Episode 3-Switched (Part 3)
(Back with Scamooch…)
He never knew how bad it was,
Okay that was lie, he always knew how bad it was, but feeling how bad it was…that was different.
Scamooch hissed under his breath as another one of his Irken Peers kicked him in the shin of his left leg. He knew the humans got bullied a lot, but somehow he thought Joseph was exempt from this. When in fact it was the complete opposite. Scamooch had spent so much time obsessing over the kid that it had given him an even worse rap with his fellow Irken peers then most of the human students.
And that was only half of the equation…
Joseph or Zim had been labeled as the perfect child since day one, and every cadet made it their mission to try to ruin that image. They would trip him, call him names, kick him, insult him, anything to make him lash out and seem not so perfect.
And this was a burden that Zim had bared all on his own, he didn't tell anyone about it, not even Dib knew that every day of his life as a human was torture.
However, while Scamooch was foreign to this Zim's PAK was not. It was use the on slaughter, so much so that his Amon side didn't even flare up. His eyes did not turn red, he did not turn into a monstrous beast bent on destruction. Instead he took it in stride, like this was normal.
And that's because it was…
This was the norm for Zim, all his life he had been someone else's punching bag. When he was an Amon his tormentor had been Koi, and when he stepped down as a Shrew his tormentors had been his instructors, and fellow peers, all his life Zim was lower than dirt.
And yet he remained loyal.
It confused Scamooch, he had thought that being inside Zim's body, and attached to Zim's PAK would help shed some light on why he turned their back on them. However, while his PAK showed many reasons to do so, Zim was always loyal. He had every reason not to be, and yet he never strayed, even now everything Zim did was for Irk.
He was fighting the Tallest in hopes of over throwing them, to free Irk of their oppression. And even though Zim did not think himself worth to replace them he understood his responsibilities. He was the last true Amon, the ones the Tallest were cloning now were of their own DNA not the Ancients.
Of course Scamooch had been furious when he discovered this, when the Tallest had announced that they had received a new DNA sample from the Ancients he was thrilled, everyone was, they all thought this meant they were back in their ancestors good graces.
But that a lie, just like the worthy ones dying of an illness was a lie!
They killed them….the Tallest, Scamooch saw the memory where Tak had revealed to them this truth, saw the evidence tape that Tak had downloaded and revealed to Goalit. He felt the rage that surged with in Zim's soul when he learned the truth.
All this time they were the real monsters.
'No that can't be true.' Scamooch thought. 'Zim's PAK must be twisting the truth, trying to make me more compatible with it. Yes, that must be it.' But even as he though it he knew it was a lie.
The Tallest had always lied, always broke the rules to fit their own hungry desire for power, and they had proved this when they recloned Koi!
If he was being honest then he would admit that said memory had made Scamooch lose his breakfast. Seeing the berserk Koi as he rampaged across town, destroying the school in his fight with Zim. And when he failed all the Tallest did was cover it up.
He knew this because they all had come to school the next day and everything was fine, even though Zim's memories confirmed damage done to several lockers and doors.
The Tallest didn't care that they unleashed a monster on the town below them, or that an unsuspecting Irken might get killed.
All they cared about was eliminating the problem.
ZIM!
Only now Scamooch wasn't so sure he was the problem.
"When you see the Tallest again ask them why I was sentenced to death."
Those had been Zim's words to him this morning, and the more memories he saw, the more that question irked him. Zim had been so loyal, and yet according to Zim's memories this was not the first time the Tallest had tried but failed to get rid of him.
He was sent to Foodcourtia, banished by the Tallest, his mission to Earth had been a fake mission, a banishment in disguise until it suddenly became valuable.
"What did they do to you?"
"Who? The Tallest or the Humans? I ask because they both did something, and what they did was open my eyes."
Scamooch shook his head it just didn't make since, why? Why would the Tallest do this to him? He tried searching Zim's memories for answers and then it hits him. He notices something that Zim was oblivious to.
When they were cadets, Zim had thought the three of them were great friends, He admired Red and Purple for saving his life, and it blinded him. However, Scamooch noted every fake smile, every snicker that Zim had over looked.
And that's when the truth dawned on him.
They never liked Zim, they tolerated him; thinking he'd die because he was small, but he never did. Zim surprised them all by not only surviving, but by being chosen by the most respected member of the Top twelve.
General Kazar saw greatness in him, why else would he have chosen him? He pushed Zim harder than he pushed Koi, and for good reason. Zim's size would always make things harder for him. His short statue made everyone forget he was an Amon, so much so that when he step down no one noticed that he wasn't a Shrew.
No one noticed that they were beating down one of the most potential leaders they could ever hope to have.
And that's exactly what they were doing, Zim was fighting the Tallest, true, but he still did not see himself as a better replacement. He saw himself as what he was, a defective; there for he was unfit for the job. And even knowing this he stood his ground.
Why?
Because he knew the Tallest were no good either, in fact they were worse than he was, and as an Amon it was his duty to remove them from their position of power. Everyone saw him as a traitor, but in reality Zim never lost sight of what really mattered to him.
Even the love of his life didn't hold a candle to his people, for Scamooch had seen that it was pretty much over between them now. Even though Zim was sure her betrayal was not her own choice, he knew it had served a purpose for him.
It cause him to refocus his mind on his people, Gaz did not want to be saved, so Zim did not bother to save her. Even though every fiber of his being wanted to storm into Zec and take her, he did not; she had made that choice for him.
A difficult choice? Perhaps though Scamooch doubted it, Zim after all had been ready to die the day the Armada came to Earth. He was ready to give up, believing that maybe there was something wrong with him after all.
The only thing that stopped him was Gaz's capture, but only because she hadn't wanted to be captured at the time. But now her views had changed, she wanted them to surrender, she wanted her old life back and Zim did not, no could not blame her.
This had been his fault, all of it, and he was just trying to set the record straight, but the Tallest stood in his way.
'No our way.' He thought. Yes, it was clear to him now that the Tallest were out of control, as if recloning Koi had not made that obvious.
Scamooch cracked his knuckles as the second bell for lunch rang out, he was already late, but wasn't in any real hurry? What was the point? After all he was a human, or pretending to be one which meant he would not be first in line today. Besides his stomach was still churning from the realization that had just hit him. So instead he headed towards the monkey bars where he knew Zim would be waiting.
Zim couldn't help but flinch as Scamooch came into view, the cadet disguised as Joseph walked straight towards him, a look of despair written on his face.
"Everything I know is a lie." He whispered.
Zim shook his head, he remembered when he had come to this realization, and how he felt when he realized the Tallest had never truly cared about him, never believed in him. "I wish it wasn't." he admitted. "I can't tell how much I wish I was wrong."
"You don't need to." Scamooch assured him as he joined him on top of the monkey bars. "I already know."
"You seem to be taking it well." Zim noticed. "I was fearful you would go berserk."
"I can't feel it anymore." Scamooch admitted. "At first in the restroom I felt it, but now not so much."
Zim nodded. "I was afraid of that." He admitted.
"What do you mean?" Scamooch asked. "What's wrong?"
"I didn't want to say anything around Dib, the humans are really depending on me over throwing the Tallest, but now there is no denying it."
"Denying what?" Scamooch asked.
"Scamooch you're not an Amon, your physical brain is not compatible with that change, so in order to spare you, or more importantly me, that part of me has gone dormant which means."
Scamooch's eyes widen. "I'm deleting your Amon status." He realized. "I'm making you normal! I'm undoing the change!" he was panicking now and for good reason. "If we don't switch back soon you'll have to go through this all over again, or worse it may never happen. You could end up like the rest of the top twelve."
Zim nodded. "A Taller, something caught in between an Amon and Shew." He said simply as if it didn't matter.
Scamooch was having none of it. "How can you be so calm?" he snapped. "Your best card to defeating them is going out the window as we speak and you're fine with that!"
"Do you think I want to kill them?" Zim asked. "Do you think I will enjoy ending their lives, because I won't." he hissed.
"They deserve it!" Scamooch growled.
"No one deserves to die." Zim corrected him. "Everyone deserves a chance."
"Yeah one." Scamooch argued "Not five thousand!"
"The humans have given me five thousand." Zim countered. "Think of all the times I have stabbed them in the back. I brought the Tallest here, yet they still give me a chance to make it right."
"Not everyone can be saved." Scamooch countered. "What do you think you can just talk them down, convince them to give up their position as Tallest? Because if you do you're a bigger fool than I thought!"
Zim sighed. "I wouldn't expect you to understand." He snapped. "What could a child understand about such a stressful decision?"
"I know enough." Scamooch hissed. "You could end this war right now, but you won't. You actually think they'll come to their senses."
"No." Zim admitted. "I know they won't, but…"
"You know they never liked you, you know they never cared, so why do you!" Scamooch yelled.
"Because that's what makes me different from them." Zim reasoned. "I care, and so should you."
"What are you tell me?" Scamooch snapped? "It's just like yesterday, you tell me to be an Irken, to be proud. How can I be proud of this? Stop speaking in riddles and tell it to me straight, what you want from me!"
"Want?" Zim shook his head. "I never wanted anything except to show you the truth. I tried to get you to think like an Irken yesterday because I realized I had ostracize you from your peers. I had forced my ideals upon you without giving your wellbeing much thought." Zim admitted. "In short I had become the Tallest, sure my ideas are more fair then theirs, but forcing you makes me no better than them. I wanted you to make this choice for yourself."
"Fine." Scamooch said. "I will give them one chance one! I will ask them why they sentenced you to death, and if I don't like the answer than you will be the first to know!"
Zim nodded, he knew it was not fair to force the subject, Scamooch had to make his own choices, and this was one of them. "I understand."
"So now what?" the two Irkens looked below them to see Josh standing there with the other leaders of the Renegades.
"We can't keep this from them." Rachel said, looking towards the large oak tree where the rest of the Renegades gathered, looking in their direction.
"No you're right." Zim admitted. "But for now I think it best to wait until this matter is ironed out."
Mark nodded his agreement. "We can't afford to lose focus, not now when we are so close."
Of course Scamooch knew what they were close to, apparently a group of defectives had escaped Irk and was here on Earth, they had attacked the Water tower not the Renegades, but they planned to attack the second tower in hopes of sending a clear message to them.
But whether or not they could be trusted still lurked in the air.
Zim suddenly smiled. "Scamooch I think I just found the perfect use our current predicament."
"What do you mean?" Dib cut in before Scamooch could breathe a word. "And why do I feel like I have a bad feeling about this idea."
"Think about it." Zim reasoned. "We don't really know if these defectives are really defectives. After all the Tallest lied about Scamooch being an Amon for years, having a bunch of Irkens pretend to be defective rebels in order to lure the enemy out of hiding isn't a far stretch."
"Joey if you're thinking what I think you are then there isn't enough time!" James cut in.
Zim knew he was right.
His predicament was getting worse by the moment,
At first it started out small, something in the back of his mind that could be avoided. But as the day progressed Zim could feel it.
The change was starting.
Scamooch's PAK was already trying to reprogram his physical brain in hopes of becoming compatible. Luckily for him at the moment it was small things that were changing, for example he had long ago become use to the filthy life style of this planet. However, in an instant he suddenly became self-cautious of germs, a fear he had gotten over a long time ago.
Also he caught himself more times than he liked admiring his Irken instructors, and thinking horrible things about his human peers. Yes, small things like this were already taking shape, and needless to say Zim was struggling to keep a hold of his own personality.
Scamooch wasn't fairing much better, Zim's Pak was finding very little in common with his physical mind. Scamooch had no human love, no human enemy, and his loyalty for the Tallest was questioning, but still strong enough to override his doubts. Meaning if Zim's PAK stayed on Scamooch much longer than the new Zim would be the same as the old Zim.
A mindless tool of the Irken Machine.
And yet Zim wanted to jeopardize this, he wanted to chance everything just to find out if the Irken rebels could be trusted.
"We'll take our chances." Rachel decided. "We can afford to fall for a trap, but we cannot afford to lose you."
Scamooch couldn't help but agree with the human girl. He gave Zim a knowing look. He was becoming less of an Amon by the second and Zim wanted to go on a suicide mission now of all times!
"Don't worry." Zim said, mostly to Scamooch. "I'll be back by the time school lets out."
"You can't be serious!" Scamooch snapped.
"Yeah besides what is it you plan to do?" Dib dared to ask. "Hack into the computer mainframe and see if the Irken rebels are real?"
"Of course not." Zim said. "The Tallest would not want the main populist to know about them." He reasoned. "Even if it was a ruse, it would cause the massive to question them."
"So if the Tallest erased them from history, or failed to add them then how will you know if they are real are not?" Scamooch challenged.
Zim just smiled and said. "Tell me Scamooch how are your relations with your old mentor."
Scamooch's eyes widened. "General Kazar? That's your answer?"
"Zim that guy will kill you the moment he realizes who you are!" Dib whispered harshly.
Zim shook his head. "No something tells me he's no longer backing the Tallest, after all if he was he'd have insisted on bringing me in himself."
"And if you're wrong?" Mark challenged.
"We'll there is only one way to find out." Zim countered.
"This is unbelievable." Scamooch snapped. "Is this how you make all of your decisions? Just throw caution to the wind and hope it all turns out ok? Because if so I fear for the future of our people!"
Zim shook his head. "Sometimes you just have to cease and opportunity, think about it this could be our one chance to make a very powerful ally. One of the Top twelve on our side, we could slip into Zec unnoticed. The Tallest would never see us coming."
"And this Kazar is going to side with us because?" Rachel asked.
"Because he hates losing." Scamooch answered. "Because he'll do anything to continue holding the position as top general of the Armada."
"And the moment he thinks you won't provide that is the moment he sells us out!" Rachel argued.
"Then I guess we'll just have to make sure we don't disappoint him." Zim mused.
"We're not changing your mind are we?" Mark asked as if it wasn't obvious.
"Trust me this will work." Zim tried to assured them as he got up to make his leave.
"For your sake it better." Dib snapped. "Otherwise you're delivering yourself to the enemy."
"He is right." Scamooch agreed with a smile. "You'll need to take someone with you, just in case things go wrong."
"Okay now you're both smiling." Mark said. "Why does that make this feel worse?"
Zim suddenly frowned. "Why do I have the feeling that I am not going to like this?"
"There is only one way they will let you leave school early." Scamooch reminded him. "Remember I'm not an Amon anymore I can't come and go as I please."
"Well if that's case how will you going with him make any difference?" Dib asked.
Scamooch gave Zim a smug look. "Should I tell them? Or do you think you have the stomach for it Sir?" the Sir was a mocking one, yes it would appear some habits had yet to die when it came to them.
"No that won't be necessary." Zim hissed. "We'll manage." He assured his team.
"How?" Mark challenged.
"Because today Joseph Campbell becomes a minion." Zim said sternly.
The silence that followed was deafening, and for a moment his human friends could not managed to speak.
However, Dib managed to recover. "Zim…" He whispered.
"It's the only way, we tell Principal Razi that I want to become a minion, we leave for Zec at once, I go get marked as his minion and then we go find Kazar." Zim explained.
"Wait you're getting marked for real?" Scamooch asked. "Why?"
Zim snickered. "Simple once I'm marked you'll have the perfect reason to stay involved with us. No one will call you a human lover again, and we can keep an eye on you to make sure you don't blab to the enemy."
Scamooch suddenly understood. None of them actually trusted him, and of course they had no right to. Besides he just told Zim that he was giving the Tallest one more chance to change his mind, one more chance to sway him back into the collective. Which meant he was on the fence, and the Renegades could not trust a fence warmer.
"Their trust is something that you will have to earn." Zim told him as if reading his mind. "Are you ready to do so?"
Scamooch looked to the humans below him, met each of their gaze boldly, he could see it in their eyes. Earning their trust would not be an easy one, and he wasn't even sure if he wanted to be a part of their world.
He knew the answers that he had wanted from Zim, being connected to his Pak had given him a clear insight on everything he needed to know. Only now it raised more questions than answers. Besides even if the Tallest managed to give him a satisfying answer to Zim's death sentence he wasn't sure he could look at them the same away again.
"They killed them." Scamooch hissed. "They'll pay for every worthy one they killed."
"Tak had the same motivation." Zim hissed. "And look where she is now."
Scamooch's glare met his. "Well I'm not Tak now am I?" He snapped back.
"I guess we'll find out." Dib said surprising them all. "And believe me when I say I don't fall for the same trick twice."
"You get one chance Scamooch." Mark snapped. "Don't screw this one up!"
Scamooch took a deep breath, before letting it out, his eyes never left Zim's. "Let's do this."
Zim nodded and the two Irkens made their way to the principal's office, after all they had three hours until school let out.
Three hours to find Kazar and convince him to tell them everything about the Irken Rebels.
Three hours to either gain an ally or die trying!
Three hours to return or they'd be stuck in each other's bodies forever…or worse.
Dib could only hope he knew what Zim was doing, and Zim could only hope he had backed the right horse. After all if Kazar left them out to dry it would be over, he would kill Zim and eliminate the last hope for peace.
However, Zim knew this had to be done, as much as they hated what Tak did her role had been vital. They needed an inside man, an informant to tell them the Tallest's every move, and who better than their number one general.
They wouldn't see it coming!
Of course, this was all hinged on the hope that Kazar would side with them.
Dib gulped somehow he feared that wasn't likely, it was like depending on a desert to produce an abundance of water.
Time consuming, and unfruitful…
Episode 3-Switched (Part 3) END!
Author's Notes: Thank you for reading and please review.
The next Chapter will be up soon.
Yours truly RoxieDivine ;)