Chapter Four

The Close Call

: Z :

I walked with Jiss through They Fight's many different morning activities, seeing all that went on in the resistance that had cost Irk so much research money. They appeared no different than any normal humans, what with the way they talked to each other and went about relaxing when they were not training. It amazed me at how average they all seemed! Here I had thought the training was constant; the suspicion constantly high . . . but it was not.

As we continued to walk past the others, I began to get an idea of what life was like here. The human soldiers lived in makeshift abodes; nothing but pieces of cloth draped over poles to make a shelter. They ate what they could either find out in the wild or had stolen from the Pak Tech research facilities. It appeared that they were well trained of how to use the technology that they stole, but I saw nothing that would be much of a challenge for me to complete. Of what I had seen, a few humans were struggling with the thought commands they were testing out on Irken Paks they wore, doubtlessly engineered and reprogrammed to be designed for their pathetic human chemistry. It made me snicker at the sight; they were just so horrible at it!

Soon, we lost sight of They Fight for the most part, and arrived at a large pond surrounded nonetheless by the forest that surrounded everything around here. It was unclear at first what was going to be taught using a pond, but "Jiss", as I found to be her name, was about to explain.
Seeing this body of water sent a shiver through my entire body; I remembered the sting Earth's liquids caused when reacting with my alien skin. It had been horrifying. Hopefully whatever we would be doing had nothing to do with taking risks around this pool of acid.

"Okay, Zim," said Jiss, taking a few microchips out of her pocket, "It's time to begin training." Suddenly the holograph that had hid me dropped, revealing nothing but my Irken self disguised pathetically with a wig and eye lenses, the very same I had worn thirteen years ago. Hopefully, if we were caught, nobody would recognize me as an Irken. Jiss kneeled down beside me, microchips in hand.

"Turn around," she ordered. "I'm going to upgrade your Pak so you will be able to use the same technology as I do. They only thing is, you're going to have to adjust, and it's going to take some time." Yes, yes, adjusting was not going to be a problem. I was so eager to find out what kind of advances Earth's Pak Tech research facilities had developed. Hopefully they were amazing, wondrous and unfathomable abilities that defied the laws of physics and time as we know it! Of course, I could not count on humans to develop such wonders. Whatever it was, I would find out soon.

She opened up my Pak's outer shell, revealing the intricate circuitry and tiny wires that ran the whole thing. I could not see her progress, but I felt her hands toying with the order of things as I stared out at the thin, dying wall of trees. It made me nervous having another person other than myself fiddling with my Pak, but I had to keep calm and allow her to install the new programs, or else I would never know what They Fight was really capable of.

Suddenly my brain received a new signal coming from one of the microchips. It felt strange. It had been a long time since anything new had been added to my Pak's inventory. Whatever this thing was, I felt it was very powerful, using polarization and magnets for something. Amazing that any lower life form besides the Vortians were able to accomplish Pak upgrades, especially any Earthen life form.

This new thread of information was unlike anything I had ever experienced. All those zeros and ones . . . coded into a form that my mind could understand. It really was something amazing. But this . . . whatever it was, I didn't quite understand it. Its code was among the newer ones; something I hadn't dipped into at all. I was still stuck with the old Pak Tech. Now I understood what Jiss had meant by "adjust" to it. It would take time, yes, and also practice. But seeing that I had nothing else to do with my life, learning how to use this technology to benefit They Fight sounded fine to me.

"There," said Jiss. I felt her close up the opening that had exposed my . . . well, my everything to her. "You now have acquired your first new Pak Tech, and also my favorite: Tech four four zero seven two one eight, known around here as 'water walker'. The humans have a pet name for everything for some reason. Anyway, this takes the least concentration out of the fourteen I have for you."

Fourteen? Fourteen new powers to master? That was . . . incredible! Fourteen completely new Pak Tech advances over a mere ten years. In all of Irken history, nothing of such quantity has ever been accomplished. Truly these humans were fast, even if not amazing like Irkens. I was eager to acquire all of them. But, as many peoples have said, "take it one step at a time". This first easy task would be a synch.

"Watch," Jiss ordered, spinning me around to face the pond. "This is all you have to do." She approached the edge of the pond slowly, with the grace of an Earthen cat and the stride of an Irken warrior. I noticed she paused when she came to the water's edge for some reason. What was she doing? Meditating? Because meditation has always been something that bores me to death. If this was about meditation, then I would gladly skip it and move on to something more challenging.

I watched curiously as she drew in a deep breath, lifted her foot, and . . . put it in the water. Perhaps it had something to do with the water. But I hated water! Water burned Irken skin! Had she learned nothing during the time she had spent here? Water was acid! Whatever she was doing, this was insane. I would not. No way, no how, would I ever do anything that had to do with . . .

Jiss lifted her back foot and placed it in front of the other. She then began . . . walking? At first, I believed it was not she who had gone insane, but I! I was witnessing this Irken walking . . . on top of the water! With each step she took, there was a slight ripple in the water, as if something had only tapped it. She did not fall in! And she continued to walk further, and further . . .

She turned around after she had gotten about ten feet and smiled at me. I wasn't sure why. Then I realized how silly I looked with my eyes wide open and my tongue hanging out of my mouth. Well, I was simply . . . amazed! I had never seen anything like it before! Was I supposed to dismiss this as a normal Irken ability? Or a normal ability of any sentient race, for that matter? No creatures alive besides certain insects were able to walk on top of water this way! Not that I knew of.

"Okay, your turn," she called happily. Wait. My turn? I was not going to attempt this! I wasn't ready for something of such magnitude! I would never make it. I would become distracted and lose my concentration, or I would trip and fall . . . I would never be able to do this! Was there not some way I could simply learn everything else besides this? Because if this was easy, then I was the Almighty Tallest. And truth be told: I am one of the shortest Irkens on our planet!

"M-me?" I asked her, fearful of the answer. She only nodded. So . . . I had to do this. I could do this, too, if I only set my mind to it. My Pak now had the technology, so this would be easy! I just had to activate it using a thought command! And I could do that without even trying! Clearly, I thought to myself, directed at my Pak, "Tech four four zero seven two one eight, activate." And I felt the hum of a new microchip join with the others, thus making walking across water possible. Now I really could do this! Easy as the square root of thirty-seven! Yes, easy, so easy . . . I hoped.

I walked up to the edge of the water with extreme caution. It looked rather shallow at first; why, I could even see the bottom for the first few inches. There were tiny green fish about the size of pen caps where I could still see the bottom, poking their heads here and there hoping to find a meal of plankton. A few plants were growing in the water, something I believed that were called "Lilly pads" or something of the sort. I stared down at the wavy reflection of myself that was mirrored in the water. Behind me were the trees, and the sky above them . . . that gray sky with its white clouds.

I gulped. Slightly shivering, I placed my right foot onto the water. And it . . . didn't sink. The only thing that happened was the little green fish scrambled out of my vision and the Lilly pads swayed slightly as waves disturbed the liquid they rested on. This was as easy as I had thought it would be. No need to worry. Now with more confidence, I placed my left foot in front of my right foot. For some reason, it went a little under the water, creating a miniature dust storm when it tapped the mud.

Something told me at that very moment that I should have stopped and turned around. Something said that I wasn't ready for this. But I did not listen. I slowly took another step forward, sure things would be just as fine and easy as they had been the first two steps, and smiled. This time, my foot was a bit more submerged than in the second step, but I was still okay.

I looked up and saw Jiss smiling at me. She gave me such confidence! Almost without thinking at all, I took another step. But this time, my foot did not only go under the water, but the rest of me did as well. As I stepped forward, my foot plunged into a deep part of the pond, causing me to lose my balance and fall forward. I was completely under water! And I was sinking, I believed, from the way it felt. Sinking to the bottom of the pond!

Suddenly, I felt my lungs start to collapse, and I instinctively breathed in as deep as I could. But I have never made a worse mistake. The inside of my Irken body filled with Earth's acid water, stinging my skin not only on the outside but now the inside as well! My entire body was screaming with pain! And I couldn't breathe! I moved my arms and legs as fast as I could, hopeful of somehow swimming to the surface. I had to get out of here! I was dieing!

Still waving my limbs around, I realized I could at least see. But what was there to see? See what surrounded me at my final moments? It became harder and harder to move as I lost strength. My vision became dimmer and dimmer by the second. I tried to take another breath quickly. Air! I needed air! I . . . needed air! But, this was all water. No air under water, none at all! And the acid . . . eating through my skin . . .

But . . . no. It was gone somehow. I could no longer feel the horrible sting of Earth's water. It . . . was gone. But the air! My lungs . . . air. Wait . . . I . . . I didn't feel a need to breathe any more. There was no pain . . . no pain at all. It felt . . . perfectly fine. No . . . pain.

My vision completely blackened. I saw nothing. I felt nothing. I only received the sound waves from a few bubbles that floated up to the surface past my antennae. Now that I thought about it, this was nice. Peaceful . . . calm. Nothing bad here . . . nothing . . . bad here . . .? And no . . . more . . . pain . . . . . .?

It was as if I were in a world all my own. Do not ask me to describe it, for I have no idea what it was like. I just knew it was like a dream. But I only saw it for a brief moment, and then it was completely gone; nothing but black once more. And even if it really had existed, I knew not how to get back. All I knew was it was nice, and I enjoyed it for the short moment I was there. Of course, it was interrupted when I awakened.

"Zim! You're alive!"

I felt air rush into my lungs, and I sat up and coughed, half dead and dripping wet. I . . . the pain! Oh, Lord, the pain! My entire body was enclosed in a vortex of unspeakable horror! Outside, inside, all over . . . pain. I leaned over and coughed some more, not able to stop. Thoughts flooded my mind about the events that had happened. It was as somebody flipped a switch as turned my brain on after having been turned off. All of this information at once! Mental and physical information; all of it being sent into my mind at the same time. Memories, emotions, feelings, scents, sounds, sights . . . all of it was so overwhelming!

The raspy cough turned into vomiting, nothing but Earth water and stomach fluids as anybody would have guessed if knowing what I was. Irkens, excluding those at the IDR, usually did not consume food for primary energy. But my thoughts were focused on something else: what had happened. What exactly had happened, anyway? I remembered the IDR, the mission . . . Boss, and Lonny . . . but what else? What else was there? I was missing something. There were no answers to all of my questions!

Okay, I came to Earth, met this "Jiss", and we preformed an Irken Pak energy transfer. After that, things went blank. Almost like part of my memory had been erased or altered. Here I was, with no explanation, feeling as if I had been almost killed and sitting next to . . . to Jiss, right? We had been training, right? Yes. . . . Yes! I remembered now! We had been training, and she had walked out onto the water. I followed her, trying to do as she had, but I stepped into a deep spot and lost my balance. I had gone under.

Finally able to think, and now speak, I sat up and put my hand around my throat, somehow subconsciously hoping to ease the pain. But before I could ask any questions, I noticed the skin on my arm. It was ripped and shredded, almost in a pattern of waves, and covered in blood. Even the sleeve had been torn away. Why . . .? The acid! The water was acid! I had almost forgotten. My whole body must be like this, I realized. I had been completely submerged. The toxic Earth water had completely eaten through the epidermis of my skin! How would I ever survive with an open wound like this? All of the bacteria on this planet was out of control, and would surely infect me. I knew; I had seen it with my own eyes, using a pair of micro-goggles. They were everywhere!

I took in a few more breaths and looked around. Trees, trees, sky . . . we were still in the forest. And there was the pond, not ten feet away. Yes, just keep calm and look at everything around you, Zim. Do not think of the pain. Just let your mind slip away. Things were fine now - just fine. Jiss will take care of you. She will help you.

"Jiss . . .?" I began, feeling my tongue move to make words. Even my tongue had been singed by the water. Everything all over hurt. But I continued, squinting with every syllable, "Do you have anything to help me?" Hopefully she did. She had to have something in all that technology of hers that would make all this just go away. I was going to be just fine. Just . . . fine . . . and no more pain . . . no more . . .

I suddenly felt tears in my eyes as I whimpered. I began crying. How could anything ever restore me to my former self? I was so messed up! And what kind of technology did they have to take away such unbearable pain as this? I would never be able to do anything ever again! Even sobbing quietly as I was hurt!

"I do, Zim," Jiss answered sweetly, her words kind and quiet, "so don't worry. You're going to be okay. I just have to get you to TF Med Lab as soon as possible. Are you able to walk with me?"

I blinked a few times, trying to free my eyes of any more tears. Not that anybody could tell anyway; I was dripping wet with skin-eating acid water. I slowly crawled to my feet with much effort, and stood up straight for a moment or two. Then suddenly my strength leapt away from me and I collapsed back to the ground. Pain and agony surged through my entire body at collision with the cold, hard dirt.

"No," I whimpered.

: D :

It had been a long time since the nightmare that was my life had taken its plunge into eternal darkness. So it seemed, anyway. It had only been a decade in real life, but it felt like a century. Yet, even now I could see his face, hear his triumphant laugh. His supreme evilness that detonated the world as I knew it. I still hated him with every nerve of my body; still wished him dead to this day. But I knew because of the gossip that had gone around that he was locked away in some Irken facility, and he would never ever return. Of course if he did . . .

I did not wish to think of that. He would end up dead if he ever crossed me again, that was all there was to it. He would end up dead. It was because of him that the Earth was enslaved. It was because of him that my childhood was a horrible mess of lies. Still . . . it was because of him that I was not just another mindless human slave to the Irken empire. If we had not fought that day - the day the massive came . . . then surely the Tallest would have found me. Surely their weapons and technology would have caused my surrender, or even killed me. But we had fought that day, and he had won. Because he thought I was dead, he had thrown my body into a time stasis chamber to preserve me as a "trophy". And for that I was thankful, because otherwise I would have been captured or killed.

And his name rang in my head every time I thought about anything having to do with Irkens. His horrible, stupid, short little name. What others recognized as the captor of Earth; the conqueror. I still knew the truth. I still knew that if the Massive had not come, I would have been victor, thus saving Earth. But no. All because of him I was stuck as the commander of They Fight. All because of him my army's story of success was all over the news, often revealing our location. All because of . . . Zim.

I hoped to never hear anything about that little twerp again. He was nothing but pure evil, he was. Yes, yes, Zim. I hope you are happy where ever you are, because once I find you after I defeat the Irken armada, I will torment you to your death.

I heard some commotion outside. First nothing but a few whispers, then growing to where everybody was off task and talking freely. I had nothing against them talking and taking a break, but their voices sounded so concerned. Still, no alarm was going off, and I had not heard from my advisors in a while. Perhaps it was nothing to worry about. The usual suspicion throughout camp.

Suddenly a cry in the distance came in range of my hearing. A painful, mournful cry. And also quick paced breath accompanied by footsteps. What was going on out there? I stood up and stepped out of the tent that was posing as headquarters at the moment and looked at the crowd of concerned faces. The talking died down as people noticed I was curious about what was going on enough to stand with them. Soon, only a few whispers remained, allowing the sound of the cry to increase. It was clearer now - easily recognizable. But I did not know who it was crying.

I looked to where everybody else was gazing: the path to the pond. It was an unclear path, not man made and with many bushes and trees blocking the way, but a path it was. At first I was confused. There was no person visible. Then I saw Jiss not too far away, carrying something. From the looks of it, she was holding a child! A crying child in her arms, and she was running back to camp. But the crying did not sound like that of a child at all. More like . . . well, I was not sure.

"What exactly is going on?" I asked nobody in particular. Many people looked to the ground, away from me and away from Jiss. Nobody answered. It was clear that if they knew what was happening, they did not want to tell. Of course, if they didn't, then nobody had the gut to tell me their guess. Well, theirs was as good as mine. I hadn't a clue. Something bad had happened, no doubt, but it was unclear what.

Suddenly the crowd parted, revealing Jiss was right at the edge of camp now. The crying had died down to nothing but sobs. I saw that whatever she was holding was green and purple. Even more confusing to me. Green? Green was the color of many things, including Irken. But Jiss was my best warrior! She would never think to help the Irkens by saving one unless she had been brainwashed or something of the sort. And purple . . . the color of Irken blood.

"What is that?" I heard many people asking. "Is it some kind of being? Is it Irken? Is it human? What is that horrible thing?"

Jiss walked forward towards me, the crowd of people making a path for her. She looked tired and out of breath as she collapsed to her knees in front of me, the thing she was holding quiet but tense. They both had tears in their eyes.

"Commander!" she panted. "You have to help him! He fell in the pond . . . he almost drowned . . . and he's bleeding to death! You have to do something!"

"Jiss, I demand you explain yourself this instant!" I ordered sternly. Even though I could tell she was very upset, and whatever she was holding was running out of time, I refused to help her until I knew what I was dealing with here. If I didn't know what this thing was and how it got this way, I would never be able to fix it up. I only hoped she had not found this thing like this and made up a story. If she did, then Heaven knows how my med team would ever figure out how to treat it.

"Do you remember . . . the little boy I brought to you?" she asked. "Eric? This . . . is Eric!" I heard everybody in the entire camp gasp. Eric, the shy little boy who she had asked to train? I didn't understand. How could this . . . thing be Eric? It was so horribly disfigured compared to what Eric had looked like. Eric, the little boy with a . . . with a voice I had thought I recognized! Wait! This thing and I had met before, whatever it was . . .

"You see, Eric is not really human," she continued. Many conversations continued on about the matter. "He is Irken!" That did it. Jiss brought the enemy into our camp? Brought an Irken into my presence? How dare she? Jiss, of all people. Jiss: my best warrior! I didn't know if I could ever forgive her for this! Had she finally snapped under the pressure? Something was wrong here. Something was horribly wrong.

"And this Irken fell into the pond while I was teaching him!" she said. But I needed no more explanations from her. She was mentally damaged somehow, for some reason. Something had happened that I did not know about. And when my soldiers keep secrets from me, the punishment is usually death. I motioned to Nina and Brittany to take her into the third tent to wait for me. They nodded, rushed over to her and grabbed her arms. Brittany pried the dieing Irken from her grasp and tossed him aside like a rag doll.

"Wait! You have to listen!" she pleaded as they dragged her away. I tried to ignore her. "He will die if we do not help him! He will die! You of all people know that water burns Irken skin! And he almost drowned! Please! Help him! You have to help him!" No. There was a law in They Fight: no mercy. Ever. And no exceptions. Every Irken had to be killed, along with any humans helping them. Even if it meant my best soldier Jiss.

Her screaming was heard throughout the camp as Brittany and Nina tied her down inside the tent. I walked over to the Irken and stared down at it with hatred. It was barely breathing, tears in its closed eyes, shaking with fear and cold. A pathetic excuse for a soldier, or even a spy. Whatever its purpose was, I had no use for it. I kicked at it a little, amusing myself at its reaction.

Slowly it opened one eye, revealing its eyes were the average bright pink. Who cared for this little short, mediocre Irken anyway? It was not unlike any other besides the below average height. Stupid little creature. Why was Jiss getting to worked up over this thing?

". . . Dib . . ." I heard the thing say as it looked at me with burning hate. It knew my name. Big deal. Many people and Irkens knew my name, because I was the commander of They Fight. You could even say I was rather famous. But there was something about its voice that struck my curiosity. It was rather unique, if Irkens even knew the word.

"Dib the stink beast," it continued. I listened with dull enthusiasm. "Do you know how long I have wanted to destroy you?"

I shrugged in response. The many people around me gathered closer and stared down at the little thing with anger. To them, it was insulting me, but to me it was merely saying whatever it wanted during its last moments alive. It amused me to listen to an Irken's last words.

"No, no," I ordered my soldiers as they were about to destroy the creature, "let the thing speak." And to the Irken scum, I inquired, "So what were you saying about destroying me? Wanna tell us all?"

I saw the flames in its eyes. "Yes," it answered. "Even now, at your pathetic human age of twenty-three, you enjoy my pain. Have you lost your moral? Whatever happened to Dib; the human who always thought about how wrong it was to harm something that was completely defenseless?" What was this little Irken getting at? And its voice seemed so familiar. Well, whatever it was about it that stood out in my memory, this thing would be dead soon, and we could burn the body and keep the Pak for research. Nobody would miss this vile creature.

"Whatever happened to Dib; the human who decided to help me instead of just leave me at school when you injected me with water? Whatever happened to Dib, who used to be an annoying pest that only infiltrated my lab on occasion?" Now things were getting creepy. I recalled what this thing was talking about. I recalled everything. How had it found out about my past? How?

"I want you to hear something, Dib," it continued. "Something I saved that I originally recorded to amuse mewhenever I became bored. And think back to when you said this, stink beast. Think back carefully." What? It was as if this Irken knew something. Knew something that I did not. But what? What was this thing getting at? What was the point?

Suddenly a flat holographic screen projected from its Pak, like a television screen. A holograph of me! At age ten! A hologram of me from somebody else's perspective. I still was not sure who's yet, though. Every member of They Fight was whispering, confused.

"SILENCE!" I demanded. Every voice was silent as I watched my past.

"I just don't feel right about winning like this for some reason," said the younger version of me in the television-like holograph projection. "It should be a fair fight. I mean, injecting you with a poison while you're sleeping? I can't live knowing I defeated you like that!" And just like that, the playback ended and the holograph disappeared. I remembered it! I remembered it all! It had been from the time I had found the perfect way to defeat Zim, but my conscience would not let me. And he had been lying on the school floor in terrible agonizing pain. I still had a heart back then.

The crowd of They Fight members gasped and began giving me weird looks as they whispered. This . . . this wasn't happening! This creature, this whoever it was, had salvaged a part of my past. It had taken something that I had experienced with Zim and added it to its little collection of data about me. Stolen footage of a time when I was actually nice to an Irken! Was that what this was all about?

I looked back to the bloody Irken with a horrified expression, and suddenly recognized him. I took a step back.

"It's me, Dib," said the Irken I now knew to be Zim. But . . . he was not aggressive. He was gentle; almost sad, even if his eyes still showed hate. I . . . I had to do something. I could not let it all end like this after thirteen years! Not after all we had been through! He was so helpless, so . . . not Zimmish. He was a changed person. He was not the Irken I used to know. And if he was going to be destroyed, it would be battling me, not because he fell in a pond.

"Get my med team out here, STAT!" I cried. "I want this Irken fixed up and repaired better than he ever was! You all heard me! We're going to help this creature!"

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Author Notes:

Ah, well now things are starting to make at least a LITTLE sense. Dib is helping his worst enemy, Jiss is now considered the insane one, and Zim is being nice. Yep. Couldn't be more normal.

Okay, seriously . . . we now know a little more about how all this got started, and we see that Dib isn't ready to end it just yet. Jiss just saved Zim's life, but right before she did, Zim got a peek at his twisted dream-like future.

Now that we're all caught up and informed, I'll just take the time to say this: if you think this chapter revealed more about the past, then hold onto your seats; the next chapter digs much deeper.