Invaders of the Caribbean

Chapter 7

Gaz was sulking in the room provided for her when she heard the knock. She contemplated not opening the door, but when the knocking got louder, she growled, got up, and went to see who DARED bother her. She might have been a prisoner, but she was still the governor's daughter, and-

Oh, look, it was that weird robot thing.

Gaz raised an eyebrow but didn't open her closed eyes any wider than they normally were. "OK, get it over with. What do you want NOW?"

GIR held the box it was balancing on its head out to her. "The captain requires you wear this dress when you dine with her tonight."

Gaz took the box and removed the lid. She almost smirked to herself, seeing that it was, in fact, a nice purple color. Shame she had to receive it from that jerkface of a captain. She reluctantly closed the box and handed it back to GIR. "Tell the captain that I am disinclined to accept his request." She looked at the little robot, condescension on every aspect of her face. "That means 'no'."

Much to her surprise, however, the robot began to chuckle. "The captain told me you'd say that. In that case, you'll be dining with the rest of the crew." Its eyes flashed red, narrowing, while its grin spread. "And you'll be naked."

Gaz snatched the dress back.

~!~

Dinner was awkward. At first, Gaz thought it was just her imagination, but she began to realize just how right she was:

The captain was eating nothing.

Sure, the female Irken had cut up her meat and rolled around the vegetables and such on her plate, but not a bite went into that sharp-toothed mouth. She was simply moving the food around like a child trying to pretend to their mother that they WERE eating the gross spinach, really, you could see how little there was left, and that wasn't exactly how much there was before, really. Rather than eat anything, Tak was just fixing those dark, pupil-less eyes on her, and that was really beginning to make her skin crawl.

So she brought it up.

"You haven't eaten anything." Gaz set her silverware down on her plate and stared at her companion. "The food is delicious, so it's not that you don't WANT to eat…" Her eyes opened for the first time on that voyage, just a crack. "It's poisoned…isn't it?" Her incredulous stare turned into a glare meant to freeze the center of the sun. "You've been sitting here, watching me eat poisoned food? I have to hand it to you, you're a good liar."

The captain seemed vaguely surprised, but let that ebb away. She held a hand out to the cat-thing, which (as if on cue) dropped the necklace into her waiting claw. She held it up to the light, as though admiring its 'beauty'.

After a few moments, the purple eyes returned to Gaz. "You don't know what this is…do you?" A shake of the head. "Vortian gold."

Tak stood, striding around in a circle, around the table over to Gaz, speaking as she moved. "You seem a highly educated lady, Miss Nameless, so I have no doubt that you've heard of Neria. Am I correct?"

Gaz cocked an eyebrow. "The island that cannot be found by anyone except for those who already know where it is? It's a fairy-tale world. Like in Peter Pan, or some such. Sailor nonsense. Except…" She stopped. "…Irkens are sailor nonsense too. So if you exist…"

Tak nodded, finally stopping a few feet away from Gaz's chair. "Neria exists, too. I've been there. Upon it lies the tomb of the king Card Nar, the Vortian so greedy that he kept an entire island of treasure all for himself when he died. And above his body…" She held the necklace up to the light again, gazing at it, mesmerized. Gaz found herself drawn into the sight as well. "…Eight hundred and thirty two identical pieces."

The Irken returned her gaze to Gaz, who once again found herself in an uncomfortable situation. "But the god Trisickx placed upon the gold a terrible curse. These pieces of gold would curse the thief with an unquenchable greed." Tak blinked, then seemed to shake herself out of her story-telling stupor.

Gaz snorted. "Captain Tak, I am twenty years old, and thus, far too old to believe in ghost stories anymore."

Gaz wasn't any more used to the harsh, high-pitched, rasping laugh as she had been the first time she'd heard it. Tak shook her head and snorted, trying to recuperate. "I apologize for my rudeness, but…well, that's EXACTLY what I thought when my friend told me about the gold. I thought, 'Well, it's all very well for humans to be so superstitious, but I'm a hundred and seventy, and I know far better than they'." She gave another laugh, and Gaz almost joined in, but was still somewhat shocked at discovering Tak's age.

She watched the Irken's face harden up again. "I was a fool." Tak shook her head. "I searched for years, and finally had the privilege to FIND Nerina. I led my crew onto land, and we opened the old man's casket, and there was the gold. And us, the damn, blind fools we were…we took it all." She made a snatching motion with her claws on the word 'took'. "We took EVERYTHING on that damned island, everything our boat could carry. And we spend it all, all over the world, on food, and drink…" the claws rested upon Gaz's shoulder, and she jumped despite herself as Tak leaned in, smiling at her with that grin of daggers. Almost suggestively. "…And pleasurable company."

Gaz tried to shy away from the Irken, but it was unneeded. Tak seemed to have only been fooling with her head, or maybe trying to go along with the storytelling. Whatever it was, it was enough for her to HATE this woman. Irken. Whatever. To hate her with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns.

Tak ignored her. "It didn't take long, though. We realized something. We could drink and drink, yet couldn't quench our thirst. Food turned to earth-dirt in our mouths." The purple eyes flitted onto Gaz again. "And all the pleasurable company in the WORLD couldn't sate our…need."

Gaz looked away, uncomfortable with the way Tak was staring at her. "So? If you're already cursed, then what difference does the medallion make?" She hadn't expected Tak's reaction. She'd thought the woman would laugh it off as always.

Not so.

Tak snarled, and, out of the blue, grabbed a side table and flipped it over, letting it slam down on it's side with a crash loud enough to hurt Gaz's ears. She turned and hissed. "There was ONE way to break the curse, Miss Gazlene! ONE! If we were to return the gold and the blood of the takers, the curse would be lifted! We gathered EVERY. PIECE. Every last one! Save for the one YOU kept for TEN YEARS, rendering us unable-" Tak slammed her hand down on the table and slashed it across, knocking over plates of food and creating a tremendous racket, which the Irken only shouted over, not letting it hinder her at all. "-to quench our thirst or hunger or need! YOU, and your damned father!"

The silence that followed this lecture was stunning, more of a slap to the face than anything the captain could have said. Gaz slowly raised her head from her hands where she'd been hiding her face. She saw the Irken's back turned to her.

She saw her chance.

Gaz picked up the nearest knife and rammed it into the metal lump on the captain's back. She hadn't expected the Irken to turn around, stare at her, and then sigh and shake her head.

Gaz ran.

She didn't know where she was going, but she knew better than to stay with the captain. The Irken was stark-raving mad, and the whole 'throwing tables and chairs over' didn't really help her case.

Had she expected what she'd see on deck, she wouldn't have thought of Tak as such.

In an attempt to escape the captain, she'd run on deck with no real direction, just to get away from the madwoman who seemed incapable of death. But the sights on the deck made her open her eyes all the way, for the first time in years.

Skeletons, broken robots, dead Irkens.

Walking around as if there was nothing wrong.

Gaz turned, panicked, only to bump into Tak, who was taking steps into the moonlight. Before Gaz's eyes, her skin melted away, leaving only an exoskeleton, her antennae seemed to tear down to stubs, and her eyes, which Gaz now realized were multifaceted, split into every smaller screen, thousands of waving tendrils coming from the eye socket. "Time to start believing in ghost stories, Miss Nameless." Tak snatched a bottle of brandy from a nearby skeleton. "You're in one!"

Tak grinned, and Gaz pushed past the captain and ran, unaware that Tak wasn't following her, not knowing, not caring, just wanting to get away from the horrible sights she'd seen. She didn't even have time to mentally complain about too many 'S's.

Tak and the rest of the crew watched Gaz run, and the captain began to laugh. The rest of the crew, following suit, did too, but stopped abruptly when Tak threw the bottle of brandy to the ground. "What do you think you're all doing? Get back to work!"

~!~

"Well, Zim, this is it!" Red spread his arms out, indicating the rather short line of people.

Purple did the same, but from the other side. "The pick of the litter, all for you!"

Zim's eyes scanned the line, and, seeming unsatisfied, turned to Red. "Introduce them to me! Or, at least, show Zim who they are and what they can do!"

Red seemed prepared for this, and instantly began showing off his superior knowledge. "Over here we have Spleenk,"

"Hey!" The alien waved two of its six arms.

"Shloontapooxis,"

"Hiya!" The snow-cone/fountain-drink alien stuck it's tongue out, apparently unable to wave its nonexistent arms.

"And Lard Nar." Red seemed particularly proud of the short Vortian. "He's the descendant of king Card Nar himself." Lard Nar nodded curtly.

"This here is Skoodge. He doesn't look like much, but watch this." Red turned to the short Irken. "SOLDIER! Salute your standing officer!"

Skoodge immediately fell to attention, a claw shooting to his forehead as he snapped into position. "Sir!" His claw went from his head to his side an instant after he had said the word. Dib couldn't help but let out a whistle of admiration. Zim had seen better, of course. From HIMSELF! Because he was ZIM! But he could see that this Skoodge would be a valuable asset on the voyage.

"What's in this expedition for us, huh?"

Zim turned to look towards the end of the line, where the voice had come from. He strode over, slowing down, then finally stopping by another Irken, who seemed to have their hat over their face. He lifted the brim, then pulled the hat off, revealing a female Irken with round red eyes, but no other distinguishing features. He smiled. "Tenn."

Zim actually seemed to anticipate the slap that was delivered across his face. Dib rolled his eyes.

"Didn't deserve that either, Zim?"

Zim shook his head. "Nnno. Zim deserved that one."

Tenn nodded. "You stole. My. Boat!"

"Actually-" Zim turned his head back to face Tenn, only to receive yet another strike to the face. "I borrowed it. Without permission. And every intention of bringing it back-"

"But you DIDN'T, did you Zim?"

Zim seemed to be panicking. "You…eh…you'll…you'll get another one!"

Dib, understanding that not helping would mean they probably wouldn't find Gaz, decided to jump in. "You'll get a BETTER one."

Zim looked back at him, perplexed for a moment before it seemed to dawn on him, and he turned back to Tenn and smiled nervously. "Aye, a BETTER one!"

Dib, seeing that Tenn was still unconvinced, glanced around, then pointed at the Interceptor. "You'll get THAT one."

Zim looked where Dib was pointing. "THAT one? But Zim is…" He trailed off and glanced at Tenn, who was looking at the ship and apparently liking what she saw. He turned back to her. "Aye. THAT one. When we're done with it, it's all yours."

Tenn nodded. Apparently she was ready to accept this proposal.

Dib took the lead and looked down the line. "Do we have an accord?"

There was a deafening roar of approval, and the crew headed off to board the Interceptor. Red seemed none too happy with Tenn being there. "Zim! It's a CHICK! It'll be bad luck, and don't call me a hypocrite, 'cos Purple invited her!"

Zim raised a nonexistent eyebrow (y'know, the one he was too good for? It's back with a passion). "I…didn't…say anything about it." He snapped himself into a much more commanding position. "It doesn't matter! Board the Interceptor! We've got the Pearl to catch!"

~!~

Hey, it's Chokopoppo agaaain~

Wow, this chapter came out longer than I expected. I mean, it's not as long as chapter three, but it's still pretty long. Wait, was it chapter three? I don't like to dwell on such things. Anyway!

Finals are coming up (Ick), so I won't be able to post as frequently as I'd like. However, I'll still have the next chapter up by Saturday. Yay me!

One final note: So far, I've really enjoyed writing this fanfiction, and I'd like to do some other retellings with the I.Z. cast. I've decided to go by Disney's golden age, so if you have any suggestions, let me know! (Note: I've already decided to do Mulan. IT'S SET IN STONE. GRAHR.)

YOU READ AND REVIEW NOW PLZKTHXBAI.

D=

INVADER ZIM DOESN'T BELONG TO ME, THOUGH I WISH IT DID. SAD FACE.