Chapter 6: Preparations

The TARDIS (The Doctor's pov): "Doctor. I'm back." Zim said, as he closed the door. "Ah good your just in time, because we have a guest." I said. He turned his head to see a man with brown hair, a dark blue shirt covered in a grey trench coat, a pair of black pants and brown boots. "Zim I'd like to introduce you to an old friend of mine. Captain Jack Harkness." I said. "So this is Zim? The ex-alien invader?" He asked, as Zim turned his disguise off. "Yes." Zim answered. "Well it's nice to meet you Zim." Jack said, as he shook Zim's hand.

"Now Zim I already explained to him your situation." I said, due to me noticing the 'look' in Jack's eyes. "Ok. Well I kind of did what you told me about the whole 'reason with her' thing." Zim said. "Kinda? What do you mean? What happened?" Jack asked.

Elsewhere (Tak's pov): The whole incident at gym spread out like wildfire, as Dib and I were walking down the street. "Did that really happen?" Dib asked. "Well that's what everyone is saying." I replied, as we got to Dib's house. We opened the door to see Gaz sitting on the couch watching tv like nothing ever happened. "Uh... hey Gaz, we heard about what happened." Dib said, awkwardly. "I don't want to talk about it." She said. "Well ok then." Dib said, as he walked up to his room.

I noticed the look on her face and came up to her. "What else happened?" I asked. "What?" Gaz asked, completely confused. "The look on your face, something else happened." I said. "Fine, but don't tell Dib." Gaz said. "Zim asked me out on a date."

When she said those words, my mind snapped like a twig. "You're serious?!" I asked. "Yep." Gaz replied. I couldn't believe what I'm hearing. Zim asked her out. It's unbelievable. "And did you say yes?" I asked. "Pretty much, but he had a motive for this. He wanted to set the incident at the TARDIS straight." Gaz explained.

"Oh well that's a logical excuse. You know for a moment back there you almost had me going there." I said before I went upstairs to Dib's room.

Dib's pov): Tak came into my room to see my newest addition to 'the wall', which is basically my study of Zim over the years. My newest addition was The Doctor. "You're studying The Doctor?" She asked.

"Tak there's something suspicious about him. Between him being with Zim, the TARDIS being bigger on the inside, making it appear and disappear in front of my house, and the swollen eyeball actually nervous about him. Did you ever wonder how all that's possible?" I asked. "Are you saying that-" She said, before I interrupted.

"That's right. I think he's an alien like you and Zim." I said. "But if he is an alien then why does he look human?" Tak asked. "It must be a disguise." I said.

"In fact Dib if he is an alien then the Irken armada would have heard of him, and invaded his planet a long time ago." Tak said. "Well then he must have escaped." I said. "Maybe." She said.

Just then my computer came up with the swollen eyeball insignia. "Agent Mothman come in." Agent Darkbootie said. I went to my computer and answered. "Agent Mothman here." I said. "We'd like to apologize about yesterday. Bringing up The Doctor like that was quite an unexpected turn." Agent Tunaghost said.

"You never gave me a solid answer. What do you mean I shouldn't trust him?" I asked. "There have been numerous events that have transpired with his involvement. Directly, or indirectly." Agent Disembodied head said. "And each one was stranger than others." Agent Nessie said.

Then a file labeled 'The Doctor' appeared on screen. I clicked the file and it blew up with information involving him, or anything related to him. The information was so much that my computer crashed. "At least there's enough to start somewhere." I said to Tak, who nodded in agreement.

The TARDIS (Jack's pov): Zim explained what happened at gym today and it sounds like he has a serious problem. "So let get this straight. You and Gaz accidentally kissed each other, and you actually enjoyed it, but you want to set something straight between you two so you asked her out after beating her in a game of dodge ball. Am I right?" I asked. "Yes." Zim said.

"Well Zim you did well so far, but I think your suffering from small issues and need to learn how to start something with little pain based items and such." I said. "In other words, you need to learn how to start off on the right foot." The Doctor said.

"How I never had feelings like this before." Zim said. "Oh don't worry Zim, Jack knows what he's doing (Most of time)." The Doctor. "Come on Zim. Let me show you what I'm talking about." I said.

Zim's pov): Captain Harkness took me to the mall to try, and show me the concepts of dating. "So Zim what do you know about Gaz besides the obvious? For starters what does she like?" He asked. "Well she likes Bloaty's Pizza hog, but I had a better idea, she likes to play vampire piggy slayers, and is usually seen in a black dress." I said.

"Mmmm. I think I know what to do." Harkness said, and he took me into a store that sold dark clothing. "Here, try these on." He said, as he handed me a pair of black jeans, a grey collar shirt, a black vest, and a pair of sunglasses. I put these on, and I must admit humans have interesting styles. "Ok that looks good. First rule of dating. Cloths make the man." Captain Harkness said. "I think tomorrow will be just fine." I thought to myself.

Then we walked into a video game store to get Gaz a gift. "Second rule of dating. Provide a gift." Captain Harkness said. I look around, and the first thing I see is an advertisement poster for a new game slave system called 'Game Slave XL'. "I think I know what to get her." I said. "An interesting gift." Captain Harkness said. "Yeah, my whole life I never saw her without one." I said.

"It says it won't be out until another year. Hey Zim let's get her one." Captain Harkness said. "Alright Let's just head back to the TARDIS and-" Was all I said before, Captain Harkness interrupted. "Actually Zim I got a better idea." He said. "What do you mean?" I asked. Harkness then showed me a leather strap on his wrist. He opened it to reveal some sort of device. "Uhhh... what the hell is that?" I asked.

"Vortex manipulator. Portable time travel. It's not as capable as the TARDIS, but its effective." Captain Harkness said. He pressed a few buttons and we were sucked into a vortex, like someone ripped a hole in the universe. Next thing I knew we came back to the same spot where we left.

"Ohhhh. I felt like I was pulled inside out and back again." I said, while feeling groggy. "Yeah first time is always the worst." Captain Harkness said. We walked over to see the line for the Game Slave XL beginning to form, so I got in line before it got any bigger, got the game slave, made a quick payment, and we were off.

Friday (Dib's pov): Gaz had a head start so she could get to skool faster, before Tak, and me. Tak decided to spend the night with me, while we worked out what the swollen eyeball gave me. Unfortunately the information was not what I had in mind, but it did prove some strange things. For starters all I found out was (believe it or not) there were other people who go by the name 'The Doctor', and each one was different from one another.

"Maybe it's like a title. You know passed down from father to son." Tak said. As we walked down the road to skool I speculated what Tak said. "That could be possible, but that can't be. Remember those two photos we saw last night." Last night we saw one of the doctors with big ears, and an almost completely shaven head in two photos taken decades apart.

One photo was of him standing next to a family who survived the wreck of the titanic, and the other was of him in the crowd before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. As we looked at them we realized that both pictures had the same man in them but what was more shocking was that he didn't age even one bit.

"Maybe The Doctor wasn't kidding when he said the TARDIS can travel in time, and space." Tak said. I stopped walking when she said that. "A time traveling alien?" I thought. Then again that could explain a few things. "Dib?" Tak said, as she pulled my shoulder. "Wha- oh sorry Tak I... got lost in my thoughts." I said.

We got to skool grounds just in time to see Zim, and Gaz outside talking to each other whatever it was I don't know, and I don't like it. Then I see Zim hand Gaz something, and she had a shocked look on her face. Next thing we knew Gaz hugged Zim, and they walked inside holding hands. "Uh... what just happened?" I asked.

Two minutes earlier (Gaz's pov): I was sitting outside the skool doors watching everyone else in their groups. Then I see the one person who annoys the hell out of me. Iggens.

"Well if it isn't the sore dodge ball loser." He said in a mocking tone. "I heard about the incident at gym on how you lost to that Smith kid." He said.

"It was just a lucky shot." I said, growing irritated. "I also heard he took his shirt off and you were blushing." He said, and ironically I started to blush. "So tell me is he your 'boyfriend'?" He mocked.

Just as I was about to beat him up I saw Zim sneak up and tapped Iggens on his shoulder. When he turned around Zim gave him one dead solid shot to the nose. "Leave her alone." Zim said, in a tone that was just as, if not colder than how I threaten people.

"Ow! You son of a-" Iggens said, before he pulled out a switchblade, (don't ask me how he got one) and tried to slash Zim's face. But Zim caught Iggens's hand, and performed a move that dislocated his elbow. Iggens dropped the knife, and Zim picked it up then pinned Iggens to the wall.

"You shouldn't play with knives." Zim said as he did a few knife tricks, (which I thought were really impressive) and popped Iggens in the eye. "You mess with her again I'm gonna crack your skull open, rip your brain out, stuff it in a metal can, and lock it in the freezer!" He threatened, and something about it was powerful enough to send a sharp shiver down my spine. "Now get lost." Zim said, as he let Iggens go and he ran the opposite direction.

"Sorry about that Gaz." Zim said, as he fixed his tie. "Uh... thanks." I said. "Well I hope that this didn't put a dent on our 'date' after skool." He said. "No... Actually that was... kind of cool." I said. Then we heard the bell ring meaning skool was beginning. "Well I got to get going." I said, as I was about to open the doors. "Wait a sec, I got you something." Zim said. "What?" I asked. He handed me a box, and I couldn't believe my eyes. "YOU GOT ME A GAME SLAVE XL?!" I asked, in disbelief, and shock. "Zim this isn't supposed to be out until next year! How'd you get this?!" I asked.

Zim told me The Doctor had a friend who helped him out a little, and the 'vortex manipulator' he used. "Zim. I don't know what to say." I said. "No thanks needed. Just consider this the start of a unique friendship." He said. Next thing I knew I hugged him tightly. He wasn't expecting that, and neither was I.

"Well... I guess... I'll see you after skool." I said, while my face was slightly blushing. "Uh... yeah. You... too." Zim said, also blushing. Then we both walked inside, and surprisingly we were holding hands.

Tak's pov): Dib, Gaz, and I were sitting in our table at lunch, while Gaz was playing with her knew Game Slave (which Dib assume was a weapon) while Zim was at his table, this time he was writing something down on his journal. "What is he doing?" I asked Dib. "I don't know. It could be another plan of his." Dib said. Then Zim decided to step up and walk out the cafeteria so I decided to follow him.

"Be careful Tak." Dib said. (And I thought that was kind of sweet.) I followed Zim to the library then he set his journal on the table and walked down to one of the bookshelves.

I made sure I was never seen, then I opened the book expecting to see a blueprint of a new weapon, but instead it was a picture of circles in a larger circle and each one had a strange symbol on it. I studied it more, and realized it wasn't a picture, but it was actually a language.

It wasn't human, or Irken, or any language I'm familiar with. Hearing Zim's voice I quickly grabbed the journal and ran back to Dib, and showed it to him. "What kind of a language is this?" He asked. "I don't know, but it's not like any language I've seen before, and I studied plenty." I said.

Then suddenly Gaz snatched the journal up and walked off leaving us in confusion and silence. A few hours later the bell rang meaning skool was over for the weekend. We stepped out to see Zim, and Gaz walk together towards the direction to the warehouse.

Dib and I decided to follow, but we got distracted because I nearly got hit by a car, and Dib pulled me out of the way. Then he lost his footing, and we fell on each other and our lips connected. At first we freaked out, so I quickly pulled myself off him.

"Well... this is... weird." Dib said, slightly bushing. "Uh... we should... get going." I said, also blushing. We got back up to follow Zim and Gaz just in time for us to see the TARDIS take off.