I've been meaning to write an Invader Zim fic for a while now… but that dream I had last night, plus having read Invader Shannon's 'Foi and Shannon' encouraged me a bit as well. Go read it, if you haven't already. I've written… well, one and a half Zim fanfics before… there was GIR's Day Out, which didn't do very well, and Xiaozim Showdown, which is around here somewhere.

Enjoy the fic!

Disclaimer- I don't own Invader Zim. It belongs to Jhonen Vasquez, the legend. However, I do own Invader Rai and RIR.

Invader Rai

Chapter One - Echoes

All was quiet in the vast vacuum of space. Suddenly, from nowhere, something blasted through the silence. It was a ship. The Irken logo proudly sat on the side, in good condition compared to the rest of the ship. It had been a long trip, but the ship was still intact.

Inside the ship sat an Irken male. He had dark yellow-gold eyes, and wore striped clothing of a similar colour. On his face sat black shades, and there was a black wristband on his right arm. The pak on his back was black, with two small yellow sections. At his side sat a SIR unit, which looked like all others… with two exceptions. One, it was coloured black, and two, it had bright yellow eyes. It looked at its master worryingly. The Irken turned to face it, and smiled.

"Don't worry RIR… not much longer to go now…"

The SIR unit smiled. The Irken turned and continued staring into space (literally). The two of them had been through a lot together… since he stole the SIR unit at the end of Operation Impending Doom 1, before they were supposed to be given to the invaders, the two of them had been good friends. There wasn't any closer bond in the universe between Irken and SIR. To make sure he was different, he'd coloured the SIR black, and given it eyes similar to his own. In return. RIR had never left his side, and had even taught itself to be more like its master, by learning how to infiltrate, and cloak itself. In a symbol of friendship, it made a wristband with the same cloaking capabilities, which the Irken wore on his right arm.

RIR stood up and pointed out of the window.

"Planet ahead" it announced, pointing and creating co-ordinates on the monitor. "I am happy to serve you, my master."

"Thanks… RIR, remember what I said. Call me by my name, not the rubbish they programmed you with."

"Yes my master!"

"RIR…"

"Yes, my master Rai!"

Invader Rai shook his head. RIR was the only friend he had, and although he'd tried his best to alter the programming to make him more alive, the little SIR unit still insisted on calling him 'master'.

The two of them had been through everything. During Operation Impending Doom 1, Rai had been just about to leave Planet Irk, when he noticed the SIR units, already to be switched on, and had closely looked at them all. He accidentally turned one on, which had leapt to life and hugged him, for no apparent reason. Rai took it with him, and named it RIR. RIR went on to help him conquer three planets in the operation, before being notified that Zim had ruined everything. If it weren't for Zim, he wouldn't be where he was at the moment. However, he didn't care. If it hadn't been for Zim's megadoomer making him have to hide, he'd have never discovered RIR.

It was odd for an Irken to be emotionally attached to their SIR unit, but Rai didn't care. RIR was different to all the others. He'd been there, ever since the event that turned his life upside down. On the way back towards Irk, a cruiser had been swerving all over the place, causing him to crash into the previously largest Irken snack storage device. Knowing he was in for a demotion, and a life sentence on Foodcourtia, he became unconscious. RIR piloted the ship as far away as possible, and explained the situation. That was when they officially became rebels.

The two of them had the capabilities of changing the yellow in their appearance to black, although it was more complicated in Rai, and involved camouflaging his clothing and eyes, while RIR just had to change his eye colour, something he could do in his sleep, and often did. It was strange that RIR slept, but he always became more efficient and powerful when he did. For a while, anyway.

The two of them had travelled from planet to planet, avoiding detection and infiltrating top-secret areas in search of something to help them. Having created a spy satellite after visiting several planets, Rai learnt of Zim's trip to Earth, and decided that he should go and investigate. That was where they were now.

"Doom, doom, doom…" RIR sung to himself, under his breath. Rai sighed. RIR often acted strangely, but at least it gave him personality. That was when they saw it.

Planet Earth, in all it's glory, sat in the area of space in front of them. It had a cosy feel to it, and RIR seemed impressed. The atmosphere seemed clean. However, there was a lot of water. Rai shuddered.

The ship flew downwards, onto the planet.

"RIR, locate a base for us" Rai ordered.

"Yes, my master!"

"RIR… ah, forget it"

RIR scanned the area, and eventually settled on a patch of ground in a small neighbourhood. For some reason, there was an eerie feel to the area. It was dark, and the sun orbiting the Earth seemed to have disappeared around the other side of the planet. At least it would be easy to hide attention at this time of day.

The ship landed, and the two of them hopped out.

"No hostiles detected" RIR announced.

Rai took a look at the surrounding homes, and then drew one of his own. The ship hid itself, as another home popped up in its place. It looked like the other houses… maybe a bit shabbily drawn, but no harm done. Now for the disguises.

For his disguise, Rai wore a golden sweater, along with black trousers and shoes. To hide his eyes, he wore shades. Shades were frowned on by the Irken race, but at least he was using them for a reason. The ex-invader turned to face RIR, who was applauding.

"What about you…"

Eventually, he decided. A dog would be fine. A small, black dog… which walked on two legs. It didn't look much like a dog, but according to scans of the area, it wasn't that different to other dogs. In fact, a similar looking green dog walked by the house, and stared at the two of them. It looked strangely like RIR… except it was eating a hotdog. Rai shrugged and opened the door to his home. RIR didn't follow. Instead, he was staring at the green puppy.

"RIR! Come inside!"

RIR slowly backed away and into the house. They had landed.

Little did they know, someone was watching from a nearby window.

Hope you liked it! Next chapter will be up soon. If you liked it, please R&R!