured staring into the surrounding darkness.
"Staring at nothing won't really get you out of here…."
"I'm concentrating on moving my arms… I'm pretty sure the Pak's done all it can for me by now…"
"Really? That didn't take very long... but you're still here. Are you sure?" There was a pause.
"You're lying to me! But, I guess I'll help out. I might beable to use the Pak's influence to move your body."
-
Rin's eyes fluttered open, much to Zim's obvious irritation. It had taken the human long enough! Her arms lifted her into a sitting position, and her body fell forward. Now lying on her front (where the Pak was) she began to drag herself across the cement. Her lifeless eyes stared ahead, not seeing anything… she was still trapped inside her unconscious mind. Was this happening because of the Pak?
Her body dragged its self all the way into the alley where Purple was laying barley alive. With a grunt, her hands moved to grip the Pak, and she tore it from herself and tried to give it back to Purple. She held it out, but the unmoving Tallest made no move to reach it. Zim watched, and while he could have helped he decided it was much more interesting this way. Hopefully his Tallest wouldn't found out.
The Pak touched the place it was supposed to be connected, and it greedily reattached itself to its proper host. At first there were no signs of life from the Tallest… and then Purple's eyes slowly blinked open; his skin changing back to its regular colour.
"How long was that…?" He wondered checking one of his devices. A Tallest's Pak was a bit more advanced than a regular Irken Pak, and their bodies were a bit stronger as well. They could survive a while without having their Paks attached.
"Seventeen minutes… not bad…" He leaned back and stared up at the sky, still feeling incredibly weak. Rin's body collapsed face down before him, and he looked at the near dead child with a sense of… something… He wasn't actually sure yet. She had saved his life again… Stupid confusing earth creatures! Maybe they should blow up Earth after all…
After stewing for a bit, Zim walked up to the Tallest who was still sitting slumped against the wall. He folded his hands and waited expectantly.
"What do you want Zim?" Purple asked irritably. "If you're wondering why I did that, it's because I…" He sighed and held his head wearily.
"Now Rin is trapped in that place all by herself… Why on Irk do I care? I should blow her up for all the trouble she caused me! All of the humans!"
Overhead, the Resisty had taken control of the skies. One of the ships landed in a parking lot nearby; many of the alien civilians were hiding inside restaurants, so the streets were fairly bare. One of their battle pods had communicated that it had shot at Tallest Purple before it exploded into a million pieces… the Foodening had been cut short. Not too many aliens were stuffing their faces after the battle. They were too frightened to eat.
The Resisty's goal now would be to capture the Tallest and use him as leverage to end Operation Impending Doom Two or blow him up. Either way would work.
More Author's Notes: Exploring Rin's past took up most of this chapter. About the unconscious movement, I'd blame the Pak mostly for that one. While a Pak can revive an Irken, it doesn't react well with an alien host, and instead of regenerating Rin's body (completely), it allowed a moment of involuntary action thanks to Purple's influence of course.
I was thinking about killing Rin off here… to be completely honest with you (because she was taking up too much of the spotlight, and I was thinking it might be time to get rid of her) but, well, you'll see how it goes in the next chapter.
Also, after reading the script for 10 seconds to doo, I've come to realize that a Pak is much more harmful to humans than I previously thought. Lets just say Tallest Paks are better at life saving than mooost...
