I do not own Invader Zim okay? I am going to try and get as much as I can done here but whatever, I am pretty much free from work for awhile, so I will be working on school and all that stuff but still have a bit of time. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Purple crawled from the wreckage and looked on as the escape pod burned. They had crashed in a desert, like he had hoped. But this was still Earth. They were in the lion's den and he knew they had to play it cool to try and get back to Irk. The people were not going to be pleased by this recent development of a race of pig smelly morons taking down the capitol ship of the Armada but that would be handled later. Executions usually solved this and kept the Tallest in power. How they were going to explain this to the Control Brains was another matter, but the Vortians did design most of the Massive, so Purple thought about passing the blame onto them and then destroying each and every one they could find afterwards. "Well, here we are, in the belly of the beast Red, I hope you're happy!" Purple yelled as he turned to see the crashed escape pod. "Red?" He asked as he moved closer to the pod, now aflame.

"Over... here... you... you..." Red panted.

"What?" Purple said as he floated over to Red's injured form. "What happened?"

"Ugggghhh... gravity hurts..." Red smirked with a wince. Even with grave wounds, a broken spine and road rash he had to maintain his superiority over Purple. He was the better Tallest after all, even if they were the same height.

"You sure don't look fine." Purple said as he lifted Red up. "Now let's find a place to hide. Looks like we can use on of the rock formations around here..." He turned to find a group of people gathered around as the shrinking Massive crashing into the ground, causing his beloved snacks fly all over the place and be taken by the people applauding that pointy haired human.

"Those mindless drones." Red scoweled. "That was our ship. They got lucky. If I had it my way, we'd have wiped every dumbass pig-smelly off this forsaken rock. UGH!" Red said as he grabbed his injured arm.

"We'd really better hide, this is the worst spot we could be in." Purple said. As a gust of wind was about to overcome the crowd, Purple saw that Dib had kicked it into submission carelessly. "I hate that freak so much now." He then floated off to a nearby cavern that seemed to give them enough room to hide until nightfall.

"Ugggghhhh... This is so hot, I think they boobytrapped their sun some how." Red said as he wiped the sweat from his brow wincing again. Every movement was agony from the damage he susutained upon impact.

"We'll find a place to rest until it gets dark. There's only 1 sun for this planet so we don't have to worry about it getting any brighter." Purple said as he lay Red down in the shade.

"You may not be as big an idiot as I thought" Red said.

"One of us had to be ready for this contigency." Purple said as he stood guard by the edge of the cave.

"Well, if they see us, how are you going to protect us?" Red gasped in pain.

"I smuggled a laser gun out. As long as that big headed human who destoryed the ship in the first place doesn't come by, we should be safe." Purple said.

"Good." Red said as he fell asleep.

He must me more injured than he let on. Purple thought. Irkens didn't need to sleep much at all, the PAKs provided all the energy they would need and sleep was done more for fun than necsssity. But if one was badly injured or sick, they would sleep. And without immediate medical treatment, the PAK would not be able to heal Red's wounds and it would detach itself and he would die. Sure, this may have happened because Red wanted to spread the influence of the Irken Empire, but he didn't deserve that. Purple cared about his co-Tallest. You don't spend years making such important decisions that the lives of millions, maybe even billions were in your claws without having some sort of affinty and concern for your co-ruler. They were trained since they were smeets for this role and it was theirs until someone became taller than them. As the sun began to set on the Mojave and the night came over, Purple looked over at Red. He was still asleep and twitched a little, his claws moving up and down. Sighing, Purple turned back to the sky and stared up at the stars. "Big Dipper... Polaris, they have lousy drinks there. The snacks are terrible... Andromeda Galaxy, what happens in Andromeda stays in Andromeda... and over there, he said pointing over to the constellation of Taurus, home, Irk. I wonder what they are doing now." Purple said as he picked up a stick and began to write some notes in Irken in the sands, trying to figure a plan to get back. "Go away," he said shooing a scorpion from Red.

Meanwhile on Foodcourtia, Sizz-lorr was mopping up after Gashloog had left on his break. One of the customers had spilled a deep fried mooshinky into the drink and onto the floor crying before puking on it. I wish we knew what happened to Zim, he should be doing this on his break. Not me. Sizz-lorr thought as Gashloog came running in from outside. "Sizz-lorr sir, you won't believe the rumors! It's weird as can be! I don't believe it myself! Where is the INN when you need it?"

"INN?" Sizz-lorr asked, not picking up on what Gashloog was saying.

"Irken News Network! The rumors from the customers are that some human on Earth brought down the Massive and there has been no word for the Tallest yet!" Gashloog said when Sizz-lorr put his hand over his mouth. "hmmph?" He tried to ask.

"Back room with me. Now." Sizz-lorr said. He was a Fry Lord and one of the higher ups in Irken society as he helped to provide all the fried goodness that the Irkens and other races that they ruled loved. He pretty much lived on Foodcourtia as he had to run Shloogorgoh's but on important matters he would be called back to Irk to oversee food related issues. He oversaw the feasts of a million snacks when Spork and Red and Purple were coronated as Tallests. He was given this posistion by Miyuki herself before she was killed. To find that rumors of the Massive being destroyed and Red and Purple missing was something he knew that could not be allowed to leak out. He had heard nothing from the control brains yet so he wasn't going to let this get out and cause chaos.

"What is it Sizz-lorr sir?" Gashloog said looking up at his fiersome boss with geuniune confusion and worry.

"Look, what you heard is just a rumor and until we hear better, that's all it is. A rumor." Sizz-lorr said.

"But who would start a rumor that shocking?" Gashloog said. "It's ridiculous! It's impossible."

"Improbable. Not impossible." Sizz-lorr corrected. "Operation Impending Doom II had conqured every planet on the list except for one. Earth."

"Isn't that where Zim is?" Gashloog asked.

"Yes. He was exiled there to try and get rid of him. Something big must have happened to make the Armada go out there to that jungle of primative creatures. Everyone here in the Irken Empire know his mission's a farce except for him. So for the Tallest and the Armada to go there means something big happened. And if it goes down, they were taken down by an inferior species. Humans can't fly past their moon. They're idiots! So to have our mighty empire taken down by humans is something that could destroy it all. And you don't joke about." Sizz-lorr said. "You'll scare people and cause chaos. We don't need that."

"Gotcha boss. I won't mention it again." Gashloog said.

"Good. Now get back to work. I have to go do inventory. We're almost out of Vort Dogs. Can't keep them in stock recently. Lots of the few Vortians left have been coming here and ordering them." Sizz-lorr said as he headed to the back to count his supplies.

Lord Nar took one of his last Vort Dogs from the last run to Shloogorgoh's he had made before he had followed The Massive as far as he did. The alien weiners were delicious and he savored the taste but it had been a long time since he had first bought them. Now he was going to have to explain to his crew that the victory they thought they would have gotten by the fall of the Massive was leading to another war. Only this time it would be with the Meekrob. Irkens were the only ones who could take them on and stand a chance. A hodgepodge of rebels from the conqured planets would stand no chance. And if the Meekrob took Irk, they'd hold onto the Empire and use it for themselves. All this was for nothing. A failure. They never really deposed Irk, they just were along for the ride while the Meekrob used a human to do it. Cowards, can't even do their own dirty work, genetically modify a human and get them to do it. I am sure there is some cosmic planning and 5 steps ahead bullshit but still. That is not how Irk was suppsoed to go down! I was supposed to do it! I wanted to set Vort free! Lord Nar said as he looked at his last bite of his Vort Dog and threw it across the ship. Hopelessness flooded him. Doomed to be a gurella fighter forever against more powerful enemies that would just oppress him and his people and would never be able to go home and rest in peace. He stared at the void of space with a blink. "Where do we go from here?"

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Let me know in a review. I set desert as the Mojave because of Area 51 in Nevada and think it could be used for an impromptu headquarters to fight aliens if you knew what you were doing. Ah, but I am rambling there. I am working a lot of Taboo and Minutes to Midnight as well as this because I want to finish those by the end of this year but this will be worked on as well. Well remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm