EB: Finally! I'm not too reliable when it comes to this stuff, especially since I'm moving soon. But I got the chapter done nonetheless. So here's chapter 3 of Zim, Irken of Badminton.
Myst: It's about time if you ask me!
EB: Well I didn't ask you.
Myst: That tone again!
EB: Yeah, screw it, it's that tone!
Both: Grrrrrrr
(Fight ensues)
Chapter 3And as he watched what was happening on his screen his mouth fell open and he watched the alien laugh menacingly from his base. And as he pointed to the ceiling, where the many wires of his base hung, a beam of bright, red light shot down and struck him hard. The boy couldn't help himself and so he smiled at what he had just seen, because it was always rewarding to see your enemy in a state such as this, even if it had not been you to cause such discomfort.
He quietly stood up from his chair and looked through the many disks that piled up beside his desk. Slowly he worked down the pile and waited as he searched for the correct one. For when Zim had been met by the girls he was sure that he had seen them before.
So he continued through his pile of disks, carefully looking at the title of each as he passed them by. And as he moved further along, one disk came into view that caught him. His hand touched the disk and he read the title. Then, in a hurry, he pulled it out from the pile and covered his head with his hands as quickly as he felt he could.
Nothing happened.
He let his hands fall to the side and he looked up at the pile of disks that hadn't fallen on him. Feeling quite victories, he stood up straight and brushed himself off. Then he put one foot out to move towards his computer again.
But the crashing and the hurting of all of the disks toppling onto his big head stopped him. From underneath the pile he sighed and stuck his large curve of hair out to move about and help him get free. Once his hands had been wriggled free he was able to climb out and stand up again, once more needing to brush himself off.
"Son!" came a strong man's voice from the basement laboratory. "There better not be any walking dead up there!"
"No dad!" he called back to him. "And how many times do I have to say that I'm sorry for that?" He sighed and quietly crossed the room to his chair. Then he sat down and opened the disk case to take out the shiny, circular object.
He inserted it into the computer and clicked a few things before it came up and he found that he was watching a video feed from several differing houses. Then he leaned back and watched the feed as it played out and showed him the girls that had come to Zim's house over and over and over again.
The first frame showed them over at an old woman's house. This had been taken about one year ago and he found it strange that they would be doing all these things for the community when he wasn't even sure if they actually lived around here. It was a very strange thing. Anyways, moving back to the video feed, he watched as they talked to the woman about a woman's basketball team that was to be going on in about two days. But when the woman shook her head at them the taller one 'persuaded' her to come and join the team in the same manner that she had to Zim.
"Hi, Dib."
The suddenness of his younger sister's voice caught him off guard and he jumped in his seat to turn and face her, also pausing the video feed in the process. Dib looked at Gaz, the dark glory of her wicked aura surrounding her like any other day. She had her Game Slave, version 2, in her hands but she, surprisingly, wasn't immersing in it like any other day. Her purple hair was in her same style, like every other day, with the three spikes falling in front of her face and then the two protruding out from behind her and curving sharply at the front. Her eyes were slits like each day and the gold of them was hidden.
Though Dib was surprised to see her he was sort of glad for the company. "Hi Gaz. What are you doing here?"
Her fist clenched. "Dad thinks that it would be good if we spent some quality time together."
"That's great!" He turned back to the video feed of the two girls. "Check this out. I've been monitoring the action of these two girls for a while now and, even though they don't live anywhere near here or even go to our skool, they always participate or start off activities at the gymaporium. It's so…"
"Weird."
"Exactly!"
"No. I meant you watching them all the time. It's weird."
Dib frowned. "I'm only doing that because whoever they talk to seems to disappear after going to that activity that they're confronted about. If that's the case then Zim might never be a problem again!"
"What if the girls come here?"
"I doubt that they will."
There was a ringing that came from down the stairs. It was the doorbell, which was followed by a fit of loud knocking on the door. Dib looked at the door to his room where Gaz was already walking out to answer the door. He shrugged his shoulders and continued to watch the feed that came from his computer.
---
Gaz slowly walked down the stairs, not in any real hurry to answer the door to someone who could be so annoying at the door. It was very irritating and with every pound that came to her ears she became even more irritable and angry.
So she walked across the living room to the door and placed her hand on the handle.
When Gaz opened the door she was surprised at the people that she saw but she didn't let it show on her face, like most times.
She was looking into the dark eyes of two girls. The first girl was tall with black hair, tied up into a ponytail with some hanging in front of her left eye, and had an entire black ensemble. She had a sword in a sheath on her back and a bag full of bright white fliers. Her head was slowly bopping to some music as she smiled at Gaz. The second girl looked very quite. She had an army shirt on with ripped jeans and metal-bottomed boots. Her hair was long and brown and she had a black, backwards baseball cap on.
Gaz smirked. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, we were wondering if you would like to come to a tournament at the gymaporium," said the girl with the black hair. She took a flier from her satchel and handed it to Gaz. "It'll be lots of fun. There will be teachings and refreshments and lots of other kids from the skool there."
The smaller girl snickered. "We can guarantee that," she whispered.
The taller girl elbowed her.
"Ow!"
Gaz read over the piece of paper quietly to herself, allowing the two girls to stand in the doorway and wait for her answer. She reviewed the paper and then her right eye opened slightly and she peered at them. "Who are you?"
"I'm Ahva," said the black haired, ninja-like, girl. "And this here is Brooke."
Brooke waved lightly.
Gaz hummed something in her mind first and then looked at them again. "You know what? I'm actually busy that day. Sorry." She noticed Ahva's hands clasp down and clench tightly at her side. Brooke just smirked. "But," Gaz interrupted. She saw them calm down, Brooke's smirk faded. "I do have a brother who really enjoys playing Badminton. He's always loved that game. Maybe I could get him to come instead?"
Ahva looked at Brooke who looked back at her. Ahva smiled wide. Brooke's left eye twitched lightly but she smiled too. Ahva then turned back to Gaz and nodded.
The gothic girl was about to close the door when Ahva stuck her foot into the way and put her hand on the wood. "Actually, I was wondering if we could talk to your brother. If that's alright."
"Yeah," Gaz heard Brooke say. "We have to be sure that you actually have one."
Gaz frowned but then turned to the stairs and walked that way. As she went she signaled for the two girls to enter the house and make themselves comfortable on the sofa.
---
Dib froze the frame of his computer on a close up of one of the two girls' faces. He peered at it for a moment and frowned. It was the girl with the black hair that he was currently looking at. She had a smirk placed on her face as she was walking away from Zim's house.
Dib played the video again and he watched as she clambered onto the bike. Then he froze the frame again and looked at the second girl, who was also smirking. But when he played the video both of their faces were back to normal. It was only when he paused the video did they smirk. Every other time they just had normal smiles or blank faces on.
"Dib."
He turned around to see Gaz in the doorway again. She was leaning against the frame and… smiling!
"Hi, Gaz. Who was at the door?"
"Two people that want to talk to you."
"Really?"
"Really, really. Better not keep them waiting."
Gaz moved out of the way, still smiling, as Dib leapt out of his chair and went through the doorway.
Dib hurried down the stairs; practically flying he was going so quickly. He stopped at the base of the stairs and looked at the people who were sitting at the couch. He couldn't see their faces but he had a bad feeling already when he saw the taller person with the black ponytail and the shorter one that barely got over the top of the sofa with the brown hair.
So he moved around the couch to see the faces of the two people that were sitting there.
He stopped when he saw the faces of the two girls on the video feed that he'd been watching. There was the black haired, tall girl with the sword and the black clothes and then there was the brown haired, short girl with the metal-bottomed boots. But this time she had a cap on.
The girl with the black hair turned to Dib. "Hi," she said in the same tone that she had to Zim when Dib had watched the feed. "My name's Ahva and this here is Brooke."
Brooke leaned over and waved to him slightly.
Ahva pulled a flier out of her bag. "Your sister told us that you really liked Badminton so we were wondering if you wanted to come to the tournament and teachings in a few days. It'll be an exciting time and there will be lots of kids form the skool there to have some fun and maybe you'll meet new people and have a lot of fun and stuff like that."
Dib frowned at his sister, who was now leaning on the banister at the base of the stairs, once more playing her game. Gaz looked up and smirked towards him, that evil glint in her right eye as it opened to look at him.
He sighed and took the flier from Ahva when she passed it to him. Carefully he looked it over and he thought about going to himself. Because if Zim was going to go then he probably should too. Otherwise, what if Zim won the tournament and that was enough insight for him to move onto the world and then what if he actually succeeded? That would be horrible!
So Dib read over the flier and then looked back up to Ahva and Brooke.
He saw Brooke lean in and heard what she whispered to Ahva. "He's not going to go for it."
Dib smiled.
"I'd love to go."
Ahva and Brooke looked completely surprise, Brooke more so than Ahva. Dib was glad that he had made them so shocked as well as the fact that he wasn't going to be hurt like Zim. Well, he wasn't hurt physically but Dib could tell that his pride had been diminished some when Ahva grabbed his scruff and got him to come.
Dib jumped back when Ahva leapt to her feet.
"Woo! RAWRRR RAWRRRR RAWRRR! You're the first person to actually say yes and not need any convincing otherwise!" Ahva leapt over to him and enveloped him in a hug that crushed all of his bones, metaphorically speaking.
Dib chocked and tried to breathe as Ahva hugged him and when she finally let him go he fell to the ground and gasped for breath. Then she pulled him up by the back of his black jacket so that he was, once more, in a standing position. Then she smiled at him and shook his hand hair enough to break it. Dib flinched and then held his hand when she let go. Then Ahva gave him a hard punch in the arm and headed to the doorway. There she waited for her companion to come and join her.
Then Brooke came up to him, her face blank but her left eye twitching lightly. Dib was ok with Brooke hugging him because she was so small that he didn't think that she could do all that much damage. But he was oh so wrong.
Broke hugged him hard, lighter than Ahva but hard nonetheless. She lifted him off of his feet, even though she was slightly shorter than him, and then nearly crushed his bones. When she set him down she didn't shake his hand like Ahva had. Brooke moved right on to the punch in the arm and then walked to the door where Ahva waited, leaving Dib gasping on the floor of his living room.
Ahva put her hand on the door, waving inside to him. "Oh, wait," she said just before closing the door. She opened it again and looked at him as he stood up. "I didn't catch your name. What is it?"
Dib stood up and gasped again, but still brushed himself off. "It's Dib. My name is Dib."
"Dib… Ok! We'll see you at the tournament Dib!" Then she closed the door and left him and his sister standing in the room.
Gaz smirked. She walked over to her brother, turning her game on pause. Dib didn't like her face just then. Gaz wrapped her arms around him and hugged him hard, just like Ahva and Brooke had, but even harder than them.
When Dib collapsed to the floor in a heap Gaz couldn't help but smile. "I like those two. They've got a knack for figuring out how to disguise pain with love." Then she turned her game back on and sat on the couch, ignoring her brother, who lay on the ground.
Now Dib had both his pride and his body in tremendous pain.
---
Ahva closed the door and turned to Brooke as she head for the bike. She had a smile on her face as she walked towards her friend. Broke hopped onto the bike first and then waited as Ahva made her way onto the back. But the black-haired girl stopped before getting on.
"I like him," she said, smiling at Brooke.
"Who?"
"You know. Dib. He's nice. And he's funny."
Broke shrugged. "He's ok. I still like that green kid though."
"Well, when we were there, I think that I like the dog best. He was the bestest little thing that I've ever seen. Little dog/robots are the best. Ahva clambered into the basket on the back of the bike and then let her long legs hand over the side as Brooke pushed off and went down the road.
Brooke smirked. "Not much of a disguise though."
Then they rode over the next hill to the house of the next child from the skool.
---
EB: OK. I'm done.
Myst: That didn't take long.
EB: It's not supposed to.
Myst: That makes sense.
EB: Ok, you have to write the next chapter now.
Myst: Rawr! I know!
EB: Then get writing!
Myst: I will!
Both: GRRRR!