Lights, camera, action!

This is it, the beginning, the dawn, the genesis, namely the start of all things to come.Please don't adjust settings to your screen because the horizontal and the vertical have gone to lunch and don't plan on returning.

Everything you once knew will be false.

Everything you once held faith in will be undone.

So just sit back, pop some popcorn and enjoy the fire works, because it's going to be an interesting show…

Hey director man; let's get it on!

World of Zim: Act I

Vampire Piggy Hunter Online Saga chapter 1

"The Hunter's Storm"

The rumbling started.

Flashing streaks of lightning crackled overhead as dark swirling clouds started to form blackening the lands in an endless shadow. Gale winds blew mixing with rain, ice, and snow, reducing the ground to a frozen wasteland. Stray bolts of lightning continued to crash and crackle, sundering the ground with every flash as the storm continued to brew.

It was a horrid night. A night not fit for beast or man, but still over the horizon through the flashes of light, snow, and rain, a silhouette approaches. Cloaked in a mantle of darkness, the figure continues through the tempest with sure precise strides. The direction of the wind suddenly shifts, unraveling the traveler's dark cloak. A vibrate stream of violet hair cascades behind her as her dark amber eyes are cast in front. Tall and slender she doesn't seem to move through the storm, but rather glide as if she was carried along with the winds. Only the occasional series of rumbles did anything to interfere with her trek. Her skin was pale almost a pure white like the snow that was falling around her but it didn't come close to equaling her beauty.

The winds shifted once again, unveiling her blood red leather corset that tightly captured her middle, presenting her already enticing bosom in a rewarding display of cleavage. She was dressed in an intricate arrangement of red and black leather straps that clung to her angelic form like a glove. With legs that were long and slender like every man's dream and black leather boots that ended about mid-thigh. She seemed to exemplify the definition of a deadly beauty, a mixture of both grace and danger.

She was death. She was destruction. She was Valkyrie Shadow Hunter G.

OoOoOo

G shielded her eyes as she glanced over the horizon her target in sight. She gritted her teeth in eager anticipation; the ravenous hordes of Blood Pigs, Zombie Hogs and even the abdominal Porkenstein weren't enough to withstand her fury. Now her last obstacle awaited her, Lord Glaive's castle the home of the Swine King.

Her legs began to tremble again as another series of rumblings started. G's eyes narrowed to thin slits. They were coming closer…

In the next instance the ground in front of her erupted from below with ten large shadows springing up from underneath the snow. They stood before her ten of them, each with protruding tusks from snub-nosed snouts. They were bigger than the largest of men and twice as heavy. Matted patches of dirty black hair littered their bodies where it wasn't covered with jagged scarps of armor and animal skins. Crude razorblades were strapped to their fists, while some were armed with jagged edged blades and axes. One of them, probably the leader, let out a howl that seemed more of a cross between a roar and a hog's squeal that carried above the howling winds of the blizzard. The throaty bellow goaded the other nine in their own calls. They were pOrkZ, the prime henchmen of the Swine King.

Bolts of lightning continued to crash around them as G stared at the horde of pig-men. Her amber eyes could have burned holes into each of them as tightly her attention was drawn. Her hand then slowly reached over her shoulder to her blade's hilt. In a flash she brought in forth of an exquisitely forged dark blade that nearly reached her six feet in height. Its edge was immaculate with red, violet, and black cravings along its face. It appeared to pulsate with some unnatural power; its edge giving off a purple glow the longer it was freed from its sheath. With that blade she wielded chaos itself. With that blade she was invincible.

Not caring for the Hunter's exhibition, the pOrkZ let loose another battle-squeal then they all rushed forward. With only a second left to react, G exploded into action. Her blade came out like a dazzling violet line of death. It streamed in a downward arc then blazed forward, dipping downward fast and then came around in a flurrying display. She twirled and spun in the air, severing the first pOrkZ' head from its body as she dropped down in a crouch, the pOrkZ' corpse falling down behind her a moment later. The corpse and its head, winked out of existence as the remaining nine pOrkZ watched on.

There was a slight pause in the air as everyone was placed on edge. The wind viciously kicked up again, as seven bolts of lightning could be heard in the background striking in succession. G then leapt, somersaulting upwards dodging a pOrkZ' attempt on her, while her wicked dark blade was flung out. It soared through the air, stabbing deep into the neck of a two-handed axe wielding pig-man. Before he had a chance to react, G was there in a flash, twisting the hilt deep and hard then slashed-out, ripping the hog's body asunder! It gingerly broke away as the Valkyrie Hunter dashed off again light steps ripping along the snow like a hurricane.

Two of the pOrkZ came to her this time, cutting her escape off quickly. The leading pOrkZ came with his jagged bastard sword in an overhead swing. The other following suit with a rising chop. Only a margin of space separated the two attacks, swiftly G dove to the outside, barely missing the brunt of the attack. Her breath came out in heavy pants. G then grimaced as she felt a strong stab of pain to her side. Taking a brief second to inspect the damage, she frowned as a stream of blood flowed from a wound to her ribs.

The Hunter's eyes narrowed to thin amber slits of vengeance. Ignoring her side's pain, she raised her blade up towards the heavens, words of magic flowing from her lips. Her midnight blade then enflamed like a star as the winds started to build in intensity. Lightning crashed all around them, some even striking the Hunter's blade itself, but she remained unfazed. Her eyes were a blue inferno, her body a conduit as the power coursed through her then she moved, jabbing downward, sundering the ground with her blade unleashing a maelstrom. The energy and power came off in waves rippling along the ground at all sides. It destroyed everything in its path till it struck the pOrkZ, enveloping them in light.

Then all was quiet. The wind no longer howled. The storm above settled.

G simply turned away, her cloak flowing behind her as her attention drew towards the castle along the horizon. A grumble echoed from behind, as one pOrkZ managed to climb to his feet. His face was seared, the side of it being burned off into ash. He had little life left in his body, but his spirit only had enough strength for one last attempt. He charged, half crazed, half enraged at the Hunter, madness blinding him.

Her amber eyes were not even cast towards the remaining pOrkZ; G just pointed her sword in its direction. A single word of magic escaped her lips and a violet blade of energy fired from the blade's tip, striking the pOrkZ dead-on sending it away to the abyss.

Meanwhile…

Gaz Membrane stared down at her game screen as her toon made short work of the last hog-men. Her purple Converse sneakers rested on either side of the monitor as she grinned in satisfaction. The small pack of the pig-men was nothing compared to her Valkyrie Hunter. She tapped in a few commands to replenishing the small wounds her character had taken, Gaz then turned her sights back to Glaive's castle.

It had been three weeks since the global release of the Game Slave: Infinity, DRONY's newest next-generation system. It was the ultimate in multimedia entertainment. It not only played the GS: I games and previous GS titles, but DVDs, MP3s, it also had a wi-fi modem and Internet browser. The GS: I's first game title Vampire Piggy Hunter Online was a record success, smashing all previous games in the series sales combined.

Many had been leery about the addition of the online play to the game series, truth be told even Gaz was a bit skeptical, but the grand new world that was developed allowed the players to experience the Vampire Piggy Hunter gameplay like never before. Since its release Gaz had been spending every waking moment in the game world. There were so many new additions, quests, as well as new monsters, which provided an amazing gaming experience. And now Gaz stood before the final zone, Lord Glaive the Swine King's Castle.

As far as she knew, she was the only player able to get this far in the game. Even her so-called 'rival' Iggins was still three zones behind her. A small grin formed to her lips as she remembered the night when she royally OWN-ed his Holy BeefSlayer in a duel.

Gaz took a moment to scroll through her toon's character sheet. Her cursor glanced over her equipment list. Her marker highlighted all the rare and extremely hard to find items her character was outfitted with. All of those items combined were the reason why her playtime clock had maxed out at least three times over. Gaz then finally rested on her pride and joy, her Phantom Warrior's Night Blade.

Phantom Warrior's Night Blade, but all the other players just simply dubbed it the PWN-Blade. The PWN- Blade was a reward after finishing a solo side quest that took thirty-eight hours by itself to finish. It was the strongest weapon in the game outside of the Swine King's weapon, the Hogageddon. From the article she read in Game Slave Mag, the VpH Online was only allowing three of the swords to be permitted on each server and the first one to receive the blade would have better stats than all others made. Although it was a long two days of non-stop playing Gaz, not only managed to get one of the exclusive swords, but also was the first one from all the servers to receive it.

The teen girl pressed the joystick forward sending her character on the move into Glaive's castle, the final stage of the story….

OoOoOo

G's dark cloak was drawn tightly around her as she waded through the snow approaching the Castle's gates. They were tall and opposing iron glad bars that looked as though they could keep the whole world out if needed. Small stalactites of icicles rooted themselves along the upper frame of the bars, seeming like rows of icy fangs. Two stone gargoyles were perched on the gate's pillar, marble wings drawn back, each with their frightening gaze looking down at the Valkyrie Hunter.

The Hunter pressed a gloved hand against the cold steel pressing it forward. The large metal bars, whined a spine tingling creak as they parted. She counted to five and took a breath, 'This is it…' she thought to herself before pushing on.

G extended her hand to make that final press, but then she jerked her hand back. The winds, they were calm but a moment ago, now they've started up again and they were even more violent than before. Then G cursed as she felt the irrepressible weight of another power's approach. It was enormously strong too, one that might even be an equal to her's. It was amazing the sheer might this one wielded. It felt as if the weight of a mountain was pressed down upon her, she actually had to exhibit some control so her mind wouldn't have been swept away into madness.

A tunnel of blue light descended beside her and a massive form was left in its wake. It was crouched down to one knee as the fountain of light dissipated. The echoing beeps and hisses of elevation regulators and diodes sounded as it determined that arrived to its correct location. Pressurized jets of wind blew out from its air exhaust vents as it continued it's processing. Then the whirling wane of the being's hydrolytes joints triggered as it moved, rising to its full height of seven feet. Massive fists of titanium and steel descended to its side, each the size of anvils, both looking as though they could hold the weight of world within the might of their grasps. Its whole main-body was a rich charcoal color that covered most its body from its toe to its chest. Blackness covered its body all except for a tattered crimson cape that was drawn across its impossibly wide chest and its head though was oddly enough a bright emerald green color, with two depth receptor antennae that rose from either side of its faceguard.

It took a step forward and the whirling whine of its joint hydrolytes sounded as it pressed down. It took a scanning glance around, seeming to ignore G's presence entirely as it locked its sights onto Glaive's castle. What followed next actually bore more annoyance to G, than anything else, as a haunting yet familiar laughter escaped from the being. "MWHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAHAHAAHAHA!!" it cried, it then raised one of its mighty fists to the sky striking a dramatic pose. "I MARK THIS LAND IN HONOR OF ZIM! All must bow before the L33T-ness that is ZIM!" a shrill but very familiar voice cried over the voice chat, its shredded cape flowing freely behind him.

"What the f…!!" Gaz cried out loud as the words she never thought possible just entered her screen.

"ZimAlmighty has entered the zone!"

OoOoOo

The Irken irritation that Gaz knew as Zim choose a Fistknight, a cybernetic melee combat class that was known for having high amounts of armor and stamina. It was a basic melee defender or tanking role type of fighter, but for those that knew how to outfit it right, it could produce large amounts of damage in bursts, which if she recalled, fit the moronic bill of Zim just nicely. The Fistknight was big and destructive; something the alien seemed to live for.

Gaz then took a moment to notice the difference she seen with Zim's toon. The alien seemed to have adjusted his toon's armor rating to the minimum amount and put the rest of his build points into his damage output, which provided him with, Gaz hated to admit, quite a powerful character. If he weren't a complete and utter dork, Gaz would have had to say Zim knew how to spec his character very well.

"ZIM!!" Gaz growled as she took her mic with almost a stranglehold.

The Irken Invader paused, because the piercing voice that ran in from the voice chat was painfully familiar. "The Dib-sister?" he questioned, his Power Fist turning to regard the Valkyrie Shadow Hunter for the very first time.

"What are you doing here?" Gaz's character questioned him through the chat, "How did you get here?"

"To answer your first question, Zim does what Zim pleases," the Fistknight responded while crossing his massive arms over its chest and nodding his head matter of factly, "And to answer your second question, your feeble Vampire Pig game has several flawed backdoor programs. It was nothing but child's play for an Irken code-breaker to crack." You couldn't help to miss the amount of pride that echoed in his voice whenever he mentioned anything Irken.

"You hacked Vampire Hunter Piggy!" Gaz spat out harshly through the speakers, what she wouldn't give to be able to strangle someone through the Internet, right at this moment. She then took a breath and let it go. She had to remain focused. She would not let his stupidness infect her.

Zim's character seemed to just simple waved off the infringement as if it was unimportant. His Fistknight then looked around to the icy scenery and returned to the Valkyrie Hunter, "So, what do I do here?"

Gaz's character cracked an eye open, the eyebrow above her right eye visibly twitching, "What? Don't you know how to play the game?"

The Fistknight blanched at the idea, the thought that maybe he wasn't as informed on everything in the universe as he originally thought, never once entered his mind. "Zim went through the bor-ring tutorial. But afterward I just skipped ahead to the fun bloody parts," the Fistknight grinned while finishing and Gaz swore out loud. She didn't even know how he was able to manipulate the toon so it could perfectly produce the zippered teeth effect.

Gaz nearly wanted to rip her own hair out of their roots. She promised herself a day in the nearby future she would dedicate to dooming the Alien personally. In the meantime… "Whatever, just don't let your stupidness get in my way. I'm trying to concentrate," she ordered while returning to the castle gates.

"This is that boss-piggy's castle isn't it?" Zim questioned thoughtfully.

"Glaive…" she corrected, "Glaive is the Swine King, the lord of all the Vampire Pig armies." Gaz gritted her teeth in irritation from having to explain. "The whole point of the game is venturing around till we can finally meet and defeat him in his lair. And I'm going to be the first to do so…" G finished before taking a step towards the gates.

Her eyes then narrowed for a second then leaped into the air, a second before a blast of light vaporized the area where she was just standing. Gold brown eyes open widen as she stared at the smoking barrel from the ZimAlmighty's arm cannon. "I cannot allow that little Gazzy," ZimAlmighty commented. His legs spread open as he took an aggressive stance, "The destruction of that pig-lord will lead Zim to the path of the L33T!" his fist knotted tightly in front of him as he euphemized the "leet."

G's eyes instantly flashed with light. "Zim, I've spent the last three weeks fighting and dueling...I've scoured through dozens of websites, suffered through hundreds of stupid forum posts for ever tip, hint and strategy to get me here. And NO ONE, especially a moron like you is going to stop me!" at the end of G's words her arms flashed impossibly fast and in an instant her Phantom Warrior's Night Blade was drawn to her side.

The sounds of a hundred snaps and clicks resonated as a series of barrels flipped out from several compartments from the Irken's mechanized fighter. "Fine larva-baby, it looks like Zim must once again prove his superior talents!" his crimson optical sensor fixed the Hunter with a deadly gaze, "Prepared Gaz-noob to be pwned by ZIM!!"

To Be Continue….

Next Chapter: Zim vs. Gaz

Disclaimer: Invader Zim and its characters are the property of Jhonen Vasquez and Nickelodeon. The author of this story claims no right or ownership to said property.