Jared regretted deciding to attend the Hover Hit tournament the minute he arrived. The place was packed with Irkens, and he caught several flashes of ID badges suggesting there were a lot of medical staff around who could be familiar with his creator… and his escape.

He'd carefully made himself small enough that he wouldn't attract attention for his height, but still tall enough that he could secure prime seating. Plush, red and purple colored seats filled the middle section of the bleachers, with the seats growing progressively worse in comfort as they fanned out from the middle. The taller you were, the better your chances of being allowed to sit in the middle where the nice seats were.

The walls were hung with crimson, violet, and gold banners proclaiming "Go Team So and So," "Your Almighty Tallest Welcome You," or "If it ain't Nanas brand nachos, it ain't nachos!"

Jared hesitated for a second before taking his seat. The tallests' royal box, decorated in expensive satins and plastic super-size cup holders, loomed overhead. Jared could almost feel the oppressive shadow of it, and the leaders for whom it was intended, creeping down his oily flesh. He shivered once, then turned his attention to trying to find images of naked female Irkens in his ice cubes. To his great surprise, he actually thought he found one.

Two small Irken females in rather daring clothes came running out. Their faces were covered, as well as their legs, feet, and bellies. Their elbows and hands were bare, which caused Jared to snort in disgust. Only cheap women would flaunt themselves like that, he thought in irritation. They carried a banner between them, and their antennae jingled with jewels. "Let the tournament begin!" the two announced in perfect unison, laying down the banner that was to go to the winner.

Jared had no particular interest in watching any of the battles except the one his "princess" was to be in, so he mostly dozed off. He managed to get the gist of the game. Two contestants would come out on platforms in a large, clear-walled container and lock themselves to a wall. Gravity would be turned off, and a small, fur-covered mammal would be thrown into the chamber. From there, the only rule was to get the fur animal into your goal, no matter the cost to your or your enemy's body.

Jared did perk up quite a bit when they had to carry one young male out on a stretcher, his bone sticking out of his thigh as he howled like a madman. The crowd went wild and nachos flew through the air with glee as the medics bumped him into the ambulance, ignoring his desperate pleas for some sort of painkiller.

The blood excited Jared on some level, and he almost threw nachos down shirts as most of the audience seemed to be doing, but on the other hand he was repulsed. How could they ignore his cries for mercy? He'd assumed when the scientists had strapped wires to his body and tortured him with electricity until he nearly melted that they'd only done it because he was a "worthless freak." Was the Irken race really that sick?

The cheering raised to a fevered pitch again and Jared craned his neck to see what was going on. His eyes met with Dee's dark purple eyes, and she smiled and waved seemingly directly at him. He felt a small tinge melt in his heart. So what if her parents were evil, twisted monsters? She had the smile of an angel.

It was only then that he really and truly noticed the hover hit protective gear strapped to her wrists and knees. His multiple hearts seemed to sink into his boots, and he had to be careful because he knew that was physically possible within the confines of his blob-like body. What if she was hurt? He swallowed down the hard, thick knot forming in his throat. She said she did this all the time, and she'd been a finalist in past years. She knew what she was doing, right?

Dee latched her boots into place and signaled to the Operator that she was ready to go. Her male opponent, an excessively tall male Irken with brilliant, blood red eyes was also waving to the Operator. Jared saw her long, wispy antennae seem to float up in the air, the sign that gravity had been canceled.

A metal door sprang open and the furred animal shot out. Dee was off first, which backfired as the other male came down hard on her back, throwing her into his launch platform and giving him first chance to smack the mammal. Pushing herself back, she managed to launch across the length of the chamber, blocking the goal at the last possible second with her own hit-stick.

The furred beast dug its claws into the wall, let out an antennae-shattering shriek, and tore across the padded surface. The male went for it, but Dee managed to launch herself into the right position to dig her heel into his side. He squirmed, and she pushed him aside to smack the beast.

Her shot went wide, missing the goal by a mile and bouncing the poor, squealing animal off several walls while the two Irkens practically gouged one another's eyes out in an attempt to get to the animal first.

"Tear his liver out, Dee!" a short, green-eyed female on the sidelines shouted. "Kick him in the nuts!"

"Get her, Reiinko! Show that girl who's boss!" the short male standing beside her shouted.

The red eyed male grabbed her by the ankle and threw her ankle into the gravity lock, slamming it down and flying off after the mammal. The crowd, or at least the female half of the crowd, took to angrily booing. Furiously, Dee struggled with the release on the cuff. She finally let loose with a very loud, very unfeminine cuss, which sent the entire crowd back to cheering. Flags and foam fingers waved through the air like odd little UFOs. Jared got hit several times, and found part of a Tofu hot dog going down his pant leg. How it got there, he didn't know.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is quite a match up we have down there. For down below you see two of our future hopes for Almighty Tallest… the so-called Hover Hit Maven, Trainee Dee, and the Level One Conqueror, and might I add hand-picked choice for potential heir to the throne of our red-eyed tallest, Reiinko!"

Jared pouted. Dee was a daughter of a tallest, too. Why wouldn't they bother to mention that, if they were going to gloat over Reiinko's heritage? Jared soon realized, however, that the majority of the crowd was greatly against the idea of Dee winning. Sure, let her play… they found something erotic in seeing a woman beating and being beaten by men. But they truly didn't want to let her win anything in the men's league, as that would mean awarding a trophy to a female.

Dee managed to get herself free right as the ball happened to run past her. She smacked it hard, sending it flying towards the goal. Reiinko threw himself in front of the goal, taking a massive hit to the chest from the flying beast, and sending his ass straight into the goal. "HEY!" Reiinko shouted, wiggling about while the crowd threw itself into a laughing fit. Dee couldn't help it, and began laughing as well.

Reiinko managed to pry himself free even as Dee had resumed chasing the furred hit object, holding her Hit Stick tightly in gloved fingers. She'd come too close to winning in past years to give up on this year, no matter what dirty trick Reiinko played.

Her stick reached out for the beast, but she'd lost her concentration for a second while setting her determination, giving Reiinko a chance to smack her in the back of the head. She cried out. He'd hit her right where her neck armor met her head armor, striking a vital soft spot. The force of the hit threw her into a wall.

The crowd was cheering for blood. "Sorry, Dee," Reiinko whispered. "I'd cost me too much face to let you beat me now." He prepared the strike that would knock her out and give him a default win.

Jared stood straight up in his seat. "DON'T TOUCH HER!" he shrieked, his voice so unnaturally loud that almost every Irken in the place froze, their eyes turning upward to meet the person who had screamed. Reiinko's head snapped up, alarmed by the sudden sound.

Dee rolled over and slammed her foot straight into his groin as he stared. There was a loud, high-pitched whine out of Reiinko, and in a moment Jared's scream had been entirely forgotten for laughing at Reiinko holding himself between the legs and whimpering.

"Sorry, Reiinko, but you should have worn a cup," Dee spat back, taking off in pursuit of the furry ball.

"Not fair! I was distracted!" he squeaked in a choirboy's voice before forcing himself to suck it up and pursue her. She'd almost caught up with the ball when it let out a loud squeal and darted off in an entirely different direction, as if it had been shocked. It was heading straight for… Reiinko's goal. Despite a very valiant attempt by her at the last second, the furry beast ran into the hole for seeming protection against whatever had shocked it, and Dee sank down to her knees.

She glared up at her father's booth, where the two tall Irkens sat laughing. She didn't know how, but she knew they'd been involved in cheating. It wouldn't have been the first time their interference had cost her something she really wanted…

Her gloved fingers curled around a necklace she kept on herself at all times. She still remembered the time she'd spent on the planet Earth. She still remembered how much Zim had wanted to get rid of her… until Tak had been willing to take her in. She still remembered the colors of yellow and orange, colors not found on Irk, and she still remembered the feel and smell of grass instead of metal beneath her fingers.

In the end, however, her father had ordered she be returned to complete her training with the other smeets, and the days when she'd really enjoyed being a smeet had ended. Of course, she wasn't supposed to talk about the fact that her father was a tallest, no matter how much Reiinko may have felt free to do so. It was obvious in her anorexic, lengthy body type.

She stepped into the airlock and out of the chamber, tasting sweat. The green-eyed Irken, a brilliant friend of hers named Ada, rushed her towel over. "Thanks, Ada. I'm glad I can count on you."

"You were so close, too," Ada said, shaking her head.

Dee opened her mouth, and then shut it again. "Yeah, that's one of the problems of playing with a live ball. You never can predict it." Now was neither the time nor the place to accuse her father or his co-tallest of what she knew they'd done. Now was time to smile for the thousands of cameras glowing in her face, and act like it meant nothing.

Jared pushed his way through the crowd. When she saw him, her eyes lit up. "I heard you," she said before he could say a word. "Thanks for… well… not cheering him about to crush my head." She rubbed her neck, feeling kind of stupid.

"I couldn't believe they were cheering for you to get hurt…"

"Boy, you really don't spend much time around other Irkens, do you?" she asked, shaking her antennae. "Join me for nachos? I don't have to play again now that I've been eliminated."

"I… is that okay, princess?"

Her antennae fell visibly. "Oh. I didn't know you knew about my father…"

"Oh! I didn't, when we met that is. I… I looked you up because…" he rubbed his neck uncomfortably. "Because I thought you were pretty?"

"I wish you hadn't. Irkens always behave differently around me when they know about…" she looked towards the tallests' royal booth. "When they know about him."

"I won't treat you any differently!" Jared cried, waving his hands, trying not to make her mad at him. What a way to start a relationship with his future bride, starting a fight on their second conversation!

Reiinko sauntered up and forcibly bumped Jared. Unprepared, Jared nearly fell over. "Reiinko!" Dee said angrily, stomping over. "It's bad enough that you… why are you bumping my friend?"

He put an arm around her. "Because he's getting to close to you, and when I become the tallest, I'm going to need a pretty wife of a tallest to stand by my side, won't I?"

"Get bent," Dee spit in his face, grabbing up her towel and storming towards her locker room. "Jared, wait for me, okay?" she called over her shoulder.

Reiinko turned slightly to the side. "Jared? A common name, for a commoner, I suppose."

"Well, I'm nothing special," Jared hissed through clenched teeth.

"Keep away from Dee. I am taller than you, after all."

The only thing that kept Jared from doubling his side and staring down at Reiinko with gleaming fangs was the crowd around him. He couldn't be sent back to the lab before he'd exacted his revenge, after all. He settled down, seething inside.

"I hope Miss Dee gets over her rivalry with him. She'd make such a lovely tallests' bride."

"Don't you want her to be tallest herself?" Jared asked. "Miyuki was a wonderful tallest, and I certainly don't remember her having a hangy between the legs."

The female looked sad. "Everyone knows the tallests want Reiinko to lead after them. He's been groomed for it. Getting taller than him… could be hazardous to her, if you understand."

Jared frowned, waiting for Dee to return. "I do. Sadly."

Dee picked at her nachos. "Is something wrong?" Ada asked.

"No, nothing."

"You usually eat much more than that."

Jared frowned as well. "It seemed… it seemed to me that the fur beast felt some kind of… electric shock right when you were about to hit it."

Dee's head shot up. "You… you saw it too? It wasn't all in my head?"

Jared shook his own head, his antennae bobbling. Dee slammed her fork down. "I knew it! I knew it! My father cheated!"

"Dee! Shush! Such words will get you thrown out of an airlock, no matter how tall you are."

Dee opened her mouth, then shut it angrily and sat down, smacking her nachos around with her fork.

Jared hesitantly stirred his own. "If I… if I could remake the Empire, I wouldn't… cheat my daughters out of championships for the sake of my ego. I wouldn't… have leadership based on height."

"But it's how we've always done things, and how we always do things," Ada replied, looking like the conversation would result in police bursting in with handcuffs at any moment. Jared had to admit, from what he'd seen of the Empire her fears were valid.

"Then I'll just have to be the one to change it!"

Dee almost laughed, but didn't feel up to it, so instead she merely smiled. How many men, most of them short, had promised to change the Empire for a chance at winning her heart and her hand? Oh, if she only had a dime for each one… "Then I hope you do, Jared. I hope you do."

She didn't know it, but Jared took her words deep into his dark heart. For her, for the one he loved, there was no going back. Not only must he kill his creator… he must dispose the tallests.