The disclaimer saying that I don't own any Invader Zim characters has been blown to pieces. What happened on Earth after the events of the InvaderZ? Find out here! The actions of Dib, Gaz and Zim have consequences. IT'S MADNESS!
Class of Dibageddon
It had been three weeks since the Invasion of Earth. Three weeks since the entire world had literally fallen apart. Three weeks since the Earth had been turned into a virtual wasteland. And still people couldn't get cable TV.
The children of the Skool had nicknamed the incident 'Dibageddon' but it was still the same. Still nothing left but destruction and ruins and madness.
Except for some reason Sunbucks Coffee and Drunkin' Donuts still existed. No one questioned that. People were just glad they still had coffee. Which was a lot more expensive now.
Zita looked around the ruins that was once their playground. Ever since the events of last week, there still wasn't any skool. The adults just didn't have the time or the resources to build one. But they needed to get the kids away from them for some reason so they simply dropped the students off alone at the former playground like nothing ever happened.
It was like this every day. The kids were left here alone and unsupervised for several hours until their parents came back to pick them up for the evening. Well some parents came back. Many kids were simply abandoned there and left, as several makeshift tents scattered around the playground could attest to.
Oh at first there were some adults that watched them for a while. But most of them either went to find some alcohol or just got sick of taking care of kids nobody else wanted to take care of. They never came back.
Mr. Eliot tried to stay behind and watch the kids. But he annoyed some of the children so much they grabbed him and beat him with baseball bats until he didn't twitch anymore. At least that was the rumor going around.
Zita felt bitterness in her stomach. She had been abandoned that morning. But she was one of the lucky few that had been abandoned with possessions and a halfway decent tent.
Zita's home life wasn't exactly perfect before the invasion. Her mother and father were always arguing and her mother was always staying out late at work. Her older sister was distant and her older brother was never home.
After the invasion her older brother and sister left what was left of the house and moved away to another state where there was reportedly less damage. It was revealed that Zita's mom had been having an affair and she was now shacking up with one of many self appointed leaders jockeying for power and trying to take control of their shattered world.
Her father kept drinking and drinking and did nothing. That morning he told her. "Zita…I'm sorry. I can't take care of you any more. It's nothing personal but I just don't have the will to live. I'm going to go shoot your mother and myself. Go take all my money and my extra gun and any other things you want. I've got a neat tent for you to live in. Here, take your mom's diamond necklace."
Zita was too shocked to say anything. She didn't fight the idea because she really didn't want to be home anymore either now that everyone was gone. She calmly packed up a ton of supplies and the tent and her father even helped her set up her little camp when he dropped her off.
"Okay that's everything. Well Zita. It's been nice knowing you. I hope you have a good life. Just one piece of advice sweetie…Don't get married to some jerk who will cheat on you. And please don't cheat on your husband if you ever get married. Can you promise me that sweetie?"
Zita nodded. "Good girl," Her father smiled and hugged her and then drove off to commit his crimes.
Now Zita was sitting around a campfire with a bunch of former classmates. "Sorry Zita about your family ditching you and stuff…" A kid known as the Letter M grunted.
"It's okay…" Zita sighed. "I've already got a roommate. Mary over here is going to keep me company."
"I didn't know you were abandoned too Mary," Letter M blinked.
"I wasn't. But my family hasn't been the same since my dad got eaten by that shark a while back," Mary shrugged. "And my mom hasn't exactly been paying attention to me so I got out while the getting was good."
"I can get you some extra food from home Zita," Van the former green eyed popular kid from class spoke up. "Whatever I can smuggle." He always had a soft spot for Zita.
"That's cool," Zita nodded. "Thanks Van."
"I can't believe you're being so calm about being dumped," Van said.
"To be honest I kind of saw it coming. I'm just glad to get away from my parents and my obnoxious older brother and sister," Zita said. "But yeah it still hurts."
"I can't believe Zim was an alien and so was Miss Bitters," Mary sniffed. Then she frowned. "Dib being a freak. That I get."
"Here we go…" Another kid named Larry moaned. "Can we not go one day without somebody going on and on about Zim and Dib? That's all I've been hearing since this whole thing started! Zim and Dib! Dib and Zim!"
"Well they did kind of trash all of civilization!" Sarah, another skool child that had the odd habit of dressing like a nun snapped. "That's kind of a big thing!"
"Miss Bitters was right. We're all doomed and Zim and Dib are famous nutcases…" Another kid named Jeffrey snapped.
"Yeah but Dib was right too about Zim being an alien," Another kid named Mikey spoke up.
"Well how were we supposed to believe him?" Letter M snapped. "He was crazy! Saying stuff like Zim mutated our class hamster!"
"He did mutate our class hamster," Mikey blinked. "At least…I think he did. I do remember our class hamster growing really big and trashing the city."
"Oh yeah that's right," Zita blinked. Another memory hit her. "Remember the time we all had lice and Zim didn't?"
"Neither did Miss Bitters," Mary pointed out. "No wait. She got it later. I remember because we had a sub for half a day."
"And they used Zim's skin to make some kind of lice antidote…" Zita added. It hit her. "And then there was that Jell-O Monster in the hallway..?"
"And the time this big giant alien burst through the ceiling, grabbed Zim and shouted he was going back to outer space," Mikey added.
"How the heck did we miss all that?" Larry yelled. "It was right in front of our faces!"
"I think it was all the drugs they put in us…" Willy, the former Skool Class President sat in a corner of the ruined building looking very sad. His back was towards the group. "I can still feel what they did to me chaps. I remember the horrible procedure that turned me from a drooling imbecile into a semi sentient being that was nothing more than a puppet for the skool."
"Willy…" Zita got up and put her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm remembering things now," Willy sighed. "I'll never be quite right and I think I'm always going to talk like a character out of a Charles Dickens novel but I remember things. I remember seeing things. How I was. What happened to me. But being in such a stupor all I could do was just sit and watch…"
"Yeah now that you mention it my brain has been feeling a little…I dunno, lighter," Mikey nodded. "I'm remembering stuff too! Like the time Zim stole one of my organs!"
"Hey, now I remember that too," Mary blinked. "How did we get our organs back?"
"I don't remember. Got me…" The kids blinked.
"Hey! Zim also did some experiments on me on his desk!" Mary remembered.
"Oh yeah I remember that…" Sarah blinked. "Now that I think about it Zim really did look like kind of creepy. With no nose and no ears and green skin and…"
"And the time he lost his contact revealing his red eye but he claimed it was pink eye!" Zita shouted. "Holy crap that wasn't pink eye! That was an alien red eye!"
"And that time that other alien from outer space broke through the roof and took Zim off," Larry blinked. "Boy. You would have thought we'd have put two and two together right then."
"We already said that Larry," Letter M grumbled.
"Yeah but that was a really big clue," Larry pointed out. "How did we forget about that?"
"More importantly how did Dib notice everything and we didn't?" Zita asked.
"Somehow being a genetically altered clone must have given Dib some kind of immunity from the drugs," Willy thought. "His brain was unaffected by the drugs. The truth is what we all thought were his mad ramblings was actually the truth."
"But we were all too drugged up to pay attention," Jeffrey said.
"I don't think it was all the drugs," Zita said. "We were just so caught up in everything we just never noticed what was all around us."
"That wasn't completely our fault, dear Zita. We're children. To us this is all supposed to be normal," Willy remarked. "Or supposed to be normal or whatever. It's the adults that are to blame."
"Yeah well let's not forget that Zim and Dib are to blame for the mess the whole planet is in and all the trouble they caused!" Sarah snapped. "I mean look what they did to you Willy! They're responsible for having your brains fried!"
"Only indirectly. They had no idea what the skool did to student presidents," Willy pointed out. "I dare say I don't think Dib would have tried so hard to get me elected if he knew that his arch enemy Zim would be turned into a mindless cheerleading puppet of a totalitarian fascist state!"
"Say whaaaaaa?" Mikey blinked, eyes wide.
"He means he didn't know the class president gets turned into a total tool," Van explained.
"Besides despite the pain and the brainwashing I'm not that upset that I am no longer a complete moron," Willy said. "So some good did come out of it."
"You act like you don't hate Zim and Dib for what they've done!" Sarah was furious.
"Well not Dib," Willy said. "I just feel sorry for the poor chap that's all."
"You feel sorry…For Dib?" Sarah was scandalized.
"I do. Now that I think about it, old chaps I'm not so sure I wouldn't have done the same thing Dib did if I were in his position," Willy sighed. "I mean I'm barely hanging on by a thread as it is with all this mind shattering knowledge that has befallen us the past few weeks. Can you all imagine knowing the truth day after day and trying to tell people that they are a heartbeat away from Armageddon only to have them laugh in your face?"
"He kept warning us and warning us and we wouldn't listen," Zita frowned.
"He knew the danger we were all in all along and we ignored his warnings. Like cheerful lambs to the slaughter. And the final indignity was learning that he was a clone and being abandoned by his own creator," Willy sighed. "Little wonder Dib finally went mad. How can any man who can think in a world that is mad stay sane?"
"Where do you think he went?" Zita asked.
"Out there. Somewhere," Willy looked at the stars. "But right now he isn't the problem. Or Zim."
"Yeah they took off and left us with the mess they created!" Sarah snarled.
"Wasn't all their fault! I think the grownups and the aliens have to share some of the blame too," Mikey said. "I mean who was the idiot moron on our side who blew up part of the moon?"
"I thought that was Dib?" Mary said.
"Nah, I heard somebody say it was Dib's dad," Van waved. "My old man was talking about it with a friend of his."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Sarah grumbled. "Those idiot adults screwed everything up and now we're left to try and fix it!"
"That's it! Chaps we're going to take a page out of those Borgia's playbook! It's time somebody took over the world and ran it the way it is supposed to be run!" Willy smashed his fist into his open palm. "We're going to form our own secret society and this time we'll take care of the Earth the right way! We can't allow ourselves to be corrupted by petty greed and madness for power! We must change the Earth for the better! We will make the world happy and filled with light and sunshine instead of gloom and despair! Instead of strict evil totalitarian methods to keep the population under control we'll use gentler, more subtle methods! Together we can rebuild this planet and make it strong so that no alien can ever hold it in it's power again! Who's with me?"
"Are you still crazy Willy? We're just kids!" Sarah protested.
"As I recall, our former classmate Dib was also a child wasn't he?" Willy asked. "And he managed to destroy an entire planet and topple a corrupt government in one fell swoop. Now if one child can destroy everything, imagine what a class full of children could create!"
"He's making a lot of sense," Van remarked. "I mean I know I can take on Dib and I'm better than he is! So why can't I do some good too?"
"Take on Dib? Van, Dib blew up half the planet and took down the grownups and two evil alien civilizations," Sarah said sarcastically. "You really think you could take him?"
"Yeah! I mean I did it all the time before giving him wedgies and stuff," Van said.
"That was before he had his complete mental breakdown!" Sarah pointed out. "He's totally crazy now!"
"Don't forget he's got a spaceship that shoots lasers and stuff," Mikey added.
"Exactly! And he's teamed up with Zim and who knows what that alien has for weapons!" Sarah nodded.
"Yeah but Zim's not half as scary as Gaz," A boy named Iggins spoke up. "Trust me on this one."
"Yeah Gaz is really nasty," A girl pointed to a scar on her face. "She did this to me! And worse to my friends with some stuffed animals!"
"Wait a second. Why did Dib and Zim team up? They hate each other!" Zita did a double take.
"Zim took down his own people before helping Dib wreck the Earth," Mikey blinked. "I remember that."
"I don't know. Perhaps both of them got just so fed up with their respective sides?" Willy shrugged. "I mean Dib it's easy to see why he did what he did. But Zim…I don't know the answer to that one."
"I think it's because Zim's leaders aren't very nice," Keef wandered over. "I remember hearing him talk about them once."
"Keef…How did you get out of the mental institution?" Zita twitched.
"It blew up during the invasion," Keef said cheerfully. "So I walked out."
"Figures. The one thing Zim and Dib didn't destroy…" Sarah groaned.
"Anyway I just had a thought. If they made drugs to make us all stupid, why can't we make drugs to make us real smart?" Keef asked.
"That's…" Willy blinked. "Not a half bad idea. We'll jot that one down and see what we can do. Our biggest obstacle is going to be the adults."
"The space chickens are coming! Repent! The space chickens are coming!"
The students turned around and saw several adults dressed like chickens run by. "The space chickens will save us! Oh mighty space chicken! Save us all!" One man yelled. "CLUCK FOR THE SPACE CHICKENS! BUCKAWWWW!"
"I don't think that's gonna be much of a problem," Zita turned back to the group. "Most of the adults still seem pretty stupid to me."
"That's because they've had longer doses of the drugs than we did," Willy said. "Still there are more of them than there are of us at the moment. And they are bigger and stronger than the majority of us. We need some kind of advantage if we're going to take control of the planet in order to fix it."
"They're not stronger than all of us," Mikey scoffed. He casually picked up a half destroyed truck with his hands. "See?"
"Mikey…How long have you been able to do that?" Zita blinked.
"Dunno. I think a couple of weeks ago when I was playing by the river near down by the city cesspool and some yellow stuff got on me," Mikey put down the truck and picked his nose. "You think me being extra strong might help?"
"That…might come in handy Mikey," Willy blinked. "Uh does anyone else find themselves possessing some rather extra ordinary abilities?"
"Now that you mention it, I just noticed yesterday that my sister can fly and shoot lasers out of her eyes," Jeffrey remarked.
"Yeah and there's this one kid I know who just got super speed," Letter M spoke up.
"Hey! You know how I have webbed toes?" One weird kid spoke up. "I got gills too now!"
"Hmmm, apparently there is quite a bit of some kind of mutagenic substances that is still in the ecosystem," Willy thought aloud.
"Now that I think about it, a lot of people are really uglier than usual and kind of look like mutants," Van realized.
"It must be a result of the Borgia's tinkering with the planet! Not to mention all that radiation in our atmosphere also is contributing to the mutations. That's it! That's our edge!" Willy slammed his fist into his open palms. "Okay step one of our plan of world domination! Bring in every child we can. Particularly those with special abilities! Step two, we organize into groups and systematically eliminate those adults that are vying for power."
"Okay kids I've kind of heard enough," Mr. Eliot walked up to them. His clothes were tattered and shabby. "I think this little take over the world game is getting a bit out of hand."
"It's not a game! It's our…" Willy stopped. "Mr. Eliot? What are you doing here?"
"I thought you were dead," Van blinked.
"No, no…I just went away for a few days. Those coffee and donut lines are real long," Mr. Eliot told them. "Kids I couldn't help overhearing about your plans for world conquest. I'm not quite sure you're old enough to rebuild our society."
"What are we supposed to do? Leave it to the space chicken people?" Van snapped.
"Great we're gonna be forced to lay eggs all day," A kid said sarcastically.
"Look kids why don't you forget all about this world domination silliness and let the adults handle things okay?" Mr. Eliot asked.
"You mean like you handled things when the Borgia arrived?" Willy asked sharply.
"Uh well technically that wasn't all of us…" Mr. Eliot hemmed. "That was the government…"
"And how you handled the situation at the Skool where we were all slowly being brainwashed?" Willy went on angrily.
"I had no idea! I wasn't in administrative affairs!" Mr. Eliot protested.
"And how you handled Zim and Dib? And the Alien invasion?" Willy shouted.
"Not to mention Dibageddon that wrecked the entire world!" Zita yelled. "And after! Half of us kids got abandoned by our own self absorbed parents because they can't handle taking care of us!"
"Exactly!" Willy shouted as the students shouted in agreement. "Because if all this indicates how you are going to handle things in the future this planet is in worse trouble than I feared!"
"You know Willy maybe you do have a point about Dib trashing this stupid planet?" Van shouted. "If it wasn't for these idiots this whole thing would never have happened!"
"Yeah you adults were supposed to protect us but you dropped the ball and look what happened!" Zita shouted.
"They didn't drop the ball. They ignored the ball!" Letter M shouted. "Then the ball hit us over the head! Repeatedly!" Everyone looked at him. "I'm not good at metaphors! Sue me!"
"Well that was the Skool's fault too," Willy shrugged. "But we get your point. And our point is that if you think we are going to continue to allow you adults to screw up our lives even more with your incompetence, you have another think coming!"
"Okay I can see you're all upset. How about we do some nice calming breathing exercises and then sing about our feelings?" Mr. Eliot suggested.
"How about not?" Van took out a baseball bat. "Hey guys, you know that rumor about Mr. Eliot not being true?"
"Maybe we should do some fact checking?" Letter M took out a baseball bat of his own. "That's appropriate right?"
"Close enough," Willy said. "Get him!"
"AAAAHHH!" Mr. Eliot disappeared under a horde of angry children with bats, rocks and other weapons. Soon his battered, broken corpse was left in the middle of a huge circle.
"What did we just do?" Van asked.
"We killed Mr. Eliot…" Zita blinked. "Dibs on his wallet!"
"Like that's gonna matter now?" Sarah gave her a look.
"Oh right. Forgot. Never mind," Zita said.
"Okay now that we've got that all settled," Willy brushed his hands. "Let's get organized shall we? Van, after you bury the body take a group and grab some weapons and supplies from the nearby military camp. Jeffrey, go get your sister so she can join our group. Mikey you go with him along with Charlene, Carol, Marsha…Frank and Hooky and go find as many other children to join our group as possible. Particularly those with powers and unusual gifts."
"I know a kid who can talk to fish!" Mikey called out. "Does that count?"
"Okay fine. Sure…Go for it," Willy sighed. "We'll take whatever we can get. Screamy you have an uncle who's a doctor. I want you to take Wes, Sloop, Sarah and Pinky and get all the medical supplies you can."
"I also know where we can get a tank!" Screamy shouted cheerfully.
"Get that too," Willy said. "Zita, you come with me, Letter M, Mook, Olivia, Jessica, Alex, Francine, Gertrude and…Elmer. We're going to go look for a new headquarters but first we're going to take a little side trip to Membrane's house. I know that hasn't been burned to the ground yet."
"What are we going to do there?" Letter M asked.
"I want to find if there's anything of Dib's files left and get all the information he has," Willy said. "Plus I'm sure we can find some scientific advancements that Membrane Senior has lying around."
"Yeah didn't that old guy make some kind of perpetal…Perpetual motion thingy?" A kid called out.
"Perpetual Energy Generator. It was supposed to give us all unlimited power," Willy thought. "But Membrane had some kind of hissy fit and refused to give it to us. Yes! That's the key! If we can get that device we'll be close to unstoppable!"
"I know where it is! My dad's in the military and he was assigned to guard it!" A kid called out. "He even gave me a secret tour! It's still there!"
"Good! Van, after you get the weapons take your group along with any others you can find and commandeer that device!" Willy said.
"Huh?" A large kid blinked.
"He wants us to get it so nobody else will get it," Van explained.
"Yes! Fellow children! This is the beginning of a new better world! A world where we will be in control of the stupid adults and make life better! Who's with me?" All the children cheered. "From the ashes of death and destruction, this planet will be born again…A new and better paradise for all kid kind!"
"So what do we call ourselves?" Zita asked.
"Something significant…Something important…" Willy noticed a newspaper flying around. "Something that has meaning."
Willy grabbed it. It was an article about the Swollen Eyeballs Society. Apparently there were still newspapers around despite the end of civilization as they knew it. It mentioned Dib and his codename, Mothman. An idea hit him.
"Mothman. Or should I say Mothmen," Willy spoke with authority. "We are the Mothmen!"
"Mothmen? Huh whatever works," Van shrugged. The kids agreed.
And thus began what would become the most powerful organization on Earth.