"Zim, ZIM! Dammit, wake up already!" Zim felt as if his brain had been liquidized and was slowly rebuilding itself. Words and thoughts were reforming in his mind and he had to wait before his brain could give out neural commands. He opened his eyes slowly to see Gaz right in front of him.
"Where am I and what is this?" Zim was confused, as far as he could tell he was in a normal-looking room on some sort of bed.
"You've been knocked out since last night, so we moved you to a room in Blarby's house."
"Ah, yes, the Fefian with the acidic blood and filled with more joy than my Nick Beam can give. Where is that disgusting being and the Tinkerer anyway?"
"In the destroyed living room, everyone's waiting on you so we can go check the weather for today."
"Yes, I'll be dead before I let something like giant balls of iron crush my body." Zim's head felt dizzy and tired but something was bothering him. Zim felt something wrong, actually, it was more that he didn't feel anything at all. It was like he was nothing but a headless body, he looked at his fingers to confirm that he was still in one piece. Then he tried moving them, but they didn't. He pushed his mental capacity to try to wiggle his finger, but nothing, and he soon discovered that it wasn't just his fingers. His body remained stationary no matter how much he tried to struggle. "My limbs! My body! I can't feel anything!"
"I know, I've been punching your body for an hour now." Indeed, Zim had just now noticed the fist that was being repeatedly jabbed into his stomach area. The door then opened to reveal Gir, holding Skoodge like one of his toy piggies.
"I wanna play touch Zim too!" Gir said. He dropped Skoodge in order to rush to Zim then proceeded to extend both fingers and rapidly tap Zim with an overly gleeful look on his face. Skoodge was left lying on the floor, also unable to move.
"Skoodge," Zim said, "Tell me why my body has become like the Dibship."
"Sir, I believe it has something to do with that Fefian's blood. It seems that the blood we touch at around dinner causes intense pain leading into numbness, however I do not believe that's the direct cause to our numbing. I recall the Fefian spilling blood on us when his head was chopped off, which touched our currently infected areas. For some reason, it didn't cause pain and had a delayed effect but since you partially shielded yourself using me, you can still move your head."
"Really?" Gaz said, she then punched Zim in the head to reaffirm this. Zim yelled in pain. "He's right."
"If you're through punching Zim," Zim started, "Then carry me."
"I don't carry anyone."
"Well, I'd hate to miss finding out about the flying killer beetle attack and suffer the wrath of their laser eye beams, but I guess you don't care about being stranded on this planet since I'm the only one who can pilot the Dibship."
Gaz sighed in hatred, but he was right. She didn't want to stay here any longer than he did. "Fine." Gaz piggybacked Zim and started to walk to the living room. Gir picked up Skoodge and followed.
"Forward Earth slave!"
"Don't tempt me." Dib, Kor, and Blarby were standing in the wreckage of the living room. The Dibship was moved to the hill after Zim passed out. Blarby was still hugging Kor just like when Zim last saw them.
"Dad, can you stop hugging me now!" said a very ticked Kor.
"Family houry means we share our joys and huggy!" Blarby said.
"Family hour started TEN HOURS AGO!"
"And I love every minuty of it!"
"I would stab you right now but you'd just regenerate and hug me more." Kor then noticed the two Irkens being carried towards them. "I see you've come in contact with our blood."
"Your observation and analysis skills should be commended, Skoodge," Zim said.
"Thank you, sir," Skoodge replied.
"Based on what I saw yesterday," Kor started. "You touched the blood from our head and arms. Unlike most species, Fefians contain different blood in their arms, legs, body, and head, each having varying effects, such as delayed numbing to intense pain."
"It's like having a rainbow of acidy in our body!" Blarby remarked.
"It didn't affect me," Gaz said.
"The blood only affects some species, notably Irkens," Kor said.
"Blah, blah, your blood is toxic to my superior flesh. Now let's go already, I'd rather not die from giant orbs electrocuting me," Zim said.
The group walked out of the house and towards a large gathering of Fefians, all of which wore the same smile that Blarby had. They surrounded a structure that looked like a gazebo except filled with computer monitors. A short, stout Fefian stood on it and faced the crowd. "The mayor will now read the weather!" he said with a booming voice. However, nothing happened, no other Fefian stepped onto the gazebo and everyone wondered what was going on.
"Dad!" Kor said.
"Oh, righty, I'm the mayory! I must have forgoty again." Blarby began weaving through the crowd to the gazebo.
"Did he really forget that he was mayor?" Dib asked.
"You won't believe how stupid he is," Kor said.
"I've seen stupider," Gaz remarked. Blarby reached the gazebo and activated the monitors. He scrolled through all the numbers and charts before turning on his microphone.
"Today, it's going to be sunny with more sun! So the lighty will rain down on our smileys!" He said, "Oh, and today the sewagey will overflow and cause the contents to floody the streetys. The bacteria will infect our bodies and give us a deathly sicknessy! But after that, more sunny!"
"Did he say sewage flood? How exactly are we going to survive that!" Dib exclaimed.
"Don't worry," Kor said, "The hill is a special place here where it is unaffected by almost all the doom weather that we get. We'll be safe there."
"Ooo, a slow, disgusting death today, haven't had one of those in a while!" remarked a Fefian.
"Daddy, can I stand outside to watch the sewage geyser into the sky!" said a child Fefian.
"Sure thing sport, but only if I can watch with ya!" answered his father.
"Yaaaaay!"
"Ugh, all this happiness is going to my head explode," Gaz said.
"Oh no, girly," said another Fefian, "Save that for the Harvestia Day!"
"Harvestia Day?" Zim asked.
"It's the day where Fefa's native Zotis larvae rampage the planet and plant themselves into our heads. Unfortunately, our head blood provides vital nutrients causing them to expand and make our heads explode," Kor said, "Even the hill is not safe during this time, but the ship's engine just needs to charge so we'll be able to leave before they even get near here. You know, as long as nothing stupid happens."
"Nothing stupid, eh," Zim pondered for a moment before becoming wide-eyed and asked, "Hey, where did Gir go?" A look of terror appeared on their faces.
Gir had scurried to the Dibship with Skoodge in hand. Despite Skoodge's protest he ran on to see, in his words, "the sad metal ship thingy". They reached the hill where the Dibship was connected to a bunch of metal wires with the cockpit open. He was still activated after being worked on by Kor last night, while Blarby was still hugging her.
"Aww, the two special needs beings are-Hey! What are you doing?"Gir skipped the greetings and rushed inside with Skoodge. He saw panels open revealing several wires and circuits, metal tubes leading to who knows where. In Gir's eyes, it was a wonderland of shiny sparky things in one area. The sight of the electricity flow intrigued Gir, intrigued enough to want to touch/eat it. Gir dropped Skoodge in a way that caused him to face away from Gir, unable to see the future events.
"Sir unit? What are you doing?" Skoodge asked.
"The electricity," Gir said in a robotic, flat voice, "They wants me to play with them."
"Sir unit?" He heard the crackle of electricity, the clunking of metal crashing into each other. The shadow of Gir dancing manically due to the light of the sparks cast against the wall Skoodge was facing. "Sir unit! STOP! NO!" It was too late, Gir was in his zone.
"Faster! FASTER!" Zim was commanding his carrier, Gaz, with great anxiety. Zim had known about Gir's potentially destructive tendencies when alone but that hasn't been much of an issue to him until now.
"Shut up or I'll just let those larvae make your head explode," Gaz answered back. The group had rushed towards the hill as fast as they could, leaving all the other Fefians behind to wait for their bacterial demise.
"If your robot was so stupid, then why do you still have him?" Kor yelled at Zim.
"Though as stupid as the average earthling, Gir has proven a worthy tool in my quest for power," Zim replied, "However, the last time he was left alone with my equipment, I wasn't able to fix it for five years."
"Well, unless your head can survive five explosions, you better hope that robot didn't do anything!"
Things quickly fell silent. A rumbling shook the ground. The group noticed a vile odor mixing into the air. Soon, the streets were breaking like eggshells, slowly the disgusting sewage yolk was seeping through. The native Fefians quickly took noticed and acted in celebration. They danced and laughed as they braced for their daily doom. The seeping stopped for a moment, much to the dismay of the Fefians but to the group's delight. Suddenly, pillars of raw sewage flew straight up into the air, the brown chunks of waste fell onto the streets and Fefians liked chopped bacon bits. The group started sprinting as fast as they could and was doing everything they can to swerve out of the way of a sudden geyser of crap.
"THIS IS JUST WRONG! SO WRONG!" Dib yelled.
"Stupid dad, today's doom is earlier than he predicted!" Kor said.
"MY EYES! IT GOT IN MY EYES!" Zim yelled.
"This is so gross," Gaz said.
They reached the neighborhood where Blarby's half-destroyed house was, the sewage already covering the entire ground. The hill was in sight, the green foliage contrasting against the brown background was proof of its invincibility against this doom. Slowly, the Fefians were coming out of their homes, greeting the dropping sewage like ants having sugar sprayed on them, they enjoyed their brown wonderland and some even acted like snow was falling from the sky and stuck their tongues out.
The hill grew larger and the distance smaller, but the sewage was up to their ankles now. Each step was harder and harder to take, the fatigue of running was wearing them down.
Gaz was especially tired, having carried Zim all the way. Though he provided a useful shield against the falling sewage similar to how he used her as an umbrella against the rain five long years ago, she really wanted to drop him to lessen the pain. She stopped caring about her lost di-Vendetta List in that moment, she stopped caring about Tak who had stolen it, she just wanted to be back in her house watching TV. She was sure Kor had some flight experience since she is able to fix ships, or at least be able to command the autopilot, so the lost of a pilot wouldn't be that bad for her desire to go home. All she had to do was let go, things would be easier, and she might be able to eat pizza again in a few days.
She didn't do it. Despite the udder stupidity he had exhibited over the years, he had redeeming qualities; one, he was the only one she had met that didn't have straight fear every time she approached, proven by how he stood up against her initially on their journey, and two, he actually did a kind thing for her, on his own. Sure he was doing it to break a contract, but he easily could have just left, it's not like Gaz would actually waste her time tracking down Zim in space. So she decided to do this favor for him, to not leave him dying a slow death in Fefian waste. She'll help him this time, since it was just a favor.
By the time they reached the hill, the waste was almost knee high. Relieved that no more waste would touch them, the group took a break, or at least they wanted to. They had a more pressing matter to handle. This issue of a little robot that causes trouble due to its mental functions. They reached the Dibship which was hooked up to many wires and tubes.
"I feel so weak," The Dibship said, "lacking energy, so...so...DISGUSTING! My aroma sensors detect that your odor is even worse than the standard human waste product!"
"Not now, Dibship, did Gir come here?" Dib asked.
"Hello! Why do you think I feel so weak! That little thing messed with my pow-REMAINING POWER LEVEL: 0, COMMENCING SLEEP MODE."
"NO! NO! NOOOO!" Kor had rushed inside while Dibship was powering down. She witnessed the sight of a fallen Skoodge facing the wall and a Gir with cables in his mouth. Gir had seem to be unconscious as he remained motionless on the floor.
"Zim, are you there!?" Skoodge yelled.
"Skoodge, what happened!?" Zim said.
"I'm sorry, sir, but in this paralyzed state I couldn't stop him. I could only watch the shadow of the carnage before my eyes."
"One of the battery cells that power the ship is gone!" Kor yelled.
"Please don't tell me we're stuck here," Gaz said.
"No, your head will explode before long."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Harvestia Day is tomorrow, so unless you can come up with a replacement energy source in 24 hours, then you're dead."
"You mean I carried Zim to the point of exhaustion only to have my head explode by alien larvae!"
"Hey, I'm right here!" Zim said.
"Do I give a damn, Zim?"
"Calm down, Gaz, there's got to be something we can do," Dib said.
"Oh, there will be! I'd sacrifice my immortal soul before I live through another Harvestia!" Kor said. "At the earliest, I can make a new power cell in two days, the only thing stopping us is Harvestia larvae. Those things are as persistent and annoying as you can get. They won't stop until they suck every being's head juice dry."
"Foolish Fefian Tinkerer, do you not know you I am?" Zim said.
"Some egotistical twerp who craves power he'll never get?"
"NO! I am ZIM! The strongest and tallest of the Irkens! I am too powerful to let mere insects suck my brain goo. With my mind and superiority, I will destroy all creatures that stand in my way until I am the supreme ruler of their dead, mindless corpse! These Harvestia larvae will never stop me, NEVEEER!"
"So I was right, except you're also stupid."
"Might as well try, it's better than just letting those things kill us," Dib said.
"Do you both need cyborg brains? Don't you think I've tried to fight these things? They overwhelm you before you can kill a fraction of their army. It's an unstoppable invasion!"
"Ha! These things invaders? I am an Invader, those things are mere insects marching towards their doom. As an Invader, the next step after Invasion is protecting what you control. Listen, Tinkerer, this ship is in my control, these servants are in my control, I will stop these bugs." Zim said.
"What can you do? I've tried protective headgear, super anti larvae repellent, robotic deathlords!"
"Hahahaha! All those plans lack the one component that only I have."
"And what is it that you have?"
"I have Zim."