Hey, everyone! As you have noticed I posted on day early. The reason? I've decided to move my updating date to fridays, mostly because I don't have class on fridays, they were put on saturdays. I know, my schedule is crazy, but hey, its university.

Enjoy your reading!

Lost

Chapter 5- Uneasy Alliance

Five Minutes Later..

"Thank you, Bob!"

"What did you expect me to do when that thing was about to lunge and I was weaponless?!"

"Mmmmpppph!"

"Yeah, what he said!"

Okay, things didn't exactly go according to plan.

Bob had panicked when he saw the approaching Sobrekt-beast (the sobrekt with the blue stripe had called it Fury) and didn't watch where he was going when he came out of the ring cutter.

In short he ran into Stink, causing him to trip and fall on top of Skoodge, who in turn ran into Larb and Tenn, and they fell forward causing both Red and Purple to lose their balance and fall to the ground. The Sobrekt, who had apparently been eager for a fight, just watched awkwardly as this happened.

So thanks for that, Bob.

So now they were tied up-Purple was additionally gagged with a long piece of cloth for 'talking too much'-, disarmed and their PAKs were rendered toolless with the same virus that partly incapacitated Lena's. Speaking of Lena, she was tied up and put next to Red, much to his... awkwardness. That's how you call it, right?

On the bright side, at the very least Sobrekt were 'considerate' enough to put them close to the fire.

What was eating him on the inside, however, was watching his daughter being held down by the Fury-beast with its talon. Those claws seemed very sharp.

"Get that monster away from my daughter!" Red snapped, flattening his antenna against his head. Great. He had revealed the blood relation between himself and Ilk, but frankly he didn't care; he wasn't going to pretend she was just a random smeet to save face.

"I've heard of running into people once or twice, but this is ridiculous." Captain murmured, glancing at him and Purple in particular.

"The feeling is mutual, Captain." Red spat. The others snickered at the name, but Captain paid them no heed.

Ilk snapped at her captors. "Don't you dare hurt them!"

"Chill out, Irken-child, we're not going to eat them… yet."

Skoodge gulped.

"Chill out, they're just trying to scare us." Tenn assured him.

"Well, it's working." Stink muttered.

The violet kryvtor placed more of the snack bags on the ground near the fire alongside the blue one, ignoring Purple's muffled protests. "By the ancestors, how can these guys eat so much fat and be so thin?"

"You talk much considering you eat raw meat." Lena retorted.

"They eat what?" Larb asked. Red was pretty certain Purple would have said something like 'I'm going to throw up' if he could talk, but since he couldn't his nauseous expression said it all.

"Meat is healthier than refined sugar, at the very least." The violet one pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Okay, that's all." Blue-one brought the last bags of doughnuts.

Purple wiggled violently. "MMMMPPPH!"

"He said 'get your filthy claws off my donuts'." Red translated.

"How do you know that?" The female-kryvtor asked with a frown.

"When you get to know him as much as as I do, you can tell what he means to say even if he doesn't outright state it. He can do the same in my case; he'd show you, but he can't talk as you can see."

Purple nodded.

Red's whole attention was on Ilk, however. She was trembling underneath the Fury-beast, either from the cold snow or the terror. He was worried this might trigger any memories from the incident and traumatize her further… She thought it had been a nightmare, but it was a nightmare that had haunted her many nights as a smeet. On more than one occasion he had to burst into her room in the middle of the night to comfort her after she woke in terror, and he'd take her to sleep with him to let her know she was safe.

The Fury-beast looked down at Ilk and lowered his head to sniff her.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

In a fit of panic Red somehow managed to get on his feet, but the female-kryvtor reacted quickly and pinned him to the ground before he could get close to Ilk.

"Don't you even try." She hissed, pressing her claw against his head.

The rest of the Irkens started to protest, but were held back in place by the other kryvtors.

"My Tallest!"

"Oh, when I get loose from here I'm going to vaporize you!"

"MMMMFFF!"

It was like reliving the whole nightmare he went through when the first Hybrekt was sent to the Massive, when it went after Ilk and tore her leg off, when he could do nothing to stop it from happening.

Ilk cried out. "Dad!"

Captain stared at the scene for a brief moment. Was he amused for his attempt to protect his daughter? It was hard to tell, Sobrekt were hard to read.

A few seconds later he said. "Release the smeet," Then he glanced at the female-kryvtor. "You too, let him go.

Red thought he had misheard. What did the croc intend to do?

Blue-one looked at him in confusion, but he didn't protest. The female, on the other hand, "But Captain…"

"It's an order, Echo."

Grumbling, she lifted her foot and lifted the Irken to his knees. Blue (and Captain was cynical enough to say THEIR naming after a color was ridiculous) gave the Fury-beast a hand sign and it lifted its talon off Ilk; as soon she didn't feel the weight anymore Ilk ran towards her father, hugging him tightly.

"It's okay, sweetheart, I'm here.." he whispered. He wished he could hug her, but his hands were tied behind his back, so he could only rub his head against hers.

"Hate to interrupt this heartwarming reunion, but now that your ship seems to be unusable we're still stuck here." The violet-kryvtor pointed out.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Skoodge inquired.

Captain gave them a brief but detailed explanation of what had happened: how their ship had shut down, communications didn't work and any device that used electricity was useless.

"Basically what you're saying is that we are stranded here?" Tenn said in disbelief.

Lena sighed. "Sad but true."

Red chuckled. "Well, that's too bad. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for you, we sent an emergency beacon to the Armada before landing here. Which means that in less than you can imagine they will arrive, and once they do they will wipe you off this planet's surface."

The Invaders snickered at this proclamation. Purple gave a smug grin that was unseen thanks to the gag.

Far from being intimidated, Captain crossed his arms. "Didn't you pay attention? If they do come, what makes you think their ships won't shut down and end up here too, included your beloved Massive?"

"And assuming it didn't happen, you seem to forget you are on the surface of this planet as well, and at our mercy." Blue added with a smirk.

Damn it. Well, what mattered was that help would come soon and hopefully the Massive wouldn't be affected by whatever was bringing down ships in this place.

It was the Massive, after all.

The sobrekt's pilot walked out of the Ring Cutter, somehow managing to bring the engine in his thin arms, though judging by the expression on his face it must weight a bit too much even for him.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing with that?!" Stink snapped, shifting on his place

The pilot ignored him and instead addressed Captain. "Sir, I think this engine could be compatible with the Ibris if it can be repaired ."

"Mmbrmmmm?" Purple snickered through the gag. Red could tell he was making fun of the name.

"There's a but, isn't it?" Blue asked.

The pilot rubbed the back of his head. "I kind of… don't know much about Irken machines."

Larb laughed. "Well, well. It appears you'll need help. If only there was an Irken around who could lend a hand..."

Captain sighed in dismay. Red grinned internally; good job Larb. He had hit the jackpot. This meant the Sobrekt would need their help. Oh, sweet revenge!

"Okay, what are the conditions for your… help?" Captain asked grimly. Judging by the look on his face that must have hurt.

"First of all, you untie us." Lena said.

Captain signaled to Echo and the pilot to do so. As soon as he was free Purple took off the gag and started spitting. "Puaj! Is this a sock or something?!"

As soon as he was free Red got on his feet and pulled Ilk closer to him, hiding her behind his legs as he glared at Blue. "Second, you keep your… pet and your filthy presence away from my daughter." Usually Ilk would have protested, but this time she merely snuggled against his armor.

Stink asked. "Third, would you mind giving us the weapons back?"

The violet kryvtor snorted. "So you can turn on us the moment we hand them over?"

"Alright, I suggest this," Blue intervened. "How about both parties leave their weapons aside and we only grab them if a wild animal attacks? That way we can keep an eye on each other and avoid any… uprisings."

Red had to admit, it wasn't a bad suggestion. Looking around, he noted both groups seemed reluctant.

In the end they decided it was worth a shot. Besides, it would be more comfortable if they didn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back.

"Anything else?" Captain asked.

"Stay away from my doughnuts!" Purple snapped.

Red rolled his eyes, but that was a valid point; they needed to ration the snacks if they wanted to survive until they Armada arrived. Ilk pulled into his armor. "What is it, sweetie?" She didn't speak, she merely pointed at the direction of the snacks. There were also these strange noises sounding like a bunch of animals eating…

Sweet irk.

Soon the rest of the group stared at the scene agape… except Purple, who seemed to be oblivious to what was going on. "What?"

Red blinked. "Pur, you're going to freak out, but I think you should know there's a problem…"

"What's the big deal?" Purple turned around and stared at the pile of snacks that had been placed there… or at least what used to be the snacks.

Fury was laying on top of empty paper bags with his abdomen swollen and crumbs all over his face.

Later...

The first night was very tense.

The Sobrekt had their own conditions to allow the irkens into their ship once the engine was fully repaired and they could use it.

Firstly, they were not the Irkens' slaves and would not tolerate any behavior that suggested otherwise, which included being referred by any denigrating names.

Secondly, the Ibris was Sobrekt property, so as soon as they were off the Irkens would be dropped off somewhere their famous Armada could pick them up. Lena had the feeling it wouldn't apply to Ilk, but they'd worry about that once they were off.

Thirdly, the only reason they would share food was to make up for Fury eating their snacks.

Speaking of which, Purple had been in a sort of catatonic state ever since the doughnuts were eaten. He just stared at space blankly and remained unresponsive to any stimuli. Red knew it was a matter of time before he broke down.

The weapons of both sides were placed in crate from the Ibris, in turn put outside just on top of the 'neutral' line dividing the camp in the Irken and Sobrekt sides. Red and the others placed their plasma rifles and guns while Captain and the kryvtors placed a katana, dual sai and twin butterfly swords and other things reminiscent of ninja tools.

Don't question it, Red. They're Sobrekt.

The lizards were the first to go into into the Ibris's remains to sleep for the night, leaving the Irkens outside their own crashed vessel.

"I'm getting worried," Lena whispered, waving her hand in front of Purple's blank expression. "It's been an hour already and he hasn't reacted."

"Trust me, when he snaps out of it you'll wish he had remained like this." Red sighed. The last time Purple had been left without donuts for too long had been a complete disaster; sometimes he still had nightmares about it.

"Did you notice the egg the Fury-beast was last looking after?" Skoodge inquired. "I got the feeling it's an indokuro egg."

"What makes you think that, captain obvious?" Stink said in between chewing a roasted piece of meat. "The fact that mama indokuro is holding it close?"

"Actually, they refer to that thing as a male." Lena said.

"Well, papa indokuro."

Ilk hadn't said a single word. She was leaned against his body frame, yawning every now and then, struggling to keep her eyes open: she had also coughed a few times despite the warmth.

"Are you tired, Ilk?"

"No, dad… I'm just resting my eyes…"

Red rolled his eyes, but nevertheless smiled lightly. "Riiight," He picked her up and got on his feet. "I'm going into the Ring Cutter.. Or rather, what's left of it. If you're going to stay outside be sure to keep an eye on the lizards… and Tallest Purple."

"Yes, My Tallest!"

Red walked into the Ring Cutter; it was comfortably warm in comparison to the outside where it was terribly cold even with the fire. Most of the inside was a mess due to the crash, there were bits of broken stuff everywhere. Thankfully the compartment with the emergency stash, blankets and pillows didn't have an electronic door, so it wasn't a problem to take out a few pillows and a thick blanket.

Ilk didn't protest as he tucked her in on top of one of the seats. It had been a long day after all, being kidnapped by the Sobrekt, crash landing and having to worry about the indokuro's presence all the while.

"Are you mad at me, dad?" she asked.

"Mad?" Red repeated.

"It's my fault we're here. If I hadn't taken that runner…"

"I'm not mad, sweetie." At least not now. Once they returned to the Massive he had a pending talk with her, but right then his main priority was to keep her safe. "What matters is that you're not hurt."

"But…"

"We'll talk about it later…" Red smiled and stroked her head. "For now just sleep. I'm not leaving you, I promise."

He watched as she slowly fell asleep. She still looked cute even though she wasn't a little smeet anymore. Thank Irk they had reached her before the Sobrekt could do anything to her. He better keep an eye on them, though.

Minutes later there was a gentle, almost silent knock on the door. Red's antenna twitched as he glanced at the doorway.

He found Lena standing there, holding what seemed to be a perfectly roasted piece of… that thing's meat in her hands. "I brought you some food, My Tallest." She whispered to avoid awakening Ilk.

His stomach growled at that precise moment. Now that he recalled, they hadn't gotten to eat before coming here. Big mistake. Now he was starving and there were no doughnuts left thanks to that indokuro.

"Thanks…" he said, accepting the leg. "What about you? Have you eaten?"

"A while ago. The Sobrekt were considerate enough to feed us."

How sad. An Almighty Tallest reduced to eating the flesh of inferior life-forms. He had to admit the smell made his mouth water, though. Okay, he could do it. It would be just like the dried frys from the Academy. Red tentatively bit into the leg and tore a small chunk from it.

Mm. It wasn't that bad. It tasted better than dry frys, at the very least.

"Did you make it?"

Lena shrugged. "Sort of. Tenn lent me a hand, I'm not very good at cooking by myself."

"Ah, yes, Tenn is very good at it. Has Purple reacted yet?"

"He blinked once."

"That gives us about five more minutes of peace and tranquility before he starts with the doughnut abstinence syndrome."

"Doughnut abstinence syndrome?" Lena laughed.

"I know, dumb name. Purple's idea. We often call it DAS."

Both laughed a bit, followed by a few moments of silence. Her smile was… heartwarming.

Eventually Red spoke again. "Say.. I want to thank you for taking care of Ilk," he glanced at his smeet again. "If she had been by herself…"

"I couldn't let them hurt her," Lena said gently. "She really is a good smeet."

"Indeed. She means everything to me, I don't know what I'd do if I lost her… It's just that sometimes she doesn't seem to understand it."

"Excuse my boldness, My Tallest, but I noted she doesn't have a PAK."

Though she didn't directly ask, Red could see the question. "You're pretty observant, aren't you?"

"I'm sorry, forget I asked…!" The way Lena's face turned greenish like the shade of her eyes almost reminded him of the way Miyuki would blush with a bluish hue. Perhaps that's what saved her from a stern reprimand on his part.

"It's okay," he assured her. "Yes. Ilk was naturally-birthed. She was quite an… unexpected surprise," Red chuckled. Ah, the good times, at least when the scent of her diaper wasn't overwhelming everything. "Her birth mother died and she was automatically sent to me because my DNA was used for her creation."

"I see…"

There was a loud shriek coming from the outside, followed by startled yells which in turn gave place to complaints from both the Invaders and the Sobrekt. Well, actually only the Sobrekt complained. Their ship must not be soundproof if they managed to hear it from within.

Lena jumped to her feet while Red merely took a hand to his forehead. Now they wouldn't be able to sleep all night.

Neither noticed Ilk's half-open eyelid closing again.

Next Morning...

Thanks to the Purple Tallest's little 'tantrum', Blue didn't get to sleep much.

He had to say he was surprised to discover the Irken Leaders were so… well, unleader-like in certain aspects, starting that they took most of the food for themselves, Lena and Ilk while leaving the other smaller Irkens with scraps. Ilk and Lena would share their food, but that wasn't the point.

From what he heard from the Irkens, the big scandal was only the beginning. Throughout the night the purple Tallest seemed to hallucinate, mistaking leaves, branches and even the snow for his lost snacks and shoved them into his mouth only to spit them out seconds later. Then he started throwing the two shortest Irkens around to vent off his rage.

He would have continued to do this all night if the red Tallest hadn't come out of the Ring Cutter and literally beaten a bit of sense into him. Afterwards Purple lay on the ground in a fetal position, eyes wide and muttering nonsenses to himself.

Blue found him still like this when he emerged from the Ibris's doors the next morning.

To his dismay the air was still cold and the fires were out. It was bad. One of the disadvantages of being cold-blooded is that your body can't keep its current temperature on its own, and was deeply affected by external cold and heat. The colder it was, the more energy they consumed and the more they needed to eat to replenish it. In a matter of hours without food under these conditions would send them into automatic amok.

For warm-bloods who don't know what amok means, it's a state of profound dormancy the Sobrekt go into every time the temperature drops dangerously. During this time, their breathing and heartbeat slowed down considerably and gave them a death-like appearance. The only way to awaken was for the temperature to rise, and even then it took the recently-awakened Sobrekt to be fully back on their senses.

Better not to let the Irkens know that.

Blue felt his throat itch and his chest hurt slightly, causing him to go into a short coughing fit again. He was now certain something was wrong with the air. He wasn't the only one who noticed: Captain, Echo, Masouri, Foxtrot and even Fury were having similar symptoms, even the smeet herself had coughed a few times. He was initially confused, since the other Irkens didn't show any signs of having trouble breathing at all, but then he noticed she didn't have the PAK that had made them so famous.

"Damn it…" Masouri stepped out just behind him, stretching out his sore muscles and joints. "I can't believe I slept on top of the egg

"That's what you get for sleeping with the incubator in your bed instead of placing it aside." Foxtrot joined in.

Blue noted both had bags under their eyes. "Couldn't sleep either?"

"It's hard when the purple Irken didn't shut up in nearly all night. Look at that, even the Irken soldiers look like they had a bad time…" Foxtrot pointed to Larb, Stink and Tenn, who had similar expressions to his and Masouri's.

"Should we ask them if they're okay?"

Masouri snorted. "Please, like they would do the same for us."

Larb's next statement erased any sympathy Blue might have felt for the Irkens. "Hey, when are you going to get us breakfast? The Tallests are starving, and so are we!"

"See?"

Grin and bear it, Blue. Grin and bear it. Especially since your indokuro was the one who ate the Irkens' supplies, if one could call them that.

And so, a few minutes later he was going into the forest with Fury and Echo to find a prey big enough to feed all of them, plus to give themselves some extra rations for the aforementioned reasons of being cold blooded and in need of more energy. They had to move a bit further away from the camp, however. No animal was dumb enough to go near any potential predators.

"Think their Armada will really come?" Echo asked him silently as they followed the trail of an animal with big hooves. Probably like the one Captain had brought last night.

"Let's hope not. If those ships are shut down by whatever did the same to ours, they'll rain down upon us. And if they aren't, they can destroy this fucking planet with us still on it."

"Not as long as we have their leaders." Echo pointed out.

"That's a good point," Blue looked back in the direction of the camp. He wondered if the package… no, Ilk. Her name was Ilk. He better remember it to avoid any more disgusts. Anyway, he wondered if she was better. "You know, I have the feeling Ilk doesn't even know her importance to us right now."

"What makes you think that? Did you forget the indokuro sent to retrieve her brought back a leg?" Echo said, swishing her tail. "She doesn't seem to have a prosthetic or anything like that. We know what that means. You mean to tell me she wouldn't notice her leg regenerating completely out of nowhere?"

"She has never mentioned the sacred flower, and of you recall back on the Ibris she asked what we wanted with her. She doesn't know the flower's very essence has assimilated into her DNA."

"Even if that were true, nothing will justify the fact that the Irken Leaders stole the flower and killed it!"

"If the rumors regarding the outbreak of Drilo's disease around that time are right, then that would be a strong reason for them to have done it."

Echo hissed at him. "Why do you defend them, Blue?"

"I'm not! I'm just saying that the reason was not completely selfish. They did it the wrong way, that's right, but the red Tallest just wanted to save his child's life. I mean, wouldn't you do the same for your hatchlings?"

Before Echo could retort, Fury lifted his head and gave a small chirp-like sound. It meant he had heard something. "What's up, boy? Did you find anything?" Blue asked him.

Fury wasn't looking around, however, he was looking at the sky. Perhaps he had heard a flying creature of some sorts? He loved chasing after those and snatching them in his teeth, then Blue would have to spend half an hour removing the feathers from his gums.

"What is he looking at?" Echo asked.

"Whatever it is, it's coming from above us…"

Wait… From above? This could only mean one thing.

A considerably small Irken vessel dove through the clouds and crashed behind the line of trees.

The Camp, a few minutes later...

At some point she must have fallen asleep, because soon her eyelids cracked open.

Lena rubbed her eyes and took a look around. Tallest Red had fallen asleep on the chair next to Ilk. As for the smeet, though, she too was in the process of waking up. Ilk noticed her father sleeping, and made as little noise as possible as she sat up, stretching her muscles.

Lena felt unusually warm given the low temperature. She realized there was a blanket on top of her, red in color. It didn't take a genius to know who had put it there. She'd have to thank her Tallest later when he woke up. He must be exhausted from having had to calm Tallest Purple down last night.

Speaking of Tallest Purple, he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was outside?

"Good morning, Lena," Ilk greeted the doctor in a low voice. "Did you sleep well?"

Lena nodded, smiling. "How about you, Ilk?"

"Considering uncle Purple made a ruckus most of the night, I can't say I had sweet dreams. Plus, I'm hungry-" Ilk coughed a few times.

Lena raised her antenna in alarm. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm just getting used to this atmosphere, that's all..." Ilk said.

Oh, right. Ilk didn't have a PAK to turn the air into clean oxygen. "Maybe the Sobrekt have already brought something to eat. Wait here, I'll make sure the indokuro is not around."

Hopefully he was sent to hunt by himself, much like the previous day. Lena stood up, walked up to the door and took a wary step outside. The darkness was gone and instead everything was back to grayish green hues, letting her know it was daytime already.

Skoodge and Bob were trying to start a fire the old-fashioned way with little to no success while Larb and Stink were vigilating the perimeter, while Tallest Purple was still on the ground in fetal position, trembling (he was so going to get a cold) and twitching his antenna.

On the other side of the camp, the Sobrekt's side, they had already started their own fire. Captain was eating on the partially-frozen remains of the leg from yesterday, while Masouri and Tenn(how she was allowed to their side without losing a leg was a mystery) were working on the engine. Foxtrot was doing his own rounds around the edge of the woods.

She noted Blue and Echo were not around, which meant Fury was not around either. With that in mind, Lena signaled to Ilk that she could come out.

"Good morning, doctor Lena! Good morning, Ilk!" Skoodge was the first to greet them.

"How are you guys doing?" Ilk asked.

"As you can see, those two can't even start a little wood fire." Stink muttered, rubbing his forearms while giving Bob and Skoodge irritated looks.

Bob dropped his sticks and snapped. "Well, if you are such an expert why don't you come start it yourselves?!"

Ilk glanced at the bonfire on the Sobrekt's side. "Wouldn't it be easier if we asked them for a bit of their fire?"

"That's lizard-fire! We're not going to use lizard-fire on our bonfire!" Larb said.

"Larb, I don't think now's the time for that," Lena said sternly. "Just look at Tenn, she got them to accept her into their side. How did she do it, by the way?"

"She was…" Stink shivered in disgust. "Polite. She actually asked if she could go over there to help."

Larb added quickly. "From number two Invader reduced to that…"

Lena chose to ignore those denigrating comments and focused on Purple. "How is Tallest Purple?"

"He hasn't moved from there. I'm getting worried." Skoodge said.

"And where is the indokuro-beast?" Ilk asked quickly. Even mentioning it sent shivers down her spine.

"The female sobrekt and the blue lizard took it hunting. And they've taken quite a while! We're starving!" Larb complained clutching his stomach.

"If you can't wait, how about you go find something to eat yourself?" Captain called from the other side. "You know how to do that, don't you?"

"Like I'm going to listen to you!"

"Be quiet, would you? Tallest Red is sleeping!" Lena hissed to the both of them, glancing back at the Ring Cutter worriedly.

Foxtrot lifted his nose and sniffed the air. "Is it me or something's being cooked?"

"It's not me, I already finished the leg." Captain stated.

Lena and Ilk took a quick sniff and trailed the origin of the smell to their side of the camp, coming from…

"Bob, don't panic, but your pants are on fire."

The table drone looked backwards and found the black tunic was, indeed, burning. With a panicked yell he jumped to his feet and tried to put it out by sitting on top of the wood. They watched as smoke rose from underneath and sent Bob flying high into the air again with a loud yell of pain while the rest watched.

"Look at the bright side, at least he started the bonfire." Larb and Stink walked closer and lifted their hands on top of the burning flame to receive the heat.

Blue and Echo finally returned, but they looked perplexed. Lena quickly pulled Ilk behind her as soon as the former glanced at them and responded him with a warning glance of her own.

Larb asked impatiently. "So where's the food?"

"Keep talking to us like that and you'll have to feed yourselves." Echo hissed at him with slit pupils.

"He has a point. Did you hunt anything?" Foxtrot asked. "We're starving."

Blue shifted uncomfortably. "Well, there was an unexpected… issue."

"Issue? What do you mean?"

"An Irken ship crashed a few miles away-" Blue was startled when suddenly Larb, Tink, Skoodge and even Tenn got to their feet and celebrated the news. Tallest Purple, however, didn't react. He must be really ill if he wasn't rejoicing at it, Lena thought.

"YES! THE ARMADA IS HERE!"

"ON YOUR FACES, LIZARDS! JUST WAIT UNTIL THEY GET DOWN!"

"BLESSED GOOD LUCK, WE'RE SAVED!"

Blue coughed impatiently. "I said it was only one ship, and a very small one. Besides, it only had two passengers."

"Two passengers?" Lena repeated.

"LET GO OF ME, YOU FILTHY LIZARD-BEAST!"

The invaders froze when they heard that voice while Ilk perked up her antenna. Even Tallest Purple jumped to his feet with his own antenna flat against his head. "No… Please, not him!"

Fury stepped out of the forest, holding an unconscious human with a humongous head and a squirming, short Irken with ruby pinkish eyes by their clothing.

"DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! I AM THE ALMIGHTY INVADER ZIM!"

Dun-dun-duuuun! OF course, how can there be an IZ fic without Zim himself in it? Where's the fun in that?!

Next chapter: As the parties gets used to Zim's arrival, an encounter in the forest leads to disaster...