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

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Chapter Seven

Another day begins in Poe and Cten's lives, both of them seen fast asleep in their bed. Sunlight is beginning to creep into the room through the window, but then the door is opened and Enid, now possibly Zib's height (maybe taller, can't really tell) comes tearing into the room.

"Mooorrrnnniiinnnggg!!" she cries and leaps up onto the bed. Poe's antennae curl up tightly from the sudden burst of sound, and he grumbles and buries his face into his pillow, but then Enid lands, Poe being jolted when the flying weight hits the bed.

"Ack, Enid!" Cten yelps and turns over too quickly, falling out of the bed with a WHAM as she lands on the ground. He digs his claws into the bed, the only thing that keeps him from joining Cten on the ground. Enid glances over the side of the bed at Cten,

"Sorry Mommy!" Poe waited until the bed stopped shaking before sitting up, rubbing his head and looking at Enid,

"Can't you just tug on our shoulders, or something?" he asked, without much hope.

"Aw but that's no fun." she replied, grinning to her Dad showing off her pointed teeth.

"Ugh..." Cten slowly sat up and crawled back onto the bed. "Enid... you know what Sundays mean... no early mornings..." she groaned.

"But I'm bored!" Enid replied, tugging on her long antennae.

"...already?" Cten just stared at her daughter blankly.

"We have technology that far surpasses most anything on Earth, and you're bored?" Poe blinked his eyes blearily, "There must be something you can do.. No games, TV, anything?" He shook his head, "What about Zib?" She wasn't as bored when she had someone to be bored with, usually.

"I dunno if he's up or not..." Enid replied, twiddling her fingers somewhat. Cten glanced at the clock, it read nine o'clock.

"...well, call him and plan something to do then." she said, pulling the blankets back up to her, making Enid fall to her side on the bed. Poe nodded and slumped back into bed as well. Zib was up, actually, and the situation at Zim's base was eerily similar,

"Mom, can I go to Enid's?!" Zib asked, well, demanded at Zim really, who was still in bed as well, while Zib stood on the end of said bed. Zim muttered as he pulled his pillow up over his head, his SIR toy SIRRY visibly seen laying besides him.

"Ugghh... go, go..." he waved his ungloved hand at Zib, or where he thought Zib was. Then rolled over and pulled SIRRY closer and mumbled something about doom before snoring loudly again. Zib broke out into a grin and ran out of Zim's room, through the main house, his coat trailing behind him - which no longer dragged on the floor, him having grown into it somewhat - past Gir.

"HIBYEGIR!" And with that, he was out the door, putting in his contacts along the way. Soon enough, there was a ring at the door at the.. er.. Poe and Cten residence. Enid, who by now was bored again and sitting upside down on the sofa, leapt off it and opened the door. Her antennae perking happily and she grinned since it was her 'bestest friend' at the door.

"Zib!" she cried happily.

"Hey!" He grinned and stepped inside, "Mom let me come over. Whatcha wanna do?" He didn't seem to mind the fact she was a girl anymore, or that she was starting to get taller than him by a hair or so, or in this case, antennae.

"Oh I dunno... Mom 'n Daddy are still asleep upstairs." she thumbed behind her to the stairs, "'N Beka's cleaning the house as usual... wanna go out?" her antennae perked up since they always seemed to get into something or another while outside.

"Sure!" He grinned, slightly deviously, with everyone asleep or busy, who was gonna stop them? He thought a while, "Wanna go to the park?"

"Yeah!" she chimed, pulling her blueish-gray contacts over her eyes and yanking her black wig over her antennae. Her wig had long hair, and the bangs/fringe resembled Poe's somewhat, but was curly slightly with a streak of blue piercing out of the black. Zib kept grinning, he sure was happy, wasn't he?

"Let's go!" He grabbed her wrist and started off towards the park, the two older hatchlings so bursting with energy they could probably have run all the way there and still not be tired. The two eventually arrive, and run up to what is probably the biggest tree in the park. They skid to a halt, Enid looking up at it, then smirking at Zib.

"So I guess you wanna see if you can climb that thing without the use of your Pack or what?" she grinned, glancing up at it again. Zib smirked back,

"You're on!" Hey, he was the one with the ancestral monkey DNA in his system, he had confidence. He jumped up onto the tree and started skittering up it, digging his claws into the bark and transversing the limbs quickly. Unfortunately, though, he probably didn't have Enid's strength. She remained on the ground for now, then thought why should she stay out of it? She dug her claws into the bark, and started climbing up after him. Sure she didn't hae ancestral monkey DNA like Zib did, but her DNA had that of quite a strong Irken as her Father, that helped a lot. Zib grunted and started to tire, being as bullheaded as both his parents and not bothered to pace himself. He pulled himself up to the next branch, almost halfway up the tree, and leaned against the trunk, stopping to catch his breath. Soon enough, Enid was hanging off the tree near him. She grinned at him,

"Aw, what's the matter Zib? Need your Mommy to come 'n save you?" she taunted. Seemed she was more tom-boyish at this age, possibly a reason why Zib enjoyed spending time with her. She was the more 'outdoors' kinda girl, not the 'play house' kind. Zib scowled at her,

"I need no Mommy assistance!" He adjusted his glasses and leaned back, jumping up and grabbing onto the next branch, the only one within reach at this point on the tree, scrambling atop it, sticking his tongue out down at Enid. She poked her segmented tongue back at him, hauling herself up, and past him to the next branch above him.

"So much for heriditary ancestral monkies!" she called back.

"Hey!" Disgruntled, he reached up and grabbed onto her hanging boot, "No fair!" Enid yiped as he grabbed her foot, but managed to keep her balance, pulling him up.

"Cheater!" she called back, swinging him onto the branch she was on.

"I'm not a cheater, I'm an opprotunist!" He blinked as he was pulled up, not quite expecting that, still holding onto her boot, yanking it off in the process as he ascended to the new branch. He looked down at the boot, then held it up victoriously, "HAH! Can't go on without this!"

"Give that back! Daddy got me those!" she looked at her bare clawed foot, then scowled at him. Zib grinned,

"Come and get it!" He stuffed the boot in his pocket and scrambled up onto the next branch up, wasting no time this time and continuing his ascent.

"Zi-ib!" Enid stood up, her clawed foot gripping onto the bark, and she started up after him. "Give that back! I'm not kidding now!" tom-boyish as she was, what her Daddy gave her was things she really did care about, and plus, her boots fitted her like a glove, er, boot. Yeah.

"Nyahah! Victory for Zib!" He sat down on the 'final' branch, or about as high as they could go safely, taking the boot out and holding it aloft like a trophey. Eventually she arrived besides him, glaring at him as she sat on the branch besides him.

"Oh fine, victory for now..." she then whipped out and tore his glasses away from his face, placing them on her head and leant against the tree, since she was closest to it. "Hah!"

"HEY! I need those!" He whined, suddenly blinded, waving his hands around to get his bearings. He turned and glared at a nearby branch, "Gimme those back!"

"Not until I have my boot back." she replied calmly, folding her arms.

"Fine, take your stinky boot!" He offered the boot out to the nearby tree limb. Enid leaned over him, grabbing the boot. As she did, she replaced his glasses back on his head, before pulling her boot on.

"Huh." she said. He held onto the handles of his glasses and pulled them into place, pulling them off and scrubbing them with his coat,

"You got claw scratches on them now!'

"Well you got your boy germs on my boot now!" she replied, almost smobbishly and wiped at her boot with her jacket's sleeve. Then, she happened to look down, and down, and down. She blinked, the tree hadn't seemed this tall before. "Oh.. wow..." Zib put on his glasses again, looking down as well.

"..eep." He looked around nervously, scooting closer to Enid for whatever reason, "..what do we do now?"

"Well we gotta go down now, that's the fun of coming up here!" obviously her awe wasn't due to her fear of the height, as it was for Zib. She raised an eyebrow as he had scooted closer, "Aw, you afraid Zib?" she joked, leaning her head to the side. "Want me to call your Mommy?" Zib looked around,

"What? Me? Afraid? Of course not! And I don't need my Mom!" He huffed and scowled at her, "It's just, a long way down, that's all.." He looked down and gulped.

"Aw climb on." she managed to stand up and turn her back to him, "If you'll allow yourself to be helped by a girl." she grinned.

"But I... Oh, fine." He grumbled and climbed up onto her back, holding onto her shoulders, "Are you sure you can hold me?"

"Zib, you're a light little thing!" Enid grinned, then climbed back onto the tree and started to slowly climb down, "For some reason I'm feeling like a Koala..." she muttered.

"What? But-" Well, he had to admit his parents weren't exactly very substantial examples of either race. He hung on for dear life, clinging to her and squeezing his eyes shut, fear overcoming his sense of dignity for the moment. Enid got quicker as they went down, and by the time they were half way down, the two were being watched by some humans who were at the park, mostly little kids. Soon enough, she jumped from the tree, since a good foot was left till they landed, and she landed on the ground with a soft thud.

"..are we on solid ground?" he asked in a small voice, not daring to open his eyes yet.

"Yeah Zib, we are." she replied, smiling broadly while she held onto his hands which were still clenched to her shoulders. Zib opened one eye, then the other, slowly sinking off of her back his boots landing silently. He exhaled loudly in relief, sagging, before noticing all the humans staring, scowling at them.

"What? Go away, shoo!" Enid laughed slightly, and took a bow.

"Thank you, thank you! No encores, please." some kids gave them weird looks and walked off, one little girl clapped happily until her Mother lead her off.

"Stupid human.. thingees," Zib muttered to himself, dusting off his coat and picking some bark of his rump. He glanced towards the playground, "Look at them, hogging all the equipment!"

"Oh they're humans Zib, what do you expect?" she asked, pretty much fogetting what Zib was half human. "A far inferior species compared to that of us," she placed a hand to her chest, then flicked her black wig. "Obviously."

"Yeah, inferior.." He muttered quietly and scowled, blowing at his quite natural bangs, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"So now what, wanna play chicken on the highway?" she smirked, beginning to walk along the path.

"What?! No! We'd get smeared across the road like roadkill!" He made 'roadkill' fingers, running to catch up with her.

"Hehe, I know Zib. I just wanna see the scared face you had up there." she giggled, somewhat evilly. "Wish I had a camera!"

"What?! I am not scared!" He glared at her in a way that was almost cute, his lower teeth jutting out, "I'm merely precautious!"

"Course you were cutie." she then pinched his cheek as she said cutie, loving to tease her friend at any opportunity.

"Hey, leggo!" He squirmed and tried to free himself from her claws, his glasses becoming skewed in the process! "I'm not cute either!" He sulked, only looking, well, cuter.

"Aw but you are!" she cooed, letting go of his cheeks and clasping her hands together. Obviously she was still joking, and continued walking and declared loudly, "My friend Zib is CUTE!"

"Enid!" He whined, scrunching his shoulders and trying to disappear into his coat as she got the attention of the whole playground, causing a good number of snickers, "Don't say things like that! People will think.. things!"

"Don't be silly Zib." she slung an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. "I want them to know you're my bestest friend in the entire galaxy 'n beyond!" Enid giggled happily, enjoying this far more then she ought to. Zib allowed himself to be squished, looking rather sheepishly at all of the kids,

"You're mine too, but seriously-"

"So what were you two going to do up in that tree?" Some random kid snickered, and a few went

"OoooOOOooo."

"Wouldn't you like to know!" she jeered back, hefting Zib up off the ground since she was taller and stronger them him. Zib's face flushed slightly, both from being picked up and the attention they were getting, being older than Enid and a bit more sensitive to these kind of things.

"I bet it started with a K!" Some other kid postulated. Enid let Zib go and put her hands to her hips, tilting her head to the side.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G?" she asked back, showing she wasn't at all bothered by the fact the kids around them were probably making fun of them. She laughed and spun around once, her jacket flowing momentarily. "What," she looked at the boy who had called out, "You want a kiss too?" she grinned at him, showing off her teeth. Zib stumbled away, then tugged on her claws somewhat nervously,

"En, were're not suppose to draw attention to ourselves.." he said, eyeing the surrounding children with paranoia, while a few of the kids eeped and backed away from her teeth, a few others "Oooo"'d again and leaned forward.

"Where'd you get teeth like that?"

"Why are you two green, anyway?"

"I dunno, why are you pink?" she asked, sounding somewhat dumbly back at the kid. Yes, she was younger and she hadn't spent a lot of time 'outside', heck she wasn't even in Skool yet. So most of her time was with her Father, and the two rarely left the house for any reason. Then she grinned, showing her teeth more. "I got special dentures cause my teeth're bad." she replied. Probably something her Mom had told her to say, if in case the question ever came up.

"Went bad from too much kissing, huh?" Another Random Kid(boy, the park was full of them!) jeered, and Zib groaned,

"We're just friends, alright?!"

"Sure, that's what they always say."

"I got the kissing disease!" she replied, and stepped forward to the 'random kid', "You wanna catch it from me?" the boy suddenly looked rather disgusted, being this age the last thing he wanted was to kiss, or be kissed...

"...no!" he said after a moments pause.

"Aw come on you know you wanna!" she jeered, opening her arms to him. "Gimmie a KISS!" the boy screamed and ran off, most other boys following suite - not wanting kisses from a green skinned girl with weird teeth. Enid smirked, hanging her arms by her sides.

"Aw, spoil sports..." she turned back to Zib, as the rest of the kids started to mill away, some girls laughing about how pansy the boys were. "So now what?"

"Something that doesn't involve defying death or a large group of children," Zib muttered, "Or kissing." He looked around, "Hey, some of the equipment's free now.." Mostly only the swingset and one of those metal climbey dealies.

"Yay!" Enid ran past him and leapt onto a swing, enjoying herself a lot today isn't she? "C'mon Zib, we'll see who can swing all the way around first." she called out.

"Alright!" His Zimmyside never one to turn down a challenge, dispite how his Dib side might argue the logicistics. He ran over to the free swing beside Enid and pushed off with his boots, his swing swaying back and forth. And so the two started swingnig, going higher and higher with each push off; course, neither could ever really swing all the way around what with gravity and movements and such. But still, they're enjoying themselves. As they swing, they talked of course.

"So is your Mom gonna enroll you in Skool or what?" Enid asked, kicking her blue heels up. Zib scowled ahead and nodded,

"He said I'm already too old to not be in skool, but he thought I might not have to start at the very beginning grade. What about you?" He looked over at her as his coat trailed behind the swinging, well, swing.

"Mom thinks I should go, and that Daddy should re-enroll. But Daddy says he had enough of the jeers and taunts from the kids 'n they reminded him of his life back on Irk," she leaned back flatly, so she could look up at the sky as she swung. "So I might be starting some grade or another, cause of my height."

"..so he gets to laze around the house all day? That's not fair," Zib snorted somehow, then looked up, "Maybe we can be in the same grade?"

"I hope so," Enid replied, looking over at him after her sky gazing had stopped. "Skool'd be boring if we couldn't be in the same grade."

"Yeah, I'd hate to be stuck with all those humans.." He scrunched his face slightly, "It'd be kind of weird if we were in the same grade as our parents, though."

"I think we'd be.. maybe a few grades behind." Enid replied, then stood up on her swing, still swinging as she did. "Least then Mom could help me with 'homework'. She gets a lot. Daddy says it's her own fault for taking more classes."

"I wonder if my Mom would help me," Zib said, with a touch of almost sadness in his voice, "Dad's real good with science, but he's never around.. bah!" He shook his head suddenly, "Hopefully I won't need any!"

"Yeah, you'll be too smart they might put you in a higher grade!" Enid grinned, she enjoyed having Zib's two personalities clash now and again, making him brassier and more confident in himself. "Then you might help me!"

"Always glad to be of assistance," He grinned charmingly, well, as charming as one can be with yellowish zipper-teeth, hair flying back and forth as he swung, "Mom says I have a knack for science, but I don't know about these inferior human studies.."

"You'll have to put up with it Zib," she replied, "Not like they have an Irken Science Class."

"No, but still. I bet they won't even cover anything interesting like paranormal studies!" He scoffed.

"I heard some times they have classes like that, in some Skools." Enid said, glancing over at the big city looming up near the park. "Only special Skools tho... not the one our Moms go to."

"Well, we should probably stay with our parents.. I mean, in case something happens." He glanced over at the city as well, "..not that I'm WORRIED or anything."

"Mom says that Dib's getting some followers in his beliefs of aliens..." she said quietly, out of the blue. "I don't wanna be taken away from Mom or Daddy, or you." Zib frowned,

"I don't want you to either." He looked down at the ground, even if it was a blur right now, "Dad wouldn't turn us in.. at least.. I think so." Must not be much fun to have a Dad who's willing to give you over to the goverment. @_@

"If he did, Daddy said your Dad would be in big trouble." Enid said, "'N knowing my Daddy he isn't lying either!" she sat back down on the swing, from her standing position and began swinging more slowly, possibly dizzy.

"Well.. hey.. he is still my Dad." He stopped as well, scowling at the ground, "But I couldn't let him do anything to Mom or you," he grunted, being more attached to Zim, since Zim was the only one who'd ever really taken care of him much. Enid looked over at him, stopping her swinging in a short skid.

"Thanks." she grinned at him, then blinked as her stomach, or something that was similar to it, grumbled. "Hmm..." Zib glanced over at her.

"Hungry?" Well, that's what it meant when his stomach grumbled, he had no idea what it meant in Irkens.

"Famished!" she replied, grinning from, er, antennae to antennae.

"Well, let's get something to eat then," He stuck his heel in the dirt and stopped his swing, standing up, "What do you feel like?" He asked vaugely, "I'm up for anything but Mexican.." he stuck out his tongue.

"I'm hungry for.. anything!" she replied, "...but it's annoying when meat sticks to my body." she said sadly as she stood up. What Zib usually ate was mostly Human food, and she'd always wanted to try it, but last time she did she was sick for a week.

"Owch.. I forgot about that," He winced, thinking. "Well, your Dad doesn't seem to mind human food, maybe you'll build up an immunity too?" He started walking, looking back at her, towards the street with all the resteraunts such as Chicky Licky and that hamburger place and such. She followed after him, eyeing the resturants.

"I dunno Zib.. maybe I should just go home 'n get something like a nutrient bar or something." she muttered.

"Well, if you really want to.." He started, hating Irken food but not really wanting to make her sick, either.

"I know, we could go to your place. Your Mom has that stuff, 'n you could make something you'd like too!" Enid's head perked up as the idea struck her.

"Hm.. alright!" He knew his Mom didn't like Enid much, but he didn't even know if Zim was awake or not yet. He reached out and grabbed her hand, "C'mon, we'll be there and back 'fore he notices us there."

"Okay then!" the two ran off quickly, towards Zim's base. These two were just chokka full of energy, weren't they? They eventually arrived at Zim's base, creaking the door open and sneaking past the sleeping GIR into the kitchen. Zib whewed when they got into the kitchen, opening up the fridge.

"I think the nutrient bars are in here somewhere… aha!" He pulled out a fistfull of bars, and handed them to her, before finding some sandwhich ingredients for himself. After some time, the two sat amongst the messy pile of food. Jams, spreads, bread, candy, wrappers and other assorted goodies were all over the once clean floor.

"Mmm.. yummy!" Zib said licking his lips as he finished his peanut butter and jelly sandwich off, then licked his sticky fingers. Enid finished her umpthenth Nutrient bar and threw the wrapper onto the floor. She then looked thoughtful for a moment, before looking at Zib.

"Hey Zib?" she asked,

"Yeah?" he replied, dipping a spoon into the peanut butter jar and trying to scoop out the remaining spread.

"We'll be friends forever, right? I'm just wonderin', you know." Enid shrugged, glancing away to the side as she said this. Zib looked up at her, spoon in his mouth.

"Ah Enid, we'll be friends forever! I'm sticky, and once you touch me you're stuck." he grinned at her. Enid grinned back, nodding.

"Cool then."

[The End!]