I hate this... this is *completely* off schedule. I have like ten other stupid fics to write and then THIS one pops into my head and I can't help but write it! It's gonna be a short one though ^.^ Well, okay, semi-short. I got inspiration for this while watching Jett Jackson The Movie and hearing that song Silverstone and Kayla were dancing to... I admit, I fell in love with that song the minute I heard it. It influenced me greatly in writing this fic, and will pop up somewhere near the end... maybe.
Anyway, I dedicate this to my ex, Lenzy. (He doesn't have my pen name so ha! He can't read this!). Even though it seems like longer than a week since we've been apart, I still think about you day to day. And you were right, it wouldn't have worked out. The distance was too great. The effort was too little. But for those five months that everything seemed perfect... I thank you. For those five months, you shattered sixteen years of loneliness, and I'll never forget it. I'll miss what we had. I'll miss you.
Disclaimer: Do I really need to do this? Like you people are *ever* going to sue me. Hah. Heh. Heh. Ok, fine. Don't own any of the characters except for Liz. I don't own the song 'Lately' by Divine. Don't go thinking I'm music oriented! The glasses around here sure don't agree...
Thank you so much to Arm&Leg, who were nice enough to beta-read this for me. You guys are the best.
Keep Your Distance
Zim sat in chemistry class, bored (excuse the human maxim) out of his mind, legs propped up on the desk, his light olive Irken head leaning back. His position in the chair was almost impossible, but oddly relaxing.
He tuned out his teacher in the front; the brandish fool who always went off on a tangent here and there, blabbing jargon that meant nothing to anyone anyway. 'Who gives a damn'? Zim thought, as he closed his eyes, attempting to get some rest rather than waste his time listening to the Kinetic Molecular Theory. On Irk, it wasn't a simple stupid theory. But here everything was so primitive and repulsive...
Zim had to divert his mind to something else before he became too disgusted. It had been almost a month since everyone was back in skool. The summer had been brutal- a deathly hot sun, boring down on everything, everywhere. Zim himself was three shades darker, and he did not like it at all. Hopefully it would wear off.
And the summer was similar to this 'hell' that humans were always talking about. Not only was in unbearably hot, but the armada had failed to come /again/, and Dib had been one huge thorn in his side, having nothing but time on his hands to bother the Irken.
"Paraganai," Zim cursed in his own language. That was the second time today he caught himself using a human term, and the second time he wondered where or not he should just orbit Earth the blow the damned thing up.
Every day he hated Earth more and more, and Dib could see his growing frustration, often using it to his advantage. Now they were back in school, their battles had calmed down a bit, but not enough for Zim to come to a lax point.
And to exacerbate the situation, Gir was malfunctioning.
It took awhile for Zim to notice, of course. It was not as though it was an easy thing to detect. A couple weeks ago Zim realized that Gir was... off. He no longer consumed his normal diet of brainfreezies and cupcakes but virtually anything he could get his little robot hands on. Instead of his usual squeaking voice, the pitch varied from time to time, often right in the middle of a sentence, and almost always in some nonsensical garble about every subject conceivable. Sometimes, Gir's eyes would fade off, as though he'd crashed. A moment later they would flash the normal cyan color again, and he would walk off normally, as though nothing had happened.
When Zim had determined it, he spent endless hours examining Gir's internal components, reinstating new chips, everything possible. Nothing seemed to work. So Zim let him go, and watched as, day by day, the robot became worse. Zim was almost afraid to leave Gir at home by himself, but bringing him to school would not alleviate the situation any, either.
BRRRRRRIIINNG!
Caught off guard, Zim fell off his chair in a state of total surprise. A few kids who noticed him laughed pitilessly, but Zim ignored them, standing up and dusting off his pants before standing up himself and walking out to lunch.
Zim found himself a seat at Alumni Walk, a huge brick corridor that served as both a hallway and an eating area. He sat cross legged on one of the benches that were set off to the side, and pulled out a piece of paper, beginning his essay on Beowulf that was due next period in English class. He sighed, honestly not knowing why he came to school anymore- it was a waste of time. Who cares about this Beowulf person? He was fictitious. But humans seemed to deem importance in fictitious characters for some reason.
Deep inside, Zim knew he couldn't give up. The Armada would come. And the idea of taking over this pitiful planet became so alluring that Zim new not to give up the relentless fight.
Suddenly, a darkness shadowed over Zim. He finished the current sentence that he was in the middle of and with a sigh, looked up, already knowing who it was.
"Hi, Zim," the cheerful figure said.
"Hello, Liz," he mumbled, continuing his glare up at her. He looked down on his paper and then, in an obnoxious tone, said, "Do you mind?"
"Oh!" Liz immediately sat down next to him in an obvious gesture of emotional attachment. She had dark black hair and a pale face. Her eyes were a light blue, and often she wore a dark line bordering them to what humans called 'mascara'. "Sorry. So... what's up?"
"I'm writing something," he mumbled, not giving her another glance. "And I need to concentrate. So would you leave me alone?"
"Oh... sure..." she said softly, giggling slightly. Before she could stand up, though, she was joined by another goth-clad girl.
"Zim," the girl acknowledged his presence.
"Gaz," Zim muttered, not looking up from his work and knowing instantly who the voice belonged to.
"Liz, come on. Dib needs your portion of that project and it's due today."
"Bye Zim," Liz waved.
"Tell your brother, 'anno inai sinnex'," Zim said to Gaz, ignoring Liz, and not missing a beat in his writing.
"What the hell does that mean?" Gaz asked.
"He knows. Now go away. You're blocking my light."
"Sure, Mr. Sunshine," Gaz said, hiding a smile, pulling Liz away.
Zim shuddered, and continued writing, hoping that the day would be over soon. Each day became a living nightmare, and more and more frustrating to put up with. He'd spent four years on this horrid planet- four drawn out, useless years, and it was almost a shock to Zim himself how long he had spent on this planet. He was going to snap if the Armada didn't come soon.
*******************************************
"I'm home, Gir," Zim yelled loudly as he walked inside his house. He looked around, satisfied. Nothing around here had changed for six Earth years... except for the improvements he had made in his underground lab. And the fact that he'd scrapped the robot parents a long time ago. Parent Teacher Nights were no longer a required thing in school, plus Zim could always use the lame human excuse, 'They're working,' to any fool door-to-door salesman that bothered him.
Gir sat, as usual, in front of the t.v., but, at a second glance, one could see that not everything was 'as usual'. Instead of being on the couch, Gir was on the floor. Instead of rightside up, Gir was upside down. "Cupcakes are not the scary monkey ooh!" Gir yelled his usual nonsensical greeting.
"Hello Gir," Zim responded. His eyes glanced over at the television, which was off. Yet Gir was sitting there, watching it... he shook his head- he'd given up trying to figure Gir out a long time ago. He kneeled down and lifted the robot up, turning him back over and setting him down on the couch. He then walked over to the t.v. and turned it on to Gir's favorite show. He joined Gir on the couch, giving the robot a little pat. "Is that better?"
"Cupcakes are brainfreezies too," Gir mumbled. "Do I sugar taste like chocolate MacMeaties? Doom space meat. Earth is Irk."
Zim sighed as the robot went into 'crash' mode again, Gir's eyes fading black and his arms falling limp. He always said 'Earth is Irk' before he crashed, and Zim didn't know why. He sat by the robot, ignoring the t.v., until it woke up again, and then, seeing that Gir was once again functioning to the best of his poor ability, stood up without a word and walked down to his lab, leaving Gir to himself.
"I love scary monkey bestest master tuna cupcakes," Gir whispered to himself.
***************************************
Outside Zim's 'fortress' were two girls, one with lavish violet hair, the other, shiny midnight black. They stood on the sidewalk just before the huge wooden planks that separated the house from the world. Zim had, a long time ago, put up a huge gate to keep people out, but had left it open upon coming home, thus accommodating the girls in their current need.
"You are /so/ hormone crazed," Gaz complained, grabbing Liz by the arm and attempting to pull her away.
"I am not!" Liz pulled her arm back.
"Yes. Yes you are! You've had a crush on him for what, a week?"
"Two," Liz beamed. "I think I'm in love."
"I think you're pathetic."
"Oh shut up. Come ON," Liz gesticulated toward the house. "You KNOW how long I've wanted to do this."
"You do this every time. Why is Zim different? Remember Mak? And then there was Jon. And don't forget Tom."
"I never really liked any of those guys anyway," Liz said with a huge, obvious grin planted directly on her face.
"...Ron. Rob. Roy. Ren. Ray. All the R's in our class," Gaz went on. "And then you went for the S's. Sam. Sid. Stu. Stan-"
"Stan?!"
"Oh, you're right, that's a four letter name."
"Anyway," Liz rolled her eyes and looked back at the house in it's tall, commanding stature. "Just think. He's in there. The dreamy green cutie of our class... Zim."
"I feel sick."
"Meet Mr. Spooky," Liz said for no reason.
"Is that why you like him?!" Gaz asked, returning their conversation. "Because his name starts with 'Z?'"
"Well, the X-list sucked and so did the Y-list... plus I didn't want to start all over again with the A's."
"Xan was nice. He wasn't like that brain-dead jock-"
"Xan was a jerk," Liz cut in. "And so was that brain-dead jock. But Zim..."
"Zim is definitely a jerk."
"Zim is a cute jerk."
Gaz stared at her for a moment and shook her head in disgust. "Why am I even best friends with you?"
"Hey!" Liz stood up, offended. "If it wasn't for me introducing myself to you back in 7th grade, you'd still be best friends with that game labor thing."
"Game slave," Gaz corrected, and then her eyes sparkled. "Oh! Now I can do something productive with my time instead of wasting it with you drooling over Zim!" She fished it out of her backpack. "I love you, game slave." Upon the weird looks her friend gave her, she grinned. "Game slave is my drug."
"I bet it is," Liz said, distracted. She took another glance and breathed deeply. "I'm going in."
"Five seconds later... you'll be going out."
"Not if *I* have anything to do with it," Liz grinned and winked at Gaz.
Gaz momentarily paused her game slave and stared at Liz for a moment. "You're just sick. I think I actually feel sorry for Zim."
Liz gaped. "Oh, my. I got Gaz to pity someone. I'm better than I thought."
"Go knock on that damn door and get rejected already so I can go home," Gaz muttered, leaning on the fence. At Liz's pause Gaz's eyes shot her a 'look' from under her unkempt bangs.
"Aren't you gonna come in with me?" Liz asked, knowing very well that the 'look' meant nothing when directed toward her.
"You big baby," Gaz stood up and led the way through the door, down the pathway littered by broken down dirty lawn gnomes and crabgrass the size of small bushes. The yard itself was rejected in every way.
"He doesn't garden much," Gaz mumbled, intently playing the game slave as she walked. "You should see his interior decorator."
"You've been inside his house?" Liz asked credulously.
"Just to get my nimrod brother one day. Make a big deal of it and I'm leaving you here to face the wrath of the lawn gnomes."
"Okay, okay."
Gaz halted at the door and continued her gaze, deep into the fascinating glow of the game slave. "Go ahead. Knock."
Liz sighed and drew up the palm of her hand to the door. She gave three loud, forceful knocks, and when her hand dropped back down to her side she began to grin uncontrollably.
"I still cannot believe you're doing this," Gaz said. "What are you even going to say to him?"
Liz did not have a chance to answer, as the door began to slowly creak open.
Zim stood there, looking more than slightly ticked off. His hair was looking slightly lopsided, and he was panting as though he had been running. Gaz hid a smile as she continued to play her game slave.
Liz turned to face Zim, standing at a height just under his eyes. Zim stood taller, now, Gaz noted. He was able to match Dib's height all the way to 10th grade.
In a way it was sort of hilarious. Dib and Zim, for the longest time, had gone through a competition to see who could be the tallest of the two. They had done strange things... hung off of bars, ate MacMeaties special body-building bars, drank excessive amounts of milk... and in the end the two ending up being exactly the same height. 5'8".
That pissed them both off, but finally they gave up and gone back to trying to destroy each other. Gaz marveled at the fact that it was an entertaining thing to watch back then, both of the guys acting like idiots. "Actually," Gaz thought, "They *still* act like idiots."
"Um... um... hi!" Liz said cheerfully, and Gaz snapped back to the current event.
Zim's eyes scanned from Liz, to Gaz, and back to Liz again. "What are you doing here?"
"I... just wanted to say hi!" Liz said, and upon hearing the words come out of her mouth knew she probably looked like the biggest fool to walk this Earth.
"Hi? Is that all? Look, wormbag-" Zim began.
"Oh, of course not!" Liz said, laughing nervously. "I also came for another reason."
A moment of silent passed and Zim lifted his (invisible) eyebrow in apprehension. "And that reason would be..."
"...um... because... I... wanted to remind you!"
"Remind me of what?"
"Um... well..." Liz paused. "You know, I was going to remind you that..."
Gaz looked up sharply and decided to put her game slave away for the moment. She glanced at Zim. "She wanted to remind you that if you don't come to school tomorrow with your... uh... Spanish project, that Mrs. Leathers will *so* have it in for you."
"Yeah," Liz nodded, sighing in relief.
"You're not even in-" Zim began, when suddenly they heard a crash from behind him. Zim spun around to see Gir, running like a maniac around the room, using his jets off and on and off and on and basically throwing a fit.
"The cupcakes are inside like scary monkey holders. Why doom when pretty lights? Giggle eat dance and that's the end," Gir shouted while bouncing up and down on the floor by turning his jets on for a few seconds then shutting them abruptly off again.
"Gir!" Zim yelled, turning around and holding the door open. "Quiet down!"
Liz peered into the house and almost laughed at the atrocious picture that was set above a ragged, magenta-colored couch. She then observed the lightly green-colored dog that was raising such a ruckus.
"CHU SHO KU! Noodles and brain worms have no plate!" Gir yelled, and Zim could hear the familiar zip of his disguise.
"No Gir! Don't take off that-" Zim sighed, exasperated, and left the door to tend to the insane robot.
"Who's Gir?" Liz asked.
"Zim's pet robot."
"You sure know a lot about Zim."
"My brother's been hunting him since the 5th grade, claiming he was an alien. Then he comes home looking like something the cat dragged in and explains to me in detail stuff I don't care to know."
"..."
"Exactly."
They turned back to observe the debacle inside. Zim was now chasing a hyper Gir around the room.
"Gir- no!"
"Nakey is mini-monkey. Anti-doom, anti-doom, anti-doom, anti-doom!" Gir yelled as he trashed the picture on the wall and then proceeded to fly out the door, knocking straight into Gaz. She fell back and crashed to the ground, the game slave slipped out of her hands.
"Earth is Irk," Gir mumbled into her shoulder, and proceeded to shut down.
"What the hell?" Gaz yelled, jumping up and dusting herself off. She held Gir up for a moment, and, in seeing it was in 'off' mode, tossed it to Zim.
"He hasn't been functioning properly," Zim said, catching Gir and stepping back.
"Ohh... the poor thing," Liz said, giving Gir a pat on the head and grinning at Zim.
"Yes, yes, yes, poor Gir," Zim cradled the thing in his arm and turned away. "Now get off my property. You're not welcome here," he snapped, slamming the door shut.
"That went well," Liz said to Gaz, staring at the door.
"Well? WELL?!" Gaz kneeled next to her fallen game slave and picked it up, examining it to make sure it was okay. It was a hard fall, but all in all everything seemed to be alright. She brushed the crumbs of dirt and glared at Liz. "I am never doing this again with you, Liz."
Liz smiled and gazed at the sky. "He's even dreamier than I thought."
"You're making me throw up." Then, with a thought, Gaz added, "You better be lucky I saved you when I did."
"Oh... yeah... that reminding thing. I was gonna remind him of something, I really was! I just wasn't sure how to put it."
"Oh, I know you were going to remind him of something," Gaz narrowed her eyes at Liz and shut the game slave off. Liz blushed and looked away. "Don't even think about it. He's going to drop you like a bag of sand."
Liz sighed. "But I have to try."
"Zim has never participated in anything since I've known him... except p.e.... he seemed to enjoy playing dodgeball. Until it was his turn, of course. But this... this is different, Liz. Find another guy for this."
Liz sighed, not listening to a word her friend was saying, and walked off down the sidewalk in her own dream world.
****************************************
He was being chased again.
Zim ran... no... /stumbled/... over the hard concrete ground, trying to get away.
The dark shadow behind him was advancing.
He wiped sweat from his forehead and continued running. He couldn't stop. Stopping meant death. Stopping meant the end. And he wasn't ready for the end.
Ahead, bright lights were coming into view. Zim lurched forward, forcing his Irken heart to beat far past it's usual ability. The world around him twisted into an odd, shapeshift sort of way, making his journey across the darkness even more difficult.
But the light ahead was so close...
The wind whipped around him as he increased his speed. No matter how fast he ran, the soft humming of the creature behind him always followed. He dared not look back. Looking back was just as bad at as stopping.
All was silent, except for the sound of a young teenage boy, running, panting, and the pounding of his heart against his chest.
The light in front of Zim actually came from inside a window. There were hundreds of windows. And smack dab on the side of the building where the light emanated from was the Irken symbol.
"Almost... there..." Zim huffed.
"Master..." a voice whispered from behind Zim, sending chills up his spine and his antennae raising straight up.
Zim squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't stop. Not for anyone. Not for-
"Master..." the voice came again.
Zim didn't turn around. He just kept running. And then, suddenly, before him appeared the small, shiny little robot with the bright cyan eyes.
Zim couldn't stop, and he didn't. He plowed right into the SIR unit and the two were sent slamming painfully into the cold black ground from underneath them. Zim picked Gir up in his arms and gazed up at the shadow which pursued him, his eyes showing fear.
The figure was no figure at all, but his arch rival, Dib, flashing a menacing grin and bringing what looked like a fancy gun to Zim's head.
Inside Zim's arms Gir whimpered, and he held onto it tight, looking Dib square in the face, ready to meet his defeat.
But Dib only laughed, a horrible, deep-throated laugh that sliced throughout the night in an eerie way. And then Dib's face twisted into at first an unrecognizable, looming figure.
As Zim gazed up at the figure, he could only curse in his native language. This time, he shut his eyes tight, afraid. Darkness surrounded him...
"GAH!" Zim sat up, panting, and looked around the room. It was another nightmare.
"Damn planet," Zim muttered, standing up and shaking the cold sweat that covered him. He fell asleep in his lab these days, usually right in his chair, sometimes having enough sense to lie down somewhere. He put more and more effort each day into his growing frustration of conquering Earth, and the wait... the constant feeling of impatience... only made his frustration grow worse.
"When I take over..." Zim heard himself begin to say, but then stopped himself. It was no use any more to make the empty threats. He was about to return to bed when suddenly he heard a blaring noise from upstairs.
"What the..." Zim leapt up and raced out of his lab, hoping Dib was not up to his old tricks again.
The entire house was dark, except for a slight glowing light coming from the living room. Zim crouched down, ready to attack if necessary. He slowed his breathing and listened intently. It sounded as though the t.v. were on...
Zim peered into the living room, and then stood up. It was just Gir, watching t.v.
"Gir?" Zim asked, walked into the room.
"Hello master!" Gir shouted. "I love this show," his attention span was directed back to the t.v., which blared the ugly mammal of the scary monkey show (of all the hours...).
Zim's heart stood still. "Gir?" he said again, almost in disbelief.
"Want a cupcake?" Gir asked, turning his head toward Zim again and holding a chocolate, lumpy thing in the air.
"No... no thanks, Gir," Zim breathed, having to sit down on the couch because he was having trouble maintaining his balance while standing up.
"Okay!" Gir popped the cupcake into his mouth, and instantly his eyes welled up into tears. "I miss you... cupcake."
Then the robot snuggled next to Zim on the couch and fell asleep.
Okay. So, I'm in the middle of the second half as of now, with Arm&Leg thankfully beta-reading it for me. It should go up soon... but I think I'll get out another chapter of IGLIDZ first...
Anyway, I dedicate this to my ex, Lenzy. (He doesn't have my pen name so ha! He can't read this!). Even though it seems like longer than a week since we've been apart, I still think about you day to day. And you were right, it wouldn't have worked out. The distance was too great. The effort was too little. But for those five months that everything seemed perfect... I thank you. For those five months, you shattered sixteen years of loneliness, and I'll never forget it. I'll miss what we had. I'll miss you.
Disclaimer: Do I really need to do this? Like you people are *ever* going to sue me. Hah. Heh. Heh. Ok, fine. Don't own any of the characters except for Liz. I don't own the song 'Lately' by Divine. Don't go thinking I'm music oriented! The glasses around here sure don't agree...
Thank you so much to Arm&Leg, who were nice enough to beta-read this for me. You guys are the best.
Keep Your Distance
Zim sat in chemistry class, bored (excuse the human maxim) out of his mind, legs propped up on the desk, his light olive Irken head leaning back. His position in the chair was almost impossible, but oddly relaxing.
He tuned out his teacher in the front; the brandish fool who always went off on a tangent here and there, blabbing jargon that meant nothing to anyone anyway. 'Who gives a damn'? Zim thought, as he closed his eyes, attempting to get some rest rather than waste his time listening to the Kinetic Molecular Theory. On Irk, it wasn't a simple stupid theory. But here everything was so primitive and repulsive...
Zim had to divert his mind to something else before he became too disgusted. It had been almost a month since everyone was back in skool. The summer had been brutal- a deathly hot sun, boring down on everything, everywhere. Zim himself was three shades darker, and he did not like it at all. Hopefully it would wear off.
And the summer was similar to this 'hell' that humans were always talking about. Not only was in unbearably hot, but the armada had failed to come /again/, and Dib had been one huge thorn in his side, having nothing but time on his hands to bother the Irken.
"Paraganai," Zim cursed in his own language. That was the second time today he caught himself using a human term, and the second time he wondered where or not he should just orbit Earth the blow the damned thing up.
Every day he hated Earth more and more, and Dib could see his growing frustration, often using it to his advantage. Now they were back in school, their battles had calmed down a bit, but not enough for Zim to come to a lax point.
And to exacerbate the situation, Gir was malfunctioning.
It took awhile for Zim to notice, of course. It was not as though it was an easy thing to detect. A couple weeks ago Zim realized that Gir was... off. He no longer consumed his normal diet of brainfreezies and cupcakes but virtually anything he could get his little robot hands on. Instead of his usual squeaking voice, the pitch varied from time to time, often right in the middle of a sentence, and almost always in some nonsensical garble about every subject conceivable. Sometimes, Gir's eyes would fade off, as though he'd crashed. A moment later they would flash the normal cyan color again, and he would walk off normally, as though nothing had happened.
When Zim had determined it, he spent endless hours examining Gir's internal components, reinstating new chips, everything possible. Nothing seemed to work. So Zim let him go, and watched as, day by day, the robot became worse. Zim was almost afraid to leave Gir at home by himself, but bringing him to school would not alleviate the situation any, either.
BRRRRRRIIINNG!
Caught off guard, Zim fell off his chair in a state of total surprise. A few kids who noticed him laughed pitilessly, but Zim ignored them, standing up and dusting off his pants before standing up himself and walking out to lunch.
Zim found himself a seat at Alumni Walk, a huge brick corridor that served as both a hallway and an eating area. He sat cross legged on one of the benches that were set off to the side, and pulled out a piece of paper, beginning his essay on Beowulf that was due next period in English class. He sighed, honestly not knowing why he came to school anymore- it was a waste of time. Who cares about this Beowulf person? He was fictitious. But humans seemed to deem importance in fictitious characters for some reason.
Deep inside, Zim knew he couldn't give up. The Armada would come. And the idea of taking over this pitiful planet became so alluring that Zim new not to give up the relentless fight.
Suddenly, a darkness shadowed over Zim. He finished the current sentence that he was in the middle of and with a sigh, looked up, already knowing who it was.
"Hi, Zim," the cheerful figure said.
"Hello, Liz," he mumbled, continuing his glare up at her. He looked down on his paper and then, in an obnoxious tone, said, "Do you mind?"
"Oh!" Liz immediately sat down next to him in an obvious gesture of emotional attachment. She had dark black hair and a pale face. Her eyes were a light blue, and often she wore a dark line bordering them to what humans called 'mascara'. "Sorry. So... what's up?"
"I'm writing something," he mumbled, not giving her another glance. "And I need to concentrate. So would you leave me alone?"
"Oh... sure..." she said softly, giggling slightly. Before she could stand up, though, she was joined by another goth-clad girl.
"Zim," the girl acknowledged his presence.
"Gaz," Zim muttered, not looking up from his work and knowing instantly who the voice belonged to.
"Liz, come on. Dib needs your portion of that project and it's due today."
"Bye Zim," Liz waved.
"Tell your brother, 'anno inai sinnex'," Zim said to Gaz, ignoring Liz, and not missing a beat in his writing.
"What the hell does that mean?" Gaz asked.
"He knows. Now go away. You're blocking my light."
"Sure, Mr. Sunshine," Gaz said, hiding a smile, pulling Liz away.
Zim shuddered, and continued writing, hoping that the day would be over soon. Each day became a living nightmare, and more and more frustrating to put up with. He'd spent four years on this horrid planet- four drawn out, useless years, and it was almost a shock to Zim himself how long he had spent on this planet. He was going to snap if the Armada didn't come soon.
*******************************************
"I'm home, Gir," Zim yelled loudly as he walked inside his house. He looked around, satisfied. Nothing around here had changed for six Earth years... except for the improvements he had made in his underground lab. And the fact that he'd scrapped the robot parents a long time ago. Parent Teacher Nights were no longer a required thing in school, plus Zim could always use the lame human excuse, 'They're working,' to any fool door-to-door salesman that bothered him.
Gir sat, as usual, in front of the t.v., but, at a second glance, one could see that not everything was 'as usual'. Instead of being on the couch, Gir was on the floor. Instead of rightside up, Gir was upside down. "Cupcakes are not the scary monkey ooh!" Gir yelled his usual nonsensical greeting.
"Hello Gir," Zim responded. His eyes glanced over at the television, which was off. Yet Gir was sitting there, watching it... he shook his head- he'd given up trying to figure Gir out a long time ago. He kneeled down and lifted the robot up, turning him back over and setting him down on the couch. He then walked over to the t.v. and turned it on to Gir's favorite show. He joined Gir on the couch, giving the robot a little pat. "Is that better?"
"Cupcakes are brainfreezies too," Gir mumbled. "Do I sugar taste like chocolate MacMeaties? Doom space meat. Earth is Irk."
Zim sighed as the robot went into 'crash' mode again, Gir's eyes fading black and his arms falling limp. He always said 'Earth is Irk' before he crashed, and Zim didn't know why. He sat by the robot, ignoring the t.v., until it woke up again, and then, seeing that Gir was once again functioning to the best of his poor ability, stood up without a word and walked down to his lab, leaving Gir to himself.
"I love scary monkey bestest master tuna cupcakes," Gir whispered to himself.
***************************************
Outside Zim's 'fortress' were two girls, one with lavish violet hair, the other, shiny midnight black. They stood on the sidewalk just before the huge wooden planks that separated the house from the world. Zim had, a long time ago, put up a huge gate to keep people out, but had left it open upon coming home, thus accommodating the girls in their current need.
"You are /so/ hormone crazed," Gaz complained, grabbing Liz by the arm and attempting to pull her away.
"I am not!" Liz pulled her arm back.
"Yes. Yes you are! You've had a crush on him for what, a week?"
"Two," Liz beamed. "I think I'm in love."
"I think you're pathetic."
"Oh shut up. Come ON," Liz gesticulated toward the house. "You KNOW how long I've wanted to do this."
"You do this every time. Why is Zim different? Remember Mak? And then there was Jon. And don't forget Tom."
"I never really liked any of those guys anyway," Liz said with a huge, obvious grin planted directly on her face.
"...Ron. Rob. Roy. Ren. Ray. All the R's in our class," Gaz went on. "And then you went for the S's. Sam. Sid. Stu. Stan-"
"Stan?!"
"Oh, you're right, that's a four letter name."
"Anyway," Liz rolled her eyes and looked back at the house in it's tall, commanding stature. "Just think. He's in there. The dreamy green cutie of our class... Zim."
"I feel sick."
"Meet Mr. Spooky," Liz said for no reason.
"Is that why you like him?!" Gaz asked, returning their conversation. "Because his name starts with 'Z?'"
"Well, the X-list sucked and so did the Y-list... plus I didn't want to start all over again with the A's."
"Xan was nice. He wasn't like that brain-dead jock-"
"Xan was a jerk," Liz cut in. "And so was that brain-dead jock. But Zim..."
"Zim is definitely a jerk."
"Zim is a cute jerk."
Gaz stared at her for a moment and shook her head in disgust. "Why am I even best friends with you?"
"Hey!" Liz stood up, offended. "If it wasn't for me introducing myself to you back in 7th grade, you'd still be best friends with that game labor thing."
"Game slave," Gaz corrected, and then her eyes sparkled. "Oh! Now I can do something productive with my time instead of wasting it with you drooling over Zim!" She fished it out of her backpack. "I love you, game slave." Upon the weird looks her friend gave her, she grinned. "Game slave is my drug."
"I bet it is," Liz said, distracted. She took another glance and breathed deeply. "I'm going in."
"Five seconds later... you'll be going out."
"Not if *I* have anything to do with it," Liz grinned and winked at Gaz.
Gaz momentarily paused her game slave and stared at Liz for a moment. "You're just sick. I think I actually feel sorry for Zim."
Liz gaped. "Oh, my. I got Gaz to pity someone. I'm better than I thought."
"Go knock on that damn door and get rejected already so I can go home," Gaz muttered, leaning on the fence. At Liz's pause Gaz's eyes shot her a 'look' from under her unkempt bangs.
"Aren't you gonna come in with me?" Liz asked, knowing very well that the 'look' meant nothing when directed toward her.
"You big baby," Gaz stood up and led the way through the door, down the pathway littered by broken down dirty lawn gnomes and crabgrass the size of small bushes. The yard itself was rejected in every way.
"He doesn't garden much," Gaz mumbled, intently playing the game slave as she walked. "You should see his interior decorator."
"You've been inside his house?" Liz asked credulously.
"Just to get my nimrod brother one day. Make a big deal of it and I'm leaving you here to face the wrath of the lawn gnomes."
"Okay, okay."
Gaz halted at the door and continued her gaze, deep into the fascinating glow of the game slave. "Go ahead. Knock."
Liz sighed and drew up the palm of her hand to the door. She gave three loud, forceful knocks, and when her hand dropped back down to her side she began to grin uncontrollably.
"I still cannot believe you're doing this," Gaz said. "What are you even going to say to him?"
Liz did not have a chance to answer, as the door began to slowly creak open.
Zim stood there, looking more than slightly ticked off. His hair was looking slightly lopsided, and he was panting as though he had been running. Gaz hid a smile as she continued to play her game slave.
Liz turned to face Zim, standing at a height just under his eyes. Zim stood taller, now, Gaz noted. He was able to match Dib's height all the way to 10th grade.
In a way it was sort of hilarious. Dib and Zim, for the longest time, had gone through a competition to see who could be the tallest of the two. They had done strange things... hung off of bars, ate MacMeaties special body-building bars, drank excessive amounts of milk... and in the end the two ending up being exactly the same height. 5'8".
That pissed them both off, but finally they gave up and gone back to trying to destroy each other. Gaz marveled at the fact that it was an entertaining thing to watch back then, both of the guys acting like idiots. "Actually," Gaz thought, "They *still* act like idiots."
"Um... um... hi!" Liz said cheerfully, and Gaz snapped back to the current event.
Zim's eyes scanned from Liz, to Gaz, and back to Liz again. "What are you doing here?"
"I... just wanted to say hi!" Liz said, and upon hearing the words come out of her mouth knew she probably looked like the biggest fool to walk this Earth.
"Hi? Is that all? Look, wormbag-" Zim began.
"Oh, of course not!" Liz said, laughing nervously. "I also came for another reason."
A moment of silent passed and Zim lifted his (invisible) eyebrow in apprehension. "And that reason would be..."
"...um... because... I... wanted to remind you!"
"Remind me of what?"
"Um... well..." Liz paused. "You know, I was going to remind you that..."
Gaz looked up sharply and decided to put her game slave away for the moment. She glanced at Zim. "She wanted to remind you that if you don't come to school tomorrow with your... uh... Spanish project, that Mrs. Leathers will *so* have it in for you."
"Yeah," Liz nodded, sighing in relief.
"You're not even in-" Zim began, when suddenly they heard a crash from behind him. Zim spun around to see Gir, running like a maniac around the room, using his jets off and on and off and on and basically throwing a fit.
"The cupcakes are inside like scary monkey holders. Why doom when pretty lights? Giggle eat dance and that's the end," Gir shouted while bouncing up and down on the floor by turning his jets on for a few seconds then shutting them abruptly off again.
"Gir!" Zim yelled, turning around and holding the door open. "Quiet down!"
Liz peered into the house and almost laughed at the atrocious picture that was set above a ragged, magenta-colored couch. She then observed the lightly green-colored dog that was raising such a ruckus.
"CHU SHO KU! Noodles and brain worms have no plate!" Gir yelled, and Zim could hear the familiar zip of his disguise.
"No Gir! Don't take off that-" Zim sighed, exasperated, and left the door to tend to the insane robot.
"Who's Gir?" Liz asked.
"Zim's pet robot."
"You sure know a lot about Zim."
"My brother's been hunting him since the 5th grade, claiming he was an alien. Then he comes home looking like something the cat dragged in and explains to me in detail stuff I don't care to know."
"..."
"Exactly."
They turned back to observe the debacle inside. Zim was now chasing a hyper Gir around the room.
"Gir- no!"
"Nakey is mini-monkey. Anti-doom, anti-doom, anti-doom, anti-doom!" Gir yelled as he trashed the picture on the wall and then proceeded to fly out the door, knocking straight into Gaz. She fell back and crashed to the ground, the game slave slipped out of her hands.
"Earth is Irk," Gir mumbled into her shoulder, and proceeded to shut down.
"What the hell?" Gaz yelled, jumping up and dusting herself off. She held Gir up for a moment, and, in seeing it was in 'off' mode, tossed it to Zim.
"He hasn't been functioning properly," Zim said, catching Gir and stepping back.
"Ohh... the poor thing," Liz said, giving Gir a pat on the head and grinning at Zim.
"Yes, yes, yes, poor Gir," Zim cradled the thing in his arm and turned away. "Now get off my property. You're not welcome here," he snapped, slamming the door shut.
"That went well," Liz said to Gaz, staring at the door.
"Well? WELL?!" Gaz kneeled next to her fallen game slave and picked it up, examining it to make sure it was okay. It was a hard fall, but all in all everything seemed to be alright. She brushed the crumbs of dirt and glared at Liz. "I am never doing this again with you, Liz."
Liz smiled and gazed at the sky. "He's even dreamier than I thought."
"You're making me throw up." Then, with a thought, Gaz added, "You better be lucky I saved you when I did."
"Oh... yeah... that reminding thing. I was gonna remind him of something, I really was! I just wasn't sure how to put it."
"Oh, I know you were going to remind him of something," Gaz narrowed her eyes at Liz and shut the game slave off. Liz blushed and looked away. "Don't even think about it. He's going to drop you like a bag of sand."
Liz sighed. "But I have to try."
"Zim has never participated in anything since I've known him... except p.e.... he seemed to enjoy playing dodgeball. Until it was his turn, of course. But this... this is different, Liz. Find another guy for this."
Liz sighed, not listening to a word her friend was saying, and walked off down the sidewalk in her own dream world.
****************************************
He was being chased again.
Zim ran... no... /stumbled/... over the hard concrete ground, trying to get away.
The dark shadow behind him was advancing.
He wiped sweat from his forehead and continued running. He couldn't stop. Stopping meant death. Stopping meant the end. And he wasn't ready for the end.
Ahead, bright lights were coming into view. Zim lurched forward, forcing his Irken heart to beat far past it's usual ability. The world around him twisted into an odd, shapeshift sort of way, making his journey across the darkness even more difficult.
But the light ahead was so close...
The wind whipped around him as he increased his speed. No matter how fast he ran, the soft humming of the creature behind him always followed. He dared not look back. Looking back was just as bad at as stopping.
All was silent, except for the sound of a young teenage boy, running, panting, and the pounding of his heart against his chest.
The light in front of Zim actually came from inside a window. There were hundreds of windows. And smack dab on the side of the building where the light emanated from was the Irken symbol.
"Almost... there..." Zim huffed.
"Master..." a voice whispered from behind Zim, sending chills up his spine and his antennae raising straight up.
Zim squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't stop. Not for anyone. Not for-
"Master..." the voice came again.
Zim didn't turn around. He just kept running. And then, suddenly, before him appeared the small, shiny little robot with the bright cyan eyes.
Zim couldn't stop, and he didn't. He plowed right into the SIR unit and the two were sent slamming painfully into the cold black ground from underneath them. Zim picked Gir up in his arms and gazed up at the shadow which pursued him, his eyes showing fear.
The figure was no figure at all, but his arch rival, Dib, flashing a menacing grin and bringing what looked like a fancy gun to Zim's head.
Inside Zim's arms Gir whimpered, and he held onto it tight, looking Dib square in the face, ready to meet his defeat.
But Dib only laughed, a horrible, deep-throated laugh that sliced throughout the night in an eerie way. And then Dib's face twisted into at first an unrecognizable, looming figure.
As Zim gazed up at the figure, he could only curse in his native language. This time, he shut his eyes tight, afraid. Darkness surrounded him...
"GAH!" Zim sat up, panting, and looked around the room. It was another nightmare.
"Damn planet," Zim muttered, standing up and shaking the cold sweat that covered him. He fell asleep in his lab these days, usually right in his chair, sometimes having enough sense to lie down somewhere. He put more and more effort each day into his growing frustration of conquering Earth, and the wait... the constant feeling of impatience... only made his frustration grow worse.
"When I take over..." Zim heard himself begin to say, but then stopped himself. It was no use any more to make the empty threats. He was about to return to bed when suddenly he heard a blaring noise from upstairs.
"What the..." Zim leapt up and raced out of his lab, hoping Dib was not up to his old tricks again.
The entire house was dark, except for a slight glowing light coming from the living room. Zim crouched down, ready to attack if necessary. He slowed his breathing and listened intently. It sounded as though the t.v. were on...
Zim peered into the living room, and then stood up. It was just Gir, watching t.v.
"Gir?" Zim asked, walked into the room.
"Hello master!" Gir shouted. "I love this show," his attention span was directed back to the t.v., which blared the ugly mammal of the scary monkey show (of all the hours...).
Zim's heart stood still. "Gir?" he said again, almost in disbelief.
"Want a cupcake?" Gir asked, turning his head toward Zim again and holding a chocolate, lumpy thing in the air.
"No... no thanks, Gir," Zim breathed, having to sit down on the couch because he was having trouble maintaining his balance while standing up.
"Okay!" Gir popped the cupcake into his mouth, and instantly his eyes welled up into tears. "I miss you... cupcake."
Then the robot snuggled next to Zim on the couch and fell asleep.
Okay. So, I'm in the middle of the second half as of now, with Arm&Leg thankfully beta-reading it for me. It should go up soon... but I think I'll get out another chapter of IGLIDZ first...