Mary's observations on Zim's mental state.
New scene with a familiar Invader. You will cry.
Warning: Zim killing a bunch of people off camera! Character death.
Mary Journal Entry (Attached video)
I've done a lot of research over the years on what brought us here. The research was frustrating though. While most written works have long since faded away to holo-pads. The people actually doing the recordkeeping were basically morons! Nothing was organized and focused on all the wrong details!
Yeah, you can easily find detailed stuff about the aliens that have now become our neighbors, but anything Human related towards history… is a mess.
So let's start with all the verified FACTS! That I have PAINSTAKINGLY collected….
Sorry if it's a bit spotty, there are huge gaps I'm trying to fill.
Let's begin:
As you all know, we live in a world that has become the melting pot of the known Universe.
Ever since Tallest Zim took over, he went on a rampage across Earth for reasons yet unknown. A LOOOOOT of people died, buildings were demolished etc. Humans had to hide underground to avoid the bombings etc. If the bombs didn't kill you, the radiation did. What was supposed to be the end of the world stopped about 20 years into it.
As various Irken death machines patrolled the surface, one of them made the mistake in destroying a building that held a kid's only other family. The still unnamed kid fell into a rage and escaped the grasp of the adults telling him to hide or take cover.
He just… ran in front of the Irken manning that very machine. Picking up random weapons lying on the ground, he took cover to figure out how to take it down while the others ran scared.
The details were a bit fuzzy, but all that was remembered about the incident was the kid single-handedly led a counter attack on the Irken and successfully took it down!
And then the Massive came down from the sky and hovered over the city…
Yikes, I can only imagine how everyone reacted to THAT!
Various scattered reports saying drastically different things, but a small handful say the same thing so I went with those.
After the kid took down that Irken, it went on a successful counter attack that lasted 10 battles until the kid was discovered to have it's organs switched out with random objects and died soon after.
No one else was successful until about a century later where everything changed.
Another kid challenged an Invader this time.
There actually was a photo taken. It was blurry, but can make out the Invader uniform of the Irken atop the fallen machine surrounding the area in smoke and debris. There was the child too in the shot. Barely. All you could make out was that it was a young boy in round, cracked, glassed that reflected the sunlight and a dark jacket.
That was the oldest photo of the now-dubbed "Dib"-Ranked Human.
That was what Tallest Zim called him when he went to confront the kid later on. Reports say, Tallest Zim kept ignoring the actual child's name and kept calling him Dib.
When asked , and actually answered eventually, the Dib word doesn't exist in Irken. There have been rumors of the word being spoken of from the previous Tallers when talking about Zim. Tallest Red and Purple made no secret of their hatred of Zim. The service Irkens stated that for a time prior to Zim's take-over the strange word was spoken more and more frequently whenever Zim checked in.
Strange.
But that was all they were willing to part with.
So the word existed before Earth's takeover. But after Zim came TO Earth. So an Earth word, perhaps?
Is it in any way connected to that kid? Or simply the clothes he wore?
After getting the Dib Ranking, I tried looking over the notes from previous Dibs. But they all focused on battle plans! Any journal entries might as well be useless.
My colleagues think I'm crazy for focusing on the past when I should be focusing on killing my designated Invader so Earth can have a calm again to recover.
But this is important!
Why don't they get that?
Previous reports from Irkens around back then have stated that Zim was a Defective. The MOST Defective Irken they've ever had! Then, after actually taking over the planet in the most destructive (Non-Planet Destroying) way possible, he became just … 'meh' to everything. Apathetic. No maniacal laughter, no crazy plans, no destructive tendencies. Just effective leadership.
It's only ever when a "Dib" shows up that he practically comes alive! Granted nowhere NEAR as …vibrant/violent? As he used to be, more subdued happiness? Then an emotionless way that creeped out even fellow Irkens that used to know him.
After all that, the reports from various "Dibs" and bystanders were mostly about the battles and how Tallest Zim rarely joined.
When he does join…
He's grinning madly, laughing full on, plots of a caliber rarely ever seen before! Dangerous. Formerly an Invader himself, Earth was technically his turf since he was the only one ever assigned here before. He knows the terrain better than other Irkens. Knows how we react and why better than others. When Zim joins the battle, it's described by one person the most accurately:
It's like being a level 10 character in a videogame just learning how to cast magic, then randomly put in a Boss Battle against a level 400 Super-Boss Monster!
Even his fellow Invaders were terrified of him!
There was some really graphic artwork made of him in battle too. Detailed… TMI!
I think some have given me nightmares.
Moving on!
After every battle, he just goes back to 'meh' about everything. He only ever comes alive when a "Dib" shows up. But even then, most don't hold his interest for long. And extremely rare few have gotten him to that "Boss-Battle" form of passion in battles. I think in the previous 402 "Dibs", only about… I don't know? 10 or 12 got him to that point?
Maybe he's looking for something in them? If so, what?
It's like he has 3 different sets of emotions: Grieving? Meh/Disinterest. Boss Battle.
But those were observations whenever he's publicly seen.
I have included a short news broadcast from a few centuries past with the Dib named Jayne.
~/~
An aerial shot of a night time battle.
A large crater in the middle of the city.
The easily recognized uniforms of the Resisty were scattered around, taking cover behind various debris. Search lights were lit up to light the battlefield better by the local authorities.
The assigned Invader, name unknown, stood tall over a large pile of remains of a mecha. His S.I.R. Unit holding a discarded machine gun and grinning maniacally, shooting at the Resisty.
Jayne appears unconscious. He appears to be either ignored or unnoticed by the Resisty.
A second S.I.R unity is seen sneaking up behind Jayne and dragging him out of the line of fire and handing him a gun before running off again. All this was just on the edge of the screen as the focus was on the Invader.
The Invader was on his PAK legs, ready to escape when several laser sights pointed at him.
No…
Behind him.
A dark silhouette calmly walked on scene. PAK legs out to deflect incoming fire.
Almighty Zim.
The sights focused on him, the remaining crowds screamed.
The camera zoomed in on him as he smirked.
In a flash, Zim was on the move.
Long, almost sentient cables emerged from behind the crowds and sped down the craters edges and started impaling the Resisty members.
The camera scrambled to refocus as it caught snippets of Almighty Zim quickly dash from Resisty member to member. Incredible acrobatics and flexibility showed off as he not only doged enemy fire, but also the cables as they went for their kill.
The crowd backed up far away from the cables as the cables uncaringly knocked everything over in their haste in the hunt.
By the time the camera caught up and just zoomed out, all Resisty Members were dead…
Cables slowly circling along the walls and snapping at the onlookers.
The Invader reached Jayne and held a laser gun in one hand to Jayne's head. It's a bit blurry, but his other hand held necklaces? A trophy perhaps?
One of the searchlights focused on them from behind the Invader.
Were they talking?
Jayne must've woke up at some point.
Jayne held the gun that other S.I.R. Unit (Gir maybe?) handed him, shakily aimed at the Invader.
Jayne was smiling. Tears down his face.
In a flash of laser fire, Jayne slumped down.
Dead.
The Invader didn't cheer.
No gloating.
Nothing.
The camera focused on his still back as he stared at his Dib. Necklaces gently moving from the wind.
Then the camera focused back on Zim as he declared the results.
~/~
Too many things are not adding up.
More research is needed.
Was this a Zim Boss Battle moment...?
And I thought the Invaders were terrifying! He took them out like it was nothing...
The cables were inspired by the theme song where Dib was shown and cables shot out. They weren't even supposed to be here then I randomly remembered that! So... why not?
Also yes, that was Gir.