Man, I'm nervous! My exams start next week, which means I might not be able to write as often as before. On the bright side, they are the semi-final exams and then the holidays.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter

Lost

Chapter 9- Courting?

Outskirts near the camp, meanwhile...

When you become a doctor you take the solemn oath to use your skills to save lives. Not end them. Even if said death was considered necessary, the good doctors are often reluctant to kill and will only use it as a last resort when all the other options have failed. Because of this, most people in the medical field lack any form of combat training.

This made it even harder for Lena to learn fighting. She had never killed anything in her entire life. It might sound ironic, considering military training is often included in the Irken curriculum, but the medic field was the exception. This is part of the reason she chose to be a doctor in the first place. Lena didn't have the… cold blood to kill.

"And here I thought your Tallest was terrible at swordplay."

"Shut up, scaly-head."

Lena huffed. Those two were not helping. "If you're trying to make me feel better, you're both fired."

"It's the first time I've seen an Irken who cannot defend herself," Captain said with a shrug. "This explains why it wasn't that hard to subdue you when I boarded your ship even with your spidery PAK legs."

"Don't you have any weapons in your PAK, Lena?" Red asked, genuinely curious. He hated to admit it, but Captain had a good point.

"I'm a doctor, Red, not a soldier."

"Even so, shouldn't you have at least a pistol in case something like this happens?"

"I made an oath to save lives, and all my life it's what I've done. You can't expect me to go against those principles, even self-defense killing goes against what I stand for."

Captain shook his head. That is very counterproductive. He'd show her how it was properly done, but dual weapons were not his specialty. Besides, Hitorken Zim was taking too long in… whatever he was doing. He asked GIR to go look for him, but given his short-attention span he guessed he had ran off after some critter or something. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go look for Zim. He might have gotten hurt."

"So what?" Red responded with a shrug. "Better for us, he's just going to bring problems. Trust me, I know." Captain merely rolled his eyes and made his way towards the woods. Well, should anything go wrong because of Zim, Captain would be the first person he'd pin the blame on.

Red continued to watch Lena as she tried to figure out how to wield the sai. No offense, but she really sucked at it. Perhaps he should lend her a hand, right? Literally only one, though, the one he had struck Captain with was still sore from having it fixed. "Need some help?"

"Red, your hand is still recovering, you shouldn't use it too much yet…"

"It's okay, I still have the other. Besides, I'm only going to give you some tips," With a bit of effort he got up without leaning on his injured limb and walked over to Lena. "Show me your combat posture," Lena did as told, and he took a look at it. She wasn't kidding when she said she had no experience. He had none in dual weapons either (not even when it was laser guns he was familiarized with), but at the very least he did know how to fight. "Your body language radiates insecurity."

"I don't know how to do this, remember?" Lena pointed out, rolling her eyes.

"The last thing you want is your opponent to figure that out. Before learning how to use these, you should first learn a proper stance," he put on the posture taught at the Academy. "Like this," Again, she did as he said and he took a look at her. A better look at her. He had never paid much attention, but Lena had beautiful curves in her thin waist and delicate-looking arms. "It's not that… bad. You just need a few adjustments, if you don't mind."

Lena had no idea what he meant by that, she merely gave him a nod. She felt a shiver down her spine when his hands started touching her to gently shift her arms and back into the correct position. "There, better." Red said with a nod of approval. "That will make it harder for your opponent to find an opening, you'll have more time to react and you can throw whatever you have at hand with even more force."

"Throw?" Lena inquired.

"You know, smoke bombs, plasma grenades, even throwing knives. You must be prepared for anything," Red took out a small knife with a sharp blade from one of the belts of his armor, which he threw at a nearby log expertly. The knife hit its target and got stuck there. Lena blinked. "Now you try it with that… whatever they call it."

Lena took a deep breath. It couldn't be that hard, right? She'd just throw it at the tree and it would get stuck. She got into the position again, targeted a particular spot and launched one of the sai… only for it to go past the tree and land on the snow. "Damn it…"

Red chuckled. "It's alright, it takes a little practice to get it right."

Lena spent the next twenty minutes throwing the sai at the tree bark, only to have to pick it up from the snow, the bushes or wherever it happened to land. Red just watched; he must think she's useless! How embarrassing. After the latest failed attempt, he walked behind her and tenderly took her hands from behind to guide her into a better posture. "Like this." He whispered. Hearing his silky voice so close sent shivers down Lena's spine.

After watching Lena randomly throwing the sai at the tree and never striking the target he decided he'd have to lend her a hand in a more literal way. As he grabbed her hands he noted her skin was very soft. He inadvertently pulled Lena closer to his own body as he shifted her pose, causing his heart to beat on a faster rate and his squeedly-spooch to squirm; it wasn't the uncomfortable type, this one was more like a ticklish sensation. Red was glad she wasn't facing him, because he was certain he was blushing deeply.

"On count of three, we throw it together," he whispered to her. Lena nodded and got into position. "One, two, three!"

In a perfectly synchronized movement, the sai was sent flying through the air and into the tree, striking just next to the knife. "Wow…!" Lena couldn't contain the gasp of wonder that left her mouth.

If he thought Lena's facial features were attractive before, it held no candle to when she was smiling. It brought forth a small smile of his own. "Okay, you two lovebirds, let's get going!" A familiar Sobrekt came out of the forest followed by Fury, who was carrying an unconscious Zim and a happily-whistling GIR on his back (rather, it seemed like Zim was sleeping). Captain simply couldn't resist to ruin everything, did he?

Why use the term lovebirds, though? Please, he and Lena were not that close. Lena had a similar reaction. "Would you mind finding another word to call us? Lovebirds is too…"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, missy." Captain interrupted. "Take only what you really need. Carrying too much stuff will slow us down…" he noted a sai was embedded unto a tree. "Why is Echo's sai stuck there?"

Lena almost gulped when she noted the tone in which he had asked that question. She recalled the warning before being given the weapons. "Sorry! I'll get it." Lena walked over to the tree, but as she pulled unto the handle it didn't budge. She tried again to no avail. "Um, this might take a while…"

Captain narrowed his eyes. "You better not break it, Irken."

That drove her over the edge. Lena took a firm grip on the handle of the kai and pulled with all her might. It budged a little, not much, but it was a good start. Damn it, this thing was very long!

"Let me lend you a hand." Red approached, gently wrapped his arms around her waist (the tickling in his squeedly-spooch returned as he did so) and pulled alongside the Irkenette.

After five minutes of just watching, Captain snorted. Clearly they hadn't heard that there are many ways to skin a felur*. "You can stay here all day trying to pull it out or you could press the button on the handle."

In the latest pull Lena finally noticed said tiny black button at her thumb's reach. How come she hadn't noticed it before. She regretted pressing it, however, when the sai's plasma blade activated and cut through the wood around it. Unfortunately at that very moment she and Red had pulled yet again, and their combined forces sent them both flying a few centimeters backwards, with Lena landing on top of Red.

"Sweet Irk…!" Red bit his lip to contain a cry while his antenna went flat against his head. Lena had landed right on top of his squeedly-spooch.

Lena panicked. So much she momentarily forgot she had permission to call him by name. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, My Tallest!"

Fury snickered, or at least she thought he was. Captain's expression remained stoic, but the glint on his yellow eyes said otherwise.

"Aaawww, just like in the movies!" GIR cried out happily.

Just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, at that moment Blue and Ilk returned from their own training session. They had no idea what Blue thought they were doing on the ground on top of each other, but judging by how he quickly averted his gaze with a bristled crest and shrunk pupils…

Ilk merely blinked and stared at them. Immediately both Red and Lena blushed and blurted out nervously.

"Oh, sweetie, it's…!"

"Not what you think!"

There was something… different about Blue. Ever since she had somehow beaten him in his own game, his attitude towards her in particular was different. At first she thought it was only her imagination, but it became more evident after the group packed up the camp and set on their way towards the Hothian's base. She could feel Blue's gaze on top of her the whole time and he didn't even bother to dissimulate it.

For the first time in a while Ilk clung to her father all the time, trying to hide herself from Blue as much as possible. She wasn't the only one who saw the change.

Red perceived Ilk's tension as she stuck to his side and noticed how she'd glance in the kryvtor's direction warily. When he turned towards him, Blue would avert his gaze towards the front and ignore him; Red could tell there was something going on, however. He didn't know what happened between Blue and Ilk while they were gone. Had the sobrekt threatened Ilk for something? Had he hurt her? Whatever it was, he'd find out. Meanwhile, he made sure to keep Ilk close at all times.

Thankfully, since Zim was still asleep, unconscious, comatose or whatever, Red and Lena were in charge of the map for the time being. Surprisingly, though Lena lacked any combat skills she did know how to read a map very well. If they continued heading northwest without any problems they'd arrive at the Hothian base in three or four days.

Soon they came upon a wide trench. Captain tentatively kicked a small rock off the edge to check how deep it was; twenty seconds later he heard the echo of the rock crashing on the ground. It was a very long fall.

"How do we cross?" Lena asked. Zim's PAK rockets were out of the question because he was… indisposed, and even if he weren't she doubted he'd be able to carry everyone to the other side.

Blue took the long rope-one of the few things he managed to grab from the ship before leaving it-and tied one end to a nearby rock. When he was sure it was properly tied he bound the other end around Fury's neck and then gave the indokuro a hand sign. Fury took a few steps back, a quick head start and leapt across the trench, landing safely on the other side, earning an excited yell from GIR.

To Red's disappointment, though, Zim didn't slip off into the chasm below; his PAK-legs had automatically come out and clung to Fury's neck to secure him to the Indokuro's back*. Fury then stepped further back enough to tense the rope.

"I admit, that's impressive." Red said begrudgingly. This reminded him of that time he and Purple had to do something similar to cross over between two buildings in their Elite days; the only difference was that they had used a normal grappling-hook from their PAKs. "Who goes first?" He glanced at Captain. "Why don't you go? Somebody has to see if the rope is strong enough."

"In case you haven't noticed, my body mass and weight is heavier. You, on the other hand, are a literal stick."

"You-! Take that back!"

"Why don't you settle this with another rock, paper and scissors?" Blue asked with a shrug. That snapped them out of it. They didn't want to waste time with that silly earthen game again.

"Alright, I will go." Captain growled bitterly and went over to the rope. He was never fond of heights unless he was inside the safety of a ship. He clung from the rope with his hands and his crossed legs to move slowly towards the other side; when he did, Fury noticeably gave a loud grown and dug his talons into the snow. Captain was the heaviest member of the party. After a few minutes of slowly advancing through the makeshift 'bridge', Captain reached the other side safely.

"Who's next?" he called out, inadvertently creating an echo in the chasm.

This called GIR's attention. "Oooh!" He hopped off Fury's back and ran towards the chasm to start yelling random words. "ECHOOOO! PIGGYYY! MARYYY!"

Ilk was about to step forward when Red took her by the shoulder and pulled her back. "Wait, Ilk. I have to make sure that thing is safe."

"Dad, if the rope endured him," Ilk pointed at Captain. "Who must weight about five tons, I think it will endure me."

"I heard that." Captain snorted, incensed. He only weighed one and a half, than you very much.

"One can never be too careful, sweetheart."

To the surprise of both Blue added. "You should listen to him this time around," He didn't even flinch when Red glanced at him in surprise. "What? You want to protect her as her father. I have the task to take her back to Sobr unharmed. We both want the same thing; Ilk's safety."

Had he just called her by name? He previously referred to her as Irken or smeet, why the sudden change? Did it have to do with…? Red shook the thought for the time being, he'd ask Ilk for details later when they were alone.

He gulped lightly when he stepped at the edge of the trench. Like Captain said, it looked very deep. Red tentatively touched the rope to make sure Captain's weight hadn't weakened it, and crossed over in a similar fashion. Once he had crossed safely to the other side, he called out to Lena that she was next.

She had it a little harder, however; she even froze in the middle of the chasm before Red managed to coax her towards the end of the line. He had to help her get down from the rope. Lena had been so terrified of the experience her arms wrapped around his frame once she reached the other side, unconsciously seeking something to hold unto, much to their later embarrassment and Captain's amusement.

Ilk, however, just needed to take one look at the chasm to freeze. She had trained back at the Massive, that's true, but an exercise in a computer-generated simulation and actually crossing over an obstacle in which the smallest mistake could cost your life were very different things.

Blue noticed she was irradiating fear almost like the semi-toxic stench in the air. Usually this would trigger a dominance-establishing gesture from a Sobrekt. "Are you okay?" He asked instead, staring down at Ilk in concern.

"Ilk, what's the matter?" Red called out from the other side.

Ilk gulped. Her antenna were flat against her head. "I'm not sure I can do it."

"What do you mean? It's just like the simulations, sweetie!"

"You don't die in the simulation if you do something wrong, dad!"

Realizing they were wasting precious time arguing, Blue bent down on one knee. "Up." She looked up at him, puzzled, and he felt Red and Lena's eyes on top of him too. "Get on my back and hold on."

Ilk stepped back instead, uncertain. "It's alright," Blue assured her. "I won't let you fall." His voice sounded so… tender. Somehow it soothed her down considerably; he seemed to be the type to keep his word, did he? Captain had mentioned Sobrekt did so.

Red tensed up as he watched his smeet being coaxed unto Blue's back, clinging to him for dear life as the kryvtor started advancing through the rope in a slower pace. His hand unconsciously grabbed Lena's for assurance, which she provided by squeezing it. She was also worried about Ilk.

Blue was halfway across when he suddenly stopped. Was it just him or the rope didn't feel as tensed as before? He heard Captain asking if something was wrong, but he didn't answer. He glanced at the rock he made the knot on. To his horror he saw it was seconds away from snapping. He barely had time to reach for his kunai just as the the rope finally gave away.

"ILK!"

"BLUE!"

Red, Lena and Captain immediately ran over to the edge and looked into the chasm. To their relief, the duo hadn't fallen to their deaths; Fury still had the other end tied around his neck. They had only crashed against the rocky wall; Blue had additionally dug his plasma kunai into the rock with one hand while the other was holding Ilk's arm as she hung from his hold.

"Ilk, are you alright?" Red called to his daughter in terror.

"She seems to be in shock!" Lena deduced. After all, if this was her first time on the actual field she was bound to be afraid, especially in life-threatening situations like this.

Captain realized Blue wouldn't be able to climb towards them if both his hands were occupied. He turned towards Fury and motioned him to get closer, which the indokuro did. "Blue, throw the smeet into the air!" he almost flinched when Red screamed. "WHAT?!"

"Fury will catch her and Blue will be able to climb up!"

"What if he doesn't?!"

"He's an Indokuro, Irken! There's nothing he can't catch!"

Blue would have rolled his eyes if he weren't hanging for his life on a pit. The arm he was holding unto his kunai with was already hurting from supporting both his weight and Ilk's. He looked down at Ilk; she was frightened before, but it didn't compare to the terror he could see in her glossy eyes. "Ilk, do you trust me?"

It took her a few seconds to process what he said. "What?!"

"Do you trust me?"

Ilk gulped and nodded. She was caught off guard when Blue threw her upwards into the air; the smeet screamed in fright and close her eyes shut.

"Fury, catch!"

Instead of falling to her death like she half-expected, she felt a strong thug from her shirt. When she opened her eyes she found herself hanging from Fury's jaws as he stepped away from the ledge.

"ILK!" Dad had instantly rushed forward to snatch her from the creature's hold and hold her close. She didn't protest; she was so frightened she unconsciously needed to cling to something that made her feel safe, so she wrapped her arms around her father and hid her face into the crook of his neck.

"Ilk, are you alright?" Lena asked. She knew she probably wouldn't respond due to her current state, but she still had be sure. Her antenna twitched when Ilk whimpered her positive reply while Red cooed and stroked the back of her head.

Meanwhile, Captain stretched out a hand to help Blue lift himself unto the ground. Fury purred as he rubbed his head against his master's shoulder. "I'm fine, boy."

Red's antenna twitched when he heard his voice. "You…!" His crimson eyes almost looked on fire as he glared at the Sobrekt and stomped towards him with a threatening expression. "You nearly killed my daughter!"

"Excuse me?" Blue questioned with a frown.

"Don't play innocent, you threw her into the air!"

"And Fury caught her, just like I told you he would." Captain pointed out, crossing his arms.

"That's not the issue!"

"No, the issue here is you make a ruckus over stupid things!"

"Stupid things?! You call endangering her life a stupid thing?!"

"Stop!" Lena stepped in before an all-out fight broke out. "Settle this later if you have to, we have to get going! We don't know in what conditions the others are in or even if they're safe!" Much like before her face beamed with stern authority directed to both parties, and again this impressed not only Red, but also Captain and Blue to the point they stepped down for now.

Zim groaned loudly and stretched out still on Fury's back, rubbing his eyes momentarily before glancing around at his surroundings. "Good morning, My Tallest!"

So he had been asleep this whole time?

Later...

After spending half the rest of the day walking, they reached a formation of bent-down, sickly trees that were somehow bended down in the form of a dome-like structure at nightfall. Thankfully there were no more pits or deep crevices on the ground to cross, only long snowy plains and freezing rivers. On the bright side, Red got a good laugh when Zim fell into the water and started shrieking even though this water wasn't burning him*.

The coughing fits were becoming a bit more frequent in Ilk and Blue. Fury and Captain didn't have as much trouble. Red was getting worried about Ilk's health, especially given her lack of a PAK left her more vulnerable to disease.

When she shared her suspicions with Red he panicked. He asked her not to say anything yet, he didn't want Ilk to worry about it; she was already frightened enough from what happened at the chasm. When Lena mentioned Captain and Blue, he didn't really care if they died; besides, they wouldn't keep it a secret.

This time it was Red's turn to go hunting with Captain and Fury while Blue stayed behind with Lena, Ilk, Zim and GIR. Currently Blue was taking a look at the tablet to check if they were going in the right direction and if he could learn something about these 'hothians', as they called themselves, while Zim tried to start a fire with a peculiar human device called a 'lighter'. All you had to do was roll a tiny wheel on the top to ignite a small flame.

If he could get GIR to give him said tool, that is.

"GIR, as your master I order you to give me the lighter!"

"No, it's mine!"

Ilk picked up a nearby stone that fit in her hand and a thin branch. "GIR, if you give lend Zim the lighter for a while I'll give you this rock and stick."

"Okey-dokey!" GIR gave the tool to his master and went to pick up his new toys.

"Hahaha! Victory for Zim!" Zim cried holding up the lighter triumphantly, and then again when he successfully lit up the pile of wood without blowing it up.

"How did you fall asleep in the middle of the woods, Zim?" Lena asked curiously.

"Oh, that. Well, none of you noticed because of my incredible acting skills, but my PAK's energy reserves seem to be… well, not working, and I was…." Zim looked around to make sure the Tallest was not around and then whispered quickly. "…tired."

Blue lifted his gaze, interested. "Energy reserves?"

"For the information of inferior species, PAKs are implemented with a power reservoir for when we don't get any sleep. That's how I can stay awake and alert all the time*!" Zim puffed out his chest proudly.

Lena blinked. All the time? Did this mean he never slept? She had heard of Irkens who didn't sleep for days and only kept going because they used their emergency PAK reserves until they could have a proper rest, but this? No sleep at all? That would certainly explain his… 'quirks'.

"Anyway, since coming to this planet my PAK has failed to provide me with the energy supply, and since I have never required rest…" Zim looked down bitterly. "How pitiful. An Irken Invader reduced to sleeping-OW!" Zim rubbed his head when something struck it. He saw a rock with some drops of blood just in front of his knee. "GIR!"

"HOM RUN!" The little robot cried happily even as his master started chasing him around with the intent of punishing him.

"So even his PAK isn't working at its fullest…" Lena sighed in dismay. Still, she couldn't help but laugh a bit as she saw GIR evade Zim's hands.

Blue snorted when he couldn't decipher the contents of the tablet, other than the map thing, and let it fall to the ground as he got on his feet. "Well, I'm going to get some water…" he glanced at Zim when he passed by him in his fruitless pursuit of GIR. "Do you casually have something in your… PAK where I can bring the water in?"

The invader stopped in his tracks to glare at Blue. "Zim will not allow you to harm Ilk-smeet with the foul water, Blue-beast!"

"That is not my intention, Hitorken Zim. Ilk lacks a PAK of her own and I assume that means she must get more nourishment than you and those with PAKs, am I right?" he directed the last question at Ilk with a glance.

Ilk quickly nodded. "Yeah, Zim. Besides this water doesn't look like its been contaminated like you said Earth water is. You didn't get burned when you fell into the creek, remember?"

Zim gave it a brief thought. Despite his panic when he touched the freezing cold hydrolic acid (he came up with the name. Cool, isn't it?) the burning sensation and smoking from his body was missing. "Alright, then," Zim brought out a bucket from his PAK, courtesy of GIR, and held it out for Blue. "You have permission to go fetch uncontaminated water for Ilk-smeet, Blue-beast."

Blue saluted, took the bucket and gave Ilk a brief glance before heading out into the woods with nothing more than a torch made from one of the sticks.

Once they were alone, Ilk shifted a bit closer to Lena. "So how did your… training session go?"

Lena blushed lightly. "I suck at it. I mean, I can handle a few types of plasma guns, but other than that…"

"Lena, mind if I ask something… personal?"

"What is it?"

"Do you like my dad?"

Lena's face looked like a greener watermelon (a big, round earth fruit filled with red water). "W-Why, Ilk…! I don't know where you got the impression! Your dad is the Tallest and I'm just a doctor!" Sure, up to now Red had been very nice, he was charming and a gentleman, but there was no way he'd set his eyes on her even if she did like him.

"Just asking. I mean, he's not usually nice to other Irkens unless he either wants something from them or he likes them." Ilk commented. She had seen mild signs about it, how dad and Lena were becoming… attracted. Better not to push it, but she wanted dad to be happy, plus Lena was a nice Irken.

Anyway, she better change the subject. Lena looked embarrased enough already. "Have you noticed something… strange about Blue's behavior?"

"Strange?" Lena was grateful for Ilk talking about something else.

"I don't know, he hasn't been… the same ever since…"

"Since what?" Lena twitched her antenna. "Did something happen?" Ilk sighed and told Lena about what had happened between them a few hours ago, how she had defeated Blue and how he had been... Nicer to her. "Well, you did bring him down despite being bigger and supposedly stronger. Perhaps he respects you."

"Or maybe he likes you!"

Lena and Ilk gave GIR a perplex glance. His eyes had turned red again. Ilk asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Mastah found a bunch of letters in the computer about the big iguanas, and he leaned lots of stuff about iguanas! If an iguana beats another in a fight they will like each other very much, like this!" GIR went towards Zim and kissed him in the mouth, to the Irken's horror.

"PUAJ! GIR, THAT'S DISGUSTING!" Zim snarled and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. When he got over the shock, he decided to translate what GIR said into normal language. "You brought down the Blue-beast, Ilk-smeet. In other words, you defeated a Sobrekt in combat single handedly, isn't that right?"

Ilk nodded.

"Well, ever since the Planet Jackers nearly destroyed MY planet I have been researching other species in case any of them try to do the same. During one of those long sessions I came across something… interesting about the Sobr-beasts.

Apparently even their mating habits revolve around their warrior lifestyle; as such, their main goal is to 'pass the strongest genes to the next generation'. They don't go around giving snacks and dead reproductive organs of plants to say 'i want you to be my mate'. The individual in question challenges the girl or boy he or she likes to a sort of combat. If they win, the loser, or 'intended' if you prefer, is obligued to accept them as their mate*. It's very dumb, right?"

Ilk had gone pale while Lena's jaw was hanging from her mouth. "Z-Zim, surely you misread!"

He took offense to the commentary. "The Irkenet is never wrong!"

"Zim, do you even realize what you're implying?! Ilk is just a smeet, there's no way he's even thinking of that step!"

"IRKENET!"

Ilk just stared at the cackling fire in shock, completely ignoring the argument. Did this mean…? No. No, no! It couldn't be! He wasn't… courting her, was he?! Plus Zim had a grave case of attention deficit disorder, perhaps he misread just like Lena said. Yes, that must be it. But if that were the case, the only way to be certain was to ask an actual Sobrekt about it, and the only one available other than her 'intended' was…

"Come on, Irken, it wasn't that bad!"

At that moment Red walked into the shelter. Much like Ilk he was pale, his eyes were open like plates and his antenna were flat against his head. Seconds later Captain and Fury followed suit, dragging the already-skinned carcass into the tree-dome. They didn't have to ask what was wrong. Zim screamed 'meat' and ran to the corner of the pines to hide behind its branches. Fury started looking around while letting out purrs; he was probably looking for his master.

Lena got to her feet and walked towards her Tallest as he stumbled towards the fire. "Red, are you okay?"

"Gross…" was all he said before going to the spot Zim had hidden in to throw up. Either he didn't see Zim was there or didn't care, probably the latter.

Okay, now that dad was distracted would be a good chance to ask Captain about… that. "Um, Captain?" She flinched a bit when the Sobrekt turned his head to look at her.

"What is it?" he asked.

Ilk made sure her dad was not within earshot-if he found out about this he'd make a big deal out of it- and said. "See, Blue has been acting strangely with me since I brought him down during our training spar. Zim says he's 'courting' me for some stupid tradition of having to accept whoever defeats you as a mate, but that's a mistake, right?"

Whatever hope she had of Captain confirming that the information was mistaken vanished when she saw the serious look on his face.

Had he heard right? The smeet defeated Blue? Singlehandedly? With those tiny stick-thin arms and small size? He couldn't believe it. He almost didn't. But he had noted Blue's change in behavior around her, how he was trying to make her feel safe and subtly begging her for some attention. He initially thought he was being more careful around her, but now that she told him this… "Technically, you courted him."

"What?" Ilk almost yelled, jumping to her feet.

"Ilk? What's wrong?" Damn it. She had forgotten dad was still inside the dome.

"Somebody likes Ilk like this!" GIR jumped straight to Red's face and, much to the horror of Zim, kissed him in the mouth. "GIR!"

"WHAT ON IRK?! ZIM, I SWEAR, IF YOU DON'T KEEP THAT LITTLE MENACE UNDER CONTROL I'M SENDING YOU BOTH STRAIGHT TO FOODCOURTIA!" Red wiped his mouth and spat various times, all the while glaring daggers at Zim.

"I will be sure to correct his behavior, My Tallest!" Zim said nervously before starting another round of 'tag', as GIR called it. "GIR, wait until I put my hands on you...!"

Captain would have loved to see Red's face when he learned his beloved daughter had inadvertently courted a Sobrekt, but he had the feeling the smeet didn't want him to know about this. Besides, after what just happened he wouldn't take it kindly either. Though he didn't get to see Red reacting to the former issue, watching him spit up and wipe his mouth after the robot exchanging saliva-or oil?- with him partly made up for it.

Once he was partly out of earshot, Captain leaned in towards Ilk and muttered. "Don't be surprised if Blue brings something for you apart from whatever you sent him to fetch. It's a way to show he can provide for you."

Indeed, when Blue returned a few moments later with the bucket full of water (Fury nearly caused him to drop it when he ran towards him and rubbed his head against his body), he was carrying a small furry creature he seemed to have hunted by himself. "I thought you might be hungry." he said, holding it out for Ilk and out of Fury's reach.

"T-Thank you…" she retorted, quickly grabbing the 'present' with a trembling hand and then moving as away from Blue as possible.

"My Tallest, your almighty clothing is dirty! Allow Zim to clean you up!" Before Blue could do something to stop him, Zim had snatched the bucked and splashed its contents on top of Red, soaking him to the bone, but indeed removing the remains of vomit from his armor.

Lena took her hands to her mouth to contain a gasp while Captain burst out in laughter. The Irken leader, contrary to expectations, didn't explode against Zim; he merely sighed irritably and started rubbing his arms to try and keep himself warm.

"Thanks, Zim." he said, though judging by his irritable tone he didn't really mean it.

"A pleasure to serve you, My Tallest!" Zim saluted happily, though he sill sounded a bit nervous from the previous threat. Clearly he was trying to make up for GIR kissing his Tallest. Zim took out what seemed to be a sort of furry blanket from his PAK. It was very wide, Ilk was certain it would be able to cover Zim's voot runner completely. "I also found something you could use as bedding!"

"Hey, I don't remember having made one that big." Captain pointed out, but Zim held the blanket out of reach before he could take a closer look at it.

"Where did you get it?" Lena asked curiously.

"It was lying on the ground near a nest I found on the way here. Since there was no one around, I thought it could be useful."

"Wait, you mean to say you grabbed it from a nest? As in a somebody else's bed?" A loud roar coming from the outside seemed to confirm her suspicions, especially when the tree shelter was torn apart by big, clawed hands.

Red smacked his forehead and let out a groan. Just like he told Captain! Problems! With a big, capital P!

*The felur is a native animal of Sobr, a sort of mixture between a mountain lion and an antelope-like creature native of another planet. It's the only Sobr creature who has fur, so it's pelt is used to make winter clothing.

*Reference to the deleted footage in 'Abducted', where Zim's PAK would have saved his life as he fell towards a fire. As he was unconscious, the PAK-legs activate on their own and carry him to safety.

*I mentioned this before in 'The Smeet', but I headcannon that water from OTHER planets that are not Earth don't burn Irkens, since they're not as contaminated as Earth water.

*Another headcannon partly inspired from JV info: Irkens usually don't sleep because their PAKs have energy reserves that help them stay awake without any consequences, but they still need to slumber every now and then to their organic brains get to rest. Zim, of course, NEVER sleeps, and we know what happens when you don't. The Tallest often sleep because they have time to space on the Massive.

*I got this idea from Ranma 1/2, in which the amazon tribe Shampoo comes from follow this tradition. In their case, if a woman warrior is defeated by a man, she is obliged to marry him. It's basically the same in this case.

Next Chapter: As the monster attacks, an unexpected savior comes to the rescue. Meanwhile, the captives learn some information about their captors...