Disclaimer: IZ does not belong to me.
"Today is the day..."
The Irken invaders on the Massive were all gathered in the large conference hall. It was Tallest Purple who made this announcement, getting the attention of his kinsmen. Everyone watched in anticipation and curiosity as the tallest held his arm high above his head, then lowered it suddenly.
"...We finally defeat that evil monstrosity!"
Cheers roared through the hall. Both tallest stood neck and neck, watching their people rejoice the eventual destruction of one who had murdered so many. The last time so many people had gathered and were cheering this loudly was during one of Zim's broadcasts.
This particular Irken sat on the stage of the tallest, his human right up next to them. Both watched the procession with mild to no interest; both had their mind's preoccupied. The object of their thoughts was the very creature they were going to battle. Zim in particular was wondering about his vision. According to it, they succeeded, but... the vision Zim didn't seem too caring about the victory, or about the creature he had trapped. Instead, he had seemed more interested in that bundle. Zim had an inkling on what that was, but decided to see how this would play out.
All of a sudden, himself and the Dib (whom he had been against bringing in the first place) were being handed weapons and thrown out into the ships hallways. With the creature. Alone. With the door sealed behind them. If Zim had a stomach, it would be churning right about now.
A growl brought the Irken and human's attention to the area right behind them. Having both heard that sound before, neither turned around; the sound of the Shadow was something you don't forget. Instead, they just started running. The plan was to lure the creature to a rarely used area near the back of the Massive. There they would trap it for several weeks, until it died of starvation. Then, they would clear out the corpse, and everything would go back to normal. Whatever normal is for these idiots, anyway. But first, they had to outrun it.
Running was something both were good at. Dib had practice running away from Zim, and Zim was trained to outrun creatures like Dib (though he never did catch him...), so both were faster than one would expect of them. That wasn't the issue; endurance was. Zim could run at this speed for several hours and not get tired. Dib was another case. He couldn't last for long at speeds like this. Meaning at some point, he was going to have to rest. With not only jeopardized the mission, but his life. Hopefully, Zim would be able to carry him should it come to that.
You cannot run from me, the creature warned in it's mental voice. I know your thoughts, your moves, your feelings... your dreams. The thought-message made Zim shiver, though he didn't exactly know why. It was just creepy having something reach into your mind. Knowing everything... even the things he didn't know!
Both alien and human made a sharp turn, rushing down a hallway, the creature following them with ease. Was it aware they weren't trying to lose it? Zim was suddenly apprehensive, not sure of the coming dangers to himself, to Dib... to all of Irken kind.
And then they came to the section.
This area of the Massive was mainly used for storage. But since they had nothing of importance to store, it was currently empty. Sometimes they kept larger prizes in there until they could unload them back on Irk or some other planet, but they had other ships for that (after all, the Massive was the head ship of the Irken fleet. They couldn't waste time transporting things).
Zim turned around suddenly, letting the human know that they'd finally reached their destination. Both skidded to a stop, sliding around in battle poses. This was the point of no return; the final stand. If they failed, the Massive was doomed... just like in Zim's first vision on the Massive. But he wouldn't think about. He had two goals here: lure the Shadow into the area designated for it and seal it with the VES, and make sure it didn't scratch up Dib too bad. The human was by no means a bad fighter, but the Shadow creature was something far beyond his capabilities. It would have helped if Dib wasn't a smeet, too.
The Shadow creature roared, launching itself forward to attack it's intended prey. If it was aware of the set trap, it gave no indication. Both human and Irken took turns calling it to them to fight; when one was visibly tired, the other would taunt it. They would keep this up until the creature hadn't the strength to fight, then seal it with the shield.
When Zim took a rather harsh blow to the arm, Dib interfered, calling the monstrosity to him. "Hey, bug brain! C'mon, that all you got?" The creature, for some odd reason, did not seem to see past them. Instead, it broke away from it's current opponent and screeched loudly, causing Zim to cover his antennae with his claws. Without missing a beat, Shadow creature launched itself at Dib, who knocked it backwards with a make-shift staff made of piping. It hissed, attacking again; Dib continued defending himself with the pipe, occasionally glancing at the recovering Irken. When it had struck Zim's arm, it had also caused a burning liquid to seep through, and Zim was currently trying to quell this pain.
A metal pipe let off a screech as the Shadow broke it off, ready to toss it at it's human opponent. Dib dodged with the grace of an experienced fighter (which he was), but stopped short at the sound of an Irken scream. The pipe had flown past Dib and nearly hit Zim; who luckily had dodged at the last moment. However, his partner in fighting didn't know this, and believed Zim was truly hit long enough for the Shadow to catch him off-guard, picking him up with his 'tail' (which made up his entire body, much like a snake), and tossed him, without mercy, into the metal walling of the Massive. A horrid screech filled the air; the Irken had to once again cover his sensitive lekku.
But after that, he was up on his feet, rushing towards the attacker with a speed he didn't know he had. The Irken knew hand-to-hand combat, as well as the use of a short-range weapon, but still found long-range weapons more effective... mostly. In this case, it seemed only short-range attacks had any effect. In memory of his last attack of the creature, he struck it's face; the blow reopened the healing scars from where Zim scratched him last time. In fury, the creature tried to attack Zim, but Dib's body was in the way. So, it did what it saw as sensible; it threw Dib across the room, breaking his vulnerable human body even more.
For a moment, Zim just stared, numb. Then, with a cry he could have sworn he'd heard before, the Irken charged at the Shadow beast. One blow with his sharp claws was all it took to knock the beast across the chosen cut off spot for the monster. With a swift movement, he placed and activated the VES and trapped Shadow creature. A red button on the side activated the thing within a second, preventing the struggling creature from escaping. However, these things didn't concern Zim.
The human did, though.
With a last glance at the creature that had been messing with the masses and trying to destroy his people, Zim picked up the human (who was shaking from shock and pain) and ran off. The medical bay wasn't far from here anyways...
"It's not working!"
Two Irken claws pounded the wall in frustration. Zim, frustrated, snapped at his tallest (something that would have been death penalty had the situation been different) to be quiet; the Dib needed his rest. Purple waved the 'suggestion' off, choosing instead to writhe in contained fury. Red was equally frustrated, but just put on a haggard face and tried to deal with it.
The VEM was not as effective as they had thought. With every blow, it came closer and closer to breaking, once again releasing the threat. Of course, no one but the Tallest, Zim, and Dib (if he had overheard in his unconscious state) knew this; everyone believed themselves to be monster free. And the fact that Red and Purple were blaming Zim wasn't making things any better.
"My Tallest-"
"Don't 'My Tallest' us, Zim!" Red growled. "You said the creature would be contained in a Vortian Energy Shield-"
Zim interrupted (and how many death penalties does he have now?). "You know, we really should start calling those things VESSes." Both tallest confirmed this; VES was indeed much easier to say then Vortian Energy Shield. "And second, I never said it would be contained permanently."
"Well now Zim, it's your problem. Either deal with it, or jump out the air lock. Either way, you're dead." And with those oh so cheerful words of encouragement, both Tallest left Zim behind, who just sighed, lying back in his chair next to the human's hospital bed. Slowly, his eyes dropped close, as the obvious exhaustion reared it's ugly head, once more taking Zim to the land of nightmares.
Watching one fight wasn't the most strange thing in the world; one watching themselves fighting another being, however, is a totally different story. Zim watched, in no small interest, himself battle with the Shadow creature, just past where the energy shield is. Zim would growl, sometimes thinking things at it, and it would always counter right as Zim would attack, as if it knew his every thoughts (which it might, considering it's a telepathic creature).
Both were fighting with a revenue Zim hadn't seen in a long time. While he couldn't say why the creature kept going, he knew what was going through his own head: vengeance and fury at the strange creature. The Shadow stalked the ground in front of Zim, both circling in a corner looking for weak spots in the others' defenses.
Zim had never seen a battle so fierce. Not even between the Dib-human and Himself.
And it all went crashing at once. The creature's fangs came down, piercing Zim in the gut. (Vision) Zim screamed, as is natural reaction, as his squeedly spooch was torn through, while the other Zim (the real one, folks), watched with a sick sense of dread. His doppelganger keeled over, then unceremoniously fell onto his side. The crimson eyes widened at the sight of himself, falling onto the floor, his eyes glazed over.
Looking up at the creature who did this to him, the doppelganger Zim smirked, stabbing his opponent's gut area, causing it to fall to the ground as well. Both began coughing up blood candies, neither strong enough to recover without help...
The Irken's eyes snapped open once again, only this time, something was different. That feeling of foreboding, the fate that awaited him... it was all laid out in front of hi, like a tarot card, and only he could determine what each card represented in this life. The queen of hearts, the black ace, and the two of spades. To Zim, that meant...
Zim would face the Shadow once more. Alone. And neither would leave that fight alive.
Okay, so I'm nobodies favorite right now. But just read the next few chapters, you'll understand. Just trust me...
