Welcome to the third installment of FHTI (From Human to Irken)! Now the story is going to take an interesting turn, all ideas are from old role plays and personal insanity lol. You may cringe, you may drool, you may find yourself enjoying the idea so much that even I would stare at you and think what the hell's wrong in your brain…either way, enjoy the ride! Remember, COPYRIGHTED CHARACTERS TO JHONEN, storyline copyrighted to MEH!
Ch. 1 – Looking to the Skies
Empty…always empty at this hour…I work too much I think…Dib thought to himself as he sat back at his desk and looked around at the quiet laboratory. Only 22 years old and he was already too caught up in his recent projects to even consider taking time off, but he couldn't keep his lab assistances from enjoying their time so of course he let them leave. They weren't into it as much as he was; the paranormal was like air to him.
He looked out his window at the starry sky. So many stars, the night sky was a perfect shade of blackish blue and the glowing balls of gas twinkled and flickered, making Dib smile softly at the thought that any one of those stars could be the planet where his two favorite Irkens were dormant. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a lighter, the Irken symbol emblazoned on the metal.
"2 years…it's been 2 years since that crazy fight." He pulled a cigarette from his chest pocket, placed it in between his lips and lit it. The long hours in the lab and the need to calm his nerves drove him to enjoy a smoke every now and then, and using the lighter somehow made him feel a little closer to Irk. He took a deep inhale and slowly breathed out, feeling better. After a few minutes he stood up and walked over to a large telescope, entering a few coordinates and adjusting the lens. He aimed it high in the sky and took a look. The first thing he saw was red dirt, the common ground color of Irk. He looked around a bit, watching the inhabitants of Irk bustling about, sometimes he couldn't help but think how alike the day-to-day routines of the Irkens were so similar to Humans, save for the invading and freakishly green skin.
He moved the telescope slightly, and caught the images of two stone figures standing tall on a high cliff. Adjusting the lens again, he looked over at the masculine statue. Dib closed his eyes and remembered, the color of Zim's robes were a dark maroon, a favorite color of the Irken. Opening his eyes again, all he saw was the dingy color of gray, all over Zim. He moved the telescope again, to the feminine statue that was also the same gray, but he knew that 2 years ago, those eyes and that robe was a deep shade of purple.
Dib thought back, wondering how he ever came to be on good terms with those Irkens. The days where he would try and thwart Zim's plans to take over Earth seemed like an old childhood bicker. After Zim and Gaz got together though, he felt that Zim was just as annoyingly human as he was. Maybe it was just as adults always say, "growing up changes a person." And Dib supposed that line was meant for any being, human or alien.
There was a knock at the door, and Dib looked down at his watch. "It's 2 in the morning…who could possibly be here at this hour?" He cleared his throat and yelled, "Come in."
The door swung open and two little toddlers ran toward Dib. He smiled, "Zion…Kirei…my favorite niece and nephew." They were followed closely by GIR. Who seemed to act just as childish as they, as usual.
Zion and Kirei, only 2 years old, ran up to Dib and smiled back, Dib ruffled Zion's jet black hair, noticing the few strands of dark purple. Kirei hugged Dib's leg; her hair was entirely purple, just like her mother's.
"We came to visit you Uncle Dib!" Kirei squeaked and nuzzled her face into his lab coat. Zion took a seat and began poking around at the various containers, clearly amused at the different color of chemicals in each vile.
GIR ran and hugged Dib's other leg, "UNCLE PUPPY!" Dib sighed and tried to kicked GIR off his leg.
"They just wanted to see the lab." Dib looked up and grinned at his sister. Gaz walked in, dressed in her usual black and purple garb, her hair tied back in a ponytail.
He gave her a quick hug, "Gaz, you keep looking more like mom every time I see you."
Gaz gave him a soft punch. She enjoyed the compliments, but didn't think she was as beautiful as their mother.
"You need to stop working so late dweeb. You're becoming more like dad, we stop by your apartment every day but you're never home."
She walked over to the telescope and peaked in. Dib knew she enjoyed coming to the lab, the telescope was powerful enough for both of them to see the people they loved.
"It's not like I have anyone to come home to anyway…" his voice trailed off. He thought about Tak and his unborn children Alex and Keiko. It would have been different if they were with him, he'd be home every day. Gaz looked up at him and saw the loneliness clearly on his face.
"Have you found anything to reverse their petrifaction?"
Dib walked over to a wall with a portrait of their father was hung. He moved it out of the way to reveal a small safe, and after unlocking it, he pulled out a few papers.
"That time when we learned about the Thousand Armada, I snuck a peak at some of the pages in the book. I ripped out a few of them that looked like they'd be helpful..before I burned the book. These pages look like they might have the right words for a reversal."
Gaz walked over to Dib and looked at the old pages, it looked completely foreign to her. "Dib, I can't speak Irken….let alone ancient Irken."
Dib smiled, "That's not a problem. Not really anyway, see…I've been compiling data from Zim's old house. It was tough but I managed to learn a little about the language."
Gaz gave her brother a surprised look, "I knew there was a big brain in that big head of yours!"
"Oh shut up."
He shuffled a few of the pages, "This one is the enchantment they used to stop the armada, and right here at the bottom…" He pointed at the paragraph, "It says… 'tagasi muuta' "
"What does that mean?"
He looked at her, "Reverse Change."
Her eyes grew wide, "We can go there right now and bring them back to normal!"
"Now hold on, I still don't know how to decipher the rest of it-"
Gaz pushed him, "WELL HURRY THE FUCK UP!"
Zion and Kirei looked at their mother in surprise, they've seen her angry a few times but noticed that this time she looked more pained and drastic than angry.
"I can't keep waiting! Zim needs to be here, he's already missed 2 years of Zion and Kirei!"
Dib was taken aback, he hadn't realized that Gaz was going just as insane about Zim as he was about Tak. He tried to speak to her in a calm voice, hoping to relax her, "I miss them too Gaz but I just can't learn a new language in an instant. Just give me a few months or something…"
She let out a frustrated sigh and stormed around the lab, Dib placed the pages on his desk and followed her, trying to console her. Zion jumped from his stool and motioned for Kirei to follow him. Kirei grabbed the page Dib was reading and handed it to Zion, as soon as he touched the page Zion felt a strange power stir inside him.
"kivistumine on irken võimsus, muuta tagasi, normaliseeru ja elada uuesti. hinge elu ja on olemas. Nor kivi, kuid viljaliha, elu on. tagasi koju."
Gaz and Dib turned around and watched in surprise as a small glow enveloped Zion, he looked almost in a trance.
"Of course…" Dib breathed, "Zion…and Kirei they..of course they would be able to…DAMMIT WHY DIDN'T I SEE THAT!?"
The glow faded after a few minutes and Zion shook his head, "Whoa…where'd I go?" Kirei grabbed the paper from him, "You read this and got all weird looking! Are you ok?" She grabbed his arm and looked worried. He pulled away, "Ew…I'm fine."
Gaz and Dib looked at each other, then ran to the telescope. Gaz shoved him out of the way and looked in, she gasped. "THEY'RE GONE!?"
Dib moved her and peaked in, indeed the two stone statues of Zim and Tak were missing.
"Maybe they, woke up and are heading here!" He ran back to the safe and pulled out a tracking device. Gaz looked at him.
"What the hell is that!?"
"I…" he mumbled, "I put a tracking device on Zim in elementary school. Just so I could locate him in case…you know..he did something."
Gaz wasn't sure to smack him, or hug him. He turned the device on and pressed a few buttons. But his expression stayed confused.
"I don't understand…the device is saying that he doesn't even exist."
He turned his attention to GIR, "Hey..robot. Can you sense your master?"
GIR giggled and his antenna started beeping, trying to hone in on Zim. Suddenly GIR's body started to glow the same dark red aura that Zim had, and in an instant, GIR disappeared from the room.
"WHAT THE!?" Dib changed the homing device to track GIR, and just like Zim, GIR was nonexistent.
He looked at the screen again, changing it to search for Zim and it continued to tell him that Zim was nowhere to be found. "The only way for this to fail is that he's out of range, but somehow he's able to call for GIR..." he looked down at the device, "This thing can find anything in this solar system." He looked out the window to the sky, "Why would they go anywhere else…?"
Gaz took the device from him and waved it in his face, "Let's find out."
He stared at here, "What?"
"You've got Tak's ship don't you? We'll go to Irk, and look for clues! Simple as that."
Dib shook his head, "It could take years, trying to find them! Aside from that, I haven't fixed up Tak's ship…I'd need a few months to get it up and running….Irken technology isn't exactly abundant on Earth…"
She growled at him, "YOU'RE AN IDIOT! WE'LL BRING IT TO ZIM'S AND HAVE THE COMPUTER FIX IT!"
"Oh yeeah…I forgot that Zim had an underground laboratory with Irken technology…"
"Mom can we come too!?" Zion ran over to Gaz, "…Can we come and look for..dad?"
Gaz stared down at Zion, those brown eyes with the hint of red tinge in them. Even though they weren't entirely as red as Zim's, she saw the same look in those eyes. How could she say no?
"Yes, we'll all go together."
Dib locked up the safe and grabbed his jacket, "Come on, we'll stop by my place to get Tak's ship then head back to Zim's."
As soon as they got to Zim's they brought Tak's ship down into the lab. Gaz went directly to the computer, and set it up to fix Tak's voot.
"Tak's voot is personalized," the computer responded, "we are only able to return it to it's original design."
"That's alright, just as long as it works.", she said.
Within a few hours the ship was fixed and ready for takeoff. Dib sat in the pilot seat, while Gaz and the kids took the back.
"Okay everyone. This is going to be a long trip," Dib turned his head and looked back at the rest, "Gaz I want you to keep your eye on the homing device, let me know when it starts beeping."
Gaz simply nodded and stared at the device.
Zion and Kirei sat side-by-side, "Uncle Dib what can we do to help?"
Dib smiled, "Just enjoy the ride. You guys are still young so I won't have any real big jobs for you until you're older."
"Are you saying we'll be in space that long!?" Zion's eyes went big.
"We might…who knows how far Zim and Tak have gone. This adventure could take a few months, or several years."
Zion groaned and pointed at Kirei, "I'm going to be stuck with her on this ship for YEARS!?" Kirei slapped his hand away, "Well I feel the same!!"
Gaz gave them both a death glare which silenced then instantly.
Dib gave a slight chuckle and started up the engine. The ship hovered off the ground for a few moments, and in an instant, shot into the morning sky.
There goes chapter one. Comments will be used to make a better homing device.