Disclaimers: I do not own Invader Zim

Author's Notes:

Shout Outs: To Golden Chains, Mystic Myra 8, and MockingVenus my three constants. I can always count on your reviews to motivate me to continue writing, even when it's hard. Believe it or not some people actually think I'm wasting my time writing instead of doing something "productive"! I know it makes me angry too.

Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!

(Conventia, the Convention Hall Planet, 138 Years ago…)

[Operation Impending Doom 1: The Trials!]

The young Zim faked left, only to come at Tak's right, the female blocked it easily enough. However, she's sloppy compared to Zim. Which only proves a fatal point; the skills they teach you in the academy aren't enough to survive a real fight.

Zim had fought to survive before, the constant torment of bullies wasn't just for fun, they aimed to cause permanent damage, or death. Tak however, never had someone brave enough to challenge her. Usually, her head strong temper discouraged anyone who thought about starting a scuffle. Zim on the other hand had a temper of his own.

And obviously a reason to live.

"Why?" Tak asked as she made a blow of her own, a round house kick to the gut.

"Why what?" Zim retorted, dodging it, and coming at her again, his Pak leg veered up and slashed down hard crating a big deep gash across her forehead.

That one was going to leave a mark, Tak hissed at the pain, but is not discouraged. She continues to fight, and press for answers. "Why do you insist on living?" Tak challenged. "A real loyal Irken would just die!"

Her words cut deep; they were meant to.

"If you really cared about Irk and your people you'd just die! You're a malfunction, a mistake." Tak reasoned. "We could fix you, reprogram you, but you don't even want that!"

It was true, Zim knew he could just be reprogramed. It wouldn't even take up too much time, five maybe ten minutes tops. And then…he'd be just like every other Irken, cold…emotionless…empty… nothing but a computer with legs.

"No." Zim said. "I like it." And it was true, as strange as it might sound, Zim liked being defective. Sure, it caused him more grief than not, and always pretending to be something he's not did weigh heavy on him. But still despite the hardships, despite the pain he didn't mind being a defective.

It's what made him…well him.

Strangely enough it was Lard Nar who made him this way. It was always him, before Vort Zim hated that he was different. He wanted to be anything else but what he was. However, Lard Nar showed him that while Defects were not popular among Irkens, they were popular everywhere else. He wasn't alone, not entirely.

"So why betray them?" Tak insisted as she made a strike of her own, it's too shallow and she knows it. Still Zim feels the burn of the scratch all the same, this female would have made an excellent invader.

Sure, she's unsteady now, but after her first mission she'd be more confident in her own power. She'd know her limits, her strengths; and would use both to insure her success.

That's how it was for all the cadets, the final exam on Vort was a fake. It was the trials and the outcome of their first mission that made them worthy to be called an Irken. Too bad Tak would never get that far, and Zim really meant it. It was too bad, Tak was an excellent fighter. She could dodge and weave, and strike. However, she lacked one thing.

PURPOSE!

Zim had a drive, a reason to live, and that reason was simple: To prove them all wrong! Defectives can be useful to their empire, and Zim would show them, he would prove to them all. Irkens defectives can succeed in this world.

And Zim was about to prove it to her. He jumped in the air, letting out a war cry that would bring fear in even the most experience warriors, and kicked her…HARD.

Tak fails back, ungracefully into the garbage disposal. She tries to regain her footing, but Zim is already there with his PAK legs resting hard on her chest. Forcing her down the shoot towards the shredding blades below.

"Why betray them?" He asked. "Why betray Vort and finish my mission?" He scoffed at the question. As if the answer was obvious….and it was. "Because I'm an Irken." He said. "Deceit, betrayal, back stabbing; it's what we do. Do you think anyone's going to accept me out there?"

"They did." Tak reasoned, she didn't really care, she was looking for a moment of weakness in him, a moment to escape his grasp. She got none, Zim only pushed down harder, his rage boiling.

"They were fools." He hissed. "An Irken can only destroy, that is all we are good for."

Tak was amazed by the male before her, she had studied Irken defectives for years. Something about them demanded her attention. She just couldn't understand how they could exist, Irkens were the perfect organism, and defectives…

"What kind of defective would support a system that hates them?" Tak asked. She couldn't help it; her curiosity wouldn't allow her to let it rest. She had to know what drove him, he should want to die, and yet he wants to live.

"Don't act like you know anything about me." Zim hissed. "I bet you think you know everything about defectives. Just because you read some article you think you're an expert."

It was true, she did consider herself an expert on the subject.

"You don't know what it's like to feel different." Zim screamed, He was lost in the moment now, he hadn't been able to rant about his true feelings since he betrayed Lard Nar. He would always vent to his older, wiser friend; and Lard Nar always listened. "One voice in your head screams for you to just be yourself, to expose your defective ways. While the Irken programing reminds you over and over again just how pathetic and incompetent you are. I'm not useless, I can be a real Irken, and everyone thinks I am, but I'm not. It's suffocating, I can't breathe!"

"Then just die." Tak yelled back. Why was that so hard for him to understand? If the pain was that bad then why didn't he just die?

"There are worse fates then death." Zim whispered.

And then it hits her, it finally makes since.

He's an Irken, and defective or not Irkens are still Irkens. And an Irken never gives up, they never stop fighting. It was their nature to die choking on a war cry with their fist still flailing, desperate to make a mark on their enemy.

Because Irkens live very long lives, so long that someone could out live your memory, so you left them a mark to remember you by. Whether that mark be a scar, a lost planet, or the mental wound of failure. An Irken would figure out how to leave one.

"What gives you the right to say I should just die?" Zim challenged. "Don't you think I want to die." he asked. "A part of me would love nothing more than the solace of death. But a monster like me doesn't deserve peace."

Death is peace…

Tak is floored, no piece of data was right about these defective Irkens. And Zim was living proof. Irkens believed Defectives fought to live because their defective nature drove them. However, it was Irken nature to torture anything they saw as weak. Zim's programing was torturing him for living, and he was letting it.

Why?

Because he felt guilty for what he did on Vort, and felt that he deserved punishment.

"An Irken bows his head and does what he is told." Zim said. "They keep their mouths shut, and live to see another day. You should have kept your own mouth shut." He lectured. "Now you will see what happens to those who don't follow that rule."

She's too stunned to respond, let alone fight. This defective was more Irken than she ever was, and now she knew why. Defectives have this urge to be themselves, to resist the program and giving into it gets them killed.

However, it was clear to Tak that Zim had a different way of doing things. He knew he was defective, but tried to prove to himself and others that he could still be a use to the empire. However, he soon learned he was wrong.

It didn't matter if he was useful Irk didn't want him. And yet he stayed.

"Why did you betray them?" She asked, once more.

"You already answered that." Zim said. "I got cold feet." He started using all his PAK legs to shove her down. Man, she was stronger than he previously thought.

This was true, but only because Tak wanted answers, she wanted to understand. True part of her still wanted to kill him, but if there was one thing that out did her lust for revenge it was this.

Knowledge, she craved it. So much so that she had more useless information downloaded in her PAK than anyone else. Well, everyone else called it useless, Tak however loved knowing things others didn't. It made her feel powerful being the smartest Irken in the room.

"It's more than that." She insisted.

"Because I'm an Irken." Zim yelled. "It's what we do! Its self-preservation, they say only defectives do it, but we're all guilty of it!"

"You're afraid." Tak realizes. "You obey out of fear, you'd rather be seen as a monster than a freak among us." She laughed. "You're a coward."

Her words do nothing to save her, his grip is tighter than ever. "You'll make a great invader." She praised. Sure, she still hated him, but a real Irken does not ignore the ones who best them. They praise them, admire them, look up to them; even as they sharpen their knives. Oh yes, they'd get even eventually, but they still welcomed the presents of those who out done them.

Why?

It was a matter of pride. Seeing someone better drove them to become better themselves. That is why Irkens admired those who were stronger. Because they saw them as living proof that they could still climb up in the world. Still improve, still become something more.

Something closer to perfect, a goal every Irken strived for. All Irkens, defective or not wanted to be the best, and craved the thrill of every challenge they faced to prove it.

"You'd have been too." Zim admitted. "You certainly would have made my life more interesting. Too bad I have to kill you."

Tak's smile grew. "I'll be back." She vowed. "So, don't get too comfortable, or you'll regret it." And with those final words she gave up the fight, and allowed herself to fall.

Zim scoffed despite himself. Like she'd come back from that. However, what he failed to realize is that he never heard a scream.

Tak forced her PAK legs into the metal walls around her, they were slippery, but with enough force she was able to punch a hole or two and latch on. She was safe from the fall, but her life was over. She knew that now more than ever.

Tak had slipped 30 feet down a dark shaft, and below her in the darkness was the shredder. She could hear its deadly hum, inviting her o fall and feed it with her own body. If she rushed in any way she could slip, and it would all be over.

30 feet was a long way down, or in this case; a long way up. By the time she managed to climb her way out her absence would be noted. And thanks to Zim's little display everyone would think she's defective.

"Clever git." She admitted as she began to climb. "But I'll get you back for this." She swore. "You'll rue the day that you destroyed my life."

And it was a promised she planned to keep!

(Back With Tak, Present Day…)

Tak growled distinctly as the memory began to fade, it had taken her hours to climb back up out of that death trap. And just as she figured several monitoring screens all over Conventia, demanded for her capture.

She could still remember the words blaring across the screens, they demanded her attention still to this day.

SUSPECTED DEFECT! WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE!

She was being hunted like an animal all thanks to Zim, and even though that angered her she knew she was out matched. Still, she knew where to go.

Hobo 13…

It was a desolate waste land of a planet in alliance with the Irken Empire. Its sole purpose was to train soldiers. Trainees from all over the galaxy hoping to become skilled soldiers come here to participate in a series of difficult trials. However, Tak had read somewhere that anyone was welcomed to participate.

Several rejects from all over went in the hopes of becoming stronger and the planets native race the Hobos didn't care who you were. Heck, Tak even read once that Sergeant Hobo 678 was known to train enemies of the Irken Empire. Of course, the Irkens encouraged it, in fact they saluted him for trying to make their enemies more entertaining in battle.

So, Sergeant Hobo 678 would not turn her in even if word of her being defective had gotten that far. No, he'd train her, it was the way of his people. Their purpose in life was to teach combat and survival. Since Hobo 13 is a very rocky and unforgiving planet, the species had to quickly adapt to its environment. They took advantage of their home world's harsh conditions in order to train not just themselves but other alien races who seek to become soldiers in their own right.

Why?

Because the hobos believed everyone had the right to fight. If they were willing to improve they had the right to be given the chance.

And Sergeant Hobo 678 gave her that chance, with every passing day she became stronger. But so did Zim!

Every time she convinced herself she was ready to face him word of, yet another successful mission came her way. They called him The Scourge of Nine Galaxies. Not nine planets, nine galaxies! Zim's name struck fear in all those brave enough to hear it.

"You're not ready to face him." Sergeant Hobo 678 had told her, and she knew it to be true. She even had a theory as to why. Experience! She was still training while Zim was becoming more and more like a real Irken with every kill.

So, she decided to find experience on her own, and that quest lead her to Earth. A rich planet full of resources that Irk needed. This would prove to the Tallest that she was worthy, he would conquer it and present its resources to The Tallest. Then once she was invited back into the collective she'd have an easier way of finding Zim.

At least that had been her plan, but now it would appear fate had thrown her a bone, but was she ready?

She had to be! Earth was obviously very important to Irk. Why else would they send the legend himself? If she could beat Zim in battle and claim Earth as her own; she'd be welcomed back with open arms. The only down side: Zim would even get an honorable death instead of everyone knowing he died a Defective.

It wasn't what she wanted, but as much as she hated him, as much as she wanted to expose him she knew the truth.

The current Tallest, Red and Purple would never believe her if she told them Zim was defective. Zim was like a gods to them, and they were gods to him. They practically worshipped each other! So of course they'd turn a death ear to her claims. But if she bests him, they'd see her as worthy. After all any Irken was allowed to challenge another, and a challenge that didn't end in a death match was strongly frowned upon.

Yes, this could work in her favor, however she had to be careful. The Swollen Eyeball was an unknown variable. If she exposed herself too soon to them or Zim it could be disastrous for both of them, and Irk as a whole.

She had to fight Zim without letting him know he was being fought at all. How?

Simple sabotage, she'd destroy his efforts make life harder for him, through him off his game, and then at just the right moment she'd move in for the kill.

Still there was one small detail she could not decipher no matter how hard she tried. Dib!

Why was Zim so determined to latch on to him? Did being around him really help his cover?

Tak's eyes narrowed as she continued watching them, no doubt they were on their way to SKOOL a place humans went to learn. A complete waste of time, but it must be necessary for his cover since his disguise looked around that age in human years.

What wasn't necessary was the fact that Zim was holding the human's hand.

Tak smiled. "Interesting…" She mused.

And it was very interesting indeed!

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter as always; I thank you for reading and ask that you please review!