The sky was dark and grey, and impending rain was soon to come. Zim paced back and forth nervously. Looks like he was stuck, to his dismay, in his base until it subsided. Oh, how he hated rain. There was no telling when it would stop. Even though these stupid humans had what they called a "weather man" who's purpose was to predict when the rain would stop falling, it still took him by surprise. Stupid humans. They could predict things about planets light years away from them, but yet they couldn't tell when exactly rain would happen or not. It was a prediction. The Tallest didn't like that word; they said that, in order to maintain a strong empire, they'd have to be driven by facts alone.

GIR hummed a tune and mixed random items in a bowl. He saw Zim pacing.

"MASTER!" He yelled, hopping off of the stool he was sitting on. "Why you walkin'? I'm gonna walk with you!"

GIR giggled as he walked alongside Zim.

"GIR!" Zim shouted angrily. "My ingenious self cannot hear my BRILLIANT mind think because of your unconditional laughter! Go now."

GIR walked away, still giggling and smiling from ear-to-ear. He propped himself on the stool once more and proceeded to mix ingredients– Octopus tentacles, dirt, eggs, sugar, salt, dried grass, and motor oil– in a large bowl.

"I'm making you a cake, Master!" he yelled.

"Eh. Yes, yes..." Zim said, not paying attention to anything.

Until the screen in the living room lit up with the words "Incoming Transmission: The Tallest" on it.

Zim let out a squeal of joy. The Tallest never called him! He straightened his uniform before answering the call.

"My Tallest!" Zim said boldly, saluting the two figures on the screen. "What drove you into calling the amazing ZIM?"

"Eh," said Red. "We have something to tell you, Zim... it's about Earth."

"What about this filthy ball of dirt?" Zim answered.

"We have found on Earth some key elements that could be used to construct weapons and strengthen our armor. Not to mention..." Red pulled out a small coin the size of a penny made out of pure gold.

"This is the only piece of gold that we Irkens have found on Irk. This, however..." Red held up a picture of a brick of gold. "This is what the humans have on their planet."

Zim's mouth opened. He'd never seen a whole pound of gold. He'd never even seen gold in real life. The only gold Irkens had on their planet was pill-sized; the small coin they'd made about a century back. And although Zim didn't really understand why, based on how the Tallest have talked about it, it must be quite valuable.

"Where did you find that picture, my Tallest?" Zim said, still recovering from the shock.

"On a human data base called the 'internet'. They put EVERYTHING on there. From what they ate for breakfast in the morning to government information."

"And can we obtain this gold, my Tallest?" Zim asked eagerly.

"Yes, Zim! Yes we can!" Red said. Zim thought Red sounded insane. He resisted the urge to recoil.

"Great! How will we do this?"

"Take over the Earth, obviously!" Red threw his arms in the air.

"Oh, don't you worry, my Tallest. I'm on it! I've already gathered information about—"

"Not you, stupid!" Purple yelled. Zim was taken aback.

Stupid?

"W-What?"

"Geez, after ALL THIS TIME one would have thought you had figured it out by now!" Red yelled.

"I'm afraid I don't understa—"

"We sent you on a FAKE mission. We were trying to get rid of you because you are a horrible Invader! You thought you were actually an Elite?"

"Yes..."

"WELL YOU AREN'T! You completely destroyed any hope for Impending Doom I... why on Irk would we let you participate in Impending Doom II?" Red was fuming.

"I just thought..."

"Thought what?" said Purple. "That blowing up other Elites was a good idea? How oblivious are you?"

"I didn't know I was still on Irk!"

"PEOPLE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU, ZIM," Red growled. "And it is my duty as a Tallest to make sure that never happens again!"

All Zim could do was put his head down in shame.

Red leaned into the screen camera with malice in his eyes.

"We're going to kill off every pitiful, worthless human on planet Earth," Red said slowly. "And when they die," he continued.

"You die with them."

Zim froze. He couldn't move. Or breathe, either.

"Almighty Tallest, signing off."

The screen went to static.

Zim stood in front of the screen for three hours after that. Just staring at the screen, from which just moments ago he was told such shocking news. Why? Why him?

Someone knocked on the door, snapping Zim out of his trance.

"—Through with you," a voice called from outside. "—No longer be a threat to mankind, I will—"

Ugh.

Dib-human.

Zim threw open the door. What could that pitiful, hideous human want?

"What?" Zim snapped.

"I will stop your evildoing, ZIM!" Dib shouted, pulling a water gun out from behind his back.

"Go away," Zim said coldly. "I don't need YOU around to pester me." He snatched the water gun out of Dib's hands and sprayed him in between the eyes.

"AH!" Dib shouted, swatting at the spray of water. Before Dib had the chance to say anything else, Zim threw the water gun at Dib's face. It him him in the nose. Zim slammed the door shut.

"Maybe you've won this time, Zim! But I'll be—"

Zim threw open the door once more and stomped outside.

"If you ever come back onto my lawn again, you pitiful slug," Zim said slowly. "So help me I will kill you on the spot. No more games, human. I am through with you. I will give you exactly ten seconds to get off my lawn." Zim pulled out a ray gun.

"Ten... nine... eight... seven..."

Dib took the ground running. What was with Zim? He seemed so bitter today. He always was, but today... today was scary.

"Gaz, what do you think is the matter with Zim?" Dib asked, pacing back and forth in front of the couch Gaz was playing her GameSlave on.

"I don't care, idiot," she said.

"He threatened to kill me," Dib said thoughtfully.

"About time someone did."

"I just need to—"

The doorbell rang, cutting Dib off.

Dib swung open the door. He was surprised when he saw who it was.

"ZIM?" He asked. "Look, I—"

"Be quiet," Zim snapped. Then, he pinched his forehead with his hands.

"I'm sorry, Dib-human. I just... I need to talk to you."

"I'm not falling for any of your tricks, Zim!"

"DIB! My race has turned upon me. They're planning to kill you all. And on top of that, they're planning to kill me as well."

Dib raised his eyebrow.

"Give me one good reason to believe you."

"Because I'm the only one who you can believe! All the others are going to kill you! You're entire race! and believe me, they can." Zim sighed. "Look, I'm a defect, alright? I have an... well, I guess you could say I have an Irken mental disorder, and because of that, they all hate me."

Dib raised his eyebrow. "Ah," he said. "So you can be mentally handicapped."

"Well, no... not really. It's more like a glitch in my PAK. I want to switch sides. From my side, to yours."

Dib played with this thought in his head. What would it mean for the human race?

"Fine, Zim. But. Only on one condition."

"Yes?"

"Hand me a ray gun."

Zim was puzzled.

"Why?"

"Because I am not armed, and you are. You solve the rest."

Zim stared back at him with uncertainty.

"Look," Dib said. "I swear over my dead body that I won't be the one to fire the first shot. This is only for self-defense. Plus," Dib said smirking. "If you hand over one of your ray guns, I'll have more of a reason to trust you."

Zim heaved a heavy sigh.

"Fine," he said, handing a ray gun over to Dib.

"Show me that it works," Dib said, dragging Zim outside.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes. Shoot the ray gun up into the air."

Zim shot up a bright, staight lazer into the air.

"Good," Dib said, taking the ray gun from Zim. "Now I am prepared."

"The Elites, on average, usually composes a plan within a period of three days. This plan is then shared on day four with the Armada. The Armada then prepares for battle for about a week, since they are trained prior because of Irken training. Really the 'training' they undergo is working out who flies where and who drops what bomb. They practice on simulation planets." Zim's antenna twitched, making his wig shift slightly. "So... the Armada should start attacking this planet in less than a month," Zim said, his voice cracking.

Dib knew why Zim was so nervous. If this planet was destroyed, he'd be destroyed along with it. And... well, his entire species rejected him for being different. That had to hurt.

"That isn't much time to prepare," Dib said quietly.

"No, not really." Zim shifted.

After a while, Dib said "Well. It's getting late. And there's school tomorrow."

"Most likely, I am not going."

Dib nodded. "Maybe it would be best if you stayed home tomorrow. You could begin working on a plan. In the meantime, I'll do my best to get as many people as I can to help us out. Which will be hard, considering the fact that my sanity reputation isn't the best..." Dib coughed.

"Do your best, Dib."

Dib nodded.

"Get on to bed now human, and I shall see you when the sun rises." Zim held out his hand.

Dib didn't shake it. "Yeah, I'll do that." was simply his reply. He shut the door.

As Zim was walking back to his house, he thought of the situation. He thought of the Tallest, and his home planet; the planet which he was forbidden now to return to. The Tallest were cruel leaders. He hated them. He wouldn't let them destroy his new home planet. Never.

When he returned to his base, he saw that there was a large pile of ashes on the floor. His Voot Cruiser. The Tallest had programed each ship to self-destruct if they left a soldier to die on a planet.

Zim bent down and picked up a handful of the ashes. They were so soft, like flour.

"You may have destroyed my mission," Zim said silently.

"But you'll never destroy my world."