Well, I did it again. Wrote a much longer chapter then I intended so I decided to split it in half, hence why it doesn't have as much action as promised. But the rest is coming I assure y'all, and I will try to make it as epic as possible. ;)

Also, thanks for the feedback on the last chapter everyone. I was kinda worried on whether or not I was able to make Zim and Gaz's interaction believable. Since I knew it'd be hard to make a self-absorbed megalomaniac and an anti-social misanthrope sympathetic, I wanted to at least make them sympathetic to each other. Fun fact; when I try to draw inspiration on how to write Zim and Gaz experiencing romantic feelings, oddly enough I tend to think of Frollo from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame and Helga from Hey Arnold. Not as a couple of course, but at least in terms of how they deal with intense feelings of attraction. God I really hope I didn't inspire any fanfics with that pairing x_x

One last thing to mention, I made a video! Well, an Invader Zim AMV more specifically. Feel free to check it out at my new Youtube account under the name 'Velvet Crush'. Or look up the title 'Zim and Dib- Loathing'. Anyone who's a fan of Wicked will immediately get the context ;) With that shameless plug out of the way, enjoy the new chapter!


Chapter 8: Distractions

Back in the main control room, Zim was standing in a pile consisting of the ruined remains of the gaming station, using a scanner to examine the still broken panel. Gaz meanwhile was leaning against a nearby wall with her arms crossed, an impatient grimace plastered on her face as she watched Zim attempt to remove bits and pieces of the built in game console.

"Will you hurry up already? I told you nothing in that pile could possibly still work so why don't we move on?"

"Silence! Zim wants to make sure his tech can be salvaged."

Unfortunately every time he tried extracting the parts, they either broke upon removal or were damaged beyond repair. Even the wires connecting the controllers were completely severed and destroyed.

"Argh, this is pointless!" Zim said, throwing down his gadget. "Nothing in this scrapheap is salvageable!"

"Oh no, really? And here I thought a game console would survive having a giant TV dropped on it." Gaz said sarcastically. "So what now, invader genius? Are we gonna dig through trash now to find a working console?"

"Cease your comments snarky human! Zim is trying to think…" Zim said as he pondered over their options, while Gaz rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile over in the corner, Dib was still pinned against the wall, his mouth still bulging with pizza puffs while GIR sat on top of his head eating a bucket of fried chicken. Dib let out a muffled sound and glanced up at GIR, who looked at him for a moment, reached into Dib's open mouth and took out a pizza puff which he replaced with a chicken wing. GIR then proceeded to eat the pizza puff, causing Dib to growl in annoyance.

"Come on, don't you have like, several surveillance TV's laying around this place?" Gaz pointed out. "Surely one of them has a gaming system we could use, or at least is compatible with one."

Zim thought to himself for a moment. "I suppose we could use the media player in the upstairs living room. It does play multiple devices, plus the television is linked into the computer, so setting it up for game play shouldn't be too difficult."

"Well what are you waiting for? Let's hurry up and get this over with already." Gaz said impatiently.

"Computer! Begin set-up for gaming unit on the upstairs television!" Zim commanded out loud.

A few moments passed and there was no response. Zim arched an eyebrow. "I said, begin set-up for gaming unit on the upstairs television! Computer!?"

Again, there was nothing but silence. Zim looked confused.

"Oh great, don't tell me your computer is broke too?" Gaz sighed.

"Of course not!" Zim replied. "It's possible the collapse of the screen damaged some of its vocal and auditory functions for this room. No matter. We shall head upstairs and I will command it from there."

"And if it still doesn't work?" Gaz asked.

"It'll take some extra time but with the right tools, I can set the system up manually if need be." Zim said, grabbing his tool box.

"Extra time?" Gaz said, a slight not of panic in her voice. "Like how much?"

"Oh you know...about several hours or so...GIR! Come help me set the gaming system upstairs!"

"Coming!" GIR then jumped off Dib's head with the bucket of fried chicken, paused for moment, then left a chicken leg on top of his head before running toward Zim.

Zim grabbed the game cartridge along with the flash drive and put them inside GIR's head before the robot went racing out of the room. Zim grabbed his tool box and made to follow after GIR but stopped in the doorway when he noticed Gaz wasn't following them. Instead was still standing by the wall with her back to them, her arms now uncrossed.

"Um, aren't you coming?" Zim asked as he gestured toward the hallway. "The TV is upstairs you know."

"I know just...give me a couple minutes." Gaz said, still staring at the wall.

"I thought you wanted to get this over with? How is it okay for you to take your time but Zim gets yelled at for even breathing too slow?"

"I need to...do some stuff."

"Stuff?" Zim asked skeptically. "What is this 'stuff' you speak of? Is it deadly? This better not be a trick!"

"It's not, okay!?" Gaz snapped, briefly glancing back towards him. "Just...just go on ahead! I'll meet you both upstairs."

Zim noticed she wasn't looking directly at him and became concerned. It was then Zim realized that Gaz hadn't moved from her spot since they came back into the room and appeared to be purposely keeping her distance from him. He then walked forward and put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to immediately tense up.

"You know, Zim could help if you just ask. The sooner you get whatever 'stuff' you need done, the sooner we can-"

"I SAID I would only be a couple minutes!" Gaz said in a harsher tone, facing him as she roughly shoved away his hand. "That means leave me alone Zim!"

Zim looked at her in confusion. "What's wrong with you? You're acting grouchy...well, grouchy-er. And not in your usual Earth-hating human way."

Gaz looked as if she were about to shout but instead clenched her jaw and turned away.

Getting agitated, Zim circled around till they were facing each other again. "Look, I don't know I did to anger you this time, but whatever it is can wait. Right now we need to return to the game and finish our battle before something else breaks or ends up falling on me!"

Gaz narrowed her eyes at him and walked away toward the other side of the room toward Dib who was watching them curiously.

"Oh, so your back to ignoring me huh? Real mature Gaz!" Zim said as he followed after her. "You weren't acting like this earlier when I was touching your face."

Gaz stopped dead in her tracks, clenched her fist and turned to face him, an angry look on her face. Zim, seeing her reaction, came to a realization.

"Wait, is that what this is all about?" Zim then laughed in amusement. "Hah! Foolish human, getting upset over something so frivolous! Don't tell me you got all riled up over a simple examination? I thought you were tougher then that, tiny little human?"

"Enough Zim." Gaz said in a warning tone, a murderous look radiating in her eyes. Zim however pressed on, oblivious to her rising anger.

"Need I remind you who it was that gave Zim permission in the first place? You could've stopped me at any point during the examination you know. You didn't have to let me get that close. But you did. You wanted me to touch your face. In fact, I daresay you were even enjoying it-"

In a flash, Gaz jabbed Zim between the eyes and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back. Zim let out a small cry as she forced him onto his knees. She then grabbed his antennae and pulled his head back, causing him to yell out in pain. From the corner, Dib's eyes lit up in surprise and let out some muffled cheers of encouragement.

"Ahh! What are you-"

"Listen up and listen good Zim." Gaz said in a deadly whisper, holding his head back with one hand while maintaining her grip on his arm with the other. "What happened before in the hallway will NOT happen again. I may have helped you earlier, but that doesn't mean we're friends. I know how you work, and if you think manipulating me by acting nice and lowering my defenses will help you win this game, then you are DEAD WRONG!"

Gaz then let go of Zim's head and kicked him in the back, causing him to stumble onto the ground. Zim looked up fearfully back at Gaz, who was now surrounded by an eerie purple glow and glaring darkly upon him with bright red demon eyes. Zim started to sweat and scuttled backwards as she advanced toward him.

"I will defeat you Zim." Gaz declared, her voice now reverberating with a demonic echo and sounds of thunder. "And after I do, I will plunge you into a nightmare of suffering you cannot escape. You will rue the day you decided to challenge me! By the end of our battle, I will reduce you to DUST!"

A bolt of energy then zapped the ground between in front of her, cause of a wall of flames to erupt between her and Zim, who let out a scream and scuttled backwards til he collided with the door. As he looked around for the panel, Gaz slowly emerged through the flames, lifting up a finger which she pointed menacingly at him.

"Now then...heed my command and go upstairs right now, before I re-break your arms AND your legs AND dig out the back of your skull with a rusted SPOON!"

Taken back by her terrifying anger, Zim fumbled with the door panel before getting it open and running through, not stopping till he was safely in the lift with GIR and quickly shutting the doors.

Gaz glared after him and waited till the doors were closed before finally toning down her evil energy, causing the fire to disappear and her eyes to return to normal. It was only once Zim was gone that she felt a huge sudden surge of guilt, this time twice as strong as what she felt before. Squeezing her eyes shut, she turned her back to the door and crossed her arms, trying to calm herself with deep controlling breathes.

"Seems like I everywhere I go, someone wants to inflict pain upon Zim..."

She tried convincing herself that Zim deserved the pain she has wracked upon him, but couldn't concentrate as she kept picturing the terrified look on Zim's face, which surprisingly made her feel worse. Although she's seen that type of look on other unfortunate souls that had dared to anger her, she had never felt bad about causing them such distress before. Gritting her teeth, she began repeatedly punching the wall, trying desperately to squash what little feeling of remorse still lingered.


In the lift, Zim was taking deep breaths in an effort to calm himself down. Thinking back to Gaz's threats, his feelings of terror were quickly replaced by anger and outrage.

"GAH, this is ridiculous! Look at me! Cowering in fear from that filthy demon child. SHE should be the one doing the cowering! How dare she think she can threaten the almighty Zim!" He let out an agitated growl and began banging his fists against the wall of the lift. "After everything I've done to appease her, she still wants to destroy me over the slightest offense! What. Is. Her. DEAL?"

While Zim continued to take his frustrations out on the wall, GIR sat on the floor dipping his fried chicken into a jar of mayo and eating it slowly as he watched Zim with curious interest. He then started to mimic Zim and cheerfully smacked his mayo covered chicken leg against the floor before dancing in it.

After tiring himself out, Zim slammed his back against the wall and slid to the floor. He began rubbing his throbbing, aching wrists and noticed his one arm felt different than usual. Rolling up his glove, she saw the brace Gaz had fitted him with earlier and tracing his finger along the straps, which still held tight despite all the punching he did to the wall.

Zim glared at it in resentment. Between looking at the wrist brace and feeling the painful sting from where she pulled on his antennas, Zim felt more baffled and infuriated than ever about Gaz's treatment towards him.

"GAHH! Why are earth females so confusing!?" Zim exclaimed out loud. "First she threatens to hurt me if I go near her, then she lets me get close enough to actually touch her, and now she's hurting me because I got too close? Zim doesn't get it! Someone explain this strangeness to Zim!"

Zim then heard a giggling noise and glanced over to see GIR with a sly grin plastered on his face. His grin was so wide, Zim couldn't help but glare at him in agitation. "What are you cackling on about?"

GIR snickered. "She likes you."

Zim arched an eyebrow at him. "You're talking nonsense GIR. More than usual."

"But she does. That's why she always beated you up so bad." GIR pointed out.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Zim exclaimed. "What sort of creature would hurt something it likes? You saw how she treated me before, clearly she hates me!"

"But she doesn't. She liiiiiikes you! And yoooouuuu…" GIR said, sliding closer towards his master. "You likes her back!"

"No I don't!" Zim objected.

"But you do! Hee hee!" GIR said in a teasing manner. "You loooooooves her! You want to huuuuugggs her! You tried to kiiiissssss her!"

"LIES! YOU'RE A LYING SACK OF CHICKEN AND LIES!" Zim yelled, standing up as he pointed an accusing finger at his robot.

"But you did!" GIR gushed. "You was gonna kiss her, and tell her you loves her, then ride off together into the sunset on a white pony, followed by the end credits and singing toothpaste commercials!"

"I was going to do nothing of the sort!" Zim objected. "What you saw before was…was just...all I did was closely examine her mouth extremities! She looked like she was gonna be sick or something."

"Sounds like a kiss to me." GIR giggled.

"Bah! What do YOU know about human kissing?" Zim scoffed.

"It's just like what the peoples on the TV do!" GIR then took a small handheld TV out of his head, turned it on and handed it to Zim.

Zim looked curiously at the small television, which featured a scene from a soap opera where an attractive red headed woman was hugging a shirtless man with bandages wrapped around his head.

"Oh Rob, I don't care if your my husbands, brother's, friends, half-sister's, evil twin and you have a horrible case of super amnesia. I will love no other but you!"

"Be gone with you attractive mystery woman! Before I strike you down with my ninja skills that I may possibly have. Love doesn't exist for a supposed stone hearted loner like me!"

"No Rob! I won't leave you! You may be abusive and manipulative, but deep down I know you have a heart of gold to go with those incredible abs of yours! Let me prove my love to you!"

Zim then watched as the woman pulled the man into a sweet passionate kiss, set against the background of a setting cardboard sun on a clearly fake beach.

At first he felt disgusted, given all he'd seen go in and out of human mouths, but as he watched them deepen their kiss, he felt a familiar fuzzy feeling similar to whenever he and Gaz were near each other. Watching as they wrapped their arms tightly around each other, Zim was suddenly picturing himself doing the same to Gaz, holding her close to his body and pressing his mouth against hers. The very idea began to make his head spin and turn his face a very dark green.

"My memories! They came back! Oh no, I just remembered! Your adopted 2nd cousin Sue is about to crash a jet into my mother's wedding to the local mob boss and set off a bomb in 20 minutes! And she's carrying my love child!"

"WHAT? Not again! I can't believe you cheated on me a 4th time, you lying cheating jerk!" the woman cried out before awkwardly slapping the man across the forehead.

"Ahh! My memories! They're lost again! Where am I? Who are you!? What is happening to my world!?"

Zim shook himself out of his fantasy and tossed the TV back into GIR's head. "Ugh! How revolting! I'd rather get my brain sucked out by space slugs."

"No you wouldn't. Hee, hee!" GIR giggled with glee. "You wants to kiss her, I knows you doo. Yous blushing right now just thinking about it."

"No I'm not!" Zim said sternly, trying to cover his darkening cheeks. "Just...shut your filthy junk hole GIR!"

GIR snickered, dancing excitedly around Zim as he sang. "Zim and Gazy, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-DOG-ROCK-PURPLE!" GIR then dissolved into hysterical laughter and rolled around on the floor while Zim seethed in anger.

"ENOUGH!" Zim commanded, grabbing GIR by the head and forcing him to stand up. "Let's get one thing straight GIR: I feel NOTHING for that human! I CAN'T feel anything for that human! The only thing I feel is disappointment and shame in myself for thinking I felt something. Well, no more! And as soon as I defeat her in the game, I shall destroy her and her horrible stink-brother once and for all! Once she is out of the picture, she'll be out of my head! And then I can focus on what's really important..."

"Tacos?" GIR asked excitedly. "Is it tacos? Its taco's right? Give me tacos!"

Zim glared at the robot and crossed his arms. "Let's just hurry up and get this over with, before something else inconvenient and annoying happens."

Then was a ding as the lift reached the top floor where the couch sat. Zim walked out into the living room but immediately jumped back in as a horrible sight met his eyes.

"SWEET SLATHERING SLORG POX, WHAT IS ALL THAT?"

The entire living room was covered in what appeared to be small blobby masses of dough and cheese with squid tentacles sticking out of them. They were crawling all over the floor and over furniture, leaving trials of ink that slowly began melting the stuff they were crawling on.

GIR, who was sucking on a chicken leg bone, stood up and looked around at all the creatures before his face lit up in realization. "Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you…the puffs came to life and are eating our house."

All at once, the creatures turned their beady soulless eyes toward Zim and GIR, who stood with their backs against the lift. Gnashing their razor sharp teeth, the cheesy squids launched themselves forward and began their attack.


Meanwhile back downstairs, Gaz was repeatedly punching a stuffed pig she found lying on the buffet table. Dib watched her with unnerved interest, for while he was used to Gaz taking her anger out on their toys and other inanimate objects, he hadn't seen her be that abusive in a while. Gaz then threw the pig to the ground and began jumping on it till eventually it stopped squeaking. Since Dib's mouth was still stuffed with food, he started to form muffled words in an attempt to communicate.

Gaz paused briefly to acknowledge her brother's barely cohesive words. "What do you want fish-breath?"

Even though Dib knew better than to attract Gaz's attention when angry, his curiosity got the better of him and he let out a muffled noise as he attempted to ask a question.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Gaz asked as she continued to stomp on the animal. "I'm taking my anger out on this stupid pig. Consider yourself lucky it's not your head."

Dib let out another muffled noise in the form of a question.

Gaz stopped stomping the pig and glared back at him. "What do you mean why? Cause I want to, that's why! Because I need to! And because if I don't do it to this pig, I was gonna do it to Zim's stupid face!"

Dib arched an eyebrow and let out another muffled sound.

"I DON'T care whether he gets hurt or not! That idiot alien can rot at the bottom of a ditch for all I care. Would serve him right, given all he's done. Kidnapping me, holding me hostage, stealing my stuff, making me feel ba-" Gaz then stopped and turned away, a mixture of anger and embarrassment on her face. Dib looked curiously at Gaz, unsure as to what she meant but noticed that her hands were shaking.

Clenching her fists tight, Gaz grabbed the pig off the ground, threw it into the air and punched it with such extreme force that it zoomed across the room and crashed into a nearby wall of game cartridges, causing it explode and topple over onto the floor.

One of the Super Space Conqueror cartridges slid across the floor and stopped at Gaz's feet. She glared down at it resentfully, realizing it was because of that game that Zim began stalking her in the first place. Placing her foot on top, she attempted to crush it when Mini-Moose suddenly floated in front of her, looking up innocently.

Gaz glared at the creature. "What do you want?"

"Nyah!" Mini-Moose leaned his head forward, which was balancing a single can of Power Burst.

Pausing for a moment, Gaz stepped off the game cartridge and grabbed the energy drink. As she looked at it, she remembered all the trouble Zim went through trying to make her happy and her angry scowl softened a little. As much as she hated to admit it, she had been having fun with Zim earlier and kinda enjoyed the attention he was giving her. Thinking back to his amusing stories and how much they made her laugh, Gaz's face became warm and her head started spinning, much to her confusion and annoyance.

"Ugh! What is going on!? Why do I keep feeling like this? Everything is so confusing, it's…it's making me sick…" Gaz said, holding her head and stomach as she knelt down onto the ground, hoping it would help to stop the spinning. "It's like I have a migraine that won't go away...just like Zim..."

Her thoughts then wandered back to earlier when Zim was holding her face and brushing his fingers against her cheek and lips. No one had ever touched her like that before and just thinking about it was enough to make her heart race and her head spin faster. The fact that anyone, much less someone like Zim, was able to put her in such a vulnerable state, both confused and terrified her. She was supposed to be tough and above such silly human emotions. And yet, as she pictured Zim's big red eyes staring back at her, she felt her face grow warmer and the nauseous feeling in her stomach grow worse.

Gaz then shook her head and clenched her fist in determination. "No! I won't let him get to me. This whole weirdo plan of his to syke me out isn't going to work. I will defeat Zim, and once I whoop his sorry butt in the game, I'm gonna whoop his butt all over town! I'll beat him up so bad he'll be afraid to even set foot outside his base. Yeah...the sooner I defeat him, the sooner I won't ever have to deal with him again."

With that thought in mind, Gaz then pocketed the energy drink and walked over to Dib, who was surprised when she gave him a somewhat cheerful look. "Thanks Dib. You can be really helpful when your mouth doesn't work."

Dib looked briefly offended but then perked up as he let out another muffled question.

"Nope. I'm still not letting you go. I just wanted to grab something to eat." Gaz then picked the chicken leg off of Dib's head and took a bite out of it before turning to Mini-Moose. "Moose, you're in charge of Dib. Make sure he doesn't escape."

"Nyah!" Mini-Moose squeaked joyfully as Gaz tossed the rest of the chicken wing into his open mouth.

She then walked toward the door, turning briefly to address Dib. "Don't do anything dumb til I get back."

Dib let out muffled cries of objection which Gaz ignored. She then exited through the door into the hall, pausing briefly to activate the lock on it before heading toward the nearest lift.

Dib struggled against the robot arm to no avail. He could feel the grease and cheese from the pizza puffs dripping down his mouth and decided to make a bold move. With one big gulp, he swallowed the pizza puffs all at once and exhaled in relief.

"AHH! Finally! Phew!" Dib exclaimed, taking a breath. "Now, to get back to escap-blak, bleh, BLAK!"

Dib then felt something get caught in his throat and shook his head back and forth trying to dislodge it. With one with big hacking cough, he spat out the chicken wing GIR had stuffed into his mouth before, which zoomed across the room and hit the broom, knocking it over onto the release button. Dib felt the metal arm release its grip on him, causing him to stumble onto the ground.

"Wow! That was lucky!" Dib said as he got to his feet with some difficulty. Mini-Moose then floated forward and squeaked at him. Dib froze, unsure of what to do as the small creature stared blankly back at him. Thinking quickly, Dib grabbed a slice of pizza off the buffet table and offered it to Mini-Moose. "Hey little guy. You still hungry?"

"Nyah!" Mini-Moose squeaked excitedly and opened its mouth in expectation.

"You want it?" Dib asked, waving the pizza slice around before hurling it into the far corner. "Go get it!"

Mini-Moose then chased after the pizza, much to Dib's relief. "Good. Now that it's distracted, it's time to go save Gaz!…urgh…and find a bathroom…" Clutching his now bulging stomach, Dib waddled over to the door and tried opening it. Realizing it was locked, Dib took off the nearby panel and got to work on trying to disable the door wires.

In the corner, Mini-Moose was happily munching away on the pizza slice, unaware that Dib was trying to escape. What he did notice however was that a pizza puff, which had been stuck on the chicken wing Dib coughed up from before, had now grown a mouth and tentacles and was now chowing down on the chicken til not even the bones were left. The creature grew twice its size and then slowly began crawling its way towards Mini-Moose. Thinking it was still hungry, Mini-Moose happily offered it the leftover remains of his pizza crust. The creature lifted up its tentacles as if about to take it, but instead seized Mini-Moose and managed to swallow him in one gulp. The creature again grew again, sprouted antlers and began crawling its way toward the nearby buffet table.


Upstairs in the living room, Zim and GIR were standing precariously on top of the arm chair while the squid puff monsters crawled around them. The creatures had managed to swarm the couch before the pair could retreat back down the lift and had now disintegrated it into a pile of cheesy mush. They then tried escaping down the chair lift, but the creatures immediately surrounded them and melted the access panel with their ink, preventing the hidden doors from being activated.

Gnashed their teeth up the pair, the squid puffs spat ink at them which began slowly began eating away at the cushiony chair.

"This is all your fault GIR! I told you not to mess with the cloner!" Zim exclaimed. "Now look at the mess you've gotten us into!"

"Aww it's not so bad. Least now we got plenty of snacks!" GIR said optimistically, leaning down to grab one of the puffs which squirmed in his grip.

He then tossed it into his mouth and started chewing. GIR's metal face then turned a sickly green and he violently vomited up several of the puffs he'd eaten before onto the ground below. The half-chewed puffs all sprouted tentacles and let out loud hisses as they began crawling their way back up the chair. GIR cowered in fear behind Zim, who looked less then amused.

"Bah, useless robot! Look's like I'll have to take care of this myself!"

Zim then summoned his laser cutters from his PAK and used them to zap through a bunch of the creatures around them, slicing many of them in half and leaving burn marks everywhere. He smiled down at the smoldering blobs victoriously but then immediately gasped in horror as the gooey balls of dough and cheese either reformed or split into more creatures. Now with twice as many little creatures as before, they quickly resumed their attack on the chair.

"AHH! GIR! Stop hiding and do something!" Zim commanded, stepping back as continued to zap them off the edge.

GIR still looked scared but nonetheless stood next to Zim and summoned a set of lasers and missiles out of his head, which he pointed right at the creatures. Before he could launch them, two squid puff monsters suddenly dropped from the ceiling and latched onto his wires, chewing on them thoroughly. GIR let out a scream and wrenched his weapons out of his head, throwing them and the squid puffs across the room where they were immediately set upon and devoured by the other squid puffs. GIR glanced sheepishly at Zim who looked furious.

"Way to go GIR, now you have no weapons!" Zim exclaimed.

"But, but…they tried eating me!" GIR whimpered, his chin quivering.

Just then the chair beneath them shook and rose up, causing some of squid puffs to fall off and squirm away. Zim grabbed the chair to steady himself and looked down to see Gaz walking out of the hidden lift.

"Hey Zim, is the game ready yet-WHAT IN THE?" Gaz froze upon seeing all the squid puffs and looked around in shock. "What did you guys do!?"

The hissing squid puffs then surrounded Gaz and immediately advanced upon her. One attempted to jump at her but she swatted it to the ground and stomped on it. Another creature then grabbed onto her shoe and began gnawing on it, causing Gaz to panic and kick her foot against the chair, which thankfully squished and dislodged it. She barely turned around when two more latched onto her shirt and another three tried biting her legs.

Before the rest could advance, Zim used his laser cutters to zap the creatures off Gaz and stretched down to grab her, using his metal legs to lift them both up onto the chair.

Once she was safely beside him, Gaz looked around at the commotion before shooting Zim a glare. "I take ten minutes to compose myself and you let something like THIS happen?"

"Hey I had nothing to do with these vile things! Well, not directly anyways…"

"What do you mean not directly? Where did they come from? Ugh, and why do they smell like fish wrapped in cheese?"

"Um...would you believe that a defective cloner I built mixed the DNA of cybernetic squid monsters with GIR's pizza puffs and now they're trying to devour everything is sight?" Zim asked uneasily.

Gaz looked at him in disbelief. "You mean to tell me, that you left a broken cloning device in a place where your idiot robot could get to it and now we're being attacked by alien pizza monsters?"

"Hey, I was fully intending to fix it! I was just, didn't have the time or proper tools or instructions and I...uh..." Zim noticed Gaz looking at him suspiciously and caved in. "Alright fine, I got frustrated and gave up on it! You trying building a cloning device with inferior human kitchen equipment!"

There was a sudden lurch and the three felt as the chair lift slowly descended back down to the ground as the squid puffs finally succeeded in melting the metal part of the lift. The waiting squid puffs were now leaping into the air, trying to grab onto the melting cushions to climb back up. Before they could make it further down, Zim grabbed Gaz and GIR then used his metal legs to leap up to the ceiling, grabbing one of the hanging metal coils before the chair they stood on dissolved completely into a melted puddle of pizza cheese and ink.

"Noooooo! Not my chair! All my pudding was in there..." GIR said looking sadly down at the puddle.

"I don't understand!" Zim said, looking around at the chaos. "The computer should've alerted me to these creatures and done something to stop them! Computer! Where are you?!"

"I-wanb, sob, deek, ZOMBALABADONGDONG…!"

The computers voice was barely audible and cut in and out as it tried to communicate. The three then heard a loud groaning noise and felt a shudder from ceiling. They watched as several of the computers metal arms and wires collapsed from the mass of coils, having been either damaged or completely destroyed by the squid puffs that were still currently eating through them.

"What do we do now?" Gaz asked. "Don't you have anything around here that can destroy those things?"

"Yes, but my weapons are all down in the main control room. We'll have to go through the kitchen if we're to reach them as soon as possible. GIR! Activate you rockets!"

"Woohoo! Rocket man!" GIR cheered before jets flew out of his legs. Zim and Gaz then leaped onto GIR who flew them into the kitchen. Their eyes widened in shock as what lay before them was even worse than the living room.

The metal cloner was now going haywire and shooting out dozens of pizza puffs per minute, covering the entire kitchen floor with blobby masses of squid, dough and cheese. Almost all of the appliances were being devoured as the grotesque creatures slowly grew bigger the more they consumed. The only thing left partially intact was the toilet where the hidden lift remained. Using his lasers, Zim blasted the squid puffs off the large cabinet, which GIR landed on top of.

"We need to distract them so we have a clear path to lift." Zim explained. "GIR, since this whole thing is obviously your fault, you're going to be the bait. Lure the cheese filled cephalopods away and do whatever stupid thing you usually do to get attention."

"But, but...theys too scary! I don't wanna do it!" GIR said, folding his arms and turning away.

Zim growled. "GIR, if you don't help me get rid of these creatures, so help me I'm going to-"

"NOT buy you another pig toy!" Gaz interrupted. "I mean, come on. You can distract them for a measly five minutes if it's for a pig toy right?"

GIR looked up, as if intrigued. "Well...I dunno..."

Zim then had a thought and whispered it to Gaz. She looked at him with disapproval. "Are you crazy? I can't afford-"

They then felt a bang noise and looked down to see the squid puff attempting to eat the bottom cabinet and disintegrating the corners with their ink.

Gaz then turned to GIR "Fine! GIR if you help us survive this, I promise to buy you a hundred tacos."

GIR then immediately perked up and saluted. "I'LL DO EET! FOR THE TACOS!"

He then laughing maniacally and jumping headlong onto the middle of the kitchen, landing right on top of the melting table. "Hey puffs! How ya doing?"

The squid puffs stopped eating and turned their attention toward GIR, who took a bucket of fried chicken out of his head and held it up for them to see. "Who wants extra crunchy chicken wings?"

Immediately all the puffs jumped toward GIR and tried grabbing the bucket of chicken. GIR let out a scream and jumped off the table, running into the living room with the puffs in hot pursuit.

When it was mostly clear, Zim turned to Gaz. "We're going to have to go down separately since the lift is narrow. Tell me, how long since you came up here to...'do your business'?"

"Umm, about over two hours I think..." Gaz replied.

"I see. In that case, you're going first." Zim then grabbed Gaz around the waist and activated the rockets in his PAK. He they flew off the cabinet and toward the toilet, much to Gaz's horror.

"Wait! You're not going to- Zim I swear if you flush down there I will-AHHHHHHH!"

Zim then dropped her into the toilet bowl and pressed the handle as he flew by, causing her to disappear down its chute. Zim then flew around a bit and used his wrist the shoot the handle before diving into the toilet himself.


As Zim and Gaz made their decent, GIR ran circles around the living room screaming his head off with the squid puffs in hot pursuit. GIR then ran back into the kitchen and stood atop a chair, which proved fruitless as the puff quickly got to work on devouring and climbing it.

Panicking, GIR threw his bucket of partially eaten fried chicken across the room, hoping the puffs would chase after it instead of him. Unfortunately, the bucket landed on the counter and rolled onto its side, causing a piece of chicken to fall out into the open top of the cloner. The device powered up and let out a surge of energy. The squid puffs stopped pursuing GIR and turned to watch as the cloner let out sparks of electricity, some of which incinerated the surrounding puffs, causing the rest to retreat back behind furniture and inside crevices.

GIR then ran into the corner and watched in horror as a giant set of chicken feet along with feathered tentacles crawled out of the cloner. It lifted the device off the floor and rose up toward the ceiling till eventually a giant feather body emerged from within, which had the same beady eyes as the puffs and a long fang filled chicken beak. The thing let out a terrible screech and swallowed the cloner in one gulp before turning its attention on the puffs and devouring them one by one.

Taking advantage of the distraction, GIR fled into the living room and quickly pried up a partially melted end table, revealing the hidden lift beneath. As he jumped down the shaft toward the lower base, the giant chicken squid finished devouring the smaller pizza puffs in the kitchen and crawled into the living room in search of more food. It smashed open the closets, reveal the robot parents who looked blankly up at the revolting creature.

"Well hey little girl! You selling cookies?" Asked the robot dad before the creature seized him with its tentacles.

"Now that's not very nice!" Said the robot mom as she began poking its feathers. "Don't make me get out the punishment shovel!"

The squid seized her as well and devoured the robot parents in one gulp. It was about to make its way toward the front door when it noticed a trail of mayo covered footprints that lead to a gaping hole where the side table had been. Sniffing the chicken-scented mayo, the creature let out a shriek and began crawling its way into the shaft.