Growing Population
Epic Three
Written by Cartman's Girl and Invader Poe

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Chapter Two

Meanwhile, all the way across town, another pair is waking up! Zib, being a little kid and therefore more energetic than Zim, yawned and snuggled up to his mom as he started to awaken. Zim was still fast asleep too, tongue hanging out his mouth and breathing heavily. He shifted as he felt the small person clone thingie besides him moving. Zib slowly blinked awake and smiled up at his mom, but his patience was quickly running out, and he nudged Zim in the side.

"It's morning, mom!" Zim 'eehed' a bit, then his eyes slowly opened.

"Uh....?" he sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes with one claw. Zib sat up, looking down at Zim and giggling a bit, pointing out the round window that could be materalized at will on the attic wall at the rising sun. Zim's eyes squinted at the sun light,

"Argh!" he covered his eyes, then remembered where he was. "Ah.... morning... Zib jumped out of bed and tugged on Zim's gloved claws,

"I'm hungry! Can we have breakfast?" Zim rubbed his eyes with his free claw, not being a morning Irk it tok him a while to snap awake.

"Huh, oh... yes!" he got off the bed, "Breakfast, breakfast..."

"Yay!" Zib cheered and ran towards the door, quickly pressing the button to open it and probably leaving Zim wondering where he got so much energy this early in the morning. Yup, Zim was thinking that at the moment. But eventually he and Zib were down in the kitchen, and he was looking through the cupboards for something edible. Meaning something Zib would at least like.

"Hrm.." Zib climbed up onto his chair and looked over at Zim in the fridge, blinking slightly,

"Aren't you gonna replicate me some of that Irken nutrient goo like you always do?" Zim blinked, looking up at Zib from the fridge.

"Yes well.... uh, I thought... I'd try something you liked... yeah." he went back to scavaging the cupboard. Gir then entered the room, and looked at Zib in his chair.

"Morning Mini-Master!" he declared, then to his Master's, er, butt which was the only thing he could see from his point of view. "Morning Master's Bottom!" Zib broke out into a grin and twiddled his thumbs on the table, swinging his legs,

"Hi Gir!" He certainly seemed chipper today; amazing what a little motherly love could do. Gir hopped onto the table and sat down near Zib,

"What's ya doin?" he asked as Zim sniffed, er, well hovered one antennae over the milk, realising it was off he looked some what disgusted.

"Mom's gonna make us breakfast!" Zib announced, and leaned over to Gir, whispering conspiritorially, "The good stuff, not the goo he usually serves."

"OoooOOooo!" Gir's eyecams brightened, and he clapped his hands together. "Yay!" Zim finally pulled out what looked like bread from the fridge,

"Er, how about toast?"

"Toast? Well, okay, as long as there's cinnamon.."

"Ehrm, I don't know about this cinnamon..." Zim went to the toaster and put the bread in.

"It's good! Especially if it's got lots of sugar in it!" Woo, that was the last thing Zib needed. Zim stared at Zib blankly,

"Sugar!" Gir declared happily.

"I haven't got one kid... I've got two." Zim muttered to himself as the toast popped up, and he put more bread in as he placed the toast on a plate.

"And sprinkles!" Zib added, squirming in his seat impatiently. Zim looked somewhat disgusted as he managed to find at least jam in his cupboard hadn't gone off, and spread it over a few slices.

"I don't think that qualifies as a healthy breakfast, Zib."

"Aw, but I'm plenty healthy!" Zib grinned, showing off his off-white, yellowed teeth; and with his heritage it was almost impossible to tell if that was healthy or not.

"...I don't want you being hyper all morning." Zim replied, handing Zib the toast, which had jam, peanut butter and normal butter on. Gir took the one which had peanut butter on.

"Yum!"

"I'm not hyper at all!" Zib insisted, though he was practically vibrating in his seat with energy.

"Either way, no sprinkles on toast." Zim held the toast which had jam out to him, "Here." Zib yanked the toast out of Zim's gloved claws and stuffed it in his mouth, nearly all at once, getting far more jelly on his face than in his stomach. Zim's tongue poked out in disgust at his 'sons' eating habits, and was quick to wipe his face with a napkin, tsking about germs and so forth. Zib made a face and squirmed,

"Mom, stoppit! I'm fine!"

"No you're not fine, you're a jelly mess!" Zim stood back, finished with cleaning Zib's face. He looked him over slightly. "Eh, it'll have to do."

"What's wrong with being a mess? It's fun!" Zib countered, rubbing off his face with his sleeve. Zim rolled his eyes,

"We've been through this Zib, it's full of germs! And with your bacteria fighting inside thingie.. what's it called.... imunisation thingie half human I don't want you getting sick!" Zim replied, saying in his own way again, he did care for Zib after all.

"Bah, germs aren't that scary. They're tiny!" Zib made squishing motions between his claw and thumb, illustrating how he could easily crush such a tiny foe.

"Small as they may be," Zim folded his arms, "In great numbers they'll make you sick! SICK!"

"But wouldn't my half-humanness protect me from Earth germs?" Zib blinked up at Zim from behind his glasses, his scientific brain already starting to make itself apparent.

True, but how could you handle Irken diseases? Huh? Answer me that!" Zim pointed at Zib's face, "You have no idea how diabolical the diseases are that I'm vaccinated against and which you might still be open to!"

"Where would I get Irken diseases on Earth?" His face twisted into a skeptical, Dib-like scowl. Zim paused for a while.

"...you interact with the Reject don't you? He probably never got vaccinated against anything!"

"But wouldn't I have caught anything I could catch from him by now?"

"You don't know the way Irken diseases work." Zim walked up to Zib, wiggling his fingers as he spoke. "First they enter your body, and seep down into your system. They lay dormant for a while, and then they're triggered by simplest things! Then they unleash their doomful wrath down upon your head like there's no tomorrow! And you'd be lucky if you HAD a tomorrow!" Zib looked down in thought,

"Well, if that was so, wouldn't some kind of medical.. scan thingee detect it?"

"With your Irken/human inner body working system thingie, I think it'd be very difficult to detect. The human parts mide hide the Irken diseases, and vice versa and such." Zim replied, raising an antennae as he thought it over.

"Hide them, or defend against them?" Maybe it was a little odd for a toddler to be engaging in a somewhat serious, somewhat scientific debate with his alien mother, but screw technicalities.

"...well Irken diseases, few as they are, have the same thing in common. They rip your organs to pieces, so either way, if you got em, you'd be toast." Zim replied simply. Zib folded his antennae back, starting to look a bit scared now.

"I like my insides the way they are.."

"Well Irken diseases care not if you like them or not!" Zim made his fingers make 'snappy' movements. "They're hungry and they won't end until they finish you off, inside out!" he stopped. "So yup, it's important to be vaccinated against those things."

"So there's no way to stop them?" Zib looked up in disbelief.

"That's what I've been talking about Zib, vaccination. No way your human/Irken immune system could handle Irken diseases alone, so that's why you need it." he replied, not taking note of the fear in Zib's voice.

"But aren't vaccinations.. like.." Zib gulped and sunk further into his seat, "..needles?" Zim scoffed,

"Huh, needles. Humans are barbaric creatures infestering the universe." Zim shook his head, "No Zib, Irken vaccinations aren't like human ones." Zib relaxed visibly, then quirked one of his eyelids,

"..what're they like, then?" Zim paused to think back,

"Ah yes. The vaccines are downloaded into your pod via tubes, then you have to swallow this little icky tablet thing…" he made the shape of it with his finger and what seemed to be this thumb.


"Well, I guess that's not so bad.." He had practice swallowing nasty stuff from the food pouches Zim gave him, afterall. He eyed the slight mess on the table and edged his chair away from it, now.

"Exactly." Zim then lowered an antennae, "SO, do you want to be vaccinated?"

"Well.. ehm.. I guess.." Zib drummed his claw tips together, "I certainly don't want to be eaten inside out.."

"It must have skipped my mind when you were, uh, spawned to do it right then... right then!" Zim grabbed Zib's wrist and pulled him to his feet.

"I think you were distracted by fighting with Dad," Zib snorted and muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes when Zim was looking away, following him. And back across town, at the other base, Beka was sipping what looked like motor oil as Poe entered.

"Morning Sir Poe!" she said happily, "Sleep well?"

"Morning. Oh, yeah," Poe grinned widely in response to Beka, seeming far cheerier and upbeat than she'd likely ever seen him, "I was just about to get Cten some breakfast, but, um.. my cooking skills are less than adequate." Beka placed her cup of motor oil to the side.

"Well, usually for Ma'am I prepare just some oatmeal and some orange juice." the little robot paused to think for a while, "You could make the orange juice if you wish."

"Hm, alrighty..." He looked around for a while, finally finding the oranges, and after some searching he found something that could be an Irken version of a juicer. He eyed the orange before stabbing it with his claw and sawing it down the middle; cutlery might be the only thing he could do well in the kitchen. He impaled the orange on the juicer and smooshed it around, "Does she like it with the.. sticky.. stringy stuff or without?"

"With." Beka replied as she stired the bowl which had the oatmeal in, then poured in what looked like golden syrup. "And what would you like, Sir Poe?" the robot looked up at him as she continued to stir.

"Hm, um.." He turned the top of the juicer over and scraped off the pulp, "Back home, I usually had, uh.. I guess you could call it bacon and sausage." Well, there weren't too many resteraunts in the slums, and pretty much all one had to pick from was the trash or wildlife.

"Right then!" Beka poured the oatmeal into a bowl and placed it to the side. Then then proceeded to pull out bacon, and a few sausages from the fridge and cook them on the stove in a frying pan which came from inside her head.

Soon enough, Poe was handed the tray from Beka which held both his, and Cten's breakfast on. Poe nodded a thanks to the robot and started up the stairs, balancing the food carefully. He opened the door with his foot, leaning against it and grinning slightly as he entered, wandering over and sitting down on the bed. Cten's antennae twitched as the door opened, and her eyes opened as he approached the bed. When Poe sat down, she sat up on the bed.

"Oo, breakfast in bed..."

"Yup. Just for you," He grinned toothily, picking up his own plate and holding it off the bed, picking up a piece of bacon and ripping it in half with his teeth. Cten took her bowl off him and spooned some of the oatmeal into her mouth. Eating much quicker then Poe'd beleive she would, I suppose living in the Massive all her life taught her to eat quickly so she wouldn't waste precious time; and by now it was just out of habit. Soon enough the bowl was empty, and she was sipping at her orange juice. Poe raised his eyelids slightly, finishing his breakfast off at a more relaxed pace; he'd slowly lost his urge to binge quickly after he came to Earth and was introduced to civillized living.

"Hungry?" He grinned slightly, a bit of sausage sticking out between his teeth.

"U-huh." she replied, then smirked at the sausage. "Uhm, Poe.." she leant forward and flicked it out from between two of his sharp teeth. "There."

"Huhwah?" Poe crossed his eyes slightly, "Hey, I was saving that for later." He made a face at her, putting down his own emptied tray and scooting up to her side.

"I'm sure you were." she teased, before flicking the sausage away from her. Once Poe was besides her, she leant her head against his shoulder while staring at the wall opposite them. "Hmm." Poe smiled down at her and leaned his cheek against the top of her head, putting his arm around her shoulders. Cten closed her eyes for a while, then opened them.

"Poe, I've got a question for you, but you don't have to answer it."

"Hm?" He looked down at her and smiled gently, "Ask away." Cten bit her lower lip, then looked up at him.

"Have you ever... you know, uh, reproduced with anyone?" she then spoke quickly, glancing away. "You don't have to answer I'm just wondering and before you ask, no I haven't." Poe blinked several times at the question,

"Well, a few people have tried to pay me, something about my antennae.." He scowled, then shook his head, "But no, you're the first person I've gotten close to."

"...oh, okay..." she replied quietly, pulling the blanked up over her lower half since so far she'd been just sat on the bed.

"Why do you ask?" He asked gently, running a finger down one of her antennae. Cten blushed slightly as he asked, then glanced up at him.

"I was just wondering that... that maybe we.. I mean..." she wasn't really sure how to put this, or say it since she'd never experienced this before. "...sometime we could... you know..." Poe flushed a bit as well,

"Already? I mean.. I'm not even.." He glanced away in embaressment, "I don't know a whole lot about the subject.." Not like he'd ever attended a Sex Ed class, afterall.

"Well… I don't either…" being a maid, she probably hadn't been expected to ever reproduce either way. "But… but I heard sometimes instincts kick in at some point but…" she trailed off, looking at her claw. Poe's claw-tip left her antennae and continued down her back.

"I can.. see what you mean about instinct kicking in," he said after a while, "Like last night, on the couch.."

"Yeah..." she mumbled, then looked up at him. "Look, we don't really have to you know... when you feel more comfortable with me then.. then sure..." Poe wrapped his arms around her shoulders, looking back down at her,

"It's up to you. You would be the one with the egg afterall.."

"I know," she replied, running one of her clawed finger down Poe's grey shirt absently. Poe looked down at her and arched his shoulder, squirming slightly,

"Hey, that tickles." Cten smiled, resting her claw on the bed.

"Sorry." She smiled, then sat back and looked at him. "Now, uh, seriously Poe.. you being male you do have the final say here." Well, at least that's what she had been brought up to believe anway. Poe reached over and curled his claws around her's,

"Well, just because I'm a male doesn't mean I'm not a gentleman.." He grinned, showing a few teeth, then took on a more serious look, "That, and.. Well, you've still got your injury, I wouldn't want to hurt you further by accident.." Cten smiled gently, her curled antennae becoming more relaxed slightly since they'd been tensed up beforehand.

"My injury's fine now... the rest I had helped and it doesn't hurt anymore... you know how quick we Irkens heal after being injured." she replied.

"Oh, well, that's good.." Poe flushed slightly, loosing his only real excuse to not, ahem, with her. He leaned against her side and took one of her relaxed antennae between his fingers, stroking it between them softly, "And I didn't say I minded being tickled," He smirked at her slightly, with maybe a hint of playfulness. Cten smirked, then went one step further and slid one of her hands up and under his shirt and proceeded to trace her claw tip over his chest while just grinning up at him. Poe blinks in slight surprise, his eyes looking slightly glazed when he opened them again, halfway. He absently hugged her around the waist, pulling her towards him and resting his chin on her head. Cten giggled slightly as her finger continued to say, dance over his chest before she sat up, startling Poe somewhat.

"I'll say this much," she smirked as she began pulling at the hem of his shirt, "I'm not going to be the only Irken here in her birthday suit." and before Poe could reply, he found Cten had pulled his shirt up and over his head, the hole where his ID Pack was opening to get the shirt over without bothering the pack at all.

"Hey--!" His protest was muffled by cloth, and he let go of her, then yanked himself out of the shirt, blinking dazedly and shaking his long antennae free, sending the rings jangling. Years of a difficult life had made him rather thin, but well toned - he had to be, to carry her around and all - and he mock-scowled down at her, leaning over her and resting his claws on the bed, one on each of her sides, "That was just evil." Cten smirked at him, her antennae wiggling in response.

"I know, I'm not all cookies and cream you know." she replied.

"No?" He grinned, looking fairly evil himself, with his black eyes and pointy teeth and all, "Then why.." He leaned down and slid his tongue out, lashing it against her throat briefly, "..do you taste so good?" Cten smirked,

"Oh you know what I mean." she replied as she wrapped her arms up around his shoulders, and as one of her clawed feet gripped around one of his pant legs and pulled sharply. Poe blinked as his uniform pants were suddenly around his knees, and he started to flush, his cheeks an interesting violet colour, his shyness kicking in again now that he was rendered nude. He looked down at her with a slightly sheepish expression. Cten looked back at him, her antennae faltering as she sensed how his mood had suddenly shifted from one to another. She blinked a few times, it seemed instincts had taken a vacation at the wrong time.

"..sorry." she muttered after a short minute or so of silence between the two had passed.

"I've just, uh.. Never been out of uniform.. around someone else before.." he mumbled, reaching up and scratching the back of his head, feeling very, well, naked. "It's alright, I mean, um, well." So much for his bravado, seemed he still wasn't much more than a fumbling teenage virgin afterall. Cten sighed to herself,

"Guess this'll happen some other time huh?" she asked. Poe frowned when she sighed,

"Well.." He set a determined look on his face and suddenly kicked off his pants, "Don't be too certain.." He mumbled quietly, instinct starting to overtake the sudden burst of shyness, as was sort of - ahem - becoming obvious. Cten's antennae perked up somewhat, she then leant into him and kissed him gently on the cheek as her eyes shut.

"Whenever you're ready Poe." she said gently. Poe wrapped his arms beneath her and nuzzled a convient antennae,

"I am," he half whispered, half mumbled into it, "Are you?"

"Yes." Cten whispered back, keeping her arms around his shoulders, half resting them on his pod while one hand had managed to wring a claw tip around one of his long antennae. Poe squeezed her claw tip with his antennae, the other antennae leaning forward to wind around her's, and he tilted his head to give her the oral version of a kiss as well.. and thus, we fade out! Hah, no Irken pRon 4r j00! Anyway, back with Zim and Zib about Zib's vaccinations. Soon the two were down in Zim's lab, and he was sorting through what looked like a normal human first aid kit, but he was throwing more grotesque devices from it, Zib was obviously glad he had no idea what they were used for from the look on his face as what looked like a large needle was taken out.

"Where is it..." Zim muttered to himself. Zib winced at some of the devices, dodging them carefully, yelping when the needle flew between his antennae-hair-thingees, causing him to clamp onto Zim's leg for saftey. Zim glanced down at Zib for a split second, before pulling out what looked like two extra-thick garden hoses, both the colour of purple.

"A-hah!" he declared, and managed to walk across the room with Zib still clamped to his leg as the young spawn eyed the large needle, afraid it might attack any seccond. Zib looked up at the tubes his mom held up, watching them carefully from his odd perspective as Zim dragged him across the floor,

"What're those?"

"These, Zib," he replied as he suddenly grabbed Zib and sat him on the table, "Are how your ID Pack will download the vaccines, from my Pack. Seeing how the main computer is up in the Nest and I don't have it, you'll have to transfer from mine." with that he suddenly pressed on the two smaller pink patches on Zib's pack, as he did they suddenly vanished into the pack. Zib sat down on the table obediently, watching Zim poke the circles on his pod, craning his head around to watch.

"Now don't worry, it won't hurt a bit." Zim said, as he suddenly hooked one end of both cables into the circles of Zib's pack, before attaching them to his own. At that, the cables snapped to life, giving off a faint glow and slight humming sound. Zib nodded slightly, trusting his Mom, something few others probably did, watching the wires glow and hum. He grew bored with it shortly, though, swinging his feet back and forth idly,

"How long will this take?" All while this was happening, Zim had his eyes shut. Obviously he was in more control of his Pack then Zib was, telling which vaccine to duplicate and send through.

"...I've done five of ten..." he muttered concentrating with all his might. Zib noted his mother's concentration and decided to be quiet, not really feeling anything on his end, as being half human he was rather numb to his pod. Eventually the cables stopped glowing and disconnected from Zib's pack, and Zim opened his eyes.

"Well that's that part done.." he muttered, pulling them free of his pod. "Now for your icky round thing." he headed off to the case again, before returning with what looked like a mint, and handed it to Zib. "Here." Zib examined the mint-thing, narrowing his eyes skeptically before sticking out his flat, magenta tongue and placing it on the tip, withdrawing it and swallowing.. before he made a horrible face anda gagging sound, his claws clutching his throat.

"Yeah I know, awful isn't it?" Zim said normally, resisting the feeling to smirk as the Nurse had done when he had to swallow his.

"Yeah," Zib wheezed, his eyes tearing up as he finally fought the pill back, panting and looking miserable, "That was.. HORRIBLE!" Poor Zib, probably had more sensitive taste buds due to his half-human-ness. Zim patted Zib's back sympathetically.

"I know Zib, but it's for the greater good, yes, the greater good."

"Isn't there anything to wash it down with?" He whimpered, "I don't even care if it's water!"

"Here, here..." Zim pulled from a nearby machine, a glass of some sort of drink and handed it to Zib. Zib drank half of it in one swig, stopped to catch his breath, before glugging down the rest of the drink. He flopped onto his back, letting the glass roll out of his small claws, still looking a bit ill. Zim scoffed, and scooped Zib into his arms and walked from the lab, the semi-limp Zib hanging in his arms.

"Be glad that only happens once Zib. Soon you might have to be vaccinated against human diseases, and that takes much longer! Zib whimpered at the thought and curled up slightly, covering his face.

"But they've got so many different ones.."

"I know Zib, I know." Zim said in an almost comforting tone as the two entered the elevator. "I'll understand if you want to rest the rest of today, that pill will need to do a lot of work." Zib nodded weakly and leaned against his mom, all pathetic like and disgruntled over having to eat such a nasty-tasting pill. Soon enough, he's curled up in his bed, GIR curled up in a little metal ball besides him – both sound asleep and leaving Zim to do his… Zimmy things.

[To be continued]