Chapter 1

"Alright, I've had enough of this." Tallest Red sighed in irritation at the tiny Irken on the screen.

"Enough of what, my Tallest? I'm sure whatever it is you can get a drone to get rid of it for you." Zim said confidently through the screen, not knowing what was to come.

"Enough of you, Zim!" Purple said in exasperation from where he stood next to Red in the Armada. "We've had enough of you and your calls and your fake mission."

"I mean it was funny at first, having you think you're actually on a mission. Watching you fail over and over again was hilarious to watch. But come on Zim. You can't seriously still think that you have a mission. That we're ever going to that stupid planet you're one." Red chuckled darkly, his eyes narrowing as he smiled a toothy grin.

"But my Tallest. I-I don't understand? What do you mean you're not coming? You sent me here to conquer this planet for you." Zim asked the leaders he looked up to for so long, chest hurting at what they were saying to him.

"We sent you there to get rid of you, Zim." Purple clarified as he too started to chuckle darkly. "We were hoping you would die out in space and we wouldn't have to deal with you anymore. But you survived on that stupid dirt ball."

"So now we're banishing you." Red jumped in. "For all your crimes against Irk and the previous Tallest, you are hereby banished forever. Goodbye, Zim." Red said smugly as the two of them chuckled darkly. The screen cut off only a second after, their laughter still echoing in Zims mind. He stared at that screen for two days, unable to comprehend what he had heard.

It had been several years since Zim had been banished to Earth. In that time he had done several things. At first he still tried to conquer the planet in hopes of regaining his Tallest favor and becoming unbanished. After a year, however, his drive had diminished from both lack of success and him being unable to contact the Tallest at all. Eventually his plans of world conquest were more of a habit than an actual attempt. Even Dib had noticed that they lacked their usual aggressiveness.

Dib had confronted Zim about it to which the tiny Irken had denied anything at first. Not satisfied, Dib pressed further for several months until Zim broke and told him what happened. It was the first time Dib had seen the little alien cry and to say it didn't pull on his heart strings would have been a lie. He made a decision then that would change their fate and dynamic for the rest of their lives. He reached out and comforted his nemesis that night as he cried his eyes out. After that the half baked plans of conquering Earth stopped.

With nothing better to do Zim continued to attend Skool with Dib. At first things were rocky between them. They had, after all, spent several years fighting each other. Yet they still spent most of their time together. None of their other classmates ever care about them. To them Dib was crazy and Zim was too weird. So they continued to spend time together, though in a less destructive way.

They developed a rather unusual friendship. They would either be on Dib's couch watching movies or in Zim's lab running experiments. It took Dib a couple of weeks for him to convince Zim to stop performing experiments on living animals and Humans. Zim had reluctantly agreed after being bribed with donuts and a soda. He still kept a record of thoughts and theories.

During summer breaks Zim would take Dib, Gaz, and Gir on trips to nearby solar systems in the Voot Cruiser. While Gaz wasn't particularly impressed Dib loved going to the different parts of the galaxy and even a few space stations that were out of Irken control. While on Earth they would go paranormal investigating with Dib. Mostly just to get out of the city since they never actually find anything.

Over the last few years all three had done some growing. Dib the most as he almost reaches his fathers height and stands at six foot one. Gaz second as she now stands at five foot seven. Zim the least as Irken don't generally get tall, but he still stands at a whopping four foot nine. Though not very tall by human standards it is abnormally tall for an Irken.

Naturally this caused some confusion among the three of them, but they chopped it up to the higher level of nutrients Zim got by eating Earth food.

Over the last few years while Zim had more or less given up on actually conquering the Earth he did not completely give up his schemes. After all, Dibs and Zims dynamic is based upon it. Who would they be if they were not chasing each other? Would they really be Zim and Dib if they weren't trying to one up each other? So they kept up with their routine every now and then. Though now it was for fun instead of life, death, and freedom.

That leads us up to the present. Zim had been absent from hiskool for the week before spring break of their senior year and all of the break. Naturally Dib was curious of Zims unusual behavior. Normally a scheme wouldn't take more than a day or two to put together. They would fight, Dib would win, and everything would be normal afterwards.

At first Dib was pretty excited. A plan that took a couple of days to assemble? Imagine the possibilities and challenges it would offer! It would be a really interesting test to overcome for sure. So he waited for four days. By the fifth day he wasn't so sure anymore.

So he walked over to his base. It was a route he knew by heart for years now. However when he got there he wasn't allowed inside, which was unusual since he has been allowed inside ever since their truce. Not even Gir would open the door. No matter how many times he rang the doorbell or how long he stayed outside the door would not open for him. Even though the two of them had been something closer to friends for years now his age old paranoia was catching up with him. Telling him that Zim was up to something bad.

Without having a way inside and Zim not coming outside there wasn't much he could do. So he waited. For two weeks he waited  for Zim to come out and unveil his plan. And he planned to be ready for whatever that was. He believed he would be prepared for anything that Zim would throw his way. For anything, except for this.

Dib and Gaz were in the kitchen eating their breakfast early one morning when they heard the doorbell ring. And ring. And ring. And ring. Buy the seventh ring Gaz was fed up with the stupid sound. So with an irritated growl she got up to answer the door and possibly tell off whoever was outside the door. Dib was too busy thinking to pay much attention to whatever was going on around him.

However in the next minute he would have wished that he were the one to open the door. From the front door all he heard was his sister shout, "The FUCK?!? DIIIIIB!!!"

Confounded at his sister's outburst he walked out of the kitchen to where she was. He saw her staring at the door, mouth agape, pointing at whatever was on the other side. Intrigued, he turned to look outside and was shocked at what he saw as well. To say it was unexpected would be an understatement.

Zim was standing outside in his disguise (not unusual), seemingly to have grown another four inches in the last two weeks as he now stands at five foot one (unusual), however the most startling thing about him were the round mounds on his chest that could only be described as breasts (very unusual). Dib stood there flabbergasted for a solid minute, completely unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Zim stood outside, a blush and a scowl across his face, as he waited for the two of them to get over their shock long enough to talk to him. Eventually he had gotten fed up enough to start the conversation himself.

"Don't look so shocked at these, fleshie things! The Gaz grew some herself!" Zim shouted, embarrassment clear in his voice, as he pointed at Gazes chest. Though she too had hit puberty, she was more humble than Zim in the breast department.

"Y-yea, well, I-I expected her to grow some, b-but not you!" Dip stuttered out as he tried to tear his eyes away from Zims now more feminine frame.

"Master started to look like Gaz two weeks ago! He's all pretty now! Like WAFFLES" Gir shouted from behind Zim's legs. The two of them were so focused on Zim that they hadn't even noticed the little green dog behind him. Upon realizing that all eyes were on him Gir smiled and waved at all of them.

"Right." Dib said slowly as his attention shifted back up to Zim.

He noticed that Zims usual uniform was now way too small for him. After his last growth spurt he had used his other uniforms as materials to extend the length of the ones he saved. However, with his new height and extra additions the uniform was simply too small for further use. It was obviously not designed for this.

"Well, aren't you going to invite me inside?" Zim asked irritably. Gaz recovered first and  moved out of the way to let him inside. "Thank you. Zim knows he is amazing, so of course you two were two shocked to move. But I require your assistance."

"I can see why." Gaz said as she led Zim to the couch. She turned her head to growl at her shell shocked brother who was still standing by the open door. "Dib! Close the door and get over here. Zim is your thing. You should be the one dealing with this."

"Uh huh." He said dumble as he closed the door.

"God damn it, you're no help right now." She snorted as she turned back to the alien. She sat down on the couch and crossed one leg over the other as she leaned back.

"First thing is first. Explain this. Maybe that'll get my stupid brother out of it." She said, gesturing to him.

"I'm not sure. I'm having the computer scan over all of Irks databases to look for clues. Since we are so far advanced and have a long history it is going to take a while." Zim said. He crossed his arms and sat down next to Gaz on the couch. Behind said couch stood Dib who was slowly coming out of his stupor.

"Wait, so you have no idea what is causing this?" Dib asked Zim who in turn shrugged. "Has anyone of your species done this before?"

"As far as I know, no." Zim rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't be surprised if your filthy planet did something to me. Irk knows it's covered in ick."

"I don't think anything on our planet could cause something like this to happen." Dip said as he started to try to think of a reason.

"Whatever the case may be, Zim still needs help right now." Zim reminded them as he pointed to his uniform. "Hiskool starts tomorrow and I can not attend like this. That other human female that runs around in clothes as revealing as this gets too much attention. Attention that Zim does not need."

"Yea, I see your point, but the others are going to notice anyway. It's not often your classmate who you thought was a guy suddenly grows boobs." Dib told him with a 'what can you do' look.

"Then help me get as little attention as possible!" Zim demanded loudly.

"Help master look reeeeaaaallllly pretty!" Gir waved his arms excitedly for where he sat on Zims lap.

"I will, if you say please." Dib said with a sadistic grin. It was part of the game they played whenever Zim needed his help. As an Irken and former invader Zim hated saying please with a passion. Depending on what he needs he would either reluctantly give in, and be really petty for a couple of days, or storm off and figure it out himself. This was unfortunately a situation in which he can not storm out. And Dib was well aware of that.

"I will rip out your spine and shove it down your throat." Zim hissed at him from between clenched teeth.

"That doesn't sound like a please to me." Dip replied, completely unfazed by Zims death threats. They were still quite common between the two of them even after all these years.

"Oh will you two quit flirting already." Gaz groaned loudly as she stood up. "We all know that in the end we're going to help him anyway, so skip the foreplay and let's get to the action. We're going shopping." Gaz said, taking charge of the situation.

"W-why would you say something like that?" Dib stuttered out as he looked on in shock at his little sister.

She really disliked the awkward underlying sexuall tension the two of them had. She especially hated the fact that neither of them seemed to realize it either. However, she did enjoy their mortified and embarrassed faces at her word choice. Torturing her brother was one of the few perks of having one.

"YYYAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!" Gir screamed happily and waved his hands in the air excitedly.

"But first you're going to need a change of clothes for right now, Zim. If you go out looking like that I guarantee that more than one person will think they'll see you later tonight on the corner." Gaz grinned.

"Gaz!"

"Corner of what? I live in a cul de sac. They're known for having no corners." Zim asked, confused.

"Never mind, just get up here." Gaz said pointing upstairs. "Let's get you dressed so we can get to the mall."

"YYYYYYYAAAAYYYY!!!!! MAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!" Gir shouted at the top of his voice box once again.

Half an hour later Dip was parking the car outside of City Center Mall. Over the years several new wings have been added to the mall, making it one of the largest in the world. Perfect for finding a few new outfits for Zim. Though with how many choices there were it would take a while before finding something that suited him.

"So, let's start with a basic question. What color do you want?" Dib asked the short alien.

"On Irk all members of the race, save for a few exceptions, wear either pink, purple, or red." Zim explained as he peered through a window. "I happen to like my unifor and hate that I can no longer wear it. So I will be choosing primarily pink clothing."

"I can see why you would do that, but you don't need to follow Irken regulations anymore." Dib pointed out, cautious of Zims soreness on the topic but still wanting to help push him to be his own person.

"I was completely cut off from the other members of my species. I'm not allowed to have any contact with them. I only have access to the databases." Zim reminded them, deep sadness in his voice. "I may be banished from my people, but I am still an Irken. I want something to connect me to them. Even if it's only a color."

"I completely understand." Dib nodded. He realised that this was not something he should push. He could only imagine the heart ache Zim was going through to be cut off from his species. How alone he must feel.

"Lets try Hot Pink Girls." Gaz said as she led the way. She was followed by all three of them, though Gir was in a bag they had cut a hole in so he could look out. It was a bright pink bag that Gaz got as a Christmas gift from their Aunt that she absoulutly loathed. So she threw in the back of her closet and forgot about it. "I would never buy anything in here, but you might like something."

True to its name almost everything in there was a shade of pink. There was the occasional purple, red, light blue, or yellow, but everything else was pink. Dib and Gaz both looked around and cringed at the over pinkness of the store. Zim, on the other hand, was looking eagerly at everything.

Though he had spent years on this planet he had never taken changing his outfit into consideration. Sure, he had noticed how his fellow classmates' styles had shifted, changed, and adapted over the years. You would have to be completely blind to not notice. Despite noticing his fellow peers change, he had not followed suit. So now that he was forced to change he was intrigued and attracted to the idea.

He wandered the store for a minute, just looking at all the different clothing. Next to him Gaz was also peering at the clothes and occasionally taking one off to hold up next to him. Dib was sitting on a chair near the dressing room as he waited for them to finish. They wandered the store for half an hour as they picked out clothes. When they had a few outfits Gaz brought Zim back to the fitting room to try them on. After a quick explanation on what to do she sat outside the stall with Dib.

The first outfit Zim came out wearing was a bubblegum pink halter top with a hot pink aline skirt. The second outfit was a fuchsia off shoulder shirt and a magenta asymmetrical skirt. The last outfit they picked out was a rose pink high neck and a mellon ruffle skirt. With each outfit he came out in he would strike a few poses for them. Though Gaz and Dib would have hated each of the outfits on anyone else, on Zim they looked good. Like they were designed specifically for him. Gir, on the other hand, would have thought Zim would look good in a garbage bag covered in mud and sewage.

They paid for the clothes using Membranes' credit card and left to shop some more. They hit a total of twelve stores that day. In the end Dib had three new shirts, Gaz had six shirts and a new pair of pants, and Zim had acquired sixteen new outfits of various styles. The only thing most of them had in common was that they were all a shade of pink.

What had surprised the two siblings, though was when they had stopped in Make-a-Moose. Upon entering the childish store Zim had taken Gir out of the purse and started to put different outfits on him. The two siblings watched with confusion and mild horror as Zim continued to dress up a giggling Gir while cooing at him. It was almost maternal, like he was taking care of a child. Gir was having a blast and enjoying all the positive attention for Zim. After he was done Zim had picked out six outfits to fit over Girs' dog costume.

"Aww, look at you! You're so cute in this little cheerleader outfit. Yes you are." Zim cooed at the little Sir unit. When Zim had come back to reality he saw the slightly disterbed look on their faces. He tilted his head, not understanding why. "What? Did something happen?"

"Since when were you so, motherly to Gir?" Dib asked as he pulled a face.

"Don't be ridiculous. Zim is not 'motherly', as you put it." Zim said as he put air quotes over the word motherly. "It is only natural that I would want Gir to adapt to match me as well. After all, we both must blend in."

"Right." Dib said disbelievingly.

"Whatever, let's get some food. I'm starving." Gaz pointed to the food court that had all sorts of fast food options.

"You two go ahead. Almost all of that human food would kill me." Zim said, waving them off. "I'll pick a table."

Zim picked a table by the window that overlooked a park. With it still being early spring there was fresh growth everywhere. The whole park was a lively green. Zim remained unimpressed with Earth's flora, however. To him nothing compared to Irk's wildlife.

Zim was brought out of his musings when Dib and Gaz sat down at the table. They both had a hamburger, fries, and a soda. Dib pushed the third soda over to Zim, along with a pack of small donuts.

"Thanks." Zim nodded at the snacks.

"No problem." Dib smiled as he fed Gir some of his fries.

"So what are we going to do about tomorrow?" Gaz asked them, voicing a thought that each of them had been having all day.

"There is not really much we can do to prevent anything." Zim started and took a sip of his drink.

"I'll stick by his side and keep the others off him as best as I can." Dib offered. "With any luck they'll be too distracted by their phones to care. Or too dense to even notice a difference. I've never got them to even see the differences between us and him." Dib grumbled easily.

"Ah, Dib-human. Your human brains are simply too dull to notice anything important." Zim said with a grin, sharp teeth clearly visible.

"Whatever." Dib waved him off, used to Zims undermining behavior to care. "So for now we just take this one thing at a time. Zim, are you sure your computer has access to your peoples entire databases?"

"Of course!" Zim confirmed. "They are very similar to your planets 'internet'. Everything is on it somewhere. Now where the answer to this situation is is a different matter. Our databases are extremely large."

"Alright. You have your computer keep looking. In the meantime we'll act like everything is normal." Dib nodded.

They finished their shopping at the mall and headed back home. After dropping off all of Zims new clothes the three of them had decided to do a movie marathon to get their minds off the current situation. Though most of the time was spent arguing over which movies to watch. They had to keep making popcorn as Gir would eat the entire bowl within minutes.

Later that night after Zim and Gir arrived home Zim decided to check the computer. He was surprised to see that the computer was still searching. He was sure that it would have come up with an answer by now. Whatever it was, it was buried deep. So he decided to let it run for the night. In the meantime he had work to do on the cruiser.

3,856
Chapter 2

Dib arrived a little bit earlier than normal to pick up Zim. He was hoping that they would be able to figure out what happened before skool started. He knocked on the door and was relieved that he was allowed inside now. He had spent two weeks getting electrocuted and lasers shot at him while he wasn't allowed in. So it was a relief to not start his day off smelling like smoke and burning hair.

When he walked into the weird house he saw that Gir was sitting on the couch eating a waffle. A bright purple waffle. He smiled at the cute little robot. "Hi Gir. Where is Zim?"

"Hi Mary! Hi Gaz!" He shouted as he waved at the Membrane siblings. "Master is getting ready for skool, but he is having trouble... with... OOOHHHH! I love this show!" Gir giggled as he got distracted by the monkey on the TV.

"We don't have the time for this.Where is Zim?" Gaz asked the robot gruffly.

"Oh yea. He's in the kitchen." Gir said pointing to said kitchen. "Master! Your friends are here!"

"Good! Send the human female in here! I need her assistance!" Zim shouted back, voice strained like he was struggling with something.

Gir turned to look at Gaz. "Zim said-"

"I heard." She cut him off as she stormed into the kitchen. "Alright, what is it? Oh."

She walked in expecting to help him with putting his shirt on the right way or something equally stupid. While it was something similar, it was still something she herself had struggled with once upon a time. A thing all women are forced to struggle with and endure. A trap that squeezes the life right out of you on a daily basis. The bane of all womens day.

The bra.

Zim had his head stuck in one strap and both of his arms stuck in another. He had an annoyed look on his face. "This thing is a horrible monstrosity that should be burned. I hate it!"

"I completely agree, but we have to wear them." Gaz said reluctantly as she untangled the green alien. "Otherwise everyone will be staring at your chest. Stupid perverts."

"If I ever get serious about conquering this disgusting mud ball again I'll be sure to ban the use of these wretched things." Zim spat, frustrated at the piece of cloth he was forced to wear for the sake of normality and blending in.

"I'm half tempted to help you." She laughed, sympathising with the aliens' plight. "Here, let me show you an easier way to put it on."

Ten minutes later they're walking out of the kitchen, Zim in full disguise mode. He was wearing one of the outfits he got from the really pink store yesterday. The mellon and rose colored one. A sour look was on his face. The day hadn't even started and he was already in a bad mood.

"Hey Zim." Dib greeted the Irken. He looked Zim up and down, instantly recognizing the outfit. "You look good today."

"Of course I do. Zim always looks good." Zim said proudly as he pointed to himself. He looked over at Dib and decided to return the compliment. "I suppose you don't look nearly as stinky today as well."

"Oh, quit flirting." Gaz gagged at the two of them. "We need to get to skool."

"Oh, yea. Right, skool." Dib blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "So, Zim. Did the computer find anything yet?"

"Unfortunately no. It has been running for days now and still nothing." Zim grumbled in frustration as he followed them out. "If there is any information on this, then it's buried deep. It would have to be thousands of years old. Something that is apparently too unimportant for us to learn as smeets."

"Well, there has to be something." Dib said reassuringly as he smiled at the little alien. Zim made an uncertain face, but otherwise didn't push the subject further.

The drive to the hiskool was unusually quiet. Normally there would be some chatter and the radio would be playing in the background. However today was different. None of them were sure how this day was going to go. So it was tense in the car.

When Dib parked the car Zim hesitated for a second. On his own planet he knew he was considered defective. Knowing that alone stung his squeedly spooch. Over the last few years, though reluctantly, he had made this planet his home. He was banished to it, so he had to make the best of it.

Even though he still saw most humans as lesser life forms, his classmates were still his peers. The ones he had to see nearly every day. He didn't want to be seen as defective by them as well. Having his own world do so had hurt enough. Being a complete outcast on this one too would be too much.

"Hey. You good?" Dib asked his friend, concern clear on his face. The concern was still a little weird, as they had been nemesis for a couple of years.

"Yea, Zim is fine." Zim confirmed stubbornly and exited the black car.

Right away he could feel the eyes on him. Their stairs burned through his skin, though he tried not to let it show. However, on the inside he felt panic rise. Like the kind he felt on the first day of skool when Dib noticed right away that he was not human. On either side of him both Gaz and Dib stood, shielding him the best they could from the others looks. They could sense his unease with all the staring. So they did their best to help block them out.

When they went inside Gaz stayed with the two of them as long as she could before she had to break away for her own classes. Though she never says it she does care about her brother and his friend. By acting as a shield today she showed her loyalty and care for them. In her own Gaz like way. Nevertheless, she'll never say it out loud.

Upon entry to their classroom Dib and Zim watched as nearly thirty heads turned to face them in unison. Like a field of gophers turning to look a hawk. Every single conversation that was going on stopped instantly. For five minutes itt was dead silent in the classroom.

"Well," Started Ms. Bitters. "I was not expecting that, but I don't care. NOW TAKE A SEAT!"

Both Dib and Zim rushed to their seats. Since Ms. Bitters had moved through the grades with them their seating arrangements had not changed. Zim was still by the door while Dib remained by the window. With Zim on the other side of the classroom it will be hard to help him, should he need it. At least he could still keep an eye on him from here.

Ms. Bitters started the lesson and talked about how doomed they were. From around him Zim could hear the whispers of his classmates. He felt all their eyes on him. They talked and pointed in his direction. He did his best to ignore it all, to ignore all their looks, their whispers. Everything they were saying behind his back.

But he couldn't ignore the one in his head. The one that screamed louder than the rest. The one that had been with him for longer than any of these humans have been alive. The one that screamed that one word he loathed and feared above all else.

Defective.

With every whisper, look, and point he could hear the word grow louder.

Defective.

He wanted to drown out their voices. He just wanted them to stop talking.

DEFE-

"I saw bigfoot in my garage again!" A familiar voice shouted out. Zim opened his eyes, just now noticing he had closed them. When he turned to see what was happening he saw Dib move to the front of the room. Of course it was him, no one else could get the attention of the whole classroom.

"Are you serious Dib?" One student asked, voice a mix between bored and disbelieving.

"Are you still going on about that stuff?" Another student piped in.

"He was using the saw mill this time." Dib told them as he looked around the room. When his eyes landed on Zim he winked. Zim knew then that Dib did this on purpose. He was getting their attention off Zim and on to himself.

And that's what he did all day long. Anytime the attention on Zim became too much for him, Dib would find some way to get it off of him. Usually by doing something the others would deem as crazy. Like claiming he saw bigfoot in his garage again. Or something else equally as distracting. It was never enough to keep the attention off of him, even so, Zim still appreciated the effort.

By the end of the day both Zim and Dib were exhausted. Zim from all the attention he was receiving and Dib from trying to get as much of it off of him as possible. Still, he completed his goal. Most of the students had gotten over Zims sudden drastic change in appearance by now. A few were even very receptive of the change. More than once throughout the day he had gotten compliments.

Unfortunately he had also gotten some of the unwanted kind of attention as well. In the form of teenage boys who think they're cooler than they actually are. Twice today Dib had nearly gotten in a fist fight to keep them off of Zim. Both figuratively and literally. It had taken the thread of detention and Zim literally dragged Dib away to stop the fight before it happened.

When they had reached Dib's car at the end of the school day both Dib and Zim were exhausted. Zim flopped over the back seat of the car, not bothering to buckle. Gaz took one look at both Dibs and Zims tired faces and could already guess what kind of day it had been. She made a face akin to sympathy.

"Rough day?" She asked, more just to start conversation than anything.

"You have no idea." Dib sighed.

"I hate those primitive worm babies." Zim grumbled. "Take me home, I wish to get as far away from here as possible."

"You'll find no arguments here." Dib sighed again and started the car. "I hope every day isn't going to be like this. I'm going to need some backup to deal with them."

After Dib dropped Zim off at home Zim first took off his disguise, then checked the computer for information. Still nothing. Zim groaned and face planted onto the couch. Gir, sensing his masters distress, cuddled up next to him. Zim sighed heavily as he wrapped an arm around his tiny robot. His presents was somewhat soothing to the frazzled alien.

His antenna flicked and vibrated on his head. Something they had never done before. He was too drained to even care why his antennae were acting so weirdly. All the sudden changes to his body was too much for the Irken. Instead he did something unusual for his species, though not impossible, and fell asleep, not wanting to deal with this day anymore.

From half a world away another's head suddenly perked up. She looked around, all at once alert to her surroundings. She felt something she had never felt before. It pulled at her and made her antenna buzz on her head. She swirled her head left and right as she finally settled on a direction she felt a pull from. A pull she had never felt before in her life.

For a moment she was weary. Years training to be a soldier and eventually an invader had made her suspicious of any change in the environment and herself. Yet, the call itself did not raise any red flags. In some way it was as soothing as it was alertening. Like she was supposed to be alert by something, just not of the call.

Unwavering, it called out for her to follow it. To find its source and protect it. It was in distress and it was her duty to fix it. To protect it and care for it. She needed to answer its ancient and long dormant call. Though she did not know the word for it, she instinctively knew what it was for. She knew who she was supposed to protect.

She headed the call and started to make her way back to her ship. By her side Mimi looked up at his master carefully as he followed her. She had a new mission to complete. No one, not even the Tallest could sway her from it. She turned on her ship and started to follow the call, though she already knew who had sent out the call.

"Don't worry Zim. I will take care of everything." Tak said to herself.

Chapter 3

Zim groaned in relief as the final bell rang. It may have only been the second day since he's been back, but he was already done with it. He couldn't wait until the last day of skool when he would graduate and would no longer need to spend his days in this life sucking abysse. He would probably follow Dib to college though.

But that was a thought for another day.

Right now he just wanted to get home. He had gotten an alert from his computer that information had been found. He would have left in the middle of class, but they had an important test to take. Not that it would have stopped him, but he had to wait for Dib, who needed to take the test. So he's been impatient waiting at his desk all afternoon. He's been vibrating in his seat for hours now. It didn't help that his antennae were still slightly vibrating.

Dib had been excited too. He was always fascinated with Zim's alien biology, and right now he had a chance to learn something new. It took all of his will power not to run out of Skool with Zim to learn about his condition. It was only the thought of his fathers disapproving of skipping class and all the consequences of doing so that made him stay.

Zim quickly gathered his things, ready to get out of this place. "Dib! Hurry up!" Zim shouted at the human.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Dib sighed as he stood from his desk. He walked over to the energetic alien. "It doesn't matter how fast we get to my car, we still have to wait for Gaz. Remember?"

"Uhg, fine." Zim groaned as they walked up to their lockers.

"Hey, baby. You're looking fine today." A student flirted with Zim as he walked by. "I could stare at you all day."

"Zim is not a T.V. Point your looking holes elsewhere." Zim hissed at the human. He'd been dealing with comments like that from students for two days now, and frankly he was over it.

"Come on, don't be like that." The student tried again.

"Hey. He said to leave him alone." Dib said squaring up to the other student.

"Tsk. Whatever." He snorted. "If you ever want to hang out with a real man instead of this freak, just let me know sweetheart."

They watched as he walked away, a swagger in his step. Zim sneered in disgust. "Are you sure I can't perform experiments on humans?"

"Zim." Dib said disapprovingly, though a smile was on his face.

"What? I think replacing his vocal cords with that of a penguin would be an improvement." Zim said innocently, though his sharp grin put off the illusion.

"What am I going to do with you?" Dib chuckled. They turned to walk down the hall out to the car.

"You can take me home so I can figure out what is wrong with me." Zim replied, amusement in his voice.

"There you two are. I was wondering if you two would ever get out of there sometime today, or if I was going to have to walk home." Gaz huffed in annoyance.

"See, we could have rushed! She was already here!" Zim complained loudly.

"Rushed? What for?" Gaz asked, getting in the car. She opened one eye to look at her brother.

"The computer found news on Zims condition." Dib explained to his sister.

"So why didn't we ditch this place sooner?" Gaz asked, somewhat miffed that she could have gotten out sooner.

"See!"

"Because we have to stay in school and Dad would be mad if we left early for no good reason." Dib explained, a tired yet annoyed look on his face. Sometimes he felt like he was the only one who cared about their school performance. "Besides, didn't you have an important test today as well?"

"Yea, but who cares?" Gaz shrugged, not bothered by the thought of getting an F on an important test. "It would have been their fault for making us a test two days after spring break."

"Seeeeeeeeee!" Zim shouted in Dibs ear.

"Zim, sit down! You're going to get me pulled over!" Dib said, pushing the little alien back into his seat.

"Then go faster." Zim demanded as he glared at the human.

"No, I'm going the speed limit." Dib denied his demand. "Have some patience. We'll be there soon."

"UUUHHHHHGGGGGG!" Zim groaned loudly, annoying both Dib and Gaz. "Your Earth machinery is so slow."

Dib sighed and ignored his friend. Instead he focused on his driving. True to his word, it took only another three minutes and twenty three seconds to get there. How did he know it took exactly three minutes and twenty three seconds? Because Zim counted, out loud, the whole way there.

Master! You're back!" Gir cheered in pure joy.

"Yes Gir. I'm back." Zim confirmed with a nod of his head. He reached down and patted his little robot.

"I thought you were never coming home again!" The little robot cried out heartbreakingly.

"Gir, Zim goes to skool almost every day." Dib reminded the tiny thing.

"Oops, I forgot!" Gir giggled and ran into Dibs legs.

"We do this on a nearly daily basis, Gir." Zin said, agitation clear in his voice. "Now, Computer!" Zim shouted into the base.

"Whaaaaaaat." The semi sentient machine groaned loudly.

"Bring up all the information you acquired about my sudden change in appearance." Zim demanded.

"Fine." The computer complied reluctantly. "Here is all of the information I've gathered. If this is what you are, then what is happening to you is extremely rare."

"So it is a disease or something of that nature?" Zim asked, tilting his head.

"No, it's not." The computer said as if it should have been obvious. "You are a type of Irken known as a Brood Mother."

"What's a Brood Mother?" Dib asked, looking at Zim for an explanation.

"I don't know." Zim answered, confused. He turned back to the computer with a scowl. "Your software must be malfunctioning. I have never heard of that type of Irken."

"That's because they were all wiped out five thousands years ago, shortly after the development of space exploration." The computer explained. "They were removed from General Irken Knowledge two thousand years afterwords as it was no longer considered necessary or relevant to learn. Now only historians and Tallest learn about the long forgotten type."

"I don't understand." Zim was confused by this knowledge. "I have so many questions. Why did they go extinct? Why weren't more cloned after they were wiped out? How are you sure if I'm one if they were wiped out all that time ago?"

"Uuuuhhhhhhgggggggg!!!!!!!" The computer groaned loudly in annoyance. "Here, read the files I made on the subject and leave me alone." He pulled up said file and displayed it on the screen for them to see.

"It's all in that weird language of yours." Gaz complained, irritated that she couldn't read it. "Read it out loud, Zim."

"Fine." Zim groaned. "Lets see."

Brief Explanation of Brood Mothers

Brood Mothers existed 5,324 years ago. Prior to the development of cloning, Brood Mothers were the primary source of new smeets. Unlike regular female Irken who produce one to three smeets in an Irken year, Brood Mothers produce up to thirty clutches a Irken year, having up to 270 smeets.

Also, unlike Irken females, Brood Mothers will go into heat up to thirty times an Irken year. The heats are to attract mates and are caused by the Brood Mother going into ovulation. These heats can be willed away by the Brood Mother if she does not wish to become pregnant at that time. If she chooses to go through with it, the heat lasts three days. Afterwards she will produce a clutch in three months and have a month of recovery before the next heat.

Brood Mothers grew taller than other Irken. They would stand between 5' and 5'5". They had permanent breasts that would fill with a sugary and carb filled fluid known as Mulk. They used this Mulk to feed their offspring who were too small to eat solids. Brood Mothers also had control over other Irks, much like an Earth Queen Bee or Ant. There were some limitations to this control, however.

All Brood Mothers would nest together in one spot. This spot was known as the Nesting Grounds. The Nesting Grounds were located at a site where there were a lot of fluid filled air vents. The Brood Mothers would drink the rare nutrients rich sugary liquid known as Golden Syrup. (It is very similar to Earth Honey.) The air vents would provide warmth for the smeets and eggs. The fumes that poured out of the top, though completely harmless to Irken, were deadly to the other wildlife. This acted as a natural protection for the Nesting Grounds during the Irken races more primitive years.

Amongst the Brood Mothers there is a hierarchy. The tallest, strongest, and smartest was known as the Brood Mother Queen. She had control over the Nesting Grounds, the other Brood Mothers, and lesser Irken. She was also the only one allowed to mate with the Tallest (or tallest male if the current Tallest was a female) and was the only one the Tallest was allowed to mate with. When a Brood Mother Queen became too old or died then there would be a fight for her spot. Any Brood Mother believing that she was worthy of the tidal would compete. First they would all compair heights. The tallest one would win the title of Brood Mother Queen. If there was a tie, then they would compete in a competition of wits, then strength. Should there have been a tie in that as well, then the other Brood Mothers would vote on who the next Brood Mother Queen would be. The Tallest would cast the final vote if there was yet another tie.

Within the Nest Sight there were usually around thirty or so Brood Mothers. Each Brood Mother had her own nest within the Nesting Grounds. Each nest had two sections within it. The smaller section was located at the warmest spot of the nest as it was the one that held the eggs. It was comprised of smooth materials to not break the eggs. The larger part of the nest was for the hatched smeets. It was made of soft and sturdy materials to protect them.

Each Brood Mother was attended to by Nest Maides. Each nest had between 2-3 Nest Maids. Their jobs were to keep the Brood Mothers and smeets healthy, happy, clean, fed, and safe. They were also responsible for maintaining the nest and bringing supplies to the Nesting Grounds. Nest Maids are all young Irken females who answer the Call of the Brood Mother. They generally choose to help their own mother, but occasionally will go to help a different Brood Mother. When an Irken female reaches about 20 Irken years she will move on from being a Nest Maid and will be replaced within hours by another, younger Irken female. Brood Mothers and Nest Maids often develop a close bond that would last long past the time a Nest Maid moves on from her duties.

Male Irken were rarely ever allowed in the Nesting Grounds. Not even the ones meant to breed with the Brood Mothers. When a Brood Mother would go into heat, she would leave the Nesting Grounds and go seek out one of her mates. Brood Mothers would often have between 3-9 mates. Some had as few as 1-2 while others had up to 14. The highest recorded number of mates was 19 to a Brood Mother Names Que. Males would compete with each other to prove themselves worthy of breeding with the Brood Mother, but it was her decision in the end. Her decision was final.

Unfortunately the Brood Mothers went extinct due to a Virus that targeted only their DNA structure. Within a day it completely wiped out every Brood Mother on the planet. This forced the Irken race to rely solely on a new process called cloning. Unfortunately Brood Mother DNA was never known to be collected due to the fact that the Nesting Grounds could only hold so many and it was often full.

"There. I hope that explanation was satisfying enough." The computer grunted, completely bored with the conversation.

"It does answer most, but not one." Zim confirmed as he stood there in thought. "If I really am a Brood Mother, how was I made if none of the DNA was ever saved?"

"It said it was never known if Brood Mother DNA was saved." Dib pointed out. "That doesn't mean that none of it was ever saved."

"I suppose so, but why wouldn't they speak up about it?" Zim questioned him. "It seems like they were pretty important."

"They would have been the equivalent to a powerful human queen, while The Tallest would have been the king." Gaz said as she compared the two species.

"Perhaps it was forgotten about? Or maybe the Irken that saved the DNA died before they could have told anyone?" Dib offered an explanation with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I suppose so. Irken weren't always as great as they are now. I suppose it's possible mistakes could have been made in the past." Zim agreed thoughtfully. "Wait, it said something about the Call of the Brood Mother?"

"Yes. While the information on this was rather limited, it did show that when a Brood Mother reached sexual maturity she would first send out a Call to young female Irken to acquire her fist Nest Maids who would then help her build her nest. This usually occurs a week or more after her maturing, though if she goes through extreme distress it will activate sooner." The computer explained to Zim as the little alien touched his vibrating antenne.

"So that would explain why my antenna has been vibrating since last night. But I am light years away from the Irken Empire, so who could they be calling too." Zim wondered out loud.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. The sudden sound made both Zim and Dib jump. They all turned to look at the door as they heard the knocking again, this time more aggressive.

"Computer! Who is at the door!?" Zim shouted as he pointed at said door.

"It would appear to be Tak." The computer said after a quick scan.

"Why would she be here? I thought she would want to avoid us after we foiled her plan to destroy the Earth." Zim said, confused.

"She's probably the one your stupid wird bug parts were calling out to." Gaz suggested in irritation at Zim's sheer dullness. How he could live alone and not die was beyond her. What he stupid brother sas in his was beyond even the comprehension of even the smarties man on Earth. Which just so happened to be her dad.

"That would make sense." Dib agreed with his sister. He then turned to Zim. "Should we let her in? I mean, she did try to kill you last time we saw her."

"And if she tried such a thing again Zim will be victorious once again!" Zim shouted loudly as pointed to the sky. "Gir! Open that door!"

"Well, okie dokie!" Gir opened the door and let the purple eyed Irken in. She had not changed much over the years. Like Zim sha had grown a couple of inches due to a diet of Earth food, but not nearly as much as Zim. Next to her stood Mimi in his cat disguise.

"Tak." Zim started, his eyes narrowing at the other Irken. He held his head high, his back stiff, and his antenna stood up straight as an arrow. His sudden change in demeanor took Dib off guard for a moment as he was not expecting Zim to suddenly display authority like this. "Why have you come here?"

"I heard your call from the other side of the world." She responded as she wiggled her antenna at Zim, a sign of respect and submission. "I am here to answer it and serve you. Tell me what I must do."

"Okay, this is weird." Gaz muttered as she shifted uncomfortably.

On the other hand Dib was fascinated in watching a social interaction between the two Irken. The scientist in him wanted to record this in his dia- I mean journal. He wanted to study them and record the formation of their new dynamic. But right now something told him it was probably best not to move too much.

"You are my Nest Maid and I am your Brood Mother." Zim said firmly to the smaller Irken. When she wiggled her antenna again in submission Zim relaxed again. "Good. It's going to be nice to finally have another Irken talk too. These humans are so dim."

"Hey!" Dib protested as he turned to glare at his alien friend. "The hell, Zim?"

Tak narrowed her eyes dangerously at Dib. Her instinct to protect her Brood Mother was strong, but she would not act without permission. "Zim, would you like me to remove the humans from the grounds?"

"That won't be necessary." Zim waved his hand. "These two are allowed here. Any other human is fair game though if you want to experiment or use it for target practice."

"Zim, really?" Dib deadpanned as he stared at Zim.

"What? The deal was that I couldn't hurt the other humans." Zim said, putting an emphasis on I. "There was nothing about another Irken doing anything."

"Oh, for the love of-, I'm going home. This day was too complicated, I have too much homework, and I have too much to write in my jurnal." Dib sighed tiredly as he grabbed his backpack.

"Don't you mean your diary?" Gaz teased as she followed him out the door.

"Bye Mary!" Gir shouted out the door before closing it. "Ooooh. What's that!" He said pointing at Tak.

"That's Tak. You've met her before." Zim reminded the small robot. "She's here to assist me."

"YAY! I HAVE A BIG SISTER NOW!!!!!" Gir screamed as he started to run around a very confused Tak. Even Mimi seemed uncertain about the malfunctioning robot.

"Gir, she's not-"

"WWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!"

"Gir, no! Thats-"

"YYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!"

"Gir, stop-"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAHAAAAA" The little robot continued to scream happily.

"Whatever." Zim gave up as he rubbed his head. He knew full well there was no use talking to Gir when he got like this. "Well, come on Tak. I might as well show you the rest of the base. I hope you like waffles."

Chapter 4

The addition of Tak to their small group was at first a bit rough. Firstly, Zim, Dib, Gaz, and Gir had spent years smoothing out the wrinkles and rough edges between them. One part from Zims history of trying to take over Earth, one part culture clash. They had found a happy medium in all this that Zim had lived in for years. One part of that was to not kill people unless absolutely necessary. Tak was pretty new to the concept.

While she was more than capable of not getting caught by local and federal authorities, it was still the principle of the matter to the siblings. Well, more to Dib than to Gaz anyway. He still regarded himself as Earth's Protector. To say he was upset to find the body of a postman in the living room was an understatement. After Zim calmed Dib down by letting him know she didn't know why he was there and it was in her instinct to protect the Nesting Grounds, Dib took Tak through the same 'Introduction to Earth Normalities' as he did with Zim.

The next step was to get her back into skool. This required some forged documents and transkriptions. Since she was already a new student to the skool before it was a little bit easier to get her in. The tricky part was getting her to blend in. It was easy when she had to stick around a bunch of 12 year olds who were her height. Now she had to blend in with hiskoolers. Though she had grown a couple of inches, it was not nearly enough to avoid suspicion. Gir suggested high heels.

While they couldn't use high heels per say, it did give Zim an idea. Zim modified a pair of boots to help her seem taller. He filled the vamp all the way up to the foxing. He lined the shaft with soft, moldable, squishy material, then lined the outside of that with metal to add stiff support to both protect her foot and make it appear as though her shin was in it. The whole time she wears the boots she stands six inches taller, putting her at five one. However, because of how the boots are she is standing on her toe tips the entire time she is wearing them.

It took her a whole day to learn how to walk in them and another to figure out how to run. They hurt her if she stood or walked in them for too long, but they were effective. She was able to attend skool without raising too much suspicion. She did attract a little bit of attention by her old classmates when she was reintroduced to them, but one half baked excuse later and no one cared anymore.

One of the perks of her attending the hiskool was that there was another person to help chase off the unwanted flirting from the teenage boys. She was there when Dib couldn't be. Not only that, but the other students were way more scared of her then they were of Dib, much to the dismay of Dib. He couldn't understand why as he had gotten into more fist fights with them then days she had been there.

The thing that has caused the most issues, however, was her overprotectiveness of the base. She didn't want to let anyone into the area that didn't belong. Dib more so than Gaz. More than once she had tried to get into a fist fight with him. Much to Gaz's amusement. Only Zim was able to call her off, letting her know that Dib was allowed here. It didn't stop her from trying again the next day. That went on for nearly two weeks before she stopped.

When Dib had questioned why she attacked him the computer reminded him that Nest Maids were charged with guarding the Nesting grounds. When he questioned further on why she didn't attack Gaz, the computer explained that Tak probably saw Gaz as Zims other Nest Maid. Both Dib and Gaz had raised a brow at the assumption, but didn't question it. Irken biology and sociology was confusing enough. They didn't need to try to figure this one out.

So, after she had been there for nearly three weeks, she had finally found a spot in the group. Before long it was natural to have here with them. Almost like there wasn't a time where she wasn't here. They all sat together at lunch, rode together to and from skool, and hung out together outside of skool.

Which is what they were doing this Friday evening after skool. After getting their skool work done Gaz and Dib drove back over to Zims. Dib had heard of an old haunted warehouse about an hour outside of town. He wanted to do an impromptu ghost hunt with the group. He had convinced Gaz by promising to take her to the game store when the game she wanted came out. Now he was over to try to convince Zim and Tak to go.

However, he stopped just inside of the door frame, mouth open in confusion as he looked around the front room of the house. The whole room was covered in blankets, pillows, and large stuffed animals that were strewn all over the place. From next to him Gaz looked up from her game long enough to raise a brow before realising she didn't care. Dib took a couple of steps in, hoping to find someone to get an explanation as to why. From the middle there was movement, then stillness for a moment. In the time it took Dib to blink, Gir had flown from the cent of the pile to crashing into Dibs midsection.

Dib let out a wheeze as he fell back, air completely knocked out of him. "Hi Mary! Do you want a sammich?"

"Uhg, no thank you Gir." Dib groaned as he sat up while balancing Gir in his lap. From behind him Gaz had fallen on the floor laughing. "Hey, do you know what is up with all this?"

"Uh-hu." Gir nodded, looking up at Dib with a smile.

Dib waited a moment for Gir to finish. "Are you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

Dib let out an exasperated sigh. "Why are there so many soft things in the house?"

"Oh! They're for master." Gir said cheerily.

"Okay, thanks." Dib thanked the little robot even though he didn't get the answer he wanted.

"They're for my nest." Said a voice from the side. All three of them turned to look at the newcomer into the room.

"Your nest?" Dib said questionly as he tilted his head. He remembered that the computer mentioned that Brood Mothers make nests, and sure he knew that Tak considered the base as a Nesting Ground, but he didn't think that Zim would actually build a nest somewhere in the base. With no male Irkens on the planet there wouldn't be a point in doing so.

"Yes, Dib-stink, my nest. I put it in the deepest part of my base. I've been gathering these materials for three days now to make the biggest, softest, most glorious nest known to Irken." Zim said proudly as he gestured around the room.

"Is that my blanket?" Gaz growled as she pulled out a black and purple blanket that was decorated in skulls. She wrapped it around her shoulders while she glared daggers at Zim.

"I don't know, probably." Zim shrugged, not phased by the teen girls fiery glare. "Gir wanted to help."

"I broke into your house!" Gir cheered happily.

"Where's Tak?" Dib asked, realising that someone was missing from the group.

"She's down by the nest. She has been helping me build my nest to ensure its stability and gloriousness." Zim explained as he gathered an armful of pillows and blankets. He then led the way to the trash can shoot. "Grab a load of soft things and follow Zim."

"Gaz, you coming?" Dib asked his sister as he gathered his own armful of blankets and pillows. Gir sat behind her to watch her play, fascinated by the game.

"Nah, you too losers can gawk at Zims glorified pillow fort. I'm going to wait here." She sat back on a pile of pillows so she could comfortably play her video game.

Dib shrugged and followed Zim down to his underground base. His underground base was both large and complex with multiple floors. Each floor had at least ten different rooms, each one designated for a specific purpose. Dib had already been in several during his times in the base. He was usually in the laboratory, mechanics room, archive, computer room, or one of the various storage rooms. He has yet to have a chance or reason to see more of the base before today.

Going down he noticed that the base was still dark, but the temperature was warmer. Not a sweltering warmth, but rather a comfortable warmth, like that of a warm spring day. This was different from its normal coolness. At first he thought it would be because of the changing seasons from winter to summer. Then he remembered that the temperature underground stayed at around 50 degrees fahrenheit between 10 to 40 feet down, and Zims base stayed within that range. So that means he had to have deliberately changed the temperature in the underground base area.

Once they reached the deepest part of the base Zim stepped up to a large, heavy door. He typed in a passcode with one hand while he balanced his load in the other. When the door opened Dib stared in awe at the room before him. It was unlike any of the other rooms in the base.

First of all it was twice the size of the house in both height and width. It was circular with a dome top all painted magenta. Bright pink lights shone down from the ceiling on cables. Apun looking closely one could make out constellations. Off to one side was a mostly empty spot that had padding on the floor and the occasional stuffie. In the other direction was a water fountain that drained into a shallow pool. Next to that was a pile of what looked like stones that formed a climbable object.

By the back wall were several large boxes filled with all sorts of snack items. All ranging from fun dip to hunny buns, from bags of chips to bags of sugar. Next to those were what appeared to be soda and slushie dispenser. More specifically, the ones from the gas station down the road that had gotten broken into four days ago and were now missing their drink dispenser.

Dead center of the room was what Dib assumed was the actual nest. It was larger than any bed he had ever seen. Most of it was put into the ground with a ring of pillow, blankets, and stuffed animals curling it to form a wall. On one part of the nest was a somewhat raised spot that had another shallower wall around it too. Within the nest itself were carefully arranged piles of soft things. Most of all, it looked like one of the most comfortable things Dib has ever seen.

"Wow." Dib breathed, amazement clear in his facial expression.

"Go on, bask in Zim work." Zim said, pleased with Dibs reaction to his nest. He wouldn't admit it, but Zim wanted Dib to be pleased with his nest. He didn't understand why, but he just did.

"Take a good look, you won't be allowed back down here." Tak growled as she took the soft things to bring to the nest.

"This place is so cool. It's like the tree fort I've always wanted as a kid, but underground." Dib said excitedly as he looked around the place. His gaze landed on the water fountain and confusion clearly flashed across his face. "What's with the water fountain? I thought water burned your kin."

"No, you stupid human." Zim rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hibs. "I'm burned by the large amount of pollution in your planet's water supply. Pure water doesn't affect me. How else do you think I'm able to drink sodas, slurpees, or slushies? Or choke down your skools disgusting food?"

"Then where did you get that?" Dib asked confused as pointed back to the water fountain.

"Oh, I made the water?" He explained.

"You made it?"

"Yep. All it was was some hydrogen and oxygen. Not the most complicated compound I've ever made." Zim shrugged as he looked at the running fountain.

"And you made the fountain, why?"

Zim shrugged, not giving a verbal answer. He really didn't know why he had done it. He had an empty spot that needed filling, so he chose a fountain over leaving it bare. He found that he liked having it in here anyways. The sound of the running water was soothing to him. Especially after a long, hard day.

"Is there a reason why you're visiting?" Tak asked, trying to get to the reason behind Dibs appearance.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot!" Dib exclaimed as he brought up his phone. "There's a haunted warehouse about an hour outside of town. I was wondering if the two of you were up for a last minute ghost hunt." He handed his phone over to Zim who scrolled through the article on the website.

"A ghost hunt?" Tak siad, confused. She had heard the term thrown around by Dib and Zim, but she never had a reason to ask what it was.

"Yea! We go into a haunted building or area and look for ghosts." Dib explained as he started to get excited. "We use an EMF radar, cameras, spirit boxes, and a bunch of other things to try and prove that the ghost is there! The best thing to do is to try to get a picture."

"Then what?" Tak asked, not sure she understood the point in this.

"Well, then we post them online." Dib replied as he took his phone back. "I post them to this online organization I'm part of called the Swollen Eyeball. Though I'm hoping that one day I'll get on Mysterious Mysteries."

"Why?" She asked, antenne folding back slightly.

"To prove to everyone that I'm not crazy."

"Why?"

"Look, are you just in or not?" Dib asked, irritated by her questioning his hobbies. He got enough of that from everyone else in skool, he did not need to deal with it outside of skool.

"Yea, sure." Zim agreed and Tak shrugged.

"Great! Let's go!" Dib said with a slight cheer to his voice. "You might want to grab some snacks, we're going to be gone all night long."

Dib let the small group upstairs to the kitchen. There they gathered several armfuls of snacks before heading out to the car. They all gathered in, Dib and Zim in the front while Tak, Gaz, and Gir were in the back. Gir stood on Gazs lap so he could stick his head out the window, like the dog he pretends to be. The trip was long, but filled with chit chat. Some in the way of complaints about how long the drive was taking, other ways by telling jokes to each other. Though using only one race of beings got the jokes at a time. The culture barrier was coming down, but it still stalled some things between the humans and the Irken.

When they had arrived at the abandoned warehouse it was a lot creepier than the picture on the phone made it look. For one there were a lot more broken windows, two the front door hung off the doorframe, and three there was no moon tonight. Not that it would have been much help inside the building, but it did cast the outside in a spooky aurora.

"We're going to spend the night in that dump?!" Gaz exclaimed, not at all pleased to have to spend all night in the spooky and disgusting building.

"I agree with the human sister." Zim crossed his arms as he, too, sneared at the falling apart building. Both him and Tak were out in their disguises. Take was wearing a lime green shirt with a pink tank top over, dark blue shorts, black, pink, and green striped leggings under the shorts, and her black boots. Zim was in a far more feminin outfit. He was wearing his fuschia off shoulder shirt and magenta a-line skirt. For shoes he was wearing his taffy pink kitten pumps.

"Come on guys, it's not that bad. Just think of all the ghosts we can find inside." Dib whined as he pointed at the building. He had gathered all his ghost hunting equipment out of the car and piled them next to it.

"I like it! We gonna make some ghost friends!" Gir giggled as he did a happy dance.

"See, he gets it!" Dib switched from pointing at the warehouse to pointing at the disguised robot.

"We never actually find anything, you know." Zim pointed out, glaring slightly at the big headed human.

"Alright, fine. If you want to spend the night outside, feel free to do so." Dib said as he grabbed his car keys. "Just know that the keys are going inside with me."

"Fine! We'll go in." Zim hissed. He reached down and grabbed the snacks before stomping up to the building. Everyone picked something to bring in. Dib grabbed the most since it was his stuff. Gaz brought in her blanket and two of the cameras. Take picked up tripod stands to hold up the cameras. Gir was too busy trying to eat a bug to grab anything.

The inside of the warehouse was maz like with shelves that stood nearly to the ceiling. Next to no natural light made it through the boarded up windows. Not that there was much to begin with. Torn sheets of plastic hung from door frames and off the shelves. The occasional rat or mouse would scamper across their line of sight. The whole building had a heave and oppressive feel to it.

They picked a somewhat empty spot near one side of the building to set up camp. It was an old loading bay if the pallets, crates, and forklift were any indication. The wall had several loading docks for semi trucks welded and pad locked shut. Fallen shelves barricaded a few of them and made a shelter-like spot. It would make a good spot to set up and protect them from the occasional falling debris.

"So, what do we know about this place?" Zim asked nervously as he subconsciously pressed closer to Dib.

"Well, this place was built about forty years ago. It was meant to be a storage for several nearby super stores for the same franchise." Dib said as he repeated off what he learned from the website. "They were very profitable, though they had an unusually high injury rate. So much that OSHA had visited several times and shut the pace down multiple times for safety improvement. At the last time the safety inspector was supposed to show up the general manager claimed that he never arrived.

"The car was later found in a pond two miles away from the warehouse, but nobody. The company was accused of killing the woman and covering it up, but with no evidence the case was dropped. Shortly afterwards employees started to report strange occurrences happening. After a month of things disappearing, unexplained injuries, and sightings of a strange woman one of the shelves fell down on the Gm's office at the center of the building, killing everyone inside, including the GM. The bodies were never recovered.

"A few days later the place was shut down. Most of the stock was moved out within two days, though about an eighth was left behind. This attracted looters to the area. Several times cops had been called to the building, but the strange thing is that they were called by the looters. It is reported that they were all hysterical and claimed to have been chased by someone, a tall man with a hole in his chest. Others say it was a woman who seemed to be disconnected from her limbs and head. However, the cops never found evidence of any other person being there.

"Before long the place earned a reputation of being haunted by the locals. Many believed it to be the ghost of the missing safety inspector, trying to keep people out of the dangerous building. Still doing her job from beyond the grave." Dib finished explaining to his group of friends. He looked up to see a mix of shocked, horrified, and mildly interested faces.

"Well, someone died a workaholic." Gaz snorted as she sat down under the improv shelter. She picked up the tablet that was connected to each of the cameras and cycled through them to make sure each one was working. During hunts Gaz would stay back at the camp and monitor the cameras.

"Gaz! Have some respect." Dib scolded his tetchy sister. She rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

"So what are our orders?" Tak asked as she studied each item.

"Well, first we have to set up the cameras, in number order." Dib started as he got them all organized. "Usually Zim and I would handle that part. Since you're here you can already get to step two while we work on step one."

"Which is?" She questioned, voice bored.

"You'll set up the audio recorders in key locations." Dib explained as he pulled out a map of the building. Someone who had previously been to the building had made an updated map that showed all the spots where there were collapsed shelves, broken areas, or blocked pathways. ways. He had printed off several at home, enough for everyone to have one. He marked several locations on the maps with either a red or blue number.

"Okay, Zim and I'll go place cameras on the red marks. One in the office, one by the front door, one on the other side of this fallen shelf, one on the other side of the building, and the last one at the back. You will place the five recorders in the places between each of these. Once Zim and I place the fifth camera down we'll walk around with the sixth."

"Absolutely not!" Tak protested and crossed her arms as she glared at the taller of the two. "Zim will come back here where I can keep an eye on him."

"There will be a live feed to the tablet. Plus we have walkie talkies." Dip reminded her as he held up one to show her. "If anything happens to any one we'll be able to immediately contact each other. It'll be fine."

"Tak, calm down. Dib and I have done this dozens of times now, and nothing ever happens." Zim said reasurenly as he placed a hand on his hip. "The Dib just likes to drag us out to these 'scary' places and chase after dust particles for fun and to scare us, which fails to work on someone as amazing as Zim."

"Hey! What I do is actual scientific study and experimentation!" Dib protested loudly. "And if I remember correctly, you had to have me carry you out of the forest last time."

"You lie!" Zim screamed as he pointed accusingly at Dib, who merely raised a brow in response.

Dib turned back to Tak, who stood patiently watching the two argue. "Since I don't have a seventh camera yet, you'll come back here with Gaz."

"Hey! I wasn't done!" Zim protested indignantly.

"I have a flashlight for each of us." He reached into his backpack to pull one out.

"Hey! Hey!"

"They're pretty strong, so don't shine it in anyone's face." He handed her one of them.

"Hey! Hey! Look at me!"

"Or you could burn their retinas. Or whatever it is you guys have." Dib shrugged as he finished passing them out.

"Hey! Dib-thing! Hey!"

"Be sure to place the correct number recorder at the correct spot so we know exactly where a noise is located. We don't want Gaz to direct us to the wrong spot by accident." Dib pointed to the numbers on the side of each recorder and to its corresponding location.

"Hey! Stinky! Hey! Hey!"

"Now, these colors represent how far each thing can see or hear. Green is crystal clear, yellow is mostly clear, orange is somewhat okay, and red is the farthest. Everything outside of red is outside of the range or sketchy at best." He pointed to each color in turn.

"Hey! Pay attention to me!"

"So, is everyone clear on their tasks?" Dib asked and got various responses of yes.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!"

"Alright, Zim, lets go." Dib turned to look at his partner.

"Okay, fine." Zim shrugged and picked up the bag of cameras while Dib got the tripods. They walked down the path they came together until it came to where they would split off from Tak. She would continue to go forward while Zim and Dib would go back to the front door to put down the first camera.

"If anything happens to him, I'll kill you human." Tak shouted after them as she went her own way.

"Yea, yea. I got it." He waved her off. While he knew the threat was real, he wasn't particularly concerned. There was a part about what she said that caught his attention. It never really dawned on him, but he realised that even after they all found out about Zims actual gender they never stopped calling him a he. Zim never insisted and Gaz and Dib never tried to call him a her, but they never asked Zim if that is what he'd prefer.

"Hey, Zim. Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." He replied as he set up the tripod close to a shelf so it had a full view of the area.

"Fine. Can I ask you another?" Dib grunted, slightly annoyed. They walked around some crates and down a hall between two sets of shelves. They had to go under a gap from a fallen shelf to get to the other side. They took a right down the hall, followed almost by an immediate left.

"You already did." Zim said smugly.

"Alright," Dib started as he got the hang of what Zim was doing "can I ask you two more questions?"

"Already did so." Zim turned around and taunted the human.

"When?" Dib asked confounded as he looked at Zim with confusion.

"Just then." Zim said smugly as he looked at Dib with a wide, self-satisfied grin. Dib flipped him the bird before putting the camera on the tripod. "So what do you want to ask Zim?"

"Oh, now you wanna know?" Dib grumbled at the alien.

"Tick tock, I'll only care for so long." Zim stated with a smile as he waved his finger back and forth like a pendulum in a clock.

"I've just been wondering," Dib started as he rubbed the back of his neck "if you would prefer if we started to use female gender pronouns?"

"What brought this up?" Zim asked, confused. He looked at his human who seemed to be a bit unsure of himself, if his fidgeting was anything to go by.

"Well, this whole time we've been using male pronouns for you, but female for Tak, even though you two are apparently the same gender." Dib clarified. They started down the hall, past the bathrooms to get to the office. "I was wondering if you wanted us to change."

"Male, female, Zim does not care. Zim is Zim, always have been." Zim claimed proudly as he placed a hand on his chest. "It doesn't even matter on Irk what gender you are as there's really no difference between the two besides voice pitch. Zim just so happens to apparently have a lower voice than normal, though it has gotten higher pitched since my change."

"Oh. Okay." Dib said accepteningly. Then he realised something Zim said. "Wait, you said there is no difference between the two genders other than voice pitch."

"Yes, because that is correct." Zim confirmed.

"But Tak has curly antenne and longer lashes than you? And you thought you were a male, so doesn't that mean there is a difference?" Dib asked the alien, confusion clear in his voice and face.

"Curly antenne is a styling choice, much like how a human female will curl her hair. I could style my antenne like that if I wanted to." Zim clarified. "It was made extremely popular on Irke, especially amongst the female Irken, during Tallest Miyuki's rule. It was done to both honor her and show respect. After her death it continued on as a tribute to her memory. Though a bunch of the new smeets don't do it anymore as they never lived under her rule."

"What about the longer lashes?" Dib asked.

"Oh, that." Zim waved his hand. "Both male and female Irken can have longer lashes. They're a genetic rarity. Similar to how only 2% of humans have green eyes. Only 6% of Irken have longer eyelashes."

"I have so much to change in my notebook." Dib shook his head.

"Wait, what?" Zim questioned, surprised. He then glared at the teenaged boy, irritated at him. "I thought I destroyed that! Did you make copies?"

"Yep." Dib said smugly. He then noticed something on one of the shelves. He looked closer and saw it was one of the audie recorders. "Looks like Tak was already here."

"Think we'll catch up to her?" Zim inquired as they continued on to the office.

"Maybe. Our paths overlap a couple of times." Dib shrugged his shoulders. He opened the door to the cafeteria and shone his light around.

It looked like an old cafeteria you'd see. There were several round tables, a couple of vending machines, and a set of sinks to one side. On top of the counter, next to the sinks was an old microwave that hadn't been touched in twenty years. A fake plant stood in one corner, cracked and brown from years of collecting dust. Across the room was a door that let into the office. It was the only one left as the other two were blocked according to the map.

Dib opened the door to the office area. Inside, in the middle of the room were four cubicles. To the right was the printer room, cleared of everything but a mobile cabinet. Two more aged fake potted plants decorated the room. On the other side of the room they could see debris from where the shelves had collapsed on the offices on that side of the hall. Scattered around were broken chairs, varrius office supplies, and other random broken things.

"I didn't expect the cubicles to still be standing after all this time. How are we going to set the camera up so it could see everything?" Dib pondered out loud.

"We can move the cabinet to the corner and set the tripod up on top of it." Zim suggested as he pointed to said cabinet.

"Great idea Zim!" Dib praised.

"I know."

They set their stuff down and moved over to the cabinet. It took some effort to move it since it hadn't been moved in nearly twenty years and the wheels had rusted. It's large size, though great for the tripod, also added to the difficulty of moving it. Once it was in place Dib set up the camera as best he could. Not certain it was good enough, he contacted Gaz on the radio.

"Hey, Gaz." He called her.

"What do you want, Dib?" She grumbled through the radio.

"How well can you see out of camera three?" He asked, prepared to adjust it.

"It's facing a little too high." She told them and Dib adjusted it. "Stop. That's perfect."

"Alright, thanks Gaz. Over and out." Dib hung up. "Alright, two more cameras left."

"I can count, Dib." Zim rolled his eyes.

They made their way back out of the office building and down the hall from where they came. They had to walk all the way down to the end of the building to get to the other side of the building since it was blocked off by collapsed and fallen shelves. The gap was just big enough for dib to squeeze through and was the only one of the four gaps that connected both sides he could squeeze through.

They walked past some more collapse shelves, being careful not to get cut on the mettle edges. They then walked past the third recorder that was set up outside of the office back door. While that door could open, you could not get further than a couple of feet before the rubble blocked you off from the rest of the office building. Shortly after they passed by the office they ran into Tak.

"Hey, Tak. How's it going?" Dib greeted the Irken.

"I have nearly completed my objective. I have only one more audio recorder to place down." She informed him.

"That's great! You're getting this done a lot faster than Zim and I." Dib commented with an approving nod of his head.

"We walked by two of your devices already." Zim added in.

"I will be returning to Gaz shortly." Tak stated as she continued her way. After a few steps she stopped and turned back around. "Be careful around here. I thought I saw a figure in this spot when I was setting up the audio receiver."

"Really? What did it look like? Was it tall or short? Did it have a hole in its body?" Dib excitedly questioned her as he got in her space.

"Enough!" She snapped as she punched him in the jaw. It wasn't hard, but it did get him to back up. "I don't know. I only saw it for a second." With that she stormed off.

"Man, she can hit hard." Dib whined as he rubbed the spot she struck.

Zim grabbed his hand, pulled Dib down to his level, and looked at the spot. Dib flushed red at the sudden close proximity. "Oh, quit your whining. It's barely bruised." He huffed while he observed the spot.

Zim didn't notice the blush forming on Dibs face in the darkness of the building, nor did he realise he still had hold of his hand. But Dib noticed. In fact that was all he could notice at this moment. If the building were to collapse around them he would not have realised until after he died from falling debris. His heart pounded and the only thing he wanted to do was lean in closer to Zim.

"Uh, we should get moving." Dib nervously squeaked and broke away from Zim. He tried to calm his rapid heart beating as he walked off to the fourth spot. Zim raised a non-existent eyebrow at Dib's unusual behaviour, but didn't question it. Instead he followed after his strang human.

When they were setting up the fourth camera Zim was the first to break the awkward silence. "Why are we setting up the camera to face the wall? Shouldn't we have it facing the other direction."

"Normally I would, but the website said that shadows were sceen along the wall around loading bays five through seven. I want to catch it." Dib explained as he angled the camera slightly up.

"Whatever." Zim crossed his arms.

"Alright let's set up the last one." Dib said leading the way.

Ten minutes later they were finishing up the last camera. Its back was to the pile of collapsed shelves and faced down the hall, past the back door. This way if someone came in they'll know. That's also why they chose to put a camera near the front door. They didn't want anyone sneaking up on them.

"Alright, Gaz. We set up the last camera. How are things looking on your end?" Dib asked, speaking into the radio.

"All cameras are working. The audio receivers are working. Tak is here next to me, and Gir fell asleep." Gaz updated him. "Try to get Zim to steady camera Six, though."

"It's not my fault Dib forgot the grippy thing." Zim grumbled as he held the camera in one hand and his flashlight in the other.

"He means the shoulder mount." Dib corrected the alien. "And this was a last minute thing. I'm surprised that was the only thing I forgot."

"Whatever. Just don't be surprised if I miss something." Gaz told them. "Over and out."

"So, Dib. Where should we look first?" Zim questioned.

"Well, most of the reportes say that the shadow was seen by the office building, so maybe we should explore this side first, then move to the other." Dib suggested as he once again took the lead.

For twenty minutes they looked all around the office on this side of the building. They looked through the shelves and through the few boxes that were still there. A couple of times Dib would call out to the ghost, asking if it was there. They didn't get so much as a peep. Zim was starting to get bored and more than once wondered off for a minute.

They were now by audio receptor three, just inside the side door for the office. Even though they couldn't get through, Dib still wanted to poke around. So zim followed him into the small space. Mostly because Dib would bitch if he missed something with the camera. Though if he knew what was about to happen, he would have stayed outside of the door.

The second both of them were in the room the door slammed shut, making both of them jump and turn around. Dib moved towards the door, making Zim move back further into the room, and tried the doorknob. When it didn't move he started to slam his shoulder against the door, trying to force it open. Even though he was no longer a scrawny child and had some muscle to his frame, he still didn't even make the door budge.

"Dib? Can you not open the door?" Zim asked nervously as he watched the human repeatedly slam his body against the door.

"I'm trying. Maybe if I get some distance." He said backing as far as he could. The small running start was apparently what he needed, because the second his shoulder made contact with the door it busted open. Wood splinters went everywhere and the door flew off its hinges, smacking into the shelves across from them.

Dib leaned over and rested his hands on his knees while he tried to catch his breath. From right inside the door frame Zim was staring at the human in awe, face flushed. He just busted down a door by himself with nothing but his muscles. No tools, no pack to help, nothing but himself. Watching the Dib bust down the door did something to his Squeedily Spooch that he never felt before.

As he looked at Dib he started to notice things he hadn't paid much attention to be for. When he stood up he towered over the Irken. While that wasn't new to him, he now realized just how tall he was. His body, unlike the lean, skinny Irken body, was more filled out with muscle. While he wasn't clad in it like the body builders he saw on T.V., he was still broad shouldered and muscular arms. Capable of taking hits and dishing them out. He already knew that from his years of fighting with the human, then from him fighting with the other students.

Zim was snapped from his thoughts when the radio on Dibs hip buzzed. "Hey, tweedle-dee and tweedle-idiot! Is everything all right over there? All I heard was crashing from audio receptor three. Come on, pick up! Tak is going nuts over here."

"Y-yea, everything is fine." Dib spoke into the radio as Zim finally stepped out of the room. "The door swung shut on us and got stuck. I had to break it down."

"Are you two okay?" She asked, just the barest amount of concern in her voice.

"Yea. My shoulder hurts, but other than that we're fine." Dib reassured the teen.

"Good, 'cause the two ove you need to get over to the office." She ordered. "Camera three is flickering like crazy and I think I saw something moving in there."

"Alright, were on our way. Watch our back." Dib responded as they started off towards the room.

"Always." She replied before hanging up.

"What do you think caused the door to close?" Zim asked the human. He was still a little tense from what just happened and was looking for a logical explanation to calm him down.

"I don't know." Dib admitted, deflating Zims hope he would have an answer. "There wasn't a breeze, we were too far in for one. I don't think anything knocked into the door. The hinges were rusty and hard to move, so I don't think it would have closed due to uneven ground."

They squeezed back under the gap and made it to the other side of the building. They headed straight to the office building, saying a quick hello to Gaz as they passed by audio receptor two. When they got to the indoor building Dib contacted Gaz once more.

"Zim and I are going in. Is the camera still going nutz?" He asked his sister.

"Yep. It might be interference or the battery dying." She replied. "But I keep seeing a shadow near the HR room."

"It could be one of the billions of plastic bags we've seen everywhere." Dib offered.

"Or it could be hobo who got here before we did." She said sharply.

"Right, or that." Dib conceded. "I don't think anything is going to happen, but can you have Tak on standby?"

"She's already ready. Just say the word." Gaz informed them.

"Alright, we're going in." Dib hung up.

He looked at the door and hesitated for a moment before quietly opening the door. He slipped inside with Zim right behind him. He switched his flashlight to its lowest setting to not alert anything should there actually be something in there. As quietly as they could they walked over to the offices.

The second they stepped through the threshold they could feel an intense heaviness. Like there were weights weighing down on their shoulders and chests. The air was thick and dense, like syrup, choking them with every breath. It had put both of them on edge, feeling like they were about to be attacked.

"I'm going to check the camera. You watch my back." Dib said as he stood on the cabinet.

While he fiddled with said camera Zim looked around the room, darting the flashlight back and forth. While he was looking into the printing room he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his flashlight in its direction and froze. At the end of the hall was a tall, shadowy figure with a large hole through his chest. Zims Squeedily Spooch squeezed in fear as he locked eyes with the entity down the hall. He could even speak to alert Dib.

Luckily his sister was watching. Her voice roared through the radio. "Dib! Turn the fuck around! Now!"

He turned around just in time to see one of the broken chairs be flung towards them. He jumped off the cabinet and onto the still frozen Zim, knocking the items out of his hands and dropping them both to the floor. From right above them the chair broke across the wall and rained down on them. Dib took the brunt of the blow as he shielded Zim with his body.

"We need to get out!" Dib shouted as he grabbed the Irkens hand. He made a dash for the door but it slammed shut the second he got there. He tried opening it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Look out!" Zim shouted as he pulled them back the way they came. A pair of scissors slammed into the door, right where Dibs head was. They ducked down behind the cubicle and Dib ripped the radio off his hib.

"Gaz! Gaz! We need help!" He shouted into the radio, but no reply came out. "Gaz? Are you there Gaz? Gaz? Shit!"

"Why isn't she replying? What's wrong with the radio?" Zim asked, voice high with panic.

"I don't know." Dib confessed as he hit the side of the radio with his hand, hoping that would get it to work. He saw the entity coming around the side of the cubicles and pushed Zim up. "Move, move!" He shouted as pointed around the side of the cubicle. They ran around the side of the cubicles, just barely staying ahead of the ghost.

Zim, being slightly faster than Dib, made it to the hall with the collapsed rooms and shelves before Dib did. Meaning he saw the chair being thrown at him. "Dib, duck!" He shouted, but it was too late.

Dib got hit straight in the back, knocking him forward, dazing him. Zim grabbed his arm and dragged him back to the HR room. He closed the door and braced himself against it as a loud pounding was heard from it. Dib came too just in time to grab Zim right as the door burst open. It flung the two of them back against the broken desk.

They looked up and watched in horror as the angry entity entered the room. Dib pulled Zim behind him, ready to protect him as best as he could. The entity charged at them, but before it could hurt them another one grabbed it from behind and flung it out of the room. It was the woman ghost with the detached arms, legs, and head. It turned to look at them for a moment, then pointed to yet another fake potted plant in the corner of the room before turning back to face off with the first ghost.

Both Dib and Zim looked at the plant it pointed to. This one was different from the others. There was no dust, no cracks. It looked brand new, like time didn't touch it. Or like something took care of it to keep it from breaking. Dib suddenly got an idea.

"I think the second ghost wants us to look in that plant." Dib shouted over the sounds of the two ghosts fighting.

"You want to go scavenger hunting now?" Zim asked, giving dib a bewildered look.

"I think the first one is trying to keep something hidden in it and the other one knows. I think if we find out what, it'll stop this." Dib explained to the smaller alien.

Zim gave him a look before nodding his head. "Alright, we'll try your idea. I'll cover you."

They ran the short distance across the room to the plant, dodging the items being thrown at them. While Dib tried to break open the pot, Zim used his years of military training to block the objects. The ghost threw a heavy metal paper weight at them that Zim barely managed to catch. He handed it to Dib to use to break open the pot. Dib brought his arm back to smash it against the pot as the first ghost roared angrily.

When Dib smashed it open a pile of bones came pouring out onto the floor, a skull landing on top, facing the duo. The ghost roared again, this time more painfully then angrily and disappeared. Dib picked up the skull and looked up at the remaining ghost. Both watched with shock and awe as the woman ghost became more solid, less like a shadow. Her limbs reattached to her body, her colors came back. Within seconds a beautiful woman with chocolate brown skin, mesmerizing green eyes, and a OSHA uniform stood before them. A bright smile graced her face as she looked at them.

"This is you, isn't it?" Dib asked, voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes, it." She confirmed, voice like honey with the slightest southern twindge to it. "I was coming here to shut this place down. When the general manager found out he killed me. He cut me up, striped my body from my bones, and put me in that fake plant to hide me. All so he could continue his dangerous practices to keep this place running. He lied to the police, he and the managers covered up his crime. They didn't care who got hurt, so long as they made their money. So when he and all of the managers were in his office I collapsed the shelves on them, to get this place to shut down for good.

"But he remained, determined to make sure his crime was never found out. Never to soil his memory. He chased out everyone who entered and kept me away from my bones, forbidding me peace. Until you two came. Now I can rest." She smiled again. "Thank you."

"No problem." Dib smiled back. "Thanks for saving us."

She nodded her head and faded away. The second she was gone it was like a million weights lifted off them. The air was lighter, cooler, and easier to breath. The place felt more empty, more calm. It was finally at rest, just like the woman.

Zim and Dib looked at eachother and broke out into laughter. Both giddy from their near death experience. The sound of footsteps came thundering down the hall and within seconds Gaz, Tak, and Gir came around the corner. They were tense, ready for a fight, and had scared and worried looks on their faces. When they saw both Dib and Zim were fine they relaxed, but looked on in confusion at the two laughing idiots.

"After I yelled at you too look out the radio stopped working. Are you two alright?" Gaz asked as each female whent to their respective species to inspect them.

"Yea, we're fine." Zim confirmed as Tak looked him over.

"A little bruised and banged up, but we're good." Dib agreed.

Gaz looked over at the pile of bones, shock clear on her face. A rare emotion for the calm and indifferent young woman. "What happened here."

"You're not going to believe us." Dib chuckled.

After Dib and Zim explained what happened to both of the shocked and amazed females they started packing up. While Zim, Dib, Tak, and Gir gathered the cameras and audio receivers Gaz called the local police station. They waited for the cops outside for about ten minute before they showed up. They made up some story about finding the bones by accident while ghost hunting. The officer rolled his eyes, but took their statement while the others gathered the bones. After an hour everyone went home.

Dib was driving them all home while Gaz was looking through the tablet. It was late, they were all exhausted and ready for bed. Or rest in the two Irkens case. Dib was excited though. He got actual ghost footage on camera and couldn't wait to publish it online the next day. That is until Gaz let out a soft oh no.

"Hmm? What's wrong Gaz? Did you spill your bag of chips again?" Dib asked as he looked at her through the rearview mirror.

"I hope you weren't looking too forward to posting your ghost adventure." Gaz said as she looked up, sympathy in her eyes.

"Why?" Dib questioned cautiously, dread settling in his chest.

"The tablet's memory was full. It didn't store the videos or audios." She told him, sympathy clear in her voice.

"Oh, Motherfu-"

Chapter 5

Ah, prom. A magical time in a young girl's life. A milestone on her way to becoming a young woman. A night full of wonder, magic, and romance. Of friends coming together for hours beforehand to attend beauty appointments, hair appointments, and trying on each other's dresses. A time when they will grow closer together, deepening their bonds of friendship. An unforgettable night full of memories they would take with them for the rest of their lives.

Such a horrible night filled with unrealistic expectations and bad decisions.

Or at least that's how Gaz put it when she described it to the two Irken. The three young females were at the mall, shopping for their prom dresses. Gaz took the three of them, leaving Dib at home. She made up some excuse about how he can't see their dresses until the night of. He raised a brow, but knew better than to argue with his sister. So they were now at the mall, going from store to store trying on different dresses and accessories.

"If it is so bad, why are we attending?" Tak asked the taller female.

"I'm attending to watch the entertainment of everyone else making bad decisions or humiliating themselves. I'm also attending to watch my brother make a fool of himself in particular." Gaz replied with a sadistic grin.

"What will the Dib-thing be doing?" Zim questioned her as he picked out another dress to try on.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Gaz chuckled darkly. She reached into the rack and pulled out another dress. "Here, Tak. Try this one on."

Tak accepted the dress and they all went back to the dressing rooms to try them on. Gaz went in first. When she came out she was in a primarily black dress with silver highlights. It had a sabrina neckline, silver sleeves that came down to her elbow, and godet skirt with a silver flounce. It looked good on her and matched her usual style.

"That's a very nice dress, Gaz." Tak said as she looked the human female up and down.

"Indeed. Very fitting for a human female such as yourself." Zim agreed as he looked at her with a smile.

Tak was the next one to go in. When she came back out she was wearing a dress designed to look like a galaxy. It had a Queen Ann neckline and a mermaid skirt. The flounce went from deep blue, to light blue, to sliver. The dress sparkled from the little stars placed on it. You couldn't see her shoes, which made it perfect for her to wear her boots.

"A perfect dress for an Invader!" Zim shouted loudly, drawing some attention to the small group. He brought his hands in front of him and clenched his fights. He spoke through clenched teeth. "To conquer the galaxy, you must wear the galaxy."

"Calm down Zim." Gaz snapped at him before turning back to the shorter Irken. "That dress is perfect for you. It matches your dark blue hair well."

Zim was the last of the three to find a dress. When he did he picked out a pink dress that was lighter pink on top and darkened as it went down the dress. It had a Grecian neck line with three rhinestone diamonds and black trim. A asymmetrical skirt that had a black belt, also decorated with small rhinestones. He wore black tights underneath and pink kitten pumps. To finish it off he had on a new wig. It was short and black, like his other one, but more femin. It was shorter than Gaz's, but slightly longer than Tak's.

"You really like pink, don't you zim." Gaz asked with a raised brow. "It does suit you though. Kinda cute too."

"On Irk this dress would be esquist." Tak commented as she nodded her head approvenly.

"Are you serious?" Gaz looked at Tak in horror. "That dress would be 'esquist' to your people?"

"We did live on a world where everyone wore uniforms." Zim reminded Gaz. He was looking at himself in the mirror, twisting this way and that to get a good idea how well it looked on him. "Belive it or not, but most races in the universe have their people in uniforms. Earth is one of the few rare ones that don't."

"What the Hell." Gaz whispered quietly as she tried to imagine being forced to wear something else her entire life.

"Are we done yet? We have the dresses." Tak groaned loudly while Zim changed back into his normal clothes.

"Almost." Gaz smiled at the shorter female. "We still need accessories."

"Accessories?"

They went to seven more stores that day looking for the right accessories to compliment their dresses. Gaz picked out a set of black stud earrings and a silver matinee necklace with a skull on the end. Tak picked out a purple leaf crystal choker that would match her silver stud earrings. Zim, not having ears for piercings, instead chose a princess style silver plated Sukkhi necklace and two matching silver bracelets.

Gaz also picked out new make up for the three of them. She hasn't told them yet, but she plans on doing their makeup on the day of prom. So she needed some new things to match their dresses. Particularly with Zim and his sugary sweet pink style of clothing.

"Are we done now?" Tak groaned loudly for the tenth time that day.

"Tak, I don't see why you're groaning so much." Zim chuckled as he peered into another jewelry store. Gaz grabbed his hand and pulled him away. It had taken them half an hour to get him out of the last one. "This shopping thing. It's fun. It brings me great pleasure."

"You are going to be such a high maintenance girl." Gaz snorted as she shook her head. "I hope my brother gets a good enough job to support that."

"Don't be foolish, Dib-sister. Zim has plenty of maney and ways to get what he wants." He waved her off.

"Then why are we using my dad's card?" Gaz asked.

"Because you offered." Zim replied with a smug grin.

"Hmm. Fair." Gaz nodded her head. "Alright, let's get out of here. I have some zombies to kill."

Prom was on that following Saturday and all week long it was the talk of the skool. All during class, all of lunch, in the halls, the locker rooms (Zim now had to use the females), and everywhere else they went. It was all they heard about. And it was driving Zim crazy as he just couldn't understand why it was so important. While everyone else was looking forward to the day, he was looking forward to it being over so he wouldn't have to hear about it anymore.

He wasn't the only one of the group to feel the same way. All four of them were getting fed up with it. They only held onto their shrinking sanity by the fact that it would be over soon. But just barely.

So on the day of Gaz called them over at about three in the afternoon. Prom would start at six, so it gave her plenty of time to work on them. She needed the time for the challenges of working on all of them. Being Irken, they didn't require any form of waxing or plucking. But she did, which leads us to the present.

"Why would human females subject themselves to such pain for the sake of socially accepted beauty standards?" Zim asked bewildered as he watched Gaz rip yet another wax strip off her leg.

She hissed in pain before addressing his question. "Because people suck and society sucks and expectations suck." She gritted her teeth and ripped off another one.

"It's a shame." Tak mused. "On Irk we have no beauty regulations. There is no need for them."

"Well, lucky you." Gaz growled and ripped off another one on her calf. "FFFFUUUUCCCCKKKK!!!!!!! That one hurt!"

There was a knock on the bedroom door. "Language ladies." Professor Membranes' voice called through the piece of wood.

"Sorry dad." Gaz called out to him. "Did you pick up the dresses?"

"Yes, I did. I have them right here for you, my daughter child." His cheery voice answered.

"Great, I'm coming to get them." Gaz opened the door and accepted the three dresses. They were in black zip up bags to protect them on their way back to the house. "Did you take Dib to get the corsages?"

"Noooooooo." Professor Membrane said slowly.

"Well, we're going to need them." Gaz said as she put her hands on her hips.

"Alright, alright. I'll go get them now." He chuckled at left.

"Take Dib with you!" She called out after him before closing the door. "Alright, where were we?"

"We were doing this." Tak said as she ripped the last wax strip off Gaz's leg. Gaz let out a small yell and turned to glare at Tak. "You're welcome."

"Aren't we getting ready a little too early?" Zim asked as he peeled wax strips off of Girs green and black doggy disguise, who had taken to playing with the extras when no one was looking. He had gotten roughly a dozen all over himself. Not that he cared that much. To him it was a fun game.

"Nah, we're going there on time so we can leave early. Pulse my dad wants pictures of us." Gaz informed him as she cleaned up her mess.

"Is that why he's actually around today?" Zim inquired. Gaz nodded and moved over to the dresses. One by one she pulled them out and hung them on the coat rack on the door.

"Lets see." Gaz crossed her arms and looked at the dresses thoughtfully. Tak watched her stand there in thought while Zim finished cleaning up Gir. "I think I'm going to start with Tak's nails, then yours Zim."

"What are you doing to them?" Zim asked. He pulled Gir on to his lap to keep him from getting into everything. The little robot sat contently on his lap, happy just to be here.

"I'm going to paint them."

"Like a house?"

Gaz turned to look at the alien. "No, like how I always have them." She said holding up her hand to show him.

"You do that?" Zim asked, baffled at the new information.

"What did you think happened?"

"That once you get old enough they just appeared." Zim explained, still perplexed. "All adult females have colored nails."

"No, okay, no Zim." Gaz pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Humans use a type of acrylic paint on our nails to make them look pretty. It's not a biological thing our bodies do."

"Oh." He said simply, satisfied with her explanation.

"Alright Tak. I think I'm going to do a deep purple base coat, then add on some gems." Gaz said as she took out all her nail polishes. "For you, Zim, I'm going to do each nail a different shade of pink. Light to dark, like your dress, starting at the thumbs. As for myself, black with my middle fingers being silver."

"So you can give someone a shiny 'fuck you'?" Tak asked, with amusement in her voice. Gaz chuckled and nodded her head.

It took about forty five minutes to get everyone's nails completely done and dry. When Gir saw what was happening he demanded to have his nails done as well, he even pulled off his disguise for it. Zim tried to explain to him that he didn't have nails, which made the robot start crying. So Gaz painted the ends of his mitten like hands. When she was done Gir stared at his hands and giggled, for the next half an hour.

It was four thirty by the time they were done with the nails, leaving an hour and a half. Gaz had gotten started on Tak's make up when there was another knock at the door. Gaz grumbled and shouted at the door.

"What do you want, Dib?"

"Wait, how did you know it was me?" He asked through the door.

"Because your knock is far weaker than dads." She told him with a huff and an eye roll he didn't see. "Now, what do you want? I'm busy."

"Jeez, I just wanted to know if you were hungry. There's pizza downstairs for us." Dib offered, irked at his sister's attitude.

"No! We'll bloat and won't be able to fit in our dresses. No go away!" She growled at him, vexed with her older brother. They heard him grumble something through the door and walk off.

"I'm hungry!" Gir said sadly as he looked up at his master.

"No, Gir. If you get messy you'll ruin our dresses." Zim childed the robot gently.

"Awww." He pouted against Zims chest.

"You've really taken to caring for him like a child lately." Gaz pointed out as she went back to Taks makeup. She followed the galaxy theme with her makeup. Her eyeshadow started out as white near the cornea, then went to magenta, light purple, and finally dark purple. Her lipstick was a dark blue, to match her hair. She glued a second layer of eyelashes to her to make them a tad thicker. Finally she added just the barest hint of blush.

When she was done with Tak she switched to Zim. For him she had to stop and think for a moment, before going to the internet for ideas. She ended up doing a smokey eye style, but with pink glitter makeup. The black wing stood out exceptionally well and the underside was highlighted with a trail of tiny clear gemstones. Lastly, she added some fake eyelashes. Irken have a thin, stubby layer of lashes, just enough that the classmates didn't notice how unnaturally thin they were. For lipstick she applied a fuchsia with blue pearl dust color. Since he was green, she skipped any use of blush.

When done she did herself. She went for an almost smoky eye look as well. The center was a shiny silver that faded into a black. The darker black of the eyeliner wings framed it, giving her a regal look. She added just a touch of silver and black to the underside of her eye. Then she applied a layer of maskara. A thin layer of blush and a thick layer of black lipstick later and she was done.

When they were all done she pulled the three of them in front of her vanity mirror. For any other occasion they would have been overdone, but for tonight it was beyond perfect. The three of them looked like regal queens or Goddesses. Each one's makeup fits well with their personality and style choices. As they were staring at themselves Gir poked his doggy head up, also done up in make up.

The three of them giggled at his makeup style. He had bright blue eyeshadow, hot pink lipstick, too much blush, and eyelashes glued on. Zim picked up higher so he could see himself in the mirror. Gaz, through her fit of laughter pulled out her phone to take a picture of them in the mirror. Gir even poised with them.

"Awww, look at you, you little cutie." Zim cooed at the green dog in his arms. "Who's my cutest little Gir? Who is it? Who is it?"

"MMEEEEEE!!!!" Gir squealed in delight, wiggling around happily in Zims arms.

Tak picked up one of the containers of makeup Gir had used and flipped it over to read the back. "Blueberry Sweetness, not tested on animals."

"It is now, hehe. Alright, ladies. It's five fortyfive." Gaz announced as she looked at her phone. "We're running behind."

"Is it important to be on time?" Tak asked her as she picked up her dress.

"Not really." Gaz shrugged. She turned to the green alien still cooing at his robot. "Zim, come on. Let's finish up."

The three of them were finishing putting on the dresses when there was another knock at the door. "Are you three done yet? You've been in there for three hours now!" Dib shouted through the door.

"We're almost done!" Gaz shouted back. "Now go down stairs and wait for us. And have dad get ready for the pictures."

"Uhg! Women!" He groaned loudly as he walked away. Gaz opened the door faster then he could notice, threw her hair brush at him, and closed the door. All in under three seconds, surprised both aliens at how fast the teenage female could move.

The three of them went back to putting the finishing touches on their outfits. Downstairs Dib rubbed the back of his head where the hair brush had hit it. With an annoyed groan he plopped down on the couch next to his father. He crossed his arms and stared at the stairs, waiting for the three of them to come down.

Dib was wearing a standard tux. It had a white undershirt with a dark blue vest over it. Over that was the black tux jacket. He had matching black slacks and a pair of shiny shoes his father insisted he get. He didn't want anything too fancy for a dance he didn't really care about.

When he checked his watch again it said six oh seven. He groaned again and rolled his head back on the couch. Next to him his father chuckled. "What's funny?"

"Oh, It's just that I was the same way when I was your age. I was waiting for my date to prom to come downstairs and I couldn't understand why she was taking so long. Then she came down and took my breath away. She was so beautiful, I couldn't look away. I didn't want to. We ended up being half an hour late, but I didn't care at that point. I would have waited a million years for her to come down. It would have been worth it." He chuckled as he looked off to the distance. He then looked back at his son. "That woman was your mother."

This caught Dibs attention, making him sit up straight. Though he had never withheld information from them, Professor Membrane rarely brought up their mother on his own. Her death had broken his heart so much, it hurt for him to talk about her. But he never denied a question and always talked about her when his children asked.

"It was?" Dib asked, hoping for more information.

"Indeed. We were hiskool sweethearts." He nodded his head. "I don't remember much about that dance, but I remember every moment I spent it with your mother. After that day I never once minded how long I spent waiting for her because I knew an angel would come down those stairs." He chuckled again and looked Dib in the eye. "There will come a day you understand."

Dib looked at his father for a minute more before his attention was drawn by the sound of a door opening. Both him and Professor Membrane stood up in anticipation of the womenfolk. His father readied the camera for the pictures he needed to take. There was a sound of voices for a moment before Gir, in makeup and a mini dress, ran down the stairs. He stood by the bottom, raised his arm up, and made a trumpet sound with his mouth.

"Dun dun duuun! Presenting, the first of her name, slayer of zombies and Mary's man card-"

"Hey!"

"Gaz Membrane!" Gir introduced the young woman as she came down the stairs.

"You look beautiful honey! Absolutely marvelous! I'm so proud of you, my dear." Professor Membrane praised his daughter as he took a couple of photos of her. She made a few poses at the bottom before stepping out of the way.

Gir made the sound again. "Dun dun duuun! Presenting, also first of her name, top of her class and honorary Invader, Tak!"

Said female walked down the stairs just like Gaz did. "What a lovely young lady you are, Tak." Professor Membrane complimented her as he took several pictures of her as well. When Tak was done she moved to stand next to Gaz and Dib.

"Dun dun duuun! Presenting, also first of his name, Invader of Earth and Queen of the Brood Mothers, Zim!" Gir cheered and waved his arms.

It distracted Dib long enough that he didn't see Zim until he was half way down and he could see all of him. When he saw the little alien he swore his heart stopped for a moment and he took in a gasp. Everything around him faded out to the background, forgotten for the time being.

Zim was beautiful. The pinks of his dress complimented the green of his skin so wonderfully, it was hard to look away. It hugged his body in all the right ways, showing off every curve and plane his lean body made. His eye makeup brought attention to his electric blue eyes, creating a complex of colors that would hypnotize him if he stared too long. He looked delicat, powerful, regal, royal, and absolutely stunning.

Next to him his father chuckled and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "I told you so." He stood back up and addressed Zim. "You've grown into a beautiful young woman, Zim. It was a privilege to watch you grow up with my son."

"Ah, yes, it was, wasn't it." Zim stated more than asked as he struck a few poses. The whole time Dib still hadn't taken his eyes off of Zim. He barely even registered his sister's evil laughter from the background. When Zim was done taking pictures he noticed that Dib was still staring at him, a funny look on his face. "Dib-human? Why are you looking at me like that?"

That was enough to knock him out of his shock. His face turned red and he looked away, trying to stutter out an excuse. Next to him his father chuckled, both proud and amused. "Son, don't you have some corsages to pass out?"

"Ah! Yes! I-I do." He confirmed as he took the opportunity to escape into the kitchen.

Zim walked over to Gaz as he watched the human boy run into the kitchen. "What was that all about?"

"Don't worry, you're going to find out later tonight." Gaz chuckled darkly as she crossed her arms.

Dib came out a second later with the boxes of corsages. He passed one out to their respective person.

Gaz's had two Silver Scheherazade Lilies, Agapanthus Silver Baby, and several Cotton Bushes to fill in the gaps. Framing it was a black ribbon with silver trim. Tak's had three Cattleya Orchids, two Lilianthus, and several Candytufts to fill in the gaps. Several small lilac ribbon bows were tied to the base, making their ends hang down elegantly. Zim's had three pink Orchids, four small pink Sweet Peas, and several Azalea to fill in the gaps. Insead of a clear plastic band to hold his corsage to his wrist like Gaz and Taks, his had a bright pink ribbon to tie around his wrist.

With a red face Dib gently took Zims hand and gently tied it around his delicate wrist. Zim lightly blushed at the almost intimate act. When it was secured Dib helt his hand for a moment before letting it go. Zim, not wanting the moment to end just yet, decided to help Dib with his corsage. His had a flower from each of the three other corsages. One Silver Scheherazade Lilies, one Cattleya Orchid, and one pink Orchid.

Zim tucked in the breast pocket while Dib watched. Zim patted it gently to make sure it was in place and vaguely noted how hard Dibs chest was. He looked up into the brown eyes of his human, less than a foot from his face. They continued to look in each other's eyes, like there was some force beyond their control making them. Though, they were sure that they wouldn't have looked away even if they wasn't.

They broke out of their trance when they heard the tell tail click of a camera. Both turned their heads to look at Professor Membrane, faces flushed. In his hand was the camera, pointed directly at them. It took them less than a second to realise he had taken a picture of them.

"Dad!" Dib shouted, face completely red and utterly embarrassed.

"Oh, don't fuss, Dib. One day you're going to want this photo to look back on." Professor Membrane lectured lightly. "Now, don't you three have a prom to get too?"

One look at the clock showed that it was nearly seven. They were going to be an hour late to the dance. They quickly scrambled around, gathering the things they were going to bring. Zim reminded Gir several times that he had to go back to the base, much to the small robots dismay. They nearly made it to the car before Professor Membrane stopped them.

"Wait!" He shouted out as he ran after them. "I don't have a photo of the four of you!"

"Alright, let's be quick guys." Dib said to the group.

It took a moment to find the right position that got everyone in the photo without someone blocking someone. Being the tallest Dib and Gaz stood in the middle, an arm around each other's shoulders. Next to Gaz was Take. Each girl had an arm around the other's shoulder. Next to Dib was Zim. Dib had his arm around Zims waist, hand resting on his hip. Zims arm wrapped around behind and his hand rested lightly on his shoulder.

"Alright, wonderful photo." Professor Membrane nodded his head approvenly. "Alright, you kids go have fun. Oh, and one more thing."

"Yes, dad?" Dib said slightly exasperated.

"If anything happens, don't forget to use protection." He said loudly. On the front lawn. In front of their neighbors.

Dibs face went redder than a tomato as he stared at his father, mouth agape in shock and embarrassment. It took him a moment before he knocked himself out of it. "Dad! What the fuck?!" He squeaked out.

"Language!" He scolded. "Alright, have fun!"

Dib all but dove into the car, wanting to get away from here as soon as he could. Next to him his sister cackled loudly, unable to contain it. In the back both Zim and Tak looked confused. It didn't matter, however, as they were at the prom just a short time later. They each presented their tickets and walked inside the building.

The place was decorated like any other prom. Streamers and balloons everywhere. Posters hung on the walls. Confetti, sparkles, and rose petals led a path to the gym where it was being held. There were even a few signs with arrows pointing them the right way. When they got to the room itself, it looked like Party City threw up in it. And not in the good way.

"Well, damn. Who the hell was in charge of decorations?" Gaz asked as she put her hands on her hips.

"It looks like someone let a color blind toddler loose in here with streamers and balloons." Dib agreed.

"Then let a pack of wild Valitors loose after him." Zim added. That got confused looks from the siblings, but Tak agreed with a nod of her head.

"Well, we're already here, so let's enjoy it." Dib said as he led the way to the punch table.

The first hour there was pretty average for a skool party. There was a lot of loud music and loud teenagers. A couple of times each of the girls were asked to dance by some teenage boy who thought he was the hottest guy in there. Every time they were denied though. The four of them preferred to dance with each other. And they were all having fun, even super serious Tak.

A couple of times Dib would notice a particular group of guys looking and pointing at Zim. They would then talk in hush whispers before breaking out into a loud laugh. They would gester around in a way that didn't make sense to Dib and start the pattern all over again. Dib was starting to get suspicious and was about to confront them.

Then the DJ came on the mic. "Alright, alright, alright! Everybody, find that special someone and take them to the floor and get ready for a slow song. Lets see some love up in here!"

Two by two each couple went out onto the dance floor to dance with their partner. All the singles got off to give them more room. Dib looked over at Zim, who was watching everyone else, wondering if he should ask him. From behind him he felt someone shove him in Zims direction. When he turned around he saw Gaz shooing him and giving him a thumbs up. Tak glared, but didn't move to stop him.

He turned back to Zim, gulped, and walked up to him. "H-hey. Do you maybe, wanna dance?" He nervously asked the little alien.

Zim looked at him with wide eyes for a second, then a smile broke across his face. "Zim would love too."

Dib smiled and took Zim by the hand, leading him to the dance floor. He faced Zim and wrapped both arms around the small of his back. Zim took a glance around to see what he was supposed to do before loosely wrapping his arms around Dibs neck. Slowly they moved with the beat, looking into each other's faces.

Dib cleared his throat before speaking. "Thank you for agreeing to dance with me."

"You are welcome." Zim smiled at him. "Zim wanted to dance with you."

"You did?" He questioned to which he got a nod in response. It was quiet between them for a moment before he spoke up again. "You look very beautiful tonight. Even more so than normal." He confessed, head turned and cheeks rosey with his blush.

Zim blushed as well as his smile widened. "Thank you, Dib. I know that it is only natural for you to find someone as wonderful as I beautiful." He gloated proudly for a moment. He then looked dib up and down. "Though I must say you look very handsome tonight as well. You 'clean up nice', as the human expression goes."

Dib chuckled and turned back to the small alien. Due to the size difference he had to look down, craning his neck. To the two females on the sidelines they looked like a cute couple. Gaz was glad that her brother was finally getting somewhere with Zim. Tak, though not happy about someone touching her Brood Mother, was pleased that Zim was seaming to be picking out a mate. She didn't like it, but wouldn't intervene. She was just glad it was with the human male they always hung out with.

Like all good things due, the dance had to come to an end. When the song ended the couples all went back to their groups or to make out by the wall. Dib, however, took Zims hand and kissed it while maintaining eye contact with him. Zim blushed heavier, but smiled wider as well. They then walked back over to the other two females.

"Well, well, well. Do I hear wedding bells?" Gaz asked in a teasing manner, voice filled with amusement.

"Gaz, shut up. It was just a dance." Dib protested, embarrassed.

Gaz was about to retort when the lights all dimed. A spot light focused on the Principle standing on stage. All at one the loud room got quiet as they all waited for what she had to say. This late into the evening though, it could only be one thing.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are all having fun." She started and was answered with a loud cheer. She let it go on for a moment before holding up her hand, silencing them. "Glad to hear that. It is with great pleasure that I announce this year's Prom Queen!"

There was another, louder cheer through the room. "Who do you think it's going to be?" Dib asked the three of them, not really wanting an answer.

"Obviously it's going to be me." Zim said, placing a hand on his chest proudly.

"Zim, you weren't nominated. I don't think-" Dib started but was cut off by the Principal.

"This year's Prom Queen is; Zim!" She shouted into the microphone, shocking everyone. Both Dib and Zim stared at the stage in shock.

Confused cheering and clapping soon echoed through the  room as the spotlight found Zim. He quickly got over his shock and started up to the stage. He waved and smiled to everyone on the way up. When he got up the Principal presented him and crowned him. She placed a silver Cartier crown on Zims head and handed him the mike.

From the ground all three of Zims friends had moved closer to the stage. They were happy for him, but they all had a nagging feeling. Like something wasn't right. From the corner of his eye Dib saw the curtain move. There was no breeze in here and the curtains were too heavy to be moved by one. Dib focused on that spot and saw a familiar face peek out. I was one of the boys from earlier that were pointing at Zim. Dib suddenly felt his blood run cold and turned his head just in time to see it happen.

Zim was about to make a speech when he felt something cold and sticky pour all over him. It burned his skin slightly, but he was in too much of a shock to notice that. All he could notice was the feeling of that liquid slide down his body and the nearly hundred eyes staring right at him. They all looked at him for a moment before bursting out in laughter.

Shame and humiliation bloomed across Zim, freezing him to the spot. Tears pricked at his eyes, but didn't fall. Under his wig he faintly noticed his antenne vibrating. He stood there listening to all of their laughter, chest hiring from the emotions he was feeling. From his left he could hear particularly loud laughter and when he turned his head he saw them. Three boys holding a rope, laughing their asses off, pointing at him. It didn't take a genius to figure out they were the ones to do it.

Zim felt a burning wrath tear through his body, but before he could move three figures hurreled themselves at the boys. Zim watched as Dib got there first and slammed his fist against the face of the boy who was holding the rope, causing him to stumble back.

All at once all of the laughing stopped and everyone watched the brawl happen before their eyes. Zim stood back for a moment, chest now swelling with adoration, appreciation, and love for his friends. Then he ran forward and joined the fight. He pulled the guy Dib was fighting back and smashed his fist against his nose, effectively breaking it. Zim turned to smile a Dib for a moment and got one back before they joined the fighting.

It took every single staff member to break up the fight. They were all taken outside where they were being supervised by the staff. The group of boys were on one side of the parking lot while Zims group was on the other. They were instructed to call parents to pick them up.

Dib called the only adult he could, his dad. On the second ring he picked up. "Hey, dad?"

"Ah, Dib. How are things going? Fine I hope." Professor Membrane greeted his son.

"Uh, not exactly. We need you to come pick us up." Dib spoke into the phone. The rest of the group were close enough to hear what was being said on the other end.

"...Didn't you take your car?" He asked his son, confused.

"Yes, but the Principal needs to see parents. It's a long story, can you just get here?" Dib asked impatiently.

"Alright, I'll be there soon."

"Great, thanks." Dib hung up and put his phone away.

They sat there and waited. It wasn't cold out, but the breeze did make Zim shiver. He was covered in some sort of red liquid that made each breeze feel like ice on his skin. Dib noticed this and took off his jacket.

"Here, this will keep you warm." Dib said, wrapping the jaket around Zims shoulders.

Zim looked up, wide eyed. "But, won't the red stuff ruin your jacket?"

"It's just a jacket. It doesn't matter." He shrugged with a smile. Zim smiled back and snuggled into the warm jacket.

Within ten minutes a group of parents had arrived. This included Professor Membrane who walked up to the group of children before talking with the Principal. He crouched down in front of them where they sat on the sidewalk to be eye level. He took a good look at Zim and all the red stuff over him.

"I take it, this is why you called me?" Professor Membrane questioned as he took one of Zims arms. Dib muttered something about 'those assholes pulled a Carrie'. Professor Membrane hummed as he inspected the and wiped away some of the liquid with a glove covered hand. "Hmm, looks like fake blood. Cheap store bought kind. You seem to be having an allergic reaction to it, Zim."

"It appears so. I'll just have to put something on it when I get one." Zim shrugged and took his arm back.

"Now, what happened to the rest of you?" He questioned the remaining teens. They all looked ruffed up from the fight. Taks dress was ripped up the side, Gaz's dress was missing both it's sleeves, and Dib had a busted lip.

"We fought the guys who did this to Zim." Gaz spok up as she pointed over to the other group of teens.

"Alright. You four stay here. I'll be right back." Professor Membrane said, voice going dark at the end. He marched up to the group of adults that were talking with the Principal. There was a lot of shouting for about ten min Professor Membrane said, voice going dark at the end. He matched up to the group of adults that were talking with the Principal. There was a lot of shouting for about ten minutes and wild gesturing. The Principal did her best to keep everyone calm during the discussion. After another ten minutes he walked back over to the group. "Alright, let's get you all home." He said cheerily.

They all got up, confused and wondering what was going to happen. "So, what did she say?"

"She is suspending the three of them for two weeks for their horrible prank on poor Zim here." He informed them. "The four of you have detention for a week for fighting. Now, the four of you have had a horrible night, let's get you guys home."

"Actually," Gaz started "can we all go over to Zims?"

"Whatever for?" Professor Membrane asked with a tilt of his head.

"Well, it's been a crappy night here and what better way to turn it around then to have a movie night?" Gaz explained to her dad. "Zim needs to get cleaned up anyway, so why not just have a movie night at his house.

"Hmm, well, I don't see why not. Alright, the four of you have fun." He said giving them permission. They gave a small cheer and headed for Dibs car. However, when Dib walked past his father he reached a hand out and stopped his son. Dib looked up questioning at his father. "While I don't condone fighting, young man, I am very proud of you. I'm proud of you for sticking up for your friend and taking care of them."

Dib looked wide eyed at his dad for a moment before a grin spread across his face. "Thanks Dad." He said giving the taller man a hug.

Professor Membrane chuckled and patted him on the head. "You're welcome son. Now go have fun. And remember protection if you decide to have too much fun."

"Dad!" Dib groaned loudly as he scurried off to his car, embarrassment turning his face red.

After they got to Zims place Zim whent to get cleaned up while the other three argued on what movie to watch. Gir, oblivious to the chaos that happened just an hour earlier, happily made snacks for everyone. Both Tak and Zim removed their disguises, happy to finally be out of them. Zim put his crown on top of the fridge where he would never see it again. Once the movie was picked out and Zim had retired they all picked a spot to watch it. 

Ironically enough the movie they picked was Carrie, the original version.

Tak and Gaz made a nest on the floor out of the leftover soft stuff that was still piled in a corner in the room. They laid down on their stomachs right next to each other. Zim and Dib cuddled up on the couch, a big blanket across their laps. Zim was curled into Dibs side while said human had his arm wrapped around Zims shoulders. In the little nest Zim's curled up legs made, Gir curled up to watch the movie. Occasionally Zim would reach down and pet his head.

They did that all night long. Watching movies, eating snacks, and cuddling up with each other. Just forgetting all that happened just hours before. They did that until they all fell asleep wherever they were. To each of them, even though it had a pretty rough patch in the middle, it was a wonderful night. A great night spent with friends where they had grown closer and deepened their bonds of friendship. A night filled with unforgettable memories they would take with them for the rest of their lives.

A wonderful night filled with stupid expectations and a bad decision that solidified their bond.

Guess prom wasn't that bad, huh Gaz?

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These are the first five chapters. I'll add more later.