A/N: Here is my fourth upload. This one is more of a filler chapter, but the plot will move along shortly. Thank you to my reviewers. I haven't replied to your comments, but I do definitely read them. So I'm gonna thank you here :)

Invader Johnny: he is having a field day! I guess you've read the script to the Trial as a huge IZ fan, so you probably remember how it ended for him. Lucky Zim.

ngrey651: I'm so happy you like the twist in the story. I was worried some would hate Zim for taking his memories. It was very invasive. I know I wouldn't be pleased.

Quest reviewer: Thank you! You're so sweet. I can't send you a PM but that's okay. I was shocked to see your first review. I had no idea people liked Clairvoyance that much and thank for your compliments. They really mean a lot. I've been reading IZ fanfic for a while now, so I feel as if I've seen and read all the best fics out there, but there will be others. Of course there will be. I will check that story out on dA. I would also suggest anything by HeCallsMeHisChild. One of my favourite IZ writers on this site :)

...

"What?" Zim asked, looking over at Skoodge incredulous and slightly annoyed by his bad timing.

"We have to. I may never see her again..."

Zim looked out the windshield of the Voot, while Skoodge sat on his right with pleading eyes. They hadn't left the hangar yet, as the roof of the house already split in half to allow them out.

"You ask a lot of me today, Skoodge, but all right. I should warn you, speaking to an Earth child is not like speaking to an Irken smeet. Molly won't grasp why you're leaving, or why you may never come back. You'll have to avoid the dead word as carefully as possible. Say you'll go to the 'special farm'... Heh, Dib."

There came a snort of some sort at the back of the Voot. Zim decided it was nothing.

"I'll try my best. She's taught me so much, like how to eat cereal upside down, or ride a bicycle with no hands. I owe her this."

Zim gave a genuine smile. "How lovely. We'll make a detour to Molly's house, stay there for half an hour, and then onward to space!"

"Oh no. This suddenly became real!" Skoodge panicked. "I don't think I can do this. How do I tell her we may never see each other again? I've never done anything like this before."

"I don't know, Skoodge. I really don't know what advice to give you." Zim sighed. "Just let her know how special she is to you. That your leaving won't change the bond that's formed between you."

"Then let us go," Skoodge said sadly, fixing his shining eyes on the road ahead.

Zim started the Voot and flew in the direction of Molly's house. The Voot was disguised as a large bee so not to draw in any attention. The bees of Earth were getting remarkably larger every year, so no worries.

He parked the Voot across from Molly's house once they arrived, finding a space between two cars. The hood of the car behind got a little scorched by the ship's thrusters, but nothing too damaging.

The windshield opened as the Irkens jumped out onto the pavement, receiving odd looks from Molly's neighbours. Lucky they had on their disguises as they walked up to her house.

Zim knocked on the front door. It opened, and there was Molly's mother, Ruby, holding a screaming toddler in her arms. The noises coming out of his mouth were unbearable.

Ruby looked tired, as the red-faced tot stopped for a moment to stare at the two strange beings on his front step. When he got a good look, he started screaming again. It was a continuous cycle.

"Oh, hello, Zim, Skoodge. You here to see Molly?" she asked in a friendly voice.

"Yes, ma'am. We were wondering if she were home?" Zim said.

"Of course; she's playing upstairs in her room. You boys make your way up." She moved aside and invited them through.

"Thank you," Zim replied.

Zim and Skoodge walked inside the house. Ruby placed the baby in front of the TV in a hi-tech walker, and then put on a mind-numbing baby show. He still wasn't satisfied, and proceeded with his tantrum. Ruby looked lost. What does the infant want? He's been changed, fed and he already had his 'nap of the day'. Earth toddlers, and just think it was still only six months away till the terrible twos...

"Such a shame. He was an adorable baby," Zim told Skoodge quietly.

The Irkens left the mother downstairs with her bothersome toddler, and made their way to Molly's room. They stood outside and listened to her playing a space game with her alien dolls. After much pestering, her mother finally bought her space toys rather than those awful Barbie dolls that she hated so much (who wants to play with a doll with a disproportionate body, anyway?)

"Quick, fly into the asteroid belt! They're gaining on us! Captain," the little girl put on a different voice now for another character, "we've been hit by an asteroid!"

"Asteroid belt?" Skoodge said. "Is she crazy? Game or not, no one willingly fly's into an asteroid belt. She has much to learn of space travel."

"Heh, yeah, what kind of idiot would fly into an asteroid belt?" Zim laughed, pulling on his collar. He pushed his past Mars adventure out of his mind, and knocked on the door.

The noises stopped inside the room, as quick footstep ran to the door. Next, Molly's face appeared as she gasped. She never got bored of seeing her extra-terrestrial friends.

"Zim, Skoodge! I'm so glad you're here! I'm playing a really cool game with my alien toys. You can play too!"

She dragged them inside and shut the door. The girl was wearing an alien costume with antennae, which she wiggled about her head.

"Look, I have grose insect feelers now too!" she pointed.

"Yes, so you do," Zim observed, sitting upon his favourite spot — the woven chair. It creaked under his weight.

"Take your wigs off and we can all be aliens!"

"Sure thing, Molly. Anything for you," Skoodge replied, taking his yellow bouffant off.

"Now take your fake eyes out."

"Yes, sir!" Skoodge saluted, and did just as he was instructed.

Molly looked over at Zim. "Zim, why haven't you taken your wig off?"

"Eh, I'll be the... human child who has befriended the aliens. I'm already in 'costume'."

"Mmm, okay. You be the human child, and we'll be the evil aliens trying to brainwash you before we all make friends! Skoodge, look," she pointed at Zim, "a filthy human child. Let's brainwash him and make him do all our evil, alien stuff! Mwhahaha!"

"Hahaha, yeah, let's go get him," Skoodge said, watching the girl sadly. He would miss all of this.

"You, pig smelly!" Molly jumped in front of Zim. "Prepare to be brainwashed!"

"Huh?" Zim said. He had been watching a bird in the tree outside. "Oh... oh no, my normal, human boy brains are going to be brainwashed by this superior being from beyond!"

"Hahahaha!" Molly grabbed his head and prepared to brainwash him. Zim waited patiently.

"Well?" he asked. "Am I brainwashed yet?"

"In a minute. I lost my brainwashing thingy, so now I have to use my... uh... mind to brainwash you, filthy Earth pig!"

Zim pushed her aside. "Hold on," he said, and reached his hand inside his PAK's storage for his brainwashing device, or thingy. He hadn't used it in a while, but it was pretty potent. He actually succeeded in brainwashing a cashier at the 24hr convenience store to reduce his purchase on a Suckmunkey for GIR, though it would never reach the high level of Tak's implant.

"Here, take this." He deactivated the object before he gave it to the human child. She wouldn't actually be brainwashing anybody (since it's pretend), but Zim had to take caution.

"What is it?" she asked.

"A brainwashing thingy, of course. You turn the dial here, and then place it by my frontal lobe, or forehead, till it powers up."

"Will it hurt you?"

"No, don't be silly. Zim trusts you not to brainwash him. Remember, it's all pretend..."

"Okay! Prepare to be brainwashed, filthy human!"

She pressed it to his head. "Noooo! My brains, my inferior, human brains!" Zim cried.

"I command you to um... dance like a monkey, twirl around, and then fall asleep!"

"I obey!" Zim danced like a monkey, twirled around, and fell asleep on the floor.

"Skoodge, put the human in a bag, and we will take him back to the base for horrible testing!"

"Yes, sir!" Skoodge took the case off of one of Molly's pillows, and pulled it over Zim's head. "There!" he stood proud.

"Hey!" Zim snapped, pulling it off his head. "That's it. I'm not playing anymore. You know how I feel about sacks!"

"But it's just a pillow case, Zim. It only pulls down to your chin. We wouldn't have gotten very far with you anyway..."

"I think the games have gone on long enough now. It's time to tell her, Skoodge."

"Tell me what?" Molly asked next.

The aliens looked at her. Zim indicated to Skoodge with his finger, and pointed it at Molly and back to Skoodge again.

"You have ten minutes, Skoodge," he said.

Skoodge twiddled his thumbs and looked up at her sheepishly. She waited patiently, eyes bright and eager.

"I have something very important to tell you, Molly," he said.

"Well what is it?" she asked. "Spill it out, Skoodge!"

Skoodge flinched when she yelled, and then sighed. He sat on the mattress of her bottom bunk. Its springs groaned in protest. He patted the space beside him as Molly sat down on his left.

Zim folded his arms and stared out the window. He decided to watch that bird in the tree again. It had a nest and some chicks. He watched their gaping beaks cry out for a worm, while the loudest got it in the end. Zim was always the loudest too. He can remember them as eggs. They grow up so fast.

"We..." Skoodge started, "Me and Zim are leaving Earth today. But not forever!" he added after that worried look in her eyes. "Well, not for Zim, anyway. You'll definitely see him again, if he manages not to blow up Judgementia."

Zim felt the pride coursing through him after Skoodge brought up his oldest, best trait (though he may not have noticed if Skoodge was being sarcastic). But those days were over. No more explosions, and no more fires. Just straight out sanity all the way. How boring.

"Why won't I see you again?" Molly asked, voice growing soft.

"I'm going to confront my leaders. Very forbidden on Irk... I'm going to save the honor of an old friend. She needs help, but the Empire has given up on her. She's not broken, and I know she can be fixed. I just have to convince them."

"Is she important to you?"

Skoodge hesitated a moment. "I don't know. I'm not even sure if she knows who I am. We hardly talked during training. In a way, she is. I saved her life once and I plan to save her again. It was the second, no, first best moment of my life. I saved a fellow Irken soldier from Irk's greatest enemy."

"You saved someone's life?" Molly asked impressed. "You were a hero after all."

"Yes, I know. Skoodge did good."

"Well, I'll miss you, Skoodge, but you have to go and save your friend. Don't let your mean old Tallest win!"

"I'll try my best, for you."

"I know we'll see each other again. I believe in you, Skoodge."

"Thank you, Molly. You have no idea how much this means to... to..." He stopped and held his hands over his eyes. Molly put her arms around him and hugged him tight.

"I love you, Molly. I really do..." Skoodge said.

Zim flipped his head over at Skoodge. Did he really just say the "L" word? Impossible, Irkens were incapable of love. He was the rare exception for who knows whatever reason (nothing to do with his being defective), but Zim knew he saw something in the Tallest' eyes the day he resigned from his post as Invader.

They were almost admitting something. Who and what could they have loved? And now here he was, witnessing an Irken pour his heart out to a small Earth child, like it came naturally.

Was there more to his race than he thought? He had learnt many things about the humans, but his own race still remained a mystery to him.

The shorter Irken wouldn't admit, but Skoodge's bravery truly inspired him. To go up against his leaders, who once gave him restless nights, to save an Irken he admired.

Zim found it hard to relate, since he hadn't cared about any other Irken before (apart from Skoodge deep down), which was why Zim was indifferent to it all. Even Tak's trial. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't care, but he knew he should feel something. Death was death, regardless if Tak wronged him in the past.

She wasn't a monster like that thing that hurt an old friend of his. Not quite so. So how could he be so neutral?

Maybe it was because she was Irken. The humans were one thing, but the Irkens... He almost felt that they didn't deserve his respect, and that goes from the individual level to the whole population.

The humans taught him so much, but all that his own race had taught him was how to be a merciless killing machine. So why did he sometimes feel a twinge of guilt when he recalled all those Irkens he hurt during Operation Impending Doom I? Old Zim was once proud of that fact. But how could he be now? So twisted he was back then. They were life forms, regardless if they were cruel or not.

"I love you too, Skoodge, and we will see each other again," Molly said.

Skoodge was too upset to respond as he held onto her. Trust Molly to be the one to have to reassure him in the end.

Zim watched them there, trying to seem indifferent, but his eyes failed him. There was no mistaking that sheen that glossed over his ocular implants.

Now he approached them. "It's time to go, Skoodge. Goodbye, Molly. Zim will miss you too."

Molly stood up and hugged Zim too. "Take care of Skoodge, Zim. I know you pretend you don't care about him, but you must take care of him now. He needs you."

"I'll do it for you, Molly." Zim met Skoodge's sad eyes next, and he tried to tell himself that his fat, snivelling face didn't break his heart a little.

"Come on, you, and stop crying. Invaders don't cry," Zim said.

"Then I must be an exception, because my heart is breaking..." Skoodge sobbed into his hands.

Zim groaned and pulled him up to his feet with great effort, keeping an arm around his shoulder. Skoodge cried helplessly on his right. Now he led him out of the room and all the way downstairs, and back into the Voot again.

Skoodge waved up to the window at Molly, as he still blubbered like a baby.

"Stop snivelling, Skoodge. Everything will work out in the end."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Molly's not the only one who has faith in you, my chubby, gullible Skoodge. Come here." He grabbed Skoodge's fat head and gave it a rough noogie. Skoodge looked disturbed.

"You're really not good at this, are you?" Skoodge said, while Zim held him in a headlock.

"No. Let us never speak of this again." Zim let him go, and Skoodge fixed his antennae.

"You know," Zim said, removing his wig and then his contacts, "you walked right past Molly's mother without your disguise on, and she didn't even notice..."

"Well, she was too busy wiping mashed potatoes off the TV that baby Kenny hurled in yet another tantrum."

"She does have her hands full, I guess. Well, onward to outer space!"

There came a squee at the back of the ship. Zim looked confused a moment, but then he shrugged it off and started the Voot. The ship roared to life. Now the local residents watched as that giant bumblebee took off into the sky and disappeared behind the clouds.

They finally left Earth's atmosphere and entered the dark void of space. Zim sat back in his moon-shaped chair, and sighed.

"I have missed this. It's funny, space seems so much smaller now."

He looked over at Skoodge, who was watching the little blue planet fade away.

"You will see her again, Skoodge. She's right."

"I just wish I could have kept myself together, unlike her. She was amazing. She didn't cry once."

"Molly's a tough kid. She gets her resilience from her aunt after all."

"Hey, how come you never said goodbye to her?" Skoodge asked. "She's always at Molly's aunt Lily's house with baby Johnny. You can see her anytime."

"I know, but she has a lot going on at the moment. Plus, it's different now... She's not a little girl anymore. She grew up. "

"The last time we saw Molly senior, she didn't look a day older."

"I never meant physically, Skoodge. She's finally caught up with her years. Well, to a degree."

"Well what about Johnny senior? Isn't he usually at the hospital?"

Zim pulled a face like he wanted to vomit. "Why would I stop to say goodbye to him? We share a mutual respect, but we're not friends in the slightest! I still can't utter the baby's name without tasting bile. That Nny..." he breathed viciously.

"The astral beings of Earth are strange..." Skoodge remarked.

"Well, you may not have to worry about them much longer if you're losing your 'powers'."

Skoodge sighed. "I know."

"Let's put this foolish conversation behind us, and set this thing into hyper drive."

"Okay..."

"Would you like to activate the hyper drive?" Zim asked the chubby Irken, like he was five-years-old.

"I'm not so eager to put any more distance between me and Earth, but... all right."

"Wait! Let me activate the hyper drive!" Dib appeared from the back of the ship next, making the Irkens jump.

"Dib!" Zim yelled. "How did you get on my ship?"

"I sneaked in right after I left, and hid under the back seat. Did you really think that my new mom wanted me home, Zim? She doesn't tell me what to do! Okay, I do go to bed when she says, but come on, all the best paranormal research happens at night! Now that she's not pregnant anymore, she is more bearable to live with. Watching Dad monitor her behavior for the last nine months was getting too much after a while..."

"Then how did you manage to sneak back inside my base, and all the way up into the hangar without my noticing?"

"Easy, but I'm not gonna tell you that, space-slime!"

"Fine, keep your secret to yourself. But I have to take you back. Rather foolish of you to emerge before I activated the hyper drive. Once we're in hyperspace, there's no going back. Mwhahahaha!"

"No," Dib said, firmly."Let me come on this mission. You owe me a space adventure, Zim!"

"How about giant bunny rides and space sodas—?"

"No! A real space adventure!"

Zim gave it further thought. "No. We're going to a planet governed by Irkens. It's too dangerous. If someone saw you..."

"They won't. Check this out." Dib activated a button around his wrist, and an Irken disguise flickered to life. His Irken look wasn't much to rave about. Just the standard red/pink eyes and Invader uniform.

"How did you do that?" Zim asked, surprised.

"Holographic disguises aren't that complicated to make, Zim. You outta try using one sometime," said the new Irken that was Dib. It was really strange hearing his voice coming out of an alien's mouth.

"Lies! You looked up the manual for Tak's disguise on her ship!"

"Yeah, okay... You know, some of the data I found on her ship was brilliant, Zim. I mean really brilliant. You could have learned a few things from her."

Zim growled. "I nearly changed my mind before, but now I'm definitely taking you back!"

"Why can't you just admit that Tak was a better Invader than you?"

"I won't hear it, Dib! It's back to Earth now for you!"

Quickly, Dib activated the hyper drive, even putting in the exact coordinates for planet Judgementia, and the ship blasted off into hyperspace. Outside, all the stars disappeared, replaced with a strange tunnelling effect.

"Hey, it's not like it is in TV shows. Where the lines of stars shooting by?" Dib asked.

"You fool! What have you done? You've taken us... exactly to planet Jugdementia." Zim looked over the coordinates, which were a confusing array of numbers that only the top kinds of mathematicians could interpret.

"How did you—?"

"What? You think I didn't make backups to all the data I found on Tak's ship? I know all the exact coordinates to most planets under Irk's rule now, Zim."

"Off by heart?"

"Yep!"

"That's pretty impressive. Well, for a hyooman..."

The ship turned quiet. Zim sighed. It was too late now anyway to go back to Earth.

"Can I trust you not to go up against my race again, Dib? No funny business!"

"I won't. I can't even remember how I did it the first time anyway. Besides, I'm merely there to observe now."

"You better be. Because I can't save you again, and yada yada... Just keep your disguise on!"

"Well duh, do you think I'm stupid?"

"Yes."

"Well I think that would be more like suicidal, but whatever. Let the space adventures begin!" Dib procliamed, pointing a finger out the window.

"Be quiet!" Zim yelled.

So onwards they went on a fun-filled space adventure that didn't involve giant space bunnies and sodas.

A/N: I read somewhere (I think it was Zim wiki) that Jhonen stated in a commentary for one of the episodes (if you know it tell me) that Irkens are capable of love. I remember where I read it now. It was on the wiki page, in the section for 'Irken Biology'. Is that to say 'love' is a biological thing? There's supposed to be hormones involved, but forget all that. Love is a complex thing that science can't explain... (tangent alert!)

As Zim learnt a lot from the humans, he is know going to learn some things about his own species. People he was raised with. He feels a deeper connection to us than he does to his own kind. It's reasonable though.

Molly's little brother has a name now. Kenny, like off South Park. It's also one of my cousin's names.

I read an article on the IFLS site that many sci-fi shows and movies depict space inaccurately. I'm no space expert, but some made a lot of sense. For one, the likelihood of hitting an asteroid in an asteroid belt is a million to one,(or something like that) because space is just SO BIG (well, duh). They spread out and that. The only way you could hit one is if you directly went looking for one and then SMASH! But then even that would be unlikely. The reference there is Star Wars, but who knows really. Space is amazing and full of endless possibilities...

This was a separate article, but I can't remember where I read it now (hopefully not IFLS. I'm no longer a student, so I have no access to actual scientific literature anymore! Just articles and blogs). In Star Trek, when they fly at Warp Speed, they see those stars shooting by (I used to fall asleep imagining that scene years ago and it always helped. Even in school. Forget those sheep!) I'm no expert again here, or even a Star Trek one, but its just so famous; you can't not know what it is. In this article, a bunch of physicists decided (after a bunch of experiments that is) that hyperspace would actually look like a tunnelling effect due to... I can't remember why, but it was cool, sciencey stuff though. If I could find the article again, I could probably explain better.

Science fiction is not my strong point, which is why my writing isn't that great for it. It's more cartoonish (IZ is a cartoon, but still). My specialty is fantasy, supernatural and animals. But I'm writing a story about an alien. You have to have some in. I have no plans to write a science fiction novel in the future though, but it's alright to at least try with fanfiction. You find what you're good at and what you are not good at (leave sci-fi to the experts).

Johnny's still doing his community service (yes, I mean Johnny C. to newcomers). He was sentenced to do 200 hours, but it stretched longer than nine months in the end, and probably still counting (maybe 200 hours is like 200 years in the afterlife. Poor Johnny). Johnny hasn't made an appearance yet so far in the story (he is just mentioned several times). I have another five chapters to upload, but it's still not finished yet. I'm sure he'll appear again. This fanfic is focusing more on IZ now. I actually re-watched all the episodes prior to writing this to get a feel of the show again. It had been two and a half years.. That's probably why Zim ended with "Be quiet!" when Dib was shouting. That's a reference to Bolognius Maximus.

Dib: "Mortal enemies working together for the common good!"

Zim: "Be quiet!"

I'm sure you got that.

A lot of the next uploads begin and end with dialogue. I've never done it before, so just trying it out. I doubt I'll ever do it again, because cutting someone off is rude!

I know this isn't a Dexter's Lab, Rugrats, or even a Babe fanfiction, but I'd like to say RIP to Christine Cavanaugh. I grew up with her voicing so many of my favourite characters. I always listen to the Babe soundtrack "If I Had Words," on Youtube. So sad :(

Did you get through all my word vomit in the end? I'm impressed.

Well, the next upload will be next week. Goodbye for now :)