Chapters 6 and 7 of Love Knows No Race by Carlotta Valjean. In this part of the story we get a shocking (frankly, baffling) reveal that dramatically changes the nature of Zim and Dib’s relationship yet also arguably doesn’t mean anything at all, and… well, you’ll just have to listen for yourself - we don’t want to spoil this. We’re also taking a look at Carlotta Valjean’s other story on fanfiction.net, Unbroken Dreams, which is a Harry Potter fanfic (Drarry, specifically). Content warnings: Hoo boy. So from this point in the story onwards, it’s basically impossible to talk about Love Knows No Race without also talking about incest. Thankfully there’s still no explicit content, but the way the fic handles this topic really isn’t great, either. Also, in one scene the characters discuss a previous sexual encounter that might not have been totally consensual, and another scene has some mildly gross descriptions of pregnancy/childbirth. Unbroken Dreams has a brief reference to self-harm as well as in-universe homophobia and homophobic language.

Chapters 3 and 4 (and 5, but it’s just an author’s note) of Love Knows No Race. After finding out that Dib is Irken, Zim and Dib are summoned to meet the Almighty Tallest so that Dib can become a proper Invader. We haven’t gotten to any of the truly insane stuff in this story yet, but already there’s plenty to say about how little sense this story makes. We’ve also both completed a rewatch of Invader Zim and spend the second half of this episode discussing the show itself (both of us love this cartoon and we’ve got altogether too much to say about it). Content warnings: Per the author, this is where the “mild lemon hinting” comes in. (That is, there’s implied sex in this part of the story. Nothing explicit, thankfully.) Additionally, this is technically a ZaDR (Zim x Dib) fic, which is a ship with a canonical significant age gap, and thought this doesn't really matter because the author has changed their ages to be the same, it still bears mentioning.

Time to start a new fanfic! We’re reading Love Knows No Race, an Invader Zim fanfiction written in 2002 by fanfiction.net author Carlotta Valjean. This one’s considerably more obscure than previous stories we’ve covered, but both of us have a Lot to say about it — we’re only covering the first two chapters this week and we still talked about it for well over an hour. We also have unfinished business with KingAurthr2, so it’s time to conclude The Quest for the Holey Grail. Content warnings: Love Knows No Race is a ZaDR (Zim x Dib) story, and we do have to be clear that canonically Zim is an adult while Dib is a child. While that doesn’t actually matter to this story (like a lot of ZaDR stories, Love Knows No Race treats Zim and Dib as though they’re peers), it’s not really something we can avoid mentioning. The way this author handles Zim and Dib’s relationship is going to require additional content warnings later, but… we’ll get there.

Chapters 27-32 of Kelly The Roman Warrior part 3 The Final Invasion. We’ve reached the end! Kelly, Boudica, and their allies prepare for their final showdown against “Superhannibal,” and we honestly don’t want to give anything about these last few chapters away because this is the first time on the show we’ve read a fanfic that has a satisfying conclusion. We’re also continuing with The Quest for the Holey Grail this week and talking a little bit about what we’ll be covering next on the show! Content warnings: this is the climactic battle of the entire Kelly saga, so naturally there’s violence and death, but it’s as cartoonishly inoffensive as it always is with this author. (Additional music credits for this episode: various songs from the Shoujo Kakumei Utena Original Soundtrack and La Fillette Révolutionnaire UTENA: Adolescence Rush by Mitsumune Shinkichi.)

Chapters 19-26 of Kelly The Roman Warrior part 3 The Final Invasion. With Elkus gone, Boudica and Kelly set off towards Carthage in a last-ditch effort to find an ally, but the road ahead of them is filled with despair and cyber-elephants. Will they be able to defeat Superman and protect Rome? This week we’re also taking a look at one of KingAurthr2’s other stories, The Quest for the Holey Grail. Content warnings: you know the drill, there’s never anything worse than some cartoon violence and character death in Kingaurthr2's fics.

Chapters 9-18 of Kelly The Roman Warrior part 3 The Final Invasion. Kelly and her allies prepare to fight Superman, get help from the Boat Master, investigate a spooky lighthouse, and suffer a great loss… Lots going on this week, basically. In our closing segment we read Profesor Lupus 2: Fighting Moudlermore, which is rather short, so we had plenty of time to also complain about the Harry Potter books. Content warnings: cartoon violence and character death again. Particular emphasis on the latter this time.

Chapters 1-8 of Kelly The Roman Warrior part 3 The Final Invasion! Another decade has passed since the end of part 2, and Kelly’s life with her wife and magic ghost deer has been peaceful… until suddenly, a new super-powerful threat crashes in from outer space! Per request, we also read KingAurthr2’s story Profesor Lupus and the Curse of the Wearwolf. Content warnings: cartoon violence, character death - you know the drill. This fic is harmless.

Chapters 17-22 of Kelly the Roman Warrior part 2 The plauges of Gaul. Some surprising twists this week, and for once we mean that both genuinely and positively! We’re not done going through KingAurthr2’s other works, but we took a break this week to instead go check up on our old friend Reicheru-Ketsueki on deviantART. Content warnings: as before, just some cartoon violence and character death, with some brief references to drug abuse and self-harm in the final segment.

Chapters 9-16 of Kelly The Roman Warrior part 2 The Plauges of Gaul. More wacky plague-related hijinks this week as Kelly and her allies battle plague crocodiles, plague orcs, a plague kraken… you get the idea. For our closing segment we’re once again perusing KingAurthr2’s extensive body of work; we read his stories Batman VS Manbat and Chance Taylor Monster Huntar. Content warnings: more cartoony violence and character death, also some descriptions of the plague’s effects that would honestly be pretty gross if the prose wasn’t so shoddy (affectionate).

We’re onto Kelly The Roman Warrior part 2 The plauges of Gaul (yes, that’s what it’s called), covering chapters 1-8 this week. It’s ten years later and Kelly, who is now the Caesar, has to get the gang back together so they can go stop a plague! (Or a plauge.) We’re also still going through the rest of KingAurthr2’s stories and read two more of them in our closing segment (one is a Huntik/Pokémon/Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover and one is about Captain America). Content warnings: the usual cartoon violence.