I'd like to thank everyone for patiently waiting for this chapter. I would also like to remind everyone that, I'm sorry, but I'm not letting any new people in this fic, I've even turned down a couple of friends. No own:c)
------------
"Heave!" the young boy cried, pulling at the metal chord.
"Heave!" the other convention workers responded, pulling their respective chords. Much of the convention hall had, bit by bit, gathered around the blocked-off section of the hall, which seemed as though it was currently being dismantled. Our tensome was no exception, though they arrived slightly later than most, forcing them to weave through the masses of fans.
"Move it!"
"Outta the way!"
"Invader coming through!"
"Oooh, nice quote."
"Thanks"
They made their way to the front just as the last chunks of steel fell away from the outer edge. The crowd gasped and cheered at what lay underneath.
It was even larger than the arena from BattleDib, and quite clearly styled after it. Some of the shorter fangirls fought for purchase on each other, hoping to actually see what was there. A guy with a Happy Noodle Boy shirt and a GIR beanie stepped up to the front.
"Welcome, mighty Irken soldiers!" he said into a microphone, "...Paranormal investigators, master gamers, and magical talking cupcakes!" he added, without hesitation. The crowd cheered. "Welcome to Conventia, the convention hall planet!" Giggles swept through the fans. "Standing behind me is the Character Battledome! I'm sure you all remember your invitations said that there would be character battles here, but I doubt anyone was sure what they were. Well, you are all about to find out! Now..." he continued, lowering his voice, "May I have, out of the audience... A GIR fan?"
The crowd exploded with cheering. Fangirls and fanboys screamed to be heard over the other fangirls and fanboys screaming to be heard. People jumped up and down, waving their arms wildly. It would be entirely possible for someone to have a seizure, right then and there, without anyone noticing.
"Pick me! Pick me! I can sing the Doom Song from start to finish!"
"I have an entire closet full of rubber piggies!"
"I *am* a freaking rubber piggy! Pick me!!!"
Like a kid in a candy store, the boy scanned the audience, his eyes finally resting on Dragon. "You!" he said, pointing. Dragon squealed and raced to the front as the other nine cheered for her.
"And now," the boy continued, "I need... A Dib fan!"
Once again, the crowd erupted, and once again, the boy's eyes settled on our heros. "You!" he pointed to Kat. She raced to the front and did a happy dance with Dragon.
"Now... A Zim fan!" And this time the cheers seemed not just an attempt to be seen, but to dwarf the amount of noise generated by the Dib fans. The GIR fans had already outdone them both, in that respect. "You!" he pointed to Quin, and the happy dance had a new participant.
"And last, but hardly least... A Gaz fan!" The crowd cheered loudly and desperately, as if giving it one last go, before the boy picked someone nearby, but not among our heros. She ran to the front and joined the Dance of Happy.
"Alright, settle down people ... aww, who am I kidding, go nuts!" As the chaos died down, and things returned to what passed for calm in a room full of IZ fans, he held out the microphone to each fangirl respectively.
"Would you please tell us your screen names?"
"Dragon From the Black Lagoon."
"Kat23a."
"Invader Quin."
"Miss Pigula."
"Alright, Dragon From the Black Lagoon, go to the section of the Battledome lit in green, Kat23a, the one lit in blue, Invader Quin, red, Miss Pigula, purple." They headed for their respective sections, where they found and donned BattleDib-esque armor suits with green, blue, red and purple targets on the front. The announcer turned once more to the remaining audience members. "Now comes the ultimate test, to determine forever the most superior IZ character! ...And if you believe that, I have a condo on Blortch to sell you." Laughter flitted through the crowd. "Seriously, though this won't *officially* determine diddly-squat, it'll be something worth talking about, because, today, these four fangirls will be fighting for their obsessions! I present to you... Character Battles!!!"
Lights flashed on and off crazily around the dome, and the floor opened up, allowing a row of giant tools to rise out. The row consisted of tongs, a dropper, a corkscrew, a nail
file, and a q-tip. Kat choose the q-tip, Quin grabbed the tongs, Dragon took the dropper, and Miss Pigula selected the nail file.
"Now, let the battle begin!" The announcer cried. Kat immediately dove towards Miss Pigula, who dove right back at her. Quin, seeing an opportunity, raced towards Miss Pigula as she focused on Kat. Meanwhile, Dragon, knowing everyone would expect her to target Miss Pigula, leaped after Quin. Miss Pigula saw Quin coming out of the corner of her eye and turned to her. Loosing focus and aim, her nailfile swung sideways, hitting Dragon's target just as she reached them. The game still moving, a glowing '1' appeared under 'Gaz' on the scoreboard.
Quin charged at Miss Pigula, who jumped sideways, nearly losing her balance. Quin's tongs of doom, originally intended for Miss Pigula's target, missed and hit her shoulder, knocking the already-wobbly Pigula down. Quin frantically tried to steady her heavy tongs, but in the time it took her to do that, the cottonyness of Kat's q-tip collided with Miss Pigula's target, illuminating a '1' under 'Dib'. Unfortunately, the impact combined with the fact she was taking a running leap when they collided sent her into the q-tip forcefully. When they parted, her target was glowing.
"Enough! Enough!" the announcer cried, "Battle one of three over! All but one player is out, but since the Dib fan got herself out, only two points are scored this round. Now, begin Battle two of three!" At the announcer's words, the floor lowered leaving 18 platforms. Flames shot out from where the floor was. Robotic arms emerged from the wall and attached cables to the four fans' backs, then rose out of sight. The crowd simply cheered, having seen too much bizarre stuff already this week to be shocked.
"Pyrochaos!" the announcer cried, "Begin!"
This time, Quin was out for revenge. She navigated around Miss Pigula, who was similarly headed towards Kat, and raced straight for Dragon. Dragon clutched her dropper defensively, and fired. A dropper as big as Dragon's was, however, offers little control, and most of what she fired fell past the platforms, hissing as it became stem. Meanwhile, Kat and Miss Pigula were swordfighting with their q-tip and nailfile, when a particularly hard collision of the weapons broke the q-tip in half, the two halves falling into the flames. Weaponless, Kat leapt from platform to platform, with Miss Pigula in hot pursuit.
Quin, slowed by Dragon's firing, had just reached Dragon as Kat and Miss Pigula passed her. She held her open tongs with one handle in each hand, so that they looked like an open mouth. Dragon gave the dropper on last desperate squeeze, soaking Quin's hair, but leaving her target unscathed. Quin's tongs came down on Dragon's target, and a glowing '1' appeared under 'Zim.' Dragon, unhurt but feeling melodramatic at the moment, screamed and moaned, "Nooooooo!".
Her mighty cry of "Nooooooo!" caused Miss Pigula to jump, sending her to the very edge of the platform she was on. She teetered on the brink of it for a few seconds, waving her arms wildly. Her nailfile swung around, hitting the nearby Kat on the back, forcing her off the platform she was on and down into the flames, Miss Pigula falling in after her. Seconds later, two Robotic arms lifted them out, both completely unscathed but with their targets glowing.
"Battle two over, Battle two over!" The announcer cried happily. "Due to the penalty for falling in the flames, only one point is scored this round! Now, everyone wiggle your antennae, for the next battle is... Cyberarachnarama!" The crowd cheered, and the announcer feigned confusion for a moment "Wait..." he said, "Cyberachno? Spider robots? Do spiders have robots?" The crowd giggled. "Now... begin!"
The top of the arena opened and four legless spider suits lowered from the ceiling. The spider suits were very similar to the ones from BattleDib, but they had colored targets on the outside. The suits opened and closed on their temporary owners so their heads were all that showed, as spider legs extended from the sides. Ignoring Dragon, who had no points and thus wasn't considered much of a danger, Kat, Quin, and Miss Pigula all dove towards the center where they met, streamed trails of "webs" behind them. They wove under, over and in between one another in a frenzy almost too rapid for the eye to see. Then, seconds later, they had all become entangled in a knot of white weblike stuff. Dragon giggled at the irony and scrambled around them, poking each of them on their targets. A '3' lit up under 'GIR.'
"The game has ended!" The announcer cried joyfully, seemingly unable to keep himself from bursting into laughter. The weblike material fell apart and the spider suits opened, freeing the fans. "And the greatest IZ character ... at least, if this battle is any measure, which it probably isn't, but who cares?... Is GIR!" The crowd erupted in noise, and it was unclear whether they were cheering or protesting. Suddenly, moving almost as one, they flooded the stage, shaking the battle dome. Dragon, Kat, Quin and Miss Pigula squeed, and raced for the exit. A few minutes later the dome collapsed under the force of fandom.
"Geez..." KidK muttered, sitting a safe distance away with the newly reunited tensome, "...It was only a game."
"And I suppose Invader Zim is JUST a cartoon?" asked Ztar.
"That's completely different." KidK said. Ztar nodded agreement as another chunk of steel fell.
"So how COOL was it being in there?" Bast asked, "Details, details!"
Kat, Quin and Dragon smiled at each other, and began rehashing.
------------
"Heave!" the young boy cried, pulling at the metal chord.
"Heave!" the other convention workers responded, pulling their respective chords. Much of the convention hall had, bit by bit, gathered around the blocked-off section of the hall, which seemed as though it was currently being dismantled. Our tensome was no exception, though they arrived slightly later than most, forcing them to weave through the masses of fans.
"Move it!"
"Outta the way!"
"Invader coming through!"
"Oooh, nice quote."
"Thanks"
They made their way to the front just as the last chunks of steel fell away from the outer edge. The crowd gasped and cheered at what lay underneath.
It was even larger than the arena from BattleDib, and quite clearly styled after it. Some of the shorter fangirls fought for purchase on each other, hoping to actually see what was there. A guy with a Happy Noodle Boy shirt and a GIR beanie stepped up to the front.
"Welcome, mighty Irken soldiers!" he said into a microphone, "...Paranormal investigators, master gamers, and magical talking cupcakes!" he added, without hesitation. The crowd cheered. "Welcome to Conventia, the convention hall planet!" Giggles swept through the fans. "Standing behind me is the Character Battledome! I'm sure you all remember your invitations said that there would be character battles here, but I doubt anyone was sure what they were. Well, you are all about to find out! Now..." he continued, lowering his voice, "May I have, out of the audience... A GIR fan?"
The crowd exploded with cheering. Fangirls and fanboys screamed to be heard over the other fangirls and fanboys screaming to be heard. People jumped up and down, waving their arms wildly. It would be entirely possible for someone to have a seizure, right then and there, without anyone noticing.
"Pick me! Pick me! I can sing the Doom Song from start to finish!"
"I have an entire closet full of rubber piggies!"
"I *am* a freaking rubber piggy! Pick me!!!"
Like a kid in a candy store, the boy scanned the audience, his eyes finally resting on Dragon. "You!" he said, pointing. Dragon squealed and raced to the front as the other nine cheered for her.
"And now," the boy continued, "I need... A Dib fan!"
Once again, the crowd erupted, and once again, the boy's eyes settled on our heros. "You!" he pointed to Kat. She raced to the front and did a happy dance with Dragon.
"Now... A Zim fan!" And this time the cheers seemed not just an attempt to be seen, but to dwarf the amount of noise generated by the Dib fans. The GIR fans had already outdone them both, in that respect. "You!" he pointed to Quin, and the happy dance had a new participant.
"And last, but hardly least... A Gaz fan!" The crowd cheered loudly and desperately, as if giving it one last go, before the boy picked someone nearby, but not among our heros. She ran to the front and joined the Dance of Happy.
"Alright, settle down people ... aww, who am I kidding, go nuts!" As the chaos died down, and things returned to what passed for calm in a room full of IZ fans, he held out the microphone to each fangirl respectively.
"Would you please tell us your screen names?"
"Dragon From the Black Lagoon."
"Kat23a."
"Invader Quin."
"Miss Pigula."
"Alright, Dragon From the Black Lagoon, go to the section of the Battledome lit in green, Kat23a, the one lit in blue, Invader Quin, red, Miss Pigula, purple." They headed for their respective sections, where they found and donned BattleDib-esque armor suits with green, blue, red and purple targets on the front. The announcer turned once more to the remaining audience members. "Now comes the ultimate test, to determine forever the most superior IZ character! ...And if you believe that, I have a condo on Blortch to sell you." Laughter flitted through the crowd. "Seriously, though this won't *officially* determine diddly-squat, it'll be something worth talking about, because, today, these four fangirls will be fighting for their obsessions! I present to you... Character Battles!!!"
Lights flashed on and off crazily around the dome, and the floor opened up, allowing a row of giant tools to rise out. The row consisted of tongs, a dropper, a corkscrew, a nail
file, and a q-tip. Kat choose the q-tip, Quin grabbed the tongs, Dragon took the dropper, and Miss Pigula selected the nail file.
"Now, let the battle begin!" The announcer cried. Kat immediately dove towards Miss Pigula, who dove right back at her. Quin, seeing an opportunity, raced towards Miss Pigula as she focused on Kat. Meanwhile, Dragon, knowing everyone would expect her to target Miss Pigula, leaped after Quin. Miss Pigula saw Quin coming out of the corner of her eye and turned to her. Loosing focus and aim, her nailfile swung sideways, hitting Dragon's target just as she reached them. The game still moving, a glowing '1' appeared under 'Gaz' on the scoreboard.
Quin charged at Miss Pigula, who jumped sideways, nearly losing her balance. Quin's tongs of doom, originally intended for Miss Pigula's target, missed and hit her shoulder, knocking the already-wobbly Pigula down. Quin frantically tried to steady her heavy tongs, but in the time it took her to do that, the cottonyness of Kat's q-tip collided with Miss Pigula's target, illuminating a '1' under 'Dib'. Unfortunately, the impact combined with the fact she was taking a running leap when they collided sent her into the q-tip forcefully. When they parted, her target was glowing.
"Enough! Enough!" the announcer cried, "Battle one of three over! All but one player is out, but since the Dib fan got herself out, only two points are scored this round. Now, begin Battle two of three!" At the announcer's words, the floor lowered leaving 18 platforms. Flames shot out from where the floor was. Robotic arms emerged from the wall and attached cables to the four fans' backs, then rose out of sight. The crowd simply cheered, having seen too much bizarre stuff already this week to be shocked.
"Pyrochaos!" the announcer cried, "Begin!"
This time, Quin was out for revenge. She navigated around Miss Pigula, who was similarly headed towards Kat, and raced straight for Dragon. Dragon clutched her dropper defensively, and fired. A dropper as big as Dragon's was, however, offers little control, and most of what she fired fell past the platforms, hissing as it became stem. Meanwhile, Kat and Miss Pigula were swordfighting with their q-tip and nailfile, when a particularly hard collision of the weapons broke the q-tip in half, the two halves falling into the flames. Weaponless, Kat leapt from platform to platform, with Miss Pigula in hot pursuit.
Quin, slowed by Dragon's firing, had just reached Dragon as Kat and Miss Pigula passed her. She held her open tongs with one handle in each hand, so that they looked like an open mouth. Dragon gave the dropper on last desperate squeeze, soaking Quin's hair, but leaving her target unscathed. Quin's tongs came down on Dragon's target, and a glowing '1' appeared under 'Zim.' Dragon, unhurt but feeling melodramatic at the moment, screamed and moaned, "Nooooooo!".
Her mighty cry of "Nooooooo!" caused Miss Pigula to jump, sending her to the very edge of the platform she was on. She teetered on the brink of it for a few seconds, waving her arms wildly. Her nailfile swung around, hitting the nearby Kat on the back, forcing her off the platform she was on and down into the flames, Miss Pigula falling in after her. Seconds later, two Robotic arms lifted them out, both completely unscathed but with their targets glowing.
"Battle two over, Battle two over!" The announcer cried happily. "Due to the penalty for falling in the flames, only one point is scored this round! Now, everyone wiggle your antennae, for the next battle is... Cyberarachnarama!" The crowd cheered, and the announcer feigned confusion for a moment "Wait..." he said, "Cyberachno? Spider robots? Do spiders have robots?" The crowd giggled. "Now... begin!"
The top of the arena opened and four legless spider suits lowered from the ceiling. The spider suits were very similar to the ones from BattleDib, but they had colored targets on the outside. The suits opened and closed on their temporary owners so their heads were all that showed, as spider legs extended from the sides. Ignoring Dragon, who had no points and thus wasn't considered much of a danger, Kat, Quin, and Miss Pigula all dove towards the center where they met, streamed trails of "webs" behind them. They wove under, over and in between one another in a frenzy almost too rapid for the eye to see. Then, seconds later, they had all become entangled in a knot of white weblike stuff. Dragon giggled at the irony and scrambled around them, poking each of them on their targets. A '3' lit up under 'GIR.'
"The game has ended!" The announcer cried joyfully, seemingly unable to keep himself from bursting into laughter. The weblike material fell apart and the spider suits opened, freeing the fans. "And the greatest IZ character ... at least, if this battle is any measure, which it probably isn't, but who cares?... Is GIR!" The crowd erupted in noise, and it was unclear whether they were cheering or protesting. Suddenly, moving almost as one, they flooded the stage, shaking the battle dome. Dragon, Kat, Quin and Miss Pigula squeed, and raced for the exit. A few minutes later the dome collapsed under the force of fandom.
"Geez..." KidK muttered, sitting a safe distance away with the newly reunited tensome, "...It was only a game."
"And I suppose Invader Zim is JUST a cartoon?" asked Ztar.
"That's completely different." KidK said. Ztar nodded agreement as another chunk of steel fell.
"So how COOL was it being in there?" Bast asked, "Details, details!"
Kat, Quin and Dragon smiled at each other, and began rehashing.