My Hostage, Not Yours: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"''These two are assholes, but rather then turn them into these fake, altered, lovable characters people normally portray them as, I decided to just run with their regular attitudes. Clearly, and while this is in no way meant to be rude or insulting, you prefer the latter and I respect that, but that isn't how I'm writing them.''"|'''The author''' in response to a review, referring to the main couple.}}

 

 

[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6911797/1/My_Hostage_Not_Yours The first story] is set several years after the events of the canonical series, and Zim's official banishment to Earth, with the characters (the human ones, anyway) now teenagers and in High Skool. The plot kicks off when Gaz discovers a crashed Irken ship and becomes attached ([[Clingy MacGuffin|literally]]) to an Irken device called a LEECHY. Zim forces her to keep it secret while he tries to find a way to remove it, for her own safety. However, as an old enemy of the Irkens' conspires to take the LEECHY by force, Zim and Gaz find themselves growing closer.

* [[Atomic Hate]]: In addition to the army he raises, Zim uses his technology to seize control of the world's nuclear arsenals to prevent them being used against him.

* [[Back-to-Back Badasses]]: During the [[Final Battle]] of the series, we see this first with Tak and Dib, and then Tak and Zim (see [[Enemy Mine]]).

* [[Badass Biker]]: Zim and Gaz both seem to enjoy a good motorcycle ride -- in fact, in ''Hostage'', one of the things they bond over is a drag race ([[It Makes Sense in Context]])

* [[Badass in Distress]]: Gaz, despite being the strongest fighter in these stories, gets captured at least once in each:

** ''Revenge'': The attack on {{spoiler|Iggins'}} lair.

** ''Takeover'': The Swollen Eyeballs' assault on Zim's European base.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: During ''Takeover'', Gaz has a nightmare that she loses control of her pyrokinesis. During the climax, {{spoiler|her rage at the Swollen Eyeballs causes this to come to pass, before Zim is able to talk her down}}.

* [[Friendly Enemy]]: Dib and Zim have basically become this by the time ''Hostage'' starts -- they don't like each other, but they don't openly antagonize each other anymore. Though naturally, they lose the "friendly" bit during ''Takeover'' {{spoiler|and arguably regain it by the finale.}}

* [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!]]: In ''Revenge'', when Gaz finds out that {{spoiler|Iggins'}} obsession with her is partly inspired by lust, she has a brief BSOD and starts blaming herself for the whole situation. Fortunately, Zim snaps her out of it by pointing out that it's {{spoiler|Iggins'}} fault, not hers, and that she's too [[Badass]] to be angsting like that.

* [[Gilded Cage]]: After Zim takes over Europe, he relocates his headquarters to a royal palace (it's never clarified which); the resident royal family is allowed to stay, and can still order the servants around, but certain areas are made off limits to them (for Zim and Gaz's private use), and they're not allowed to leave the palace grounds unless they intend to do so permanently.

* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: The Valkian Queen.

** This then gets inverted (but remains platonic) when Gaz finds out about Dib's feelings for Tak; she doesn't approve, but wants him to be happy {{spoiler|so she gives him the Pill, so that he can have a long life with her}}.

* [[Karmic Transformation]]: {{spoiler|As punishment for the humiliation of letting herself be captured by the Valkians, the Tallest have Tak subjected to surgery that changes her into a human (more or less; see [[Half-Human Hybrid]] above).}}

* [[Lady Macbeth]]: Gaz is the one who convinces Zim to finally conquer Earth, and even comes up with the bulk of their plan (though he works out plenty of details on his own along the way).

* [[La Résistance]]: When Zim begins his conquest of Earth and the governments begin surrendering, Dib starts calling in friends and contacts to form a rebellion that titles itself "The Group" (Gaz doesn't think much of the name).

* [[Monster Lord]]: The Valkian Queen is much more human-looking than her [[Mooks]].

* [[Morality Pet]]: GIR, and later Minimoose, to Gaz. She's a lot nicer to them than she is to anyone else (even Zim).

* [[No Biochemical Barriers]]: Averted. It's made quite clear that crossbreeding between species is impossible, so Zim and Gaz won't be having any kids.

* [[Official Couple]]: Zim and Gaz.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: {{spoiler|Professor Membrane has apparently known the truth about Zim and Tak and the other aliens for a while, but has been pretending not to in order to avoid dragging Earth into an interstellar war.}}

* [[Offscreen Moment of Awesome]]: We don't actually see any of Zim's conquest of Earth (mostly because the governments just start surrendering), but at the very least he ''does'' attack Washington as a demonstration -- and we only see the aftereffects.

** When the Group interrupts Zim and Gaz's wedding, the narrative focuses entirely on Dib and Gaz's conversation. We therefore miss out on Tak fighting Zim, and whatever other actions the Group were taking.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: At the end of ''Takeover'', {{spoiler|Gaz gives Dib the [[Immortality|Pill]], in order to insure that not only does she not outlive him, but he'll also have a lifespan that enables him to be in a relationship with Tak}}.

** Earlier, when Dib realizes that Gaz doesn't ''want'' to be "saved" from Zim and loses his motivation to fight back, she tells him to go home, promising to make their father go as well, so that he actually has a home to go to.

* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: The Valkians have shades of this.

* [[Redshirt Army]]: Zim's army is a literal example, as their uniforms are modeled after his own.

* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: Dib eventually quits the Swollen Eyeballs when he realizes that if he stays, he'll end up having to fight his sister. Tak comes along with him, because she's falling in love with him (plus, he's the only human she can stand).

* [[Screw This Index, I Have Tropes|Screw The Rules,]] [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|I Have Money]] [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|And Connections!]]: At one point, Membrane threatens {{spoiler|Tak}} with this, saying he can get away with just about anything without legal consequences. He may have been bluffing.

* [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock]]: A minor example -- MIMI is locked into her cat form by the Tallest after {{spoiler|Tak is turned human}}.

** MIMI seems to ship Tak and Dib, because she sees that they're attracted to each other and is following the logical course of action for it.

* [[Shirtless Scene]]: Dib gets one during a training scene in ''Takeover''; it should be noted that this only happens ''after'' he and Tak realize they're attracted to each other.

* [[The Sociopath]]: The author describes Zim and Gaz as a pair of sociopaths -- however, since they genuinely love each other, Gaz genuinely [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|loves her family]], and they both care about GIR and Minimoose (her more so than him), it would seem they don't ''quite'' fit the qualifications for this trope.

** On the other hand, they both get their kicks out of tormenting others, which is pretty sociopathic behavior.

** And to a lesser extent, there's Gretchen -- as per usual for the fandom, her canonical crush on Dib is jacked up into this trope. Dib is aware of it, and it creeps him out.

* [[Storming the Castle]]: At the climax of ''Revenge'', Dib and Zim attack {{spoiler|Iggins'}} lair to rescue Gaz.

* [[Taking the Bullet]]: Gaz does this for Zim during one of their fights with {{spoiler|Iggins}}. To make matters worse, {{spoiler|it wasn't a bullet, it was a [[Mind Control Device]]}}.

* [[Time Skip]]: The series starts about five years after the canon show ended. Then there's a seven month skip between ''Hostage'' and ''Revenge'', and another of about a year-and-a-half between ''Revenge'' and ''Takeover''.

** Dib also takes a few levels in the latter two stories. Gaz, meanwhile, was already badass, and just keeps going from there.

* [[Two Lines, No Waiting]]: In ''Takeover'', the narrative is pretty evenly split between Zim and Gaz's plans to conquer the Earth, and Dib's (and later Tak's) efforts to stop them.

* [[Unholy Matrimony]]: By the end of ''Hostage'', Zim has claimed Gaz as his "sahlm" (the [[Pardon My Klingon|Irken word]] for "mate"). During ''Takeover'', he decides to officially propose to her in order to honor the customs of her people.

** Hell, he even kidnaps a priest to perform the ceremony and a designer to custom make Gaz's wedding dress!

* [[Villainous Crush]]: Gender-flipped: {{spoiler|Iggins}} has a thing for Gaz; in the long run, this actually makes him ''more'' of a [[Complete Monster]], since his obsession leads to {{spoiler|brainwashing her}} with the intention of making her his slave.

* [[Villain Protagonist]]: Zim, naturally enough. Gaz starts off as more of an [[Anti-Villain]] or an [[Anti-Hero|Anti-Heroic]] [[Sociopathic Hero|Sociopath]], but in ''Takeover'' she seamlessly becomes a full villain to help Zim conquer the planet.

** The two of them actually seem to enjoy celebrity status in America, while the rest of the world openly dislikes them.

* [[What Could Have Been]]: Following the conclusion of ''Takeover'', the author posted a bonus chapter containing scenes that were removed from or altered for the series.

** There's also the European royal family whose palace Zim takes as his own; after their initial appearance, they never show up again. Lampshaded during the Swollen Eyeballs' attack -- Dib pauses to wonder what happened to them, and then decides that it doesn't matter.

*** This might also qualify as an [[Aborted Arc]], seeing as the author brought in the youngest members of the family (two teenagers and a little girl) as people Gaz can torment/interact with while Zim's busy conquering and ruling the world.

 

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[[Category:Fanfic]]