Disclaimer: Invader Zim was created by Johnen Vazquez but belongs to whoever has the ownership of it. This fanfic is made for amusement proposes and there's no money profit out of it.

Chapter 13

Zim looked again at the pitiful human at his feet. Indeed, he had wanted to be in a situation like this since the day he had met Dib, but the circumstances made him feel uneasy. The Dib-monster still had that light in his eyes, the fierce look of a silly soldier who still wants to fight, even if his entire fleet is destroyed.

A mere two minutes later, the Tallest turned back to Zim. They had the solemn air about them that they used in official ceremonies.

"OK, we've discussed your request to take back Hugeheady," Purple started, as Red picked up Dib by his now wild and unkempt hair. "And we like this guy. A LOT."

"So, you'll have to make a decision. You have to decide what's more important to you: getting your human toy back..." Red shook Dib like a maraca for making a point.

"Or your mission on Earth." Purple finished with joy, proud of how they had gone away with it.

"What? You can't do this to meee, my Tallest!" Zim wracked his brain for ways to have both options at the same time. "How about giving me the human, and then you get it back when I destroy Earth? Or what about assigning Zim to another planet? Earth is half destroyed anyway."

This last comment made Dib shiver. Even if Zim wasn't a real invader, he still had the power to put the planet in danger. But now, the boy covered his mouth for staying in silence. It wasn't that his opinion mattered any way, but Zim could change his mind in about taking him back any moment. That was the thing the boy was the most afraid of.

"No Zim." Red pointed to the gate through which Zim had entered, the only entrance and the only exit from the control room. He was starting to get a bit exasperated. He hadn't considered that the little nuisance might try to make counted arguments. "If you go through there with Hugeheady, you can say goodbye to your status as an 'invader'." The last word was said quite sarcastically, but Zim, of course, didn't notice.

Zim's antennae trembled, and then went flat, and his expression turned to a poker face. Knowing his archenemy, Dib had a pretty good idea of what he had in mind. It happened in seconds. Zim snatched Dib's hand from Red's claw and ran toward the gate. Nobody moved to stop him, because this was exactly what the Tallest wanted. Dib had mixed feelings. His worst enemy was about to sacrifice everything that matters in his life in order to save him. But when he was just a couple of meters from the exit, a microphone of sorts emerged from Zim's pak. About a meter from the exit, the little alien turned away and jumped over the control panel to his right.

"Gir! Bring the voot cruiser to the control room, now!" When the Tallest heard that, Red ordered someone to catch Zim. Dib's wobbly legs tried as hard as they could to keep Zim's pace, as the little alien jumped and ran and slipped through the hands of the navigators that tried to catch them.

Then, Zim's ship entered though the gate, his robot piloting it with a serious expression in his red eyes. Once the cockpit opened, Zim threw Dib inside. And after avoiding another navigator, he positioned himself behind the controls.

"My apologizes my Tallest." Zim said from inside of his ship, while flying next to his angered leaders.

"Zim you...!"

"But I must let you know this human is important to my mission." Zim cut them off while two big white electrical orbs were being formed on the top of the cruiser. "I can assure you that I will get you a proper human replacement for your enjoyment." His purple leader pointed at him, and opened the mouth to say something mean, but he didn't let him talk. "And since I'm not going out thought the gate, it seems I can still consider myself an invader."

The orbs were launched directly at the window surrounding the control room. The hole sucked the air to the nothingness of outer space, and a couple of navigators went though it as well. The Tallest had to hold as hard as they could to some cables in the floor so they didn't follow their subordinates' fate. "I'll report as soon as I get back to earth! Invader Zim, out!"

The little alien shouted from his ship before leaving the Massive by means of the hole. In a matter of seconds a white pinkish vertical line passed over the window and it turned the glass good as new. Everything went back to normal in the Massive's control room.

"What the hell was that?" Purple frowned, recovering from the hit in the head he just had gotten. "Should we follow him?"

Red had an angry expression, he was more displeased by the fact his plan had failed than about Zim's mischief. But then he relaxed.

"Nah, I don't think it matters anymore." He waved his claw dismissively. "Hugeheadey was about to die anyway. By the time Zim reaches Earth, that human may have already expired."

Dib had fainted in the position his enemy had left him upon entering the ship, with the legs twisted, upside down, leaned on the interior wall of the ship. When he woke up, he found himself inside Zim's cruiser, but he was lying straight in the back pack of the pilot's seat. Gir was poking his cheek while humming the song of a silly yogurt spot, the robot didn't even care when the boy opened the eyes and continued poking him. Dib had a huuuge headache, his mouth was dry, and he was feeling dizzy; it was the biggest hangover he had had in his whole life. Fortunately, the ship was silent except for the robot's humming, and Zim didn't say a word. It was weird, Dib thought. Since the first day he met the alien, they didn't do anything more than yell. Evil laughter counted as yelling, too. And now both remained silent for more time than the boy could stand.

After half an hour of lying on the floor, Dib decided to sit. Just then the robot finally noticed the kid was awake.

"Yaaaay, it bounces!" The robot screamed with his high-pitched metallic voice, making Dib's head throb.

"What is it Gir? Is the Dib monkey already awake?"

Gir stared at Dib for a moment; it kept staring at him to the point that it got uncomfortable. He didn't want to speak, as any noise was like a drill in his ears.

"Aaah yeeeaah..." Gir nodded using a slow voice.

Zim went down off his seat to see Dib. There was again that scene of the human at the feet of the irken, and again that feeling of a false victory took place. Then Zim threw a can at the boy, it hit his stomach directly, but it seemed the alien didn't do it trying to hurt him.

"By the laws of Irken Empire you're my prisoner now." Zim stated in a serious tone. "Because of that I won't consider you as a threat along the travel and you may move around the ship. But if you dare to defy the greatness of Zim! I'll tie you to the wall...be grateful of my condescension!"

Dib couldn't but wonder at how proud was the alien for calling him his prisoner after all the troubles he had had recovering him from the Tallest. He would complain about how everything was returning to the usual way, but he was deeply thankful for this time. And his headache would turn gone worse for the explanation.

Then, he held the can that was now on the floor. It didn't have the Irken empire insignia like the ones the Tallest used to give him. It was a green can with a purple emoticon on it, and under the face it could be read "POOP". Dib opened the can with excitement as Zim returned to his pilot seat. The content was peach juice, normal peach juice! The boy drank it all with joy, since it was the first juice he had tasted in months.

When he finished drinking it. He saw Zim's robot opening a horizontal compartment attached to the side of the ship. It took out a taco to madly munch on as the way it was, frozen. Dib realized Zim had actually packed human food. And felt guilty for telling the little alien the truth about his mission and calling him a defective, considering how hard the last word was for any irken. The boy wondered which were the reasons of the pseudo invader to go this far to save him, and decided it was time to test the waters about everything he had been prepared his whole life.

"I still think you're an alien scum..."

"What!? How dare you speak like that to Ziiim! Your new master! You deserve-"

"But you are not a defective."

That really touched Zim, as he remembered some smeets calling him that when he was in training with them. He never let the words hurt him; he knew that what they said wasn't true. However, sometimes he needed someone to say it out loud for making it sure he wasn't the only one. Long time ago it was Scooge, and now, even the trifling words coming from a monkey head counted. But Zim couldn't let that weakness be noticed by the enemy.

"Fool! As if your stupidity could comprehend what you were saying. "You're full of lies human." Again Zim stepped next to Dib looking down at him and clenching a fist with the left hand.

"So, are we going back to Earth?"

"Is my mission to bring doom to your miserable planet?" In the background Gir started to sing doom doom doom over and over again, and Zim's eye twitched.

"And I'm the one who won't let that happen, isn't it?"

"Let's say... it's boring without your big meddling head around." Dib let aside the comment about his head size this time."By the way, I supplanted you while you were out. You failed three tests and accidentally burnt down your parental unit's laboratory... and you threw your sister's video game in the toilet."

"What?!" Dib felt a knot in his stomach, and suddenly the dizziness and headache disappeared. He was damn death as soon as he arrived in the city. He started to tremble by the mere idea. "How much time do we have before arriving to Earth?"

Zim didn't answer; the human didn't have the right to know. However, the computer voice did it: four months. Then Zim complained to the computer for disobeying his orders, though he hadn't given any orders to begin with. Dib considered those months would be the perfect time to learn more about the irkens. Maybe one day, he would help the already conquered planets regain their freedom. This year the Earth, later the savior of the Universe. It was a dream worth passing almost half a year with his worst enemy in a cramped ship. And in the background, he could hear Zim's little robot singing doom doom doom da doom and his owner pleading it to shut up.

Author's Note: Wow, sorry for the long delay. This is the end of the story, at first I was thinking of making another chapter about Dib and Zim sharing the ship those four months but I consider that pretty much everything has been said about how they come to terms understanding each other.

Thanks a lot for super fabulous Somethingclever5 for the beta testing, you know how messed the original text was :)

Also, thanks to the people who reviewed, faved and followed, it's amazing this simple story had such reception.