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

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Chapter Four

A few more weeks later

T'was a Skool day, joyus time for all, is it not? Well, maybe for Poe since he didn't attend the doomed Skool system. The sun was shining merrily, birds chirpped and other such fun stuff was going on. So we begin this day on Poe and Cten's base, it's around lunch time now, as the clock is on midday. Poe was doing something wholly productive like sitting on the couch, watching TV and chewing on piece of ham. The egg was sitting beside him, wrapped up in a blanket; Cten had told him to watch it at all times since it could hatch any time now. Showing on the TV was an overly dramatic soapie, where some guy was expressing his love to a girl who then ripped her head off to reveal she was an alien of some sort from Jupiter; as this was happening, there could be heard very faintly a tapping sound.

"Alright!" Poe grinned at the TV, ham sticking out of his teeth, when his antennae, which was hanging right beside the egg, picked up the tapping sound.

"Huh?" He looked around briefly for the source, before realizing it was the egg. "Uh oh.." He started to go into panic mode, standing up and twitching his antennae,

"Can't you at least wait until your Mom gets home?" he asked of the egg. Only responce he got was more tapping now, as the egg wobbled from side to side. Already the two were disagreeing on things, and it hadn't even hatched yet! Poe winced and steadied the egg with his hands, sitting back down on the couch and picking it up, setting it on his lap.

"I really should've done some research on this sort of thing.." Having the egg now steadied seemed to make things easier, as the tapping became more stronger now and again, then it seemed to die off slowly, and the egg fell silent. Poe frowned, looking even more worried now. He tapped on the shell with the tip of his own claw, backing his antennae,

"Um… eggy?" They hadn't decided on a name yet, apparently, not even knowing the gender and all. Still no responce, either the hatchling inside had gotten tired too quickly; or it was a so called 'false alarm'. Poe couldn't tell. Poe's mind jumped to far more morose conclusions,

"Beka? You around?" He asked of the empty room, then got an idea, "Maybe I should call Cten.." He unfolded the rarely used communications leg of his pod, thought for a moment then dialed in a number, "Hope she's not in class.."

Quick pan over to the Skool, luckily it's lunch time and Cten's just finished having lunch in the cafeteria - or pretending to have lunch more importantly. She was making her way down the hall to her locker, when her communicater sprang from her pod. She squeaked and threw her locker opened, having the conversation inside. Seeing Poe calling, she now looked slightly worried.

"Poe? - What is it?"

"It's the egg," He glanced down, leaning the communicator down so the egg appeared on the monitor, "It was wiggling and making tapping noises, but it stopped.."

"It stopped?" her eyes widened, "Oh dear... I... I don't know if I can leave or not... Ms. Bitters isn't exactly understanding... just, just keep it warm now, it might have exhausted itself…" Poe nodded slightly,

"Alright, I'll try.. Just try to get home soon, alright? I wouldn't want you to miss it," He smiled slightly, then said his goodbyes and refolded he communicator. He looked down at the egg, frowning faintly. The egg still lay quietly in his hands for a little while, just before the tapping started up again, sounding if you may, more determined now. Poe perked his antennae, looking slightly relieved,

"Don't scare me like that!" He chided the egg, holding onto it tightly, but gently. The egg seemed to ignore him now, now more tapping coming up as some pieces of the shell began to make snapping sounds. The egg seemed to ignore him now, now more tapping coming up as some pieces of the shell began to make snapping sounds. Poe watched intently, gently removing a piece of shell. There wasn't much else he could do but watch, but he liked to feel needed. Then, there was a burst of energy for a big chunk of the egg fell off, the leg of the hatchling now hanging out as the hatching once again stopped to at least rest a while. The leg was small of course, and rather sticky with the yolk-like stuff inside. Poe got an odd, mushy grin on his face, seeing part of his spawn for the first time.

It was kind of hard to get attached to an egg, afterall. He dabbed the leg with the corner of the towel, being extremely careful since he could guess at how delicat hatchlings were. There came a slight whimpering sound from inside the egg, before a small hand managed to push more of the shell away revealing more of the spawn. It's eyes were shut, for now and it's antennae were actually all curled around tightly. As the other piece of shell falls away it manages to pull itself fully out of the egg, landing Poe's hands. Poe blinked suddenly, quickly wrapping the towel around the hatchling and cradling it the best he knew how.

"Um.. hi there," He grinned slightly, stroking the tiny head with the knuckle of his claw. The hatchling made a small squeak noise before it's eyes opened slowly, revealing dark blue eyes and looked up at Poe, staring in great awe at how big this creature was. Poe smiled warmly,

"I guess I should introduce myself, huh? I'm your Daddy," He grinned, embracing the concept and lable fully for the first time, "Your mom should be here soon.." It blinked a couple of times as it's antennae began to unfold, very similar to how butterflies allow their wings to stretch out and dry. To say the least, the antennae were very long and angular, resembling Poe's. But it had the ball like Cten's on the first joint either way. It yawned and clung to his hand, still looking up at him. Poe studied the antennae for a while, noticing the slight curl,

"Now I have to wonder if you're a girl or if you just take after me.." Either way, he stroked one of the tiny antennae lightly, careful not to be too rough with the brittle appendages. The hatchling smiled slightly, obviously liking this and made a soft purr-like sound from it's throat, snuggling against Poe's hand and giving a tiny sigh. Poe smiled, well, fatherly and leaned down, nuzzling his hatchling on the head.

"Wish I had a name for you.. Maybe Cten knows one or two."

"Daaa..." the hatchling held it's hands up and placed them against Poe as he nuzzled it's head, since hearing what he said he was it seemed only fitting to call him it now, whatever this 'Daddy' thing was, he was certainly a nice Daddy. Poe closed his eyes and smiled warmly, careful not to grin and show off his potentially scary teeth. He then sighed and looked towards the door,

"I wish your Mom were here, though, I'm sure she wants to see you too."

Meanwhile, Cten had indeed left Skool. Hey, this was her spawn being born for crying out loud, and Skool could wait another day for her return either way. She was hurrying down the street, running past Dib's house and finally skidding to a halt at her base. She was panting now as she arrived at the door, and swung it open to have the sight of Poe sat on the couch, cradeling…

"…oh my Tallest…" she mouthed. Poe's antennae twitched at the sound of the door opening and looked up at Cten, grinning widely and not seeming to care that the hatchling was poking his face with its sharp little claws. She blinked a couple times before closing the door behind her and walking forward, pulling her wig and lenses off as she did.

"...oh Poe..." she mumbled as she stood besides him, the little hatchling now looking up at her, claws still holding onto Poe's face.

"Yeah, I guess she was impatient.." He blinked, "Or he, whichever." The smell of the afterbirth, er, hatching had been too strong to detect any sort of gender variation before, but it was starting to come through now - Irken anatomy was a bit too, ah, tucked away to tell anything by looking. Cten smiled broadly, then reached out and stroaked the hatchling's head. The hatchling turned it's attention from the 'Daddy' to look up at the other creature, this one looking similar to the Daddy.

"Aw, hi there..." Cten smiled, putting a hand to her chest. "I'm your Mommy..." the hatchling blinked a few times, then rolled onto it's side in Poe's hands, wiggling it's drying antennae a bit, or possibly giving a greetings too.

"Here," Poe handed the little hatchling over to Cten - of course, to him it was little, but it was probably a bit larger than a normal Irken hatchling, having his tall genes and all. Indeed it was a bit bigger then the average hatchling size, hence why the egg itself had been bigger – Cten knew this for sure. She took the hatchling into her arms, cradeling it close to her as she sat on the sofa. The hatchling, already tired from the days events began falling asleep in her arms. Cten then looked over at Poe and smiled broadly,

"Now we're really parents.." she said gently, the hatchlings antennae twitching now and again. Poe sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders, looking back at her, then down at the hatchling,

"Yeah.." was all he said, half-closing his eyes and smiling happily, a look that probably only Cten, Beka, and now the hatchling ever saw on him. "We still need a name though.."

"You're right." she looked down at the hatchling who now was fast asleep, nuzzling against Cten's shirt. "Well... I've read a few name books at Skool and I found one that might be fitting..."

"Oh?" He scratched his head with his free arm, "Maybe we should have a male and female one, until we know for certain.."

"Well... for a girl I found 'Enid' interesting..." she looked back down at the hatchling. "While for a boy, I thought maybe 'Radge'. What do you think?" Cten then glanced at him. Poe pondered for a moment, then nodded,

"I like them.." He glanced down at the offspring as well, "It's hard to believe.."

"It is... isn't it?" she leaned back on the sofa, making herself more comfortable.

"Yeah.. A few months ago, I was just another Reject.. albiet one on an alien planet, but still." Suddenly, a look of guilt crossed his face as he remembered that little fact, him being a Reject and all. Cten looked at him,

"What's the matter?" she could already sense something wrong with him, and now sounded worried. Poe sighed and scratched the back of his neck,

"Rejects aren't suppose to reproduce, especially with normal Irkens.. Heck, some of us are rendered sterile at hatching.. They say that we'll infect the gene pool and the offspring will probably have something.. wrong with it, like the Reject."

"Well that's what they say." she said gently, moving one hand and placing it over his. "To me, you're not a Reject at all, I love you and that's whats important, isn't it? I don't see anything wrong with you at all, and if you say something like, Zim say you're a Reject, well Zim's stupid anyway." Poe smiled slightly,

"I guess.. I just don't want my hatchling to have to go through what I did." He glanced down at the floor.

"I won't allow you, or it to go through that." she said sternly. Poe chuckled softly,

"I'm alright now, so long as I'm on Earth.. Zim's just annoying.. Heck, part of me feels sorry for him, in a way, he's just as much a Reject as I am, but he doesn't even know it, or else is in denial." He shook his head, "I won't be nearly so understanding if he treats our offspring the same way though.."

"Well he better not... I don't want her to get that sort of treatment from anyone." Cten then stopped, blinking a few times. "..I just said she didn't I?" Sure enough, the strong scent of the yolk-like substance was drifting away now leaving the gender 'scent' to drift around more. Poe nodded slightly, and reached one of his antennae over, waving it over the hatchling,

"Seems like a girl to me.." Cten smiled slowly, then grinned at Poe.

"Poe we have a daughter...!" she sounded very excited now, knowing what her offspring was at last. Poe nodded, smiling,

"I'm relieved... I know what teenage boys are like, afterall." He hugged her with one arm, petting his daughter's forehead with the other.

"Ha ha." Cten grinned, leaning against him and looking down at their hatchling. "Enid it is then." She added.

"So when we we going to tell our, ah, friends? Or do we just let them find out on their own?" Poe rubbed her shoulder idly, staring down at Enid as well.

"Despite it, he does deserve to know.. and Zib's been asking us every time he's seen us if it's hatched or not." she replied, stroaking Enid's head gently.

"True.. I'm not too keen on telling Dib, though," Poe twitched slightly, "He'd probably try to capture her.."

"He does and he'll have a close encounter with my lesser-known weapon I carry." Cten replied, almost darkly.

"Lesser-known?" Poe raised his eyelids - apparently it was lesser known if not even he knew about it.

"Well... back when I was training to be a Maid I had to do on the spot jobs," she replied, she never really wanted Poe to know about it, but nows a better time then any. "While at one bar, some old guy who looked like a human told me all about these adventures he'd have had with other 'people' and spoke of a green guy and other stuff. I just said it sounded interesting, and he gave me this light sword thing. Seconds later he died." she motioned to her pod, "Ever since then I've had it. It packs a mighty wallop too." Poe blinked in appreciation,

"Wow. I think I've told you about my weapon, though it's more of a hassle.." He grunted, glaring back at his heavy ID pod, "I doubt there'd be much left of Dib after we got through with him." He muttered, and that wasn't even counting his claws and teeth. She reached up and stroked his cheek gently,

"I think he's smart enough to know not to mess with you." she said gently.

"I would hope so.." He tilted his head into the stroking subconsciously, his brief dark mood fading quickly, "Let's just hope Zim is too." Cten nodded absently for a while, then sat up.

"Well, Zim's at Skool so Zib's alone with GIR... think we should at least let him know? He's been more excited then either of us, I swear.." Poe chuckled,

"He has been.. Sure, I don't see any harm in it."

"All right then..." she handed Enid to Poe gently, as to not wake her up. Then, her communicator unfolded from her pod, and she dialed up Zib's number - which Zim had given her in case he couldn't be contacted for such reasons.

Zib yelped, disturbed from his watching of daytime TV when his communications arm suddenly unfolded from his pod and shoved itself in his face; he still hasn't mastered it, obviously.

"Um.. hi?" He blinked at the monitor as it fuzzed into view, "Hey, Ms. Cten!"

"Hello Zib! How are you?" she heard the sounds of the TV being played loudly, GIR had gotten the remote back and was watching the All Moose Music channel. Zib winced at the sound, tugging down one of his antennae so he wasn't deafened,

"Oh, I'm as good as can be expected," He grumbled loudly, "Stuck here with Gir and all.." He suddenly perked up, letting go of his antennae-scythe, "Did the egg hatch?!" Cten grinned, she had waited till he'd asked that question - as he always had.

"Yes Zib, it just hatched." His eyes lit up, and Zib clutched the communicator,

"Can I see?!" He sure seemed excited, alright.

"Yes, yes.." she leant out of the view of her communicator, and came back holding the sleeping Enid in her arms. "Zib, this is Enid."

"Aww.." He tilted his head, raising one of his eyelids, "Isn't Enid kind of an odd name for a boy though?" The thought the hatchling might be female still had never entered his head.

"Um, Zib, Enid's a girl." Cten replied, as she said this Enid began to move in her arms slightly, her long antennae twitching. Zib froze and stared at the communicator blankly. Finally, his lower eyelids drew up slightly.

"A... girl?"

"Yes Zib, a girl." Cten replied, trying to calm down Enid who was now making some upset sounds. Poe frowned, speaking somewhere from off screen, a bit too tall to be in the monitor's range,

"What's wrong with her?" Zib just looked shocked, his eyelid twitching,

"But.. but.. girls.. girls are icky!" He covered his mouth, looking slightly scared now.

"Hang on..." Cten then handed Enid, who was now wailing to Poe so at least she could talk to Zib without that much distraction. She raised an eyelid, "I'm icky?" she asked, not all that surprised with Zib's reaction to Enid being a girl.

"You're not a girl girl though," he clarified ambigiously, "I can't play with a girl-girl!" He actually seemed somewhat distraught, poor little hybrid.

"Oh Zib..." Cten smiled slightly, then glanced at Poe who looked very confused now while Enid was still crying, then looked back at him. "Well, we'll see what she's like all right? You two might become good friends, despite her being a girl." Poe cradled Enid nervously, afraid he was doing something wrong, while Zib looked around nervously,

"She'll give me cooties though! Horrible, squeedly-spooch eating cooties!" He wasn't even sure if he had a squeedly spooch, but, well, he was his mother's son, or something.

"Oh come on, you're vaccinated against cooties." Cten replied simply. Enid then hiccuped, pausing from crying since crying so much usually gave one hiccups.

"I -- oh, wait, I am?" Zib blinked, spontaneously relaxing, "I guess that's alright then." Poe cautiously set Enid against his shoulder and pat her back softly, blinking in thought before he started to hum a strange tune, and attempted to calm the hatchling down by rocking her. Enid clung to Poe's shoulder and whimpered a bit, hiccuping now and again but eventually calming down and now just making sniveling sounds.

"Yes Zib, you're vaccinated. So you can come over, eh with your Mom if you want later and see her. If your Mom allows you to." Cten replied, glancing up at Poe and smiling slightly. Poe closed his eyes and held the back of Enid's head, humming softly and dredging up some misplaced maternal instincts.

"Aw, I wanna see now though.." Zib scowled at the floor, "Mom probably wouldn't let me 'cause he's mean like that."

"Well don't come over alone, all right?" as she said this, GIR hopped up besides Zib and looked at the communicator.

"Can I take Gir?" He looked up hopefully, grabbing onto the robot's round wrist thingee, "He's suppose to be a watch dog anyway!"

"Uh.... sure... as long as you're back home before your Mom is." Cten replied, it wasn't that far away from them and GIR knew where they were. Enid now relaxed, slowly began to fall asleep again against Poe, before mumbling quietly - to his surprise really,

"Da-da.." Poe blinked his eyes open, antennae arching forward,

"Hey, did you hear that?" He grinned estatically down at Enid. Cten blinked as the communicator re-folded, then looked up at Poe.

"What, what?" she asked.

"She said 'Da-da'," He beamed, a silly grin spreading over his face. Cten looked surprised, standing up besides him.

"She did? Really?!"

"Yeah," He said, beaming with pride and hugging Enid gently, a rather odd thing for the usually quiet, humble Reject. Cten clasped her hands together, looking ever so proud as well. "Awww!"

[To be continued!]