Zim headed toward the lunchroom after his class was over and looked around till his eyes landed on Dib who was currently eating; he made his way over to the human and sat down beside him. "Hey." Dib greeted, and the Irken nodded. "How were your classes of DOOMY DOOM?" He asked as he looked at the human, earning a small shrug from him. "To be honest, I wasn't paying attention to them," Dib told him as he handed him a small paperback.

Zim looked at it curiously. "What is it?" He asked, looking back at Dib.

"Food," Dib replied. "Way better than the crap they serve here."

"You truly are wonderful..." Zim whispers reverently, food being one of the greatest known Irken pleasures and he happily eats the subsidence Dib brought for him.

"Not that wonderful, but thanks." Dib smiled and took out his lunch. "So you were going to talk about the Pak situation."

Zim slows down contemplating telling the Dib here but then realizes Dib is probably the only one who bothers to hear Zim's voice anyway. "My banishment was more of an impromptu execution that failed for as you can see Zim is alive. Not quite well, but alive. My PAK has always been different from other Irkens broken, incomplete... defective.

Though after my attempted execution my PAK lost the ability to function as a whole no longer can I process food, and heal or go without any sleep, it is a requirement now. I can't even process complex emotions sometimes without overheating and passing out. I am weak and disgusting..." Zim looks down into his food seeming to forget Dib was there at all his mind now far away. "I almost wish they had succeeded..."

Dib listened to him and frowned at the last part. "I don't find you weak or disgusting..., and I'm glad that it didn't work. Honestly, Zim...you became a part of my life, whether it was an evil alien or my friend, and I'm not going to watch you suffer." The Irken looks at Dib wide-eyed and can feel his sincerity. "Zim would prefer friend... he has enough enemies..." He jokes Dib slightly helping lift his mood.

The human nodded and smiled a little. "Gaz and I will always be your friends, and you can come to me whenever you need something." He said. That earned a smile from the Irken as he looked at the human feeling a slight heat go to his cheeks he pats them unsure of it unaware a blue blush has stained his cheeks. Figuring he isn't going to die Zim decides to ignore it and goes back to eating his food.

The human noticed his blush and hummed as he pulled out his laptop from his bag; he hoped to do a little bit of work on trying to get the information, though he didn't have his Irken to English translations with him. He had always left them at home next to his computer when he tried to decode certain files that he had hacked.

Zim's antennae perk slightly against the wig as he notes Dib's project. "You can read Irken?" Zim says wondering if Dib could read it or if he might need help. "I left my translator back home, but I know a few words by now," Dib replied. "So I will need your help," Dib admitted as he looked back at Zim with a smile.

"Zim would be happy to teach you his superior language!" The Irken says happily "I wonder if you could even learn to speak it..." He wonders if Dib is capable of making the many sounds that involve Irken language.

Dib hummed. "I could try." He replied, the Irken became excited at the prospect and happily helped Dib with his translations. Mostly to mess with the human a bit he spoke a line in Irken, knowing Dib couldn't know what it meant. With clicks and the other sounds, Zim said. "Your large head isn't so bad, and Zim likes it a lot," Dib tilted his head as he looked over at Zim when he spoke Irken, there were only some words that he could understand. "I like you a lot too Space boy." He smiled a little.

Zim jumps in surprise looking at Dib with wide eyes. "H-how did you know what Zim said?" Zim's face turns a shake of dark blue, but he wants an answer more than he wants to hide in embarrassment, earning a shrug from Dib. "I think that's only the very few I know..." He said.

He balks what the odds of that are? He looks away from Dib knowing he probably revealed a lot in that statement. "Uhhhh Zim will speak English now yeah... No need to analyze anything Zim says..." Zim says in full embarrassment glad he didn't say everything he thought of Dib his embarrassment causing his Pak to deliver a warning click, so he starts fiddling with his hands to distract himself. "Stupid clicks always ruin everything..."

Dib looked at his Pak and bit his lip, wishing he knew what to do about it. "Okay, we should get to working on this." He said, wanting to fix the others, Pak, as soon as possible.

"Yes, yes, yes, let's do what Irken techs and doctors have been trying to figure out for centuries, so we have the advantage," Zim says, a tinge of bitterness in his voice the PAK cliques again but then resumes normal function making him sigh in relief. "Zim is sorry for his what do you humans call it? Pessimist or something" he waves off the unknown illusive word. "The Dib has beaten many odds before these are just probably more things for you to beat," Zim says trying to feel positive of Dib's endeavor.

"I understand you are angry about it," Dib replied. "Many people who are sick and dying tend to be angry about their situation because they can't do anything about it. I don't blame you for being upset. And the word you are looking for is pessimistic."

"Oh so... this is normal? Zim is okay for feeling this way?" He perks up a little at this, trusting Dib's word and he feels happy the human is willing to put up with his stuff and resolves to do better for his human. "Very normal," Dib replied and went back to work.

Zim watches Dib work and is honestly impressed at the way he is navigating the Irken programming with only minimal input form Zim himself. "You are far above your species" Dib chuckled softly at this. "Thanks." He replied, knowing he was pretty much smarter than most people.

Zim works with Dib till lunch ends. "Well time to part ways again human, shall we meet outside the school?" Zim asks straightening his backpack and waiting on the masses of the taller students to disperse a little before leaving.

Dib nodded. "Yeah, meet me at the car, and I'll take you to my house." He told him and put his laptop away.

Zim nods before beginning his wade between students carefully avoiding and sometimes failing to avoid backpacks and other swinging objects like arms as he spends the rest of the day thinking of Dib and Gaz's situation and how him working for Zim seems to be more of a convenience than anything else. "I will pay my human extra I think" he decides this and after school is over waits for the crowds to disperse before finding the Dib's car.

Dib leaned against the car after class as he waited for Gaz and Zim. He thought about his situation and was glad that Zim would be willing to help them out with the money situation, not that he needed it right now since he had taken quite a lot out of his dad's account before he cut them off.

Zim found the Dib and ran up to him. "Zim found you! Where is the Gaz-beast?" Zim looked around for the scary sister of Dib not disliking her but fears the removal of his superior organs if he makes her angry
Dib put his phone in his pocket. "She's coming." He replied.

"That's good at least I wasn't the one holding us up," Zim says walking over to lean against Dib's car purring from the warmed metal against his PAK.

"She'll be out soon," Dib said and spotted her coming out. "Ah...there she is." He said and got in the car, waiting for his sister to get in the car as he started it. Zim sat in the back and stretched out enjoying the warmth of the sun heated vehicle. "The cold is one thing I will always hate about the earth, how you humans can stand it is far beyond Zim."

Dib chuckled. "It's not that bad." He replied and began driving once Gaz was in the car. "Are Irkens cold-blooded?"

"Yes we are, our PAK generally warms our blood for us but if it is busted or missing we revert to the natural unheated blood. We won't make good invaders if we freeze to death on any planet we came across, of course, the part that heats us can get shut down if the species mimicked is cold-blooded itself. Though that doesn't happen often, Irkens are one of the few species to ever rise to dominance while being cold-blooded." Zim explains with a little pride in his voice at the rarity of his people's success.

Dib listened, finding the information interesting. "Wow, that's pretty cool." He replied as the information sunk in he knew he needed to fix his PAK even more if the Irken was going to survive the winter due to his cold nature; he parked the car once they were home and he handed Gaz some money. "You can order Bloaties if you want." He told her. "Zim and I are going to work on something, and I don't know how long it'll take."

"Fine, Fine, whatever dweebs," she says walking to the phone but the insult sounds nicer than actual insults, Gaz has decided to slowly, be nice to her brother, slowly. Zim watches her go before following Dib. "So what are we working on first? Food? Plans? Dib is learning Zim's amazing language!" The alien sounded almost excited to be working on anything forgetting the PAK issue at hand.

Dib headed up the stairs. "I have a few snacks to tide you over for a bit till I make dinner. I will need you to help decipher a few words when I hack into the Irken system though." He said as he opened the door to his room; he still had the Swollen Eyeballs poster above his computer, though he hadn't contacted them in a long time. Zim follows eagerly but pauses seeing the symbol the thought that Dib might betray him finally entering his mind he frowns looking at it.

He wants to believe Dib is serious about being friends with him but that eye makes him nervous. He tries his best to hide it. "O-okay shall we start now? And snacks sound great." Zim says, and his inner invader is berating him for just now remembering that Dib was his rival in the past.

Dib glanced at him and then at the poster; he could tell the other was unsure now. "Don't worry; I haven't talked to them in a long time, those guys are idiots." He said. "I just hadn't pulled it down yet..." Dib went to his desk and pulled out a couple of chocolate bars and giving one of them to Zim. "Here,"

"Oh yes, Zim knew that yes he did..." Zim laughs nervously taking the candy bars and eating them the sugar making him feel better, and he is happy that Dib wasn't in contact with the strange humans anymore; he never could truly pin down their threat level. Dib nodded and smiled a little.

"But I can understand your caution...I really should take it down." He said as he turned on his computer and typed in a few things till a bunch of Irken words popped up, another screen to the side was in English though most of them weren't the right translation.

"Some of those are wrong Dib-thing" Zim points out but can't help but be impressed at how some of the words were correct. "Here let Zim help," Zim says writing down the words and their more actual translation. Dib watched him and nodded. "Yeah, I figured most of them were." He replied before looking back at the screen; he knew a few of the words as he had hacked into it a few times. "I hacked into one of the computer brain things..." He said, looking through it for something on the PAK.

Zim drops his pencil and pad and scoots Dib over. "YOU DID WHAT?!" Zim looks over the screen no one other than himself has ever been able to accomplish such a feat. "Dib this is... this is amazing how and even without complete knowledge of Irken language!" Zim looks at Dib in awe.

The human chuckled softly. "The first few times were lucky guesses, but I realized later on that I needed to learn the language...so I did a lot of searching, and I was finally able to learn the language. That and certain races were willing to help."
Zim stares at Dib realization setting in. "You have been working with the Resistiy? It must be oh my goodness, Dib if the Empire finds out about this they will-" Zim cuts himself off realizing that the Massive wouldn't come within three galaxies range because he is here and that must be why the Resistiy helped Dib, Zim starts laughing uncontrollably his PAK making increasingly harsher clicking sounds.

"Oh, my Irk that was genius! The Irken Empire probably wouldn't even notice oh this is hilarious!"

Dib watched him and chuckled softly. "Alright...you should calm down, so you don't overexert your PAK," He said, worried about the clicking. Zim eventually calms down but not until after a few seizure-like jerks and when he does he is still smiling softly. "Now and then the pain is worth a good laugh Dib-human," He says as the clicking continues Zim rolls over so the excess heat can escape easier.

Dib watched him worried and sighed. "Yeah, true." He smiled a little. "But yeah...I joined the Resistiy. You guys have a lot of people angry at you." He said, amused.

"Well, of course, we have set out to conquer the whole galaxy." Zim then frowns remembering his rejection from the race and his subsequent realization he was a terrible invader and a terrible Irken he was a defect not even considered worth keeping alive except for entertainment. "Or at least they are. I am nothing now no purpose except what I make for myself..." Zim wonders if he should join the Resistiy too or would he make things worse for them if they even bothered allowing an Irken to join.

"Just because your mission has been taken from you and your leaders decided to up and did this crap to you, doesn't mean you don't have a purpose," Dib said. "You pick up your life and make your destiny."
"I guess you humans are used to that, making choices... carving destinies..." Zim plays out his hands looking at them in self-reflection.

"That isn't true for Irkens every aspect of our life planned out dictated; Anarchy isn't something we do. Though I suppose I have always been an exception to the rule; it was so obvious they didn't want me, all those failed attempts at ending my life. I should have seen it coming, yet I became blinded by my desire to be an invader that I defied their plans... maybe if Zim tried harder he could have been something to the empire... but, Zim thinks that this carving of a purpose will be interesting." He looks at Dib, staring a few seconds. "Even when you fix Zim's PAK even when I have started paying you will you help Zim?"

Dib nodded in reply. "I'll help you if you need it, Zim." He smiled a little. "Hell, I think the Resistiy wouldn't mind having you on board." He wanted to help Zim and assure him that he would. Zim smiles at Dib truly happy that the Dib didn't seem to think low of him during these changes in his life.

"Thank you. Dib Zim will not fail your trust and belief in me," Zim vows going back to his translations. He nodded and looked at the time. "I'll go make us something to eat." He told Zim and then left to make them something for dinner. "Yes, Dib-human make delicious food for Ziiiimmmmmmm!" Zim rolls around Dib's bed in excitement for food before going back to his work in double time fixing translation errors.

The human smiled at this and started making dinner; he then got some soda, after he finished he came back up with the sodas and plates. "Here you go." He said as he walked over to the computer.

Zim had fallen asleep on Dib's computer but jerks awake form the noise. "Eh? Oh, food! Yes, glorious food! Thank you Dib-human!" Zim says digging in and happily humming happily at the taste of the food; he is even happier with the sugar-filled soda.

His PAK hums now, but it seems a non-threatening sound and Zim doesn't react to it. "Where did you learn to make food Dib?" The human shrugged at this and hummed. "When you practically live by yourself since you were young, you tend to learn how to cook. Seeing as he was hardly ever home it was more or less up to me to get things done around here and to be honest it wasn't that big of a change after he left." He said as he sat down beside him.

"Really? Irkens generally eat prepackaged food from the Armada, but Skooge knew how to cook. Why would your parental unit abandon you? I mean Zim's lies were amazing, but your suspicions were perfectly valid" Dib sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair a bit and then looked at Zim.

"For one thing, Professor Membrane wanted me to follow in his footsteps, but I was more into the supernatural and aliens. I wanted to be a paranormal investigator, not a scientist." Dib replied. "But more than that; he was married to his work, nothing was more important than his precious science."

Zim frowns not knowing what a parental relationship feels like, but he understands the loss of the ones who are supposed to protect you. Zim surprises himself and hugs Dib rubbing his face into the boy's side. "Zim is sorry he rejected you and chose work instead, Zim understands what it's like to be abandoned. I swear now, Zim will never leave you." Zim makes another vow to Dib unaware of the various connotations attached to his words and actions. Dib smiled a little. "Thanks, Zim, I appreciate that." He replied and hugged him back.

"Anytime Dib-thing Zim will be just as there for you, as you are for him!" Zim says looking up at his human friend happiness blooming in him but he doesn't let much out refusing to ruin it or cause Dib to worry should his Pak begin sounding off. He then remembers something. "Oh yes, Zim forgot to pay you for your meals!" Zim disentangles the hug and fishes for his wallet in his backpack and pull out two one hundred dollar bills and hands them to Dib. "That is enough for one day right? Does Zim owe more?"

Dib looked at the two bills and nodded. "That should be enough." He replied. "I took a lot out of my dad's account before he just up and left, but I wanted to make sure I had a job before I ran out...though it would have been a while before that happened. Thanks for helping out Zim." Zim smiled. Happily, antenna twitching a bit. "Of course Dib human now that we are friends it is my responsibility to help take care of you! Because we are friends and should you need anything from me let me know okay?" Zim says.

He felt that he is doing the friendship thing right wanting to ensure the Dib stays pleased with him. He already can tell after day one that if he lost the friendship with Dib it would wound him deeply.

Dib was happy with his newfound friendship with Zim, glad to get to know the Irken as a friend, rather more of an enemy. He promised to help Zim get better no matter what. "I will." He replied and took a bite of his food before turning his attention to the computer. "You get very far?"

"Oh, yes 97% of the translations are now correct! Only 3% left to fix I can do that now!"

Zim crawls up and sits in Dib's lap and begins typing away to finish the translator module. "If I were translating this to English, it would be simpler, but since I am translating your English to Irken, there is more of a slight delay in memory to protect Irken secrets. That is also why your translations were wrong in the first place the language changes itself slightly just so the coders can find non-Irkens attempting to get in.

Dib blushed a little when he sat on his lap and then turned his attention to the screen. "So there's like two Irken languages in a way?" He asked, curious. "Yes, I will teach you the proper one so you can be a better asset to the Resistiy. Just make sure you don't teach it to anyone else keep yourself valuable, they or any army for that matter will be less likely to sacrifice you," Zim says helping fix the translations so that Dib will be one of the best soldiers the Resistiy could have.

He doesn't know them personally but no army goes without sacrifices, and he wants Dib so valuable they wouldn't even dream of moving him.

"That would be a little easier," Dib replied. "Especially if you want to hack the Massive and take control." He said, watching as Zim continued to translate.

Zim pauses, remembering one of his more noted escapades. Just another reason his race justifiably hates him "Indeed" he continues the work and finishes his somber mood is broken however when he finishes.

"Ha finished! Complete Irken Language for the Dib!"

Dib smiled and clapped his hands. "Yes! Sweet." He replied, excited.

Zim slides off of Dib's lap and stretches allowing the human to look over the improved code. "Remember, don't teach that to anyone," Zim says before flopping on Dib's bed to watch the human.

Dib nodded and smiled. "Alright, promise." He said as he looked over the language, then he started searching for some information on the PAK.

Zim watches Dib focused on his task and removed his disguise setting the pieces aside. Showing his ultimate trust in the human and he curls up on Dib's bed and listens to the boy type awhile longer before drifting off since he can't do anything at the moment anyway.

Dib found what he had been looking for and printed off what he needed to do after making sure to turn the Irken words into English; he looked over at Zim and smiled, it had been a while since he had seen him without the silly disguise.

Zim sleeps for about an hour before his starts clicking terribly, and he squirms before falling off the bed with a small shriek of surprise his eyes shoot open, and he groans as his Pak slows its horrible clicking and Zim rubs his head where he hit it.

"Where? Oh, Dib-thing's house..." the alien mutters to himself, looking around for Dib who wasn't there at the moment. "Zim? You okay?" Dib asked, going up to him; he had been downstairs doing the dishes after had finished printing off what all they needed. Zim startles with a squeak.

"Eh the Amazing Zim is fine he just... tripped yeah on purpose! Yes on purpose to see how fast the Dib would get here if Zim needed help! And…and you passed, good for you!" Zim says dusting himself off trying to smile as if he believed what he was saying. "Mhm..." Dib watched him a bit, worried. "Well, I got what I needed." He said and handed what he had printed off to the other.

The Irken takes the paper and reads it thankful the translation function his Pak still works. "Interesting and impressive but how are we going to get this fixed even if we were skilled enough for this I would shut down for the operation, and you could be working non-stop for hours..." Zim says slightly worried about how this is mostly theoretical work, but if Dib thinks he can do it the worst possible outcome is death, and no one would be negatively affected by his death anyway.

Dib sighed. "Well, I've been thinking, and there's a member of the Resistiy, who has worked on an Irken's PAK before; he's an Irken himself. I did a background check, as I did with most of the Resistiy before joining them, and he's not a huge fan of the Armada." He said.

Zim looks doubtfully at Dib but decides to trust him. "If you trust them, Dib, I do... make sure they are willing to work on me beforehand...I don't exactly have a stellar reputation in the universe and I would rather him turn down working on me beforehand than showing up finding out it's me and kill me on the operating table." Zim says, his overactive imagination easily imagining any number of his enemies ripping him apart while he is vulnerable; he shakes slightly, and his PAK makes a few noises before itself."

Dib placed his hand on his shoulder. "I'm going to talk to him tonight, for now, go home calming and rest, I'm sure Gir and computer are worried, though I sent a message and told them you were over here and not to worry. It's going to be alright." Zim looks at Dib a little longer before hugging the human tightly. Once he lets go, he puts on his disguise, and with the sincerest voice, Zim has probably ever produced. "Thank you, Dib, Zim appreciates this." He then leaves going home to his little robot and sassy computer.

Dib smiled and hugged him back; he sighed as he watched him leave and then went to his computer, connecting with the Resisty ship so he could speak with them.

A random communications soldier answers a moment later. "Agent Dib? What is it?"

"I would like to speak with Rift; he's got some information I need," Dib said

"Rift alright patching through," The soldier says forwarding the call.

Rift's antenna twitched as he accepted the call; his purple eyes stared at the screen. "Ah Dib, you want to speak?" He asked.

Dib nodded. "There's something I needed to ask of you." He said and then explained the situation to the Irken, who seemed a bit interested in helping at the end; he paused for a moment as if thinking. "I'll make a trip down there, I have the equipment to do such a task, and working on something like this, you have to approach it with extreme caution. Expect me in a few days." The Irken said and ended the transmission. Dib sighed in relief, thankful for the others help.