I obviously don't own Invader Zim, just this story and some fan-made characters! No harsh critics please, I am sensitive. Thank you!

Test Stage VIII

It was starting to get dark. The last kid already had left the dreadful school, leaving it completely deserted. Well, not completely, since the insanely happy Miss Teacher was still there, heading to the most terrifying and awful room in the whole place, located in the deepest hallways, where everything was even more sinister. The principal's office...

If the ambiguous blackness, the narrowness and the constant cracking of the old furniture and the broken door weren't scary enough, there was always a cold breeze, even when there wasn't any trace of wind in the rest of the building. It had come from nowhere.

"Eeerr... Excuse me..."

Dead silence.

"Hello? Mister Clockwork?"

Then a figure popped up from under the desk, what nearly caused the poor woman a heart attack.

"SQUEEEEEEEE!"

"At last! Welcome, Miss Teacher! Please, take a seat"

"O-okay..."

However, the principal wasn't so intimidating as the office seemed to warn. Just as the rest of the staff in that school, he was grinning gladly. But there was something different in his grin. Something that made it look cynical, or rather demonic.

"So? Don't keep wasting time and tell me!" he continued "I want to know if those rumors were true"

"R-rumors?" stammered the teacher nervously.

"Come on, you know what I mean! Rumors about violence in my happy school..."

"Oh... O-oh! That!"

"Yes, that"

"Well, it was just a little quarrel, nothing to worry about!"

"No-no miss! That's how things start, as insignificant matters, and then we all find ourselves running from an atomic bomb"

"Oooooooh! Right! You're absolutely right, sir!"

"Of course I am. And for that reason, I would like to know what kind of psychotic brat started this little quarrel"

"In that case... It was Den, sir"

"You know that I don't have time or interest to know the names of all those maggots. Details!"

"She's one of the most recent students in my class. A hysterical troublemaker obsessed with tons of bizarre things"

"Bizarre...?"

"See it by yourself, I took this from her locker"

Miss Teacher handed him a small book, as he proceeded to examine it.

"Across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic" he read, aloud "Regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us"

Then he looked back at the teacher, lifting his both eyebrows.

"Aliens, huh?"

The woman just nodded, frowning slightly. The principal, on the other hand, was smiling again, in a even more sadistic way. It was a genuine murderous grin.

"Membrane..."

"Sir?"

Then he punched the desk noisily.

"I KNEW IT! I knew that I'd have to deal with that family again! BECAUSE DESTINY SAID SO!"

"S-s-s-sir? What are you saying?"

"That boy... It was such a challenge to dominate him, but after years of effort, I got to make him work correctly"

"Boy? What boy?"

"Remember that lunatic who nearly caused the end of the world as we know it, to apparently stop an alien that didn't even exist and it was all in his screwed up mind?"

"Oh, yes... How to forget that..."

"Well, he's NOT a threat anymore! My almighty boarding school fixed him! And it was all thanks to ME! So if I did it with him then I'll be able to do the same with his repugnant offspring!"

"Wow, sir! I hadn't seen you so truly glad since ages ago!"

"BECAUSE NOTHING MAKES ME HAPPIER THAN ERADICATING MADNESS!"

And while Mister Clockwork was letting out an old-fashioned evil laugh, very far from there, a cute little girl was almost arriving to her home, hopping joyfully all over the sidewalk and humming a lovely song.

"I am the lady and mistreeeess! You all are bastaaaards! Worship me, or I'll stab your eyes till you bleed! I am the lady and mistreeeeeeeess!"

Well, maybe not so cute. It was Zal, after all.

"You know what, Minimoose? Our master is more stupid than what I supposed"

"Meep!"

"I mean, what on Irk made him think that the puny Den was any kind of lethal bioweapon? She's just another pathetic earth larva! And nothing else!"

"Mee..."

"We could be destroying this planet already... Why, oh WHY is he taking so long?"

She stopped, to then knock the door.

"INTRUDER!" howled a squeaky voice from inside.

"It's me, Gir..." she sighed.

"Ehm... INTRUDEEEEER!"

"It's ME, Gir. ZAL"

"INTRUDER INTRUDER INTRUDEEEEER!"

Zal facepalmed.

"NOW LISTEN TO ME... I mean... TACOS! I HAVE TACOS!"

"..."

Silence.

"Gir?"

Then a noise began to blare inside. A motor. A jet motor.

"G-Gir?"

"TAAAAQUIIIIIIITOOOS!"

The door opened quickly and the little robot glomped her, so strongly that she fell, slamming her nape against the street.

"TAQUITOS TAQUITOS TAQUIIITOS!"

"GIR! GET OFF! THERE ARE NO TACOS!"

"W-whaa?"

"No tacos. Get off. Now"

"Aaaaw... Okee dokee!"

Zal sighed once more and got up, to finally enter, dragging Gir and Minimoose with her.

"I'm home, my master!"

"SHUSH!"

"Huh?"

Almost popping up from nowhere, Zim ran towards the door and slammed it, as he glared to the girl, who was still perplexed.

"...master?"

"I said SHUSH!"

"B-but..."

"Don't talk like that so loud! Humans don't refer to others as their 'masters'!"

"Ahem... There isn't any human around at the moment"

"No... But that thing..."

He was now observing a chihuahua through the window, with a death stare in his face. The dog just scratched its ear, what made him shudder and close the curtain.

"All right, we're safe now..."

Zal nodded, as her pretty pale skin, her pretty blue eyes and her pretty black pigtails vanished, and she turned into a small green creature with strangely long antennas and a pair of shiny and gigantic light pink eyes.

"Then I shall restart. I'm home, my master!"

"Welcome home, my loyal servant! How was the filthy school?"

"Disgusting!"

"Good to know!"

"That's bad, master..."

"BAD to know! Happy?"

"No, not really"

He shrugged and went to sit over the coach, next to Gir, who was watching the exciting new season of the Angry Monkey Show.

"Master... There's something I need to know"

"What could it be?" he inquired, rather unwillingly.

"Well, we both know that you hate Earth as hell"

"Yes, I do"

"And I hate it too"

"Indeed, you too"

"So then... Shouldn't we GET OUT of here? There are lots of other planets that we could conquer instead!"

"I think you mean that I could conquer, and anyway, my response is no"

"No? NO? But WHY?"

"Because that would be an act of cowardice, you silly subordinate! If we leave, we are fleeing, what means we are letting them win! And before you ask, YES! IT'S SERIOUS!"

"Okay... I understand..."

"FFFF... I was sure that I had made you smarter"

"But then why don't you MOVE and invade Earth ONCE AND FOR ALL?"

"We still have to wait for the reinforcements that my Tallest have sent to us!"

"With all due respect, master... They said that years ago"

"No, no, no! You don't have to worry, Zal! They'll here soon! For sure!"

"Master..."

"And then I'll allow you to share the moon with Gir!"

"MOONY!" screeched the robot, tossing a plush he was holding to the air.

"Anyway..." groaned Zal "May I ask what makes this reinforcements so necessary?"

He silenced and frowned, as his face darkened all of a sudden.

"Him..." he muttered.

"Huh? What the... Master?"

"It's because of him, Zal, it's all because of him..."

"Whaa? Who?"

"Remember that filthy human I mentioned before? The filthy human who created that filthy monstrous clone?"

"Yes...?"

"He is my most mortal enemy... The one who wants to ruin my existence... The one who throws things that burn at me and laughs like the jerk he is... The one..."

"MASTER! TO THE POINT!"

"OKAY, OKAY! Hum... He is Dib... The Dib-Monkey"

"Den's... master. Right?"

"Right. And who knows how much more hideous creatures that he must be building to form a whole army"

"No way... That was what made you need reinforcements?"

"NATURALLY! No matter of how strong is the almighty Zim, the almighty Zim can't deal with this completely alone!"

"Ehm... Master... What about us?"

Zal was embracing Minimoose with one hand and pointing at Gir with the other.

"COME ON! That's not enough, even GIR knows it!"

"I know!" exclaimed Gir, actually without getting a word of anything.

"Please, master, if that human is the only problem, let me end up with him to advance with the invasion"

"What? NEVER! NOBODY BUT THE ALMIGHTY ZIM CAN DESTROY THE DIB-MONKEY!" he snapped, to her surprise.

"Then... Then what are you waiting for, master? Go and bust his head ALREADY!"

"Do I have to repeat everything again? We have to wait for the reinforcements!"

"But... But..."

"Now shut up and come to watch this stupid show as a stupid normal earth worm"

"Yes, my master..."

In that same moment, in the house from the front block, the terrible mad scientist that the almighty Zim feared so much was plotting something, something dangerous, with his bloodthirsty bioweapon.

"Really?"

"Really"

"Really?"

"Really"

"Reaaaally?"

"Really!"

"Yay! Thank you, dad!" exclaimed Den joyfully, hugging her father, as he petted her head with a tender smile.

"You know that I would do anything to get a break from that damned science, dear, specially to spend the whole night with you"

"Aaaaw... But you didn't have to..."

"Too late, I already did it"

"Well, if it doesn't cause you any trouble..."

"As I said, you're the most important thing. I would never put my work above. I would never neglect you, neither ignore you, I don't belong to that kind, of course not. Never ever"

He was smiling roguishly at Gaz, who glared coldly at him, squeezing a can in her hand.

"Just get the hell out of here already" she grumbled.

"Indeed, we have to go!"

"All right!"

"G-go? W-where?" asked Kiki, coming from the kitchen.

"We are going to go out for a while" replied Den gladly.

"O-oh! T-that's very good, h-have fun!"

"Thanks! And... by the way, Kiki, what are those?"

"Huh?"

The tiny girl turned to the table behind her, where she had left a plate with muffins.

"T-that? I baked them! Y-you know, f-for the neighbor and his p-puppy! I-I will go to visit them! Since they were very kind the other day, g-giving me the pizza and stuff..."

"Okay, see you la- wait, WHAT?"

"Den, dear! Can we leave already?"

"Ah! Sure, there I go!"

"D-don't worry, I'll keep one f-for you!"

"No... Kiki... Kiki, HOLD ON!"

"B-babai!"

And Kiki slammed the door.

Indeed, Den, have fun... e_e

To be continued, peoples~

Some copyright:

Book from Den's locker: 'The War Of The Worlds' fragment. Belongs to H.G. Wells

Zal's lovely song: Taken from 'Squirrel Songs', Foamy episode

Thanks for reading! If liked review! :3

Also... I wonder if the principal's name is Orange .-.