Author's Note's: Another flash back! Enjoy!

(142 Years ago…)

[Location: Zec, the Irken Military Training Planet!]

The academy…

Somehow the prince had imagined it bigger, and cleaner. Zim tried to resist the urge to turn his nose up in disgust. It wasn't easy. Since he was royalty, Zim was not use to living in such poor conditions, but he knew that he would have to adapt; after all this was his life now.

"Cadets fall in."

Zim was the first to respond to the loud booming voice that entered the small, and cramped living quarters that he and the rest of his unit of trainees shared. His fellow soldiers in training, (or cadets as they were called) each took their place in front of their makeshift beds, all standing in a row. There was at least 5 dozen of them, and they all shared this one small room together for the next four years!

"You are all without a doubt, the most worthless and pathetic excuses for soldiers that I have ever seen!" the voice continued.

Zim cringed slightly and tried his best to stand taller as his new Instructor; Sargent Tus, addressed them. He was tall as far as mix breeds go, with skin that looked more olive than green. His eyes strangely orange, his body clothed in a uniform reserved for only the Irken elite.

"But some way, somehow I will turn you all into soldiers worthy of the Irken Empire." Sargent Tus continued as he paced back and forth in front of the cadets.

Zim stiffens slightly as the Sargent stops in front of him.

"Now you are perhaps the most pathetic of the lot!" Sargent Tus yelled, practically spitting in Cadet Zim's face.

Zim did his best to fight the urge to slap him in the face... It wasn't easy! 'He is only treating you like this because he doesn't know who you really are.' Cadet Zim reminded himself. 'Remember this is what you wanted. You'll get his respect eventually, but this time it's not going to come easy; it has to be earned!'

"What is your name Cadet?!" Sargent Tus shouted.

"Sir Cadet Zim reporting for duty sir!" Zim answered respectively.

"Zim uh? Well tell me Zim have you always been this short?" Sargent Tus asked with a look of distasted plastered on his face.

'Resist the urge' Zim reminded himself. "Sir Yes Sir!" Zim shouted.

"Well you're going to have to work on that!" Sargent Tus shouted even louder. "Now all of you drop down in the push up position!"

Zim and the rest of his fellow cadets got down in the push up position; immediately at the ready. "Now you will all continue to do pushups and you will not stop until you drop from exhaustion. Do you hear me?!"

"Sir yes Sir!" Zim and the other cadets shouted as one.

"Begin!"

Zim began at a slow but steady pace; knowing all too well that this exercise was about endurance and not quantity. 'If Maz could see me now he'd surely laugh.' Zim shook away the thought. At least that was one good thing about him leaving; he didn't have to deal with stupid Maz ever again!

Zim was more than grateful and for good reason, Maz had always made his life miserable trying to prove to father that he was more deserving of the throne! 'Well Maz now the throne is all yours.' Zim thought as he continued his pushups. 'That is if you don't manage to ruin this for us.' That was perhaps his worse fear right now, his brother folding under the pressure.

'You better not!' Zim thought bitterly. 'Or you won't have to worry about father, because I'll kill you myself!'

(Back with Maz…)

[Location: Irk, the Royal Palace!]

He had never seen his father so furious than he was now! "WHERE IS HE?"

Maz couldn't help but flinch at his father's loud voice as he screamed at the group of soldiers before them. The soldiers in question were the members of the Royal guard, their sole purpose was to defend the lives of their leader and his sons.

They had failed miserably!

"You are supposed to be watching him!" Emperor Nax hissed at them in a fit of pure rage. How could they have let this happen? How could he have allowed his heir to vanish without a trace? In all honesty, Emperor Nax never thought his eldest son had the audacity to defy him. Would he argue with him? Yes; most definitely. But straight up disobey him? NEVER! To do so was completely out of Zim's character, or so he thought however, now it would seem he didn't know much about his son at all.

Maz bit his lip, he knew his father would have been yelling at him about all this, however he had already devised a plan; creating for himself a perfect alibi. It was simple really, Maz had typed up a letter claiming to be by Zim stating that he was leaving Irk. The letter talked about how Zim was tired of getting no respect from their father and was sick of living his life by their rules. So, he was running away and never coming back! With any luck their father would assume that Zim had ran off to the furthest galaxy away from the safety of Irk. Meaning he wouldn't go looking somewhere close like say Planet Zec!

Than Maz, knowing that Zim was leaving spent the whole day away from the palace. This way their father would know for sure that Zim never saw his brother before he left. This of course was exactly why Emperor Nax was screaming at the Royal guard, and not Maz. They had failed to notice Zim had slipped away and could be Irk knows where!

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY OF MY ENEMIES WOULD JUST LOVE TO GET THEIR HANDS ON THE FUTURE LEADER OF THIS EMPIRE?" Emperor Nax screamed.

The answer: All of them!

For a moment Maz was tempted to tell the truth, after all if their enemies did find out who Zim really was they could use him to negotiate a surrender! Something their father could never afford to do, for doing so would blemish the empire's feared reputation. Maz did his best to resist the urge, after all if Zim came back he'd never get the throne. No sooner or later Father would come to the conclusion that Zim was already dead, and then the kingdom would be his to rule one day.

"You will search the entire galaxy, the whole universe if you have to." Emperor Nax ordered. "No one will rest until he is found!"

Maz gulped fearfully as the soldiers raced off to fulfill the order! If they found him Zim would kill him! And if they never found him, and Emperor Nax somehow discovered this was all Maz's doing…well then his father would kill him! Maz shivered at the realization, and honestly, he couldn't figure out which death would be worse!

Chapter End Notes

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