Part Three
IDOIZJK.
"I can't believe I actually let them get away!! There I was, about to make the most important speech in my life, and that stoopid little psycho-bot blows up the cage!! I am so--OWW!! What the heck was that for?!" Dib clutched his large head. "Gaz!" he whined, "Don't do that!" He scowled at his frightening sister.
She heaved a sigh and actually turned off her GameSlave II. Dib swallowed hard and scooted a few inches away from her. Gaz leaned towards Dib, taking care to casually pop her knuckles against the cushions.
"Listen," she began. "Listen carefully. You are driving me crazy. Very much so. You need to stop."
"But they got away!! Two aliens in my grasp!!"
Gaz sat back and turned on her GameSlave II again. "Dib, I think Bigfoot is drinking milk out of the carton in the kitchen."
Dib jumped up frantically, completely missing the introduction to Mysterious Mysteries.
"I have to see this! But I need my camera", he said, turning and running up the stairs. Then he changed his mind, and ran back down the stairs, only he tripped on the camera that someone had carelessly placed there and rolled the rest of the way down. "Mild concusion. Better get some medical help!" he screeched loudly. "But he could get away!" Once again, Dib about-faced and ran into a conveniently placed wall. ((Those things tend to pop up in the weirdest places, ya know.))
Gaz watched this interesting dance of pirouettes with a raised eyebrow. She just shook her head and continued with her Vampire Piggy Hunter quest.
From the kitchen an indignant cry could be heard. "There's no Bigfoot in here! And we're OUT of milk!"
"Shut up and come watch your stoopid show!"
Dib gasped and ran into the living room, sliding into the couch in his haste.
"What the--it's Kith!! But--out of disguise!? She's out of her bizarre alien mind!! What's she doing? Maybe she's giving herself up!"
Gaz growled softly and slid off the couch. She opened a window, ignoring Dib's excited ranting, and threw a brick on the roof. "Dib! Did you hear that? There's an alien on the roof!!"
Dib popped up from behind the couch. "Really?" He ran outside. A moment later a ladder could be seen getting propped up against the side of the house.
On the TV, the host to M.M. was interviewing Kith, asking her questions about the Irkan Empire.
"Oh, those," she laughed airily. "It would take forever to tell you all the secrets. However," and she leaned into the camera, "If you look deep into my eyes I can transmit them psychically."
Gaz looked up from her game. A sudden, huge blast of purple filled the TV rooms of every house in the broadcast range, and then some. When it died down, Kith was in her normal disguise, and talking about how she had a run- in with a rare species of chupacabra.
Dib ran into the room. "I can't believe I even fell for that one," he said, smacking his head. "Aliens on the roof. She's used that at least a dozen times." As he came upon the sight of a motionless Gaz, Dib stopped in terror. The heebie-jeebies only grew when he saw Kith on TV, back in disguise.
"Gaz? Gaz?"
No answer.
Dib did the only thing he could do. He leaned over his sister and turned off her GameSlave II.
"DIB I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!! I WASN'T READY TO SAVE YET!!"
Dib ran out the door, dodging the empty Poop cans that were being thrown at him.
Halfway down the block he ran straight into someone. Or, kind of did any way. He struck an invisible barrier about a foot in front of the person.
"What the--Kith!?"
The assassin looked down at him from her diminutive height.
"Wh-what brings you out h-here on such a day-uhm--night?" he stammered.
Kith squatted down in front of Dib, until she was eye-to-eye with him.
[A/N: Any sentence with the word 'squatting' sounds very dirty, doesn't it?]
Then she said the last thing in the world he expected.
"I need to talk to you. I...I need your help. It's very important."
Dib struggled to his feet. "You...need my help? With what? What could a lowly human like me do to help a high and mighty Irkan like you?" he finished with a sneer.
Kith pulled him into the side-yard between two houses.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
From across the street, Zim peered out of the windows and growled. "I can't believe it," he murmured. "She has decided to side with Dib--and I thought...." The vision blurred, and for a moment Zim didn't look as terrifying as he wanted to look. He looked hurt, angry, and lost; a sad little boy with a tear in his eye, contemplating the woes of his life.
Abruptly he brushed the tear away, and stood tall...sorta. Proudly he marched to the toilet and jumped in.
"Fine. If she wants to play that way, then so be it. I'm sure the Tallest will reward me greatly for turning in a traitor to the Empire."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Dib, I have to explain everything before this gets too out of hand."
She pulled off her coat and tossed it on the ground. "I'm not really sentenced to life with Zim. I ran away--partly because I wanted to get away from Red, and partly because of this." She closed her eyes and disabled her holo-chip. Suddenly Dib was faced with Kith in her true form, as an Irkan; but that didn't last long. Her outline wavered, stretched and elongated, until no longer did a small Invader stand before him. Now what stood hesitantly in front of Dib was a fifteen-foot long black dragon.
He stifled a scream.
Finally, he really couldn't breathe through his hand anymore, so Dib carefully averted his eyes and took a deep breath. When he looked back at Kith, she had changed back into an Irkan, and was sliding her coat on.
"Wha-what was that-um-thing?" he asked, stammering nervously.
Kith sat down against the side of the house before answering. "Some humans have mutations, genetic differences that are harmful or cause premature death. I was hatched with something like that, a condition that would have killed me before I could even claim my Invader status. Red put all the scientists to find a cure for what I have, but all of the 'cures' had unpleasant drawbacks. Being the small, naive child that I was, I didn't have any say in the matter of which one was used. Red chose the one that would have only the smallest side effect, and for a while it seemed to work. One time, I was away from the Massive for a while on a mission, and the condition seemed to mutate further, becoming something new." She paused for breath. Dib sat unmoving in the grass next to her.
"When I returned to the Massive, I was required to undergo a short series of tests; fortunately, they didn't detect the new effects of the gene and treatment combined. I was sitting in my quarters on the Massive later that day, and I realized I was thinking of...someone...and how they would never see me as anything, and suddenly my antenna were brushing the ceiling. I had changed into something new; an Irkan nearly three and a half feet taller than I originally was. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I went to a club that night, and while I was walking back through the Massive to my quarters, I actually ran into the Tallest Purple." She growled and smacked herself on the forehead. "That was the worst thing I ever could have done. No, I wasn't punished," Kith continued, seeing Dib's wince, "At least not by normal standards. No. He wanted to take me out to dinner."
"Did he know that you were so--um--"
Kith laughed, an emotionless sound. "Short? No. And that's the problem. I could be...I don't really want to think on it...if he finds out I'm only an Invader because of how well I can kill things. I came to Earth because I knew Zim had been sent here; therefore, I knew the Armada would never come."
Dib leapt up. "I knew it! I sooo knew it!"
Kith hushed him. "You really have to pity Zim. He wants only to please his Tallest, but they've made a laughing stock out of him. He has a pile of garbage for a SIR, and still, despite all they throw at him, and despite your resistance, he still is determined to conquer the Earth and present it to his Almighty Tallest."
Dib fell silent, digesting this new information. He really had been nasty to Zim, although on first impression the alien was pretty nasty himself. A thought struck him.
"Then why did you and Zim want to make my life miserable? Showing up on Mysterious Mysteries, and all that junk?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
She stared right back at him, incredulous.
"What did we do to you? You shot water at us in Skool, you eavesdropped shamelessly on our private conversations, you SPIT on me, you de-masked us in front of 6.3 million viewers, you put us in a cage like animals, for the sake of the Tallest, you were going to dissect us! You wanted to cut us open and poke at our spooches while we screamed in humiliation and pain! And what did we do to you, Dib?" she finished coldly.
He fidgeted under her accusatory gaze. "You were...um...going to take over...take over the world...weren't you?"
Once again Kith laughed that humorless laugh. "Yes, well, I'll have you know that despite all his bravado, Zim does the worst damage to things when he's trying to help. Seeing as how her probably doesn't want to help your planet much, I think you're pretty safe. Your bestial hunger to see us die was in vain. But, I need your help, so I'm willing to put aside your past grievances. Or," and her purple eyes flashed dangerously, "You could end up in a far worse situation."
Suddenly Dib's mind was filled with the image of a million nightmares swarming toward him, filling him with a choking pain with their mere presence. He shook his head, fighting to eliminate the vision. "Your not related to Tak, are you?" he said hesitantly. "I mean, with the mind games and stuff."
Kith grinned. "No, I merely trained with her. I also have psyonic powers...although my mind wipes are far superior to hers." She smiled evilly.
Dib felt a wave of shock go through him. The memory of Gaz sitting motionless and unresponsive on the couch flashed through him.
"You--you didn't--"
"I did and I would again. You know damn well that if I hadn't, we'd be guests in the government headquarters in less than a day."
"NOOO!!! WHY?! You don't get it!! I needed them to know! Why would you do something as evil as a mind-wipe on everyone who believed me?!"
Kith's eyes closed in a silent defeat. "I can see you're never gonna help. Perhaps I SHOULD call the Armada, and have them demolish this sorry little stink-bag of a planet." She stood up and began to walk away.
For a moment, Dib just watched her go. Suddenly she just flickered out of view, replaced by the hologram of the human.
Dib shook his head and walked home thoughtfully.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kith walked up the walkway to her house. Disconsolately she pushed open the door, ignoring her parent decoy. Slowly she trudged to her base elevator, disguised as a linen closet.
As she descended to her base, Kith mentally attacked herself for confiding in Dib.
"What was I thinking?! Confiding in that...that SMEET as if her could possibly understand!" she raged. She started to sniffle as she entered her darkened laboratory. The computer screen cast a dim red glow over everything.
A low noise from behind her startled Kith out of her rants.
"What--Zim? What are you doing here?"
He stood up and strode over to her. "I would ask the same of you. Or are you finally done revealing our secrets to the Dib-human?"
Kith struggled for air. "You were listening?"
Zim scowled. "Of course not. I am above that stuff. No, I just saw you pull him into that alley--and then I saw him walk away unscathed. Think of the mission!" His voice grew harsh. "I will not allow your banishment on this dirtball to interfere with MY orders. I must conquer this planet, present it to my Tallest! And here you are telling all the secrets of my base! Traitors must be punished."
"Ha! Perhaps it would have been better if you had listened to the conversation I had with the human! The Tallest will not allow any harm to come to me!" retorted Kith angrily.
Zim's eyes narrowed. "And why is that, hmm? You know that they would enjoy nothing more than to see another 'shortie' fly out the airlock, Kith. Poof!" He pantomimed something exploding with his hands.
Kith went minty. "Uh...you know, nothing much...every Invader is important......"
"Perhaps we should call them, would that agree with you?"
*********************************************
What a strange story this is turning out to be..
MiKi: Whooohoooooheeeheeehee! Hey, whoa, getting into some angst! Cool! Isn't it great to see little aliens suffer? Of course not, you fools! If you agreed with me on that punish yourself by banning yourself from my fics forever and henceforth. After you recommend them to five of your friends, of course. I have absolutely no idea where this whole Irkan-into-a-dragon thing is going...so I guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out! *malicious laughter is heard*
IDOIZJK.
"I can't believe I actually let them get away!! There I was, about to make the most important speech in my life, and that stoopid little psycho-bot blows up the cage!! I am so--OWW!! What the heck was that for?!" Dib clutched his large head. "Gaz!" he whined, "Don't do that!" He scowled at his frightening sister.
She heaved a sigh and actually turned off her GameSlave II. Dib swallowed hard and scooted a few inches away from her. Gaz leaned towards Dib, taking care to casually pop her knuckles against the cushions.
"Listen," she began. "Listen carefully. You are driving me crazy. Very much so. You need to stop."
"But they got away!! Two aliens in my grasp!!"
Gaz sat back and turned on her GameSlave II again. "Dib, I think Bigfoot is drinking milk out of the carton in the kitchen."
Dib jumped up frantically, completely missing the introduction to Mysterious Mysteries.
"I have to see this! But I need my camera", he said, turning and running up the stairs. Then he changed his mind, and ran back down the stairs, only he tripped on the camera that someone had carelessly placed there and rolled the rest of the way down. "Mild concusion. Better get some medical help!" he screeched loudly. "But he could get away!" Once again, Dib about-faced and ran into a conveniently placed wall. ((Those things tend to pop up in the weirdest places, ya know.))
Gaz watched this interesting dance of pirouettes with a raised eyebrow. She just shook her head and continued with her Vampire Piggy Hunter quest.
From the kitchen an indignant cry could be heard. "There's no Bigfoot in here! And we're OUT of milk!"
"Shut up and come watch your stoopid show!"
Dib gasped and ran into the living room, sliding into the couch in his haste.
"What the--it's Kith!! But--out of disguise!? She's out of her bizarre alien mind!! What's she doing? Maybe she's giving herself up!"
Gaz growled softly and slid off the couch. She opened a window, ignoring Dib's excited ranting, and threw a brick on the roof. "Dib! Did you hear that? There's an alien on the roof!!"
Dib popped up from behind the couch. "Really?" He ran outside. A moment later a ladder could be seen getting propped up against the side of the house.
On the TV, the host to M.M. was interviewing Kith, asking her questions about the Irkan Empire.
"Oh, those," she laughed airily. "It would take forever to tell you all the secrets. However," and she leaned into the camera, "If you look deep into my eyes I can transmit them psychically."
Gaz looked up from her game. A sudden, huge blast of purple filled the TV rooms of every house in the broadcast range, and then some. When it died down, Kith was in her normal disguise, and talking about how she had a run- in with a rare species of chupacabra.
Dib ran into the room. "I can't believe I even fell for that one," he said, smacking his head. "Aliens on the roof. She's used that at least a dozen times." As he came upon the sight of a motionless Gaz, Dib stopped in terror. The heebie-jeebies only grew when he saw Kith on TV, back in disguise.
"Gaz? Gaz?"
No answer.
Dib did the only thing he could do. He leaned over his sister and turned off her GameSlave II.
"DIB I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!! I WASN'T READY TO SAVE YET!!"
Dib ran out the door, dodging the empty Poop cans that were being thrown at him.
Halfway down the block he ran straight into someone. Or, kind of did any way. He struck an invisible barrier about a foot in front of the person.
"What the--Kith!?"
The assassin looked down at him from her diminutive height.
"Wh-what brings you out h-here on such a day-uhm--night?" he stammered.
Kith squatted down in front of Dib, until she was eye-to-eye with him.
[A/N: Any sentence with the word 'squatting' sounds very dirty, doesn't it?]
Then she said the last thing in the world he expected.
"I need to talk to you. I...I need your help. It's very important."
Dib struggled to his feet. "You...need my help? With what? What could a lowly human like me do to help a high and mighty Irkan like you?" he finished with a sneer.
Kith pulled him into the side-yard between two houses.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
From across the street, Zim peered out of the windows and growled. "I can't believe it," he murmured. "She has decided to side with Dib--and I thought...." The vision blurred, and for a moment Zim didn't look as terrifying as he wanted to look. He looked hurt, angry, and lost; a sad little boy with a tear in his eye, contemplating the woes of his life.
Abruptly he brushed the tear away, and stood tall...sorta. Proudly he marched to the toilet and jumped in.
"Fine. If she wants to play that way, then so be it. I'm sure the Tallest will reward me greatly for turning in a traitor to the Empire."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Dib, I have to explain everything before this gets too out of hand."
She pulled off her coat and tossed it on the ground. "I'm not really sentenced to life with Zim. I ran away--partly because I wanted to get away from Red, and partly because of this." She closed her eyes and disabled her holo-chip. Suddenly Dib was faced with Kith in her true form, as an Irkan; but that didn't last long. Her outline wavered, stretched and elongated, until no longer did a small Invader stand before him. Now what stood hesitantly in front of Dib was a fifteen-foot long black dragon.
He stifled a scream.
Finally, he really couldn't breathe through his hand anymore, so Dib carefully averted his eyes and took a deep breath. When he looked back at Kith, she had changed back into an Irkan, and was sliding her coat on.
"Wha-what was that-um-thing?" he asked, stammering nervously.
Kith sat down against the side of the house before answering. "Some humans have mutations, genetic differences that are harmful or cause premature death. I was hatched with something like that, a condition that would have killed me before I could even claim my Invader status. Red put all the scientists to find a cure for what I have, but all of the 'cures' had unpleasant drawbacks. Being the small, naive child that I was, I didn't have any say in the matter of which one was used. Red chose the one that would have only the smallest side effect, and for a while it seemed to work. One time, I was away from the Massive for a while on a mission, and the condition seemed to mutate further, becoming something new." She paused for breath. Dib sat unmoving in the grass next to her.
"When I returned to the Massive, I was required to undergo a short series of tests; fortunately, they didn't detect the new effects of the gene and treatment combined. I was sitting in my quarters on the Massive later that day, and I realized I was thinking of...someone...and how they would never see me as anything, and suddenly my antenna were brushing the ceiling. I had changed into something new; an Irkan nearly three and a half feet taller than I originally was. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I went to a club that night, and while I was walking back through the Massive to my quarters, I actually ran into the Tallest Purple." She growled and smacked herself on the forehead. "That was the worst thing I ever could have done. No, I wasn't punished," Kith continued, seeing Dib's wince, "At least not by normal standards. No. He wanted to take me out to dinner."
"Did he know that you were so--um--"
Kith laughed, an emotionless sound. "Short? No. And that's the problem. I could be...I don't really want to think on it...if he finds out I'm only an Invader because of how well I can kill things. I came to Earth because I knew Zim had been sent here; therefore, I knew the Armada would never come."
Dib leapt up. "I knew it! I sooo knew it!"
Kith hushed him. "You really have to pity Zim. He wants only to please his Tallest, but they've made a laughing stock out of him. He has a pile of garbage for a SIR, and still, despite all they throw at him, and despite your resistance, he still is determined to conquer the Earth and present it to his Almighty Tallest."
Dib fell silent, digesting this new information. He really had been nasty to Zim, although on first impression the alien was pretty nasty himself. A thought struck him.
"Then why did you and Zim want to make my life miserable? Showing up on Mysterious Mysteries, and all that junk?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
She stared right back at him, incredulous.
"What did we do to you? You shot water at us in Skool, you eavesdropped shamelessly on our private conversations, you SPIT on me, you de-masked us in front of 6.3 million viewers, you put us in a cage like animals, for the sake of the Tallest, you were going to dissect us! You wanted to cut us open and poke at our spooches while we screamed in humiliation and pain! And what did we do to you, Dib?" she finished coldly.
He fidgeted under her accusatory gaze. "You were...um...going to take over...take over the world...weren't you?"
Once again Kith laughed that humorless laugh. "Yes, well, I'll have you know that despite all his bravado, Zim does the worst damage to things when he's trying to help. Seeing as how her probably doesn't want to help your planet much, I think you're pretty safe. Your bestial hunger to see us die was in vain. But, I need your help, so I'm willing to put aside your past grievances. Or," and her purple eyes flashed dangerously, "You could end up in a far worse situation."
Suddenly Dib's mind was filled with the image of a million nightmares swarming toward him, filling him with a choking pain with their mere presence. He shook his head, fighting to eliminate the vision. "Your not related to Tak, are you?" he said hesitantly. "I mean, with the mind games and stuff."
Kith grinned. "No, I merely trained with her. I also have psyonic powers...although my mind wipes are far superior to hers." She smiled evilly.
Dib felt a wave of shock go through him. The memory of Gaz sitting motionless and unresponsive on the couch flashed through him.
"You--you didn't--"
"I did and I would again. You know damn well that if I hadn't, we'd be guests in the government headquarters in less than a day."
"NOOO!!! WHY?! You don't get it!! I needed them to know! Why would you do something as evil as a mind-wipe on everyone who believed me?!"
Kith's eyes closed in a silent defeat. "I can see you're never gonna help. Perhaps I SHOULD call the Armada, and have them demolish this sorry little stink-bag of a planet." She stood up and began to walk away.
For a moment, Dib just watched her go. Suddenly she just flickered out of view, replaced by the hologram of the human.
Dib shook his head and walked home thoughtfully.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kith walked up the walkway to her house. Disconsolately she pushed open the door, ignoring her parent decoy. Slowly she trudged to her base elevator, disguised as a linen closet.
As she descended to her base, Kith mentally attacked herself for confiding in Dib.
"What was I thinking?! Confiding in that...that SMEET as if her could possibly understand!" she raged. She started to sniffle as she entered her darkened laboratory. The computer screen cast a dim red glow over everything.
A low noise from behind her startled Kith out of her rants.
"What--Zim? What are you doing here?"
He stood up and strode over to her. "I would ask the same of you. Or are you finally done revealing our secrets to the Dib-human?"
Kith struggled for air. "You were listening?"
Zim scowled. "Of course not. I am above that stuff. No, I just saw you pull him into that alley--and then I saw him walk away unscathed. Think of the mission!" His voice grew harsh. "I will not allow your banishment on this dirtball to interfere with MY orders. I must conquer this planet, present it to my Tallest! And here you are telling all the secrets of my base! Traitors must be punished."
"Ha! Perhaps it would have been better if you had listened to the conversation I had with the human! The Tallest will not allow any harm to come to me!" retorted Kith angrily.
Zim's eyes narrowed. "And why is that, hmm? You know that they would enjoy nothing more than to see another 'shortie' fly out the airlock, Kith. Poof!" He pantomimed something exploding with his hands.
Kith went minty. "Uh...you know, nothing much...every Invader is important......"
"Perhaps we should call them, would that agree with you?"
*********************************************
What a strange story this is turning out to be..
MiKi: Whooohoooooheeeheeehee! Hey, whoa, getting into some angst! Cool! Isn't it great to see little aliens suffer? Of course not, you fools! If you agreed with me on that punish yourself by banning yourself from my fics forever and henceforth. After you recommend them to five of your friends, of course. I have absolutely no idea where this whole Irkan-into-a-dragon thing is going...so I guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out! *malicious laughter is heard*