Zim had done a great job of destroying the Employer's Mothership. Only half of it had any sort of structure left. Now looking like half an antler slicking out of the ground, the other half was just chunks of scrap metal scattered around the crater. This was where Zim's Armada would fight against the moose army. Everyone had spent the time digging trenches and building barricades as Zim watched with extreme, painstaking effort.
"Minions stop! Zim is exhausted!" The Irken sat down and happily gazed at the work he accomplished.
"You didn't even do anything," Daj remarked, still shoveling out the ground for a trench. The Darvon had equipped himself with several guns of various types and had placed them all over his body. It was overly excessive. Strapped onto his back was his signature Giant Fraction Blaster, modified with even more guns to add firepower. His lack of limbs still made it easy for him to move around without much trouble. Next to him was Kry, on all fours and pushing scrap metal to finish the barricade. Daj placed a harness with two shoulder Gatling turrets on his former guardian. The crocodile-like alien was also lightly armor so he wouldn't be slowed down too much.
"Of course I did stuff, lizard-stink, I designed everything!"
"It's so hard to design a semicircle around a ship," Kor said with her usual sarcastic tone. She only wore her regular clothing and her upgraded gloves and boots. Aside from that, the only real physical preparation for battle she made was a belt with various tools and small weapons.
"See, even the dumb Tinkerer understands Zim's hardships!"
"If only I could lessen your burden, my almighty Tallest," Skoodge's unfaltering loyalty still held despite being ordered to do most of the grunt work. The mini-Irken wore purple Irken armor, two blasters, and two laser-short-swords. Gir stood by Skoodge's side, holding rocks that didn't have anything to do with the barricade. Gir wore nothing.
"I'm ready to slaughter!" The robot yelled happily.
"In time, Gir," Zim responded. "With my lead, even you will get to experience the feeling of crushing a being between your claws and having their blood splatter on your eyes!"
"Yaaay!"
"I wonder why the Employer hasn't attacked us? We're setting up fortifications right in front of his ship, facing away from it!" Dib logically asked. The human only had some padding under his jacket, it was all that could fit him. Everyone also banned him from using long-range weapons, leaving him limited to pretty much his blade and some explosives he kept in a backpack.
"Obviously he is scared of my might!" Zim gloated while pointing a fist towards the ship, as if he was directly taunting the Employer.
"Or he thinks you're so pathetic that no matter what you do, you'll still die," Gaz said. She wore no armor, saying that it would only weigh her down. Instead she just carried a rifle and laser-blade, along with a satchel of various tools like bandages and explosives. She was now wearing an old model of Kor's boots. She had asked Kor to give her a pair since she needed the extra mobility, however they weren't as powerful as Kor's and had to be used sparingly, otherwise they'd overheat. "Why did we build this big of a barricade anyway if there's only going to be three of us down here?"
"Because it's all a part of my plan!"
"You mean the one that you said disgusts you?"
"Unfortunately!"
"Whatever, how long do we have until we're attacked?"
"Approximately..."
"Come on, just let me shoot them!"
"¡No!"
"But they're right there! Just let me launch a rocket in their faces!"
"No, you might kill Zim!"
"That's the point!"
"¡Silencio, Tak!" The Employer was sitting in the portal room, patiently waiting for hours since he sent out that message. He salvaged the remains of his captain's chair from the wreckage and had brought it, as well as lighting the room so that he alone would remain in shadows. About an hour ago, Zim and his group had appeared outside their ship and began building piles of scrap metal. Tak hasn't kept her eyes off them since. "Zim has pushed me too far, I want him alive so I can crush his head between my claws and have his blood splash over my eyeballs!"
"Then let me kill the others!" The Employer's second-in-command was in full armor save for a helmet. Every weapon was built into the armor; lasers, blades. As far as she knew, she was also the only Irken left with psychic implants, which made her the most powerful Irken alive.
"Do you have a precise, long-range weapon?"
"Well, no."
"And we don't carry any non-lethal ammo! If you accidentally kill Zim, then I would have to kill another Irken in his place, and I'm not referring to el short, cerdo-Irken. ¿Comprende?"
"You have a lot of pride, don't you?"
"And you don't?"
"...*sigh* I understand. How long do you think it'll be before the moose army arrives?"
"5 MINUTES?! THEY'RE GOING TO BE HERE IN FIVE MINUTES?!" Dib slipped into panic mode again. It was happening a lot lately. Everyone else felt panicked as well, but Dib was usually the first and loudest one to express it.
"Weren't you keeping track of the time, Zim?" Kor asked.
"Of course I was, that's how I knew we only have five minutes left," Zim was keeping his eyes on his datapad, where he had kept a timer and was also typing away on a virtual keyboard. A cry from a moose was heard in the distance. "Maybe we have less than five minutes. Cyber-monkey, how long until repairs are done?"
Tel was on the screen of Zim's wrist, "We're working as fast as we can. We're at the last stages of refueling and resetting the power."
"Time, monkey! I need times!"
"Fifteen minutes at best."
Zim cut the transmission and returned to inputting codes into his datapad. "We need to hold out for ten minutes."
"I thought Tel said fifteen," Daj said.
"My plan will activate in ten. Skoodge, climb the highest point of the barricade and watch for the moose army, shout on sight. Everyone else find a spot behind cover to shoot." Zim pulled out a rifle from his Dimension Box while everyone else readied either a blaster or rifle.
"Uh, can I get a gun?" Dib asked as he motioned with his empty hands.
"It would be a waste of resources."
"Come on, even Gir has one!" Dib pointed to the robot waving a blaster around like a maraca.
Reluctantly, Zim pulled out another rifle from the box and tossed it to Dib who clumsily caught it. "Maybe even you'll get lucky with your shots. Minions, run-"
"MOOSE!" Skoodge shouted at the top of his squeedly-spooch.
"That was quick, everybody aim and fire!" They all found a spot to shoot from. As soon as they positioned themselves, they began to unleash a torrent of lasers.
This caught the first wave of moose off-guard as the majority of them was instantly mowed down or injured. The rest quickly found cover before returning fire. The next waves of moose followed their lead and began hiding as well. Most of them were still injured from their other sieges and the lack of resources they were given since then, but they all knew that they had enough wit and strength to take down eight beings.
The moose grouped themselves off and were tearing out large chunks of metal from the debris around them. Slowly, they advanced towards the barricade by using the metal as shields. Once the shield was broken or melted, they instantly had another piece ready to shield their group while the remaining moose returned fire.
Zim was confident they could hold out, the suppressing power between all of them was strong enough to keep the moose at a snail's pace, all except for one area. "Dammit, Dib-slime, learn to aim your shots already!"
Dib couldn't understand what he was doing wrong. The gun basics he was taught was aim, hold steady, fire, and yet he was missing every shot. The moose took advantage of this weak spot in the suppression fire to push forward. Dib tried desperately to keep the gun steady as he fired, but his aim worsened the closer the moose got, and at best his shots would graze the metal shielding. The next phase of the moose's plan didn't help.
Once close enough, the group of moose approaching Dib threw their shields and began sprinting, making their way towards the barricade. They scattered and used their agility to easily dodge Dib's shots.
"They're going to break in!" Skoodge yelled.
"Shoot them!" Zim commanded.
There were three moose, all injured in some capacity but not in a way that it impaired their movement. Zim, Daj, Skoodge, Gaz, and Kor all focused their fire in their direction. The moose were swift, taking non-fatal shots from the hail of lasers, but eventually the injuries piled on until they were crippled and unable to avoid the fatal blows. Then chaos ensued.
The other moose were able to notice the shift in focus away from them, and like their fallen comrades they removed their shields and scattered. It was a swarm of about three dozen moose running towards the barricade. Zim's group answered by firing shots in all directions, hoping that a shot would randomly hit something. There was no focus and each person's spread of lasers was almost as bad's as Dib's.
Daj got tired of missing his shots and threw his rifle in a fit of rage. In a stroke of luck the gun was able to knock a moose in the head and broke its skull. The Darvon readied his six-feet long, Giant Fraction Blaster, charging it up until it fire a giant pillar of laser, tearing through the ground and a handful of moose, completely sending anything in it's path to oblivion.
Gaz, Kor, Zim, Skoodge, and Dib readied a set of grenades and each tossed two to three explosives over the barricade into the stampede of moose. A flurry of explosions and booms were heard, ending the sound of moose hooves trampling the ground. Until they leaped over the barricade.
Their efforts only dwindled the this wave of moose forces down to twenty. Zim looked at his datapad and scowled when he noticed the time, "They're late."
"Breach! Everyone, prepare to fight! HOO-HAAAAAA!" Skoodge yelled at the top of his lungs as he leaped towards an unsuspecting moose with his two short-swords, stabbing it in both its heart and brain. Large, metal spikes jetted out from the top of the other moose's wrist as they all prepared for close-quarters combat.
"AAAHHHHHH! AAAAHHHHH! AAAAHHHHH!" Dib was fighting off two moose, who each only had one arm, with his single blade-hand. Both moose attacked simultaneously but despite what Dib's screams might suggest, he was able to competently parry each strike and broke their offense. He slashed his blade twice and was still screaming out of panic and adrenaline even though he had chopped the remaining arm off both moose warriors.
Daj had mounted Kry and both went on a rampage taking down multiple moose. Some of the other moose decided to fight them using the Darvons' tactics and began mounting each other. Both sides fired at each other using their short range blasters while dodging using the agility of their mounts. However, Kry was more powerful than the already battle weary moose and easily out-maneuvered them, allowing Daj to using his laser-blade to slice them in half.
Kor used her boots to quickly move around, leaping into the air and stomping down on moose like they were evil turtles. One of the moose caught Kor in mid-air by jumping after her and slamming her down onto the ground. The moose threw her around like the lightweight being she was before driving a spike straight through her chest. The Fefian screamed in pain but held onto the moose's arm with her gloves. She squeezed as she moved her hands upwards, crushing the moose's arm piece by piece until she reached the head. Unable to escape, she palmed the moose in the face and crushed the skull.
Gaz faced down three moose warriors, all with working arms and two arm spikes. She wielded a laser-blade in one hand and a small blaster in the other. They all rushed her, underestimating the power of the weak-looking human who still wore the bandages of her last fight. One moose was sliced down the middle, one had its head blown off, the last one was nothing but chunks soon after.
Zim was facing a moose that, unlike most of the others, was completely healthy. At first he was able to hold it off with his rifle, using the body to block the strike the moose let out. However he was caught off guard when the moose kick him in the shin and proceeded to kick him in the stomach before moving to the head. The Irken fell back and narrowly dodged a spike aiming at his head. Gir tried to help his master by running towards the beast but was carelessly kicked into Zim's face. The moose tried to strike again but was countered when Zim grabbed Gir and knocked the moose in the head. The moose was dazed, giving Zim the opening he needed to put a hole in its chest with his rifle.
They fought their way back towards each other and grouped up. Despite doing well they all knew that there was only eight of them, and this was just the first set of moose.
"Has it been fifteen minutes yet?" Gaz yelled.
"It's been twenty-five!" Zim replied.
"Then when the hell is your plan going to happen? And isn't Tel suppose to be here by now?"
"I'll make sure to dump them all in a pit of molting plasma balls!" Zim ran towards cover behind a part of the barricade, "Lizard, protect me!"
"Huh-OW!" Daj was caught by surprised by a ramming moose as Zim slid behind the barricade.
Zim started up his datapad and opened a transmission to Tel "Dammit you stupid monkey! You said fifteen-minutes!"
The cyborg was frantically running across the screen, apparently the Dibship's crew was in a state of chaos. "I said at best!"
"What happened!"
"The hydraulics in the left arm blew open. It's unable to move at the moment!"
"AAARRRRRRRGGHHH!"
"We're working as fast as we-" Zim cut off the transmission, incredibly frustrated.
"We have a problem." The voice caused Zim to jump. Gaz was suddenly sitting next to him.
"Gaz, what are you doing here?" Zim asked.
"Hiding, fight suddenly took a turn for the worse."
"What happened?"
"Giant...moose...approaching." Dib appeared next to Zim, out of breath and surprising him once again.
"Dib-worm?! And a giant moose?!" Zim climbed over the barricade to get a peek. There was indeed a giant moose heading towards them.
"It's also leading a bunch more moose over." This time it was Daj with Kry also crouching beside him.
"Don't tell me we all chose the same place to hide." Gaz said.
"There's only two real places left to hide," Kor said, sitting right next to Gaz, and pointing out the several destroyed barricades, "And the other place has the other crazy Irken hiding in it."
"You all ran from the enemy? How useless!" Zim shouted.
"I was thrown in here, sir," said Skoodge.
"All the moose in the first wave are either dead or immobile anyway," Gaz said.
"So we've regrouped then," Zim looked back and forth between the crew he assembled that now sat beside him. "Are we missing someone?"
Everyone looked at each other, believing that everyone was accounted for until they heard a child-like squeal coming from over the barricade. They all peeked over the barricade and confirmed their suspicions on who the missing being was.
"Gir!" Zim shouted. His robotic servant had wandered out in the open, ahead of the barricade, with a giant moose heading towards him. "Gir get back here!"
Gir turned around and wore the same oblivious smile he usually did as he stared at the heads of his comrades peeking over the barricade. "Your guys' heads are so tiny!"
The moose was getting closer. It wasn't as big as the one they faced earlier, thankfully. In fact it was half the size of the first one they faced on Vort, but it was easily strong enough to squish the SIR unit like an aluminum can, worrying Zim.
"Gir, no!" Zim was halfway over the barricade himself until he was held back by Gaz and Skoodge.
"Don't be stupid, Zim, you can't just rush out there!" Gaz said.
"The SIR unit isn't worth it!" Skoodge shouted.
Zim felt anxiety at the thought of seeing Gir get squished. He's repaired Gir enough times to know that becoming as flat as Gir's homemade waffles would make him unrepairable. Dozens of thoughts raced through his mind, but nothing came up that would help him save Gir. Running out there was too risky, he had no idea how to get lobsters, and by the time he thought to just try to shoot at the moose it had reached Gir.
Zim watched as the giant moose actually stop in front of Gir and raised its hoof to crush the robot. Gir just stood there with his arms raised. For a brief moment, Gir sparked, as if the fear of immediate death had registered in his processors. Gir muttered an expression of discontent as he stared wide-eyed into the hoof. Everyone else turned their heads away when they heard the sound of crushed metal.
When Zim opened his eyes he fell off the barricade and back into the trench. Looking down at Zim was his robotic servant, who had ran back to him and was now staring at him stupidly.
"Hi master!"
Zim actually felt a sense of joy, but didn't say anything immediately. Now he wondered what happened to the moose.
"What the hell is that?!" Dib shouted. Zim climbed back up and saw the giant moose's body was buried into the ground, his head crushed. On top of the head was a large, black, hexagonal pillar-like object and four feet in diameter and eight feet tall.
"There's writing on it!" Kor pointed to a set of yellow letters on the side of the pillar.
Gaz peeked a bit closer and squinted her eyes, "I think it says-"
"Oberox," Daj interrupted.
"Finally," Zim said as a smile crept onto his face.
Soon more pillars began to fall from the sky in front of them, some even squishing more moose as they landed.
"Skoodge, smokescreen!" Zim ordered. Skoodge brought out two orbs and tossed one to Zim. They gave the top hemisphere of the orb a twist before launching them into the array of pillars creating plumes of purple smoke to obscure the area, confusing the moose. The moose heard the doors of the pillars pop open, lasers and fists rained upon them immediately after. The firing stopped, making the area silent.
Zim and the others saw the silhouette of an army marching forward. The first being emerged from the smoke, holding a rifle and wearing full armor. He raised an arm and began to wave as he shouted, "Hi guys!"
"...Dwicky?" Dib said incredulously. Soon more men followed behind Dwicky, they were all rebels from Oberox.
"Man, you see that moose, Spoopti, its antlers almost crushed my suit!"
"Yeah, but at least we got those antlers to make a cool hat now!" Spoopti held up a pair of antlers, head still attached. Dwicky's army included his two Plookesian friends, as easygoing as ever. A stray laser flew towards them and knocked the antlers off of his robotic hand. "Woah, well I guess it is pretty stupid of us to turn our back towards the enemy!"
"We'll catch up later, Dib. I got to help these guys with some stress-relieving killing!" Dwicky said. The reinforcements turned back as another wave of moose rushed towards them, this time with more giant moose.
The Oberox rebel army left most of the others shocked, Dib was the first to turn to Zim, "Dwicky? He was the plan?"
"Yes, they will be providing back-up for the lizard-faces and Skoodge," Zim said, "We were just stalling until their pods got here."
"I get it, you used the Irken weapon transport system in the Armory to get them here."
"Indeed, Dib. Considering how I helped them and the tall, Earth bean's liking of you, they were glad to be of service to me."
"Why didn't you want to use this plan earlier then, you usually don't care who you get to use to further your goals."
"...It meant the messenger I sent would come back."
"Who-"
"ZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMM! I've come back for you!" The voice answered Dib's question. A red-headed human ran towards them followed by a monkey in an astronaut suit. The energetic boy was waving his hand and smiling at the green alien.
"Shut up, Keef! Go back into the frenzy of moose warriors and don't come back until they're all dead!" Zim shouted at the inter-dimensional traveler.
"Sure thing! Ah, this feels like old times." Keef ran back into the fray, firing his rifle with expert precision at the moose warriors that he targeted.
"And here I thought you were just blasting him into space with flimsy reasoning," Kor said.
"I wish," Gaz added.
"And I will do it in time!" Zim said, "However, I had to put the thing to use and give the tall human coordinates to Irk."
"There were only thirty-something guys left after the raid," Dib pointed out, "Is that really enough to stop these moose?"
"Dwicky's resistance is made of strong beings, all of us combined would easily take down a hundred moose," Daj bragged. A member of Dwicky's resistance flew over their heads as a twenty-five foot tall moose was seen in the distance swatting more members away. "A giant moose might be a bit difficult though."
"There's still more to the plan," Zim said as he watched his datapad. "He's almost ready."
The sound of turbo engines was heard by the beings around Zim. They looked towards the sky and saw the countermeasure to the giant moose land onto the battlefield. A giant, emotional robot piloted by a civilization of cyborg, alien monkeys.
"I am the reaper,
here to shove my metal stick
right in your asshole!" cried out the Dibship.
Tel appeared on Zim's datapad. "Zim, we finished the repairs. We had to take some shortcuts but it's function-"
"Dammit, monkey, stop with your interference in my wrist!" Zim interrupted. "Also, watch your back."
"Wha-AAAAAAAAAARRRHHHH!" The Dibship was attacked by three giant moose, all about a third of the size of the Dibship, but their numbers overpowered the giant mecha. They began pummeling the Dibship as it cried out in pain.
"There goes our anti-moose defense," Gaz said.
"Got any other plans, Zim?" Dib asked.
"The robot monkey and the weeping robot weren't part of the plan. They just had mediocre timing," Zim heard a ding from his datapad and looked at it, smiling sinisterly, "This is my plan!"
A tremendous sound teared through the sky. A massive object headed towards the surface of Irk, leaving a streak of black smoke where it traveled. The giant construct landed, causing a small quake and strong wind pressure to knock every being off their feet. It stood in the fresh crater it made on the battlefield.
"Another giant robot!?" Dib yelled, "When did we have another giant robot?!"
"When I realized that building only one would be too logical." The voice came from Zim's wrist. On the screen was a scarred up Vortian wearing the same devices Tel wore in his giant robot.
"You took quite a while to get here, Crax," Zim said, annoyed at his old partner.
"Giant robots are an art, Zim," replied Crax, "You can't rush them."
Crax's robot shared the same shades of Purple that the Dibship had but with gray accents instead of black. The head was cube shaped as opposed to the Dibship's sphere. Two gray spikes bent at a ninety degree angle protruded from the top. It was a bit smaller than the Dibship due to rushing its construction, but it was still strong enough to handle the average, giant moose. Crax walked over to the Dibship and pulled off two moose, crushing their heads.
Skoodge turned to his leader, saluting while having with an expression of awe, "Sir, I cannot express enough gratitude over the war assets you have given me."
"What is an Invader without an armada?" Zim said to his fellow Irken. "Lizards, take Skoodge to the battlefield. Massacre as much as you desire."
Daj didn't have to be told twice. The Darvon hopped on Kry, grabbed Skoodge, who still maintained his saluting figure, and leaped from the barricade straight into the fray. He aimed a medium rifle in one hand while firing Kry's Gatling guns into the mess of moose bodies.
Now only Gaz, Dib, Kor, and Gir remained with Zim. They turned towards the fallen Mothership, now a towering piece of wreckage. The Employer had said he was waiting in the secondary command room, which according to Zim's scan of the ship, it would be around thirty yards from the top. Considering the height of the tower despite being half the size of what it used to be and the fact that the ship was not meant to to be ascended vertically, it was going to be a long climb. Zim had a faster route.
"Tel, get the stupid robot over here and aim for these coordinates," Zim commanded through his communicator.
"I thought you weren't going to blow up the ship?" Gaz asked.
"I'm not."
The Employer was not happy. His inevitable conquest of this dimension had been stalled by a measly bug who happened to stumble his way through the galaxy. His genetically enhanced moose clones were now fighting for days straight without time to rest or heal, his warriors becoming more feral the longer they fought, making his efforts to teach tactics and strategy useless. He only had a robot and an Irken left, and only one of them was capable of speech. To make matters worse, he was uncomfortable. The orientation of the ship forced him to pile broken consoles and scrap into a pile for him to sit on, with only the cushion from his chair for comfort. It wasn't ideal. The only thing worse than that was the light coming in the room by a giant hole created by a giant robotic fist.
The fist was just a couple of feet in front of his face. It pulled back to bring in the palm of its other hand. Standing on top were five beings forming one of the most annoying groups in the universe. They stepped off the robotic hand as it pulled away, the main body returning to the battle it had left. The two sides stared at each other without saying a word. Zim had impeded the Employer's plan and destroyed his prized Mothership. The Employer had exterminated Zim's race and shortened his life.
"I did it! I was able to find non-lethal paralyzer rounds on this-" A near five foot Irken clad in purple armor had walked into the room alongside a SIR unit while holding a box of ammo, only stopping once she noticed the other beings in the room. She dropped the box and gained her usual, pissed off composure, "So you survived the moose waves, Zim!"
Zim finally spoke after the period of silence, but never took his eyes off the Employer, "Like silly, deformed moose would defeat me."
"Well that was a foolish decision since now, you'll die slowly and horribly!"
Zim didn't reply, unusual for the Irken.. This was the first time he got a good look the Employer, and the being was still shrouded in shadows. The only light had come from the gaping hole in the structure that Zim had created, and it only revealed the Employer's legs. The legs were either mechanical or heavily armored, primarily purple with either a dull blue or silver coloring other parts of the appendage. The light also revealed the edge of a cape, purple on the inside and silver on the other side. Finally, he stood up and revealed a holofile to the others.
"This contains every piece of information about a PAK, with it you figure out exactly what I did, how to repair it, and even create a completely new PAK." The holofile was held between the Employer's metallic fingers.
"And I suppose I'm just going to have to trust you that it's all true?" Zim replied. Slowly he was getting a more detailed look at the Employer; the lower half of the being's body was revealed, Zim was almost certain the Employer was at least a cyborg since the upper half of the legs were angular and continued the color pattern of the shins.
"Unlike you, I'm not stupid and I realize my limits. I know that I'd lose a chance to kill you if you just hopped into your robot, and I really, really want to kill you in person."
"Ha! What a coincidence, I feel the same way. Except more!"
"Too bad you're undermanned."
"Your head fluids must be leaking, I clearly have the numbers advantage. I have three and a half peons with me versus your two! The half is Dib!" Dib was visibly offended.
"You see, Zim, you are mistak-HAH!" A metal pillar clawed at the end suddenly shot out towards Zim. Gaz reacted quickly and pushed Zim out of the way while Dib and Kor fell backwards to avoid the shot.
"Hey! Attacking mid-sentence?! Who does that?!"
"No one ever expects it, just like when my minions attack your blindsp-attack now!"
A large robotic claw lunged towards Zim. A red SIR unit had flown towards him, the claws barely missing and scratching his armor. The robot tumbled in midair and landed on its feet, quickly pivoting to attack again. This time Zim used Gir to block the attack. Zim's servant latched himself onto Mimi, hugging the other robot's face and causing it to flail around wildly.
"Gir! Activate boosters!" Zim shouted.
"You got it!" Gir replied. The bottom of Gir's feet opened up, letting out immense fumes of smoke. The following fire jettisoned the two robots out of the room but leaving everyone blindly by their fumes.
Zim got to his feet and drew a blaster, firing in the direction the Employer had been earlier. However, this revealed his location. A purple Irken appeared from the smoke, laser-blade in hand and rushing towards Zim. He would've been skewered had not a purple haired goth block the laser-blade with her own. The two female beings stared at the other, eyes holding nothing but disdain, intensifying the longer their blades remained locked.
Kor and Dib stayed near each other to avoid a sudden attack while activating their weapons. Dib saw the faint glow of blades clashing, barely recognizing Gaz's face. He rushed to aid his sister, Kor following, but as he approached the metal pillar that stood between the two, it moved. The pillar pulled back, but it was clutching onto the metal in the floor, tearing it like tissue paper. The metal had been ripped from under Dibs feet, causing him to fall into the hole. Kor attempt to grab him but only ended up falling into the depths herself. Their screams echoing as they fell.
"Dib?" Gaz glanced away, towards the sound of her brother's scream. The momentary distraction was enough for Tak to find and opening and kicked the human girl away.
"Tak! Remove the human!" The Employer commanded from the smoke.
"With pleasure!" The vicious Irken said with a grin. Tak ran at Gaz, tackling her into the newly created hole.
"Gaz!" Zim shouted. He frantically looked around, he was alone. The room was still obscured by Gir's smokescreen, but Zim was able to make out the faint silhouette of the Employer. Zim began firing at the Employer's frame.
"You should know that the dinky blaster you're holding isn't going to work on me," the Employer said plainly. "The stupid, red-haired one would've told you that."
"Yes, the red-headed human is stupid, very stupid," Zim threw the blaster at the Employer who caught it with the metal pillar, apparently an arm, appearing in front of him. The small weapon seemingly phased through the metal surface of the appendage, "but he did tell me you were a bio-organic. A small laser wouldn't do much and it took me time to figure out how I would inevitably defeat you."
"Still the same, overconfident and delusional, even after all this time, but I guess it would be ludicrous to think you'd actually learn something for once."
"The very stupid one also said you appeared in my dimension years ago. I don't appreciate being studied like some Earth Zoo monkey!"
"Estudiar?! Jajaja! Please, as if I would need years to understand you. Self-centered, prideful, ambitious, very, very, very dumb. I only needed cinco minutos to figure that out."
"Stop speaking to Zim in your weird, metal thingy tongue!"
"Mi tongue es beautiful!"
"Silence! That mixture of Irken and whatever you speak is the equivalent to listening to the blending of screws!"
"How dare you insult my voice! Ah! You're so irritating! Always so irritating! It was a wonder how I was able to keep up my facade in front of you for all these years!"
Those last words made Zim pause. "In front of me? What are you talking about?"
"Si...of course your inferior brain wouldn't have figured it out. Don't you remember me, Zim? It wasn't that long ago when I left. Maybe you'll remember a few years ago when the red-headed human first came here, the dimension wave was what awakened my memories."
"Stop with the expository riddles!"
"Fine, then perhaps you'll recall a year after you first arrived on Earth. Ordering a doomsday weapon through a Vortian Black Market service. You rebuilt me and for two years I was nothing but a floating ball with nubs!"
"Nubs? You're..."
The smoke had finally cleared, revealing the Employer that stood in front of Zim and for the first time, in broad daylight. The ruler stood almost eight-feet tall, his entire body made of purple and blue metals. His legs formed into rectangles, the shape continuing on through the waist until it curved outwards at the chest, two arms finished off with hands containing four claw-like appendages, and a cape with a triangular collar that was much too big for any being.
On top of the chest was a purple orb-like object, connected to the body through four nubs on the bottom of the orb. Two dull, brown antlers jetted from the side of the orb, rounded off at the ends. It wore a grin with a single buck tooth poking out. His bulging white eye-orbs stared cross-eyed. Slowly, the eyes twisted around, until they were focused onto the Irken that stood before him.
"Witness la cara de tu destrucción!"
"...Who are you?"
"Idiota! It's me, MINIMOOSE!"
"Gasp! Minimoose, but you were destroyed! I witnessed your explosion!"
"Teleportation. I saw my opportunity to escape your side and I took it!"
"How dare you fool Zim!"
"It wasn't hard."
"Then it was you who broke my PAK?!"
"Yes, it made you and Tak so easy to manipulate. She even helped supply me parts for this body, and it's muy bueno!"
"You traitor! You were at my side for all these years! I made you my number two minion!"
"And I hated every minute of it. Watching you tumble around with some stupid plan before failing in some spectacularly hilarious way. Actually, I take it back, I liked those parts."
"My plans were glorious!"
"They were dumb, like your current one is, the only difference is that this time, you'll die in the end!" Minimoose launched his arm forward like before, certain it would skewer Zim at such a close range, that's why it irked him when he missed.
Zim had dodged upwards, hanging from the door frame above him with four, long, metal legs. His spider legs had been broken since Fefa, so he was very appreciative of Crax's repairs to them even if he couldn't fix the rest of his PAK, but now, Zim had the mobility he needed to defeat his former sidekick. He reached into his Dimension Box and pulled out a rifle.
"I'll enjoy crushing your moosey head, hahahahahaha!" Zim laughed before he disappeared through the door.