Oi! As you are all now aware, I hope... I said that I would be making fan art for this story. I have succeeded, but it will take time before I can post it. Anyway, here is a new chapter that will surely entertain you, my children. Smile, enjoy, and keep the reviews coming! XD
Ryuu rubbed his lower back, not happy with the 'soft' landing through the window.
"Ouch, and to think that the carpeting was just newly done and refurbished too..." He froze as he heard loud footsteps coming from down below, only getting louder as they got closer.
'Shit! They heard me! I better hide, but where?' He looked around the vacant room for any signs of a good hiding place. Luckily, like fate demanded it, there was a closet in the room.
'Was that always there before? Oh, well..' Ryuu took his chances and jumped into the closet, holding what breath he still held in him.
Gaz kicked the door open, commando style. With her bat ready at hand, she was ready to swing at whoever got in her path. Dib came up right behind her, his ectoplasmic bazooka in hand. Zim followed soon after, holding Zora closely by hand. "Do you see anyone yet, Gaz-human?"
Gaz shook her head, still alarmed and fully aware. "No, but keep searching. They've got to be here somewhere."
Dib scratched his head, finding that unbelievable. "Gaz, this room is uber small. I doubt anyone would be in here."
While the gang investigated the room further, Ryuu was peeping through the small crack of the closet door. What he saw angered him more; that green freak holding Zora's hand.
It took all of Ryuu's being to try and hold back, bot to jump at the enemy so suddenly with all his might. How dare that freak touch and hold his Zora.
Suddenly a loud snap echoed in the room. 'Shit.' Ryuu stepped on what seemed to be a piece of wood.
Gaz quickly turned around, along with the others, facing the closet door. "Gotcha!", she smirked, her bat at the ready.
Thinking quickly, Ryuu performed a quick summoning spell, and seconds before Gaz opened the door, he burst out himself, grabbing Zora in the process.
"Zora!", Zim cried out. He activated his PAK, metal arms ready to aim at the intruder.
"No! Zim! Wait-!" Zora cried out, stopping his attack. Zim stopped immediately, a questioning look on his face.
"You might want to listen to her, freak. You have no idea what I'm capable of!" Ryuu shouted, his grip on Zora tightening.
Gaz was ready to go all out on the intruder, until a loud rumbling sound came from outside.
"I think you might want to go outside and see what all the commotion is about before you go around knocking people's teeth in, you pathetic excuse for a friend."
With that said and done, a dark smoky shadow overcame both Ryuu and Zora, making them disappear.
"Zora! Wait-!" Zim attempted again, but the loud rumbling from outside was enormous.
Dib looked out the window, and spot the villain that stood before them a minute ago. "Zim! He's outside! Zora's with him, and... something else..."
The trio ran down the stairs and out the front door. Gir saw their immediate retreat and thought best to follow them in pursuit.
There in the middle of the street, stood their red-headed ally and the sinister foe that held her captive.
"Let go of her, you insignificant, vile leach of hell!", screamed Zim, now beginning to loose his temper.
Ryuu saw that he is finally trying the alien's patience and smirked his devious smirk. 'Good, he's mad. This will certainly give me the upper hand at this game.'
"You want her, freak? Then let's make a deal. You will have to face two obstacles. The first you may face with your other two freakish friends there, but the latter you must face alone."
Zim laughed his trademark laugh, acting as though it was an simple game of chess, and he was about to get checkmate.
"Very well! Zim is not afraid of your challenge! Do your worst!", pointing a threatening finger at Ryuu, slightly surprising the goth boy.
"Fine. Let's see how you three shall manage on this one... I SUMMON THE GUARDIAN OF HELL! COME OUT, CERBERUS!"
Zora's face drained completely of it's color. "ZIM! RUN! YOU CAN'T WIN THIS! GET AWAY!"
Zim stood his ground, however, ready to see whomever this Cerberus thing was. Gaz and Dib steadily stayed by him, with Gir on the sidelines. Gir then moved his attention towards where Zora was, seeing that she was in trouble. Looking to see that his master was in charge of the situation, he scampered with stealth, to Zora's direction.
A loud shaking from the earth's core emerged, and from it came a huge black hole. From that hole, stepped out what looked like a giant paw... a dog's paw.
Zim, Gaz, and Dib all stared in shock, but stood firmly as Ryuu revealed Cerberus. A large, black three headed doberman stood before all of them, its' rows of razor sharp teeth stained with dry blood.
"WELL, FREAKS? READY FOR YOUR CHALLENGE? WELL, HERE IT IS! THIS IS CERBERUS, THE GUARDIAN DOG OF THE UNDERWORLD!"
The giant beast howled a deafening howl, growling and barking as it charged straight for the three. Zim readied and charged himself, jumping high in the air and with his PAK's metallic claws, took a hold of the beast's fur.
Gaz then charged soon after, and took a swing with her bat, hitting one of the dog heads on the nose... hard. The giant howled in pain and growled even more. As the middle head dived in to try and swallow her whole, Dib took action and shot the head square in the mouth.
The ectoplasm that was now stuck in the beast's mouth however, soon deteriorated. Dib grunted, unable to believe that his ectoplasmic bazooka had no effect on the beast.
'Dammit. It didn't do anything! How are we going to beat this thing?' He ran from the next diving head, trying to come up with another plan to fix their 'puppy' problem.
Zim made his way up to the top of the middle head, and pulled out a bo staff. This bo staff, however, had an electrifying charge to it. As the middle head was about to throw him up into the air, he charged his weapon, and prepared to attack himself.
He was shot into the air, and with swift accuracy, Zim swung with all his might, hitting the open mouthed and drooling target, getting a shocking result. 'One down, three to go!', he thought victoriously, as the middle head fell unconscious.
Out of nowhere, a giant paw smacked Zim, sending him flying straight through the front door of Zora's home.
"Zim!", cried Zora. Worried about his well being, Zora chanted an incantation, which was a healing one. In a mere matter of seconds, Zim was back on his feet. "Damn, that hurt...", he mumbled, hoping Dib and Gaz had better luck than he.
Gaz focused all her attention on the right head of Cerberus, seeing that Zim took care of the middle. "I so got this puppy!", she shouted in rage. She steadied herself, metal bat at the ready, hoping to aim just well near his eye. As the head shot towards her, she swung quickly, but with excellent results. Blood spewed out of the corner of the right head's left eye, blinding it on that side.
A cut was visible on Gaz's arm, but she'll live. 'So long as I still hit that dog..', she thought mercilessly as she went another round. She swung again as it came with a vengeance. Bulls eye!
She knocked that sucker so hard by the side of the head, it came crashing down, making it harder for the remaining head to stay standing.
Dib added a slight bit of his holy water into his gun, reloading it and getting ready to fire one last time.
He shot the missile, aiming perfectly at the open mouth of the left head, and as he suspected, drained all of what's left of the dog's energy. Cerberus was now completely defeated, leaving Dib with his glasses partially broken with a couple cuts on his head and knees, Gaz with a huge gash on her arm and stomach, along with a swelling bruise now forming on her cheek, and Zim with a minor cut on his pride.
Ryuu, not pleased with the results, tossed Zora to the ground, near where Gir was hiding during the action. He stepped up to the plate, keeping true to his word.
"Well, you low life from hell? What's my next and final challenge?", demanded Zim, still hungry for more.
"Right here. Your battle is with me, one on one. A fight to the death sounds fair to you?"
Zim clenched his fists, rain now pouring from the dark clouds above them. His metal claws smashed the ground and rose again, leaving craters in the cement. "Sounds fitting... for you."