A/N: Now, for apologies. I apologize to Havana for misspelling her name, which is 'Havana Nguyen'. I also apologize to Katie for misspelling her name, which is 'Katie', and not 'Kate'. DAMN YOU WEBSTER
Now to say thanks to folkies :o Uh, thank you C, for beta-ing mah fic...ja!
Disclaimer: All Invader ZIM characters are © to Jhonen Vasquez. Cat and Strawberry are © to me. Could I really say that? O.o Uh...
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Spooky, Doom, Spooky!
Ch. 5- Really Spooky Things Happen in This Chapter
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It was a new morning. The roof had been rebuilt, and the house was back in order...or in as much order as Zim's house could be in. Zim had his computer working all morning trying to figure out why Cat's crystal had constantly murmur Dib's name, resulting with Zim being chucked into a nearby dumpster. Gir had made Strawberry's suit that morning with Zim's disguise device on the back of his voot-runner. She was a miniature lion with dark brown paws and a long tail that she kept on flicking on Zim's face.
Zim trudged back into his house, covered with filth. Gir just stared at him while smacking large a large powder-sponge on his face.
"HIEE!!" he screamed. "I'm a pretty lady!" Zim just groaned. A long tube came out of his I.D. pak suctioned up all of the mess before Gir jumped on his leg.
"Computer, send transmission to the Tallests!"
The computer groaned. A lot of groaning seemed to be going on. Still being pissed about the past incident, it ignored Zim's request.
"COMPUTER!" Zim yelled, "send the transmission NOW."
"Okay BITCH, hold on!!!" Zim wrinkled his forehead. The monkey portrait over the Sofa lifted to reveal a large static screen.
"Please hold on as our operators try to connect you to the communication network," the computer said in a high voice. Zim tapped his foot impatiently while listening to the waiting music ("Livin' Lavida Loca" instrumental). Cat walking in with a Suck Monkey and looked up at the screen.
"What's going on?"
"Zim's being a BITCH," the computer commented.
Zim ignored the computer's remark, and looked over at Cat.
"What are you doing?"
Cat blinked. "Slurping a--"
"No," he said, "why are you walking around like you own the place or something?! You can't go walking my house doing nothing but drinking a Brainfreezie!"
Cat glared. "It's a SUCK MONKEY."
"Don't listen to him honey, he's just a sadistic bastard whose never had a girlfriend."
Zim's eyes widened. "WHAT?!?"
The screen changed to a scene of Red and Purple eating large coconut moose-balls. Red diverted his attention from his magazine, and looked up at Zim.
"Zim, this isn't a good time to--"
"I just called in to ask you about something!"
Purple's amethyst eyes rolled as he took another bite out of the coconut ball. Red tapped the side of his seat with his free hand, awaiting Zim to respond.
"Oh! Did you send this PACKAGE overnight?" Zim held up a long parcel wrapped in light brown paper, 'IRKEN MAIL EXPRESS' stamped on it in large, black print. Purple choked on the ball in surprise while his eyes began to water. Red looked fairly shocked, and set down his moose ball.
"Errm...yes! We sent you that over...night...," Purple trailed off. He snapped his head toward a confused Red.
"Oh! Good!" Zim dug his claws into the paper, attempting to rip it off. After a couple of minutes of sorting through hundreds of sheets of brown paper, Zim grabbed the item and held it up in victory.
"YES! Zim will RULE with this--"
"Irken Subway 2-footer. Yeah, IT'S THAT GOOD," Purple squeaked.
"But," Zim asked, "what can I do with a--"
"It's--so...DELICIOUS! It can make any Irken...uh, Invader, become at least four or five times stronger...than before!"
"Yeah!" Red added, "but only one was made--and that one's for YOU."
Although Zim wouldn't become stronger, his chest did swell four or five times larger than it had been, and the Tallest just grinned.
"Urm, we have to go now, Zim! Have to make new weapons for you and such!" The screen turned black, and was covered with the large portrait of the green monkey. Cat hesitantly bit on straw of the Suck Monkey, resisting the urge to laugh at his incompetence and ignorance, but considered the factors. Zim would naturally be offended, and would naturally kick her out.
"Cat, why is it that more people can't recognize my greatness?"
Cheezus Rice, this guy went on. "Maybe you're just stupid."
"Huh?"
"I said, 'Maybe they're just stupid.'"
Zim nodded in agreement. Cat scratched the scales on the back of her neck and growled.
"Urrm...I'm going down to the lab! I'll be back up before Sunday, so don't worry about me dying or anything!" Zim jumped into the kitchen trashcan along with Gir.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever...," Cat mumbled. S.B. peeked out from behind the couch, rattling.
"Gir almost ate me!" she cried, and flung herself onto Cat's leg. "Along with that small MOOSE....Is it almost that time?"
"Time for--wait, what moose?"
"The change!"
Cat's eyes widened. She ran over to the trashcan and looked down, worrying.
"I'll have to do something."
Strawberry looked at her master take out a small container out of her pak, and pull the top off. Thick yellow smoke bellowed out as she held it above the top of the trashcan. Little did Zim know that he wouldn't wake up for a long while...
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Zim woke up the next morning with a headache that could be equal to a morning hangover. He had woken up in a puddle of his own drool, with Gir staring down at him in much interest. Zim's baggy eyelids slowly opened, and began to look around.
"GIR! What happened?!?"
Gir only grinned and pointed up. Zim wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve and stretched. Minimoose alighted on the back of his head, and squeaked loudly. Zim yawned and began to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he walked across the lab.
"Computer...," he mumbled, "what happened last night?"
The computer squeaked, yet didn't answer. Zim frowned, and went into a tube onto a platform that sent him zooming up to the top floor of the house. He managed to notist large parts of the ground that seemed to be tunneled out. Zim looked around suspiciously before zooming out of the kitchen toilet.
"Computer, remember to never fill the disguised transporter in water."
Zim pushed himself off of the floor, and slowly walked into the living room.
"I can't believe--"
Zim felt his feet meet with air, and found himself looking down a deep, deep hole. He felt the rush of air, and echoing sound of his yell as he went spiraling down the long tunnel. Two antennas slapped him in the face as he struggled to reach his pak. Being touch-sensitive, the three pink holes opened, and ejected six long arachnid legs. The legs stretched across the width of the hole, and scraped against the surface. Sparks flew, and the legs snapped off in a flash. Zim frowned, and began to eye the oncoming ground. Head first, he smashed into the floor with a loud crash. Gir yelled at the sound, and eyed his master's body rolling on the floor.
Gir skipped across the room and pressed a small button the side of the wall. Hundreds of thin wires glided down from the ceiling gracefully, and inserted themselves into Zim's writhing body. Gir still had a large grin on his face, and waved at Zim, who was unconscious.
The wires stayed in Zim's pak for a few hours, slowly bringing him back to life. In mid-afternoon, Zim awoke with a horrible headache, and a great pain in his left leg.
"Gir...Gi-i-i-r...," he managed to say. He opened his crimson eyes, which rolled around in its sockets.
Minimoose, who had been watching the whole event, floated across the room to Zim, holding a small sheet of paper.
"*SQUEAK*"
Zim stood up, and dusted himself off. The wires went limp, and zoomed back into the ceiling.
"What was THAT?"
Minimoose dropped the sheet in front of Zim, who quickly picked it up. On it was a large picture of Dib's head, which took up the sheet.
"I KNEW IT!" he yelled, and stomped a foot onto the floor, "I *KNEW* she would lead me to a close end!"
Gir cocked his head. "She gonna kill you with Dib's head?! NO!"
Zim blinked, and looked at the picture again. What did it mean? Did Dib have anything to do with what was going on? He leaned down to Gir's height, and stared into his indigo, blank eyes.
"What did you see?"
Gir leaned back, as if he were an old man trying to recollect memories from long ago in the past.
"I was hidin'! There was a lot of noise, then the kitty had pinkie stuff come down! You died, and started to drool over the piggy," he said, and pointed to a small piggy covered in drool.
Zim's eyes widened. "TRAITOR! Next time, GIR, I'm NEVER letting anyone, even Irkens, stay at my base EVER AGAIN!"
Gir nodded, but his smile quickly turned into a frown. "And the kitty is gone."
Zim blinked. "Kitty? Strawberry?"
Gir shrugged. Zim tucked to note into a pocket, and stroke a pose.
"I'm going to go to DIB'S HOUSE! You stay here, and make sure no hobos come in."
Gir nodded as his eyes crossed.
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The Membrane home was filled with loud noise, gore, and blood. Plenty of blood. In the living room, Gaz was playing 'Warlords of the Universe', a game based on dominating planets. Gaz was playing the game on the Gameslave 3K on the big screen TV, where she could have it as real and loud as ever. At the moment, she was slaying Kork, ruler of planet Leech. She plunged her scythe deep into his abdomen, and idmediantly began her mission to dominating the planet.
Dib sat next to her with large yellow earplugs in his ears, paying attention to his monthly magazine 'Paranormal Extreme'. Outside, a person rung at the doorbell, before pounding madly. It took five minutes before it was noticed, when Dib diverted his attention from a centerfold of this years 'Ms. Clairvoyant', who was oddly dressed in only a turban and sash.
Dib swung the door open in slight rage--only to be greeted by Zim. He pushed Dib out of the way, and instantly covered his head at the booming sound.
The television set went quiet as Gaz held up Kork's arms in victory of taking over all of the planets in the galaxy. She quickly turned off the game, returned the screen to the normal cable station, and ran off with her Gameslave 2, muttering, "Get the next galaxy later..."
Dib turned down the volume, and glared at Zim. "What do *you* want? I was kinda in the middle of an important article in my magazine!
Zim dug into his pockets for the picture, and handed it to Dib. His faces turned quizzical as he looked at the picture of him eating a pie.
"Where'd you get this from?"
Zim shrugged. "I just woke up feeling like I was in a hangover, and a hundred-foot hole in my--WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS? I only need you to...help me with Cat's disappearance."
Dib stared into Zim's face in disbelief. "Why should I HELP you? And why should I care about your freaking red-heading assistant?"
Zim moaned and shook his fists. "If I figure out what's going on, I'll give you that necklace you wanted."
Dib's eyes widened. "How do I know if you're not lying?"
Zim rose his head. "Did you hear that?"
Dib's eyes went narrow. Zim stepped forward with his eyes darting across the room. A loud scream filled the room, and Dib turned around.
The two instantly went running downstairs to where the sound had come from. Dib ignored Zim's angry curses, and bound down the long flight of stairs.
"Heydadwe'regoingtogocheckoutsomealienstuffsokaybye!!!"
Dib was nothing but a blur when the Professor yelled back, "That's great little boy!", and commenced his experiments. The two had now ran into the deep bowels of the basement, a place where Dib had never been before. Zim had followed Dib around ever corner, and down ever step, afraid of stepping onto a trapdoor, or wandering into a dark spot. Dib's alertness had worn away; he had begun to slow down. Zim's eyes darted in confusion.
"Well, what happened to it?" he asked, poking Dib in the back. Dib stood still for a few moments, and begun to look around at the surroundings.
"I can't believe you led me all the way down here for nothing!"
Dib ignored Zim's complaints, and tried to pay attention to the room they were in. In was nearly pitch-dark, with only the light flooding into the room from the open door they had came through. Zim ranted on and on about never listening to humans ever again when a loud clank echoed off the walls.
"Zim!" Dib whispered, "did you hear that?"
The two moved closer. Paranoia filled the air, not seeing the door slowly close.
"ZIM, GET THE DOOR!"
"Nah, I don't feel like--HEY!" Zim jumped back and let his arm fly forward to block the door from closing. The room filled with a dim yellow light.
"ZIM!"
Zim's eyes went wide. Hundreds of yards away was a small S.I.R. unit tied in ropes, sitting in front a stack of dusty boxes. Strawberry's scarlet eyes were filled with all the fear a robot could have. Zim removed his arm from the door, and ran toward the S.I.R.'s flailing body. Dib stood frozen, and watched Zim run and begin to untie the ropes.
"Come over here and HELP me!"
Dib shook his head out of the trance, and immediately began to help Zim.
"Zim, it was crazy shizzy! The master turned into the dragon, and then--!"
"WAIT!" Zim cried, "Shizzy? Dragon? What are you talking about?"
Dib frowned. "Okay, please tell us what's going on later. We need to get out of--"
Strawberry's eyes widened. "Dib--"
"No, I'm serious!" he said, "we need to get out of here. If there's any place that's not safe, it certainly can't be in--"
Dib blinked. Was is starting to get hot? His scythe began to bend down onto his face. He peered over his shoulder.
"Hi."
Two long fingers prodded themselves into both Zim and Dib's backs, and hooked themselves underneath their clothing. The two were brought into the air, high above Strawberry. Dib didn't dare turn his head around to see what had grabbed him, while Zim was the complete opposite. He crooked his neck around to glare at what creature had lifted them.
"YOU!!! What *are* you?"
The alien blinked in confusion. Dib was staring at him in fear, while Zim kept on trying to interrogate him. Unfortunately, the creature didn't know a bit of the English language, so for all he knew, Zim was explaining the function of a rubber ducky. A thick type of leather armor surrounded it's large body from head to it's large claw-like feet. A long tail swung behind it, a long, thin spike at the tip. Another spike was on it back, curved forward.
"What is an Irken like you doing in a place like thi-i--s?" it asked.
"What are YOU doing here?" Zim demanded, this time in Irken. The alien was still confused and began to scratch itself.
"Urrm...why are you in my basement?"
A basic question! Zim rolled his eyes at Dib. "Why are you here?"
The alien dropped the two from the air, and rummaged in on of his pockets.
"Urrm..."
Zim rubbed his tush while Dib picked up Strawberry. The alien pulled out large pieces of lint, a lottery ticket, and even a couple of receipts. Zim leaned onto a box, waiting for the creature to finish finding what he was looking for.
"Urrm-a-a-a...," it scratched its head. "OH YESS-!" he said happily, "I'm suppose-id to kill you, and take the Jenjeki crystal. So...hand eet over."
Zim looked up. "The what?"
Dib's eyes brightened. "My crystal! Why do you want it?"
The alien scratched his head. "I don't have a clue what you said little human, but I'm going to have to kill you, too. I can't have any witnesses. Sorry."
Zim began to look around. "Urrm, can't we give you something else besides the crystal?"
The creature blinked. "A sandwich would be nice. But I can't trade in the crystal for a sandwich."
Zim smiled evilly. "Yes you can!" He reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out the 2-foot-sub from before. The alien cocked it's head, and snatched the sandwich away vigorously.
"Wow...Tha-a-anks," he said slowly. Zim watched it stuff the sandwich down its throat in slight disgust, but gave a thumbs-up sign.
"Hmm. Not bad."
Zim stared at the alien and began to motion Dib to the door.
"Hey, wait a sec--"
The alien keeled over. Dib took this chance to open the door for a quick escape. Dib wasn't fast enough; the alien roared, and thrust his claws into his direction. The door closed, and Dib went flying into a tall wall of empty boxes along with Strawberry. Zim looked up at the alien who was stumbling forward, holding his stomach.
"Sub...BAD...feeling pain in...BELLY!!!"
The room exploded with large organs and slime that splattered on every wall and in every corner. Boxes flew around and fell when the alien's head landed right in front of Zim.
"WOW!" He pulled off a rope of intestine on his head. "The sub must have been too powerful for it to handle, for it was made only for ZIM!!!"
Dib pulled himself up, covered with thick green slime and various organs. A shiver went down his spine as he watched a large liver slide off of his leg.
Zim looked over at Strawberry crawl out from under a pair of pancreas. She walked up to Zim cordially, and handed him a sheet of paper. Dib limped over behind Zim at an attempt to read what was on the paper.
"More notes? What does it--"
"HEY!" Zim hissed, and pushed Dib back. "This is mine, not yours!" Dib's eye's turned into thin slits as Zim read over the paper, occasionally nodding with a "HMM?!".
"Are you done yet? I have to tell you something--"
"YES! ZIM IS DONE!!!" Zim held up the paper in victory once again. "But--I don't get the last part. What did she mean by--"
Strawberry snatched the paper, and sighed. "EVERYTHING HAS TO BE SO DIFFICULT, DOESN'T IT," she barked. "All she said was, "Sorry for the trouble, blah, blah, blah, listen to Strawberry, I really kind of--" She paused. "That's weird."
"What? WHAT?!" Dib demanded. Zim took the note and put it in his pocket.
"What is it that you have to tell us?"
Strawberry cleared her throat. "Okay, you may have noised something weird about Cat, with the scales and all. Well, this strange *thing* happens every month."
"What does that have to do with what's happening now?!" Zim asked, his eye lowering.
"NO. Something different. See, she turns into this kind of beast-thingy. Like a dragon."
Zim and Dib looked lost.
"You're lost, aren't you? Okay, okay. She turns into the dragon, and goes into some sort of mad rampage, and destroys everything for 24 hours. What happened was that she didn't want to destroy your base again, and drugged you so that you wouldn't wake up for a while. She tried to find out a way to stop the transformations for good, but couldn't find out anything. After a while, she tried to figure out what the crystal could do, and kind of blacked out for a few minutes."
Dib slowly stepped forward. "So she's somewhere...rampaging and destroying stuff?"
"Probably."
"That sucks."
Zim looked at the end of the note again oddly, one eye raised.
"So, after she had came back, she told me to tell you to use the crystal to try and figure out how to stop her...," Strawberry looked at Zim, who seemed to be fuming. "...and stuff."
"So she expects ZIM to save her?! Well, I guess that I am the only one who can stop this--"
"Shut-up and hurry already!" Dib said. "I have to take a shower before hearing all of your stupid ranting."
Now to say thanks to folkies :o Uh, thank you C, for beta-ing mah fic...ja!
Disclaimer: All Invader ZIM characters are © to Jhonen Vasquez. Cat and Strawberry are © to me. Could I really say that? O.o Uh...
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Spooky, Doom, Spooky!
Ch. 5- Really Spooky Things Happen in This Chapter
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It was a new morning. The roof had been rebuilt, and the house was back in order...or in as much order as Zim's house could be in. Zim had his computer working all morning trying to figure out why Cat's crystal had constantly murmur Dib's name, resulting with Zim being chucked into a nearby dumpster. Gir had made Strawberry's suit that morning with Zim's disguise device on the back of his voot-runner. She was a miniature lion with dark brown paws and a long tail that she kept on flicking on Zim's face.
Zim trudged back into his house, covered with filth. Gir just stared at him while smacking large a large powder-sponge on his face.
"HIEE!!" he screamed. "I'm a pretty lady!" Zim just groaned. A long tube came out of his I.D. pak suctioned up all of the mess before Gir jumped on his leg.
"Computer, send transmission to the Tallests!"
The computer groaned. A lot of groaning seemed to be going on. Still being pissed about the past incident, it ignored Zim's request.
"COMPUTER!" Zim yelled, "send the transmission NOW."
"Okay BITCH, hold on!!!" Zim wrinkled his forehead. The monkey portrait over the Sofa lifted to reveal a large static screen.
"Please hold on as our operators try to connect you to the communication network," the computer said in a high voice. Zim tapped his foot impatiently while listening to the waiting music ("Livin' Lavida Loca" instrumental). Cat walking in with a Suck Monkey and looked up at the screen.
"What's going on?"
"Zim's being a BITCH," the computer commented.
Zim ignored the computer's remark, and looked over at Cat.
"What are you doing?"
Cat blinked. "Slurping a--"
"No," he said, "why are you walking around like you own the place or something?! You can't go walking my house doing nothing but drinking a Brainfreezie!"
Cat glared. "It's a SUCK MONKEY."
"Don't listen to him honey, he's just a sadistic bastard whose never had a girlfriend."
Zim's eyes widened. "WHAT?!?"
The screen changed to a scene of Red and Purple eating large coconut moose-balls. Red diverted his attention from his magazine, and looked up at Zim.
"Zim, this isn't a good time to--"
"I just called in to ask you about something!"
Purple's amethyst eyes rolled as he took another bite out of the coconut ball. Red tapped the side of his seat with his free hand, awaiting Zim to respond.
"Oh! Did you send this PACKAGE overnight?" Zim held up a long parcel wrapped in light brown paper, 'IRKEN MAIL EXPRESS' stamped on it in large, black print. Purple choked on the ball in surprise while his eyes began to water. Red looked fairly shocked, and set down his moose ball.
"Errm...yes! We sent you that over...night...," Purple trailed off. He snapped his head toward a confused Red.
"Oh! Good!" Zim dug his claws into the paper, attempting to rip it off. After a couple of minutes of sorting through hundreds of sheets of brown paper, Zim grabbed the item and held it up in victory.
"YES! Zim will RULE with this--"
"Irken Subway 2-footer. Yeah, IT'S THAT GOOD," Purple squeaked.
"But," Zim asked, "what can I do with a--"
"It's--so...DELICIOUS! It can make any Irken...uh, Invader, become at least four or five times stronger...than before!"
"Yeah!" Red added, "but only one was made--and that one's for YOU."
Although Zim wouldn't become stronger, his chest did swell four or five times larger than it had been, and the Tallest just grinned.
"Urm, we have to go now, Zim! Have to make new weapons for you and such!" The screen turned black, and was covered with the large portrait of the green monkey. Cat hesitantly bit on straw of the Suck Monkey, resisting the urge to laugh at his incompetence and ignorance, but considered the factors. Zim would naturally be offended, and would naturally kick her out.
"Cat, why is it that more people can't recognize my greatness?"
Cheezus Rice, this guy went on. "Maybe you're just stupid."
"Huh?"
"I said, 'Maybe they're just stupid.'"
Zim nodded in agreement. Cat scratched the scales on the back of her neck and growled.
"Urrm...I'm going down to the lab! I'll be back up before Sunday, so don't worry about me dying or anything!" Zim jumped into the kitchen trashcan along with Gir.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever...," Cat mumbled. S.B. peeked out from behind the couch, rattling.
"Gir almost ate me!" she cried, and flung herself onto Cat's leg. "Along with that small MOOSE....Is it almost that time?"
"Time for--wait, what moose?"
"The change!"
Cat's eyes widened. She ran over to the trashcan and looked down, worrying.
"I'll have to do something."
Strawberry looked at her master take out a small container out of her pak, and pull the top off. Thick yellow smoke bellowed out as she held it above the top of the trashcan. Little did Zim know that he wouldn't wake up for a long while...
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Zim woke up the next morning with a headache that could be equal to a morning hangover. He had woken up in a puddle of his own drool, with Gir staring down at him in much interest. Zim's baggy eyelids slowly opened, and began to look around.
"GIR! What happened?!?"
Gir only grinned and pointed up. Zim wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve and stretched. Minimoose alighted on the back of his head, and squeaked loudly. Zim yawned and began to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he walked across the lab.
"Computer...," he mumbled, "what happened last night?"
The computer squeaked, yet didn't answer. Zim frowned, and went into a tube onto a platform that sent him zooming up to the top floor of the house. He managed to notist large parts of the ground that seemed to be tunneled out. Zim looked around suspiciously before zooming out of the kitchen toilet.
"Computer, remember to never fill the disguised transporter in water."
Zim pushed himself off of the floor, and slowly walked into the living room.
"I can't believe--"
Zim felt his feet meet with air, and found himself looking down a deep, deep hole. He felt the rush of air, and echoing sound of his yell as he went spiraling down the long tunnel. Two antennas slapped him in the face as he struggled to reach his pak. Being touch-sensitive, the three pink holes opened, and ejected six long arachnid legs. The legs stretched across the width of the hole, and scraped against the surface. Sparks flew, and the legs snapped off in a flash. Zim frowned, and began to eye the oncoming ground. Head first, he smashed into the floor with a loud crash. Gir yelled at the sound, and eyed his master's body rolling on the floor.
Gir skipped across the room and pressed a small button the side of the wall. Hundreds of thin wires glided down from the ceiling gracefully, and inserted themselves into Zim's writhing body. Gir still had a large grin on his face, and waved at Zim, who was unconscious.
The wires stayed in Zim's pak for a few hours, slowly bringing him back to life. In mid-afternoon, Zim awoke with a horrible headache, and a great pain in his left leg.
"Gir...Gi-i-i-r...," he managed to say. He opened his crimson eyes, which rolled around in its sockets.
Minimoose, who had been watching the whole event, floated across the room to Zim, holding a small sheet of paper.
"*SQUEAK*"
Zim stood up, and dusted himself off. The wires went limp, and zoomed back into the ceiling.
"What was THAT?"
Minimoose dropped the sheet in front of Zim, who quickly picked it up. On it was a large picture of Dib's head, which took up the sheet.
"I KNEW IT!" he yelled, and stomped a foot onto the floor, "I *KNEW* she would lead me to a close end!"
Gir cocked his head. "She gonna kill you with Dib's head?! NO!"
Zim blinked, and looked at the picture again. What did it mean? Did Dib have anything to do with what was going on? He leaned down to Gir's height, and stared into his indigo, blank eyes.
"What did you see?"
Gir leaned back, as if he were an old man trying to recollect memories from long ago in the past.
"I was hidin'! There was a lot of noise, then the kitty had pinkie stuff come down! You died, and started to drool over the piggy," he said, and pointed to a small piggy covered in drool.
Zim's eyes widened. "TRAITOR! Next time, GIR, I'm NEVER letting anyone, even Irkens, stay at my base EVER AGAIN!"
Gir nodded, but his smile quickly turned into a frown. "And the kitty is gone."
Zim blinked. "Kitty? Strawberry?"
Gir shrugged. Zim tucked to note into a pocket, and stroke a pose.
"I'm going to go to DIB'S HOUSE! You stay here, and make sure no hobos come in."
Gir nodded as his eyes crossed.
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The Membrane home was filled with loud noise, gore, and blood. Plenty of blood. In the living room, Gaz was playing 'Warlords of the Universe', a game based on dominating planets. Gaz was playing the game on the Gameslave 3K on the big screen TV, where she could have it as real and loud as ever. At the moment, she was slaying Kork, ruler of planet Leech. She plunged her scythe deep into his abdomen, and idmediantly began her mission to dominating the planet.
Dib sat next to her with large yellow earplugs in his ears, paying attention to his monthly magazine 'Paranormal Extreme'. Outside, a person rung at the doorbell, before pounding madly. It took five minutes before it was noticed, when Dib diverted his attention from a centerfold of this years 'Ms. Clairvoyant', who was oddly dressed in only a turban and sash.
Dib swung the door open in slight rage--only to be greeted by Zim. He pushed Dib out of the way, and instantly covered his head at the booming sound.
The television set went quiet as Gaz held up Kork's arms in victory of taking over all of the planets in the galaxy. She quickly turned off the game, returned the screen to the normal cable station, and ran off with her Gameslave 2, muttering, "Get the next galaxy later..."
Dib turned down the volume, and glared at Zim. "What do *you* want? I was kinda in the middle of an important article in my magazine!
Zim dug into his pockets for the picture, and handed it to Dib. His faces turned quizzical as he looked at the picture of him eating a pie.
"Where'd you get this from?"
Zim shrugged. "I just woke up feeling like I was in a hangover, and a hundred-foot hole in my--WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS? I only need you to...help me with Cat's disappearance."
Dib stared into Zim's face in disbelief. "Why should I HELP you? And why should I care about your freaking red-heading assistant?"
Zim moaned and shook his fists. "If I figure out what's going on, I'll give you that necklace you wanted."
Dib's eyes widened. "How do I know if you're not lying?"
Zim rose his head. "Did you hear that?"
Dib's eyes went narrow. Zim stepped forward with his eyes darting across the room. A loud scream filled the room, and Dib turned around.
The two instantly went running downstairs to where the sound had come from. Dib ignored Zim's angry curses, and bound down the long flight of stairs.
"Heydadwe'regoingtogocheckoutsomealienstuffsokaybye!!!"
Dib was nothing but a blur when the Professor yelled back, "That's great little boy!", and commenced his experiments. The two had now ran into the deep bowels of the basement, a place where Dib had never been before. Zim had followed Dib around ever corner, and down ever step, afraid of stepping onto a trapdoor, or wandering into a dark spot. Dib's alertness had worn away; he had begun to slow down. Zim's eyes darted in confusion.
"Well, what happened to it?" he asked, poking Dib in the back. Dib stood still for a few moments, and begun to look around at the surroundings.
"I can't believe you led me all the way down here for nothing!"
Dib ignored Zim's complaints, and tried to pay attention to the room they were in. In was nearly pitch-dark, with only the light flooding into the room from the open door they had came through. Zim ranted on and on about never listening to humans ever again when a loud clank echoed off the walls.
"Zim!" Dib whispered, "did you hear that?"
The two moved closer. Paranoia filled the air, not seeing the door slowly close.
"ZIM, GET THE DOOR!"
"Nah, I don't feel like--HEY!" Zim jumped back and let his arm fly forward to block the door from closing. The room filled with a dim yellow light.
"ZIM!"
Zim's eyes went wide. Hundreds of yards away was a small S.I.R. unit tied in ropes, sitting in front a stack of dusty boxes. Strawberry's scarlet eyes were filled with all the fear a robot could have. Zim removed his arm from the door, and ran toward the S.I.R.'s flailing body. Dib stood frozen, and watched Zim run and begin to untie the ropes.
"Come over here and HELP me!"
Dib shook his head out of the trance, and immediately began to help Zim.
"Zim, it was crazy shizzy! The master turned into the dragon, and then--!"
"WAIT!" Zim cried, "Shizzy? Dragon? What are you talking about?"
Dib frowned. "Okay, please tell us what's going on later. We need to get out of--"
Strawberry's eyes widened. "Dib--"
"No, I'm serious!" he said, "we need to get out of here. If there's any place that's not safe, it certainly can't be in--"
Dib blinked. Was is starting to get hot? His scythe began to bend down onto his face. He peered over his shoulder.
"Hi."
Two long fingers prodded themselves into both Zim and Dib's backs, and hooked themselves underneath their clothing. The two were brought into the air, high above Strawberry. Dib didn't dare turn his head around to see what had grabbed him, while Zim was the complete opposite. He crooked his neck around to glare at what creature had lifted them.
"YOU!!! What *are* you?"
The alien blinked in confusion. Dib was staring at him in fear, while Zim kept on trying to interrogate him. Unfortunately, the creature didn't know a bit of the English language, so for all he knew, Zim was explaining the function of a rubber ducky. A thick type of leather armor surrounded it's large body from head to it's large claw-like feet. A long tail swung behind it, a long, thin spike at the tip. Another spike was on it back, curved forward.
"What is an Irken like you doing in a place like thi-i--s?" it asked.
"What are YOU doing here?" Zim demanded, this time in Irken. The alien was still confused and began to scratch itself.
"Urrm...why are you in my basement?"
A basic question! Zim rolled his eyes at Dib. "Why are you here?"
The alien dropped the two from the air, and rummaged in on of his pockets.
"Urrm..."
Zim rubbed his tush while Dib picked up Strawberry. The alien pulled out large pieces of lint, a lottery ticket, and even a couple of receipts. Zim leaned onto a box, waiting for the creature to finish finding what he was looking for.
"Urrm-a-a-a...," it scratched its head. "OH YESS-!" he said happily, "I'm suppose-id to kill you, and take the Jenjeki crystal. So...hand eet over."
Zim looked up. "The what?"
Dib's eyes brightened. "My crystal! Why do you want it?"
The alien scratched his head. "I don't have a clue what you said little human, but I'm going to have to kill you, too. I can't have any witnesses. Sorry."
Zim began to look around. "Urrm, can't we give you something else besides the crystal?"
The creature blinked. "A sandwich would be nice. But I can't trade in the crystal for a sandwich."
Zim smiled evilly. "Yes you can!" He reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out the 2-foot-sub from before. The alien cocked it's head, and snatched the sandwich away vigorously.
"Wow...Tha-a-anks," he said slowly. Zim watched it stuff the sandwich down its throat in slight disgust, but gave a thumbs-up sign.
"Hmm. Not bad."
Zim stared at the alien and began to motion Dib to the door.
"Hey, wait a sec--"
The alien keeled over. Dib took this chance to open the door for a quick escape. Dib wasn't fast enough; the alien roared, and thrust his claws into his direction. The door closed, and Dib went flying into a tall wall of empty boxes along with Strawberry. Zim looked up at the alien who was stumbling forward, holding his stomach.
"Sub...BAD...feeling pain in...BELLY!!!"
The room exploded with large organs and slime that splattered on every wall and in every corner. Boxes flew around and fell when the alien's head landed right in front of Zim.
"WOW!" He pulled off a rope of intestine on his head. "The sub must have been too powerful for it to handle, for it was made only for ZIM!!!"
Dib pulled himself up, covered with thick green slime and various organs. A shiver went down his spine as he watched a large liver slide off of his leg.
Zim looked over at Strawberry crawl out from under a pair of pancreas. She walked up to Zim cordially, and handed him a sheet of paper. Dib limped over behind Zim at an attempt to read what was on the paper.
"More notes? What does it--"
"HEY!" Zim hissed, and pushed Dib back. "This is mine, not yours!" Dib's eye's turned into thin slits as Zim read over the paper, occasionally nodding with a "HMM?!".
"Are you done yet? I have to tell you something--"
"YES! ZIM IS DONE!!!" Zim held up the paper in victory once again. "But--I don't get the last part. What did she mean by--"
Strawberry snatched the paper, and sighed. "EVERYTHING HAS TO BE SO DIFFICULT, DOESN'T IT," she barked. "All she said was, "Sorry for the trouble, blah, blah, blah, listen to Strawberry, I really kind of--" She paused. "That's weird."
"What? WHAT?!" Dib demanded. Zim took the note and put it in his pocket.
"What is it that you have to tell us?"
Strawberry cleared her throat. "Okay, you may have noised something weird about Cat, with the scales and all. Well, this strange *thing* happens every month."
"What does that have to do with what's happening now?!" Zim asked, his eye lowering.
"NO. Something different. See, she turns into this kind of beast-thingy. Like a dragon."
Zim and Dib looked lost.
"You're lost, aren't you? Okay, okay. She turns into the dragon, and goes into some sort of mad rampage, and destroys everything for 24 hours. What happened was that she didn't want to destroy your base again, and drugged you so that you wouldn't wake up for a while. She tried to find out a way to stop the transformations for good, but couldn't find out anything. After a while, she tried to figure out what the crystal could do, and kind of blacked out for a few minutes."
Dib slowly stepped forward. "So she's somewhere...rampaging and destroying stuff?"
"Probably."
"That sucks."
Zim looked at the end of the note again oddly, one eye raised.
"So, after she had came back, she told me to tell you to use the crystal to try and figure out how to stop her...," Strawberry looked at Zim, who seemed to be fuming. "...and stuff."
"So she expects ZIM to save her?! Well, I guess that I am the only one who can stop this--"
"Shut-up and hurry already!" Dib said. "I have to take a shower before hearing all of your stupid ranting."