*insert dramatic music here* Look! On this page! It's a sparrow! It's a jet! NOPE! You're all STUPID and need to have your eyes checked! XDDDDD

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ZiM was pulled from the bickering of his Tallests with a slight shake from his former Fry Lord. Sizz Lorr looked down at the little hologram with something resembling sympathy, as the both of them, and everyone on the command deck, had been listening to the two of them squabble since ZiM had cut the feed off with Dib. Maybe… six hours? Too long for comfort.

ZiM growled softly, knowing that the argument was going to be fruitless and even listening to it was making him more and more psychotic. They were discussing the whereabouts of the smeet and where Reep might go. The name made ZiM's hardware spark angrily.

The Tallests suddenly turned to the little PAK, both intent on making him choose a side.

"Well?" yelled Purple, "Who's right?"

ZiM blinked, taken aback, "Uh, w-what now? Kinda zoned out after the first half hour."

Red threw up his arms, "Well, I think that Reep's going straight to that weird temple place where he tried to hurt the smeet the last time."

The hologram mulled the thought over, "True, finish what he started and all that horrible nonsense…"

"BUT," Purple interrupted, "he could be a little smarter than that and actually try something else! He's conniving, you know!"

ZiM growled, rolling his eyes and head to the side, "And I'm supposed to…?"

Red scratched an antenna, "You could pick who's right and stuff."

Sizz Lorr grumbled down to the little hologram a warning, "But that would also mean you'd be tickin' one of 'em off."

ZiM clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in disappointment, "Yep and wouldn't that be a shame?"

The Fry Lord chuckled deeply, smacking ZiM on the back roughly, who fell to the floor and got back up with a grumble. The PAK waved everyone off and stomped from the room, Sizz Lorr's laugh and the Tallests' hovering forms trailing after him.

"Hey… hey," Purple prodded, "hey, wait you're supposed to agree with one of us!"

Red poked the little hologram in the side, "Yeah, the smart one would be in your best interest."

Purple glared at his co-Tallest, "I'M the smart one!"

"No," Red jibed, "I'M the smart and the hot one."

ZiM did his best to ignore the two and entered an elevator, hoping they would wander off somewhere and bicker about who was the better Tallest without his input. They followed ZiM like mosquitoes following a host. The made the PAK very angry, but he pressed a random button on the elevator console.

"Going down," murmured the computer, "destination: kitchen and foods."

The Tallests stopped their quarrel for a moment to 'ooo' the level ZiM had chosen.

ZiM face-palmed himself in the face angrily, "Leave it to me to pick the level with… ffffffOOD on it," he looked up at the Tallests, "and with you two with me, no less."

Purple whimpered, "Yeah, getting some food might actually help settle this dispute and show who's smarter and more hot than the other."

Red laughed and shoved his friend playfully, "Sure, it could, because only a loser wouldn't see that I'm both a hundred times more than you are without food."

The hologram listened to the banter go back and forth for a minute before drowning it out with the thought of making Reep scream for mercy. Not just beg for it, scream for it. When ZiM's eyes opened again they had a fiery tint to them and were narrowed in an icy-hot glare at his unseen daydream.

The PAK was pulled from these amazingly tender and soothing thoughts when one of the Tallests bumped into him. The two were now in a catfight, scratching at each other with such unmanly fervor that ZiM could only raise a 'brow' at them in sickened amusement.

"… Well," the hologram muttered, "… this is very… ahh… I-I suppose it's um…"

Without finishing the thought, ZiM chuckled and shook his head, "You two are such smeets."

Red and Purple stopped their quarrel to glare at ZiM.

Red growled, "Well, if you would just pick me as the better Tallest-"

"Nuh uh!" Purple protested, shoving Red back, "He'll pick me! I was the one wanted to banish him in the first place which also gave him and the smeet a place to hide!"

ZiM whistled, smirking, "I don't know, my Tallest, that sounded pretty smart."

"That's not true!" yelled Red, "I was the one who said 'I'll handle this' and then pointed ZiM to the planet!"

"But you wouldn't have had anything if I hadn't put that post-it-note there!"

"That wasn't your post-it-note, that was the janitor's!"

"You just HAD to bring that up, didn't you?"

ZiM would have been more enthusiastic and delighted to watch the Tallests go back and forth with their meaningless tiff if he weren't so upset at the smeet's kidnapping and absence. It was nice that they were fighting at all, seeing as it was like a bad soap opera and both were complete morons. But the PAK needed some real alone time to think and plan out his next move. As fun and entertaining as the fight was, ZiM needed a real plan to find and get his smeet back.

The elevator doors opened with a ding and the smell of all kinds of foods wafted in. The hologram ignored it, knowing he had no use for the stuff, but the Tallests stopped their squabble, renewed with the smells of things that needed to be eaten.

"Hey," Purple started up again as ZiM walked out of the elevator, "hey, wait, you're supposed to pick a side now."

The two followed after him, Red poking at the little hologram, "Yeah, we've made our arguments, now you're supposed to pick."

ZiM wished to skin himself if he had skin in order to escape this torment. He came to a small gate, which separated the rest of the hallway from him.

Sizz Lorr was on the other side, "I was expecting you," he said gruffly as he opened the little gate for ZiM.

The PAK looked confused, but shrugged and walked in. The Tallests tried to follow, but Sizz Lorr stopped them.

"Sorry, my Tallests," the Fry Lord growled, "but this area is for staff only. ZiM's PAK is still encoded as a service drone, so he's allowed."

Sizz Lorr closed the little gate and walked behind ZiM. The Tallests pouted and hovered back and forth, trying to figure out how to get past the gate.

"Hey… hey wait, get back here," Purple said in frustration.

But ZiM and the Fry Lord had already left the two to whine and complain by themselves.

Sizz Lorr led the hologram to a large kitchen and offered him a seat on a tall bar stool, "Troubles?"

ZiM scoffed, sitting at a tall-standing counter, "My problems are the universe's problems right now. Since when could you care?"

The chef shrugged, taking out baking sheets already covered in dough and shoving them in an oven, "Personally, I wouldn't mind popping your sorry PAK in here with these cakes and such, but you're a lot stronger than previously thought."

"Yeah," ZiM muttered, "you might end up in there yourself."

Sizz Lorr growled, shutting the oven doors, "That and if I killed you, the Tallests would have to find a new guardian for the smeet."

The Fry Lord leaned back on the counter, watching the oven cook the innocence out of the cakes, "It's not a problem I'd like to face at the moment."

ZiM had to agree with him on that point, then scratched his head, "How did you get down here before me?"

Sizz Lorr shrugged, "Special elevator. Takes cooks straight down to the kitchens."

"Ahh," the hologram said, picking at the counter a bit, "… and the baby gate?"

The Fry Lord chuckled, "One of the Tallests' many weaknesses. Seems they can't invade the kitchen with a baby gate up."

ZiM tapped his holographic chin, "They don't just… hover over it?"

Sizz Lorr smirked, "Hasn't even crossed their minds."

"Huh," the PAK grunted.

ZiM sighed and let his face smack into the counter. Sizz Lorr glanced over slightly, a little more interested in the oven than the other Irk.

"… And these two are supposed to be the help ZiM gets? We're all going to die…"

The Fry Lord patted the PAK on the back, rather roughly, but enough to get the point across, "I wouldn't worry too much about it. That's why the thinking is left up to control brains," ZiM glared up at Sizz Lorr and the chef sighed, "which aren't too smart, either, but it's better than those two for a situation like this."

The hologram propped himself up on an arm, "With our luck, Reep will take what he wants from the smeet and decide not to destroy us."

"With our luck," Sizz Lorr mused, "he'll put us out of our misery and exempt us from his reign of terror."

ZiM chuckled in exhausted anger, "Wouldn't that be special?" he sighed, sitting up straighter, "But… what if…"

The Fry Lord looked down at him, "What if…?"

The PAK's gears started churning, thinking up a plan, "Well… we know that Reep's intent on taking the smeet's powers, wanting to use them for full domination of the Irken Empire and such."

Sizz Lorr reached across the counter and picked up a breadstick, chewing on it thoughtfully, "True, true, diabolical and stuff."

"But," ZiM continued, "a blockade could buy us some time to find and apprehend him. Surround that stupid little planet with every ship the armada has and prevent him from getting in there. If we don't pressure him or chase him, Reep will go straight to his destination and not realize the blockade is there waiting for him."

The chef smirked, "That actually sounds like a good idea. That little planet… Clavicle or whatever-"

"Clavictoo," ZiM corrected him.

"… Clavictoo," Sizz Lorr mimicked, "won't be too hard to guard. It's small and there's only one spot on the entire thing that actually has any worth."

The hologram nodded, "Exactly! … The only problem is the man power."

Sizz Lorr sat up a little straighter, "Where's the problem in that?"

ZiM sighed heavily, "If we keep all of the armada on Clavictoo, which would be the best thing, we'll need another group to go out and take out anyone who would try to help or support Reep."

The Fry Lord and the PAK stayed silent for a few minutes, not wanting to state the obvious. There was only one other group who would willingly assist the Irken Empire at the mere mention of both 'Eleven' and 'Reep' in the same sentence.

Sizz Lorr sighed, "The Tallests won't like this."

"ZiM knows that," the hologram grumbled, "but what other options do we have? ZiM would rather live than have nothing. Setting aside what we can to fix this problem will be the hardest part."

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A few minutes later, the Tallests reluctantly hailed a frequency they thought they'd never use again. It rang a few times before a Vortian suddenly picked up, looking a bit peeved.

"Who dares?" started the Vortian, adjusting his goggles, "Don't you know you're calling… the RESISTY?"

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… I really have to eat now… Like, now.