Fanfic / The Smeet Series

The Smeet Series is a series of fanfics written by ladyanaconda based off the 2001 animated series Invader Zim. It follows the adventures of Ilk, biological daughter of Almighty Tallest Red.

Works in this series:

• The Smeet: Though the rather old-fashioned practice of reproducing biologically and raising the smeets by hand is often considered retrograde and unorthodox, a small percent of the Irken population still did it. Not all Irkens possess the long-run patience to go through this, however. At least Red thought he didn't.
• Lost: It's been four years since there was an attempt on her life. Ilk, only child of Tallest Red, has been captured by the Sobrekt along with the new doctor, Lena. The Tallest form a rescue party and try to rescue them. But both parties crash-land and become stranded on a seemingly isolated planet. To make it out alive they will have to work together.
• Indokani: A few years after the adventure on Hoth, the Tallest attend Ilk and Blue's wedding on Sobr, the sobrekt homeworld. When Skoodge and Bob lose the Massive on a bet, their only hope is for Purple's indokuro to win in an upcoming fight tournament... if he can survive it, that is.
• Pre-Parental Panic: Oneshot. Lena is taken hostage by Vortians just when her water breaks. It's up to Red and Purple to do something about it.
• Vindictive: As they pay a visit to Zim on Earth, Ilk and the Raptor Squad must face their personal demons while an old adversary of Red and Purple's past returns and threatens to destroy everything they care about.

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This series provides examples of:

Series-wide tropes

• AB Negative: Red and Lena share the same, rare blood type, enabling Red to save her life via blood transfusion on the Ibris in Lost.
• A Boy and His X:
  • Blue and Fury.
  • Purple and Cheesecake.
• Action Dad: Red. When Ilk is in danger, he will spring into action to ensure her safety.
• Action Girl: Ilk and Echo.
• Action Pet: Fury is trained to aid Blue in combat and take down enemies fast. He only shows his gentler side when around people he trusts.
• Affectionate Nickname: Zim and GIR refer to Ilk as "Ilk-Smeet" and "Ilkie" respectively. Red also refers to his daughter as "sweetie" sometimes.
• Alien Animals: The sobrekt and kryvtors are alien crocodiles and velociraptors, respectively.
• Alien Blood: Irkens have pink blood, and Sobrekt violet.
• Aliens Speaking English: All characters in the series are portrayed as speaking English.
  • In Lost, it is implied that the Sobrekt's actual language composes of crocodile-like sounds (for the croc variety) and shrieks and chirps (raptor variety), as Dib only hears the latter sounds from the Raptor Squad, as he doesn't have a universal translator like the Irkens.
• Animal Anthropomorphism Tropes: The Sobrekt and Kryvtors are basically anthropomorphic crocodiles and velociraptors respectively.
• Animal Assassin: Indokuros.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Sobrekt culture in general.
• Attack Animal: Indokuros and the majority of Sobrekt genetic hybrids.
• Bad Boss: Red and Purple are still portrayed as being jerks to their underlings unless they're tall (as Doctor Lena and Invader Larb can testify).
• Best Friend: Red and Purple.
• Big Eater: Red and Purple are still portrayed as avid eaters who snack at every chance they can.
  • In Lost, Purple is shown to go through a sort of abstinence syndrome when he goes without donuts for too long.
  • Additionally, Captain and the Raptor Squad require a considerably big amount of food in a cold environment because, as a cold-blooded species, they require more energy thanks to the lack of warmth.
• Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Played with in the Sobrekt species. The main branch is identical in both sexes, with males being only slightly biger. On the other hand, male kryvtors have feather crests on their heads and the tips of their tails while females don't.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Red claims this is the case with Purple. In the Academy, Purple was known to be very smart and had vast knowledge, but their current lifestyle has rusted his skills and dulled his once-sharp senses.
• Brutal Honesty: Captain is not afraid to voice his opinion, and he certainly will not sugarcoat it.
• Buffy Speak: Red is still unarticulate.
• Civilized Animal: The Sobrekt and their smaller cousins, the Kryvtors, evolved from animals into a sentient culture of their own. They still retain their animalistic looks and certain habits, particularly their fierce nature and carnivorous diet.
• Code Name: It's revealed in Indokani that 'Red' and 'Purple' are not the Tallest's real names, but code names given to them by the Control Brains when they were inaugurated for security reasons.
• Cool Starship: The Ibris, the Raptor Squad's ship.
• Cool Uncle: Purple. Though not blood-related to Red, he's still referred to as Ilk's uncle, and he certainly enjoys the title of "favorite uncle".
• Character Development: Each installment features at least one character going through this.
  • In The Smeet, Red and Purple become accustomed to the presence of a newborn smeet, and the former matures emotionally as he grows attached to his new daughter.
  • In Lost, Red comes to terms with the fact that he cannot protect Ilk forever and that he will eventually have to let her forge her own path even if it hurts to let her go. Additionally, he becomes romantically involved with Doctor Lena.
  • In Indokani, Purple learns that sometimes when you love something, you have to let it go, while learning more responsibility after having to cope with the experience of having to carry the Massive's recovery on his shoulders alone.
• Character Shilling: Subverted. The Sobrekt admire Zim blindly, but he actually has earned his reputation of Hitorken (one-Irken Army) Zim with all the things he's inadvertently done to screw the Irken Empire up.
• Childhood Friends: Red and Purple have literally known each other since birth.
• Cross-Cultural Handshake: Sobrekt use their tails instead of their hands for this, as it's the only part of their bodies they will let others touch, given that physical touch and proximity is reserved for lovers or family members.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Partly-subverted in both Red and Purple.
  • While still somewhat lazy, Red is portrayed as the more responsible of the two Tallest, and is often the one everyone looks to when there's trouble.
  • Purple, on the other hand, is shown to be actually very smart when he wants to. It's mentioned in ''The Smeet' that he once fixed an oven in less time than the average worker just to get his doughnut production back on track as soon as possible.
  • Unfortunately, both are way rusted due to years of just lounging and snacking.
• Daddy's Girl: Ilk was very close to Red ever since she was a smeet. Due to the absence of her birth mother, she was particularly clingy to him. Red likewise adores his daughter.
• Defeat Means Respect: In Sobrekt culture, whoever can defeat you is worthy of your respect, and a potential mate.
• Disappeared Dad: Blue never met his father, as he left on a potentially suicidal mission when he was a hatchling, alongside his grandfather. In Lost, it is revealed that his father and grandfather were the assassins sent to kill the Tallest and kidnap Ilk when she was a smeet. Naturally, they failed and paid the consequences.
• Domesticated Dinosaurs: The Sobrekt have achieved this on their homeworld. Even the feared indoraptor (referred to as indokuro in the series) is treated as a companion animal.
  • Ironically, the kryvtor branch of the Sobrekt species are anthropomorphic velociraptors themselves.
• Doting Parent: Red holds Ilk on a pedestal and often fails to notice any negative aspects, such as her insecurity regarding the Invader career.
• Easily Impressed: Anything Zim does impress the Sobrekt, much to the Tallest's chagrin.
• Empty Nest: In the time between Lost and Indokani, Ilk departs the Massive for the Academy, leaving Red and Purple quite distraught. Thankfully, Red has Lena and Purple has Cheesecake.
• Family Eye Resemblance: Ilk has Red's crimson eyes.
• Foreshadowing: It has happened a few times in the story.
  • When Red interrogates the surviving kryvtor assassin, the prisoner mocks him, telling him that he wouldn't be able to protect Ilk forever and one day he'd make a mistake, lamenting that he wouldn't be there to see it. This later proves to be true when Red has a monstrous argument with Ilk and slaps her, pushing Ilk to run off and nearly get killed when a stick goes right through her.
  • Throughout Lost, Blue mentions that his father and grandfather left for a suicide mission and never returned. Additionally, Red finds an uncanny resemblance between Blue and the kryvtor assassins that nearly killed him. Later on, it is confirmed that Blue's family members and the kryvtor assassins are one and the same.
• Grand Romantic Gesture: In Sobrekt culture, a simple hug counts as this.
  • Red proposed to Lena by carving "Will you marry me?" on a recently conquered planet.
• Good Parents: Despite his initial reluctance, Red turns out to be a caring father.
• Good Stepmother: Lena. She gets along with Ilk just fine, and cares about both her physical and emotional wellbeing.
• Hates Being Touched: In Sobrekt culture, physical contact is reserved only for lovers, so they barely touch each other unless they're mates.
  • This is how Red later realizes that Blue is interested in Ilk, as he catches him hugging her.
• Healing Factor: Due to their reptilian nature, Sobrekt can regenerate missing limbs by going into hibernation in special tanks. Ilk gained this ability after a rare flower from Sobr was used to cure her from a potentially fatal disease when she was a smeet. In Lost, this saves her life after a branch went right through her abdomen during a battle with a mendigo.
• Honorary Uncle: Purple. Despite not being blood-related to Red, he's his best friend and co-Tallest, so he's considered to be Ilk's uncle.
• Hot Consort: Lena.
• Hybrid Power: The Sobrekt use militarized genetic hybrids.
• Inspired by…: Many elements in the series are inspired by external media:
  • The Raptor Squad and the indokuros are evidently based on the squad of the same name and the indoraptor from the Jurassic World franchise.
  • The Ibris name is also a pun to the IBRIS project of which the original Raptor Squad was part of.
  • Sobrekt culture takes inspiration from Viking and Japanese culture, mostly from the former.
  • The kurokran program and its characteristics take inspiration from the anime series Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan.
  • Purple being chased by assassins and then fighting against them during the fourth exam trial in Indokani is based on Season 5 episodes of Samurai Jack.
• Interspecies Friendship: By the end of Lost, the main Irken characters are in relatively good terms with the Sobrekt, especially Ilk and Blue.
  • Purple somewhat befriends Akkono during the last phase of the Indokani exams.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Ilk and Blue.
  • Zim and Gaz.
  • Implied for Purple and Akkono near the end of Indokani.
• Kangaroo Pouch Ride: According to the au's lore, Irkenettes used to carry smeets in pouches to keep them safe. Natural born smeets still have the instinct to look for a pouch in their mothers' abdomen, so a special kind of pouch dresses are available for said purpose.
  • Lena carries her son Rouge in this manner.
• Killing in Self-Defense: In Lost, Lena does this against a Hothian soldier who was going to kill her.
  • As revealed in flashbacks and from Red himself, two kryvtor assassins, who turned out to be Blue's father and grandfather, were sent after him and Purple, prompting Red to kill them both in retaliation. He doesn't regret it one bit, as it was either him and Ilk or them.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Red and Captain's relationship summed up. The two are constantly arguing and never seem to agree on anything.
• Like Father, Like Son:
  • Blue is said to be the striking image of his later father.
  • Though Ilk is a female, she resembles her father more in looks and certain aspects of her personality, particularly her stubbornness and love for snacks.
• Living Dinosaurs: Kryvtors are evolved velociraptors.
• Lizard Folk: The sobrekt and kryvtors. Technically, the proper terms would be the crocodilefolk and raptorfolk.
• The Lost Lenore: Tallest Miyuki was Red's first love. In fact, it's implied they might have gotten together if she hadn't died. To this day, Red still misses her dearly. Lena's striking resemblance to Miyuki is one of the reasons Red ends up falling in love with her. He even mistakes her for Miyuki when he's delirious due to a wound.
• Loved by All: The Sobrekt hold Zim in a high pedestal because he has single-handedly incapacitated the Irken Empire on numerous occasions. They either don't notice his negative traits or do and don't care. In Indokani, it's revealed that they are aware of Zim's megalomaniac tendencies. However, they know how to handle him.
• Love Interests:
  • Ilk and Blue.
  • Red and Lena.
  • Zim and Gaz.
  • Purple and Akkono show signs of this by the end of Indokani.
• Loyal Animal Companion: Fury and Cheesecake.
• Meaningful Name: Blue is named after the blue stripe running down the sides of his body, much like his namesake inspiration from Jurassic World.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: especially if they stand on their hind legs, are over 11 feet tall and are intelligent enough to wield weapons.
• Nom de Guerre: The Tallest are only referred to by their code names 'Red and 'Purple', as no one else knows their real names for security reasons.
  • It's implied in Indokani that Lena is the only person apart from Purple that may call Red by his real name, as she's now his wife, meaning that only people they really trust may call them like that when not in public.
  • It's unknown if Ilk knows her father and uncle's real names, but she most likely does.
  • The Shuryo's real name is unknown, as he too is only referred to by his title.
• No-Respect Guy: Bob, Skoodge and Zim get from little to no respect from the Tallest or other Irken characters, especially not Zim.
  • In Indokani, Bob and Skoodge lose any chance to ever gain any respect from their leaders and peers after losing the Massive in a bet.
• Odd Name Out: Captain. In The Smeet, when he first introduces himself, Red and Purple get confused as his name is the same as his rank. They make fun of him after finally figuring it out, much to Captain's chagrin.
  • So far, Blue is the only Sobrekt named after a color.
  • Cheesecake is the only Indokuro without an intimidating name. He was accidentally named by Zim after the earthen desert, much to Purple's chagrin. Then again, Snackie is not a good option either.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Red, Purple and the Shuryo are referred to by their respective titles, never their real names.
• Our Nudity Is Different: Since Sobrekt and Kryvtors' reproductive organs are internal, they don't mind being naked in front of other people as they have nothing to hide. In Indokani, this is played for humor when Red finds out to his horror that their wedding ceremonies involve the betrothed being naked as a sign of their union; fortunately, exceptions are made for when they marry members of other species.
• Papa Wolf: Red once again. He might be lazy, but when Ilk is in danger, beware.
  • Most evidently in The Smeet, when he tortured lots of rebel aliens thinking they had kidnapped his baby girl when in reality she was on Earth with Zim.
  • Further proved in Lost, where he went into battle despite being injured or at disadvantage many times to save Ilk.
• Parental Substitute: Lena acts as a surrogate mother to Ilk.
• Pet Monstrosity: Indokuros are 1 ton, 24 ft long hybrids with sharp claws, teeth and an attitude that matches, yet the Sobrekt keep them as animal companions and have successfully turned them into living weapons.
• Planet of Hats: The Sobrekt are an all-warrior race. Even their females know how to fight.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: All Sobrekt characters fall into this category. Part of why they admire Zim so much is because of how much damage he's personally capable of.
• Respected by the Respected: Zim is respected for the first time in his life by, ironically, the Sobrekt, who are known warriors and adversaries of the Irken Empire throughout the universe.
• The Rival: Larb is this to both Zim and Tenn, due to being the Tallest's favorite Invader (something he's happy to rub in their, and everyone else's, faces).
• Sarcasm Mode: Plenty of times:
  • Lost
    • After Fury destroys the Hothian ship's main console to deactivate the detention cells:
      Red: Destroying the main console? Wow, how smart indeed!
    • When Ilk disobeys Red and runs straight into battle:
      Red:Oh, I'm wonderfully! My daughter just disobeyed me and my abdomen is killing me, but I'm fine!" (after Ilk runs into battle, disobeying a previous order he gave her).
    • When Red asks Captain if he's fine in the climax, after the latter weakens over prolongued exposure to Hoth's atmosphere.
      Captain: Oh, I'm fine. I'm suffocating in unknown air contaminants, but I'm fine.
  • Indokani
    • When Lena takes Masouri's fries without asking.
      Masouri:Sure, you can have it. I don't mind.
• Second Love: Lena is Red's second love, after Tallest Miyuki.
• Stubborn Mule: Red, Ilk, and occasionally Purple.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Ilk is physically almost like a female version of her father.
  • Blue also has a striking resemblance to his father, as many have pointed out.
• The Beast Master: Indokani and Kurokani work with animals and are very good at it.
• The Medic: Lena.
• The Nose Knows: Purple is able to smell snacks from miles away.
• Wicked Stepmother: Completely averted. Lena treats Ilk like her own child.
• Worthy Opponent: Red and Captain see each other as such after the events of Lost.

The Smeet

• Animal Talk: Ilk manages to communicate with a swarm of space roaches and lead them into a escape pod to eject them from the Massive.
• An Arm and a Leg: The indokuro tears Ilk's leg off after Red tried to save her from it. Luckily for them, it grows back.
• Baby's First Words: Ilk's first word was Zim, much to Red and Purple's dismay.
• Babysitting Episode: Zim looks after Ilk when she visits Earth instead of going to Irk.
• Beach Episode: The Massive makes a stop on Vacatio, a beach resort planet, where Red, Purple and Ilk spend the day.
• Big Red Button: During her sugar rush, Ilk presses one in the bridge of the Massive, flooding the cafeteria with frozen yogurt.
• Big Word Shout: Red and Purple pull this one after Zim's call caused Ilk to speak his name as her first word.
• Bubblegloop Swamp: The area of Sobr where the Moondrop Flower was located was a swamp, implying that most of the planet is composed of swamp areas.
• Cub Cues Protective Parent: Red scares an animal cub away while he and Ilk are out camping. Its mother attacks shortly after, prompting Red and Ilk to hide inside their ship. Unfortunately, Red dropped the keys to the ship and the baby ate it, causing them to get stuck on the planet until nature calls.
• Children Raise You: Ilk's presence caused Red to mature considerably and get a better sense of responsibility, which in the long run will benefit the Irken Empire.
• Creepy Cockroach: Purple and all the crew on the Massive panic and barricade themselves inside the bridge due to an infestation of 'space roaches' in the kitchen.
• Daddy DNA Test: Red did one in the first chapter. To his dismay, it was positive.
• Dead Pet Sketch: The main plot of one chapter. Purple accidentally kills Ilk's pet goldfish and the crew of the Massive scrambles to replace it. Ironically, the replacement goldfish dies of old age shortly after.
• Death by Childbirth: Ilk's biological mother is said to have died from this, as the Irkens' reproductive organs are not what they used to be.
  • Later on, in Indokani, it's mentioned that a good number of the population suffers from this.
• Delicious Distraction: Purple leaves Ilk alone near discarded donuts as soon as he smells cinnamon rolls.
• Don't Wake the Sleeper: Never wake Ilk up when she's napping or hell breaks loose.
• Drives Like Crazy: While experiencing a sugar rush, Ilk finds and toys with a remote controller that controls the Massive and unknowingly flies the Irken flagship throughout space, throwing everyone inside around uncontrollably as a reference to the IZ episode "Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars".
• Feed by Example: Purple tastes the smeet feed to show Ilk it's food and ends up taking a liking to it.
• Find the Cure!: Red and Purple must steal a rare flower from Sobr in order to cure Ilk from Drilo's Disease, which might have killed her. The Sobrekt weren't happy about it, though.
• Follow Your Nose: Purple smells cinnamon rolls and instantly leaves for the kitchen, leaving Ilk alone with a bag of leftover donuts, with near-catasthrophic results.
• For Your Own Good: Red makes Ilk believe that the indokuro attack and her torn leg were just a nightmare to protect her.
• Getting the Baby to Sleep: Red sings Baby Mine to calm Ilk down and to lull her to sleep during a magnetic storm near a sun. While this does succeed, he realizes too late that Purple was recording him.
• Horrible Camping Trip: Red takes Ilk camping to spend some quality time, but they get lost and only make it back to camp thanks to Ilk's tracking skills. Then Red upset a cub and they had to hide inside the ship to escape from its mother. And the top of the cake: Red didn't realize he had dropped his keys and the cub ate them, forcing them to spend the night inside the ship.
• It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: The remote controller for the Massive made in case of the normal controls becoming unusable or hacked.
• Kids Driving Cars: Ilk drives the Massive as a smeet while playing with its remote controller, and later hacks her ship to change its coordinates to Earth.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Purple constantly bangs the bowl of Ilk's goldfish to torment it and accidentally kills it when it breaks and they put it in a soda glass. Later on, a shark Zim sent chases after Purple.
• Malaproper: The Irkens mispronounce certain Earthen terms. E.G. 'Cheesecake' as 'Chiscak'.
• Midnight Snack: This is how Ilk inadvertedly gets in the line of fire, as her search for snacks past her bedtime is what caused her [[spoiler: to be near the area the indokuro would attack]}, plus endangering herself.
• Missing Child: When Ilk doesn't arrive at Irk because she went to stay with Zim instead, Red believes she was kidnapped by rebels and starts a witch hunt throughout the universe until Ilk informs Skoodge of her location.
• Mysterious Parent: Not much is said about Ilk's biological mother other than she was a scientist, her name was Kit, and she died at childbirth.
• No Sense of Direction: Red unknowingly gets lost while on a stroll with Ilk during a camping trip. In his defense, he's quite rusted from so many years of lounging.
• Opening the Flood Gates: The Massive's bridge is flooded when Purple tries to go get donuts after Zim sends an entire aquarium to make up for Ilk's dead goldfish.
• Parental Love Song: Red sings his own version of Baby Mine to Ilk to soothe her down during a magnetic storm while passing by a sun.
• Playing Possum: The indokuro sent to the Massive pretends to be unconscious so that the Irken soldiers would lower their guard before attacking Red and snatching Ilk away from him.
• Professional Killer: Two kryvtors were sent to assassinate the Tallest and kidnap Ilk. They failed.
  • It's revealed in Lost that these two were Blue's father and grandfather.
• Resentful Guardian: Averted. Red was uncertain about fatherhood at first, but by the end of the first chapter, he has already gotten attached to his smeet.
• Say My Name: Red and Purple yell Zim's name simultaneously after he ruins Ilk's first word.
• Surprise Car Crash: Invaders Larb and Stink pull this one with a ship to incapacitate the indokuro that was attacking the Massive, saving Ilk and Tenn in the process.
• Sweet Tooth: Ilk tastes some donuts Purple left behind and gets a sugar rush.
• The Bet: Red and Purple make one over Ilk's first word, and both bet their own private snack reserves. Thankfully for both, none of them lost.
• The Diaper Change: Highlighted in the first chapter. Comically, Red and Purple have to wear gas masks to change Ilk's diaper.
• Threatening Shark: One goes after Purple after Zim floods the Massive.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Donuts for Red and Purple.

Lost

• Accidental Murder: Lena does this when a Hothian soldier is charging at her. She doesn't take it very well.
• A Crack in the Ice: While battling against a water predator in a frozen lake, Red is pulled under the ice into the water by one of the creature's tentacles, prompting Captain to return to save him.
• Alien Fair Folk: The Hothians, the main antagonists, look like elves with dark gray skin and silver hair.
• Ambiguously Gay: Captain mentions he has a mate, but he never specifies the gender. It's not revealed until Indokani that his mate is revealed to be, in fact, a male.
• Anger Born of Worry: When Ilk disobeys and goes straight into battle against the Hothians, Red becomes mad at her for putting herself at risk, ignoring the fact that she just helped take down enemy soldiers for the first time.
• Anti-Smother Love Talk: Captain gives one to Red after Ilk is near-mortally wounded, pointing out that children must learn to survive on their own for the moment their parents can no longer protect them.
  • During this conversation, it's shown that Red's love for Ilk had partially become possessive and he wanted to keep her to himself as if she were an object.
    Red: SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!! DON'T YOU DARE ACT AS IF YOU CARE FOR HER JUST BECAUSE SHE BEAT YOU IN A STUPID FIGHT! SHE'S NOT YOURS, SHE'S MINE! I'M NOT LETTING A FUCKING, OVERGROWN LIZARD TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME!
  • Since Irkens aren't that used to feeling affection, you can't really blame him, something Captain points out.
• Assassination Attempt: Red and Purple were a victim to this, but thankfully it failed.
• Battle Couple: Lena and Red, and Blue and Ilk, as their romantic histories take place on a hostile planet in-between and during battles.
• Because I Said So: Red pulls this card on Ilk after she disobeyed him and went right into open battle, and later on when she confesses that she doesn't want to be an Invader.
• Benevolent Monsters: Fury is only aggressive when there's danger present. Otherwise, he's more or less like a big dog with sharp claws and teeth.
• Bonding over Missing Parents: Ilk and Blue open up and talk about their Missing Mom and Disappeared Dad respectively, befriending each other in the process.
• Bound and Gagged: Purple, Dib, and Echo get this treatment by the Hothians.
• Bridal Carry: Captain carries Purple like this due to the latter's injured leg. Purple threatens the Invaders to throw them out of the airlock with his own hands should they ever talk about it.
• Broken Tears: Red sheds these as he holds his dying daughter in his arms and begs Lena to save her.
• Campfire Character Exploration: After giving Red an Anti-Smother Love Talk about Ilk, Captain briefly opens up and reveals a bit about his past, particularly how he lost a clutch of eggs to Drilo's disease.
• Combat Medic: Averted. Lena is anything but a warrior. In fact, she goes nuts after making her first kill even though it was to save herself and Red.
• Compressed Abstinence: If Purple goes without donuts or snacks for too long, he goes completely nuts.
• Damsel in Distress: Ilk and Lena in the climax. This applies more to Lena, who lacks any sort of combat skills.
• Danger — Thin Ice: Ilk's party must cross a frozen lake with potentially thin ice in order to move on. Captain leaves the group after an argument with Red over the course of action they should take.
• Deep Sleep: After Captain saves Red from a water monster in the frozen lake, he goes into hibernation due to prolonged exposure to the cold temperature.
• Delirious Misidentification: While delirious due to blood loss, Red mistakes Lena for Miyuki before losing consciousness.
• Deserted Island: Hoth, though in this case, it's a deserted planet. Well, almost deserted.
• Determined Doctor: Lena. She was quick to offer Ilk, Blue and anyone who needed it medical assistance regardless of species or allegiance.
• Disappointed in You: Red says this to Ilk during an argument after catching Blue "courting" her with a hug and when she tells him she doesn't want to be an Invader.
• Disposable Love Interest: Red tries to pull this card to trick Iraa after he took Lena hostage, but it fails, as he cares too much for Lena.
• Doesn't Know Their Own Child: Red didn't realize Ilk didn't want to be an Invader until she finally tells him straight out. He doesn't take it well.
• Doomed Hometown: Or rather, homeworld, as Hoth's native species are slowly dying off because of the same cataclysm that wiped out the dinosaurs.
• Dying Race: The Hothians. Their homeworld is slowly dying and there are only a few of their people left. Iraa's wife is presumably the last female alive. Since the group successfully escaped Hoth and left the Hothians behind, they are not presumably extinct.
• Empathy Pet: Fury is very close to Blue and can tell his emotions.
• Enemy Mine: Red and Captain have no choice but to put aside their differences temporally in order to save their respective comrades from the Hothians. By the end of the story they have become frenemies.
• Escape Pod: The Ibris is equipped with enough escape pods for its small crew, including a twenty-foot long indokuro.
• Faster-Than-Light Travel: The Ibris possesses a hyper drive, allowing to travel at the speed of light.
• Freak Out: Lena becomes hysterical and breaks down after killing a Hothian soldiers. Red comforts her.
• Friendly Enemy:
  • During the events of this story, the Irkens and the Sobrekt warm up to each other and some even end up becoming friends, mostly Skoodge and Masouri, as well as Red and Captain, though the latter two are less open about it.
  • Additionally, despite Zim belonging to the Irken race, the Sobrekt show great respect and admiration for him due to his destructive reputation.
• Fight Scene: There are plenty in his installment, particularly the climax.
• Follow in My Footsteps: Red wants Ilk to become an Invader because he was one himself.
• Friendship as Courtship: Blue becomes friendlier to Ilk after she beats him in a fight. According to Sobrekt courtship rituals, this means she's a potential mate.
• Hands-On Approach: While teaching Lena how to properly throw a kunai, Red touches her hands, shoulders and arms to put her in proper position. Both feel attracted to each other during this time.
• Heroic Pet Story: Fury saves Ilk and Red from falling into a frozen lake.
• Heroic RRoD: After Lena kills someone for the first time in her life, thus breaking her doctor's oath, she enters into shock and then goes completely nuts, prompting Red to comfort her. He points out that sometimes you must take a life in order to save yours and that of your loved ones. He gives his own experience with the kryvtor assassins as an example to this. Had he not killed them, they might have killed him and Purple and taken Ilk.
• Hysterical Woman: Lena temporally loses it after killing a Hothian soldier, as she's never taken a life before, plus she's supposed to save lives, not take them.
• Horse of a Different Color: Fury (and indokuros in general) are big enough to be ridden, but Blue states they only allow people they really trust to get unto their backs.
• Human Alien: The Hothians have an uncanny resemblance to humans, the main difference being their pointy ears, white hair and gray skin color.
• Involuntary Group Split: The Hothians separate the group after they crash-landed in their home planet:
  • Red, Doctor Lena, Ilk, Captain, Blue, Fury, Zim and GIR manage to escape their captors by crashing their ship.
  • Purple, the remaining members of the Raptor Squad, the Invaders and Dib are taken to the Hothians' base.
• Jaw Drop: Red and Purple in the penultimate chapter after coming out of hyperspace and finding both their and the Sobrekt Armadas killing off each other.
• Jerkass Realization: Red realizes how harsh he was on Lena when she becomes distant and cold him with him. He later tries to make amends, but she rejects him.
• Kick the Morality Pet: Red yells at Lena and tells her she is not Ilk's mother when she tries to talk him down after a big argument with Ilk. He regrets it soon after.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: After Red learns that Hoth's atmosphere will eventually kill those without a PAK to filter the air, he withholds the information from Ilk and the Sobrekt. In Ilk's case, he didn't want to mortify her any futher, but it is implied that he was hoping the Sobrekt would perish. Naturally, they aren't happy with him when they find out.
• Let's Get Dangerous!:
  • GIR goes into full duty mode to kill a Wendigo-like predator that was about to kill Red.
  • Zim shows a surprising skill with a Sobrekt shortsword when defending Red from Hothian soldiers.
• Lost Technology: The little technology the Hothians have doesn't shut down or malfunction unlike the rest of any electronic equipment that arrives on the planet. It's later revealed that the cause is that they use a special metal that nullifies the magnetic fields in the atmosphere.
• Love Confession: Blue and Red give one to Ilk and Lena respectively.
• Love Hurts: Red snaps at Lena out of frustration and anger after his argument with Ilk, hurting her feelings and prompting her to cut all ties with him after escaping despite his attempt at apologizing.
• Making the Choice for You: Red decided that Ilk would be an Invader because she had the skills for it and he wanted to relive his own glory days as top Invader without considering that Ilk might not want that job.
• Mistaken for Romance: Captain thinks Red and Lena are mates due to their physical proximity, which in Sobrekt culture is seen as intimate.
• My Parents Are Dead: Blue opens up with Ilk when she mentions her mother died when she was born and confesses that he never knew his father.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • The Irkens, when Zim arrives on Hoth.
  • Purple after accidentally drops the indokuro egg and cracks it.
  • Red upon realizing he was too harsh on Lena and she's lost her faith on him.
• No Escape but Down: When GIR and Fury destroy the Hothian ship's controls, Ilk's group has no choice but to jump off the ship before it crashlands.
• Only the Chosen May Ride: Blue mentions that indokuros only allow people they really trust to ride the. So far, only Zim, GIR and presumably Blue himself have had this honor.
• Pain-Powered Leap: Bob after his pants catch fire.
• Please Put Some Clothes On: Red's reaction after realizing Captain is naked after the Anti-Smother Love Talk, since the party had previously undressed him to warm him up.
• Race Against the Clock: Ilk's party much reach the others in two days, the time Masouri can hold off the ships' repairs, in order to leave Hoth lest they want the Hothians to take the only means of escape possible.
• Real Men Eat Meat: The Sobrekt are strictly carnivorous. Captain was mortified when Red cooked his meat in retaliation for the you never asked moment from a few hours earlier.
• Rejected Apology: Red's attempt to apologize to Lena for snapping at her earlier fails, as she doesn't think he's being sincere and considers his apology to be hollow.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Red and Blue storm into the Hothians' control room in order to save Ilk and Lena, who were being held hostage in there.
• Robinsonade: The main plot involves the party having to survive on a hostile, dying planet with little to no technology and no way to contact any outside forces.
• Rock–Paper–Scissors: Red and Captain use it to decide which way to go down the mountain, and Captain wins. Then it turns out he was planning to pick the same option as Red all along.
• Rump Roast: Bob's pants catch fire while trying to start a bonfire and he sits on top of the wood. This only aggravates the problem and sends Bob skyrocketing into the sky.
• Santabomination: Zim's sentient Santa Suit shows up on Hoth.
• Sapient Ship: The Ibris has an AI with Masouri's personality interface that can be activated under certain situations.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Captain thinks this after Red and Lena dart into battle unprepared and the former injured.
• Take a Third Option: In the climax, Iraa holds Lena hostage and threatens to kill her if the group doesn't surrender the Ibris. Lena responds by shooting herself in the shoulder and getting a severe injury, thus taking Iraa's only leverage.
• Take My Hand!: Red holds Lena's hand reassuringly before both jump off the falling Hothian ship.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Both groups stranded on Hoth must work together to make it off the planet alive.
• The Power of Blood: Lena and Ilk receive a blood transfusion from Red and Zim respectively in order to save their lives, though Red is dismayed that Zim was the donor.
• Unusual Ears: Hothians have pointy ears, like elves.
• Watch the Paint Job: Masouri has been shown to be very attached to the Ibris, to the point he even weeps after it gets considerable damage after crash-landing and gets angry when anyone refers to it as their ship when it is, in fact, his.
• Wild Wilderness: Hoth is a completely barren planet with a cold climate and wintery forests. It's later revealed that Hoth experienced a cataclysm similar to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth, and its atmosphere is contaminated with toxins and chemicals. PAK-less people such as Ilk, Dib and the Sobrekt will eventually have difficulty breathing and might die of intoxication due to prolonged exposure to said toxins.
• Who Is Driving?: While being pulled towards Hoth's atmosphere, Skoodge pulls this question when Larb leaves the ship's controls to join into their conversation.
• You Didn't Ask:
  Red: Let me get this straight. We've wasted half an hour here playing a stupid game because you didn't agree with my decision of going down the escarpment, and now you tell me that you intended to do precisely that?!
  Captain:Yeah, that's right.
  Red: THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO FROM THE BEGINNING?!
  Captain: You never asked.
• You Remind Me of X: Red is nicer to Lena and becomes attracted to her due to her uncanny resemblance to Tallest Miyuki.

Indokani

• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: One of the main plots. In order to win back the Massive from the Sobrekt, Red and Purple must enter their Indokuro Cheesecake in an upcoming Indokuro fighting tournament and defeat his own indokuro. Sounds easy, right? The problem is that Cheesecake is overweight, out of shape, and acts like an overgrown puppy due to being pampered by Purple.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Red inadvertently signs an approval slip for Bob and Skoodge to bet the Massive while drunk from a single 'grootbeet' shot.
• Anxiety Dreams: Purple has one of Cheesecake leaving him behind, everyone mocking him for failing the Indokani exams, and finally Cheesecake being killed by Maugrim.
• A Pet into the Wild: Cheesecake is left with Fury and his pack to learn how to behave and, overall, to awaken his aggressive instincts so he can stand a chance against Maugrim, a larger and dangerous indokuro, in an upcoming fight.
• Artificial Family Member: Since Zimkro was partly made with Zim's DNA, this technically makes it his biological offspring.
• Assassination Attempt: During the fourth trial, several Sobrekt and Kryvtors hunt Purple down and try to kill him.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: All upper level leadership positions in Sobrekt society can be challenged via combat.
• Bar Brawl: It happens offscreen, but Red and Lena inadvertently started one after getting drunk with Sobrekt alcohol.
• Becoming the Mask: Tenn is sent to infiltrate the kurokani program, disguised as a Kryvtor. In the process, she gets close to several of the other trainees, and is surprised to find herself coming to genuinely like them.
• Breaking Bad News Gently: Captain tries to inform Red about the Massive being invaded by Sobrekt like this, but unfortunately, he finds out the hard way via one of the crew members.
• Bittersweet Ending: Played with. While The Empire gets the Massive back and Cheesecake survives his fight, Purple decides to leave him in Sobr.
• Bizarre Alien Senses: According to Dr. Scylla, Zimkro is able to smell a person's blood within their bodies, and this is how he can tell Zim apart.
  • Later in the story, Zimkro becomes confused when he smells Zim's blood in Ilk, as the former had given her a blood transfusion during the events of Lost to save her life, which drives him to swallow her too.
• Bound and Gagged: Captain does this to Red when talking with the new owner of the Massive to keep him from saying something stupid.
• Combat by Champion: Rather than the Irken Armada and Sendou's troops fighting for control of the Massive, the leaders of both parties decide to settle it with an indokuro fight: Cheesecake, Purple's indokuro, against Maugrim, Sendou's indokuro.
• Compressed Vice: Bob and Skoodge become engaged in a stakes game with a Sobrekt, which cost them the Massive.
• David vs. Goliath: Cheesecake, a particularly small, malnourished and clumsy indokuro versus Maugrim, a large, fully-fledged, and unbeaten champion in indokuro fighting.
• Disney Death: Zim is swallowed by Zimkro, but is later shown to have survived it just fine.
• Dragon Rider: Kurokran aren't actually dragons, but are dragon-like in appearance. Additionally, their riders guide them from their insides instead of riding them on the outside.
• *Drool* Hello: After Larb sneaks into the Zimkro's habitat, said creature greets him like this before attacking him.
• Eaten Alive:
  • Zim's apparent fate when Zimkro swallows him whole.
  • It's implied that this is the fate of the three remaining assassins Purple knocked out after an indoshiro appears.
  • Zimkro briefly eats Ilk, but thankfully Gaz is able to get her out shortly after.
• Fainting: It occurs various times throughout the story:
  • Red faints in the very first chapter upon learning that Ilk is going to marry Blue.
  • Lena later faints a few times as a result of her pregnancy.
  • Purple faints after barely completing a race due to lack of stamina, then after encountering a giant predator in the final phase of the indokani exams.
• First Pet Story: The story is centered on Purple and his relationship with Cheesecake, his first pet ever. The fact that Purple heavily pampered and spoiled him is criticized and treated as a flaw.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Cheesecake is an indokuro, but Purple treats him like a lap dog. In fact, Cheesecake himself seems to consider himself one until he's released with ''Fury'''s pack to learn how to act like his own kind.
• Freak Out: Red and Purple have a panic attack when Sendou informs them that the Massive is legally his, with Purple even breathing into a paper bag while they're being fanned with anything available.
• Free-Range Pets: Indokuros are allowed to roam freely in the wilderness and even around the city streets. The only exceptions to this rule are rogue indokuros, which are extremely disobedient and unpredictable.
• Foreign Queasine: The Irkens are apalled and plainly disguted by Sobrekt cuisine, which involves live critters, raw meat and organs fried in oil.
• Giant Flyer: Kurokran are big, flying wyvern-like creatures used in a special branch of the sobrekt military. The Zimkro too is a flying hybrid later introduced in the story.
• Getting Eaten Is Harmless: Played with. Kurokani are able to stay inside a kurokran's stomach with no apparent damage. They do need a special suit to protect themselves from the stomach acids, however.
• Godzilla Threshold: Red is so desperate to help Purple when he learns of the assassination attempt on him that he's even willing to work with Cheesecake despite still not liking him.
• Gone Horribly Right: Red's plan of sabotaging other competitors works, but because he didn't tell Purple about it ahead of time, it just gets Purple angry at him.
• Graceful Loser: When Cheesecake beats Maugrim fairly, Sendou lets the Irkens take back the Massive as per agreement, acknowledging that the better indokuro won.
• Happily Married: Red and Lena have gotten married already at some time before the start of the fic.
• Hybrid Monster: Zimkro is a large, dangerous hybrid created as a present for Zim. It's later revealed that it has Zim's DNA.
• Hypocritical Humor: When Larb calls the Sobrekt policy of choosing leaders via ritual combat stupid, Sakr shoots back by bringing up the Irkens' ridiculous concept of picking leaders based on height.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Red gives Blue a look that conveys this during the latter and Ilk's wedding.
• Implied Death Threat: Gaz snaps an eel in half, making an allusion to Zimkro's own body to prompt him to expel Ilk and Zim.
• Innocently Insensitive: Red asks Zim to sabotage other participants in the Indokani exams to make sure Purple would pass. He had good intentions, but this made Purple believe he doubted of his skills.
• It Runs in the Family:
  • Male members of Blue's family have an electric blue stripe running down their bodies, which gives them their family name. Sakr seems to be the only exception to his rule.
  • Akkono comes from a long line of Indokani.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A non-romantic example, as Purple ultimately chooses to leave Cheesecake behind on Sobr so he can live wildly with the other indokuro, as that's better for him than staying cramped up on the Massive.
• LEGO Genetics: The Sobrekt's genetic engineering technology is very advanced to the point they can mix any type of DNA
• Malicious Misnaming: Red is often called Fred by the Sobrekt, but it's implied they do it on purpose to spite him.
• Meet the In-Laws: Partly subverted. It's Red and Purple who meet Blue's mother, as Ilk herself had previously met her at some point between Lost and Indokani. Naturally, Blue's mother isn't happy with Red, the guy who killed her husband.
• Mentor Archetype: Fury acts as this to Cheesecake.
• Mistaken for Pregnant: When Red walks into Lena's baby shower, he believes the party is for Ilk and asks if she's pregnant. Thankfully for him, that is not the case.
• My Secret Pregnancy: Lena decides to hide her pregnancy for the time being to avoid stressing Red out even more.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Zim unknowingly cooks the egg Purple was supposed to look after in an attempt to get on his Tallest's good side. This nearly causes Purple to be eliminated from the exams, but thankfully another aspirant's failed attempt at cheating allows him to remain.
  • Additionally, while Red had good intentions in helping Purple pass by sabotaging the other participants, Purple felt hurt because he thought Red didn't believe in him.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Averted somewhat. Deltra doesn't seem to hold any animosity towards Ilk, but Red doesn't like Blue because he belongs to another species, though he does his best to dissimulate it for Ilk's sake.
• One-Night-Stand Pregnancy: Partly averted. Lena and Red are already married when they get into bed while drunk.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Kurokran cannot be ridden from the outside. Instead, they swallow their riders and are driven from the inside though holographic interface.
• Papa Wolf: When Red finds out that Sobrekt marriage ceremonies involve the betrothed being naked, he immediately starts chasing after Blue with his PAK weapons.
• Pet Baby Wild Animal: Cheesecake has no idea of how to interact with his own kind or fend for himself in the wild since he was raised in captivity.
• Pets Versus Strays: Subverted. While indokuros do not speak, Cheesecake is shown to be initially rejected by Fury's pack for his silly, unindokuro-like behavior, a result of years of being pampered by Purple. It's not until Cheesecake finally snaps and fights back that the pack finally accepts him.
• Pregnancy Test Plot: The AI on the base runs one on Lena to determine if she's pregnant. It turns positive.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Purple gets one after barely passing the second exam, a short sprinting race, due his low stamina from years of laziness.
• Power-Strain Blackout: After barely managing to run a short sprinting distance for the second phase of the indokani exams, Purple collapses to the ground, completely exhausted, and even faints shortly after. Serves him right for letting his physical condition deteriorate.
• Raised in Captivity:
  • Cheesecake was raised on the Massive, away from his natural habitat and kin.
  • Zimkro, a new genetic hybrid created as a present for Zim, was raised in captivity.
• The Reveal: A minor one, but Purple tells Akkono that "Red" and "Purple" are codenames that are used in place of their actual names for security reasons.
• Rite of Passage: Before a Sobrekt wedding takes place, the couple goes through a series of pre-marital tests to see if they're compatible with each other.
• Rookie Male, Experienced Female: Purple and Akkono respectively.
• Scare the Dog: Gaz is able to scare Zimkro into releasing Zim and Ilk from its stomach by snapping an eel in half.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Red fires them for their part in almost losing the Massive, Skoodge and Bob decide to leave Irken space altogether to live with Zim on Earth.
• Struggling Single Mother: Deltra had to raise four children after her husband and father-in-law left on a mission to assassinate the Tallest and never returned.
• Take Me to Your Leader: After learning that The Massive is being attacked by Sobrekt, Red demands Captain to take him to the Shuryo, the Sobrekt leader.
• Tournament Arc: Cheesecake winning an indokuro-fighting tournament is the only hope of the Irken Empire getting back the Massive.
  • The indokani exams themselves function as a sort of non-fighting elimination tournament, as the participants must go through a series of indokuro-related tests to pass to the next round.
• Third Wheel: Purple after Red and Lena get married. In fact, it's revealed that he's been feeling left out since they got married, which is what drove him to get so close to Cheesecake.
• Wacky Cravings: Due to the pregnancy, Lena has cravings for Sobrekt food, which the other Irkens find bizarre and unedible.
• Wedding Finale: One of the main plots of the story is Blue and Ilk's wedding. The ceremony finally occurs during the last chapter before the epilogue.

Pre-Parental Panic

• Blanket Fort: Lena made one with pillows to act as a den during the whole pregnancy. At the end, she gives birth in it, just like smeeting Irkenettes in ancient times.
• Call-Back: Purple briefly forgets he and Red fired Bob after the events of Indokani and has to be reminded of it.
• The Caligula: In the past, Tallest Laven became this after his wife died in childbirth, the smeet dying with her. Determined that no one else could have a family if he couldn't, he banned natural reproduction and led a purge of pregnant females and naturally born smeets.
• Imperiled in Pregnancy: Lena's in the late term of her pregnancy when she's taken hostage and held at gunpoint. Thankfully for her, and unfortunately for the Vortians, maternal instinct kicks in.
• Last-Minute Baby Naming: Red and Lena name their child shortly after laying the egg.
• Mama Bear: Lena goes feral when she goes into labor, brutally killing the Vortians holding her hostage.
• Maternity Crisis: The smeet decides to be born just when mommy is being held at gunpoint by disgruntled Vortian slaves. Thankfully, this triggers Lena's protective instincts and she dispatches the Vortians in a display of feral behavior.
• Meaningful Name: The smeet is named Rouge, the french word for Red, after his father.
• Not Really a Birth Scene: Right at the beginning, Red, Purple and the crew of the Massive act as if Lena were giving birth. Then Lena points out it was just a kick.
• Obvious Pregnancy: Downplayed. Lena's abdomen doesn't isn't that big because she's only carrying one egg.
• Pacing a Trench: Lampshaded. Purple tells Red he'd make a trench if he weren't using the hoverbelt as he's pacing around while Lena is giving birth inside their bedroom.
• Panicky Expectant Father: Red when he thinks Lena's going to give birth , and then later when she goes into labor for real.
• Picky Eater: Lena is mentioned to have become picky with her meals, in one occasion refusing a type of chocolate and asking for another, only to later change her mind and ask for the first one again.
• Screaming Birth: Averted. Lena's never shown or implied to scream even after going into actual labor.

Vindictive

• Batman Gambit: Foxtrot deliberately does poorly the first time he plays against Gaz in a fighting game, in order to make her think he's bad at it. Then during the second round he suddenly does much better, catching her off guard enough to quickly trounce her before she can recover.
• Berserk Button: Gaz goes into an Unstoppable Rage when Foxtrot manages to beat her at a video game.
• Big "WHAT?!": Masouri, when told that the Ibris has been towed.
• Department of Major Vexation: Ilk and the Raptor Squad go to the DMV to retrieve the Ibris. While Masouri is stuck at the metal detector by the entrance due to his loads of weapons, the others are stuck in line for a long time due to the bored receptionist being more interested in a magazine she's reading, and when they finally reach the desk they find out that they have to take a driver's test in order to get a license and therefore prove they can drive the Ibris.
• Dramatic Drop: Dib drops his drink when he sees Foxtrot actually beat Gaz at a video game.
• Eccentric Millionaire: To get some of the money needed to get the Ibris out of impound, Ilk and Blue take a job babysitting a rich couple's kids... except as it turns out, they don't have children, they just treat their several dozen dogs as if they're their kids. And that's not even mentioning how they're given a dog house the size of an actual mansion house to live in. Needless to say, Ilk and Blue are very surprised.
• Epic Fail: Ilk's attempt at a simple driver's test. She's supposed to drive around a few cones in a parking lot, but somehow ends up hitting an ice cream truck on the other side of the lot.
• Everyone Can See It: Masouri's crush on Echo is obvious to everyone except Echo herself.
• Eye Twitch:
  • Dib, upon realizing that Zim and Gaz have presumably made out since they started dating.
  • Gaz, when she loses a video game match to Foxtrot.
• Failure Montage: The Raptor Squad members trying to do odd jobs to earn enough money to get the Ibris out of impound.
• Humans Are Morons: Ilk is able to dismiss the crowd of humans who witnessed her group's arrival on Earth by saying that they're performing a musical.
• I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: Masouri's main concern when it comes to asking Echo out.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Apparently, Dib only found out about Zim and Gaz dating at some point shortly before the start of this story, despite the fact that the couple have been together since before Indokani.
• Noodle Incident: However Ilk and the Raptor Squad get the Ibris back from the DMV after failing the test, it apparently involves "a police chase, rabid cats, and a MacMeaties restaurant".
• Official Couple: It's confirmed that Purple and Akkono have been seeing each other since the end of Indokani, with them agreeing to actual dating in this story.
• Oh, Crap!: When Purple takes Akkono to Hobo 13 (as he figures the training regimen there would be enjoyable for her), he reacts this way to seeing their training officer is the same one who Zim had to deal with, and whom blames the Tallest for that whole incident.
• Operation: Jealousy: Played for laughs when Zim and Masouri execute a very poorly conceived one of these on Echo, with Zim dressing up as a girl and badly flirting with Masouri. Needless to say, it doesn't work.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: As per usual when it comes to Zim's choice of disguises:
  • He paints Zimkro white with black stripes and calls him a zebra, despite the fact that he's a giant snake.
  • The disguises provided for Ilk and the Raptor Squad are clothes, wigs, and contacts that do nothing to hide their Irken or Sobkret biology.
• Spit Take: Dib's reaction to learning that Gaz went to Sobr without letting him know.
• Stating the Simple Solution: When Ilk explains that one of her concerns about having children is worry that she wouldn't survive giving birth (considering how rare and dangerous natural Irken births are after centuries of not doing so), Gaz points out that she and Blue could just make use of cloning tubes.
• Weird World, Weird Food: Sobrekt cuisine mostly involves meat, but they like eating it raw and with no spices. In Lost, they were shown to even eat the organs, causing Lena and Ilk to throw up.
• You Do Not Want To Know: The Computer's response when Echo questions why human females are so obsessed with breast sizes.

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