The final school bell rang and the students began scrambling out of their seats to get home. Dib was outside, waiting for Gaz and talking to his friends. He turned to the door and noticed Zim walking out of the building with Crystal. This sparked an idea in the boy's mind.

"Hey guys, do you smell something!? Smells like alien paste!!" Dib said loudly

Everyone around them started laughing like crazy, causing Zim to lower his head in shame. Crystal growled and reached out a four fingered hand. Before anyone knew what was happening, Dib was in the air being choked by an invisible force. Crystal's irises had expanded slightly, and she was surrounded by a blue aura.

"What are you doing!? You will get us in trouble!!" Zim yelled from behind

"I'm teaching this idiot a quick lesson is what" Crystal said in a voice that was...too calm

Dib was struggling to maintain consciousness. A huge crowd had gathered around him, all worried for the "Golden Boy" bully. Crystal let out a huff and Dib dropped to the ground, coughing like crazy. Crystal grabbed Zim by the hand and began to run. They managed to just get up the street before Zim pulled himself out of Crystal's grip.

"WHAT ON IRK WAS THAT!!?" Zim yelled in anger and fear

Crystal paused for a minute before answering.

"What do you mean?" She asked

"You could have killed him! I mean, don't get Zim wrong, Zim hates him immensely, but still!" Zim lectured

"I just...couldn't let him do that to you..." Crystal said, looking down in shame

Zim's expression softened slightly. She was just trying to protect him, but to go to that extreme of a length? Either she was crazy or...no. No she's probably just never had a friend before. That had to be it. She's never had a friend, so she doesn't know how to behave when helping a friend. She just doesn't know...sorta like Zim. His only "friend" was that annoying worm baby who's name he's forgotten, and it was just so he could blend in. Zim didn't know about what friends did either...

Zim shook off the thoughts and took Crystal by the hand. Crystal didn't resist his touch, as it was gentle and kind. Zim smiled at her as he led her down the street and to a large, green colored house that was squished between two apartment complexes. It seemed at least...somewhat normal? Crystal wasn't sure.

Zim led Crystal up the steps and to the door, opening it. Upon opening the door, two robots that crudely resembled parents greeted them.

"Welcome home, son!" They said

Crystal was mildly unnerved, but brushed it off as Zim led her inside.. The inside of the house was about as odd as the outside. The living room had purple walls other than the wall that led to the kitchen, which was green. The floor was a red and brown tile pattern similar to that of a checkers board. There was a couch and a lounge chair, colored red-violet, sitting in front of a TV with a purple frame, which was turned on to Strawberry Shortcake. Next to the couch was a small table with a remote placed upon it, and above the couch was a painting of...a green monkey. On the couch itself sat a little robot with teal colored eyes, who was wearing a green dog costume and munching away at some popcorn while watching the show. Crystal smirked upon seeing the little robot.

"Is that your SIR unit?" She asked

"Actually, He is a GIR unit" Zim replied

"GIR? What's the G stand for?" Crystal asked, puzzled

"Zim has no idea" Zim said, shrugging

Zim made his way towards the couch with Crystal following him. The two of them sat down and Zim began to remove his disguise, revealing his antennae and his magenta, bug-like eyes. Crystal looked at Zim and blushed slightly, her cheeks dusting with pink. Zim was, in Irken standards, rather attractive, even if he was a bit smaller than she was. Zim looked kind of cute to her, to the point where, when Zim turned to face her, she began to squish his cheeks slightly. Zim frowned in confusion, which caused Crystal to blush even more before letting go and looking away. She was embarrassed now. Why did she do that? Was Zim mad at her?

Zim turned Crystal's face to look at him and, with a hesitantly goofy smile on his face, gently began to squish her cheeks. Crystal blushed like mad. She hadn't expected Zim to do that. After a few seconds of processing what was happening, she started to giggle. Zim soon let go and began to laugh himself. This hybrid was goofy, sweet, and somehow able to make him forget his troubles with Dib. Being with this hybrid made Zim feel almost...free.

Eventually, a robotic voice interrupted them.

"In coming call from The Tallests" it said monotonically

"Great. Crystal, Zim must ask you to wait in the next room" Zim said

Crystal nodded and got up before going into the kitchen. Zim quickly got up and answered the call, unaware that Crystal was actually listening from the doorway.

"Greetings, my tallest" Zim said, saluting them

"Zim, we have a real quick assignment for you" Tallest Purple said, trying not to laugh

"We want you to try and make a device that will erase someone's memories and store them somehow" Red said, keeping his composure a little better than his brother

Crystal frowned. Why were they about to laugh?

"Other than that, any progress with your mission?" Purple asked, sounding genuine

"Actually, today Zim has met a human who claims to be half Irken" Zim informed

Purple and red let out a shocked gasp.

"A hybrid!?" Red asked

"Where is it?" Purple questioned

Zim turned towards the kitchen.

"Crystal" he called out

Crystal gulped and slowly began to make her way towards Zim. Her body language was rigid and stiff, making it obvious that she was nervous. She soon found herself in front of the screen, facing her uncles.

"My Tallests, this is Crystal, the self claimed Irken hybrid" Zim said

Crystal looked up at her uncles. Tallest red was clearly disgusted, seeing as Crystal didn't even look Irken aside from the skin, hands, and eyes. It was clear that he wasn't going to like his niece. Purple, however, looked like he was close to crying with joy. It had been around ten years since he had seen Crystal, and now she was all grown up. He was proud of her, especially considering that she was starting to get taller than the average kid her age. Purple, for a split second, didn't care who was in the room when he heard her speak.

"Hello, uncle" She said with a shy smile, looking directly at Tallest Purple

"You've grown so much, Crystal" Purple said, now entirely on the verge of tears

Zim and Tallest Red blinked in surprise. Zim didn't realize that Crystal would've known one of the Almighty Tallest, but when he thought about it, it made sense. They were family, so it would only make sense that they would've met at least once. Zim smiled at that, happy that they could see each other again. Red, however, was actually mad. It was a rule that no Irken would contact those of the empire that were banished, which included the Tallests themselves, so how on Irk did Purple know this girl?

"Are you still being..." Crystal trailed off

Tallest Purple frowned, then nodded before turning to Zim.

"You have three weeks to get this device finished, Zim. Good luck" He said before ending the call

Zim looked at Crystal, who had her head down, in confusion. Was something happening to Tallest Purple? If so, what was going on? Zim shrugged off the thoughts and addressed Crystal.

"Well, Zim has three weeks to create a memory erasure device. Would you like to assist Zim?" He asked

Crystal raised her head, smiled, and nodded. Zim led her to the trash can in the kitchen and , within seconds, they began to descend into the lab. Crystal's eyes began to sparkle at the sight of the Irken technology to the point where Zim could see the beautiful blue aura surrounding her. He smiled, knowing that she was excited, which was so much better than seeing her angry or upset. Upon reaching the lab, Crystal levitated forward while Zim followed. Zim grabbed a few things from one side of the room while Crystal grabbed stuff, such as Zim's toolbox, from the other side. They quickly came together at the center of the room, where the experiment table was, and set everything down.

They got to work by referencing the memory gun from Crystal's favorite show, Gravity Falls. They made the base of it in under an hour, but what they were missing was a proper light bulb and a bunch of tubes that would hold people's memories. They agreed that they would deal with that later, as it was getting really late and Crystal needed to get home. Zim took her up to the living room, where GIR was doing his little monkey dance, and led her to the door.

"Um...Crystal?" Zim called out as she stepped out onto the lawn

"Yes?" She replied, turning around to face him

"Uh...will Zim be seeing you at school tomorrow?" Zim asked, blushing a deep shade of blue

"Of course. I wouldn't just leave you hanging like that" Crystal replied with a giggle

Crystal waved goodbye and began to walk towards one of the apartment buildings down the street, leaving Zim to go inside and go back down to his lab to study the blueprints that they had made. His squidlypooch was fluttering like crazy and his face was still hot. What was Crystal doing to him? And why did it make him feel so...good?

Crystal walked into her apartment with a sigh. It was messy as ever, her mom was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, and her stepfather was sitting on the sofa, drunk as ever, watching tv. Crystal set her backpack down at the door and went into the kitchen to sit with her mom, who smiled at her as she entered.

"Hey, sweetheart" The young woman said

"Hey mom" Crystal replied with a smile

"How was school?" Her mother asked

"It was good. I made my first friend" Crystal replied

"Really?" Her mother asked

"Yeah. His name is Zim. He's apparently an Irken invader" Crystal said

"An Irken is going to your school?" Her mother asked

Crystal nodded.

"And he's really nice. He-"

"CRYSTAL! GET OUT HERE!" Her stepfather yelled from the living room

Both Crystal and her mom flinched at that. Crystal took a deep breath and slowly stood up and went to where her stepdad was sitting. In an instant, she found herself getting beaten and cut up by her stepdad's empty bottle of beer. Her mom tried to stop him, but nothing worked and Crystal ended up using her magic to make the horrid man fall asleep. Crystal and her mother managed to get themselves fixed up before Crystal went to bed, falling into the endless void of darkness known as sleep.