Arco IX

Zim glanced to the side nervously. He didn't know what this crazy irken had brought him here for, but what she had to say was considerable.

"So, this whole time I was battling the Arco," he said softly.

"Yes, that's right," Qui smiled.

"Maybe that's why I wasn't doing so well in my invasion. So all those times I thought I was being beaten by a child. . ."

"Yes. If the Tallest knew that you, Invader Zim, signal handily kept the Arco at bay, you would be a hero," Qui smiled.

"But the Dib, he helped me. . ."

"No, you helped him save the Earth. How do you know it wasn't some trick, he is said to be clever."

"But, it was Irk that abandoned me first."

"That's because they did not understand Zim, but I do. I want to help you. Together we'll show them, we'll show them all." Zim looked at Qui, feeling the same touch of insanity that he had forgotten over the past months. He remembered the early days of being a ruthless invader ready to destroy an unsuspecting planet. The joy, thrill, and adrenaline that came with it were now begging for him to come back. A sinister grin crept up his face, giving him his old demeanor back.

"So do you want to help, or not?"

Zim nodded, even though the nagging in his head tried to keep him linked to his new loyalty, the Earth. Qui smiled wickedly. Knowing Zim to well was her unaccepted bonus. Now she had gained an ally to her quest. While the two irkens talked, one irken stared at the prison she was confined to.

"This is terrible. I knew we should have waited," Juelia mumbled.

"That's what I said," a voice from the shadows of her cell said.

"Who's in here," she questioned moving to her feet.

"Just me, Lisher," the voice came again as a figure moved out to reveal it's self as an inteligente.

"You're a . . . how did you get here," Juelia asked in shock.

"Easy, this half-brained irken, no offense, takes me from my home and demands to know more about the Arco. I told her to wait," Lisher said quite annoyed.

"To wait on what," Juelia asked trying to gather as much information as she could.

"You're all alike, think the little human boy's some kind of weapon, or leader, or monster, but he's not. He's just something I studied, nothing more. Now this Qui's on some wacko witch hunt."

"What!? You mean Arco. . . I mean Dib's not who we think he is," Juelia stated, shocked that years of learning about a threat that didn't exist, was wasted.

"That's right. I only proclaimed him that for a joke. Had I known that an invader was there I wouldn't have said anything of the sort," Lisher said little guilty.

"So, there's no Arco, how long have you been here?"

"I don't know anymore. I gave up count after two cycles. All I know is that Qui is going to kill that little kid."

"Why did you take him to begin with, now so much is messed up," Juelia shouted.

"I know, I just was going along and happened upon this planet, Earth, so I took two beings for study," Lisher explained.

"Two!"

"Don't worry, nothing was done to the boy's mother either," Lisher said, "Qui is the one who let them go to begin with."

"What?"

"Yes, all true. She must have, however, given my prank as true information. Now she wants the boy back, so she first got me. I had no idea what she was talking about until it was too late. Now she won't listen to me."

"Well, it's too late, Dib's been caught."

"Great." Lisher paused for a while before thinking about how Juelia came into this situation.

"Why are you here, you're an irken?"

"Long story," Juelia breathed.

"Hey, we got time, I'm not going anywhere," Lisher replied walking closer to his new cellmate.

"Yeah, right," she said sadly. While Juelia explained her relation to the situation, Gaz finished explaining the situation to her father.

"So you are telling me he's up there," the professor repeated.

"Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but that's the truth. Jeez, now I'm starting to sound like he does," Gaz scowled. Gir was now resting in the professor's lap, due to the fact, the man wanted to study it closely. Membrane placed the robot down on the bed beside him and stood from it. He walked over to the Vootrunner and placed a gloved hand on it, before lowering his head. Gaz stood in silence, waiting for an answer. She didn't know how he would take the story she just unfurled in front of him, especially since he never believed Dib. However, for some reason, he seemed to be trying to accept the truth, and to Gaz's shock he said: "I didn't think it was true."

"What? You knew about this?" Gaz said walking up next to him.

"No time to explain, lets go get your brother," he said dashing out of the room, and returning before Gaz could even move. With him was a remote, with two large antennas and a large joy stick handle in the middle. The gothic girl was amazed when her father was able to, with the remote, move the vootrunner back out of the wall. Seeing her curiosity, he answered it by telling her the controller used magnetic fields to either attract or repel objects. He lowered the space craft to the ground gently, before motioning for Gaz to follow him. Both walked out of the front door and made their way to the side of the house where the ship sat.

"What are we going to do with it?" Gaz asked.

"To my lab in town," he said quickly as he again moved the vootrunner closer to the garage. Gaz couldn't help but chuckle when the ship hit the garage door, putting a dent in it, which received a less than pleased look from the professor. He didn't care much about the door, but the fact dawn was upon them didn't make the noise all that comfortable.

"Gaz, I need you to go in and get the covers from your bed," he ordered. The girl did so, going back in through the front door. However before she reached the stairs, someone came running in after her through the still open door.

"Gaz something really strange is going on, I mean CRAZY!" the figure shouted in their all too familiar voice.

"Chris!? What are you doing here?" Gaz asked with a mix of shock and annoyance. Before he could answer, Gir came sailing down the stairs wrapped up in Gaz's bed sheets, and screaming. When the boy caught sight of the robot, he nearly fell over.

"What is that thing?!"

"Me first, why are you here," Gaz asked again lifting the fallen sir unit off the floor.

"Well, I don't know really." Gaz gave him a blank expression.

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"It was crazy, alls I know is that your brother's into stuff like this, but I can't remember what happened," he said gasping for air as he kept moving around and trembling.

"Come with me," was the gothic girl's simple command as she ran out of the door holding Gir and her blankets. Chris followed her out to the driveway, where he was shocked, yet again.

"Are you guys, aliens?" he asked, quite scared now.

"No, this is the Vootrunner, it's a long story," Gaz answered referring to the spacecraft that was now mounted on the roof of the car. Membrane hadn't even noticed the newcomer, as he asked for the covers. The scientist quickly covered the ship. Gaz and Chris got inside, while Gir decided to hang onto the Voot.

"Gaz, I need you to tell me everything you can remember," the professor said as he climbed in and started up the vehicle. As they tore out of the driveway and down the street, Red slowly awoke from her sleep.

I am really sorry this time. It's been a month I know since my last update. Man time flys. I will, however, try to get chapter ten up next week. We're getting a new computer, again, because this one is, well, bad. So bear with me on my slow updating.