Chapter One

Discovery

I don't own IZ. If I did, I wouldn't be here. Just read it already.

The noise that was coming from deep behind a wall hidden within the control room wasn't like anything the Tallest had ever heard before.

A horrible, high-pitched screeching noise, mixed with the muffled sound of cracking glass.

The two Tallest had been having a nice conversation about a recent accomplishment in defeating an armed planet with a military almost a fourth of their size.

"And then they were all like, 'Oh, please don't kill us and take our planetary popcorn makers! We SURRENDER!'" cackled Red.

Purple had been the first to note it though, for his antennae were just that much more sensitive to those kind of sounds. His head snapped up, the slick black stalks twitching nervously.

"Pur?" Red asked, confused by his partner's strange behavior.

"Ssssssshhhh…" shushed the purple Tallest as he rose from his bean bag chair. He glided over to the open door leading to the control room of the Massive, where the noise was stronger. The Irken slid noiselessly inside.

Red followed quickly behind as Purple made his way around the room, flashing from one panel wall to another. The red Tallest struggled to keep up with the surprising bursts of speed. Purple hadn't moved this fast since the last donut sale on Planet Glaxiet.

Suddenly, he crashed into something, causing him to topple backwards.

"Hey," he yelped, shooting a glare at his partner. "What's your problem, Pur?!"

The purple Tallest had come to a sharp halt in front of the very back panel wall, the one that hadn't been used since the previous Tallest Miyuki and Tallest Spork had been in Elite Soldier training.

That's when he heard it too. A noise that seemed to vibrate behind the wall, almost like it was transmitting through water. Getting in to his feet (more or less, I mean, his hover device was still in use) he stood next to Purple, antennae twitching wildly.

"What is that?" he whispered.

The noise rang out again, this time louder, and more desperate.

"I dunno, but I'm gonna find out."

With that, Purple lunged forward, physically ripping a useless control panel from the wall. Red drew back in surprise with a yelp, watching as his partner tore a hole through the old wall with ease.

Within ten minutes, the Tallest had torn down over half of the wall, and hadn't broken so much as a single sweat.

"Wow."

"I know. I think I pulled something."

The Tallest flinched as a piercing wail sliced through the air, their antennae flattening against their heads. Now that the wall had been 'removed', the sound was loud and clear. Floating over bits of control panel wall, the tall Irkens glided into the dark, hidden room.

"I can't see dookie in here!" Purple groaned. A clang was heard, followed by a stream of Irken curses.

Red chuckled. "Use your PAK light, stupid."

"Oh, heh, yeah…" came the reply.

Right as the red Tallest flicked his PAK light on, Purple did the same. The two Tallest were face to face, eyes almost touching. They screamed, backing away from each other in a wave of panic.

"Holy Crap!" gasped Red, hand over his now pounding cardiac-spooch.

"Red!" cried Purple. "RED COME OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Calming himself down, the red Tallest made his way over to his partner.

"What?!"

"Look at this!" Purple pointed.

Directly in front of the two Irkens was a… something, covered by a very expensive looking curtain that was draped over the… thing, and whatever was underneath was pulsing with green energy. Their attention was currently focused on the cloth on top of the object. At least, Red's was.

Running his fingers over the patterns in the fabric, he remembered a history lesson from over 80 years ago. The Starlinks, the very first rulers of the mighty Irken Empire, a royal monarch family, had used a specific traditional pattern in the fabric of objects like rugs and…curtains. Another revelation came to him as he remembered what had been woven into the threads of cloth…

"Is this Irken Gold?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper as he traced the shining lines.

Just then, the glowing object underneath the cloth wailed, and shook violently. Red reeled backwards in a frenzy of surprise. Purple tore the ancient curtain away, revealing…

"Sweet Irken Testing Tubes!" they gasped.

In fact, what loomed before them was a testing tube, or, at least, a preserving tube. It was filled with a thick glowing green preserving jam-like liquid. Floating in the liquid was a tiny male Irken smeet, or something that resembled one. He wore a rather tattered uniform outfit, though, the designs were different. A single line went down the front, and three leave-like lines came across like V's. The neck was a diamond shape, and the cuffs of his shirt were rather curved triangles. The striped sleeves ran down his thin arms, ending at his wrists, a pointed cut. His antennae were a little too long, waving in the liquid like weeds. The smeet's eyes were huge, only getting bigger as he cried out at them, pounding his little fists against the thick glass with an unnatural amount of strength for someone his size.

He smashed his hands against the glass again, and hairline cracks began to form.

The Tallest had focused their attention not on his strength, though, but the extra set of limbs that where sticking out from his back.

A set of large wings drifted in the preserving jam-liquid, three separate sections of thin, slick, glassy skin-like tissue. Each section of the appendage was smaller than the one above it.

"Impossible!" hollered Red in shock.

As if on instinct, the purple Tallest took hold of the biggest, heaviest object within his reach his reach, and swung it at the glass tube. The surface instantly shattered, sending a wave of liquid, and a winged smeet, crashing towards them. Red managed to stay upright, snatching the little Irken into his grasp. The jam-like liquid stuck to them like real jam, and smelled like it, too. Sparks began to fly from the hover devices at their feet, and the Tallest crashed to the ground.

Well, at least the one left standing.

"Uuugh." groaned Purple, sticking out his serpentine tongue. "I think it's in my mouth."

Wading over to his partner, the Irken bent down, and studied the winged smeet in Red's arms.

"Is this what I think it is."

It wasn't a question, but it didn't seem like a statement either.

A memory resurfaced from deep within their PAK storage, similar to the previous one from history class many years ago.

"The Starlinks were a rather large family, consisting of four Irken birthed/bread siblings, and two mating parental units." droned the education unit from the board.

One brave soldier raised his hand. "I thought breeding was illegal!" he remarked hotly. His friends snickered behind him.

The education unit was less than impressed.

"Those were different times, Denerik." He grunted. "I'm sure you can understand that when someone rules an empire, they have rights to just about anything."

Facing the board again, he continued, "The siblings were two female smeets and two male smeets. The two parental units were obviously male and female, and I would hope that I won't have to explain again how that works."

The Irken continued to drone. "The Monarch family was rather easily separated from a normal citizen. Each member had their own unique set of wings that sprouted from their backs."

"How was their any room for their PAK?" called a female soldier.

"They Starlinks didn't need a PAK to survive."

There was a collective gasp that recollected from all sides of the room.

"… no PAK…"

"…would die within…"

"…ten minutes to live…"

"…impossible…"

The education unit scoffed. "Yes, yes, it's quite shocking. Anyways…"

The memory faded, and the Tallest stared down at the barely conscious smeet in Red's arms. His wings twitched weakly as he struggled to find the strength to fold them into the large shell on his back that hung halfway open.

Red ran a finger down the side of the shell. It was hard, like a PAK, but bigger, and sleeker. A single thick strip of color made an upside-down V on the surface.

"I thought they were all dead." Purple rasped.

Red grunted. "You know what'll happen if someone finds out he's still alive"

"But we can lose the empire to someone so short!"

"Then there's only one thing we can do." Red snapped. From within his PAK a single metal leg PAK leg slid out and aimed near the winged smeet's temple. It pulled back, poised to strike…

"NOO!" Purple screeched, wrenching the smeet from his partner's grasp.

"What the HELL, Pur?!" yelped Red, staring at the purple Tallest in disbelief. "Do you wanna lose your title as Tallest?!"

"Do you wanna be DEACTIVATED?!" he roared back. "Killing a Starlink is a crime worthy of DEACTIVATION, stupid!"

Red stared back.

Purple was frantic, rocking the little Irken. "W-we'll keep him hidden, we won't let him go anywhere. He'll have to live in lies, but hey, no dead body and no deactivation, right?"

"Fine!" Red groaned. "Fine. At least make sure he's still alive."

Getting to his feet, Red made his way to next to Purple, and the two hunched over the tiny winged Irken in the purple Tallest arms.

"Hey." Red poked him in the cheek. "Hey, are you dead?"

The smeet groaned.

"Wake up if you can here my voice." Purple said softly.

"Uuuuhh… mmuuu-uuh."

The smeet managed to crack his eyes open just wide enough for the Tallest to see the bright magenta hue of them. He coughed.

"…wh-who are y-you…" he choked out.

The winged Irken fell into a fit of coughing. The Tallest glanced at each other.

"What is your name, soldier?" Red inquired.

"…n-name?"

"What is your name?" the red Tallest asked again.

"M-my name i-is Z-z-z-…" the smeet coughed again.

"Z-z-z-zii-" Cough. "Z-z-ziii…"

"Spit it out, soldier!"

"I-I-I am Z-zim!…" and with that, the tiny Irken passed out, and went limp in Purple's arms.

"Zim." said Red shortly. Purple shrugged.

He began to walk to the hole in the wall.

"I'll go clean him up."

He stopped, sniffing his own arm, and lurching back in disgust.

"I'll clean up myself while I'm at it, too."

"Zim," Red repeated. "Zim. Computer, what does Zim mean in our language?"

Zim: Warrior of Stars, Conqueror of Worlds

A/N: Heeeeeeyyyy! Ok, so first IZ story, kinda new at this so don't eat me alive or nuthin. It is an AU story, things are definitely gonna be different. I know that the description of Zim's outfit is a little hard to picture, soooo I'm gonna post some sketches of what he looks like on my tumblr, wings and all. Skylight346

Review!