Dib was sitting on the sofa, watching Mysterious Mysteries.

"Dib, what are you doing?" Asked Gaz, walking down the stairs. She was wearing a light blue T-shirt with an old school video game character on it, a black skirt, black leggings, and a pair of dark blue boots. She also had short purple hair.

"I've been up ALL night watching Mysterious Mysteries, Gaz. It was an all night marathon" said Dib, staring blankly at the screen. His hair was all messed up and unkempt, and he was still wearing the clothes he had worn yesterday. There were three, large, empty bowls of popcorn, chips, and nachos next to him on the sofa, AND two entire packs of empty soda cans spilled everywhere. There was an entire notebook worth of papers ripped out and crumbled around him.

"You were up all night? On a school night?" Asked Gaz, opening one eye and glaring at her brother suspiciously.

"IT WAS A SCHOOL NIGHT!?" screamed Dib, alarmed.

Gaz scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Yah. It's Friday" said Gaz, angrily.

"B-But...I thought YESTERDAY was FRIDAY!" Exclaimed Dib, jumping off the sofa and rushing around, trying to clean the place up.

Their father was usually at the lab, but if he came home to see THIS mess, he wouldn't be very happy.

"Well you're wrong. I'm going ahead so I won't be late. I could care less about what happened to you" stated Gaz, opening the door and walking out, making sure to slam it shut to emphasize how angry she was.

Dib just about had a heart attack when he finally arrived to school.

He burst into the classroom, the door slamming against the wall before slamming shut in Dib's face.

Dib screamed in pain as the door smashed into his nose.

He slammed the door open a second time, making sure to be more gentle this time.

Dib walked in, holding his nose in pain.

"DIB! You're late for class. SIT DOWN AND STOP BEING SO ANNOYING!" Yelled Miss. Bitters.

"Yesh Missh. Bittersh" said Dib, still holding his nose.

Dib sat down at his desk and sigh.

He glanced over at where Zim would normally sit.

He was puzzled to find the seat empty.

He shrugged.

"Maybe he'sh jusht running late. He'll be here" whispered Dib to himself.

Hours passed and still no sign of the Irken.

It was already lunch and Dib was starting to worry.

He was sitting at one of the lunch tables, next to his little sister, Gaz, of course.

He had quickly gone to the nurse's office and had his nose bandaged up. Now he had a white bandage covering his nose, considering the bone broke and needed time to heal.

Stupid door. Why did it slam back into his face?

Dib glanced around the cafeteria, confused.

"Who are you looking for Dib?" Asked Gaz, playing whatever game she was playing on her Game Slave II.

"Zim. He hashn't shown up for classh yet. I'm worried-" started Dib, but was cut off by Gaz.

"WHAAA--? YOU'RE worried about ZIM!?" Asked Gaz sarcastically, opening one eye and glaring up at her brother in disgust.

"Wha-? No no. I'm worried he might be planning shomething Gaz! Don't you get it?" Asked Dib frantically.

The bandage that was covering his nose was making his voice sound even more annoying to Gaz.

Gaz scoffed again.

"Yah right...." she said, trailing off as she turned back to her game.

It was the new Vampire Piggy Hunter VII, and she didn't want to lose.

Not even once.

"I'm going to Zim'sh bashe after shchool. I need to shtop him Gaz!" Exclaimed Dib, standing up on the table and striking a dramatic pose.

"Whatever" said Gaz, not even paying attention to him.

TIME SKIP

Dib waltzed up to the door and knocked.

The four gnomes hadn't even responded when he entered the property.

Everything felt.....off......

He knocked on the door again.

"HYE-LLO???" screamed Gir. The small, adorable robot was in his green dog disguise when he opened the door.

"Hi Gir. Ish Zim in there?" Asked Dib, concerned.

"HAAAAAHAHAHA! YOUR voice sound FUNNY! HAHAHAHAHAA!" Laughed the robot loudly.

"Yesh.....I know....." replied Dib awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

"GIR! Who is it?" Said Zim, walking into the living room.

He was in his human disguise, but he seemed more.....sad and depressed?

"Zim, why weren't you in shchool today? You got shome evil plan to take over Earth? I WILL SHTOP YOU, YOU IRKEN SHCUM!!!" Screamed Dib.

It was hard to sound threatening when you have a bandage covering your entire nose, making your voice sound weird.

"Oh.....well no need to worry about me anymore Dib-Stink. I-I'm.....I'm no Invader! I NEVER WAS!!" Cried out Zim, tearing up.

"What?" Asked Dib, having calmed down and was now confused.

"MY TALLESTS LIED TO ME!!! They SAID I was an INVADER! But they never even CHANGED MY PROGRAMING!" Cried Zim, falling to the floor and laying there pathetically like last time.

Only this time, he was truly defeated.

"Oh...well.....what now?" Asked Dib, kneeling beside the small Irken and poking his cheek.

"They're coming to Earth so they can kill me...then....they're gonna destroy Earth afterwards. They want to erase every last trace of me so they wouldn't have to worry about me anymore. I've.....I've been such a FOOL! AN IDIOT I TELL YOU!" explained Zim, grabbing ahold of Dib's jacket and pulling him closer so he was face to face with the distressed alien.

Dib pushed Zim away, who in response flopped back down on the floor and started crying.

"Come on Zim. It couldn't have been THAT bad? How would they even have shurvived that Florpush Hole? And why not jusht leave? You could hide on another planet that'sh not under the Irken Authority" Asked Dib, choosing his words carefully.

"COMPUTER!" Yelled Zim, not even bothering to sit up.

"WHAAAAAAT?" Asked the robotic voice angrily.

"Replay the last transmission from the Tallests. Oh and to answer your other question, Dib, no. I've already tried. They must have deactivated my ship somehow, so now I'm stuck here, WAITING FOR MY OWN DEATH" said Zim in defeat.

"Oh..." said Dib, glancing off to the side awkwardly.

He couldn't believe he was showing his mortal enemy.

The computer sigh heavily.

"Fine" he said.

Dib turned to the TV and watched the recording from the last transmission.

He gasped at what he was hearing.

After the replay had finished, Dib didn't know how to react.

He was speechless.

"Zim! We HAVE to stop them!" Exclaimed Dib, shaking the small Irken's shoulder frantically.

Zim whined and swatted his hands away, turning his back to the 12 year old and laying on his side, crying.

"What's the POINT? They have an entire armada. I'm just a single Irken who has nothing! Everyone on Irk HATES me! THEY could care less about what happened to ZIM!" Stated Zim.

Zim then sat up, looking down at his wrist as a metal bracelet appeared. The red words on the bracelet said 'Self Destruct' in big red letters.

Dib immediately understood what he was about to do.

Zim was about to push the button on the bracelet.

"ZIM! NO!" screamed Dib, tackling the Irken to the floor.

"UNHAND ME HUMAN! You do NOT understand THE PAIN ZIM FEELS! I have NO USE TO LIVE no LONGER! I'll be killed anyways! LET ME DIE DIB!" Yelled Zim, trying to push Dib off of him.

Dib was stunned.

"ZIM! Shnap out of it! You CAN'T kill youshelf!" Said Dib, not even thinking anymore.

"AND WHY'S THAT?" Yelled Zim angrily, managing to pull his arm out of Dib's grasp.

He was about to push the button, not even caring if he killed Dib alongside him.

"Becaushe you CAN'T! OK!" Yelled Dib, tearing up.

Zim stopped himself, shocked.

"Dib-stink?" Asked Zim, worried.

Dib just sobbed, his turn to cry now.

"Dib? What's wrong?" Asked Zim, sounding genuinely concerned.

"I-It'sh jusht...the world ish gonna end! A-and there'sh nothing I can do about it. I'm jusht a 12 year old boy who no one believesh in, and everyone thinksh I'm crazy a-and...a-and I jusht WISH someone would FINALLY believe me for onche! I-I've never had any friendsh, and no one wantsh to get near me! I'm a freak among my own kind" Cried Dib, letting Zim go and just sitting on the floor beside him.

Zim sat up and just stared at the boy in shock.

He was actually crying.

Zim had NEVER seem Dib cry in front of him before.

Zim didn't know what to say.

He looked down at the self destruct bracelet around his arm.

He sighed and made it disappear.

"Look, Stink-Brain....everyone on my planet hates me too. They ALL think I'm TOO insane. I was banished TWICE! Once to the planet of Foodcourtia and the second time here. Maybe....the reason why everyone thinks we're friends is because we're both losers and nobodys. Everyone thinks we're both crazy" explained Zim, now calm.

Dib just looked up at the Irken with big, watery eyes, trails of snot and tears running down his face.

"Do you want to team up and become friendsh sho we could shtop the Irken Empire from deshtroying Earth?" Asked Dib hopefully, sniffling loudly.

Zim had to fight the urge to gag and throw up in disgust at how Dib looked.

He managed to swallow back whatever he felt coming up and nodded, smiling awkwardly.

"Y-Yes....Dib....we shall team up and....become....friends....." he said, trailing off, trying not to look at the boy's disgusting face at the moment.

"THANK YOU ZIM!!!!" Screamed Dib happily, grabbing Zim and pulling him into a bone-crushing, tight hug.

Zim had to fight every urge in his body NOT to push the boy away and scream at him for being disgusting, but managed to just smile and chuckle awkwardly.

He and Dib friends!?

What had the universe come to!?

TIME SKIP

Zim just sat on the sofa.

Thinking.

He looked down at what he was wearing.

It was his usual, Irken Invader uniform.

He stuck his tongue out and gagged in disgust.

He just wanted to change out of this....cursed reminder of the foolish embarrassment he had made himself look like among the other Irkens.

He was no longer an Invader.

He never was in the first place.

He was gonna die anyway, so he may as well wear something that wouldn't depict him as an Irken Invader anymore.

Zim got up and walked over to the door, still wearing his human disguise.

He never took it off, even after Dib had left and gone home.

"Gir, watch the base, would you? I'll be back in a couple of hours or so" said Zim, opening the door.

"OHHHH! WHERE ARE YA GOIN' MASTA!? TELLMETELLMETELLME!!!" Screamed Gir, running and jumping around the living room.

"I'm just....gonna go buy something new to wear. I don't want to seem like I'm still an Irken Invader when the Tallests come to kill me" explained Zim simply.

"OK-Y-DOE-KEY!" Said Gir happily, jumping up onto the sofa and turning the TV on.

Zim shook his head and closed the door as he left.

A few hours later and he had finally returned home.

He was wearing a brand new outfit he had picked out in the mall.

He was now wearing a pair of black, skinny jeans with a black and silver belt and a black, long sleeve turtle neck shirt with a red denim vest, unzipped, overtop. He chose to wear the same black pair of boots, only they weren't as high as the other ones, going a little over his ankles. He still wore his black gloves though, considering he didn't want to accidentally burn his hands with water or meat.

He was carrying his old Irken Invader uniform, folded in a neat pile.

He stopped on his front lawn and sigh.

A couple minutes later and he had started a fire in a small, outdoor fireplace he had stolen from someone else's backyard.

He looked down at the Irken uniform and scowled.

He then tossed the old uniform into the fire, watching as the fabric and boots burned in the red, blazing heat.

He was no Irken Invader anymore.

The Tallests chose the wrong Irken to mess with.