Hi, guys! I finally finished this chapter! I hope the wait wasn't too long!

Chapter Eighteen: Zim

I guided Tak's old ship to hover above my base and opened the service hatch.

"Here," I said, passing Dib the controls. "You do know how to fly it, right?"

"Of course, I do!" he shouted defensively, roughly taking the controls.

"I'm going to go into my base and get my own Voot, and we'll meet up back at the laboratory," I explained.

Dib nodded, and I got up from the chair and went back to the cargo area. Dib's father started to rattle off more questions as I dropped through the service hatch and onto my roof. The hatch above me closed, and the ship took off towards the lab.

I took a remote out and hit the button to open up the roof. The satellite dish retracted, and I jumped up as the roof opened. I landed on top of the Voot Cruiser and slid down to the ground.

A high pitched squeak came from behind me, and I turned to find Minimoose. "What do you want?" I demanded, only receiving another squeak in response.

"I believe he wants to come with you," the computer said from the Voot's speakers. "I think he misses GIR."

Minimoose floated over to the Voot Cruiser and used his horns to try to open the main access hatch.

I groaned. "Oh, fine. At least you'll keep GIR busy and out of the way."

I used my remote to open the Voot and jumped inside, Minimoose squeaking happily. I started up the Voot and closed the main hatch, taking off.

I lowered the Cruiser onto a landing pad that was waiting for me next to Tak's ship-though I suppose it was Dib's now. Scientists were already surrounding the ship, and even more of them rushed towards mine as I powered it down.

"Minimoose!" GIR shouted as I got out of the ship. Minimoose hastily glided over to GIR, and they ran off somewhere.

Some of the people in front of me were suddenly shoved aside, and Dib and his father came through the gap. "Ready to get to work?" Dib wondered.

"More ready than you are."

Dib and I constantly ran around for the next few days. Dib was video chatting with what he called his "secret organization", though I don't know how it can be secret if he tells everyone. I practically duplicated my Voot Cruiser's technology alone. Dib's male parent helped a little with the calculations, but that was only because I was continually distracted by GIR wanting to "help". Not to mention that people were causing a racket outside the lab protesting and shouting that they couldn't trust me.

It took two days to fully replicate the two Cruisers' offensive and defensive capabilities. I practically adapted their "fighter jets" for space flight alone. They each snuck off into a corner at different times of the day to sleep, forcing me to have to compensate for their shortcomings.

"The length of time that they can be in space is limited, so they'll have to stick close to Earth's atmosphere," Dib warned, speaking into a microphone. We were on a video conference with Earth's leaders and Dib's "secret" organization. We had sent our replication data across the world to get more of their jets. "Zim and I will fly into Earth's upper atmosphere in our ships as you guys launch your tests to make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Again, Agent Mothman," a filtered voice interjected, "are you sure that you can trust this alien."

"Agent Darkbootie-" Dib began, though I interrupted, tired of this same question over and over again.

I shoved Dib out of my way and pointed at the screen. "Listen here, you Darkened Bootie! I have put up with this exact same question for the past few days, and I am sick of it! If you don't think I'm trustworthy, just think about all you will lose if you don't listen to me."

The Earth leaders seemed to glance at each other through their various screens before looking back towards us. Darkened Bootie nodded at Dib, and he pumped his fist in the air. "Yes!"

The next day was testing day. Red and Purple didn't know that I was working against them, so I asked them what time they were arriving to Earth that morning. They said sometime in the afternoon.

I quickly made my way over to the lab and found Dib. "They'll be here this afternoon," I explained.

"Then we have to start the test now," Dib announced, rushing off towards the newly built launch bay.

Membrane was doing a last-minute check with other scientists to see if the jets were ready to fly. He looked up at our entry. "When will they be here?" he questioned.

"As I have already explained," I answered, "the armada will be here sometime this afternoon."

"You didn't get anything more specific?" Membrane demanded.

"If I did, don't you think I would have told you," I countered.

"We need to do the test now," Dib interrupted. "Otherwise, we'll have no way of knowing if these jets can go into space."

"Of course. You to get to your Voots and head up," Membrane ordered. "The rest of us will get the pilots to their jets."

Dib and I went off towards our Cruisers and got inside. I was initiating the startup sequence in my Voot when a sudden voice made me jump. "Whachyadoooooin'?!"

I glanced behind me to find that GIR had gotten into the Voot Cruiser without my knowing. I sighed and finished starting up the Voot. "We're testing the jets," I explained. "Where's Minimoose?"

"Ooooohhhhh!" GIR cooed. "Mini is with Dib."

A shout from outside caught my attention, and I looked towards Dib's Voot. Dib was pressing himself against the controls like he was trying to get away from something. Minimoose floated into view and opened his mouth. I could almost hear his squeaking. I snickered in amusement as Dib put a hand to his chest, slowly got down from the control panel and lowered himself into the pilot seat.

Now that the engines were warmed up, I launched the Voot Cruiser into the air and turned to GIR. "How many times to I have to tell you to sit down when we launch?" I demanded.

GIR leaned a little too close to me. "But we're not going that fast."

I rolled my eyes and put the engines to full, throwing us towards the sky, and GIR towards the back of the ship. I was forced into the back of my seat, and the G-forces made it nearly impossible to breathe, but I was in space before long.

The G-forces left, and I looked out the viewport to find Dib's Cruiser racing up towards me. I opened a line to his ship and spoke into the microphone on the control panel. "Can you hear me?"

"Oh, wow!" Dib exclaimed, his voice coming through the Voot's speakers. "I've flown Mars, but I never had the chance to actually look at the Earth from space before!" Dib was looking out the viewport in amazement.

I rolled my eyes and brought the microphone closer to my mouth. "Focus! We need to be ready for the jets to leave the atmosphere!"

"Oh, right," Dib muttered, turning his attention back to what we were doing. He let out a sigh of anticipation. "Here we go."

Here we go, indeed.