He emerged from a crack in the wall, into a massive underground cavern.

He froze in awe at the scene before him.

The first thing he noticed was the floor. An ornate swirling pattern covered most of the ground, glowing with pink light. The pink material continued up the sides of buildings that filled the rest of the space. The buildings were a little taller than Dib's house. Their roofs curved elegantly and intricate patterns were carved into the dark stone material. It was so unlike Irk above that Dib briefly wondered if they'd somehow arrived on a different planet.

He shook his head, turning to look at Zim. The little alien had obviously been here before, but he looked at the scene before him and Dib could see some awe reflected in his big bug-like eyes.

"This is part of Ancient Irk, isn't it?" Said Dib.

"Yes," Zim replied. "But it's much older than the citadel. Much, much older."

"It's beautiful."

"Yes…" Zim said absently, then, "I mean, I suppose it would be to your primitive human brain."

"Ugh. How did you find this place?" Dib started to follow the alien, who was heading towards a building.

"Hmm? Oh, well… there was an explosion in my lab one day – it was incredible. The entire training halls shook and I had to scrub the cleansing hall as punishment, I think the teacher drone was jealous of Zim's accomplishment because he could have never created such a-"

"Zim," Dib interrupted.

The Irken paused for a moment to remember what the human had asked. "Anyway!" He continued, "There was a crack in my workroom afterwards. It got larger after a few… events. It reached down here."

They ascended the steps into one of the buildings, Zim leading the way and Dib trying not to trip as he turned his head in every direction to try and see every detail.

"Does anyone else know about this place?" Asked Dib, ducking as he followed the other through the open doorway.

"No… I never told anyone."

"Why not?" Dib was curious. He would've imagined Zim would be the type to immediately start bragging about a new discovery.

Zim paused, his eyes distant. "They… wouldn't be interested. And it was useful to have this place. Sometimes I would have to… take a break for a few days, especially when the teaching drones would angry with Zim over something."

Dib looked around the interior. It was fairly simple inside, just one large room with dark textured walls. A simple cot was strung up in a corner, and an assortment of metal debris and old tools were piled by the wall.

"I'm guessing that happened often," Dib smirked.

Zim threw his hands up into the air, "They didn't understand my genius! There was the time I found the cure for Vort-pox – do you think they were impressed? No! It was all 'Zim, you can't melt the patient's skin off', but they were fine after the skin grafts!"

"…Right. So, uh, what was the plan again?"

Zim started digging through the pile of debris, still muttering about his teachers having a grudge against him. He pulled out a round devices with an antenna. "Here it is!" He announced proudly. "I'll be on the roof, I get better reception up there." Zim's pak opened and his spider legs popped out.

"Wait, that's it? You're calling someone?" Dib's shoulders slumped.

"Yup!" Zim stepped outside and skittered up the roof.

Dib groaned. Judging by how 'popular' he knew Zim was, he couldn't imagine anyone actually coming to help them.

"Why did I follow him out of the prison?" He asked himself glumly. Zim had just taken them further into danger with each step. "At least this place is incredible."

He left the building to explore more of the area. The buildings were all empty, black dust swirling around as he walked through them. The glowing patterns on the ground continued around the entirety of the cavern. Dib kneeled to get a closer look. What was it? An organic material or Irken-made?

He reached forward to touch it.

"That's highly toxic," Zim's voice chimed in behind him. "At least it is to Irkens, but you should taste some just to be sure."

"After you." Dib replied dryly. "I'm assuming that's how you found out."

"Don't be silly, I-" Zim froze as a deep rumble filled the cavern.

Their eyes met, and Dib could tell from the shocked look on Zim's face that whatever just happened was not normal.

"What was that?" Dib asked, his voice unsteady as he looked for the source.

Another rumble sounded from somewhere above them.

Zim's look of surprise was quickly replaced with anger. "They're using a tunnel driller! And they always told Zim that they couldn't be brought into Lower Irk anymore!"

"They've found us then?" Dib swallowed the lump in his throat as dust started to stream down from above.

"Not yet," Zim replied, still glaring at the ceiling. "We probably have another minute until they break through."

"This is it then. I don't think I could ever imagined this is the way I'd die." Dib sighed and ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm his pounding heart.

"You give up too easily, Dib-filth," the Irken turned and gave him a condescending smirk.

Dib wasn't reassured in the slightest. "I'm sure your next plan will go just as well as the previous one did."

"Heh heh, just you watch! All I need is…, oh," Zim patted his pockets and frowned.

"What?"

"Eh… if I just had a small device," the Irken muttered to himself, pulling his pockets inside out.

The rumbling was getting louder, larger pieces had started falling from above.

"Zim, I may have taken a few things from your workshop…" The human opened his trenchcoat, revealing the overstuffed pockets.

The Irken's eyes widened. "You stole from me? How DARE-"

"Now is not the time!" Dib cut in. The rumbling sounded much too close.

"Fine, fine!" Zim grumbled under his breath as the stood on his toes and poked through the human's pockets. He pulled out a small device with wires attached. "This will do." There was a click and it lit up brightly.

"So, uh, what will it do?" Dib watched as the alien tossed it onto the glowing path.

His answer was Zim grabbing his arm in a tight grip and breaking into a run in the other direction.

"Explosive!" Replied Zim between breaths. "Not very powerful, but-"

An enormous crash rang through the area. They'd broken through.

Zim yanked Dib into one of the buildings.

"But what?" He prompted.

"But the glowing stuff is highly reactionary."

"You mean the stuff that's covering nearly the entire floor? That'll kill us too!"

The Irken closed his eyes, his lips moving in a countdown. "Three, two, one…" He opened his eyes. "Er…"

There was an innocent-sounding crackle that bubbled up, first faintly until it reached a crescendo.

Everything went white. They fell to the floor, Dib clutching his ears and squeezing his eyes shut. Heat burst through the building and-

It was gone.

The building was gone. The heat was gone. The cacophony of noise was replaced by a soft electronic hum.

Dib slowly opened his eyes.

"Um, hi!" A chubby Irken stood before them, a slightly confused expression on his face, but he seemed to be friendly.

"SKOODGE!" Zim barked, jumping to his feet. "You were late!"

"Sorry Zim! I didn't have a lot of time to set up the transport. And your co-ordinates were strange, it showed you as being way too deep inside Irk!"

Dib was still laying on the floor, trying to get his bearings. The dark stone floor of the ancient building had been replaced by sleek purple tiles. This room had windows that looked onto stars. Large Irken machines filled the rest of the space.

"What…?" Dib breathed.

"Is it okay?" Skoodge looked down at the human with concern. "What is that anyway?"

"He's fine," Zim replied dismissively. "His brain is probably a bit scrambled from the transport, but humans are already so dumb it won't make a difference."

"I'm going… to dissect you on national television," Dib murmured, still laying on the floor.

"See? He's completely normal," Zim shrugged.

"What's going on, Zim?" Skoodge looked at him with wide eyes. "There's been a lot of commotion on Irk today, you wouldn't, uh, happen to know anything about that?"

"Eh," Zim paused for a moment. "Nope!" He answered, somewhat unconvincingly. "Zim had no part in anything that went on today!"

"But-"

"No time! Skoodge, beam the human and myself to my Voot!"

"Oh, okay!" Skoodge walked over a console and tapped a few keys. "Thanks for visiting me!"

Now that he was braced for it, Dib could feel the strange sensation of his body being transported across space. It was like he had been pulled inside out for a moment, but it passed too quick for him to really feel any discomfort.

The human shakily got his feet and glanced at the area. They were in some kind of parking building for ships. Zim's Voot was directly ahead of them.

The Irken unlocked the ship and gracefully jumped inside. Dib followed, still feeling a little clumsy and disoriented. He leaned back in the seat as Zim initiated take-off.

As the ship rose into the air, the human felt a wave of relief pass through him. They ascended into the stars, no one following, blasting towards Earth.

A few hours passed before either of them spoke.

"So…" Zim began. "What did you think of Irk? Pretty amazing, huh?"

Dib glared at the Irken.

"Speechless, eh? I'm not surprised. There's nothing else like Irk in the universe." Zim glanced back, towards the distant pink planet, a small smile on his face.

"That's one way to put it," Dib muttered.

"I expect you'll want to come back with me next time I go," Zim said matter-of-factly.

Dib jolted up in his seat. "Are you kidding? After what happened today? We got arrested in minutes because of you! Nearly died multiple times, got caught in two explosions and had my matter broken down and transported across a planet!"

Zim looked at him for a long moment.

Dib held his gaze with a glare. Then…

"Yeah. I'm coming back with you."

The Irken grinned and Dib felt himself returning a faint smile. He'd seen Irk and lived to tell the tale. As awful as it had been, he had to admit; Irk was amazing.

END

A/N: Thanks everyone for reading. And especially thank you to eattheboring, who has been very patient with my slow progress on this! I hope you enjoyed – this was a bit different for me, but I had fun with the challenge!