I believed the problem had something to do with her PAK. If Dib was correct, Irken personalities were downloaded into their PAKs (Dib had muttered something like that once). Rae originally never had a PAK, therefore she had her own personality- one that wasn't downloaded, just a natural personality. Then she had converted into an Irken, automatically having a PAK. Her PAK would obviously have a downloaded personality... They were likely two different personalities. Two personalities with one life-form... That was the problem. Something had to be done about this, or Rae would... I dunno. She would still be Rae, but weirder. A lot weirder. I couldn't explain it.
Zim would know something about this. He had been an Irken his entire life... however long that was. Irken years were probably much longer than human years, so I was guessing he was pretty old compared to us. The point was that he knew stuff like that. I knew he wouldn't just tell us. It was never that simple. I would have to sneak inside while Zim was away. Which is exactly what I did. -
I sat in Ms. Bitters' classroom, staring at the clock. The school day seemed to grow longer with every day I spent there. I wasn't sure why, though. Perhaps I just grew bored easily.
Finally, after what seemed like another hour of waiting (although it was actually only a minute), the bell rang.
"...and that's why you should never attempt to blow up the sun. Now get out."
Everyone rushed out of the classroom. As Zim began to stand up, Ms. Bitters stopped him. "Zim, you have detention. Stay here."
Zim grumbled something and then sat down, glaring at Ms. Bitters.
Good. Now I would have some time. I swiftly walked outside, pushing the main doors of the school open. I broke into a run, scampering past other kids who shot me annoyed glances as I rushed past. I ignored them and kept running. -
I knocked on the house of Zim's door, completely sure that GIR would open it. I was right. He stared up at me, wearing his doggy suit. "INTRUDER."
"No, I'm your friend," I told him.
His tone turned less serious. "Oh, okay den! Come on in!"
I did so, almost afraid I would step on the little guy. Sure,
Even though GIR was Zim's annoying evil minion, he was still somewhat adorable. Besides, most of the time he did the exact opposite of what his master said.
"Zim's at detention," I explained. "What'd he do?" GIR asked.
"Let's see...He stabbed Dib with a pencil, he back-talked the teacher, he blew up a toilet, he didn't pay attention in class, and he set a chair on fire. Detention lasts until 5:30." I said. I walked over to the toilet and flushed myself down, not completely sure where I was going to arrive. Some random lab, no doubt, though.
GIR jumped onto my shoulders before they had gone down. Great! Maybe he knew where I could find what I was looking for.
The elevator stopped on what it said was floor "L7." Seven was a lucky number; maybe I would be lucky today.
GIR and I exited the elevator, taking a step into the laboratory.
It was filled with what looked like hundreds of unfinished experiments. I gently lifted GIR up and set him on the floor. "Could you direct me towards general PAK information?" I asked.
GIR thought for a moment. "It's that way!" He pointed to the right.
I nodded. "Thank you!" I dashed in the direction he told me to go.
I had stopped running a mile ago, every experiment seeming to catch my eye. I eventually stopped in front of a door. There was a sign on the door, reading, 'Flesh Eating Meat Monsters.' That seemed slightly suspicious...
"Hmm" I guess I'll have to go that way, then." I muttered dubiously. I opened the door, and watched the monsters rattle their cages. They were just giant meats, with eyes and mouths filled with rows and rows of sharp teeth. I stared at them, frozen. My eyes were wide with fear and amazement. Had Zim done this?
My heart skipped a beat as I felt something slightly slimy touch my shoulder. I slowly turned my head, only to be met with a giant ham demon. It roared, and tried to bite me. I screamed and dove out of the way, landing on my stomach. The demon lurched forward, and I thought this would be the end. I squeezed my eyes shut, preparing to be eaten.
Suddenly, an Irken appeared in the doorway. He had light green skin, like other Irkens. His eyes were a slightly lighter shade of blue than Rae's, and his shirt was of the same color. He wore a standard Irken uniform, despite the color difference. He seemed to be holding an opened tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream and a large spoon.
He dug the spoon into the ice cream, and flung the scoop at the monster. The ice cream hit the ham demon, and it hissed. It's skin; or meat or whatever seemed to begin to melt at the ice cream's touch. "Eat that!" the Irken cried as he flung more ice cream. The demon was soon no more.
I stood, eyeing the Irken suspiciously. "Why did you save me?"
The Irken stared at me with an an emotionless expression. "Does it matter?"
"I guess not."
"My name is Zashko." He tapped the top of his left glove, and a secret compartment seemed to open. He hit a button, and disappeared. The air rippled where he had once stood. I assumed that the button he had pressed caused him to teleport. "My name is Zashko." The words echoed in my mind. Why had he told me that? I shook my questions away and trekked forward.
A banana king stood in front of me. Actually, he looked suspiciously like a man in a banana suit, but I didn't question that. A crown was placed on his head. "Um, hi," I said. "You won't try to kill me, will you?"
"Of course not!" the king cried. "I am the banana king! I RULE ALL BANANAS! Why would I want anything to do with a human?"
"Alright, good," I muttered. "But why are you in here? In Zim's lab, I mean."
"He promised me bananas."
"Er...right. Could you direct me in the direction of the...what would it be called... the room with information on PAKs and such?"
"Oh, that? That stuff is over there, through the laser weasels." He pointed to the left, and a sign labeled 'laser weasels' caught my attention. So this... banana guy wasn't completely insane after all.
"Thanks," I said and began to walk that way.
As soon as I entered the room with the laser weasels, I was automatically attacked. None of the weasels were in cages- they were just running around everywhere. They were blasting everything, but the room appeared to be perfectly fine. I, however, was not fine as they blasted at me, leaving singe marks. I yelped as the lasers burned my skin, but they didn't hurt much more than Zim's gnomes' lasers, fortunately.
Unfortunately, they blasted continuously, leaving no chance for me to escape. I couldn't get away. The weasels were swarming me. I never expected them to be so dangerous. "H-help!" I cried, diving under a table in attempt to find safety. Tables apparently weren ?t safe enough, for they swarmed around me once more. None of them were blasting, though. They had abruptly stopped. Why?
They were no longer staring at me anymore, but now they were staring in the opposite direction. I couldn't see what they were looking at, but I did hear a voice. "Back off!" And then another said, "This is weird."
The first voice was Rae. I knew Rae's voice anywhere. But the second... was that...No, it couldn't be.
I stood up to see while the weasels were distracted, and I found that I had been right: the second voice had been Mae. What was she doing down here? I turned my attention to Rae, who was holding up a laser. The weasels were staring at it, seemingly interested. Apparently all alien life-forms were obsessed with lasers. I didn't get it.
Rae tossed Mae the laser. "Keep them distracted," she muttered.
"Okay? What a weird zoo..." Mae said as she put her finger on the trigger. Zoo? Did she seriously think that? Rae walked over to me and dragged me into the next room. "Why are you here?"
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"Don't use your stupid Chinese mind games on me, Marina!"
"...Huh?"
"Just tell me why you're here."
I hesitated. I wasn't sure what she would think if I told her the truth, that I was in Zim's base to help change her personality on her PAK so it made her how she used to be instead of having double personalities. She was so stubborn. She wouldn't like it. Then again, Rae wouldn't like it if I lied either.
'Guess I'm stuck with the truth...' I thought. I was a horrible liar anyway, which sucked. She'd know that I was lying. Besides, if I did lie, then she would just bother me until I told her the truth. Blah.
"You came to see Zim, didn't you?" Rae asked, a grin spreading across her face. "Aww, how sweet!"
"NO!" I denied. "N-NO, I DIDN'T" Why wouldn't she just shut up about that? I had no feelings for Zim at all, and I was pretty sure Zim hated my guts.
"Quick to deny, Marina? Interesting..." Rae said.
"I don't like Zim!" I shouted.
Rae's grin grew wider. "That's right, you don't like him. You love him!"
I could feel my face turn bright red. None of that was true! It was just so embarrassing that anyone would think that!
I clenched my fists angrily. "No. Just no."
"Mm-hm. Sure."
"Ya wanna know why I'm here? I'm here to help you, not spend my time with some green freak!"
Rae looked offended. "I'm not a green freak ?"
I facepalmed. "Not you! Zim!"
"How are you trying to help me?" she asked.
"Your PAK. It's malfunctioning, messing with your personality," I said. "I'm trying to fix it."
"There's nothing wrong with my PAK!" Rae protested.
"That's what you think."
"Ma-ree-na! There's nothing wrong! Knock it off and go home."
I ignored her, taking a look around the room. I realized that the room that Rae had dragged me into was-
"Oh, hey!" I gasped."This is the room! This is where I've been trying to go!" There were files full of important documents organized on shelves stacked to the ceiling. The room was small, but there were so many files,
and none were organized. They were sloppy, and out of place.
"Marina! Are you even listening to me?" Rae demanded. I ignored her, taking a few steps towards the files. How was I going to find the one I was looking for? "Why are aliens so messy..." I muttered under my breath.
Rae narrowed her eyes. "I heard that! I'm not messy!"
"That's different. You used to be human," I replied, digging through several important looking documents.
After digging around for several minutes, I found one labeled 'Do Not Touch' in red letters. I figured that must have been important, so I grabbed it and started running. Rae followed me, growling. "I don't need help!"
"I don't care!" I was still sprinting a few feet ahead of her, when I tripped" over a leg. I toppled over, faceplanting into something sticky on the floor.
"Ow..." I muttered, looking up. "THERE YOU ARE, YOU PATHETIC HUMANS!" a voice boomed. Oh, goodie. Zim had gotten out of detention. He had most likely run away. I looked up to see, and Mae was hovering over me. "Hey, Marina. I found your boyfriend."
"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND," I hissed.
"So he ?s your boy toy?" Rae asked, smirking.
"LIES. Zim loves NO ONE! No one but ZIM do I love!" Zim objected, storming over to us.
I would have facepalmed, but I was stuck to the ground. There was some sort of blue alien goop that I had fallen into, and it seemed impossible to get up. "Shut up! I hate that green freak!"
The alien who had helped me earlier- Zashko, I think was his name- appeared behind Zim. He literally appeared out of nowhere. "Human? I thought you were a platypus..." he muttered, looking down at me suspiciously. "No, I'm a human," I said, frowning. "Hey, Zim, can you just, like, let me off with a warning?"
Zim narrowed his eyes. "No." He pressed the top circle on his PAK, which was apparently a button, and a small compartment opened up. He reached in, pulling out a strange device. "Organs would be nice," he said. "More organs means more human. Your organs will be nice." A wicked grin spread on his face as a horrified expression appeared on mine. I realized what he had in his hands: an organ harvester.
"Pheh," Zashko said. "Don't steal her organs, Zim. She could be useful." He reached down, grabbing my shoulders and yanking me upright with surprising strength. "How could a pathetic HYOOMAN be useful?" Zim wondered, frowning.
"Aren't you human, Zim?" Mae asked, frowning. "Ehh? YES! OF COURSE IT IS, FILTHY."
"Oh. Okay then."
"Now...GET OUT OF MY BASE."
Zim seemed to have forgotten about stealing my organs as he was yelling at Mae, so Rae and I began creeping towards the door. We gestured for Rae to follow. She looked at us like we were morons for a second before she finally realized what was going on, and started shuffling in our direction.
Zim looked like he was about to chase after us, but Zashko began distracting him. "Hey, ah, Zim?"
Zim turned to face him. "What?"
"I hear you've got a new weapon to take over Earth. Think you could tell me about that?" Zim brightened up. "YES! My device is so ingenious that you will BOW DOWN to my brain meats!" He picked up a notebook filled with schematics, flipping to a page with a complicated design and shoving the page in Zashko's face.
Meanwhile, Mae, Rae and I all ran into the elevator. "I don't get it," Mae was saying. "So Zim is the owner of the zoo?"
"Umm...yes." I said.
At the same time, Rae was saying, "Nope! Zim's an ali-"
I clasped my hand over her mouth before she could say 'alien.' "He's a zookeeper! He travels around the world and collects exotic animals!"
Rae opened her mouth, about to protest, but I shot her a mean look, and she decided otherwise, closing her mouth.
"Ohhh...That makes sense," Mae said.
"Yeah..." Rae muttered. "Mm-hm. But Zim is mean. He...uh...doesn't like people down there," I lied.
"Why not?" Mae asked.
"He's afraid people will make fun of his green skin," Rae lied, using her somewhat amazing lying abilities. "My poor, paranoid, fellow green one."
Rae was a much better liar than I was. I suspected she had more experience. I wasn't used to lying. Actually, I had rarely ever lied before Rae became Irken. But now I had to lie, for her sake.
"Oh..." Mae said. We were now outside of Zim's base, walking along the sidewalk. She looked up at one of the houses, which I suspected was her own. It was a large, light blue house with a garden in the front yard with various flowers planted everywhere. "Better get going. My parents will be waiting." She walked away, humming a theme song to a TV show that sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite remember what it was. Rae and I walked home as well, watching the sun set.