It was night. The only light emanated from the streetlights and the full moon. Karo stared at it for a moment before checking his surroundings. He was in the park. Everything was quiet. After making sure nobody else was around, he slid out of his clothes and began to assume a new form. He felt his skin tingle as fur grew; he felt his bones crunch and rearrange; he felt his face push out in a muzzle. He could finally feel free.

Or so he thought.

As the final part of the transformation was complete, Karo couldn't help but let out a howl. It was so wonderful to be in his wolf form. He loved every part of it; especially the fact that his fur was grey. He was enjoying it so much, in fact, that he didn't realize what had happened until it was too late.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Karo moaned. He opened his eyes to find himself in some place he didn't recognize. It seemed to be bathed in red light. He noted that it was apparent that he was strapped to something. He looked across the room to see a monitor filled with strange symbols. He also saw Zim.

"Have a nice nap, Earth-dog?" Zim inquired mockingly.

Karo growled. He hated it when people who knew his secret called him a dog.

"What do you want Zim?" Karo replied.

"Me? I don't ask for much, only that you become my slave!" Zim laughed at his own humor.

"Why would I do that?"

"I'll tell you why. Feel your meaty neck!"

Karo couldn't feel his neck because his arms were strapped down, but he was able to look down. Attached to his neck was a metallic-purple collar. It had the same strange symbols on it that Karo guessed were Zim's species' language. It had reddish spikes, and a small control panel.

"It's umm…fashionable…" Karo decided to say at last.

"You like? It's a special Irken slave collar. Normally, it sends painful electric shocks into the wearer whenever the one with the remote control pushes a large red button, but I've reprogrammed it especially for you. Now, whenever I press the red button, it triggers a volatile DNA sequence forcing you to transform into your hideous wolf-form."

Zim laughed again. He thought he was quite clever and ingenious.

"Oh, one more thing," Zim added as an afterthought, "Don't try taking it off, for only I have the key; if you try to pick the lock, you will find your body in pain!"

Zim laughed again. Then he walked out of the room after exclaiming, "I am Zim!" Then the latches undid themselves and Karo got down off the table he was strapped to. He gathered his clothes and put them on. He then tried to walk out of Zim's lab, but was interrupted by a little robot with aqua-colored eyes. He had a block of cheese on his head.

"Umm…hello." Karo said cautiously.

The little robot did nothing for a moment. Suddenly, it got out a little moose toy and started to squeak it incessantly.

One minute passed.

Five minutes passed.

Ten minutes passed.

Karo couldn't take it anymore. He pushed the robot out of the way and exited Zim's lab. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to get around, so he was hopelessly lost. Plus, he kept thinking he heard some voice saying "Obey the cheese…" He finally came to a dead end. Karo sighed and turned around, only to come face-to-face with the little robot with cheese on its head.

"Hi!" it said, "My name's GIR! What's yours?"

"It's Karo," Karo replied, "And why are you following me?"

"I wants to convert you!"

"Convert me to what?"

GIR paused for a moment, as if in deep thought. Suddenly he shouted at the top of his metallic lungs, "CHEESE!"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry."

GIR frowned, then he seemed extremely sad.

"Aww. My master's going to replace me for good! I just know it! You're going to be the new GIR."

GIR started to cry very loudly.

"Hey little guy, I don't want to replace you. If anything, I want to get away from Zim and never do anything remotely like what you were programmed for."

"That's great!"

GIR started to do the Mexican Hat Dance.

"Say, do you know the way out of here?"

"I SURE DO!"

"Okay, could you please show me the way out?"

GIR seemed to think long and hard about it. Karo reached into his pocket, searching for something.

"I'll give you chocolate," Karo said temptingly, showing GIR a piece of chocolate wrapped in gold foil. GIR squealed and snatched it from him, almost taking his hand off in the process.

"Pig will loooooove this!" the little robot exclaimed.

"Well, if you want to give it to 'Pig', then you'll have to get to the exit to give it to him."

"YEAH!"

GIR started running down one hallway, with Karo right behind them. They took so many turns that Karo lost track after a while and concentrated only on following the insane robot. Suddenly, GIR came to a stop at what looked like a tube.

"It's right up here!" GIR exclaimed, and he stepped onto a platform that appeared. Karo followed suit and stepped onto the platform too. It started to rise. The whole way up GIR was poking Karo and by the time they got to the top, Karo had a sore on his side from GIR's finger.

Karo looked around. They seemed to be inside some living room. There was a red couch, a rather large television, a rather disturbing picture of a green monkey, and a door. Karo walked to the door, opened it, and exited.

"Hey!"

Karo turned to see GIR at the door.

"Pig's birthday is next Tuesday! Did you hear? TUESDAY! Wanna come?"

"I'll have to think about it." Karo said and ran as fast as he could from Zim's house, but not before noting how large his lawn gnomes were.

When Karo finally got home, he snuck in through his window. In the safety of his room, he examined the collar around his neck. He noticed a keyhole on the side. Karo took a paperclip and tried to see if he could pick the lock. As he moved it around he suddenly heard a click. He was then administered a painful electric shock and was rendered unconscious.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Karo woke up the next day to the sound of his alarm clock. Last night had seemed like a bad dream, until he felt his neck and found the collar was still there. He would have to deal with that later: he had to get to Skool.

Zim wasn't at Skool. Karo was worried Zim was planning something meticulously evil. After some internal struggle, he decided to ask for help from the one person who would believe him.

Class was fairly boring, and Karo didn't pay attention as Ms. Bitters droned on how they were all going to die and there was nothing they could do about it. He was busy planning what to say; he only had one shot to get this right, for one faux pass would most probably spell his end, or at least the end to his privacy.

The lunch bell rang.

At lunch, Karo noticed Dib and Gaz sitting alone at a table in the corner. Karo walked over to them and sat down. At first, nobody said anything as Dib chewed on some bologna and Gaz played her Game Slave 2 Karo finally cleared his throat and said, "Dib, I need your help."

Dib looked up with a bewildered look on his face. Gaz looked up and was equally surprised.

"Why would anyone want help from my crazy brother?" Dib's sister inquired, "Nice necklace, by the way. It's very Goth."

"Wait," Dib said, "Why do you need my help?"

"Well," Karo began nervously, "It's about Zim."

Dib looked up, paying full attention.

"What about him?" Dib asked impatiently.

"It's just that, well, I believe you. He is an alien. I was inside his lab. He captured me last night and wants me to be his slave for some reason."

"I knew it!" Dib exclaimed.

"Can I have your necklace? I really like it." Gaz said, reaching for the collar around Karo's neck, but neither Karo nor Dib noticed.

"Wow," Dib said, "That's so- wait, why does Zim want you as his slave?"

"It's complicated." Karo replied. He knew he had to be delicate with this. Dib was a paranormal investigator, so he would probably figure out sooner or later Karo's secret. Karo hoped it was later. Gaz started to twitch because she was being ignored.

"What are you hiding?" Dib asked, "And what is with that collar."

"It's some sort of Irken slave collar. Zim put it on me. I tried to pick the lock, but it electrocuted me. Only he has the key."

"I see…so you need it off because it does something horrible, right?"

"Yes."

"Come on Karo," Gaz said, her eye twitching, "Give it to me!"

Karo ignored her.

"So what does it do?" Dib asked.

"I really…can't…tell you…" Karo replied.

"Why not? Do you not know what it does?"

"No. I know what it does."

"Then why can't you tell me?"

Karo leaned towards Dib until he was right next to his ear and whispered, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Well, it depends what kind of secret."

"It's a very secretive secret. You can't tell anyone. Not Ms. Bitters, not Gaz, not your father, Professor Membrane, not anyone in your paranormal group, I mean no one!"

Dib paused. He realized it must be a really big secret, and how did he know who his dad was?

"I guess I can keep it…" Dib said uncertainly.

Karo leaned forward and whispered in Dib's ear all about his lycanthropy, when he discovered it, the encounter with Zim, his capture in the park, the powers of the collar, and GIR's cheese cult.

"Wow…A real, live werewolf!" Dib was so happy, he said it out loud. Karo put his hand over Dib's mouth.

"You can't tell anyone, remem-"

"GIVE ME THE COLLAR!"

The next thing Karo realized, he felt a painful punch, and then everything went black.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"It won't come off!" Gaz complained. Skool was over, and Dib and Gaz had dragged Karo back to their house. Even though Karo had pleaded with Dib not to tell anybody, he couldn't help but contact the Swollen Eyeballs. When he did, Agent Darkbooty told Dib to show the subject transform, then he would believe him.

Dib sighed and stared at Karo's unconscious body. He was still out cold from Gaz's punch, and Gaz kept trying to remove the collar because it looked "cool", but to no avail.

Dib then had an idea. He ran into his room and rummaged around a drawer on his desk until he found what he was looking for: a bracelet made of pure silver. His father, Professor Membrane had given it to him in hopes he would become a scientist like his father instead of being so interested in "para-science" as his father called it. Dib looked at it. It had charms of atoms on it and important chemical formulas inscribe on the atoms.

Dib smiled. "Won't Karo get quite a surprise when he wakes up." He thought aloud.

"Dib, stop talking to yourself!" Gaz called from down the hallway.