Synopsis: AU Story. Every hundred years, the Rokniks come to collect contenders from multiple planets to play in a death game for their own amusement, to broadcast for anyone who wants to watch all over the universe. There are no rules. The rewards are immense. Will our heroes make it out alive, or will they be sacrificed to the Game of Doom?

YES! I am incredibly bored and this idea will not leave my precious mind. So I'm forcing it upon you all. And yes, while it may not seem like very much at first (but really, isn't that how all love-stories go?) their IS romance in this fic. ZAGR mainly but I may or may not add some other couplings in their. And this will probably end up being kind of long.

UPDATES EVERY OTHER FRIDAY. I promise consistency and will let you know if otherwise (although that has never happened and will probably never happen if I have any say about it). Although the only way I won't is if I'm unable to access a computer, I'm dead or in a hospital or I totally forgot. So yeah, assume the first three because I NEVER. FORGET. Even if it's really late at night I will update so yeah.

I also count this as chapter one as well as the epilogue. I would add that in there but it wouldn't look as nice.

Enjoy!

The Game of Doom
Chapter 1
"The Collection Process"

It had never happened before. Not there. Not on Earth.

He remembered it well.

She remembered it better.

"Are you ready, kids?"

They looked up at the same time, both of them silent. Neither of them said a word, but no one expected them to. What words were there to say? The intruder nodded and gestured for them to follow. They got up slowly, in no hurry, but quick enough to not be considered stalling. After all, why delay the inevitable?

"Follow me."

The two of them did, never touching, but never straying more then a few inches from the other. The boy had his hands balled into fists at his sides, eyes focused on what was ahead of him, determination in his sharp gaze. Beside him the girl had her arms crossed and was looking at the floor, hyper aware of the person beside her and wishing that they were anywhere but here. In truth it was because he never should've been there in the first place. It was her fault he was there.

He remembered it well.

She remembered it better.

6 Years Ago

"I don't care," She snapped, eyes never leaving the device in front of her.

Just two more points-!

"How could you not care? This is fate-of-the-world kind of stuff, Gaz! Aren't you even the slightest bit interested?" Her brother complained, scowling at her as he whined.

She rolled her eyes internally, not risking removing her real ones from the screen for a moment, lest she risk getting killed while doing so. "No, Dib. I don't. Now go be stupid somewhere else, I'm busy killing the Dark Master."

Dib scoffed. "You're twelve. Shouldn't you be less violent?"

"And your thirteen," She shot back, pausing her game for a moment to glare at him. "Shouldn't you be less interested in ghosts and more interested in girls?"

He opened his mouth to argue and then shrugged, lying back on the surrounding grass. "Fair point."

The two were in a meadow, well outside the safety of city grounds. But neither of them believed in the myths that kept so many inside the Boundary. Not even Dib, the most optimistic person in the world.

Well, their world. They couldn't really account for the any other planet's optimism.

Only the surrounding noise of nature and Gaz's resumed video-game filled the air. Dib smiled to himself, his trench coat feeling just right as the sun warmed his pale skin. Despite the fact these children were probably one of the most well-sunned people in their area, it obviously wasn't enough. They were both considerably pale, even by the normal standards, as no one went outside unless it was raining because that was the only time it was 'safe'. Dib scoffed at the thought, closing his eyes and inhaling the fresh air deeply. You just didn't get this kind of purity inside the Dome. Everything smelled like ashes and potato chips. An odd combination and certainly not a pleasant one.

"Enjoying yourselves?"

Dib opened his eyes and Gaz looked up just as she dealt the last blow, killing the boss. She muted it, not bothering to pause, as the cutscenes were always stupid and she normally skipped them anyways. Over them stood the rest of the people who 'dared go outside the Boundary'. Dib liked them, even though they thought him odd. Gaz loathed them but she tolerated them because the two children, despite their unnatural capabilities to take care of themselves, were not allowed outside the Boundary or even the Dome without the supervision of the Praeters*.

"Yeah." Dib said, enthusiastically, pointing upwards to the left, with unnatural precision. "Can we stay till dark out today? I want to see Saturn. It's supposed to be coming out tonight."

The man, known as Mr. Dwicky, smiled. "Sure, Dib. What'd you think, Gaz? Up for a late-nighter?"

Gaz detested Dwicky the most. He was part of the Council who dealt with children, specifically the ones who had particularly difficult times adjusting to the Dome and the Boundary. Especially when they realized what they were supposedly being protected from. In fact twenty years ago, it had been him who had started and gotten the Praeters approved. But Gaz, as well as half the city, did not believe in the stories that kept them contained inside. In fact the majority of the population believed it was just the Council's way of keeping their inhabitants under control but while there were those who believed, the rules would be enforced.

"I . . . guess," She finally replied, eyes flicking back to her game, disliking the specific attention.

Dwicky smiled at her and her brother, who was now sitting up and beaming at the sky. From the day he'd met them, he'd been well aware of the specialness of these two children. Upon hearing from Professor Membrane, their father, that he had already told them both about why they were kept in the Dome, Dwicky had become alarmed and ordered a personal emergency meeting with the two of them, under the impression their psyche must have been shattered. The Council member had been furious and disappointed with the famous professor. Children could not handle such frightening truths!

Such a surprise he got when he met the two; a boy, only ten at the time and as eager to please as the next child. However unlike every other child, this boy was not ignorant. He was quite smart, like his father, as was his sister. After seeing the joyful little Dib, he'd expected the same overall activeness from his sister. What a shock he got when the dark little mystery walked into the room, only nine and yet seeming oh so much older. A woman in a child's body. Her intelligence was immense and her maturity far greater then what might've been considered healthy. But after a few more questions, he'd become well aware these two were minimally, if not wholly unaffected by the news. At first Dwicky had thought they just didn't understand, until Gaz had spoken her opinion.

"If I cared about aliens," She'd stated, in a high-pitched, intelligent voice that always made him crack a smile. "Then I wouldn't be so averse to hearing Dib's stupid theories. But I don't care."

"And even if she does get attacked by aliens," Her brother had interjected, choosing to ignore her insulting remarks, a skill Dwicky was quite surprised (and somewhat saddened) the boy had at all. "I'll be right there to protect her!"

She had seemed considerably irritated, glaring at her brother, who'd been standing dominantly like a superhero. "Like I need protecting!"

Dwicky smiled at the memory, watching Dib scramble up the tree his sister was leaning against, trying to get a better view of the sky, no doubt. His sister ignored him entirely, eyes narrowed to slits as she focused intently on her game screen. Gaz was one of those children who disliked dependency. Disapproved of it even. She wasn't a child who had deluded herself into believing she was mature; she was mature. It was almost a pity she wouldn't ever really understand childhood but as it was often filled with confused frustration, Dwicky didn't feel too bad for her. Or Dib, whose imagination stretched beyond even the limits of the Boundary inhabitants, myths and all. It was with these content thoughts the leader of the Praeters left, to go inform the others he would be staying to watch over the kids and anyone else was welcome to join them.

"I'm bored." Gaz finally stated, a few minutes later. She slipped the game into her pocket after beating the last boss, the device no longer holding any interest to her. "Let's go home."

"We can't," Her brother called down, swinging himself out on a branch, legs wrapped around it, as well as one hand, the other holding binoculars fastened securely to his neck. "We're staying till nightfall, remember?"

Gaz huffed, crossing her arms and blowing a stray hair from her face. For a moment Dib heard nothing, remaining focused, eyes straining for any signs of anything. There was nothing in particularly the newly blossomed teenager was looking for but it didn't hurt to be observant. The rustling of bushes caught his attention. He lowered his binoculars, turning his head curiously. Only when he saw his sister making her way through the underbrush did he become alarmed, quickly releasing his binoculars, letting them drape around his neck, as he made his way quickly after her, catching up within a few minutes.

"Gaz!" He shouted, disapprovingly as they came to a new clearing. "You shouldn't run off like that! You could get hurt!"

His sister turned and gave him a look, a single brow raised. "You're kidding me, right?"

"No!" Dib snapped, crossing his arms and giving her a stern glare only an older brother could give. "You're not to go around without me, okay? We should get back to Dwicky and the other Praeters. This area doesn't have clearance."

"Clearance shmearance!" His sister scoffed, running off without another word.

Alarmed and stunned, it took Dib a moment to realize what had happened. This proved to be of some consequence, as his sister was easily the fastest (girl or otherwise) within the Dome and even the Boundary. Possibly their country, but that was something that couldn't be proven. Thankfully, Dib was second to his sister and with any luck, he could catch up to her, or at least be able to keep an eye on her until she stopped.

Gaz had no intention of stopping anytime soon though and was thankful of her agile capabilities that kept her from needing to stop and pick her way over anything. Instead she nimbly leaped across holes, fallen logs, or any other obstruction in her path as she ran. Dib was not quite as slippery as his sister was but while he wasn't as graceful, he was every bit as efficient. Just because it didn't look pretty or neat didn't make it any less helpful when it came to catching his sister.

"Gaz!" He shouted, wasting precious air. "Where are you going?"

"As far from those idiots as possible!" She snapped back. And if it was possible, she got quicker and finally, finally, she lost her brother.

Oh, of course she could hear him, wherever he was, shouting panickedly but Gaz was not concerned. She knew he would go back eventually. They'd run in a straight line, after all, and she'd made enough of a path for him to easily find his way. Eventually, she would too, but not now. Gaz needed time to think now, time away from her stupid brother, the Praeters and anything else that could've been thought about.

She picked her way quietly now, defensively eying her surroundings. Gaz wasn't afraid, no, but she wasn't stupid. Just because there weren't mythological creatures in the woods didn't mean there wasn't something else that could hurt her. Hurt, because nothing could kill her. She was far too quick for that. And if something couldn't catch you, it couldn't kill you, simple as that.

A rustling caught her attention and she turned on her heel, without a sound, ready to sprint off at a moments notice.

There was the sound of struggling and for a moment, she thought Dib had followed and gotten caught in some brambles in his haste to find her. So with an eye roll, his sister sighed and shook her head, pushing past the bushes.

"Dib!" She snapped, "Just go back to the-!"

A piercing noise, immediately compared to the sound of metal scraping against glass (although it Gaz had never heard it before, it was the only thing she could think of), filled the air. She hissed in surprise, eyes squeezing shut automatically and her hands clamping to her ears to stop that noise. Forcing her eyes open immediately after though, her surprised amber and forever irritated gaze rested on a machine charging right at her, as if outraged.

She did not scream.

She would not scream.

In what seemed like a moment Gaz was seven feet from where she had been, sprinting away without a second thought to her direction. She did not glance over her shoulder as that was far too risky going at her speed and not tripping/running into anything required her utmost attention. Besides, the noise that damned thing made was more than enough to inform her that it was indeed chasing her. Possibly gaining on her. Vaguely, she thought she heard Dib's voice shouting her name but there wasn't time to check. There was only time to run.

An entirely unexpected slam on her hip sent her reeling left, skidding for a few seconds before rolling onto her hands and knees, looking up and demanding an answer to what had hit her. Her eyes widened once again with surprise as a figure, only a few inches from her, rolled to its feet panting, shaking the dirt off from an absurd, apparently bald head she couldn't quite comprehend, before a red gaze turned its attention to her. It seemed displeased, eyes narrowing.

"Oh," It said, in an equally odd voice. "You aren't Skoodge."

Her own eyes narrowed.

"No," She snapped, "I'm not."

But she did not offer her name and neither did the creature in front of her. It also made no move to help her back to her feet, although that hardly mattered, as Gaz wouldn't have accepted the help anyways.

"Hm," It seemed confused. "Then why was the Megadoomer chasing you?"

"I don't know." Gaz huffed, getting ready to run again, not particularly concerned that the person she was talking to was green. It was relatively humanoid and that was all that really registered in her head as she glanced to where the robot was, still in the trees, looking around wildly now. "And I don't really care. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go find my stupid brother before he gets himself killed by that thing- sorry, the Megadoomer."

The thing's eyes narrowed at the mocking tone she used when speaking the robots name, as if it was insulted.

"What are you, little creature?" It asked, peering at her.

Gaz took a few steps backwards, hopping from foot to foot to ensure she could run without problem.

"Human." She finally said, well aware by now that the thing in front of her was otherwise placed. "I'm a human female."

"Ah," It nodded, as if this explained everything, turning towards the device with the same apprehension she had, except physically vocalized. "Female. That figures."

Her brow rose. For a moment she wanted to question what the thing meant by that, but after another moment of deliberation, she decided it didn't matter. So she just shook her head and turned away, scanning the forest and creating a route in her head where she could back-track without confronting the beast. "Whatever."

An explosion to their left sent both of them to their knees again and Gaz felt something hot slice across her cheek. She hissed in pain, gripping her cheek and pulling her hand away to find a few drops of blood on her hand. Any normal twelve year old would have panicked, but not this one. Instead she just huffed, decided she was lucky it wasn't worse and turned her attention to the source of the explosion. You know the saying; an eye for an eye and in this case, blood for blood.

Another strange, humanoid figure darted out, crouching on top of a boulder, glaring violet daggers at the figure that had 'saved' her.

"Zim!" She growled, pointing an accusing finger at him as she jumped dramatically to her feet. "You-!"

Whatever declaration she was about to make was cut off by the wail of an alarm ricocheting through the entire forest. Unseen lights suddenly protruded from bushes and trees, flashing red and making the whole forest seem like it was on fire.

"Look what you did, you idiotic little donka!" Zim shrieked, spinning on his heel to glare at her. "You've alerted the whole planet to our presence!"

She had nothing to say to that and Gaz ignored the dispute, eyes shooting to the robot, adrenaline instinct starting to kick in. As she suspected, the explosion the "donka" had made had attracted its attention and now its red eyes were eying them with what might've been anger, if robots had feelings. It began charging over, stomping, unnoticed by the two bickering extraterrestrials. A glance back informed her the way she had been planning on running was now set ablaze, thanks to the (presumably) female alien. Which meant she'd either have to run past it or fight it. Hmm.

Well, she probably couldn't do it alone.

"Hey!" She snapped, interrupting the two of them and backing up, trying to blend in with the shadows. "I don't suppose any of you have any ideas on how to get that thing off our tails, do you?"

The two stopped and watched the approaching robot, having some difficulty distangling itself from vines and looking rather foolish, for the time being. But Gaz did not doubt that a great force lurked behind that momentarily gawky and crude disposition.

Zim growled and the female-looking creature beside him did the same. Gaz watched with slight curiosity as their antennae went flat against their heads, intense, vibrant eyes narrowing at the monster.

"Ah," Gaz noted to herself aloud, turning back towards the monster about to tear its way from the underbrush. "So it's not yours."

"Of course it isn't," The presumed female snapped, making Gaz's brow rise. She had to have magnificent hearing if she'd heard that little mutter over the racket of the robot. She pointed a gloved finger at Gaz, which gave her the opportunity to note that there were only three, not five. "Watch her, Zim! You take care of planet evaluation, I'll take care of the robot!"

"You do not tell Zim what to do!" He shrieked, lunging at her.

Gaz hissed in frustration as she watched them tussle, scratching and attacking violently. Vaguely, she wondered if this was some sort of courtship, but decided that they seemed to hate each other far too much to have any relationship whatsoever.

Dib was screaming.

All manly like though.**

If he'd been warmed by the sun now, it was a far too distant memory. It might as well be burning him now. Regardless, the idea of taking a break never occurred to him. His sister was somewhere in this forest, surrounded by dense trees and the sounds of screeching metal and fire. Than again, maybe it was the fact he was running in a forest with fire that was making him so hot . . .

A clang of metal and a shout in a language he did not understand caught his attention.

Immediately he spun around, ready to defend himself. To an onlooker it would've been quite a sight indeed; a boy, barely on the edge of puberty, sweating bullets and scarred by branches he'd been in far too much of a hurry to avoid, trying to catch his breath as he prepared to defend himself. Yes, an intimidating thing indeed.

A figure, small and fat, tumbled from the bushes, looking rather warn itself. It shoved itself back to, presumably, its feet before rushing towards Dib, seeing Dib and then skidding to a halt just as it broke into the daylight.

Dib's jaw dropped. In turn, the thing stared back. In a moments time all previous thought of searching for his sister dissolved, filled only with the color green and thoughts of an atopsy table. His finger shot up then, nearly closing the distance between the wide ruby eyes and the sweaty little boy.

"Y-You're . . .!" And he cleared his suddenly squeaky voice, blinking rapidly as he cleared his racing mind. "YOU'RE AN ALIEN!"

And then, just as quickly as it came, the thing's antennae dropped and it was gone, racing past Dib without a word.

"HEY WAIT!" Dib shouted, giving chase. "Come back here, alien scum!"

The run that had seemed so laboring was now fresh to him as Dib pushed himself farther than he had with the spark of excitement, his ice blue eyes given to him by genetics never leaving the fat, pudgy, oddly fast alien running away from him. He couldn't stop the giggling coming from his mouth, a waste of air that he really needed. It was only when things got incredibly He was panicking; that was fairly evident. At his speed they soon reached their destination and began, much to Dib's horror, running towards the flames.

"Hey wait, don't go in there!" He shouted, warningly, "You'll get yourself killed and then I can't show you to the world!"

The creature finally skidded to a stop and before Dib could react, it was on top of him, knocking him harshly into the floor and clamping what could only be presumed as a hand over his mouth. Dib squirmed and began struggling, noting the leathery glove rather than flesh that was touching him, but could not fight him off.

"Look!" It snapped, "I don't know what planet this is or even what galaxy I'm in right now, but right now, I need to find Zim. Okay?"

Dib just layed there and stared, unable to form words.

It sighed, getting up and holding out it's hand. "What's your identification?"

"My what?" Dib questioned, taking the offering and allowing the thing to pull him up. "Oh, my name. I'm Dib!" He shrieked, jumping into a heroic pose, fists firmly planted on his hips. "Defender of Earth and Elite Member of Swollen Eyeball!" There was a pause, in which he glanced over to see the thing simply eying him, boredly. Embarrassed, he put his arms down and glanced up again. "So, what's your, um, identification?"

Immediately it was saluting, startling Dib as it shouted in a very practiced form. "Invader Skoodge, reporting for duty, sir!"

"Skoodge, huh?" Dib nodded. "Alright Skoodge, what are you doing on my planet?"

"Well, like I said, I'm looking for Zim right now." Skoodge insisted, reaching behind him. Curious, Dib peaked to see a device on his back open, revealing foreign weaponry. Dib stared in awe as Skoodge began toying with it, apparently preparing himself for something. "Before Tak or the Megadoomer get him."

"The Megadoomer?" Dib inquired, noting the rather fancy name. "What's that, another foreign race?"

Skoodge snorted, shaking his head. Odd, since he appeared to have no neck. "Hardly. It's a robot that- Look, I don't have time to explain. If you want to come along, go ahead, but realize you're putting yourself in danger if you get-!"

"WOW!" Dib shrieked in wide-eyed amazement, his eyes stretching to be the size of his large, circular glasses. Skoodge recoiled at once, his antenna flattenning against his head at the unwelcome noise. Hissing as he realized that he'd dropped his weapon, he bent over to pick it up. "What is that?"

Alarmed, Skoodge spun around.

Just in time to see the Megadoomer crash directly towards them.

The slam of the robot's palm next to them returned their attention to the situation at hand, separating the fighting pair and sending all three of them scattering. Somehow Zim was thrown next to Gaz and would've been knocked into her had Gaz not had the reaction time to dart to the side. Instead of Gaz the little extraterrestrial ended up colliding with a tree. He cried out in pain, catching the robot's attention as it swiveled its head in their direction. She was careful not to take her eyes of the Megadoomer, trying to figure out how she would get out of this one. Her back was to the flame, so there was nowhere to run. She made a face. If she could just get a distraction, she could run past it and leave these things to deal with what they'd brought to her planet.

Tak chose that moment of the Megadoomer's distraction to leap up onto its head, slamming some sort of metal appendage that seemed to have sprung from her backpack (which Gaz had just taken notice of) into its forehead. It shuttered and sparked as electric currents ran across its variously shaded red body, making Gaz's eyes widen. She took a moment to stare at it before shaking the awe off and sprinting past the convulsing thing with every intention of getting out of the forest and finding her brother. She nearly growled at the thought of seeing Dib again. As soon as he found her he'd be going off about being right and the last thing he needed was that head of his to get bigger when his ego inflated.

"Hey!" Zim shouted after her. "Where are you going?"

She did not answer, nor did she stop and turn around. Gaz continued running, hell-bent on getting as far from that mess as possible. And thus being so focused she had barely any time to redirect as she saw a metallic hand rush towards her. She darted away and watched it slip, slamming through the trees. Panting heavily Gaz forced herself back onto her hands and knees, taking a moment to recover.

"Foolish being!" Zim shrieked, gripping her by her forearm and hoisting her forcibly to her feet. "You do not pull stupid stunts like that with the Megadoomer still functioning and within range!"

"GAZ!"

"Mm?" Zim let out a noise, antennae quirking as both of them turned.

Gaz groaned upon seeing the source, jerking her arm away from Zim a moment later. "Dib, get out of here!"

"Gaz, look at all this cool alien stuff!" Dib shouted, disregarding her shout. He was far too pumped to have any rational thought. The Megadoomer, after the particularly nasty crash, had since remained immobile. However Skoodge had begun backing away from it, eying it warily. From some unknown place Dib had retrieved a camera and was now furiously taking picture, flash after flash making everyone's eyes hurt.

Zim took notice of the green being, immediately growling and pointing accusnig fingers. "Skoodge! Where have you been?"

At once the alien wilted, looking nervous and at the same time defensive. "I was looking for-!"

"While you've been out playing on this planet, I've been dealing with the Megadoomer and Tak!" Zim interrupted, ignoring his reply as he continued shouting and scolding his companion. Tak, meanwhile, was playing with some device on her wrist.

Gaz rolled her eyes. Even foreign planets with advanced technology had stupid inhabitants. Truly the universe had no hope at all. She sighed, shaking her head when something from her peripheral vision caught her attention. She turned, brow rising. In a moment though, she too was yelling.

"DIB!" She shouted, stepping towards the robot, of which her brother was now on top of. "Get down from there right now you big idiot!"

"Gaz, this is amazing! You should see this stuff, it's so much more amazing up close!" He called back with glee, entirely oblivious to the rising panic in the area, from all four persons.

"Idiot!" Tak snapped, dropping her wrist as a finalized beeping noise went off. "Get away from that thing! It's still active! Do you have a death wish?"

"Crap," Gaz muttered, darting over. "Dib, I swear, if I have to drag you down from that thing I'm going to make you wish you didn't have a sister!"

"Fools!" Zim was shouting now.

Gaz growled, drowning out the rest of his noise. This ordeal had far too many exclamations for her taste. When they got home, she was going to beat to snot out of Dib for putting her through this (the fact that she'd been the one to run off in the first place completely slipping her mind) and than invest in a pair of earmuffs. Headphones, too, had lost their appeal at this point. No point in drowning out noise with more noise when she desired only quiet.

At this point she had stomped her way to the Megadoomer and Dib had finally had his fill of pictures from the top, now trying at different angles from the floor. Thus at the advantage of having him once again level with her, Gaz gripped him by the collar and brought him very close to her face, forcing him to look into her eyes. Dib paled, silencing, his energy draining out of him the longer he stared at his terrifying sister (who seemed very close to ending his life at the moment).

"We're going home," She growled. "Now."

Dib gulped and nodded, "O-Okay."

With another growl she turned on her heal, still dragging him by the collar, in the opposite direction of the clearing. Losing interest in this, Tak than took the time to inform them that an Irken Retrieval unit was coming to fetch them and that they should be leaving shortly. With the new help, they'd easily destroy the Megadoomer as well.

"We wouldn't have needed help if you'd not attacked me in the first place," Zim stated haughtily, crossing his arms and raising his chin.

Tak growled. "I wasn't attacking you! You ran into my ship, you idiot!"

"You lie! YOU LIE!"

Thus being so surrounded by so much tenseness, Skoodge turned his attention back to the Megadoomer. He froze.

"Uh, guys." Skoodge squeaked.

"You're stupid crap-!"

"Guys." The invader reapeated, gaining levelity in his voice, but lacking actual volume.

"It's hardly my fault you're such a failure!"

"You RUINED my LIFE. Of course it's your fault!"

"Well if you're going to blame people instead of take responsibility-!"

"YOU CAUSED THE BLACKOUT!"

"GUYS!" Skoodge finally shrieked, causing everyone to stop and look at him.

Gaz spun around than, catching sight of the shadow looming over them. More specifically, aimed at her brother, who was still too busy scrolling through his pictures to notice. Her head darted from her brother to the hand reaching out to him, a light shining directly on his back.

"Dib," She breathed, choking on the word as her blood ran cold.

"Hm?" He questioned, turning to look at her with inquiry.

Upon seeing her expression of horror, things seemed to slow down for him. Dib had barely turned around when something hard slammed into his ribs, sending him flying to the ground. The tips of the robots icy hands just carressed his cheek before it was gone. It took a moment for his brain to realize that he'd been pushed out of the way. It took another for him to look up and see his sister, now grasped firmly in the robot's hands, and struggling like mad.

"GAZ!" He shouted, struggling to get up. But something twisted in his insides and he cried out in pain. Gaz's shove and his twisted form made him land funny. He figured something was sprained and now he wheezed, trying to make himself move.

"NO!" Skoodge shouted in alarm.

"It can't have a tribute!" Tak added, pointing her finger at the monster holding the girl. "Get her out of there!"

Meanwhile Gaz, very much like her brother, couldn't breathe. The grip was too tight and despite it only holding her around her waist and down, she felt like she was going to pop. She pulled but she didn't even budge. From up here though, things were very quiet. Gaz grunted a few more times before realizing she couldn't hear anyone below her. Despite the discomfort it was . . . kind of nice being up so high. Curious she turned to look at the robots head as a red light came forth, expanding to scan her before focusing on her chest.

"Tribute Identified." It said, speaking for the first time, making her eyes narrow. "Species Unknown. State race, being."

"Human," She replied, not entirely sure what was compelling her to speak. "I'm female. Now put me down you stupid piece of scrap metal! Now!"

"Species Identified." It continued, either ignoring her command or oblivious of information it wasn't programmed to understand. "Prepare for Mezmerization."

Her eyes narrowed further, "Mezmera-?"

That was all she got out before a piercing scream echoed through the air. Gaz was filled with disbelief as she realized that, quite unwillingly, it was her who was screaming. Surprised she felt her body arch painfully backwards, instinctively trying to lean as far away from the electrical currents shooting from the robots arm in a violent red light. Over her own screams, she thought she might've heard someone elses', as well as seeing a few bright flashes of light. However she couldn't be sure as only a few seconds later a black cloud descended from all sides and the world became very, very black and infinite.

*Praeters - Outsiders in Latin, I think. Or something similar to that. A symbolic name. Pretty, huh?

Not even gonna lie, compared to From Your Memory, this thing is bubbles to oil; so much more awesome. I love this plot so much, it's my baby. Seriously. It's creepy how much I'm in love with the entire story.

YES, romance! You all are like, "How?" But trust me it's AMAZING. Gah, I am so excited for this thing!

Yes, updates every other week. Sorry for those of you just waiting for this one. What I'm doing is updating one story one week, then the other next week. Switching em around to give me time to work on them.

HOLY FUCK THIS WAS A LONG FIRST CHAPTER. Normally my intros arre like, 4,000 max and this one is 6,000+. Oh my damn. I'm expecting these chapters to be super long but wow, okay, look forward to that then?

Till then!