Episode 18: Monsters in the Dark

Episode Summary: The creature is lose on the streets again and Dib is determined to stop Zim before he hurts another innocent victim. However, Dib will soon learn that Zim isn't the only monster lurking in the Dark!

Author's Note: This Episode is the sequel to Invader Zim: Renegades Season 1 Episode 17: Science Camp. So, if you have not already read it please do so before continuing. And if you are new to series entirely please start reading at the beginning with my Fanfiction Novel Invader Zim: The Beginning of the End.

Disclaimers: I Do Not Own Invader Zim

Yours Truly, RoxieDivine :)

Episode 18: Monsters in the Dark (Part 1)

(One Week after the Science Camp Incident…)

[Time: Midnight]

{Location: Town Junk Yard}

Anger…

It dictated most of his every move.

The creature with the glowing red eyes rummaged through the junk yard trash with so much fury that he was surprised the entire place was not on fire.

He couldn't believe it, after all this time he was back where he started; Invader Zim was alone!

On the upside this alone time had allowed his mind to finally catch up with the change. There was no longer any memory lapse, he knew his name, he knew why the Irkens could not be trusted, and he knew that Dib was no longer the enemy. He even could turn into the beast at will, and turn back to his normal self as well.

On the down side however, his memory did not stop with his present life.

It was so strange, when a PAK is attached to a newly cloned Smeet all of its past memories are erased, and yet Zim was starting to receive memories from his PAK's past lives, and he had learned so much. At one time Zim was known as Kelm, an Irken scientist who obsessed over improving Irken Tech. In another life he was known as Heath, a soldier of the royal guard, who took pride in defending his Tallest with his life.

And as amazing as these memories were, they all ended the same.

At the end of the day, Zim, Heath, and Kelm were just one Irken who gave his empire all he had to offer, and it was never enough.

At the end of the day he was still defective, and punished for it.

"What's wrong with me?" the beast whispered.

It was like no matter what cards he was dealt, Zim would always be a defective, he would always be an outcast, and he would always be different.

There was no place for him in the Irken Empire, Bec said it himself, who would want a defective as their leader?

No one…

'Then why do I keep fighting? Why do I keep living?' he asked himself. 'If no one needs Zim, then why does Zim try?'

For a long time, he had thought he knew the answer, but now the creature with the red eyes couldn't recall it.

No matter how hard he tried…

(Back with Josh…)

[Time: 7:00 AM]

{Location: Rundown Apartment}

Gone…

Just like that Invader Zim was gone without a trace!

And he couldn't have left at a worse time then this!

"I just don't know who they think they are!" A middle aged woman ranted on the morning news. "They're only making things worse for us!"

Joshua Campbell winced at her words; he wasn't even really sure why he put himself through this torture. He knew his fellow humans were giving the rebels a hard time for the deaths of the 25 scientist and their families, and of course they all had a right to be angry; but some of the things they were saying was downright cold!

"They should do us all a favor and stop caring!" The woman went on. "Or better yet just drop dead!"

Josh flipped off the TV and sighed. "Joey are you ready to go?"

"Yep!"

Josh winced once more as his brother's robot double answered. Oh, how he wished it was the real Zim, and not some convincing look alike. But sadly, Zim had stayed true to his word, he had left and there was no sign of him coming back!

'I have to find him!' Josh thought as he and his "brother" left their apartment, and started their walk to the bus stop. 'There's no telling how much trouble he can get into. What if he gets caught? Or hurts someone again?' or worse! 'What if he goes berserk?'

"So good news bro." The robot Joseph's words cut threw his thoughts like a knife. "We finally have enough credits to earn a better house."

Josh smiled, since none privileged humans were not allowed money they were played with rations, and credits. Rations were used to buy food, and drink while credits were used to buy other things that were there more for comfort then actual survival like for example a house or a TV. "Really you mean we get to live in a real house?" he asked feeling like something was finally going right for once.

"Yep, and get this its right across the street from Rachel's place." robot Joseph went on, looking pretty smug and proud of himself. "I finalize the paper work this weekend so please don't do something stupid to mess this up for us."

"You mean like let Cadet Scamooch get the better of me?" Josh asked.

"Exactly." robot Joseph scowled as the bus pulled up beside them. They boarded it, and took their seats, and seconds later the bus was driving off to the next bus stop.

Josh forced a smile, and prepared himself for the challenge of a life time, for you see it was only Wednesday, that meant Cadet Scamooch had three days to ruin this for them. Man, why couldn't life just throw him a bone every now and then? Was it too hard to ask for one or two freebies every now and then?

Apparently!

Josh watched as Rachel, James and Mark boarded the bus at the next stop, he winced as he noticed they were frowning. The rebels had fanned out since Zim left, sure they all gave the Irken a hard time, but the moment he left was the moment they realized just how much they needed him.

Sure, they had his tech, but they didn't have his know how, even Goalit was at a loss when it came to Irken Military strategy, and they couldn't blame him, after all he was a scientist not a soldier. However, it didn't help things. The truth was the Rebels were at a standstill, they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. How could they carry on without Zim's know how?

And did they even want to?

The renegades were split in half when it came to their reasoning for quitting the resistance. Half was tiered of their fellow humans for dissing them for what happened to the 25 scientist, the other half felt like it didn't even matter anymore because without Zim they could never hope to make it right.

So just like that the Renegades were no more.

Just like that the resistance was over!

But it couldn't be over!

"We have to find him." Dib whispered.

Rachel sighed. "Gir has been searching." She whispered. "And he hasn't come back so either he found him and doesn't care or they both already left Earth."

"No Gir would never let him leave us." Josh insisted.

But Mark would hear none of it. "Let it go man, he's gone, we…I drove him away and he's never coming back."

"It wasn't just you man." James told him. "We all over reacted the day you got shot."

"Guys we can't give up, He needs us." Dib insisted.

"What do you mean?" Rachel whispered.

Josh took a deep breath. "That change that he's going through, you know the one he mentioned."

"You mean the one that makes it to where he can be the next Tallest?" Mark asked.

Josh nodded. "There is more to it than that." He whispered.

"Like what?" James asked.

Josh sighed and pulled out the book on the Worthy ones from his coat pocket. "I did some digging." He admitted showing them the book.

"Josh this is from the forbidden section of the Library." Rachel stressed.

"I know, but Zim wouldn't talk so I went looking, and I figured out so much." Josh reasoned.

"Okay, start explaining." Mark ordered.

"You remember the other one right?" he asked.

"The other one?" James asked.

"Yeah the one Zim called Koi." Josh whispered.

"You mean that big blue eyed beast that cornered us at the collar factory Crystal led us to?" James asked.

Josh nodded. "That's what a worthy one looks like when their going through the change."

"Wait the change…" James seemed to be adding it up in his head. "You mean Zim is turning into whatever Koi was!"

Josh nodded. "There's two different kinds of worthy ones, Koi, and the Tallest, they are Rouges and then there's ones like Zim, that are pure. But all this stress of not belonging, it could alter his way of thinking, he could become rouge."

"Josh I'm worried about him too okay?" Mark said surprising them all. "I mean you just told us he's becoming a monster, and I'm cool with that, because I know Zim; he would never go rouge. I know I give him a hard time, but it's just because I'm bitter about the fact that this is all his fault." Mark explained. "He would never turn against us; I know that now. The Zim we know has changed."

"That's just it, he's not the Zim we know." Josh explained.

"What?" James asked.

"The change, it adds a lot of stress to the brain, it has trouble keeping up. Because of this there's a memory lapse." Josh went on.

"How big of a memory lapse?" Mark asked.

"The last time I saw Zim in full beast form he still thought we were enemies in grade school!" Josh whispered harshly.

"Wait you've already seen him in beast form?" Rachel asked. "Just how much have you been keeping from us?"

"A lot." Josh admitted. "I just didn't know how you would take it; I was wrong to do it, I know that now."

"If you had told us about this sooner we would have been more understanding of his behavior!" James lectured.

"Yeah man seriously." Mark added. "I'm over here thinking he's secretly sneaking out to report to the Tallest when all this time he's been running around town in beast form with little to no memory about who he is!"

"I know, and it gets worse." Dib flipped to a page in the book. "After Zim left the computer explained to me that there are two different kinds of Rouges. There are the ones like the Tallest that are power hungry Tyrants, and then there's the Berserks, they are mindless beast that are only concerned about how much blood they can shed."

"And let me guess." James cut in. "Zim is at risk of becoming one because our actions, and the actions of his people have caused him to disown everything, and feel like he's not worth the space he takes up."

Josh bit his lip, but nodded. "Basically."

"Well this is perfect!" Rachel snapped. "I can't believe you waited until now to tell us all of this. You do realize it might already be too late to save him!"

"I know." Josh mumbled.

"You!" Mark pointed to the robot Joseph. "Where is he?"

"He?" robot Joseph asked.

"Yes he! Where is Zim?" Mark whispered harshly.

"It doesn't work that way." Josh mumbled. "Trust me I wish it did, but as far as this robot is concerned he is Joseph, and not Zim."

"Great, so we have no idea where he is, and he is a ticking time bomb waiting to go bloodthirst and kill us all. Thanks for keeping us in the dark Josh. No really great work!"

"Ok Mark he gets it." Rachel warned.

"Wait why don't we track Gir?" James asked.

"What?" Josh asked.

"Zim has a tracer on Gir, he has a tracer on all his tech." James reminded them.

"So, if Gir has already found him, then all we have to do is find Gir, and we'll find Zim!" Rachel whispered excitedly.

"We have to go tonight." James stated the obvious. "We've already left him alone for too long."

"Yes, we'll find Zim, convince him to come back, and then the rebels we'll be back in business!" Josh exclaimed.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Rachel reminded him. "Some of them won't want to come back, and we have to respect that."

The boys nodded.

"Let's just focus on finding Zim." Rachel advised. "Well get through the school day, and then we gear up and meet under the over pass." She instructed as the bus came to a stop at the school.

The boys nodded their agreement as they filed off the bus, and walked up the stairs to their school.

Today the Original members of the renegades had a mission, and it was one that they should have taken the moment Zim left.

They would find Zim, and they would save him from himself before it was too late, or they would die trying.

(Meanwhile back with Captain Ogre…)

[Location: ZEC]

This could get him killed…

And yet Captain Ogre, the leading officer of the Royal Guard, had already done several things that could have killed him when it came to the Tallest. But this, this was different for he was about to tell them that Zim wasn't the only Irken that had taken arms against them.

Captain Ogre guided the stunned soldier in front of him to move forwards as they entered the throne room of the Tallest's Castle.

"You said you had something important to tell us." Red said.

"Well…" Captain Ogre began. "It's not good news."

"You never have good news for us." Purple pointed out. "So just say it!"

"Tell them!" Captain Ogre said pushing the stunned soldier, Bec to his knees.

Beck grimaced, he was still in pain, though it was more out of betrayal then from the actual blast of that weapon. "Sirs, Irken Zim wasn't the only Irken who attacked us last week."

"What there are others?" Red snapped.

"And you're just now telling us!" Purple hissed.

"Yes, my Tallest it would appear some of the rebel members are our fellow Irken personnel, or at least one of them is." Captain Ogre went on.

"Who is it?" Red demanded.

"Sargent Goalit!" Bec said, his mouth feeling like it was full of sawdust. 'How could I betray him!?' He shook his head. 'No, it was him that has betrayed us!' he knew this was the way he was supposed to feel, but…

Bec looked up at his Tallest, and it was as if he was looking at them in a new light. They looked displeased, outraged, and for good reason. However, neither asked if he was okay, neither showed him concern. But Goalit always did, he always called upon him, checked in to see how he was doing, even after he graduated the academy; he always cared.

'I have led you all astray, and I must fix that now.'

Had they been led astray? Was the Tallest really the best choice as the leaders of his people?

Of course not, everyone knew how badly they treated their own followers, but was it really worth it thinking that anyone could save them from their wicked nature? And who's to say this Zim would be any better? He was defective after all!

'Why support a Defective? Is he really that desperate for change?'

"Goalit?" Purple said. "I forget who is that again?"

"He's the one who taught Galactically Science back when we were un in the academy." Red informed him.

"Oh yes the one who was far too friendly with the inhabitance of Planet Vort!" Purple exclaimed. "I never did like him."

"Is there anyone else?" Red asked.

"Not that he knows of no sir." Captain Ogre explained.

"Then get him back into sick bay." Purple hissed. "A soldier who informs his leaders of a traitor among their ranks deserves to rest."

Bec was taken aback by their order. The Tallest were more likely to tell him to stop being weak, then let him rest. 'Do they really care, or do they fear I will follow Goalit's example?' he was pretty sure the later was more likely.

"And when you're done with that send Tak in." Red snapped. "She should have known about Goalit!"

"This is bad Red." Purple whispered as they disappeared. "What if there are others?"

"Tak will tell us!" Red growled. "And if there is we will eliminate them at once…"

Episode 18: Monsters in the Dark (Part 1) END!