Zim couldn't believe he'd forgotten.
He couldn't get the Voot Cruiser to go any faster without it breaking down. But he pushed the Voot anyways. He couldn't be late. If he was late, then he would suffer the worst of consequences. The thought of it made his squeedlyspooch turn over.
Zim let out a sigh of relief as he saw the familiar pink planet come into view.
Irk.
He would have a little time to spare once he arrived. He put his feelings of worry aside and looked at the planet looming before him in the near distance.
His squeedlyspooch felt warm when he saw it. He'd been working on Earth for quite some time at this point, and it was making him feel further and further away from the familiarity of his home-planet all the time. He'd lately had a constant longing to leave Earth and return home. It was a sinking feeling that Zim would never admit he'd ever felt, even to himself. He couldn't let inferior feelings interfere with his mission.
Insides overflowing with joy, Zim neared the planet. Hundreds of aircrafts, most of them bigger than his own, also flew towards the planet, creating a sea of ships, all of them flying in the same direction. Traffic around Irk was much busier than normal, but that was to be expected on this particular day.
The planet was enclosed in a bubble, which was multiple shades of pink throughout. When Zim saw the bubble, he recognized the way the colors moved. It was much like the chemicals in that of an Earth bubble, the shades of pink slipping and sliding around each other.
Zim's voot drifted through the bubble with no trouble, as expected. He neared the ground, taking in the familiar sights of his home. A river of Irkens flowed down the street, all of them heading in the same direction.
Landing at the end of a row of ships, Zim slid out of the Voot. He immediately joined the flow of traffic, disappearing into an ocean of green faces.
Eventually, the river broke into separate lines, each of them ending at a table. At each table sat an irken, who had a computer laid out in front of them. Zim chatted with an Irken in front of him about his mission on Earth to help the time pass. They never said anything back. However, Zim knew this was because they were so amazed by his tales.
Zim reached the front of the line after cutting multiple times. He was greeted by a female Irken, who gave him an annoyed expression.
"State your name and number," she said flatly.
"Surely you know who Zim is!" Zim stood as tall as possible, his hand placed over his chest proudly.
The female Irken looked him up and down again, "No."
Zim grumbled, "I suppose I can give you a reminder. I am Zim! An important invader in the Irken military! The Tallest entrusted me with a secret mission!"
"Okay," she stared blankly at him, "number?" she asked again.
"2F5L-5XG."
The female Irken typed on her computer for a moment, and then her eyes scanned the screen.
"Okay, you're free to proceed." she waved him along.
Zim marched past, following a crowd of Irkens into a large, metal dome.
A pink planet loomed in the distance. Dib stared at it.
He knew it was his destination when Tak's ship failed to steer clear of it.
So this was Irk.
This was the planet that his greatest enemy had come from. He felt a mixture of excitement and fear.
Dib soon realized that there were hundreds of ships flying all around him. He was surrounded by countless other members of the irken race. He felt exposed upon realizing that he was now the alien, surrounded by countless Irkens traveling to their home planet. He would need to blend in.
Dib opened a compartment in the ship that was much like a glove box you might find in a car. Inside were several blueprints, and a small tube with little plates on the ends. Dib picked it up and examined it.
"What is this?" Dib asked the ship.
"It's a holographic disguise. One of Tak's prototypes," the ship replied.
"Could it disguise me?" Dib asked, observing it in his palm.
"Yeah, I guess."
"How do I do it?"
The ship was silent for a moment.
"Are you seriously about to trespass onto one of the most high-security alien planets in the galaxy?" it asked.
Dib took a moment to answer, "Yes."
"That's a foolish idea. They'll find you. An idiot like you won't make it two minutes."
"I have to! I have to find out what Zi-"
"More like you want to. There's nothing here for an inferior piece of alien scum like you. I should send a message to the Irken military right now."
The ship clearly didn't understand that this situation could end in life or death for Earth. He needed to find out what Zim was doing on Irk. He sighed, "Would you just tell me how to put this thing on?"
"Fine. Attach one end to your temple, the other to the back of your head."
Dib did as he was instructed. Nothing happened.
"Hey, you said-" he began, but the ship interrupted him.
"You're stupid. Turn the tube to the right." the ship instructed in an annoyed tone.
Dib turned the tube to the right as told.
Immediately, Dib saw his outfit change out of the corner of his eye. He looked down. He wore an outfit identical to the one Zim wore each day. Black boots, black pants, black gloves, pink tunic.
He felt the top of his head. He could still feel his hair. Confused, he looked in the window at his reflection. However, he didn't see his usual black hair. Instead, two long, black antennae grew out of his head. His skin was a pale green, and his eyes lacked pupils, being solidly a caramel brown. He looked like an irken, although only a hologram of one. He gawked at his reflection for a moment, but was quickly distracted by the planet looming before him.
Dib immediately found he was about to run right into some sort of shield. Shades of pink swirled all around like the chemicals in that of a soap bubble. Dib yelled, trying to get the ship to halt, but the ship went straight through the shield with no trouble.
Dib looked back at the shield through the window. He could see through it, but he hadn't been able to when looking inside from outside. It was daytime on that side of the planet, but the sun was further away than Dib was used to. There were some stars that were close enough to the planet to be seen in the daylight. They shimmered brightly, turned a tint of pink by the strange shield Dib had passed through.
Dib faced forward in his seat, and his mouth immediately fell open as he looked down upon planet Irk.
The entire planet below him was entirely metal, not a sign of natural land in sight. He passed by and over countless metal buildings, each of them spherical, cone, or cylinder-like in shape. Some of the buildings even had elegant metal spirals wrapping around the outside. In the distance, smoke stacks rose high into the sky although the air was clear of pollution. In fact, Dib could see for miles in every direction.
Everything was pink, purple, or red. It seemed that everywhere Dib looked there was some variation of pink. Even the air was tinted pink due to the shield. Distant buildings on the horizon appeared to melt into a pink haze. Irkens seemed to be obsessed with the color. It was everywhere.
But there was one space that lacked pink, and Dib flew right over it. The ship dipped toward the ground, and Dib saw what this was.
Countless Irkens all traveled down a street. The all headed in the same direction, creating a river of green bodies. Dib watched them as he flew overhead. It appeared to be never ending. A never ending river of Irkens. Dib felt that he might faint.
After a minute, the ship landed alongside several others.
"I'm warning you. You'll be shot dead within minutes," the ship told him as he prepared to exit the vessel.
Dib took a deep breath, and ignored the ship, telling himself that this was for the good of the Earth. He slipped his backpack over his shoulder. It disappeared under the hologram disguise.
The ship let him out, and he hopped to the ground. His feet made a thudding sound upon contact with the metal. He allowed the ship to power down itself.
The moment he stepped out of the ship, he regretted it. He'd completely forgotten he was standing on an alien planet, suddenly realizing that the air may have been unbreathable. He held his breath and turned back to the ship. He pounded on the windshield, hoping that the ship would let him back in. It ignored him, and nothing happened. He pounded harder, beginning to feel light-headed. After about thirty seconds of pounding, Dib's body forced him to take a breath. The air felt normal. Dib was embarrassed as several Irkens gave him strange looks.
He decided to follow the flow of Irkens he'd seen earlier, deciding Zim was most likely to be there. He dusted himself off and tried his best to copy Zim's military march he'd seen so much of on Earth. However, as he marched, Dib noticed he was attracting more looks of disapproval. He walked normally, and the Irkens diverted their attention.
As Dib made his way towards the Irken crowd, he noticed that the planet was just as amazing on the ground as it was the air. The skyscrapers were so tall, he couldn't even locate the tops. The pinkish rays of sun danced around, making everything twice as shiny. Ships zoomed by overhead, and Dib watched them as they went by.
The next thing Dib knew, he was walking in the Irken river. As they passed smaller streets, less thick crowds of Irkens joined the larger group. Some joined individually. It seemed as if every Irken on the planet was there.
Everywhere Dib looked there where green faces. The crowd was so thick that Dib was being forced along. With so many Irkens around him and so many more flying by overhead, he felt overwhelmed. He hoped he would be able to find Zim in the crowd and maybe follow him to wherever it was that caused him to leave school so suddenly.
However, it was impossible for Dib to make out even one face in the crowd. Not that he'd met many Irkens to recognize. It was just that everyone was moving so fast, he wasn't able to distinguish one face from another.
Before Dib could make a plan to find Zim amongst the crowd, he found the Irkens splitting. They separated into lines, seeming to be choosing at random. Dib chose the line nearest to him, and waited with his hands behind his back, staring at the ground in hopes of preventing attention from being drawn to himself. This stance earned him looks of disgust from the other. He stopped and tried to stand like them; facing forward with his back straight.
After a while of shuffling forward rather slowly, Dib found himself standing before an Irken at a table. She had a computer laid out before her. She looked bored.
"State your name and number."
Dib felt his stomach twist. Name and number? He didn't have one of those. He decided to go with his first idea,
"I-I'm Dib!" he said with a nervous grin.
"And…your number?" the irken asked.
Dib remained quiet for a minute, searching his brain for something to say. The Irken who'd asked for his number rubbed her temples, mumbling something about "getting all the stupid ones."
"I…don't know what my number is," Dib finally said nervously. He immediately regretted saying it.
"What do you mean?" the Irken leaned forward.
"I guess I…don't have one?" Dib clenched his fists, scolding himself mentally.
"Uh-huh." The Irken looked him up and down, her mouth curling into a frown. She typed on her computer for a moment, "Well, it seems that Irken Dib has already signed in."
"Well, that's, uh…" Dib trailed off, "the other Irken Dib! Yeah…" he smiled.
The Irken shook her head. She typed on the computer some more, and a small tablet emerged from a panel on the side. She picked it up and read it over, and then turned in her chair. Behind her was the entrance to a large metal dome, and tall walls lined the path leading up to it. What looked like Irken guards were standing along said walls. She waved one over. Dib froze in his place.
When the guard arrived, the Irken who'd asked for Dib's name handed him the tablet. He read it over with a nod and waved Dib along. Dib followed slowly, the warning Tak's ship had given him only minutes ago replaying in his head. The guard didn't speak to him.
Dib was lead into the big dome. When he got inside, he found that it was much bigger than he'd initially thought.
Thousands, maybe millions of Irkens all stood in military fashion, single file lines under the dome's roof. They each had their arms behind their backs and their feet spread evenly apart. Their antennae were laid gently against their scalp. Neutral expressions were on their faces. Machines that looked like cameras flew by overhead, emitting a mechanical humming noise as they passed.
Dib followed the guard along the inner wall of the dome. The guard stopped and pointed to a white dot marked on the floor. Dib followed directions, standing on the white spot, and mimicked what the other Irkens in line were doing. The guard casually stood against the wall, seeming to be pleased with him.
Dib looked around, and he could tell that his expression was awestruck, which he quickly fixed. Irkens in strange lab coats maneuvered through the crowd with tablets. Guards were everywhere, leaving no space unsupervised. Irkens in standard uniforms chatted and found their places. New questions besides why Zim had left Earth so suddenly came to the front of Dib's mind. Questions such as; what was going on here? Surely this wasn't a normal day on Irk, was it?
The building filled up quickly, and after a matter of minutes the entrance Dib had entered through with the guard was shut tightly. The room went dark except for a brightly lit stage at the front. Dib looked around him. Every white spot in the room had been filled, and he was surrounded by Irkens. Not one Irken was without a spot to stand on except the guard who had escorted Dib to one. He eyed Dib suspiciously. Dib observed everyone's straight up, hands clasped stances again. He mimicked them. Then, he fit in almost perfectly with the crowd, despite the fact that his spot was randomly placed along the wall, not in suit with the perfectly lined up dots the other Irkens stood on.
Everyone seemed to be watching the stage at the front of the room. Dib did so as well. After a moment, two Irkens who were much taller than the others made their way out onto the stage, the two of them entering from separate sides. They waved to the crowd. The room was loud with cheers of approval. Dib recognized them.
These Irkens were Zim's leaders.
((A/N: Howdy! That's it for this chapter
Once I got past some difficulties, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I'm fairly proud of how it came out. I'm not sure if you could tell, but I got real into describing Irk and how I think it looks. Writing Dib as the clueless alien visitor was a lot of fun, as well.
I'm not too sure about how I feel about switching between Zim and Dib in the middle of chapters. It's something I want to avoid for this fic, but this chapter would have been too short without it. There may be more of it in the future, but I'm still unsure. Just a heads up.
I wanted to thank everyone for the positivity on the first chapter, as well. It was really nice to see people interested in the story right off the bat. Thanks a ton!
ALSO! There's a Steven Universe reference in this chapter! If you can spot it, then you get a gold star.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thank you for reading, and have a great day!))
