Stillicidium
(Mainly) From the Imagination of Amonl'isa
Yup, well, I needed to make a story just for crazy, random, one-shots. You may occasionally see a one-shot with a continuation, but don't expect it to happen all the time. This is just for when my muse takes an ego trip, and I need something to do. Yay.
Disclaimer for the whole damn thing; I don't own it! Don't you see the 'mainly'? Oh well. I don't own any items I may mention in here, including Zoo Tycoon.
Things on this chapter; It has Bak and Kaz, which you may or may not see them through the thing. It depends on how my muse is feeling, or what I need/want to write. So yay.
Story One;
Zoo Tycoon
It was a dark, dark day in the Massive. It was always dark, considering they were floating in the middle of the space, but with everything aside, it really was the gloomy sort of stay-inside day. The kind where you curl up with a good book, ignore the world, and just drift into the temporary sanctuary of all that is fictional, canceling out anything that has to do with the rift in you conscious mind that has to do with reality. It was one of those good days, where you and your invader friend sit in front of a large computer, playing a video game obtained from Earth.
During the dark day, Bak had returned from a trip to visit Zim, the little Irken positioned on Earth. While Bak was there, she had located a peculiar looking...Thing.
It went a little something like this;
A very short Bak was walking through a Wal-Mart store, searching aimlessly for goods. Being new to this experience, she didn't know where they kept their bags of potato chips, their cans of soda, or anything else that was junky and good. So she was left to wander down the aisle that contained video games and computer programs. Brightly colored boxes illuminated the shelves, all screaming for your attention so you could waste your money on them, and their companies would get more money. Thoughts were deceiving her as she stopped, caught by a box with animals on the front. 'Zoo Tycoon, Complete Collection' was printed on the front, and in the side, a small blurb about 'Comes with Zoo Tycoon, Endangered Species' was also on it. She pondered this, not really knowing much about human games, but she decided what didn't kill her only made her stronger, or in this case, more entertained.
She reached out a claw to grab the box, and quickly flipped it over, looking at the screenshots on the back. The object of the game was to create this 'Zoo' which she had found out was a place where humans kept animals in captivity, but duplicated their natural environments. Perplexed, she read the small blurbs the back. After a few minutes of standing there, she decided it looked very interesting, and that she would buy it. She didn't know where she could play it, but maybe, if she was lucky, it was compatible with Irken technology. Her mind wandered back to where her next stop was; the Massive. Playing a game on one of their screens would be amazing. She grinned to herself and continued her pursuit of junk foods.
Now the small Irken was seated beside her friend. The Elites were long busy somewhere else, and the Tallest weren't there. They weren't in the main quarters, where the biggest computers were kept, but instead in a rarely used room just off of the main rooms. The screens were just as big, but that was what Bak was hoping for. She held up the box, which Kaz looked at questioningly.
"What's this?" She pried the box from her friend and read the back, the same interest sparking in her orange eyes that Bak had felt previously on Earth. The taller Irken finished reading the back, and raised an eyebrow. "And why do I have this..."
"It looked interesting," Bak protested, "I wanted it. Download it! Download it!"
Kaz stared, confused, at her friend. What had possessed the tiny Irken into thinking that this, this 'Zoo Tycoon' was going to work with Irken Technology? Sure, it was the most sophisticated, but would this little Earth disc hold up to the intensity that the drive might put on it? What if something happened, like it blew up? Or imploded? She'd surely be in trouble for that, and she could just imagine Red and Purple running in, followed by numerous guards, only to find two Irkens burnt and confused, wondering what just happened.
"I don't know Bak, it could crash the system. Or blow up, or cause us to doom ourselves."
"Good! Let's do it!" Regardless to the warnings, Bak stole the box, pried it open carefully, and pulled out a jeweled case. In the front of it, was a small piece of paper with an advertisement, but inside was the disc. She pulled it out and handed it to Kaz. "Here."
The taller Irken took the CD and placed it in a rom slot, gently pushing it in. The screen blazed to life. "Whoa," She stared, "It worked."
"Crazy!" Bak screamed, pulling a thick book from the box and getting up from her seat, proceeding to dance around the room happily. Kaz, meanwhile, followed the onscreen directions into installing it. She paused, opening the book. Frowning, she looked at the screenshots, trying to figure out what it wanted you to do. The first one was a shot of a zoo, clearly well-built, because guests were swarming from everywhere, looking at big, fuzzy white things, and slender tan things with big red 'floof' around their heads, which she presumed were these lion things, that she had heard about. The other one was called a polar bear. She raised a brow, looking up to Kaz.
"Kaaaz, I don't get this," She continued to frown as she handed the book to her friend, who looked through it for a moment. "What are all of those? Some of them don't have labels."
The orange-eyed Irken went through it, and then stopped at a page. On the page, in alphabetical order, were all the creatures. "I think that should help."
Squealing, Bak tore the book from Kaz and continued to dance around the room as she looked at it, which resulted in a very dizzy Irken. Coming upon the conclusion that it would be easier to sit down and read it, she plopped down promptly on the floor, humming a tune to some Earth show she had seen. Kaz, meanwhile, watched the screen as it loaded. A scene popped up, showing bare land, and started instructing them - silently - on how to build an exhibit. Bak looked up for a moment, to watch this.
It went on, explaining how you made a square pen for the animal, which you put in it afterwards. Then, according to where it lived, you were to change the environment accordingly. It demonstrated how to do this. It also went on about how you had to keep your animals happy, or else your guests would hate you.
"This...Is very interesting." Kaz mumbled as she examined the screen. "The human technology is so...Simple, really. Amazing..." She watched with intrigue, trying to figure out how they made the program so simplistic, which she was baffled over. Soon, the loading bar was completed, and a screen popped up. Pressing 'Play' with a mouse that Bak had found, another loading screen came up. After a short while, music started playing.
"Wheee! It's working, it's working!" Bak near-screamed, though Kaz was forced to remind her that the Tallest wouldn't like it if they were too loud. This hardly contained the tiny Irken, who was squirming in her seat, eager to play. Kaz selected a basic grass zoo, and thus started game play. Though everything was creepily silent, there were no animals, there were no guests, and most of all, there were no buildings!
"Maybe it's defective," Kaz suggested, pointing out that everything was all wrong. "Oh, wait, we're supposed to make the zoo, huh?"
"Yeah."
And with that, the chaos began.
It took Kaz and Bak a few tries before they could get it right, but after they had successfully sheltered a few lions, two with the fluffy manes, and two without them. Bak was puzzled on how they were the same thing, and Kaz was trying in vain to come up with theories on why the males had the fluffy heads. Afterwards, the guests started coming, and the screen lit once more, but this time with messages about how the guests were thirsty, and hungry.
"Oh, stupid," Kaz mumbled, making a small food court-like area. "We forgot to feed them."
"No, you forgot to feed them."
"Whatever."
So, after purchasing bathrooms and such, they quickly ran out of money. Needless to say, their zoo wasn't very neat, organized, or clean. "Hm..."
So, they went back to the main menu, and started again, but with a slightly smaller zoo.
"Here, this time, make it a food court, and..." Bak started, pointing to the large screen. Their second attempt was much better. The lions were happy, the guests were happy, and they had money! The zoo was working pretty well, and they even hired staff, to clean the garbage, tend the animals, and even to lead tours. Everything was going fine, until...
'Lion 1 is hungry'
"What the heck? Lion 1? That's no name for a lion!" Bak screeched, and so after a few minutes of trying to figure out how to change their names, Kaz finally figured out how to do so.
"What do you want to name it?"
They sat there, quietly, trying to think of names. Bak, Kaz...No, no, those are guys...Hm, what to name them?
"Let's name them...Joe. Name one Joe." And so, Kaz named one Joe. "The other guy?"
"Mm, name him...George..." And so, Kaz named one George. "The two girls?"
"Gina and...Tina!" And so, much to Kaz's unhappiness, she named them Gina and Tina. They then decided they wanted another animal, but couldn't figure out just what. They were scrolling down, looking through things, when they stumbled upon this four-legged thing, called a Black Buck. Kaz eyed it for a moment, then pressed the little mark for 'female'. The animal changed colors.
"Whoa! Kaz, look at that! The girl is a different color! Let's get 'em." Kaz made two exhibits, and placed a black one - male - in both, and three girls.
"Okay, Bak. You see those?" She motioned to the right pen, "Those are yours. What do you want to name them?"
"Name the guy Zim...The first girl Bak, and the third one...The third one...Tak." So Kaz named the black one Zim, the first tan one Bak, and the second one Tak.
"And I'll name mine..." She thought for a moment before naming the guy Purple - for lack of a better name. She then named one of the females Kaz, and the other Zëb. "There."
The game continued rather quickly, and they continued adding onto their animal empire, careful to make sure that they had money. They had just about filled their zoo with large exhibits, interesting foliage, and guest-stops, before a message popped up on the screen, reading, 'Joe has died of old age.'
"What? THEY DIE?" Bak screeched, pounding a fist onto her knee. "That's not cool, man, that's just not cool."
Kaz chuckled, before reading the next, green, message aloud. "Congratulations, Gina has given birth. What the heck? They have kids? Interesting..." She prodded at the animal with the mouse, wanting desperately to figure out how this peculiar game worked. "Very interesting..."
"Yeah, whatever, what gender is the kid?" Bak questioned, upon hearing so, Kaz checked. "Male."
"Name it Joe Jr."
And so it was Joe Jr.
Many messages of how guests were happy with the zoo came up, and then..."Congratulations," Kaz read, before snickering. "Bak-" Snicker. "Has given birth."
"Whaaaaat?" Bak twitched, standing up and leaning closer to the screen. "Lieeeees!"
"Haha, you know what? Zim's the only guy in the pen...Which means..."
"Holy crud. Name it Billy Bob." The baby black buck was really a girl, but they named it Billy Bob anyways. Kaz protested, feeling that the name wasn't fit for a female, let alone a baby, but Bak insisted on naming it that. She also seemed very unscathed by the fact that her fictional self just had a kid with Zim.
"Maybe this thing tells prophecies," Kaz suggested, "Perhaps someday, you'll have a kid with Zim. And maybe, somewhere, Joe just had a kid with Gina, who named it Joe Jr. But he died before it was born."
"You're crazy, but good idea. Maybe..."
"Yes, maybe. I like that idea."
They decided to investigate mixing animals, so they placed Tina in with Zim, Bak, and Tak. Needless to say, Tina chasing Tak...And the poor soul didn't make it. Kaz quickly removed Tina. "Bad idea..."
"Nooo! Tak! Oh well..." Bak quickly dismissed the idea of the prophecy of Zoo Tycoon having any effect on Tak, and pointed to the screen. Her voice was very, very loud. Loud enough to be heard in a main room.
"Oh my god! Oh my freaking god! Look! Kaz, look!" She looked. On the screen was a message, 'Congratulations, Kaz has given birth.'
"Holy crap."
"Hehehe," Bak snickered, "You know who the guy was?"
"Holy CRAP!"
They stared, quietly, for a moment. "What are we gonna nam-"
"What is all the noise in here?" They were interrupted by Red, who was standing at the door. Behind him was Purple, snacking on a donut. Kaz's antennae drooped, but Bak took up the oppertunity to bother, and taunt, her.
"We were playing this human game, and so we made all these animals, and we named them, and the Bak animal had a kid, and so did the Kaz animal, and the father was-"
Kaz cut her off.
"Nothing, My Tallest." She sighed, trying to wrestle Bak to the ground, which happened pretty quickly. Though in the turnabout of things, Kaz's hand slipped, and Bak was able to screech out.
"The dad was Purple!"
The room was very quiet. I mean, very quiet. Red looked like he was about to choke on the chips he was eating. Whether it was from laughter, or total shock of the whole situation was undetermined by his facial expression. Purple, on the other hand, just sort of stared. A very, very long moment passed, Kaz sitting on top of Bak, teetering off of the edge of strangling her friend to death. Though as the moments passed, a little icon popped up on the screen.
'You have received the blue ribbon for best exhibit design.'
Everybody looked up, exchanged looks, but said not a word. Red didn't look like he was going to choke on his chips anymore, but instead had a very hard to place expression on his face, something like a disgusted, shocked, 'I'm-Going-To-Laugh-My-Ass-Off' and scared expression. Purple just stood there, staring at the screen with his big, purply eyes.
"Well...Is it cute? Let's see this thing!" He called out cheerfully, pressing a button to click off the screen. "Um, where is it?"
Kaz got up, very slowly, as if Purple was some sort of creature that - upon sudden movement - might lash out and slice your head off. She moved carefully to the computer, sat down, and located the little black buck named...It didn't have a name. They had been interrupted before they could name the poor thing, so it was gallivanting around, going by the name of 'Black Buck 7'.
"That's it," She pressed a thin finger forward, pointing out the small creature on the screen. "It doesn't have a name. Heh, heh."
Purple raised a brow, examining it. "What is it?"
"It's a black buck, a creature known on Ea-"
"No, I mean is it a boy? Or a girl?"
"It's female."
There was another moment of silence, Red was standing quietly at the door, nibbling on a chip, and Purple had set aside his donut for the grand naming of his fictional daughter, which by all Irken laws, if it had been nonfiction, would have been a very bad occurrence. "Let us name it...Indigo."
And so, it was named Indigo.
"And! On behalf of my...Four-leggy self having a kid, let's all get donuts!"
Red shook his head, actually choking on his chip this time. After a moment, he righted himself, and came to look at the screen. He himself raised an eyebrow, looking at little Indigo.
"Pur, it's not even indigo..."
"Yes," He said very childishly, "It is."
"No..."
"Yes..."
"It's beige," Red shook his head, looking at the little fictional animal. "Name it...Miyuki."
"But I don't want to name it Miyuki."
"But it's not even indigo!"
"But it's my kid!"
In the midst of it all, Kaz had changed its name to 'Lenore' and stood up, walking to the door. Bak on her heel. They watched Purple and Red, who were still arguing.
"It's not your kid, Purple! It's not even real."
"Yes it is!" He protested, "its right there! It's Kaz and my kid!"
Red was quiet.
"Uh, huh, sure it is..."
Kaz and Bak exchanged glances.
"Let's go get those donuts." And with that, they were walking down the hall. They achieved their donuts, and were soon sitting in Kaz's quarters, staring at each other.
"You know, maybe that thing really does tell prophecies..."