Neross: I will offer no excuses at my lack of DAILY updates. I have been BUSY. My chambers needed to be weeded through and I had four YEARS of mindless JUNK to go through. ...That...and smut is like a giant plug in the BRAIN.

(ahem) And now on to the greatness of chapter five.

Warning : This chapter may contain some more violence and maybe even some death and torture...what? No..that's it. No smut in this one. All you smut-addicts will just have to wait until the NEXT chapter or...something.

Chapter 5 : Revenge To All

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Dib didn't like to think about what he had done not even two hours ago. He didn't want to acknowledge the fact that the primal hate between him and Zim had become something more. Something that could potentially be much worse that just simple hatred. With a sigh the human tugged on the collar of his new clothing, feeling odd dressed in Irken clothing. He had to hand it to the tiny green aliens though, the clothing was incredibly soft and breathable, and it fit him perfectly despite his protesting. At Zim's request they had dressed him in blue, which Dib guessed was because the alien couldn't stand to have HIS second affiliated with either of the two past Tallest.

Speaking of Purple and Red, Zim had been amazingly merciful to him, probably because somewhere within his green head of evil he still saw them as his leaders and couldn't bear to see them executed. So instead they had been sentenced to live out the rest of their days on Food Courtia, as taste-testers. Apparently this was the best sort of job Red and Purple could have hoped for because they left without complaint and had gone off so quickly Dib was amazed their trail hadn't sparked into flame.

As for Gir, well, it seems Zim had a soft spot in his squiddly-splooch for the tiny hyperactive robot because Zim had simply ordered him to 'stay'. Which, of course, had caused a great deal of confusion but had no doubt pleased the robot as he had then screamed in joy and turned to causing mayhem all over the palace. The place was so big that Zim and Dib didn't see him again until the next day when the robot walked in eating some sort of odd-looking snack food.

The two new Tallest however had gone about the rest of their coronation with a weighted silence between them, though Dib couldn't help but see the happy-glow that had set into his rival and now fellow dictator. Dib was thankful, or perhaps resentful, of the fact that Irken coronations took a very small amount of time and consisted only of greeting the empire for the first time, having their status be reprogramed by the Control Brain, and then sending some unfortunate sap flying into the nearest sun, something Dib had been resistant too but which Zim seemed to think was quite fun. However, once all was said and done the two Tallest retired to their new chambers and to another long set of awkward silence.

At last it was Dib who broke the silence, turning to Zim as the Irken removed his new long red coat, revealing the skin-tight shirt underneath. "So Zim...now what do you have planned? You've got your empire, now what are you going to do?" The teen asked sitting down upon his own bed, thankfully separate from Zim's, and removed his long pointed irken boots.

Zim blinked his large red eyes and seemed to take a moment to think about his answer, placing a clawed hand to his chin in thought. Then, slowly a wicked grin grew upon his face and he turned away from Dib in a slow and teasing way as he replied, "I'm going to Disneyland Dib-stink."

Dib's head shot up at the Earth pop-culture reference and eyed Zim as if he were insane before he finally understood the implications. "...You're going to take over the earth..." the paranormal obsessed teen muttered, his tone horrified.

Zim turned to him as he kicked off his own boots with less care than the alien would have taken when swatting a fly. The irken merely sent Dib a plain and nearly sarcastic sneer as he crossed his arms over his chest. " Did you honestly think I wouldn't go back and take that puny dirt-ball planet you call home?" the alien stated with a roll of his blood-red eyes. "After all the years I, "Zim twitched in disgust, " SUFFERED on your miserable world. The water, the germs, the dreaded MEAT. Not to mention the torture of going through your planet's primitive SKOOL-system. And then there was you..." Zim's grim faded and he simply glared at Dib with all the pent-up anger of ten-long years of torment at the hands of said human, "...I would love nothing more to finally take the earth and show you just how superior I always have been."

Dib glared back and stood, stalking over to Zim with fury, glaring down at the shorter alien like one would glare at someone who had just insulted their mother. "You seem to forget Zim...I'm a Tallest just the same as you. Any order you make to destroy the earth I'll make one to counter it." Dib told him slowly, furiously, wanting it clear that he was still Earth's protector, despite the events of the last few hours.

Zim's glare did not falter, though he did move his arms down to his sides to clench into fists at his sides. "You FILTHY earth scum. Do you still think you can stop me? I WILL take earth...and every disgusting human who has ever caused me even a MOMENT of grief will be dealt with." Then Zim grinned and gripped Dib's chin in a harsh grasp, "Including you...Dib-meat." Then Zim's grin flashed away and he released Dib with a flick of his wrist before turning to walk to his bed.

Dib snarled and grabbed the Irken's shoulder forcing him to turn around and face the taller teen eye-to-eye once more. "You keep forgetting Zim, you NEED me. Without me you don't have an empire to control."

Zim sneered and latched onto Dib's wrist thrusting them away in anger, "You are correct Dib-monkey. Zim does need you alive, but that does NOT mean that Zim needs you healthy or whole."

Dib refused to back down, simply growing more and more infuriated by the irken's words. This time he grabbed the irken by the shirt and lifted him slightly off the ground to get his point across. However, before Dib could say anything a pair of Irken guards burst into the room. Zim shoved Dib away and turned toward them, showering them with his full fury. "How dare you enter the chamber of ZIM...and er.." he paused seeing the glare upon Dib's face, " Zim's illustrious second!"

The guards seemed to wince however after a moment of exchanging glances one spoke up. "My Tallest! The planet is under attack by the resisty. We are awaiting you orders."

Zim and Dib simultaneously rose their eyebrows in question, "The resisty? Who the heck are they?" The two stopped and turned toward each other, though Dib quickly looked away again with a pout and Zim turned with a growl to the guards. " How could ANYONE get passed our defenses. This is IRK we're talking about." Zim snapped.

"A great deal of our forces were out celebrating the coronation my Tallest." the other guard spoke, straightening himself up and saluting.

Zim let out a howl of rage, "Fools! Must Zim do everything himself?! You!" he snapped, turning to Dib who merely scowled at him and refused to look at him directly, "Earth scum! You will come with me to the control chamber. It seems we have some sort of resistance to deal with. "

Dib turned to Zim at last and merely stared down at him coldly, still angry about the irken's earlier words. An explosion could be heard in the background as Zim replied, his tone just as cold, "Because if you do not Dib-slime. This...RESISTY...will kill us both."

The dark-haired teen shut his mouth and followed the Irken as he ran to the control room, which stared out over the entire planet, showing a great panoramic view of Irk as it was being blown apart by some sort of large warship. Irken fighters were swarming the ship, causing damage, but not nearly enough to bring the thing down. With a snarl Zim turned toward the closest guard. "You! Sound the alarms if they haven't been already and get everyone BACK to their stations. And you!" Zim commanded, turning toward another guard on the other side of the room, "Fire what lazers we DO have operational at the ship's engines."

As Zim shouted out orders Dib couldn't help but feel somewhat impressed at how much the alien had improved, or how well he seemed to be able to get things done. Dib assumed it must have been from spending years dealing with a side-kick that just did whatever he wanted no matter what you ordered. Then Dib noticed something about the ship that seemed..familiar. It's design was nearly Irken, but it was also streamlined and although Dib couldn't understand why he continued to have a sense that the ship was familiar. Finally the human voiced his views allowed to his irken rival. "Zim...is it just me...or does that ship seem sort of familiar?"

Zim turned to Dib, his arms still crossed over his chest, the green male rose sent the human a curious look before looking to the ship again. Then, quite suddenly, Zim's eyes rose in shock before lowering into a fury that not only rivaled but over-shadowed that which he had directed at Dib earlier. "It CAN'T be..." he muttered then swiftly turned to the nearest guard once more. "You there! Get me a transmission connection with that ship!"

The irken nodded and quickly tried to establish a connection then at last, without looking up from his station the worker let out a successful cry. "We have a connection, opening up transmission with the flight deck now sir."

Then the huge window before them turned into a screen and instantly both Dib and Zim knew why the ship seemed so familiar, though it was Zim who furiously whispered the leaders name. "...Tak..."

The female irken had not changed in all the years that passed since her time on earth, and although this did not frighten Dib, it did unnerve him. "Hello Zim. Hello...Earth scum." she added cruelly, her purple eyes rounding on Dib, causing a cold shiver to run down his spine.

"That's Tallest now Tak! So if you've come to stage a little rebellion you've come a bit too late." Zim told her gleefully, grinning in triumph.

"Oh I don't think so Zim. I staged this whole thing the moment I heard that YOU'D become Tallest. I refuse to serve a fool such as you, even if you Tallest." She too grinned then and leaned back in her pilot's chair to study her nails. "You weren't as good an invader as I was. And I doubt you'd EVER be able to run the empire properly. So I'm here to give it back to it's PROPER leaders."

Zim growled furiously, though it was Dib that spoke up next, "This is treason Tak. No matter how you spin it you won't be able to escape this one."

The irken Tallest stared at his human counterpart in surprise before grinning like a proud friend and turning back toward the female Irken. "By order of the Tallest you are to land your ship and submit to questioning before facing your punishment. Surrender now and Zim and his Glorious Second will only send you to work as a food drone."

Tak glared at first one then the other let out a hiss of rage. "Order me around all you like Zim. You are no leader...and you never will be." Then the transmission ended and the control room was left in silence, save the occasional sound of an explosion in the background. Then after a moment Dib let out a nervous sort of laugh and scratched the back of his head, "So uh...I see what you meant about the females..."

Zim turned to him, seeming just as nervous and uneasy as the human at their now mutual dislike for someone ELSE. " Yes well...Tak always has been a pain in my side." Zim muttered in agreement, not sure what to say. Then with a growl, as yet another explosion rocked in the background, the Irken turned to the guards still frantically active at their posts. "Why aren't those engines DOWN yet?! I want that ship blown out of the sky as soon as possible do you hear me?!" A collective 'yes sir' was given in response to Zim's command and the action seemed almost instantaneous. A giant blast rocked the entire palace as one of the Resisty's engines exploded, the other one catching fire soon afterwards.

Dib could hardly believe that Zim had gotten so good and finding weaknesses, though he supposed after years of battle against one another the two were bound to improve one another skills, even if they were horrible to start with. And then all compliments Dib would have said out loud flew out the window...literally... as the Resisty's ship came crash-landing straight toward them. In the moment before the impact Dib felt something collide with him, bringing him out of the range of the flying debris and destruction that was caused by the Resisty's ship ramming into the palace's control room.

For a second, nothing seemed to happen then Dib opened his eyes and registered that the lights had gone out, and that portions of the building were skewed this way and that. All of the guards who had been on the lower levels of the control room were dead, Dib could see their prone bodies lying hither and dither as if they had been dolls tossed around by a child throwing a tantrum. It was this line of thinking that brought Dib's mind to Zim. Zim! Where was he? Did he survive? Was he injured? Was he in pain? Dib felt his heart lurch and was confused by it, however, a groan at his side stopped him from questioning his own thought process.

Dib turned his head to meet his one and only Rival face to face. Despite himself the bespectacled teen let out a sigh of relief and shot upwards, immediately turning his attention to the groaning alien. "Zim! You're alive! Are you alright? Are you injured?" Dib asked gently shaking the irken's shoulder. Zim let out a hiss and swatted away Dib's hand sitting up and opening his dark red eyes to glare weakly at the human, rubbing his sore head. "Zim is fine. No thanks to YOU Dib-stink. Zim cannot believe you did not jump out of the way. If it hadn't been for ZIM'S quick thinking your giant head would be smashed stupid earth-pig." the green alien snapped, though he seemed less angry than simply annoyed and...something else that Dib didn't really want to think about either. Zim also sounded worried.

"You were the one who knocked me out of the way?" Dib asked incredulously.

"Of course it was me you stupid worm-baby. And Zim's great and mighty head was injured thanks to you. Now get off! I must see if that traitor TAK is still alive." Zim said flippantly, his tone sarcastic.

Dib merely smiled and gingerly untangled himself from the smaller male and stood, extending his hand to help Zim up. Zim stared at the fleshy hand offered to him for a moment before looking Dib in the eye. Something transfered between them, nearly the same as what had happened to them on Zim's ship, and then again in the crowning chamber, only deeper and with more meaning. Then, at last, Zim took Dib's hand and allowed himself to be hauled to his feet. The irken ruler took a moment to dust himself off before he turned his attention to the ship which was promptly lodged into the control room. Zim glared at it as he had glared at Dib in the past when he had managed to sneak into his base and then stalked towards it with all the anger and authority he possessed, Dib following at his heels.

The two Tallest climbed carefully into the ship, facing much the same death and destruction as they had in the control room, though every now and again they would happen upon a Resisty member who was still living, though in serious pain and in no state to fight back. Zim walked past these sad instances as if he did not see them though Dib was not so lucky. He could not help but feel pity for these creatures as they begged and pleaded for the pain to end. Yet still they walked on, until at last Zim came to the captain's pilot chair, where a heavily injured but still conscious Tak sat, blood pooling from her mouth down her chin. And despite the pain she must have been in the tiny irken female still grinned triumphantly. Dib almost pitied her.

"Hello...Zim." Tak wheezed out as said irken male came to stand over her, her purple eyes following him only. Zim merely glared down at him, his mouth tight and disapproving. "I don't regret my actions Zim. I don't believe you are fit to be Tallest. You may have won against me...but the Resisty will continue to exist without me...and now ...they'll be joined by your enemies Zim. They'll destroy you and your so called second!" Then Tak let out a short laugh before choking on the end of it as if she had been trying to eat something and talk at the same time and had it go down wrong. It sounded more sickly to Dib, like her lungs were drowning in her own blueish blood.

Zim waited until she was quiet once more before he grinned evilly and leaned over her, sneering straight into her face with a look that sent shivers down Dib's spine. Then in a cold, amused, and quiet voice Zim spoke to her, "Zim would like to see them try...then Zim can at last have his own vengeance on the fools how dared to stand in his way. "

Tak's eyes widened as if, for the first time, she understood that Zim was no longer the idiot she had once believed him to be. Then she coughed once more and winced in pain. Zim smiled at this and leaned placed an arm on either side of the much smaller irken leaning down until he was mere inches from her face. "Do you want the pain to stop Tak?" Dib asked her, his tone and expression begging her to say 'yes', like a kid who knows the end result of a cruel joke.

Tak merely stared at him with resolute eyes. "This pain is nothing to an invader of my skill." she told him defiantly, though her voice was weak.

Zim smirked and his pak legs unfurled all at once, each end sparking with electricity. "Good...because Zim needs you to tell him all about the Resisty and their foolish leader who would oppose the almighty TALLEST." Zim spoke the last word so clearly, so full of inclination that Dib jumped in place, knowing that the ego-maniac was, for once, not talking about just himself, but Dib as well.

Then, all at once Zim plunged the tips of his pak legs into Tak. Her screams of pain would echo forever in Dib's mind. And from that point onward he would recall that night with both fear and resentment.

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Neross:...What? I'm evil...you didn't know this? HA! You are more foolish than I thought puny earth-scum.

I did warn you. Stay tuned for more smex in the almighty Chapter SIX!