Apologies immensely for such a lengthy delay. You probably all thought I had either abandoned this project or died, didn't you. Well, I'm not dead yet. And I won't abandon this unless I am dead.

Acknowledgements: Many thanks to my readers and a special thanks to my reviewers. Thank you, DibMagician. I like spooky. Glad you like the little twisty plot thingy. I like keeping suspense. Soon they will get back to earth and the action will pick up. It will be fun. Maran Zelde, thank you! You might very well be onto something there. Time will tell. Hehe! Tash Dragon. I am so glad you are enjoying this. Thank you for your compliment and review. Resisty, one of the best IZ fanfics? Wow you honour me greatly with such a compliment. Thank you! Dib's Kat, welcome. I hope that with further reading any questions you may have had have been answered. If not, just let me know. As for Dib's dream, well, as you'll find in this chapter, it may not have been a dream after all. (Grins evilly.)

Special thanks to xynquor; (..danten envrs..); Xye, your gift is wonderful, a cure for my 'puter woes. It needed some work but after reformatting the hard drive it is working6 splendidly.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Invader Zim. I do this out of admiration for those who do. All thanks go to Jhonen Vasquez for creating the amazing cartoon and the chance to loose our selves in the whimsical world of IZ, if only for a while. (Thank God for DVDs! I can't wait until #3.)

"Yes, yes! It will be Magical!" -Future Dib

Further A/N: To be honest, there is no real excuse for this lack of being here, with the exception of a month where I was working on computer problems. I've also been working on an oil painting and I guess that ate some of my playtime. Okay, a lot of my playtime. But I haven't forgotten this tale and I hope you haven't either. So, without further adieu...

-----

Gir, Yuifa Novekt, somewhere in the building

Time Unknown.

"I'm running! I'm running!" Gir screamed with glee, Zim's command to return to the base and get help long forgotten, lost somewhere within Gir's twisted memory banks almost as quickly as it had been issued. The leprechauns were playing chase and Gir thought that was the greatest. He hadn't had this much fun since they played chase with him at the base shortly before they brought him here.

Gir skidded around the corner, taking it rather quickly, causing the leprechauns who had been closest to him to bypass the hallway he had turned into and forcing them to skid to a halt. Gir could hear the grunts of pain followed by swearing as they ran into each other in a fruitless attempt to turn around and follow him. This only caused more insane laughter. Leprechauns were fun!

-----

Dib, Nazre Triman Skos

Time Unknown

The trip to nazre triman skos was uneventful, if not a little boring. With Dib tight in his grasp, the guard didn't say a word as he quickly strolled down the white corridors. Dib, oddly exhausted yet bursting with curiosity fought duel battles of ripping of the tape and bludgeoning his silent guard with numerous questions and falling asleep. He won the battle of keeping the tape on his mouth, but only because he lost to his exhaustion.

-----

Gir, Yuifa Novekt, somewhere in the building

Time Unknown.

Giggling insanely, Gir glanced behind him. The number of leprechauns chasing him had quickly dwindled down to one, a rather thin, white clad fellow who was quickly falling behind. As Gir turned his head forward again something caught his opticals. It was a door, noticeably like all of the other numerous doors he had passed, but from his insane viewpoint, remarkably different. It was calling to him. Yes, deep within his flimsy electrical workings, it was calling his name. He felt it with every fibreoptic strand in his being. This door was begging to be opened.

Gir slid to a halt, then turned and went to stand before the door in an awe inspired stupor. The leprechaun (scientist), in a sudden panic, did all he could to avoid running into the insane robot, but ended up tripping over him and skidding to a stop little over a metre from the defective SIR.

From his viewpoint on the ground, the scientist watched as the door opened with a small, strangely delicate touch of Gir's hand. With a delighted squeal Gir ran through the door. The scientist smiled. With Gir confined to a room, he was as good as caught. Now all he needed to do was capture the little droid. It should be an easy task, right? With little hesitation the scientist/leprechaun followed Gir into the room, closing the door behind him.

-----

Dib, Nazre Triman Skos

Time Unknown

Dib felt slightly detached as he listened to a conversation between people he couldn't see.

"Gaz and Membrane won't know until it is to late."

Dib knew it was a dream. It felt to unreal to be otherwise. But somehow, he knew that he needed to remember what he was hearing. He knew it was very important that he remembered. It meant life and death if he didn't. He had to remember this dream.

"And even if they did find out before they are faced with their scheduled doom, it would be too late. They would have already injected the ZIM with the control-bots. They won't be able to interfere with our plans unless they kill the ZIM, which they won't. He is far too valuable to the council."

It wasn't just important to him, but to Zim also, and perhaps the universe as well.

"Being the only host to survive housing the CPE proves that. His very existence is an enigma far to great to just throw away. No one knows how he has lived this long or how he can contain the CPE with such success. They won't kill him until they know the answers. No, the only way they could stop us from controlling ZIM is with a V-Gz gyrostabilizer's micro-plasmic engine. It is the only thing capable of disrupting the nano-bot's variance frequencies."

Instinctively he knew that the V-Gz gyrostabilizer was the key, but he didn't even know what that was. He would have to ask someone when he finally woke up.

-----

Gir, Yuifa Novekt, somewhere in the building

Time Unknown.

A small pathway led to a room whose walls were huge monitors. Gir let out a scream of pure delight, running up to one of the monitors.

"I wanna watch the Scary Monkey Show!" He stated, glancing up a monitor wall screen with a look of mixed admiration, awe, and love.

A computerized voice greeted Gir's request with utter confusion. "Scary Monkey Show? Clarify!"

"Aww! You don't know what the Scary Monkey Show is. That's sad." Gir pouted a bit before breaking into a maniac grin. "I'll show you!" He screeched and then began dancing like a monkey. "It's a monkey show! I love monkeys! They stink! They fling dookey! They're cute!"

"Er...I don't think I can fulfill your request." The computerized voice informed him. "It's not in my programming.

Gir pouted again, this time tears filling his eyes. "But I need to watch the Scary Monkey Show. I need it." He stated in a depressed tone. Gir's lower metal lip quivered as an oily tear slid down his grey cheek. "I miss you, scary monkey!" He muttered softly.

Seeing this, the computerized voice let out an oddly sympathetic sigh. "Look. Would it help if I run a visual program for you? It's one of our milder conditioning programs, but your processors might find it stimulating enough to fulfill this glitch...er, need...in your system."

Gir brightened considerably at the prospect of watching something on the giant monitor in front of him. "YAY! TV!"

-----

Dib, Nazre Triman Skos

Time Unknown

Dib woke to someone shining a bright penlight light directly into his left eye, the shadows of a strange, voice only dream, (or was it a nightmare), echoing through his mind. Temporarily blinded by the light and blinking back the sudden onslaught of tears, he raised a hand and pushed the offending light away.

"Hey! Stop that!" He mumbled, before realizing he could actually talk.

He placed his raised hand against his tender lips. The tape was gone. He could talk. He could ask questions. He felt liberated in a...liberating sort of way. With a strange sense of urgency Dib licked his sore lips, preparing to ask about his dream, specifically about the V-Gz gyrostabilizer, but before he could even begin, a small green figure came into view and placed a pair of glasses on his head.

"Zim?" He asked. Answering his own question he realized it wasn't Zim at all, but rather a short, chubby, sloppily clad Irken with red eyes studying him.

The Irken smiled a bubbly smile at him as he answered. "Nope! Not Zim. I know him though. Nice Irken, if not a little hyper. No. I'm Skoodge! WOW! Nice to finally meet you in person, Dib! I heard so much about you. I wasn't sure they'd let me since you're sort of out of my jurisdiction. See, I'm supposed to be monitoring the Irken Empire, but with the deal they made, I get to relax a little. I wanted to see you and Zim so I could welcome you to the known ranks of Neplotn, now that you know what you are. So...um...Welcome!"

With that little welcome speech, the small Irken smiled widely, put his hands behind his back and rocked back on his heals, watched Dib expectantly.

Dib blinked in confusion before offering a feeble greeting. "Eh...Hi?!"

-----

Scientist with Gir, Yuifa Novekt, somewhere in the building

Time Unknown.

The scientist/leprechaun cautiously walked into the room hosting the large monitors, seeing Gir standing in front of a large screen he sighed with relief. The little tin can had given them all quite a chase, but now that would be ending soon. He shivered as he glanced up at the giant monitors. He knew that this was a conditioning room. Inside these walls they brainwashed, er, conditioned, all of the Neplotn needing 'guidance'. In his own experience he knew it was a painful process, but he also knew he was safe in here. The computer running this room would remain dormant unless given specific commands to start a conditioning program. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't been listening to Gir and the computer talking. He had been to busy nervously watching the walls as he made his way towards the tiny SIR. With surprise and more than a little dread he watched as the wall monitors flashed three blinding lights. Somehow, the little menace had started a conditioning program. He was doomed.

-----

Dib, Nazre Triman Skos

Time Unknown

"So, eh, Skoodge, is it?" Dib started.

Skoodge nodded.

"Um..." The urgent questions Dib had planned to ask seemed to all but disappear as he noticed the smell of fresh pizza. His stomach growled loudly, reflecting his newly immerging thoughts of eating.

Skoodge raised an eye ridge at Dib's protesting stomach. "When was the last time they fed you?"

Dib smiled to hide his embarrassment and wrapped his arms around his rumbling stomach. "I don't really know. I had a piece of pizza at Bloaty's, but then things started to happen and now I'm here. It's been at least a day, I think."

Skoodge stepped back looking a bit shocked. "A DAY?!! No wonder your stomach is screeching like a trapped Slaughtering Rat Person. You must be Starving. Come on! The guards and scientists here ordered fresh pizza. They're in the front room. I was suppose to wake you and take you to eat, but..." Skoodge blushed in embarrassment. When it came to food and eating, Skoodge rarely forgot anything. "When I finally got to meet you, I kinda forgot. Sorry!"

Skoodge led the famished Dib quickly into the next room, a bland cream coloured box devoid of windows and wall adornments. Dib noted the camera stationed in the corner and a rather large red door situated directly across from the door he had entered. The room did house a rather large table, which hosted several boxes of various pizzas. Dib's attention was drawn towards the pizzas like a magnet, noting with some amusement that they were all from Bloaty's.

"You eat Bloaty's Pizza here?" he mused aloud.

Skoodge chuckled. "Gaz wouldn't have it any other way. I think they add something to make you addicted to their greasy deliciousness. It's almost better than any Irken snacks I've had. And I've had plenty. I bet if the Tallest knew how good a piece of Bloaty's pizza really is, they would regret giving up Earth. Maybe they would even break their treaty with us to try and get it. Yep! It's that good."

-----

Gir, Yuifa Novekt, somewhere in the building

Time Unknown.

"Sshhh!" Gir hushed, pressing a finger to his mouth. "I can't hear the show."

The screams from the withering leprechaun on the floor were drowning out the words from the conditioning program. It was more than a little distracting. Gir walked up to wiggling lump planning to shush him again when the screaming abruptly stopped. Gir looked down at the unconscious leprechaun with a slightly confused look.

"Too bad you wore yourself out with all that scream'n. You're miss'n the best part." He shook his head then turned towards the glowing monitors. Vivid images flashed across the screen, each accompanied by a word. Had he been anything other than the mystery he was, Gir would have been rendered unconscious with sensory overload. Yet being Gir, he merely pulled some fresh popped popcorn from his thermos-y head, sat back and enjoyed the show.

-----

Dib, Nazre Triman Skos

Time Unknown

Skoodge, the guards and the two scientists watched in amazement as Dib wolfed down his third...no...fourth piece of pizza in so many minutes. It was incredible. Skoodge didn't think that even he could eat pizza so fast, and he was SKOODGE!

Dib glanced up at him and smiled, a small stream of pizza goo dripping down his chin. "I don't think I ever had any pizza as good as this Skoodge. Are you sure it's Bloaty's? I don't remember it being this good." With that said, he stuffed another piece into his mouth.

"Yeah, it's Bloaty's. Um...You might want to slow down though, before you get a stomach-ache." Skoodge warned him solemnly as Dib stuffed yet another piece if pizza in his mouth.

Dib nodded in acknowledgement. He knew he probably shouldn't be eating so fact, but he was so hungry and it tasted so good. The only thing missing was a drink. He could really go for a cold glass of Poop Cola right now. Pausing Dib looked at Skoodge, then one of the nearest scientists. "Not to sound ungrateful or anything but can I have something to wash this down with? Like a soda or something?"

The scientist leaned towards his companion for a brief conversation before looking back towards Dib. "Yes! I believe we can find some liquid for you." With that, the scientist rose and left the room.

Dib paused in his eating long enough to watch the scientist disappear through the red door. He didn't know why he was so hungry. It's not like he never missed a day of eating before. He had missed a day and a half just last month when he was spying on Zim. Sure he had been hungry then, but after two pieces of pizza he was stuffed. Grabbing his seventh piece of pizza he glanced at Skoodge who was watching him with amusement. Self-conscious, Dib set the piece down.

"I guess I should slow down." Dib stated, looking at the table. "I don't know why I'm so hungry. It's like I haven't eaten in a week."

A glass of red liquid was placed in front of Dib. The scientist who had delivered it answered Dib's unasked question. "It is a delayed side effect of a shot we recently gave you while you were unconscious. The shot contains bio-nanobots to assist with repairing your neck trauma after we removed the chip. These nanobots temporarily speed up the metabolism. That is why you are experiencing this insatiable hunger. This liquid should help stabilize your metabolism."

The scientist paused as Dib grabbed the glass and took a deep drink. "I should warn you, however," the scientist began again as Dib started to sway a bit, his drink falling from his hand towards a startled Skoodge, "this drink will cause you to quickly slip into unconsciousness."

No one was sure if Dib heard the warning, as he slumped face first into the slice of pizza he recently set down.

-----

Gir, Yuifa Novekt, somewhere in the building

Time Unknown.

"Play it again." Gir begged as the conditioning program ended for the third time in a row.

The computerized voice let out a sigh. "I'm sorry Gir, but I need some cooling off time. For some reason, the fans are not performing their function. You are going to have to come back later if you want to see it again. Besides," The computer paused for a moment. "I don't think it is very good to overload a biological specimen such as the one lying unconscious on the ground. They are delicate."

Gir let out a frown. "Aww!"

His depression only lasted a second however as he was struck with another thought. Standing up and jumping over the unconscious scientist, Gir headed towards the door. "Goodbye TV! Goodbye leprechaun! I'm gonna find Master. Or maybe the bigheaded Dib human. Maybe they wanna taco! TACO!"

-----

Dib, Nazre Triman Skos

Time Unknown

Dib woke with a start at the sound of a scream. The unmistakable sound of Gir's insane giggling quickly followed it.

"You're so cute!" Gir squealed with delight.

Looking around through an eyeglass less haze, Dib saw who he believed was Skoodge being hugged by what was unmistakably Gir. When Skoodge let out a gasping plea of "let go!" Dib's suspicions were confirmed.

"Gir?" Dib questioned, effectively saving Skoodge's life by distracting the small SIR. "Where did you come from?"

"I came from the TV room." Gir answered enthusiastically. "WANNA TACO?" Gir let go of a very relieved Skoodge and pulled a taco from somewhere within the recess of his tiny metal head. "I got it last week at Crazy Taco but forgot where I put it."

Dib gagged slightly at the rancid smell as Gir shoved the taco under his nose. "Um...Not thanks Gir. It's all yours."

Gir squealed with delight as he shoved the rotten glop into his mouth. While Gir was distracted, Skoodge shoved Dib's glasses into his hand, whispering quick thanks for saving his life. Dib merely nodded as he looked around for signs of the scientists and guards. He noticed one scientist and a guard lying unconscious by the door and looked at Skoodge questioningly. Skoodge simply shook his head mumbling, "Don't ask!"

"Where are the other scientist and the guards?" Dib ventured.

Skoodge let out a snort, glancing at Gir who was now squeezing a squeaking rubber piggy. "When Gir grabbed me, they took off running."

Skoodge turned back towards Dib. "They didn't even try and free me."

"Oh!" Dib muttered, before noticing two guards and the scientist sneaking up behind Gir.

In a flurry of movement one of the guards grabbed Gir by his head antennae and plopped him into a containment chamber the other guard had been carrying. Gir let out a maniac's giggle as the lid was slapped shut. To him, it was all fun and games so it would seem.

The room let out a collective sigh of relief. Gir was definitely a handful. Dib absently wondered how Zim put up with him day after day.

"Take him to nazre lilk skos." The scientist said, eyeing the containment chamber uneasily. "They are about to give Zim the shots. I only hope Gaz or the professor hasn't found out about this incident or we'll all be in trouble. Then come back and take those two," he pointed to the guard and other scientist, "to get some medical attention."

The scientist turned towards Skoodge. "You. Keep the Dib out of trouble. I have some work I need to do and I don't want to be interrupted."

Skoodge nodded before grabbing Dib's arm. "Come on. Lets go to the eating room. I'll fix you some stevs."

Dib raised an eyebrow. "Stevs?" he questioned.

Skoodge grinned at him. "Its an Irken drink, something I know you can handle. It's kinda like your hot cocoa, with a cinnamon and nut twist. It's my one of favourites. You're going to love it."

Dib smiled at the thought of hot cocoa and the chance to talk to Skoodge. Perhaps now he could find out what a V-Gz gyrostabilizer was.