Earth Skool was a perplexing phenomenon. It seemed like the Earthlings created it in order to tame their savage offspring and assimilate them into their society. However, as the offspring moved upwards, the more primitive the offspring become. It was almost as if the Skool was removing their intelligence and common sense. Not that it mattered though, after all, it made it easier for Zim to blend in.
Zim was sitting in his usual classroom where the Bitters-human would teach him aspects of modern society for the fifth year in a row. Despite knowing that such information could prove useful, he couldn't help but spend most of time blankly staring at the teacher while contemplating his next scheme. Something was different about today though. Zim began pondering and then looked around the room, he realized what it was.
"Why is Zim the only one here!?" He yelled in the empty room. Only he was sitting in a desk and the usual, filthy teenage humans that inhibited Zim's class were nowhere to be seen. Zim didn't even recall ever coming to class or how long he had been sitting for.
"Shh. Keep your voice down." The voice came from the right of Zim. He turned and saw the speaker.
"The Dib-stick? Shut up Dib-worm! Hey, where did you come from? There was no one there! I saw! Nothing escapes my perceptive Irken eyeballs!" Zim looked at his human enemy that pursued him for many years. He was sitting next to Zim, where he usually sat in order to keep an eye on the alien, but Zim was certain that no one had been there just a moment ago.
"How can the hippo speak when you told him to shut up?" It was another voice. Zim instantly recognized it without having to look. It was a high-pitched, robotic voice with a twinge of idiocy.
"Gir! Why are you in Skool!? And where is your dog skin, the humans will see you!" The little robot was sitting on the Bitters-human's desk, without the usual green and black dog costume Zim had made him wear whenever he left the base.
"That's cuz I don't needs it." Gir was right. Other than Dib, there was no other human in sight.
"Where are all the filthy humans? Have they been abducted by someone who was not Zim!"
"If they were, we should go save them," Dib interjected.
"Stop telling me what to do Dib!"
"He can't, he's your cricket."
"What?"
"We're in your brains! He's a brain thingy pretending to be someone you know!"
"What nonsense are you spouting, Gir! Then again, that was the most coherent explanation you've ever given me. My Irk, we are in my brain! Wait, what do you mean by 'brain thingy'?"
"He means that we're aspects of your brain," the fake Dib answered, "I thought you deserved someone to explain it to you. I'm your conscious."
"Shut up Dib-worm! But that makes sense."
"That's why no one's here but you, master!" Gir said.
"But why did you appear as Gir and the filthy, earth boy?"
"Because you loves us!"
"He means it's because your mind chose these forms for us," Dib explained.
"I see," Zim began thinking about his situation more but still wondered about something, "Wait, if the filthy earth monkey is my 'conscious', whatever that is, then what is Gir?"
"I'm logics!" Gir shouted, much to Zim's disbelief. He stared at the robot until it started making farting noises with its mouth, further making Zim disbelieve his claim.
"Why do you lie to Zim, brain-Gir!?"
"He's right, Zim," Dib said. Zim still wanted to disbelieve Gir, but for now he accepted it.
"Alright, fake, brain-Gir, if you are really my glorious logic then answer me this! How can I be thinking inside my own mind?" Zim glared at Gir, waiting for an answer. He waited for any response, but instead, Gir's head exploded right in front of him. Zim backed up during the explosion, but was surprised when Gir's head suddenly popped back into existence, a smile on his face remained, as if nothing had happened.
"You shouldn't do that to him," Dib got up to check on his fellow mind comrade, "he's a little messed up."
"When did that happen?"
"It's always been like that." Zim couldn't comprehend what he meant by that.
"We should run, master!" The robot spoke, "Minimoose will be here soon!"
"Minimoose? That's right, the infernal traitor took over my mind! Well seems like he's the fool! I'm still in control of my brain!"
"Hello octopus!" Gir began rapidly waving to something behind Zim. When he turned around, he was frozen in fear. The roof to the classroom had disappeared, revealing a black vortex with giant, robotic tentacles. They were grabbing desks, books, entire walls, and throwing them into the vortex.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Zim screamed as he ran out of the class, his two mind entities following him. "What is that thing?"
"It's the octopus! He wants to hug your brains!" Gir answered, not answering Zim's question at all.
"Brain-Dib, translate!"
"Minimoose is taking over your mind!"
"Curse you, Minimoose!"
They ran until they reached a hallway with a dead end. Zim was pounding on the wall, trying to break through, but found it hopeless.
"You can do it, all you have to do is believe!" Gir encouraged.
"Wait, this is Zim's mind! I can do whatever I want!" Zim realized. He then turned to the black vortex.
"Zim, that's not a good idea," Dib tried to stop Zim but was merely brushed off.
"Silence, brain-Dib! Minimoose! Disappear from my mind!" Zim waited, but the vortex didn't not disappear, instead it just grew bigger. "Why isn't this working!?"
"The octopus isn't from your brain!" Gir answered.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier!?"
"It was obvious." Gir still spoke to Zim with the same happy tone. Frantically, Zim grabbed Dib by the legs and began swinging him against the wall like a bat.
"Curse you, brain-Dib, why isn't your head bigger?"
"Zim-OW, if you-OW say that-OW," It was too late for Dib. With each hit against the wall, his head swelled, but it did start breaking down the wall. Finally, Dib's head was immense in size and Zim broke through the wall. He ran through the wall, followed by Gir and Dib, who was finding it hard to keep his balance with his enlarged head.
Zim was outside, running down the streets. The vortex had destroyed the Skool and swallowed it. He looked behind him to see the vortex catching up to him, but suddenly fell when he hit something. He looked up to see what obstacle caused his fall, he had found another being.
"Gaz!" Zim instinctively reacted defensively in front of the girl, putting his arms up as a shield since he had just made physical contact with her. Instead of a beating, an arm reached out and pulled him up, now the human girl and he were staring face to face. He then realized that this was just his brain, and he began wondering what aspect of his mind Gaz represented.
"You idiot," Gaz said. Zim disliked that the entity kept her personality in tact, "what are you doing?"
"Are you my idiocy, earth-human? Which would make no sense since Zim has none."
"No sense or no idiocy?" Zim paid no attention to Gir's comment.
"Can't you see that there's a giant, swirling vortex of death chasing us!" Zim pointed to the ever-growing black hole with tentacles.
"So why are you running like a coward?" Gaz retorted.
"What?"
"You're suppose to be the strongest and smartest Irken in the universe, why are you afraid of some black hole? Idiot."
"Foolish, Gaz! Zim is the strongest and smartest being in the universe! And no tiny robot moose with octopus legs will scare Zim!" Zim turned around to face the vortex, holding his ground instead of running. The vortex was destroying every building that Zim had passed when he was running, continuously growing bigger and more menacing.
"Hmm, this looks bad," Gir said.
"Zim what are you doing?!" Dib said, still trying to move with his comically large head, "We have to run before that thing swallows us!"
Despite Dib's suggestion, Zim knew there was no way to run away from a black hole. Now it was destroying the building next to him, tentacles slammed down on the ground and took anything it could grab, escape was impossible.
"There's nowhere to run. It's gonna hug us and play with us forever!" Gir shouted joyfully.
"Stop being such a weenie!" Gaz shouted.
"Be quiet, Gaz! You don't understand what that thing will do to us!" Dib yelled back, now in full panic mode.
"Neither do you, it's not like you're logic."
"I hate you so much! You always get us in trouble! Always having Zim blindly follow-" A tentacle came down grabbed Dib by his large head. He screamed in terror as it threw the mind entity into the vortex. Zim showed no care for the loss of Dib.
Another tentacle came down and grabbed Gir this time, who also became distraught by his abduction. "Wait, I forgot my pig! No, no, nooooooooooooooo!"
"What are you going to do now that your conscious and logic are gone? Shrivel up like some worm?" Gir said to Zim, "You're suppose to be the ultimate Invader. You can beat that thing!"
"Don't spout obvious words, Gaz, Zim knows what hr's doing!" Zim began yelling at the vortex. "Foolish moose! You dare challenge me in my mind!"
Zim began concentrating hard, straining his brain and face, until he manifested a giant robot. He shouted in triumph and climbed into the machine. It was equipped with hundreds of lasers, rockets, and mounted turrets. He aimed them at the tentacles coming to grab him and fired, laughing maniacally with each shot fired.
"HahahaHAHAHAHA-AAH-AH-AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Laughter quickly turned to terror, a tentacle broke through the mech and grabbed Zim. "AAAHHHH! This was a mistake!"
The tentacle lifted him higher, bringing him closer to the vortex as he continued screaming. The tentacle threw Zim, and then there was nothing. It was silent, his world was engulfed, and the Irken disappeared into the vortex.
Oblivion felt weird to Zim, the fact that he retained his feelings and thoughts in oblivion made him sure of that. Everything around him was black, but he could still see his body clearly, so it wasn't due to darkness. He was floating aimlessly through an empty space, not knowing what to do. Flailing his arms only caused him to spin around, even making him sick, he wondered if puking in oblivion would be possible. Unable to think of anything else, he did the only thing that came naturally to him, yell.
"HEEEEEYYYYY! HELP ZIM! HEEEEELLLLPPP MEEEEEE!"
"Come on, man, I thought I told you yelling was bad?" Zim was at first glad to hear another voice other than his, but was then saddened when he saw that it was brain-Dib. The only thing worse than drifting through oblivion alone was doing it alone with Dib. The mind entity was floating next to Zim, though in a different position.
"Dib-worm, why have you appeared next to me?"
"I'm your conscious, I'm always with you, even if you don't acknowledge my existence."
"I'm still certain you are making up this word, 'conscious', just to taunt Zim."
"That's impossible master!" Gir now appeared before Zim, looking comfortable despite his new surroundings. "If your brain taunts you, it'd be making fun of itself, and that would make you very sad."
"Gir!"
"I'm flying!"
"Gir, the Dib is still dumb, tell me where we are!"
"In the moose brain!"
"Right! We were absorbed by that vortex with tentacles. So it was a portal to Minimoose's mind. Wait, does this mean the traitor-moose knows all of Zim's brain-thoughts and secrets?"
"Not all of it!"
"Good. Well, Minimoose is a fool! I have now infiltrated his feeble mind! Now it is Zim's turn to strike!"
"Oooo, what'cha gonna do?"
"Zim will-"
"You're gonna try to conquer Minimoose's mind, right?" The third of Zim's mind entities finally appeared, it was the one who chose Gaz as its avatar. The sudden appearance caused him to pause, apparently she had been swallowed shortly after Zim. She had also thought of something that sounded better than what he was about to say.
"...Of course! Do you take Zim for an idiot, Gaz?"
"Yes."
"Why must you always insult me, even in my mind?"
"It's your mind, doofus, you tell me."
"It's cuz Zim doesn't actually mind your personality!" Gir interjected.
"Again, Gir spouts nonsense," Zim denied, "Now contemplate with me, my minions, how shall we go about this invasion?"
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Cuz it would take too long, and it's an unnecessary subplot."
"What are you talking about?"
"'Sides, you can't do anything in the moose brain."
"Then what do you want Zim to do? Sit here for the rest of my life?"
"That'd be great," Dib said, "It would give us time to reflect and finally realize how much trouble she always gets us into."
Not appreciating brain-Dib's accusation, Gaz grabbed him by the leg and spun him like a geeky pinwheel. Dib was obviously not enjoying the act, but Gir found it amusing.
"Ooo, let me try!" Gir tried to spin around but found himself unable to. Suddenly he got an idea. He activated the jets in his feet, but instead of spinning out of control, he was flying out of control.
"Gir, what are you-wait, stop, wait!" Zim watched Gir fly in several directions until he started hurtling towards him. Zim was unable to stop the momentum of the robot, and Zim was soon accelerating through the darkness.
As Zim went deeper and deeper into oblivion, his surroundings slowly changed. The background would suddenly shift in color, switching from solid black to yellow, purple, saffron, indigo. Multiple colors started being displayed in front of him, soon they began forming coherent structures and shapes. As a world was forming around him, he began slowing, until he seemed to hit something.
Zim stood up, surprised that he was standing on something solid. He also noticed that he was standing in an actual room, alongside the robot that caused all of this.
"Gir, since when is it a good idea to activate your jets just to spin around?" Zim asked the little robot.
Gir placed his hand against his face, attempting a pondering pose, "Hmm, I don't know."
"I thought you were my logic!"
"I'm your logic! I don't gots my own."
Zim let out a groan of disdain, "Ugh, just tell us where we are."
"Moose!" Gir yelled suddenly, pointing behind Zim. The Irken turned around, not expecting Gir to be correct. What he saw was much worse.
Zim cowered in fear, though he'd never admit it. He knew what the being was, but he'd never seen an actual one. At most, he would see their avatars during his initial tests and assignment. The being was immense, easily dwarfing Zim. It was round in shape, and appeared to be partly mechanical. Dozens of cables were attached from under it to various places around the room. As Zim looked longer at the room, he began recognizing the architecture and structures, despite some design differences. He was certain of where he was, and the being confirmed it. He was on Irk, and he was staring at a Control Brain.
"This isn't Irk," Zim said, despite the similarities there were also various differences. Though it still had the same purple color scheme, mixed in were red and black. Structures had very unnecessary pointy things jetting out. A black, organic substance stretched from the walls to the floor, but they were too symmetrical to not be purposely placed. Zim knew that on his Irk, there were multiple Control Brains, but it seemed like this brain was the only one. Also it was impossible to suddenly be on the real Irk when Zim was just trapped in Minimoose's head.
The silence was broken by a loud bang. It came from behind Zim. It was an explosion, destroying the door that led to the Control Brain's chamber. The metal door fell, causing light to shine into the chamber. A being stood in the door frame, obscured by the darkness of the room. His presence caused the Control Brain to move slightly, shaking the room. The being stepped forward, revealing himself to Zim. He wore black and white battle armor and was about as short as Zim used to be. As Zim expected, it was an Irken, but the antennae curved forwards instead of backwards like his. He had cuts and bruises, but the extra blood didn't stop Zim from instantly recognizing the being's face, it was his own.
Gir ran up to the shorter Zim and stuck his hand into the being's head, as if he were a ghost.
"Look, my hand is inside his brain that's inside the moose's brain that's inside your brain, which I live in!" Gir tried doing anything to provoke a reaction out of the other Zim, but it was obvious that neither he nor the real Zim could have any effect on this world. Finally, the Control Brain would utter its first words.
"Why have you defied me? Did I not create you and helped bring unity to this world?"
"Zim could care less of your achievements!" The other Zim answered, "I don't appreciate being a brainless pawn like what you've made Irk!"
"But they're so happy. Forever feasting on their chips and snacks, all I asked was for some obedience in exchange, and unlike someone, I have problems pressing a blaster against their foreheads."
"That's because your silly tendrils would have a hard time holding a blaster! Besides, any dumb, slimy being that chose to follow you would've been tossed aside by your own tendrils sooner or later."
"So what? Don't pretend that you actually care about the beings that you ally with, or as you call them, 'meat-shields'. We could've ruled this universe together, I can easily make you the next Tallest, and you would've lived comfortably on glorious Irk, instead of the barren wasteland you've turned it into."
"I do like my cities without burning fires and bloody corpses everywhere, but there's a glaring flaw in your idea. Zim is too smart to take orders from such a stupid being!"
The Control Brain was very displeased. The room shook as the Brain brought out a large tentacle that grabbed the other Zim. Despite how terrifying any other being would be in the grasp of an immense being, the Irken remained calm.
"How smart of you to enter my chamber unarmed. I expect nothing less from a defect, but even if you had weapons, I would still get the pleasure of squishing your head."
"As if I would be stupid enough to step in here without a plan." Zim revealed a disc that he hid in his palm. He pressed the center, causing a sharp, piercing whistle to be heard. The whistle was followed by sudden explosions, all around the building. Bit by bit, the chamber began collapsing upon itself and on top of the Control Brain. The massive Brain tried to move its tentacles to block to debris, but the movement of the appendages only cause the structure to collapse faster. As the building broke, the shadows died, patches of light from the fires Zim had caused bled into the room, until it was completely lit.
The room was collapsed, greatly injuring the Control Brain, but not enough for it to release Zim.
"...Fool." The Brain spoke, as it attempted to squeeze the life out of Zim. The Irken began grunting in pain, feeling the cold metal press his head. One more second, and the Control Brain would have Zim's blood splattered on his tentacles, had the tentacle not been sliced in two. A being wearing full black and white armor appeared to save Zim, releasing the Irken from the clutches of the bio-organic. It tried to move its other tentacles but couldn't, it realized that it wasn't just one other being he had to worry about. The Brain was surrounded by other beings clad in armor, varying in size and species, holding down its tentacles, preventing its movement. There were Darvons, Plookesians, Vortians, and others, all aiming rifles and blasters at the Control Brain.
Zim stood confidently despite being a second away from getting squished a moment ago. He raised one arm, pointing at the brain and directed his armada, "Fire!"
Lasers and rockets flew towards the brain in all directions. It was unable to escape. Then nothing. Immediately, the scenery of the destroyed chamber of the Control Brain was replaced with black, and Zim found himself in the empty vast once more. The tall Irken had to try to comprehend what he had just seen; the sight of another version of him conquering Irk and confronting a Control Brain actually made him jealous, he was suppose to do that first, but the Employer had interfered.
Thinking about the treacherous, former sidekick of his made him remember that he was still in Minimoose's head. Zim could only assume that the scene had to do with Minimoose, but he couldn't pinpoint how it did.
Zim pondered, There was nothing moosey in that scene. That dumb moose shouldn't have that unless-
"I got the robot brain!" Gir's yell broke Zim's concentration.
"Brain-Gir, why do you interrupt my pondering!?" Zim yelled towards his logic.
"I caught the robot brain, look!" Gir held out his two arms, revealing a purple orb in his grasp. Attached were two smaller white orbs, four small nubs, and two small antlers.
"AHH! Minimoose! Wait, uh...haha! Foolish traitor! Did you plan to follow Zim inside your own mind to finish me off?"
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Quiet Gir!" Zim grabbed the small moose out of Gir's hands, "Well, it was stupid for you to come here as you are now within my grasp! Any words before Zim exacts his revenge?"
"*squeak*"
Not the response Zim was expecting. Zim didn't know what to do so he squeezed the four-nubbed being, only to hear another squeak. "Gir, where did you get this?"
"It was stuck on your back after we landed here! I climbed like a koala to gets it."
Zim realized that Gir must've been right earlier, there was no way for Minimoose to follow him into his own conscious, meaning the being he held in his hands must be an entity of Minimoose's mind, like Gir was. Curious as to what exactly it was, Zim stared at it, bringing it closer and closer to his head.
Suddenly the moose disappeared from Zim's sight. The sudden disappearance surprised Zim so much that he didn't even notice the change in scenery at first. He was looking at Irk, there was no doubt in his mind about it, but it was destroyed and in ruins. It was silent, almost peaceful, Zim only assumed it was after his counterpart had finished his invasion.
"What is that thing?!" The voice ended the silence, Zim turned to find the speaker and found two beings clad in the same black and white armor Zim's armada wore.
"Ugh, it's so ugly!" The other soldier said. "Let's just shoot it!"
Zim didn't have time to react, his body just began running. Zim had concluded that this was a memory, but if it was then the beings shouldn't have seen him. He didn't even get a chance to yell, lasers zoomed past his body. One hit him on the side, and Zim felt his stride falter a bit, but he didn't feel the pain and continued running.
"Why am I such a bad shot now? It's like my accuracy decreased when I became Zim's underling!"
"Really, seems like nothing changed."
"Still better than your aim!"
The two beings bickered behind Zim, but the lowered volume of their voices made him realize that he was distancing himself from them. Soon he reached an Irken port, only half destroyed compared to the other buildings, he entered the area.
"Over here! In the port!" Zim heard the being shout from a distance. Zim had to hide, but he spotted something better, a shiny, metallic spacecraft. Seeing his escape route, he ran towards it. He stood in front of the shiny ship and stopped. His body was desperately trying to get it open, but Zim only looked at the reflection, finally realizing that he never had control over this body. The reflection showed a being that was nothing but thin metal and wires, like a mechanical skeleton. Its arms were nothing but thin tendrils, its legs were simply tightly bound wires, and its head a simple orb. Unable to get it open, the being resorted to a different tactic.
Zim watched as the strange being pressed its limbs against the ship. Its arms breaking into the ship, revealing its circuits. The body's wires intertwined itself with the ship, melding itself to the spacecraft to become one.
Everything was black again. Zim seemed to be within Minimoose's consciousness once more. He quickly checked his limbs and body to make sure he wasn't still that metal freak, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw his usual black gloves. He wondered where Minimoose went when he spotted Gir off to the side, squeaking the toy.
"Gir, what are you doing?" Zim asked.
"Playing!" The robot replied.
"Did you see anything that happened to me?"
"Of course! I'm part of your brains! I knows everything!"
"Then what do you think?"
"I dunno, I forgot!"
"What?!"
"I got bored, so I took the robot brain and started playing with its nubs."
"Wait, you took the moose away from me?"
"You didn't say no."
"Give it back, Gir! I'm certain now that the moose is Minimoose's memory bank! I can access all his secrets through it!"
"Aww, but I was having so much fun."
"Now, Gir!" The robot let out a groan of displeasure as he relinquished the small moose to Zim. He repeated the same actions as last time, focusing on the cross-eyed glare of Minimoose and he waited.
Once again, Minimoose disappeared, but Zim remained calm this time. The blackness was exchanged with a field of tall, blue grass. Zim found himself on the ground, lying next to a crashed ship. The sound of movement in the grass was heard and the metal skeleton stood up to face it, but Zim could tell it was weakened. The grass parted, revealing two tall beings, their appearance shocking Zim.
They were about seven feet, had long snouts, and their entire body layered in purple hair. Their limbs were long to match their body, though their fingers were extremely stubby. Finally, they had two hardened appendages protruding from their skull, completing their resemblance to Earth moose.
"Mios Dios! What is that?" The first one spoke, reminding Zim of the Employer's voice.
"What should we do? Kill it?" The other one asked. At that moment though, the skeleton collapsed, falling face first and losing sight of the two moose-like beings, but it still could hear them.
"No! Quiero ayudarlo!"
"What?"
"I want to help it!"
"Why? It's so freaky looking."
"Because we're not evil! Voy a enseñar nuestros morales."
"...wh-"
"Morals! We're raising him!"
"WAIT WHAT?!"
"He's going to be un bueno hijo! And I'll teach him my beautiful language so I can finally have someone to communicate with!" The being picked up the lightweight skeleton and began dragging him. The other moose followed after, questioning the sudden decision.
"I think you're being to rash about this! We need to think this over!"
"Nothing will go wrong!"
The memory ended. Zim found himself floating in black, empty space again, also once again, missing the purple orb that let him view these memories. Zim already knew where it went.
"Gir! Why must you take my moose away from Zim!" Zim yelled towards the robot, playing with the mental entity of Minimoose's memories.
"But watching you is no fun. All you do is stare like the squirrel I keep head!" Gir answered back.
"You keep a squirrel in your head?"
"I have a squirrel in my head?! Where?!"
"...Yes! It exists within you! All you need to do is give Zim the moose and then you have to fly away. In one direction. Forever."
"Okay!" The brain-Gir gladly handed over the tiny moose upon being promised a squirrel. He gave Zim a salute before turning and flying away. Zim watched as Gir's body shrink the farther he got, making sure Gir wouldn't interrupt him again.
Zim stared into the face of Minimoose, hoping the next memory would be more useful, like something that would reveal Minimoose's weakness, or any info that could fix his PAK. Minimoose disappeared, signaling Zim's immersion into its memory.
The scenery was drastically different than the last one, this time he was in a metal ship, but it was nowhere near functional. Monitors broken, consoles destroyed, cables dangling from the ceiling and sparking with electricity. Zim recognized the design of the ship. It was identical the the schematics he had forced Tel to scan for weeks; it was Minimoose's Mothership.
The lighting was dim thanks to the ruined state of the ship, the only source of illumination coming from behind him, but Zim caught a glimpse of Minimoose when he looked down to examine his injuries. He was no longer a skeleton of wires, but a full, metal body. It wasn't as thick as the one he had in his dimension, it looked leaner, more agile, but it was clearly damaged. The body had chunks of metal that looked misplaced attached to it, signs of the forced repairs that Zim witnessed during his battle. Minimoose looked down, a deactivated SIR unit laid by his feet, across from the robot was its owner and the cause of the damage. An Irken dressed in black and white sat against a railing, a laser sword sticking out of his stomach.
"Why...Why won't you die!" Minimoose yelled at the Irken. The other Zim was beaten badly. Aside from the blood pouring down the blade in his body, he has a gash on his forehead the bled, blinding him in one eye, his face was bruised, a line of blood trailed from his open mouth. Despite it all, he moved his arm, proving he was still alive. He used the railing as support to stand up. Once firm, he grabbed the hilt of the blade in his stomach and pulled it out, pointing it towards Minimoose, ready for another fight.
"You should've left with the red-haired human!" Minimoose yelled, "All you've done is kill yourself!"
"...Dumb Employer..." Zim was breathing heavily, clearly unfit for a real fight, "...Zim...refuses to let you leave...without...killing you first..."
The Irken began lumbering towards the Employer, like a zombie determined to have his brain, Zim wanted his kill.
"I would've left without harming you! You've already stopped my warriors!"
"You...destroyed half my...army...my...planet..."
"You took my planet! You took my soldiers! You took my empire! What else do you want?!" Zim inched closer and closer, still aiming the blade at Minimoose.
"Your...life..."
"You fool." The battered Zim was within arms reach of the Employer, but never got a chance to stab him. Minimoose grabbed the arm Zim used to hold his blade and pulled it from his hand, Zim too weak to put up much resistance. Minimoose turned the blade around and stabbed Zim a second time, then a third time, then a fourth, then a fifth. The Zim viewing the memory couldn't look away, he was witnessing another version of him being mauled, his own blood pouring onto the body of the murderer. So weakened was the other Zim that he couldn't even scream from the pain of his stabbings. Finally, the other Zim was unable to react anymore, falling limp against the metal body of the Employer, the blade still pierced through his body. Zim was horrified and watched as Minimoose dropped the body, letting it splash in its own pool of blood.
Minimoose turned around, revealing the source of the light to Zim, a dimensional portal. Minimoose was ready to cross over, to what Zim knew was going to be his own dimension. He stepped forward, only inches away from the target of his next conquest when he felt something clinging onto his arm. Minimoose didn't look behind him immediately, knowing who it was, but didn't want to believe it. He could barely hear the breathing of the being holding his arm, but it was faint, and miraculously, it spoke.
"Last...resort...ha...ha...ha..."
Minimoose couldn't kill him. He should've died but he didn't. He was scared. Unable to face the Irken, he just ran through the portal. On the other side was nothing but space, he was floating though its vast reaches, hoping he had shaken off the Irken. He didn't.
Minimoose turned around. Still holding onto his arm was the Irken he had hated for so many years. He was floating behind him, in deep space without any method of breathing, and yet, the Irken was smiling. It was the same smile he had given Minimoose when he was defeated for the first time. Then Minimoose noticed that Zim didn't come alone. Zim had dragged another body with him. It was his SIR unit, but with the head detached, and its chest light slowly blinking white. Minimoose knew what it was. He tried to distance himself but it was too late. The body of the SIR unit exploded. Minimoose could do nothing but watch as the sheer force and power of the explosion move towards him, the metal on his limbs breaking and melting, and soon, so was the rest of his body.
Everything returned to black. Zim was breathing heavily from the shock and intensity of experiencing not only his counterpart being mauled, but feeling death itself. Unlike before, he still held Minimoose's mental entity within his hands, but Zim was not eager to dive in again.
"The other Zim was powerful."
Zim suddenly turned to the speaker that broke his silence. Unlike the other times, it wasn't Gir standing by him, it was Gaz. She floated beside him, but he didn't say anything to her.
"If anything, he wasn't a coward, at least," she said. Unlike usual, this Gaz had no negative tone within her voice, it was calm. "Despite his size, he did everything you've dreamed of, even giving his life in exchange."
"How would you know what I dream of?" Zim responded for the first time.
"Of course I know your dreams, Zim. I also know your desires and wants, because I want them too, and I'll make you get them, even if it means I have to force you."
"Then what do I want right now?"
"Idiot, do I have to say everything?" The malice returned, but instead of responding with malice of his own, Zim only looked at his mental entity. "You want to be better."
Zim didn't say anything again, but he didn't show any signs of disagreement.
"You want to surpass the other Zim. You're taller than him. Stronger than him. Smarter than him. You should be better than him, but you aren't yet. You haven't beaten the Employer."
Gaz flew in front of Zim, offering her hand, "Do you know why the other entities hate you, and think you're an idiot?"
"You don't?" Zim remarked, a remark that earned him a quick fist in the face.
"I know that you're an idiot, but that's never stopped you. You've always reached for more, wanting to prove yourself. You've rarely listened to the other entities, but you've always listened to me."
Zim looked at Gaz, finally figuring out what the mental entity was, and calmly accepted the hand. She pulled him forward, letting him float higher. Zim looked at the Minimoose in his hand. He squeezed it one last time, hoping that next time it would be the real one, and let it drift away.
"You don't need it anymore?" Gaz asked.
"I already know what happens. Salvaged by Vortians, incarnated in a new body, given to me, etc."
"What are you going to do now?"
"You should know, I'm going to destroy Minimoose."
"Then how are you going to get out of here?"
"Nothing. There's nothing I can do."
"Then what-"
"My minions will free me."
"Do you honestly think they will?"
"The lizard-stinks hates Irkens, cyber-monkey is incompetent, the Tinkerer hasn't forgiven me for all the pain I've caused her, Skoodge is loyal but very limited, Gir is Gir, Dib-worm is weak, and Gaz is...weird."
"You trust them to save you?"
"...Yes."