The so called holiday, "American Independence Day", was a complete misadventure. To start off, it seemed that no one seemed to be working. The neighborhood was swarming with people and gossip. And if the air wasn't filled with rumors, smoke took its place. I guess another tradition of the humans was to barbecue their revolting meat all at the same time. And to top it all off, once the fireworks set off, I went into full blown panic mode. My PTSD kicked into gear causing me to scream and run around, flailing my arms. It took Aris about forty-five minutes to get me to calm down. I did, eventually, quite down, slowly rocking back and forth in a fetal position. No wonder Zim was gone the entire day. It was ihorrible/i.

After the so called "holiday", we expected Zim to return, but he didn't. In fact, he didn't come home for several weeks. Aris and I became very wary of his disappearance. Without Zim, his house was very vulnerable. In effect, his house has been attacked by a large headed child to giant rodent (to whom I suspect is the same creature). This made me very frustrated. Why wasn't he here? Did he commit a wrongdoing and had to avoid the law? Or even worse-

"Aris, I think he knows!" I said nervously. Aris became pale, and began to pace around the yard in a frantic manner.

"No, he couldn't, could he? How would he find out?" several questions like these flew out of his mouth. The more he questioned the situation, the more uptight his pace became. At first, I tried to calm in down as gently as I could. I didn't want put him into shock. But after that botched, I decided to do it imy way/i. Clenching my fist, I punched him in his squeedly spooch. I wasn't the strongest Nightmare Irken, but the hit was enough to snap him out of his panicky state. "Oww, what was that for?" he groaned as he rubbed his gut.

"Because, you were acting like an idiot. We need to stay calm."

"Says the girl that was screaming because a couple fireworks set off."

"Shut up Aris. You know how bad my trauma is. It's not funny," I said glowering. Aris broke out in laughter.

"You're so cute when you pout. You probably think it gives you some kind of respect, but it only makes you look even more juvenile than you already are." I turned away from him. Why was he such an idiot?! "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. You don't have to get all huffy puffy about. I was just kidding, sort of."

"You're apologizes are insincere, and thus, not forgiven. Right now, we need to focus on the mission. The main goal now is to find out where Zim is and if he knows about our arrival. YOU GOT THAT?!" Aris waved his hand at me.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it," he said mockingly. We decided to enter the house once more. The SIR unit didn't seem do much other than eat, so investigating the house would be easy.

"You know something, why didn't we do this earlier?" I asked while looking under the couch. Aris shrugged.

"Most likely we were paranoid that Zim was in the house. Or, maybe it never occurred to us…I feel kind of stupid now," Aris responded with a slight hint of humiliation. I felt a little foolish, too. It's been a month or so, and all we did in that time was play video games inside the ship, I mean car. Even the rational, levelheaded Ixane was irritated with our imprudence.

"Ah ha! Hey Aris, can you help me lift this couch?" I said enthusiastically. Aris walked to the couch.

"Huh, why?"

"I think I found something."

"What makes you say that?" I smiled as we moved the couch.

"That giant hole in the floor makes me say that," I said, gleaming with pride. I was the first one to find something, not Aris. We leaped into the hole, not even thinking of the consequences. Luckily, it was only an elevator.

"I think this leads to his base."

"What if he's hiding there?" I whispered agitatedly. Aris shot a glance at me, and small crack of smile spread across his face. "What's so funny?!" I growled crossly. Aris started snickering.

"Paranoid, feisty, iand/i cute. What more can I ask for?" he said impishly, wrapping his arms around me. I squinted at Aris and shoved him off me. "Yep, feisty."

"Shut up, doofus." I crossed my arms, and waited for the elevator to stop. The doors opened to a secret, underground base. The base was much larger than the upper part of the house. With that, it even had Irken technology stamped all over it. Wires and encrypted patterns traced over the walls and floor. Several specimens were locked into containers filled with some kind of liquid. It reminded me of the Resisty ship's rehabilitation hall, but Zim was probably doing experiments just for ihis/i mission. One specimen caught my eye. It was a redheaded boy, with a large drill-like probe infused into his head, and an overly enthusiastic smile on his face. I peered at him. "Tell me boy, what makes you so happy looking?" The young child's expression didn't change, and his smile grew.

"Because of this probe in my skull. It makes me so bhappy/b."

"I see. And what if I were to take it out," I asked.

"I don't think you'd be able to do that, which makes me so happy."

"Why not?" The boy closed his eyes.

"The boy who made me so happy is behind you." I snapped my head back. There was Zim. I looked around to find Aris, but he was nowhere to be found.

"I've been waiting for you two for a while. You're probably wondering where you're little friend, ihuman/i. Well, he's tied up in the level below us." iThere's another level?!/i, I thought. "How did you get in? I'm surprised you didn't set off my computer." I stared at him blankly. We just walked in, it was that simple. I wanted to say that, but my mouth was so twisted in a knot, that it took me a while to untangle it.

"We just walked in and just happened to find an elevator under the couch."

"YOU LIE!" he screamed.

"No, I'm telling the truth. And the truth is, I'm Irken, just like you." I turned on my hologram to the Irken setting. Zim looked at me with great thought, scratching his chin.

"There's only one way to prove that. Computer, scan the female!" he ordered. A camera like machine came up to me and shot a bright pink light at me. "Analyzes."

"She does seem to have Irken DNA, but-"

"Enough with butts for you!" Zim snapped. Zim turned to me and bowed his head. "Welcome to Earth fellow Irken. What brings you to my base?" I stood there, my head vacantly, until I remembered what I was supposed to tell him.

"Oh, um. I have been sent by the Tallest on orders that you should go back to Irk to prepare for the Invasion of Earth."

"Sorry, I must refuse."

"What?!"

"The Earth is not ready to conquer. It's not that I don't want to go back to our home planet, but if the Tallest come too soon, the Dib-head might get in the way." I would've argued with him, but I felt that he proved his point and that it was no use. I headed to elevator, and remembered Aris.

"Can you release my partner?"

"Certainly!" he said, saluting me. I saluted at him as well and waited for Aris to recover from be thrown from a vacuum. As we walked out of the house, Aris rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ugh. It was cramped down there. So, did you tell him "his" new mission?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"iWell/i," I stretched.

"Well what?!"

"He said that the planet was not ready for conquest because of something called a Dib-head."

"I see, so we have to stay a little longer."

"Yeah. We should report to Lard Nar," I said. I was not looking forward to giving him the bad news. It would probably just make him even more infuriated at me than usual.

"What's with you? Afraid big, I mean little, old Lard Nar is going to yell at you?" Aris said with a belittling tone. I glowered at him.

"Shut your trap."