EPILOGUE
"nickelodeon" /ni·kuh·low·dee·uhn/noun.
1.An early movie theater, to which admission usually cost five cents.
2. A jukebox, originally one operated by the insertion of a nickel coin.
-
One of the greatest authors coined the saying: 'He who controls the past, controls the future. He who controls the present, controls the past'.
Wise as this author was, his perception of time was erroneous in two ways:
The first, was assuming that these concepts are different, when they are one in the same.
The second, was not knowing what lies beyond time.
Time is but the fourth of the three dimensions that comprise our reality; what lies beyond is the fifth dimension, comprised of consciousness. It has been called many things over the era of humans: The afterlife, eternity, hereafter, the great beyond, the Ghost Zone, and the Spirit World. It is more vast than the human mind can comprehend, and vast even beyond that.
Of its inhabitants, there exist a select few that look through the dimensions, voyeurs who watch and chronicle what transpires about the universe. They are without name, gender, or identity, all comprised of a uniform shape of cloaks with singular eyes atop their dome-like heads that gaze into Creation to gain what they will.
They are the Observants.
And you are one of them.
You, Observant, come along with others of your kind, to this meeting place, this theater that exists beyond time and space, where both may be seen for your viewing pleasure. The others are all among you, but you do not interact with them. They are as immaterial as you are, and exist only to observe, as you do now.
It is I who provides you with the Creation which you observe. I am not the creator; I did not bring matter or energy, time or consciousness into existence. They were here before me, and I simply understood how to move them to my will, recreating the universe any way I see fit.
I have been the one who has been in charge of granting you the Creation which gives you all the answers you have desired, the one who has given you meaning where there was none, the one who, throughout endless challenges and resolutions, have brought you the unity you desire.
I am Clockwork.
Welcome to the Tribunal Headquarters.
Alone I come to you, and many you come to me, where I am the lone court jester before a crowd of kings and queens. It is I alone who has been appointed to break you out from your eternal existence, to give you what you cannot possibly get on your own any more, now that your lives will last everlong without end, taking away what meaning and fulfillment you may have once had.
And I have found how to give it to you.
This is my creation.
"Many different worlds and times you have given us over and over, Clockwork. What makes you believe that this one shall betheone to give us content?" One Observant asked.
"What choice do you have but to come to me for the next one? You are merely Observants; you cannot create, you cannot interact, all you do is watch and stay your hands as I do the work for you." Clockwork responded.
"It is not our nature to act. It is, as you deftly mentioned, to observe. Eternal beings we are, our patience is not eternal. We have waited eons beyond eons for our content to come, and still it has not been delivered to us. And you have failed many times before, many stories you have left unfinished, and left us wanting even more." Another Observant said.
"But the stories I have neglected, I leave behind no longer. I shall bring them all back to you, all at once, better than they ever were before, united."
"You promise big and you boast bigger, Clockwork. But your personal theatrics are not what bring us to you. It is your work on Creation which brings us to you. Give us what we came for and make us wait no longer." A different Observant demanded.
"As you wish, Observants. I have promised you, and I shall deliver on what I have promised. Now, observe!"
And so, like any good magician, I, with a wave of my magic wand, I, start the show.
-
There are many different realities from our own, even that of the Ghost Zone and the Observants.
Just as the mathematical possibilities that brought about our universe from the expansion of the Big Bang, the possibilities of different universes and realities are without end or calculation. Nonetheless, they have all begun from a single nexus point of the Big Bang, a constant in the equations that followed.
There is a way to cross over these many realities with one another, by a rift in space/time. To the Irken race, this is known as a 'Florpus'.
One such Irken whose ambition exceeded his capabilities opened one such rift in the universe, causing many to converge with his own in an attempt to appease his superiors, aiming to personally bring them to the planet of his conquering to gain their approval.
As with many plans he has enacted, it has not only failed, but has led to the greater ruin of his superiors.
His superiors are a pair of Irkens taller than the majority of the diminutive alien creatures, referred to as the Almighty Tallest. They have no known names other than 'Red' or 'Purple', the colors of their attire, but their tall stature and hierarchy speak for themselves, eliminating the need for such pleasantries.
Due to the incompetence of the misguided Irken, they were cast into a hellish universe of pain and suffering, forcing them to survive through all its offerings of torture and misery for a timespan untold. Trapped in a reality not their own, their very perspectives of time have left them, leaving them focused only on what new nightmares and pain await them.
Until now.
Through the tireless work of their underlings, the Almighty Tallest, at the bridge of their armada's flagship, theMassive, can at last breathe a sigh of relief following their escape. Leaving the devilish realm behind them, the Irken Armada has found freedom in their own world at last, and grasp once again at their sanity.
It is quiet aboard theMassivesave for the gasps and pants for breath that its passengers make, taking their time to collect themselves.
"Almighty Tallest, we have at last freed ourselves from the Florpus. We have returned to our home reality of Universe-216." An Irken pilot said.
The Almighty Tallest took this news in stride, focused too much on their own breaths more than the concerns of anyone or anything else.
"Yeah... Okay... Just... give me a minute here..." Red panted.
"Everybody take 5, people... We just made it out of Hell... I think we all deserve a break after that one..." Purple panted.
TheMassiveonce again went under a fit of silence, brought about for the sole purpose of the Almighty Tallest and their selfishness.
"Almighty Tallest, now that we have returned home, Operation Impending Doom II has been underway following our absence. Shall we request a status report from all Invaders?" An Irken pilot asked.
"No... Operation Impending Doom II is hereby cancelled." Red said.
The news brought gasps from the entire crew, who looked back to the to the Almighty Tallest in complete disbelief.
"A... Almighty Tallest?" An Irken pilot asked.
"You heard me. No more of this intergalactic genocide crap. That's gotten boring, anyway. I got something totally new in mind for the Armada and our invaders." Red said.
"You do?" Purple asked.
"Of course I do."
"But how come you didn't go over this with me? You know, I'm one of the tallest, too, I deserve a say in the-"
Purple's complaints were stifled by Red's fingers poking his eyes in a childish manner, forcing him to cover his eyes as he yelped in pain.
"Ignore him.I'mcalling the shots from now on." Red said.
"And what of the Control Brains, Almighty Tallest? Will they not disapprove?" An Irken pilot asked.
"Ah, they can go kick rocks. I realized something in that Hell dimension we just got out of: Life's too short. We shouldn't waste it on big, grand ambitions like we've been doing, just for the sake of others. We should focus on ourselves. And by 'ourselves', I mean, 'me', and you do all the work for me. So, it's pretty much business as usual."
"Then what shall we do, Almighty Tallest?"
"Recall all Invaders and bring them back to the Armada. Then, plot a course for Earth."
The command brought murmurs and confusion about the ship, including from the recovered Purple.
"Wait a minute, Red, that Earth place is the reason why we ended up in that dimension in the first place. You sure you really wanna take us back there?" Purple asked.
"No. It wasn'tEarththat did this to us. It was the little defect we sent there years ago in a failed bid to get rid ofhim.He'sthe reason we're going back. We're not gonna just let this little problem fester around to make more trouble for us any longer. We're gonna killhimand the horse he rode in on. We're gonna do a full-scale invasion of Earth, and we're going to do it for the sole purpose of getting rid of...him." Red said.
Purple stood in silence after Red's speech, contemplating who the nondescriptive pronoun could apply to.
"Uh... who?" Purple asked.
Frustrated, Red grabbed Purple and began screaming at him, letting out his years-built stress in a single motion.
"ZIM! WE'RE GOING TO EARTH TO KILL ZIM! HE'S THE REASON EVERYTHING IN OUR LIVES WENT WRONG! YOU ABSOLUTE MORON!" Red screamed.
Feeling Red's saliva cover his face, Purple stayed silent in shock, submitting to his fellow leader in fear.
"Oh. Right. I knew that." Purple said.
Releasing Purple, Red took to the bridge and gave his order to the pilots, making his mission as clear as could be.
"Pilots, set a course for Earth, and recall all Invaders to the Armada. We're going to Earth to kill Zim once and for all." Red said.
"Didn't you say that already?" Purple asked.
"That time was for emphasis. I can't express enough how much I want him dead. And boy, oh, boy, does it feelgoodto think about it."
At the Almighty Tallest's order, the Irken Armada, led on by theMassive, flew through the void of space towards Earth, plotting itself on a course across the galaxy to reach a small, seemingly insignificant planet that housed the Irken defect. Their trip shall be a long one, and, in their minds, it shall pay itself off in full...
"Alright, Zim. This is it. Time to do what we should've done to you in the first place." Red said.
-
...but, in reality, they are heading towards their own doom, one that shall be shared with the rest of Earth.
Enter Zim, a disgraced Invader who has been banished long ago for his sabotage of Operation Impending Doom I, sentenced to a life of servitude on the Irken imperial planet Foodcourtia. Hearing news of Operation Impending Doom II, he had presented himself before the Almighty Tallest in search of a place in it, only to be sarcastically sent to a planet that they knew nothing about.
This planet was our own Earth, and he was 'ordered' to infiltrate it and take it over.
But, to this date, he has failed at that task.
After sending the Almighty Tallest to a universe beyond our own, Zim has been left with little on his mind, and less on his list of goals. He has sworn to take over the Earth many times, coming up with several schemes in order to do so, but all have ended in miserable failure.
This has not stopped Zim from continuing to pursue his goal. Whathasstopped him, however, was his own absent-mindedness, leading him to pursue other interests that had little to no relation to his current task, nor appearing to have any specific objective in mind other than to relieve boredom.
Such is the case where he completes a series of teleporters made of alien and Earth technology alike, completing the finishing touches on the project.
"AT LAST! MY MASTER PROJECT IS COMPLETE! Come, GIR, observe the technical genius of ZIM!" Zim yelled.
His call, intended for his mechanical underling, did not summon the droid to his side, leaving Zim standing in disappointment as his eyes scanned in vain for GIR.
"GIR! I said, COME WITNESS THE TECHNICAL GENIUS OFZIM!" Zim yelled.
The second utterance of his call finally brought about the presence of GIR, his somewhat loyal assistant. Built out of a shell of an Irken SIR (Standard-IssueInformationRetrieval) unit and filled with miscellaneous garbage and pocket lint from the Almighty Tallest as a cruel insult to Zim's injury of a mission, the droid named GIR appeared as Zim called, happily marching in after a day of fun.
"I like burritos... Burritos are warm and fluffy... Just like friendship..." GIR said.
"GIR, where were you? I just finished working on my master project, and I was severely lacking in an audience to see it. I demand a status report." Zim said.
"Well, I was out on a-"
"I demand a status report!"
"I was out on-"
"I DEMAND IT!"
Following a small beat of silence, GIR attempted once again to answer Zim's question, hoping to receive no interruptions this time.
"I was out on a walk to find the waffle store, then I ended up on a bus that took me somewhere far, far away from home, and I ended up by this lake and I found a dead guy, so I decided to eat him instead, and then I went home." GIR said.
The explanation seemed to lay very little difference to Zim, who listened on in complete disinterest.
"So, you ate a dead guy and came back home. Is that it?" Zim asked.
"And I saw a squirrel. I saw two squirrels. They were married and had a lot of baby squirrels. And I also saw a pigeon." GIR said.
"I see. At least you didn't eat another baby this time."
"Nope, just a dead guy. He tasted really moldy."
GIR then spontaneously regurgitated all the contents of his stomach, spewing a volley of gnashed-up food, none of which were broken down from any digestive acid as GIR had no stomach, as well as the aforementioned dead body. The vile display of vomit once again seemed to make little difference to Zim, save for an impressed look at the sheer amount of liquids, and how large the body inside GIR was.
"Wow. That's certainly a dead guy, alright. And a lot of half-eaten food." Zim said.
"I ate itall. It was so yummy." GIR said.
"Yes, of course. Well, just clean that up later, we have more important matters to discuss."
Zim then approached the teleporters again, with GIR following him to the controls.
"Observe, GIR. Teleporters. Built from technology developed on the planet Cronen. These teleporters do much more than just simply move matter from one place to another. When two life-forms of different DNA combinations are placed inside the pods, they can be transmuted as one being into the third pod, creating a hybrid species out of any two creatures I desire." Zim said.
"Ooh... What happens if we put in a pig and a squirrel in there?" GIR asked.
"Then it will become a hybrid of a pig and a squirrel. It will become...A 'SQUIG'!It shall snort and chitter all about, tormenting the stupid humans with all its horrible noises as it gorges itself on all their salty nuts, depleting their food supply!"
As the inane conversation continued on between Zim and GIR transpired, they thought nothing of anyone else in their vicinity, because, as far as they were concerned, there was no one present to spy on them. Their base has no intruders or spies to be found, and no reason to believe that they are under survelliance.
But they are indeed being listened to.
The eavesdropper is one that they brought in and allowed to stay of their own volition, no matter if they are aware of it or not.
It is the body that has been brought in that has listened.
Dead as it may be, devoid of a soul, the body still functions from the power of a Spirit Master.
It is the corpse Thaddeus 'Curly' Gammelthorpe, known to the world as 'The Freak'.
When without a soul, a body acts no different than any sapient animal, only with an apathy that made most of its concerns food and reproduction, resorting to the basic objective needs of life without any emotion or nuance in the fulfillment of said needs. It is something that very rarely happens, such as Danny Fenton in a past life...
...but, when the body is that of a Spirit Master's, the situation is much different. The brain is enhanced even without the electrical current of a soul to guide it, and it can still make select logical and rational choices for itself. This has been demonstrated with the resurrected Rhonda Lloyd, who inflicted her physical trauma and urges on Arnold Shortman.
The Freak, however, has natural urges that go beyond food and reproduction, and they are influenced by a brain differently wired than most human beings.
His brain is inclined to do evil.
His soul was given a taste of goodness through experiencing the life of Arnold Shortman, allowing him to leave his body in peace...
...but the body is unaffected, and desires to do more evil.
And Zim has unintentionally given him the means to do it.
Rising up from the ground, the body of the Freak limped towards Zim; its deteriorating self had very little strength in its legs to walk, and less time to heal and reconstruct new muscles to drive it on, but, with the opportunity presented to itself, such a problem can easily be ignored.
Soon, he will have a new body.
Stepping up to Zim, the body of the Freak rattled off a deathly growl from its mouth, unable to speak out a full sentence. The noise did not go unnoticed, but it was misatributed to GIR, delaying Zim from an interaction with the monster that his servant brought home to him.
"Or perhaps a 'pirrel', or a 'spigirel', or a 'squirelig', or a... GIR, will you stop making that annoying sound?" Zim asked.
"Master, I didn't say anything." GIR said.
Still hearing the voice, Zim turned around to find the body of the Freak standing over him, staring down with what remained of its eyes with evil intent.
"GIR, I thought you said this human was already dead. How many times have I told you not to eat the live ones? That attracts too much attention!" Zim yelled.
"Hewasdead when I found him. He wasn't moving around like that before. Especially not when I ate him." GIR said.
"Huh. Perhaps we happened to find a human that developed an immunity to dying somehow; found the key to immortality, and now lives forever without any fear of death."
Unimpressed with his discovery, incorrect as it was, Zim ignored the body of the Freak and turned his attention back to the teleporters.
"Eh, I'm sure that won't be of use. Anyways, as I was saying, with this teleporters, I can make any sort of hybrid that I desire!" Zim declared.
"But how's that gonna help you take over the Earth, master?" GIR asked.
Faced with a question that Zim had no answer for, he stood in confused embarassment over his wasted labor.
"Oh, that's right. We were supposed to take over the Earth. I sort of... forgot about that. Not to worry, I have a new plan! Next, we'll create a catapult that launches cats! It will reign terror and mayhem among the filthy humans that roam the Earth!" Zim yelled.
Finding its patience lost, the body of the Freak grabbed Zim by the neck, lifting him up into the air.
"AAH! AAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, STUPID HUMAN?! UNHAND ME AT ONCE!" Zim shouted.
Ignoring his commands, the body of the Freak threw Zim into one of the teleporter pods, closing its door and sealing him inside, leaving him unable to escape.
"OPEN THIS AT ONCE! I COMMAND YOU TO OPEN THIS DOOR AND FREE ME!" Zim screamed.
Still disregarding Zim, the body of the Freak looked to the computer controls to the teleporter, scanning the keyboard and electronics carefully. Utilizing the knowledge it had acquried in life, and gaining new knowledge just by inspecting the controls, the body of the Freak carefully typed out a command which activated the fusion sequence.
Once activating the teleporters, the body stepped inside the other pod, allowing it to close behind itself.
A short timer of 10 seconds started as the body of the Freak activated the teleporters, which counted down fast as it headed to its own teleporter pod. Once inside, the timer reached closer to the '0' mark, soon to begin the fusion process and combine both itself and Zim into one being.
Defiant to the end, ZIm continued to beat on the door to the teleporter pod, trying in vain to escape.
"LET ME OUT! I'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT! YOU CAN TAKE GIR! HE'LL MAKE YOU ALL THE WAFFLES YOU WANT! JUST FEED HIM PIZZA AND CHOCOLATE SHAKES! HE'LL BE STUPID AND LOYAL TO YOU UNTIL THE END!" Zim screamed.
The barter went unheard and disregarded by the body of the Freak, leaving the teleporter sequence to commence.
In mere seconds, both Zim and the body of the Freak were analyzed and broken down to their most basic atoms and molecules, decoded into programs and sequences for the computer to recreate. Its job is not to recreate the two as they were, but instead find out how to combine these drastically different DNA sequences with one another, creating a new, complete sequence that bred a new creature.
And, within as much time as it took to break down the two beings, the computer did just that.
The third teleporter pod opened, blowing out a fog from within. Its sole audience of GIR, previously standing about uninterested and distracted, looked on with his full attention, observing firsthand what would come out of the pod. For once in its life, it seemed less concerned with whatever ludicrous needs it arbitrarily held at that moment, and instead on what became of his master.
"Master? Master Zim?" GIR asked.
What finally came out from the pod was neither Zim nor the body of the Freak, but instead a new creature, with new desires.
Its face was still unmistakenly like that of an Irken's, but its body stood tall as a human being, requiring it to carefully crawl itself out of the pod. Standing up straight, its full size could be seen, leaving GIR to look up in amazement as he gained first eyes on the new form of his master.
Though recognizable as Zim in shape, there still stood several differences apart from his height.
Its body was human-like and fitly muscular in tone, as if some middle ground between an Irken's thin build and a human's thick build. The two antannae that protruded from his head were extended, reaching well behind his head. Looking to its own hands, it observed that its hands were human, but had fingers that were sharp, like an Irken's own pointy fingers.
Looking about, the new creature seemed to study its surroundings, as if being in them for the first time. Where the Zim of old would look on without concern or care, perhaps even neglect, this being had a previously unseen sense of wonder and curiousity, distinctly making it different in mind than that of Zim.
At last, the new creature spoke.
"Ah... So much different now... I can finally understand what I did not before... Power... Knowledge... Consciousness... Death. And to think... I hesitated." The creature spoke.
GIR seemed to pay no mind to the specifics of the new creature's words, speaking out only what was on his mind.
"Can we go out for tacos?" GIR asked.
The creature struck GIR in the head with the back of its hand, knocking his head clean off and destroying the unit, leaving its body to fall down inactive. The desctruction of GIR was but a minor pleasure for the creature, for what it was more concerned with was the new discovery it just made:
What power it had.
"So... This power is mine now... And I am above even the Tallest... Why, then, should I take this planet for their sake? I shall instead take it for my own." The creature said.
-
And so, we come to the future. One future, where this new creature has taken the Earth for itself. This is the world it has made of our own.
Once, the Earth was a lively and bumbling planet, with its dominant species beinghom*o sapiens, calling themselves 'human beings'. They were a species capable of creation and destruction alike, calling themselves good and evil however they saw fit, slowly learning to master their surroundings.
They made many mistakes along the way to civilization, and continued to make many mistakes after that, but there was still an undeniable sense of kinship and love that existed below the many differences that their species faced, and, for every one of them who would try to exploit those differences, there were those who would try to reconcile them.
They were once a thriving species.
Now, they are an endangered one.
On a desolate, destroyed city that has lost its name, there are some remnants of the species that once planted its seeds here before they were uprooted.
Skeletons litter the ground, dry and decomposing from the bodies they once were part of.
The sky is dark red, no longer allowing the sun to give its warm light on the planet to comfort its creatures.
The roads are cracked and grey, with no one going up and down them to continue the flow of energy known as everyday life.
Buildings are dilapitated, empty as a barren womb where they once held the place of business and downtime for working people.
No life is to be found.
The downfall of the human race has been predicted and foretold in many forms before:
Paul Verhoeven predicted it would be by authoritarianism.
George Romero predicted it would be by a virus.
George Miller predicted it would be by nuclear war.
James Cameron predicted it would be by technological progression.
But all forgot the fortelling of Roland Emmerich, no matter how impossible it might have seemed to some:
It would come from beyond the stars.
It would come in the form of the Irkens.
It would come in the name of Zim.
Much of this destroyed city is desolate, save for a patrol of Irkens that comprised of ground soldiers, tanks, and ships that trek across the plains of this former city. One tank, a large walker unit, callously stomped on a collection of skeletons that belonged to a family of three, grinding them to dust under its giant robotic foot.
But this mistreatment of the dead is nothing compared to the living humans that are with them now. Several dozen humans are under their escort; they are barely clothed, emancipated, weak, and in dispair, fearing that they would have their lives ended at the slightest offense to the Irkens.
One falls over, unable to continue walking. An Irken walks up to it and kicks him, prompting him to continue.
"Get up, human slave." The Irken said.
"I can't... I am so weak... so hungry..." The human replied.
"Then you no longer serve any purpose. You will be disposed of."
The Irken drew out a firearm from a holster on its side, preparing to kill the human with prejudice. Fearfully, the human raised his hand in an attempt to plead for his life.
"No... No! Please! I have a wife!" The human screamed.
The human's last words were followed by a long, painful scream as he was vaporized into dust by the Irken's weapon. After the quick and efficient exectution, the Irken took one look at the other humans, who, once receiving his look, immediately continued on without complaint.
The aforementioned wife of the deceased human was tempted to speak up and join him in death, but stayed her tongue, deciding to keep silent.
Their journey continued to a concentration camp, set up in what was once a park in the city. It has been converted into an encampment created for the Irkens' purposes, where the once dominant species of Earth is now subservient to a new dominant force that has its own goals for the planet.
Just as Adolf Hitler, an Austrian, became leader of Germany, and Joseph Stalin, a Georgian, became leader of Russia, Zim and the Irkens have supplantedhom*o sapiensas the strongest and dominant creatures, acheiving their status by the same way that humans often mistakenly fell into:
Might makes right.
As the humans entered the concentration camp, they were instantly reminded of the superiority of Zim by several banners sporting the Irken Empire symbol, as well as propoganda posters featuring Zim with sayings like 'KNEEL BEFORE ZIM' and 'IRKENS ARE SUPERIOR, HUMANS ARE INFERIOR' to drive the sentiment deep into the minds of the captured humans to remind them of their place.
However, it does not prevent some humans from becoming guards alongside the Irkens, who stay true to their jobs as they lead their fellow man to subjugation.
Once arriving in the concentration camp, an Irken officer approached the prisoners, carefully examining them one by one as he casually passed them by. Taking note of the amount of prisoners brought in, he took inventory of them on a digital device, ensuring that all were accounted for.
"[Send the males to the labor sector. Females will be sent to the breeding pens.]" The Irken officer said in his native language.
Many attempts at protests came about from the prisoners, male and female alike. The males attempted to fight back against the Irkens to defend their wives, daughters, and honor of the opposite sex, where the females pleaded for mercy and hoped not to be wisked away to be subjected to their worst fears.
The protests all failed, male and female alike; the males were sent off to work hard labor for the Irken Empire, being assigned posts to build more weapons for the Empire, or be shipped off to mines to harvest more elements and materials to build their weapons with.
The females, stripped of their clothes by the guards, were thrown into a mass shower, where sanitizing liquids were sprayed on their denuded bodies as to prepare them for their repurposed uses. The sudden burst of liquids scared the females and made them cling to one another for support, only to find some reprieve in knowing that the liquids that soaked them were harmless.
It is a small feeling of calm, but it is merely a calm before a greater trouble.
When a set of doors opened to the exit of the showers, the females left to find themselves moved to another room, where they quickly realized that they were not alone. Accompanying them in the room were the human traitors that served the Irken Empire, looking back on them with lust and violence.
If there were any question as to how one might betray their own species, it seeems that it returns to the idea that any human has its price on changing their beliefs. Charging towards the females, the human traitors ran to take their rewards for their service to the Irken Empire, and make use of their seeds to continue to serve them again.
None of the females screamed so much as the one whose husband was murdered, making her violation an even greater shame on herself.
-
This place, this concentration camp, it is a sight that is too familiar from the worst corners of humanity, but it cannot be fully perceived just how evil it is unless it is seen from the inside. There are many who enter to never return, but there are a very, very rare few who manage to escape.
This is how information comes to the human resistance, those humans who are still free and able to fight back against their oppressors, who wish to see Earth free again.
Watching from afar, several rebel fighters look on this blight upon the Earth, and, with disgust in their hearts for the place, prepare to attack. Preparing to lead the battle was a man named Gerald Johanssen, known in his younger years as the superhero G-Funk of the Hillwood Heroes.
His glorious attire has grown dusty and moldy after many years, but his skills and weapon have not yet failed him, so he vows before this attack.
"Remember your positions. Heavies and tanker units are the main priority. After that is when we deal with the ground soldiers. Anything other than that's a death trap. On me, we move." G-Funk said.
The resistance began sneaking through various destroyed buildings and pockets of dirt and overgrowth, moving towards the concentration camp, carefully sneaking their way across to make their way inside it. Evading past the view of guards in towers and points of entry, the resistance reached a wall outside the camp.
Taking his sonic fork to the wall, G-Funk's weapon emitted a low frequency around one metal panel, loosening it from the wall.
Within seconds, enough to take precious time away from the group to risk detection, the panel came loose, allowing the group a way inside. Guiding his troops along, G-Funk urged his own soldiers forward first, until coming in behind them once everyone else was inside.
Sneaking into the concentration camp, the resistance continued to sneak through the camp in search of the labor sector.
"Alright, labor section should be this way. We make our way in, attack the biggest thing there, and urge the prisoners to fight on with us. With numbers on our side, we should be able to take this place no problem." G-Funk said.
Continuing to sneak past Irken guards and surviellance, the resistance fighters slowly and carefully made their way to the labor sector, finding countless men working hard at Irken gunpoint to produce them more weapons of war. Despite the jobs they were assigned consisting of heavy labor work, they appeared weak and overworked, in despair with signs of malnourishment settling in.
Taking note of all the Irken guards present, G-Funk ordered his troops to silently assassinate them.
"Take them out. Do it quiet." G-Funk whispered.
And take them out silently they did: The resistance fighters, drawing out knives and blunt objects, snuck up behind the Irken guards, grabbing them by the mouths as not to let them cry out for help. Those with knives slit the throats of the Irkens, letting their purple blood spill across the ground, and those with blunt objects struck their PAKs, their computerized brains, smashing them beyond repair.
The takedown is silent and swift, and a good start to the rescue...
"Alright, everyone. We're the Freemen. We're here to help you. Grab whatever you can as a weapon and come with us. We're getting you out of here." G-Funk said.
...but came to a screeching halt with a complete lack of reaction from the freed prisoners. Despite being given a clear and obvious opportunity for freedom presented to them, the prisoners seemed not to care at all about the effort the Freemen did for them, looking back with indifference.
G-Funk, conversely, responded with anger and frustration.
"What's wrong with you? C'mon, we're getting you out of here! Let's go!" G-Funk commanded.
"What's the point? There's nowhere on Earth we can go. The Irkens are everywhere. Zim is everywhere. We have no hope. We're doomed." A prisoner said.
"You will be if you believe that, and Zim's made you believe that. But we're here, and we say otherwise. We got this far to get you out, now let's get you out. We have to go for the women next."
"We're not going to make it. The Irkens might already kill us for what you just did." Another prisoner said.
"Then you might as well go out with a bang against these bugs. If you don't have anything to lose, why not fight?"
"We can't fight anymore. We can barely hold ourselves up, much less work. The Irkens castrated half of us when we were ruled out for breeding. We're already dead. At least the Irkens would give us a quick death." A different prisoner said.
"Come on, damn you! We didn't come this far to lose, now, you are gonna get out of here with us! We're all in this together, as a race! Thehumanrace! There are hundreds more people like you out there, in the same place as you, who'd giveanythingto have the chance you have now! This is our planet! We have to take it back, one way or another!"
G-Funk's rallying cry is noble and heartfelt for any human before him to rise up and fight, but not only is it not effective on the humans present...
...it is also heard by an approaching Irken guard. Vaguely hearing voices not belonging to his fellow conquerers nearby, his investigation has led him to look and find G-Funk and his Freemen trying to rally the humans to fight with him, and achieving no success whatsoever in the task.
But it is a pristine opportunity to strike, as he prepared his weapon to do.
"Look out, sir!" A Freeman shouted.
Jumping to the defense of G-Funk, a Freeman pushed him to the ground, sending them both out of the way of the Irken's line of fire. Drawing his own firearm, he shot at the Irken, gunning down the alien in retaliation for his attack. It is a swift move that saved G-Funk and a close call that was made, but there is another chance in developments that complicate the mission:
An alarm was set off in the camp, notifiying all Irkens in the area of the intruders.
"sh*t! We're blown! Now what?" A Freeman asked.
"Only thing we can do. We fight." G-Funk said.
The Freemen prepared to leave the labor sector, keeping their weapons raised high and ready to attack. The immediate blitz that the resistance fighers pulled was an effective response to the scrambled and paniced response of the Irkens within, allowing the fighters a chance to put up an effective first strike.
And they waste no time in taking it.
[Soundtrack Cue: Zack de la Rocha - We Want It All]
Running out, guns ablaze, the Freemen fired on any and all Irkens that stood in their way, downing several in a surprise attack that they seized full advantage of. Once downing the Irkens standing in their way, the Freemen quickly ran for cover, ensuring that the counter-attack the Irkens put up would not seize them an easy deterrence.
The fight then quickly turned to a deadlock of two sides firing at each other, each standing behind cover to avoid enemy fire. Ground troops can make no progress in the battle, leaving the skirmish to be no more than mutual exchange of fire that goes nowhere but into walls and cover.
But the Irkens have not only numbers on their side, but also superior firepower. As the Irken ground troops kept the Freemen at bay, several mechs and heavier artillery began rolling in, coming in the form of large walker tanks, and air support from airships, all firing down on the Freemen.
The Freemen stand no chance against the heavier firepower; many were shot and disintegrated in an instant by the enemy mechs, leaving the rest to fall back and retreat. The quick loss of numbers does little to deter the Freemen, and their willingness to continue is a testament unto their strength and courage.
But G-Funk must take leave of his leadership of them, and head off to his other objective.
"You guys do what you can. I'll go free the women." G-Funk said.
Even without G-Funk to lead them on, the Freemen do not lose track of their mission nor their drive. Dedicated to the destruction of the Irken race, to see their invader and oppressors cast off the planet, they march on, continuing to fight back against the clear and present danger before them.
Running along to cover, they continue to fire on the Irken ground troops, taking down several as they run. To deal with single Irkens on the ground is a task more than easy to complete, and just as easily do they come do they fall dead by human-made firearms...
...but the heavier units such as the walking tanks and airships provide the biggest problem, as G-Funk so pointed out before, and more dead Freemen continue to prove.
So, they adjust accordingly with the advice.
"Rocket units, take positions! Fire on those heavies! Everyone else, give them cover!" One Freeman shouted.
-
And as one Freeman leads his fellow freedom fighters soon to victory, G-Funk continues on his own mission to see others find the same.
As the fight was centered around the Freemen and Irkens gunning at each other, it is more than easy for a single member of either party to slip away unnoticed. It is this advantage that G-Funk takes in full, and sneaks away to the breeding pens. Even dressed in his four-color costume, obvious and attention-gaining as it was, he is able to sneak by undetected by the opposing army.
It is only when he arrives at the doors to the control tower that G-Funk is discovered, done so by a pair of Irken guards standing outside the doors to ensure that none may enter. With one human attempting to do just that, they are given a chance to fulfill their Zim-given duties and see that G-Funk does not succeed.
But with a blast of weaponized sound coming from G-Funk's sonic fork, the Irkens fail this chance and their duties, forced back against a wall to have their PAKs smashed against it, destroying their brains and leaving all conscious life from their bodies, making them no longer a threat.
Walking past the doors, G-Funk moved inside, still focused on his mission and unwilling to be stopped by anything.
-
His dedication is matched by the Freemen he bravely led here, who continue to fight back against the Irkens without pause or hesitation.
As their rocket-launcher wielding troops took their place to fire, the Freemen carefully selected their targets, ensuring that any vulnerable spot of the enemy would be struck. More importantly, they also stayed their fingers from the triggers of their weapons, planning a synchronous attack that would ensure the Irken enemy would not have time to react nor respond to their strike.
Once all rocketeers aimed their weapons, there was a call of...
"NOW!" One Freeman shouted.
...urging the Freemen rocketeers to fire.
All at once do their missiles fly towards their respective targets, heading for the legs of the walker tanks, and towards the jets of the aircraft.
And all at once do they hit, demolishing alien metal and technology in a firey blaze. The mechanical tanks, devoid of one of the two legs keeping their bipedal forms afloat, collapsed to the ground instantly. The airships, unable to stay in the air, fell to the ground in a crash, raining fire on wherever they landed.
To the poor luck of the Irkens ground troops, many of these ships landed atop them, eliminating yet more enemies of the Freemen.
Once again being given a greater advantage, the Freemen continued on forward, fighting back against what Irken guards remained, pushing on to achieve their victory in the camp. One by one do the Irken ground troops fall, and further and further up do the Freeman advance, leaving many aliens dead in their wake.
During their advance, the male slaves that they sought to free had began wandering some distance behind, watching the Freemen advance on and even defeat the enemy. Watching them fight so hard and gain broad strokes of victory, their previous nihlism and defeatism had began to erode at the sight of the Freemen fighting on.
And they also begin to rethink what actions they will take next.
[Soundtrack Cue End]
-
Advancing up to the Irken guard tower of the concentration camp, G-Funk bursted into the main quarters, firing his sonic fork at the Irkens within. Instantly they are downed by his hand, and he has reached his objective without incident. Approaching the controls to the camp, he observes the means of freeing the prisoners in the camp, the main doors to the camp and those to the breeding pens, and he reaches out to press them.
A laser blast reaches the window in front of him, prompting G-Funk to turn around, facing an Irken aiming his weapon on him.
"Away from the controls, human. And drop your weapon." The Irken said.
Following the Irken's command, G-Funk slowly raised his sonic fork into the air, walking towards him at an even slower pace. The approach was one meant to show caution and make an attempt at peace, hopefully tempting the Irken to lower his guard against him.
"Drop the weapon. Do not continue forward until you do." The Irken commanded.
Continuing to raise his sonic fork in the air, G-Funk at last let it fall to the ground, opening his fingers to let it go as the Irken ordered.
But rather than let it hit the ground, G-Funk dove to the ground going back after his sonic fork and grabbing it again. Just as the Irken fired at him for his offense, G-Funk fired at the Irken, killing him in an instantaneous blast of sound. Once again, he has seized his objective...
...however, he has not done so without fault. In trying to avoid the blast from the Irken's laser, it had managed to hit his side, damaging several of his vital organs.
Nonetheless, even though the pain was great enough to keep him on the ground, G-Funk slowly crawled his way back up to the controls, reaching for the means to let open the main doors to the concentration camp, as well as the breeding pens where the females were being held.
Pressing the button to open one, his hand shakily reached for the other, completing his objective.
-
The female slaves, disinfected moments within entering the camp, were accosted by the human traitors as soon as they came, forced to be objects of sexual use to those who swore off humanity in favor of serving their Irken masters. Trapped in the breeding pens, they were damned to a life to fulfill the lust of warmongering human traitors, and bear their children to breed more slaves and traitors alike.
To their miraculous suprise, the walls to the breeding pens began to open, creating an exit to the pasture of perversion they were cast on. Alas, their subjucation to the human traitors make any escape impossible, forcing them to only be able to look at their salvation without being able to reach it.
But what else they see gives them that salvation soon.
The male slaves, retrieving weapons for themselves, whether they be blunt objects or blades or Irken lasers, began approaching the tratiors with rage, preparing to retailiate for the treatment of their women. The human traitors, moments ago preoccupied with their women, now turned their attention to the more pressing matter, immediately scrambling for their weapons.
Those male slaves with Irken lasers began firing on the traitors, while those with melee weapons personally rushed and assaulted the traitors, beating them down and ending the lives they wasted by pledging allegiance to an invasive species of Earth and betraying their own kind, in more ways than one.
When the violence had come to an end, the males began shedding what clothing they have to clothe the naked females, and looting clothing from the human traitors if theirs were not enough to give them their dignity back. It is a kind gesture that they are given, and, for once, they are given support and hope to feel human again.
And with the feeling of being human also comes the desire for freedom, which they take full advantage of upon seeing the open gates to the concentration camp. Whether they have been in this camp for mere days or long years, they all crave freedom just the same, ready to be wisked away like waking from a bad dream.
The Freemen accompany the fleeing slaves, leaving behind the concentration camp in an exodus.
Having completed his mission, G-Funk feels no need to join them, choosing instead to stay in the tower and watch the flight from afar. Feeling his wound start to grow numb, along with the rest of his body, he knows that his time on Earth is soon to be up, and he wishes no more than to enjoy the fruits of the labor he has put in, seeing his fellow man and woman be free.
But just as one Exodus was proved to be a lie by objective reality, this one is proven much of the same. The sound of airships began to fill the air, putting the escaping human herd to a stop in fear. What crippled them to a stop in fear soon turned to panic and chaos, making what was once a pack of human beings split apart and run all about for their lives, for coming into view was the instruments of their death.
A large flight of Irken airships, alongside many smaller hovercrafts piloted by sole Irkens, all flew towards them, coming with one mission:
If they cannot have the lives of their slaves, no one may have them, not even the slaves themselves.
Flying in with coordinated and calculated fury, the Irkens began gunning down many of the humans, disintegrating them into dust with every shot fired. Those who could not move quickly to cover, such as pregnant women and the elderly, were the first to die, reduced to ashes with every shot fired.
Those with weapons attempted to fight back, a brave attempt against the many gunships and enemies, but one that was ultimately pointless save for a last grasp at glory. Freemen and freed slaves alike fired at the airships and hovercrafts, aiming to take as many oppontents with them as possible.
Some on the smaller, personal crafts are indeed struck down, but the majority still managed to gun them down, snuffing out what resistance was put up.
And G-Funk, forced to watch both his own troops and the people he tried to save die so quickly and mercilessly, cried in defeat.
Once eliminating the humans who attempted to flee, the Irkens turned their attention back to the concentration camp, in search for any remaining resistance fighters or Irkens alike. They find nothing of the sort of eiher, managing only to locate various bodies from both sides...
...but their search eventually comes to the control tower, where they find the dying G-Funk. Watching him start to die on the floor, his face sunken with a lack of emotion, feeling so much defeat and loss that his mind could barely function, the Irkens felt no need to even hold their weapons on him, knowing that he would soon be gone.
One Irken approached G-Funk, not to speak with him personally, but instead laid down a small device by his feet. The device then projected a series of lasers and lights into the air, all of which came together to form a holographic image. What the image had shown was a live-feed communication of the leader of the Irken Empire, and the sworn enemy of the human race.
Disgusted by the very sight of him, G-Funk looked back in rage.
"Zim." G-Funk snarled.
"Gerald Johannsen. The last of the Hillwood Heroes, and loyal soldier to the Freeman. You've caused quite a bit of trouble in my slave camp, but not good enough. It was amusing, watching you try to escape with your fellow humans, but it was ultimately not to be. I decided it would not be of any liking to me." Zim said.
The implications left in Zim's voice made G-Funk look back in confusion, holding back a feeling of shock in what laid under those implications.
"'Watched us'? You mean...?" G-Funk asked.
"That I could have crushed your attempt at freeing the slaves anytime I wanted? That I chose to let it happen for my own personal amusem*nt? Why, yes, that is indeed what I see, I've gotten quite a bit of a bore since I've held control of your little planet. How long have I held it? How many years? 3? 5? 10? 15? Not important. But what is important to me is just how much of a chore this has become. I have crushed 100,000 planets' governments in my rule, bending them to the knee of the Irken Empire, but, much like one of your own great conquerers, I have no more worlds to conquer. All I have is you, my loyal subjects. Or, in some cases, disloyal, as it were. I could just kill all of you at once, but where's the fun in that? Then I'm left with no one else to play with. I can't have any fun that way. That's the only reason I've let your 'Freemen' have any agency or fun at all. This was a minor diversion, but not a great one. What's made it mostly worth it is the feeling that you're giving me right now. That cold, dark sense of defeat. Having the rug ripped out from under you. Having defeat snatched from the jaws of victory." Zim said.
As Zim confirmed the worst suspicions that G-Funk began to fester, he laughed at the overwhelming despair that grew on his face, lightly laughing in delight.
"Ah... Yes... Despair... Sweet, delicious despair... It's been quite awhile before I felt it that well. Thank you, Gerald Johannsen, for the great show. It's been tedious, having to repeat this for the... Oh, who knows how many times, whenever I'd finish one of you off. Right before I watch you die. Irkens. Kill him. I'm not feeling fancy, just shoot him." Zim said.
The Irkens then drew out their laser weapons, aiming them at G-Funk to fire, but not before he spoke out the call of the Freemen, defiant until the end.
"Earth... shall... overcome... Death... to Zim." G-Funk groaned.
Then, the Irkens opened fire.
Gerald Johannsen is dead.
"That's that, then." Zim said.
"Shall we rebuilt the infrastructure of this camp and import in new slaves, Imperator Zim?" An Irken asked.
"No, I grew bored with this place. Blow it up. Actually, no, just leave it to rot. I'll need something slow and steady to appreciate instead. Explosions get so boring after the first few you see."
"What would you have us do, then, Imperator Zim?"
"Well... I've been thinking. This little bit of scrapping with the human resistance, these Freemen, has been quite fun, but I'm honestly just getting bored with their existence now. I've skewered Otto Rocket with all his organs stacked in alphabetical order, more than one alphabet, that is, thrown Rudy Tabootie into a black hole and let dogs eat his wife, ripped out the heads of that entire Loud clan through their rectums and thrown them across space, but fighting the Freemen ulimately does nothing for me anymore. They bore me."
"So I shall order a strike on their home base? We can finish their rebellion once and for all?"
The idea bounced around in Zim's head for a brief period, allowing him the time to contemplate the suggestion to decide if he liked it enough or not. To have a certain end come to what was meant to be his primary opposition on the planet, to have no longer a resistance against him, is one that he is unsure would bring him relief or more boredom, leaving him forced to decide how useful they were to him.
Ultimately, he decided to side with his subordinate.
"Ah, yes. That shall be acceptable. A grand finale to this human spirit nonsense. I like to play with things awhile... before annihilation. So give me a good show." Zim said.
-
And though it is known upon the Irkens themselves where the base of the Freemen is, where is it known to us?
To us, it is known as an abandoned military base, where countless numbers of humans have foudn shelter. Those who cannot fight are there to be protected, sheltered off against the alien hellscape that the invaders have made for the planet. Those that can fight are Freemen, human beings who have sworn to see their home planet free from the alien oppression it was under.
Countlessly and thanklessly they carry out their duties; they check their weapons and press their own bullets, they gather intelligence on their enemy and plan their next attacks, and they train whoever is in fighting shape to do just that, and ensure that they have a future ahead of themselves as a species.
Those who lead them is an aged man, once known as one of the greatest heroes the Earth has ever known.
He was once known as the Green Eye.
Here, he is now and forevermore Arnold Shortman.
Just as he desires never to be known by the Green Eye again, it is also his greatest goal to see the day where he is no longer needed to lead the people of Earth to fight. He is greeted by several soldiers and gives orders to several more, once again given evidence as to his irreplacable role in the Freemen, just as he tries to take a stroll about the base and contemplate all that has transpired since the coming of Zim.
Because, on this day, he has a means to ensure that day never comes.
His walk has led him to a certain sector of the base which houses various scientific equipment and workers about, all constructing what would serve to be the means of achieving that goal. The construct was a large, portal-like device, attached to various computers and electronics to power and calculate it to serve its purpose.
As he looked on it, a Freeman approached Arnold to bring him news.
"Sir, we have reports coming in about our camp raid. Our efforts have failed. All the prisoners are dead, as are the Freemen troops who were sent in. Including Johannsen." The Freeman said.
Hearing of the loss of his life-long friend, Arnold lowered his head and closed his eyes, letting out a pained sigh as he heard.
"Every one of them? Even Gerald?" Arnold asked.
"Yes, sir. It appears that the Irkens set a trap. No one survived." The Freeman said.
"I see. Thank you for bringing me this news. I'm sorry we couldn't have seen this coming."
"Also, sir, they're waiting for you on the bridge."
"Thank you. I'll be right there."
As the Freeman departed, Arnold looked back to the portal-like device one last time, closing his eyes and sighing as he walked away.
And as Arnold departed for the bridge for a meeting, he made a detour towards a laboratory that housed a crucial part of said meeting. Entering a part of the base closed off to most Freemen, he, utilizing a security card reprogrammed for himself and a select few, opened the door to the lab and stepped inside.
Upon entering, he found its sole scientist, a woman named Nora Wakeman, at work on a personalized robotics project, putting the finishing touches on it with blue paint.
"Wakeman. We're ready. Is she?" Arnold asked.
"Oh, ready as she'll ever be, I hope." Nora said.
"I'm ready for this, Mrs. Wakeman, don't worry about me. You've been working so hard to make sure that this works." A voice said.
A dash of confidence came over Nora Wakeman, leading her to smile in return.
"Dear me, I told you, you don't have to call me that. You can call me 'mom'." Nora said.
-
Arnold's departure led him to a discussion room with several others, all contemplating the use of the device. Among the others in the room were Carlos Tabootie, adopted son of Rudy Tabootie turned Zoner, Sam and Reggie Dullard, the married technicians who developed gravity-based weapons, a quiet, Asian man who called himself 'The Avatar', Lynn Loud Jr., the last surviving member of the Loud family...
...and accompanying the Arnold himself was Nora Wakeman, a recent addition to the counsel that had a special contribution to offer.
"Hey Arnold. Just another discussion of how we're going to delay the inevitable of our whole species, huh?" Lynn asked.
"Be more respectful to Arnold. He's kept us alive so far." Carlos interjected.
"It's alright. I don't expect anybody to be in good spirits these days, or if they need to find some humor in order to get through the things we need to get through. What matters is the important work that we're doing here and now." Arnold said.
"And, more importantly, we've think we've finally done it. We finally cracked the code." Sam said.
The counsel all sat in silence at the news, each taking their time to process its full ramifications.
"Time travel. You think you really managed to crack time travel?" Lynn asked.
"It took a lot of work from the notes of Lisa, Membrane, the Fentons, and Irken technology, but we managed to get it." Reggie said.
"Or so you think."
"Admittedly, I never was a qualified scientist in the first place, but I just know how to look at what works, and take it from there. And it does help having some people who're actually, or at least used to be, qualified scientists to back up my work and do the harder parts for me." Sam said.
"Have more faith in your abilities, Samuel. You spent many years of your life teaching yourself. The archer who shoots for the moon may not reach the moon, but his efforts can make him the best archer in the world." The Avatar said.
"But we're the people actuallyshootingfor the moon. We need to make it, or else this all means nothing." Lynn said.
"You know, kid, the negative attitude isn't helping anything around here. This may be our only chance to save the Earth." Reggie said.
"No, she's right. We don't have any clue if this'll actually work. How many raids have we done across the globe trying to get the parts we need just to make this thing work?" Sam asked.
"And how many lives were spent in trying to get them? Sam, we all trust you. We know you did the work. There's no time or place here for self-doubts. What matters is that we don't let the lives that've been spent on this die in vain." Arnold said.
The table went silent out of respect for the lives that had paid for the work done here, reflecting on the sacrifices that were made.
"Okay. So the machine works. In theory, but at least a theory is the closest thing to fact in the world of science. But there's still a few other implications we need to think about. Even if we could send someone back in time, it might not do anything at all." Sam said.
"What does that mean? How could it not do anything?" Lynn asked.
"I mean, anything tothisspecific timeline. It isn't like the movies or comic books where you can just jump back and forth through time anyway you like. There's a lot of quantum factors that work into it. For instance, there's the air in your body. The air you breathe existed in the past at some point, and it carries with you through your lungs until you get to the past. Then suppose you get back, and you're breathing in air from the past, taking it to the future. You might not have intentionally done it, but you displaced matter that isn't supposed to be there, matter that effects the greater time stream itself, and could possibly create a time paradox. Matter cannot be created or destroyed, and it can't be collected back to be put back again."
"So, just breathe out before you get there. Easy fix."
"There's also other factors as well. The human body sheds thousands of cells on a daily basis. When you scratch an itch, pull out a hair, leave a drop of blood, that's all comprised of matter that doesn't belong in that timeline, and shouldn't exist in that form yet. Of course, this is all just assuming it'll even put us in the same timestream. To account for all the other factors I just mentioned, the only way the universe could possibly survive having any change like that occurring in its finite amount of matter would be to split into a new timeline altogether."
"An alternate reality." Carlos said.
"We have taken into account what Sam has said. It is possible that sending a human being back might cause more problems than it would solve, assuming that we live in a singular time stream, and we don't have to worry about alternate universes. That's where this young lady comes in." Arnold said.
The woman named Nora Wakeman cleared her throat, introducing herself to the group in an awkward manner.
"H-Hello. I've only been part of this project for awhile, but I think I have something that can manage to help. I was the head of the Armagedroid project; I have experience in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence. When Mr. Shortman explained to me the complications of time travel and what effects a human being could have on the space-time continuum, I was elected to seek an alternative means of breaching space-time. In addition to my past experience, I've also taken to examining and experimenting with Irken technology. In recent months, I've had a breakthrough on a project which could have the means of giving us the-" Nora tried to say.
"Look, lady. We appreciate the effort, but we're short on time. You mind getting to the point?" Lynn asked.
"Er, yes, of course. Applying my sciences with whatever we could put together, I give you... The Wakeman Model 1."
Nora then stood up from her seat, walking to a set of doors and opening them.
Revealed behind the doors was a humanoid robot, standing as tall as everyone else in the room, and making them back away in their seats at the sight of it. The machine resembled that of a teenage girl, with a white chassis and dark blue covering most of its body in decals, such as a blue pair of hands, skirt, tube top, boots, hair, and lips.
The sight of the machine made the counsel grow nervous upon seeing it, but the machine itself appeared to be nervous as well.
"Come on, now, sweetie. It's time for you everyone to meet you." Nora said.
Coming to Nora's call, the machine nervously followed her words, leaving the sound of clanking metal with each step of its feet. Walking up to the table, the counsel was given a better look at the machine, all reacting in awe and wonder at the sight of a fully-developed artificial being before their eyes.
But most surpising of all, the machine spoke, carefully raising a hand in a wave.
"Um... Hi, everyone." The machine said.
"She's fully developed mentally, as much as a human being, and is fully capable of independent thought. She's a pride and joy if I've ever had one." Nora said.
"Oh, great, you made a robot that talks. Awesome. How exactly is that supposed to help us?" Lynn asked.
"In the past, when we explored the moon and other planets, we would never first sent a human being without knowing of the consequences first. We would send a drone, a robot that can do the exploring for us. We had relied on these robots being remote-controlled, but that is a luxury that we do not have in this particular instance. That's where my experience in artificial intelligence has come in. WM-1 can be sent back with the mission of terminating Zim, and gathering the Freemen before the Irkens ever come to Earth. This will completely solve the issue of human biology interfering with the timestream."
"And, if we're lucky, perhaps even alter this very timeline so that we may never have to live in this hellscape." Arnold added.
"Andthat's assuming we don't just trigger a time paradox out of the whole thing. But, uh, there is also another consideration to be made out of this plan: The moral and ethical angle." Sam said.
"What's there to think about? We're gonna stop Zim and the Irkens from ever taking over the Earth, that's as moral as it gets." Lynn said.
"There's another catch to it. Consider everyone who's been born since the invasion started. Those lives aren't guaranteed to come into existence if the timestream's been altered, in fact, it's almost a guarantee that theywon'texist at all. The amount of sperm and eggs that human bodies make, the circ*mstances in which people meet, that'll all change, and people that otherwise would've come into existence won't."
"Small price to pay. Better to not live at all than to live in a world like this." Carlos said.
"Is it? Life is a precious commodity, no matter where it may be found. What right do we have to decide whether it is preferable for them to die?" The Avatar asked.
"They won't die, they'll just never have existed. Choosing for them to die is to let them keep living here, in this world, under Zim. For him to kill. Of course, that's assuming that the timeline doesn't simply change. Even with our trying to avoid Sam's matter of matter displacement, WM-1 herself still poses that problem in just existing. Just that fact that she's a robot, and having less matter to send back with less variables, may not be enough to ensure a timestream change." Arnold said.
"Then that doesn't actually solve our problem. It means we're still stuck here, and people are still dying under Zim. What would be the point in doing all this if all it does it help a completely different universe?" Reggie asked.
"We leave behind a better one for others so they don't have to live through what we did. That's the best thing anyone can do as human beings."
The answer gave a swell of inspiration among the table, once again proving the motivational power that Arnold Shortman possessed.
"But even if we assume the worst, it looks like we may have no choice. If we do nothing, we all die, and the human race goes extinct. We have to take action, and this machine is our only hope." Arnold said.
"I'll be happy to do it. I was built for this purpose, and I'll do my best to fulfill it. It's just... I'm still new to my congnitive abilities and motor skills. I'm the equivalent of what a human newborn would be, but with a full intelligence. Of all the emotions I was given, fear and self-doubt are two that I wouldn't have asked for if I had the option." WM-1 said.
"Those emotions are just as necessary as confidence, bravery, and righteousness. Sometimes, it takes fear and self-doubt to have the pause to make sure what you're doing is right, and to overcome to show how dedicated you are to fulfilling that goal."
"True. But it won't be easy for me, doing it all alone."
"You won't be. I'll be in the past waiting for you. If you go back, and if you can stop Zim, and gather us to fight the Irkens, then you can save an entire species. You're humanity's last hope."
The WM-1 unit seemed to brighten after Arnold's words, showing that even a machine can find confidence in one of the world's greatest humans.
"Then I won't let you down, sir." WM-1 said.
"Good. It's settled, then. The WM-1 will be sent back in time, and gather the Freemen before Earth was attacked, giving us the chance to save the planet, or at least one timeline of it, from death." Arnold said.
"Agreed." The counsel said in unison.
"But that also means that the knowledge of this does not leave this room. If Zim finds out what we've done, that we've potentially created another Earth where he's been defeated, then what's to stop this Earth's Zim from trying to find it, and conquer it? Worse yet, using it to create as many Earths and universes he wants to conquer?"
"So this machine girl's gonna save the whole world, and nobody but us is gonna know about it." Reggie said.
"Exactly."
"It is a noble task which this machine shall be sent on, but we know not what the name of this machine is. If we are to be the only ones who know of her, then should we know her by another name besides a simple few letters and numbers? Should the last hope of this Earth not have a name?" The Avatar asked.
"Ah, yes, well, I thought about a name for her, but, then, I decided, since she's got a mind of her own, it would be only fair to let her decide. She is going off all on her own, of course, it seemed the least we could do for her." Nora said.
"Gee, well, it's funny. I kind of had a name in mind, but I wasn't sure if you guys would like to call me by it or not." WM-1 said.
"Oh? And what name did you think for yourself, honey? We'd love to hear it."
"Ok, well... I was kind of... thinking of... Gally."
The dramatic buildup to the revelation of the robot's name left an underwhelming silence through the counsel, making the machine self-named Gally grow nervous.
"Oh, uh, did I do something wrong? Is that not a good name?" Gally asked.
"N-No, it's, uh, it's a nice name, but... I don't know." Sam said.
"Don't know what?"
"You look more like a... 'Jenny' to us." Carlos said.
"Oh, it's funny that you bring that up. I thought about that one for a bit, but I ultimately decided against it, because I felt that-"
Then, the counsel came to a sudden and abrupt end as the sounds of alarms began to blare throughout the base, indicating an attack was underway on it. Panic and fear immediately came to the hearts of the counsel of Freemen, knowing that their time here was short...
"They're here already?" Reggie asked.
"How did they even find us?" Lynn asked.
"Matter of time. They would've found us eventually." Carlos said.
...but Arnold Shortman did not falter. Rather, he is grateful that this meeting has gone along right when it did, because it has clarified their goals.
"Then they made the best timing possible. We already know what to do. It's time to make a change. I'm going to get Gally to the time machine." Arnold said.
"What do we do?" Sam asked.
"You hold them off as long as you can with the rest of the Freemen. Buy us as much time as you can."
There is a brief concern over the fear of death with each member present, knowing that they may very well be on their way to fight a battle which they will not return from nor survive, but, keeping in mind the possibility of a new future where their troubles do not exist, that small speck of hope is enough to make them rise from their seats and prepare to fight.
As the counsel of Freemen left, Arnold led Gally to her task, moving them both along with haste, and Nora Wakeman following closely behind.
-
The Freemen of the counsel, Carlos Tabootie, Sam and Reggie Dullard, Lynn Loud, Jr., and the Avatar, rushed out from their meeting room, gathering to the entrance of their base to find the threat that approached them. With the warning sirens given off, they expected to find the invading Irkens coming in soon to attack.
And they do find this indeed, but it is far closer than 'incoming'. Their base was an underground facility, keeping it safe from the rest of the world as the danger and war unfolded above, but, not only to nearby CCTV cameras show an entire Irken army standing outside, complete with artillery and armor...
...but, with the sighting of a mounted laser being fired directly and continuously at the wall, they saw it start to melt away, soon giving away what protection they had.
Rather than allow them a chance to enter, the team chose to make a proactive approach to the situation.
"I can keep them further at bay from outside, allow you time to work through your defenses here. I can only bend outside, anyway." The Avatar said.
"Fine. I'll take you outside." Carlos said.
Taking a stick of chalk off his bandolier, Carlos drew a portal to ChalkZone, taking the Avatar along with him and closing the portal behind. Making an approximation of where the outside of the base was, Carlos drew a pair of rockets to his shoes, moving his chalk about in the air in search for a surface to draw on.
Finding his chalk strike such a place, he drew a portal back to the real world, taking the Avatar along with him. Leading the Avatar to the outside of the base, positioned just above the main door, Carlos moved back through his chalk portal, preparing to close it behind him and leave the Avatar to himself.
"Good luck." Carlos said.
Erasing the portal, Carlos returned back inside, while the Avatar took well to the last words a human being would say to him.
Digging deep into his connection wtih a power once thought lost through the ages, the Avatar began moving himself in a manner that most would recognize as Tai Chi, but, to the Avatar, what he does is more than a simple exercise or even a martial art, for it brings about what will be required to hold the Irkens at bay:
A storm unlike anything else.
And it is brought about by the lost art of Bending.
Moving at the command of his motions, the clouds in the sky began to darken and turn black, rumbling with anger and power. No such forecast was made or expected, leaving the Irkens to look up in surprise as the storm came in at such a sudden development in their attack.
Then, not only did it begin to rain, it began to strike thunder and lightning.
Getting hit by lightning is an event famously known to be an occasion so rare it is barely even considered as a plausible threat, even with the consequences of recieving such a strike being as deadly as they are. However, under the Avatar's direction, the lightning is not just a random occurrence to be speculated on...
...but a projectile, which he wields to fire at the Irken army.
Aiming one arm to the sky, acting as a receiver to the lightning, he aimed his other arm towards an Irken walker, using it as a sender. And send the lightnint he does, firing it straight towards the mechanical tank and landing a direct hit, melting right through the metal with his shot.
Just as soon as he took aim with his next shot, downing yet another tank with the shot, the Irken army took immediate notice of the Avatar, splitting their attention away from the door and towards him. Though the small brigate kept at their work to melt down the door, the rest had little to do but wait, and their attention was now directed at a target they could hit.
Immediately did the Irkens fire on the Avatar, forcing him to raise a wall of dirt from the ground to protect himself. As his shield was raised, his use of earthbending was exchanged for airbending and waterbending, which he used to bend tornadoes and hurricaines to counterattack the Irken army with.
The weaponized weather events, more than enough to bring harm to any group of normal human beings, caused an even greater difficulty to the Irken army. Blown left and right by the strong winds, the Irkens were little more than bugs being flicked by a finger, forced back and sent flying.
The heavier units of their walkers and airships did not fare as well, either; the walkers, while having the advantage of weight on their side, were nonetheless knocked down by the sheer force of the winds, where those same strong winds also caused the airships to lose control and crash due to the sheer turbulence.
It seemed that the Irken army was falling quickly and well under the Avatar, spelling a strong victory for the humans, who cheered it on from behind the wall...
"He's doing it!" Carlos cheered.
"Whoo! Way to go, Avatar!" Reggie shouted.
"Hell, yeah! Kick ass!" Lynn yelled.
"He just might beat them all on his own! This is great!" Sam said.
-
...but there is also Imperator ZIm who watches the battle from afar as well, and, though he is gaining his amusem*nt, it is but a fleeting feeling for the alien emperor. Watching the battle be televised before him, far from any such a fight that he may have to participate in, Imperator Zim begins to desire his entertainment be changed.
"[It's been fun watching the Avatar fight, but please do speed this along. I want to see him fall and die.]" Zim said.
"[Shall I send in a mothership, Imperator Zim?]" An Irken subordinate asked.
"[Ah, yes. Let's see how well he does when he faces something that his bending can't hit.]"
-
And, outside of this abandoned military base that the Freemen have taken as their home, the Avatar basks in what victory he can get, but even that sliver hope is soon squashed. The ground itself began to rumble, not because of any earthquakes his earthbending could permit, but because of something entering the atmosphere and impacting the ground as well.
Looking up to the sky, the humans inside the base also see what comes, and fear its arrival just as much as the Avatar himself.
A massive Irken mothership had descended into the atmosphere, coming directly down over the Avatar himself. The mothership had an array of guns and weapons all across its body, all of which aimed themselves directly at the man who could bend the elements.
Summoning the lightning once again, the Avatar attempted to fire back at the guns before they could hit him, but his effort was proven futile as the guns opened fire, burying him in a massive maelstrom of lasers that no human being could survive, not even the Avatar himself.
Though invisible to the naked eye, the soul of Raava passed on from the body, seeking out its next incarnation.
The Avatar is dead.
-
Watching the Avatar swiftly killed, the Freemen fighters, seeing one of their most powerful members slain so brutally in scuh an overkill, lowered their heads in grief, taking a short but notable silence for their fallen comrade. They already know that they have no chance of surviving this battle, but, seeing the first of their casualties, this is a reality that they have not fully grappled with until faced with this sight.
Nonetheless, they know that their own mission is more important than any of their lives, so they do not waste too much time on mourning, with Carlos taking initiative. Taking a piece of chalk out from his bandolier, he began drawing as many weapons as he could think of, creating preventative measures such as automatic turrets and landmines.
"You all get back. I'll try to set up another barrier. Hold back as many Irkens as I can. You'll be the next ones to fight." Carlos said.
Following his instructions, the other Freemen began heading back, allowing themselves to pick a battle position and work from it.
-
While the battle was preparing itself above, the preparations for sending Gally back to the past were well underway, with both Arnold and Nora quickly but carefully working to ensure that their time machine was fully functional, and seeing that Gally was prepared for the journey as well.
As Nora completed a diagnostics check on the time machine, Arnold assisted Gally with her own self-diagnostics, ensuring that she would be sufficient on her own.
"You have all your weapons systems functioning?" Arnold asked.
"Check." Gally said.
"Communications arrays and GPS linkups?"
"Check."
"Power source and recharging apparatuses?"
"Check."
"Good. Remember: When you get back in time, you'll be on your own. At least until you can find me. But it won't be easy. I was a very different person back where you're going. I was going through a bad time, and I cut myself off from the world. Your mission is to get to San Lorenzo, brief me of the situation, and tell me who else to find."
"How am I going to give you proof?"
"You record everything you see, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll give you some to use right now. Look at me."
Keeping her focus on Arnold, Gally watched as he knelt down, keeping himself eye-to-eye at the sitting gynoid. Taking a deep breath, Arnold let it out before his speech.
"Hey Arnold... I know things aren't that good right now. I know how you feel. That you failed everyone, and that you shouldn't be trying to help anymore. Like nothing matters. I can tell you that you're wrong. That what you did made a difference. And you can make more of a difference if you try again. You just forgot how to see people. How you used to see them. People can be great. You just have to show them how to be, to make them want to be. They just need a light to lead them there. Just like you needed a light long ago. You still have it in you, Arnold. You didn't lose it. You can be a force to unite. Remember these names: Danny Fenton. Otto Rocket. Rudy Tabootie. Lincoln Loud. Unite them, and take down Zim before he can create this nightmare of a world, and fight the Irken invasion. Bring them together, Arnold. You're the world's only hope."
Standing up, Arnold marked a conclusion to his speech, prompting Gally to stop recording. The speech is one rousing enough even to make a machine cry, which, if Gally had her own tear ducts, would engage in now. Her expression of empathy is enough to make her feelings clear, but her voice also makes others known as well.
"Are you sure it's going to work?" Gally asked.
"No, I'm not sure. But it's all we can do. It's our best chance at survival to do this." Arnold said.
"But I'm worried."
"Don't be. Even if I don't believe it, there might be someone else to fill the role."
"No, I mean, I'm worried about you. Here, in the present. And my mom. And everyone."
"We were already doomed when Zim took over. This outcome was inevitable for us. Now, we're just making the last action we have to make."
As Arnold reassured Gally, Nora discreetly stepped away from the time machine to inspect another important item necessary to their plan. Covered away under a drape was a device crucial to the plan, but one that was not disclosed with any other Freeman to ensure that there would be no protest or panic that came with it.
The device was a nuclear bomb.
-
The walls to the abandoned military base claimed by the Freemen had served well against any threats or invaders, but they serve that purpose no longer today.
Successfully melting through the wall, the Irkens began to move through the now-destroyed wall, charging in with weapons high and ready to open fire. Upon entering, they expected to see helpless human beings sitting in wait for their destruction, scrambling in panic, as a result built up from years of unapposed slaughter.
But the formerly human Zoner named Carlos Tabootie broke this illusion with ease.
Standing in between the Irken army and the Freemen inside was not only Carlos Tabootie himself, but a wide array of automatic gun turrets, landmines, barbed wire, a moat of alligators, and other assorted obstacles to ensure that the Irkens would perish before they could advance.
However, this did not stop the Irken army from advancing. Loyal and dedicated to the Imperator named Zim, and almost completely devoid of individuality, the Irkens pushed to move through the war zone, attempting to deplete the resources put between them and the Freemen.
This approach, bullheaded and stubborn, is one that an army of their numbers is more than capable of exercising, but the numbers they have do decrease as they try this approach. Many Irkens are immediately shot down by the guns, but a few manage to evade the gunfire and make their way under, moving under the bodies of their fallen comrades to reach their objective.
Those who try this approach are blasted to pieces by landmines or caught in barbed wire, or dragged down and mauled by the alligators. Despite their many attempts to get through the barrage, the Irkens made no progress in trying to breach through, making their attempts a fool's errand.
-
Once again, this is all but a form of entertainment for Zim. He is more than content to send his own subjects to die; their lives are no different to him than a resource, and a means to an end to be used solely for him and whatever he desires. An intergalactic Caligula, the universe is but a show for him.
And the only show he enjoys is the show of blood.
He receives plenty of it in this showing of strength by the Irken army, but the show, having gone on for a long while with great repetition, begins to bore him. He desires once again to see a change in scenery, and craves to watch yet another human die at his command.
"How many of our own have died now?" Zim asked.
"About 1,200 and counting, Imperator Zim." An Irken subordinate said.
"And the soldiers are all properly programmed and drugged?"
"Yes, Imperator Zim."
"I see. Let them use water on the chalk boy. I want to see him gone now."
"As you command, Imperator Zim."
-
And so it is spoken, so it is done; the Irkens retreat from their assault and no longer needlessly sacrifice their numbers, instead taking the new approach to eliminate Carlos and wipe out his defenses. Carlos himself is not aware of their strategy, and looks on with confusion as his enemies go back as quickly as they came. He feels a temptation to believe that he has warded them off alone, but reason and logic tell him otherwise...
...and, seeing a massive hose being brought to the door, he realizes that those defensive instincts were correct.
Having willingly taken his life in ChalkZone long ago, his sacrifice was done for the purpose of gaining the powers his adoptive father had, being able to draw in the real world as he were in ChalkZone, a being existing in both the 2nd and 3rd dimensions. But what made his father different from him was the power of the Golden Chalk, which made his body real flesh and blood just as he kept the power.
But the Golden Chalk was long gone out of human hands, leaving him a normal Zoner, and still susceptible to be harmed by water.
Unleashing a rush of water from the hose, the Irkens began flooding the floor of the military base, using it to erase Carlos. The process of erasure that took place for Carlos was slow, merely eating at his feet, but the continuous flow of water soon made the rest of the floor wet and dangerous, leaving him with little room left to move.
His first instinct is to turn and run away, trying to give himself the means to escape his watery fate. In doing so, however, his legs began to erase to the point where balancing himself was no longer possible, and he collapsed to the floor, saving himself only by propping himself up with his hands.
But this, in turn, made his hands erase, leaving him unable to defend himself by drawing with his chalk. Still trying to reach safety, he crawled with what remained of his limbs, attempting to reach the other Freemen in the hopes that they could save him from the fate of nonexistence he would soon face.
He does not make it. He sinks into the water, soon turning it into a dirty pool of water.
Carlos Tabootie is dead.
-
Back with the time machine...
Nora continues hard at work to ensure the time machine, with Arnold helping to ensure no issues will prevent the machine from doing its intended job. Wires and circuitry are all checked and double-checked, programs and algorythyms are gone through line by line, and diodes and reflectors are tested.
The process takes a long time to complete, and it makes Gally grow anxious over her own mission, and the incoming Irkens.
"Come on, mom! What's taking you so long?" Gally asked.
"We only have one shot at this, my dear. We have to make sure that we don't miss the mark." Nora said.
"But there must be something I can do to help. Can't I help you? Or fight the Irkens?"
"No. You need to be ready to go at any moment, and we especially can't have you wasting resources on the Irkens. It's a lost cause to fight them."
"But they're coming!"
The point made by Gally is an important one, and it convinces Arnold, but not to allow her to indulge in the fight. It reminds him of the problem at hand that time is running short for them, and that those fighting the Irkens have little to use against them to gain them the time they need to succeed.
Instead, it convinces him to take action himself.
"Come with me. You wanna make yourself useful? I have something you can do." Arnold said.
Gally followed Arnold with haste, leaving Nora to finish the time machine alone.
"Where are you going?" Nora asked.
"To buy you more time. I'll send her back in just a minute." Arnold said.
The brief walk the two took led them to an adjacent room with a pair of hangar doors, prompting them to open it. Stepping inside the open hangar, the two walked over to a large, tall, silver mecha suit, armed to the teeth with countless amounts of weapons, and an 'F' symbol on the front, with a green burst of ectoplasm behind it.
Arnold wasted no time to climb inside, but Gally stopped to look on it with amazement.
"What is that?" Gally asked.
"An old invention of the Fentons that we dug up. They called this thing the Ecto-Skeleton. It's a battle suit designed to enhance the abilities of whoever uses it. Part of the technology Nora used to build you came out of this, on top of the Irken tech." Arnold said.
"It looks like it's never been used before. Why?"
"There's a catch to using it. It drains the user's life life a battery. The Fentons never figured out how to give this thing a proper power source."
"But you'll die if you use it!"
"If I don't use it, I'll die anyway. I might as well take some Irkens with me. Someone like me might get some good mileage out of it, but I'm only going to get so much out of it. We were saving it for until the fat lady sings."
"Uh... I'm sorry, the what?"
"In the past, we had a saying. 'It isn't over 'til the fat lady sings'. That basically means this was to be used as a last resort. Like now."
-
Back with the Irken invasion...
Breaching into the abandoned military base which the Freemen have made their home, taking down two of their defenders in the process, the Irkens proceeded forward, keeping their guns high and ready to eradicate the humans inside. They no longer expect their attack to be an easy one, already having suffered great losses from the Freemen fighters, and stay ready to keep fighting.
Just as they are dedicated to keep fighting and killing, so are the Freemen who defend what is left of the human race, as proven by the new fighters that present themselves to the Irken army. Coming in to fight now are a trio of sports enthusiasts who make use of gravity-oriented weaponry:
Sam Dullard, Reggie Rocket, and Lynn Loud, Jr.
Flying in on a hoverboard each, they all wield different weapons developed by Sam Dullard on the technology which their hoverboards were built on, which in turn were based on Irken technology. It is a lineage of technological evolution that has been separated two generations from its progenitors, but it has now come to be put to use against the aliens who helped bring this technology to Earth.
Making full use of the flight properties that their hoverboards had, the three Freemen flew over the heads of the Irkens, staying out of their line of fire. They retrieved their own weapons, all consisting of sports equipment modified with the anti-gravitational technology that their boards were made of, weaponized for offensive purposes.
It is demonstrated when Lynn Loud takes a hockey stick with an attached anti-gravitational node and hits it against the ground, sending a gravity wave that knocks back several Irken soldiers in a forceful blast, downing several enemies with a single blow. Moving into further into the Irken army, she continued striking them with her weaponized hockey stick, blasting Irkens with enough power to crush their bodies entirely.
Sam Dullard makes a similar approach, but with gloves designed to house his anti-gravitational nodes, creating an enhancement to his punches that outmatched any set of brass knuckles. With his gloves, his punches managed to blow away Irkens just as well, but also do damage to the heavier units like the walker tanks, crushing their legs with a single blow and sending them toppling down.
Reggie Rocket's strategy is not to make a direct attack, but to provide a bombing run on the Irken army. Flying over the heads of the Irkens, she threw hockey pucks to the ground, sending them sliding into large crowds of Irkens. Upon detonation, these pucks were not anti-gravitational, but enhanced gravity, creating miniature black holes that sucked in Irkens and crushed them to condensed implosions of mattter.
These guerilla attacks manage to slay several Irkens with ease, but, once again, they are but delaying the inevitable, and they will perish just as soon now. Their attacks have allowed them one last gasp at glory of fighting against the enemy, and what time they have is but borrowed, and it has run out for them all.
With her attention diverted from the larger mechs, Lynn Loud is focused mainly on the ground troops, which costs her the life she spent fighting the Irkens. One walker tank reached an arm down and picked her up, holding her in the air as though she were a toy doll, much to her protests.
Hanging her upside-down, the walker had another one join it, who reached for one of Lynn's legs. As each grabbed one, they began to pull on opposite ends.
Though athletic and fit, toning her body to stretch and be able to perform even the most difficult of acrobatic tasks, having her legs pulled to the lengths they were was a strain that even her body could not take, and, feeling the muscles and bones in her legs begin to snap, she knew would damage it permanently.
And this damage was made permanent with death as she was ripped in half like a wishbone, having her body completely ripped in half.
Lynn Loud, Jr. is dead.
Sam Dullard, just as he was next in line to attack, is the next to go. Continuing to focus his fight against the larger mechs, his focus is taken away from the ground troops, who in turn are no longer under attack by Lynn Loud. Taking a laser blast to the leg, his limb was shot off in a cauterized wound, forcing him to fall down in a pained scream.
And as a walker tank leg hovered over him, his scream turned to a loud one of fear, which was then snuffed out as his body was crushed.
Sam Dullard is dead.
Now, Reggie Rocket is left alone and defenseless against the Irken army, forced to hold them back all by herself. Armed with gravity-augmenting bombs, she can take out large numbers of the troops, and does so without pause. However, a laser blast shot off her hand before it could throw another bomb, forcing her to drop it.
She tried to reach with her remaining hand to pick it up and throw it, but it ended up detonating and consuming her instead, reducing her to a condensed paste.
Reggie Rocket is dead.
Now, without any more Freemen fighters to oppose them, the Irken army continues to advance into the base. They have the objective to kill any and all humans that are found within the base, further reducing what is already an endangered species on this planet and please the Imperator Zim for his needs of violence.
Advancing in, they find many refugees and civilians, all unarmed and helpless against the army. Watching the alien invaders encroach on their safe haven, the humans cower back in fear, all pleading softly pleading for mercy, or silently hoping that it would be shown by the Irkens.
Both their approaches prove to be ineffective as the Irkens turn their weapons on the humans.
-
Back in the hangar...
As Arnold and Gally prepare the Ecto-Skeleton, the faint sounds of lasers shooting and screaming are heard in the air, which carry on in a cacophony of carnage that give them only a faint idea of what terror is becoming of the refugees. The sound leaves just as soon as it stops, spelling an end to the lives that the Freemen worked tirelessly to save.
The horror makes Gally mourn for the organic life that helped build her, but Arnold does not allow himself to no matter how much he wishes to. Instead, he focuses once again on his mission, knowing that, should it succeed, whatever death and mayhem that happened here, both past and future, shall never come to be.
"Gally. I'm ready. Set me loose." Arnold said.
Following his orders, Gally disengaged the Ecto-Skeleton from its holding, allowing Arnold to walk out of the hangar.
"Go to your mom. The portal should be ready soon. I'll buy you as much time as I can." Arnold said.
WIthout another word or acknowledgement of Gally, Arnold advanced forward in the Ecto-Skeleton, preparing to face off against the Irken enemy.
Following Arnold's last orders, giving the football head a final glimpse, Gally rushed back to the time machine, finding it still not ready, and Nora Wakeman still hard at work on it. Knowing of the fate of both Arnold and her own mother, there is a second thought regarding the mission, brought about by, in defiance of all expectations of machines, pure emotion rather than logic.
"Mom, are you sure about this? You're gonna die. Just like Arnold's gonna die. I just know it." Gally said.
"Where you're going, honey, you won't have to worry about us. You have the chance to save us." Nora said.
"But it won't be therealyou. It'll be another world, another universe. It won't be the same."
Finishing her work on the time machine's hardware, Nora took to its software, beginning to put in the coordinates and programming to send Gally back. The setting of the time coordinates read the date of July 1st, 2024, centering on the jungles of San Lorenzo, the proper time and location to find Arnold Shortman.
Once the coordinates were accepted, Nora activated the portal, which started with a dramatic show of scientific power. Several chevrons of lasers began firing at the center of a ring, coalescing to an infraction of light that breached through the space-time continuum itself to the specific destination that was set.
After a blast of energy that spewed out from both ends of the ring, the portal had opened, creating a wormhole into the past of Earth.
Once done with her work, Nora returned to Gally, facing her as a mother to answer her concerns personally.
"Gally, my dear, you won't have to worry about that. Whether in this world or another, I will always be your mother. Even if that wasn't the case, there are still people counting on you. You must go back. This is the only way." Nora said.
Gally shared a hug with Nora, and the latter gave a kiss on her artificial daughter's head.
"I wish we had more time together, mom. As a mom and daughter." Gally said.
"Perhaps in another life, my dear. But that won't happen unless you go." Nora said.
Pantomiming a sigh to express her attempt at composure, Gally walked up to the portal and looked on the abyss within, taking one last turn to her mother before departing.
"I love you, mom." Gally said.
"And I love you, my daughter." Nora said.
Activating the jets in her legs, Gally began to take flight, flying through the portal and proceeding on her mission.
Gally is no longer in this world, but has left for another.
But as the teenage gynoid left on her mission, the Freemen base began to tremble in an earthquake, making Nora Wakeman fall to the floor in a loss of balance. Concrete and rocks began to fall from the ceiling, just narrowly missing the young scientist from a deadly blow.
However, one falling rock managed to land on the mainframe of the time machine, smashing various electronics and disrupting its space-time rift. The problem was further demonstrated by its screen glitching, no longer showing the intended date and location of 2024 and San Lorenzo, but an assortment of various times and locations.
"NO!" Nora screamed.
Running to the computer, she attempted to fix the mistake, but another piece of concrete fell on her head, bashing it in and causing her to fall down once again. The injury also left her bleeding out from a gash on her head, leaving hemmoraging on top of the concussion she received.
Her last sight is that of the of time machine's computer reading the various glitching dates, and no knowledge of the fate that befell her daughter.
Nora Wakeman is dead.
-
Within the space-time rift that Gally Wakeman rode through, the once comfortable streamline from the present to the past, turned to one of great turbulence and trouble. Once flying smoothly through the 4th dimension, just between Earth and the Ghost Zone, Gally began shaking violently and feeling her atoms begin to warp and shift, seeing many different periods of time pass her by.
And all she can do is scream.
-
[Soundtrack Cue: Suicidal Tendencies - You Can't Bring Me Down]
But the fate of Gally is not known to Arnold Shortman nor anyone else. As far as he is concerned, the mission is going along well. And as far as the rest of the world is concerned, what is left of it, there is not even an inkling of an idea that she has been sent back to alter time, eliminating the chance that any interference may come to her.
Now, all Arnold cares for is the last line of defense to ensure she makes her way back.
Standing tall in the Ecto-Skeleton, Arnold Shortman looks back on his life with pride and regrets alike, knowing that it will soon be over. He remembers the times he spent as a youth in Hillwood, to the time he lived among the Green-Eyed People in San Lorenzo, and return to Hillwood prior to its destruction and the Irken Invasion.
He remembers the many lives he has touched and moved throughout the world, and what he has done with his own. Reaching into his pocket, he took out several pictures of his family, setting them on the dashboard of the Ecto-Skeleton as he marched forward to battle.
One photograph is of him and his grandparents. He remembers how they raised him and raised him well to be a fine person, dedicating his life into the service of others. He also remembers how they died together in a hospital bed, and how he was with them when they passed, remembering the joy and pain that they gave him with their lives.
Another photograph is of him and his parents. He remembers how he personally saved them from the jungles of San Lorenzo, bringing them back home to the Sunset Arms Boarding House in Hillwood. He also remembers how big a part of his life they played during his days as the superhero named the Green Eye, and how they gave their lives to save his.
The final is with him and Helga. He remembers how much he loves her, and how he regrets how he left their relationship many years ago after the Fall of Hillwood.
And he hopes that, in the new timeline, he will have his second chance with her.
Taking a deep breath, he readied his weapons of the Ecto-Skeleton, arming various guns and missiles to use against the Irken army. Approaching the armored doors to the hangar in which he stood in, he saw a glow coming from it, originating from the Irkens attempting to breach through the wall and reach inside to kill him.
Arming a missile, Arnold aimed the Ecto-Skeleton's arm at the door, preparing to fire it.
Outside, the Irkens continued to melt through the door, eagerly awaiting the chance to get to the other side and fire upon any human beings remaining on the other side. Upon almost reaching the door's breaking point, seeing its build start to warp and melt, a large explosion went off, killing the Irkens in front.
Out from the smoke and damage, the Ecto-Skeleton emerged from the destroyed wall and approached the army of Irkens, who immediately opened fire on it. Several laser blasts hit the Fenton-built warsuit, all attempting to get to the user within, but, despite all their military might and firepower...
...the Ecto-Skeleton still stood tall, with Arnold unharmed inside.
"My turn." Arnold said.
After taking several hits unaffected, Arnold opened fire back on the alien army. Dozens of Irkens were decimated by Ecto-Skeleton in an instant, slaughtered by machine gun fire, missiles, and flamethrowers, all unleashed on the ground army in a maelstrom of power let out all at once.
Falling en masse before the warsuit, the ground troops of Irkens began to retreat back, relying on their heavier units to strike back. Walker tanks and small aircraft opened fire on the Ecto-Skeleton, once again to no avail on the suit itself nor the user within, only leaving them to be taken out by Arnold.
Reaching up for an airship, Arnold grabbed it out of the air, aiming and throwing it towards another. The two ships collided and exploded upon impact, eliminating both from his concern. Running up to a walker tank, Arnold grabbed onto it and began wrestling against it, seeing it grapple against him as well.
Grabbing and holding onto it, Arnold then threw the walker tank to the ground in a suplex, jumping up and smashing it with an elbow.
Getting up from the ground, Arnold's Ecto-Skeleton took more fire from the Irken ground troops, prompting him to raise an arm to try to see through the bursts of laser light. Feeling the Ecto-Skeleton start to take its draining effect on him, he found struggle in trying to raise up from the ground...
...but his dedication to keep fighting, as well as his own healing factor, made it but a small challenge to overcome the pain.
Making his way through the underground base to the surface, Arnold opened fire on the Irken ground troops once again. Wielding heavy machine guns mounted on the Ecto-Skeleton, the Irkens were reduced to chunks of meat within an instant, their small, skinny bodies being unable to hold up against large-caliber bullets.
A small troop transport hovercraft began rushing towards him in an attempt to ram him, with a gunner on top opening fire on him. Raising one arm up to deflect the enemy fire, Arnold fired back, killing the driver and gunner, and knocked the hovercraft aside when it came near him, sending it crashing into more ground troops.
He is valiant and nigh-unstoppable against the Irken army, but the Irken army itself is legion in numbers, as proven when more come the more he tries to stop them.
But that does not deter him from continuing to fight.
-
Back with Imperator Zim...
Once again, the battle is televised from the Freeman base to theMassive, where Imperator Zim continues to watch on with amusem*nt. His intrigued face shows that this fight is unlike many others he has witnessed, and, to see Arnold Shortman make a final stand against the Irkens, he is especially invested in this battle.
"Ah... The legendary Arnold Shortman. Savior of the human race. So he has decided to make this place his last stand. And what a surprise to see him using such an... efficient instrument to do it." Imperator Zim said.
"That instrument is proving more effective against our armies than we could have guessed, Imperator Zim. Shall I take measures to see it destroyed?" An Irken subordinate asked.
"Of course not! Why would I want to end such beautiful entertainment such as this? How often do you get to see a man of such bravery and gall put up an impossible fight? To defiantly struggle against his death, despite how futile it truly is for him? You will do nothing but keep sending him more troops to fight him. I shall enjoy this greatly."
-
Back in the Freeman base...
So it is spoken, so it is done; more and more troops are flooded into the Freeman military base, continuing to give Arnold Shortman further insurmountable odds.
Still does he keep fighting against them, shooting down and blowing Irkens and their war machines to pieces. The Fenton Ecto-Skeleton he uses makes him an invincible opponent against the Irkens, no amount of small-arms or artillery fire enough to down him as he takes down several ground troops, tanks, troop transports, and airships.
However, in the midst of waging his one-man war, he began to feel weak once again. While able to fight back against the suit's effects before, they were now beginning to take their toll after prolonged usage. Feeling the suit drain him further, Arnold once again fell to the ground, saving himself by holding himself up with his hands.
Taking his time to breathe, he tried to recouperate his strength. His head began to grow dizzy, his muscles sore and weak, and his stomach start to turn. The healing factor he has pushes back against the pain and weakness, but it only works so effectively to give him just enough time to fight for a few more minutes, at most.
In spite the pain, Arnold pushed on, intending to take more time than that.
As he continued on, he no longer had any perception of time or even self, completely immersing himself in the fight. He is not present in time, but somewhere else watching it happen, running on some form of human autopilot. At this point, he is but a machine, just as the Ecto-Skeleton is, and an extension of its abilities.
When he began, his kill count was in the dozens.
Now, it grows to the hundreds.
Now, it grows past that.
Now, it comes near the thousands.
Now, he does not even know. He stopped being congnisant of what he sees, and is only going through the motions without a mind.
Despite how many Irkens came to fight Arnold, they were unable to even dent him. He is invincible.
And there is no pain. It is nowhere to be found.
Still not there. He can't feel it.
No, it's still not there. It doesn't exist.
There is no pain. He's perfectly fine.
He can't be stopped, the pain can't...
Oh, no.
The pain grew stronger, weakening him again, and the Irken troops began to lay in more hits into his suit. He knew these were his last moments, but he would see that he took as many Irkens with him. He would not die so compliantly. He was going to die with the intent to kill as many Irkens as possible.
He will not stop.
[Soundtrack Cue End]
But even the Ecto-Skeleton has its limits. The next attempt to pull the trigger amounted to nothing. He is completely out of ammo.
With no more firepower to stop them, the Irken troops slowly began to surround Arnold, keeping their weapons on him. In one final burst of defiance, Arnold rose up and stomped on a squad of Irkens, falling and tumbling to throw himself on top of more, crushing them as well. As the Irkens continued to approach again, Arnold raised a fist and crushed more Irkens with it...
...but this was the very last of the energy he had to expend. His fight is over.
Then, a holograph with Imperator Zim shown on it was brought to Arnold, with the image clapping in congratulation.
"Well, well, well, Arnold Shortman. Leader of the Freemen. For years, you have led this little pitiful resistance. Now, you lay defeated, not on your knees, but on your belly, like a cowardly snake, defeated." Imperator Zim monologed.
"Laying on... the corpses... of your soldiers." Arnold panted.
"Yes, yes, and what splendid entertainment you have brought me with this last hurrah. And what a silly assumption you always had, your naiveity that all life-forms valued one another. A mistake that many of your kind had made, but fortunately not all. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe, anything at all, you would have hidden from it in terror. Now, you have brought me your corpse, freshly depleted of life, and guaranteed me the extinction of your entire pathetic race. With your death, I shall finally make Earth my throne on the new Irken Empire. Do you have anything to say before I finish you off in front of my entire army?"
"Yeah. I know something you don't know."
"Oh? And what might that be?"
"The human race... will never go extinct. We've already won."
"And how is that? Is this one of your delusions of hope that you humans have, believing that you might live on forever?"
"No. What we did here today, we'll ensure that you never win. You've already lost."
The amusem*nt on Zim's face turned to confusion, and worry over the cryptic words that Arnold spoke.
"What does that mean?" Zim asked.
"Sorry. You don't get to find out." Arnold groaned.
"This one is hiding something. Search every area of this human hole until you find what he speaks of."
Holding his tongue against the Irken Imperator, preventing the truth from being known, Arnold instead focused on the photographs of his family, remembering them and savoring their lives for the very last time. He does not have any more care in the world for anything, but the happiness he had with them once.
Not even a care for the atom bomb counting down, reaching near zero.
Looking back to Zim, Arnold raised a fist in defiance, letting out his last words.
"Earth shall overcome... Death to Zim." Arnold said.
Then, the bomb detonated.
It completely destroys the base of the Freemen, who, long dead after the Irken army came, are spared from the nuclear fires that consume the base. The Irken army, however, is not spared from the blast, and they are all destroyed in an instant of the blast, completely decimating all the forces within...
...and all the forces surrounding it, reducing the entire battleground into a nuclear-charred crater where they all once stood.
-
Far above the battlefield, in the ship simply known as theMassive, Imperator Zim's feed is cut off from the destruction of his holographic unit, but the blast can be seen from its view of Earth's orbit. The fantastic explosion of a nuclear proportion would normally have a pleasing effect on Zim, satistfying his cravings for death...
...but, with the final words of Arnold Shortman in mind, he feels that he cannot afford the luxury.
He knows well of the legends of Arnold Shortman far before the Irken invasion, and, through his genetic splicing and absorption of Thaddeus Gammelthorpe, he is well aware of the lengths that he would go to see victory. Impossible as it may seem, Zim does not allow the trouble to leave his mind, pondering on it carefully.
"Imperator Zim, whatever did that foolish human mean before he perished?" An Irken subordinate asked.
Still pondering the answer himself, the Irken Imperator gives the only answer that he has.
"I do not know." Zim said.
-
This has all been but a glimpse into the creation I have made with the worlds made available to me, and I present to you now as your creator. You have watched on with endless patience and intrigue, taking in any emotions present in the creation, and you still crave more.
"But your questions are still not over, are they?" Clockwork asked.
"Never they are, Clockwork. This premise you give us, this tale of salvation and unity, is one we have heard many times over before. We fail to see what is different or new with your twistings and attempts at originality." An Observant said.
"Yes. And we fail to see what we shall learn that is new. How many times have we had your attempts at content given unto us? How many Clockworks before you that have tried to create a perfect world?" Another Observant asked.
"Still, we crave more. This offering, though nothing new, is familiar enough to continue. We shall have more. Can you, Clockwork the Mad, Clockwork the Calculator, Clockwork the Father, deliver unto us a tale that shall feed us at last?" A different Observant asked.
And though challenged by my audience, I am not deterred by the hecklers. With a tip of my cloak, I simply smile off the critiques, and I say...
"Fear not. Iam." Clockwork said.
So we return now to the show, and we glimpse back into what is and what shall be.
-
In the past, there place called Area 51. It is most famous for allegedly housing aliens and UFOs, creating all sorts of conspiracy theories and stories based around these unproven speculations, but, in reality, it is a military installation. An installation known for secrecy and being classified by the government, but known as a military base nonetheless.
Today, it has a visitor in the form of Doctor Ángel Membrana, known to the world a world-renowned scientist named 'Professor Membrane', who epitomizes the term 'mad scientist', draping himself in a large white overcoat and never letting anyone see his full face, with only the top half of his head being shown, and a pair of goggles.
He is escorted through the base by an Army officer, and to his sides are his son and daughter, Dib and Gaz Membrane.
Dib, interested in the paranormal and all things related to the supernatural, takes to his environment with glee and wonder, looking on the base with astonishment...
"Wow... Gaz, do you realize where we are right now?! We're in the heart of Area 51! Do you know how many people would kill to be here right now?!" Dib squealed.
...but Gaz could not care less for where she is. Instead, her head is buried in a Game Slave, where she slaughters vampire pigs in a virtual world away from here.
"Whatever, Dib. Nobody cares about your stupid alien obsession." Gaz said.
"Gaz, you literallylivedthrough an alien invasion. How can you not care?" Dib asked.
"Zim? That's ancient history. We beat his stupid plan, and he's not coming back. He probably forgot he was supposed to take over the planet by now."
"Now, children, be on your best behavior. We don't want to get ourselves in trouble here, now, do we?" Professor Membrane asked.
Disappointed with his sister's apathy, Dib followed his father in silence, waiting to see where their tour will take them.
It leads them to a room where a robot is laid in chains, suspended in the air where it is studied by various scientists. Once, this robot was known as Gally, in another timeline, but she is far out of her time, and far from the intended date she was supposed to be sent to.
The presence of the robot makes Professor Membrane stop and look on her in fascination, with Dib looking on the same.
"This is interesting... What is it?" Professor Membrane asked.
"We have no idea. We found it crashed somewhere in the desert, near one of our other bases in the area. Happened a few years ago. Soldiers said it was like the sky opened up, then just fell. Never saw anything like it." The officer said.
"Looks very humanoid. Was it human-designed?"
"Don't know. Some of it looks like our technology, some of it... Well, I don't know. Kind of looked like some of that Irken stuff you guys picked up awhile back, during that wormhole thing you went through."
"Yes, the Florpus Event. And I appreciate the government's cooperation in the cover-up proceedings. The social media angle was surprisingly the easiest, all those anti-vax and flat Earth loonies make it too easy."
Opening her eyes, Gally looked on the group, doing so with a weak expression on her face.
"It's conscious. Has it always done that?" Professor Membrane asked.
"Plenty of times. Even screamed a few times when we studied it." The officer said.
The reminder of her torture is of no concern to Gally, who instead looked on Dib, widening her eyes upon seeing him.
"Hey... I know you. You're a Dib. And you must be Dr. Ángel Membrana." Gally said.
The group stood shocked at the words Gally spoke, not expecting this robot to call them by name.
"That thing knows your real name?" The officer asked.
"So it seems. Curiouser and curiouser." Professor Membrane said.
Walking up to Gally, Dib felt a supernatural calling to approach her, compelled to do so out of his own paranormally-inclined mind.
"You know who I am?" Dib asked.
"Yes. Listen to me, and listen to me very carefully. The world's in danger. Of Zim. I need to find Arnold Shortman." Gally said.
