There were two light with one of them on and flashing red. A beeping sound was heard the moment the red light turned off and the other light turned on with a green color. Next to it was a huge metallic door that gently open to reveal the Zim guards in there. 501 was leading with the other guards behind the newcomer. He twitched his antenna as a signal to continue walking, which they did so. The newcomer could do nothing but walk along, his eyes stuck on the ground expressionless. He did however glance about for a short while to take a look at his new surroundings. Indeed it looked like he entered a prison. Somewhere as familiar as Mooping 10, one of the greatest prison to exist. But this one seems a bit more worn out. More people that look like him can be seen doing their business.
A dragonfly-like Zim can be seen trying to change a lightbulb. He got electrocuted and fell on the ground. Few seconds later, he woke up, shook the pain off, and continued his duty. A pig-like Zim was seen playing with one of the buttons and glanced at a cell, watching it automatically swing open. In response, he looked down at a paper he was carrying and wrote it down. When finished, he went inside the cell to relax. It didn't take long for another guard to notice and storm inside the cell. The pig let out a squeal as he was dragged out of the cell. Throwing him down, the guard angrily shouts about something towards him. The pig frowned. But he got up and continued doing his duty.
The fish irken softly frowned in confusion.
"Heh!" One guard behind him smirked, "at least this one seems well behaved. Heck! He hasn't even spoke since we revealed our identity to him!"
"I think it's not only that," 501 looked at them, "if anything, this is the quietest one we ever gotten. Tell me, 2002. What makes you quiet?"
2002 awkwardly gaze at him without a response.
"Too personal to answer, huh?" His eyebrow raised, "that's fine," he turned his face away, "all Zims who are quiet do so for personal reasons."
The fish was taken back a bit by that comment and narrowed,
"N-no!"
501 looked back at him in slight curiosity,
"No?"
2002's anger soften.
"I-I mean...it's not like that! It's just...why are you all weaker versions of me? That's something I can't digest!"
He made a shy pause.
"...if you can."
"Hmph," 680 gave an unamused look, "softie."
"I'm not a softie!" The newcomer snaps a bit.
"Now now 680," the lead guard told him with patience, "our newbie here wants answers and that's exactly what we'll give him. now...BRING IN THE VISUAL AID ZIMS!"
"Uh 501?" One of the guards pointed, "didn't we just passed by them?"
The group halted and they turned behind the see they were at the right side of the hallway when they passed by them. They appear to be playing a handmade board game. The Zim with round swirly equipments was shaking his fist with a rattle sound coming from within it while the other Zim equipped with a drawn board watched impatiently.
"Come on come on, give me ladder, give me ladder!" He happily said
"Please don't him ladder please don't give him ladder," the other Zim muttered.
But right before the Swirly Zim would throw the dice, 501 shouted out,
"VISUAL AID ZIMS!"
They both flinched and turned to him, the swirly one ending up dropping the dice in the process. He couldn't help but glance what he got.
"TWO DOTS!" The board one glance when he heard him happily explain, "LADDER FOR ME, SMELLY!"
The board Zim sighed,
"I hate this game..."
501 snapped his fingers to get them to look again,
"Stop getting distracted and help another Zim here give a demonstration! And make sure you give a good impression, 1282!"
"Ugh. Fine," he said as the two stood up and went to stand in front of the newcomer.
2002 watched with a blank expression as the Swirly one pulled out a Zim and voot cruiser puppet. He started off by looking as if the Zim puppet was in the cruiser and flying,
"Woooooooo! I am me! I responded to a distress signal and I'm now going through a strange vortex. Whhoooosh..."
There was awkward silence. The Swirly one nudges 1282. He sighs in response and starts the act,
"Zip-zap. Buzz buzz. I am the strange glowy device called the Zapper which is causing alternate universe to connect into one, yadda yadda yadda-"
"BOOOOSH!" The other Zim hits the puppets right onto his face.
He then lets out a whistle sound as he moves the puppets lower and lower into the ground until they hit the ground with a "pwooooosssshh!".
There were few seconds of pause. He happily looks at the Fish Zim.
"I am now stuck here for all eternity, the end!"
It became completely quiet. 2002 stared at the two for a while.
"That's..."
He softly points out.
"That was actually really good."
He turns to 501,
"Can I see them do that again?"
The eyepatch Zim let out a chuckle,
"Heheheheheh-no. The visual aid Zims aren't here just to entertain you all."
"But I thought they were-"
"STOP INTERRUPTING!"
The fish-hybrid Zim flinched and stiffened, now completely silent. The other one waited for few seconds.
"Good. Now," he gestures to the two Zims, "as you have seen, this was you when you flew into this planet. You came out of one of the vortexes and as you were flying in, you crashed onto the Zapper, causing your ship to break down and crash onto this planet."
"The Zapper?"
"The glowy stick thingy. You know, the one your ship hit that destroyed it? We call it the Zapper. It's what's what we believe to be sending signal to all the Zims from alternate universes and luring them to this void."
2002 blinked, his fin ears raising a bit by the two words he just said.
"Alternate...universes? Did you just say alternate universes?"
"That's right, 2002," he smirked a bit, "all of us come from different timelines. Different timelines that are caused by every little choice we made in our life, even if it's even for a second. It doesn't only have to be through our little choices either but the universe around. Some might even get their thing when they are born."
2002 stayed quiet in confusion and awkwardness when he said "thing". 501 noticed.
"A 'thing' is another word we use for 'side effect' or 'variation'. For example: in my timeline, I thought it would be better to take samples from cows by myself rather than letting my Gir do it. Got hit in the eye and have been wearing this awesome patch since then. And there are others who's outcomes are different. Like 1469 over there,"
He point to the Dragonfly Zim that 2002 saw earlier,
"In his timeline, he mutated a dragonfly that bit and infected him, causing him to be a hybrid of a dragonfly."
He points to one Zim with a giant antennae,
"Or 1010, who tried to make himself big in order to destroy a city, but there was an accident that made his antenna massive instead. It may have increased his sense of hearing. But he has to be careful not to hear noises to loud for him. Otherwise, he'll go deaf for a week."
"I heard that," 1010 turn to him and shouted out from a far distance.
501 turned back to him,
"Do you understand everything I have said, 2002?"
2002 hesitated.
"So...is that why every versions of me are different? Because of their different timeline? Wait..."
He thought about it.
"Are you saying you all came here just like me?"
501 smiled widely,
"BINGO! I knew you would get it right away!"
"Uh...thanks? I think?"
"Just like you," he continued as he looked up to see different Zims in their cells looking down at them in curiosity, "we got an irken distress signal located at Urth's Pandora's Quadrangle. However, when we went through the vortex, we ended up getting hit by the Zapper, caused our ships to get completely destroyed, and ended up getting us trapped here. We however don't know where the Zapper came from. But as far as we know by using our brilliant minds, we have researched to the point of understanding that the Zapper is responsible for the signals and vortexes."
He turns back to 2002.
"But unfortunately, long as there's no available resources to fix our ships, we can be trapped in this void for all eternity."
2002 remained quiet again. 680 laughed,
"501, I don't think he understood a word you're saying!"
"Hey it's not like that!" The newcomer angrily looked at him, "it's just hard to digest this whole information that's all! Alternate universes, Zapper, things, they all sound like someone hit their own PAK. And it still doesn't explain why we have this thing on," he held unto his collar as a gesture.
"Oh yes," 501 nodded, "the collar, almost forgot to mention that. Well besides making sure we don't confuse each other by the same name, the numbers actually represent a Zim's rankings. As of right now, your ranking is number 2002. You are currently the lowest ranking Zim in all the Zimvoid. And unless a new Zim enters this void or you fight someone at the arena, you will remain to be so. You see 2002, when number 1, the highest ranking Zim and our leader, created this hierarchical society, he decided to give jobs for Zims 101-2002. And living in a world that has such limited resources, we need at least find some way to lengthen our fantastic existences."
"Of course, we Zims would prefer doing amazing complex things then doings such minor and ridiculous tasks. So in order make this society stable," he walked towards him with a haunting smile, "Number 1 made a unique system that rings a unique word.
His haunting smile presses against the newcomers fish bowl-like helmet.
"ENSLAVEMENT..."
2002 stared at 501 hauntingly staring at him that close for a long time. He eyes traces about awkwardly and then back to him.
"Do you...do this this to every newcomer?"
"Yes," he remained in his position, "...and it never gets tiring."
The Eyepatch Zim stayed there few seconds and finally pulled away.
"Anyhow! I guess that's all you need to know for now. Zim guards," he turns to the guards, "take him to his duty location."
"But sir," one of them asked, "what kind of duty? The tasks are all full at this point."
"Well make one up! The more tasks the better. While you two are doing so, I'll check up to see how 2001 is coping with this world."
He began to walk off when 2002 called out,
"Wait! You said that this Number 1 is the leader. Can I meet him? I need to know what's really going on here and find some way to get back home."
"I'm afraid I can't do that 2002," he glanced at him, "only the Elite Zims can see him. You can't just expect to see him that easily. If you really want to meet him, you would have to beat other Zims in a gladiatorial arena."
"Gladi...wha?"
501 softly groans and rolled his eyes,
"it means you need to compete with other Zims."
"What?" The fish irken gave a look as if he was speaking nonsense, "that's crazy! I'm not gonna just go out there and start beating up alternate versions of myself!"
"It's the only way but..." 501 shrugged and started to walk again, "your loss."
2002 sighs,
"Can you at least tell me who he is and what he is like?"
"Well obviously he's a Zim like all of us," he shrugs, "what do you expect?"
"That you would give me more details than that?"
501 sighs and fully turns back to him,
"Listen, Fish Head Zim-"
"Fish Head?" He looks somewhat confused and offended by that name.
"-If I knew, I would tell you, I would. The only thing I know is a rumor that Number 1 was able to defeat his Dib and conquer the Urth."
He stiffened,
"He...destroyed his Dib?"
"Yup! Then again, it's just a rumor. But I shouldn't spend time telling you infos for several hours. You'll learn more about the Zimvoid as you go about and do your duty. Anyhow, good luck!"
"Ok. But just to make it clear that I'm neither 2002 nor Fish Head Zim. I am Zim and Zim only!"
But the guard leader ignore him and have few seconds later left the room. The two guards held unto his shoulder, to which the new slave didn't struggle out of them this time. Not like it would make much of a difference when this place has such high security.
"So 680," one guard said, "what do you think will be good for him? Should we take him to the boiler room?"
2002's heart sunk as he looked at the guard with a sense of fear on his eyes.
"Nah," 680 said, "that would be a pointless thing to do. With a 'thing' like that, his water can get cooked up and make him suffocate to death. And the last thing we need is for 501 to punish us over loosing a single slave."
The Fish Zim then breathed out a sigh of relief. But he looked at the guard again when he asked,
"Then what do you think we should do with him?"
680 pondered for a while. Then his antennae raised when something clicked.
"Actually," he gave out a menacing grin, "I got a better idea that he can cope with."
He leaned over and whispered to him. His antennae raised as well and he made a deep chuckle,
"It's perfect."
They both gave a pesky smile towards the newcomer.
2002 stood stiff and blankly glance at each of them.
"...Why are you staring at me like that?"
—
A scrap and metal-made building with two floors rested on the hilltop of an unknown location that appears to be somewhere underground. The building seemed strong despite looking worn out. On the entrance, there was a stool that had a bucket filled with glass shards. Several in the bucket look to have been carefully drilled into a tiny hole and then tied into a string. The shards that were not in bucket were hung on the entrance door's ceilings reflecting by any soft light that was in this dark area.
Inside the house was one room that has somewhat old blankets, pencils, and more crumbled papers. There was some sticks on the walls the mark the days, and some drawn papers that look like like maps attached to lower walls. Some even being daily to-do list and few basically being free drawings. One can be a decent drawing of Gir, a Zapper, and the planet of the Zimvoid. The artist also made a drawing of Earth, but it's on fire with an irken flag placed on the top of it.
Outside was starting to get a bit lighter, due to the the light of dawn piercing through the cracks of the surface above. It slightly fills the room. In one large thick and worn-out blanket laying on the ground with few others, something softly moved underneath it, along with it making a soft grunting sound. A small being wiggled half his body out of the blanket and glanced out the window to notice the dawn's softly hidden light. He let out a yawn and patted his cheeks.
"Ok ok ok, no time for unnecessary naps now," he said himself in a slightly high pitched voice and completely slipped out the attempted crafted bed. He let out a short stretch, patted his cheek one last time, and softly ran out of the room.
The figure then entered what seem like a working area. There were tons of maps on the wall thats almost low enough to reach the figure's size. But because they can't reach it, they went outside for a moment to grab a bucket out of a stool, put it down, and push the stool into the room. He pushed it against a wall and climbed up to take a map off it. He gets off, pushes the stool to a table and climbs onto it again in order for his viewpoint to reach the top of the table. He turns on a lamp that was doesn't have a cover and it flickers on. He put the map down.
"Ok," he grabs a marker nearby and pulls the tip out, "so from what I'm guessing, those hostile Zims seems to show up the most when it comes to markets. An incident usually happens when a random Zim is low on guard and they are alone. So if I can guess of where they might go to the most..."
He draws several small circles on parts of the location.
"It would usually be in the town's alleys...yeah! I think that should work!"
He folds the map and put it in the storage of his PAK,
"I can start from there today and see how it goes this time!"
He hopped off the stool and went to a storage box, opening it up and digging inside until he pulls out an irken gun.
"Now then," he pats it confidently, "let's see if this bad boy still has the sticky goo in him!"
He walked to an opened window and looks out to spot something to target. He might as well just target that cavern boulder over there. He goes and aim. He concentrates. Then pulls the trigger.
A splat followed by a soft boom sound was heard, but nothing came out of it. The small figure grew confused and tried patting it to get it to work. When nothing still happened, he decided to look at the tip of it.
"Hm. The gangs shouldn't have throw it against the wall that ba-"
Orange sticky goo spews out, while it still stuck onto the gun, to cover the entirety of the small irken's face, causing him to muffle in panic. He topples unto ground and starts trying pull the goo off by using both his hands and feet.
He tugs hard and hard as much as he could while he kept muffling. Then just as his lungs started to scream for air, the goo came off, but resulted in the gun flying off the window. The irken gasped and made few gulps of air until he heard a crash and splattering sound. He glanced at the sound and gets up to look out the window. There by the ground, the gun was nearly in pieces, with nothing but orange goo splattered around it. He continues to stare down for a while. He groans in frustration.
"Fine," he walks back to the storage box, "rope it is then."
He let half of his body bury into the box until he was able to pull out a curled up rope. He opened the storage opening on his PAK and put it in. He then grabbed something else from the table and hopped out of the stool one last time. He ran off and started running downstairs until it slowed into very quiet steps, noticing an opening in front of the end of the staircase that leads to a room. Within that room, someone can be heard snoring. The small figure's walk turned into a tip toe the moment he reached the ground and did so carefully as he glanced to make sure the one inside the room doesn't wake up.
As soon as he was far enough from that room, his fast pace began to pick up again and headed for the entrance. The small figure that revealed to be a smeet happily hopped out of the entrance and let his feet drag across the ground when he landed, making him go into a complete halt. He took a moment to have a view down below the hilltop, revealing to be a town. As the cavern started faintly lit up by the day, so did the voices down below. He took a deep breath, smiling in determination before he puts on what is reveal to be a goggle he was holding. Although it may seem big on him, he always made sure the goggle's strap was tight enough for it to fit. The digits on the smeet's own collar reflected a bit by the light to reveal his number:
||2000||
He was just about to launch off and run down the hill's trail and head for the town when-
"Mmmmf!"
2000 halted by the muffling sound of someone behind him, who reveals to have an appearance of a baloney, his pink orbed eyes giving the only irken appearance. He had an irritated look toward the smeet,
"Mmph mmm mmmfhh?"
The smeet gave a short sigh and turned to him trying to smile.
"It's fine, Meat. It's just a quick errand. He won't even notice I left."
The baloney just continued giving an unamused glare at him,
"Mmmmf mmph..."
"Not if he sees I succeeded he won't," he crosses his arms confidently.
He was quiet this time, but still did not look convinced.
"Don't worry," 2000 gave a determined smile, "today will be different. I won't fail this time. Just make sure not to tell him and you won't regret it! Thanks!"
And for that, he rushes off in a flash that it was no use calling him back. Even if he heard, he wouldn't listen anyways. The baloney Zim watches him disappear into the town. He rolls his eyes. He hops his way back into the building.