Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim or any of the shows that I may use in this story. I hope you enjoy!
It was a mutual understanding among teenagers that high school sucks.
There are many reasons one could have strong feelings of resent towards it; Gym class, puberty, pep rallies, homework, waking up so goddamn early in the morning, etc. But there were a few pros for such a horrendous place like watching people fight each other, sex, and making new friends.
However, for one certain teenager, all the pros unfortunately never came to him.
Dib Membrane was an oddity among his peers, even by the other social outcasts of society. At the normal age of 17, the first thing that made him stand out in crowds was his unusually large head that people theorized was because of some weird birth defect that made it grow bigger with each passing year.
The second thing was the long trench coat he wore that made people inch away from him in fear because... well, let's just say that anti-social teenagers and trench coats don't mix together so well.
And finally, but most importantly, Dib is obsessed with all things related to the paranormal and it is because of this obsession that has caused others to dismiss him as being "crazy" or "insane".
With no friends and a family that spends little-to-no time with each other, it's a mystery how Dib could remain sane throughout all this. Well, the reason was simple... he had an alien spy for a classmate named Zim.
Zim is a member of the alien Irken race, who was sent by his leaders on a secret mission to Earth to conquer it and expand their ever-growing empire. (Or that's what Zim believed, and had told Dib after many battles with the human.) After arriving on Earth, Zim enrolled in the nearest elementary skool to begin his infiltration and gather information about the human race. There, he became quick rivals with Dib, who has tried time and again to expose the alien's true identity, only to be brushed aside as usual.
It's been over six years since Zim came to Earth and no one still believes Dib's claims about the Invader's true intentions, even after the revelation of other alien life such as the barbaric Lowardians that invaded Earth last year. Dib had hoped, prayed even, that someone would at least take his side for once, but alas, twas not to be. There were even moments that Dib found himself dumbfounded by the idiocy of the townspeople believing Zim's lies, making the boy theorize that Zim secretly poisoned the town's water-system with some kind of Irken bio-weapon, but he threw that idea out when he realized that he was still sane...
The boy sighed to himself as he sat down in his usual corner with the daily gruel served by the skool's cafeteria workers. He glanced down at the lunch tray with a look of disgust, trying not to gag at the godawful stench that radiated off of it. And he thought the booths at Bloaty's reeked. Ignoring the voice in the back of his head screaming at him not to do it, Dib reached for his plastic spork (That was somehow covered in rust) and stabbed it into the mush that one would call mashed potatoes, had it not look and smell like rancid dog turds.
As he pulls the spork out of the mush, his eyes drifted over across the cafeteria to meet Zim's soulless implants and frowned at the look on the Invader's ugly mug; The best way he could describe it is the way a predator would look when they corner their prey. Though he hated to admit it, Dib has been kinda worried about being around Zim's vicinity. He still hated the little green bastard, but lately Zim's efforts to rid himself of his nemesis has been much more life-threatening than the previous attempts.
He cut the brakes to Dib's Oldsmobile, causing him to crash but received just a couple scrapes and a car totaled beyond repair.
He broke into his house one night to replace his dad's not-so-secret alcohol stash with bottles of gasoline that the teenager nearly drank before he recognized the horrid smell.
And he nearly dropped a disco ball on Dib's head during last year's School Dance that was somehow filled with Androctonus Scorpions, the most deadliest kind of scorpions on the planet.
No matter what he did, the students would always ignore Zim's antics and go on with their daily lives without ever acknowledging the two arch-enemies with a single glance. Honestly, at this point, should I really be surprised? Dib bitterly reflected to himself, sending a glare towards Zim, who merely chuckled sinisterly back at him. The little green bastard's practically a ghost to the school, and everyone just flat-out hates me because... well, I'm me.
He gritted his teeth in frustration at the cold stares of indifference sent his way, each glare felt like a stab to the chest. God, I just wish they could understand me. I just wish that I can actually have a normal day...
I just wish I could win at something for once in my life.
However, as he raised the mush up to his lips, a sudden urge came over him; His nose twitched and he felt his eyes slightly tear up before letting a loud sneeze that earned him a few looks sent his way, which he promptly ignored. It was then that he noticed something odd with his food, particularly the edge of something metallic lodged in the middle of the mush. His mind went blank for a moment before it regained enough brainwaves to process what was sticking out like a sore thumb. Picking up the spork that he had dropped, he used it to poke into the area where the thing was at, and stop when the spork came into contact with something that bent it backwards.
He instantly dug into the mush, fingers scooping up chunks and tossing them to the side, before freezing in place at what he saw; Though the design didn't resemble anything of this world, he instantly knew what it was when he saw several symbols seemingly counting down.
A bomb.
Time seemed to slow down for Dib, even his heartbeat skipped a beat or two. Holy. Shit. seemed to be the only two words that Dib could be able to process right now. His hands grew clammy, beads of sweat poured down his face, and he began shaking once he realized what the intention of this device would do to him.
Whenever it went off, he would die.
...
"LIKE HELL I WILL!" Dib exclaimed, startling those around him who thought he had finally snapped. Looking over, he still saw Zim cackling to himself with his eyes closed, making a vicious smirk grow on Dib's face. Good.
Without a second thought, he grabbed the edges of his tray and chucked it over towards Zim, whose eyes happen to open just as the bomb sailed out of the mush and land right square on his own tray. The Irken Invader suddenly paused, staring at the bomb he crafted in the bowels of his laboratory with a emotionless look for a moment before it morphed into one of fear and surprise at his genius plan being discovered, he didn't have time to react before the device reached its end and everything went bright, shortly followed by an earth-shattering 'BOOM!'
What happened next went by as a blur to Dib. He could faintly hear the screams of his classmates as they rushed to the cafeteria's exit to avoid becoming the next victims of a potential skool shooting, while the supervisors in the cafeteria rush to tackle Dib for his actions. "No! No, not me!" he heard himself scream over the constant ringing in his ears. "It's Zim! You have to catch Zi-" Suddenly, throughout the chaos in the small area, a horrible scream pierced through everyone's ears.
Those who were still in the cafeteria turned to see one of the lunch lady's pointing at the area where the bomb went off. "OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT THING?!"
Thing?
A small sliver of emotion went through Dib's being at the word that echoed repeatedly in his head. Could it be?
Through the smoke, they could all see a small form! picking himself back up from the explosion, garnering many reactions from those watching such as shock, surprise, horror, and fear. However, only Dib could make out something on the top of the form's head that no one else could; two small antennas attached to the top of the form's head. Dib felt his jaw drop in disbelief, This can't be happening.
Stumbling out of the smoke like a bumbling drunk was Zim, or rather, the Zim that only Dib knew of. What was left of the alien's fake wig now lied as a smoking ruin on the tiled floor, and one of his contacts had been destroyed during the blast, revealing the Irken's pupiless ruby-red eye that seemed less brighter than it originally was. It took only a few seconds to regain his b earings and realize that all eyes were on him. "What? Is there something on my Human face?"
No one said a word, everyone was staring at Zim with wide eyes and parted lips, who was still oblivious to the whole thing. It wasn't until Dib squirmed his way out of the supervisors arms, and started bouncing in his place with excitement like a kid in a candystore. It didn't take long for Zim to put two-and-two together about why the students were looking at him so strangely and Dib was so ecstatic. "Oh..." Zim muttered, the other contact on his face suddenly broke in half and fell off his face. "...Grop."
"SEE!" Dib crowed, pointing at Zim with a manic look on his face. "I FUCKING TOLD YOU PEOPLE! ZIM'S. AN. ALIEN!"
And then, all hell broke loose.
Realizing that his position's been comprised, Zim yelled in anger, startling Dib and the other students, who ran out of the room after capturing a few pictures of Zim in his true form. Dib, however, remained in place with a victorious smirk on his face as he reached into the back of his trench coat and pulled out some alien binders that Dib's been saving for awhile.
"Well, Zim, looks like your time's up." Dib declared, slowly approaching the alien with the open cuffs in his trembling hands, not from fear but from excitement. "Gotta say, if you had actually put more effort into your half-ass scheme to blow me to bits, you'd might've won. But now? Not so much."
Zim sneered at the towering teenager. "Foolish Dib, do you really think that you've bested me, the mighty Zim?! Ha! I laugh at your pitiful human intelligence, idiot schoolboy! Zim always has the other hand on his opponents."
"...don't you mean the upper-hand over your opponents?"
"SILENCE!" Four large metal spider-like limbs suddenly unfolded themselves from Zim's PAK, stabbing themselves into the ground to raise their host up in the air to try and gain some sort of an advantage over his nemesis. "YOU HAVE INSULTED ZIM'S INTELLIGENCE FOR TOO LONG, AND NOW YOU WILL FEEL MY WRATH OF VENGEANCE!"
Dib made some kind of odd squeal before ducking to the side to avoid being skewered like a kebab, dashing over to one of the overturned tables to avoid the tiny alien's anger. His eyes frantically scanned the room for some kind of weapon to use until he realized that there's nothing in a high skool cafeteria that could help him combat against alien technology. Knew I should have brought my gear to skool. Dib lamented, remembering the decision to lock away all the Irken gear that he salvaged from Tak's ship to help assist him in the fight against Zim, particularly the alien pistol he created himself from both human and Irken technology.
He then moved out of his hiding spot when the limbs stabbed themselves into the table and tore it apart like sheet paper. Dib continued to avoid the limbs of death while trying to block out Zim's hellish cackling from being the last thing he ever hears in his short and pitiful life, as his eyes continued to comb the room for some sort of opening to escape or attack Zim. Damn, at this rate, I'll be torn to shreds before I can get a hit on Zim.
However, as he rolled to the side to avoid another attack, he looked across the room and saw his salvation in the form of one of the most annoying things that a skool can have; a fire alarm.
He then crouched down into a pose that runners would take on before a big race, taking in several deep breaths, before dashing for the alarm. Zim, seeing his enemy try to escape, jumped in front of his path to try and cut him off but was not prepared for the human to fall to his knees and skid underneath his PAK's limbs. Gritting his teeth, he turned around and was prepared to end the pathetic human's life before he froze at what he saw.
Dib, panting heavily, had his hand on the latch of a small red box that Zim's come to fear during his time on Earth. "NOOOO-"
But it was too late.
Without hesitation, Dib pulled down on the latch and the horrific sound of a bell ringing filled the rooms and halls of the skool, shortly followed by waves of water being expelled from the sprinklers above that rained down on the two in the cafeteria. Dib, despite his adrenaline rush, felt relieved by the feeling of cold water on his sweaty form and actually allowed it to wash over him.
Zim, on the other hand, didn't take it so well. "MY SKIN!" he shrieked like a banshee, trying pitifully to cover his form with his tiny arms. "IT BURNS! OH, IT'S BURNING! MAKE IT STOP, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!" In a move that surprised Dib, Zim had his PAK's limbs carve a hole in the roof and crawl his way out to the warm rays of sunshine.
Dib cursed to himself, blitzing through the overturned tables and backpacks strewn out all over the floor until he made it to the second entrance in the cafeteria and walked outside to see Zim, still using his PAK, charge his way out the skool's courtyard and into the oncoming waves of traffic. Ignoring the voice in his head to let him go, Dib continued chasing after his enemy with the goal of bringing him to justice for all the macabre acts that he's pulled for the past six years.
For the next several minutes, he followed Zim to the one place he knew the Invader was going, even after he had lost sight of the alien's form; his "house", which served as Zim's base-of-operations. By the time that he arrived at the street that he's been too over a million times, he stopped when he felt a faint vibration run through the ground that was quickly followed by the sound of engines. "No," he growled to himself. "You're not getting away this time."
He began running fast, faster than he's ever ran before in his life as the sound of engines grew louder and closer than before. His trench coat flapped in the breeze as his legs carried him to Zim's house only to find that the two-story building was no longer there and there was only a small spaceship in the center that looked to be in its final stages of taking off to who-knows-where. "ZIM!" Dib cried out, his voice cracking at the sheer volume of his yell.
From afar, he could make out the faint outline of his nemesis through the ship's cockpit and could see the head of said alien turn his way with his face blurry from the distance, but even Dib could tell that a grin was stretching from each corner of his lips. The ship finally rose up from the air with smoke and dirt bellowing from underneath the vessel, some of which that hit Dib's face with a force that left minor bruises on his big head, yet he still pushed forward. When Dib got close enough, he jumped onto the cockpit of Zim's vessel even as it elevated higher and higher into the air to the point of where Dib would end up as a bloody stain on the ground if he were to fall.
Peering into the cockpit's interior, he saw Zim at the controls with GIR, his insane robotic assistant, sitting next to the Invader. "ZIM! LAND THE DAMN SHIP, NOW!"
Zim merely grinned. "Sorry, Dib," he spat the teenager's name out as if it were poison. "But I have a planet to conquer, and you unfortunately won't be around to see it."
"Bye, Mr. Neo!" GIR chirped, waving at the panic-stricken Dib, who was now desperately trying to keep a grip on the vessel. However, Dib couldn't stay still with the ship's speed and ultimately lost his grip on the ship, falling through the air while screaming loudly for all to hear. As he looked down, he noticed that he was going to land in one of two spots; Either a pool in some backyard or on a very sharp metal fence. It didn't take a genius to know which one Dib tried to steer himself towards.
Sending out a quick prayer to whatever deity existed, Dib closed his eyes and threw himself towards the cold water of the pool. At least today was interesting, Those were his final thoughts before blacking out from the impact.
But little did he know that the events of today would set off a chain of reactions that no one could have foreseen happening.