'What was that?' Zim thought for just a moment. No time to wonder about it now, it was the middle of combat. Whatever it was, that feeling as if an old friend were sitting in the cockpit with him, or a reassuring pat on the shoulder from a compatriot. Whatever it was, it was fleeting as Zim pushed the thought from his mind to focus on the task at hand. His Sync rate was through the roof, nearly double what he usually managed to pull. 

With a gratifying swing Zim and Blackstar slide the thermal blade through the flower power framewerk defenses and freed Yaeger. Victory never looked so beautiful as the defenses shattered into millions of flower petals. The victory was short lived, however. 

Still unsure as to whether it was a mistake or not, the Framewerk that Zim didn't dispatch now came back while Zim was occupied. Faster then Zim could respond he too found himself dispatched. Through the heightened sync rate Zim too felt the sharp stabbing pain of of the impaling fist shoot through his internal organs. His immediate response was to grab his stomach where the spike protruded. Blackstar mimicked, grabbing hold of the spike with both hands. Zim was in too much pain to do anything with it, the shock had caused him to drop the scythe. Blackstar slouched to his knees as the alarms and warning bells went off on Zims HUD, his sync rate plummeted and so did he. He coughed up blood against the display as he blacked out.

No wait, Zim was still conscious, it was just the cockpit that had turned back. The last little bit of life was about to flicker out of the council in front of him and Zim reached out to the red light, putting his hand near it he whispered through the pain, as a whisper was all he could muster through his sync damaged abdomen. "Thanks, partner."

The last light faded after a momentary increase in intensity, as if acknowledging his words and finally everything went total black inside the cockpit. Or maybe Zim really did finally black out from the pain.