Warning! This story is going to be very long! If you cannot stand long stories then do not read. If you do not like stories about incompetent aliens that no one likes then do not read this. If you cannot stand reading about the imminent destruction of Earth and enemies having to unite to stop the greater threat then DO NOT READ!!!

Thank you, that is all…

Invader Zim- The End?

Chapter 25

Dib sighed. He sat in the cafeteria, awaiting Idu's return and an explanation to what he had witnessed a few hours ago. But the little robot hadn't returned for quite some time. Apparently she still had some things that she had to fix up before she came back to explain what had happened to him. Instead, he was seated in the room with Tak. She was across the table from him, seated in a green chair. He head was resting in her arms, which were lying on the table. Dib wasn't even sure if she was still awake but he didn't dare to speak with her. The silence seemed good after that horrible clatter of voices and that roaring beast. Plus, Dib didn't much think that Tak would really be in a talking mood after all of that.

He sipped the last of his forth cup of cocoa. He'd been experimenting with the differing flavors that he could choose from on the machine. Right now he was sipping away at a hazelnut one. So far it was it more favorite one out of them all. The boy set his empty cup down and looked out the window to his right.

It'd been pretty bored after all of the commotion. He'd just been sitting there, talking with Idu, when all of a sudden the walls started to melt. Of course he had panicked. Idu had to slap him hard in the face to convince him that none of them were going to die. But then the walls had started to bleed and Dib had seen Idu's troubled eyes. It was at that moment that she dashed out of the room, because Kim's voice had come up on the inter-com, telling her to get Tak.

Well, Idu had gotten Tak. The little robot had brought the female Irken to the cafeteria to sit with Dib for a while and maybe rest up a little bit. Just from looking at the poor Irken it was obvious that she had been through something terrifying and that she wasn't really in a good mood afterwards. It didn't even seem like she had been in a good mood before it happened either.

So Dib left her alone and tended to his own needs.

But there were times when he felt uncomfortable. After the voices came right from the symbols in the metal he hadn't felt really safe. The blood from the walls scared him as well. After all, what kind of metal could bleed? For a while Dib had been focused on the symbols. He was sure that he had seen them before but he couldn't pinpoint when or where. The entire endeavor was a mystery to him. He wasn't able to figure it out and it was really starting to bother him. Plus, no matter how many times he tried to calm himself down, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched at that very moment. And that really scared him.

Suddenly the door opened and Dib, so paranoid at that moment, tumbled out of his seat in surprise. Tak's head shot up in her surprised state and the Irken female lost her balance. She fell backwards and hit her head hard on the cool, metallic surface. Both of them moaned, incoherently, and stared at the doorway.

There stood Idu, her hands on her hips, one eye larger than the other in questioning. "It's strange, you two. You never seem to have very good balance. I always find something wrong with you." Idu pointed to Dib. "I can understand you, with you big head and all. It must make you lose balance a lot. But Tak. I thought Irkens had controlled balances. Was I wrong?"

Tak grumbled something in Irken under her breath. Then she said: "What do you want Idu?"

"We're ready for you two." Then she turned and walked down the corridor, the two, confused people, following close behind.

It wasn't a long walk to the cockpit but to Dib, after seeing what could happen on this ship, it was like the walk one took when on death row. Though it may be short and though you're scared, the path is a long one, and you can't help but wonder what will happen to you when you're gone. That's what Dib wondered at that very moment. He wondered what Gaz would do if she were to return and find that her brother no longer lived in the land that she did. What would his father do if Kim came back with nothing but a sorrow-filled mind and the horrible news of his death?

The thought was horrifying. What if Gaz changed because of it? The possibility was very rare, indeed, but at a loss of her brother perhaps she would take a turn for the worse in terms of mind. Perhaps she wouldn't be able to handle it? His father might try to clone himself once more to gain another son. Would the pain be there? Dib wasn't sure, but he did know that if he were to die his father would feel it once news hit him. He'd feel it for that single moment. Definitely…

Dib heard voices up ahead. One was Kim's, she seemed anxious, worried, and even scared, when he listened. Then there was the other voice. Familiar… Yet! Somehow it wasn't the same. The voice seemed calm but the one that he remembered was violent. Then it struck him, Kim was currently talking to the ship… Would he have to as well?

---

Kim furiously tampered with the controls of the ship. She was so angry right now. The fact was that she was furious about a Bludgeon device getting on board. It made her feel unsafe, knowing that an alien had, actually, been able to sneak into her home, locate the ship, and get past the security system. This meant that the Bludgeons were, not only, getting smarter, but bettering their skills when it came to recon and surveillance. If they were able to get into Kim's home then who knows where else they could get into. Suddenly she didn't feel to good about leaving the Irken leaders and Dib's father in a, less than top quality surveillance, household.

"I can't believe that they were able to make it aboard," said she. "The tapes should have caught them at least! How the hell could they get into the house with all of the equipment? It doesn't make sense! I'll have to upgrade when we get back… Aw! I'm so stupid!" This was, of course, to no one in particular. Because, although she was able to make friends to talk with, she tended to speak with herself. But she dared not tell a soul. There was, however, one that knew her secret. And he finally decided to speak his mind.

"It wasn't your fault, Kim. I should have been more alert. They could have gotten in when the security was down. That's always a possibility."

"Ha! Kim burst into a fit of full anger. "That's a laugh! As if the Bludgeons could keep interest in something that long. They can't even stay on task for one thing, let alone two. It would have taken them quite some time to get past all the security alarms that would have been on even with the security system power was low. They'd have lost interest so quick that they would have stumbled onto something fast and tripped the alarm."

"Then, that doesn't explain how they were able to make it one even when the security was up… Now, does it?"

Kim went quiet. She thought for a moment. "Touché, Kai… Touché…"

Then there was a whir as the door behind her opened. Kim turned around, standing, and looked into the metallic face of Idu as she strolled in the door. Tak and Dib followed close behind her. Both looked confused and had the strangest glare in their eyes. Kim wasn't sure what exactly it was… but she was sure that it couldn't be good for what was to come next.

"Hi guys, why don't you sit down and I'll explain everything to you."

"Good", said Tak, taking her seat. "I want some answers and I want them now." Kim tried to speak but Tak raised her one claw. "I wasn't finished. The answers that I want have to fit the question. I don't want you straying from the original aspect of the conversation, as humans so do, and I want you to merely give me what I want. Truth be told, I don't wish to be here, but I am curious to know how your ship has such a variety of abilities. Then," she said, pointing to Kim briefly. "I want to know where you got it so that I can inform my Tallest. Now, the first question is this… How is it that the computer of this ship is able to react as though it truly had emotions?"

"It does."

Tak raised a brow. "I'm not sure if you're lying so I'll move on…"

Kim smiled and waited, quietly drumming her fingers on the dashboard of the cockpit. She found Tak to be somewhat amusing at points, but she wouldn't ever tell the Irken female. It may upset her. Instead she listened and waited for another easy question so that she could give an easy answer.

"Now, how can your ship have reactions to touches on the surface?"

"The symbols all over the walls have a variety of abilities, varying from tickling sensations to pain. It's quite easy. Each symbol that you see on the ship can stand for something. For example," Kim pointed to a random, circular symbol. "That one makes it so that the ship can see. If it were to be severed them there would be no reaction from the optic sensors."

Dib raised a hand. Though hesitant at this Kim nodded for him to speak. "Can we just move on to why the ship did all that a while ago? I'm sort of eager to know why all that was happening. It's bothering me."

"Yes," said Tak, nodding her head. "I guess that would be good. Tell us, human. Why is the ship as it is?"

"The 'ship', as you call it, is my younger, twin brother, Kai."

There was a silence that stretched through the room.

Tak raised an invisible brow to Kim's response. Frankly, she had no idea how she wanted to react to this. She wanted to cry out in surprise and then she wanted to stay quiet and say nothing at all. Tak was, actually, hoping that Kim was kidding, in fact, she was sort of praying for her to be doing so. But, alas, after her conversation with the ship in the hallways she wasn't sure if Kim was kidding or not. It didn't seem practical but with this thing humans called 'magic'… It could have been possible…

Dib just sat there, gripping the sides of his chair in both amazement and wonder. He was amazed that such a thing could be right in front of him. He knew that he's seen the symbols before! He should have recognized them! But he didn't. Then he was wondering. He wondered why Kim had kept Kai a secret from him. And he wondered why she had never told him that she had a twin brother. And, most of all, he wondered how it came to be; Kai being a ship. Obviously he hadn't been one since birth, that would have been ridiculous and Dib doubted that Kim's mother would have survived labour. But then how did Kai end up being a ship?

Finally, the silence was broken by Tak's irritated voice. She leapt to her feet, her fists clenched. Dib watched her stand up fast. He didn't know why she was so angry but he assumed it was because she didn't know what else to do. After all, you don't meet a ship every day. It was a rare experience and some people, or Irkens, may have had a very hard time muddling through an event such as this. In Dib's mind… Tak was taking it pretty well.

"Your brother? Twin brother? That's ridiculous!" Then again… Maybe she wasn't taking it so well… Tak stepped forwards. Dib thought that he saw blood on her hands and he assumed that her claws had actually punctured the lining of her gloves and had cut into her green skin. Tak also seemed slightly greener around the face. He recognized that look from whenever he foiled one of Zim's plans. He hadn't seen it in a long time though. "Do you honestly think that an Irken soldier would believe something as stupid as that? There's no way this ship is your brother!"

"It's true."

Tak nearly screamed when the face of something crawled out of the wall to greet her. Bands of metallic poles, all tiny and barely thicker than a small clump of hair, made themselves bold by jutting out of the wall and laying out in a pattern that created a face. The façade was soft, pleasant, and, above all, looked just like Kim's, save for the fact that it was more male somehow and the eyes were slit far more than hers. Also, what little hair could be seen, was messy and uncut, whereas Kim's was put up nice to show of her pale forehead.

It was Kai's face, had he been there to actually greet them. The face smiled as Ta stumbled over and fell onto the ground. One brow rose as the female Irken was lifted back into the air and a standing position by more fibres of thin metal poles. She seemed so surprised. Dib was surprised as well. Kim just smiled. Idu had lost all interest and was looking into the vast black void that was space. (Remind you of anyone?)

Then Tak was standing. She stared at the face and seemed to shrink where she stood. Though it was human it looked… so… big! The face was so very big! It made her feel even smaller than she did when standing in the presence of the Tallest.

"It's true," Kai repeated. "Kim really is my twin sister."

"How?" Dib leaned forwards in his seat in order to see past Tak and looked into those metal eyes. "How is that even possible? I mean… well… you're not exactly human… I mean…" Dib went slightly blank for a moment. "You're a ship! That's not normal!" He was sort of freaking out now. Dib had been able to hold it in until now but he was going crazy from it. "Ships don't talk without a downloaded personality! Kim said that you aren't one… so what are you? I don't know! I'm so confused!" he was tearing at his hair now.

Kai looked at Kim who nodded to him.

Dib was covered in metallic wires that wrapped over the chair and, more importantly, over his body. He was bound to his seat. The teenager was no longer able to move, tear at his hair, or thrash about. He could do nothing in a situation like this. For a single moment he struggled. Finding that he could budge, Dib quickly let the notion slide and he sat there in his seat, quickly, waiting for the conversation to continue.

Kim turned to Tak and Dib, her smiled fading slowly. "You see, Kai was my brother quite some time ago. He isn't exactly, what most people would consider to be, 'alive' anymore. And so he hasn't been for the past 10 years…"

"When I was 8," continued Kai, "I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. There wasn't anything that could be done to help me. I was going to die. Luckily, by that time, Kim had developed an interest in paranormal activities. I, myself, had taken a particular liking to magic and the dark arts."

"It was then that Kai remembered a few select spells and charms in one of his old books. He told me to go to the house and get the book. When I did he told me that I would have to find something that was mobile but he didn't tell me why. So, naturally, I picked the ship of all places."

"Kim coated the ship in the charms that were needed to give me everything that I would need. We did the entire thing in secret for the most part. In the end, when it came close to having the spell completed, I ended up telling on us without knowing it. I spoke in my sleep about our plans and mother and father were alerted immediately."

"But they enjoyed the idea of Kai maybe living on. So they allowed us to go through with it. So I cast the spell and the next moment, in the hospital, not too far away, Kai died. For two weeks we didn't know what was wrong and we thought that the spell had failed and that I had failed to keep him with us. It wasn't until the security system in the house started to flicker for no reason did we check on the ship."

"By then I'd moved in completely and I had figured out how to work myself right and flex my wires and whatnot. By that time I didn't have the ability to speak yet and I was only able to form a smile face, instead of my own. So I contacted them while Kim was charging me through the appliances in the house and the security system."

"When we came into the garage to check on the circuits of the house we found a smile face on the ship smiling back at us. For a second I thought that it was a joke by our dad. But then the smile winked at me and lipped my name. I knew, after a few tests, that it was Kai. So… That's about it."

"I can control the entire complex of what you're standing on because, technically, you're standing on me. Pretty creepy huh?"

Dib and Tak were silent.

"Anyways," continued Kai. "I…"

"Hey…" said Tak, rubbing her chin. "That is creepy…" She pointed to Kai's artificial face. "You're creepy Kai."

"Yes… I sure am… I'm a ship after all."

---

Brooke: Ok… I wasn't able to update as quickly as I had wanted to. My brother bough an Xbox 360 this week and he stole the USB thingy to play it live and talk to his new friend, Uncivil Prism. So I wasn't able to update as fast as I wanted to. This also means that I wasn't able to read any of my new reviews. So I'll get a look at them later on.