Anohter long chapter. My sincere apologies for the delay, I've just started my senior year of college, and things are completely up in the air as far as what I'm doing still, lol. I hope this makes up. Finally, we know some more about Zim, Dib, and what brought them together!

"You go first," Rachel said, jerking her head towards Zim. Zim opened his mouth to protest, but Jake interrupted.

"Gaz suggested we draw straws, so I second that motion," he said. I breathed a sigh of relief. Someone was paying attention. He looked at me. I gave him a small nod of thanks as Dib ran upstairs to grab a handful of drinking straws. When he returned, Zim took a laser and chopped them to various lengths. Jake held the pile out to me.

"It's only fair," he said. I nodded mutely, taking the straws and arranging my hands so nobody could see the length. I held them up. There was a pause before Zim reached forward and snatched one quickly. Rachel picked two, then looked to Tobias. After a moment, she gave him the shorter one with a slight frown. Jake and Cassie took theirs, and finally Marco. I opened my hand. Not the shortest, I noted, but short enough. Dib stared at his.

"Looks like it's me," he said. "Where should I start?" he asked, looking to the ceiling.

"The beginning is always a good place," Rachel said, somewhat bitterly. Dib nodded.

"I've been into aliens and ghosts from the time I was little. I really don't know why. I think it was because of my mom, always encouraging me to ask questions. Dad was never like that... She died when I was little, Gaz was just a baby," he said. I looked away. I didn't remember Mom. I had a picture, of her holding Dib and me, but I couldn't remember anything about her. Dib went on.

"Then, one day, while searching for signs of interspace chatter between Jupiter's moons and Pluto, I came across a strange signal. I was picking up the waves from microphones from Conventia, though I didn't know that. I heard Zim, and his leaders, at a huge convention. The Great Assigning, it was called. Irken Invaders were being sent to distant planets to take then over as part of Operation Impending Doom II. I felt in my gut that the unnamed planet they sent Zim to, was Earth. Before I knew what was happening, this strange green kid called Zim appeared in my own class. Finally, I had proof! Irrefutable proof that aliens existed. Despite that, nobody would listen. I tried so many times to get people to see, to understand..."

I saw Jake, Marco, Rachel and Cassie exchange looks. They had all known of Dib and Zim as elementary schoolers. They remembered "Crazy Dib."

"One day, Zim didn't show up to school. I figured he was plotting, so I ditched at lunch." Dib looked to Zim, who had adopted a serious look. Zim nodded slightly. This part was as much his as it was Dib's, but it was Dib's turn. "I went to Zim's house," he said.

I remembered that day with a slight shudder. He had called me, begging my help.

"The lawn gnomes didn't attack me as I walked up to the door. I figured out long ago that he didn't have a bio-scan attached to them, so it only attacked people acting suspiciously. I knocked. Usually, Gir, Zim's robot... servant, I guess, opened the door for me," he said with a slight chuckle. Zim scowled, muttering. Dib's serious look returned.

"When Gir didn't open the door, I wondered if they were out somewhere. I opened the door. Nothing seemed to be active. The TV was off. Lights were off. I went into the kitchen. Gir was curled up on the table, hugging a pile of waffles, sniffling. I asked him what was wrong. I admit I liked Zim's robot, he's cute, and he helped me out more than once. He said something about his master dying. I was... happy. Excited. I had caught him at a time of weakness, I could capture him and take him in!"

Zim was now looking at the floor. Jake seemed startled. Even in his re-telling, you could tell how thrilled Dib was over the apparent doom of what they saw to be his best friend. "You have to understand," he said, catching their looks, "We hated each other. Loathed each other. I wanted his autopsy video named after me! And he wanted me... Well, just dead. Enslaved, or something. We had been at war for so long, we weren't even fighting each other, we were fighting this caricature of our enemy..." He stopped for a moment, looking again to Zim, who shrugged. He looked at me, but I didn't meet his eyes. He sighed.

"I went down into his base. I found him... Laying... on the floor," he said softly. Rachel and Cassie, without seeming to realize, leaned in a little. "I didn't realize at first that he was naked," Dib said, slightly embarrassed. "Most of his body was blue and glistening. His skin seemed rough, I thought for a moment. But as I looked closer, I realized I was looking at his muscle. The green skin had torn into rags. As I got closer, I saw something pulse near his abdomen. It was the organ they use for a heart, barely held in by an artery that parted one of the chambers from the rest."

Their eyes widened in horror and disgust. Dib continued anyway, ignoring the slightly nauseous look on Marco's face.

"Every bone had grown. His shins and thighs were similarly ripped.. his stomach was in tatters, his ribcage had opened up more rips and tears as it grew broader. His neck and jaws were torn. There was a rip down either side of his face, and his skin was tight and dry over the back of his skull," Dib said. I didn't have to listen. The image was burned into my brain, too.

"I didn't know what to do. I thought he was dead, except for that pulsing organ, and I saw him breathing, very shallowly... I stepped forward, and that's when I noticed he was different. He was curled up, but he was definitely about a foot and a half taller than he had been. His eyes were open, but unfocused..."

"Get on with it," Zim growled lowly, startling all of us. "Yes, yes, my organs and what have you," he grumbled. There was a burst of nervous laughter from everyone. I had so smile briefly. Zim didn't like dwelling on his weaknesses, and that was one of his biggest.

"I went back upstairs," Dib said, shaking the reverent horror out of his voice. "I asked Gir what happened, who attacked Zim. He said Zim didn't have his medicine, so he was gonna grow and grow and grow until he died. The poor little robot was so upset, I felt horrible. And then, I guess it just sort of... hit me." Dim glanced at Zim. "At school, nobody talked to me. At home, Gaz was always wrapped up in her games, and Dad almost never came home from the lab. Zim was all I had."

He shrugged, looking up at the ceiling again. "I felt like I had no choice. I called Gaz, and told her to come help me. I had to promise her an entire month of pizzas."

"You still owe me three days," I put in humorlessly. Dib punched me in the arm, but grinned nonetheless. He looked back at the still-vaguely-horrified Animorphs.

"Gaz, Gir and I got him onto a stretcher. I wrapped him up in damp cloths, and tied them fairly tightly. I was afraid more organs would fall out or something. It was only three days before he could move. The pain was too much, and even after the skin started re-knitting, it hurt because it wasn't as elastic as normal skin yet. But Irkens heal quickly, I guess, because two weeks later, he was able to move, even if he was still a little sore. And I had been right, he was about a foot and a half taller. At the time, he was maybe 4 inches taller than I was. He couldn't go back to school, not like he was."

"Thank the Tallest," Zim put in. "Filthy pig-hole." Everyone had to chuckle, dispelling the horrified quiet that lingered after Dib's tale. I could almost see the distrust in Rachel and Marco's eyes give way to sympathy and, dare I name it, respect.

"We helped him get better, Gaz and I... I watched to make sure he didn't pull a fast one, and Gaz... well, I had to bribe her at first, but I think Zim grew on her. Even when he was on the edge of death, recovering from having his entire body shredded, he had the presence of mind to hurl insults and threats with the best of them," he snorted. I had to grin briefly.

"As soon as Zim was healed enough to make good on his threats, we left," Dib said. He paused. "I... think that's where I should stop, for now," he added. There was a silence. He looked at me. I looked at my straw. Was I really the next shortest? I looked around at everyone else's straw. My eyes fell on Tobias' claws. His was just a little shorter than mine. I breathed a sigh of relief. Just a little longer...

"Tobias is next," I said quietly. The bird bobbed his head.

"Right, so..."