Episode Summary: A creature is loose on the streets of Dib's home town, and its presence starts to make the other Irkens act strange. Meanwhile Dib notices that Zim's behavior has gotten more blizzard, he begins to search for answers. Can he find what he's looking for before it's too late?
Author's Note's: Episode 15 here we go! Thank you for reading and please review!
Disclaimers: I Do Not Own Invader Zim
Episode 15: It Came From Outer Space (Part 1)
(Three weeks after Joseph's release)
[Location: just below Zec]
{Time: Midnight}
This was by far the most monstrous thing they had ever done...
However, Captain Ogre and the other members of the Royal guard did not speak up as the Tallest moved to open the containment unit that held the monster in all its demented glory. Captain Ogre shivered at the unconscienced creature before him, as it was laid down on the dirt.
It was hard to believe this unpleasant looking think was a clone of the great Koi. They had to be mad to bring a berserk to life, than again Captain Ogre always knew the Tallest were mad, he also had no doubt they killed the captain before him.
Yes, he knew of their treachery, but was too afraid to speak against them.
They all were!
"How long until it awakes?" Red asked.
"Several minutes." Captain Ogre answered, shakenly.
"Then we should go before he comes to." Purple said, his voice was just as nervous as Captain Ogre felt.
Red nodded his agreement, and in seconds the Tallest, and their royal guard reenter their shuttles, and head back up to the safety of Zec.
Seconds pass, and the creature they have left behind lies there, motionless. Then suddenly its glowing neon blue eyes snap open. It pushes itself to its feet at lightning speed, looking around, sniffing the air. He moves to head north, when the change of wind catches its attention, there is an enemy nearby.
He can smell him, and he wants him dead!
The monster changes direction and heads east, his thoughts echo with only one desire.
The blood of his enemy!
(Minutes later...)
[Location: Within Dib's home town]
{Time: 12:15 AM}
The hunger…
The creature had never known such hunger! It growled slightly as the unpleasant feeling in his gut, the urge to eat began to boil up to new heights.
He needed to feed soon!
The night was completely silent wrapping the creature in its warm blanket of peace, but this peace was only a façade for deep in the silence an enemy was lurking, he could smell it just west of his own position, just below the floating city of Zec. However, the creature ignored the warning for the time being. He after all had more important matters to handle, he could not fight on an empty stomach. The cool night air wisped around him as his large shadowy silhouette crept along the roof tops of Dib Membrane's home town in search of an opening.
Finally, he found it…
An open window!
The creature crept into the small opening as if he was a cat squeezing himself through the smallest of spaces. His glowing red eyes searched the room he had entered. It was a kitchen! The creature sniffed the air, it could smell humans, but while he wanted flesh it was not human flesh that he desired.
The Creature crawled across the room on all fours and opened the refrigerator hopefully. It devoured everything in its sights, but nothing was satisfying the hunger!
It knew what it needed…
Meat, but real protein was hard to come by these days. Only a privileged few received any and this house hold was not one of them. The creature growled in frustration.
Big mistake!
"Hello?" The creature froze as the voice of a small female child filled the air.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
The creature closed the refrigerator door instinctively knowing that the young human offspring would not be able to see it in such poor lighting. It turned towards the staircase just in time to see the child in question.
"Mom, Dad? Is that you?" The small girl was no older than 5 or 6. The creature could see that she was holding a teddy bear and was trembling slightly! He backed up towards the open window slowly. The last thing it wanted to do was frighten the girl.
"Mommy?" The child whispered and then she turned towards the open window, as if sensing something was there. Her eyes widen as she caught a glimpse of a dark silhouette as large as a tiger standing on the window sill.
The creature just stared at her its red eyes never blinking. Finally, it put its finger to its mouth and said "SHHHHH" Then in a blink of an eye it climbed up out of the window from which it came, and out sight.
The little girl dropped her teddy bear and screamed!
(Hours later...)
[Location: Josh's Apartment Complex]
{Time: 07:00 AM}
'Okay something isn't right!'
Joshua Campbell tensed at the thought, usually when he went to pick up their promised rations from their new Landlord; an Irken grouch would be all too eager to remind him just how pathetic he really was. But today he found that said rations had been place in an envelope in front of their apartment door.
It was odd to say the least, and to his surprise his day only got weirder from there.
"Bro you're going to be late for school!" he screamed at the curtain that hung up like a wall in the room. Sadly, since their apartment was only one room, and a bathroom; the boys had to make their own bed rooms by hanging up sheets. Josh's was in the living room, while his brother's was in the kitchen right in front of the window. "Joseph I'm serious-" he barged into the makeshift room to find an empty blowup bed, and the window wide open! "Not again!" Josh groaned out loud this was the fifth time this week alone, that he had found out his brother had been sneaking out at night! And he was sure there were other times that he hadn't caught him too.
'Seriously Zim!' He wanted to find another explanation but there wasn't one. He knew his old foe had been sneaking out because he caught him doing it! It was three nights ago, Josh had gotten up to get a glass of water, but when he went into the kitchen he saw that Joseph's bedroom had been torn down, and a dark shadow of Zim was crawling out of the window. He wanted to confront him, but he thought that Zim would tell him when he was ready, but he was beginning to doubt that now!
He was sure it had something to do with Zim's Amon status, he knew from the book that he had stolen from the forbidden library that his Irken ally was going through a change. However, said change was not described in the book he had. Of course, it was call The Worthy Ones: Volume One! It was very possible "the change" was discussed more deeply in another volume.
'Maybe I should return volume one and take the next.' It wasn't the first time he had thought this. However, he was almost caught last time, and the heat of the trail was still too hot! Which is why he was so fed up with Zim right now! Didn't he know the risk! Sure, he was going through changes, but that didn't mean he had lost all sense of control!
Right?
Josh rolled his eyes and grabbed his books and then with a great big 'Humph' he left the apartment to wait for the bus at the end of the drive way.
This was getting out of hand…
'Getting out of hand? More like is already out of hand!' Josh thought bitterly. He groaned as the bus came into view 15 minutes later. Usually Zim would be rushing up to him by now in full disguise and ready for school. He'd also be armed with a story to why he wasn't home in the first place.
But Zim was nowhere in sight!
The bus stopped in front of him and Josh got on as slow as possible hoping to buy his brother some more time, but there was no need for Joseph was already on the bus! Josh's eyes narrowed as he went to take his seat beside him.
"Where were you?" He growled softly.
Joseph sighed obviously tiered. "I told you I've been going to the gym in the morning to help with the stress of having the Irken police constantly breathing down my neck."
It was the same excuse every time!
"You're usually not so late" Josh pointed out.
"I'm sorry I lost track of time" Joseph snapped.
"And what you brought your school uniform with you?" Josh was in full integration mode and it showed.
"Yes, is that a crime or something?" Joseph growled.
He was lying through his teeth and Josh knew it!
"You know what I can't handle this right now!" Joseph got up and moved to another seat.
Josh just watched him go! 'This is defiantly out of hand" he thought. Once again he wondered if he should voice his concerns to the rest of the resistance. After all everyone knew something was going on, that much was obvious! However, Dib had not told them about Zim being an Amon, he felt like he didn't know enough to explain it properly to them.
And it was true.
Dib only know the basics, and the basics were that Amons were a pure breed of Irken, they went through a lot of changes. Said changes made the subject moody, and exerted a lot of pain, and stress on their body. The subject got taller, and stronger, and from what he saw from Koi, they could turn into enormous beast.
Was that what the change was?
Was Zim turning into a monster like what Koi had been at that factory several weeks before?
Josh wasn't sure, but the fact still remained, and that fact was this was escalating far too fast and it was very unsettling to say the least. Josh just stared at the back of his brother's head as helpless as ever.
'What is going through that mind of yours Zim?' he thought. 'And why won't you trust me enough to tell me?!'
The bus came to a stop in front of the school snapping him out of his thoughts. He groaned as he watched his brother rush off and went straight in without waiting for him. He shook his head knowingly…
Today was going to be another long day!
(With James...)
[Location: 1st Pd.]
He didn't know what was up, but it was obvious that something was!
James looked around his first period class almost as if he had just woken up in the Twilight Zone; and for good reason! And that reason was because it really felt like he had. Just the day before everything was normal, but today everything was anything, but normal. And he noticed it from the moment he stepped into the room.
On a normal day in first period James would walk into laughter as the Irken Cadets picked on their latest victim, or boasted about their resent test scores. But today the cadets were strangely quiet, and today's lesson was already waiting for them on the board. The teacher, Mr. Kantar was nowhere in sight! It was totally bizarre to say the least, and it only got weirder from there!
The Cadets kept scratching at their chest nervously; each one in same spot, right where Zim said An Irken's squeedlyspooch is located! Not one of them spoke; they just went about their work as if doing otherwise would mean almost certain death!
And It wasn't just James who notice the bizarre behavior, every human student in the class kept glancing there way, but what they didn't know was that Mr. Kantar first period class wasn't the only class room that seemed to be in the Twilight Zone!
(With Rachel...)
[Location: School clinic]
Rachel Hearting stepped into the clinic and was imminently met with a waiting room full of Cadets.
"Oh, Miss Hearting there you are." The Nurse Mrs. Peg almost sounded relieved to see her.
"Mrs. Peg what's going on?" Rachel was shocked. Since she had no first period class she always helped out where she was needed, and when she got the heads up that she was needed in the nurses office this was not what she expected "Is something going around?" she asked.
"Oh, Irk no!" Mrs. Peg assured her. "Irkens do not get ill in the same way you humans do." She explained.
"Then what's wrong with them?" Rachel asked.
"I can't say for sure." Mrs. Peg looked thoughtful "I haven't seen this kind of behavior since the last-" she stopped as if catching herself. As if she was about to say something she shouldn't.
"Since the last what?" Rachel asked.
"Nothing, it's nothing" Mrs. Peg assured her. "Just help me with this lot."
Rachel obeyed and to her surprise the room only got fuller! 'This is insane.' She thought, 'what in the world is going on?'
(Back with Josh, and Joey)
[Location: School Courtyard]
{Time: Lunch}
It was so bizarre; it was like an Irken ghost town.
Josh looked around him in disbelieve, most of the Irken cadets had gone home and Josh was more than frustrated and he wasn't the only one!
"What do you mean you don't know what's going on?" Mark whispered harshly to Joseph as all sat down to eat at the usual spot under the great Oak Tree.
"Believe it are not just like you humans don't know everything about your kind neither do we!" Joseph snapped back.
"It's so strange though." Rachel said trying to be careful about encouraging Joseph's temper to spike up even more!
Joseph didn't answer, he was far too busy wolfing down some chicken. It tasted so good! And it was exactly what he needed right now!
"I'll say." Keef exclaimed as he set down. "The Irkens are so out of whack that they're serving us real meat today!"
Josh's eyes widen. "Wait did you just say the chicken's real!" he asked the panic was evident on his face.
"Yeah isn't it great!" Keef exclaimed.
Josh eminently bashed the chicken out of his brother's hands.
Joseph growled as it hit the ground "I was eating that!" he snapped.
"But it's real meat!" Josh explained and the stopped. "Wait why aren't you swelling up?"
"Yeah" Mark agreed "I thought Irkens were allergic to meat!"
"Well obviously I've been on this planet long enough to be used to it!" Joseph snapped and then snatched up Keef's chicken and began to wolf it down.
"Hey that's mine!" Keef exclaimed.
The rest of the group scooted a few inches away all, but Josh who was staring at his brother with a look of fear!
Joseph simply ignored him and continued to wolf down his food.
Mark's eyes met with Rachel's, she gave him a slight nod and then turned to give Josh a knowing look.
Josh knew that look; it was a look of concern, not just for Zim but for the remaining members of the resistance; preferably the ones that were sitting around Zim at that very moment. He coughed nervously. "I need some BBQ sauce for my chicken" he stated and rushed off as fast as his legs could carry him.
Joseph didn't even seem to notice his absence and to James dismay he snatched up some more chicken this time from Rachel's plate.
"It's okay I'm not in mood for meat today anyway." Rachel assured him.
But James couldn't relax, not when being around Zim caused such distress. It was as if his inner instincts were warning him, he couldn't explain it, but somehow he knew that being around Zim was dangerous; and he wasn't the only one who thought so.
'I have to find out what's going on!' Josh told himself as he entered the school cafeteria. 'I'll stay up all night if I have too!' It wasn't what he wanted, no Dib wanted Zim to know that he was trusted, but at the same time he knew that he couldn't wait for things to get any worse. 'I'll stay up and follow Zim when he leaves tonight. I'll find out what's really going on, one way or another!' he vowed as he grabbed a few BBQ sauce packets from the front counter.
"I'm telling you there's no other explanation."
Josh froze as he heard a voice talking somewhere to his right and around the corner.
"Crazy, I am not crazy I am a medical expert and I know what I am talking about!"
Josh peered around the corner to see Mrs. Peg talking on her communicator, the large screen that hung in front of her from her PAK was just visible enough to see who she was talking to.
It was the Tallest!
"Are you sure about this?" Tallest Red asked his voice only a whisper.
Josh could tell he looked nervous and Tallest Purple looked even worse than him.
"Yes, My Tallest the cadets and all of the staff are showing all the symptoms, I don't know how or why but there is no mistaking it. Someone is going through the transformation, here, right now!" Mrs. Peg said gravely.
"But that's Impossible!" Tallest Purple yelled and to Josh's surprise the Irken leader sounded as if he was in tremendous pain! "You know as well as I do that Koi is dead. And no other worthy one has been born in years. How can one possible be going through the change? And why would it be loose in the city?!"
"I know this is hard to believe, but all signs point to this conclusion. My Tallest we must help it! A Worthy one going through the transformation is a hazard to itself as well as those around it. We need to find it and contain it before this escalates!"
"Peg our men are too thin right now looking for the Renegades." Red hissed.
"Please sir, we need it alive, besides, you know it will have no memory of who, or what they are. Memory is the last part of the change, it'll hurt anything that moves, and it'll be threatened by everything around it!" Peg insisted.
Josh tensed, they were talking about worthy ones, and according to Mrs. Peg one was loose in the city. His thoughts imminently went to Zim, he already knows the Irken is sneaking out at night. 'So Zim is causing all of this.' Dib thought. 'The change, it must be effecting everyone, But why would a worthy ones presence cause half the cadets and staff to grow ill?'
'And what was this Transformation that Mrs. Peg was talking about?' Josh wasn't sure but he could only guess she was talking about the beast state that Koi had been in the day they met. And if that was the case...Josh gulped. According to Mrs. Peg this creature was a threat to everyone's well-being, human and Irken alike!
'And if it really is Zim, I can't let him hurt anyone; he'll never forgive himself.'
'I have to find out what this Transformation is!' he decided. 'I can't help if I don't know what I'm dealing with. Maybe I can go to the dome and press the brain for answers.'
"Very well we will send our best soldiers to bring him in." Tallest Red answered. "Hopefully, we reach him in time!"
Josh backed away slowly; it would appear that lunch would have to wait. He needed to make plans to go to the dome tonight! After all, if the Tallest were afraid of this thing then it must really be a serious threat.
'I have to stop it even if it is Zim, before it hurts anyone or worse, for the very fate of Earth depends on it!' He raced off then not knowing just how right he really was!
Episode 15: It Came From Outer Space (Part 1) END!