(A/N: Yeahhh, you thought I forgot about Tak's injured arm thing from chapter thirteen, didn't you? NOPE! I put that there for a reason! Not a very good one, but w'ever. Let's get back to it!)

"GAZ!"

Dib burst through the front door of his house, still tied up, and went into the living room. There, he found his little sister sitting on the couch and eating some Poop brand party mix. She fixed him with an irritated glare.

"Where have you been all day? You missed Skool. Plus, Dad showed up and gave me some sacks of money."

"...WHAT?"

"He said it was excess income." She ate a pretzel from the bag."Too bad you weren't here to get yours."

Dib stopped and caught his breath."You know what? I don't care! I just want this rope off of me!"

(A/N: I didn't mention this earlier, put the rope restraining Dib wasn't just normal rope. It was gray and made with some sort of metal. Regular rope just looks out of place in Invader Zim...)

"Well, I did use some of my money to buy a death chainsaw..." Gaz grinned wickedly at her wide-eyed brother.

"I think it could help."

XXXXXXXSOONXXXXXXX

"Coming to bed, Dib?"

"I...can't get up..."

"Oh, really? Why?"

"Because...my limbs are so...mangled that they can't support my body anymore!"

"Oh, well. Good night!"

XXXXXXXTHENEXTDAYXXXXXXX

Ah, what a fine Wednesday to be alive! Well, unfortunately in this town, life was never that great.

"You're all probably thinking that this is a fine Wednesday to be alive," Ms. Bitters told the class."Well, you're wrong. Now that that reminder is out of the way, all of you, sit at your desks and wait for your life on this miserable planet to expire."

"Aww..." moaned the students."We do this every week..."

Dib, who had miraculously healed since yesterday, raised his hand."Ms. Bitters, why don't we ever learn anything worth while in Skool? We always read about the apocalypse and...moose and stuff. Shouldn't we be doing, like, math and geography?"

Ms. Bitters frowned at him."You know, Dib, the fewer questions you ask, the fewer times it is that I have to interact with you. And that ends up well for both of us."

"...good point."

"Of course. Now, get to work. Whoever's life expires first gets extra credit."

"YAYYY!" cheered the class.

Tak didn't plan on expiring anytime soon, so she decided to spend her time thinking about her plans for world conquest. Her original plan, which had obviously failed, was to take Zim's ship, abandon him, find shelter elsewhere and start from there. But now she was stuck with the little weirdo. And there was no way that she would be able to plan something in secret. GIR, Skoodge, Minimoose, Computer, somebody would find out.

She could only hope to find her ship soon and get back to planning later.

Her eyes drifted over to Zim.

As usual, he was staring at the clock, waiting for Skool to be over. But he seemed more focused than he normally was, as if he had something on his mind.

Tak wondered what he could be thinking about.

Luckily, this story is written as a third person omniscent narrative, so the reader is allowed to know these things.

Within his great mind, Zim was mulling over many things.

When was that stupid bell going to ring?

Did GIR leave the oven on again?

Why was Dib's head so big?

And why did the Tallest always levitate?

Why was Tak such a whiny bi- -

Wait. Was she looking at him?

Zim did a double take. She WAS looking at him!

"Why are you gazing upon the mighty Zim?!" Zim asked with his eyes. (A/N: Imagine, like, a voice over.)

Tak shrugged nonchalantly, then turned to look out the window.

Zim went back to glaring at the clock.

XXXXXXXLUNCHTIMEXXXXXXX

Zim, trying to have a normal day, sat at his usual table, thinking that maybe he could use the Skool food to poison some of the town humans.

He dipped a spoon into the mush and it dissolved. He grinned.

"Yes...YES!" He proceeded to do an evil laugh, proud of himself and his newest plan.

When he finished, everyone was staring at him. He stared back.

"Ahem! Have you NOT ever seen a normal Earth boy eat before?!" Zim shouted at them. He shoved some of the mush into his mouth and chewed overdramatically."MMM!"

All the students went back to what they were doing.

"KAUGHUGH!" Zim vomited the food all over the floor behind him."Ugh...ow, my throat tube..."

"Hehehehe!" giggled Tak, sitting across from him."You should know better than to try eating that slop."

Zim shot her an angry look."What do YOU want, Tak?"

"You have a problem with people sitting near you?"

"NO, I have a problem with people looking at me unless I allow them to!"

"...you do?"

"No."

"Well...oh, well. It's not like I have anywhere else to sit." Tak gestured toward the entire cafeteria.

Zim looked around, and sure enough, pretty much all the tables were filled besides his. It was quite unusual. He let out a small grunt of disapproval, but then he remained silent.

Tak found that she actually liked looking at Zim. Not because she found him attractive or anything, but because she thought he was...fascinating.

A few weeks ago, she only knew Zim as an ignorant maniac, a moron. But through all the time she had spent with him, she realized that there was more to him than met the eye. And she liked looking at him as a way of trying to see what he was thinking, get into that complex mind of his. She knew that if she asked him directly, he would only blow her off, so she just continued to watch, constantly pondering what he did, how and why he did it.

"So..." said Zim, interrupting her thoughts."How are you planning to find your ship now?"

"Oh, yeah, that," Tak recalled."Ah..."

"And I'm going with you this time!"

"I know, I know, 'I must never be out of Zim's sight', yeah, yeah...If only I knew just where it was..."

"Hmm..."

XXXXXXXAFTERSKOOLXXXXXXX

Zim and Tak were able to get back to the base pretty quickly. Luckily, Dib wasn't stalking either of them today, and Skool was pretty normal for the rest of the day. Well. As normal as that school can be.

They got inside and closed the door. GIR, MiMi and Minimoose were on the couch watching TV.

"Now, where do I look for my ship?" Tak put a finger to her chin.

"Yes, where could it be?" asked Zim."WHEEEEERE?!"

"Dib's keeping it in his garage," GIR told them.

"WHAT?!" they both asked.

"It's at Dibby's house!" GIR said more enthusiastically."'member, Master?"

Tak looked over at Zim as he tried to remember.

"Oh, yeah...yeah, now I remember! That stupid thing flung me across town! I broke, like, 300 bones!"

"This isn't possible!" Tak spoke up."Dib said that he didn't know where it was!"

"Well, it seems as if the dirt boy has lied to you," Zim grabbed her arm and dashed out the door.

"COME! Let's go get him!"

"Hey! Slow down!"

(A/N: Sweet Jesus, OH, my Jesus, are you as excited as I am for the next chapter?! I HOPE SO! Well, I'm pretty proud of this one, actually!

A few things before I go.

Sorry, I'm working my Powerpuff Girl thing and another Adventure Time thing, so the next chapter may take a bit.

Second, please let me know if you find errors. This applies to earlier chapters too. I still have all the documents for this story.

Third, if you're confused about what happened to Dib at the beginning of the chapter, let's just say that Gaz wasn't very careful with that chainsaw...imagine him with all his limbs broken and lying in a puddle of blood.

And, as always, review, fave and follow! And please check out my profile!

Reviews...they are my life juice. And if I don't have my life juice...this story dies...)