Hello! Update to Quifosenkis! This was actually originally going to be two
chapters, but I decided to combine it into one. Isn't that shnizzy? (For
those of you who don't know, shnizzy is GOOD!)
Okay, so, here are the thank-yous and stuff:
Vortianized: Yeah, Quifosenkis is weird, the way it kills because of False Personality Acts. (I like your random term!) Quifosenkis does a bunch of other weird things too, as you will discover later on in this chapter. We're going to have en expert on Quifosenkis explain why it does what it does, and some other effects of the disease. BTW, I visited your site, it's cool!
Keeper of Memory Pepperochu: Glad you like my fic! Thanks!
Silent Knight I: Awww, you used my smeets! Thanks! They were gettin' kinda bored, since I wasn't using them in any reviews. Yes, diseases ARE useful plot devices, aren't they? And yes, Zim will. If he wasn't gonna, I wouldn't be spending so much time explaining the disease. And, finally, yes, it is your fault I'm continuing, but I thank you for that. If it weren't for you, I'd still be sitting on my hiney reading other people's fanfics and not working on my own. So, thanks. I've updated three of my fanfics, and posted a one-shot because of your motivation! You get a hug! *huggles SKI*
KitKat the great: Yeah, it is a sad chappy. Not too sad, though. I didn't want to depress anyone and cause them to commit suicide... they wouldn't have reviewed me if I'd done that! And, that part where Mur tries to get Zim to punch her? That's actually based on an argument a friend of mine had with a prep of DOOM. I've reused that scene in three stories now...
twisted toaster: Okay, okay, I'll write more. And I pity you for not having digital. But, look on the bright side! Odds are, you have a computer that can download the eppies off the Internet. Mine crashes whenever I try to do that. Therefore, odds are you can see the Season 2 eppies and I can't. So, it all evens out.
CyborgSmeet: One of their children is short, one's middling, and the other... I haven't decided yet, but he/she/it'll probably be middle too. The middle-height one will appear in this chapter, and the short one appeared in an earlier chapter.
Ashsema: Greetings, Ashsema. Mur will be fully explained, her purpose revealed, and I'll explain how it is she is a human when Irkens have never heard of them. And, concerning your chapter 3 question, the answer is: Maaaaybeeeeee...
And, to all you people who said that Red and Purple met Zim before Spork's sporking, and that Red and Purple are the same age as Zim, that will all be explained in tiiiime...
This is one thing I can tell you: The entire Chapter 1? Zim doesn't remember any of the things that happened in it. He doesn't know that Spork was sporked, or that Miyuki died of Quifosenkis. He doesn't even know that he knew either of them. He doesn't remember being a really cool guy. And, all of the memories he had in the script of The Trial (I hope you all've read that by now!), they are all liessssss. Filthy Earth-lies! None of that happened! Except for The Operation Impending Doom I & II things. Those happened. But, all of his other memories are completely bogus. You'll find out why he thinks they're real later in this chapter, and the whole thing will be explained fully in a few chapters.
Final note: In some previous chapters, I was confused as to whether Miyuki was a boy or a girl. So, sometimes Miyuki was called "he" and other times "she". I believe I have gone back and fixed it, but, if anyone sees anything wrong, lemme know so I can fix it, 'kay? Kay.
Okay. Enough from me. Now... to FIC!
Disclaimer: Jhonen owns Zim. I own the plot, Quifosenkis, Mur, Kayna, and Nakay. Yesh, Nakay is one of Kayna's kids. That was kinda OBVIOUS, though...
***
Eyes
"Doom doom doo-doom doom, doomy doom doom..."
"Gir..." Zim muttered, "Would you please stop singing?"
"DOOMY DOOM DOOM! DOOMY DOOM DOOM! Doom doomy doom doooom..."
'Get him,' Mur whispered in Zim's mind. 'Show him who's boss. Show him the wrath of ZIM.'
Zim slowly started to edge towards Gir, when the Voot computer beeps and says, "Proximity warning: Planet ahead."
"Gir!" Zim says excitedly, forgetting all about his homicidal plans. "We're here! We're finally here!"
Gir holds up his hand to silence Zim. "Doom doom doom, the end!" Zim silently prayed to Slark in thanks. "Ooh, what's that?"
"Planet Earth. This must be the place!" Zim said. Mur laughed in Zim's mind. 'Finally, you get to show these puny beings who's superior!' she said.
"Okay, first we have to set up a base of operations," Zim told her.
She replied with silence.
~*~
*Later, after Zim has set up his base but before he goes to Skool...*
Zim wandered through his new base, still wearing his new disguise. Though he had no clue what it looked like on him. The computer had shown him a demo, but it was a tiny pixilated picture. Not very accurate at all, most likely.
'Impressive,' he thought as he looked through all the labs. 'Very impressive. I could probably never build anything this amazing.'
'Oh yes you could,' Mur whispered. 'And you have. Remember?'
'No...'
'Remember the energy-eating beast, Zim?'
'No...'
'Yes, you do.'
'I... I do?' Zim's mind scanned all the memories in his ID pak, searching for anything about an energy-eating beast. It was there, wasn't it? Right?
The ID pak said there wasn't anything in there about an energy-eater. But there had to be! Mur had said so, and she remembered everything that had ever happened to Zim, right? Instantly, the ID pak fabricated a scene from Vort, where Zim had created an energy-eating beast that had eaten Miyuki, and later on Spork. Such a thing had never happened, but Zim didn't know that.
'Ah, that thing,' Zim thought. 'That's right. And I had forgotten how Miyuki and Spork died. I remember now. You're right, Mur, I could easily build something as great as this!'
'That's right. Because who are you?'
"I am ZIM!!" The Irken yelled, and the sound echoed and returned to him in the empty, vast lab. That was when Zim realized that he hadn't turned on the power.
"Computer, on," Zim commanded, and the base lit up.
"Base Comp-Unit 3-15-13-16, at your service," a deep voice said.
"/My/ service, eh?" Zim mused.
"That's what I said."
"YOU WILL SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO!"
"... Ooookay then."
'Test its loyalty,' Mur said. 'Make sure what it says is true.'
Zim thought a minute. "Computer, bring me a mirror. I want to see what I look like in an Earthen disguise."
A tall mirror appeared in front of Zim. 'So, it passed the test,' Zim thought, as he glanced at the mirror.
And into the eyes of a Mur-zoid.
Zim did a double take. "Whazzat?" he said. "Mur, Earthens have your eyes!"
"Whooooo's Muuuuuuur?" Gir drawled, standing beside Zim and looking at the mirror.
'Don't tell him!' Mur whispered. 'You can't tell anyone about me...'
"Uh... Mur?" Zim said nervously. "What's a Mur? I... have no clue what you're talking about, Gir..."
"Oookey-dokey!" Gir walked away in the other direction.
Zim snorted. "Dumb robot," he muttered.
'He's not dumb, he's advanced!' Mur said. 'Tallest Purple said so.'
'Whatev. There's still the problem of Earthens looking like you.'
Mur remained silent.
'Mur?'
Silence.
Zim sighed. 'I guess all I can do is continue my mission,' he thought. 'These Earth-stinks will feel my wrath, even if they DO look like Mur!'
Smirking to himself, Zim went upstairs to walk around the town and learn all he could about Earth before he went to Skool.
***
*Back on Irk...*
Red wandered around the hallways of the Massive, looking for the small store that held smoothies. Purple had sent him to get two.
"Why do I always have to get the smoothies?" Red whined to himself. "Why can't Purple find some random shorter Irken to do that? Actually, that's not a bad idea...
"You!" Red said, pointing at some short Irken with a purple uniform on. A Janitorial Drone uniform. The Irken looked around to see who Red was REALLY talking to. "Yes, YOU!" The Irken pointed at himself, and them looked at Red questioningly. "If you go get two..." Red thought. "Um... lemon-lime flavored smoothies and bring them back here, I'll..." Red glanced once again at the Janitorial Drone uniform. "I'll bless your mop!"
"Certainly, my Tallest!" The Janitorial Drone said, saluting, and then he rushed off to get the desired smoothies.
Red sighed. He did have a NAME, y'know. His subjects could at least bother to call him Tallest Red.
"I've gotta make that a law," Red muttered as he sat down on a bench to wait for the Janitor. "Everyone's got to call me Tallest Red instead of just Tallest." Red scanned the crowd, mumbling, "At least I don't have to get the smoothies."
'Is it just me,' he thought, 'or is everyone purposely staying five feet away from this bench I'm sitting on?' Two Guards appeared to push back any Irkens getting too close to the bench. One Irken slipped past the guards, but they grabbed him and beat him up. 'It's probably just me,' Red thought, but then his eyes were drawn to a face in the crowd. It was a young female Nurse, with green eyes.
Just like Kayna's.
Red stood up. It was ridiculous to hope, but maybe... this Nurse was one of his three children.
"Miss?" Red said, "Miss! Nurse!"
The Irken finally turned around, and gasped. "Um, excuse me, my Tallest?"
"Yes, right," Red said flatly. "Call me by my name, would ya? After all, there ARE two Tallests!"
"Of course, Tallest Purple."
Red's eye twitched. "I'm Red. Tallest Red. Not Tallest Purple. Purple has purple eyes."
"Of-- of course. Sorry, Tallest Red."
Red remembered why he had gone over to the female in the first place. "Hey, what's your name?"
"My name?" she blinked. "It's Nakay."
"Nakay?" Red repeated. Something seemed interesting about that name... "Where did you get that name?"
"Well, somehow the computer in the Download Chamber* knew who my mother was, and Nakay is an anagram of her name..." Nakay said quietly.
"Was you mother's name... Kayna?" Red asked.
Nakay looked surprised, but nodded quickly. "Yes! Did you know her, my Tallest?"
"Know her?" Red laughed. "I was married to her!"
Nakay's face went blank. "You mean, you're my dad?!?"
Red nodded. "So you can stop talking so quietly and calling me Tallest and stuff. It gets kinda annoying after awhile."
"Okay. Can I call you Dad?"
"Yes."
"Can I call you Red?"
"... Yes."
"Can I call you Reddy?"
"Don't push it, kid."
Nakay just grinned.
Red tried to think of something to say. "So, you're a Nurse?"
"Yeah. I specialize in mental diseases."
"Mental?" Red repeated. "So, Nakay, how much do you know about Quifosenkis?"
"A lot," Nakay said.
Red nodded slowly. "Care to explain some things to me about it?"
"Do I have a choice?" Nakay said. "You're a Tallest."
"Good point." It was funny, but Nakay reminded Red of someone else, someone he had met years ago. Red seemed to remember it had been a male... he was pretty sure they had talked about bItter hOpe or something. It was a long time ago.
They walked over to the bench Red had just left, and sat down. "So, what are some symptoms of Quifosenkis?"
"Well, there are two kinds. The gradual kind, and the sudden kind. Which do you wanna hear about?"
Red thought a moment. "Tell me about the one you think is most interesting."
"Okay. Sudden kind it is," Nakay said. "It usually happens if an Irken is forced, very quickly, to forget about his or her old self. The Irken forgets pieces of its own life and fills in the gaps with things that fit the new personality it's trying to make. They don't even remember their old personalities."
"I see," Red said. (I just realized that rhymes!) "So, what kind of thing would force someone to forget their past like that?"
"Usually a traumatizing experience. Like seeing a murder or something." Nakay smiled. "Wanna know something really cool that can happen?"
"Sure."
"Okay. This phenomenon is called Post Quifosenkis Mental Reverse, or PQMR. Your ID pak deletes and replaces memories all the time with sudden Quifosenkis, but right after you get Quifosenkis, most of your memories are changed in the space of a few minutes. Having your ID pak release that kind of energy can cause a kind of psychic thing, where you remember seeing things happen that won't happen to you for maybe many years. You could remember someone a hundred years before you actually meet them! It's like the ID pak can remember everything that happens in its lifeline, from the second you were born to the second you die. That's because of all the information it has to process when it changes your memories. It's trying to remember everything that's happened to it, so that it can search through all the content and weed out anything conflicting with your new self so that you don't have a double personality. And since it's trying so hard to find everything, it really finds EVERYTHING."
Red's eyes widened. "Wow."
Nakay nodded. "Yeah, that is pretty neat, huh? But, the thing is, you don't KNOW you haven't met the person yet. You just take for granted that you've always known them, until you meet them for real."
"What else does Quifosenkis do?"
"Well, you know it kills you, but there's no known pill that can cure it, right?"
"Right."
"There's this new study on the disease other species get called hysteria that shows they cure themselves of hysteria by just plain talking."
"Talking?!?"
"Yeah, but they have trained specialists that talk a certain way. They're called psychiatrists. They help people with hysteria see the things they're imagining and the things that are true, and they show them why they made up memories. Some Nurses and Doctors are learning how to be psychiatrists to help Irkens with Quifosenkis." Nakay smiled proudly. "I'm one of those Nurses."
Red nodded. "So... does this psychiatrist thing work just on the sudden Quifosenkis?"
"No, it works on both," Nakay said, "but it works better on sudden Quifosenkis. With gradual Quifosenkis, you have all your memories, but you choose on your own to abandon your original personality. It's hard to convince people that have gradual Quifosenkis to use their real personalities. It's kind of like working with a drug addict, except it's not as easy as taking away their drugs and hoping they don't go into withdrawal. With sudden Quifosenkis, most Irkens would be happy to go back to their old personality if they only remembered it."
Red nodded, and was about to ask another question, when someone cleared his throat.
Red turned around. "Whaddaya want?" he asked, when he realized that the Irken behind him was the one he had sent to get the smoothies. "Oh, thanks," Red mumbled, snatching the smoothies.
"H-Here's my mop, my Tallest," the Janitorial Drone stuttered, handing the mop over. Red sighed. Right. He had to "bless" this thing. How was he gonna do that?
"If you don't mind my asking, my Tallest," the Drone said, interrupting Red's thoughts, "is that Nurse your girlfriend, or something?"
Red glared at the Drone, forgetting about the whole mop issue. "You ARE joking, right?"
"Well..."
"That Nurse is half my age. And you think I'm dating her."
"Um..."
Red handed the mop back. "Just for that, I'm not blessing this."
"Awww!"
Red turned to Nakay as the Drone walked away. "So, can I talk to you tomorrow?"
"Sure," Nakay said. "Where do you wanna meet?"
"How 'bout at the food court?" Red smiled. "By the nacho vending machine."
Nakay blinked. "There's a nacho vending...?" She shrugged. "Sure."
Red got up to go. "So, I'll see you tomorrow, Nakay."
"Right. Bye," Nakay smiled, "Dad."
~*~
Red floated into the control room of the Massive. "Hey, Purps!" he yelled. "You'll never guess what just happened!"
"Uh, you took forever getting my smoothie?" Purple yelled back from his chair, annoyed.
Red shook is head as he sat down in a seat beside Purple and handed him his smoothie. "No, I met one of my kids today."
Purple took a sip of his smoothie. "No kiddin'? Hey, this smoothie is melted!"
"Well, sor~ry," Red said, taking a sip of his own. "At least it isn't warm, right?"
Purple grunted.
"Incoming transmission!" one of the Irkens in the control room said. "From... Earth."
"What is... Earth?" Purple asked. Red shrugged.
"Invader Zim reporting, sirs. The mission goes well. But surely you expected that from me."
Red dropped his smoothie, and both Tallests gaped.
"Zim? You're alive?!"
"So very alive, and full of goo. Mission goo!" Zim grinned, and in his mind, Mur did too.
~*~
*the Download Chamber is where all Irkens go after they're born to get basi info downloaded into their ID paks ang receive their names, according to The Trial. I've heard it called other things, but I'm pretty sure that's the official name.
Well, either that chapter explained a lot for you, or you have no clue what's going on. Okay, here are some obscure things that you might want to know but might not have caught.
1) With sudden Quifosenkis, you see people you'll meet in the future, and Zim has a mind-voice of a girl of a species he hadn't heard of before this chapter.
2) With Quifosenkis, your personality changes drastically, and as we all saw in chapter 1, Zim was a lot different a hundred years ago than he is now.
3) With sudden Quifosenkis, your memories are replaced by false ones throughout your life, and we saw in this very chapter the fabrication of the energy-beast story, which Zim now remembers as if it had really happened.
4) Nakay, who is Red's daughter, reminds him of the Zim we saw in chapter 1. Why might that be?
5) bItter hOpe is a really, really cool band, and has not broken up yet but is still doing concerts on Conventia, even if it has got a new drummer. (I think that was the most obscure thing of all!) Please ignore the previous comment. It, in any body, shape, or form, will not affect this story. Thank you.
Okay, so please Review. The button is half an inch below this paragraph. It wouldn't be too hard to click it... that's right... click, type in a name, and say either "Good fic" or "Bad fic." I'll even let you copy/paste one of the previous two comments. I'm makin' this easy for you! You can even copy/paste this name for use: Anonymous. See, now you don't have to waste you time doing ANYthing! I've done the work for you!
Okay, so, here are the thank-yous and stuff:
Vortianized: Yeah, Quifosenkis is weird, the way it kills because of False Personality Acts. (I like your random term!) Quifosenkis does a bunch of other weird things too, as you will discover later on in this chapter. We're going to have en expert on Quifosenkis explain why it does what it does, and some other effects of the disease. BTW, I visited your site, it's cool!
Keeper of Memory Pepperochu: Glad you like my fic! Thanks!
Silent Knight I: Awww, you used my smeets! Thanks! They were gettin' kinda bored, since I wasn't using them in any reviews. Yes, diseases ARE useful plot devices, aren't they? And yes, Zim will. If he wasn't gonna, I wouldn't be spending so much time explaining the disease. And, finally, yes, it is your fault I'm continuing, but I thank you for that. If it weren't for you, I'd still be sitting on my hiney reading other people's fanfics and not working on my own. So, thanks. I've updated three of my fanfics, and posted a one-shot because of your motivation! You get a hug! *huggles SKI*
KitKat the great: Yeah, it is a sad chappy. Not too sad, though. I didn't want to depress anyone and cause them to commit suicide... they wouldn't have reviewed me if I'd done that! And, that part where Mur tries to get Zim to punch her? That's actually based on an argument a friend of mine had with a prep of DOOM. I've reused that scene in three stories now...
twisted toaster: Okay, okay, I'll write more. And I pity you for not having digital. But, look on the bright side! Odds are, you have a computer that can download the eppies off the Internet. Mine crashes whenever I try to do that. Therefore, odds are you can see the Season 2 eppies and I can't. So, it all evens out.
CyborgSmeet: One of their children is short, one's middling, and the other... I haven't decided yet, but he/she/it'll probably be middle too. The middle-height one will appear in this chapter, and the short one appeared in an earlier chapter.
Ashsema: Greetings, Ashsema. Mur will be fully explained, her purpose revealed, and I'll explain how it is she is a human when Irkens have never heard of them. And, concerning your chapter 3 question, the answer is: Maaaaybeeeeee...
And, to all you people who said that Red and Purple met Zim before Spork's sporking, and that Red and Purple are the same age as Zim, that will all be explained in tiiiime...
This is one thing I can tell you: The entire Chapter 1? Zim doesn't remember any of the things that happened in it. He doesn't know that Spork was sporked, or that Miyuki died of Quifosenkis. He doesn't even know that he knew either of them. He doesn't remember being a really cool guy. And, all of the memories he had in the script of The Trial (I hope you all've read that by now!), they are all liessssss. Filthy Earth-lies! None of that happened! Except for The Operation Impending Doom I & II things. Those happened. But, all of his other memories are completely bogus. You'll find out why he thinks they're real later in this chapter, and the whole thing will be explained fully in a few chapters.
Final note: In some previous chapters, I was confused as to whether Miyuki was a boy or a girl. So, sometimes Miyuki was called "he" and other times "she". I believe I have gone back and fixed it, but, if anyone sees anything wrong, lemme know so I can fix it, 'kay? Kay.
Okay. Enough from me. Now... to FIC!
Disclaimer: Jhonen owns Zim. I own the plot, Quifosenkis, Mur, Kayna, and Nakay. Yesh, Nakay is one of Kayna's kids. That was kinda OBVIOUS, though...
***
Eyes
"Doom doom doo-doom doom, doomy doom doom..."
"Gir..." Zim muttered, "Would you please stop singing?"
"DOOMY DOOM DOOM! DOOMY DOOM DOOM! Doom doomy doom doooom..."
'Get him,' Mur whispered in Zim's mind. 'Show him who's boss. Show him the wrath of ZIM.'
Zim slowly started to edge towards Gir, when the Voot computer beeps and says, "Proximity warning: Planet ahead."
"Gir!" Zim says excitedly, forgetting all about his homicidal plans. "We're here! We're finally here!"
Gir holds up his hand to silence Zim. "Doom doom doom, the end!" Zim silently prayed to Slark in thanks. "Ooh, what's that?"
"Planet Earth. This must be the place!" Zim said. Mur laughed in Zim's mind. 'Finally, you get to show these puny beings who's superior!' she said.
"Okay, first we have to set up a base of operations," Zim told her.
She replied with silence.
~*~
*Later, after Zim has set up his base but before he goes to Skool...*
Zim wandered through his new base, still wearing his new disguise. Though he had no clue what it looked like on him. The computer had shown him a demo, but it was a tiny pixilated picture. Not very accurate at all, most likely.
'Impressive,' he thought as he looked through all the labs. 'Very impressive. I could probably never build anything this amazing.'
'Oh yes you could,' Mur whispered. 'And you have. Remember?'
'No...'
'Remember the energy-eating beast, Zim?'
'No...'
'Yes, you do.'
'I... I do?' Zim's mind scanned all the memories in his ID pak, searching for anything about an energy-eating beast. It was there, wasn't it? Right?
The ID pak said there wasn't anything in there about an energy-eater. But there had to be! Mur had said so, and she remembered everything that had ever happened to Zim, right? Instantly, the ID pak fabricated a scene from Vort, where Zim had created an energy-eating beast that had eaten Miyuki, and later on Spork. Such a thing had never happened, but Zim didn't know that.
'Ah, that thing,' Zim thought. 'That's right. And I had forgotten how Miyuki and Spork died. I remember now. You're right, Mur, I could easily build something as great as this!'
'That's right. Because who are you?'
"I am ZIM!!" The Irken yelled, and the sound echoed and returned to him in the empty, vast lab. That was when Zim realized that he hadn't turned on the power.
"Computer, on," Zim commanded, and the base lit up.
"Base Comp-Unit 3-15-13-16, at your service," a deep voice said.
"/My/ service, eh?" Zim mused.
"That's what I said."
"YOU WILL SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO!"
"... Ooookay then."
'Test its loyalty,' Mur said. 'Make sure what it says is true.'
Zim thought a minute. "Computer, bring me a mirror. I want to see what I look like in an Earthen disguise."
A tall mirror appeared in front of Zim. 'So, it passed the test,' Zim thought, as he glanced at the mirror.
And into the eyes of a Mur-zoid.
Zim did a double take. "Whazzat?" he said. "Mur, Earthens have your eyes!"
"Whooooo's Muuuuuuur?" Gir drawled, standing beside Zim and looking at the mirror.
'Don't tell him!' Mur whispered. 'You can't tell anyone about me...'
"Uh... Mur?" Zim said nervously. "What's a Mur? I... have no clue what you're talking about, Gir..."
"Oookey-dokey!" Gir walked away in the other direction.
Zim snorted. "Dumb robot," he muttered.
'He's not dumb, he's advanced!' Mur said. 'Tallest Purple said so.'
'Whatev. There's still the problem of Earthens looking like you.'
Mur remained silent.
'Mur?'
Silence.
Zim sighed. 'I guess all I can do is continue my mission,' he thought. 'These Earth-stinks will feel my wrath, even if they DO look like Mur!'
Smirking to himself, Zim went upstairs to walk around the town and learn all he could about Earth before he went to Skool.
***
*Back on Irk...*
Red wandered around the hallways of the Massive, looking for the small store that held smoothies. Purple had sent him to get two.
"Why do I always have to get the smoothies?" Red whined to himself. "Why can't Purple find some random shorter Irken to do that? Actually, that's not a bad idea...
"You!" Red said, pointing at some short Irken with a purple uniform on. A Janitorial Drone uniform. The Irken looked around to see who Red was REALLY talking to. "Yes, YOU!" The Irken pointed at himself, and them looked at Red questioningly. "If you go get two..." Red thought. "Um... lemon-lime flavored smoothies and bring them back here, I'll..." Red glanced once again at the Janitorial Drone uniform. "I'll bless your mop!"
"Certainly, my Tallest!" The Janitorial Drone said, saluting, and then he rushed off to get the desired smoothies.
Red sighed. He did have a NAME, y'know. His subjects could at least bother to call him Tallest Red.
"I've gotta make that a law," Red muttered as he sat down on a bench to wait for the Janitor. "Everyone's got to call me Tallest Red instead of just Tallest." Red scanned the crowd, mumbling, "At least I don't have to get the smoothies."
'Is it just me,' he thought, 'or is everyone purposely staying five feet away from this bench I'm sitting on?' Two Guards appeared to push back any Irkens getting too close to the bench. One Irken slipped past the guards, but they grabbed him and beat him up. 'It's probably just me,' Red thought, but then his eyes were drawn to a face in the crowd. It was a young female Nurse, with green eyes.
Just like Kayna's.
Red stood up. It was ridiculous to hope, but maybe... this Nurse was one of his three children.
"Miss?" Red said, "Miss! Nurse!"
The Irken finally turned around, and gasped. "Um, excuse me, my Tallest?"
"Yes, right," Red said flatly. "Call me by my name, would ya? After all, there ARE two Tallests!"
"Of course, Tallest Purple."
Red's eye twitched. "I'm Red. Tallest Red. Not Tallest Purple. Purple has purple eyes."
"Of-- of course. Sorry, Tallest Red."
Red remembered why he had gone over to the female in the first place. "Hey, what's your name?"
"My name?" she blinked. "It's Nakay."
"Nakay?" Red repeated. Something seemed interesting about that name... "Where did you get that name?"
"Well, somehow the computer in the Download Chamber* knew who my mother was, and Nakay is an anagram of her name..." Nakay said quietly.
"Was you mother's name... Kayna?" Red asked.
Nakay looked surprised, but nodded quickly. "Yes! Did you know her, my Tallest?"
"Know her?" Red laughed. "I was married to her!"
Nakay's face went blank. "You mean, you're my dad?!?"
Red nodded. "So you can stop talking so quietly and calling me Tallest and stuff. It gets kinda annoying after awhile."
"Okay. Can I call you Dad?"
"Yes."
"Can I call you Red?"
"... Yes."
"Can I call you Reddy?"
"Don't push it, kid."
Nakay just grinned.
Red tried to think of something to say. "So, you're a Nurse?"
"Yeah. I specialize in mental diseases."
"Mental?" Red repeated. "So, Nakay, how much do you know about Quifosenkis?"
"A lot," Nakay said.
Red nodded slowly. "Care to explain some things to me about it?"
"Do I have a choice?" Nakay said. "You're a Tallest."
"Good point." It was funny, but Nakay reminded Red of someone else, someone he had met years ago. Red seemed to remember it had been a male... he was pretty sure they had talked about bItter hOpe or something. It was a long time ago.
They walked over to the bench Red had just left, and sat down. "So, what are some symptoms of Quifosenkis?"
"Well, there are two kinds. The gradual kind, and the sudden kind. Which do you wanna hear about?"
Red thought a moment. "Tell me about the one you think is most interesting."
"Okay. Sudden kind it is," Nakay said. "It usually happens if an Irken is forced, very quickly, to forget about his or her old self. The Irken forgets pieces of its own life and fills in the gaps with things that fit the new personality it's trying to make. They don't even remember their old personalities."
"I see," Red said. (I just realized that rhymes!) "So, what kind of thing would force someone to forget their past like that?"
"Usually a traumatizing experience. Like seeing a murder or something." Nakay smiled. "Wanna know something really cool that can happen?"
"Sure."
"Okay. This phenomenon is called Post Quifosenkis Mental Reverse, or PQMR. Your ID pak deletes and replaces memories all the time with sudden Quifosenkis, but right after you get Quifosenkis, most of your memories are changed in the space of a few minutes. Having your ID pak release that kind of energy can cause a kind of psychic thing, where you remember seeing things happen that won't happen to you for maybe many years. You could remember someone a hundred years before you actually meet them! It's like the ID pak can remember everything that happens in its lifeline, from the second you were born to the second you die. That's because of all the information it has to process when it changes your memories. It's trying to remember everything that's happened to it, so that it can search through all the content and weed out anything conflicting with your new self so that you don't have a double personality. And since it's trying so hard to find everything, it really finds EVERYTHING."
Red's eyes widened. "Wow."
Nakay nodded. "Yeah, that is pretty neat, huh? But, the thing is, you don't KNOW you haven't met the person yet. You just take for granted that you've always known them, until you meet them for real."
"What else does Quifosenkis do?"
"Well, you know it kills you, but there's no known pill that can cure it, right?"
"Right."
"There's this new study on the disease other species get called hysteria that shows they cure themselves of hysteria by just plain talking."
"Talking?!?"
"Yeah, but they have trained specialists that talk a certain way. They're called psychiatrists. They help people with hysteria see the things they're imagining and the things that are true, and they show them why they made up memories. Some Nurses and Doctors are learning how to be psychiatrists to help Irkens with Quifosenkis." Nakay smiled proudly. "I'm one of those Nurses."
Red nodded. "So... does this psychiatrist thing work just on the sudden Quifosenkis?"
"No, it works on both," Nakay said, "but it works better on sudden Quifosenkis. With gradual Quifosenkis, you have all your memories, but you choose on your own to abandon your original personality. It's hard to convince people that have gradual Quifosenkis to use their real personalities. It's kind of like working with a drug addict, except it's not as easy as taking away their drugs and hoping they don't go into withdrawal. With sudden Quifosenkis, most Irkens would be happy to go back to their old personality if they only remembered it."
Red nodded, and was about to ask another question, when someone cleared his throat.
Red turned around. "Whaddaya want?" he asked, when he realized that the Irken behind him was the one he had sent to get the smoothies. "Oh, thanks," Red mumbled, snatching the smoothies.
"H-Here's my mop, my Tallest," the Janitorial Drone stuttered, handing the mop over. Red sighed. Right. He had to "bless" this thing. How was he gonna do that?
"If you don't mind my asking, my Tallest," the Drone said, interrupting Red's thoughts, "is that Nurse your girlfriend, or something?"
Red glared at the Drone, forgetting about the whole mop issue. "You ARE joking, right?"
"Well..."
"That Nurse is half my age. And you think I'm dating her."
"Um..."
Red handed the mop back. "Just for that, I'm not blessing this."
"Awww!"
Red turned to Nakay as the Drone walked away. "So, can I talk to you tomorrow?"
"Sure," Nakay said. "Where do you wanna meet?"
"How 'bout at the food court?" Red smiled. "By the nacho vending machine."
Nakay blinked. "There's a nacho vending...?" She shrugged. "Sure."
Red got up to go. "So, I'll see you tomorrow, Nakay."
"Right. Bye," Nakay smiled, "Dad."
~*~
Red floated into the control room of the Massive. "Hey, Purps!" he yelled. "You'll never guess what just happened!"
"Uh, you took forever getting my smoothie?" Purple yelled back from his chair, annoyed.
Red shook is head as he sat down in a seat beside Purple and handed him his smoothie. "No, I met one of my kids today."
Purple took a sip of his smoothie. "No kiddin'? Hey, this smoothie is melted!"
"Well, sor~ry," Red said, taking a sip of his own. "At least it isn't warm, right?"
Purple grunted.
"Incoming transmission!" one of the Irkens in the control room said. "From... Earth."
"What is... Earth?" Purple asked. Red shrugged.
"Invader Zim reporting, sirs. The mission goes well. But surely you expected that from me."
Red dropped his smoothie, and both Tallests gaped.
"Zim? You're alive?!"
"So very alive, and full of goo. Mission goo!" Zim grinned, and in his mind, Mur did too.
~*~
*the Download Chamber is where all Irkens go after they're born to get basi info downloaded into their ID paks ang receive their names, according to The Trial. I've heard it called other things, but I'm pretty sure that's the official name.
Well, either that chapter explained a lot for you, or you have no clue what's going on. Okay, here are some obscure things that you might want to know but might not have caught.
1) With sudden Quifosenkis, you see people you'll meet in the future, and Zim has a mind-voice of a girl of a species he hadn't heard of before this chapter.
2) With Quifosenkis, your personality changes drastically, and as we all saw in chapter 1, Zim was a lot different a hundred years ago than he is now.
3) With sudden Quifosenkis, your memories are replaced by false ones throughout your life, and we saw in this very chapter the fabrication of the energy-beast story, which Zim now remembers as if it had really happened.
4) Nakay, who is Red's daughter, reminds him of the Zim we saw in chapter 1. Why might that be?
5) bItter hOpe is a really, really cool band, and has not broken up yet but is still doing concerts on Conventia, even if it has got a new drummer. (I think that was the most obscure thing of all!) Please ignore the previous comment. It, in any body, shape, or form, will not affect this story. Thank you.
Okay, so please Review. The button is half an inch below this paragraph. It wouldn't be too hard to click it... that's right... click, type in a name, and say either "Good fic" or "Bad fic." I'll even let you copy/paste one of the previous two comments. I'm makin' this easy for you! You can even copy/paste this name for use: Anonymous. See, now you don't have to waste you time doing ANYthing! I've done the work for you!