The Fallen Invader

Chapter 7: Dreams

No matter what I do, the universe seems to hate me. I spent all those years trying to expose Zim, and nobody cared, but now that I didn't want him exposed anymore, people finally started to notice stuff.

It wasn't too much of a concern at first. Just our stupid classmates pointing out that he looks exactly the same as he did when he first showed up to skool, but before they could put much thought into it, they'd just resort to making dumb jokes about how short he is.

The moment I knew there was a problem, though, was the night that the Swollen Eyeball contacted me.

I hadn't been active on the Swollen Eyeball Network for a long time, mainly because Zim stopped trying to destroy the Earth, so there was nothing to report. Being contacted out of the blue was definitely a red flag.

"Agent Mothman, I know it's been a while, but I may have located your alien."

My heart skipped a beat as I processed what he said, part of me hoping Agent Darkbootie's distorted voice simply caused me to mishear him.

"H-Have you now?" I asked, desperately trying to keep my cool.

"Affirmative. I saw an unidentified flying vehicle crash into some trees last night. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, but I saw a little green man get out. When he took off again, I saw the ship land inside the roof of a strange-looking green house. I'm bringing a team over there tomorrow. Will you be joining us, Agent Mothman?"

Nope. Nope. Nope.

"Well, you see, I'd love to, but I've already got plans tomorrow! Darn! Such a shame!"

I am a horrible liar.

"Surely we could arrange to go there another day. I know how important capturing this alien is to you."

"No no, it's fine! You can go without me. In fact, we should just forget about it! I've kind of outgrown my whole alien phase. I mean, come on, that's kids' stuff! What we should REALLY be worried about are ghosts, am I right?"

Agent Darkbootie went silent for a moment, though it felt like hours.

"It's up to you whether you want to come or not, but I'm still going over there tomorrow to investigate. From what you've told me about him in the past, he could be a major threat to our world. We can't take any chances. We'll be in contact."

The second his shadowed outline disappeared from my screen, I got up and ran down the street to Zim's obvious alien base.

"Zim! Open up! It's an emergency!" I called, pounding on the door. Instead of Zim, I was met with GIR.

"Hi!" He squealed, oblivious to how panicked I was.

"GIR, where's Zim?" I asked.

He waddled back into the house, ignoring me. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I followed him in.

"Please, GIR, this is important. You guys could be in danger!"

The robot continued to ignore me, opening the refrigerator and pulling a live chicken out. At that point I turned to face the opposite direction. Whatever he was doing to it, I didn't want to know.

"Zim isn't home right now. I can inform him of what the problem is when he gets back. So... what's up?" The disembodied voice of his base's computer asked.

I explained everything to the computer. He was a surprisingly good listener. Unlike Zim, he didn't shout over me.

"Is it okay if I stay here until he gets home? I'm just really anxious right now."

So I sat on the couch with GIR and waited. Some awful movie was on the TV, and GIR made waffles. I didn't eat much, though. They kind of tasted like soap.