Different or Not
Moth Mask
Rated K+
"How different could they really be? Who cares what they say? Less than ZaDR, but more than ZaDF. Currently being rewritten."
I do not own anything but the plot. Oh, and I've got a "50th Anniversary" edition 64-pack of Crayola Crayons, with the sharpener built into the box. Pretty awesome, huh? ;)
Hello, anyone who may be reading this. I've decided to re-write "Different or Not". After reading over the first chapter, I'm frankly shocked that people enjoyed it. I couldn't get through the chapter before shaking my head to myself and saying "What the hell was I thinking!". The story was very rushed, which explains why I stopped. I could hardly enjoy reading it myself, much less writing it! Therefore, I'm going to write it over, and improve it. Also, PLEASE don't ask me to do certain things with the plot. I already have this planned out (more or less), and it's kind of disappointing to find that the readers are so divided by what they think I should do ._.
~Tears~
...
"Beaches are a stupid idea", Zim thought as he looked out the window of the Skool Bus. He watched the human-larvae playing among ground-up rocks known as "sand". Other hairy Earth-children splashed around in an ocean of what was little other than acid to the green onlooker. Zim sighed. He was feeling moody. Then again, if your leaders sent you on a fake mission, lied to you for two years, then finally told you that you're useless, banished and should have died, I expect you'd be moody, too. "What fool arranged this trip of fields? This is definitely NOT a field."
"What do you have against beaches, Zim?" Questioned a particular big-headed human. "Unless you're an alien who's allergic to water! Admit it, Zim! I know the truth! And someday, everyone else will know, too!"
Zim growled as the human seated next to him babbled about his delusions of victory.
"...And then I'll be famous! I'll never be called crazy again! The world over will know my name! I'll put an end to all those jerks who think Paranormal Investigation is a joke! I'll show them!"
After several minutes of this, Zim decided that he'd had enough. "Shut up, Dib-stink!" He yelled at the human. "I don't care! Nobody does! The stupid inhabitants of this dust-ball care about what you say as much as they care that I'm here! Even if you did catch me in a cage and open my guts, which you won't, but if you did, people would just find some way for it not to be true! Humans only hear what they want to. You know this! So why don't you shut up and try to enjoy the last measly decades of your useless existence, instead of trying to prove something to a group of creatures who don't care if they're all killed off today or tomorrow or never!"
The bus quieted at this latest outburst from the strange green child. The silence was short-lived, of course, and soon paper airplanes and conversations were once again thrown wildly about the clunky metal box.
Dib stared at the alien next to him, shocked. Not shocked about Zim yelling at him. That much was perfectly normal. What had surprised Dib was what Zim had said (or shouted, rather). While it wasn't uncommon for Zim to mock the human race, he rarely ever said anything so... accurate. So mind-numbingly obvious that most of the people around them had just dismissed it as nonsense. After all, how could they be stupid or useless? They were at the top of the world, in every sense of the phrase. Dib tried to remind himself of these things, but something stopped him. Not only had Zim's words been unusually veracious, but his tone was different. He had almost sounded defeated. Almost, but not quite. Mingled in with all of his anger at Dib, Zim seemed preoccupied, as if he was using yelling at Dib to vent another frustration.
"What's your problem?" Dib asked, trying to sound annoyed instead of concerned. "You're acting less human than you normally do."
The Irken whipped his head around, and looked at Dib. He didn't glare, just studied his long-time opponent. "The Dib-beast is showing concern for me?" He asked. "Why should you care if I am acting unusual?"
Dib facepalmed, half in annoyance at himself for not hiding his intentions better, and half at Zim for such an obvious show of stupidity. "Because you're an alien invader trying to take over my planet?" He offered. "That's a pretty big reason. If you're acting unusual, it probably means you're plotting something."
Zim sighed. "No, no more plotting. There is nothing left to plot, foolish Dib-stink." Zim looked out the window again, noticing that the parking lot for the beach was getting closer.
"What do you mean 'no more plotting'? Zim, what the heck are you talking about?"
The Irken looked back at Dib. His face was a mix of annoyance and sadness. "Don't you get it, Dib-stink?" Zim growled quietly, so the other students wouldn't hear. "There is nothing left to plot! It's over! I'm-" He stopped mid-sentance, his gaze lowering to the dusty floor of the bus. "I'm no Invader. I've been banished. There's nothing... nothing left... to plot..."
Zim's eyes squinted shut. His jaw clenched, and he could feel himself trembling all over. He knew his Pak was losing control. Admitting defeat was a strange thing for any Irken to do, and this was doubly true for Zim. His emotional filter was struggling to keep up with the new rush of sensations going through him. He was running out of energy, both physically and mentally. Just as the Skool bus stopped in the beach's parking lot, Zim no longer had the energy to stay upright. He fell to the side, his head leaning heavily on the window. The Irken struggled to stay conscious for just a moment longer...
"Zim!" The other children rushed off the bus, eager to play in the water. Nobody noticed two crazy kids, one panicked and the other fighting off his exhaustion, trying to stay focused on the quickly-blurring form beside him.
"Dib…" Zim whispered hoarsely. "Help…"
And with that, his eyes slipped shut.
...
I hope this turned out better than it's predecessor. I'll try to re-make the other chapters this weekend. I might even be able to get chapter six up once I finish. Depends on how much time I spend playing "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind" ;)