I paused outside the tree line and sniffed the wind. "It's going to rain soon..."

"Yeah," Zim took my hand, "they better be here, I'm missing Chemistry for this..."

I chuckled and hugged him. "I'm sorry, we'll go tomorrow."

"Promise?" He hugged me back.

"Promise."

He smiled down at me and kissed my forehead.

"Aww! You two are together!"

Somebody plowed into me and knocked me away from Zim.

The person revealed herself as Pic.

"Pic!" I gave her a tight squeeze.

She did the same.

"Come on, let's go into the forest!"

"'Kay! Dakky! Come on!" She let go and ran over to tightly grasp Dak's hand.

He chuckled. "Pic, slow down..."

Pic looked down at the ground. "Sorry Dakky, I'm just sooo excited!"

Dak squeezed her hand and smiled. "It's okay, I understand."

Pic looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks Dakky..." She leaned in and pecked his cheek, making him blush.

It took me a moment to realize I had my mouth hanging open like an idiot. I instantly closed it. "You- You're a-?" I burst out into laughter. "Oh, Irk..." I whipped a tear from my eye. "I never knew you had it in your Dak!" Getting a grip on myself, I regained my breath. "Wow, I'd never thought I'd see the day."

Zim narrowed an eye. "It's not that much different from us though is it?"

I shrugged. "But, Zim-honey, I always knew you had heart. As for 'Mr. Dakky' over there, he was a soulless as they come."

"Hey! I'm not soulless!"

"Yeah! He's not soulless!" Pic added.

"I didn't mean it like that!" I put my hands up in front of myself.

Anyway, didn't we come here to figure out things, not fight?" Zim inputted, gripping my shoulders.

"Yeah, you're right." I relaxed my shoulders. "Come on; let's go into the woods before somebody sees us."

The two Elites nodded and followed me into the brush.

We quickly came to a small clearing with long, yellow grass. "This looks good!" I deactivated my holo-gram, as did Zim. "So first things first, you guys are here to kill us right?"

"Well, that's the orders..." Dak confirmed.

"But we couldn't possibly do that!" Pic looked up a Dak. "Right?"

"Why exactly are you wanted dead?" Dak narrowed his eyes.

"For being in love!" I crossed my arms. "This means if you go back, you'll be killed too. Zim and I are planning to overthrow the Empire and re-shape it into something better. You are free to join us if you like."

Dak nodded. "The Armada's been against love ever Tallest Mir. She saw it as a weakness and it was believed to be to this day."

"Yes, I remember reading that. It was about 600 years ago and she reigned for about 150 of those years." Zim cut in.

"The only one that didn't was Tallest Miyuki!" I smiled.

"How would you know? You were only a mere smeet in her reign." Dak disagreed.

I scowled. "Because I happened to be quite close to her!"

"You were friends with a Tallest?"

"...not friends..."

"Then what?"

"I'm her daughter, my real name is Amelia. I'm as close to her as you could possibly get..."

"Then why didn't you grow up in the royal estate?"

"Because I wasn't supposed to be born. My father was an Elite, an Advanced Elite, his name was Zeth, he was of low rank in the family the Royal family, but he was the best marksman ever. My mother loved him so much, and he returned the affection. So after awhile, I was born. However, my parents weren't supposed to be together, they had assigned mates. My father took all the blame and he was scheduled for execution. He escaped though, and to this day, no one knows what happened to him. So I only have a moment's memory of him. It's sad really."

"Oh... well, that explains a lot."

I huffed. "So, in any case, you can't go back, they'll kill you for sure. Your only chance is to stay with us!"

Dak nodded. "Pic?"

"If being in love with you means having to fight for it, I'm staying too!"

I nodded. "Okay, in any case, we need to get back to the base, it's about to rain."

"Rain?" Dak narrowed an eye in confusion.

"H2O droplets that fall from the sky. It's very acidic to our skin." Zim chimed in.

"Sounds convincing enough, let's go."

"'Kay, follow me." I turned on my holo-gram and began to walk back the way we came.

Pic and Dak turned invisible once again and Zim turned on his disguise as well, coming to walk beside me.

"What are we going to down for a plan? The one I came up with won't work now."

"What are you talking about, you never had a plan!"

"Point taken."

I chuckled, clinging to his arm.

"Well, we could always just blow up the Massive." Zim's eyes danced with joy.

"No, no... That wouldn't solve anything... maybe if we beat the Tallest in a fight to the death, we could gain the position that way."

"What if they want one on one? You can't kill them."

"Ahhh... but there's more... even though we aren't blowing the ship up, we will still plant bombs in the engines and the snack pods. We can use that as ransom."

Zim nodded. "Sounds good." He freed his arm and wrapped it around me, smiling.

A hiss was heard behind us, followed by a droplet on my face. I gasped. "Oh no, it's raining!" I turned around and saw Dak and Pic's cloaking faulted as the rain started up. I grimaced, taking Zim's hand and reached out for Dak's. "Pic! Grab Dak's hand!" She instantly did so as I grabbed his other hand. No sooner had we touch, we appeared in the house. "Lola! Grab towels!"

A few seconds later, Lola sped out of the kitchen, holding a pile of towels that covered her face.

I took them from her and handed them to Dak and Pic. "Thanks Lola!" I turned to the two former Elites. "Are you guys alright?"

""Oww... it stings..." Pic was quickly drying herself off.

Dak was toweling off his antenna when he spoke. "Yeah, I'm fine..." He hissed as he came to the base of one.

"Oh really now?" I strode up to him and took a look. A small portion of the base was a lighter shade of green than the rest of his antenna, indicating the burn. "Lola, I hate to bother you again, but could you fetch me the ointment and some bandages?"

"Yes ma'am!" Lola ran into the kitchen.

I sat Dak down on the couch and turned to Zim. "Could you take care of Dak and get him some dry clothes?"

"Sure!" Zim nodded. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find Pic some dry clothes and treat any burns she may have."

He nodded.

"Oh, and bring me the ointment when you're done."

"Will do."

"Thanks." I turned to Pic who was looking fearfully out the window. "Come on Pic."

She glanced at me and followed.

I put my hand on her shoulder and we were in my room. "Sky? Are you in here?"

"Mela?" Sky walked out of a room clothed in a long-sleeved, black dress with a deep reddish-purple tank-top pulled over it that displayed our Resistance Symbol. Her sleeves were tucked into black elbow length gloves. She also wore a pair of black knee-high boots.

"Wow Sky! Our uniform looks good on you!"

"Thanks!" She smiled cheerily. "And who might this be?"

"This is Pic. She and her mate are joining us!"

"Fantastic, nice to meet you Pic! I'm Sky!" She paced over to us and offered her hand to Pic.

Pic shook it lightly and smiled. "Nice to meet you too Sky! Wait! Aren't you supposed to be the heir to the Tallest's throne?"

"Was. Besides, I really don't want to rule a nation as big as ours. That and I think Mela would make a better Queen."

Pic nodded as I smiled.

"Well, it seems you two are getting along, that's good! Now, let's get you some dry clothes!" I flitted over to my dresser and I opened a drawer. Shuffling through my clothes, I pulled out a light green tank top and a grey pletted skirt. I closed that drawer and opened another, pulling out a pair of black leggings and boots. Closing the drawer, I stood up and folded the clothes into a neat bundle. "Here, you can go change in that room over there." I pointed to the room Sky came out of.

"Okay, I'll be right back." She disappeared inside.

A knock sounded on the door.

"Come in!"

It swished open to reveal Zim ad Dak who was wearing a red tank top and black pants that were tucked into black boots. A bandage also wound around his right antenna.

"Hey, that was fast!" I commented as they entered.

Zim handed me the bandages and ointment. "Well, we weren't trained for being lazy, that's for sure!"

I smiled and pecked him on the cheek. "Thanks."

He smiled. "You're welcome."

"Where's Pic?" Dak questioned.

"She's changing." I answered.

He nodded.

"Oh! Dak, this is Sky!" I gestured towards her.

"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Sky offered her hand to him.

He shook it firmly. "The pleasures all mine." Dak smiled slightly. Then he looked towards the door to the other room.

I turned to see Pic standing in the doorway looking at us with this cute, unsure look.

"Pic, you look..." His voice trailed off.

"Uh-oh, uh, is it too much?" She strode up to us.

"N-No, no, not at all, it's just..."

Pic blushed. "Just what?"

"Uh... you look so..." He paused, searching for the right word. "Cute!" Dak pulled her into a hug and twirled around with her.

My jaw unhinged. I never thought I'd see the day where Dak would gush over something. Especially a female in cute clothing.

"Gee, you really think so?" Pic's eyes sparkled.

Dak nodded. "I know so!"

Pic grinned widely, showing all her teeth. "Thanks Dakky!"