Chapter Four - Reflections


After skool, Zim waited outside for Miz. All the while, Dib watched with an evil eye from his position at the bottom of the steps. "Oh, there he is
again. Probably waiting for his little girlfriend, so they can plan alien...plans together." Dib was struck with a thought. "Say, wait. If there are TWO
of them now, that means my chances of capturing an alien have doubled!" Snickering loudly, Dib began to plot a way to stop Zim and the rest of
his race.

Two students standing behind him scoffed at him. "Dib, will you forget this whole 'alien' thing?" one asked.

"Yeah," replied the other, "it was kinda funny at first, but now, it's just STUPID!"

They started laughing. Dib twitched an eye at them. "It's not stupid! Watch him! You'll see! If we continue to let him run free, he'll enslave our planet!
The other one, too! We must stop them now, before their powers reach their peak!"

Miz stepped out of the skool and walked over to Zim. "Ready?"

Zim couldn't help but to smile at her. "Yeah, let's go."

They started towards the direction of Zim's base to pick up Gir. Before they got far, they were interrupted by a voice. "Wait! Stop!"

Dib came running towards them. He stopped to catch his breath, then straightened to stare Miz straight in the eye. "Alright, alien girl. You're new
here, but I see right through your act. I'm watching you, your every move, waiting for a weak link in your little plot. And when I find it, I'll prove to the
world that I'm not crazy! So, you'd better watch your back. One slip-up, and..." Dib drew his finger across his throat.

Miz stared at him calmly. "Did you forget to take your meds this morning?"

Before Dib could reply, the Irken kids laughed and started walking again. After they were a good distance away, Miz turned to Zim. "You put up
with him every day?"

Zim nodded. "Every day. Every now and then, he gets 'sick', and doesn't go to skool. That's the only time I get relief...that and when I don't go to
skool myself."

"Oh..." Miz nodded. "Playing hooky?"

"Hooky? What's 'hooky'?"

Miz tried to explain. "It's something the humans do. They pretend to go to skool for their parents, but then they don't. It's...basically, it's staying
home sick without being sick."

Zim nodded. "Hmm...yes, I guess you could call it that...'hooky'. I prefer to call it 'being able to research in peace'."

Miz dared to ask, "Do you think I could play hooky with you someday?"

Zim looked her in surprise. "Uh...oh, well I uh,..."

"If you don't WANT to, I'll understand..."

"NO! I mean, yes, I mean..." ZIm took a deep breath, "It sounds like..." (What's that word humans use?) "It sounds like fun."


At that moment, they had arrived at Zim's base. The robotic parents greeted him with their "Welcome home, son" routine.They wheeled away as
Zim and Miz stepped inside.

"Alright, let's make this quick. GIR!!! Get out here!!"

A first, there wasn't a sound, but a whistling descent of an object soon filled the room. The object landed. SPLAT

Zim jumped back in surprise. "What the heck was that?!"

Miz stepped forward and examined the object. "It appears to be a taco."

"A taco?! Oh, no..."

At that moment a slushie fell from the ceiling and landed next to the taco. Then a high-pitched cry of glee echoed through the ears of Zim and Miz.
"TAAAAAAAAAAAAACOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Gir landed on the taco, chewing happily. "Hewwo, Mashter" Gir said, face buried in his food. "Want shome?!"

Zim gave Miz an apologetic smile. "Sorry. He's not always like this."

Gir looked up. "Yes, I am." That's when he noticed Miz. "Hi. Who are you?"

Zim introduced them. "Uh, Gir...this is my friend, Miz. She's also from Irk."

Miz took over. "I'm here to aid Zim in his invasion. We were going to make plans at my home base, but we had to come here first to get you."

Gir perked up. "I get to go out?!"

"Yes, Gir. You do. Now get your suit."

"YAY!!!" Gir ran off to retrieve his disguise.

Miz smiled as she watched Gir leave. "He's so cute."

Zim snorted. "Maybe, but try living with him. He IS helpful to me at times, but sometimes he gets in the wa-a-a-AAAYYYY!!" Zim, not watching his
path, had tripped over the slushie and landed in what was left of the taco. "Why I outta---"

He stopped because he heard laughter. Miz's laughter. It was discreet at first, but her airy sighs soon turned into giggles, and then she broke
down and laughed like she never did before. Zim smiled, and before he knew it, he was laughing too.

At last the laughter died down. Miz helped Zim up. "You know, It wasn't THAT funny," he said.

She fell on the floor and laughed even harder. Gir came out, saw Miz, and squealed with happiness. "Friend!" he declared and gave Miz a big hug.

Miz finally stood up. "I'm sorry, but you looked so cute sitting on a taco. No offense to you."

"None taken." An awkward silence filed the room again. "Uh...let's get going, shall we?


The trio left the house for Miz's home base. Up above on the roof tops, Mirra used her hearing devices and special binoculars to gain information
from the group. "Hmm...the girl seems smarter, but the male is definately stronger..." she observed. "Alright, 'Zim'. 'Miz.' Show me where you're
headed."


Miz's home base was only a short walk from Zim's house. It was about the same distance from the skool that Zim's base was, only in a different
direction. Inside, the design was nearly identical. There were a few arcitectural differences, but I'l get there later. First, Miz needed to summon
"Kir." "Oh, Kir, I'm back!"

"I'm in the kitchen!" cried a voice, similar to GIr's, but a bit more feminine.

"OK, I'm gonna go in there!" Miz walked to the doorway.

"NOOOO!! Don't come in yet!!"

Miz rolled her eyes. "And why not?"

"It's a surprise...here I come!"

Kir came jetting out of the kitchen on a flat board with wheels. "I've taken up SKATEBOARDING!!!!" With that, she crashed into the wall.

Miz sighed in defeat. "Zim, meet...Kir,"

Kir detatched herself from the wall. "HI!! Nice to meetcha! IIIIIIIII'm KIR!!!"

Zim smiled nervously. "Right. Uh..." he looked at Miz. "Should we introduce them?" Miz nodded. "Okay. Gir, come here."

Gir had taken off his suit and ran up to Kir. "Hi, I'm Gir!"

"I'm Kir!" They stood there for a while.

Zim cleared his throat. "Uh, Miz? We should go to your lab." He walked to the toilet.

"Wait, Zim! Stop! That's NOT where my lab is!"

"Huh?" Zim looked at Miz, who was pointing to an elevator. Sheepishly, Zim followed Miz into the cart.


Gir and Kir stared at each other for a while. Finally Gir said, "Wanna watch the Scary Monkey Show?"

"Okay. I've got chocolate slushies."

"Okay." The two robots went to find the remote.


Zim whistled as he entered Miz's labratory. The whole place was spotless, from the computer console to Miz's statis capsule. Zim walked around
slowly, allowing himself to take in as much of the atmosphere as he could. "Nice place you got here."

Miz stepped slowly towards him. "I try to keep it in order. Glad you like it."

Zim examined the object on the nightstand next to Miz's stasis capsule. He found a photograph, identical to the one he had at his base. He looked
at her. "Miz..." he held up the frame, "you... kept this?"

Miz smiled shyly and walked to his side. "Yes," she confessed. "I...talk to it before I go to sleep. I pretend I'm..." she looked at him, "I pretend I'm
talking with you."

Zim was surprised to hear her say that. (Does she...?) He continued to stare into her baby-blue eyes. "Miz..."

They were interupted by an explosion outsidde. It shook the entire house, causing Miz to fall forward. Zim caught her. "Woah! Gotcha"

Blushing, Miz stood up quickly. "What was that?!"

"Maybe we'd better go see." With that, the two ran outside as quickly as they could.


There was a smoking hole in Miz's front yard. Out of the smoke came a large bird. It swooped down, grabbed Zim, and flew into Miz's base.

"Zim!" Panicked, Miz tore through the yard into the house. In the living room she saw Zim...and another Zim. "What the...?"

"Miz, it's me!" they both said at the same time.

Zim A stepped forward. "Miz, I'M the real Zim."

Zim B stepped forward. "NO! He lies. I'M the real Zim!"

Gir came running into the room. "Master!!" He looked at the other Zim. "Master!!...Miz, who's my master?"

"I AM!!!" they both cried.

Miz whimpered. "I don't know which one is which, G---" Miz got an idea. "Hey, Zims!!" Both looked at her. "What is the name of this robot?"

"Gir!" said two voices.

Miz bit her lip. (Too easy...) "What about this robot?" Miz held up Kir.

"OOO! OOO! Kir!!" Zim B yelled.

"Master!!" Gir gave Zim B a big hug.

Miz cautiously stepped forward. "Zim? Is that really you?"

Zim sighed. "I can't prove it, so I'll let you decide for yourself."

Miz stared into his eyes. She could see the friendship...the warmth...the love she saw in the Zim she knew so well. She smiled. "So...what shall
we do with the imposter?"

Zim A suddenly shape-shifted into amother figure - a female, wearing a long-sleeved white gown and black gloves. A diamond was in the middle
of her forehead, and she had claw-like hands. "You won't do anything with the imposter, unless you can catch me!" She ran outside and down the
street.

Zim, Gir, Miz and Kir all chased after Mirra, which was difficult because she hopped from roof to roof. Eventually she led them to the city park, and
at the park there are no roofs, so the chase became completely at ground level.

Actually, there was ONE roof in the park - the gazebo, which Mirra immediately climbed onto as soon as she saw it. Unknown to her, was that the
main support beam for the roof was very weak, but somehow it supported her. Standing up, she looked down upon her persuers and laughed. "You
will NEVER be able to defeat me, for I am Mirra, the Almighty!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Zim and Miz exchanged glances. What could they do to stop her?

They didn't need to answer, for while they had been chasing Mirra, Gir and Kir had been playing tag. Kir was It, and Gir had been running real fast.
And as you can guess, he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. He ended up rushing right past Zim and Miz and straight into the main
support beam for the gazebo. Gir heard something crack from above. He looked up and managed to get out of there.

Mirra wasn't as lucky. She was caught under the roof of the gazebo as it fell. As soon as hte dust cleared, Miz went up to asess the situation. She
picked up Mirra's hand and squeezed her wrist.

Zim looked at Miz. "What...happened, Miz?"

Miz looked at Zim, shocked. "Mirra...she's dead..."

At that moment, Mirra's body was enveloped in a great white light. Everyone had to look away or else they would be blinded by the power. When
the light faded, Miz discovered that Mirra's body had transformed into a tiny elegant hand mirror. Intrigued, Miz looked into it - and gasped. Her
hand flew to her head. (I've got my wig on...) "Zim, I'm wearing my contacts, right?"

"Huh...yeah, Why?"

Miz beckoned him to come to her. "My reflection says otherwise. Look." She gave Zim the mirror. Zim saw that his reflection also showed him
without his disguise. "My guess is that this mirror is a Mirror of Truth - it reflects a persons true nature. I wonder what it's for..."

Zim put it in his back-pack storage thingy. "Let's keep it for now. It may come in handy later."