A/N: I don't own Invader Zim, yada yada yada. Congrats to me for adding a bit of Jhonen goodness in this chap. Fact of the day: Thomas Jefferson invented the coat hanger. Hm.

"Okay, Gaz, tonight I am going to Zim's base and find out what his next evil plan is! He hasn't been causing anything evil to the other classmates in days and I just know he's up to something, and I bet than teen is involved! I bet they're..."

Gaz growled as she tried draining her brother's rants out of her head and focus more on her game.

Dib put on his gear and grabbed a squirt gun. It was the latest water gun in stores and blasted out water at powerful strengths. Perfect on an alien.

"Do your stupid stalking, as if I care, but I'm hungry and if you don't get me any food, you won't have any eyes to even stalk with," Gaz warned calmly.

Dib nodded and quickly took off his gear. He could spy on Zim in an hour. "How about pancakes for dinner?"

Gaz quirked an eyebrow. Pancakes did sound good at that moment... "Alright, Dib, but you better not burn them like last time." With that she turned around and headed upstairs to continue her game before dinner was ready.

Dib hurried to the kitchen and grabbed the ingredients he needed for the pancakes and began to stir them together until the batter was ready. He suddenly thought he heard voices and looked out the window thinking someone was outside, but nothing was there. He shrugged it off and poored some batter into the skillet.

He made a few pancakes and poured more batter in the skillet when he heard a noise, this time coming from inside the house. He spun around in paranoia and held his spatula in front of him as a weapon.

Nobody was there.

Wait...

Dib noticed a stuffed bear on the kitchen table suddenly. It wasn't there before... He picked it up and examined it. It looked... strange. It was just a regular brown teddy bear with a bowtie, but something was odd about it. There was a small card attached which he picked up and read.

I will destroy you.

In Dib's paranioa, he tossed the stuffed bear away from him, which the bear then turned into a mechanical robot on little spider legs. It began to advance after Dib, who yelled and ran away, into the livingroom. The bear followed afterwards and tried to attack Dib with a mechanical arm. Dib used his spatula to defend himself with.

Both human and robot continued the battle, both knocking everything in the livingroom and making such a loud racket. Eventually the robot bear knocked the spatula out of Dib's hand and was just about to stab him with the mechanical arm when Gaz grabbed it and tore it's head off which deactivated it.

"Thanks Gaz! You really saved me from that..." Dib trailed off when he saw the angry look on his sister's face.

So much for spying on Zim tonight...

Laughter filled the room as Zim and Red entered the base.

"Did you see his face?" Red asked, holding onto his abdomen to keep hold of his laughing.

Zim nodded, cries of laughter kept him from saying anything. He was on the verge of falling over and his squeedily-spooch was becoming in great pain.

Red held his hand like a fist and waved it in front of him, "Look at me, I'm a large-headed human and I'm going to save mankind with my spatula!"

They both suddenly fell to the floor, laughing and holding onto their squeedily-spooches.

Gir walked in with his doggy suit on and covered with sticky, strawberry jam. He tilted his head and wondered what was so funny.

The two Irkens suddenly noticed the robot and in their great mood, began laughing all over again.

Gir backed out of the room slowly.

Eventually the laughter died down and both Irkens lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

Red let out a content sigh, a smile still plastered on his face. He hadn't laughed like that since, well, when he was laughing at Zim.

Maybe the defect wasn't so bad after all...

"My Tallest, Invader Udex requests more supplies and tools. Should we give it to him?" A medium-height technician known as Knor asked, approaching Purple.

Purple was busy staring out into the depths of space and didn't hear him.

"My Tallest?" Knor spoke again.

Purple suddenly turned his head, "Hm? Uh, oh yes! Do whatever is needed to be done!" He exclaimed, not wanting to sound like a fool. He didn't want to seem like he wasn't paying attention, even though he wasn't.

Knor nodded and walked away. He went back to the computer where other technicians sat. One of them, Req, leaned to the side and whispered to Knor, "Is it just me, or is Tallest Purple a little out of it lately?"

"I've noticed it, too," Knor replied in the same hushed tone, "he hasn't been the same in a long time."

"I haven't even seen him with any snacks in a long while."

Knor sadly shook his head, "I haven't even seen him with donuts. He always eats donuts when the cook bakes them." He replied in a more hushed whisper so he was sure Purple wouldn't hear.

"He hasn't been the same since Red was banished," Req commented, "and if I dare say, he hasn't been a very good leader since he left."

Knox looked at him with wide eyes. No Irken would ever even think to say such things about his Tallest! Not unless they had a death wish.

Both Technicians went back to work and after a few minutes Req spoke again, "I miss the both together."

The conversation ended there.

Unbeknownst to them both, Purple had been listening. He narrowed his eyes and thought about throwing them both out the airlock, but something made him stop. Maybe because he knew all they said were true.

He couldn't keep this up.

He couldn't continue running a race like this.