~Zim~

It all started on an abnormal day in the house of the infamous human, Dib. While I DESPISED the child, he hadn't been coming over to allow me to defeat him as usual, which I found weird. I began to spy on him for a change, but only Gaz was at his house. Odd, I thought. I'll just check my hidden cameras. My newest GENIUS plan to take over the world is going to take awhile to construct itself, anyways. Once I traveled back home and viewed my amazing equipment placed brilliantly all over the town of the smelly humans, I found that the Dib-pig was nowhere to be seen. Obviously the human lurked in my lair! How had ZIM been so foolish to leave his base unprotected to go check on the DIB?!

"DIIIIIB! Show yourself to ZIM!" I re-positioned myself into a fighting stance and looked around.

After a few moments of silence, I released my robot legs from my Pak and began looking around. The Dib-human was here somewhere, I knew it! Unwanted thoughts formed in my Pak of how I over-cared for the child.. Zim, you are worrying about the child! Just request an alliance! You know you won't destroy the Dib-stink! I growled. Humanity is beginning to get to me... Compassion- I paused and began new tactics to distract my brain. Yelling! "NO! You are ZIM, and stupid HYOO-MAN emotions do not get in the way of ZIM! Zim shall RULE!"

I desperately gasped to sway my thoughts. It wasn't working! Why, WHY was I still thinking about Dib?! That problem soon disappeared as a sensor Gir had placed stealthily in the Membrane house began beeping in my own base. "Warning: Membrane lab experiencing high levels of ghost energy," the computer said. "Remind me again WHY those are in Dib's base? Don't you, like, hate him?"

"Do not question ZIM!" I threw my hands in the air, obviously to show-no, PROVE, Zim's authority! "I just need to monitor what the little pig-smelly is up to. His attacks are pitiful, yes, but bothersome. But.. If he's dealing with ghost energy.. Hmm! Perhaps I could.. Help out..."

I chuckled evilly! From all my painful MINUTES of studying, I understood that ghosts harnessed great energy! "Quickly, Gir, get in the cruiser-" Gir was nowhere to be found, and to be honest, my minion could stay home. "This mission could be dangerous, anyways.." I muttered to myself as I hopped in my beautiful Voot Cruiser.

As I sailed through the sky to Dib's house in the AMAZING disguise, I wondered what the human was up to. Perhaps I would find out soon.. His defenses were no match for Zim, and neither were his weak gun-shaped sticks he dared to call a weapon.

~Dib~

"Wh-What?!" I caught my breath as a huge, green, swirling oval formed overhead. "That shouldn't have happened! Ooooh, Dad's going to kill me if he knew I was using his labs without asking!"

After getting up and falling out of my shock, I reviewed what happened. I was testing out my new ray to shoot Zim with on a metallic target. It was filled with some green-ish energy. Sure, I had experienced a little overconfidence when assembling the thing, but the results shouldn't have been so extreme. My calculations were almost always correct. Based on my extensive supernatural knowledge, the hole appeared to be a portal to another dimension. I revised my construction papers and notes on the device. "Huh. Flawless.. It may not damage the alien, but this might be a learning experience! Plus, it'll be cool!"

I grinned and studied the portal for what seemed to be hours. Eventually, I had drifted into sleep and dreamed about Zim's guts lying everywhere. Even though it seemed good, the idea wasn't as striking as before. Maybe you don't want to destroy Zim.. Maybe he's the only one who's ever really shown some care for you- I ended the trail of thought. That thinking was ridiculous! Zim was evil and wanted to take over the Earth and the inhabitants. Sure, the humans endlessly showed me no mercy and suffering, but who cared? They would care one day, the day I showed them I wasn't crazy! The day I showed the ENTIRE human race that Dib was not a psychotic, delusional, crazy kid who had his heart set on finding nonexistent evil beings who lurked among us in our daily lives! The day I showed that I, Dib Membrane, was fit to earn the oh-so-desired praise from my fellow race! THE DAY THEY ALL FELL TO THEIR KNEES IN RESPECT FOR DIB!

At this point, I was noting my insanity. Even if the rant had been inside my head, I was standing on a table, fist to the air with a fierce look on my face. I didn't care. Maybe I was just a little crazy, maybe they were all just a little right, but one thing was for sure: Zim was an alien, and I needed to stop him, no matter any human attachment my inaccurate, aggravating subconscious felt for him.

As I began to lower myself off the table, there was a huge crash from upstairs. Before I had the chance to look up, I was swept into a rapidly moving vehicle: Zim's spaceship! I should have worried about why the lizard was in my house and snapped to action, but Zim's terrified screaming caught me off-guard. His cruiser's windshield opened and closed rapidly. I suppose I should have felt lucky for not being crushed when I was shoved inside. I joined in Zim's screaming as the ship plunged into the green portal I had opened only hours before.

Once whatever was left of my sense returned, I realized three things:

A) I was in a green realm, full of what seemed to be ghosts and doors.

B) The ship was piloting itself, and it didn't appear to have any sort of auto-pilot on.

c) I was lying on top of a VERY confused and angry Zim.

"Human FILTH, get OFF of me!" Zim shouted. "What are you doing stinking up my ship?! UGH, I knew it was a bad idea to come to your house! Good job, Dib-rot! Look what you've done!"

"Uhhh.. Are you SERIOUSLY pinning this on me?! I was harmlessly doing NOTHING, but noooo, Zim had to come over to check on-" I stopped mid-sentence and blushed. "Eh.. heh.. BUT THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

The cruiser was spinning out of control through.. well, wherever we were! Zim could win this pointless argument if he wanted, I just cared about where we were! "ZIM! Focus for a minute, you moron! Where are we?!"

"The all-mighty ZIM will check-" All the controls in the ship had gone black and Zim had a startled look on his face. "DIIIIIIIIIIIIB! The map! It's not functioning," he screeched, waving his warms around frantically.

I was pinned to the ground in nanoseconds! The alien may have been arrogant and a sworn enemy, but he moved fast! I struggled to get out of his grip, but I felt that his blood.. or whatever was in him.. was flowing quickly in rage and I was in no way getting out of this. "YOU HAVE DONE THIS TO MY SHIP!" he yelled, twisting my wrists as I cried out in pain.

"I-I did.. nothing!" I began an alternate strategy: kicking at his stomach until he stopped, but Zim was furious and stubborn. "Stop it-ZIM! A portal! BEHIND YOU!"

"Nice try, but I am more intelligent than that, Dib-spit! It will take more than-"

I screamed, in pain and from being frightened, as the portal we seemed to be heading directly for was getting nearer and nearer. "ZIM! JUST TURN YOUR HEAD, YOU IDIOT!"

He glared at me and quickly looked over his shoulder. I kicked him off of me. Sure, yelling about the portal had been to mainly to get his gloves off of my arms, but concern flooded my brain as we flew through the portal. The Voot Cruiser collapsed on the floor, rolling a few times, then knocked some odd looking equipment off of a wall. Zim was now on top of me. After the shock wore off, I pushed Zim off of me. He fell out of the broken windshield and onto the floor. Pain shot up my left knee and arm. Glass-or whatever had cracked-was stabbing into my body! I yelped and jumped out of the ship and landed on my good arm, which was still hurting pretty badly.

As I moaned in pain, the seemingly unhurt alien walked over to me. "Pathetic human organs," he mumbled. "Looks like the Dib is in pain. Huh, oh well."

Zim began rummaging through the supplies around us. "Hmm.." He examined the weapons and more of the strange green stuff that had been in my gun earlier.

Well, while he did that, I focused on remaining conscious and pulling glass out of me. There had only been a few pieces implanted in me, but my whole side was an entire mess of blood and reddish goo. I noticed some of the same goo on Zim's side. Some glass had been stabbed into him, too. He was most likely just ignoring the pain and looking for a way to escape (but leave me here in this dimension, of course). Everything started to go blurry.. I tried to stand up, but I heard something fall. It wasn't me. It was Zim, on the ground, in some form of unconsciousness. I limped over to him and soon followed him in sleep.

~Danny~

"Phew, now that the all-powerful box ghost is out of the way for the millionth time this month.." I cracked a smile towards Sam and Tucker. "We're done for today! And it's only.. 7:30. Aw man, the one time my parents are gone and my curfew isn't in effect, we get done early."

Tucker yawned. "I'm still exhausted from yesterday. We were up until six! My folks would have freaked if we hadn't put your Tucker-bot in my bed."

"I just told my parents I was out looking for some floral dresses. They seemed over excited and encouraged me to stay out all night and spend all the money I needed." Sam chuckled, but mirrored Tucker's yawn. "Buuut.. even goths need sleep."

"Alright, let's get you guys home, then. We have a test tomorrow," I reminded them.

They both broke out laughing. "Haha, are you implying that you're going to study?" Sam asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Hey, I can't afford to fail history! Sure, it's boring and useless, but I want to have something to fall back on if this whole Danny Phantom thing doesn't work out." After I flew the two back to their houses, I returned home.

Jazz was gone for the week with Mom and Dad. She was receiving some reward for something like communication or peace. Oh well, that just meant I didn't have to worry about being torn apart molecule by molecule, vaporized, or experimented on by my parents. I still wasn't used to that, after all this time. Last order of business, release the Box Ghost back to the Ghost Zone.. I went through my front door, turned back to a human, and marched downstairs. Awaiting me was quite the scene.

Ugh.. Where do I even begin? It was horrifying. There was a trail of blood following some kid on top of another kid.. The first kid had hair that looked like it naturally flowed up, then backwards on his head. He wore a black trench coat with holes in it and was drenched in blood. The second person with a green hoodie had green antennae sticking out of his hood. Whoa... I released the Box Ghost and closed the portal. What happened here? There was a spaceship crashed into the wall. Whoooaaa, cool! A groan drew my attention away from my love of space. "Diiib-human.." My ghost sense wasn't going off, which meant they were incredibly good at masking their ghost-ness, or they were from somewhere else. They obviously came through the portal, the way the ship was angled and the lack of holes in the roof.

I checked a clock on the wall. 7:37 PM. After examining the scene by myself one last time, I blasted off to retrieve Tucker and Sam. I navigated my way around to Tucker's house and poked my head through his bedroom wall. He was tinkering with an old PDA. Usually, I would have gone invisible and played a little joke on him, but this was urgent. "Pst, Tucker!"

"Huh?!" He nearly fell out of his chair. "Oh, Danny!..." He moaned. "Ugh, did the Box Ghost get out again? Or is this serious?"

"This is serious, dude. I got home and something happened to my parents' lab."

"What happened?"

"I don't even know. There's blood everywhere and two corpses on the floor."

"Whoa. You know I'm a bit queasy, man.."

"Oh, please. C'mon, let's go get Sam.." I grabbed him and soared over to Sam's place.

After I explained the situation, we flew back to my house. To my surprise, one of the 'corpses' were moving! They hadn't been dead, just unconscious. It was the one in the green hoodie.. At least that's what it had looked like. He was struggling to get up, until six robotic legs shot out of his backpack. My friends and I hovered just under the ceiling, invisible. The kid looked around, revealing his maroon eyes, his green skin, missing nose and ears..

"Seems like someone really did catch his nose when he was little.." I whispered.

"Who's there?!" he shrieked.

Wow.. He's got some pretty good hearing... I bit my lip and flew Sam, Tucker, and myself over to the staircase. I transformed back to human and walked downstairs. "Umm.. Hello?"

"Back off.. I don't mean any harm to you REVOLTING humans, yet-..." He caught onto our stares. "Harm from another.. human-My disguise!" He felt the top of his head, lightly rubbing his antennae. "Uhh.. Don't judge my hair style! And...pink eye!"

"What are you?.." I inquired, beginning to walk carefully down the steps.

"I am just another one of your every day DISGUSTING human comrades made of FILTH! Allow me to exit your GREASY place of residence as a normal human." Whatever this thing was, it wasn't very tall. Maybe the size of a nine year old?

"Uhh... If there's one thing I've learned in Amity Park, it's that weird things that happen are always made to be questioned." I narrowed my eyes. "Now, *what* are you?"

"I am ZIM!" He held his fist in the air and began rushing towards us.

"I'm going-" I stopped as the legs retracted and he fell back onto the ground, unconscious. "...ghost?"

The other figure lying on the ground sprang up, but instantly showed an expression of regret and pain. He wobbled around and used the wall as support. "PLEASE... tell me.. you saw that.."

"What's going on here?" Sam chimed in. "Are you guys from the Ghost Zone?"

"...Ghosts, eh?" He looked at his feet, but registered the sentence and raised his head. "Wait.. You believe in ghosts?!"

"All of Amity Park does, as it is home to the famous Danny Phantom, who fights evil ghosts!" Tucker announced, smiling. "Seriously, where have you been?"

"Apparently, in the wrong place! I'm Dib," Dib said as he grinned in delight, but the look quickly faded into confusion and bitterness. "Before I tell you ANYTHING, what are you?!" He pointed at us.

"Um, humans, duh. What did you think we were, ghosts?" Tucker laughed nervously and elbowed my stomach.

"..But I'm a human! And this is another dimension! And you guys aren't completely oblivious to ghosts, or aliens, bigfoot, werewolves.. all that stuff!" The boy stared at us. "Well.. you believe in aliens, right?"

"Eh heh.. We're not that crazy here.." Anything left of Dib's smile dissolved.

"Oh," he said solemnly. "Crazy, eh?..." He gestured towards Zim.

"Oh!" Sam exclaimed, looking at his little green friend. "He's an alien..?"

"YES! Of course he's an alien! I'm hoping you aren't blind like EVERY other human from where I come from! I explain the no ears thing! NOPE! It's a medical condition! They all fall for it! The no nose thing! NOPE! Nobody cares! Green skin! Skin condition, of course! Eyes? Just wears contacts. Antennae? Some space-like wig! My hours and HOURS of hard work in exposing him, getting him onto the autopsy table where they will delicately examine his squeedely-spooch.. his guts will be everywhere, FINALLY! AND I will have victory! Nobody will call me crazy or laugh at me for being weird, because for once, I WILL show them that I was RIGHT!" Dib gasped for breath. "I.. just hope.. everyone here in 'Amity Park'... isn't as foolish."

We all stared wide-eyed at the boy as he stuttered, attempting to explain himself. "I-I.. I'm sorry. That built up on the Voot Cruiser trip over here..." Our new friend collapsed on the ground, still moaning. "Zim caused this..."

"And Dib-puke shall pay..." The alien, as Dib had described the green child, had one eye opened. "It's your fault human, just admit it.."

"They know your secret Zim..maybe in my own town, they didn't choose to believe me, but I'm doing this for the sake of the Earth... From where we came from."