~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What Lies Beneath
by
~Miriah~of~the~Wind~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 23: The Moat
Suddenly the door slammed and large footsteps could be held coming up the stairs.
"Quick! Out that window! I'll explain later." Mali grabbed Lucy the window handle and opened the window with it.
"Lucy!" G.I.R. cried, "I'll never let go Lucy! I'll never let go!" Mali then took the ladder they had found and started getting people down as fast as she could. First G.I.R., then M.I.M.I., then Tak, then Zim, then Cam, and then herself. As she went down she looked at where they were heading. It was one long fall and as Mali looked up she saw that the axe had cut the rope. Down they went into the moat of the castle. Cam herself had never quite felt water before but now she knew that Zim wasn't exaggerating. It was as if a thousand white hot knives were plunging into her skin. Burning all her nerves and destroying her senses, but it wouldn't stop. It happened again and again and finally Mali couldn't hold herself to swim any longer. The water was swallowing her strength and pulled her underneath the surface. It took Mali a few minutes to find out that fish could breath underwater but Irkens can't. She tried to breath but it only suck in water which burned her Ziox, the type of lungs Irkens had. In the Irken Military Schooling Academy Irkens were placed as either Soldiers or Students but they both had to undergo some physical training and one of them had to deal with pain. So that they could carry on where others would fall but Mali nor Cam had ever felt this twisted sensation of pain and agony. All Cam could do was remain afloat, she didn't have enough energy to use her powers or even keep her eyes open for she felt as though she was on the sun. Trying to get out, trying to keep her Ziox filled with oxygen. Finally for both of the Right Hands, they were knocked out unconscious and everything went dark. Cam opened her eyes a couple hours later. She was staring at a face, an Irken face. With larger purple eyes and bendy antennas.
"My Tallest?" Cam asked and Purple nodded. Cam sat up the Massive was orbiting around Earth. She was in the hospital wing and was thankful for it. Cam wondered how Invaders could stand being away from home for so long.
"Lay back Cam." Purple said, "You've been hurt pretty badly." Cam looked at herself and notice that her skin looked as though it had been in a nuclear explosion. Her rough Irken skin had be burned and her antennas were limp. It hurt for her to see and breath but now that the water was sucking up and away from her it hurt less and less. She looked out the window at the blue planet. Two small figures were standing in the way: Dib and Gaz.
"I don't know how you stand to be on that planet." Cam heard a voice and when she moved her head to the right there was Mali strapped down to stop her from fidgeting so much.
"Well, if you don't like it, why don't you call your little alien friends off our planet?" Dib snapped.
"Why should we?"
"Enough!" Red said and everyone was silent, "I'm afraid to say that Zim is badly injured." Red didn't sound like he was sorry, in fact he almost sounded pleased, but nobody said this to the Tallest.
"Cam, Tak, and Mali must go on." Purple said and Cam nodded.
"My Tallest." she gasped.
"Yes?" Purple asked.
"How did we get out? The water, I mean." Purple sighed and replied.
"Well Zim swam out first then he rescued everyone else and called the Massive."
"Zim can swim?"
"Yes, he's used to the water even though he still feels the same pain when he first touched it. When we found him he looked like he was dying so we put him in the emergency room. So, as you may know, he's in no condition to do anything for about three weeks. Now get some sleep, tomorrow's a big day." Cam nodded and fell back on the bed, glad to be among her kind once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~