A.N. The long-awaited sequel to "Blindfolded" has arrived! Sorry for the long wait everyone, but thanks for the feedback in the last story. Everyone's comments on that last chapter is what convinced me to finally post this, because I'd given up on "Torches".
But then I finally re-wrote, and it is so friggen different then I told you guys it would be.
And, although I prefer "Blindfolded" over this alot, I still hope you guys enjoy this.
And I introduce only two more characters in this, as opposed to my original concept with nine new characters. . . yeah. . . just read. . .
Chapter One- Soup is nice
Zim waved his arms frantically and then shouted, "Wait My Tallest! Don't cut the transmission yet!"
He began to hop up and down desperately. "Zim," Tallest Red said impatiently on the screen, "do you remember our little agreement?" "Yes, yes, 'Never-ever-ever-talk-to-you-again-for-the-rest-of-my-life-or-I'll-suffer-the-most-horrible-physical-pain-imaginable', I know, but this is really important!"
"It better be," Tallest Purple said from beside Red, crossing his arms. "Oh, but it is!" and then there was a long silence, as Zim just stared blankly into the screen. "Well?" Red asked expectantly about a minute later. ". . .'well', what?" "What do you have to tell us that's so important?" "Oh. . . eh. . . I dunno. . ." but the second he noted his leaders' frustration, he added quickly, "Wait! Okay! I just remembere!. . . eh. .. my work at Irk's military training facility is going excruciatingly well! Oh, you would not believe how well my work is-"
"Zim, we have people who get paid to give us reports on these kind of things. I'm cutting the transmission now-" "No! I still have so much more to tell you! Uh-uh! Did I tell you I'm growing a mooshminky tree in my backyard!" "Wow, really-" but then Red stopped, coming to his senses. He shook his head and said, "We have things to take care of, Zim. So thanks for the whole 'ending-the-Meekrob-war' thing, but we really don't have time for this." "Yeah!" Purple chimed in. "And we don't have to pretend to care about you anymore. . . because we don't!" "But-" "Have a nice life," Red said, and with that, the transmission was cut.
Tak steps out from her sleeping quarters, then glances down the hall suspiciously. It's too quiet, she decides.
Great. Everyone's probably dead.
Thinking it be best to inspect the source of her family's possible murder, she walks to the kitchen, but on the way there, someone suddenly grabs her by her arm and pulls her into the room closest to them.
And then she realizes that her family's not really dead; or at least Zim isn't anyway.
"What do you want?" Tak asks him exasperatedly, and then he grins.
And doesn't really respond, until Tak realeases an annoyed growl, and then he says,"Carnival."
"Um."
"Irk's annual snacking carnival! Where there will indeed be snacking! And soup!"
"Wouldn't that go with the snacking?"
"Foolish Tak! Soup stands alone!"
"Okay, you know what?" Tak says. "You're annoying me. I'm going to go eat breakfast."
She turns to the doorm but then Zim grabs her wrist and tugs her back and then she looks ready to hurt him.
"What?" she demands.
"Do you wish to accompany ZIM to this carnival of soup?"
Tak rolls her eyes.
"Whatever," she says. "You didn't have to drag me in here to ask me that though."
"I don't want. . . you know. . .them. . .coming along. . ." Zim eyes dart back and forth in a paranoid fashion, and then Tak raises an invisible eyebrow , crossing her arms.
"Our children. . .?" she asks slowly, then looks around, " where are they anyway?"
"Clox is in the kitchen. . . Pin is too. . .and so are the twins. . .yup. . . . they're all in there. . ."
"And they're being quiet?"
ZIm shrugs, and then just watches Tak rush from the room in concern. He decides to follow her, after staring at the wall for another ten seconds. Oh, what an exciting life he has.
When he enters the kitchen, the first thing he hears is Clox stutter, "W-we're gonna die. . ."
"Cut it out," Tak says. She's beside her son, who's standing on his stool, holding a pot over the stove. He looks to it sadly.
And then Pin speaks up, in reassuring tone, "It's okay Clox. If they're gonna blow up anyone, it won't be us. Unless they dun like us. . . then they prob'ly will. . . but not if they're in a good mood!"
"I doubt you're providing much consolation, Pin. . . " says Plix, one of the smeets, softly. He's staring at the table surface and he sighs.
Beside him, his twin sister, JooJee, nods. Then she looks to Zim, and says in an energetic (somewhat cheerful) voice, "DADDY! We gonna 'splode up!" and follows up with a slightly psychotic cackle. Whereas her siblings just glance at her grimly.
"JooJee, s-sploding, uh. . . i-it's bad. . .you dun want it t-to happen," Clox explains to her seriously, but she doesn't seem to care much.
Zim just looks to Tak in confusion, and then she pulls him aside and explains in a low voice, "There was just a broadcast-" she points to the screen hanging on the wall opposite of them, "that several Irken bases were attacked recently, and now the kids are thoroughly convinced we're the next victims."
"Who attacked us?" Zim demands, not bothering to keep a quiet tone, that is until Tak glares, and then he repeats the question, only softer.
"I'm not sure. . ." for a second, she looks anxious. "It wasn't even on Irk. I turned off the broadcast because Clox was getting upset, but I'm sure we can find out more at work-" then she lifts her head and her eyes bug out slightly. "Dammit! Work! What time is it!"
And then Zim looks kinda freaked out too, and he frantically points to the kitchen clock, then actaully turns to face it.
"We're late!" he exclaims in a panic.
"Not yet," Tak says, "but we still need to hurry. . . or we leave now, then get off early to go to the carn-. . ." she and Zim both glance to the kids, who are sitting at the table, watching them intently. So Tak continues, in a voice that's louder then necessary, "In time for that really. . . boring. . . thing. . . uh, you know, where we sit around. . . and. . . uh. . ."
"Stare at walls of doom!" Zim finishes passionately, shaking his fist in the air.
"I like doom," JooJee says with a twisted grin.
Tak rolls her eyes.
"Well, doom walls are boring," she tells her, "you'd hate it."
"I WANNA GO!" JooJee shrieks, jumping on the table. "IT IS SO DEMANDED BY ME!"
"Hey, watch it-"
"JOOJEE!" Zim intercepts angrialy."You will show us respect! We CREATED YOU!"
Before his daughter has a chance to respond however, everyone hears a high-pitched, familiar voice exclaim, "CAAAARNAY-VULL!", and then Zim is on the ground, and Gir is on his stomach, dancing insanely.
Zim says, "Oof," but then he's pretty much knocked out besides that.
Gir starts to chant, "Carnival! Carnival! Carnival!" and so on, and then Pin and Clox instantly become animated. Even Plix looks a little less downhearted.
"Ooo! I wanna got to the carnival!" Pin announces with a huge smile.
"Y-yeah!" Clox says with equal enthusiasm. "I-I-I heard that the- that the Annual Snacking festival is today!"
"Yeah Mom! Can we go? Pleeease!"
And then Plix, who takes note of his mother's defeated, irritated expression, says, "At this point I'm presuming your intent was to prevent us from requesting you to provide transportation and accompaniment to this carnival, but nonetheless, I must say I'd enjoy partaking in the festive experience myself."
He smiles, and Tak just stares and blinks.
"Plix. . . " she says slowly, shaking her head, "what did I tell you about using bug words around me. . .?"
His smile falls instantly, and he then says in a flat, miserable tone, "Can we go to da carnival pweese?"
Tak looks from him, to Pin and Clox, whose eyes are wide with hope, to JooJee, who's scowling for whatever reason, then to Gir, who's still dancing on Zim's stomach.
She sighs.
"Okay," she says.
The kids cheer (except JooJee, who mutters, "I wanted to see the doom wall. . . "), and they rush over and hug Tak. She pats them all on the head.
"But first," she says, stealing a quick glance at Zim, and suddenly grinning devilishly, "go wake Daddy up."
They all jump him.
Five years ago, all Dib really cared about was aiding any race against the Irken empire, and making sure Zim's annoying stupidity didn't get too out of hand.
But then his connection with the Meekrob was abruptly put to an end, and Zim just left, right after that.
At first, Dib thought it was a trick; like maybe one day, he'd walk into Bloaty's Pizza Hog, and Zim would randomly pop out at him with a doomcanon and make some ridiculous threat against him and mankind. But that never happened.
And then Dib started officially dating his friend Kacer, and then he had college to worry about- and it's not that he forgot about Zim.
It's just he has other things on his mind now. Zim's gone. He's dealing with it. He has other, less obnoxious, less threatening, rivals.
True, it's slightly boring, but at least the Earth's not in jeopardy.
So, that's good.
He's in his dorm room now, and the phone rings. Thinking it's Kacer, he picks it up right away, only his assumption was wrong, and once he hears the voice on the other end of the line, he almost drops the phone in disbelief.
"Dad. . .?" he says incredulously.
"True son!" Professor Membrane answers. "It is I, your father!"
"You're actually. . . you're actually calling me? Do you even have time for this? Or did you schedule this a year in advance or whatever?"
"Why, not at all! This call was ENTIRELY RANDOM, so as to fill you with unsuspecting JOY!"
"Um. . . yeah, Dad. . . is there anything you need. . .? Because I don't think you've ever called me before, and it's kinda scary. . ."
A moment of silence passes. And then,
"How is CRAZY SCHOOL going for you, son!"
"It's not 'crazy school'!" Dib snaps defensively. "Spooky Studies Institution is a prestigious paranormal-investigating university!"
"Hahaha, of course it is, of course it is. . ."
"What do you want Dad?"
". . .how is your equally crazy girlfriend?"
"Dad!"
"Alright," Membrane says. "As you know, I am a world-famous SCIENTIST and as a world-famous SCIENTIST, there are times when I am invited to SCIENTIFIC CONVENTIONS!"
"Um. . . yeah. . . "
"And there are some cases when I am allowed to bring a guest TO these conventions."
"Dad," Dib says apologetically, "I can't go. Finals are coming up."
"Oh, NO MATTER! I wasn't going to invite you!"
"Then why would-"
"It's your sister, you see. She's refusing to come, but I think it would be best for her! I need you to convince her to listen to me AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!"
"But Gaz hates me, why should I-"
"PERFECT! Tell me how it all works out!"
Dial tone. Dib stares at the phone in confusion, then sets it down.
An second later, it rings again, and he snatches it up and shouts, "What do you want!" only on the other end, all he hears is this weird kinda whimper and so he sighs and says, "Oh, sorry Kacer. . . I thought you were someone else."
"Um, it's okay. . ." Kacer says softly. "You thought it was your dad, right?"
"How'd you know that?"
"Well, he just called me."
"What?"
"Yeah, he asked me to. . . ya know, convince Gaz about that convention thingy. . ."
"Okay, that's just too weird. . ."
"I know." Kacer sighs. "Anyway, er. . . I called Gaz. . ."
"Yeah. . ."
"Only. . . she hung up on me. . . so I was wondering. . . if you'd like to come with me to go visit her."
"Kacer, we have finals, remember?"
"Just on the weekend! It won't take long! Um. . . please?"
After about a minute, Dib sighs, then agrees with a reluctant, "Fine. . ."
"Okay! Really? Alright! Great! Uh. . . well, I gotta go!"
"Hey, what's the convention even for anyway?"
"Er. . .um. . .it's for. . . OH MY GOD, A NINJA JUST BROKE INTO MY DORM ROOM AND STOLE MY PHONE, I GOTTA GO, LOVE YA, BYE!"
She hangs up.
Dib doesn't even bother to question himself what Kacer's problem is.
He just mutters, "Whatever. . ." and flops on his bed.
end of chapter one
Well, I've never written for Professor Membrane before, so I hope it didn't horribly suck.
Plix rocks my piggy socks, baby.
Reviews are welcomed. Encouraged. Pweese?