To Crush or Be Crushed Chapter 2: Combat and Courtship?
Zim's vision was hazy as he opened his eyes, feeling them stinging as they adjusted to the light. His head hurt like hell and he found his surroundings more unfamiliar as the city he knew he was trapped in. he was in a bed, surrounded by white walls and white tile flooring, it looked at too nice and clean to be anything good. Zim became skeptical of his surroundings due to the all-too-prominent destruction he'd seen with his own eyes. Just then, in walked the last person he'd thought he'd still see, at least, not in chains; Dib.
"Dib-human…? How are you not…bound by chains…?" Zim asked slowly, sitting up painfully as his skin stung his entire being.
"Unless…"
Dib nodded.
"I'm the leader of Reddere Humanitas, Zim. You're in our infirmary right now." He informed standing at his former adversary's bedside.
"Zim, I have a few questions for you." Dib said, taking a seat in the chair near the bed. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Zim turned his head, a small smirk appearing on his face.
"What makes you think I'll answer those questions, Dib-stink?" he jeered, for old time's sake. Dib chuckled lightly at his old insult of a name,
"Still just as driven as ever, I see. I'll give you some incentive as to why." Dib said, a smirk appearing on his own face as he looked upon his once insane and formidable nemesis.
"I could toss you back up to the surface as is, and have you dragged off to Tak's Palace, you know."
A scoff escaped Zim, defeated.
"What are your questions, Dib-monkey?" Zim asked in finality, sighing heavily. Dib smiled; glad the alien saw it his way.
"First off, how did you end up down here? This isn't an easy place to access," Dib suppressed the urge to chuckle, "Unless you have a death wish." Zim thought for a moment, unsure himself how he ended up here in the first place. The last person he remembered before blacking out was Gir.
"You'll probably have to ask Gir on that one, Dib-worm. I have no recollection of how I got here."
Dib nodded in response.
"Alright, then tell me this: Do you have any possible contact or Irken technology we can use against Tak?" he pressed, the question catching Zim a bit off-guard.
"And what if I do?" Zim asked skeptically, eyeing Dib with suspicion.
"…Because I'm thinking about recruiting you. It would help to have an Irken on our side when fighting another Irken. You know, fight Fire with Fire." said Dib with conviction, as if he'd planned on finding Zim in the first place. Zim thought about it for a moment.
"Since my current mission and your own are one in the same, I shall help you." Zim replied, closing his eyes for a moment. But he opened them a few seconds later. "But don't think I'm getting soft on you, Dib-stink. Because I intend to take back my original mission, seeing as I won't need to do much now that Tak has set up everything for me."
A smile found its way to Dib's face.
"Yep, you're still as hell-bent as ever, Zim. It's odd that even after all of this chaos, you're still the same alien that invaded my class years ago." He sighed, chuckling as memories came back to the surface. He pushed them back as he stood up, extending a hand to help up Zim.
"In order to prove your worth and accept you into our society, Zim, you'll need to pass an initiation."
Zim took his hand and stood up,
"I hope your little initiation will prove a challenge for me, little Dib. I don't want to be bored by some simple retrieval assignment or a petty battle." A smirk once again crossed the face of Zim, getting a laugh out of Dib.
"Oh, I assure you, this initiation is nothing short of entertaining."
Zim and Dib exited the infirmary, and headed to a battle equipment room. There, Dib began sorting through battle armor that suited Zim's physique and overall strength.
'Hopefully this armor would help him during his battle. We all know that his opponent is ruthless…' Dib thought, finally finding a chest plate that fit Zim's stature. He handed it to him, but it was then he realized something:
"Hey, Zim, why do you still have your disguise on? You won't need it here." Dib questioned, finding some shin and forearm guards. Zim sighed in irritated reminiscence.
"It was about a week before Tak's invasion…" Zim began, letting his memory go back to the day.
Zim had just finished his latest invention that was sure to bring the human race to its knees. He had built a ray gun that fused humans and other earthly organisms to the obedience chips found in the average SIR unit.
"When I fill the gun with obedience chips, Gir, I will finally control every human on the filthy mud-ball and rule without mercy!" Zim cried to the skies, but Gir wasn't even paying attention.
Despite his upgrade, Gir still had spurs of silliness and stupidity, and that just happened to be now. Gir danced about to an unknown beat, wildly giggling in his jittery stupor. As he danced about, he accidentally knocked the fuse gun out of Zim's hands. When it hit the floor, the gun fired, and fused Zim's disguise to his head, permanently.
Sure, he'd tried to have his computer surgically remove the wig and contacts, but after further analysis, the computer deemed the operation too risky due to the fact that the items had bonded so strongly to his eyes and head on a molecular level.
Zim had found out that if the wig and contacts were removed, it would rip open his head and rip out essential blood vessels and parts within his eyes. Essentially, he would die. So, to the Irken's dismay, the fake hair and contacts were now official parts of his body.
"..And that's why I still have this infernal stuff on." Zim griped, tying the strings to the shoulder pad of his chest plate. Dib's face was blank.
"Wow… boy, do I feel sorry for you, Zim. You always seem to have the worst luck ever." Dib consoled, finding matching boots to complete Zim's armor set. After outfitting him with a halberd, He led Zim to the Training and Initiation Arena.
A crowd had already formed around it, gathering around the circle-shaped platform. At two ends of the arena lay corridors, one which Zim walked out of.
"People of Reddere Humanitas, you bear witness to the initiation of Zim, an Irken who has agreed to aid us in our battle against the Cursed Queen of the Enslaved, Tak!" Dib announced, gesturing to Zim. The Irken formed a cocky smile.
"Bring out my opponent, Dib-monkey. This should be over quick." He said, his big headed nature getting the better of him. Dib formed a smirk of his own.
"His opponent is one we all know as our greatest and most ferocious fighter, head of our Armada and trainer of the recruits…" Dib continued, extending his arm to the corridor opposite of Zim.
"… I give you my sister, and Second in Command, Gaz!"
Zim froze. He instantly remembered the odd and terrifying little girl Dib stink spoke of; Gaz.
He remembered her burning him with water, soda, and various other times shed caused him excruciating and unbearable pain.
'Oh Good God of the Humans, help me.'
From the shadows of the corridor stepped a cloaked figure, the hood of the cloak being the deep obsidian of the deepest darkest black hole. With a flick, the hood fell and the cloak back was pushed back revealing pale, creamy skin, violet hair, and golden honeyed eyes Zim familiarized with fear.
But, even as Zim looked upon the same girl that tortured him with water years before, he couldn't find the same fear within his heart. As a matter of fact, Zim's alien heart was fluttering in his chest, nearing the point of explosion.
Her skin was still pale, but was flawless and looked soft to the touch, her violet hair now hanging a small ways past her shoulders; a bang of her hair slightly covered her right eye. Some particularly long strands of the girl's hair stretched down her back, ending in a dangerously sharp and pointy curl. Her honey-colored eyes held Death's soul itself within their fiery depths. And what she wore below the cloak…
Zim couldn't find words to describe it without sounding a bit vulgar.
She wore a slightly torn purple-colored half shirt, covered by a blackened metallic breast plate, which now actually contained an impressive pair of, well, breasts. Her midriff was exposed, but only until it met her hips, which had thickened, to Zim's surprise and delight. At her waist lay a black metal belt and a torn black drape of cloth which slightly covered part of the torn purple shorts that hugged her hips gingerly. The shorts themselves didn't extend past her upper thigh, while a pair of black metal clad boots covered her feet and extended to her knees. Black metal braces with amethyst jewels covered creamy skinned forearms.
She looked as if she was the goddess of battle, a warlord of combat among Quakers and falsifiers. As Zim took his time examining his opponent, Dib snapped him from his musings.
"Fighters, bring forth your weapon of choice!" he bellowed, turning towards the two. Zim brought forth his halberd with pride, seeing that Gaz's hands were empty, but not for long. The jewel in her right brace glowed, producing a rod of light. The rod grew longer and longer as if filled her hand. The rod then extended at the farthest end, created a jagged shape. When the light dimmed and the object in her hand solidified, it revealed itself to be the infamous weapon of Death's soul; a Scythe.
She swung and spun it about her body with precision, almost like a deadly craft as she leveled out its mass within her hands, finding her grip upon the shaft. Ceasing her masterful spinning, she turned her attention to her current foe. She stared Zim down with a glare that held a thousand screams, all from him.
"Let the battle begin!" cried Dib, rushing out of the ring and into the crowd, ready to watch the fight. The crowd cheered eagerly as they watched both Zim and Gaz carefully stalked the arena's edge. Exchanging glares, the two sized each other up, before beginning the fight. Both shot forward at the same moment, seeming to disappear in the eyes of the crowd.
Before they all knew it, Zim and Gaz clashed here, there, wait, no, they're over there! No, There! The two were moving so fast, even Dib had a hard time keeping up with their movements. Finally, Zim surfaced, standing still in the middle of the arena. Then, when a blur shot down at him from behind, Zim whipped around and stopped the force of the scythe with the shaft of his halberd, stopping Gaz's body mid-air. She hopped back and landed before him, and began walking towards him.
Zim stood still for a moment, before she began to swing her scythe around at an amazing speed. Zim used the shaft of his halberd once more to block as many of her attacks as he could, having to resort to physically dodging the rest. Finally, when Zim saw an opening, he swung.
CHINK!
The blade of Zim's halberd had met the blade of Gaz's scythe. The two jumped back, the scratching of the two metal blades causing sparks to fly. Then, Zim got an idea.
He allowed Gaz to come flying towards him, blocking her swings until his feet hit the edge of the arena. Using his spider claws from his PAK, he hopped over, landing just adjacent from her. He kept them out, but didn't use them to walk or climb like he used to.
"What is he…doing?" Dib asked to no one in particular, still watching from amidst the crowd. Gaz came walking again, swinging her scythe like before, but this time around, she amped up the speed. The scythe became a dangerous blur, but Zim wasn't even fazed. His began using his spider claws much like he had used the shaft of his halberd, blocking each attack with precision. Bringing his halberd back into play, Zim began fighting back, until he managed to catch her scythe in the gap of the blade of his halberd. Now was the perfect opportunity to strike.
Zim shot one of the sharpened claws forward.
CLANG!
The claw had struck the metal shoulder pad of Gaz's breast plate. Everyone fell silent in sheer awe. Jaws dropped and eyes popped out.
Zim had defeated Gaz…?
Time seemed to stop as that realization hit Gaz like a ton of bricks. Her eyes were still wide from when she felt the sudden rush of wind fly pass her face.
She knew she probably should be dead, but why wasn't she? Why had Zim shown her mercy?
Why didn't he kill her?
She watched as Zim withdrew the claw slowly, his true intentions hidden by the hype of battle within his eyes. She looked into them carefully, studying with a thoughtful glare.
Why hadn't he killed her? The opportunity was there, so why?
Why was Zim holding back?
The answers escaped her mind as she thought up a thousand and one possibilities.
'Maybe he's saving me for later?'
'What if he wants to kill Dib first?'
'Maybe he's getting soft?'
'What if he thinks I'm weak?'
'It maybe he expects something from me, and so he didn't kill me… But what would he want?'
'What if he's secretly with Tak and plans to overtake Reddere Humanitas?'
'Maybe he…. I don't know, has a crush on me, or something?'
That last possibility struck a nerve. Gaz looked deep into Zim's eyes once more, just to see if she was correct. Unfortunately, she couldn't tell.
'Even if he does, do I feel the same way? Would I want to establish a relationship with someone who is bent on enslaving us after he helps us?' Gaz paused for a moment.
'I'm not even sure he wants to enslave the human race anymore, much less destroy it…'
Zim withdrew from her completely, retracting his spider-like claws, but he never broke eye contact.
'I wonder why she's just staring at me like that…. Do I have something on my face?' Zim thought.
Dib pulled himself back up into the arena.
"Wow… Congratulations, Zim! You've completed your initiation. Now, we need to start making battle plans and start training you." He said, nodding to Gaz. She nodded back and gave an almost evil smile.
"Zim, come with me." Gaz ordered, gesturing him to one of the corridors. Zim gave a glance to Dib first before following. With both uncertainty and giddiness bubbling in his squeedy spooch, he follows with a cautious stride. Treading a couple paces behind Gaz, he replayed the last few minutes with her in his head. Zim just couldn't get the look in her golden honey eyes out of his head. 'Those eyes of hers…'
'…they almost seem like forbidden pools of nectar…' Zim thought, wishing he could stare into Gaz's eyes just one more time as he stared at the back of her violet adorned head, '…or like beautiful gems trapped behind a sheet of ice cold metal.'
Gaz was also thinking about Zim at the moment.
'He's grown so much…' she thought, thinking back to when she walked out into the arena and looked upon the green alien again, having not seen him in eons, it seemed.
'He's much taller now, and he has such a toned physique. I know that's a disguise and all, but, damn, he looks so good in it… I mean, he has those electric blue eyes… his jet black hair looks like its soft to the touch… And, if I heard right, his voice…' Gaz put her thoughts on hold for a moment, a shiver rushing down her form.
'…I think… it deepened…' Her face suddenly flooded with crimson as her thought surfaced,
'…and I think I like it… oh, who am I kidding? His voice has gotten down-right Sexy~!'
Gaz was fighting with all of her might to keep her thoughts under control, but she was losing her battle miserably. Images of Zim kissing her, touching her, whispering the sweetest words from lips dripping with love and lust as he held her close to his warm, green body, his long, segmented tongue slithering about her in enticing circles and his sharp teeth nipping her soft flesh teasingly… another chill ran up and down Gaz's spine.
Finally, the two reached a room that looked similar to the arena they had just left.
"Alright, Zim, this is the training area." Said Gaz, walking a small ways toward the center of the circle shaped room and turning on her heel to face Zim. "Report here every morning at 10 o'clock sharp for your lessons." She summoned her scythe from her brace once more catching Zim by surprise, "…And speaking of lessons, we will begin your first one now."
She held her scythe firmly within her hand, waiting for Zim to strike. He took a couple of steps forward, before trying to rush past her, but Gaz saw him coming.
She set her scythe across her shoulders, making sure the blade didn't face Zim, and spun it hard, smacking him in the back of the head with the blunt end of the handle. He flew forward a bit, but caught himself on his hands and knees.
He got up and zipped past her again, but this time, he went wide around her, making sure to try and avoid her scythe. He came in for a hit, but missed by mere inches. Gaz had moved the corresponding hip in time, but brought it back enough force to hit Zim hard in the shoulder. He barrel-rolled in response, but landed squarely on his feet, taking off again. This time, he tried to confuse her with his movements, moving this way and that.
When he felt as though he'd fully confused Gaz, he sprang forward, drawing back a sharpened hand to claw at the flesh of her mid-section. This time, however, when he lunged for her, she wasn't there. In fact, she was high above him, in media res of completing a back-flip before coming down on Zim's back and proudly sitting on him. Three things happened when she did that:
Zim hit the ground face first.
He automatically groaned in pain, which aroused Gaz.
Another automatic response: Zim managed to flip over whilst trapped between Gaz's thick thighs and began squirming to get free as she tightened her grip, causing pleasurable friction between
Them. Both felt sudden waves of pleasure and heat rush through them as one pelvis accidentally grinded against the other. Gaz suppressed her urge to moan. Zim let out a small groan mixed with a growl in response which only aroused one and slightly embarrassed the other. He glared up at her.
"Remove you from me, Gaz-human!" he demanded, the previous rush of pleasure he'd experienced forgotten until he absent-mindedly caused another one to rush through him via contact. Then he felt the antennas trapped beneath his fused wig twitch. And with that twitch came some information.
Despite being trapped beneath his wig, Zim managed to train his antennas to extra sensitive to the things around him, such as hearing and feeling. But one unexpected thing Zim also learned to do was read one's hormonal patterns to a point where he could tell what they were feeling. And, when his antennae twitched and gave him Gaz's response to their previous action, his own body flooded with heat.
To see what would happen, Zim 'accidentally' bucked his hips up slightly, grinding himself against her once more, gaining a small gasp from Gaz. The response he'd received earlier intensified. Zim smirks with satisfaction and chuckles deeply.
"Ah, so little Gaz human is enjoying this position of ours a little too much, no?" Zim taunted, smirking all the more. Gaz's face shot bright red as she glared down at the alien trapped between her legs.
"Am not!" she blurted, still keeping her thighs wrapped around his tight. He bucked again and earned a small surprised yelp from her this time.
"No? So why is your face such a pleasant shade of red, dear Gaz?" Zim purred, holding back a chuckle that threatened to escape him. He placed his clawed hands upon her thighs to prevent her from standing, rubbing them tenderly. He pulled her down and grinded against her some more, feeling as though his pants were tightening. Gaz bit back moans that filled her throat, struggling to be set free. Chills ran their course upon and down her body. She was losing herself to him, and fast. She couldn't help the pleasure she was feeling, but damn, did he have to tease her like this?
Zim could read every hormonal change, his smirk broadening even more. He sat up, taking Gaz's chin in his hand as he kept the other on her thigh, now both rubbing and tickling her with his claws. He stared deep into her eyes as she began taking small, shallow breaths. All those golden honey eyes and her hormones said was, 'Closer… I want you closer to me…' He brought himself close enough to breathe in her sweet vanilla scent, syrupy in its texture and intoxicating in its nature.
"So, are you enjoying this, little Gaz, or do you want more?" he whispered, pulling her close. With that, he heard Gaz's scythe clatter to the floor and felt her legs clamp around him tightly. Next thing he knew, Gaz was running her hands along his chest and abdomen, and lightly nibbling along his jaw line and neck, getting a groan out of Zim. A giggle rose from her as she looked up.
"Oh, I'm enjoying this, Zim…" she said devilishly, licking his smooth green skin, "…and I want more… so much more…" Zim looked down at her in slight surprise, but it was promptly replaced with a look of pure love. It was then that he brought Gaz in for a kiss, one that seemed long overdue.
'Maybe being recruited isn't so bad after all…' Zim thought, his lips still locked with Gaz's soft ones.