Ore had a mission. A very important mission, and she will stop at nothing short of a universal apocalypse... or, you know, unless the Almighty Tallests called it off. But Ore doubted it. If they did, the universe just might explode because of someone's carelessness.
She, out of all of the Irkens who serve the Almighty Tallests Red and Purple, was chosen for this task by the Tallest themselves.
What is her mission that's so important? Babysitting.
Well, that's not exactly what the Almighty Tallests had ordered her to do. They told her to 'Make sure Zim doesn't ruin anything, and stays away.'
They also told her to bring up some donuts from the kitchens.
Her all knowing and all powerful leaders sure loved their donuts.
Even if it was Zim that she has to supervise, Ore couldn't be happier. Finally, she was living her dream. The Almighty Tallests had recognised her amazing skills and courage during her time as a pilot for the Massive.
Why else would they send her out to masquerade as an 'Invader apprentice' (even though everyone -except apparently Zim- knows that that position doesn't exist) and insure that Zim doesn't ruin Operation Impending Doom 2 like he did with Operation Impending Doom 1?
Ore didn't like Zim. Nor did a majority of the Irken race. It was a plain and simple fact.
When Zim was just a smeet, a lot of Irkens (including Ore) thought that he was annoying.
Now? Now Irkens of all sizes and shape hated him, and maybe even feared him. Who wouldn't? He was the only creature in recent Irken history to have ever come close to destroying their beloved planet of origin.
Everyone who was old enough at the time haven't forgotten that day when Zim was let loose on the surface of the planet. Ore herself would never forget the day that everything around her had crashed and burned into a fiery inferno.
Actually, she consider herself one of the lucky ones. Ore got a whole month off of work afterwards In order to deal with trauma (Which is not done very oftern in the Irken Empire) and she spent that time on Planet Fluffle.
A month of being surrounded by nothing but fluffy bunnies, ducklings and tap dancing walruses. Not to mention the delicious Fun Dip and sodas provided by the staff at the various petting zoo's foodie stands.
So many fluffy animals. Ore just wanted to hug them all and never, ever, ever let go.
But that was all in the past. Unfortunatly.
When she had gotten the assignment, she was ecstatic. Her job was to make sure that Zim didn't screw things up a second time. Since Zim had 'quit being banished' The Almighty Tallests didn't exactly trust Zim to stay put.
That's where she would come in. Ore would make sure that Zim didn't doubt the his mission's authenticity. She was responsible for keeping him away from main parts of Operation Impending Doom 2.
Oh she would. She would make sure that Zim stayed exactly where he belonged. Far, far away from the operations. And she would make her beloved leaders proud. The survival of the Irken Empire depended on her! And she was going to succeed no matter what.
So long as she survived the idiotic song that Zim's little malfunctioning robot was singing.
At that moment, the glory of being chosen to embark on such a dangerous and important mission had faded away, and instead replaced with a violent urge to kill something. Which, of course, she had to repress since causing too much chaos in such a tiny spaceship would cause all of them to fall into the never ending abyss that is space.
It took a good week for Ore to give up trying to get some peace and quiet. She was left sitting in the far back of the Voot Cruiser, clutching her curled antennas.
And in a desperate attempt to drown out the song, she started listing all the possible uses of noodles. Most of which were ways to weaponize them.
Doom doom do-doom doom doom doom doom do-be-do-be-do doom doom doom doom doom do-do-doom doom doom.
ARG! It was driving her insane!
How could anyone possibly be able to sing for so long. (Of course Ore already knew the answer to that question. GIR was a robot, and could keep on singing until his battery ran out. But she just wanted something to complain about.)
Her infiltration mission had only just begun and she was already thinking about bailing. Keyword: Thinking.
As if she would dare go against the orders of the Tallests.
And of course, Zim wasn't doing anything to stop his little robot. All he was doing was drooling like the moron while staring at the controls. Ore narrowed her Magenta eyes.
"Zim, could you please control your robot?" She asked over the sound of GIR's obnoxious singing. Zim whirled around in his chair, and in one motion, he jumped out of his chair and a finger at Ore.
"SILENCE!" He yelled "It is All Powerful Invader Zim to you! No, Master Zim. Wait, no, argh! I thought that we went over this before we left Conventia, Apprentice." Ore rolled her eyes internally. Oh how could she forget the look on Zim's face when the Almighty Tallests presented her as his new apprentice.
At first he was blantly opposed to it. An invader of his caliber needed no one.
That was his excuse.
But then Almighty Tallest Red began explaining to him that his greatness was exactly why he was chosen to gain an apprentice. That he was their number one choice out of all of the other invaders that were under consideration.
The Tallests were holding back their laughter during the entire explanation.
Zim had straightened himself out while listening to the Tallests 'praises' and started talking about how honoured he was to be chosen to mentor a new generation of Invaders. He also talked about how great he was and how he would train Ore to be the second best invader that the Irken Empire had ever seen. The best being him.
Then GIR threw a cream pie at Ore's face, and all hell broke loose.
Who knew such a small robot -who decided to throw a cream pie at everyone he saw- could almost cause a war between the Irken Armada and the Galactic Gummy Bear Tribes.
"Right, Invader Zim. Is there anything you could do to, I don't know, quite GIR down?" Ore asked. Zim Sat back down in his chair and began pressing some random buttons.
"Right now GIR is doing a complex scan of the galaxy that we're in, AND THERE SHALL BE NO INTERUPTIONSSSAAA! You are too inexperienced to know just what it is." Zim said, waving his hand dismissively.
The fact that Ore didn't know if such a scan was even necessary irked the female Irken to no end.
A voice in the back of One's head wondered why an Irken who has had no previous training in infiltration, (Or as an invader) is on a mission that involves pretending to be an invader. Shouldn't someone more qualified, and know all the procedures of Invaders for that matter, be in her position instead?
Ore squashed that little voice and mentally kicked it into the farthest reaches of her mind. Questions like that were unacceptable. She was assigned this mission and she would complete it even if it killed her.
Knowing her luck, she would die by some stupid means. Like 'death by rainbow leprechauns', or something along those lines.
"Proximity warning. Planet ahead." Ore's train of thought was shattered as the computer announced that they were passing another planet. She was just about to settle back down in her seat before Zim suddenly perked up.
"We're here! We are finally here!" He yelled out as he slammed his hands against the control panel. Ore looked up at Zim with confusion.
There wasn't supposed to be any planets with intelligent life on them in this area. Even if there was any life here, how could Zim know that the planet ahead of them had any life on it.
After some internal debate, Ore figured that it had something to do with those supposed 'scans' that GIR was doing. Probably.
She still had her doubts as to how that robot even functioning. Not only was it one of the older models, it was basically pieced together in less than five minutes using spare parts from the trash.
"GIR!" Zim yelled, trying to get the little robot's attention. Could it be true? Was Zim finally going to stop the insufferable sing-song?
GIR held up a robotic finger, indicating that his song was not yet done. His song concluded with a few more 'dooms' and then he squeaked out a 'The End'. Finally. Finally. Finally finally finally, the idiotic song was over.
Ore let go of her antennas and sank in her chair with relief.
The little robot was certainly annoying, but he does look adorable with that little grin on his face. Ore straightened herself out and was instantly alert. Since when had she ever considered the little pest of a robot-servant adorable? Ore shook her head a little in order to banish those stupid thoughts.
Planet Earth. There was definitely something familiar about that name.
Ore listen carefully as Zim read the name of the planet out loud, and declared that this was their destination. It was a place that shouldn't exist, but some how it did. It was where the fake Invader operation, and her own secret mission, was going to take place. Joy.
"Sir, what is our next course of action?" Ore asked, stone-faced. Zim turned around with a confused look on his face.
"Shouldn't you already know from Invader training?" No, no Ore didn't know. She never received Invader training. She was a navigator, a pilot, not an Invader. But Zim wasn't supposed to know that.
"You are my mentor, shouldn't you go over everything to make sure that I know it?" Ore asked, trying to figure a way to get herself out of the spotlight. For a fleeting moment, Ore thought that Zim would figure out her true intentions. But then he grinned and puffed out his chest with pride.
"Yes. As your mentor in the art of Invading, it is my duty to make sure you know everything you need to know-"
Zim was interrupted as GIR suddenly fell on top of his head. GIR had somehow climbed up to the ceiling of the Voot Cruiser and then lost his grip while he was playing with one of the metal pieces that was sticking out.
"D'ow! Erk, Get off! GIR! Focus and be useful for once! Do you, or do you not have advance information gathering skills? Start scanning!" Zim yelled as he pushed the little blue and grey robot off of his head.
Ore watched as GIR suddenly lit up red and stood at attention with a salute aimed at Zim.
"Yes my Master!" He said before his red eyes melted into a baby blue colour and then zoomed over to the window and watched the world pass by with an amazed expression on his face.
In was in that moment that Ore realized how emotionally expressive this robot was for being an outdated model. Maybe he wasn't a complete engineering failure.
No, he probably was. Ore thought as GIR began licking the window and giggling about weird tasting Ice-cream.
Silently, she listen as Zim finally explained to her what exactly the scans were for, and how GIR was supposed to be gathering information on the dominant species of this planet. In this case the Homosapians, or Humans, as they prefer to be called.
Their habits, cultures, government structures, current political atmosphere, the types of defences they had, number of fluffy bunnies, and what-not.
Hehehe, bunnies...
Afterwards the three of them were going to pick a place to set up a base and create disguises so they could blend in with the hideous native inhabitants easier. From there they were supposed to gather even more accurate data on the planet, and prepare Earth for the incoming annihilation.
Humans, Earth, bunnies. Those two words kept spinning around in One's head. A sense of familiarity filled her. Had she heard those words before?
No, not possible. She had never heard of this planet before now. Still, the feeling of recognition lingered like a bunch of mosquitoes. No matter how hard Ore tried to swat it away, it just wouldn't stop bugging her.
If she couldn't push those feelings away, then she would ignore them and make herself useful by being on a look out for a place for the base. With renewed determination, Ore pressed her hands against the window of the Voot Cruiser and started analyzing the landscape below for the perfect location.
Zim suddenly slammed his fist down onto the control panel, causing the Voot Cruiser to come to halt.
"HERE! We build here!" Zim stated (More like screamed) with total authority. Ore was too distracted by her face slamming into the cold, cruel, window when they stopped.
She had only just peeled her face away from the offending window when she had realized that they had finally landed.
As soon as the Voot Cruiser had touched the earth, Zim leaped out of his seat and climbed out of the ship before the dust clouds had even settled. Ore on the other hand, stayed in the Voot Cruiser with GIR until the dust, and evil microbes among the dust, were gone.
That and she was waiting to get an 'all clear' from Zim. Who knows what kind of monsters could be hiding behind that smokescreen.
"Ore! GIR! Get out here!" GIR tumbled out of the ship as soon as he heard the command with Ore following close behind.
The first whiff of Earth air that Ore took caused something in her PAK to snap.
No seriously, she almost missed the faint snapping sound that echoed through her body. Something... Something felt wrong. But it also felt right.
Her PAK must be malfunctioning.
That was the only explanation. Ore would fix the glitch later, after the base if finished. She jumped down from the Voot Cruiser and went to stand alongside GIR. With a twinge of irritation.
"I would have thought that we would meet greater opposition. Is it like this on every planet?" Ore asked Zim.
"Eh, it depends on the planet. But this is definitely easier than my mission during Operation Impending Doom 1." He said with a hint of pride in his voice. Ore said nothing, for nothing good could be said about that day. Zim quickly became disinterested in her silence and started hounding on GIR for information.
"Hurry GIR, what did you learn?"
"I was a squirrel!"
Zim blinked once. Ore blinked twice.
"It was doing like this!" With that said, GIR crouched down and began giving his best imitation of a mindless squirrel.
"Concentrate GIR!" Zim yelled out, throwing his arms up in frustration. A foreign feeling washed over Ore once again, this time egging her on to laugh at the comedy in front of her. She ignored it using her superior Irken Military training.
"It is time for disguises." Zim said addressing both GIR and Ore.
"I wanna be a mongoose." Ore simply couldn't resist the urge (to at least smile) any longer. Zim shushed GIR and warned him to be silent.
Zim looked around with suspicion before heading back to the Voot Cruiser. Ore followed along behind him like a lost puppy, but she never let her guard down.
They were on an enemy planet. So far it's been too easy. There must be some kind of ambush waiting for them the minute they let their guard down.
Ore was startled by the sudden sound of Zim calling out insults. She whirled around, preparing for the worst, only to find that Zim was yelling at the screen that displayed various disguises.
Finally he appeared to have decided on one, and Ore could only watch as Zim was engulfed in the two half pods and a blinding white light replaced him. Ore had to turn away in order to keep her eyes from burning out.
That had already happened to her once during a little mishap on the Massive. (Stupid sun looked like a giant donut from a certain angle.)
When the light was gone she turned around... Zim had hardly changed appearance wise. But somehow, the fake wig and the contact lenses were able to fool GIR.
"Master? Where did you go? Where are you?" GIR asked whirling around in a desperate attempt to find Zim. He seemed to be on the verge of tears when he couldn't see his master.
"I'm right here GIR, and keep it down! Do you want to wake up the whole planet?"
"...I doooo."
Ore didn't regret being chosen to partake in this mission, but she regretted having to be surrounded by idiots.
A small part of her felt offended by her own statement.
She suddenly found herself being pushed over to the Voot Cruiser by Zim. (Who was chewing GIR out simultaneously.)
Huh, time for her to chose a disguise.
Ore shifted her weight from one foot to another in an uncomfortable fashion. Her eyes were drawing to the glowing screen that listed the various disguises that the Voot Cruiser system had to offer.
All of them were terrible, and there was a voice inside Ore's head yelled that she would never forgive herself if she got a disguise as see-through and as crudy as Zim's.
Finally, Ore settled on a simple but efficient disguise.
From that point on, the pathetic earthlings (humans) would see her as a pale girl with chocolate brown hair that fell to her shoulders. Dark blue eyes that were framed with black square glasses. And her disguise would include a purple beanie, blue t-shirt, and black pants.
Ore felt a certain giddiness when the half pods closed in around her and she received a watch.
Not just any watch, oh no. This watch didn't even work properly. (Always stuck on three o'clock.) This watch was actually a holographic device. A little something to help her become a more convincing twisted one of the knobs on the side of the watch and was instantly engulfed in a hologram that protected her chosen disguise.
She stepped out and that was it. Zim tilted his head and shrugged
"Eh, It's an OK disguise for a beginner. Now for GIR, I'm thinking maybe... A dog."
"Can I be a mongoose dog?"
"I don't think mongoose dogs exist on earth." Ore said flatly.
"Awwww" GIR looked down dejectedly. "Can I be a walnut puppy?"
"Nu-uh"
"How 'bout a narwhal?"
"No, narwhals are sea creatures."
"Dodo bird?"
"Try again."
"Pretty Unicorn?"
"Don't exist."
"A waffle dog?"
"GIR!" Zim yelled, interrupting Ore and GIR's conversation. He whirled around and took a deep breath.
"Today, we become, the enemy!" And with that, Zim pushed GIR into the capsule in order to receive his disguise. When Zim deemed GIR's disguise satisfactory, (A little green dog costume) he began sketching out our new base on the little pad that he brought out.
"Some windows, a couple little animal things, THERE!" He gently placed it on the ground, and they all gathered around it and watched as it burrowed under ground.
"Hide!" Zim ordered/yelled. And as one unit, Ore, GIR and he all sprinted away from the area where a house was about to be grown like a potted plant.
Zim elected to hide behind a fire hydrant, while Ore hid behind one of the trees in the neighbor's yards. GIR just stood in the middle of the street.
"Be quite! We can't afford to make a sound!" Zim hissed at his subordinates.
So, it was no surprise when Ore started panicking when an incredibly loud roar rang against her antennas.
No no no no! The loudness! THE LOUDNESS! This was not stealthy! Nope, not stealthy at all! Nope nopeity nope nope nope.
Ore could already hear car's letting off panicked screeches. Were the neighbor's coming out? Yes, yes they were. Didn't Zim just say that they had to be silent?
Arg! This was the worst complication EVER.
After several agonizing minutes of watching the house build itself -and pretty much wake up the entire planet- Zim crawled out of his hiding spot. He straightened himself out and brushed some invisible dust off of his shirt. Then he reached over and grabbed GIR's leash.
Ore was still trying to calm down herself down, but she hurried over to them and fell into step behind them.
For some reason the only thing that she could think about at that moment was a broken water pipe.
Drip
Drip
Drip
It was a weird coping method.
Ore didn't know how Zim was able to overcome the awkwardness of the neighbor's eyes following them.
When they reached the front door, it opened and standing there was two robots.
"Welcome home kids!" They said with their robotic voices, as various sparks flew from their joints.
Without any hesitation, Ore zoomed into the house and claimed a place on the purple couch. Zim on the other hand, leaned on the now closed door and let out a sigh of relief.
"Step one went smoothly."
"No it didn't" Ore mumbled with her face in the couch pillows
"Yes it was."
"No it wasn't"
"Yes"
"No"
"Your exhaustion from the trip must have impaired your judgement, because clearly this mission has been a success so far."
"..."
"Thought so. I'm going down to the lab to figure out the best way to gather information since GIR isn't doing a good job of it."
"You do that." Ore said as she watched warily as Zim and GIR marched over to the trash can entrance to the base below. Silence engulfed the house as soon as Zim and GIR had gone down to the labs.
Ore debated on whether or not she should try to sleep.
She was tired enough, seeing as how all of the pent up exhaustion and anxiety from the past six months or so decided to hit her at that very moment.
It's not necessary for Irkens to sleep. It's possible but usually they charge their PAKs which has the same effect. But if Ore was going to blend with the humans, she might as well pick up on some habits.
With that thought, Ore closed her eyes and tried to drift off into the land of dreams.
Keyword: Tried.
It must have taken her at least half an hour for her to finally fall asleep, and even then she didn't know when exactly she fell asleep. But she did. She fell asleep, and surprisingly, she had a dream.
She had never had a dream before, and didn't know any Irkens who have had one. Daydreams, yes. Nightdreams, no.
In her dream, she saw something that terrified her. She had no clue what it was but it was absolutely terrifying with this giant furry creature and this strange blue vessel containing water. And loud screeches. There were loud screeches that reminded Ore of GIR's singing.
Ore was only asleep for two hours before she snapped open her eyes and sat straight up in a sleepy haze. This planet was getting to her.
But that dream made her curious. Something told her that that dream was important, and that she could figure it out if only she looked up some information on it. Hesitantly, she called up the computer (that was newly downloaded into the house from the Voot Cruiser) and began pouring over the data on the computer.
It took her less than ten minutes to find the correct information. At first she was shocked. Then she was stuttering in utter rage.
Who wouldn't be angry after they find out they had a dream about a moose in miniskirt and a crop top walking in circles in a blue kitty pool with the Nyan Cat song playing in the background.
True Irkens weren't even supposed to think about things like that. It was embarrassing.
And Ore knew exactly what caused that dream.
"What in the name of Irk is wrong with you?" She hissed at the empty room.
"It's a little thing called revenge for ignoring me. I exist. Don't try to deny it. Also, the look on your face was hilarious!" That wasn't Ore's voice. Zim and GIR were no where in sight. That voice didn't come from an outside source.
It came from inside Ore's mind.
Someone else was inside her brain with her.
Author's Note:
Edit 8/1/15: I took out the Narrator's confession entry because I planned to do something with that, but then scrapped the idea.
Thank you everyone who reviewed, favorited, or have followed this story. Every single time I opened my email and found an notification from Fanfiction had me grinning like crazy.
So, the first chapter is up. It was actually supposed to cover the entire second part of The Nightmare Begins episode, but I realised that it would be too long, and I want chapters for this story to be somewhere between 3,000 words and 5,000 words.
Next up we will have Zim and Ore (and her little tag-along) start Skool. Though, that chapter might be out a little later since I want to upload another story that I'm working on.
I'm just putting it out there that English isn't my first language, so please excuse any spelling and grammar mistakes.
And it would be amazing if you, the reader, could review. It doesn't have to be too detailed, just a little smiley face would do.
Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed reading this story so far!