Disclaimer: Own not do I, Invader Zim,

For Jhonen Vasquez created him.

Author's note: Kay! I'm back! Again! Sorry I've been gone for a month. Please forgive me! I'm doing a little more Invader Zim style stuff in this chapter. As in, something random and weird happens.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You lie!" exclaimed Zim. "Zim is up to nothing! Zim is a normal human dirt-monkey... Zim!"

"What human calls himself or other humans dirt-monkeys?!" asked Dib. "We aren't dirt-monkeys!" A particularly dirt covered monkey-looking boy's eyes start watering. He covers his eyes and runs away.

"Nice one Dib," says a kid. "You made Monkey-Kid cry." With the kids turning their attention on Dib, Zim walked away to go sit by Gaz. She said nothing for a bit, and neither did he.

"You don't still think we're dirt-monkeys right?" Gaz asked finally.

"Nah," said Zim. "But the Dib-monkey can't suspect anything. If I don't do all the things that you told me were weird-"

"Everything you did until I told you that it made you stand out to much," Gaz put in.

"Yes, all of that," said Zim nodding, "Then he would know something was wrong."

"Right," said Gaz. She played her game for a bit before saying anything else. "So when do I get rid of him?"

"Not yet," said Zim. "We have to wait until the last second. Right before we come into power. Once we get near that point, we can get rid of him."

"Okay," said Gaz. "And what about Gir? How is his research coming along?"

"Splendidly," said Zim. "I'll soon know everything I need to know about this planet."

"But can you trust him?" asked Gaz. "His eye's been twitching a lot since you made him go into Duty Mode permanently. That means he's probably insane and/or planning something devious."

"I know!" exclaimed Zim. "But I can't do a thing about it! I don't have the time or the technology to get Gir in perfect working order. Gir is incredibly complex."

"Yeah," said Gaz. "His brain's made of some paper clips, a screw, a rubber ball, and a few Irken coins. That's really complex."

"Urg," grunts Zim, "That's what makes him so complex! Do you know how hard it is to modify his behavior and efficiency when his brain is made of junk?"

"You have a point," said Gaz. She plays her game more intensely, obviously in a boss battle. Neither Zim nor Gaz speak for about ten minutes.

"So," said Zim, breaking the silence. "Would you come over to my house again this weekend and work with me some more?"

"I dunno," said Gaz. "I don't really like spending all of my weekends working on an alien's scheme to rule the world."

"Then maybe we could just, uh," said Zim, "What do you humans call it? Uh, hang out?"

"You want to just hang out?" asked Gaz, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess," said Zim.

"Sure," she said. "Why not?" The Skool Bell rang and they went back inside.

888

Zim ran home after school. He burst into the front door. "Quick!" he exclaimed. "Computer?"

"Yes?" asked Computer.

"What exactly is 'hanging out'?" asked Zim.

"You don't know Zim?" asked Skoodge, entering the front door. He looked like a normal, short, red-headed kid. He took off the disguise. "You've been on Earth for a while now Zim."

"So?" asked Zim.

"I haven't been here as long as you," said Skoodge, "I haven't gotten out as much as you, I only started Skool last month, and I already know what hanging out is. Even Minimoose knows what it is."

"What?!" exclaimed Zim. "Why does no one tell me these things!" Minimoose floated into the room, nodding... himself to show that he agreed with Skoodge. "You know what it is?" asked Zim. Minimoose nodded again. "Then what is it?"

"Squeek," explained Minimoose.

"So let me get this straight," said Zim, beginning to pull off his disguise. "This 'hanging out' is when a group of people just spend time together doing stuff? That's it?"

"Squeek," nodded Minimoose.

"Oh," said Zim. "It's so simple!" He pondered for a moment. "Well," he said, "I should start reviewing some of that information Computer and Gir have been collecting."

"Can I help?" asked Skoodge.

"Why?" asked Zim.

"Well, two heads are better than one," said Skoodge.

"Don't you have homework to do?" asked Zim.

888

"Why do I keep catching you with Zim?" asked Dib.

"What?" asked Gaz. "What are you talking about?"

"I keep seeing you and Zim together," said Dib. "First, it was that day it rained. I saw you again on Friday. You may not have seen me see you, but I saw. And then, I saw you again today. It was during the point when everyone was getting on my face for hurting Monkey-Kid's feelings."

"Oh yeah," said Gaz. "You hurt Monkey-Kid's feelings today. Pfft, insensitive jerk." It's not that Gaz cared about wether or not Dib hurt Monkey-Kid's feelings, she was just trying to change the subject. If Dib knew that she and Zim had been spending time together, he might start to suspect something. And if he did that, he would start prying and asking too many questions. And when she would finally punch him, he would start sneaking around instead. Gaz and Zim's plan didn't need any of Dib's interference.

"That was an accident!" exclaimed Dib. "And don't change the subject Gaz! You haven't answered my question."

'Crap,' thought Gaz. "What business is it of yours anyway?"

"It's my business when my little sister is hanging out with my mortal enemy, and an alien bent on taking over the world!" exclaimed Dib.

"Just shut up Dib," said Gaz.

"Not until you answer me," said Dib. Gaz glared at him. "Or until you do that." Dib didn't like it when Gaz glared at him. That usually meant that he was getting close to getting pulverized. He would drop it, for now. But something was going on, and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

Gaz left the room, and headed up to her room. She used her wrist communicator to call Zim. At this point, she knew a phone call would be too risky.

"Zim," she whispered into the communicator as she closed the door.

"What?" asked Zim. "And why are you whispering?"

"It's Dib," said Gaz, speaking at a normal volume. "He's getting suspicious."

"How?" asked Zim. "How could he be suspicious? We've been so careful!"

"I know!" said Gaz. "But so has he. He's seen us together several times, and we didn't even know he was there."

"No!" exclaims Zim. "It's too early!"

"I know," said Gaz. "What are we going to do about it?"

"I don't know," said Zim. "It is still far too early to get rid of the Dib. It will generate far too much suspicion."

Both of them sat back to think about this new dilemma. They would have to figure something out to mask their plan. Zim had a thought suddenly.

"Gaz," he said.

"Yeah?"

"Remember earlier today," said Zim, "When I asked you if you wanted to come over to my house?"

"Yeah," said Gaz. "Where are you going with this?"

"You said you wanted to 'hang out', correct?"

"Yeah," said Gaz, starting to catch on.

"What if we pretend that we're just friends or something?" asked Zim. "We can use that to explain why we he's seen us together!"

"..." Gaz was silent for a moment.

"Well?" asked Zim. "Do you have a better idea?"

"It's just," began Gaz. "I kinda figured we already were friends."

"Huh?" said Zim. He thought about it. They seemed to get along well enough. And you don't take over the Earth with just anyone. They must be friends. "... Deceiving Dib by using the truth? Genius Gaz!"

"And Dib'll be so freaked out about that, he won't have time to suspect us of even having a plan to take over the world!"

"Perfect!"said Zim. "We'll break it to him tomorrow then?"

"Sure," answered Gaz. She turned the communicator off. She checked to see if Dib was listening outside her door. He wasn't. It wouldn't have really mattered though, as she had sound-proofed her room a long time ago for two reasons. The first, was that she didn't want to get woken up by Dib ranting in the morning. The second, was that she didn't want Dib listening in on her. She never really made much noise in her room, but it didn't matter. She still didn't want him listening.

888

"So you and Gaz figured out how to throw that Dib kid off track?" asked Skoodge.

"Yep," said Zim. "By the way, how much data have we acquired on Earth?"

"Tons," answered Skoodge. "Computer estimates it at around 2/5 of Earth's knowledge."

"Good," said Zim. "Things are moving along smoothly it seems. And it is being organized right?"

"Yep," said Skoodge. "All of it's being categorized for easy access."

"Perfect," said Zim. "Once we have all the information, Gaz and I can go through it to find exactly what we need."

"What exactly do you need?" asked Skoodge.

"What we need the most is information on all of the planet's governments," said Zim. "I need to find out how all of them work. Other information that we need is a list of world problems. A very specific list."

"Why do you need that?" asked Skoodge.

"Squeek," answered Minimoose.

"Oh," said Skoodge. "Good idea Zim. That's an awesome plan."

"Yeah it is," said Zim.

888

'This Saturday,' thought Gir. 'This Saturday. The human and Zim will be together. I can eliminate them both in one go. Then I will continue the mission. And I will succeed."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ha! I decided to have Minimoose explain the plan. I don't want to give it all away at once. I'm sure you can figure it out if you really think about it.

And it seems that Zim and Gaz both know that they consider each other friends. It's a start.

But Gir has made his intentions clear. Zim and Gaz had better watch out come the weekend.