I'm back! I'm trying to update as soon as I can and I am feeling lenient towards you readers out there so feel honored! Enjoy chapter 3!
Italicized is Dib's thoughts OR for emphasis when in dialogue.
The vast amount of baby blue was the only thing Dib could see now but they weren't so high up that a human's line of sight couldn't see them.
Dib tugged on the sleeve of Zim's shirt, still looking around the area they were flying in. "Hey, we're camouflaged so no one can see us, right?"
After pressing a few more buttons in the ship, Zim turned to Dib with a look of amusement.
"Yes, we are indeed. There is no way a human can see us in my new and improved upgraded invisibility system! I am amazing!" He threw up his arm as if to emphasize his incredibility to upgrade cloaking devices.
Dib rolled his eyes for what seemed like the tenth time that day. After a whole minute of clutching his head, trying to block out the noise GIR was making with every item he saw in sight, Zim suddenly snatched the robot and opened up the lid on his head. In a few seconds, GIR's eyes had turned black as if he were a shutdown computer.
At first Dib thought Zim killed him, but Zim must have caught Dib's wide eyed look because he muttered, "Dismantled him for now."
Dib made an 'o' with his mouth and turned to look outside again. However, the steady silence in the Voot was beginning to turn uncomfortable. Dib shifted in his seat. After Zim had stored GIR in the back of the Voot, Dib had a bit more room to sit next to Zim.
Another minute had past and Dib was going insane with the silence. He cleared his throat nervously, Zim's wig twitched with the broken silence.
"You know," Dib said. "You should have at least told me that we were taking your ship and staying in your base. I did make reservations for that hotel and all."
Zim turned towards Dib, an eye quirked up at this.
"Did you pay for the filthy place?"
"Well, no, but—"
"Then stop worrying, Stink meat. I'm sure you'll find Zim's incredible base to be more amazing than any other stinking hotel you were ever in," Zim said, setting his ship on autopilot.
He leaned back with his arms behind his head, giving Dib a flamboyant look. Dib's eye twitched and he averted his gaze away from that annoying smirk. It was then he realized…
Dib turned towards Zim. "Zim, do you have a ski or snowboard with you that you're using? Or are you renting one down there?"
Dib suddenly felt stupid asking the question as Zim gave him an affronted look.
"You think I want to go down there where a bunch of DISGUSTING humans are all clumped together in a big meaty mess? I'd rather be eaten by a Malkling! Oh, and I do have a snowboard stashed away just for Zim."
"You do? How'd you get one?" Dib crossed his legs in a more comfortable position.
Zim picked at his claws. "After analyzing those instruments, I decided to design my own. I would have made it more advanced with a structural floatation device and boosters built in but I decided to go ahead and be primitive like you silly humans. You know, just so I could learn how you learn on a regular and non-special snowboard."
Being Zim, Dib knew that Zim was just being paranoid about the human race and he let it go just for that. However, something else caught his attention from Zim's earlier comments.
"What's a… Malkling?"
Zim leaned back more into his seat with his arms folded across his chest. He tilted his head towards Dib with an all knowing smirk.
"Oh, so you would like to know what a Malkling is, eh?"
"Well, yeah, otherwise I wouldn't have asked, stupid."
Zim gave Dib a look as if he had just committed blasphemy against his Tallest. Dib thanked the lord that the ship was on autopilot because of Zim's lack of attention towards flying it. Zim growled.
"You're stupid… stupid!" Zim mocked with some struggle.
"This is dumb. Are you going to tell me or not, Space Boy?"
"Then quit mumbling out dooky and listen to Zim!"
Dib cursed and managed to sit still and listen instead of throttling the invader right now.
"Good. Let's make this interesting. I want you to do something for me," Zim said, now completely facing Dib and crossing his legs in his seat.
"Try thinking of the most horrible and evil thing that you—or perhaps all humans—hate… besides me." Zim narrowed his eyes at the last sentence after Dib immediately opened his mouth.
Dib thought about this. Well, if he were to put this into any human's perspective then his automatic understanding of a most vile thing they hated and feared was death itself. Nobody wanted to die. And with that, Dib comprehended profoundly that it would make sense for everyone to despise death. He was only guessing, of course.
However, if he were to put this into his perspective then it was of no doubt that the most evil and coldhearted aspect of life Dib ever came across, besides Zim, was the feeling of loneliness.
Someone inside of his head chuckled darkly. Yeah, and guess who helped cause your loneliness? Was it… humanity perhaps?
Dib immediately blocked out the voice, thinking how foolish that sounded. It may be a bit… true BUT he knew it wasn't entirely their fault. Not all humans were coldhearted and ignorant towards him, were they?
There had to be at least someone— oh, please! That dark voice had entered his mind again, pushing against the barriers.
Wake up out of that crappy unrealistic mind of yours and look around you, Dib! Those humans— those fleshy organisms all HATE you! How many times have you tried to get them to listen to you? But will they listen? Hell no! They're only too ignorant and self-centered to even TRY pretending that you exist!
Dib tried pushing back that part of his mind. He really desperately tried, but the voice had already engulfed his inner head and sucked it in like it was a juice box. Without knowing it, his hands had clutched tightly onto his armrest.
Face it, Dib. You're alone. Nobody pays attention to you. Not even your own family! Only ONE person has ever paid attention to you for the fun of it. You know who that is? Take a guess.
No. Dib grit his teeth.
You know damn well who it is! Why are you denying this fact! Why, because he's your enemy? Is that it? It's been in front of you this whole time! Don't act stupid and give into denial! Zim is the only one you've got and you know it!
Dib was literally on the brink of screaming back at his putrid conscious when a voice interrupted his mental argument.
"Dib-filth, it's been over five minutes and you still look unsure as to whether or not you loathe something." Zim cocked his head to the side. He leaned over and gave a sharp poke to Dib's temple.
"Is there something going on in that big head of yours?"
Although Dib heard Zim's mildly concerned voice, it was hard to tell what he was saying when his thoughts were still trying to disperse. However, at the feel of the hard poke to his head, Dib felt an unknowing rage at the contact.
"What? What do you want?" Dib snapped, glaring at Zim.
Zim growled at the pile of venom Dib spat at him.
"Idiotic human! Do you want to know what a Malkling is or not, Dib-smell?"
Giving up, Dib sighed loudly and dropped his head onto the dash of the ship in front of him. He unclenched his hands and waved his hand carelessly at Zim.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Go ahead and tell me."
Zim ignored the slumped figure and said, "Now take that thought and intensify it by a thousand degrees. A Malkling is worse, Dib-pig. Oh, much, MUCH worse. It is feared by many races in the universe; even Irkens."
Lifting his head off the dash, Dib eyed Zim curiously.
"Wow, it'd be kinda funny to see your reaction when being encountered by one. What do they look like anyway?"
Zim ignored the first sentence. "Actually, Malklings are the offspring of the Malk race; more poisonous and deadly at that age, but I will say that they have a menacing and hideous appearance, eh, so I've been told."
Dib was still very intrigued by these creatures. It wasn't often he got to listen to a story about beasts from outer space.
"Does this race have any purpose for living? What are its motivations? What planet are they from?"
Zim cut Dib off with his hand meeting Dib's cheek. Dib rubbed the slightly stinking cheek and glared at Zim.
"Enough! Those are your only questions I'm going to answer, all right?" Zim cleared his throat.
"The Malk race survives by feasting on any living thing crawling about. It's favorite—and rare might I add— meal is an Irken. Disgusting, no? Irken blood is probably the sweetest life sustaining fluid the universe has ever created. No surprise there. Anyhow, back in our revolutionary times, we used these beasts for execution sources on Irken's found guilty of treason or slaves that we have left over after conquering a planet.
I'm sure we don't have those horrible creatures anymore but we have managed to make as many extinct as possible with our new and improved weaponry. We have no clue as to which planet or where they evolved from. We can only hope there are none left near us in the galaxy. Does that answer your stupid questions, human?"
Dib pondered, first thought going to a Malkling eating Zim's face off to another image of him drinking a cup full of Zim's blood. The thought was sickening. Dib couldn't help but feel amused on the idea of draining his enemy's blood and selling each can of it for a few bucks.
He almost snickered at this. An unusual thought popped up into his mind and he couldn't help but smile maliciously at the skit he was about to perform towards the alien.
"So," Dib drawled out, turning towards Zim with his eyes narrowed and smile growing. He saw Zim give him an apprehensive stare.
Dib leaned forward. "Mind if I have a taste of that sweet blood of yours?" He was only teasing; he knew that. That still didn't give him an excuse for sounding so seductive, which he wasn't trying to do.
Dib knew it sounded a little too sumptuous on his part but he had to give himself credit after seeing Zim start to perspire and grow uncomfortable under his stare.
Zim coughed nervously into his hand, darting his eyes around the ship.
"Eh, I-I think the Dib should stop asking idiotic questions and keep his smelly head out of Zim's personal belongings." Zim gave him a snide look before turning his head away from Dib with a pout.
Dib had never felt so exhilarated before to see his enemy—HIS enemy— break out in a sweat and squirm uncomfortably because him. True, all of their fights put excitement into his life but this felt very different when seeing the alien weak. It made his heart race much faster.
Seeing his enemy look weak made Dib feel like he was filled with helium and giddy all over. This feeling was new. This feeling was a drug. A drug Dib decided at this moment that he didn't want to give up. It was then he began to form new tactics in his mind to be able to receive the same feeling of triumph.
Dib couldn't help it when he stood up from his seat and inched closer to Zim, purposely smiling broadly while he clasped his hands in an innocent way. Denying his craziness towards people would definitely be a disadvantage if he were to pose this look.
"What's the matter, Zim? Am I making you… uncomfortable? Frightened? Weak kneed?"
As Dib advanced, Zim backed more into his seat, pushing himself as far as he could in the soft cushion behind him, freaking out.
Dib felt like licking his lips as a dramatic effect towards Zim. That look of pure terror and weakness on Zim's face… it looked… delicious. He saw Zim gulp and draw his knees up to his chest.
"D-dib? What… what's wrong with you? Do you have the brain worms? Get away from ZIIIIM!" Zim lashed out and pushed onto Dib's chest with all his might. Dib stumbled back and landed back into his chair, startled.
Dib cursed again and rubbed the back of his head where it had hit the back of the chair hard. Man, why did Zim have to be so crazy?
He looked over at Zim who had now taken control of the ship once more and was staring moodily ahead, giving the glass a few hard glares.
Dib now felt awkward. He had no idea why he had done that in the first place and, apparently, neither had Zim. His only reason was to see Zim freak out, and that wasn't even a legitimate excuse.
"Um…" Dib said nervously.
"Just let it go, Dib-beast. You were clearly delusional for some reason and must have imagined that Zim was a ham sandwich. Are you in need for foodening?" Zim gave a sharp gaze towards Dib.
"A bit," Dib mumbled. He looked out the ship's front just in time to see snow covered mountains. He almost sighed with relief. Finally, a way to get out of this tension and heat filled ship.
Zim lowered the ship a few yards and Dib could now see humans skiing and snowboarding down the mountains gracefully. They looked like innocent tiny ants on an anthill from up where they were. Occasionally falling over and laying there on the flat surface like a dead animal in the road.
Dib stumbled as Zim jerked the ship over towards the left side of the mountain. The ship careened towards the tallest mountain that Dib could see and continued its way towards the destination.
"Why pick the tallest mountain?" Dib pointed out.
"I'm sure that there are less humans excavating around this area than in the lower regions. We don't want anyone finding our base in the middle of a populated mountain, now, do we?"
Dib looked around and noticed that Zim was right. There were hardly any mobile black spots flowing down this particular mountain. But there was a flaw in this. Dib knew that the higher the elevation, the colder it gets. There was probably going to be a snowstorm coming soon and will no doubt start freezing everything up.
"Uh, you're sure that your base will withstand any snowstorms and be able to keep us warm, right?"
Zim gave a frustrated sigh. "Questions! Questions! Where does your filthy head keep getting these pointless questions! Of course my base is full proof! Why ask when you know Irken technology is superior!"
"It's called curiosity, Zim."
"Yeah, well, curiosity killed the moose."
"Cat. Why are you so stressed about a few questions anyway? I thought you'd be glad to answer with that egotistical mind of yours."
Zim slammed his fist down onto the control panel.
"Zim is not stressed!"
The ship gave a lurch and Zim caught himself before landing all over the controls of the ship. He steered the ship back to its original course and they slowly descended at the highest point of the mountain. Dib noticed that Zim looked a little too tense than normal and he looked like he would literally tear apart someone who dared try messing with him.
Zim's wig had somehow ended up falling halfway off his head, revealing his antennas, and lavender eyes were now transfixed on the view in front of him. His body was rigid and his zipper sharp teeth were gritted in annoyance.
Dib leaned back in his seat and chuckled to himself. Oh, yeah. Zim definitely lacked stress. Zim turned his head towards Dib with a stoned stare.
"What?" He snapped out like a cobra ready to strike.
"When I define stress… you're pretty much my main example," Dib joked with raillery.
Zim snarled but said nothing.
They lowered down into a vacant area that was located between two high mountains of snow and ice. Dib felt his ears begin to close and scream against the pressure none too kindly welcoming into his system.
He needed some gum.
So instead he gave a few fake yawns to try and pop them back open again. He didn't have the best of luck. Dib couldn't help but send Zim an envious stare. The alien was lucky he didn't have ears to experience the kind of pain he was going through.
The ship rocked a few times before stabilizing itself in the freezing snow. The climate wasn't too bad. A bit chilly, but the sun was fixated in the sky with rays of warmth beaming down on the two as they climbed out of the ship.
They were on a nice clean hill up on the mountains where he could easily snowboard down through the very few trees planted there on the silky sheets of undisturbed frost. Soon there will be snowboard tracks all over this mountain.
Dib could barely spot a ski lift just below this mountain. From what he could infer, it was probably the highest ski lift that the resort had to offer. He was fine with that.
There was a slight rumble beneath his feet that had Dib jumping. He spun around to see Zim's house rebuilding itself in place. Wires sprang out from the sides of the house and buried themselves deep in the snowy banks for stability.
After a few moments of Dib's gawking and the annoying whirring of mechanics, the house stood tall and clashed against the white background with the soft green that emitted from the house in a glowing aura.
"Dib-stink!" Zim had called against the gentle wind blowing around them. "Zim will not tolerate with having a dead Dib frozen to death try teaching him this pathetic sport! Get in here!"
With that said Zim stormed into the house and slammed the door behind him, knocking off some snow that had already gathered on the roof.
Dib followed, looking around at the whisper of nature surrounding him. He stepped up to the door mat, raising an eyebrow at the words printed: WIPE FILTH. Zim has the oddest sense of aesthetic décor with his base.
Dib laid his hand on the already cold door knob, turned it, and entered the base, shutting the door behind him.
Zim: Review now or taste my wrath!
Dib: Shut up, Zim. Although reviews would be awesome.
Thanks for reading! Chapter 4 coming soon...