A/N: Alright, now it's time for things to heat up a little. LET'S WRECK SOME STUFF.

In the dark of the night I was tossing and turning
And the nightmare I had was as bad as can be
It scared me out of my wits
A corpse falling to bits
Then I opened my eyes and the nightmare was me!
~20th Century Fox's Anastasia, 'In the Dark of the Night'

"Come keel- kah! kah! you come keel- yark! t'ink me finish- me no finish- 'urt you...plenty-"
~Richard Adams's Watership Down

10/20/02

7:34 AM

Dib turned his arm over, biting his lip. The scaled patch was spreading, it now covered his wrist and the heel of his thumb, along with most of his forearm. He would have to wear gloves to skool today.

He clenched his fist. That stupid alien. Stupid, stinky- ugh.

He rifled through his dresser drawer and removed a pair of leather gloves. For a moment he considered wearing only one, like Micheal Jackson (because Zim wore gloves and he didn't want to look like him). But in the end he decided it was better to look like Zim than to look like Micheal Jackson and wore them both.

7:49

The way to skool was quiet and almost peaceful, what with all the fall leaves. The air was cold but not too cold with a windbreaker. Gaz had left early because her class was taking a field trip, so he was alone. Dib wasn't sure he minded. Talking to Gaz had about the same effect as talking to himself.

After a while of quiet walking Dib noticed a strange, rhythmic rubber squeaking sound. He glanced to the left and saw nothing. He glanced to the right and saw nothing.

Then he looked down and to the right. He yelped.

"GIR!" he cried (for it was indeed he). "What are you doing here? Did Zim send you?" Though he knew as he said it that it was unlikely. GIR didn't seem to follow orders much. At all.

"The balloon man sent me!" GIR chirped. "He said I'd float!"

"Okay," Dib said, rolling his eyes (he wasn't even going to try to make sense out of that). "Well- I'm not the balloon man, GIR, so-"

Flash. Lightbulb. Eureka.

Dib turned and looked down at GIR, his eyes getting very big. The idiot robot was singing to itself (Bananaphone).

"Say, GIR," he said, coming to a stop and putting his hands on his hips, relaxing his posture and raising one eyebrow with an 'I am totally your pal' grin. "How'd you like to hop in my backpack? There might be a balloon in there."

"OOOOH!" GIR screamed, and before Dib even had time to react he catapulted himself into the air, did a neat little somersault over Dib's head, and plunged into his backpack.

Dib blinked. "Okay. Well that was easy."

He adjusted the straps of the (now heavier) bag and set off again, whistling.

2:31 PM

Through some miracle, GIR remained silent in his backpack all morning (though there was an incident during lunch that involved him tap-dancing on the cafeteria table), and had still not escaped by the time the recess bell rang. (Unbeknownst to Dib he was fully occupied with a piece of lint he'd found. GIR wasn't hard to occupy.)

The fresh air on the playground was a sweet relief after being trapped up in the stale eraser smell of the school, diesel fuel aside. Dib took a deep breath, filling his lungs, and headed over to his usual spot on the bench.

Zim was sitting there. Dib jerked in surprise, then ran over to him, frowning.

The Invader was sitting hunched and tense, his head bowed slightly. He was glaring at three nearby girls jumping rope.

Dib carefully positioned himself where he would block Zim's light and be noticed, then put his hands on his hips and waited.

Zim's false pupils slid deliberately over to Dib. Dib raised one eyebrow.

"What's up, Zim?"

Zim hissed. Dib frowned, narrowing his eyes. Zim's face was a sickly yellow color. His back was stiff and his legs dangled limply off the bench. His shoulders were tight and hunched.

"What's the matter, Zim?" Dib said, grinning. "Breathe in a little too much water vapor?"

"My Pak filters out water vapor, you fool," Zim rasped. "Obviously. Since I'm alive right now."

"Got an alien flu?" Dib continued. "Alien cold? Alien allergic reaction?"

Zim rolled his eyes. "Keep going, you don't sound stupid enough yet."

"You look sick, Zim."

"I'm operating at the same 100% efficiency I always operate at," Zim spat. "I can take you, human."

Dib raised one eyebrow, smirking. "I don't think so. I can beat you up when you're perfectly healthy."

"Watch me," Zim hissed, getting to his feet. His body language was tense and careful. He bared jagged teeth and Dib's body jerked as a memory came back to him

(i swear he poisoned me gaz)

and he looked down at the gloves he was wearing.

"What?" Zim demanded.

Dib looked back up at him, staring. Hadn't he foamed at the mouth? He had. It'd been disgusting.

"What? What are you looking at?"

"Oh, nothing." He considered whether or not to use his bargaining chip right now, then decided the time wasn't right. He wanted Zim to be good and anxious over GIR first.

Zim's eyes darted over his face and he frowned, then backed away. "I don't have time to talk to you anyway."

"Mmmkay." He folded his arms over his chest.

Zim started walking away, giving distrustful glares back over his shoulder at Dib.

"You know, if you keep just not going to skool whenever you feel like it the truant officer will come get you," Dib said.

"Shut up," was Zim's oh-so intelligent reply, and he broke into a run.

2:41 PM

Zim shuffled inside the base with a heavy sigh and flopped down on the couch. Trying to go to skool had been a dumb idea. He hadn't intentionally skipped, he'd been too busy trying to make that antidote to remember to go to skool. Or do his homework yesterday. Enh, whatever.

GIR was gone, must've been out clubbing or something, so the room was empty.

He closed his eyes, concentrating on his own labored breathing. After a few minutes the voice of the computer rang out.

"Hey. This might be a bad time, but you know you've only got two days on that antidote now, right?"

"Ssshhhuuutt uuuupp..." he slurred.

His Pak began to generate a loud whirring noise. "Organic recharging mode activated," it said, and Zim's breathing became deep and even.
After a few minutes, Minimoose floated in and lay down on his chest, squeaking happily. He curled up and started to snore.

"Ugh, that's cute," the computer said with decided disgust, and focused its energy on the game of Solitaire Zim had interrupted when he entered.

4:25 PM

autopsy

skin flayed organs strewed metal, air, cold cold cold

looks like I won Zim

glasses glittering above him air hissing out blades pain all of him scattered far and wide, strewn about the four corners of this accursed planet to be picked at by the birds, all of him scattered and lying forgotten in the filth

autopsy

no no I'm still alive no stop STOP IT HELP ME

fading fading

autopsy
autopsy

"Master!"

His scream rent the air and his claws flurried through the air. Minimoose rose into the air and flew out of the room, squealing.
Zim stared off into space, panting. Cold sweat ran down his face. Suddenly he doubled over, retching the contents of his squeedly spooch out onto the floor.

"Ew," the computer said. "Anyway. Just wanted to tell you Dib was here a few minutes ago. He wanted to talk to you, but you wouldn't wake up. He's gone now."

Zim shook his head. "Oh, I hate that child," he muttered, then he stood up and went to the kitchen. He got the mop and bucket, filled them with cleaning solution, then came back into the living room and started cleaning up the vomit puddle in front of the couch.

"Computer," he snapped.

"What?"

"What are some possible causes of horrible nightmare visions?"

"Well... life."

"No, hallucinations!"

"Uhhh... well, it could be an effect of the toxin."

Zim frowned. "Maybe. Anything else?"

"Drugs? That would explain a lot, actually...."

"Shut up!" he snapped. He shuddered as the memory of the horrible violations in the dream came back to him. Strewn across the world and left to...

He bent over the mop bucket. The computer made a disgusted noise.

Zim straightened up, wiping his mouth. "I'm going out," he said.

"Go ahead," the computer replied. "Get out of my face," he added in a low mumble that Zim apparently either didn't hear, or completely ignored, as per usual.

Zim headed towards the front door, then he stopped, slipping his hand into his pocket without thinking.

There was a smooth object in here, smooth and triangular. It was clear plastic and marked in black with the symbol of the Irken Invaders. It had a small loop at the top- when this was tipped in towards the collarbone, a glowing blue cord would shoot out and encircle the neck. Zim pulled it out and looked at it. He'd gotten this upon completing his Invader training, everyone in his class had.

He absentmindedly ran his thumb along the edge of it, then looked up. He'd suddenly remembered that scouting mission to the Federation he'd been meaning to go on. This would be a perfect time. Right now he didn't want to be anywhere near this planet anymore.

"Computer, where is GIR?"

"Um- I really don't know."

He sighed. Of course not. When was that robot ever going to learn.

"Fine. He'll just have to miss out. Take me to the Voot bay," he said, tucking the medallion back into his pocket.

The floor rose underneath him. He stepped forward towards his ship and hopped into it.

The roof opened, and Zim flew the Voot up into the atmosphere. The thinner it got, the more the dream faded away... by the time he could see stars, he was feeling much better, if a bit weak and tired.

Looking around at the open space he let out a sigh of relief. Earth was far away now.

Now to get to work. He zipped off in the direction of the Federation.

Unfortunately, Zim had only been flying for a few minutes when his Pak once again stated "Organic recharging mode activated." He slumped in his seat, snoring, and the Voot cruiser continued to rocket on.

Dead to the world, Zim didn't see the sign stating 'Welcome to the Galactic Federation.' And as his Voot kept going, he didn't see the sign saying 'Welcome to the Galactic Alliance,' either.

Being conditioned to calamities, he didn't even hear the crash.

10/21/02

2:21 AM

"Organic recharging complete."

Zim stretched, yawning, and looked around. He yelped.

His Voot was sitting in a large room, vacant apart from several spaceships. He could hear alarms sounding.

"What is this?" he hissed to himself, opening the hood. Immediately struck by the lack of oxygen, he gasped like a dying fish for a few terrifying seconds before retreating back inside his ship.

He engaged his Pak's facial shield and cautiously crept back out. Oh, there was no oxygen because Zim had apparently punched a hole in the wall of this place with his Voot. It had been blocked with one of the other ships in the room. Okay, his Voot wouldn't be in danger, then.

"A space station," he muttered. He crept forward, observing the surroundings. The place was obviously inhabited, but no one was here at the moment.

There was nothing in here besides the ships and he meandered out of the room, bored. Outside was a long hallway. He noticed a symbol on the wall. Circle with wings and a ring around it. Blue. It said 'Star Command' underneath it. Zim had heard of 'Star Command'... in a vague, sketchy way. It was an Alliance organization.

For a moment he was a little flummoxed- he hadn't meant to go quite this far. Then he chuckled to himself, rubbing his hands together. Just imagine the wealth of information he could bring to his Tallest! He was in the nest of the mysterious rangers! Oh, happy day.

He scampered off down the hallway.

2:32 AM

'Star Command' was large and mostly made of metal. As Zim explored it, he found some employee pictures on the wall, which he tucked into his Pak for future study.

He soon came to a large room, with a lot of alien equipment in it. Zim had always had a mechanical bent and this interested him. He scurried along the wall of this room like a strange animal, muttering. His head darted about, birdlike, as he took in the strange surroundings.

He paused as he came to a large scientific doohickey. His eyes got big and his antennae perked with interest. "Ooh, shiny!"

Zim prodded at the doohickey for a moment, until it (not quite unexpectedly) broke apart in his claws. Ugh! Stupid fragile technology! The crap they made these days was always breaking!

"PATHETIC!" he shouted, and chucked the doohickey fragment over his shoulder.

Next he encountered what seemed to be a box of paper clips. He examined these for a moment, then tucked a few of them into his Pak, snickering nastily. "Office supplies!" he shouted to the empty room- and for free!- then he stumbled through a tangle of scientific equipment, looking around and humming tunelessly.

He caught sight of a small machine with buttons. Zim picked up the gadget, studying it carefully. He poked at the device, and when it didn't break this time he tucked that into his Pak too.

Leaning back, he investigated the rest of the machinery. Everything else in here seemed too large to steal, so, antennae sagging, Zim was turning to go when he caught sight of something interesting. He scurried forward to get a closer look.

There was a large machine here that had a smaller machine tucked inside it. The smaller machine appeared to be a kind of robot.

"Hmm," Zim said, rubbing its chin and studying the robot from all angles. "Mmmmmmmm. Mmmmmhmmmm-mmmmm. Hmmmmm."

The robot was about the size of a SIR unit, and had a similar build, though it was larger and clunkier. Also, it was wearing something like a batting helmet, and instead of having two eyes it had a long goggle-like visor, darkened with sleep.

Zim's skinny little arms slowly came up in front of him and his teeth protruded over his lower lip in a gleeful smirk. Another minion would be very, very useful. This one was obviously not programmed as a SIR unit, but he could easily hack into whatever primitive AI this machine had and turn it to his will. He wiggled his fingers in anticipation. Yeees. It would even be fun. A test of his (AMAZING) mechanical prowess. "Hmm... ROBOT!"

And he grabbed it, yanking it out of the charger to carry it bridal-style (and somewhat awkwardly) in his arms.

"Yes!" Zim announced to no one in particular, and marched out of the science bay. Time to leave now, before his presence was noticed.

A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters... ACTION, ADVENTURE, BREAKING-AND-ENTERING, ROBBERY, and some stream-of-consciousness crap. Also, stuff that will be really important later.

Pity it's so short. Ah well. My bad.