"Beings, today you fight not for yourselves, not for your planet, and not for Irk. Today you fight for your livelihood! We must face this menace that has plagued the galaxy, but if you are to achieve victory, we must unite! Unite for glory, unite for honor, unite for your daily grease consumables! Just follow my orders and stand by me, Sizz-Lor!" The giant Irken was rallying the many customers of Foodcourtia to prepare for the oncoming arrival of the unknown beings that had attacked the other side of the planet, working their way to Foodcourtia's busiest sector.
"Um, excuse me!" One of the other beings spoke up, "Why exactly do we have to fight for you? All we did was eat food here."
Sizz-Lor whacked the being with his giant spatula, "Any other questions?" No one spoke up.
A shadow blanketed Sizz-Lor and his makeshift army. He looked up to see a large dumpster-shaped ship. "Customers! Remember that this is a ruthless armada that has wiped out several Irken colonies! They will stop at nothing to kill you! If we are to die today, then die knowing you fought!"
"Attention citizens of Foodcourtia!" yelled a squeaky voice from the ship. "We are only here to kill the Irkens, the rest of you, if you wish to live, please stand behind the line I'm about to make." A laser appeared from under the ship and fired vertically into the crowd, frying several beings.
"Tak!"
"I have no regrets!" yelled a female voice. The laser was re-aimed and fired a beam horizontally, immediately all the non-Irken beings ran behind it, leaving only Sizz-Lor and a few Irken employees, who started running away.
"So be it! I'll destroy you myself!" Sizz-Lor yelled. Soon, several strange beings dropped from the ship, each armed with blasters. Sizz-Lor had never seen anything so terrifying.
Silence filled the air in the Irken armory. The majority of the Irken forces positioned themselves around the gaping hole in their fortress. So far, there was no sight of the rebel forces according to the Irken watchmen, nothing but dirt for miles. The Irkens started thinking they wouldn't attack while there was a hole in their defense, possibly they figured out they were waiting for them on the other side, just maybe, these rebels weren't as stupid as they had believed. The Irkens didn't know how right they were. Of course, it was all according to Zim's plan.
"Attaaaaaaack!" The signal was heard and the ground beneath the Irkens shook. The rebel forces sprouted out of the ground like zombies using drill-like objects. The Irkens couldn't believe it was possible, for the rebel forces to break through their fortress so easily with their level of technology. Spoopti and Mooshy had determined the exact spots where to tunnel thanks to the plans of the Armory they retrieved, now they were leading the rebels in a surprise attack. Soon, more rebels popped out and immediately the Irkens started firing. Several colorful lasers flew around the room, hitting Irkens and rebels alike, however, the Irkens still had the advantage of position.
"Drop!" Suddenly, Tel and the ZMDA dropped from the ceiling like vicious koalas. During the crossfire, they had sneaked in behind the rebels and climbed to the ceiling using their cybernetics and monkey-like agility. They fought the Irkens in close combat, burning them alive, whacking them with metal arms, while Tel pierced dull sticks through their bodies, the Irkens would stare at the stick in confusion before falling over and dying. The Heboadians also had a trick up their sleeve, they had learned all the techniques from the videos the Dibship showed them, making them extremely proficient and deadly up close. There were cyber-monkeys spinning several times while kicking, doing several unnecessary flips through the air, and freeze-framing and attacking in slow-motion. It made Tel wish he didn't leave during the movie.
Zim decided to let me fly the Dibship again, actually, he forced me to fly the Dibship. Since the monkey disappeared, Zim said I was the only one who could do the job. Fortunately I didn't do as horribly as the last time I flew it, but that didn't mean I did well either.
"AAHHHHHHHHHHH!" We all screamed collectively as I lost control of the Dibship. It was spiraling towards the Irken Armory, we all held onto something for dear life. The armory grew bigger and bigger, impact was imminent, why did Zim put me here again?
The Dibship created a large hole in the wall of the Armory. Everyone survived the crash with great injury somehow, I honestly don't know how we keep living but I'm not going to complain. Everyone staggered out slowly, still dazed. Our group consisted of me, Kor, Zim, Dwicky, Daj, Kry, Ere, and an insignificant rebel. Zim said Gaz and Skoodge were back at the rebel base, relaying info back to Zim about their whereabouts in the Armory. Gir was absent too, Zim didn't mention his whereabouts, but I think the mission would turn out better this way.
"Congratulations, Dib-stink, I knew that your somewhat minor experience with piloting combined with your unfathomable stupidity would be enough to aim and crash the ship in the exact spot where the wall isn't reinforced," Zim said. I would've responded to him, but I puked before I could say anything.
"Why isn't this part of the wall reinforced anyway?" Daj asked.
"This section is known as the backdoor, Irken records show that this is where Irkens locked out of the armory go to get in after scaling the building. Then their PAK would gain them access through the wall."
"Then why...WHY did you have to crash me, again?" The Dibship yelled in agony.
"It's more convenient for me this way."
"BUT WHY CRASH? I'm certain I have missiles or lasers SOMEWHERE on me!"
"Silence! You're nonsensical bickering annoys Zim. Come my army, we have an armory to destroy." Zim then handed me a backpack to carry around, it was pretty heavy and I was curious to see what was inside, but he told me not to open it.
"Wait, Zim, I just realized," I said, "Wouldn't that crash attract their attention even with the battle going on down below?"
Zim smiled and only said one word, "Good."
The crash was indeed seen by the Irkens stationed on the roof of the Armory, who were guarding the sealed weapon transmit exit where weapons where sent through. They quickly rushed to the floor where the intruders had crashed, though they believed that there was no way they'd get through the chambers on that floor alive, and they knew Togan would massacre them if even a scrap of them made it. For once, they were glad to have the Death Floor in the Armory.
All but one of them had filed themselves down the Armory, the roof was left silent, only guarded by the single Irken. It overlooked the quiet, desolate wasteland surrounding the Armory. The bottom floor of the Armory contained the rebel and Irken battle, where most of the Irkens had concentrated its forces, the middle was where Zim's group had planed to infiltrate, where the remainder of the Irken's focus was given to, then there was the rooftop where a lone Irken stood guard.
He looked over the edge to catch a glimpse of the purple, Irken-like ship that had crashed. He then made the mistake of looking behind him for a second due to a faint sense of paranoia. A hand shot up and muffled his mouth, he felt a burning sensation in his chest, he saw the scorch marks that was on his uniform. Then he felt an emptiness where his chest should be, before falling over the edge. He last memory was of a cloaked figure with a blaster in his hand standing atop a rooftop, an image that grew smaller and smaller. He was dead before he hit the ground.
"Um, Zim?" Zim was standing still for about five minutes now, like time had stopped for him or something. I walked up to him to give him a nudge when someone grabbed my hand.
"What, Dib-worm?" Zim had woken from his trance-like state and had stopped my hand.
"You alright, you were kind of...not moving for a while."
"I was just contemplating about...my glorious...plans...of DOOM, yes, that's what I was doing." Weird, but Zim was always weird, so whatever. We continued walking down the hallway, it was unusually quiet for our group, especially Dwicky. He was walking quite well after the Dibship had crushed his fake leg when it crashed into his room in the base, apparently the makeshift replica was working fine.
I ended up ahead of everyone, we saw a gate of some sort, blocking our way. Suddenly, as I took a step forward, my foot had sunk into the floor, and I was about to go with it but I was caught by someone. I turned around to see Zim, he had grabbed me at the last second. He pulled out a blaster-like device from the backpack and aimed at the ground. A light emitted from the device and the floor faded away, revealing it was nothing but a hologram. The bottom of the chasm was filled with giant spikes.
"Welcome to the first chamber of the Irken Death Floor," Zim said.
"Death Floor? We're going through a place called the Death Floor?" I asked.
"Yes, Dib, if you recall a few years ago when I trapped you in that room, I had based its design on this particular chamber."
"That room had flaming tops, laser pendulums, and piggie mafia, I still have bacon burns from that. How are ANY of those derived from a spike pit?"
"Yes."
"That isn't an answer to my question!"
"That's not the issue now," Ere said, "Zim, how are we to get through the gate to the next chamber."
"You see, what makes the Irken Death Floor so unique to other Death Floors..."
There are other Death Floors? I thought to myself.
"...is that in order to open the gate, the trap must be activated, or one finds the hidden switch. For this room, the switch would be somewhere across the chasm."
"I see, so if one of us can make it across the chasm, we can avoid one of us dying," Ere said.
"Squish-blob, your assistance is required."
"Please don't call me that," Kor replied. She walked towards the edge of the chasm to get a decent look at the spikes. Zim reached in the backpack again and pulled out a rope and gave it to me to hold. I had no idea how it could help us in this situation, there was nothing to tie it to.
"Hmm, I think if I can get some extra energy, say from a blaster or something, I could charge my boots enough so I could jump across. I'll find the switch and use that rope to get you guys across," Kor's plan seemed sound, that would explain the rope, but it was a bit mundane for Zim.
"Yes, yes," Zim said in an uncaring tone. Suddenly Zim pushed Kor over the edge and we heard a sharp cry of agony. The gate opened and a bridge jetted from the other side to ours, providing a path across.
"You heartless fiend!" Ere said, "How dare you kill one of our comrades!"
"And what are you to do about it, deluded lizard-stink, vaporize me and jeopardize the entire point of this mission? Besides, she's a Fefian, her species' anatomy will allow her to live." I can see why Zim wanted Kor to get closer, but what was this rope for?
"Dib-worm, fish the Tinkerer out of the chasm." Oh.
As everyone made their way across I lowered the rope for a very angry Kor to grab. As she climbed, the fluid from her body leaked through the holes the spikes created. Slowly, she regenerated her skin while screaming obscenities at Zim. Zim did nothing to acknowledge the insults.
"Um, my Tallests, are you sure I should be the one to speak with the Main Control Brain?" A very puzzled Irken asked. Red and Purple had randomly grabbed an Irken during their walk to the control brain. The room they were standing in had two doors, one marked "Database" and the other marked "Main Control Brain".
"Yes, of course! We have been watching you and we think you're worthy of being our Control Brain messenger," Purple replied.
"Really? Wow! It would be an honor!"
"Now go into the chamber and ask the biggest Control Brain to open the Database door for us," Red said.
"Thank you so much for this, my Tallests!" The Irken opened the door to the Main Control Brain and walked joyfully into the dark chamber.
"Good thing we found this sucker, talking to regular Control Brains is one thing, but the Main Control Brain is just scary," Purple said.
"And you thought we were actually going to see the Control Brain ourselves, we just need to check the database," Red said, "Since the brains keep track of all Irken activities we'll be able to identify which Irken is attacking all these planets and track that Irken."
"But wait, doesn't that mean we have to look through every Irken's files to find which one it is? That'll take forever!"
"Unfortunately, yes, but fortunately, I brought snacks!"
"Alright!" The door marked "Database" opened.
"Awesome, the little Irken came through."
"Time to eat some snacks!" the Tallests walked into the chamber.
"Um, my Tallests," cried the Irken behind the Main Control Brain door, the Tallests just ignored his calls. "My Tallests, I-I'd like to come out now. PLEASE! It's d-dark in here a-and s-s-scary. PLEASE LET ME OUT!"
We went through several rooms since the pit, all of which Kor would get shoved by Zim in order to activate the trap, except for one instance where Kor dodged and Zim pushed a rebel into a trap, he was too insignificant for anyone to care. Kor had been sliced, lasered, dehydrated, and ripped apart, she commented on how it was as if she was on Fefa again.
"You alright, Kor?" I asked.
"I've been sliced, lasered, dehydrated, and ripped apart...honestly I think I'm building a pain tolerance," Kor replied.
"Hey, have you noticed something strange about Zim, personality-wise?"
"I don't know, I've only known the sadistic freak for a couple of months now, is there something strange?"
"Well, it seems like he's a bit more caring about lives lately."
"Excuse me?" Kor pointed to her attire, which was shredded and tattered from the death traps she just went through.
"Well, at least with life for beings that die easily, he's saved mine on two occasions, I'm sure I saw him save Gaz's once, and I'm not buying the meat shield excuse he keeps using."
"So he has a Cylo Kallux, so what?"
"A what?"
"Oh right, that's Fefian anatomy."
"Point is, before he wouldn't care what happens to my life. He's tried to erase me from existence using stuffed pigs, wanted to turn me inside out, and even tried to send me through a wormhole where I would be stuck with a moose!"
"Wow, I didn't know Zim was so...creative."
"There is no way Zim could see me as useful anymore, with the lack of combat ability and how I was captured, and how I keep crashing the Dibship. My uselessness knows no bounds! I even forgot why I even came along, I should just jump into the next tr-" Kor slapped me.
"Dib, do not even think about becoming a self-depreciating mess again! I can't handle the headaches. Anyway, so what if Zim is saving your skin, isn't that a good thing?"
"Yeah but-"
"Beings change, Dib, and I guess somewhere along the way, that Irken found a way to change too."
"I agree!" Yelled a voice behind them. Kor and I were startled and turned to find Ere.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Eavesdropping! Sidekick-"
"I'm not your sidekick."
"Even the darkest of villains can follow the path of righteousness and begin a new life of honor and justice!" You could feed a county fair with that much corn.
"Alright, but why exactly did Zim change then?"
"Well obviously, he discovered the power of truth, justice, and love!" Both me and Kor were stunned by his ridiculous and stupid response.
"Is he actually degenerating even further?" I whispered to Kor.
"Maybe it's best we tell him the truth, before he gets worse," she said, "Ere, about your 'heroic' lif-" A limbless hand covered Kor's mouth.
"Hey, guys what are you talking about?" It was Daj, apparently he wanted to keep Ere deluded. Kor ripped his hand from her mouth.
"Daj, I know what you're doing and why, but Ere's starting to reach insane levels, and our group has enough insanity as it is."
"I see. Oh look, villainy!" Daj pointed away and unsurprisingly, Ere looked. During the brief moment, Daj grabbed and threw Kor behind him, sending her flying towards Dwicky. He sidestepped quickly, quite the agility for a man with one real leg, and Kor hit a wall spike in from of Zim.
"Ah, Tinkerer! I was just about to ask for your assistance," Zim said. The gate to the next death chamber opened.
"Just...get me...down...from here," Kor said in pain.
"Hmm, looks like there wasn't any villainy over there, Ere, my bad," Daj said.
"You were only being cautious, brother," Ere said.
"Yep, hey, how about you walk in front, I want to talk to your sidekick." Ere walked in front of us and then Daj turned to me.
"Look, I know you've been hanging out with Ere recently, and most likely that won't stop, but you can't tell Ere the truth about me and him actually being mercenaries and not heroes."
"Isn't this rapid deterioration in mental stability really bad for him though?" I asked.
"And crushing the illusion of his heroic life will make him better?" Daj sighed in despair, "I'm not blind, I've seen the signs of Ere's mentality worsening over the years. Whether it's from my lies or when he got hit in the head on our home planet, I'll never know, but what I can do is make sure he goes on living his life happily. Even if he becomes an insane being with a knack for killing, he'll at least be a happy insane being."
Being Ere's brother, Daj took it upon himself to take care of him. I could relate. I swore to Daj that I wouldn't tell Ere the truth.
Two Irken soldiers made their way to the roof of the Armory to trade shifts with the lone Irken already stationed there, Salus. For once the two were glad to have guard duty under Oberox's sun, the battle on the lower floors claimed many Irken lives, and knowing they weren't competent fighters, the two wouldn't have lasted long.
The elevator reached the top of the roof, when the door slid open one of them caught a glimpse of something. Naturally he armed his weapon.
"What are you doing?" the other Irken asked.
"I thought I saw something." He said.
"Could just be Salus. Saaaluuusss!" She called out as they walked out of the elevator, one of them still with their weapon held. "I guess he already left."
"If Salus wasn't here, then what did I see?"
"Calm down, it could've just been a...a something."
"A something that could hurt us!" The Irken started twitching in fear.
"Woah, relax, no wonder they call you Para, the paranoidian in the snack room."
"You know how much I hate that name, Bliva!"
"Well stop being so paranoid and I'll stop calling you that." Bliva stood at the edge of the roof, overlooking the landscape. She noticed that Para had stopped talking and the sound of twitching had stopped for a while. "See, Para, when you relax, you'll see that your paranoia will simply disappear."
During this time she didn't bother turning around, she just assumed that Para had assumed his post like a good Irken soldier. If she had turned she would've seen that the silence was not from the absence of twitching, but from the absence of Para. She was still talking as if her partner was still there.
"There was absolutely nothing to be worried about, Para. Yep, absolutely nothing!"
Then she felt the cold metal of a blaster barrel on the back of her head.
After we entered the next death chamber, Zim stood still, once again in a trance-like state. We decided to use this time as a rest stop, I really needed one after lugging around this backpack. Seriously, what the hell is in here? Every time I tried to open it, Zim stopped me. I walked over to Dwicky, we haven't talked since his robot leg was crushed, but he remained unusually silent. I wanted to ask more about his life in space but I think I got too persistent, he punched me to make me go away. Armored fists hurt.
"Minions!" Zim had broken from his frozen state when I wasn't looking, "This is the final death chamber, The Labyrinth of DOOM!"
"Uh, did you just say labyrinth?" Daj asked.
"Of course I did, hideous scale worm." We scanned the room and Daj said what we were all thinking.
"But this room is empty."
"Oh is it?" As if on cue, the floor began shaking, walls began rising from the ground, creating passages. One of the walls rose right under Zim, causing him to stand above us. "Welcome to the Irken labyrinth, filled with several deathtraps and laser aimed towards causing the most pain to all who enter. This final chamber is unique, the gate to the exit will only open if we activate the switch at the end of the labyrinth or we all die. Such is the genius of Irken intellect."
"What's the point of opening the gate if we all die?"
"Because the requirement would have been fulfilled. Now, I will not direct you in how you escape this maze, but don't think simple navigation will let you succeed. There are no rules on how you escape and I'll need most of you to succeed in the plan later. Drag your corpse if you must." With that, Zim ran off, running along the top of walls, obviously not how the builder of the labyrinth intended one to navigate it.
"These walls don't seem to be that tall, apparently whoever built this didn't expect for beings as tall as us to go through it," Kor said.
"You're right, I'd say these walls are about seven feet tall," I said.
"They don't look too strong too," Daj said, he pulled out his G.F.B. And started charging it, "Time to blast our way through."
"No!" Ere interfered and stopped Daj from firing, "We must follow the rules of this labyrinth!"
"Rules? There aren't any!"
"That doesn't matter! We're heroes, we'll never cheat!"
"...You really are getting worse."
"Worse at what?"
"Nevermind, we'll do this your way, but if we're doing this your way we're gonna do it the way I want to."
"Excuse me?"
"Kry," Daj motioned for their beast-minded companion to come closer. He then mounted him and acted like he was riding a horse, Kry was not amused. "Come on, Kry, it'll be faster this way."
Kry calmed down and Ere joined Daj on Kry's back. "Now we just need to something to tie us to Kry."
"Don't worry brother, I have this, the Hero's Harness!" It was a vest with two ropes on the back to tie to their bodies.
"You carry that thing around?"
"A hero has to always be prepared."
"...Whatever. I guess I'll see you guys on the other side." Daj made a motion for Kry to sprint off, quickly navigating their way through the maze.
"That leaves you, me, and Dwicky," I said. I turned around to see Dwicky had followed Zim's lead and was running on top of the labyrinth. "That is one good fake spare leg."
Knowing that I couldn't break through the walls, or have the sanity to think about navigating it, I decided to run the top of the labyrinth as well. If I was given anything from all those years of chasing Zim, it was agility. I asked Kor to hold the backpack as I jumped up, she returned it to me once I found my footing. "You coming?"
She shook her head, "Running the top requires too much balance and agility for me, I'm gonna break through the walls in one straight path."
"Really, how?"
She pushed some buttons on her gauntlets and boots, they lit up and she smashed the wall next to her.
"Oh, right, I forgot about those." I ran off and Kor was breaking down wall after wall. The backpack I was carrying was heavy, but I was still able to keep my speed and balance. Dwicky was way ahead of me, and much faster than me even if I wasn't carrying the backpack. I guess being a rebel leader can give you some useful skills. I spotted Daj, Kry, and Ere running the labyrinth like white lab mice being experimented on, they were able to jump over all the pitfalls that they activated, but kept getting stopped by dead ends. So far it seemed like running the top was the safest way, and then I was knocked down by Zim.
As I fell backwards a red laser swept across right above me, barely missing my nose.
"And here I thought you were somewhat smarter than the rest of your species, did you not listen when I said there would be traps?" He said as we hanged from the wall.
"Not that I don't appreciate saving me, again, but weren't you really far ahead?" I asked.
"Does that matter? You shouldn't take this labyrinth lightly, the traps only get harder." He ran off, jumping from wall to wall, and I followed. "I see you can still keep up with me, Dib-worm."
"Do you really think that after all these years I'd let you escape so easily?"
"Then place your monetary gains where your food digests, worm!"
"What?" As I spoke I barely dodged a laser that took off a few pieces of my hair. Suddenly Zim and I were jumping and ducking lasers, sidestepping to the wall beside us, and sprinting as fast as we can.
Dwicky came into view, he was also dodging lasers left and right. I wanted the lasers to end, I started to feel the toll of carrying a heavy backpack. By the time I saw the next set of traps, however, I wanted the lasers back.
"Hey Mooshy, look at all this loot!" Spoopti was carrying various weapons raided from a storeroom.
The battle between the ZMDA and Rebels versus the Irkens was favoring their side. Their advantage was attributed to the Irkens' shock of using Irken tech, which Zim had given the rebels. Nonetheless, it gave them enough time to start raiding the storerooms where the weapons are, giving the rebels even more of an advantage.
"Wow, is that a Hydraulic Nega-Ion Cannon?" Mooshy asked.
"Yes it is!"
"Man we should've raided the armory earlier! Do you know how much we can get for this stuff?"
"Enough to build a home out of currency!"
"Haha, that's ridiculous, but awesome, Spoopti!"
"And crazy!" As they were running back to give the rebels weapons, they were stopped by a medium sized Irken, one they were familiar with.
"Going somewhere?" The metal implants on the Irken's face was a dead giveaway as to who it was. Spoopti and Mooshy were speechless and frozen. "I know this whole deal isn't your plan, nor your leader's. You had help from some being."
Not knowing what to do, Spoopti and Mooshy relied on instinct and quickly aimed their blasters. Togan was too quick, he used his psychic powers to slam Spoopti and Mooshy against the wall, knocking Mooshy unconscious.
"How foolish, but what can I expect from such inferior species," Togan walked slowly towards Spoopti. "I don't know what you rebels are planning, but I intend to find out."
Togan's implants started glowing, within seconds he was in Spoopti's mind, reading his memories...
"What happened!?" Spoopti yelled out as he and Mooshy opened the door. They had heard a large crash in Dwicky's room and hoped nothing too bad happened. They saw a large ship in the middle of Dwicky's room, surrounded by Zim, Gaz, Dib, Kor, Skoodge, Gir, Tel, Daj, Kry, and Ere.
"Where's Dwicky?" Mooshy yelled.
"There's a very good chance he's underneath this rubble," Gaz said.
"Oh man, quick, you all go gather all the medics in the base!"
"Woah, all of them?" Daj said, "We don't even know all of them!"
"Just find as many people with medical credentials, we need Dwicky for tomorrow!" With that, everyone filed out of the room, except for Zim, Gaz, Spoopti, and Mooshy who stayed to dig out Dwicky. They tunneled through the debris until they saw the twitch of a human hand. They moved more rubble until the top half of Dwicky was visible.
"Dwicky, Dwicky! Wake up, man!" Spoopti yelled, He slapped Dwicky until he woke up.
"Ow, please don't do that Spoopti, I'm feeling enough pain as it is," He said.
"Listen, tall-worm, are you fit for combat tomorrow or not?" Zim asked.
"Don't worry about it! I think the only thing that got crushed was my fake leg!" A few seconds later, blood started seeping out from his left.
"Well that's not a good sign," Gaz said.
"Blood, I see. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! IT WAS MY REAL LEG! AHHHHHH!"
"That means he isn't fit for combat, that's quite a problem," Zim said.
"Is Dwicky really that important to tomorrow's plan?" Gaz asked.
"To us directly, no, but his purpose is to build moral for his troops. If they know their leader is giving his life, the sheep beings will follow, thus increasing their chance to win the tomorrow's battle."
"Unfortunately you're right," Mooshy said, "All our rebels used to be slaves with broken moral. If they find out about this, they'll start hesitating and questioning themselves in battle."
"All right, then what do we do?" Gaz asked. Zim started thinking of solutions, then he eyed Dwicky's fallen set of mind-block armor.
"Simple," Zim said, "We'll use a fake."
"I don't know, the rebels would eventually figure out Dwicky wasn't in the suit when they see him fight during the battle." Spoopti said.
"Another simple obstacle solved by a simple solution, the fake would just not fight in front of the rebels."
"But that's just as bad as Dwicky being out of commission!"
"No, just have the real Dwicky give his morale-boosting speech before the battle, then we'll switch the real one with the fake one. I'll bring the fake along with my strike team to destroy the weapon transport systems while you two keep the battle going as a distraction. As long as the rebels think Dwicky is still well and capable, there will be nothing to worry about."
"Then that just leaves one question," Gaz said, "Who's gonna be the fake?"
"Isn't the answer obvious, Gaz? You are."
"...So you had help, from a tall Irken," Togan's implants stopped glowing, Spoopti was still frozen in terror from seeing Togan face to face, especially after tearing his arm off last time. "I had a feeling this sort of plan was too superior to your collective species."
Togan started walking away, allowing Spoopti to breathe a sigh of relief, but then Togan stopped walking just a few feet from him.
"I just remembered who exactly you are, I see that you have a new arm. I must say, it brings me joy to meet you again, I hated knowing that an enemy met me, face to metal, and got away, alive."
Spoopti saw no escape this time, he thought for sure he would die. Time slowed down for Spoopti, the implants on Togan's head slowly started glowing again, a sign that he was about to use his powers. Spoopti closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
Then a loud blast caused him to open his eyes, there were scorch marks on the ceiling and then it started to cave in. Togan quickly avoided the falling debris but was cut off from Spoopti as the rumble blocked the corridor.
Spoopti looked beside him to see that Mooshy had woken up and fired at the ceiling. Thankful, he helped his friend get up.
"Come, Spoopti, lets get back to the rebels, they'll need these weap-...what's that in your mouth?" Mooshy asked. Spoopti was too focused on Togan to even notice that there was something in his mouth. He looked down to figure out what Mooshy was talking about. It was a cyber arm.
Mooshy looked to his left side to see his arm missing, making the owner of the arm Spoopti was chewing on obvious. "Holy galaxies!"
Togan stood on the other side of the blocked corridor, irked by how the beings on the other side didn't survive not one, but two encounters with him. He wanted to break through the rubble but he knew he had more pressing matters at hand.
"To think that the Irken believes he can trick me by using this battle as the diversion, I guess he must be inferior to most other Irkens. Yet to be of that height, well, it would be an honor to let his blood rust my claw."
"...And Salus turned around and got attacked by one of prisoners and fell down the stairs!"
"Hahahaha, wow, I can't believe how many times that guy gets attacked from behind."
"I know right, I bet he'll die one day by getting attacked from behind!"
"Haha, that's a safe bet!"
The Irken guards that came from the roof were waiting at the end of the labyrinth, acting like they were doing their job. However, they knew no one has ever came through alive, so it was mostly an excuse to get out of guard duty.
"What on IRK are you guards doing?" The voice surprised them and gave them fear, for good reason. Togan was in the surveillance room, watching the rooms of the death chambers and saw the guards just standing around.
"T-Togan, sir, w-we were just guarding the exit to stop anyone who survives the chambers."
"Well there ARE beings in there that ARE surviving!"
"Really?"
"Go in there and kill them, before I have to skin you all to make pie crusts!"
"But sir, wouldn't it be better if we wait and ambush them when they come out?"
"...You're gonna become pie crust even if you live. I want them dead NOW!"
The Irken guards started muttering to themselves.
"I don't want to become pie crust."
"Yeah but Togan said those beings are LIVING through the death chambers, they must be some hardcore rebels."
"Not to mention even if we can kill them, the labyrinth's death traps could still get us."
"And those traps don't make you look pretty, remember Goce, he came back looking like cheese puffs."
"I think Togan ate his remains too."
"Alright so it's either Togan's wrath or fighting monstrous rebels in a death maze that can turn us into cheese puffs that Togan will eat."
They unanimously decided to go into the maze.
Togan had placed cameras in the labyrinth to watch poor victims die, unfortunately they were the only cameras online. The surveillance of anything outside the Armory, the lower half of the armory, and all the death rooms before the labyrinth have been offline for a while. Togan assumed the only reason the labyrinth cameras worked was because the camera signals were shorter than the others.
He was able to watch each of the rebels in the group pass through each trap, the Darvons, a green being, a pinkish being, the fake rebel leader, and the Irken. They all had their own screen where Togan watched their actions. He also saw a group of other rebels walking through the maze but he paid no attention to them.
"THIS IS THE 50TH DEAD END WE'VE HIT!" Daj was getting furious, after dodging trap after trap only find no way to advance their path he desperately wanted to blast the wall. He hasn't shot anything with his G.F.B. in a while and it was making him tense.
"Daj, I know you're getting edgy but we can't blow down these walls, we have to follow the rules," Ere said. Kry was nudging Ere on the shoulder trying to get him to notice something.
"SCREW THE RULES! I haven't even shot at anything since that drone arrived!" Daj pulled out his G.F.B. and started charging it but Ere stopped him and was trying to take the blaster away. Meanwhile, Kry was hissing at both of them.
"Don't follow the path of darkness, Daj!"
"Don't follow the path of stupidity, Ere!"
"HEROISM IS NOT STUPID!"
"IT IS WHEN THE HERO DOESN'T HAVE A BRAIN!"
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"
"MAKE ME-OW!" Kry bit Daj in the leg to finally get his attention. "What Kry?"
Kry pointed his head down, towards the floor full of cracks.
"Are those cracks...getting bigger?"
"Oh crap." The floor caved and the trio fell through, into the dark pit.
"Don't worry, I have heroic suction gloves!"
"Where the Vrad are you pulling those out from!"
"Does it matter? I'm saving your life!"
"Fine, but be quick, Kry is biting my leg pretty hard." The trio started making their way underneath the labyrinth.
Meanwhile Kor was making a straight path through the labyrinth littered with debris from broken walls. She kept using the rocks to test for pitfall traps and any other trap activated by weight. However, she knew she was far behind the others. While she used a straight path while the others went through turns, they were still running. At best, Kor could describe her speed as a fast walk.
She tried to think of a way to catch up, but she let her guard down and activated a trap. A humongous pendulum blade was swinging right at her. She moved and it missed most of her, but sliced her arm off. She picked it up and it reattached itself, but that pendulum gave her an idea. She used a rock to activate the floor panel that caused the pendulum to fall, and once again it swung down. However, this time she had climbed the wall next to where it would cut, once it swung by she jumped and grabbed the pole of the blade and held on.
The pendulum blade was swinging back and she was about to get crushed in the ceiling if she didn't move. She spotted spinning sideways saw blades that haven't activated yet and decided to try to jump between them to use as a platform, it was a better option than a certain crushing. She leaped and landed between the blades. For once she was glad to have come from a planet that gave the inhabitants a daily dose of death traps, the experience from trying to avoid them was paying off.
She moved her way through blade after blade before spotting a gear in the ceiling. She grabbed the edge and held on as the gear spun upwards, bringing her into the ceiling and allowing her to see the network of gears that controlled the traps.
She stopped to catch her breath and yelled at the traps. "Is that all you can do? I lived on a PLANET full of these-OW!"
A random laser shot out from nowhere and hit her in the stomach. She started running again after the wound healed.
Maybe grabbing that pendulum wasn't the smartest idea.
"Holy crap, did you see the size of that pendulum!" Dib was still running alongside Zim on top of walls.
"Focus, Dib, there are still many traps to avoid," Zim said. He was right, spinning saw blades appeared and started slicing randomly into the labyrinth, trying to cut it like a blender. To make matters worse, the walls started moving and spinning, making it harder for the two to keep balance. Zim and Dib were able to skillfully avoid the blades as they tried to slice into their bodies and kept moving in rapid motion to avoid falling off the walls. However the two had close encounters, Dib fell from the wall and was nearly made into a human smoothie. A saw blade flew horizontally at Zim but he quickly ducked under. Dib thought he saw the blades slice Zim's antennae off since it went right through them, but they were still intact when the blade passed.
Finally the blades stopped coming, allowing the two to catch their breathe for a bit.
"That..was...really...close," Dib took a deep breath, allowing him to regain some stamina.
"The bag, it's unharmed, right?" Zim asked.
"Yeah, what's in here anyway, it's as heavy as a rock."
"That knowledge is none of your insignificant business."
"Hey wait, I've been carrying this thing since the first death chamber, I should kno-"
"Quiet, do you hear that?" The duo silenced themselves, trying to hear whatever Zim heard. "Buzzing."
"Oh crap, more saws?"
"We should run," Zim and Dib climbed back up the wall and started running again, uncertain of the next danger. The noise started becoming more audible, it was almost like a buzzing noise, but when Zim caught sight of the source, he couldn't believe it, "FLYING GIR HEADS!"
"What is it?"
"FLYING GIR HEADS!" A swarm of body-less SIR units with propellers on top of their head flew at them. The Irken Armory was given defective SIR units for storage, but Togan himself decided to recycle them, as death traps.
The SIRs unveiled a blaster attached where the neck would be and started raining lasers down on Zim and Dib. Dib pushed Zim, causing them both to fall off the wall and take cover using it.
"To modify SIR units to make a swarm of flying robot shooters, how crafty of the Irken Empire, of course that is to be expected," Zim started thinking of a way to avoid the flying SIR units.
"Maybe we could try walking through the maze from here, we'll be able to use the walls as cover," Dib said. However, when he tried moving to either side, both floor panels fell, revealing a pit, "Maybe not."
"Dib-monkey, give me the backpack," Zim pulled out two blaster rifles from the bag, giving one to Dib.
"We're gonna try to destroy them?"
"If we must try charging while lasers rain upon us, we should at least try to increase our chances, even if your blaster skills matches the description of your species." The two calmed themselves and Zim counted to three. Zim and Dib climbed the wall and started running.
The SIR heads quickly noticed them and launched a barrage of lasers at Zim and Dib. They returned fire and despite Dib's poor aiming skills, shooting into a swarm was easy, each shot was able to knock down a SIR head. Still, they were only shooting two lasers at once, while the SIRS shot much more.
Their agility allowed them to survive the onslaught, they ducked back down walls by hanging from them to avoid activating pitfall traps, but they couldn't avoid all of them. The lasers weren't powerful enough to pierce or kill, but the burns were still painful to Dib.
The SIR swarm was dwindling, the number of lasers raining down upon them were less and less, and there were bigger openings between shots for the two to dodge.
"There Dib-worm, the exit to this labyrinth!" Zim pointed to the approaching gate, the two kept firing at the remaining SIR heads, Dib was excited that they would finally get out of this death hole. Then the wall they had jumped on was hit by a laser. It was different from the lasers fired from the SIR heads, they looked at the gate and saw a dozen Irken guards, all with blasters aimed at them.
They quickly ducked behind a wall as the Irken guards kept blasting their lasers. Slowly, they were destroying sections of the labyrinth wall, making their way to Zim and Dib. They knew it would be useless for them to stay there. While initially they had dozens of SIR head firing, they were still defective and the lasers weren't killing. Now alongside the remaining SIRs, they faced trained Irken soldiers with non-defective blasters that were tearing through walls.
"Crap, what are we going to do?" The increasing pressure was getting to Dib. The shrinking wall acted like a timer to his death.
"Turn around and shoot for our lives Dib-worm, even if you die."
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
"We haven't even faced them and you already scream in terror?"
"That wasn't me." They noticed the lasers stopped firing and peeked out, it was Kor. She had fallen from a great height and landed on two Irkens, killing them. The remaining Irken guards aimed at her and fired, leaving gaping holes from lasers.
"OW! Dammit, that hurt!" she said. The guards were shocked that she had lived through the attack. They fired again, this time leaving her falling apart, she still regenerated.
"Stop it!" Kor spoke with the remains of her mouth. Frightened, the guards spammed their triggers, unleashing a mass of lasers until Kor was just a puddle.
"I SAID STOP!" Kor returned to her original form and punched one of the guards. The guards were shaking, fearing this creature that they couldn't do anything to. They started backing up, but then a floating hand sprung out and grabbed one of them on the leg.
"Hey, I think I found something to grab onto!"
"Then pull!" The hand pulled down, slamming the Irken against the floor, causing cracks to appear. The Irken started screaming in pain.
"I can't pull us up!"
"Then pull harder!"
"Do you hear something?"
"No, now pull!" The hand pulled down a second time, this time breaking the floor and bringing the Irken down with him. The Irken's screamed faded out as he fell into the abyss.
"I think I just pulled someone into the abyss."
"Really?"
"The scream sounded Irken."
"Really? You get the first Irken kill between us! Great, the only thing that would make this good is if it was the drone you got."
"It definitely didn't sound like Zim."
"Dammit." Ere leaped out from under the floor using the hole the Irken created, bringing Daj and Kry along with him.
"So that's where the Irken came from."
"Joy." Daj spoke with glee.
The remaining Irken guards were both puzzled and scared, first they were attacked from above, now below. Not only that but they survived the to the end of the labyrinth. The only thought that ran through their heads were how monstrous these beings were. They turned around to try to make it to the exit but they were stopped by a figure clad in full armor.
Zim and Dib now walked forward from behind the wall, blasters in hand. The Irken guards were now surrounded by monstrous beings who were taller than them also. Togan watched from the monitor, angry at the incompetence of the guards. Togan already knew the carnage that would inevitably befall the Irkens. He got up and walked out of the room.
"The next room is our goal, the Irken Armory Transmit System. We are only to disable it for now, meaning we must not destroy it," Zim shot a glare at Daj.
"What are you looking at me for? I know how to handle my blaster...mostly," Daj replied.
The group had taken care of the Irken guards, all in their own unique way, the only common thread being they all ended with the death of the guards. They went up to the locked door leading into the room. They all stood there, waiting for the door to open.
"Well, drone," Daj said.
"What?" Zim said.
"Open it."
"And how would I do that, scale scum?"
"Hack into it or something! Didn't you say you knew how to?"
"Hahaha, foolish, inferior non-Irken being, this door contains a Hexa-Irken Tri-lockian Ultra-Doom-Proof Mega-Seal, not even Zim could bypass a system like that."
"First, you definitely made up that name, and second," Daj charged his gun and fired leaving a gaping hole in the door. The group walked through the hole, into the weapon transmit room, and they were stunned at what they saw. Dead Irkens were littered around the entire room. The consoles and monitors were mostly undamaged, and the metal hatch on the ceiling was still closed. They got a closer look at the bodies around the room. Dib had lowered the backpack after carrying it, and Daj also lowered his gun. Zim decided to ignore the bodies and head straight for the console, preparing to shut down the system. Then one of the Irken bodies raised its hand.
Instantly, Zim, Dib, Daj, Ere, Kry, and Kor were pushed against the wall, then metal bindings appeared to hold them in place by their hands, waste, and legs. The body stood up, and his implants stopped glowing.
"To think, that any of you had some sort of hope of beating me," Togan began walking around the room. "Do not forget, I am a superior Irken lord who became the most powerful psychic of the Irken race, along with becoming the most...psychotic." Togan's smile ran across his face. Zim and the others all stared at him, none with a look of fear.
"Nothing? No scared tingling on your spinal cords? Or do you honestly believe all of you will make it out of here alive? Maybe I should prove it by showing you the deaths of the beings around you, one by one. Maybe I should start with the green, squishy being who is 'immune' to death yet still feels pain?"
"Try it, sadistic freak," Kor said.
"Oh I will, I always enjoyed the sound of screams, I always play a CD of my favorite ones right before my resting period. Also, I wish to see if your species can handle, de-molecularization." Togan moved on to Dib.
"Or maybe I should kill you, the being who questions his self-worth, unfortunately for me, I'm afraid few would care to see your death before their eyes." Dib tried to retain his glare, but a hint of sorrow crept on his face.
"How about the Darvon that became a beast thanks to his pupil?" Kry growled at him then tried to bite him to no avail.
"Or you," Togan looked at Ere, "Oh yes, your death would be fun."
"What?" Ere said, "Go ahead, speak of my flaws to my face!"
"I'd rather talk about your brother's, oh how his mind is just riddled with past regrets. Almost killing the people around him, frying the brain of his mentor, and constantly facing failure while trying to ascertain a feeling of success through killing and lies."
"Shut up!" Daj said.
"But it's so much fun reading through your mind, especially learning about all the lies you told your brother."
"SHUT UP!"
"Daj, don't listen to him! He's obviously trying to break us down through his deceitful statements!" Ere yelled.
"Ere..."
"Hahahaha, oh I can't wait to return to you," Togan then made his way to Zim. "Then there's you, I should've known only an Irken could've thought of a scheme to use a battle culminating from years of war as a distraction, at the same time, only an Irken could've thought of such an idiotic scheme. I'll admit that your will is strong enough to withhold my mind reading, but your flaws are glaring enough. To be so tall, yet so stupid, maybe I should kill you first..."
Togan turn around quickly and brought his claw up, swiping it to block and redirect a laser aimed at him, then blocked a direct attack from a laser-blade. It was Dwicky, or more specifically, the fake Dwicky, "Or I could kill the purple being that impersonates a rebel leader!"
"Did he say purple being?" Kor asked.
"No way, Gaz?" Dib said.
"Shut it, Dib." Dib recognized that condescending tone anywhere.
"Honestly, I can't see how a replacement for a rebel leader could've helped you in defeating me," Togan said, "as all my foes sleep in their blood soon enough!"
Togan and Gaz broke off and starting battling each other. Gaz would alternate between attacks from her blaster or laser-blade, while Togan would use his claw to either deflect or parry. Despite Gaz's height and agility advantage, she couldn't harm Togan, all her attacks got blocked one way or another, and she was getting pissed about it. Her attacks became increasingly aggressive, even enough to surprise Togan a few times. He was getting pushed around, staggering from Gaz's assault. She jumped up close to Togan, swinging her blade with her right, Togan was about to parry it when he noticed the blaster she was aiming at him with her left. He blocked the blaster shot but Gaz slashed him with the laser-blade, creating a long gash on his chest. Togan leaped back to assess his wound.
"Amazing, you actually wounded me, you already surpassed the previous wearer of that armor," Gaz tried to jump in for another strike but her leg was held back by wiring, Togan's implants were glowing, "But while that armor may prevent you from being affected by my powers, I can still use them on everything else!"
The machinery around the room began ripping themselves off the walls, Gaz used her blade to cut the wiring binding her leg, but more machinery appeared to bind her. Togan sent a flurry of metallic objects flying towards Gaz, she tried to use her blade and blaster to destroy the pieces before hitting her but there were too many. The machinery slammed her into the wall next to Dib, Togan then used his powers to bind her with them completely.
"To think, an inferior species like you even believed you could kill me, the most powerful being in the universe!"
"How arrogant." Togan turned his attention to the voice, Zim gave Togan a hard glare, looking at him with contempt.
"Oh really, inferior Irken? I have the power to control minds, shake worlds, and destroy all who get in my way! Do you think it is wise to belittle me like that, inferior Irken?"
"The only inferior Irkens are you and all the others that opted to obtain those implants. You all gain such arrogance, believing you know everything, believing you are the paragons of the Irken race, when really, you're nothing but the biggest fools."
"Then I guess this fool will be the one to send you to your death," Togan brought his claw towards Zim, and slowly brought it closer to his body, so that he may get a good look at the moment it's sharp talons pierces his skin.
"WAIT!" Gaz yelled at Togan from across the room, "how...about...you finish...what we started."
"In due time, imposter, but I'd rather let you watch your comrades fall before you, and despite being the one wearing the armor, you couldn't save them."
"Then kill me first!" It was Kor who spoke, "I haven't been with these beings for that long, so I don't care for them, so you won't get any satisfaction from my reaction of watching them die!"
"And yet your mind says otherwise."
"Then kill me!" This time Dib spoke up, speaking with confidence and resolve, "I'm her brother, my death would have a stronger impact than Zim's!"
"Hmm, that would work, and you would show me the look of fear as I carve you."
"Or you can kill me first," Ere said.
"And why would your death cause more sorrow than the Irken's or his?"
"It wouldn't, but it is a hero's duty to put his life in front of others, so I appeal to you. Let me die first."
"Ha...HaHA...HAHAHAHAHA! Your brother has really screwed your mind with nothing but lies, hasn't he?"
"Ha, I trust my brother, he would never do such a thing, right Daj!" Ere turned to see him, but Daj couldn't look him in the eyes.
"You've been living in such a delusion for years, believing that you're a hero, when really you're quite the opposite."
"Ha! I won't be affect by your lies, villain."
"But I only speak truths, surely you can see that, your brother can. Look at the way he avoids your gaze and tell me that I'm lying."
"Daj..."
"All of your acts of heroism were nothing but mercenary work!"
"No!"
"All the money you received were not gifts of gratitude! It was blood money, rewards for killing the target!"
"NO!"
"The so called corruption of authority when you were chased off of Fuelia Portia, there were none! They were all clean authority figures who were enforcing justice on your villainous acts!"
"SHUT UP!" Daj roared in anger.
"You should've told your brother the truth from the start, but you had to use deceit, and now, you're paying for it."
"No, Daj, tell him! Tell him how we were heroes! How we stopped all those criminals!" Ere cried.
"Your targets? Admittedly some of them deserved deaths, but mixed with the scum were innocents."
"No..." Ere remained quiet, broken from the realization of his past actions, his realization that his dream was a facade, his realization of his brother's deceit. He couldn't take the flood of emotions he felt, it was painful, he just wanted them to end. Then in a swift motion, Togan sliced his claw into Ere, pulled it out, and let the blood fall to the floor.
"Wish granted, hero."
"NO!" Daj screamed, Kry started snapping wildly, trying to release his bonds.
"So that was fun, but now to return to what I was doing earlier." Togan walked over to Zim, "Oh, I still can't read you, your will is still strong even after watching me break your comrade."
"Those two are nothing but scaly slime that accompanied me on this mission," Zim said, "I have no feelings for them or anyone."
"Then I guess it's time for your final seconds of life! Anything you want to say before your squeedly spooch is filled with your fillings!"
"Yes. Skoodge."
"Skoodge?" Togan heard the pressing of buttons and turned around to find a short, stout Irken using the console he had used earlier to bind everyone. The bindings holding Kor, Daj, Ere, Kry, and Zim were released, Dib's binding on his left hand didn't release however. Dib was surprised and assumed it was some sort of glitch or malfunction.
"Really? Dammit!" Dib expressed in frustration.
"Infiltration complete, sir, Hoo-Ha!" Skoodge exclaimed. Togan was puzzled as to where this Irken appeared and then saw a tipped over backpack that was open and empty. He used his powers to keep Zim pinned to a wall. Daj, Kry, Kor, and Skoodge tried to jumped at Togan, but he brought up his other hand to repulse them all back.
"You may have been able to trick me once, but it will cost you your life!" Togan said.
"Quick, Kor!" Gaz screamed at Kor who had landed next to her, "Get these things off me! I have to help Zim!" Kor began tearing the metal binding Gaz, but despite the ease of ripping the metal apart, they weren't going to make it in time.
"Goodbye, inferior Irken!" Togan brought his claw up, he wasted no time this time, he brought it straight through Zim's head, and smiled.
"ZIM!"
Togan's smile quickly became a frown when he saw the face of the Irken he had just impaled, smiling right back at him.
"So much arrogance for a being that is the biggest fool in the universe!" Zim said with glee. Suddenly, Zim's chest opened to reveal his hollow metal interior, hiding a SIR unit.
"Surprise!" Gir yelled as he leaped on Togan's face, grabbing him hard while Togan started trying to shape him off. "Hey, you're head's made of metal just like mine! Let's be head buddies!"
Gir started banging his head against Togan's implants, causing Togan pain and irritation. Eventually Togan grabbed Gir and threw him off, he was about to silence the little robot when Gaz kicked Togan in the back of his head.
Togan turned towards Gaz and threw debris at her, but then Skoodge riding Kry attacked Togan from behind, Kry biting and Skoodge headbutting him. Togan flung them and was able to block Gaz's next attack, but then he was sliced by an angry Darvon on the face, grazing his flesh.
Togan grew angrier and angrier trying to block the attacks coming from Gaz, Daj, Skoodge, Kry, and Gir, as each assault gave him a new wound. His anger only made him more powerful. He sent out a strong pulse that pushed everyone but Gaz back and slammed them into the wall, either disorienting or knocking them out. Then he ripped a large piece of metal and threw it at Gaz, binding her by the waist once again.
Then he saw it, right next to where he bound Gaz was her dangling brother and Kor with the G.F.B. Kor had hooked up her boots and gloves to the G.F.B., charging it with energy, by the time she finished diverting all the energy into the gun, she didn't see the giant metal debris that squished her into the wall. Togan also used it to create a hole to the floor below, so pieces of Kor would fall through, slowing her regeneration.
Togan turned his attention on the G.F.B. and Dib, they were aligned enough so that he could destroy it and kill Dib with one claw throw. He uses his psychic powers to throw out the claw and waited for the scream.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dib had closed his eyes when he saw the claw flying at him, then he opened them expecting to see the claw wedged into his body, but he didn't. The claw was on the floor next to him and he had no markings or blood showing the claw had pierced him. He then realized the scream wasn't his, it was Togan's. He looked forward to see the psychotic Irken and a Darvon standing behind him. It was Ere. He had crushed the end of the arm that attached to Togan's claw with his hands, causing him to lose focus preventing him from drawing back his fallen claw.
"Why...why do you rebels never die instantly!" Togan screamed.
"Because we have a duty to complete..." Ere fell back, still bleeding and had used up his remaining strength. A very pissed and now one handed Togan turned to him, and stomped on the Darvon's chest with his Irken boot. He pressed and grind the sole as more blood fell out of the wound and he could feel Ere's internal organs being torn apart. Togan would've continued, but a concussive blast hit him, it was the Zim robot.
When Togan saw the smug look on the robot's face he flew into a rage. All of this, all his injuries, the loss of an arm, the bruises, the gashes, the broken bones and implements, they were all due to the Irken sharing the likeness of the robot in front of him. Togan leaped at the robot and it proved no match for him. Immediately Togan began ripping the Zim robot to pieces.
Dib watched and wished he hand wasn't stuck. He saw the charged up G.F.B. right in front of him, and tried to reach for it, but was too far. If only he could grab it, then he could blast Togan right now, and it would all be over. Everyone else was incapacitated in some way, Gaz was conscious though, and was desperately trying to rip the metal minding off of her with her free hands. Dib had to find some way to reach the blaster, then he spotted the fallen Togan claw next to Gaz. He thought back to the moment Ere saved his life, sacrificing his in the process, he knew what he had to do.
"Gaz!" Dib said.
"Can't you see that I'm busy," she answered.
"Give me Togan's claw."
"What? Why?"
"I need it to get out."
"What? How will-" Gaz then caught onto what Dib was planning to do with it, "No, Dib, for the last time, stop being crazy!"
"Gaz, it's the only way I could reach the blaster!" Gaz was reluctant but agreed.
"Fine, but listen to me on where to aim."
Togan was still shredding the Zim-bot like an angry cat tears it's owner apart after finding out it's litter box hasn't been cleaned for weeks.
"AAAARRRGGHHHH!" Togan turned to the source of the scream. It was Dib, who was bleeding from his left arm and was now trying to aim the blaster. Togan tried to throw debris at him but his pain from the earlier wounds caused him to lose focus and miss. He decided to just try to jump the human before he could finish aiming it. Togan ran, while Dib was having trouble getting the blaster to stay steady while holding the trigger. It shook up and down, Togan getting increasingly closer. Just as Togan was about to reach Dib, he fired the blaster. The laser went diagonally, almost at a 90 degree angle, causing Togan to fall back.
Togan watched the laser pass over his face, a familiar warm feeling was felt through his body, he smiled and started laughing.
"...ha...haha...haHaHaHAHAHA! You...missed."
Dib was clutching his left arm and stared at Togan, who sat upright to face Dib.
"Zim is right," Dib said, "You are a fool."
Togan stopped laughing, he felt the cold metal of a blaster barrel on the back of his head. A cloaked figure stood behind him, blaster in hand. He recognized the warm feeling he had felt, it wasn't a sense of victory like he had hoped, it was the sunlight that bathe Oberox, reaching him from the hole in the ceiling. He recognized the voice of the figure wielding the blaster behind him when the figure spoke, it shared the voice of the robot that he had just torn apart.
"Fall before your superior," Zim said. A shot fired, blasting Togan's implants apart, bits of metal scattered in front of him along with his skull, then his corpse fell forward. Zim removed the hood of his cloak, showing his sinister smile to Gaz and Dib.
"You could've told me to you were gonna use a fake body, I wouldn't have gotten...concerned," Gaz said.
"In order to deceive the fool, I had to deceive everyone."
"Whatever, just help me out of here." Zim started slicing the metal binding Gaz using a small laser. Soon, everyone else started coming to. Daj, Kry, and Skoodge woke up thanks to Zim's help. They removed the rubble that trapped Gir, and moved the debris and allowed the rest of Kor to fall to the other floor to fully regenerate, then they used the rope to pull her up. Dib was still clutching his left arm, rapidly looking around the room to keep his mind off the pain and tried to think of other things.
Daj and Kry walked up to Ere's body to see the damage done to him by Togan. To their surprise, Ere was still slightly breathing, the two started hoping, then Ere spoke silently to Daj.
"Daj..."
"Ere! Hang on brother, you can make it!" Daj said.
"Daj...I understand...why you lied to me...I don't hate...you."
"No, Ere, you can't do that, I've always been such a bad brother."
"No...you've kept me happy...for all these years...and let me live my dream...to the...very end..."
"Ere..."
"Daj...go with my disciple, Dib...help him kill...all the Irkens...and be happy doing it..."
"Are you sure?"
"The Irkens have oppressed...the galaxy long...enough...Stop them...like a hero...and one more thing."
"What, brother?"
"Don't...kill...Zim..."
"But Ere, he's one of them."
"He's turning...Daj..."
Ere fell silent, his breathing stopped. Daj and Kry sat there silently.
"He savedmylife...at theend! He'sa hero," Dib said, comforting Daj's emotional pain while still feeling physical pain.
"Thank you, Dib," Daj carried Ere's body. Zim finished overriding the weapon transmit system, and they all left the room, leaving the armory once and for all.
The battle between the Irkens and rebels on Oberox was over. Without Togan, most of the Irkens ran, no longer having to fear Togan's wrath. The rebels cleaned up the remaining Irkens and looted the Armory. Everyone had made their way back to the rebel base, where the Dibship was repaired and Zim and the others were preparing to leave.
Dib was being operated on, replacing his former left hand with a mechanical one. He woke up to find rebel medics, Spoopti, Mooshy, and Zim around him.
"How'd it go?" Dib asked.
"See for yourself," Mooshy said. Dib looked at his left hand, it was now fully robotic and felt like his old one, except colder.
"Cool."
"Yep, with the material in the armory and the Dibship, making a replacement hand was no problem," Spoopti said.
"Does it have a built in laser-blade?"
"Excuse me?"
"Does it or not?"
"Uh Dib, this is a robotic hand, a laser-blade function for something like this is a completely complicated procedure that would need-"
"Does it have a laser-blade, or not?" Zim moved towards Dib and rotated his left hand. The fingers pressed against each other and stretched to form an elongated triangle. Then the hand was engulfed in a laser beam, creating a laser-blade. "So awesome."
"Dib-worm, I wanted to ask you, even though I was using a fake robot, I could still see and hear everything through it. When I was about to be killed by Togan, you offered your life before mine, why?" Zim asked.
"Well you saved mine a number of times before, and after all these years, despite being enemies for most of the time, I guess I developed a soft spot for you."
"A soft spot?" Dib motioned his hand at his chest.
"It's a feeling that humans get towards others when they feel some sort of bond between them. I guess after spending time with you, I kind of see you like a friend...almost."
"I see, so I take it your sister has one too?"
"I guess." Zim had a look of intrigue and ran off to find Gaz. She was in the hallway and their voices could be heard from the room.
"Zim, what do you wan-WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TOUCHING?" She screamed.
"I'm examining the human soft spot that Dib told me about. I wish to see how it changes the feelings a being has to an-" The sound of Zim being punched into a wall was heard.
On Foodcourtia, the body of Sizz-Lor was trying to crawl, but was stopped when an Irken stepped on him. Tak grabbed Sizz-Lor by his antennae and brought out her laser-blade. She slit his throat and Sizz-Lor was silenced.
Mimi came out and Tak activated her communications system to reach the Employer.
"Invasion of Foodcourtia complete, Armada casualties: fourteen," She said.
"Si," the Employer spoke, "by crippling the Irkens, my conquering of them will be muy rapido! Jajajajaja! Are you ready for the next invasion?"
"We're ready."
"Si, I will look forward to the destruction of Vort."
"Dammit!" Red exclaimed, "This is the third time we've looked through the database and still nothing on which Irken is destroying our colonies!"
"Yeah-*munch*-it's very tiring," Purple said while eating snacks. The Tallests had no idea how long they've been in the database room, all to find a lone Irken out of millions. Red was digging through holofiles, virtual pages containing data, while Purple was eating snacks. Red wished he didn't let that Irken die in the Control Brain room so that he could have made him do all this work.
"You know, you could help out a bit more."
"Alright," Purple looked around and picked up one of the random files on the floor, "how about this one?"
"We are not going to find what we're looking for in a random file you just picked up! Oh hey, that's interesting."
"What?"
"According to this there are two Irkens that stopped sending their PAK signal."
"So what, it happens all the time when Irkens die, and for some reason there's been an increase in stopped PAK signals since the beginning of our reign."
"But it says the cause of death is unknown, which shouldn't be possible. The last signal a PAK sends is how the Irken dies, no matter the cause."
"Then why is it unknown?"
"The PAK would have to be reprogrammed to stop sending a signal, but only Control Brains know how to do that."
"Maybe, there's a connection between the Irkens with unknown deaths and the one attacking us. Who are they anyway?" Red dug further into the holofile, and a look of shock overcame his face. "What?"
"One of the Irkens on this file, it's Zim!"
The group was boarding the Dibship, ready to leave Oberox once and for all. Zim handed Dwicky, now wearing crutches, a written message and Dib said his goodbyes. The ship was loaded with weapons from the Armory and their latest crew members, Daj and Kry, walked aboard.
"Lizard-stink, the only reason I've allowed you to board is because you've proven somewhat useful in the mission, and I would enjoy seeing you die at the hands of an Irken when you attempt to attack using your primitive and barbaric strategies," Zim said.
"And I'm going to enjoy slaying every drone I see, drone," Daj replied. Kry growled at him a bit to remind him of what Ere said. Daj let out a sigh, "Except for you."
Dib noticed the skull-like shoulder pad Daj was wearing, he asked him wear it came from.
"This? Oh it's Ere's, as his brother it's a Darvon custom for me to wear it in his memory."
"Cool, I didn't know Ere had that."
"Really? I thought you'd notice that Ere had a skull, what with how Darvons aren't squishy like some beings." Dib realized the source of the skull.
"Also, I wanted to give you this." He handed Dib a dagger. "It belonged to Ere, but he'd be happy if you got it. It still works great for carving flesh, I should know, I used it before coming here."
"Thank...you," Dib really hoped what Daj used it for wasn't what he thought it was.
Kor and Skoodge were the last ones to board, and the Dibship closed and prepared for launch.
"Skoodge," Zim said, "I must commend you on your work in preparing the robotic duplicate for me when I told you to."
"Thank you, sir" Skoodge said.
"It was fun living inside you, master," Gir said, "It was like I was your baby, that burst out when the moment is right!"
"Yes, now onward to the destination," Zim said.
"This monkey can be the daddy!"
"Monkey, what monkey?" Zim looked behind him, and to everyone's surprise, the monkey was in the pilot's seat.
"DESTINATION LOCKED" The Dibship said.
"What? WHAT!" Zim tried to get the monkey off the pilot's seat to try to change course, but the monkey kicked him away. "Dibship! Change the course of this ship, NOW!"
"Can't do that, the monkey locked the course, just like you did when we left Earth, so I'm powerless. Besides, I wouldn't want to change it anyway, not for a douche like you!"
"I swear to Irk when I conquer Irk, you're becoming SIR parts!"
"Calm down Zim, where are we headed anyway?" Gaz asked. Zim walked towards the monitor, trying to stay out of the monkey's kick range.
"We're headed towards Planet Vort."