Hooray for the next chapter! ^^ Sadly, this story is coming to a close. I think this might be about the second to last chapter. T.T Then I hand all power over to Invader Riyo on fanfiction, who is my co writer. She'll be the author of the next story. Her writing styles may be a little different than mine, so remember to keep an open mind when you move on to her!

Also, this is a random thought, but am I the only one who thinks Mini-Moose's squeaks sound more like "nya" that "squeak"?

Gaz headed home from Zim's around 2:30. She got to her house around 2:40, giving her 20 minutes to change clothes, freshen up, and think of excuses to tell Dib before he got home. Around 3:10 Dib ran into the house approximately at the speed of light.

"Gaz? Gaz, where are you?" he shouted, looking around wildly. From the couch, Gaz cringed at how loud his voice was.

"I'm right here Dib, geez." she said, not looking up from the TV.

"Gaz! There you are! I was so worried!" Dib sighed, relieved that his sister was safe and sound. Quickly, though, that changed. "Where were you? I was looking all over last night when you didn't come home! And when you didn't come to school I started to panic!"

Gaz snorted. "I wasn't anywhere you should worry your ginormous head about. I'm perfectly fine, and that's all that matters."

Dib's frown deepened. "No, that's not all that matters! What if you had been hurt? I need to know where you're going to be! For all I know you were out drinking or something!"

Gaz rolled her eyes. "I was not out drinking or anything like that. I was with some friends."

This didn't fool Dib for a second. "You and I both know you don't have any friends! You refuse to make any because no one is smart enough for you! You said all the people at our school are slobbering idiots who should choke on their own lungs!"

"Did I, now?" Gaz asked.

"Gaz!"

"I have plenty of friends that you don't know about, Dib. Believe it or not I'm not going to tell you everything about my life. I have secrets just as much as the next girl. Now, don't bother me, I'm watching TV."

Dib was getting really angry by now. "You're going to tell me where you went right now!" he demanded.

"No, I'm not." Gaz responded, raking her fingers through her violet hair.

"Yes, you are!" Dib growled, getting frustrated with his sister.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No."

"Yes!"
"No."

"Yes!"

"Dib, I can keep my secret if I want to. Just drop it." she growled, clenching her fists.

"I'm not going to drop this." Dib muttered, going up the stairs and up to his room. Gaz sighed.

"I'm sure you won't."

!#$

The next day, after school, Gaz was once again at Zim's house. Instead of doing anything productive, however, they were both simply sitting limply on the couch. Eventually, Gaz broke the silence.

"Where the hell is Ashta? She's usually the planner in these situations!" Gaz shifted her position slightly, hoping to get more comfortable.

Zim shrugged. "The Ashta-beast has been spending more time in her room than normally." he said simply. Gaz rolled her eyes.

"Gee, you don't think something might be wrong with her, do you? Let me guess-it's not your job to worry about her, so you choose not to?"

Zim paused for a second, considering Gaz's retort. Then he nodded. "Correct. It is not Zim's job to babysit the Ashta-creature. Even if she were in any sort of trouble Zim would not need to nor want to know."

"So, basically, ignorance is bliss?"

"Yes."

"You're an idiot."

Zim opened his mouth, about to respond to Gaz's harsh comment when something across the room caught his eye. Gaz noticed this. "What are you-" she began, only to be cut off by Zim.

"Mini-Moose! What are you doing here? I though I put you in storage!"

"Mini-Moose? What the hell is a Mini-Moose?" Gaz asked. The small, purple floating moose hoovered out of the corner and over to it's master. "Oh, that's a Mini-Moose."

Zim stuck his nose(-er, where a nose should be) in the air. "Mini-Moose is a highly advanced piece of machinery. He is a much better minion than Gir, and he has weapons in his nubs. NUBS OF DOOM!"

Gaz considered this for a moment, before realizing something. "Wait, if he's so advanced and he's such a good minion, why did you put him in storage?"

Zim pouted slightly. "Zim could not figure out how to use the nubs of doom."

..."You're kidding, right?"

"ZIM DOES NOT JOKE!"

Gaz sighed. "That's just pathetic."

"Nya!" Mini-Moose interrupted the about-to-be argument.

"Did it just squeak?" Gaz began, only to be interrupted by Zim.

"SILENCE, pathetic human! He says he has something important to tell Zim!"

"Nya." Mini-Moose continued. Gaz just looked confused.

"Translation, please?"

"He said that we must talk somewhere in private." Zim informed Gaz. Her eyes narrowed.

"I'm not letting you go off somewhere to talk to one of your minions and not let me know what you're talking about!" she said stubbornly.

"WHAT? You dare question Zim? I-"

"Nya."

"Eh? She can?" Zim turned to Gaz. "He said you can come too, but Ashta cannot."

Gaz shrugged. "Oddly specific, but whatever."

"We shall go to the lab, then!" Zim announced proudly. Gaz face-palmed.

"Not so loud, dumbass."

"Eh? Oh, right. Silence, human!"

..."Just move."

A bit later Gaz and Zim stood before Mini-Moose, waiting for him to start talking again.

"Nya, nya. Nya nya nya."

Zim jaw dropped. "Are you certain? Gir's malfunctioning hasn't gotten to you, has it?"

"Nya."

"WHAT DID HE SAY?" Gaz screamed at the two alien beings, causing Zim to jump.

Once he had gained his composure back, Zim answered her. "Mini-Moose said he had caught Ashta secretly communicating with the Tallests."

"The Tallests, those are your rulers, right?" Gaz interrupted.

Zim nodded. "Correct. Anyways, he said they were discussing a secret mission they had assigned her. It seems she was never banished at all. She is really here to carry out a request straight from the Tallests themselves."

"What is it? What do they want so badly that they kept it secret from you and brought her all the way over here?" Gaz asked.

Zim gulped. "They want me dead."

Gaz felt like someone had hit her in the face with an iron frying pan. Why in the world would they want Zim dead? Aside from being incredibly annoying she couldn't think of something he's done to directly piss his leaders off. "What? Why do they want you dead?"

Zim looked Gaz in her eyes. "Zim has been screwing things up almost his entire life. I ruined Operation Impending Doom One when I went over-the-edge and almost destroyed my entire planet.

"Earlier than that, though, when Zim was an ingenious scientist, he created an infinite energy blob. This seemed like a good idea until it broke free, and killed the current Tallest at the time, Tallest Miyuki. Later, after Miyuki had been replaced with Tallest Spork, the blob came back and killed him, too. Zim was banished to Foodcourtia after Operation Impending Doom One and was forced to work in the Irken fast food business.

"Once I heard about Operation Impending Doom Two, though, I escaped and appeared in front of the Tallest to personally ask for a mission. They assigned me to Earth. I was always so proud that they had selected me to go to such a far-off and obviously dangerous planet on my own, because I thought it showed they had a certain respect for Zim. I guess, though, that respect had run out."

Gaz stared at the alien in front of her, who seemed to be a shell of his former self. If she showed emotion, Gaz would have had her jaw open. She didn't know why, but she hated to see Zim like this. It just wasn't him! He was annoying, loud, overly sure of himself, and oblivious to details. This Zim was broken, depressed, and doubtful of everything he had previously known. Gaz hated it. This self-pity was making her sick!

Gaz returned Zim's stare, with fire in her amber eyes. "Well, those so-called leaders of yours are more idiotic than you are, then!"

"Eh?" Zim asked, tilting his head slightly.

Gaz snarled, signifying to Zim that he should shut his mouth. "If they sent Ashta here to take you down, they obviously thought that you would go down without a fight. Well, surprise, surprise, because you are not! You will go down kicking and screaming and I'll be there biting and punching, fighting with you!"

Zim blinked. "Gaz-human, I'm not sure I follow..."

Gaz grabbed Zim's collar. "Are you so stupid you can't understand a word I'm saying? We're going to fight Ashta! We have the element of surprise, so it should be easy. It's two against one!"

Zim wasn't sure what exactly was going on. "Why are you helping Zim? You hate me."

Gaz growled. "You self-pity is annoying. It's even more annoying than your normal-self, okay?"

"Um...okay?" Zim answered, unsure how to answer the frightening female who had him in her clutches.

Gaz released Zim's collar. "Good."

!#$%

It was night time. Ashta sat in her room, running her fingers over the favored blade of Mr. Cuts. She was going to rid herself of Zim tonight, it was decided.

She would do a classic throat slit. Sure, it wasn't very honorable, but she figured Zim didn't deserve any shred of honor she could give. She was far beyond the point of merciful. Zim had done too much damage to her reputation as an assassin to deserve any bit of respect from her.

Ashta rose, the blade dangling limply from her hand. She left the room, unaware of the small floating creature hiding in the corner of her room. She didn't bother shutting the door. That would just make sound, and at this point she couldn't afford to take any chances.

Her steps were light as she approached the trashcan. On her way down she could hear the mechanical hum of the elevator. This became the background music to her thoughts.

What would she do to that annoying SIR unit Zim kept hiding around? She could give it to Iva as a friend to play with, but she suspected it would be too loyal to Zim to trust. Plus, she hadn't planned on keeping Iva either way. She was just given to Ashta by the Tallests to help aide in her mission. Her child-like annoyances were designed to deceive Zim's SIR, so that he might give her secrets. Iva had proven to be a waste, though, so there was no point in prolonging her existence.

Ashta's thoughts were broken by a heavy thud from the elevator. She'd arrived at her destination. She creeped out into Zim's room. She was just approaching the bed when someone tackled her from behind. Ashta let out a shout of surprise. How did he know she was coming? Pushing her thoughts aside, She swung her knife blindly behind her.

It struck the attacker, and Ashta felt a small trickle of blood fall onto her hand. The attacker, instead of crying out, let out a ferocious growl. This growl was feminine, though, and not something that would be heard from an Irken.

'What is going on?' Ashta wondered, as the attacker detached herself from confused Irken. Suddenly her legs were kicked out from underneath her. Ashta fell to the floor hard, pain echoing in her jaw. Ignoring the pain, Ashta pushed herself up with a grunt. She silently cursed herself for not turning on a light. Then Ashta remembered that the computer obeyed her now, too. That was the reason that the house had never snitched her out to Zim.

"Computer, turn on the lights!" The lights flipped on in a second. This dazed the attacker, but not Ashta, as she had superior sight. She gasped upon seeing who her attacker was. "Gaz? What are you doing? Why are you trying to stop my progress?"

Gaz was still blinking the spots out of her eyes, which were caused by the sudden exposure to light. Through her teeth, Gaz hissed, "You bitch!"

Suddenly, Ashta felt a something hit her head, hard. Darkness was starting to swallow her vision. From behind she could hear cackling laughter. Laughter that she knew well. The last thing she saw before everything faded to black was the face of the person she hated the most in the world.

It was at that moment Ashta knew she was going to die.

I'M PURE EVIL! I ENDED THE CHAPTER THERE! *dodges someone's flying boot* Do not try to kill me yet! I will make it worth-while next chapter! I promise!

Speaking of next chapter, I'm pretty sure next chapter will be the last chapter.

So, next chapter hopefully all your questions (for this fic) will be answered! If not, they will probably be answered in the next story, The Feared One, by Invader Riyo (Meghan).