A.N. XD Wow, you guys all seemed so happy that Dib got slapped. Heh heh. Thanks to Missy Lynne, Suicidal RuBBerDuckie (heh heh, glad you think Kacer's cool), Flames, rarofdoom, TikTac, Rahh Gumba Foo (yes, they're pretty much oblivious. . . XD), and Invader Corren for dem lovely reviews.

Chapter seven- Dem heart-to-hearts

At this point, Zim realizes he should've taken his voot cruiser. His feet are aching, and his hip's killing him, but that's only because Tak's Licky Stick is in his pocket, and it's jabbing into his side. His stomach growls, and he's a little guilty, because he ate almost an hour ago, but he's tempted to eat the Licky Stick. But, for once, he puts someone else before himself.

"It's for Tak," he whispers, "it's for Tak."

Unfortunately, his stomach won't shut up, but he tries his best to ignore it. Zim groans a little. Even if he ignores his stomach, his feet are still killing him. . .not to mention he's recieved no sleep in nearly two days. . .

He seriously could've sworn the Jilly guy at the base had said the Meekrob's base was only three miles away, but then he starts to doubt his own memory. . . Jilly could've possibly said thirty miles. . . maybe even three hundred. . . and Zim could've just heard him wrong. Either way, there's no turning back now.

He's going to save Tak from the Meekrob, no matter how far away their base is. . . and maybe when he's finished with that, he can blow them up, just for causing him so much trouble. At least now he has something to look forward to. . . although he's not really sure where he can get any explosives from, but he'll make do. And Tak'll help, once he saves her.

Once he saves her, once he saves her. . .

He doesn't remember ever feeling so much doubt in himself while completing a task. He's done more dangerous things without a second thought. But now. . .

He wonders if it's because there's more at risk. Or maybe the whole finding-out-his-mission-is-a-lie thing killed his confidence more then he thought.

Grrrrowl. . .

Zim looks to his stomach in dismay.

"Shut up," he hisses. But his stomach apparently doesn't like him, because it disobeys him, and keeps rumbling.

He tries to think of something other then food. . .tries to fight the temptation to eat the Licky Stick. . . besides, it's grape, he doesn't even like that flavor. . .think of something else. . .think of. . . Doom Canons. . . a memory from five years ago flashes through his mind . . . he had gone on a rampage with a Doom Canon in the skool cafeteria once. . .cafeteria. . .equals. . .food. . .

Zim groans.

Then he slams into a wall.

Wait, where did the wall come from?

Zim rubs his forehead, wincing. Then looks up, and he can't help but grin in relief. He's made it to the base. And Tak has to be in there somewhere.

"How long do I have to be in here?" Tak asks.

Shloonktapooxis, who hasn't really grasped the fact that Tak in not happy, responds cheerfully, "Probably until you die!"

"You do realize-" Tak tries her best to stretch her legs in the cramped cell, "that I hold absolutely no valuable information for you guys, right?"

"Yeah! But Lard Nar says to lock you up!"

"And you're the only one qualified to me, right?"

"Nah! I'm the only one who wanted to!"

"Why?"

"Meh. I was bored."

Tak sighs and rests her head against the metal bars. They're cold, but at least something's supporting her head; she doesn't think she can hold it up on her own anymore. She closes her eyes and says, "What was your name again? Shinktipoxis?"

"Shloonktapooxis!"

"Can I call you Poox?"

"Shloonk."

"Fine, Shloonk. . .what made you join this Resisty?"

Shloonktapooxis looks away for a minute.

"Because you Irkens are mean."

"Oh, come on," Tak says, without much emotion, "we're not that bad."

Shloonk makes a face.

"You guys enslaved my family," he says.

"Well, it wasn't me personally. . .so I guess I'm sorry."

He just grunts.

"I have a family too, Shloonk. . ." Tak peers through the cage, gripping the bars. "They're all kind of insane, and I think they need me to help them keep everything in order. . ."

Shloonktapooxis glances at her, and although he's trying to conceal it, he's interested.

"Do you have any kids?" he asks casually.

"Yup," Tak says. "Two of them. Pin- she's four, and Clox is one. . .Pin's really sweet, and she's good working with technology. . .and Clox can cook anything. . .he's insane though."

"You don't come off as a mom."

"Well, I am. And damned proud of it."

It's at that moment that Tak realizes how strange the situation is- Here she is, a prisoner of the Resisty, her antennas crushed against the sides of a metal cage, below the ship a war is raging on between the Meekrob and the Irkens, she's constantly being told she's going to die here; and here she is, calmly discussing her children with her prison guard as if she's at Parent-teacher night.

"Anyway," she says, "once you morons realize I acn't give you any information, I'd appreciate it if you let me go. My kids need me."

Shloonktapooxis blinks, and random tears splash from his eyes.

"Wow!" he says. "You seem like a devoted mom! That's really awesome!" He sniffs, and then he grins stupidly. "But. . .I can't let you go! Sorry."

Tak snarls, tries to punch the wall, but instead, just hits her funny bone.

"Dammit! Can I at least get a bigger cage?"

"Nope!"

"I'm serious, this is really uncomfortable. . ."

"Sorry, super mom! You're gonna have to just deal with it!"

Tak blinks and looks frightened.

"What did you just call me?" she asks.

"Um. . .'super mom'. . .I forgot your name. . .no wait! It's Tok, right?"

"'Tak'."

"Oh. . .well, that's a stupid name."

"Yeah, Shloonktapooxis, we can't all have 'awesome' names like you. . ."

Shloonk doesn't catch the sarcasm. He just looks proud.

"Well, you better get to sleep, Tikky-Tak! Cause you're gonna be here forever!"

"Yeah, we'll see about that. . ." she mutters.

"I don't see them here," Pin said nervously. She peered up at the man who had led her and her down the vacant alleyway. She was beginning to not trust him.

She could've sworn her parents telling her at one point in time to never go with strangers, unless she was well-armed anyway.

But now she wasn't. The only defense she had was manual power, which didn't amount to much; Clox had his fangs. . . that was about it.

"They're here," the man said. "Just sit here and stay still. And whatever you do, don't make a sound, or they won't want to see you."

Pin and Clox blinked, but were frozen.

"I said 'sit'," the man said, a little harshly this time. He pointed to the wall beside them.

"I-I," Clox began with his typical stutter, "um, I dun like you."

"Shut up and sit.

"Hey!" Pin said defiantly. "Dun tell my brother to shut up!"

The man snarled, and with the back of his hand, he smacked the small girl across the cheek, knocking her into the wall. Clox jumped up in defense of his sister, and sunk his fangs into the man's wrist. The man cried out in pain, attempted to shake Clox off off, but to no avail.

"What the hell are you doing to my kids!"

Everyone froze.

At the entrance of the alley stood Zim and Tak, both looking ready to kill.

"I will give you ten seconds," Tak growled murderously, "to drop my son, before I blow off your god damned head

Clox released his jaw from the man's arms, and ran straight to his mother. She held him tightly against her chest, muttering, "Are you okay. . . are you okay. . ."

Zim had proceeded further into the alley then Tak had. He scooped up his daughter gently, who was still still lying against the wall. She was whimpering, and she looked up to her father, and he realized her cheek was bruised. He carried her to Tak and said, "Bring them home."

Tak nodded, holding both her children, and turned to go.

Zim faced the man at the end of the alley, who was clutching his wrist (which was bloody) in pain. He was hunched over, and he didn't even notice Zim until he was standing less then a foot away from him.

At that moment, Zim removed his wig and contacts. In the darkness, his red eyes appeared to glow from the reflecting moonlight. The man looked to him in surprise, but couldn't speak.

"You picked the wrong kids to mess with," Zim said.

"And then she just slaps me!" Dib says heatedly. "I didn't even think she was capable of slapping anyone! And it just came out of no where!"

Gaz doesn't even glance at her brother. She just grunts, and flips a page in her magazine. Dib chugs his Poop Cola down in nothing flat, then sits on the couch beside her.

"And anyway," Dib continues, "I really don't see what the big deal is. . . so I formed an alliance with an alien race opposing the Irkens, so what? I mean, even though I gave the Meekrob an advantage and all, it won't effect Zim and his family or anything. . ."

Gaz peers at him, with an eyebrow raised.

"Don't you want it to?" she asks.

"Well, yeah. . .well, I want it to effect Zim anyway. . .but Kacer doesn't, see? That's why she got so upset. . .she thinks I did this to hurt her friends or something. . .but they'll be fine. . .and she doesn't seem to get that Zim's set on destroying Earth. . .argh! This is so annoying!"

"Kinda like someone in this room," Gaz mutters.

But Dib doesn't hear her. He sighs, then says softly, "Thanks for listening Gaz."

"Hehrm. . ."

"Ya know, we never hang out anymore."

"That's because I don't like you."

"I know, but that never stopped you before."

There's a slight pause, then Gaz says, "We haven't really 'hung out' since you met Kacer. And that was six years ago."

"Do you miss it?"

"No."

Dib looks dissapointed.

But then Gaz continues, though peering out the window away from her brother, "Unfortunately, I'm related to you, so we have no choice but to see each other every day. You never had any friends until Kacer, and she actually wanted to see you. But apparently she doesn't now, so. . .if you ever feel a need to drag me along with you to go 'save-the-world' or something. . .I guess you can bug me. Just don't expect me to be happy about it."

That's when Dib realizes that they're having a moment. It's all very strange to him, yet he falls into it quite nicely.

He grins.

"I never do," he says.

Gaz smirks, reaches to the coffe table for her own Poop Cola can, and sprays it in Dib's face for old times' sake.

End of Chapter seven. . .

The man in the flashback is just a random pedophile guy. I do believe that flashback is the most serious-dramatic scene in the whole story. I know it just kinda ends with Zim being all like "Rar, you hurt my kids," but in my mind, he proceeds to killing the guy. . . dat's why he revealed his Irken form. . .blah blah blah. . .

Next chapter has a title, but it sucks the big one, so I gotta rename it. Anyways, next chapter you will read:

- a big reference to Pleecy (for those who remember her from meh last story. Haha.)

- Karaoke!

- Da Meekrob. . . in the flesh. . . or in the. . . glowing. . . spirit. . . whatever they are. . .

Random crap: I'm almost finished with the first draft to this story's sequel, 'Torches'. It's longer then this one. And it's completely overrun with fancharacters. But still. I'm excited.

Please review. It makes me feel all like. . ."Yay. Reviews."