A/N: Here's chapter two. Many thanks to all of you who have taken an interest in this story so far! :,D

Hope you enjoy!

Dib: PAT THE KITSUNE

Zim: Me

Gaz was strapped into the front passenger seat by the time Dib entered the car, and it was only when Membrane pulled out into the road and they turned the street corner that she visibly relaxed.

They rode in silence for the first hour, the sky growing lighter as dawn broke on their right side. Shops, then houses, thinned out before disappearing altogether as they reached the edge of the city where tough winter grasses and shrubs dominated the foot of the hills. Even this short stretch out of the confines of the town, there was a noticeable change. It wasn't just that the sky was a slightly less dirty color; though, there was that. It was comforting. Even Gaz and Dad seemed at ease, the girl's head propped in one hand as she looked vacantly out the window and a relaxed slant to their father's shoulders as he drove.

It wasn't until they were well into the ascent that it became apparent something was not quite right. An odd scratch and thumping sound was filtering into the car, beginning quietly in intervals at first, then growing more regular until everyone in the car was acutely aware of it. Membrane slowed down a little.

"It sounds like something's gone wrong with the car."

Gaz gave a dry smile. "Probably one of Dib's experiments escaped from his bag." she commented, though she meant it as more a joke than anything else.

"There's no need to make such accusations, Gaz! However, this may need to be investigated if it continues."

Gaz grit her teeth at those words. "I'm sure it's nothing, Dad." she wasn't keen on pulling over so early in the trip.

Continuing to drive about another half mile down the road, Membrane couldn't help but frown when he felt the car give another jerk and shudder, the scratching noise only growing louder the further they went until finally the spaced intervals of sound had become a steady orchestra of crescendos and decrescendos.

"Hmmm...That's definitely not nothing. I'm sorry, kids, but I'm afraid we'll have to pull over just as soon as we've reached the next town over. Can't continue driving with the car in such poor shape. Not to worry though! I'm certain whatever this is can be fixed in no time so we can be back on our way again shortly." he tried to reassure his kids that it was nothing that would deter them from continuing their vacation.

Leaning up against the side of the car door, Dib couldn't help but sigh to himself, more concerned that this little detour might prolong the trip a day or more longer than it was already scheduled to be. Glancing out the window, he then noted how the clouds seemed to stretch all the way back home, the sun just barely reflecting through their gray veil. To him, it seemed they were heading in the direction those clouds had just come from. Chancing a glance back in front of them, he then couldn't help but notice the lack of blue sky, most everywhere overcast, save for a few pockets where the sun just barely managed to peek through. He wondered if things would be like this for the entire trip, having never quite come out this far before.

The next town didn't come into sight for another hour, during which everyone's nerves were rubbed raw by the regular cacophony of rattles, scrapes, and thuds. The atmosphere in the car was strained, a grim silence between the three broken only by Membrane's occasional comments of, "Not far now, kids," and the scratch of Gaz's nails against the inside vinyl of the passenger door. The landscape outside lost its original splendor and grew monotonous and indistinct, with each new hill rolling toward them only serving to coincide with a louder round of protests from the car.

They saw only one other vehicle, which appeared in the rear view mirror shortly after they passed a signpost indicating the town to be less than ten miles away. It was of little concern to them though right up until it started to push close behind, as if to urge them along faster. Driving slowly due to the damage to the car and the treachery of the terrain here, Membrane simply muttered under his breath. The driver veered to the side a little, found himself unable to pass them by on the narrow road, and honked loudly.

Unintentionally cursing out loud when the car behind them honked, Membrane glanced at the vehicle tailing them before speeding up just a bit more, frustration clouding his better judgment now.

Sitting up in his seat slightly when he felt the car accelerating, much to the car's dismay, Dib watched as the road outside sped towards them at a less than pleasant velocity, tension hanging heavy in the air. He noticed the car behind them speed up to match their own speed before honking yet again. "Dad, maybe we should pull over." he said when he saw Membrane's grip on the steering wheel tightening.

Upon seeing a 5-mile marker for the town, the professor shook his head slightly and pumped the accelerator even more. "Nearly there, kids," he wheezed out, but they could barely hear him over the hideous throes of the car.

The driver behind them honked one final time.

"Have it your way, then!" Membrane shouted, causing both Dib and Gaz to start, his hands now suffocating the steering wheel. He hit the indicator switch and began to slow the car down.

SCREEE-

The noise and the staggering impact that followed rendered all the car's earlier protests obsolete.

It also drowned out a muffled cry from the boot.

Shooting an arm out horizontally when he felt the car jerk forward as a result of the collision, Membrane braced himself against the steering wheel accordingly so as to act as an anchor for his kids, Gaz thankfully catching herself against her father's arm before shooting back into her seat, shaken but unharmed. Unfortunately for Dib, he wasn't quite so lucky, the sudden shock jerking him from his seat and causing him to hit his head hard against the ceiling of the car.

"Are you kids okay?!" Membrane asked just as soon as they had slowed to a complete stop, glancing first at Gaz and then Dib in the back seat.

Groaning as he sat up in his seat, Dib winced before bringing a hand up to hold the place where he'd hit his head, the first waves of a headache setting in. "I-I think so." he said before glancing out the back window at the totaled car behind them. "Can't say the same for our car though...or the car behind us." he said before going to double over in his seat, his head pounding but thankfully not cut open or bleeding anywhere.

Gaz unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the slightly damaged passenger door, woozy after the impact but still acutely irritated. She placed a hand against the doorframe and squinted toward the back. "Dad…The other driver is getting out." she said when she saw the silhouette of a man pushing open his own damaged door to step outside into the mostly isolated outside world.

Membrane sighed, unbuckling his own straps. "Stay with the car, kids. I'll go and talk to him."

"If you say so..."

The driver was standing by the warped and busted front end of his vehicle, casting a vacant eye over the damage. His dazed expression changed to anger as the professor approached. "Just what do you think you're doing, stopping without brake lights or indicators?!"

Membrane seethed. "I gave you fair warning that I was going to pull over! It seems more likely that you failed to look for yourself, especially given your attitude on the road just now!"

Gaz listened to them from her seat, one eyebrow raised. "He should've just let me deal with that goon," she remarked quietly to Dib.

It was several minutes later that the loud voices ceased and Membrane stalked back towards the car. Arguing seemed to have expended the brunt of his anger, but there was still a definite furrow to his forehead as he propped an arm against the side of the car and looked inside. "Kids, I'm afraid we're going to have to wait here for a tow truck. We may not make our scheduled vacation - yes, I know you're disappointed, Gaz - but I'm sure we can still pack some fun into this trip. We'll just have to make new arrangements. In the meantime, we may as well assess the damage and try to unload our bags."

Slouching in her seat with a disgruntled sigh, Gaz looked away at her father's words, trying to disguise her initial feeling of disappointment with a facade of general annoyance instead. Of course something like this just HAD happen during their family trip. That always seemed to be the case.

Sensing his sister's struggle to keep her usually well-masked emotions in check, Dib was the first to get out of the car and start unpacking the bags from the back of the trunk, a small head rush slowing him down momentarily but not enough to prevent him from the task at hand. He opened the trunk with a small pop of the lock and went to remove the bag closest to the front. It was only then that something seemed to catch his eye: A boot sticking out with a leg still well situated inside it.

"What in the-" he went to reach for it before giving it a small tug, jumping back slightly when it moved, a small, all too familiar groan accompanying that movement. "Oh, hell no…" he said before going to move over the largest bag in there, said piece of luggage having been thrown around in the collision and knocked against the far back corner of the car.

Very much to his dismay, Dib was then met with sight of his most hated enemy, sprawled across the floor of the trunk and obviously disoriented with a few dents adorning his once egg-shaped PAK. It suddenly made sense to him why the car had started acting up and how they'd gotten into this mess in the first place.

Glancing back at his father and sister still stationed at the front of the car, he then quickly went to grab the Irken's arm when he began to sit up and flipped him over so he was staring Dib straight in the face now, his all too unimpressed glare startling the alien at first glance.

"Zim…" he began in a voice just barely above a whisper. "I'll give you ten seconds to explain to me just what the HELL it is you're doing here." he said, his grip on the Irken only tightening more when the other attempted to pull back towards the very back of the trunk.

As much as he hated keeping quiet about his discovery of the alien inhabiting their car trunk, he knew his sister would kill him were she to find out Zim had been the cause of their initial car troubles, certain the blame would no doubt fall back on him as a result of his and Zim's constant bickering over the years. Not to mention, it may look bad to the other driver were they to see him dragging another body out of the trunk of their car.

Still in a daze, the disguised Irken, who was only a foot or two shorter than Dib now, tried to pull away again when he finally seemed to come to his senses more. Dib wouldn't have it though as he merely dug his nails more into the arm his hand had taken possession of.

Zim hissed at the rough treatment, then bared his teeth and growled hoarsely at the human, attempting once to kick at him before finding this to be almost as useless as pulling against the steely grip on his arm. He stared Dib unsteadily in the face. By Irk, he felt queasy. He shook his head briefly and drew his brows into a glare that more-or-less matched up to his rival's.

Ignoring Dib's initial question he spat a somewhat slurred retort, flexing his free claw threateningly."Release me, Dib-filth! I have something very important to attend to, and I don't have time for-"

A movement in his visual periphery had him rapidly shifting his gaze to glimpse a second, unidentified human some way behind Dib. The ugly figure had its back to them and was skulking around by some wreck of a machine, which when he ignored several conspicuous mutations to its front end, closely resembled the one he was currently trapped in the back of. The glimpsed environment beyond was horribly blanched and sparse, and he didn't recognize it one bit.

Zim paled, shooting a look back up at Dib before wriggling in his spot in an attempt to see around him and register more of their surroundings. His eyes grew wide before he turned a furious snarl on the human.

"What is this?!" he harshly dug the claws of his free hand into the wrist that was holding him captive. "This is not the city! Where have you transported us to, you repulsive and underhanded Earth-weevil?!"

It suitably failed to occur to him exactly whose fault it was that he'd ended up here in the first place.

Wincing slightly when Zim clawed at his wrist like a scared and trapped kitten, Dib almost immediately went to grab his other hand, forcing the alien down onto his back and leaning himself over him so he wouldn't be able to resist any longer. The Irken stared up at him wide-eyed now, his view of the outside world completely eclipsed by the human holding him down and towering over him.

"Are you insane, Zim! Keep making such a racket and somebody will hear you!" he said in a hushed whisper before peeking back around the car to make sure both his dad and sister were where he had left them.

Returning his gaze back to the secured extraterrestrial a moment or so later, he then breathed out a heavy sigh before scowling at the Irken once more. "So are you going to explain to me just exactly what the hell it was you were doing in our car trunk? Or am I just going to have to tie you up and keep you hidden in my bag for the rest of our family vacation?" he said with a glance to his own bag, which he was certain the other could fit in were he to remove everything else from it.

The Irken didn't answer, rather clamping his mouth shut and looking away with a pout on his face, much like that of a child.

Rolling his eyes at the other's reaction, Dib then released one of the Irken's wrists so he could pull his bag over towards him and begin removing some of what he had packed. "You'll have to stay hidden and quiet until we reach somewhere remote. Then you can call Gir or whoever to come and pick you up." he said as he tossed his clothes into the trunk, figuring he could just buy some new ones later if he needed to.

No longer really paying much attention to the alien in question as he continued to rummage about in his bag, Dib barely had time to react when he felt the other's free hand colliding against his face in the form of a fist now before the alien then began struggling again and attempting to pull free. He grabbed the alien's free hand once more, the Irken letting out yet another high-pitched shriek of "Release Zim this instant!" before flailing about relentlessly.

Certain somebody would hear Zim if he didn't find a way to shut him up quickly, Dib, on impulse more than anything else, then did the only thing he could think of to do in that moment to hush the little green menace: He locked lips with him.

Covering the Irken's mouth with his own, Dib squeezed his eyes tightly shut before praying to God that this would work, noting to himself all the while the shape and feel of Zim's lips, thin but surprisingly welcoming at the same time. Feeling the other calm slightly beneath him, he then peeked a single eye open before realizing exactly what it was he was doing to the other and pulling away with a gag, his face burning with embarrassment and heart pounding with excitement despite all his racing mind's rationalizations for it.

"I-I told you to pipe down already. O-Or would you rather I got my sister to deal with you instead?" he broke the silence once things had suddenly become uncomfortably muted, the entire world seeming to have slowed down and stopped in that moment as he glanced back at the now shell-shocked Zim.

To Guest: Thanks very much for the review! We're glad you're liking it so far. ^^
This was our first time writing and editing together, so I'm glad the style works for you too :3

Anyways, hope you enjoy this one!