...
Spleen's mind finally came to, and he slowly opened his eyes. He groaned and turned his head when a bright light flashed in his face. "Gir! give me that flashlight!" screamed a familiar voice. Spleen blinked and his eyes finally adjusted. He slowly sat upright and found himself sitting on a table with a white tablecloth over it in a room.
He took a deep breath and exhaled, then realized that he could breathe normally again. He turned his long head around and ran his gloved fingers over the surface of his PAK. His PAK was fixed. Spleen smiled and lowered his arm and looked around the room again. He realized that he was in a strange looking kitchen and across the way into another room was a tv and a couch.
He turned his head to a window that looked outside to the front yard. He blinked and saw the emerald green pine trees across the street, swaying in the wind. He was in the house he saw when he was near those pine trees!
Finally, he turned his head and noticed Zim trying to grab a flashlight out of a green dog's hand. He picked up Gir by one of his black ears and tossed him into the other room, where he plopped down onto the couch, and the television magically came on.
"Yay! T.V.!" said Gir excitedly as he clapped his two front paws together and stared blankly at the screen as random, colorful objects flew across the screen as entertainment for humans. Spleen's eyes turned back to Zim. They widened at the sight of Zim. The Tallest...
... Like all the rest of the Invaders, he wasnt thrilled when he found out that Zim was the new Tallest, but something about him changed and he acted lie a whole new Irken. He wasnt the annoying Zim everyone knew so well...sort of.
Zim finally grabbed the flashlight from Gir and turned his attention to Spleen. Spleen blinked as he sat there on the table, staring at Zim. Zim jutted his chin out and walked over to Spleen and eyed him. "I see that you have awaken..." Zim said. Spleen didnt say anything. Zim narrowed his eyes a bit.
"Why are you here, Invader who looks very familiar to me?" he asked Spleen. Spleen finally found his voice. "Invader Spleen...my Tallest," said Spleen as he slowly got up and stood on the table. He took a deep breath, then saluted Zim. Spleen's head just went above Zim's head. Zim narrowed his eyes up at Spleen and growled softly, which made Spleen jump and stop saluting.
"Dont call me 'your Tallest,' Invader Spleen. Ever..." Zim growled. Spleen took a step back, and almost fell off the table, but regained his balance and stared at Zim nervously. Zim gradually calmed down, then blinked at Spleen.
"Now I remember...you were part of the group of Invaders from Operation Impending Doom 2," said Zim. Spleen nodded. "Yes," he simply said. Zim continued. "Yes, you were the one the old Tallests ooed at when you came up to retrieve your planet to invade," he added. Spleen nodded. "Yes, and I was able to complete it." Zim stared suspiciously at Spleen's rare, pink eyes. He stared all over his face, even up to the band-aid on his large green head. He has such a big head...thought Zim as he stared at it.
Spleen gave Zim a look. "Zim?" he asked. Zim blinked and narrowed his ruby red eyes again. Zim blinked and shook his head. "Why are you here, Spleen?" he finally asked the question that was on his mind. Spleen's shoulders slumped and he went back down and sat on the table.
"I-er, Skoodge and I, were given orders to find this planet and look for you," said Spleen truthfully. Zim's head snapped back. "Skoodge is here too?" he asked. Spleen shook his head. "Skoodge died in the sudden meteor shower when we were coming here. I barefly survived, Skoodge didnt make it."
Zim studied Spleen's face. No emotions showed that he cared for Skoodge's death. A normal thing for Irkens. No emotions.
Zim blinked. "...I see," he said, "So, it was just you, and Skoodge who were assigned to look for me, is that right?" Zim asked. Spleen shook his head. "Every Irken is looking for you. Right when they found out that you were gone, Commander Zarf ordered every Irken with a vessel to go out to the far corners and find you."
Zim stared at Spleen's pale pink eyes and tried to see if he was lying. He wasnt. Spleen continued. "You need to come back, My-er...Zim. You need to come back as The Tallest-" "No! I wont ever go back! Never!" shouted Zim as he turned, his back facing Spleen.
Spleen clenched his teeth angrily and balled his gloved hands into fists. He jumped off the table and glared up at Zim from where he stood in the small kitchen. "Fine, then I'll just contact Commander Zarf and they'll come for you themselves!" he snarled as he pushed a button on the back of his PAK. Just as he did, instead of a communicator devise, he got an icecream cone with two scoops of vanilla and chocolate. "What?!" Spleen screamed. Zim smirked and turned his head slightly over to Spleen.
"You actually think I would forget about the communicator devise? Think again! I got Gir to help me with screwing up your PAK! So you are stuck here! Hahahaha-wait, you said your ship was destroyed, right?" Spleen nodded, "Yeah." Zim threw his head back and continued to laugh. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA!"
Spleen just silently watched Zim laugh his head off. After a couple minutes, Spleen got tired of hearing Zim laugh, making fun how he was stuck on the little planet with the Tallest that everyone was looking for. Finally, Zim stopped laughing and wiped away the tears from his eyes. Spleen blinked and stared at the liquid coming down Zim's eyes.
"What's that?" he asked. Zim stopped. "Huh?" he asked. Spleen pointed. "That weird liquid stuff," he said. Zim looked down at his two fingers that were wet with his salty tears. "They are called tears. Havent you-?" Zim stopped in midsentence.
Oh, thats right. He thought. No emotions...no human like bodily fluids...nothing. Zim tried to think back how it was to not have any sort of human emotions...he couldnt. It was strange to him. The human emotions actually felt like that they were a part of him...that he actually belonged in the Earth world of humans...as if he was a human from the beginning...
Suddenly, Spleen asked a question that broke him out of his thoughts. "What?" asked Zim as he planted his feet firmly on the ground and kept the Tallest suit from lifting him back up two inches above the tile ground. Spleen took a deep breath, and repeated the question: "Why dont you want to come back, Zim? I thought you would want to be the new Tallest. I thought you wanted to rule over something with an iron fist. I thought you wanted to be the ruler of something...what happened to you? What happened to make you change your mind?" asked Spleen.
Zim stared down at Spleen. Spleen silently stared up at Zim, patiently waiting for an honest answer. Suddenly, a voice interrupted the silence. "Zim? Are you talking to yourself again?" asked a female voice. Spleen turned his head, just as Gaz came into the room. Gaz stopped and stared calmly down at Spleen. Spleen froze where he stood and stared at Gaz, not sure whether to shoot her or just stay still.
Zim clmly walked around Spleen, and over to Gaz. Spleen watched as Zim stood close to the female, purple haired human, and placed and arm around her waist. "Invader Spleen, I would like you to meet Gaz...the reason why I decided to stay here on Earth...the reason why I changed..."
