NOTE: I've got a Deviantart account, with lots of my fanarts, including illustration to my IZ fanfic story. Here is the link to the first one: shirokumaarts/art/Coming-to-meet-the-unknown-1126526951

INVADER ZIM – ANOTHER DIMENSION

EPISODE 1 – ''THE DAY MY BIRTHDAY WISH CAME TRUE''

It was a nice, warm, sunny day of June. My 35th birthday. But I was not going to have a party or anything like that. No. I had my own ways of celebration, alone. Since I can only remember, I've always been a loner. I've never had any friends, at least the real ones, but I was okay with that. Anyhow, a part of my plan for this special day was to go by bus and get to the forest located at the edge of my town. As soon as I reached my favourite place to be in – an old, fallen tree, off the beaten track – I sat down, pulled a can of beer out of my thermal bag with a picture of GIR from ''Invader Zim'' on and took a big swallow of my beloved, golden drink. A moment later I unzipped my backpack – black, with grey and green alien heads on – to get my tablet and turn it on so I could watch one of my favourite films – ''Invader Zim: Enter The Florpus''. So I was watching and drinking, with a green dog GIR plushie on my laps. A film, a plushie, a bag and few badges attached to my backpack – a set of ''Invader Zim'' related stuff. I won't lie – I don't even need to – I've been a big, big fan of this dark and twisted series for the last several years. I couldn't have imagined a single day without even thinking about Zim, GIR, Dib, Gaz or any other IZ character. When the movie was over, I put my tablet back inside my backpack, drank the last few drops of third can of beer and took a look at the tips of pine trees above my head. Being a little tipsy, I decided to say it out loud, my birthday wish.

- I wish I was given a whole new life – with my own cabin in the woods, with – I dunno – great magical powers, kinda… like a witch. Maybe in a completely different world. The world of ''Invader Zim'', for example. Far, far, far away from this nasty, cruel and unfeeling world I live in. I HATE IT HERE! I HATE PEOPLE! I HATE THEM ALL! LET THEM BURN IN HELL!

That's right. I was very,very mysanthropic. I hated humans for everything they do, for everything they are. Actually,I still do. A few minutes after saying these words, I packed all my stuff, including empty cans, I left this place and went for a nice small walk before coming home. I was not even halfway to path when I spotted something twinkling among blades of grass. Initially I thought it was just an empty glass bottle, vodka or what. But I was wrong. I came closer and crouched down to notice this thing was a tiny, circular, prismatic ball, reminescent of a typical glass ball for children to play with.

- Who would have left it in a place like this? – I mumbled to myself.

With no hesitation, I reached out to grab this pretty little object and take it home with me. And that was the moment something extraordinary occured. That ball started illuminating. It wasn't reflecting rays of sunlight anymore, it was now shining by itself. Before I could react somehow, I was already overwhelmed by mysterious, blinding light coming from inside the ball. And then – I just passed out.

When I woke up, I realized I was lying on an old, dirty mattress, inside a dark, dusty room, filled with tons of some old junk, mostly furniture. The only thing I've had for a source of light was full moon I could see peeping through the window.

- What the f*ck!? – I growled, standing up. – What is this place? Why am I doing here?

There was a big, rectangular mirror hanging on the wall in front of me, so I got closer to take a look into it. I couldn't believe my own eyes. I saw…an animated version of myself! Furthermore, I recognized this style immediately. It was Johnen Vasquez style.

- What the f*ck is this supposed to be? Am I having another twisted dream of some sort!?

I'd had few lucid dreams during my life, so I took that phrase as the only reasonable explanation. Usually, after exposing my bizarre experiences as a dream, I'd been waking up quickly and for that one time I had to repeat: ''Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!''. I was not waking up, so I decided to force myself to come back to reality. I'd been repeating these words like an incantation, just like already did once. To my surprise - it was not working at all.

- Oh come on! What the hell!? Why am I not waking up!? – I whined helplessly. – Come on! Please, let me wake up from this damn dream!

Still no results.

- F*ck… - I sobbed, falling down back on the mattress. Absolutely confused, I was laying and staring into ceiling over me. It was dirty, covered with mould and dozens of dark stains.

I would have stayed like that for a long, long time if it was not for a weird, disturbing sound I heard from the distance.

- What was that? – I quickly changed my body position to sitting. I heard muffled crying coming from the other part of the building.

- What the..? Are there ghosts in here? - I gasped, slightly afraid.

Whoever it was, they kept crying for at least next five minutes. Despite my unwillingness to go and face that mysterious person, I had to. After all,I couldn't have stayed in that abysmal room forever. I took a look outside through doorless hole on a long, dark corridor running to both sides of my room's exit. To the left – a floor with two ranks of closed doors, to the right – the same. And in front of me, there was a curvy staircase running down. Coast clear. I returned to the room, but only for a little while, to take my things with me. That's right, I still had my backpack, my bag and even that strange little crystal ball by my side. I put this shiny thingy into the smallest pocket in my backpack, the same one I got a small Swiss pocketknife and a headlamp from. Now, with a portion of light and a weapon for self-defense, I felt a little bravier than before. So I started slowly walking down, step by step, with my eyes and ears strained to the utmost of my abilities. When I got to the lower floor, I could hear it better, the sound of crying. I had no doubt that was a little girl's voice.

- '' Ghost or not – I must find my way out of this damn place '' – I thought, continuing to walk all the way down to ground I took the final turn, I stopped, seeing something at the bottom of stairs.A small creature was lying down and crying. As soon as the light reached her, she rapidly raised her head, looked at me and stood up. She was a little alien girl with bright-pink skin, big, blue, insectoid eyes and a pair of small, triangular antennae. She was wearing a white and mint-green dress, mint-green boots and a golden tiara. She was holding a toy in her hands. A plushie that resembled an avocado, with big, dark-pink eyes, yellow fish-like mouth, yellow belly, short orange limbs and a thunder-shaped, spiky, black ponytail, tied with a dark-pink bow. The alien girl must have noticed the blade of my knife, because she began moving of a sudden, I felt a wave of cold chill running through my whole body. Kinda like flashing red light with accompaniment of resounding female voice :'' DANGER INCOMING! DANGER INCOMING! DANGER INCOMING!''. And there that was – a large, dark silhouette with glowing red eyes and big, sharp teeth, looking directly on us from the other side of the window. The monster came up to the door and shredded it into hundreds of tiny pieces. Now I could see its attributes much better. It was a tall, muscular,humanoid creature,something between a black bear and a werewolf.

- Oh fuck… - I cursed in fright before the monster started running towards us to get me and the alien girl who screamed at the top of her lungs. I stretched out my arm automatically. The one I was holding a pocket knife in, of course. I regreted not having anything bigger and more powerful to defend us. I closed my eyes, waiting for a deadly hit to come. But… the only thing I felt was dozens of drops falling on my face, arms and thorax. I opened my eyes again to realize I was all covered in blood. But I was not the one bleeding. It was the monstrous bear. I looked at my hand. Instead of my good old knife, I was holding a big,long, sword-like weapon. Its blade was dug in the monster's solar plexus to the half of its length. It must have pierced his body, spilling some of him blood on me in the process. The monster was dead. I pushed the corpse with my left leg, seperating it from my magically altered cold steel. After accomplishing its assignment, my knife turned back to its normal form. I couldn't shake off this awful feeling of shock for next few minutes. And then - I've started feeling very strangely. Unusually good, as if nothing bad or scary happened a moment ago. That felt like tons of new strenght getting pumped straight into my it stopped, I heard the little alien girl asking me if I was ok. I turned around to look at her, but didn't respond.

- Are you all right, ma'am? – she asked once more.

That taste in my mouth and smell in my nostrils – salty and metallic - and also that stickiness on my skin, all that have left me no choice but to realize…

- It's not a dream, is it? – I mumbled while a slight and yet a little creepy smile crawled onto my face.