There was no screaming, only the sound of a laser piercing the air. The knock-back from the blaster had pushed Dib into a pile of rubble. He instantly felt regret for what he had done. If he had actually killed his sister, he didn't know what he would do. He opened his eyes. He didn't say anything, he had no words, he wasn't even sure how to feel. He missed.
Minimoose had closed both his and Zim's eyes. After another couple of seconds, he opened them and to his delight, found himself still breathing.
"Ja...ja...jajajajaJAJAJAJAJA!" He laughed maniacally. The laser had gone over his head, only blasting half of Kor's upper torso and head off. The only collateral were the Fefian chunks staining both Zim and Gaz.
Gaz dropped to her knees. She had no strength left. Minimoose dropped the Fefian remains and turned to the human girl. He pressed his foot on her shoulder and nudged her lightly, but it was enough to tip Gaz over. He lowered himself and wrapped Zim's hand around the human's neck. He turned her head so that she can look at Zim's face, now within an inch of her's, as he strangled her life away.
Gaz brought both her arms up onto Zim's, but couldn't pull him away. Breathing was harder and harder as he tightened his hand. With her last bit strength, she spoke.
"...i...diot..."
Minimoose had enough. He was going to crush her throat, but he stopped. A strange feeling started brewing within him, and it was painful.
"AAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Minimoose reeled back and fell to the ground, his entire body was burning. The pain was as if mini-supernovas were being birth within his skin. "WHA-WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!"
Gaz sat herself up to watch Minimoose writhe in pain, "Fefian...blood."
The blast, Minimoose thought. He couldn't believe it. Was missing part of Gaz's plan? To rely on Dib to hit Kor and let her blood spill all over him and seep into his wounds? That would've been crazy! That would be-
"AAARRRRGGHH!" Minimoose couldn't think anymore, the pain was overwhelming. Gaz had used the opportunity to distance herself from the being in agony. Minimoose gazed at the human, focusing all his anger and remaining strength towards crawling to her, but with his broken mentality he had failed to notice his remaining tendrils had ceased to function. When he applied more force to Zim's broken body, he only added to the pain.
Gaz watched Zim squirm. Satisfied at the result, but at the same time she felt a little melancholy. Her job wasn't done. Hopefully Zim's body would succumb to paralysis, but with how crappy everything has been going today, she wouldn't be surprised if Zim somehow mutated into a flying moose demon. For now, Zim's body couldn't move anyway, and it was as good as an opportunity as any. Gaz stood up first. In her hand was the first weapon she could grab: a big rock.
Gaz stood over the Irken. Tired, bleeding, and frustrated, she was ready to end it all. Zim's eyes looked up at her face. With her so close he tried reaching for her, but only pained himself once again. "YOU-ARGH-Y-YOU-STU-ARGH-STUPID-ARGH-ST-STUPID-MOOSE-AARRRGH!"
"...What?" Gaz became hesitant. She had to remind herself not to do this again, to let another chance pass by her. She chose not to think about Zim's words, but she also didn't raise the rock.
"D-D-DON'T! AARGH! G-GA-...YO-YOU-I-I-AAAARRGGHHH!" Zim's working arm shot upwards, surprising Gaz, but it didn't try to grab her. Instead, the arm bent backwards, only stopped by a tendril Minimoose had to put all his focus on to control. "NO! I-I-WON'T! I-I-AARGH-ZIM-"
Zim pulled himself upwards, using a single leg to steady himself as he struggled. Gaz raised her arm defensively at the sudden motion, but he didn't do anything towards her. Her mind tried to justify what was going on in front of her, several thoughts flooded her head. She couldn't think about it anymore, she just listened to her instinct and swung the rock. Her strike broke the tendril holding Zim's arm back.
"AARGH-YOU! I'LL-AARGH-KILL YOU-WAIT NO! NO! NO!" Minimoose couldn't feel anything but pain, but through it all, Zim's one working hand had grabbed his small, round body atop the PAK. Zim stood up to gain leverage. The hand began pulling. Minimoose refused to let go, but the pain he was feeling from sharing Zim's pain receptors was too much. Minimoose was ripped off.
Minimoose was tossed like scrap metal. He stopped screaming. An Irken with a broken arm stood in front of Gaz. She couldn't believe it.
"Zim?"
He collapsed but Gaz caught him in her arms. His weight caused them both to fall to their knees. He was breathing weakly, but it meant that he was alive. Gaz didn't think she'd ever see Zim with his own mind again, she had accepted the impossibility, but here he was in her arms.
Dib watched from afar and even smiled a bit at seeing Zim remove Minimoose himself. He walked up to Kor, whom he had blasted. She had just fully healed, but her shirt was almost destroyed. Slightly embarrassed, Dib handed her his jacket and she accepted.
"Sorry for hitting you," Dib said, helping her up.
"It's fine. At least it wasn't as painful as it could've been," Kor said. She looked over at Gaz and Zim and had a small smile on her face, "And it seems like everything worked out."
"Let's go. They'll probably need help."
"Wait, Gaz will be fine. Besides, we should find everyone else first."
Dib was hesitant, but it looked like Gaz was going to be okay, "Alright."
Gaz sat there, tired and breathing heavily. Zim's head rested on her shoulder and finally, he spoke.
"Gaz...how long...are you going to hold Zim..."
Gaz pretended like she didn't hear him.
"Are you done?"
The moment Gaz heard that voice she pushed Zim away. Kor stood beside them with a devilish smirk. Thankfully she was alone.
"I-I wasn't doing anything!" Gaz exclaimed.
"Whatever, just be glad I got here first." A few moments later Dib showed up holding Skoodge and Gir, both in a non-functional state. Behind him was a weary Daj.
"Did you kill him?" Dib asked looking at the Irken's limp body on the ground.
"He's fine," Gaz responded, or at least she hoped.
"It looked like you were strangling him though."
"I wasn't strangling him."
"Then what were you doing?"
"I was h-none of your business, Dib!"
"You should've strangled him," Daj said, "Can I strangle him if you aren't then?"
"Let's not add to the body count," Kor said.
"One more dead Irken wouldn't matter."
"I have a feeling there will be more than one dead body if you killed Zim." Kor looked over at Gaz who didn't pay her remark any attention.
Daj let out a tiring sigh and sat down, "Whatever, I'm too exhausted anyway."
Daj fell on his back and closed his eyes, enjoying the first real moment of rest he's had in a long time. Kor followed his actions and sat against a metal slab. Only Dib had something on his mind.
"Hey, Gaz?" Dib sat beside his sister. She seemed preoccupied with something and hesitated a bit before answering him.
"What?" She replied, not bothering to look at him.
"Did you...did you know that I'd miss?"
"No. I just trusted you."
"Trusted?"
"Yeah, I trusted that you'd mess up at the most important part."
"...Oh."
"And because you screwed up, we got the best possible outcome." Gaz glanced over at Zim. Dib barely saw a brief smile on Gaz's face before she turned away. She had been shifting her eyes during the entire conversation and was the only member of the group who had remained alert. "Someone's missing."
"Daj said he sheltered Kry's body near some debris, and I have no idea what happened to Keef."
"I'm not talking about those two."
Dib wondered who Gaz was talking about. Then he heard the sound of shifting rubble. The sound also alerted Daj and Kor who rose from their rested state along with Dib. When they turned, they saw exactly who Gaz was talking about.
"Bastardos."
Gaz had wasted time. She should have immediately destroyed Minimoose when Zim ripped him from his PAK. Instead she let her emotions overpower herself again and now Minimoose faced them, fused with a Giant Fraction Blaster.
"That's my gun!" Daj shouted.
"And I'll enjoy killing you with it, Darvon!"
Everyone braced themselves but they couldn't fight Minimoose again. They barely had any energy left. Even Gaz was still on the ground. She tried standing up but only fell to her knees again. She tasted blood in her mouth. She couldn't move, let alone fight, but she couldn't die now, not after everything she endured.
"Foolish moose..."
Everyone was shocked when they heard that voice, and even more at what they saw. Behind them stood Zim, having picked himself up after Gaz had shoved him.
"No...NO!" Minimoose shouted, "The effects of Fefian blood shouldn't be that short!"
Zim limped forward, his allies making way for him as he moved to the front.
"As if...silly...Tinkerer's blood can harm...Zim. My mind...isn't that weak."
Zim was taunting Minimoose, for what reason, no one knew. Everyone could tell that Zim couldn't fight Minimoose either. They could tell by the way he limped, by the way he talked. He was bleeding, bruised, and had a broken arm. Moreover, the Fefian blood should still be causing him pain and in a few more minutes, paralysis.
"I doubt your mind can survive lasers!"
"Then shoot me!" Everyone behind Zim became justifiably distressed.
"What are you doing, Zim?" Dib questioned as he prepared him to run.
"Silence, Dib-worm! Don't question, Zim!"
"You're gonna get us killed!" Daj added.
"I'd watch Irk burn before I let myself die before you, lizard-stink."
"How reassuring," Kor said plainly.
"Silence!" Zim turned his head and glared at his comrades. None of his comrades wanted to die, and only stupid beings would blindly trust Zim after all he's done. Fortunately, they've all come to terms with their own stupidity long ago.
"Your plans haven't completely failed, yet," Gaz said. A while ago, Zim would've been shocked at Gaz giving him support, even if it was just slightly positive, but instead he just wore a sinister smile on his face before turning back to Minimoose.
"Don't worry, Gaz, if the traitor could kill us, he would have done it already."
"What?!" Minimoose yelled.
"I just spent a considerable amount of time bantering with my minions, I even turned my head around, and yet you didn't shoot."
"That's-that-"
"You're afraid!"
"What?!"
"Don't fool Zim! You may have peeked into my mind, but I've peeked into you moosey brain too!"
"You don't know anything!"
"Then shoot! Or are you afraid?"
"I-I fear nothing!"
"You fear Zim!"
"No! Silence you bug!"
"Zim is not a bug!" Zim winced and his leg almost buckled. He lost the feeling in his broken arm. Soon it would be the rest of his body. He had to finish this. "Dumb moose. You think you're some powerful tyrant, and yet you've been beaten several times by someone you thought was beneath you!"
"Silencio!"
"You've made pitiful attempts to use Zim, strand Zim, kill Zim. Yet here I stand, ready to destroy you again!"
"Idiota! I'm the one holding the gun!"
"Then shoot me! Pull the trigger, moose-traitor, fire the laser! I will dodge it, I will grab you, then Zim will crush your brittle, weak body in my hands!" Zim fell, his legs went numb and had to catch himself with his only good arm. Logically, Zim was in no condition to move, dodging the laser would be impossible, and Minimoose knew that, but Zim showed no fear. The Irken's eyes grew weary, his breath heavy, but that sinister smile still remained. Then he laughed, the same laugh Minimoose heard before getting sent to this dimension. "Ha...ha...ha...ha...ha."
No. I will not get taunted by this, Minimoose thought. However, Zim was right, partially. Minimoose feared missing Zim, letting the Irken live and escape another near-death experience. Despite the fear, he only had to remind himself that he couldn't miss, "Your threat would actually have meaning if this gun didn't have a lock-on feature."
"A what?" Zim's expression changed to one of fear and shock.
"There's a lock on feature?!" Daj yelled, surprising his allies.
"That would've been really useful a while ago," Kor said.
Dib decided not to join the snark, instead doing what most logical humans would do, "Run!"
Kor, Daj, and Dib dispersed as the blaster was lighting up, but when he noticed something wrong, it was too late. Gaz couldn't move. She had tried to run with them but fell as she stood up. Using Kor's boots over and over had taken their toll on Gaz's muscles. Likewise, Zim's body was also locked up, the paralysis had taken over his legs. However, before he became a statue, he made sure to stand between Minimoose and Gaz. Gaz just thought Zim was stupid since a laser would just pierce through him and hit her anyway. Dib dropped Skoodged and Gir and turned around at the last second, but he knew he wouldn't make it.
"Targeting...targeting...target found." The sound of the G.F.B.'s targeting sequence could be heard by the Irken. His breathing grew rapid and heavier. "Target identified: Zim."
"JajajajaJAJAJAJAJAJAJA!" Minimoose laughed, savoring every second. Finally, he pulled the trigger.
"Beginning self-destruct."
"WHAT?!"
The Giant Fraction Blaster exploded, sending tiny bits of metal in all directions, and Minimoose was in the middle. Zim's faked look of fear turned into a triumphant smile. Minimoose had fallen for his trap. Zim had won.
"Gaz!" Dib ran up to his sister and embraced her. His affection was met with a swift shove.
"I'm fine, Dib," she said.
"Except for the unable to move your legs part." Gaz didn't respond and just crossed her arms.
"Noooooooo!" The anguished scream came from Daj who ran to where Minimoose had held his beloved blaster, now nothing more than tiny bits of scorched metal. He scooped up the bits and wept into the pile. "My blaster! We've killed so much together! It should've been me! It should've been me!"
"Silence lizard-stink!" Zim yelled.
"Drone, you said you didn't do anything to my gun!"
"I lied!"
"I'll kill you!" Daj ran at Zim, whose legs were still paralyzed, but was held back by Dib and Kor.
"As if I'd let you stay any longer on my ship with that gun without protection! I programmed that blaster to explode the moment you would target Zim!"
"When did you do that?" Dib asked.
"When I was repairing the lizard-stink's weapon at the tower. It was just fortunate circumstance that the stupid moose robot used the blaster before the lizard-stink."
So he was just making sure the blaster locked-on to him, Gaz thought. She felt slightly upset, but it meant she was wrong about him being stupid, for once.
"Where's Skoodge?" Zim looked around for his Irken servant. Kor picked up the short Irken body from the ground. "He's not dead, right?"
Kor shook the Irken in front of Zim, causing Skoodge to temporary stir with life, babbling gibberish and a "Hoo-ha" before slipping back into unconsciousness.
"Contact the cyber-monkey, we need transport." Kor tossed the Skoodge to Dib who proceeded to use the Irken's communicator.
"Hello, Tel? Tel!" Dib yelled into the communicator. The only response was static.
"The stupid cyber-monkey better not be dead."
Dib hoped Tel wasn't dead either. Dib gave the communicator a couple more yells and after a few moments, the static turned to moans and groans. "Tel! Are you okay?"
"...I will never pilot anything again..." The Heboadian replied. Before Dib could reply, Zim interrupted and yelled towards the communicator.
"Monkey! Prepare the Dibship! We're leaving."
The battle against the moose warriors was finished soon after Minimoose blew up. The giant moose that destroyed Minimoose's Mothership was the last major weapon the enemy had. It died when Tel outsmarted and impaled it, but the damage had forced the Dibship into sleep mode. The remaining moose were scattered and easily picked off by the living members of Dwicky's resistance and Crax's own giant robot.
When Tel showed up to pick up Zim and others, Dib noticed that he smelled like a well-done steak. The electrocutions had charred the Heboadian's fleshy bits and Dib even thought he could still see sparks coming from Tel's metal half. As some Heboadians remained within the ship to reboot its systems, the others scavenged the area to look for survivors.
"What's wrong with Zim?" Tel asked.
"The Tinkerer's blood was spilled all over Zim," he replied.
"The blood that saved your life," Dib added.
"Your incompetence with a blaster saved my life, Dib-worm." Dib didn't know whether to take that as thanks or an insult, or both.
"Daj, we moved Kry into the Dibship already, the others are attending to his wounds," Tel said.
"Thanks." Daj replied. The Darvon was still slightly traumatized at the lost of his G.F.B., but hearing that Kry was getting medical attention was uplifting. A few other Heboadians were aiding the rest, applying bandages to Dib and Gaz, giving Kor a new set of clothes, and rolling Skoodge and Gir back to the ship. Only Zim was unattended, he only needed someone to support his body and the Heboadians were too short. Dib volunteered to be Zim's personal crutch. The Irken was justifiably disdainful of the idea but he didn't have a choice.
"Hey, are you alright," Dib asked.
"Are you showing concern for me human?" Zim said.
"Well, you did lose your entire race and your planet's been scorched. I'd be reasonably upset."
"Upset? Foolish Dib! I've accomplished my task! I've conquered Irk! Zim wins!" The others couldn't help but think the he was being a bit delusional.
"What about your PAK?" Gaz asked, "Did you learn how to fix it?"
"...No." It was as if Zim's delusions were blown up by a reality nuke. His voice lost its enthusiasm and his face was more serious. From his shirt he pulled out a rectangular strip of metal, it was cracked and dented. He pressed the button on the side and flickers of light appeared before the device died. It was a broken holofile. "All the data on how Minimoose altered my PAK, including the fix. I pulled it from the moose-traitor's body the first time I blew him up, but the continuous fighting had left it in this state. It's irreparable."
Gaz was upset, but hid it well. "So, there's no way for you to retrieve any info?"
"No. His fix doesn't matter anyway. He destroyed the Control Brains, the beings sustaining Zim's life. Even with the fix my PAK can't receive the vital nutrients it needs remotely anyway."
"So what are you going to do?"
"The only planet that can sustain Zim now is Irk. I'm staying."
Gaz already knew that Zim would probably be staying, but she couldn't help but feel a bit dejected. "Alright."
"After I use the Dibship's resources and heal up, I'll set the coordinates to your respective planets. The Dibship's autopilot will handle the rest."
"Wow, that's a pretty nice gesture for a bunch of meat-shields," Dib said mockingly.
"Don't start with me, Dib-worm, I can just as easily set the coordinates to your Sun instead of Earth."
The Heboadians started returning to the Dibship and Tel was informed that the ship's reboot would be completed soon. Tel also received word of another survivor, he was refusing medical attention and being difficult. The others decided to check it out as it was on the way to the Dibship.
"Let me go! I have see Zim!" Zim let out a disgruntled sigh upon hearing the voice. Zim had hoped that the being was dead since he was missing for so long. "I have to-ZIM!"
It was Keef, bleeding and looked as if his face had imploded on itself, repeatedly, but his jolly demeanor and high-pitched voice were indisputable. The human ran to embrace the Irken, but tripped along the way. Zim was the only one who had saw Gaz casually stretch her leg. Keef didn't question how he fell, he was too happy over the fact that Zim had somehow survived. "I knew you were too strong to let the Employer keep control over your mind!"
"You didn't believe that when you were trying to kill Zim," Kor mentioned.
"What do you want, filthy human?" Zim asked, making sure Dib kept a reasonable distance between him and the inter-dimensional human.
"Where's the Employer?" Keef asked.
"That's still a stupid name," Gaz said to herself.
"He named himself after the most powerful being the in history of our dimension. So where is he?"
"I defeated him," Zim proclaimed, "How else would we be standing here? What a stupid question from a stupid being!"
"Great! Where is it?"
"Where's what?"
"The body."
"I blew it up! Into a million tiny pieces!"
"Then where are the pieces?"
"How should I know! There's probably a fragment up the Dib-worm's nose."
"Zim, it's very important that we find that body."
"Why, is it going to regenerate or something?" Dib asked worryingly, "Please don't tell me that he regenerates."
"It's the first rule of the I.R.K. Handbook. If there's no body, they probably lived. Also yes, the body regenerates."
"God dammit."
A loud booming noise erupted several yards away from them. A bright green light blanketed the area. Everyone ran towards the source, finding a large circular machine. The light came from the swirling energy within the metal ring.
Most of them knew what the device was, a portal between dimensions. In front of the portal was a metal being, small and wiry, its form barely humanoid.
"What the hell is that?!" Dib asked.
Zim already knew who it was, he had seen the being escape Irk, the nightmare version of Irk, when he was within its mind, also the antler-like wires were a dead giveaway. "Minimoose."
"Stand down, Employer!" Keef was the first to leap into action, but without a weapon on him or anyone else, he had little power.
The wiry Minimoose spoke, his voice more distorted than before, losing its chocolaty smoothness, "You can't stop me."
"How did you activate the portal?! You shouldn't know the code to activate it!"
"You mean this code?" From within his wires Minimoose pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. He threw the paper ball at the collection of aliens, Daj being the one to catch it. He opened it and after reading it, was confused as to why Minimoose had it and what he was talking about.
"Ew, what is this? It's just a long paragraph about stupid stuff like angst, frustrated emotions, kissing-" Before Daj could finish he was punch by Gaz, who had gotten a peek at the paper. She grabbed the page from his hands and her face turned red. "What was that for? Wait, is that paper yours?"
"No! Of course not!" Gaz said despite clutching onto the paper with a grip that would've crushed a person's skull.
"Wait, Gaz, you kissed some-" Gaz shot Dib with a death-glare and growled, immediately silencing the human before he could finish his sentence.
"Even with the page from Gaz's diary-" Keef collapsed upon uttering those words when Gaz delivered a swift kick to his nether region. He was surprised by how strong she still was despite her injuries. "E-even with the page...only Zim should have been able to decipher that code!"
"Then it's a good thing the code was one of the few things from his scrambled mind that I was able to extract," Minimoose said, "It was a miracle considering the jumbled insanity that plagued him. Now I can finally escape this awful, brain-dead dimension."
"Not if we stop you!"
"With what? I can see you have no weapons, and I still have this!" Minimoose pulled out another device, the Dimension Box.
"I thought you had the stupid box," Kor said towards Zim.
"Your blood paralyzed Zim, how am I suppose to hold onto a box when Zim can't feel!" Zim replied.
"Stop me and I'll pull the first weapon from this box and injure you with it any way I can!" Minimoose continued.
"Fine! Just go already!"
"I-wait, what?"
"Leave! Go! Must Zim list more synonyms?"
"Zim, I have to apprehend him! It's my duty!" Keef pleaded.
"Your excrement doesn't matter to Zim! Do what you want, but Zim is tired of dealing with moose and bio-organics!" A sentiment shared by the rest of Zim's crew.
"You realize that I'm planning on coming back with a bigger armada to conquer this dimension, right?" Minimoose asked, skeptical of Zim's actions.
"Zim has already defeated you several times. If you ever return, I'll just destroy you again." Zim's confidence in his tone made everyone else even believe Zim could beat Minimoose in another fight.
"...I'll look forward to the day I squish you." Minimoose turned his back to the beings and walked towards the portal. No one stopped him. Even Keef remained, though he was still suffering from the effects of Gaz's kick. Soon, their foe disappeared into the portal, leaving the dimension.
"That was easy," Dib exclaimed.
Nothing's ever easy.
The portal imploded, sending a huge shockwave that knocked back everyone. Minimoose suddenly reappeared, being shot out of the portal and screaming in pain. The machine had broken apart, but the portal remained, turning into an orb of energy.
Things calmed down for a bit and Dib was the first to speak, "Despite the unfortunate timing, this is no way my fault."
"What did you do!?" Minimoose yelled, his body twitching uncontrollably.
"How should I know!" Zim responded.
Tel's communicator suddenly lit up. When he answered an angry voice began yelling at him. "Zim, Crax really needs to talk to you."
Tel threw Zim his communicator, turning on the speaker. It landed next to Zim's face. "Crax?"
"What on Irk is going on!" The Vortian yelled through the device, "There's a huge spike in dimensional energy in your area!"
"The stupid moose entered a Dimensional Portal and it blew up!"
"Blew up, why would it-wait, Zim, where is the Dimension Box I gave you?"
"The stupid moose had it when he went into the portal."
"...Oh crap. The Employer entered an Inter-Dimensional Portal with a device that is essentially another dimension, do you realize what he's just done!"
Zim suddenly realized what Minimoose had done and then glared spitefully at the tyrant, "You stupid, stupid moose."
"What? What's happening?!" Minimoose yelled.
"The two dimensions are eternally colliding at an infinite rate, creating a vortex into a void of nothing!"
"That doesn't sound good," Dib said.
"Of course not, Dib-worm! It's essentially a black hole, but worse!"
"WHAT?!"
Crax gave them a final message before cutting the transmission. "Evacuate the planet you fools!"
Everyone ran towards the Dibship in a panic. Tel was the first to enter the Dibship and quickly ran to the cockpit to start the ship. He was followed by Keef, Daj and Kor. Only Gaz and Dib lagged behind as they were carrying Zim. Pieces of rubble and dirt began to float in the air. Soon they were sucked into the vortex, and slowly, larger objects began being taken as well. Minimoose, the lightest of the beings running, soon found himself as the first victim of the vortex.
"No, no, no!" Minimoose was floating. As Zim looked back, he couldn't help but tauntingly smile at his enemy, but Minimoose was bent on not going alone. He threw a single wire, catching Zim's leg, pulling the trio down with him, "I will not let it end like this!"
"Stubborn moose!" Zim yelled, but with a limp body, he couldn't shake Minimoose off.
"I will not die like this! I must live, even if I have to take over your insane mind again!" Minimoose began reeling himself towards Zim using the wire. Zim feared for his mind and didn't want to relive that experience, and neither did Gaz.
The female human jumped, much to the shock and fear of Dib. The vortex pulled Gaz, increasing her speed and force when she landed one foot on Minimoose's body. The force of the kick knocked him off and sent him flying into the vortex.
"NOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo-"
Minimoose disappeared for the last time. His immortal body forever trapped in an empty dimension.
Gaz tried to rebound after that kick, but she couldn't go the full distance. She was just close enough to grab Zim's legs, but by this point she was starting to get sucked in as well.
"Hold on, Gaz!" Dib yelled. He was holding onto Zim with all his might as the Irken began getting sucked towards the vortex as well.
"Don't let go, Dib-worm! For once be useful" Zim yelled. A while ago the thought of letting Zim fly into a black hole would've been a dream to Dib, but the last thing he wanted to do was let his sister fall into a pseudo-black hole. However he was feeling the suction of the vortex on him as well. He felt himself being lifted into the air and was only stopped when his legs were grabbed.
"Kor!"
"Body...hurting..." The Fefian wrapped her arms around Dib's legs, but keeping the trio from flying off was proving difficult for her. She was hooking her legs onto a sturdy pole, but the pull was strong and her body began stretching. Kor feared her body breaking from the pressure. She had to let go of the pole or else she would've ripped in half, but Daj saved them all. The Darvon grabbed Kor, and with his heavier frame, he was able to anchor the beings.
"Daj, you came back!"
"Yeah, well, my brother wouldn't stop pestering me in my dreams if I let you die," Daj said.
"I'd feel like our chances of survival would be better if we weren't anchored by a stretchy alien and a being with no limbs," Gaz said.
"Sorry, next time I'll call a rock alien to come and save you," Kor retorted.
"Just shut up and get us on the ship!" Zim yelled. Daj began moving backwards, towards the entrance of the ship. It grew harder and harder for him to move as the vortex grew more powerful.
"Zim, don't worry, I'll save you!" Keef appeared in the ship's entrance, his hand outreached in a pathetic attempt to save them when they were several feet away.
"You have to get outside the ship you idiot!"
"Right!" Before he could set one foot out the ship, he was stopped, by a monkey in a space suit. The monkey was screeching and holding back. "Sir Chuckie, what are you doing! I have to save-what? Forsake them?! It's too late?! But, but-"
The monkey pulled Keef away, only serving to waste their time.
"I really hate that monkey!" Zim proclaimed. They all agreed.
Daj still made the effort to move towards the ship. When he was close to the entrance he used one hand to try and reach for something to grab a hold on. After a bit of searching he was able to clutch a metal object that seemed stable.
"I got something!" Daj yelled.
"Hello!" The cyan and silver metal object Daj grabbed appeared in the entrance.
"I grabbed the worst thing possible!"
Despite Gir's small stature, he was the only thing anchoring them to the ship as Daj was now being lifted off the ground as well, much to the fear and panic of the crew.
"Ooo, you're all flying! I wanna fly too!"
"NO!" They all collectively yelled.
"This could not get any wors-"
"Don't say anything, Dib!" Kor yelled, cutting Dib off, "You have an unfortunate knack of dooming us even more by saying stuff like that!"
"Gir! You have to pull us into the ship!" Zim commanded.
"Okay!" The robot said enthusiastically. "Which direction is pull?"
"GIR THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR NONSENSE!"
There was another boom, and the vortex grew in size. Larger objects were getting sucked in and disappeared into the mass of energy.
"Zim, get your stupid robot to not be stupid for one second!" Gaz yelled.
Zim made one last desperate effort, "Gir! There's a secret vault of piggies in my lab! It's under the workstation! Run to it!"
"Piggies?! Yay!" At the revelation of secret piggies, Gir ran towards Zim's lab, pulling Zim and the others inside.
Once safe, Daj closed the entrance and Zim yelled, "FLY THE SHIP! FLY THE SHIP!"
With the reboots done, the Heboadians activated the ship. It rose from Irk's surface and flew into space.
Once they were safe and out of Irk's orbit, Zim ordered Tel to stay hovered around the planet. He made sure Tel prepped the thrusters just in case. A heavily bandaged Skoodge was brought to Zim and he asked Gaz to take him to a window. The rest of the crew looked on as well, stunned at what they saw.
Skoodge wore a sad expression, Dib thought he even saw a tear on the tiny Irken's face, but everyone remained silent. It was worse than Zim feared. The planet was being eaten, chunk by chunk, by an exponentially growing vortex. It only took a few minutes for the mass of the vortex to be greater than what remained of Irk.
"Tell Tel to leave," Zim's voice was calm, but most of them could tell there was a hint of sadness in his tone.
"Where are we going?" Gaz asked.
"Anywhere."
Hours went by. Tel flew away from Irk, or what was Irk, as Zim commanded. Tailed by Crax's ship, Tel flew in a straight direction without much aim or a sense of where he was going, Zim hadn't given him any coordinates. In fact, Tel hadn't heard anything from Zim since the initial command, but he understood that even Zim would want some time by himself after losing his planet. Tel wondered how long Zim would grieve.
"Curse you human! If you dare approach Zim any closer, I will melt your brain inside your own skull!"
Apparently not that long.
The door to the ship's cockpit opened, an Irken piggybacking off the back of a human girl entered the room. Both had received medical attention, bandaging their wounds and they both had cleaned themselves up. Gaz wasn't particularly happy about having to drag Zim around again, but she didn't refuse when he asked her. During the time, Zim's paralysis had worn off a bit, at least enough to use his working arm. He was putting it to good use, keeping away an annoying red-haired human.
"But Zim, I have to give you a hug before I leave!" Keef said, his monkey being his piggyback partner.
"No! Just get inside your pod and go!" During the reconstruction of the Dibship, the escape pods were placed in the same room as the cockpit as that was where they congregated the most. Zim was leading Keef to them, and if the pods weren't steerable, he would've just jettisoned Keef and his monkey into deep space.
"How are you going to get back to your own dimension anyway?" Dib entered the room after Keef, followed by Kor.
"The only portal left to my dimension is on Vort. I'm going aboard Crax's ship since he's returning to it. I just need one thing," Keef reached over and plucked one of Dib's hairs, "Your DNA! You still got a strong connection to the Nightmare Dimension and it'll strengthen the portal. You know, maybe we'll pull you in and spend Halloween together!"
"Please don't."
"Well Zim, I guess this is goodbye, for now. Oh, I promised myself I wouldn't cry."
"Just leave already!" Zim yelled. Keef waved goodbye and he and Sir Chuckie entered the pod. Once jettisoned, they steered themselves to Crax's ship. "I swear on my planet's empty remains, I'll shoot him if I ever see him again."
"Same," Gaz agreed.
"Tel, open communications with Crax!" Tel obeyed and began establishing a signal between the two insane creators. Skoodge and Daj walked in. Despite his injuries and grief over losing his planet, Skoodge kept himself busy by supervising the rest of the Heboadians and working on ship maintenance. He was determined more than ever to provide aid to his Tallest.
"Sir, I have urgent news to give you," Skoodge said.
"Did Gir find the second secret vault of pigs in my lab?"
"No, he's still working through the first vault."
"Good. Then what is it?"
"Well, the Heboadians-" Skoodge was interrupted by the video feed from Crax's ship. Deciding it was more important to talk to Crax, Zim waved off Skoodge.
"Tell me the news later, Skoodge."
"But, sir-"
"Is the ship in any danger?"
"Well, no-"
"Then later." Zim turned to Crax, who was sitting on a throne-like structure in the middle of his ship. Vortians with explosive collars worked the controls in the background and Dwicky and the Plookesians could be seen beside him.
"Hi Daj, hi Dib!" Dwicky waved along with the Plookesians. Dib and Daj waved back.
"Crax, I sent you your very own human to experiment on as you wished. There's a bonus monkey too, feel free to dissect that one." After what Keef and the monkey did to them, the other felt no remorse over Zim's actions, if they were true.
"I am grateful, Zim," Crax replied.
"Do you remember what I requested?"
"Zim, with your interference I became the king of my people and have my own giant, death robot! I will commit many Vortian lives to researching a way to sustain your and Skoodge's PAKs! However, even if I sacrifice a hundred Vortian lives, there's no guarantee I'll find a fix."
"I'm well aware."
"I'll start on the project once I give these aliens the ships to return to their planets."
"Does that mean you're returning to Earth, Dwicky?" Dib asked.
"Sorry, Dib," replied the adult human, "My place is with Spoopty and Mooshy. It's just so much fun being with them!"
"Hah, get a load of this sappy guy," Spoopty said.
"But seriously, we like ya too," Mooshy said joyfully as he ruffled the human's hair.
Dwicky began saying his goodbyes. "Make sure you and Kry stay safe, Daj. And remember, killing isn't a good coping mechanism for your grief!"
"I dunno, it's been working pretty well," Daj said.
"Maybe we'll meet again someday, Dib!"
"Sure. Later, Dwicky."
"What sentimental beings," Crax said. He made to write a note about that characteristic for future tests. "Make sure you send me a transmission from wherever you end up, Zim, I do enjoy hearing about your exploits."
With that, Crax cut the transmission.
"And there goes Dib's only human friend in the universe," Kor said jokingly. Dib, of course, took offense.
"Hey!"
"Don't act like it's not true, Dib," Gaz retorted.
"Sir, I still need to talk to you!" Skoodge shouted.
"What is it?" Zim answered.
"The Heboadians captured a prisoner when they scavenged the tower."
"What does Zim care for some moosey warrior the metal-monkeys found."
"It's not a moose. It's a she."
Zim immediately ordered the prisoner to be brought to him. He decried Skoodge for not telling him sooner, and Skoodge only blamed himself. Two Heboadians entered the room, dragging two prisoners. They were flanked by Daj, just to be safe. Two beings were tossed at the feet of Zim, who was using Gaz as support, he had felt piggybacking on the human made him look less dignified for this situation. Only one of the prisoners was tied up, a small robot that was unable to move its limbs, its owner, had no arms to tie down, but that didn't stop her from mocking her enemies.
"Well, it looks like someone got in contact by that accursed Fefian's blood as well," she said.
"Really, Tak? Should you be saying that when you lost both your arms?" Zim said.
"I should've taken her legs too, maybe she would've bled out," Gaz added.
"You should have, but your weak human emotions and petty feelings stopped you," Tak said.
"Please, I was just hoping you'd suffer, but I can easily kill you now if you want."
"Then do it."
"Dib, get me a spoon."
"Wait, Gaz. Despite my curiosity as to what you plan to do with the spoon, I don't want Tak dead," Zim said, surprising everyone in the room.
"What, did you develop weak, human feelings too, Zim?" Zim was really tempted to kill Tak for saying that, and he probably would have if he wasn't paralyzed.
"I'm going to make you suffer, Tak, but first, Gaz! Place my boot on her face!"
"Place your own boot," Gaz objected.
"Aw, are you two having one of your lovers-" Gaz immediate stuffed Tak's face with Zim's boot. As he ordered, she proceeded to sway his foot across Tak's face.
"How does it feel Tak! I'm rubbing my victory in your face! Hahahahaha!" Zim taunted. As they others looked on, they could just feel any shred of dignity Tak had left leave her body.
"Well, I was going to ask if I could get a good punch in too, but now I think that it would be too cruel," Kor said.
Zim finished his taunting and asked Gaz to back him away. "Well, I've had my fun. Time to jettison you into space!"
"I swear on Irk, I will kill you, Zim!" Tak swore.
"You can't swear on something that doesn't exist."
"What are we going to do with the robot, Sir?" Skoodge asked, referring to Mimi. Zim thought for a second and before having a brilliant idea.
"Gir! Come to the cockpit!" After a few seconds, Zim's own robot companion bounced into the room on a giant inflatable pig, wearing a hat made of rubber pigs.
"Hi master!" Gir was extra joyful in his tone, making use of every moment with his toy pigs. Zim popped open Mimi's head, removing a random handful of wires and circuits. Then he grabbed one of Gir's pigs and stuffed it inside. He closed the lid and Mimi's systems shut down before rebooting themselves. After a few seconds, Mimi began sounding incomprehensible snorts and oinks, much to the annoyance of Tak.
"I hate you, Zim."
"Yes, I know, you've told me that over a thousand times over the years," Zim then turned to Kor, prepping for Tak's punishment, "Tinkerer, did you remove the steering from the pod like I asked?"
"Yep," Kor held a steering wheel within her hands with loose wires.
"Throw her in!" As Zim commanded, Dib and Daj threw Tak into the sabotaged pod. Skoodge did the same with Mimi. Tak sat herself up in the pod, but Zim and Gaz blocked the exit, keeping her in. "As your Almighty Tallest, you are exiled! I believe you are familiar with the planet Dirt? I hope you enjoy eternal janitorial duties with no arms! But don't worry, I'm giving you some more company during your trip."
"Tak, my love!" The voice was Tak's worse nightmare. "I've copied myself into your escape pod, now a I will always be with you and at the same time, never with you! It's so deep and tragic! Imagine all the haiku I can recite just from that very concept alone, of course you'll hear them all!"
"Zim, you can't do this! Zim!" Tak's bravado from earlier was absent and desperation was setting in. "Zim, Zim please! You can't leave me like this!"
"Have fun," Zim closed the hatch and began laughing maniacally, "HahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"ZIM! I'LL KILL YOU! I WILL MANGLE YOUR BODY! I'LL RIP IT INTO A MILLION PIECES!"
The pod jettisoned, its coordinates set to the planet Dirt. With all their enemies gone and dealt with, everyone was in a joyful mood.
"Eh, I would've just killed her," Gaz said, "But a life-long sentence with a more obnoxious version of Dib is very close second."
"So I guess, we should start to go home," Dib said, "So uh, how many days of school do you think we missed."
"Who knows, it's impossible to keep track of Earth time out here."
"We might as well quit school at this point and go on another space adventure."
"I'm opting me and my people out of another adventure that potentially them in the middle of an inter-dimensional war. I have more important things to work on, like rebuilding whatever remains of our civilization on Heboad," Tel said. "Not to mention the blood stains all over the old ruins that we have to clean."
"Aren't your people like addicted to the Dibship A.I.?" Kor asked. "How are you gonna get them to live without it?"
"They had a hard time living with it! Stupid emo haiku. Zim already promised me the majority of the Dibship to help in the reconstruction process. Hopefully they'll just worship the parts as sacred relics. Zim also gave me these brain-distracting discs to show them and ease the transition."
"Is that my DVD collection?" Dib asked when Tel showed off the stack of discs.
"We all have to make sacrifices, Dib-worm," Zim said.
"They're collectibles!"
"That you don't even like," Gaz said. "Everytime you'd watch one of those movies you'd always complain about the bad special effects or how stupid the movie was for not knowing that Yetis eat tube socks or something."
"First off, it's pantyhose, Gaz, not tube socks. And Yetis don't eat them, they just like feeling the texture of the thin fabric." Dib looked back at the stack and knew that Gaz was right. He probably wouldn't watch them ever again, but he still wouldn't be happy with just giving them away. "You can keep the DVDs Tel, but you, Zim, owe me."
"Zim will never be indebted to you!" Zim shouted.
"If the drones owes anyone, it's me," Daj said, "He needs to pay up for a new gun!"
"I'd sooner feed you to your own Lizard than pay you!"
"Fine, then give me a ride to Fuelia Portia. They, should have some new G.F.B. models arriving shortly. It comes with a set of exploding knives! I could get so much mercenary work done with those!"
"Way to honor your dead brother's legacy," Kor said.
"Hey, I'm only going to kill people that are really, really bad, or generally bad, or if it pays a lot, or if I don't like them. At least I'll be doing something exciting for the rest of my life, Kor."
"After being stabbed, maimed, blown up, and almost trapped in a dimension of nothing twice, I'd rather live a more stable life," Kor said. "Mind if I crash on your planet, Dib?"
"Really?" Dib said, "I mean, Earth kind of sucks."
"Cause Fefa was so great, right?"
"You have a point."
"Besides, I can be your first friend actually on Earth."
"Great, now Dib can bother you to go his dumb monster expeditions instead of me," Gaz said.
"More like the Dib-worm would attempt to get you dissected by Earth scientists," Zim added.
"I can understand why he'd want to do that to you, but he's not that big of a jerk to do that to every alien he meets, right Dib?" Kor looked at Dib, who was actually pondering his options. "Dib!"
Dib let out a sigh and concluded that reporting Kor wouldn't be worth it, "I've got a lifetime ban from the Swollen Eye Network anyway. So, what about you, Zim."
"What?" Zim said.
"What are you going to do, you can't really stay on Irk anymore, and your civilization is kind of gone."
"Foolish Dib, Irk may be gone but the Irken race lives on through me and Skoodge! I'll just have to rebuild a new homeworld."
"Where?"
"On Earth!"
"What?!"
"I already have a base of operations there, and I was going to conquer it in a few more days anyway if it wasn't for the Tallests' transmission."
"You've been saying that for years already!"
"Yes, but now Skoodge, a second Irken, will be part of my master plans! And with our might and Gir's, we'll enslave the entire human populace and create a new Irken empire!"
"What a wonderful mission, sir! I am proud to be a part of it!" Skoodge saluted his leader.
"Yay! More Doom!" Gir said in excitement.
"And I'll make sure to stop you," Dib said.
"More like you'll both stupidly fail over and over," Gaz said, "Just like it's always been."
Zim already ignored the negative comments from Dib and Gaz. He was too busy formulating new plans for his new, ambitious objective. "Onward, to the new Irken Empire! Hahahahahahahaha!"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi. Welcome to the penultimate chapter of this fanfic. I just wanted to tell everyone that there will be an epilogue chapter released soon. If you've read this far, thank you for viewing my writing and I hope it was an enjoyable story for the most part.