"Are you in bed?" Zim was not in a rush, exactly, but he was trying to get Gavin to sleep before he had to deal with the rest of the gajillion things on his schedule. It was true being Tallest was a difficult, demanding task, however, it was simple compared to Zim's real challenge: parenthood.

"Almost." Gavin was not-in fact- almost in bed . He clearly had not even started readying himself given the fact that he was sitting on the floor playing a videogame with Vero. And, since humans didn't have a PAK, the amount of time it took to get Gavin ready to spend several hours in an unconscious state, was frustrating.

"Yeah, almost." Vero parroted.

"Do not lie to Zim, Vero." Zim made a face. "You were supposed to prepare him for sleep, this is literally the opposite of that." Vero took a moment to look around, the realization of where he was only just now seeming to hit.

"Oh..." he lowered the controller for a moment. "In my defense: he challenged my honor."

"Ah. Zim understands." That put things in a different light. Gavin had clearly used clever Irken tactics to outwit Vero. On the one hand, Zim was proud of Gavin for learning so quickly, on the other, he would need to send Vero back to basic training. "Well, you may finish tomorrow because now it is time for Gavin's rest cycle. If he doesn't get enough sleep, he gets emotional and then it becomes all of our respective problems."

"I do not!"

"Yeah..." Vero sighed, "you kinda do. Remember when you cried for like an hour because you thought the Irkens on the It's a Tall World ride might get scared of the dark if we turned the lights off? Because I remember." Gavin teared up for a moment.

"Th... they just looked so sad..."

"Don't get him started again Vero!" Zim hurried over and wrapped both arms comfortingly around Gavin. "There there, tiny, fleshy, human smeet, the animatronics are fine. Remember? CB leaves on a nightlight." He did his best to soothe the little human. Zim had not been aware of how sensitive the human smeets were. He had met Dib when he was already twice Gavin's age. However, Dib had been the one to assure Zim that being emotional was normal for humans Gavin's age.

"Okay..." Gavin appeared to be quelled for the time being.

"Now put this game up. It is bedtime." Zim patted him on the head. Gavin gave a long, dramatic, heavy sigh.

"It's not fair! Vero doesn't have to go to bed."

"Vero's an adult." Zim countered.

"But I would totally sleep if given the option." Vero added helpfully. "Wanna trade?"

"Vero don't you have training with Voel?" Zim's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, but Gavin can go train with pops, and I can go to sleep."

"Yeah okay!" Gavin seemed excited with the idea. Zim considered it, but Gavin was nowhere near the same training level as Vero. No. This wouldn't work. Gavin was still too small to use Vero's halberd, or the Red Death.

"No. You can't trade duties. That's not how it works."

"But Xia does it with Ven all the time." Gavin looked annoyed at Zim's refusal. He still had the game out, but he had stopped paying attention, which was probably for the best as Vero had just been killing Gavin's little avatar over and over in increasingly ridiculous ways.

"Xia and Ven trade chores?" Zim looked to Vero for confirmation.

"It wasn't really ' trading '." Vero hesitated for a moment. "It was more: Ven just straight up doing everything? He has a really hard time saying 'no' to anyone. I mean he carries all of Therron's things for him."

"I will talk with Ven." Zim had been spending a lot of time trying to teach Ven about being assertive. To his credit, Ven was genuinely trying. However, it didn't seem like the lessons were sticking. "Why didn't you defend your brother?"

"I did try , but Xia made a good argument for me not to get involved."

"I... feel like this isn't true." Zim narrowed his eyes at Vero. Xia was not known for her eloquence. Xia was known more for shouting, and face-punching.

"She said: shut up Vero. And what else could I do after that?" Vero gave a shrug. It was true that it was difficult to argue if Vero had to shut up.

However, "you don't have to listen to her, you know that, right?" Zim arched an antenna.

"Yeah..." Vero gave a noncommittal shrug. "But it's a lot of trouble. It's easier to just tell Ven to take a break every time she turns her back. He listens to me too. He listens to anyone. I saw him taking orders from a statue with a radio attached to it. It was me. I attached the radio."

"Don't convince your brother statues can talk." Zim sighed, antennae drooping. Voel had mentioned Ven was a little naïve and overly helpful, however, Zim was starting to have doubts about Voel's definition of: 'a little'.

"Is that a rule for all of our siblings? Or just Ven?" Vero tilted his head to the side, gauging Zim's reaction.

"All brothers. Gavin is still too little to realize not to trust you."

"I can hear you both. I'm still right here. It'smy room." Gavin piped up again from behind Zim.

"Gavin, Zim is very impressed by your amazing hearing, however, you are supposed to be asleep. Not awake." Zim folded his arms looking down at Gavin who was still sitting on the floor.

"But I'm not sleepy." Gavin protested. Zim picked him up, he was getting big. Too big. Zim would need to ask Dib if this was normal.

"Nonsense! You will be sleepy as soon as you are plugged in."

"You can't plug me in. I don't have a PAK." Gavin retorted.

"Zim knew this!" He placed Gavin down on the little Earth-Car shaped bed that the Membranes had bought for him. Gavin remained sitting upright. It seemed that simply placing him on the comfortable mattress had not instantly made him tired. Humans were a complicated lot. But, if Zim had masterfully saved Irk, he could figure out how to raise a human child. Professor Membrane had done it with mild success, after all, and Zim was far more intelligent than him. "What if Zim tells you a story?" He had read (or rather briefly skimmed) books on Earth parenting and he figured this was his best option. Gavin blinked, looking up at him.

"What kind of story?"

"The story of Zim's greatest triumph! The story of how I saved Irk-" Zim didn't get a chance to finish as Gavin cut him off.

"And became Tallest? I've heard it a shmillion times."

"And it just gets better." Zim assured him, but Gavin looked unconvinced. Zim knew the story was fantastic. However, that was also an epic, intense, and long story. Perhaps it was a little too much for bedtime. "How about I tell you about Zim's next greatest triumph: the Mothra Festival!"

"The one last year?" Vero piped up. "That one was pretty successful."

"No no, that one was fine but Gavin was also there for it. He doesn't need to be told about something he witnessed. I mean the first Mothra Festival that I hosted as Tallest! It was magnificent, basically cemented how amazing I am, and Gavin's wee little baby brain wouldn't even remember it."

"Oooo" it seemed his smeet was engaged, leaning forward enthusiastically. "Was it as fun as this year's?!"

"Of course, it was. It was amazing because everything I do is amazing." Zim assured him.

"Except cook." Gavin replied quickly. Zim's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Even cook. Zim is an amazing cook." He countered.

"Nuh uh." Gavin shook his head. " CB is a good cook. Papa Skoodge is a good cook. You burn everything."

"Are you going to stand by and let your Tallest and father be insulted?" Zim crossed his arms glancing over his shoulder. Vero blinked looking around him, puzzled.

"Wait? Me? I mean..." he shrugged. "I'm not planning to stop the kid from speaking the truth. It sets a bad precedent."

"Not you, Zim knows you are too lazy for conflict."

"I like to think of myself as willfully anti-conflict . Not lazy."

"No, you're lazy. But Zim was not talking to you. I was talking to CB."

" I agree with Vero. Lying to your smeet at such a tender age sets a bad precedent ." A hologram shimmered into view as CB materialized sitting on Gavin's bed, opposite from Zim. " And I am a very good big brother ."

"CB!" Gavin looked excited. "Do you wanna hear dad's story too?"

" I am only here to defend my honor. Also ," he paused for a moment; Zim's eyes narrowed at the hologram. (All this time and CB still used the helmet rather than eyes. He definitely had more than enough time to make eyes by now. Zim could only assume the helmet was purely an aesthetic choice.) " If I recall, that particular festival did not go... great ."

"Nonsense. It was perfect." Zim puffed his chest out defensively as Vero and CB exchanged unreadable looks.

" Actually ... I'm kinda with CB here." Vero replied, pressing his fingertips together, thoughtfully. "I don't remember it having gone... smoothly ?"

"My poor, memory-challenged smeets-" Zim began, shaking his head.

"Hey!" Gavin interjected.

"Not you Gavin, your human baby brain was still too mushy to remember such a monumental event. It's not your fault. Your brothers , however..." Zim patted the bed beside him. "Sit, both of you."

" I am already sitting ." CB gestured to his holographic form on the bed.

"No. This is important. Bring one of your real bodies. I don't want you vanishing when you are embarrassed by how wrong you really were." Zim gestured more forcefully.

" Fine ."

"Vero, come on." Zim urged. Vero shrugged and came over sitting by Zim as one of CB's bodies entered the room and took a seat as well, the bed sinking a bit under the weight of the metal form. The hologram vanished. "Good, now all of you are ready for Zim to correct you on how truly wrong you were. So quiet please, and listen to Zim's tale of the Mothra Festival.


"Is everything ready?" Skoodge was going through a checklist that CB and II had made, as Zim oversaw the Irkens scurrying around him eager to please their new Tallest. Zim smiled, he had not been to the festival in years and even when he had gone last, it was never in a position of power.

"Of course, it is! We've been celebrating this for thousands of years, Skoodge. I think it's pretty much memorized by this point." Zim waved off the concern. Skoodge looked far less convinced than Zim thought he should be.

"This is the first year without the Control Brains."

"We have Control Brains, silly Skoodge. CB and II!"

"That's two. Two Control Brains. We used to have ten. And CB has never even seen a Mothra Festival before."

"BUT, II has! She'll be able to guide him on the subtle nuances of proper Festival hosting! He's a fast learner- and with her guidance, he'll do great!"

" Actually ," the voice of II came from Zim's Tallest gauntlet. Unlike CB, who preferred to use holograms and robotic bodies to give the illusion of face-to-face interaction, II would mostly just stay on whatever electronic device was closest to you. She was content to simply display an emoji on a screen. "I was the Control Brain of the Judgement Hall. I had very little to do with the celebration ."

"Nonsense! Whose job was it then?" Zim scoffed.

" I. "

"You just said it wasn't your job-"

"Sweet fucking Mothra, Zim!" Zim jumped a bit as he had not heard Therron enter. "She means Control Brain I. When she says it was I's job, she isn't talking about herself with horrible grammar! She is clearly referencing the Control Brain named I!" He was obviously upset by the misunderstanding. Zim could empathize, as he too thought the original Control Brains had stupid names.

"Very well." Zim sighed, "we can ask him."

"No. We can't." At some point Voel had entered as well, the human smeet attached to his chest in a little carrier. "Because he was loyal to IX and I think CB ate him or something."

" I did not do that. Please do not phrase it in that way. I simply removed him from certain, instrumental aspects of Irk and replaced his code with my own ." CB's hologram materialized beside Zim, looking rather offended by the description.

"That's literally the same thing." Therron scoffed.

" No . It is not. They are very different things ."

"Who ate who is not important right now. What's important is getting the festival up and running." Zim couldn't afford for the others to get distracted. It was going to be his big day soon. This was the first festival he was going to be running as Tallest. It was also the first one for CB, AND it was the very first time Irk was running without all of its Control Brains in centuries. "Sym! What is our first course of action!?"

"I don't run the Mothra Festival, sir." Sym's reply was not what Zim was expecting.

"Didn't the former Tallests leave notes or something?"

"No, My Tallest. Our late Tallests were not the best with bookkeeping before their untimely demises. And the Tallests that succeeded them had us possessed during the festival time. So there really wasn't much of a point to celebrating."

"Cool. So, it wasn't our fault there were no notes, just that we missed a year because of evil mind control. But even then- that wasn't really me as I was abducted by the Syndicate." Vero seemed pleased by the revelation.

"It would not have been your fault anyway; you were Tallest for like... what... a month?" Zim patted his smeet on the shoulders (using his PAK legs to reach).

"Longer than that." Vero shrugged. "Like three months maybe? I dunno."

"Regardless, it's clearly the fault of Red and Purple for not taking notes." Zim wanted to be sure Vero wasn't blaming himself. He was a good smeet after all. Most of the time anyway.

"It's almost like Red and Purple weren't very good at their jobs or something." Skoodge mused.

"Excuse you!" Therron pushed Skoodge aside. "We were FANTASTIC if you must know."

"Then what do we do for the Mothra Festival?" Skoodge arched an antenna, crossing his arms, giving a knowing smirk.

"..." Therron said nothing, but he didn't look too happy.

"We didn't really have to know, if I'm being honest." Voel sighed, rubbing the area of skin between his eyes. "The Control Brains handled everything back then. But if I had to guess, maybe ask Mothra Elite Dae?"

"Ah yes! That makes sense." Zim nodded thoughtfully. "Where is Dae?"

" Currently, Dae is in the center of our Capital City. As are the other Mothra Elite ."

"Thank you, CB. Let's go see what she wants to do." It wasn't like they were far. The Mothra Elite had been on site for almost a month, all of them. They were setting things up, meeting with the Irkens who needed guidance after all the changes Zim had put into place when the Control Brains were taken offline. While Dae was their leader, Zim had learned there were eight other Mothra Elite. Nine in total. Like Dae, they were mostly reclusive. It was rare to see them in the city. Even during the festival. It wasn't common for the Mothra Elite to gather- or attend at all (save for the festival the tallest attended- as that one was considered the most important of all). Having them all in one place was nearly unheard of. Zim wasn't sure if he should be flattered, or concerned by their presence, however, given that he was the greatest Tallest ever- he chose to be flattered. He approached the tall, pale Irken in the veil, clearing his throat. "Mothra Elite Dae!"

"My Tallest!" her voice sounded different than he remembered. "My sincerest apologies, but I'm actually Mothra Elite Cree."

"Oh." Zim squinted. It was hard to tell the Mothra Elite apart as they wore the veil and the white uniform. Even their coding was nearly identical due to its simplistic nature. The Mothra Elite were never quite as 'tapped in' as their normal Irken counterparts. "Very well then, Mothra Elite Cree: your Tallest is ready to hear about all of the festivities you and your fellow Elite have prepared. This is your Tallest's first Festival as your beloved leader- so I will need this to go smoothly."

"Ah... yes..." she seemed hesitant. "Things have been a bit more difficult this year. It seems a good deal of our customs were... stored in Control Brain I."

"Don't you have them stored somewhere else? Like aren't there scrolls or something? Zim vaguely recalls that having been a thing."

"There are, yes. They are in the temples which are primarily still...overrun... with... wildlife. So, accessing them is... difficult."

"Ah... yes. Zim was intending to help with that, but I've been busy." Things had been quite hectic since Zim's rise to power. Being beloved by Irkens everywhere was a surprising amount of work.

"It's only been a just over a year since the fall of IX, my Tallest." Cree assured him. "We understand you have more pressing things at the moment."

"My Tallest!" Dae finally made herself known. Zim realized that, of the Mothra Elite, Dae was the tallest one by quite a bit. "You have made it! We are excited to be holding the festival with you this year. We believe this will be a fine celebration of Irken perseverance in the wake of IX's demise."

"No way that asshole is coming back." Zim puffed his chest out proudly.

" Probably. " CB stated.

"Probably." Zim repeated.

"Wait what?" Skoodge turned to look at the Control Brain. CB simply turned Skoodge's head back around to face Dae.

" Shh father. The Mothra Elite are speaking. Do not be rude. "

"I believe that we have all the largest and most important events properly set up." Dae continued, unabashed by Skoodge's attempts to talk over her. (Silly Skoodge, he should know better than to allow himself to get distracted.) "With all of my fellow Mothra Elite working together- we have managed to divide out the tasks that are the most important to the ceremonial aspects of the festival amongst ourselves. We know it is your first big event, so we appreciate any and all guidance that you can give us, especially for the non-ceremony events."

"Zim is great at guidance. Worry not." He placed his hands on his hips. "So, who is in charge of what?"

"You... you are in charge of everything, My Tallest." Dae tilted her head uncertainly. Zim blinked. That made a lot of sense, in retrospect, however, just hearing the words out loud filled his spooch with pride. He puffed his chest out in what he knew to be a very authoritative manner, and cleared his throat, ready to command.

"Of course, Zim knew this. It was a test. And you passed. Very good."

Mothra Elite Dae let out a very soft 'yay'.

"Now," Zim surveyed the situation, his PAK whirring softly as he thought. "Voel," he turned to the late Tallest. "You are in charge of the great tournament." Zim recalled this particular event as Voel had won it every year when they were in school. The Mothra Festival housed a grand tournament for Irkens to engage in combat against one another until there was only one victor. The winner would get to sit on one of the floats during the parade and would get VIP access to the rest of the events. "Dae, you and your fellow Elite need only to focus on the ceremonial aspects of the festival, the dances, parades, songs, you know the fancy Mothra stuff."

"Fancy Mothra stuff, yes, of course my Tallest." Dae nodded in understanding. "We will honor your wishes."

"Skoodge, you know all about food, you should oversee the cuisine. Sizz-Lorr can help you if you need it."

"Sizz-Lorr will be attending?" Sym seemed to perk up a bit at the mention of the Fry Lord.

"Shloogorgh's is very popular, and we know from Vero and Xia's Tallest ceremony that they can cook traditional Irken cuisine. Plus, after he led an Irken resistance to Earth, Zim feels it is in poor taste to hire anyone else."

"It does feel weird to give big serving gigs to anyone else." Voel agreed. "I mean he's kind of a hero now."

"So is Gil but you won't make him an ambassador." Therron protested.

"Yes, but Gil is stupid." Zim reminded him, it was hard to believe that Therron could forget this fact- as Zim was reminded of it every time Gil opened his mouth. However, it was possible that Therron was also stupid.

"Plus, Gil isn't really a hero... Zim fell on top of him, and he just wandered back with us to join the Irken resistance." Skoodge agreed with Zim, and that meant that Therron's vote now meant even less than before.

"While we're having this conversation, that reminds me: Therron, you should be in charge of organizing non-ceremony festivities! You are the best with these elaborate social functions." Zim hated to give Therron too much credit, but the last time he tried to let Voel host an event, he suplexed a dignitary. It was a wonder that Irk had lasted long enough for the Control Brains to try and seize power. And Tenn," Zim clapped his hands together, looking around a bit confused. "Where is Tenn?"

"Still on her way from the Academy, My Tallest." Sym reported. "She's not an official member of your staff and thus is not summoned to these meetings automatically."

"Very well." Zim was just accustomed to having Tenn in every ceiling he was under. It was strange having her back at work. "When she gets here, I will put her in charge of the smeet activities."

"Smeet activities?" Voel arched an antenna. "I don't recall that being a thing at the festival."

"I'm more concerned about you putting smeets with Tenn of all Irkens." Skoodge didn't sound as amazed as Zim felt he should.

"In the past, smeets have remained underground for the festival. We are trying to promote Irken family units now, so leaving them down there feels like it contradicts our 'New Irk'." Zim replied, arms folded over his chest.

"Yeah, but... Tenn ?" Skoodge reiterated his concern. Zim sighed.

"Obviously yes. She's great with smeets! She's a teacher after all."

"She's an Instructor for Elites. She teachesadults ." Skoodge countered.

"She taught Vero, he'sour smeet." Zim gestured to Vero who had been quietly watching, snacking on a bag of chips that Zim had not seen on him prior to this moment. (Where did these chips keep coming from? Did he have an underground chip supplier?)

"I am incompetent enough to be a smeet." Vero agreed with Zim, this was a good sign. That meant Zim was winning.

"You're not incompetent. You're lazy." Voel interjected. "I'm with Skoodge here, are you sure this is a good idea?"

"All of my ideas are good." Zim waved him off. "Now that just leaves CB to be in charge of everything else."

" What? "

"CB?" Voel interjected again before Zim had a chance to answer CB who must have been having difficulties with his auditory processes if Zim was needing to repeat himself. "CB who has barely been on Irk for a full year and had never once even seen a Mothra Festival? That CB?"

"There's only one CB, Voel. Unlike our prior Control Brains who are all named some iteration of I- CB has a very distinctive name."

" V and X are not named a variation of I !"

"SILENCE II, YOU ARE ONE OF THE WORST OFFENDERS!"

" Not as bad as III, correct ?"

"No, you are not that extra." Zim assured her; he did not want II getting a complex as she was the only original Control Brain they had. "Which is why I will be letting you assist CB as his secretary! This will be a good chance for you two to implement teamwork."

"Not that I agree with this plan at all, because I don't," Therron began, "but shouldn't you reverse CB and II's roles? She's the one with the experience."

" Very limited experience, admittedly as I only dealt with those who broke the Irken Legal code even during the festival. "

"Wouldn't that have been your job? Why was Control Brain I doing your job during the festival?" Zim's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"I SWEAR TO FUCKING MOTHRA ZIM THEY ARE CALLED CONTEXT CLUES!" Therron looked ready to burst. "SHE IS CLEARLY TALKING ABOUT HERSELF! NOT CONTROL BRAIN I."

"Hmmmm, yes, that makes sense." Zim turned back to Voel and Skoodge as Therron let out an aggravated scream in the background. "As your Tallest, I know that I have given you the right tasks! This festival will be the best, most amazing festival ever because it will be the first festival under Almighty Tallest Zim!"

"I like that I don't have a job." Vero remarked.

"I want you in the tournament this year." Zim replied quickly.

"Me?" Vero made a face. "I dunno, that's kinda Xia's thing."

"Xia can't be in it this year. She's still grounded for helping the Control Brains takeover Irk and also for locking GIR in a closet. She will be looking after GIR as punishment."

"She's not gonna do that." Vero gave him a bit of a skeptical look. "She's gonna pass the work off on Ven."

"She has to, Vero." Zim used the legs of his PAK to raise himself up so he could put his hands on the shoulders of his tallest smeet. "She's grounded ." This seemed to do nothing to ease Vero's obvious concern. "Plus, Ven and Ara are both going to be in the tournament too! It will be fun! A good family bonding exercise."

"I don't know how good of a 'family bonding exercise' having our smeets beat the shit out of each other actually is." Skoodge was looking Vero up and down.

"I actually agree with Zim on this one." Voel patted Vero on the shoulders. "Show no mercy, son."

"I guess it won't be so bad if Xia's not in it..." Vero shrugged a bit. "I just haven't enjoyed fighting her in the past." His fingers rubbed the scar on his neck where his head had previously been detached. Zim clapped his hands.

"Perfect! So, we all know our roles!"

"My Tallest, would it be all right if I gave some of my attention to helping your Vice-Tallest with food?" Sym spoke up.

"Vice-Tallest? Is that really what you decided on?" Voel looked to Skoodge who gave a bit of a shrug in response.

"We're workshopping it."

"Why do you want to help out with food? You hate getting dirty. You wear gloves to eat." Zim pointed out.

"So do you."

"Yes, but Zim's uniform had gloves for years. Yours does not." He gestured to Sym's outfit. He assumed that the gold and blue was some sort of uniform as she never seemed to vary her wardrobe.

"Yes, I dislike dirt, grime, sticky handprints, and all of that- which is why I think I would be great at helping with food safety."

"That makes sense. Sym, you may keep an eye on the food, but I will most likely need you for other things as well. So you may be required to multitask. Or just do whatever I need- then go back to food safety." Zim had to appreciate Sym's forethought. Now that he was the Tallest and she was perpetually nice to him, Zim had come to value her opinion a little more.

"Thank you my Tallest." She bowed her head, antennae wiggling out of respect. Zim surveyed the group. He had everyone he needed. This was a simple festival- he had run a rebellion. This was easily something they could handle.

"Worry not my fellow Irkens, we've got this."


"Spoiler alert, we did not 'got this'. We immediately fell apart." Vero interjected as he sat on the bed with Gavin beside him looking a little annoyed that Zim's amazing story had been interrupted by dirty lies.

"Nonsense. You heard how amazing my plans were. How could you say that things went poorly?"

"Because they did?" Vero lifted one of his antennae, his eyes narrowed. "Do you seriously not remember?"

"Zim only remembers a stellar success." Zim dismissed his clearly very wrong comments.

"First of all, that whole meeting with Dae was like... a week before the festival, so I'm really not sure why you started your story there for a bedtime story." Vero's critique was both unwanted and also just plain misinformed. Zim huffed.

"Gavin needs a backstory for the rest of the story to make sense. And since when are you a bedtime story expert? Have you even ever told one?"

"I am an expert in bedtime stories because I am the one of us who sleeps the most." Vero replied smugly.

"Statistically speaking, that should be Gavin, as you don't need to sleep." Zim's eyes narrowed at his adult smeet as suspicion stirred.

"You'd think, but no." Vero shrugged. "I just mastered the art of saying: 'yeah dad, you're right' in my sleep."

"I liked the backstory." Gavin was clearly the smarter of the two smeets despite Vero being much older. "I like the part where Therron exploded."

"He didn't explode, but he did act like he was going to." Zim smirked at the memory. "But see Vero, this was clearly an example of excellent storytelling."

"Yeah dad, you're right."

"Very well," Zim was unsure why Gavin snickered, but he continued without giving it more thought. "Let's get to the festival itself."


The day of the festival arrived and Zim was greeted by a very enthusiastic and not-at-all-stressed staff. "Everything is going perfectly!" Zeke was the one to speak first. "I am going to get you great publicity for this."

"Good good, Zim knows his adoring public will want to read more about his greatness." Zim nodded knowingly.

"We might be able to handle this." Skoodge nodded. "So long as it stays small scale."

"With a new Tallest it is hard to predict." Sym was going over her notes. "Sometimes there is a small influx of Irkens coming to the capital city, hoping to meet the new leader. However, it shouldn't be anything we can't handle."

"Yes yes, and the Syndicate too." Zim nodded.

"What!?" Skoodge, Voel, Therron, and Sym all turned quickly to look at him. Zim wasn't sure why they were having such a hard time hearing him, he figured he might as well speak louder.

"ZIM INVITED SOME OF OUR SYNDICATE FRIENDS TO THE FESTIVAL!"

"You don't have to yell, we can hear you, we just-" Therron was going to say something but he was interrupted by Skoodge.

"You invited the Syndicate?"

"Not the whole Syndicate, just my smelly human friend. " Zim assured them, that seemed to quell whatever weird concern his family had.

"Okay that should be-" Voel began.

"Oh! And Dib will probably bring that Kryptonian he really wants to bond with."

"Okay," again Voel attempted to talk but Zim's memory kept bringing up other names.

"And his family are probably coming too. The Membranes really wanted to see an Irken festival and Zim feels as if we owe them at least a small favor for their help fixing Zim's TV."

"Well, and saving the planet too," Skoodge added helpfully, "they also did that."

"True, they did." Zim had thought that he didn't need to repay them for that seeing as how getting to spend months on a spaceship with Zim should have been gift enough- but he supposed they had been quite helpful, all things considered. "Also, Zim figured that we needed to invite the rest of the Nova and the High Council Chairman and her wife. You know, because Zim wanted to remind the Syndicate how friendly Irkens really are."

"Hmmm." Skoodge made a face. "Aren't a lot of Irkens still convinced that Captain Rose murdered our leaders in cold blood under the command of the High Council Chairman?"

"Yeah, but they got better." Zim retorted as he gestured to Therron and Voel. "See? They're fine."

"Except we're not fine because you haven't updated our status in the Collective to be alive again." Therron folded his arms, antennae laying back flat against his head. "And it's super fucking annoying Zim!"

"It sure is." Skoodge mused. "It. Sure. Is." His expression was a bit unreadable as he seemed to just be staring hard at nothing in particular.

"And it means Sym doesn't listen to us anymore." Therron continued, seemingly ignoring Skoodge's brief interruption. Sym blinked, holding her reader closer to her chest.

"I would not listen to you anyway. You are not the Tallest and I am no longer obligated to be polite to you."

"Oh, I do NOT like that development." Therron recoiled as if he had been slapped.

"Heh heh, Zim likes it." Zim snickered; his antennae perking up. "This is a great gift for the Mothra Festival." He turned away from Therron and back to the others. "Now everyone has their very specific and special tasks, correct?" Zim surveyed the Irkens around him, each nodding with what he assumed to be the utmost confidence. "Good! Now all of you, begone! Zim has much to do! I will be by at various points to make sure everything is up to code!"

"What code?" Xia sneered. Zim had nearly forgotten she was present as they did not trust her on the new Massive. (Last time they left her alone she had tried to steal the prototype- which was silly as it only made her grounding even worse.) "The code that we don't know because the Control Brains handled everything? And the only two "Control Brains" we have- if you can even call them that- are a defect and an abomination. There is. No. Code."

" Which one of us is which? " II's voice came from Zim's Tallest gauntlet.

" I like to think I am the abomination. " CB replied from the body he had brought to Zim's Pre-festival peptalk. "That makes you the defect. "

" I can be the defect. "

"It doesn't matter who is who!" Xia spat. (Someone was clearly having difficulty getting into the holiday spirit). "The point is that you're both just terrible! This whole thing is a fucking joke. It'll crash and burn just like everything else Zim touches."

"Someone is talking her way out of gifts from Godzillaclause." Vero tisked.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GODZILLACLAUSE!"

"Sister!" Vero had the sides of Ven's head covered with his hands which was just a confusing gesture given that Ven didn't have ears to cover and Vero was in no way inhibiting his hearing. Zim had to assume Vero had spent too much time on Earth. "Not in front of the smeets."

"It's okay Vero. She's just mad that she gets rotten snacks in her boot instead of guns." Ven wiggled free of Vero's grip.

"You are all getting ahead of yourselves." Zim shook his head. While he too was excited for Godzillaclause (he had been very good this year given he had saved Irk) it was the wrong holiday for him to appear. "Try to focus on the Mothra Festival. Your Tallest commands it! Now begone!" Zim waved the others away. He trusted his new team. They had served him well in saving his home; there was no way they would struggle holding a festival. It was just a fancy party after all. "Where should we begin monitoring our great festival, Sym?" Zim looked over to his Chief of Agenda who was staring off in the distance, seemingly distracted. She must have been in awe of his success. It was a fairly common occurrence, Zim understood that his sheer amazingness took some getting used to. He cleared his throat and she blinked.

"Oh, yes. We could start with the food."

" The food is still in the preparation phase. " CB assured him. Zim liked that CB had the potential to be in all of the locations at one time. It made things simpler for Zim. "So, there is no real need for special attention. "

"Ah yes," Sym nodded, "of course. Then, perhaps it is best we meet the guests you decided to invite without anyone else knowing."

"Of course! Zim's very important guests!" That was a great idea! Dib should be arriving at any moment with the other acceptable members of the Syndicate. There were not many non-Irkens that Zim approved of, so this was an honor that he was certain the Syndicate held in the highest of regards. "I suppose I could go and greet them face to face, that way I can observe the awe and wonder in their faces when they see how truly amazing our Festival is."

"Indeed." at least Sym was in agreement. Zim checked his messages to see where exactly Dib and the others would be arriving. He was excited. This was his first big event and it was also the first time he had gotten to see Dib since the Syndicate showed up on Irk (too late to be of any real help, but Zim was doing his best not to hold it against them) and that little birthday party on Capital Planet. But that didn't count. He had only gotten to see Dib for like a day. And in all honesty, he had missed being able to see the hideous human on a daily basis.

As Zim headed toward the landing bay, he surveyed the festival set up. The main street had been decked out in white and silver, roped off for a parade that would eventually be taking place in the evening. There was a bunch of booths with games and prizes that Tenn had set up for the smeets to enjoy. There were large attractions, similar to the rides one would find at an Earth-fair (Zim had liked the concepts of things such as the 'Ferris Wheel' and decided that they would be better suited for Irkens to enjoy. After all, who even was this 'Ferris' and what made him so deserving of a fancy wheel? Zim had never met him. Thus, he couldn't have been all that great).

There was certainly a crowd already forming, which was good to see. From the sound of the voices Zim could pick out of the crowd, Irkens had come from all over to attend an event hosted by the newest Tallest. It was good to know that Zim's reputation preceded him. He could partially thank Zeke for the press- however Zeke had an easy job making Zim popular since he was already so loveable. The Irkens that saw him would all bow, wiggling their antennae with respect. He could hear the excited whispers when they would wave to him. Sym, who was simply walking by his side, looked completely unaffected by the attention, mostly looking at the screen in her hand. Zim assumed it was because if she actually looked around and realized how much love Zim was receiving, she might become too intimidated by his greatness to do her job. And he was just beginning to like Sym.

Zim reached the landing bay only to find the Syndicate gad already arrived. Zim had expected to see the Nova, however, the ship in question was something called the: Flare. Zim briefly wondered if they had accidentally brought the invitation to the wrong to the Syndicate, after all without PAKs it could be very difficult to tell the Syndicate apart. (Then he remembered that he was the one who actually gave the invites out, and Zim knew he would never have made such a careless error.) Fortunately, it wasn't long before Zim saw the looming form of his human talking with one of the Irkens that had been helping with the docking.

"Dib human!" Zim addressed him with a wave. Dib turned and Zim was pleased to see obvious excitement in his face. "You made it!"

"Zim! It's been forever!"

" Also, I am here Dib. Remember? " One of the security robots took on a blue tone as it flew up to Dib. " Your best friend? "

"Oh! Hey CB!" Dib grinned. "How's Control Brain life treating you?"

" Amazing. I am doing perfect. "

"This is true." Zim confirmed with a nod. "However, Zim must say that having Dib so far away has been a bit annoying. It is too peaceful without your constant badgering."

"I missed you too, Zim." Dib smirked. "It's sucked being on Earth for so long after we have already been to space. But Lor and I have finally moved in together on Capital Planet, I'm Official a Syndicate Engineer, and it's been really great."

"Education is important, cadet. More important than moving in with your significant other immediately after saving the world." Captain Rose's voice alerted Zim to the rest of his invitees that had gathered outside of the ship. He saw the Membrane parents, the Dib Sister, the Kryptonian that Dib had been attempting to court, the Captain and her bondmate, the Romulan security guard, the High Council Chairman and her bandmate the general, and for some reason Tak.

"It has been nice living together again though." Lor's hand was intertwined with Dib's he touched his arm affectionately. "I actually missed you keeping me up with your weird 2AM theories."

"Hey that fast food guy was totally a goblin- all the signs were there." Dib replied rather emphatically. Zim had the feeling he was missing some of those 'context clues' that Theron was always going on about. But he was willing to trust that Dib was right about this.

"Tallest Zim, we are flattered at your invitation." Having the High Council Chairman address him in such a way was going to require some getting used to. Zim had to admit it was a good feeling, just strange. "We hope this can continue helping the relationship between our two governments." She bowed her head elegantly toward him. Zim blinked for a moment.

"You Syndicate will love this. It is one if Irk's greatest festivals!" Zim assured her. "And this year it will be better than ever because it will be hosted by me, Zim! The greatest Invadentor/Tallest that has ever existed."

"That's still a fictional title." Tak scoffed; arms crossed.

"You have to agree with me, I'm Tallest." Zim smirked. Tak stared, open-mouthed for a second before she quickly recovered herself.

"I'm Syndicate. You don't rule over me." She was obviously just super jealous of Zim's new, fancy title. Zim would allow her to sulk for the time being. This was a day of celebration, which is why Zim was surprised Tak had decided to come at all.

"There was one problem," the Captain interrupted Tak's humiliating realization that Zim was better than her, which was probably to help Tak save face. "We have another guest."

"Did Zim invite someone else?" Zim began counting the invitations he sent on his fingers but he was interrupted by a cool, synthetic voice from above him

"If I recall, heroes don't require invites."

"Great hero Q, greetings." Sym nodded her head upward and Zim was finally made aware of the hovering form of the Parasite floating above him like an angry, hateful cloud.

"Why do you greet him as 'Great Hero' but literally no one else?" Dib looked to Sym. "I mean we all respectively did as much, if not more, than he did."

"He is insistent." She gave a small shrug. "Also, Mothra Elite Dae tells of how he led the Irken resistance to an attack on the Tallest's headquarters. It was all quite impressive from what I have been told. The resistance members hold him in quite a high regard."

"You could certainly learn a thing or two about proper treatment from the Irkens." One of the tendrils from Q's scarf-like appendages went to pat Dib on the head but the human reeled back before it made contact.

"Do not. Touch me."

"We are so excited to be invited along!" The Dib-human's stepmother spoke up. "Learning about all the interplanetary technology has been our newest hobby."

"I am sure the Irkens have quite the selection of devices for us to study!" Membrane Senior added with the kind of excitement that Zim had been expecting from everyone. At least Dib's father understood how wonderful Irk truly was. Zim would be sure to give him an extra blaster in his complimentary gift bag.

"But we're not here for weapons." Dib spoke firmly. "Right dad?" He looked at his parents, however there was no answer. Dib looked between the two uncertainly. "Right?"

Nothing.

"Dad?" Dib reiterated.

"We'll see. We'll see." His dad laughed dismissively.

"I did not agree to take you guys to Zim's festival for you to cause trouble." Dib's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"We wouldn't dream of doing anything to cause your little green friend any trouble. We are just-" as Dib's father began to explain things, Dib cut him off.

"Where did mom go?"

"Who?" Professor Membrane blinked behind the oversized goggles.

"My step-mom? Your wife ?" Dib did a quick glance around only to see the former doctor talking to one of the Irkens working on the dock. Zim was only able to grasp the end of their conversation. He could distinctly make out Dib's step-mother's unique accent.

"So, which of your organs would you say was your favorite and how many of them could you live without? Hypothetically-"

" Mother !"

"I'll get back to you." The red-haired woman turned away from the worker she was interviewing. "Coming Junior, darling!"

"Sorry Zim, I'll try to keep them in line." Dib sighed looking at Zim apologetically. Zim wasn't really sure why Dib seemed bothered. He was too busy trying to figure out which of his spooches was his favorite. The doctor asked interesting questions. His squeedly spooch had served him well...

"It's fine." Zim assured him. "This day is not about being sorry. It is about having fun and celebrating everything Mothra has given us!"

"Oh! Is that what this holiday is about?" Lor piped up.

"We don't know. It might be." Sym replied a little too honestly. "Most of our information was on the Control Brains that you helped destroy."

"... for a good reason though, right? Like... you know why we did it?" Dib narrowed his eyes looking at Sym. "I mean you, if anyone should know why we did that."

"Yes, and I am very grateful." Sym's reply lacked any sort of intonation. "Was that not clear?"

"Not... really..." Lor tilted his head to the side.

" That is her being grateful. I can confirm this. "

"Right." Dib still sounded hesitant. "Thanks CB." He cleared his throat. "Lor why don't you help our parents get situated and I'll be right there. I just want to say hi to Zim."

"All right!" Lor gave a nod and Dib let out a deep breath.

"Thanks for inviting us to this," he gave Zim a bit of a smile. "After we leave, I was hoping of taking Lor somewhere nice and I wanted your opinion on some things. So, whenever you have free time, could we talk?"

"Zim always has time for you." Zim assured him. While Dib was smelly and a bit unappealing by Irken standings, he was still Zim's friend.

"My Tallest, the parade setup requires your oversight." Sym interrupted Zim's reassurances.

"Except right now. Right now, Zim is busy."

"Yeah, it's no big deal. I'll catch you later, man." Dib hurried to join the rest of the Syndicate.

"Zim is no man, Zim is Irken, silly Dib." Zim shook his head, amused. Dib was probably just tired from the long trip and had forgotten. Ah well. "Sym! Take me to the parade!" Zim ordered. Sym nodded and began to lead Zim away from the landing area. As they went through the streets, Zim was able to see more of the games Tenn had set up for the smeets. There were already smeets gathered around, some with little toys in their claws. Zim had forgotten how small smeets were in the beginning, sometimes the toy was as large as the smeet holding it. He saw Tenn in one of the booths and waved to her. She waved back. "This looks good!" Zim called to her.

"Thank you my Tallest!" Tenn called back. "I'll admit I was confused when you asked me to do this as I have no experience with smeets, but I think we've got a good system worked out!"

"Zim never makes mistakes! Keep up the good work!" He continued after Sym, seeing Irkens enjoying the rides and the games, some had already started lining up for food. It was early still, but there was already quite a crowd. It was good to see the Irkens enjoying themselves after having gone through quite the ordeal.

They arrived at the City Hall of the Irken capital. It was a tall, lavish, very large building that was currently housing all the balloons and floats for the Mothra parade. Zim was a bit in awe at being so close to items that had been brought out before the likes of Tallest Miyuki. He was greeted by-who he assumed to be- Dae.

"My Tallest! We just need you to look over our parade line-up. We want to be certain that everything is up to your standards."

"Of course, Mothra Elite Dae, Zim will be pleased to oversee your work."

"Actually, I'm Mothra Elite Zee." The veiled elite bowed her head politely. "Dae is over there." She pointed to another pale, white clad Irken that was fixing up the wheels on one of the floats.

"Ah, yes." Zim nodded knowingly. "Very well. Zim wishes to see the Mothra balloon." This particular balloon was the most coveted part of the festival, a light weight, replica of the statue of Mothra that welcomed Irkens to the temples. It was the only thing from the festival that Zim knew, for a fact, that he remembered.

"Of course, my Tallest." Zee led him down the hall as they passed many Irkens hard at work securing and fixing elaborate floats and balloons. Zim nearly jumped as a golden head with a flame in its mouth came swooping toward him. Sym artfully dived out of the way without even missing a step.

"Oh, the Ghidora looks amazing." Zim recovered from being startled, as Irkens managed to wrangle the head back with the other two.

"We added animatronics this year." A male Mothra Elite nodded to him. "It was something our late Tallests had requested- may they rest with Mothra." He bowed his head in respect of the fallen Tallests (both of whom were overseeing other aspects of the festival and therefore not resting at all. But Zim felt it was in poor taste to correct a Mothra Elite during the Mothra Festival.)

"I like it, it looks great." Zim approved. He continued past the other floats and balloons until finally his eyes fell on the most important one. The namesake of the festival, her hands cupped together, a glowing light above her palms. Shimmering gossamer wings gave off their own unique glow over moonlight pale skin and feathered antennae. Her gown reached the floor despite her massive, towering size. She looked ethereal; it took Zim a moment to think of what to say. "This looks good." It was a bit of an understatement, but Zim wasn't entirely sure how to put his thoughts into words. He had never had a chance to see the balloon up close. It was far cleaner and more enchanting than the worn-down statues in front of the overrun temples. "You have done well." He nodded to Dae who had made her way over. She reached past him to adjust the veil that cascaded down Mothra's back.

"We are glad she meets your standards." Dae seemed relieved.

"He also liked our new updates on Ghidora." Zee informed Dae. Dae nodded, turning to Zim.

"Then if all is well, my Tallest, we will be happy to move on to other aspects of the ceremony before it is time for the parade."

"Excellent. You have Zim's approval!" Zim clapped his hands together in what was supposed to be a definitive manner. "Now is there anything else?" He looked at the few Elites that had gathered around him.

"Not at the moment," Dae assured him.

"Excellent! Sym, what's next?"

"Perhaps, it is time we should check on Sizz-Lorr and the food?" She looked at the holographic screen in her hands.

"Very well. To the food!" He began walking only to have Sym gently touch his shoulder and turn him in the opposite direction. "Zim knew that was wrong, he was testing you. Good work Sym."

"Thank you, my Tallest."

They exited the capital building and headed to where Sizz-Lorr and his Irken employees were vigorously working to serve a long line of Irkens. Zim was a bit surprised to see CB's body (well one of them) helping with the cooking. "Sizz-Lorr!" Zim called to him. "We are here to see how things are going. Where is Skoodge?" He had not put his bondmate in charge just for Skoodge to just wander off.

"Oh, my Tallest! Chief of Agenda!" Sizz-Lorr straightened up. "Skoodge has been overseeing an incident with the food service drones. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"The food service drones? Is something wrong?" Zim looked him up and down, basking in the enjoyment he got from Sizz-Lorr having to act in a respectful manner and take orders from him. It was certainly a far cry from his fast-food days. He was lying if he said it didn't give him some degree of satisfaction. It did finally feel as if he had proven his worth to the other Irkens. However, the idea that something had gone amiss and he was only just now hearing of it was a tad bit concerning. After all- as Tallest he should hear thigs first. Sizz-Lorr quickly waved him off.

"Oh no, it's nothing we can't handle." He gestured to the hard-working Irkens cooking and serving a content looking crowd. They seemed to be moving in a beautiful tandem. "See?"

"Perfect!" Zim nodded, satisfied by the answer.

"My Tallest, I would like to help out here. If at all possible. If only briefly." Sym had mentioned this before, but in all honesty, Zim had forgotten about it.

" Is that really necessary? " CB's voice had come out of one of the intercoms making the Irken getting food at the window jump.

"It was my request." Sym reiterated.

" Very well, you may assist until Skoodge returns. But there will not be much for you to do. " CB sounded annoyed, but Sym didn't seem to bothered.

"I am certain I will find something."

"Then I will go find Dib. He is probably still staring slack-jawed at the amazingness of our planet. I will be sure he isn't overwhelmed." Zim replied definitively. Dib had mentioned something about wanting to speak with him. This would be the perfect time for Zim to take a moment out of his very busy schedule to help the human with whatever problem he had, that needed an Irken intellect to solve. "CB! Where is Dib right now?"

" Do you wish for me to access our cameras? "

"Of course."

" But Papa Skoodge said that was an invasion of privacy. "

"So, you haven't accessed any cameras, since he said that?" Zim narrowed his eyes skeptically at the speaker from which CB's voice has originated. There was a telling pause.

" I am literally doing it right now. "

"I suspected as much."

" Dib is located somewhere in the center square. "

"That's a little vague for you."

" I am busy. "

"Ok then!" Zim had no further question. "Sym, when you're done doing," he turned to face Sym seeing her leaning over the back wall, a cloth draped over the greasy metal, seemingly enthralled in a conversation with the Fry Lord which was odd- given as how Zim had never heard Sizz-Lorr say anything remotely interesting. "... whatever this is, you may join me back in the center of town." Zim would have given her more time, but it honestly had been nice having her around to keep him on schedule. Zim was many things, but punctual was not always one of them. (It wasn't necessarily Zim's fault. He just often had better places to be than wherever it was he was late arriving to).

He didn't wait for an answer, but instead headed off to find Dib. He wondered what could be bothering his friend. Perhaps he had come to the realization of the uncomfortably large size of his head and was feeling self-conscious about it. Zim had to mentally prep the speech of reassurance he would give, after all- it didn't seem Lor was too offput by it. And Zim knew Dib's head was only large because it held a very smart (almost-but-not-quite-as-smart-as-Zim) brain.

Zim came to a stop as he saw a large group of Irkens with one of the Mothra Elite and CB's body standing in a circle trying to recreate one of the traditional Irken dances. Zim took a moment to watch as CB was giving instructions.

" You place your left arm within the circle, now you remove it. Now you place it back in and give it a vigorous shake as if you are ridding it of the blood of your enemies. Very good. Now spin around. " The Irkens were following the cues as best as they could and Zim had to admit the dance looked familiar, but it didn't look quite right. "Very good, now we repeat the steps with your right foot. "

"Zim?" Dib's voice caught Zim's attention.

"Ah good! I was just looking for you." Zim looked over to see Lor and Dib watching the Irkens in their traditional, graceful dance.

"Why are those Irkens doing the Hokey Pokey?" Lor asked, tilting his head curiously to the side. "That is the Hokey Pokey, right?"

" No. It is a traditional Irken dance. " CB's voice did not come from the body but rather from Zim's Tallest gauntlet.

"Really? Cause it looks just like the Hokey Pokey." Lor did have a point, as Zim looked closer, it did seem remnant of that ridiculous human summoning circle. (Though whatever it was they were trying to bring forth with their cultish dance never seemed to work).

" It is not. And even if it were, how would YOU know what the Hokey Pokey is when you cannot even grasp the concept of Halloween? "

"It's the Hokey Pokey CB. You don't know any Irken dances. You haven't seen any before." Dib was right. This was a simple mistake that Zim could easily fix.

"I understand the mistake." Zim cleared his throat. "Allow me to demonstrate a traditional Irken dance for you. You see," Zim got into position. "It's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right. You place your hands on your hips, and tuck your knees in tight. Then it's the pelvic th-"

"Not a traditional dance!" Dib cut him off quickly.

"Eh?" Zim blinked.

"That isnot it. I promise you."

"Ah yes. Now Zim remembers." That wasn't right either. "CB! Go back to Hokey-ing their Pokey."

"Oh god please don't say it like that." Dib winced visibly but Zim barely heard him.

"Zim feels as if that was closer to an accurate dance. Also! Dib wished to speak to his much older and wiser, and better-looking friend."

"O-oh!" Dib looked a bit confused. "N-Now?"

"Wy, yes. Zim has made time specifically for you!"

"Right! Okay. Um," Dib looked uncertainly over at Lor. "Hey, can you go grab us something to eat really fast? I know you're probably getting hungry again." It was true, the Kryptonian appetite was something to behold- or at least it used to be, until Zim had started living in the family unit full time and witnessed what an absolute black hole Vero was when it came to food. It was actually insane. Zim was fairly sure Vero was really, in fact, several smaller Irkens stacked convincingly on top of one another because there was no other logical explanation when it came to Vero's food consumption.

"Yeah, sure!" Lor seemed agreeable enough to the idea of food. "I am starving. " He was gone in the blink of an eye and Dib let out a deep breath that he had been holding.

"Okay I need your opinion on something." Dib pulled out a very dumb looking Syndicate phone that probably functioned far worse than its Irken counterpart. He brought up a few, different pages for various planets. "I am going on a little trip with Lor after this, you know something romantic or whatever and I need to know which of these planets is the most... atmospheric... I guess?" Zim was sensing a lot of anxiety, which was kind of expected when it came to Dib. But this was an excessive amount, even for him.

"They're all fine. None of them as great as the majestic, beautiful, scenic, and very romantic Irk."

"Yeah, but I can't do it here..."

Zim's eyes narrowed. "Do... what?"

"I mean... I-" Dib took a deep breath, fishing in his pocket he pulled out a small black box. He opened it showing Zim a beautiful rock on a band. Zim recognized that it was a ring.

"That's a very nice ring."

"Yeah... so... you know..." Dib's face looked flushed. Zim squinted at the ring for a moment, looking back to Dib.

"You want to know if it's going to fit? I mean... it depends on which finger you want it on- he has so many fingers. You both do. Too many, if I'm being perfectly honest-"

"Damnit Zim-I want to ask Lor to marry me."

"How was I supposed to get that from a ring?"

"It's- it's a human thing. J-just forget about that part. Which of these planets should I take Lor to?" Dib looked quite flustered.

"If you are going to propose a bonding, you should do it in a traditional Kryptonian way." Zim felt as if he had to help. Dib clearly had no idea what he was doing in this scenario. "Of course, it might be difficult to figure out those customs since they were wiped out- and to be clear the Irkens cannot confirm nor deny any part of the demise of that planet- but Zim can definitely find a way to get you that information. I think they like books? Like you're supposed to write them some kind of book."

"What like a poem? Oh god no." Dib recoiled a bit. "Plus, I doubt Lor would even know if that was right. He wasn't raised by Kryptonians."

"I'm pretty sure it's instinctual. They worship the sun, which is stupid, so try to maybe talk about the sun a lot in your book."

"Don't you worship the moon?"

"No, we worship Mothra who is associated with the moon."

"He worships Rao who is just associated with the sun."

"Yeah, isn't that silly?" Zim shook his head. "Maybe try and turn on a lot of lights so that he feels like there is a lot of sunlight. Or fly your ship into the sun?"

"Zim, I just wanted your opinion on the planets. I didn't ask for your help doing the actual proposal part of it."

"You don't need to ask; Zim is always happy to help his best friend. Mothra knows it sounds like you need it. You should find out if he has any enemies and then try to rip their heart out to bring to him as a show of love."

"I'm not going to do that."

"I think you need to do a backflip," Zim was trying to look up information on Kryptonian mating rituals on his gauntlet, "into a split, and recite: "Rao, jEvÁ mizrhosh zrh o min zhao uvrreosh kruvuzh satogh uldif zhindif zrhueiao."

"What? What are you saying right now?"

"A Kryptonian marriage proposal."

"Zim, I'm never going to remember all of that!"

"Fine but don't blame Zim if he says no."

"Hey baby, I got food but things look a little hectic over by the games." Lor was suddenly back with what appeared to be more than enough Irken food to satisfy a small army. Dib had frozen solid at the sound of his voice. Zim also hadn't heard the medic approaching. Lor gad somehow mastered the art of silence. "Are... you okay?"

"Lor! Right! Yes. I am just great." Dib quickly shoved his phone back in his pocket.

"You look a little feverish-"

"I'm great. What was this about chaos?"

" I am certain Lor was mistaken as everything is quite fine ." Dib jumped again as suddenly CB had wandered over in his body this time.

"Why are you over here? Don't you have Irkens to be teaching the macarena or something?"

" I already taught them that one. I have run out of dances that I know. "

"So, you just stopped doing that part of your job?" Dib looked skeptical.

"I did not stop. I finished. That is very different, plus, I have many other jobs that also require attention. I am multitasking. "

"You sure everything is okay? It looked kinda crazy when I was over there..." Lor looked genuinely concerned. Zim was starting to wonder if everything WAS going as planned. It must have been, because if something was wrong, he, as Tallest, would be the first to know of it.

" Affirmative. Whatever concerns you have should be dismissed as whatever you saw was entirely intentional ."

"That's good, Zim was almost worried." Zim chuckled to himself.

"You should be worried! Zim maybe you need to go check on whatever this is." Dib looked genuinely concerned, and while Zim appreciated the sentiment, it was clear Dib had some difficulty hearing what CB had just said.

"No, CB just said it's fine, silly human. That means there is nothing to check."

"He's clearly lying, Zim."

"CB wouldn't lie!" Zim was taken aback by the accusation. Dib stared at him for a moment, mouth open as if he couldn't quite think of what to say before the words came out in a borderline yell.

"He lies ALL the TIME!"

"Name one time." Zim ordered. Dib took a deep breath.

"He pretended to be Original AI, he lied about not being damaged after he ran into IX, he spent a lot of the time saying he was a house security system when in reality he's a Control Brain, and every time you ground him and he says he'll stay in the house he actually sneaks into my house appliances and complains."

" That was not lying. It was creative interpretation of the truth. "

"That's fucking lying CB! It's the same th-"

"Zeke!" Zim cut Dib off before this turned into a full out Dib-rant which, from Zim's experience, could last for several days. He called out to the tiny media Irken who had been rushing by. Zeke stopped in his tracks; antennae perked straight up. He immediately changed his body language to something far more relaxed. He tipped his hat toward Zim.

"Heya my Tallest!" It wasn't as formal as the greetings from some of the other Irkens, but Zim had learned that Zeke wasn't much for formality. "What can I do for ya, pal?"

"Zeke, is there some kind of crisis going on by the games?" Zim posed the question as simply as he could. Zeke gave him an odd look, his gaze turning to the side for a moment before he looked back at Zim.

"... no..."

"Perfect, see?" Zim turned back to Dib, "there you have it from an unbiased source."

"Zeke is your publicist. His job is to literally be biased." Dib didn't sound very convinced by Zim's surprise source.

"Hey news-guy, this way." The smooth, synthetic voice made Dib physically cringe, so if Zim had not recognized it by the sound, he would have known who it was based solely on the expression of misery on Dib's face.

"Coming!" Zeke nodded. Dib put a hand out to stop Zeke.

"Since when did you start hanging out with Q?"

"Always, pal." Zeke replied looking offended by the question. "Q is my favorite news source. We're inseparable."

"That makes sense, Dib." Zim wasn't sure why the human was being do weird about this very normal sounding situation.

"Does Q even know your name?" Dib questioned. Q paused for a moment, the seven eyes squinting briefly at Dib and Lor.

"His name is Zeke."

"Bullshit, you just read my mind to get that."

"You can prove nothing." Q smirked. "Now let's go best friend who's name I have always known to be Zeke. We have friend things to do."

"That seems completely reasonable and also in character for Q." Zim nodded as Dib gave him a disbelieving stare. Nothing seemed too out of place, so Zim was surprised to see Sym running up to him with Ven close behind.

"My Tallest! You are required at the battlefields at once! There's been an incident!" She looked out of breath. See? If anything, strange had been happening, he would have been the first alerted. It was one of the benefits of being the Tallest.

"Then let us away, Sym. Dib, think about the great advice I gave you. Zeke, Q, have fun on your friendship adventure."

"Sure will, boss!" Zeke hurried away without another word. Zim was impressed that Zeke, who seemed to have a low tolerance for sass as a general rule, would find any entertainment in hanging out with Q- but it wasn't Zim's place to judge. Maybe they both liked pizza. He knew Zeke liked it, and he had definitely seen Q eat it before. That made the most sense. And honestly, he had more important issues at hand. Something was obviously wrong at the tournament, which was odd because Voel was the one Zim had put in charge, and Voel typically handled things fairly well. (So long as those 'things' didn't involve too much empathy.) It was also a bit alarming that, rather than explain things, as they were running Zim saw Sym activate the blade of her laser scimitar.

" Perhaps we are being too dramatic ." CB was obviously trying to comfort Zim from his gauntlet. It was a nice sentiment, but Zim was already on high alert. "I can handle this ."

" Speaking from prior experience, this is most likely something best dealt with by our Tallest. " Zim's other gauntlet cane alive with the voice of II.

" What are you talking about? We have been doing great! "

" Perhaps our definitions of the word 'great' vary ."

"Can one of you tell me what is actually happening?" Zim didn't like having the two computers arguing from his gauntlets. It made him feel as if his hands were fighting.

" Just a small disruption ." CB tried to assure him; however, Zim was beginning to wonder if Dib's accusations about CB lying were based in some sort of truth.

"Zim!" Zim looked up to see Voel calling out to him as they reached the battlefields. The arena was something that had been constructed, originally, for Elite training until Irk had moved the majority of combat schooling off planet. It was now mostly used for big events such as the Mothra Championship, or the Probing Day mixer. It was a large, metal arena, surrounded by onlookers and large, floating screens that showed up-close visuals of the fights that took place. So as Zim got close, it was very easy to tell what was going on down below in the pit.

He saw Xia with a traditional ax, not her special weapon- but her original ax had been confiscated after she tried to behead Vero again when he was taking a nap. Vero was across from her holding Red-Death in his hands. His teeth were bared, antennae flat against his head. He looked uncharacteristically pissed off which only made Zim realize how much he really did look like Voel. There was a very stifling tension even throughout the crowd. He could see one of CB's bodies looking as if it were trying to keep wild beasts at bay, arms extended outward.

"What is the meaning of all of this?" Zim felt as if he had walked into a hostage situation. Why was Xia even on the field? He had specifically told her not to fight. She was grounded, after all.

"Things have gotten out of hand." Voel looked rather serious. "We are trying to fix it- but SOME of us may have the wrong idea about how." His eyes narrowed at CB.

" I am simply doing my best. "

" I told you we should have tried something different ." The voice of II was in Zim's gauntlet again.

" This worked last time."

" Temporarily ."

"Last time!? You did it before!?" Voel was giving CB a very angry look.

" Let us just say that this has been a difficult transitional period for me ."

"What exactly happened!?" Zim felt rather left in the dark. There were Irkens around that looked ready to fight while others were pulled away in fear, and still others looked excited.

"Zim, listen-"

BOOM !

Voel's explanation was cut short by a sudden, Irk-shattering explosion in the distance. Everyone jumped. Zim looked over in the direction of the sound where a pillar of smoke was wafting up across one if the setting suns of Irk. Zim let out a sigh. "Voel, I'm going to have to respond to that. Are you okay here?" It seemed at first glance that the commotion had finally shaken the air of tension and Irkens that had been on edge were now mostly just confused.

"Y... yeah we have it handled. Go see what that is."

"You are welcome, Irkens! Sym, stay here and make sure everything is handled. Ven, you can be the new Sym until she gets back. " Zim gave a wave to the crowd before hurrying off in the direction of the smoke, with Ven close behind. As Zim ran by the center of the city things did look a bit out of place but he didn't have time to take it all in. Though, on first glance it seemed as if the Ferris Wheel was now in a different location than before. Finally, Zim reached the source of the smoke only to find the Membranes standing in front of an old building that was quite off the beaten path.

"Hello my son's weird, alien leader friend!" The Membrane father gave Zim a big wave. "Sorry about all the fire."

"It was our fault." Zim was surprised to see the red-haired stepmother carrying Base Baby in her arms. Zim had thought he was with Voel.

"You BLEW UP a BUILDING!?" Zim turned to see Dib running up looking out of breath. Lor was holding his arm, gently patting his back trying to soothe him.

"Calm down, I'm sure your parents had a good reason."

"What building even is this?" Zim looked it up and down. Usually there would be a sign or something. "Ven, as the new Sym I order you to tell me what building this is!"

"I dunno." Ven squinted at it. "A tall one?"

" It was a storage facility ." II replied helpfully from the gauntlet. Dib jumped back upon hearing an unexpected voice, eyeing Zim uncertainly.

"Who was that? That's not CB, right?"

"No this is II. She's CB's aunt. You met her after we defeated IX, remember?" Zim felt as if introductions had already been made between II and Dib, but maybe he had been mistaken. "She's our good Control Brain."

"Doesn't she have a robot body or something, like CB?" Lor asked curiously.

"No," Zim also had thought that EVENTUALLY II would have a robot body because CB had one by this point. "She doesn't really do that whole 'robot body' thing. She doesn't have a concept of 'self'. Apparently, that was something that set her apart from the evil Control Brains."

"CB does that." Dib gave him a blank look. Zim scoffed.

"Yeah, but that's different."

"How!?" Dib was distracted by another smaller explosion from inside the same building. Zim turned back to see the Membrane parents whispering to each other. "Mom! Dad! We are supposed to be representing the Syndicate! This is a delicate political situation and you decide to BLOW UP a FUCKING BUILDING!? What do you think the High Council Chairman is going to say!?"

"Junior, we know this looks bad, but there is a perfectly reasonable explanation." Moira replied calmly. Base Baby tried to grab at her earrings as she bounced him in her arms.

"Why do you have Zim's son?" Dib looked at the baby, who was becoming more of a base toddler by this point.

"Zim was also wondering this." Zim added. At least the Membranes had experience when it came to human children, so he wasn't completely concerned. They probably could handle him just fine. After all, while Dib seemed to still have issues, but Gaz had come out all right.

"We found him." Moira gave a bit of a shrug.

"This is insane- you know how long it is going to take me to make this right with the Irkens and the Syndicate?" Dib looked absolutely distraught. Zim did assume that this might put a damper in his plans to offer bonding to Lor. Zim had to admit he felt a bit bad.

"Worry not, Zim is not all that upset." He tried to alleviate some of Dib's stress. "I didn't even like that building. It looked tacky. Right Ven?"

"Yeah, it was a dumb building." Ven nodded.

"Ven agrees with everything." Dib put his hand over his face and dragged it slowly down in a motion of utter exasperation. "Jesus Christ what in the fuck is the Chairman going to say about this."

"Don't worry about my mom, I'm sure she won't be too mad." Lor was still holding Dib's arm, comfortingly placing a hand on his chest.

"How do you know that though?" Dib was stressed enough that his voice was shaking, "I don't want them to hate me Lor. My Syndicate career is only just starting."

"Well because I can hear my other mom-" Lor cut off as General Andromeda phased through the singed wall of the building, holding an Irken by the back of the head, gun pointed at the PAK. "Ah there she is, now."

"Move it or I will shoot you- Ah! Tallest Zim! Not a moment too soon!" She looked up to see Zim standing before her. "This saboteur has been messing with the service drones all day." She nudged the Irken forward.

"Oh, that would explain the difficulties CB and I were experiencing earlier." II remarked sounding surprisingly chipper despite the revelation of a saboteur.

"You were experiencing difficulties? Or were we talking about Control Brain I, because if we are-that in itself is a problem. " Zim looked at his gauntlet and a holographic emoji of an Irken shrugging popped up for a moment.

" Control Brain I was dealt with during my very impressive stent as an evil AI. So, no. She means herself. And we had it handled ." CB's voice had come from the other gauntlet.

" I suppose that is true. Though I would argue it was not handled well ."

" It was handled well enough ."

"You asked why someone would sabotage the festival," the Irken in question shot a dirty look to General Andromeda. "It's this. The new Tallest is a joke, the Control Brains are defective, and our Empire will crumble because no one has any idea what they're doing!"

" Factually incorrect ." II spoke up. "As sabotage is illegal, this is now criminal matter and I know exactly what I am doing. " Zim supposed that made some degree of sense. She had been the Control Brain in charge of his own trial. "We will detain the suspect until evidence is collected and a proper trial can be prepared. "

"Fancy!" Professor Membrane sounded rather interested in the inner workings of the Irken Legal System. Zim would have been happy to brag all about it, but that was really Sym's domain- or since Sym was gone for the moment- Ven's domain as the new Sym. "Then what happens?"

"We kill him?" CB sounded unsure.

" Maybe. " II flashed the shrug emoji once again.

"No." The voice of Skoodge drew Zim's attention as his bondmate forced his way through the growing crowd. "He will probably get jail time."

"That does sound more accurate," Zim nodded thoughtfully. He had thought the killing sounded off, however, II was supposedly the expert. "Also, hi Skoodge."

"Hi." Skoodge gestured behind him and an Irken security team took the suspect from General Andromeda. "Thank you for the help General. I hope this didn't cause you too much trouble." The General looked at Skoodge for a moment before both of them looked at Zim and the crowd gathered behind him. She shook her head.

"No of course not! Everything was handled perfectly."

" Told you ." CB remarked.

"Oh wow, did we miss something?" Tenn approached through the crowd. Suddenly, the onlookers split and gave her a wide path. Zim was confused until he saw that Tenn had M toting behind her in Syndicate issued handcuffs.

"What's all of this about?" Therron was following behind Tenn. "What else did M do?"

"M?" Skoodge, lifted an antenna, "so Q was right. Huh." If M had a response, Zim couldn't hear it. But he assumed something had been said because General Andromeda looked suddenly annoyed.

"The Irkens are who you need to explain yourself to- not us. You're THEIR prisoner."

"You were right Therron, something weird WAS going on." Tenn looked up at the former Tallest with amusement. "I guess I just got too caught up in my job."

"I am still not talking to you." Therron gave her a dirty look.

"Fair enough." Tenn didn't sound too bothered by the threat (was it really a threat though? Zim had the feeling that Therron NOT talking was often more of a gift.)

"Wait what happened with you guys?" Voel approached from the opposite side.

"Nothing that we couldn't handle!" Zeke spoke up loudly from behind Tenn. "Thanks to the quick thinking and great command of our new Tallest!"

"Oh ... right." Voel was quiet for a moment. "Same here."

"Yes yes, Zim is truly amazing." Zim nodded understandingly. "I am glad I was able to fix all of these problems for you." He still wasn't sure what exactly the problems WERE but it seemed as if his innate genius was enough to solve everything. This was a good thing, as it seemed like his family had been struggling.

"Are you kidding? You didn't DO anything!" An Irken in the crowd spoke up. "I work for the Irken News Network and I've been following this absolute disaster you call a Festival! This is laughable."

"Laughter is a sign of joy. The festival is supposed to be joyous. You just proved I was successful." Zim couldn't believe this alleged media Irken was so bad at their job. That was why he was glad he had the likes of Zeke working for him. Sure, he had been coded as a farmer, but at least he was able to see how wonderful Zim was.

"You have to know what I meant. There is no way for you to be THAT defective." The media Irken narrowed his eyes looking rather irate at having been called out for being wrong. "You all can see this right?" He turned to face the onlookers. "Our Tallest is more incompetent than PURPLE but at least he had Red- may they rest with Mothra."

"Hey!" Therron protested. But Zim was more intrigued by the reaction of the crowd. There was a bit of mumbling as Irkens talked amongst themselves.

"I dunno," one if the spectators spoke up hesitantly, "I think it's kinda cool that dead Irkens are able to come back and still do work."

"Zim, promise me you're going to update the Collective." Skoodge whispered, putting a hand on Zim's shoulder in a show of support.

"Yes yes. It is on my to do list." Zim assured him.

"Yeah!" Another Irked piped up. "That has to be a good sign, right? Like a sign from Mothra herself?"

"Or a sign that our Tallest is so incompetent that our dead Tallests needed to be raised in order to help him." Another, taller Irken in the crowd looked thoughtful. "Which is saying something because our dead Tallests- may they be with Mothra- were far from perfect."

"But having the smeets is kind of nice." One by one more Irkens were talking. The current speaker was a taller Irken holding a newly hatched smeet. "My bondmates and I like having something to take care of." There was another murmur through the crowd that sounded to be mostly agreeable.

"But we're inviting the Syndicate?" The reporter gestured at Captain Rose who had somehow also wandered into the situation. "Need we forget how this woman murdered our leaders in cold blood? Under the command of the Bloodthirsty High Council Chairman?"

"That definitely didn't happen." Voel put his hand to his face. "Look at her, do you think she was able to kill Therron and I? Like, yeah, she could have taken Therron, but ME?"

"No comment." The Captain took a sip of the drink in her hand. A few Irkens that were near her took steps back.

"How can our Tallest not only condone the presence of murderers, but actively invite them into our midst!?" The media Irken seemed completely appalled. "And look at the company he keeps! Murderers! Ghosts! This weird thing with the large head-"

"That's Dib, and he's sensitive about that " Zim interjected.

"And the worst of the Control Brains: The Judgement Hall Brain that was damaged and this horrible pieced-together abomination operating as a Control Brain. Is this the sort of image we want Irkens to present?" The crowd looked uncertain, there was nervous muttering again. "This whole event is falling apart, it would make Mothra ashamed. Our Tallest can't even throw a Festival, how is he going to handle an actual crisis?"

"First of all: who died and made you a Mothra Elite?" Zim scoffed, this Irken was clearly mistaken. "Please my fellow Irkens, listen to me, your most beloved Tallest. Everything has gone according to plan. Have I not brought you a Festival filled with excitement and fun? Have I not brought honor to Mothra through our time-honored traditions?"

"No one remembers the traditions because YOU deactivated our Control Brains!" The saboteur got involved in the argument now and Zim felt himself getting annoyed. It was little wonder what had driven IX to try and control everything when Irkens could be so silly as to miss how very perfect this festival actually was.

"The Mothra Elite assure us that everything is to Mothra's standards." Skoodge spoke up.

"Gnidershit." The saboteur spat back. "No one remembers. Even them. The only thing that even looked remotely right was the dancing."

" You are welcome ." CB sounded satisfied. "Papa, do you wish for me to stop this outburst?"

"Absolutely fucking not." Skoodge hissed rather abruptly stopping CB's attempt to smooth things over. "You are still in trouble."

"Just admit that you have no idea how to run Irk! The people need to hear it! You have made one if our time-honored traditions a laughing stock." The media Irken continued.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that~" heads turned as the synthetic voice of Q's translator came through loud and clear, even over the concerned discourse of the crowd. Irkens moved aside as Q floated lazily overhead, moving to a standing position, and lowering himself beside Zim.

"And why should we take into account the opinion of a PARASITE?" The media Irken was livid. "Remember fellow Irkens, these are the very creatures that used to feed on our smeets before they got their PAKs."

"Don't believe me. That's fine. But you should listen to her." Q pointed upward just as the image of Mothra, wings outstretched, sailed across the night sky. There was a collective gasp and the crowd went silent. "The first ever festival she attended, sounds to me like your Tallest actually did a great job."

"Yeah!" A few of the Irkens in the crowd were making excited cries. "Look it's Mothra! Tallest Zim has gotten her blessing!" Zim blinked looking up at the sky. Even he was surprised by the development, as he knew he was great but to have Mothra confirm it was... something else.

"See, Zim is amazing." Zim turned back to the onlooker Irkens who began cheering wildly.

"Long live Tallest Zim!"

The media Irken, saboteur, and M all looked annoyed by the revelation of the fact that they were wrong. Zim took solace in the fact that once again, Irk was on its way to thrive. Sure, some buildings may have taken damage, but he did know the risk of inviting the Membranes anywhere- things often got destroyed. It was kind of why he liked them. But despite the damage, the Irkens were happy. In the end, that was all Zim needed to make this the most successful Mothra Festival ever.


"The end." Zim patted Gavin on the head. Gavin yawned, resting his head on the pillow.

"So Mothra showed up? That's crazy."

"Yes, but your father is just that incredible." Zim smiled down at him. "That's why the festival went so perfectly."

"Sounds like that story may be right." Vero gave a shrug

"Yeah. Except it isn't." Voel's voice drew Zim's attention to the doorway.

"Why are you here?" Zim was a bit surprised to see him, as he thought he was supposed to be training with Vero. Zim looked to see Vero eating chips against the wall beside him and suddenly Voel's presence made a considerable amount of sense.

"I came to get Vero for lessons, and to check on you since you were supposed to be putting Gavin to bed. Which... I mean, I guess he is IN the bed, so I'll call this more if a success than that Mothra Festival was."

"It was amazing. Trust me Voel."

"No. It was a disaster. I thought we told you the whole story by now."

"Did you hear the part of my story where I specifically mentioned that you said everything was great and handled to the utmost perfection?" Zim knew Vero was a bad listener, but the fact that Voel had missed the point do drastically was a bit surprising.

"Yeah, I was lying to save face."

"You don't lie! And you don't save faces- at least not anymore." Zim retorted.

"Oh no, I was definitely lying. Everything was actually a disaster. Did CB seriously never mention anything to you? He was one of the worst offenders. He was supposed to come clean about everything ages ago."

" Excuse you. You heard the completely correct story ." CB covered Vero's mouth with his hand. " Nothing bad ever happened and everything was great. "

"Now I'm confused." Gavin sat back up. "Did dad have the greatest festival ever?"

"It went down in history as the greatest festival, but in reality," Voel sat down on the bed beside Gavin as well, "it was far from perfect." He took a deep breath. "Let me tell you what really happened."


Author's Note: SURPRISE! Happy 1 year anniversary! (Well, kinda lol). Please enjoy this multi-part For the Glory of Irk Special! I thought it might be fun to do a very small update. This is only part one, so if you enjoy it, please stay tuned!