Hello, FOURTEENTH CHAPTER! Whee! I like fourteen. I'm fourteen. Two weeks have fourteen days in it. So, if you eat a waffle a day for two weeks, you've eaten FOURTEEN WAFFLES!! YAY!!

Okay, enough acting like Gir. Here's yer flippin' chapter.

Zim raced to the Membrane house as fast as he possibly could. When he got there, he burst through the front door, hoping that Gaz would be there. "Gaz!" he called. "Gaz! Are you here?!"

"What?" called an annoyed voice from the kitchen.

"Gaz!" Zim flew to the kitchen and found Gaz sitting at the table reading. "Gaz! Dib's in trouble!"

"Good," she said.

"Not good! You have to come with me!"

Gaz looked up angrily. "I don't HAVE to do anything. So shut up and leave me the hell alone."

"Fine," said Zim, turning around to leave. What had he ever seen in her? The girl's beauty was obviously only skin deep. How could he have been so stupid?

Gaz stopped him. "I never said I wouldn't go with you. I finished my game, and this book really blows. I needed something to do." She stood up. Zim smiled. Why did he ever doubt her? Gaz looked at Zim. "Where to?"

AVAVAVAVAVAVAV

Dib's eyes blinked open. He had a headache, and the room was spinning.

"Unghh… Tak?" He looked around. No sign of Tak. Suddenly, he heard her voice.

"Mimi, are we prepared for liftoff?"

Dib was confused. Mimi was Tak's cat. And liftoff… It made no sense. He knew he was awake, but…
And then he saw something he would never forget.

Only a few feet away from Dib stood an alien. It couldn't have been taller than 4'9". Its skin was green, its eyes bug-like and indigo, with long eyelashes. It wore a uniform similar to Zim's old one, only it was purple instead of red. Its long antennae curled under at the end. It spoke in TAK'S VOICE to a little robot it called Mimi. How was that possible? Unless… Tak was an alien all along! Dib looked down, and saw that he was tied up. It had all been a trap, and he had fell for it! All those years of paranormal investigation, and he had been fooled by a pretty girl! Dib was ashamed. All he could do now was wait for death, and he almost wanted it that way.

Dib closed his eyes, patiently awaiting the time when the alien Tak would stop his breathing, and his heart would forever be silenced…

There was a crash as the metal doors to the brig were forced open.

"You!" shrieked Tak.

"Let Dib go!" said a familiar voice. "He has nothing to do with you!"

Dib opened his eyes and saw Zim standing there. "Zim…"

"You remembered me?" she asked. "I thought I wiped your memories!"

"You did. But it wore off! You cannot fool the almighty ZIM with your puny powers of… MOOSE!"

"Moose?"

Zim paused. "YOU LIE!!"

Tak shook her head, brushing the insanity off. "You're a bigger fool than you were back then!"

"Eh?"

"You're a bigger fool than you were back then!"

"Eh?"

"You're a bigger fool than you were back then!"

"Eh?"

"You're a bigger fool than you were back then!"

"Eh?"

Tak sighed. "Not this again!" She continued. "You RUINED my life, Zim. TWICE! And now, I'm going to ruin the life of your friend. Then, I'll take over this planet and ruin YOURS, as payback for the times you've humiliated me!"

"What does Dib even have to do with this? It's me who messed up! Not him! If anyone should die, it should be me!"

Tak grinned evilly. "No. I want you to suffer, just as I did."

"Zim," said Dib. "Just go. I did this to myself for trusting her. I don't want you to get hurt."

"That's really noble of you," said Zim. "But nobility is stupid and gets you killed! And besides, it's my fault, not yours!"

Dib couldn't believe his ears. Zim admitted he was wrong? That was definitely a first. "Zim, get over it! She's nuts! None of this is your fault! I shouldn't have let my heart get in the way! I'm sorry! But… you have to just let me go, okay? If I die, maybe…"

"You IDIOT!" snapped Zim. "If you died, I couldn't keep myself alive! I CAN'T let you go!"

"Zim…" (This is NOT ZaDr, people!!)

"Because you're the best thing that's EVER happened to me! You're the only reason I even try anymore! You have to live! You claim to be my friend, and if that's true…" he looked up with tears forming in his eyes, and tried to force a smile. "Then do it for me. Okay?" (Cue the organ music)

Dib nodded. "Okay." Zim then began to untie his friend.

"Hey!" said Tak. "You can't just do that! I have to kill him first!" Tak patted around herself in search of her gun. "Oh, where's the fucking... I KNOW I had it on me!"

Gaz came in casually. "What did I miss?"

"Gaz!" said Dib.

"Hey, could you gimme a hand here?" asked Zim.

She clapped.

"Stop being a smartass and help get me down!"

Gaz looked up at her brother. "Actually, I like seeing you like this. Do we have to untie him?"

"GAZ!!"

"Fine," she sighed.

They all had Dib down on the ground before too long. Tak was STILL looking for her gun. Dib went over and looked out the window. "We're out in space!"

Tak laughed her weasley laugh. And she had found her gun. "Of course we're out in space! That way, no one on Earth will expect me of anything until it's too late!"

"Expect you of what?"

Tak sighed. "I'll explain my plan to you step by step. Since I love you SOO much." Dib frowned, and Tak continued. "Step one: move back to this HOLE IN THE GROUND. Step two: get the human to fall in love with me. Step three: poison Zim's little brat to distract him. Obviously, it didn't work."

Zim felt anger boiling inside of him. "Gir…. You tried to…."

Tak kept on, happily. "Step four: kidnap the human and get rid of him. We're on that step right now.

"As for my world domination plan, here it goes. You remember, dear Zim, that I have the ability to control minds by hypnosis? I now have all the world leaders under my command. All I have to do is tell them what to do." She laughed. "Now die!"

The next few events happened very quickly. A little rubber pig came flying out of nowhere and hit Tak's hand. It bounced off, squeaking as it hit the floor.

"What the…?!" They all looked up.

"Okeeeeiiiy, that didn't do what it was s'posed to…" Gir was standing on a metal balcony above them. "Can I have my piggy back now?"

"Gir!"

Gaz took advantage of Tak's distraction, and took her gun away.

"Hey!" said Tak. "That's no fair!"

"All's fair in love and war, bitch." Gaz held the gun up in front of her face.

Zim stared, practically drooling. "She's so hot…"

Dib made a face. "Can you please not talk like that about my little sister?"

Gir slid down a pole to the floor exclaiming "Wheeeeee!!"

Zim looked at Tak. "What's up with you? You seem… just a little crazy lately."

Tak grinned broadly. "Yes, I admit. Since the last time we met, I've gone slightly mad."

"Slightly?"

All of a sudden, Gaz loaded the gun.

Zim looked over. "Gaz?"

She slowly lifted the gun to her head.

"GAZ!!"

Zim rushed over, and held Gaz's hand out. Dib snatched it from her grasp.

"Gaz, it's okay now," said Zim, holding her in his arms.

"Zim…" she said, coming out of her trance.

Zim blushed.

Gaz frowned. "Get the hell away from me." She stood up straight again. "And you! You had me under mind control. What a cheap trick."

"Who was it who said 'All's fair in love and war?'"

"Fine. We have a gun now, so we're even." Gaz looked over.­ "Dib! Now!" Dib just stood there, staring through unfocused eyes. "Yo! Dim! Get your thumb out of your ass!"

Dib walked slowly to Tak… and handed her the gun.

"You idiot!" cried Gaz.

Dib snapped out of it. "Huh?" He looked at what he had just done.

"Good boy," said Tak.

"Oh, no…" Dib had just essentially committed suicide.

"Now," said Tak. "Say goodbye!"

Just as Tak was about to shoot them, Gir got mad and threw a cupcake at Tak's head. It hit the little silver thing on her forehead. It smoked, and Tak cried out in pain and rage. "Fool! Do you know what you just did?!"

"What did he just do?" asked Zim.

"The device that allows me to control minds, and provides my disguise hologram… He destroyed it!" (So THAT'S what that thing does…)

The others cheered. "Yeah! Go Gir!"

"Fools! Don't you know I have a second plan?" Tak pointed to a big red button on the floor. "See that big red button over there?"

"Wow!" said Zim. "You mean it actually does something?"

Tak frowned. "Oh, no. I just like red buttons so I decided to have one put in. YES, IT DOES SOMETHING! It detonates a bomb in the center of the Earth is what it does! MIMI!" The little robot jumped on the button, and a large countdown started up on a screen behind Tak. "Six hours! You have six hours until the bomb goes off! This green button, right here! It stops the countdown, but you'll never be able to get to it! Mimi, take care of them!" (There's our Tak…) She then fled.

"Gaz, Gir, you take on Mimi," said Zim.

"Why me?" asked Gaz.

"Because your name also starts with 'G'."

"Tell me what to do…" Gaz growled. "Fine! Go get killed! See if I care!"

Zim and Dib left to find Tak. In the distance, they heard Gaz yell "No, I WON'T dance with you!"

The two searched the ship, looking for the Irken girl. "Where is she?" asked Zim.

After awhile, there was still no sign of Tak. They were in the engine room, and it was dark, wet, and a bit creepy. They saw shadows jumped several times, but no Tak.

"I don't think she's in here," said Dib. "Let's move on." Zim nodded in agreement.

Zim saw a shadow behind Dib. This one moved, and looked a lot like…

Zim did the first thing his instincts told him to: shove Dib out of the way.

Wow. No, I'm not gonna bother you with a long author's note after you just read that cliffhanger. Just wanna remind you to R&R. Daddy loves reviews.