Disclaimer: IZ does not belong to me.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Dib-Thing... you may stop screaming now."

Dib opened his eyes slowly, taking a look around. Zim was amused to see that the self-proclaimed paranormal investigator was currently in awe at his surroundings. Ah, yes, the Massive. Best ship in the entire Irken fleet. Now, where were we?

Oh right, Dib's amazement at the Massive.

Well, in Dib's defense, it was quite a sight to behold. The first time Zim had seen the Massive in person, he had to examine, touch, and question everything. The Irken smirked, and nearly snickered, when he remembered the headache he'd given the guards. Ah, good times. Was he forgetting something?

"Zim, welcome to- what is that thing?"

Oh yeah, the whole tallest and Dib thing. Turning around, he took a quick glance at the Dib. The poor boy's eyes were so wide, one would assume they were going to pop out of there sockets. He looked almost scared. No, scratch that; he was downright terrified. What was going through that large head of his?

"Never mind, probably some sort of Earth rodent. Throw it in an incinerator or something," Dib's eyes, impossibly, became even wider as he backed away. Several guards attempted to grab him, but he jumped out of their way, leading up to a rather amusing chase around the room (which was larger than Zim gave it credit for), which ended in Dib's capture. Zim frowned.

"Now, throw that thing in the incinerator..."

"Wait, my Tallest!" Zim interrupted. The guards gasped, but Purple, who was more or less expecting it, told him to speak. Zim bit his lip, unsure of why he interfered, then spoke, only putting half of his conscious thought into his words.

"That thing is... my pet! I've kept him for the last few months or so... walking him, feeding him, bathing him in cleansing paste... he's like Gir, only smarter. By the way, where is Gir?" Zim looked around, not noticing before that the SIR unit was absent. Red cut in, telling him Gir had been shut off (apparently he was causing all sorts of problems) and put in Zim's room.

Red ordered one guard to escort Zim and Dib to their room, and another one to fetch bedding and such items for Dib. As the group, sans one tallest, left for their respective rooms, Purple began whining.

"So I can't incinerate it?"


"Uh... thanks," Dib muttered as he laid on the blankets brought for him. Zim waved off the awkward apology.

"I really didn't have a choice, Dib-Stink... imagine the reaction of people if you disappeared. Surely they would blame me," Zim took a glance at the corner of his eye. Dib was avoiding his gaze, staring instead at the floor, "Besides... Earth would be boring without you. Who else would challenge my eventual rule?" Zim snorted, "Certainly not your idiotic kinsmen."

Dib's head shot up, his eyes meeting Zim's, "Ya know, that's the closest anyone's ever gotten to saying they care about me... ironic that your the one to say it," Zim raised one non-existent eyebrow, "Even if it did insult humanity in the process. So, why are we here?"

Finally, something to talk about that wasn't awkward, "A strange monster has been attacking Irkens on this ship. I'm to help hunt it down," Zim smiled proudly, happy to be apart of such a noble mission. Dib raised an eyebrow at the Irken.

"Why would they call you all the way from Earth just to help defeat a monster?" Dib wondered aloud. The alien moved to sit on the floor near where Dib was set up. He couldn't trust a human with the secret of his dreams... could he? And it was Dib...

No, best play it safe, "They need my superior fighting tactics, of course. Silly human, does your army not call upon reserves in times of emergency?"

"Well, yeah but-" Zim interrupted Dib, who clearly had no argument.

"This is kinda the same. Now do something useful, like turn Gir on," Zim went to finish unpacking, while Dib activated the robot on the nearby table. Upon reactivating, Gir cried out, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" then saw Dib, screamed, and flung himself onto Zim's head.

"IT'S THE BAD GUY, MASTAH! HE'S BAD!" Zim growled, yelling at Gir to get off while prying the him off of his head. Dib laughed at the sight of Zim trying to get Gir off his head. Eventually, Zim did manage to peel Gir off of himself, and flung it (him?) onto the bed. Gir squealed in childlike joy as he bounced on the bed. Zim sighed.

"Dib-Worm, remind me to get some replacement parts for Gir while we're here, okay?"


"Zim? Why did you bring your pet?"

Red glared at Dib, who shrunk back under the Tallest Irken's gaze. Purple was still upset over not being able to throw Dib in the furnace. Zim sighed, trying to come up with a reason that did not reveal his little lie. Finally, he decided on the truth.

"Well, I can't exactly trust him alone. He's so hard to train," Then Zim proceeded to pet Dib, making sure the pressure would cause a little pain. As predicted, Dib winced, causing Zim to smile.

The tallest gave in, "Whatever. Now, back to this 'monster' business. While you two were settling in, I was informed-"

"That two of your guards and a prisoner were found dead?" The tallest glared at him for interrupting -again- but let it slide. Instead, they continued to brief Zim and Dib on the little they knew. How long they've had this problem, how many Irkens it had taken, nothing of particular interest, really.

Zim found himself lost, unable to listen to the useless facts the tallest were spewing at him. Dib was paying close attention, even taking notes on what he considered important. Silly human. Zim laid his head down on the table. The voices of the tallest echoed in his head as everything went black.


"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Zim stared as the hull of the Massive came down in pieces around him. Irken guards, maintenance personal, and others were running around wildly. The creature stood atop a piece of fallen metal. Everywhere there was chaos and turmoil. Zim didn't know what to make of it.

"Make haste, Dib!" the familiar voice -his own- caught Zim's attention, and he turned towards the sound. Himself and Dib were heading towards the escape pods, not far behind the tallest. He also noticed Dib was straggling along, barely keeping up, "Come on!"

"I'm trying!" Dib rebutted, making a desperate attempt to keep up pace. The increased speed wasn't doing him any good; he was naturally uncoordinated and unbalanced. So when a piece of metal came into their path, it was not particularly surprising that Dib tripped over it.

But that didn't mean that didn't have consequences.

A scream, as the creature leapt from the large piece of fallen metal, and onto the floor. At an impossible speed, it came up to Dib, glaring at him with it's mouth wide open, showing off it's glistening ivory fangs. The other Zim ran over to help, screaming no.

The creature pounced...


"ZIM!"

The Irken awoke, not particularly pleased about the rude awakening, but saw the tallest staring at him, with eyes not annoyed, but instead demanding. They wanted to know what he saw. Zim picked himself up.

"Dib, go back to our room. NOW," Dib would have snapped back, but instead the glare he met from Zim, combined with the realization and shock that Zim didn't attach any weird names to his, told him to follow orders for once and go back their room. Once he was gone, the tallest, both exasperated with curiosity, began questioning him.

"What did you see?"

"Who's next?"

Zim called them down and informed them of the falling apart of the Massive, "But it felt different from my other dreams... like, it was distant. I don't think this will happen immediately. Maybe in a few weeks, but not immediately, like my other visions," Purple relaxed.

"Good, then there's still time. Go join your... interesting pet, and we'll get back to you when we need you, okay?" Zim nodded, and left.

What happened next? Zim wondered, pondering his latest vision. Would Dib have died? What did the creature do? Why did his counterpart seem so different from himself?

Well, it didn't matter now. Zim headed back to his room and prayed Gir hadn't destroyed everything. Maybe reactivating him wasn't the smartest idea.

Okay... that didn't take to long, did it?