The Moth and the Butterfly

by Wendy Bunny

Dib has a new partner named Wendy (OC) to help him defeat Zim, but things start to get complicated as her feelings for Dib grow and the duo is pitted against a greater threat to mankind. Will their mission to save earth tear them apart or bring them together? The story title is a reference to Dib's alias known as Agent Mothman. Written from Wendy's POV.

9. Chapter 9

It seemed like hours before I had finally regained consciousness. My eyelids lifted heavily and through hazy vision, the image of a green dog face loomed over me, practically touching my nose. Overhead lights of purple and magenta shone so brightly, it was enough to burn holes in my sensitive retinas. Noticing that I was waking up, the dog's mouth pulled up into a goofy smile before enthusiastically giving my face a massive lick. "GIR!" a nearby voice barked. "Disengage yourself from the Wendy human! She is to be used solely as a test subject. You can play with the remains only after I am through with her."
I was suddenly wide awake as I realized I was lying on a restraint table in Zim's base. I struggled to sit up only to discover that my wrists and ankles were tightly bound.

GIR looked down at me with a sympathetic frown. "Aww she looks sad. SHE NEEDS CUPCAKES!" Launching himself from the table, he wriggled out of his dog suit, revealing his silver bodied robot form before ducking out of the room.
I suspected he would be returning with cupcakes? My bewilderment towards GIR's randomness suddenly turned to fear as I looked off to the side. "Mom!" She turned to me, her face contorted in a wild mix of ice cold terror and confusion as she lay strapped to a table like me. "Honey," she whispered. "What is going on here? What is this ugly looking thing and what does he want from us?" "I SHOULD RIP YOUR TONGUE OUT FOR SPEAKING OF ZIM IN SUCH A MANNER, TIMEWORN SCUM OF EARTH!" The molted pocks on Zim's face pulsated as he raged. "Don't you dare threaten her!" I warned protectively before turning to my mother again.

"There is a lot going on right now, Mom. I promise I'll explain later, but right now we have to focus on getting out of here."
Zim laughed, apparently having overheard me. "Thinking about escaping, are we? I don't think so."
"Just what exactly are you planning to do to us?" I demanded. He flashed a smile of terrifying teeth and said, "I'm glad you asked," With a snap of his fingers, a pair of robotic arms descended from the ceiling, bearing what looked like shock treatment helmets. They clamped uncomfortably around our skulls before the robotic arms retracted into the darkness.
"This," Zim explained "is a Labotomizer. It can be set to neurologically alter or damage any part of the brain I wish simply by freezing it. So Wendy, my guinea pig, I think I'll start by disabling your brain stem before allowing your mother the liberty of watching me dissect you." "You will do no such thing to my daughter!" said Mom."I can and I will," Zim declared. "but I first must invite one other guest to this party." He turned towards his communicator where he punched in a few buttons. Static filled the screen as the picture struggled to come into focus. Seconds later, the image of a pointy haired boy came into view.
"I have your little girlfriend, Dib!" Zim said with a sadistic laugh. "If you wish to see her alive again, you'd better hurry down to my base in the next five minutes!"

Dib's face grew paler than usual as he looked past Zim over at Mom and I. "Wha-? Wendy? No! You won't get away with this Zim! I'll be right over and we're going to finish this once and for all!" The screen went snowy again as he disconnected.
Zim turned with a smug look as he began adjusting the Labotomizer settings around my head. "You know," he started "On second thought, I've decided I'd rather destroy you and your filthy earth mother now than wait for the Dib stink to come and 'save the day'. Imagine the look on his face when he arrives only to find out that he was too late!" he laughed viscously "It will be priceless, don't you think? Then I shall nullify him and both of you will interfere with me no longer! Goodnight, Wendy vermin. Zim would say it has been a pleasure knowing you but surely that would a lie, wouldn't it?"

He grabbed hold of a nearby lever as he attempted to turn on the device. "Wait!" I shouted before he could wrench it all the way back. "Trying to stall me?" he accused "You're wasting your time, foolish child. Nothing can save you from the wrath of Zim!"
"Please!" I begged "You have to listen to me! Earth is in danger-" "Well, of course it is! I'm going to destroy it!"
I was beginning to grow impatient with Zim's narcissism as well as his lack of reason. "No! You don't understand! We need to work together on this for once." Zim's ruby bug eyes narrowed as he studied me dubiously. "And why should Zim ally with the likes of you, wretched earth girl?" "Because incompetent space boy," I retorted "Earth is not going to be destroyed by you but by a certain someone whom you may have feuded with years ago over this same matter. Someone by the name of Tak."
Zim went completely slack jawed at the mention of the name. "Ring a bell?" I enticed. He suddenly let out an enraged yell that was enough to make the entire base quake inside the earth. "TAK! That conniving wench of Irk has returned? What is she planning this time?"

"Well, she started with planting some Agathorax fungi, which I'm sure you already know by now is what's been turning everyone into zombies. Because we found out that alien DNA can stop it, she's now planning on hurling a giant flaming meteor at us, which will most likely result in the demise of the entire planet, yourself included." "Zombies?" Mom asked "Meteors and aliens? Wendy, what are you talking about?" "There's really no time to explain it all right now Mom." I told her. "This cannot be!" Zim said incredulously. "She had been ambushed and now she thinks she can try to take my mission again? Well, I'm not going to allow it without a fight! No one takes Zim's mission. NO ONE!" "So," I chimed in "does this mean you're going to help us?"

"Affirmative!" agreed Zim "but it won't be for the sake of your stinking mankind. When your puny planet meets its demise, I want to ensure that it is my hand and only mine." "Whatever. Just unstrap us already so we can get this over with."
"Yes, yes I will." He was about to undo my restraints when someone had burst through the ceiling, sending bits of shrapnel flying in every direction. Dib leapt into the base, relentlessly holding GIR in both hands. "It's over Zim!" he declared "Release them or I melt your robot into scrap metal!" GIR blinked his cyan eyes naively before shouting, "YAAAAAAAY!"

"Oh no," Zim said sarcastically "Don't do that. Then however will I conquer Earth without him here dancing like an idiot and stuff?" Disappointed by his rival's lack of care for his minion, Dib threw the little robot aside. He then stepped off one of the machines as he hurried over in attempt to get me free. "Wendy are you okay? What's he up to?" Refusing to talk to him, I threw him a hostile glare before turning away. "There's no need for a fight, loathsome worm baby," Zim reassured him "The Wendy human has already informed me of the return of Tak and her dastardly plans to yet again eradicate this scurvy little planet, which is why I have chosen to offer my assistance in forestalling her mission."

Dib gave an amused laugh. "You? Help me? Oh sure! First you devise a plan to abduct people, offer them as bait and then as soon as I get here, you tell me you want to defend Earth? A likely story. There's no way I'm falling for your little trick Zim!"
"I admit," Zim confessed "that it was indeed a trick to annihilate you with these two from the start, but a trick it is no more.
As much as I detest this planet and all you treacherous little maggots that inhabit it, I will side with you and Wendy
for the sake of putting that terrible Tak in her place." "I will not trust you anymore Zim!" Dib refused "We have teamed up as defenders of Earth before and you always go right back to wanting to destroy it afterwards. You only want to protect it if it's under the threat of someone other than you!"

"True," Zim said tediously "After tonight, I mostly likely will go back to wanting you all dead but I have already made up my mind and I'm disposing of Tak." "No you're not! I am!" "Your childish mutiny is beginning to annoy me, Dib monkey."
Zim wrenched back a nearby lever and Dib, who had been standing on some kind of platform was suddenly catapulted through the roof of the base. After unlocking my restraints, Zim said to me, "Take the elevator up into the house and wait for me outside.
I'm going to equip the voot cruiser with some explosives, super weapons and all that junk. But there's something I must do first."
Without warning, he yanked back the lever and my bewildered mother who had been witnessing everything was suddenly shocked unconscious by the Labotmizer.
"Zim!" I cried "What the hell did you-?" "Calm yourself human," he said holding up one hand defensively "Your mother is fine. I only have momentarily frozen her temporal and frontal lobes. In a few hours, she will awaken in her own bed with no memory
of seeing me or being down inside my base. She has already seen too much. If I'm going to let her go then she needs to forget me for the sake of my own protection." For a moment, I hesitated but then eventually gave a comprehensive nod. Zim had a point.
He would only be risking his chances of persecution if someone other than Dib and I knew his true identity, and I wasn't ready to explain to my mother that aliens did exist. "Will she remember me at least?" Zim gave an aggravated sigh then replied in a kinder voice, "Of course."

Stepping out through the front door, I braced myself against the frosty night air. The lawn gnomes and pink dandelions watched with eerie vacant expressions as I walked past towards the fence where I would wait. "Wendy!" Oh great. Out of nowhere, Dib came running in my direction. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you? What's going on?" I did my best to ignore him and keep walking but he only followed me alongside as he continued to ask more stupid questions. "What's wrong? Why aren't you talking to me? What happened? What did he do to you?" Finally, I had enough. Throwing my hands up, I came to an abrupt halt and gave him my most infuriated glare. "You know what? Just drop the hero act already. I mean, why bother pretending you care for my safety anymore? I'm just 'dead weight' remember?" His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You heard that?" "Every damn word. Here I am solving a majority of all this extraterrestrial bullshit and this is the appreciation I get?"

"Wendy, I can explain-" "Referred to as nothing more than a 'sidekick' and someone who is not cut out for this line of work?"
"Please don't take this so personally," Dib said "I just think it would be best that I handle this on my own-" "Why?" I demanded "Last time I checked, we were in this together! You said it yourself and now all of a sudden you're going rogue? " "Wendy, you're overreacting-" "Overreacting! Why should I have even bothered helping you out in the first place? If I would have
known you were going to stab me in the back, I would have just walked!" "I never backstabbed you!"
"You know what? I really don't have time for this. I'm waiting for Zim so we can help stop Tak from triggering this meteor."
Suddenly Dib was outraged. "You're teaming up with him?" I shrugged. "Well, since you apparently don't want me on yours anymore..." "Do you honestly believe he cares about this planet, Wendy? He's only using you to dispose of the competition so that he can destroy it himself! I know the type of monster he is. You can't trust him!" For a moment, I stood glowering at him as I slowly shook my head disapprovingly. "No Dib. It's you who can't be trusted." I stepped around him as I started to walk away
when he caught me around the wrist. "Wendy-"

Angrily, I jerked it out of his grasp, throwing him one last hard look. "Just get away from me!" I said before turning my back to him. "I want nothing to do with a deluding, big headed-" I stopped myself right there as I instantly regretted those final words.
When I turned towards him again, Dib's lower lip gave a slight quiver of anguish and he said no more. It was then that I realized I had already hurt his feelings. There was no time to repent as he suddenly rocketed into orbit, leaving a steak of melancholy blue behind. I stood staring into the night sky after him for what seemed like an eternity. It wasn't long before my eyes began to water and not because I was blinded by the luminance of the moon and stars.

"Onward, dirt pig!" Zim's obnoxious voice suddenly tore me from my despair, and back to reality. "There will be plenty of time for star gazing when we reach space but for now, the voot cruiser awaits!" I wiped the tears from my eyes before he could see I had been crying."Coming." Carefully, I climbed into the spacecraft next to GIR and my unconscious mother. There was a distinct hum followed by a shaky vibration as Zim switched it on causing it to fluctuate off the ground. By that time, it occurred to me that maybe just the two of us wasn't enough. "Zim?" "Hmm?" "I could be wrong, but I'm thinking we could use more backup on this mission." "Nonsense! Invaders work alone." "Well, you're already enlisting my help aren't you?" He groaned, feeling defeated by the fact. "Alright, smart mouthed human. Who do you suggest would make a good candidate?"

We dropped Mom off at home where I had safely tucked her into bed. Afterwards we headed for Dib's house. I tried the doorbell at least four times but there was no answer, and the locked door wasn't much help either. I was ready to give up when Zim had pulled something out of his PAK. "A laser gun?" I asked giving him an odd look. He glared at me. "Do you have a better plan?" Realizing I had nothing, I shrugged. He aimed it at the knob as the red beam severed both the locks and dead bolt neatly in half.
Instantly the door popped open and we made our way inside. "Gaz?" I called. Dib's sister was nowhere in sight. "Is the scurvy nightmare child even home?" Zim asked tediously. "I hope so," I said "Let's check upstairs."

At the end of the hall, we came to a bedroom door opposite Dib's. By the looks of the dark posters and morbid artwork that covered it, I figured it had to be none other than Gaz's room. I made a fist and gave it a few good knocks. "Gaz?" I called again. "Are you in there? It's Wendy and Zim." No answer. I tried again, a little louder this time. Still, she didn't answer. As a last resort, I tried the door knob, which surprisingly had been unlocked. I knew that I was stepping into dangerous territory but desperate times called for desperate measures.

With Zim at my heels, I slowly made my way into the dark filled room. A nasty chill hung in the air as if this part of the house were haunted. My eyes darted around the piles of video games and creepy stuffed animals until
I finally spotted the dark form of a body laying on the bed. The head was concealed by a black pillow.
Slowly, I made my way towards it and carefully pulled the pillow aside. Gaz lay there, Zombie Girl blasting from the pair of headphones she wore. Her eyes flew open like a vampire disturbed from her sleep. She came at me so fast that I didn't even have time to react as I was slammed into the dresser. "Wendy!" she yelled angrily. "Who said you could come into my room?" I could barely get the words out as she held me by the throat so she loosened her grip slightly."We're really sorry for barging in like this but we need your help."

"You need me to do what?" Gaz said after we explained the situation down in the kitchen minutes later. She leaned back against the lime green counter, arms crossed impatiently. "Please," I begged "Your brother's out trying to stop that meteor and he can't do it himself. He needs help." "Well, that's for sure." she scoffed. "This is serious!" I said "I know he has superpowers now but what if it's not enough? He could get seriously hurt and I'm not willing to risk that, are you?" For a minute, she stared off as if considering the idea of having her brother out of the way. She seemed delighted by the thought at first. Then as if realizing the consequences, she gave a long disheartened sigh. "Fine. I'll do it. But what's in it for me?"

Zim and I exchanged hopeless glances, already knowing she was about to drive a hard bargain, but recognizing we had to try anyway. "How about," I started "free pizza for a week?" Gaz raised her eyebrows. "Two weeks? Three weeks?"
She paused as she considered the offer. "Hmm. Enticing but...no. Not good enough." "A year supply of rubber piggies, moose missiles and radioactive donuts?" Zim suggested. She and I both gave him a weird look. "What?" "We could pay you," I proposed "one hundred dollars? Two hundred? Three-" "I don't want your money," said Gaz. I breathed a heavy sigh of defeat.
"Fine. Then what do you want?" She stared at us as if we were clueless. "Vampire Piggie Hunter: Underworld of Darkness is being released at the mall tomorrow at midnight. You will bring me a copy of it promptly after and no later than that. Got it?"
A video game. I should have known. "Okay," I said, shaking her hand in agreement. "You've got yourself a deal."
"Pardon my interruption," Zim suddenly said. Gaz and I turned to him with instant looks of horror at the sight of his swollen pulsating face. "but it seems the equinox is going to happen shortly and I'm about to burst." "Then we'd better get you to the field of Agathorax immediately," I said, starting for the door. "If that pus can stop those spores from creating more zombies, then we shouldn't let it go to waste."

Since it had already been a tight squeeze fitting me, Zim, Mom and GIR into the tiny voot cruiser, Gaz suggested she and I take a separate ship. It had belonged to Tak during her first invasion and had crash landed in front of Dib and Gaz's house of all places after Zim had defeated her in space. She hadn't been inside the ship when it crashed, however so Dib decided to keep it in the garage, where he repaired it until it could fly again. Since Gaz obviously had better piloting skills than me, I let her play Captain Kirk with the ship. With Zim following close behind, I directed her to the very area where Tak and I had planted the hideous fungi. "There!" I pointed to a distant patch of green that was glowing like nuclear waste in the surrounding darkness.
At lightning speed, Gaz steered the ship towards it until we got close enough.

We waited at the edge of the field while Zim parked the voot cruiser. He jumped out, making his way among the Agathorax. It wasn't long before he grabbed hold of his face as he let out a cry of distress. Gaz and I watched in disgust as the skin on his face began to expand and then finally explode, drowning the supernatural plants in a sea of pus.
Their glow was extinguished at once as they shriveled, leaving beyond nothing but brown tangles of dead roots.
With a smug grin, Zim turned and gave us a thumbs up before hopping back into the voot cruiser as we headed spaceward.
The Agathorax had finally been destroyed, never to wreak havoc on Earth again. Now for that meteor...

I never thought that I would ever travel to space one day. Sure, I've seen it in several photographs taken by NASA but that was nothing compared to actually being there. Being thousands of miles away from home and not even on the same planet, but amidst a plethora of swirling galaxies and colorful nebulas bursting like heavenly fireworks. Being so close to the stars that you could almost reach out and touch them. It was an experience so surreal that I almost forgot why we had come there in the first place.
We landed on a cold, distant planet that was a little further away from Saturn. Zim perceived it as planet Zarconia. Though our surroundings were not exactly pitch black, it was dark enough to the point where flashlights would have been beneficial to thoroughly navigate the area.

Before Gaz and I could step out of Tak's ship, Zim signaled for us to wait as he approached. He reached into his PAK and presented us with two vials of what looked to be several tiny crystals. "You need to inhale these through the nose in order to breathe in space." he instructed. Gaz was hesitant as she eyed him suspiciously. "How do we know you're not planning
on drugging us with this stuff?" Zim huffed cantankerously. "Then I shall let you implode since oxygen must mean very little to you." With an irritable groan, Gaz snatched one of the vials from him and snorted it like cocaine. I carefully picked up the
other as I followed her lead. "It should last no more than six hours," Zim informed. "Enough time for us to track down Tak and the Dib monkey and destroy the meteor before we return to Earth," he drummed his three fingers together like an evil genius
before shouting like a sergeant, "Onward humans!"

Within minutes, I could already feel the air gradually becoming less constricted, and I no longer felt like I was scaling Mount Everest. I couldn't, however say that Zarconia's climate didn't still match that of the world's tallest mountain.
The planet was so cold to the point where we could see our own breath. We seemed to have been wandering aimlessly and there
was still no sign of Dib nor Tak. Desperately, I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted, "DIB!"
"Really?" Gaz patronized. "Here we are trudging around in this massive universe and you honestly think he's going to hear
that?" Frustrated, I threw my hands up in defeat. Sure, she had a point but what else was I supposed to do? That meteor could be heading for Earth at any minute now and we were wasting time. "Zim," I said crucially "Don't you have some sort of tracking device in that PAK of yours so we can find them faster?" "I may," He trailed behind us as he began rummaging for such an object.

We took a few more steps into a weedy area when something slimy sprayed our legs. "Ugghh!" Gaz complained, jumping backwards "What is this stuff?" "I have no idea," I said in disgust. Thinking nothing of it, we moved along until suddenly more slime emitted from every direction, covering us completely in thick goop. "Okay, somebody's about to get their head knocked clean right off if they don't cut it out right this second!" Gaz warned the darkness.
"No kidding," I agreed, wiping the repugnant substance from my arms. "This is disgusting, whatever it is! Hey Zim, did you
find that tracking device yet?" For some reason, he didn't respond. "Zim?"

When we turned towards him, he looked different. His ruby eyes had a new glow about them as he watched us. Not that imperious glow they normally had, but more of what seemed like a newfound rapture. "Zim?" I repeated, waving a hand
in front of his face. "Hello? What are you looking at?" He said nothing as his gaze shifted lazily from me to Gaz.
Finally Gaz stepped in. "Seriously, Zim you're creeping us out. Knock it off already so we can find Dib." At first Zim's antennae twitched with interest as she spoke then he began trembling as if her words created a silky sensation over his body. What was wrong with him?

When he finally responded, his normally vexatious voice came out as a robust growl. "It's unimaginable how I could detest the human race when such tantalizing specimen of this very culture stand before me." "Zim, what are you talking about...?
Oh crap!" When we looked down at our feet, the reason behind Zim's sudden weird behavior became all too clear. We were up to our knees in Star Dancers, which meant we were covered in the slime said to drive aliens wild! "Wendy," Gaz started,
"You and I run NOW!" Together, we bolted past him and Zim followed in hot pursuit. To make matters worse, he was already ganging up on us with the help of his spider legs. I just couldn't believe it. Of all the catastrophic things that could happen, this had to be one of them. Zim leapt alongside of Gaz. He snaked his long tongue out at her like a drunken frat boy.

"My Irken flesh longs to be caressed by those perfect lips of yours, ravishing purple haired human. Won't you do Zim the honor?"
"No," Gaz said harshly "But she will!" "GAZ!" I whined as she threw him into me. I was struggling to wrestle Zim away
when someone had barreled into me. Falling hard onto my bum, my stomach did a horrible series of somersaults when
I realized who it had been. Dib went from looking bewildered to furious as his eyes shifted from me to Zim and Gaz.
"YOU! What are you guys all doing here? I told you before that this was my mission! I don't need any of your help!"
"Yes, you do," I insisted. "Dib, have you even seen this meteor yet? It could be larger than this planet for all you know
and we can't let you risk dealing with it all on your own. Not only that but who knows what other tricks Tak may have up
her sleeve? Did you even think about that? Are you even prepared?"

Before he could argue, Gaz came to my defense. "Listen Dib, I wasted twenty minutes of my life wandering around
stupid space looking for you when I could have been at home playing my Game Slave 2 or listening to music.
So don't tell us that you don't want our help after forcing me to endure all that. You make me come here for nothing
and I swear you're going to regret it as soon as you get back home. Got it?" Dib looked intimidated by his sister's
threats. Then with a confounded sigh, he said. "Okay, fine. Have it your way."

Since Dib himself still hadn't located Tak, we flew the ships over to another planet and impatiently continued our search.
All the while, Dib and I still refused to talk, let alone look at each other. Gaz and I excessively tried to avoid Zim's
amorous stalking. I made a mental note to take a shower as soon as I got home. Finally, I decided to go off on my own
to distance myself from the two of them and hopefully find even the slightest trace of something.
For a moment, I thought I had seen the meteor out of my peripheral vision. When I looked, it turned out it had only been a shooting star whizzing by. Frustrated, I kicked at the ground, sending bits of rubble skittering in every direction and moved on

It wasn't until a few minutes later when I finally noticed it. A massive black spacecraft, pulling along an insanely larger object on a thick grappling hook from behind. The object had have been no larger than the moon itself. As it drew closer, I uttered a gasp of sheer terror. It was indeed a meteor and it was completely immersed in flames. Quickly, I attempted to get a closer look at the pilot. It was Tak, looking determined and vengeful in her Irken form as she steered the ship toward the direction of Earth.
She was going to hurl it into the planet like a massive wrecking ball! I ducked behind a large nearby rock so that she wouldn't see me as she flew by. This was a lot worse than I imagined. How were we supposed to stop something that huge?
I really hoped there was a way, but my hope was dwindling the more I looked at it. I was about to run and inform the others
when I was suddenly ensnared by a thick, cold and slimy something. "HELP!" I screamed.

It was a tentacle. A large tentacle coiling around my waist and suspending in the air upside down. Fear grappled my heart
as I found myself looking into the one black eye of a twenty foot tall cephalopod like alien. Its pulsating head was bulbous in shape and its colors shimmered like an iridescent rainbow of pinks, blues and purples. It had a feeler bearded mouth similar to Cthulu's only a little bit smaller. Its other seven tentacles fanned out around it like a squiggly peacock tail, revealing many rows of pink suckers underneath. As petrified as I was of this thing, I had to admit that I also found it strangely beautiful.
It gazed lovingly at me through its one cyclops eye as it fondled me with its tentacle. It was then when I realized that I was still covered in Star Dancer slime. Crap. I did not sign up to become an alien magnet.
Do not fear me, most seraphic maiden of Earth, a voice suddenly echoed through my mind. My name is Krysylyst. You may call my Krys if you'd like. The voice was soft and ethereal almost like that of an angel. It took me a moment to discover that the alien was communicating with me telepathically. Gaze deeply into my eye, oh captivating one. "I can't-" I responded aloud.
When I tried to avert my eyes, Krysylyst gently guided my head back towards him with the tip of his tentacle.

Gaze into my eye, he repeated the command, Surrender to my ardent devotion for you. Release all of your inhibitions and allow yourself to be mine. I suddenly felt as if I were floating on a cloud as he spoke diaphanously. I had finally reached the point where I became so relaxed that I could no longer fight it. As I went limp in his grasp, the empyrean alien leapt from the planet and together we ascended into the heavens. It was like a lucid dream as electric blue stars and endless divine galaxies whirred by. Krysylyst's tentacles had a phantasmal glow about them against the stark black sky as they propelled deeper into space.
Finally we arrived on another planet and I found myself in awe of the cave he brought me into. It was like a mermaid's grotto. The walls were bejeweled with millions of sapphire crystals bathing everything in blue serenity.

As soon as the alien reached the end of the cave, he set me down onto the smooth amethyst lined floor. His large black eye sparkled with sentiment as it looked me over. I am enraptured by your breathtaking beauty, I heard him say.
And even more so by the ambrosial scent of your succulent skin! Tonight I will take you as my queen and we will rule the Xyclon empire side by side for eternity. However, I'm afraid I cannot wait for the wedding ritual to satiate this aching desire.
He placed one of his tentacles behind my head, urging me towards his mouth. The feelers licked ravenously for my face.
Kiss me,Krysylyst ordained. Entranced by his command, I leaned in toward the caress. "Wendy get away from it!" a voice suddenly shouted from afar. Snapping out of my daze, I turned to see Dib running in my direction flanked by a jealous looking Zim and a disgruntled Gaz.
Krysylyst's gentleness suddenly turned menacing as he drew himself up to full height, catching sight of the intruders entering
his cave. Zim, however wasn't the least bit intimidated as the metal spider legs emerged from his PAK.
"YOU DARE ABDUCT MY HUMAN, MUTANT BLOB WITH LEGS?!" He raged. "You males can never stick to just one girl can you?" Gaz said rolling her eyes at his stupidity. In spite of the fact that Zim was a hamster compared to the larger alien, he
charged at him. Before he could put so much as a scratch into Krysylyst's flesh, the spider legs were seized by one giant tentacle.
Zim was then lifted and spun around before getting tossed through the air like a boomerang. He ricocheted off the crystal filled wall before landing in a tangled heap of damaged metal and pride.

I HAVE WAITED EONS FOR THIS MOMENT TO COME! Krysylyst's voice boomed with devastating passion. EONS TO FIND A BRIDE AS PERFECT AS SHE! YOU SHAN'T EVER TAKE THAT AWAY! Zim rolled out of the way before he was about to be crushed by another falling tentacle. I was about to run towards Dib and Gaz when Krysylyst dropped another tentacle in front of me, blocking my path to safety. Look at me, dearest, he imposed, returning to his milder tone. Remember that this is where your true destiny lies, forever by my side. Won't you look at me, cherubic one? A magnetic force seemed to be inclining my head in his direction as he spoke. "Wendy, that thing is hypnotizing you!" Dib warned "Don't look at its eye! You have to get away from it! Run away now!" I was almost entranced when he suddenly threw a rock at the alien's bulbous head, breaking his concentration. "Hey!" he shouted "Leave her alone!" Krysylyst unleashed an angry roar as he rampaged after Dib, who had turned to lead him out of the cave. "That's it, you overgrown pile of slime!" he taunted "Come and get me!"

Gaz and I followed while Zim staggered to his feet. As soon as we made it out of the cave, an ugly fight was happening before us. A mass of tentacles and rays of cobalt blue light flying in every direction as if Superman were taking on the Kraken.
Then the unthinkable happened. The two of them were edging toward a very deep crater and before either of us could say anything, Krysylyst fell in, taking Dib with him. "DIB!" I screamed. Gaz ran ahead of me, looking down into the dark abyss. She knelt down to pick up something that lay at her feet and my hands flew to my mouth as she held up a mangled pair of glasses. Dib's glasses. As I slowly came up beside her, I could see the silver glimmer of a tear gather at the corner of her eye and trickle down her pale cheek. "Gaz..." my voice came out as no more than a hoarse whisper "Is he...?" I couldn't even finish the sentence as I choked back a sob of my own.

After a few minutes of mournful silence, someone reemerged from the crater. Covered in black mucus, the figure hoisted himself up out of it and climbed to his feet. He wiped the gunk off his face, and I swear it felt as if my heart grew wings and took flight.
"The alien's dead," Dib said breathlessly "Has anyone seen my glasses?" I thought about hugging him. Before I could do anything, Gaz approached her brother and suddenly gave his face a deafening smack. "Don't ever do that to me again!" she yelled. Rubbing his reddened cheek, Dib was taken aback by his sister's sudden outburst. Then a little half smile pulled at his lips.
"Gaz? You thought I was dead? And you...cared?" Quickly, Gaz scrambled for an excuse. "I...no...I just don't want to have to take it up with Dad later if something happened to you."

Fortunately, we were able to locate and catch up with Tak. Dib steered the voot cruiser as we followed her in secret. Meanwhile, Zim and GIR quietly hijacked her ship, where they were to unnoticeably plant the explosives so that it would detonate before she could get too close to Earth. Gaz had chosen to stay parked in the other ship close by and play her Game Slave 2 while she waited for us to wrap up the mission. The bad news? Dib wasn't finished with our fight from earlier. "I just don't get you," he said disapprovingly. "You act like you're going to be a big help and then you go and get yourself abducted by a giant alien! Do you have any idea how much time was wasted?" "That wasn't my fault!" I said "I went off to find Tak and that thing took off with me before I could even tell you I did!" "You know what? I think the only reason you're here is because you just want all the fame to yourself! You're jealous of the fact that I'm a super hero now!" I was completely outraged by what I was hearing. "Listen to yourself! Where is this all coming from? That has nothing to with anything! You said we were a team before. What happened?" He was shaking as he spoke. "Look, I don't need you feeling sorry for me anymore, alright? After tonight, no one will ever make fun of me again." I could feel hot tears stinging my eyes as I watched him in disbelief. "What are you saying? I have never felt sorry for you!"

Frustrated, Dib released the gears on the voot cruiser. He stared hard into my face as he gripped my shoulders."Then why are even here? Why do you constantly have to be by my side if it's not out of pity or for the sake of stealing my spotlight?" "IT'S BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, YOU IDIOT!" His expression changed as I blurted those words and a look of shock immediately took over. Shaking myself from his grasp, I turned away and threw my head into my hands. I finally said it and I couldn't take it back.
I couldn't even look at him now. A few minutes later, Dib gently took my tear splashed face in his hands and turned it toward him.
When our gazes met one another, that dark look of power had vanished from his eyes and were now sparkling with emotion behind his broken glasses."Wendy..." he started "I had no idea that you-" We were suddenly interrupted by a massive explosion as Tak's ship burst into flaming bits of shrapnel. The force was so great that it caused the voot cruiser to turbulent. "Hang on!" Dib immediately took hold of the gears again as he dodged remains of inferno laced meteor that came hurling in our direction.

There was a prolonged cry as Zim and GIR were thrown from the wreckage, smacking against the voot cruiser's windshield.
"SHIP WENT 'SPLODY!" GIR cheered as the two of them slid down the glass. I thought we had succeeded until someone else had shown up. An enraged Tak, looking battered and charred leapt onto our ride as well. "YOU!" she screamed looking towards me. "YOU LITTLE BRAT! THIS IS ALL YOUR DOING!" Suddenly she smashed the windshield, yanking me through the shattered glass and hoisting me on top of the voot cruiser. "I didn't blow up your ship!" I protested.
"No matter!" Tak said threateningly. "It was you who have brought this misfortune upon me! You who have threatened my mission! Now you shall pay!" There was a sharp shing! as her spider legs appeared and she came at me.

Before I could attempt to defend myself, I was already prostrated on the roof. The pain in my ribs was unbearable as they endured several blows from Tak's steel toed boots. Just as Dib and Zim climbed up to intervene, I slowly managed to pull myself to my feet. That was when one of Tak's spider legs stabbed all the way through my left shoulder. My cries of anguish were mixed with Dib's cries of "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Tak's violet eyes glowed with infernal hatred as her lips formed a cruel smile at my suffering. There was a sickening sound of metal unsheathing from flesh and bone as she withdrew the spider leg.
I fell to my knees, clutching my wounded shoulder as my own blood oozed warmly through my fingers.

Before Tak could finish the job, another spacecraft pulled up beside the voot cruiser. A pair of stocky aliens dressed in blue uniforms stepped out and tackled the vindictive female Irken. "Invader Tak, you are under arrest," one of them announced as he fastened her wrists with laser handcuffs. "You were specifically informed that you were to wait another seventy years to train
to become an elite soldier. Because you have broken the law by abandoning your janitorial duties on planet Dirt and attempting to overtake an enemy planet anyway, you will be sentenced to ten years in prison." "What? NO!" Tak protested. "This was supposed to be my moment! The reason I couldn't take the test the first time was because that wretched little monster-" she pointed an accusatory finger at Zim "shattered my opportunity! He's the one responsible for the blackout on planet Devastis!"
"Save it, sister!" the second cop ordered. "You can tell the prison guards all about it when we get you back on Dirt!"
Tak continued to scream and struggle like a child throwing a tantrum as they loaded her into the ship and disappeared into space.

Because there was no way of reaching a hospital in time, Zim worked fast to keep me from bleeding out. Ripping my shirt away, he applied a silver medical gel to my bare shoulder. It had a strange cooling effect on my skin before it completely closed the wound. He told me that it would take a few hours for the feeling to return to my shoulder once again but I would be okay.
I flew back to Earth with Gaz while the others followed close behind. "I don't know about you," she said "but I think I'll stick to slaying vampire piggies instead of saving the world from now on. As soon as I get home, I'm going straight to bed."
When I didn't answer, she glanced over at me. "Hey. You okay?" I could feel the tears filling my eyes again as I stared down at my hands in my lap and shook my head. Already sensing what was wrong, Gaz breathed a heavy sigh before giving my shoulder a half hearted pat. "Look," she said with forced sympathy. "It will be okay. Dib is an idiot, I know but he will come around. Alright?" "I guess..." I sighed. Only time would tell.

When we arrived back at the Membrane residence, we parked Tak's ship back in the garage and stepped out. My stomach lurched as Dib showed up shortly after us. He stopped three feet away as he watched me expectantly. He looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words. I didn't even give him time for I was afraid of what those words may be. Before I started home, I turned to Gaz. "Well, thanks for all your help tonight. I'll get that game to you as soon as I can tomorrow, okay?" "Sure," said Gaz. "See ya." I took off running down the street, not glancing back once even as Dib repeatedly called out my name. I'd been rejected too many times as a result of falling in love too hard. I wasn't about to let it happen again.