Episode 3-Switched
Episode Summary- - When a freak accident with Gir causes Joseph and Scamooch to switch bodies will the Renegades gain a possible ally or will the Cadet's big mouth bring forth their own destruction?
Disclaimers: I Do Not Own Invader Zim
Story Note: This Season is the sequel to Invader Zim Renegades: S01Ep01- Invader Zim Renegades: S01Ep 20. So if you have not already read them please do so before continuing. As you know Every Episode of season 1 were individual stories that were divided into three parts. However season 2 will be combined into one story instead of individual stories for each episode. So please let me know how you feel about the new format, before I get too dedicated to it.
Author's Notes: Alright everyone now that the holidays are over we are back! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break! Thank you for reading and please review.
Yours Truly, RoxieDivine :)
Episode 3-Switched (Part 1)
(Back with Zim…)
This had to be a nightmare…
There was just no way that he was stuck in Scamooch's body, but no matter how many times Zim tried he could not wake up; and boy did he wish he could!
Why?
Because Cadet Scamooch's life sucked, and in the worse ways possible!
How?
Well for starters Scamooch was the shortest in his class, not only that but a lot of his peers still hated on him for treating them like dirt when he pretended to be an Amon. It was weird, Zim always thought that Scamooch had a lot of friends, but now he realized they weren't friends at all. They simply didn't bully Scamooch at school because the little worm had all the teachers wrapped around his little finger.
Scamooch ruled the school, but here within the walls of the Dormitory on Zec Scamooch was a punching bag. No wonder the guy acted so high and mighty at school, it was the only place where he actually mattered.
Zim shook his head, he could actually feel himself feeling sorry for the child. All this time Zim thought the Smeet was nothing but a spoiled rotten brat. Sure they talked at lunch, and sure they seemed to have become close friends, well as close as a human and Irken could be, but he always thought the cadets had it better then him.
However he supposed he had forgotten. And what had he forgotten you might ask?
He had forgotten how hard it was to be an Irken, a real Irken; stuck under the thumb of the Irken Machine. As Joseph he was free, sure he was hiding, but he was still free to be whoever he wanted to be. The cadets, the soldiers, the drones, the scientist; they all had to be what Irk wanted them to be. They were not free, they were prisoners of their own thirst for conquest, no correction the Tallest's thirst for Conquest!
"Move it Shorty!" a cadet pushed pass him as they moved to board the bus, Zim turned a deaf ear, and allowed himself to be knocked over. He didn't really care what they thought of him, his only goal was to get to school and find himself.
Yes, that was the key. If he was stuck in Scamooch's body then the Cadet must be stuck in his. And if Scamooch ever found out which body he was actually stuck in then that could spell disaster for everyone in the resistance.
He took a deep breath and got to his feet. 'Just find you, and Dib and figure out how this happened.' He advised himself as he boarded the bus. 'How did this happen?' he wondered.
He thought real hard, he remembered some of yesterday, Scamooch had a bad day, a fellow cadet called him a human lover, and Zim had tried to get him out of his rut. It didn't work, and Zim ended up going home, he did some homework, went to work, came home, ate dinner, and went to bed. And that's all he remembered, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember anything else.
He focused harder, there must have been something, anything! However no matter how hard he tried he could think of nothing to shed some light on how this came to be. He could only imagine what Scamooch must be feeling. As an Amon his emotions would be hard to control, he could be in shock right now. Zim hoped so, then at least it would mean the child would go into autopilot and cause little to no trouble. Now if he wasn't that could be bad, especially if the Smeet got angry!
'Just find him and Dib, and get this fixed before something bad happens!' he told himself. 'How hard can it be?'
It shouldn't be hard at all, but of course knowing Zim's luck he'd have better chances wining a fight with a Ham monster.
Yes, he didn't know it yet, but today was going to be a very difficult day indeed.
(Back with Scamooch…)
Weird was not even a close enough word to describe what he was going through.
Scamooch tried his best not to look down at his pasty white human body as he changed into some of the gym clothes Josh was gracious enough to let him barrow. If you could call it being gracious, the clothes smelled like death, and human sweat.
'Strange.' He thought as he pulled on the shoes. 'I'm in his body, but my Senses are still as advanced as an Irken.' He realized. 'I can tell these clothes have not been washed in at least five weeks. I can even smell what it's been in contact with.'
It was true he could smell dirt, grass, pizza, and a rotten odor of fish.
'Oh this is disgusting!' Scamooch thought. 'Don't humans wash their garments?! And why are my senses so sharp? Joseph's senses should be dull like all humans, in less the humans are lying to us about having dull senses.' He thought to himself. 'And how did I end up in this body in the first place?'
Yes, that was the question; how indeed. He thought hard, what happened yesterday? Let's see he got in a fight, Raki called him a human lover, and Joseph had come to comfort him, than he left. 'And I followed him home.' Scamooch remembered. 'But why?'
He thought for a moment, and then his eyes widened as it dawned on him. Raki had said that Gaz was strictly there to try to find the Rebel leaders, and that she was hanging out with the Campbell twins because she thought they were either Dib or Zim.
'That's right I followed him to find out if he was Zim!' he realized. 'And now that I'm in his body I can find out. Hey maybe that's why my senses are the same.' He thought. 'And how I know I'm wearing a PAK. Maybe I am Zim!'
But how to prove it? After all if he was Zim he looked pretty human to him.
'He must be wearing some kind of device that makes him appear human.' He thought the obvious and began to look himself over, but all he saw was some beat up looking watch on his wrist. 'This can't be it.' He thought. 'It looks too primitive.' Of course this thought did not stop him from pulling off the watch.
The transformation was instant and Scamooch couldn't help but scream at the sight of himself; only it wasn't him it was Zim! The very tall, the very dangerous Irken traitor that every Irken Soldier was looking for.
His first thought was to turn himself in, which was pretty stupid. After all he was not Zim, he was just stuck in his body! Of course no soldier would believe that! Not to mention Scamooch would never get to ask Zim his questions.
'So this whole time you were an Irken?' He thought. 'No wonder you were so talented, and easy to admire.'
"Joey?" a voice asked from behind him.
Scamooch turned to see Josh who he could only assume was really Dib.
The boy confirms this suspicion as he slams the bathroom door shut and locks it. "Zim are you crazy!" He whispers lowly. "Put your disguise back on!"
Scamooch thumbles with the watch, he can't have Dib find out the truth, not when he had no idea how this all happened. He managed to get the device back on, but nothing happens. 'Why won't it turn on?' he wonders.
"Zim?" Josh whispered obviously noticing his clueless look.
Their eyes met, and something seems to register in the boy's eyes, because his confused look of concern becomes stern.
Scamooch bit his lip it was obvious that he had to come clean. After all he needed to get back in his own body before he got caught by the Irken police. "Look don't freak out but-"
"You're not Zim are you?" Josh asked.
Scamooch shook his head. "No I'm not."
"Scamooch?" The boy asked almost fearfully.
"Yes…?" Scamooch answered meekly, despite himself.
"Well this is perfect." The boy said throwing his hands up in the air. "Leave it to Gir to ruin everything."
"Gir?" Scamooch asked. The name sounded familiar, and suddenly it all came back to him. "The Sir Unit." He said out loud. "He shot us with that gun of his and it switched our minds."
"Yeah it did!" Josh exclaimed. "And now we're toast!"
"Hey keep it down!" Scamooch hissed. "I don't want to get caught any more than you do!"
"Oh yeah." The kid said as if he just realized. "If you tell they'll imprison you not Zim."
"So what do we do Hu Dib?" Scamooch asked with a huge smirk.
Dib visibly growled. What were they going to do!? Someone could need to use the restroom at any moment, and if a guard checked the door and noticed it was locked they'd have to explain themselves. Not only that but he had to find Zim, the real Zim which he could safely guess was stuck in Scamooch's body going completely crazy right now.
Not to mention he had to call Elma and tell her to fix the weapon ASAP, he decided to do that first. "Look just keep your disguise on okay." He said turning a nob on the watch.
"Alright I'll do that." He assured the boy, but his tone was more smirky then reassuring.
"No jokes Scamooch this is serious!" Dib reminded him. "If you get caught they will kill you first and ask questions later." He reminded him of the obvious.
Scamooch's smile faded, because he realized that the kid was right, he needed them to stay unnoticed, at least until Zim answered some questions. "Fine what do we do?"
Dib dialed a number on his watch, and soon a voice answered.
"Hello?" Elma asked.
"Elma its Dib." He whispered. "We have a problem, a really big problem."
"Please don't tell me the Ray worked after all." Elma said almost fearfully.
"Oh it worked alright." Dib snapped. "Say hi Scamooch."
"Hi!" Scamooch exclaimed to the voice.
"How did this happen!" Elma exclaimed. "They were fine right after the blast."
"Maybe Gir damaged it while he was messing with it, delayed the results somehow." Dib suggested. "The question is can you fix it!"
"Uh Yeah but it could take a while Dib." Elma stressed.
"A while?" Scamooch screeched.
"How long exactly?" Dib asked hopefully.
"Well the gun needs repairs but there's a problem we made it using parts from the weapons we took from the Science Camp." Elma explained. "And we used up all that we have. I could make a new one off of a new design out of the remaining parts but that could take anywhere from three days to a week-"
"A Week!" Scamooch exclaimed. "I can't be this way for a week!"
"Elma we need them switched back now!" Dib stressed as he unlocked the bathroom door and peaked outside. The coast was clear, he breathed a sigh of relief before turning back to Scamooch.
"Well it's not happening now, and it might not happen in a week if we don't have enough parts." Elma told him.
"So we could be stuck like this forever!" Scamooch was having a panic attack now. He couldn't be Zim! Zim was the enemy, which meant that if he got caught as Zim he would be dead!
The bathroom door opens to a very angry Scamooch, only it's not Scamooch, but Zim trapped in Scamooch's body.
Dib and the real Scamooch watched as Zim slowly locked the bathroom door and took a big breath before shouting.
"Okay someone better tell me what the Irk is going on!"
"It's a long story." Dib admitted looking down at Zim. "And getting longer by the second."
Zim stopped. "Why don't I like the sound of that?" he asked.
"Because we're stuck like this!" Scamooch yelled. "All because you're dumb robot shot us with that stupid gun."
And just like that, Zim remembered everything. "Oh that no good robot!" he hissed.
"Yeah well nothing would have happened if Scamooch hadn't been there!" Dib pointed out. "Why were you there?" he demanded. "Hu? HU?"
However Zim took a more cautious approach, and for good reason. Scamooch's human eyes were glowing red! "Scamooch I need you to breathe." He advised. Doing his best to appear none threatening. "Just breathe and take a step back."
Scamooch wants to scream, he wants to tear into their flesh and make them pay for doing this to him. After all if they would just turn themselves in and not cause a war none of this would have happened. But a voice of reason in the back of his mind reminds him that he is in an Amon's body, and going berserk right here and now was not the best of ideas. "Okay…" he said and did as he was told.
Dib watched as Scamooch took a deep breath and stepped back. He did this several times until his eyes returned to normal.
"Good." Zim said. "Now it doesn't matter how or why." He said calmly. "What matters is we keep up this charade until Elma and Goalit can fix this."
"That could be weeks Zim." Dib told him.
Zim nodded. "I figured as much."
"Will we be delaying our plans?" Elma asked.
"No move forward." Zim advised. "As for you I want you to fix the broken ray gun it will take less time. Salvage parts from the dome if you have to just get it done."
"I will try." Elma answered. "But I can't make any promises."
"Okay, in the mean time we will go about our day." Zim said to Scamooch. "You will be me and I will be you."
"And when this is over?" Scamooch asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Goalit's voice said from Dib's communicator. "Just try to go about your day like nothing happened and meet us at the tunnel after school, hopefully we'll have it done by then."
The three gave each other a knowing look, School was a good 7 hours long, and somehow they had to get through it.
"We're in this together." Zim assured Scamooch. "Just breathe and stay out of trouble." He advised him. "And we'll make it through this just fine."
Scamooch nodded, despite his fears, after all these two did this everyday so surely they would know when to panic. "Yeah how hard could being human for one day be?" he asked.
"In this world?" Dib asked. "Very, very hard!" he assured him.
Zim suddenly smiled. "You know I think this will be good for you." He admitted.
"Good for me!" Scamooch exclaimed.
"Yes now you get to see the world through their eyes." Zim told him.
"Why do you care?!" Scamooch exclaimed. He knew he should wait to ask this when their alone, but he can't help it anymore. Zim had betrayed everyone, and everything he was supposed to be standing for. "You use to be so loyal, so determined. What did they do to you?"
"Who?" Zim asked. "The Tallest or the Humans?" he asked. "I ask because they both did something, and what they did was open my eyes."
"To what?" Scamooch challenged.
"The truth." Zim admitted. "You'll see what I'm talking about, by the end of the day your eyes will be opened too."
"You won't convert me!" Scamooch vowed.
Zim laughed despite himself, the Smeet really did remind him of his younger self. So trusting, so naïve; but he would come to see the truth, just as he did. "Do me a favor Scamooch." He said. "When you see the Tallest again ask them why I was sentenced to death."
"Why?" Scamooch asked.
"Because when they answer you than you will see why I no longer stand by them." Zim answered as the school bell rang around them. "Now we need to head to class before we're late."
Scamooch nodded, his head was spinning far too much for him to press further. What did he mean ask the Tallest? He didn't need to ask, everyone knew what happened. In less of course the Tallest had lied.
'It wouldn't be the first time they had lied to save their own skins.' He realized. After all his whole status as an Amon had been a lie, the Tallest used him to cover up the fact that there was no more worthy Smeets until they had come up with a solution of their own.
And if they lied about that what else had they been lying about?
What else were they keeping from them?
Scamooch didn't know the answer to these questions, but one way or the other he was going to find out. "Let's get this over with." He finally agreed.
Dib and Zim shared a look, this was it. The next few hours could either make them or break them. And even if they managed to get switched back without incident there was still the fact that the cadet now knew too much, and to make matters worse the short term memory side effect didn't seem to have the lasting effect they had hopped.
But perhaps this was a good thing, perhaps Zim was right maybe this experience would be good for Scamooch. Maybe it would help him see the truth.
Dib sure hoped so, otherwise they were screwed!
Episode 3-Switched (Part 1) END!
Author's Notes: Thank you for reading and please review.
The next Chapter will be up soon.
Yours truly RoxieDivine ;)