Stillicidium

(Mainly) From the Imagination of Amonl'isa

Ahem. I really don't know what to say here, my author's note-y mind is escaping me right now, and I think it followed Iris to the Bahamas. Read my profile if you're staring at me going. "Wtf."

This is a continuation of 'Road Trip' yay. Time is slowly slipping from my grasp, so I'll see what I can do.

Story Three (Sort of)

The Beach

It was a simple statement, "We're here," but it cast fear into all that had inhabited the RV. They had pulled to a screeching halt within a parking lot, just safe of the water's tide. Didn't want to look to find themselves floating in water, now did they? Zim was staring out the window, watching the hypnotic waves of the ocean in pure terror. Of all places, why here? And why when he didn't have any paste? He pondered this quietly, watching their surroundings with an acute sense to the scenery.

"Now that we're here, what are we going to do?" Red asked, clearly puzzled. Irkens didn't sleep, and on the rare occasion when they did, it didn't mean they slept like humans. Humans got at least eight hours of sleep, if they were not noted insomniacs. Irkens, if they were lucky, had bits and fragments of sleep, but never dreams. It was crazy, really, but even if they were sleeping, their PAKs held enough power to keep them from slipping into the surreal state of dreaming. In humans, it's the state of mind where your brain can replenish itself and be right and well. Irkens don't need that, hence they do not dream.

Though his question was very interesting. On the rare occasion that, by some fluke-like standard, they all managed to sleep, they would still have the following day, and from there, they would need to do something. A very interesting question was posed by Red, and it caused both Bak and Kaz to think about it. Zim was still mesmerized by the fact that none of them were heeding the warnings of the water, which was slowly coming up shore. And although it was, they were parked on a slight outcropping of a parking lot, located specially for the waves. There was absolutely no chance the tide would ever, ever reach them. Ever.

"I 'unno," Bak mumbled, joining Zim by the window. He looked, by now, utterly terrified. As if he were about to explode or something. "But the…" She paused for a second; pulling out a dictionary she had in her PAK, "The water is really…Nice? Sort of…It's kind of annoying too."

"Vile! Vile is the human-stink's thing called 'water'," Zim hissed, looking over to Kaz. "We should not be here!" He pointed a pointy, claw-like finger at her very accusingly.

"We're out of the reach of the tide," She mumbled, rolling her eyes. Bak gazed over her shoulder, taking her eyes off of the shore. Her antennae twitched in irritation, because everybody knew, and was disgusted by, her infatuation towards Zim. In some cases, being Red and Purple, they were utterly mesmerized by the fact that anything could care for another Irken – let alone Zim. And they did highly disprove of it, or at least Red did. Purple just thought it was nasty.

"Well, that still hasn't answered my question. I want my question answered!" Red growled, glaring over at Kaz. She twitched, looking down at her hologram device.

"Well…There is the beach, you know. We could always go walking…" She suggested quietly, showing her obvious inferiority towards her Tallest. Bak snickered.

"Walk? Why?" Purple asked in a calmer tone, raising a brow suspiciously. "Why would anybody willingly walk?"

"Because the water is quite nice and if you're looking out on it…" By now, Kaz's usual, professional persona had deteriorated into goop, and she was ebbing herself away from the comment Red had made.

"Well…" Purple thought of this idea for a moment, "Let's walk!"

Zim stared in utter horror.

"But my Tallest! The human-stinks' water is putrid! It burns!" Purple and Red exchanged glances before muttering, in unison;

"Let's go."

Since nobody wanted to argue with their extreme Tallestness, Bak, Kaz, and a very disgruntled Zim found themselves walking with their Tallest on the beach. The tide was coming in, and although it wasn't coming in that quickly, the progress it made was still very visible. Kaz watched it carefully, tempted to pull some sort of gizmo or gadget from her PAK to scan what exactly water was. Though in fear of upsetting Red – seeing as she had become very unnerved – she did not.

Though Purple's gaze soon turned to the water, and he looked at it oh so curiously. With a curiosity that even a cat could not muster, or anything of the feline race for that matter. He stared upon it with such questioning, that even Einstein or any other mathematician could not begin to comprehend what was going on behind that inquiring gaze.

Zim, and Red, too, were both watching the slim horizon of land to their right, where the land was not engulfed by the ocean. They were watching carefully for humans, and although it was a usual custom for humans to come out at night, they were not there, surprisingly. Zim was still convinced that they were there, even though he could not see them.

Bak, on the other hand, was staring at Zim's antennae, watching them move and twitch as he contemplated what doom-like doominess would be bestowed upon them. She grinned wildly, but caught herself in the act and quickly toned it down.

Purple edged closer and closer to the waves, staring straight at them. Though he failed to look up in time to see a fairly high one come rolling in, and before long, the water was racing up to his feet. Now, since he was wearing shoes, the water didn't touch him, though he felt a need to bend down and prod the water, and so he did.

This resulted in…

"My Talle-!" Zim, whom was obviously too late.

Kaz, whom had looked up from her study of the water.

Bak, who had just run into Purple.

Red, who was looking back at them with a very peculiar look on his face.

And Purple, who fell backwards – landing promptly on his behind, screaming and pointing at his hand.

Purple growled as he stared at his hand, which was burning, although it wasn't visible through the hologram.

"My Tallest," Kaz started, pointing behind Purple. "Could you stand there please? So I can take down his hologram?"

Red questioned the idea of being placed somewhere on orders of another Irken, but figured it was best for Purple, so he complied. Kaz, meanwhile, looked over at Zim with a glare. "And you, keep watch. Mess up and you're doomed." She growled, Zim didn't like being bossed around either, but listened anyways. Bak, hating being told what to do more than any present, took measures in keeping the water away.

Kaz kneeled down by Purple and gently grabbed the wrist that had been burned, which just so happened to be the one with the holographic simulator on it. Pressing a button, the human disguise fell, and he was left to his normal, Irken self. Taking hold of the cuff around his hand, she pressed her fingers into a small crevice, and it popped open.

"Since when does that do that?" Red asked, glancing back over his shoulder at her.

"It always has been able to," She examined Purple's hand, which was, indeed, clearly burned. He grimaced as she ran a finger down it, testing the severity of it. "Yeah, we should get him back…"

"Yes! I want to go back!" He half-heartedly screamed, shaking his free fist at the waves. "I hate you watery stuff of doom!"

It took a lot of self control to stop Red and Kaz from doubling over laughing. Bak just shook her head, and Zim was diligently searching for humans. Replacing the purple and white cuff, she pressed the button that turned the disguise back on, and helped Purple up. Red and Zim immediately stopped their jobs, Red headed in the way of the RV, while Zim kept glaring at the water. Eventually, Bak had to snatch him up by the boot and drag him back to the RV, his long claw prints dragged out in the sand. Kaz aided Purple in returning.

When they got there, Kaz pulled out a computer she had managed to drag along with her. She never, ever, went anywhere without one. She brought up a few items on working on a burn, and turned it off, handing it over to Red. "If you'd like to make a transmission back to the Massive, my Tallest."

Red eyed the computer and decided he would check up on how things were going. They had placed an Irken in temporary leadership, since there really wasn't much going on lately. He turned the computer on and stared at it for a moment, trying to figure out how to send a transmission. "Uh…"

"Bak, could you help him?" Kaz asked from her position over Purple, where she was examining his hand again. Bak looked up from the corner where she was petting Zim's antennae, and Zim was screeching and trying to get away. She sighed, stood up, and went to help Red start up a transmission. Zim, thankful for the release of captivity, screamed and rushed toward the back of the RV, where he decided to hide. Gir had long fallen asleep, so there was no worry there.

Red's transmission started up, and he could see the bridge quite clearly. Nobody was on it, but what he saw was pure chaos. At least one of the computers were down, and there were little tiny Irkens running around everywhere. "…What happened there?"

It was a simple question, posed by Bak, but oh did it hold so much meaning. Red perked an eyebrow, and even Kaz looked over to see what everything was about. Soon, a very, very small Irken – shorter even than Bak – came toward the screen.

"My Tallest!" It shouted, flailing it's thin arms. "It's chaos here!"

"I think I can see that…" By that time, Red's hologram had come down, and he was just staring at the insanity that was the Massive at the moment. "What exactly happened?"

The little Irken got shifty eyed, and looked toward the far wall. He then brushed his foot against the ground in a shy sort of way, looking everywhere but the screen. "Well it all started when…"

"And where's Elite Wir?" He asked, wondering where the Irken in charge had been during all of this.

"Elite W-Wir? Um, well…" The Irken looked sheepish again. "It really is a long story…When are you coming back?"

"Soon…"

"Like how soon?"

"I said soon! Do not question me," He growled, glaring at the little Irken, who jumped and saluted. "Yes, my Tallest!"

"We'll be back…" Red paused and looked up at Kaz, who made a little motion, "Tomorrow."

The tiny Irken thrust a fist into the air and saluted again before Red cut off the transmission.

"So what happened?" Purple asked, grimacing as Kaz finished up the binding. Red just stared, sighed, and shook his head, antennae twitching all the time.

Meanwhile, Bak was tearing apart the cupboards, the refrigerator, the dish washer, the sofa, and the bedroom, in pursuit of Zim. "Ziiiiiim, where'd you go?"

From his hiding spot, Zim made a small squeak before damning himself. "Do not question where ZIM is hiding!" Bak smirked.

Out in the main room, all Kaz, Red or Purple could hear were the sounds of Zim screaming. Purple and Red shook their heads, and Kaz looked only slightly worried. "Don't you think we should check on him…?" She mused, casting a glance toward the now shut door of the bedroom. "She could be hurting him…"

"Nah, whatever it is, he probably deserves it." Red mumbled, scratching his head. Kaz sent him a 'I-Know-You-Think-You're-Right-But-You-Really-Don't-Know-What-Bak-Is-Capable-Of' look, but said nothing.

And in the bedroom, Zim was racing around wherever he could get himself, which briefly even meant the wall and a shelf. Bak remained on his tail, and at one point, had managed to catch his arm, but all that failed when he set up his spider legs. "Ha! You cannot catch ZIM!" He gloated, but said it all too soon, for the next moment, Bak had some sort of rope-like device (which was actually used to tie the curtains) and was binding him in it. Grabbing the spare end of the rope, she dragged the hog-tied Zim out into the main room.

"Now, sit." She commanded, lifting Zim – with much difficulty, seeing as he was bigger than she was – onto one of the chairs. Red raised his eyebrow again, but decided that if she did anything too bad, or too illegal, he could just send her off to a jailing planet, or something like that. Zim shifted uncomfortably, while Bak sat beside him, continuing to pet his antennae.

"See, it's not so bad?" Bak grinned, Zim only groaned. Red looked mildly sickened by it, and Kaz wasn't paying much attention.

Purple on the other hand…

As rare as it was for an Irken to fall asleep, Purple had managed it. Red figured it was because he had sustained an injury, that his PAK kicked in and since it couldn't automatically clean it, it shut down his system. Needless to say, his head was bent to the side – leaning oh so closely to Kaz's shoulder – and he was fast asleep. Kaz kept sending uncomfortable glances down at him, and trying to shift away before…

'Plunk' his head hit her, and she shuddered. Though Red couldn't help laugh, before the over-all disgust of it all hit him, and he threw a donut at Kaz's head. Kaz flinched as it hit her in the forehead, and she closed an eye in a recoiling response to it. And then, out of the midst of it all, there came a…

"Muuuuuuffiiiiin!"

Zim looked over at Gir, and tried in vain to command his little SIR to help him. Though the cyan-eyed creature held up a muffin to Red, which he raised an eyebrow to.

"It's poisoned, huh?"

The little SIR grinned stupidly before replying with a, "No…Aww, you got me!"

Red grabbed the muffin and threw it at Kaz's head, and it hit the same spot, causing the orange-eyed Irken to flinch. Red laughed. Purple shifted in his slumber, which ended up with his forehead on Kaz's shoulder. She stiffened and eyed Purple out of the corner of her eye, twitching every few moments. Bak started laughing. She shifted her eyes and hugged Zim, who immediately started struggling against her vice grip.

Red gagged, twitched, and threw a left over candy bar at Bak.

Morning came very quickly, and by this point, Purple had curled himself up – away from Kaz, which she took the opportunity to move, seating herself in the driver's seat. Bak was still hugging Zim, and Red, disgusted beyond all means, took the passenger seat. Gir was running around in circles, poking everything that came within two feet of him.

The ride home was just as productive. Eventually Bak had let go of Zim, and untied him and removed the gag she had slipped in his mouth. "Finally! Zim is free of you Bak!" He cried, moving as far away from her as he could. Though Bak only took this as a challenge, and was chasing him with the curtain tie – again. Purple had eventually woken up, and Kaz and Red decided that him falling asleep was best left forgotten, and vowed to have the memory erased from their PAKs, for their sanity's sake. Purple had started eating an unusually large amount of donuts, only because he insisted that it would help cure his hand, which in all reality, it didn't. Gir had fallen asleep again, and everything was peaceful.

Even back on the Massive, it was fairly peaceful. The computer that had been broken was fixed, or at least one of them was, and things weren't so dreary and distorted. Kaz had started in on repairing things, and Bak was just smiling happily.

"Say, my Tallest. I heard that humans also go on this thing called vacations…"