Chapter Three
Breaking Rules
A/N: Ok, you know the drill. I don't own IZ, you know it, I know it, get outta here
The next morning, the Tallest were scheduled to leave at 13:50 P.K. Irken time.
That's decently early according to Irken time.
Zim was wide awake for breakfast, as usual. He dashed around the kitchen of their cabin, fetching bowls, cups, and other early morning food materials.
He set a large purple bowl of cereal in front of Tallest Purple.
"A bowl for Pur!"
A red bowl in front of Tallest Red.
"A bowl for Red!"
The two taller Irkens watched as the tiny winged one strutted over to his seat at the table, his magenta bowl balanced in between his antennae on his head.
"And finally, a bowl for me! Zim! The all-amazing-you-wish-you-were-me, ZIM!"
He reached up, pulled it off of his head, and set it on the table before him.
Red rolled his eyes. "All hail."
"Praise be." Purple added.
Zim grinned, standing up on the table. "Thank you, thank you!" he bowed towards them.
Red groaned. A mechanical arm stretched out from his PAK, wrapped around the little Irken's middle, and plopped him back into his seat.
A seat that had been raised completely, and was still not completely tall enough for him.
Zim frowned, but began to munch on his cereal anyways. "Hmmph."
Purple shoved a spoonful of the stuff into his mouth. "Now-munch-Zim, we'll-munch-crunch-munch- be gone-munch-munch." The rest of his words were sprayed across the table with his food. Red smacked the back of his head with the metal arm.
"Disgusting." He brushed a few crumbs off of his shoulder. "Swallow your food first, slob."
Purple scowled, swallowing his mouthful with a loud gulp. "Well, as I was saying," he continued, looking back over at Zim. "Red and I are going to be gone for the entire day, until tomorrow."
CLANG.
Zim dropped his spoon on the linoleum floor. His bright eyes were huge.
Red narrowed his own eyes at the now dirty utensil. "Really."
"Th-the whole day? "
The Tallest nodded. "All day long." Red answered.
Zim slammed his hands down on the table. "Are you SERIOUS!"
"Dead serious."
The winged Irken grinned madly. "Awesome. "
Red sighed. "You know the rules, Zim."
"And you know what happens when you break them." Purple added.
Zim waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, I know."
"We'll be back tomorrow, "Red stated. "Nothing will change. You will still do your chores, go to sleep at bedtime, keep out of our room… "
"And most importantly, you will stay inside the cabin!" Purple interrupted. The red Tallest nodded in agreement.
"Exactly."
Zim sighed sadly. "Yes, sirs."
Stupid rules.
Zim watched from the window as the Reserve Voot took off into space. He smushed his face up against the glass as he strained to see the now disappearing luxury ship.
"Tomorrow …"
"I WANT SOME WAAAAAAAFLES!"
The little Irken spun around, his wings flared in shock. The little SIR (or GIR, Zim hadn't decided yet) unit was prancing around with a lampshade stuck on his metal head.
The lampshade from his bedside lamp that sat on his nightstand.
"Gir!" Zim yelped, running over. He gripped the top of the lampshade with his little clawed hands, put a foot on the robot's back for leverage, and tugged. Yanking it free from Gir's head, the force Zim was using backfired on him, and sent him sprawling backwards onto the carpeted floor.
"What the heck, Gir!" the winged Irken squeaked up at him from the floor.
Gir grinned widely, running over with his arms wildly waving in the air. "Mastah, I'm hungry!" he screeched.
Zim rubbed his left antennae; Gir had yelled right into it. "You're a robot! You can't get hungry."
He stopped, glancing over at the lampshade, now bent out of shape and ripped. "Wait a minute," he said, getting to his feet. "I thought I locked you in my closet after you fell asleep last night!"
The robot rolled around on the floor, laughing. "The blue pickled turkey let me out!"
"T-turkey?"
Zim looked at Gir, or rather, the place Gir had been laying, in confusion. His bright magenta eyes widened. "Gir?" he snapped his head around the room, looking for the insane android.
"IMMA MAKE US SOME BREAKFAST, M'KAY?"
Zim's wings and antennae dropped. He was in the kitchen.
Oh no…
The tiny Irken rushed to the room. He stood in the doorway, an unbelievable amount of horror splayed across his face. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" he screeched, wings humming.
The kitchen was a mess. Pots were strewn out everywhere, plates broken, chairs overturned, smoke swirling up to the ceiling, and something brown and sticky was splattered on every wall.
And there was Gir, sitting on an (luckily) upright table in the middle of the mess, munching on… something happily.
"Hiya, master!" he waved, holding out whatever he had been eating. "Want some?"
Zim stomped over, smacking the food out of the little robot's hand.
"No, I don't want any, Gir! Look at the mess you've made!"
Gir looked around, his big blue eyes taking in everything. "Oh yeah…"
Zim groaned, smacking his hand against his forehead. "Great," he grumbled. "Red and Pur are gonna skin me alive!" his wings slid out of their shell, spreading and twitching anxiously.
Gir's eyes became huge as the slick appendages moved. He reached over and began to stroke the glassy skin, completely mesmerized.
"…then they're gonna rip out my eyes, and pull out my squeedily-spooch and-"
Zim stopped mid-rant, feeling something run across the surface of his sensitive wings. He shuddered at the touch, looking down to see where it was coming from.
"Gir, w-what are you doing?"
The little robot didn't look up. "Are you a fairy?" he asked, voice hushed.
Zim trembled slightly as Gir ran a metal finger across one of the patterns in his veins. "W-what's a f-fairy?"
Just as the little Irken spoke those words, his wings to fluttered violently, sending the little SIR unit to the floor. The action was so sudden, neither of the two had any time to react.
"Gir, oh my Tallest, I-I'm sorry, I-"
"Weee! Let's do that again!" the robot giggled.
Zim let out of a huff of relief. "At least you're okay." He said, looking around the messy room. "Pur says there's no use crying over spilled soda, even if somebody's done something wrong. But I guess you didn't mean it, so…"
He looked back over to where Gir was laying, only to find that the robot had dashed away.
Again.
Fortunately for him, with Gir being the messy little thing he was, had left a trail of food footprints behind.
Zim pricked up is antennae, listening intently. A faint noise of what almost sounded like springs creaked in his thick stalks. Here I come.
Following the food-prints and creaky noises, Zim wound his was through the entire cabin, only stopping at a single multicolored door. It was open just a crack, but sure enough, all evidence lead to the other side.
"Red and Pur's room?!" His wings buzzed.
Slowly, nervously, and shakily, the winged Irken pushed the door open completely, and stepped inside.
The room was almost unfamiliar to him; he hadn't been in here for over 40 years. The room was split into two sides, one painted red, and the other purple. The recharge tubes stood side by side, on the inside of the huge beds that were almost never used.
And, of course, jumping on the purple bed, was Gir.
"Look at meeee!" he cried, flying through the air. "Imma birdie!"
"GIR! ARE YOU INSANE!?"
Zim flailed his arms around, struggling to get the robot's attention. He jumped up and down, screamed as loud as his lungs would let him, flittered his wings harshly, and even shook the bed.
Nothing worked.
An idea formed in the tiny Irken's head, and he nearly tripped over himself as he scrambled towards the red-schemed bed opposite of the purple one. Clawing at the sheets, Zim still had to use his shimmering appendages to boost him onto the bed.
He landed face first on the crimson sheets with an "Oomph!"
Quickly, he set to work, bouncing with all his might. "Gir!" he called, with each bounce. "Gir,"
"C'mon,"
Jump.
"We're,"
Jump.
"Not,"
Jump.
"Suppose,"
Jump.
"To,"
Jump.
"Be,"
Jump.
"In,"
Jump.
"Here!"
Gir glanced over, smiling widely. "Lookit, Mastah! You're flyin' too!"
Zim did look, in fact, he took his time looking. He was jumping up and down with such force, that he was just about two Irken feet below the ceiling.
The cieling was 15 Irken feet high.
"I-I am!" he grinned. "Gir, I am flying!"
The little SIR giggled happily, doing a flip before plummeting to the bed once again. The two laughed loudly as they jumped up and down on the spring-filled beds, challenging each other to go higher.
After what felt like hours, they finally flopped down on the now messy sheets, before rolling onto the floor, breathless.
"That," Zim huffed. "Was awesome."
Gir nodded, chuckling madly. Almost immediately, he was on his feet again, sprinting out of the room. "Come and GET ME!" he screeched.
The winged Irken pushed himself to his feet, eyes following the blue-eyed robot. "No, wait, Gir!" he called, but the Sir unit was already gone.
"Dookie."
He ran out the door, just managing to catch a glimpse of silver and blue slip out of sight behind the corner of the hallway. Suddenly, Gir was there, tugging on his hand. "Come with me, Mastah! I found the taco stand!" he said, dragging Zim down the corridor with him to the Cabin exit.
Zim's eyes grew huge as he tried to fight against the robot's vice grip on his hand.
"No, Gir! I can't leave! I'm not suppose to! I've never left the Cabin in my entire life! And what's a TACO?"
Gir didn't answer, only pushed the door open. Zim was greeted with a blast of cool air, new scents and different colors. Pulling the winged Irken out onto a huge balcony, the robot finally released him, and climbed the barred railing.
"Lookit! LOOKIT!" he pointed at something below them. "There's tacos down there!"
Zim backed away from the edge, pressing his wing shell against the door behind him.
"O-oh Irk, t-this is bad, this is v-very bad…"
"C'mon, Mastah!" Gir called, waving his hand in the air, "Come look!"
Zim tried to stutter something, but nothing came out but a squeak. Trembling, the winged Irken stumbled over, large magenta eyes taking in the sight before him.
"H-holy Irk…"
The balcony was at least 300 Irken feet in the air. An entire planet seemed to be living below them. Stands of food, living quarters, businesses, completely oblivious of the two figures above them. Thousands upon thousands of Irkens strolled along mindlessly down busy streets. Many different shapes, sizes, and eye colors, but none of them had wings, Zim noticed.
His fear was replaced with curiosity and wonder almost instantly. "Wow," he said, shifting his weight against the railing. "I never knew all this even existed." His wings buzzed excitedly as his eyes moved with the scene below him, antennae perked forward.
Gir clasped his little metal hand down around Zim's thin wrist, starting up his booster-rockets in his feet, climbing onto the top bar of the railing. "Let's go get some burritos, Mastah!" he cheered.
Zim's head snapped up, eyes dilating. "What?"
He never got an answer. The little SIR unit was already taking off into the air, bringing the tiny Irken with him. Zim screamed like he'd never screamed before in his life.
They soared over the city-like community, which was much larger than it had looked from the safety of the balcony. That fact made Zim feel like he was going to be sick. He scrambled for a better grip on the robot, feet dangling.
"GIR, DON'T YOU DARE DROP ME!"
As if on queue, the boosters in his feet began to short out.
"Uh-oh! No more tuna!" Gir said, looking down at his feet.
The rockets completely stopped working, and for a brief second, a thought crossed Zim's mind.
I never did put any fuel in his tank, did I? And what's tuna?!
And with that they plummeted to the ground below, screaming louder that anyone could think possible.
A/N: Mwahahahaha! Cliffhanger! Aren't I horrible?! I'm TERRIBLE! MWAHAHAHAHAHAH- hack-cough-cough. Ok, so I've had someone ask me if Zim was a fairy. Sadly, no, but he does look like one, doesn't he? Irkens kinda look like bugs, so I thought, "Hey, let's give him a pair of buggy/fairy wings, see what happens!" Again, sorry for the long wait. This chapter took so much longer than I thought it would.
Please review! I'm feelin' the love so far!