"And that's our plan," Red and Purple had just finished explaining their plan against the oncoming invasion. They were nervous throughout the whole thing, the dark room didn't help, nor did the menacing appearance of the Control Brains. They were encased in a round metal case with reddish purple lights glowing around then. Dozens upon dozens of tubes and possibly tentacles reached from their back to all around the room, covering the walls, floors, and possibly the entire building.

"That is indeed very radical.

I LIKE IT.

The costs would be grave, whether it works or not.

Those lives can be replaced anyway.

You are right, very well. Tallests, you have our consent with this plan."

"Oh, thank you almighty Control Brains," Red said, "Now that you're on board with our idea, we require a favor of you."

"What is it?"

"We need you all to contact every off-planet Irken and command them to return to Irk. We've lost communications capabilities for I don't know how long now."

"No."

"No? Why not?"

"What you're asking for is an emergency command recall.

TOO MUCH POWER.

The strain would incredibly cripple us for many cycles."

"I understand, but the more soldiers we can get, the better."

"He raises a valid point.

But then we might not be able to be of great use in the battle.

We might not have to.

We might as well do it, things always go your way anyway.

Don't start with me!

Ooo, look at me! I'm the brain that uses logic and reasoning and talk in a calm voice to make myself sound smart.

I said not to start with me!"

"Uh, Control Brains," Red interrupted.

"Very well, Tallests, you have your wish! But know this, should you fail, you will not be the Tallests for long. You will meet your downfall, if not by us, then by this Zim you believe is the cause!"

"I...I understand."

"So, how'd you like it?" Keef asked with a smile. Once he turned off the box, he saw a snarling and furious Gaz trying to make her way towards him. Daj, Kry, Kor, Dib, Skoodge, Tel, and Sir Chuckie were all trying to hold her back. She was still inching forward.

"IT WAS YOU!" She screamed, fueled by dark fury, "AFTER ALL THESE YEARS OF CONFUSING EMOTIONS AND TURMOIL! I WILL OBLITERATE YOU PIECE BY ******* PIECE!"

"Gaz, calmed down!" Dib said, "I realized that him making you kiss Zim is completely disgusting and requires holy bleach to unsee, but we need him right now!"

"I DON'T CARE! HE'S GONNA BE NOTHING WHEN I'M DONE WITH HIM! NOT EVEN DUST!"

"Gaz, he's the only one who has any idea what we're up against and can fix Zim!"

Gaz finally started calming down when she realized that Dib was right.

"Besides, it's not like you hate your feelings towards, Zim, right?" Kor said.

"AAAARRRRRRRGGGHHH!" Being reminded of them made Gaz rage harder and overpowered the beings holding her back. Once free, she rushed towards Keef, intending on giving the beating to end all beatings. She had her target in sight, but had to come to a halt when someone got in the way. "Move it, Zim."

Zim had stuck himself between her and Keef, despite being in the injured state he was in.

"Believe me, Gaz, I wish for nothing more than to see this piece of flesh destroyed in front of me, but right now he is a necessary tool in meeting my goals. He has information on the enemy and he can fix my PAK. So control your temper!"

"Oh, Zim," Keef said, he moved towards Zim and hugged him, much to his disdain, "Thank you for protecting me!"

"You may punch him once."

Gaz cracked her knuckles. She launched fist right into Keef's face and sent him across the room. Sir Chuckie howled in despair.

"Red-haired, disgusting human," Zim said.

"Yes," Keef answered with the same joyful tone despite suffering a hit from Gaz.

"I found your movie painful, it brought back memories of the five days I was trapped in noodles."

"I had to survive by suckling the wet noodles!" Dib said.

"Shut up, Dib. Disgusting being that is not the Tinkerer, the lizards, monkey, or Dib-slime, you wrote something in Gaz's diary. What was it?"

"It's a code in case I was too late," Keef said, "If the Employer had built his portal, I left an ambiguous code with no context whatsoever that would be the means to destroying the Employer's dimensional portal."

"A code, hidden in the diary-"

"Vendetta List!" Gaz interrupted.

"-of a human that wants to minimize all interaction with any beings, with no context whatsoever, that would foil a machine that we wouldn't even know about without your information?"

"Well I sent more messages."

"You did?!"

"Yeah, of Sir Chuckie eating berries colored the same way as the code. He ate them in the same sequence as the code."

"You sent a video of your stupid Earth monkey eating berries."

"Sir Chuckie loves his berries."

"And NOT any RELEVANT information that would actually TELL us anything about the Employer."

"...Did I say I wasn't the smart one in my unit?"

"I SHOULD REMOVE YOUR BRAIN AND SEND IT INTO ANOTHER DIMENSION, NO, DE-ATOMIZE AND SEND EACH ATOM INTO DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS BECAUSE HAVING A DIMENSION HOLD MORE THAN AN ATOM OF YOUR BRAIN WOULD BE A PLAGUE ON INTELLIGENCE! Also, I didn't like you narrating the entire video as well as my thoughts, which were strangely accurate to what I was actually thinking."

"Well for Gaz, it was because I had a mental connection with her, allowing me to know her thoughts. For you it was because I had practice. Every week I would watch the recording while snuggling my cardboard cutout of you next to our Gir-Punch bowl and narrated your thought process for entertainment."

"...I will now cease to ask you any more questions. Ever. The more I ask about you the more vile you become."

"Okay."

"Also, you have failed to tell us one important detail, what does the Employer even look like? Even when I saw him he hid behind shadows."

"I don't know either, Zim. Even though the Employer lived by going through the portal, my Zim did do heavy damage to him. It's very likely he built a new body for himself."

"Rebuilt? The Employer's a machine?!"

"Yes, he is essentially living technology, able to combine any advanced tech into his body, to shape any pure metal into any form, to decimate the most advanced races."

"Just how powerful is he?!"

"This planet we're on, Vort. In my dimension, it was the galaxy's fastest growing hub for the advancement of technology for all species. It was taken over in three Earth days. The I.R.K. had to resort to blowing up the planet and he still escaped."

"...I see."

"When fighting against him, he just absorbs our weapons!"

"Geez, he sounds invincible!" Dib said.

"No one's invincible, Dib," Zim said.

"He's still sounds insanely powerful! We can't fight that!"

"Or course we can."

"How the hell can you sound so sure!?"

"Because, my Nightmare self beat him, at least to the point where he was forced to retreat, and since I am far superior to any form of Zim that can tolerate to be with that human I will defeat the Employer. He has also made a fool of Zim, forcing me to beg, no one makes a fool of Zim!"

"That crazy ambition and overwhelming self-confidence, just like my Zim!" Keef said, "I haven't felt this way in years!"

"Just because I gave you permission to live doesn't mean you are excused from any pain."

"Okeydokey."

"I am set on destroying the Employer, no one gets in the way of my conquests and lives!"

"I did," Dib said.

"Not much longer if you keep interjecting like that! Anyway, everyone else has already made it their resolve to come with me, except for you. Speak now and know that you have no say whatsoever in whether we go or not anyway."

"This is crazy and suicidal. If there's anything I've learned from being with you for all this time it's that crazy doesn't follow you, it's your psychotic girlfriend that stalks you and taps your phone line. It's a wonder how you haven't destroyed us all yet, but seeing as my choice won't even matter, I'll follow you."

Despite the disdain and scorn that was implied with those words, even if Dib's choice had mattered, he knew he still would've said yes. Stuff being crazy hasn't deterred him before, having the rest of humanity call him crazy never stopped him, and despite his previous vehement denials of being associated with crazy, he knew it followed him as well, and he enjoyed the thrill.

"Good, now that that's over with, it is time for us to prepare ourselves! We shall arm ourselves with several weapons and become an unstoppable storm of chaos! MUAHAHAHAHA-"

"We still need a ship," Kor interrupted.

"Huh, oh, right. What remains of the Dibship is being worshiped by the cyber-monkey's followers."

"Allow me to be of assistance, Zim," Crax said, "I would love to aid you in the destruction of the species that enslaved my people, the armada that destroyed them, and the being that has most likely killed an alternate dimensional version of me."

"Really, great! Then together, Crax, we shall-"

"Hold on, I'm not doing this for free. If you somehow defeat both the Irkens and the Mooses, or whatever you call them, with the slim chance you already have even with my technology, then I want you to give me full authority over Vort."

"Haven't you already enslaved the remaining Vortian population with your explody collars?"

"Yes, but I would like the military backing of the force that defeated the strongest species in the universe. Just to scare off any scavengers until we reconstruct Vort."

"Fine, I have no problems with you running this planet, Crax."

"Good," Crax smiled and grabbed Zim's arm. He tore off Zim's broken wrist device and attached a new one. It happened so quickly that Zim didn't even notice until Crax had let go and was looking at his own wrist device.

"Where did you pick up such skills with attaching things to people?"

"Nevermind that, just activate it." Zim examined his new datapad for a bit before find the power button, a hologram of a screen was projected showing a design of a ship.

"What the-"

"I've copied over all the blueprints I've been working on since learning of your goals. I knew you'd be in need of weapons, armaments, armor, vehicles, etc. I also love watching what you do with them, I never cease to be amazed by the amount of chaos you bring out of them."

"That-That's a ship?!" Zim said in unbelievable glee. He enthusiastically started scrolling through the other blueprints.

"Yes."

"A-And that!"

"Yes!"

"*gasp* This! This is!"

"Yes! HUAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The two maniacal inventors were in sync with their evil laughter, reminding themselves of their days as partners and working on unofficial projects. Zim only grew more maniacal as he saw each screen and blueprint of the technology Crax was going to develop for him.

Meanwhile, Kor was dusting herself off from when Gaz threw her and everyone else.

"Geez, I wonder why Gaz got so angry at Keef," Dib said to Kor.

"What do you mean?" Kor replied.

"I know that physical interaction with Zim, let alone a kiss, would be a horror but it was years ago. It's not like anything ever came of it."

"...Do you really not know?"

"Know what? Something about Gaz?"

"How she acts around Zim, the lack of physical harm on him when they're alone together, how for some reason they always get paired off on our adventures?"

"What are you implying-"

"Gaz likes Zim you dense idiot."

"Wow, Kor, and here I thought you were going to tell me something serious," Dib started laughing, "The idea that my sister has any good feelings towards Zim is the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard! Come on, a Zim and Gaz romance? Who the hell would even think of that!"

"Please tell me you're just faking being stupid."

"Kor, I think I know my sister a bit more than you do."

"Whatever."

Dib was still trying to get giggles out of his system when Kor looked towards Zim and Crax. The two beings were still continuing their maniacal laughter.

"Hey drone," Daj interrupted.

"What, lizard-stink? What is so important that you must interrupt Zim's laugh!"

"Well, I didn't think much of this at first but after a while I figured it wasn't normal-"

"Spit out the words, lizard-stink!"

"The mini-drone is tweaking out."

Daj held out Skoodge, who was fidgeting, trying to escape the grasp on the Darvon. His eyes were zooming around the room and his limbs were constantly flailing around like some manic hummingbird.

"Skoodge? Answer Zim!"

"Yearrghurthoplurpa," Skoodge replied.

"Is that some weird Irken word?" Dib asked.

"No, drop him, lizard-stink, but be ready to catch him again. Four-legged lizard-stink, block the entrance!" Zim commanded. Kry did as told and Daj dropped the short Irken onto the floor. Immediately Skoodge started scrambling around until he saw the light of the entrance. He starting sprinting towards it, only to be pounced on and caught by Kry.

"Yearrgh! Must...get...to...IRK!" Skoodge said.

"I see, someone incapacitate him."

"With pleasure, Zim," Crax said. He grabbed a rock and bonked Skoodge on the head, knocking him out cold.

"What wrong with him?" Tel asked.

"The Control Brains sent out an emergency return of all Irkens," Zim said, "It's a last resort for when the home planet is facing a grave threat."

"Control Brains?" Dib asked.

"They are the ones who program my PAK and determine our purpose, whether it be Invaders, Food drones, and even Tallest. They rule us all! Although my obedience to them seemed to have faltered over the years."

"Why weren't you affected by the signal?"

"Apparently the Employer had altered my PAK, and if we go by my bio-scans I took of myself before, it happened years ago. I'm assuming he cut off my link to the Control Brains."

"I see, so what's going to happen to Skoodge?"

"The signal will end soon enough and he'll return to serving me, but we should worry about the bigger issue."

"Which is?"

"Crax, how soon can you get that ship made?"

"Not too long with the wonderful labor provided by my Vortians."

"Call them in and start working on it. You'll be in charge in the overall development of all weaponry and devices, under me of course. Tinkerer, you will be the one in charge of overseeing ship production. Cyber-monkey, order the ZMDA to aid in the development. Gaz...you do whatever. Lizard-stink, take your pet and teach the Dib-slime actual combat, take Skoodge and the Cyber-monkey with you."

"Ooo, what about me, what do I do?!" Gir asked. Zim was hesitant about this one, he obviously couldn't assign Gir to any construction task or combat training, but he certainly couldn't have him doing nothing, he would wind up interfering with other projects if left alone.

"Go search around here for anything you might find useful."

"Okay, master!" The little robot ran off obediently.

"The rest of you, hurry up and do your orders!"

"Wait a minute," Dib said, "You still haven't told us what Skoodge tweaking out is suppose to mean to us!"

"It means Irk is mobilizing. When the Employer decides to invade the Irkens it'll be an chaotic war between two tyrannical powers known as the doom-bringers for their respective dimension!"

"And you're telling us that you plan on getting in the middle of it all?!"

Zim let out a sinister smile in response to Dib's question.

"Of course!"

"Tak!"

"Yes, Employer!"

"Dame una actualización de la astronave."

"Er, what was that, sir?"

"Ugh!" The time for the Employer's his final assault on the Irkens was almost upon them, a final push before his conquest was complete, "You Irkens and your biological refusal to learn any other language other than your own. I wouldn't be so angry about having to speak your primitive Irken tongue all the time if it wasn't for someone programming the wrong language files on my moose warriors."

"I'm still sorry for that."

"Back to my previous statement, I was asking for an update on the ship. ¡El Moosey Megaship Mark Cinco!"

"Must you scream the name of the ship each time you say it?"

"The screaming adds to the glory!"

"Sure. The moose have completed construction of the shell of the ship, it still needs to be armed with weapons and shields."

"And what of the other preparations?"

"We have almost completely milked the beings for our liquid-based weapons, the lighting in your main room still needs to be fixed, and we're running out of pure DNA for your moose clones. We've tried using the DNA from the clones but that just caused a disturbing mess that I never want to speak of again."

"Bueno, don't fix my lights, and do something about those clones. I dunno, make them half machine for all I care. How about the portal?"

"I've scanned the blueprints and found most of the parts from the pile of stuff we scavenged off Vort, however certain parts are still missing and I don't know where we would find them." Tak opened the blueprints for the Employer and circled the parts that they needed. He looked over them for a bit and then let out a joyful laugh.

"¡Jajajajaja!"

"Sir?"

"Continue as scheduled. As for the remaining parts, your home-planet will have them, and I know just who to get them from."

"You mean 'just who to kill and steal from.'"

"Si, Tak. I was trying to be ominous."

"It was pretty obvious what you were planning."

"Just go and attend to the tasks!"

"Yes, Sir."

Tak left her boss for now. The Employer looked out through a window in the room he was in, staring at the black emptiness that stretched on and on. An infinite plane where no being can even fathom its size, and it was just a small prize for the Employer.

"There, Tallest, we have called back all the Irkens.

Though we can't guarantee they'll make it back in time."

"That's okay, all I asked was for you to contact them, Dear, Majestic Control Brains," Red said.

"Don't kiss up to us, puppet."

"Yes, Control Brains."

"NOW WE SLEEP.

And leave our chamber!

When we awake, your plan should have been executed flawlessly.

Or else."

"Yes, Control Brains," Red and Purple said in unison.

The door behind them opened and the two leaders walked out. They returned to their main room and began overlooking their battle plans. Despite them reassuring the Control Brains about their plans, they still began preparations for a back-up plan. They were not naive, they knew that when dealing with Zim, even if the results turn out favorable, they never go exactly as planned.

"All the troops have been mobilized to our 5 major sites, the space fleets are constantly orbiting the planet, and now we just need an Irken scout to act as our beacon," Red said.

"Do you think he'll make it to Conventia on time?"

"I don't know, but I sure hope so."

"Dib, your accuracy with a gun may be as sporadic as the drone's mental thought process but at least you know how to use that sword now."

Dib's proficiency with his sword-hand has increased after training for several days with Daj and Kry, and despite Gaz's refusal of teaching Dib directly, he did pick up a few things from observation. Daj, Kry, and he had chosen the top of an abandoned building as their training area. It was nearby the Vortian Plaza where they had made a base of operations. The building had held up quite well compared to the other ones, for one thing, it wasn't lopsided or looked like it would fall over at any moment.

"Thanks, Daj," Dib replied.

"Too bad everything you fight will be shooting lasers at you."

"Yeah, but maybe if I get really good I can learn to deflect lasers with my laser-blade!"

"Do you really believe that's how lasers work?"

"They don't?"

"Wanna try it?" Daj pointed a rifle at him.

"Well, not anymore."

"Suit yourself. Wanna check out what the drone is doing over there? Everyone else is."

Dib looked down the building they were training on. They saw the construction of the new ship, surrounded by Heboadians and Vortians. Crax had found more survivors on the planet, those who also hid in secret bunkers and holes, and they all united in an opportunity to aid a force that was going against their oppressors and destroyers, which was fortunate for Crax since he had run out of exploding collars for all of them. Most of the new ship was obscured by buildings and scrap metal, which the Vortians had tore off in chunks from the ruins of surrounding buildings. Dib was able to make out the shape of the old Dibship at the front of the new ship, he decided to go check it out later.

Nearby, at the center of the plaza, were Zim and the others, huddled around a small sphere. Daj grabbed Dib while he was on Kry's back and the trio jumped down from the top of the building. They moved towards the crowd and found that Keef and the monkey, the creature was tied by a rope and covered in duct tape, were in the sphere.

"What's with Keef in the sphere?" Dib asked.

"Zim is about to jettison him into space," Kor replied.

"Really?!" Dib had no objections to this idea. Everyone in the group knew that they had surrounded themselves with annoying, sociopaths and they lived through it for all this time. Keef, however, obliterated their tolerance for annoyances and creepiness. He wasn't smart enough to help with any of the projects and managed to screw things up on multiple occasions, he would run off in the middle of combat training with Dib to find Zim, and Zim simply had always found the human disturbing. Also the monkey did nothing but screech, poop, and throw things at them all day.

Zim stood in front of the sphere, holding onto the hatch that would seal Keef in.

"Thing, you-"

"You referred to me without an adjective!" Keef interrupted.

"To use descriptions in reference to you would demean and devalue them. You remembered my instructions, right?"

"I carved every word on the surface of my brain."

Zim just glared at Keef before slamming the hatch shut.

"Crax, the coordinates are set, right?"

"Yes, Zim," Crax replied, "They are also locked to prevent any change of course."

"Alright! Everyone, move back quickly!" The group backed away from the sphere containing Keef and the Monkey. Once Zim determined that he was at a safe distance he pressed a button. The sphere released a saucer-shaped object from the bottom of it and started spinning. Soon flames and fumes emitted from the saucer, lifting the sphere into the air and eventually out of the atmosphere. "Success!"

"Don't we need Keef? You know, for info on the Employer and for fixing your PAK?" Dib asked.

"I stole his holo-cube device thingy from him. I plan on studying the files inside while deleting all his...home movies off of it. However, he still has some use, which is why he was still breathing when I launched him."

"What if he dies in some horrible asteroid collision, or gets star radiation, or gets sucked into a black hole?"

"Then this universe will no longer suffer the fate of having multiple Keefs in the same plane of existence!"

"Then what about your PAK?"

"I'd rather die then spend more days with the thing."

"Aren't you exaggerating a little bi-"

"I mean every word I said. I'll just extract the knowledge from the Employer anyway."

"Alright then." Dib stopped inquiring, it's not like he wanted Keef to stay any longer anyway.

"Crax, ready the next shipy-pod-sphere!" Crax rolled out an identical sphere in the same spot where the first one launched. The hatched opened and he began working on setting the coordinates on a panel behind the ship.

"You have another pod?" Kor asked.

"Yes, this is for a much more vital mission."

"Who're you planning to send?" Gaz asked.

"I'll do it, Sir!" Skoodge spoke up, "I will take on any mission for my Tallest!"

"No, Skoodge," Zim said, "I'm not risking you possibly going crazy with your lust for Irk again."

"I-I understand, my Tallest."

"I plan on sending someone expendable, who also does not have proficient knowledge on how to pilot a ship." Everyone stared at each other, Zim had told them multiple times that they were nothing but meat-shields to him and most of them had either crashed or haven't had a chance to crash the Dibship.

"The being is also a cyber-monkey." Everyone looked at Tel whose eyes had widened after Zim had spoken. Tel responded with two words.

"Oh crap."

"El Moosey Megaship Mark Cinco is 100% built, fully weaponized, and fully fueled with spare tanks ready," Tak was running through the final checks of the ship for the Employer. The delays for the invasion were over and they were anxious to crush the Irken forces.

"¡Si, SI! ¡Bueno, now bring up the map!" the Employer said. Tak made a hologram of their map that had contained all the planets they had conquered and only two planets had remained; Irk and Conventia.

"I have to ask, why did you conquer the planets in the order of a smiley face?"

"I am fond of la Cara de Sonrisa. Mucho gusto."

"...Uh."

"I shouldn't even bother with you, should I? I like smiley faces! I'll conquer the universe in any shape I feel like! In the next dimension I'll conquer planets in the shape of a squirrel! Now, let's finish the nose!"

"Yes, sir," Tak began directing the moose soldiers that stood in front of several panels that controlled the ship. They touched several buttons on the panel to cause the ship to glow, light up, and do other complicated spaceship stuff.

"¡Come on, ándele! !Vámonos! What's taking so long?"

"About that, it turns out the thrusters we used aren't quite powerful enough to handle a vessel of this size and, well, shape."

"Are you questioning the shape of my ship?!"

"No, no! It's just that this is the max speed. Which is pretty slow."

"Fine. Just activate the hyperdrive."

"Er-uh, you wanted a hyperdrive?"

"...Just send the probe out."

"Yes, Employer," Tak went to a console and entered the sequence to launch the probing pod, "Probe sent. It should reach it's destination in 25 cycles."

"25 Cycles?!"

"Well, the thrusters...and the lack of a hyperdrive-"

"Just pilot the ship."

"Yes, Sir."

"Are the troops still stationed at the sites?"

"Yup."

"Are the space fleets making the 16,239th round around the planet?"

"Yup."

Red and Purple lost count of the number of cycles it had been since they've met with the Control Brains. They had thought they'd get attacked much sooner, but they've been suffering through the same repetitions of preparations for each passing moment. Since all their returning Invaders were immediately mobilized they didn't have anyone to heckle and all the Irkens on the planet were stuck in five areas and told to be on high alert.

"Is that Irken still orbiting Conventia?" Purple asked.

"Let me check," Red activated a radio transmission feed in front of them, connecting to the only available channel, a direct connection via incredibly an incredibly long wire that connected to their scout's pod. All their other communication channels were disabled thanks to the attacks.

"My Tallests! How can I be of service? Do you want another update? My mission log reads that it's been 15 cycles that I've been in orbit. Conventia looks beautiful as always, a marvelous feat from you, my Tallests and the Tallests before. I still haven't spotted anything out of the ordinary, just space rocks, space dust, space stars, more dust, rocks, rocks, rocks, more dus-" Red cut the feed before the Irken could continue rambling.

"You know, maybe this is just some sort of sick plan made by Zim," Red said, "He's just making us wait, forcing us to let our guard down. Watching us, silently. Slowly driving us insane or dead due to boredom. Then he strikes!"

"Do you really think Zim has the patience for that?" Purple said.

"No, you're right. Maybe he died?"

"I have always wished for that day to come, but the universe has never provided me with that joy after all these years, why would it let me have it now?" Purple let out a sigh.

"I'm getting a cookie."

"You there, pink one with the robotic limb!"

"My name is Dib."

"Your name means nothing. Where is Zim?"

"He's in the building over there."

Crax had been looking for Zim for over an hour now. He had went somewhere with the purple one sometime earlier but Crax now needed to give him his latest creation. He went into the building that Dib had directed him to. Upon entering he found the two beings that had gone missing earlier.

"I would apologize for interrupting whatever you two were doing, but I don't care," Crax said.

"We didn't do anything," Gaz said, "Why does everyone always assume that when I'm with Zim?"

"Because most of us aren't stupid."

"I really don't believe that."

"Well it doesn't matter. I have nothing to do with you anyway, just Zim."

"What do you need, Crax?" Zim asked.

"I've got a new toy for you Zim."

"Toy? I have no need for toys, no matter how much joy they bring me! I require tools benefiting my future conquest!"

"Sometimes I wonder how I co-existed with you for long when you were on Vort. Anyway, it's not a literal toy, it's a new device," Crax revealed a box he had been carrying. He opened it to reveal his invention, "Behold!"

"...It's another box."

"I would've preferred the term cubical storage unit. Remember the box I forced you and your companion to retrieve, nearly costing the lives of both of you and permanently damaging your PAK?"

"Now that you said all that, I should be really angry at you."

"Well now's not the time for feelings. What the box contained was a project I was working on. While the other Vortians were creating an multidimensional portal, I was stealing the designs and test results to construct a smaller portal into a void, a dimension of nothingness. I went through several redesigns, trying to make the portal smaller and smaller, and losing valuable test materials through experimentation like junk, scrap metal, other Vortians in the void-"

"Just get on with it already!" Gaz yelled.

"Fine, you impatient entomophile."

"What did you call me?!"

"Zim, I created a pocket dimension for infinite storage," Crax activated the device and reached his hand inside, "Don't let the size of the box or portal deceive you, it can store several objects useful for your purposes."

As he said that, Crax pulled out a large rifle. Zim looked on with intrigue and wonderment. He was thinking of all the possible uses he could use the portal for.

"Yes, I definitely can find uses for an infinite pocket dimension. Hand the device to Zim."

"Sure, there's no better data than a field test."

"It still needs testing?"

"Well, the portal is stable so it won't do something like suck you in during use...maybe. Also it can't store organic materials," Crax reached in and pulled out the skeletal remains of something. Zim couldn't make out what species the bones belonged too, he also didn't want to find out. "Anything inorganic is seemingly fine however."

Crax reached in again, this time pulling out Zim's robotic servant.

"Gir?!" The robot was still, facing forward as Crax held onto the antennae. The robot had a blank stare and was missing his usual smile, instead replaced with an expression of pure indifference towards his surrounding.

"What's up with him?" Gaz asked as both her and Zim got closer to Gir to inspect him.

"I saw the void," Gir said, "An infinite abyss of emptiness. A dark hole where the essence of the soul is depleted until it becomes one with the nothing, for all eternity."

Zim and Gaz were shocked, confused, and taken aback by Gir's words and the loss of his usual personality. Their confusion stopped however when Crax dropped the robot onto the ground. Instantly the robot rebounded back into his usual demeanor, stupidly smiling and running around until he decided to play in the pile of bones Crax pulled out earlier.

"Well, I did say seemingly fine," Crax said.

"Gaz, we must never let Gir get near the portal," Zim said.

"Agreed," she replied.

"So how do you even choose what you want to bring out."

"Well if you consider the formulas and theories used in spatial dynamics-"

Gaz decided now was a good time to stop listening. She left the two alien inventors alone and left the building. When she got out she found herself face to face with Kor.

"Hey Gaz, how was you alone time with Zim?" Kor asked.

"We didn't do anything. Why do you always assume that?" Gaz replied.

"I didn't say I was."

"You usually do."

"That's because I'm not Dib."

"What are you doing here anyway, Kor?"

"Just scavenging for a stronger power chip for my gloves. What did you do with Zim then?"

"None of your business."

"Considering you always talk to me when you have 'issues' with Zim, you kind of made it my business." Gaz just scowled at her and then proceeded to leave the Fefian. "I'm really curious though, what are you going to do after all of this is over? Best case scenario Zim wins and he rules Irk, but I know from Dib that it's not like you can ditch your planet to just be with Zim, and worst case scenario, well, you all die."

Gaz stopped walking. She wasn't prepared to answer Kor. She has thought about it before, it's not like she was always fueled by revenge during all this time. She always had a part of her thinking about the aftermath, and the high chance that she won't see Zim again after this. She wasn't planning on leaving Earth and she doubted Zim would ever want to return to the polluted rock. She always felt a bit melancholy whenever she thought about this, but she couldn't dwell on those thoughts. She decided to ignore them and continue forward.

"There Tak! The next planet to face our might! ¡Miralo!" The Employer was getting anxious. After essentially floating through space for what seemed liked an eternity to the alternate dimensional Tyrant, his target was finally in his sights. "What's the estimated time of arrival?"

"Um, not for a while, Sir," Tak replied.

"...You're a screw-up Tak."

Red and Purple just couldn't understand Zim. They couldn't figure out if he was really stupid or actually smart. They thought that he might be so stupid that he's smart or so stupid that he was stupid which masked the stupid that was actually the smartness of the stupid. Red and Purple agreed that analyzing Zim's psychology would make harm their intelligence like some sort of brain cancer.

Still, it was better than the boredom that was engulfing their planet. They were already getting reports of troops dying because they were too bored to do anything. Eventually they theorized that this wait was part of Zim's plans. If so, they would declare him the single most annoying, piece of crap being in the universe.

"My Tallests! My Tallests!"

Red and Purple instantly sprang to life. They were getting a call from the recon Irken they sent to Conventia.

"Hello! Scout, you better have something important to report, we're very busy!" Red answered.

"I see something unusual off in the distance! It's moving fast, oh my Irk it's huge!"

"Does it look like a ship?!"

"It-it doesn't look like anything I've ever seen, but it's big and metal and...IT'S GONNA COLLIDE WITH ME!" Red put the communicator down.

"This is it, what we've been waiting for! It's time to execute my master plan!"

"Wait, we only have one chance at this, we have to be absolutely sure!" Purple said.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!" The scream came from the communicator.

"You're right, if we waste this opportunity, we could doom our entire race," Red said.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"And if the Control Brains see our failure they could kill us!"

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Or worse, the Control Brains will remove our Tallest titles!"

"No, anything but that!" Purple said, "I can't go back to the time before infinite snacks!"

"I would miss our weekly donut tribute."

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"I'm going to execute the plan." Purple was nervous. Red went towards the main console. It was covered with several flashing lights, buttons, switches, knobs, and levers. Red pulled the decorative cover off the console, revealing a giant purple button.

Conventia was the first planet ever conquered by the Irkens and has since been used as the base of operations to plan future invasions. The Irkens used a giant ring-shaped war machine that encircled the planet to claim it. Though eons of disuse and negligence has rendered the construct inoperable for military purposes, it still served as a good docking bay that continues to orbit around the planet, until today.

The metal death ring had a secret, since it was their first invasion, the Irkens wanted a hidden ace, some back-up plan that would at least make it so that they wouldn't lose anything. For the Irken engineers it was a simple solution. An exploding giant metal death ring. Should worst come to worst, the active Tallest would execute the self-destruct and they would lose some planet and move on to the next one. It was perfectly logical to the Irkens.

Red pressed the button.

The rulers quickly assumed Conventia has been successfully blown up so they decided to pat themselves on the back for their masterfully crafted expert plan. They felt like all pressure and tension were removed, for the greatest threat to their race has been (presumably) destroyed! Well, they would've felt that way if they didn't receive a transmission that soured their mood.

"My Tallests!" shouted their scout, "It seems those foreign ships were a false alarm. I thought they were colliding into me, but they passed right through my scouting pod. It was as if they were some sort of holographic projection designed to fool the simple minded. Oh! The docking bay on Conventia started beeping, what should I do?"

"...Fly towards it," replied Red.

"Yes, my Tallests. Hmm, the beeping is getting faster. I think it's starting to glow red as well. Why, it seems as if it's about to explo-" The Tallests heard a brief explosion before the transmission feed turned to static.

They moved towards the window in the tower they were staying in, overlooking the Irken armada that was mobilized below them. They remained silent, wallowing in their apparent failure, even as dozens of warships began to litter the skies in front of them.

"So you have failed, Tallests," The voice came from behind them. The Control Brains had been watching, and once they had realized that the "master plan" of the Tallests had failed, they repossessed an Irken body.

"Excuse me, almighty Control Brains, may I have a quick moment?" Red asked calmly.

"Sure."

"Thank you," Red cleared his throat.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"