Pre-Teenage Revelations
Epic Eight
Written by Cartman's Girl and Poe

Sometime later, well, say around ten minutes Ragde left the ally way with Ivy slumped over his shoulder. His pod legs were back in, and he hurried along the streets. He didn't exactly like what had just happened, nor had he had much control over it either. But judging by the blood smeared over his clothing and face, he hadn't left anyone standing.

"Ngh.." She started to drift into consciousness, the motion shaking her out of it somewhat. She looked down and saw a black coat, though one spattered with blood, "R… Raggy?" She wondered quietly.

"Shh Ivy, we'll be home soon." he said quietly, his voice shaking. She was a tad heavy, but not as heavy as she would have been if he still wasn't 'pumped up', so to speak. She was too out of it to argue, and her head hung again, pretty much remaining limp even as they neared their front door. Ragde reached up to turn the handle, then looked at his hand. It was more blood smeered then his jacket was, and he hate to imagine his mouth... he gulped, got a nasty after-taste then opened the door.

"Mom?! Dad?!" he called out, closing the door behind him with a kick. Zib wandered into the living room, sipping a cup of coffee idly and in his lay-about clothes,

"Hey, Ragde, what's the-" His eyes widened when he saw his son caked in blood, holding the rather unlively body of his sister, and sprayed the nearest wall with the coffee in his mouth, nearly shrieking, "What happened?!" Enid rushed into the room, hearing Zib's loud cry, no not a shriek - he's a boy, and stood there frozen for a moment.

"...what happened?!" she finally shrieked in a slight panic. Ragde managed to get Ivy to the couch,

"I, I'm fine! I-Ivy she just.." he trailed off, not really sure what happened to her. Enid knelt down besides Ivy, looking her over.

"Ivy? Ivy are you awake?" she almost said alive, but you know how worried Mom's get...

"Nngh.." Ivy slurred, stirring slightly.

"Fine?! You're covered in-" Zib went to his son, kneeling down to look at him, "Wait a minute.. just who's blood is this?" He held Ragde by the shoulders and looked at him puzzedly, the concept of Ragde being covered in someone else's blood something that was hard to grasp. Ragde looked at his Dad, still in a state of shock himself at what happened. He shivered slightly, closing his eyes.

"Two.. two men were with Ivy and... and they knocked her out.." he muttered, his bangs hanging in his eyes. Enid stroked her face with her hands,

"Oh thank heavens Ivy.." she hugged Ivy, not too tightly of course. Ivy blinked her eyes open, her head bobbing slightly. Zib frowned in sympathy towards Ragde and hugged him, ignoring the blood getting on his clean shirt, then looked at Ivy,

"Take off her contacts, Enid, she might have a concussion and her eyes would be dialated."

"Okay.." Enid carefully held one of Ivy's eyes open and managed to get the contact out, and did the same for the other. She then tilted Ivy's head gently, looking at her eyes. "I.. I don't know, are they dialated?" Zib glanced over Ragde's shoulder, frowning,

"It's kind of hard to tell, but.. no, I don't think so. Ivy, you know what day it is and all, right?"

"I'm fine, Daddy.." She murmured, holding her head as she sat up with some difficulty, "I just have a massive headache.."

"Come on Ivy, I'm taking you to bed.. she can, can't she?" Enid looked back at Zib, him knowing more about this kind of stuff then she ever would. Ragde rubbed his eyes, then found he had smeared more of the blood on his face then before.

"Ugh." he muttered.

"Yeah.. that'd probably be good." Zib nodded and looked back at his son, who'd probably start to be ill from the blood he ingested and the adrenaline rush and whatnot, "Are you sure you're not hurt?"

"I... I don't feel hurt..." he replied, closing his eyes now and not wanting to see the streaks of red over his glasses. Enid managed to get Ivy into her arms, and carry her out the room.

"What on Earth did you do to get all this blood on you?" He looked him over, "I mean, if any of my smeets were to come home covered in blood, I would've thought it'd be Ivy, not you.." He opened his eyes sadly, hanging his arms by his sides.

"...two human men, they... they had hurt Ivy and I found them... I, I don't know..." Ragde put his hands to his eyes, starting to cry now. Not normal crying either, you know the type of crying which makes your body shiver 'n stuff. "I don't know what happened!! One of the men tried to hit me but I grabbed his hand and.. and..." Zib frowned, his antennae-scythes leaning backwards and he hugged Ragde again, sighing.

"I just hope there weren't any diseases in the blood.. It'll.. be okay." He tried to sound assured, but he sounded somewhat uneasy himself; it was one thing learning of an illness in one of your in-laws, much different to have it rear its head in your own kid.

"D-Dad..?" Ragde leaned into Zib, slowly wrapping his arms around him. "A-Am I... am I sick...?" he sounded genuinely scared now, seeing how he had no control over what had happened made him feel it could happen all over again.

"Well.. I don't know how intermingled your human instincts are with Irken, but humans tend to get violent when someone they care about, especially family, is in immediate danger.." Zib picked him up with some difficulty, something he hadn't done in a long time, "So it.. Might have just been that.." That wasn't really reasuring to Ragde, so he just held onto Zib as he continued to sob pathetically, pulling at his black bangs. Zib sighed and winced; Ragde was quite a bit heavier than he remembered, but he seemed like he needed it now. He looked down at Ragde,

"You want to get cleaned up, Raggy?" He asked softly. Ragde coughed, but managed to nod at least, his antennae scythes folding back against his head since they had been pulled free by the fight. Zib nodded and took him to the bathroom. Ivy was in bed, making a quick recovery, though she had a rather nasty knot on her head.

"I can't believe I allowed myself to be attacked!" Ivy ranted at the wall, though her Mom was probably still around to hear. Enid entered the room with a cloth, to at least wipe away some of the stained blood Ivy had on her forehead. She sat on the bed, and held up one of Ivy's bangs and started to dab.

"Well no one ever said humans attack fairly, did they?" she asked.

"But still," She shuddered slightly, either from the cloth or the thoughts of what could have been, "I'm just glad Ragde was there.. I can't believe he did that.. I can't believe he could do that.."

"Well maybe he's had that hidden all these years, and the idea of you hurt just brought it out?" Enid wringed the cloth out into a bucket she had brought, then started again. "You're very lucky your brother was there."

"I guess.." She started to feel sort of bad for making fun of him all those times, now. Her almost scared expression furrowed into a scowl, "I hate males! The.. ones I'm not related to, I mean."

"I never did take a liking towards them." came Enid's reply, sitting back and putting her hand to Ivy's chin. "So, do you think you'll be all right or should I administer head surgery?" she grinned slightly. Ivy blinked up at her Mom,

"I'll be fine.." She smiled slightly, then went back to scowling, "I just wish I got to do what Ragde did!"

"Well, maybe he might show you some pointers then. If he wants to." Enid glanced at the door, where she could hear Zib asking Ragde about if he did have any control at all, then looked back at Ivy. "Now you rest, all right? If you need me, call me."

"Alright Mom.. " She nodded and sank into her bed, pulling the blanket over her with a yank.

"Good girl." she gave Ivy's antennae a gentle stroke, a thing only she and Zib were ever allowed to do, then left the room. Zib had removed Ragde's glasses and was scrubbing off his face, especially the area around his mouth.

"Like your mind just went into a haze?" Ragde nodded, since if he spoke he'd get a mouth full of the scrubbing. Enid entered the room, bucket in her hands.

"She's fine Zib, just has a headache." she said, as Zib had looked to her, he was about to ask her how Ivy was. Seemed she knew what he was going to ask.

"That's good.." He didn't look that relieved though, still worried about his other offspring. He took Ragde's bloody coat off for him, setting it to the side and checking his arms for injury, knowing that adrenaline would dull any pain and could leave any injuries to go undetected, "You wanna tell your Mom what you just told me, Ragde? About what happened."

"Okay.." Ragde wiped his eyes, looking at his Mom once replacing his glasses. "Ivy, I think was mugged by two guys.. I had a funny feeling to go home a different way - so I did. Then... then I saw her with the guys. One tried to knock me out, but I managed to defend myself but...I don't really remember how I did.." Next off was Ragde's shirt, and Zib studied him with a look of disbelief,

"Not even a bruise," he murmured, "Ragde, just how.. big were these guys?"

"Um... taller then Grandfather Poe." he muttered, rubbing his arms. Enid blinked, looking to Zib.

"That's tall..."

"And... kinda muscular too." Ragde added.

"I don't get it," Zib shook his head, "You didn't even have some sort of weapon or anything?

"No... well... my pod legs got out so that was a help.."

"Ah," Zib glanced back at his pod, "I can see how that would help, but all the pod legs I've seen have been fairly flimsy.." 'Course, he'd never seen Poe's.

"..not mine..." Ragde gulped sadly as his pod opened, and the big, black, long and very powerful legs slowly folded out into view. And yes, some splatters of blood streaked down the legs. Enid looked shocked, stepping back.

"Oh my..." Zib jumped back slightly, surprised, his glasses going askew,

"Where'd you get those?!" Ragde shied back at Zib's yelling,

"I, I don't know!" he cried. Enid put her hand to Zib's shoulder gently.

"Zib, those are like Daddy's. He's.. just inherited his pod legs."

"Inherited pod legs? But.." He looked confused, then shook his head, "Well, a-alright then.." Zib looked up at the blood-spattered limbs warily, "You.. do have control of those.. don't you, Ragde?" Ragde shrugged, as the long legs slowly vanished back into his pod.

"I... usually can't control them, that's why you've never seen them..." he muttered.

"That's.. not good," Zib said the obvious, "Maybe we should.. I dunno, maybe your grandfather could tell you how to control them." He shrugged helplessly.

"Maybe." Enid said, nodding. "Should I call him over?" she asked. Ragde just stood there now, rubbing his right arm. Zib nodded, sitting back up on his knees and brushing some of Radge's mussed, bloodied hair out of his face,

"Yeah, maybe he'd know what to do.."

"All right.." Enid walked from the room, glancing back at her son before leaving the room and unfolding her communicator. Poe, meanwhile, was lounging about like the lazy lout he usually was, when his communicator sprung to life.

"Hey, Enid," He smiled at his daughter, "How're things?"

"Oh, um... fine... but, just now we really need you to come over." she said, tapping her fingertips together. "Ragde, well... he had an incident and he really needs your help." Poe frowned slightly, wondering at the urgency in her voice,

"Well, alright.." He looked beside him on the couch, Cten having fallen asleep, he got up and headed out the door. Soon enough, he was at Enid's base, being lead to the bathroom, "What happened?"

"Remember when your disease made you snap?" Poe nodded slightly, "Well... it kind of happened to Ragde. But, but he's back to normal now..." Enid opened the bathroom door, and Ragde was there cleaning the blood off one of his black pod legs with a cloth. Poe blinked, frowning slightly, but sympathetically. He kneeled down, feeling a little self-conscious as he was taller than everyone else, not to mention Ragde didn't need to feel intimidated right now,

"Something set you off, Radge?" He knew Ragde was picked on quite a bit in skool, and hoped he hadn't snapped there. Ragde looked at Poe sadly, then nodded as he paused from cleaning the pod leg.

"U-huh... Ivy was in trouble." he said quietly.

"Ivy? Trouble?" That was kind of hard for him to picture, but he nodded anyway. He sought for words, then sighed, "Radge, I.. I don't know if your parents have told you, but I have this.. disease.." He glanced back at Zib and Enid, looking for permission to tell Ragde about it, "And it.. it might have.. spread to.. others in my family through genes."

"Really..?" he sighed sadly, running a hand through his hair. "So.. so I've got it?"

"M.. maybe." Zib sat back sadly, staring at the wall blankly and looking rather distraught, but quiet. "But it's.. It's alright.. I can teach you how to control it.. I've been doing that with your Grandma." Ragde sat there for a while, then his pod leg folded back into his pod what with being cleaned and all.

"I can control it then?" he sounded slightly hopeful, his antennae lifting slightly.

"Yeah," Poe smiled encouraginly at him, "I'm sure you can. You're kinda like me, we're not.. especially prone to violence." He glanced to the side, "If your sister had gotten it I might've worried more.."

"Heh, yeah... she doesn't know how to control her anger..." Ragde smirked, then smiled at Poe. "Thanks Grandfather.." he then leant forward and hugged Poe, closing his eyes tightly. "Thank you so much." He smiled widely and hugged back, patting Radge's lower back,

"Hey, it's part of the job," He grinned slightly, scruffing Ragde's hair playfully. Radge was the closest he ever got to having a real 'son', since Vist hardly wanted the part. And plus, the two being quite similar in some areas was a great help as well, to help link Poe and Ragde together. Ragde blinked, looking at his Grandfather while he still hugged him,

"I'm lucky in a weird way, aren't I?"

"Heh, yeah." He looked down at Ragde, "You have your own built in defense system.. you just have to learn how to control it. It's not.. that hard, you just have to know how." He glanced over at Zib, who was running his claws through his hair and staring at his lap. Ragde looked over at Zib, looking slightly blank.

"Dad, you all right...?" he asked.

"I'm alright, Raggy," He shook his head, lifting it and pushing up his glasses, "I guess it's just.. hard news to hear, that's all."

"I guess..." Ragde said quietly, but smiled slightly. "But Grandfather will show me how to control it, so, so you don't have to worry..." He smiled sadly at Ragde and nodded,

"That's true.." He glanced over at Poe, who stood up, "Thank you, Poe.. I'll.." He looked upwards, "I'll find a cure for this thing someday."

"We're learning to deal with it, that's what's important Zib." Enid said, putting her hand to Zib's shoulder.

"Yeah, then, then you can test stuff on me if you want, Dad." Ragde said. He sighed and nodded slightly, then looked down at Radge,

"That's true, but.." He frowned, leaning over, "I'm not sure I could bring myself to do that to you, Ragde, I mean, it involves taking blood and shots and such.."

"Well... if, if it'll help out I wanna." Ragde nodded simply, looking at Zib. "I don't wanna go crazy and hurt anyone, and if this shall help prevent it, then I want in." Zib smiled slightly, but warmly at his son's bravery, and stood back up,

"I think.. between the data from you and your grand parents.. I'll be able to find something." He sighed, "I hope, anyway.."

"Yeah, we'll beat it!" Ragde grinned, "Then me, Grandfather and Grandmother won't be sick anymore. So we can get back to normal."

"Yeah." His smile broadened slightly, "As.. normal as we ever were."

"Ah, we're normal.." Enid smirked, "It's human beings I'm worried about."

[To be continued]