ATTENTION! A Doom Filled Trip has FANART! :D *squee* Credit and endless thanks goes out to HyperSpooches58 for creating this awesome piece featuring a manhunt scene from last chapter. Now, because FF net doesn't let me do links, I'm going to spell some of it out here for you guys. Just take out the spaces and put in what I spelled, and enter it in your browser bar. It should come up. I also have this link up on my account info page if this doesn't work for you, so go look for it there. It's right below my author updates.


h double-t p semicolon double/ izshippingfanon dot wikia dot com / wiki / File:2012-07-22_00.21.51. jpg


"Crash!"

A raucous splintering of wood woke Dib, and the boy flailed around under his covers frantically before snatching up his glasses and peering at whatever had made the offending noise.

A smoking meteor lay on the floor in the middle of the room, and Dib only tore his eyes from it when he noticed Zim calmly sit up and also observe the object.

"Aha! It's here!" the alien interjected, and Dib wondered if he'd heard right.

"What's here?" he asked sleepily, but received no reply as Zim scuttled over to it with a flurry of clicking claws and tapped the outer surface of the space rock. At his touch, a hairline crack split the surface and it crumbled open, revealing a small tan package. The Irken's antennae were perked up in excitement as he grabbed it and carried it over to his bed, eagerly shredding it open and digging through the packing peanuts and pulling out...hair?

"Zim...is that another wig?" Dib queried in disbelief. Where the hell had it come from? If this was what Zim had ordered the other morning, how had it gotten here so fast?

"Indeed, smell beast! But it is not just any wig." Zim said mysteriously, holding the hairpiece in the air reverently. "It is a wig that will stay on my head in the water without requiring painful glue!" He shouted triumphantly, and placed it on. Zim then pressed a small button somewhere on the back, and attempted to pull it off. No such luck, and he grinned. "Success!" he screamed, clenching a fist and shaking it. Dib rolled his eyes at the display and pulled his glasses back off, frowning at the filth coating them. Now that the excitement of the morning had died down, Dib realized he was a slight red color and groaned inwardly. At least it wasn't a terrible burn, but it still stung.

Getting out of bed and trotting to the bathroom to rinse his glasses off, he looked over his shoulder at the alien occupied with pulling the wig on and off experimentally, and then up at the hole in the ceiling where sunlight was filtering through. "Zim, use your glue and fix that hole in the roof." Dib requested. The Irken looked sullen at the task, but sighed and fished a glue bottle out of his bag and grabbed the planks of splintered wood off the floor. Extending up on his spider legs, Zim began to glue the slats back into place half assedly while Dib blurrily watched before continuing on into the bathroom.

Idly wondering how the wig accomplished what it did, Dib noticed the pairs of swim trunks hanging on the rack on the door. Pulling Zim's pair off, he opened the door again and tossed them blindly into the room with a "Get dressed and pasted." A shriek of outrage told him he had managed to actually hit the Irken with the clothing somehow, and Dib slithered quickly back into the bathroom with a dark chuckle to wash his glasses and get changed into his own swimwear.

Stepping out after taking care of his routine morning hygiene he saw Zim fidgeting with the tie on his pants, and looked at the ceiling. Well, the repairs weren't beautiful, but at least it would keep the raccoons out. A noise of triumph brought Dib's gaze to the Irken again, and Dib noticed something; Zim was a few shades darker green than he typically was.

"Zim, are you sunburned?" Dib asked in wonder, and Zim looked up from taking his contacts off the nightstand.

"If sunburned means having a most unpleasant sensation of burning pain all over one's body, then yes. Zim is quite sunburned." The alien conceded, stuffing his contacts in. "And you are red. I assume you are sunburned as well, foolish human?" Zim questioned, crossing his skinny arms and tapping his foot.

"Yeah, a little. I'll be tan by the time we get back though! You'll just be even greener!" Dib replied cheekily, rooting through his bag for a towel, goggles, and his sunscreen. He heard Zim do the same, and eagerly thought of the ocean that awaited them. "Come on, let's get out of here. The cereal in the kitchen is calling." Dib quipped, and darted toward the door. Just as his hand landed on the knob, a sharp jerking pain had him landing on his rear as he looked up at Zim. "Dude, what gives?" Dib demanded angrily, rubbing where Zim had yanked his hair scythe.

"The other dirt children have not yet left. Or would you prefer to have your head dunked in a bowl of milk instead of a toilet?" The Irken asked flatly, and Dib's confused expression cleared with an "Oh." of understanding.

Looking around the room, Dib seemed at a loss for a second until an idea seemed to occur to him. "Hey, I know how to pass the time until they leave. Let me see your hand."

At this Zim immediately recoiled in suspicion, eying Dib mistrustfully. "Why?" He asked simply, still keeping his arms crossed defensively.

"Oh come on, what do you think I'm going to do? Bite it off?" Dib said in exasperation. Ignoring the Irken's vehement protesting, Dib managed to wrench one of Zim's hands close enough for him to inspect.

It was the same green as the rest of him, aside from the slightly darker skin on the back where it had "tanned" in yesterday's sun. Dib carefully took one of the three fingers and looked at it intently, curiosity getting the better of him despite riling the Irken up. Out of the corner of his eye Dib noticed Zim's antennae pinned straight back, but the alien seemed to be holding himself back from clawing Dib so the human took little notice of his friend's mild rage. The tips of Zim's fingers didn't have talons or actual claws so much as they were just pointed, the skin at the ends hard and sharp enough to not need true talons. Releasing the one finger and manipulating all three independently, Dib tried to imagine what the bone structure of an Irken hand would be like with only three fingers, as opposed to five.

Fascinating.

Zim glared harshly at the human, barely tolerating Dib's open intrusion. "Human, this is not a way to pass the time. Release Zim immediately." he ordered, watching Dib drop the hand instantly and look up placatingly.

"It kept me busy. Are they gone yet? If not, I wanna look at your antennae next."

The nerve of that insufferable Earth monkey! They may have been friends, but Zim wasn't poking at Dib's hands or messing with his weird head fur! Snorting in irritation, Zim listened for sounds emanating from the kitchen, and upon hearing nothing opened the door and stepped out himself. "They are gone. Eat your Captain Whatever, and let us leave."

Dib seemed a little disappointed at the lost opportunity, but decided that messing with Zim's antennae was something that should wait until they were more comfortable around one another anyway. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of the claws he'd been lucky enough to have just examined, after all.

Pulling out the cereal from the day before and making himself a bowl, Dib picked up the pace of his consumption when a clearly impatient clicking began to resound from by the door where Zim stood. Tossing everything back where it belonged, Dib hurried up to the alien and out the door, a quiet "Finally!" audible from the Irken. Together the unlikely duo pushed and shoved each other the entire way to the shore, trading insults and the occasional arm jab.

Another fun day in the sun awaited.


Zim and Dib ended their second day at the retreat much the same way they had ended their first. The two of them had spent nearly the entire day in the water (save for a lunch break for the pitiful nutrient-requiring human) and the result was a combination sunburn/tan that had the two of them wincing with every stretch of skin. The campfire game that night had been a more tame contest of charades and Dib had surprisingly gotten a few of them, but Zim failed miserably. Much to his surprise and indignation, each of the children was in in fact not miming out "human slave."

So now they walked back to the room together, so stuffed with smores Zim had to stop and almost vomit before pushing the urge away and declaring himself in good health.

"Human, continue on to the room alone as I need to make a transmission to Gir. I have to make sure he hasn't destroyed anything in my absence." The Irken directed and Dib shrugged.

"Ok, see you there. Don't be long- the raccoons are around." Dib pointed out, walking past Zim and towards their assigned lodge.

Zim nodded, and stepped past the treeline. Once he was sufficiently hidden from sight, the alien pulled out his communicator and cleared his throat. "Gir? Come in, Gir."

A fizz of static was all that was heard for a while, until a click sounded and a voice happily screeched "MASTAH! You's alive!"

Zim dragged a clawed hand along his face with an expression of forced patience. "I never died, Gir. I TOLD YOU- I left for a filthy human trip for three days. I am returning tomorrow. I trust all things are well and in working order?" Zim said, threat lightly veiled in his tone.

"Ohhh, about that...there's a loooooot of tacos waitin' for you, mastah." Gir said cryptically, and giggled.

"What are you talking about, Gir? If you've done anything to- wait a second...Gir, I have to go. DO. NOT. DESTROY. ANYTHING." Zim enunciated, hanging the line up. Taking his wig off for a moment, he tilted his head and pricked his antennae.

Far off in the distance, a muffled cry was heard followed by a thumping noise. A snicker of laughter floated on the breeze, and Zim snarled. He knew that horrible voice. Extending his spider legs and taking off across the rooftops towards Dib, Zim bared his teeth in anger. So, the fattish meat child wished to invoke his ultimate wrath? So be it.

Just before Zim could bust in through the door, something caused him to halt. "My clothing!" The realization dawned upon him instantly, and he frowned. "The pig smelly will recognize Zim by his clothing...what to do..." The Irken fretted, racking his brain in thought.

Of course! The Dib beast's bag! There had to be an outfit in there he had yet to wear, and if Zim could toss on one of his shirts, the fools would be none the wiser. Opening the door and creeping into their shared room, Zim grit his teeth to ignore the muffled and haughty-sounding voice drifting through the wall from Chunk's room. Digging through the Dib's bag, Zim tossed any undesired clothing across the room until he pulled out a modest enough solid blue tee. Ugh, blue. Well, it would have to do for now.

Slipping it on, Zim dug through his own bag and pulled out his standard Invader uniform pants. Selecting them because they were an inconspicuous enough black, Zim hurried into those as well and pulled out his contacts. Slamming them and the wig down on his nightstand, Zim straightened up with a fire of rage burning in his crimson eyes.

The awful filth monkey would pay dearly for injuring his newly found friend. Nobody crossed theoretical blades with an Irken Elite.

Dashing out of the room, Zim darted through the main dwelling and positioned himself against the closed and locked door to Chunk and M's living space. M was not present, which Zim found fortunate; M was not altogether as intolerable as the other filthies in his class, so his being spared was not a regrettable circumstance. A few seconds of silence passed, Dib's quicker than normal breathing being the only frightened sound to fill the room. Then:

"Heh, no Zim here to save your sorry paranormal ass this time. Would you prefer I give you a matching broken rib on your left side, or would you like to get the toilet dunking over with first?" Chunk asked in a tormentingly amiable voice, and Zim made a fist and prepared to punch the door off it's hinges until he heard Dib's rebuttal.

"I'd prefer for you to go drown yourself in the ocean, actually. And do you ever shower? You reek." Despite the tense situation, Zim had to cover his mouth to hold in the cackle that threatened to escape. The human did have some fire in him after all. Wasting no time however, as Chunk would surely punch the Dib for such a comment, Zim kicked the door in violently.

His suspicions were proven true, as the door flying into the corner of the room with a loud bang caused Chunk to lower his raised fist. Zim made his dramatic entrance after a few seconds of stunned silence. From the darkness of the living room, all that was heard was an ominous "Click. Click. Click." that drew ever closer to Chunk and Dib. Chunk looked like he was about to relieve himself in his pants, while Dib grinned at the sound through the pain of a damaged rib and whatever else had been done to him by this...this...

"Stupid, red, fat, ugly, horrible, smelly rude ball of COW MANURE!" Zim screamed in anger, clicking over to loom above Chunk atop his spider legs. Chunk paled at the sight of the predatory looking Irken- Zim's lips were pulled up into a prominent snarl, his antennae were pinned back aggressively, his claws flexed in anticipation, his ruby eyes were narrowed into enraged slits, and a hiss rolled off his tongue in pure anger. Even Dib looked a little uneasy at the visage, obvious from the way he held his breath and took a few steps back. "You, filthy dirt child of smell, have angered the mighty Z-...uh, Zambidio! And before I take you out into the forest to be fed to raccoons, I have something vitally important to impart to you."

Chunk quivered and stuttered a little as Zim leaned down closer to his ear. "Your mother is so fat, she irons her pants in the driveway." The Irken said in a stage whisper, and from the corner of his eye he saw Dib double over in silent laughter which quickly turned into pain as he held his side. Through toying with the miserable excuse for a lifeform, Zim used a spider leg to blast a hole through the roof with a laser. Grabbing Chunk by the back of his shirt and making sure his claws dragged most painfully across his skin in the process, Zim launched himself out of the hole and into the night, Chunk screaming like a four year old girl until his voice faded in the distance.

Dib looked up at the hole, clutching his side from both mirth and the pain resulting from said mirth. Where in the world had Zim picked up a your momma joke? Regardless, Dib once again owed it to Zim for saving him- mostly- from an otherwise unpleasant beating session. As it was, Dib gingerly lifted up his shirt and made a face at the bruise on his torso. He doubted the rib was actually broken, but he would definitely be sore for a good while from that one. Looking around the room, Dib decided he'd have his revenge against Chunk while he still could.

Pulling out the boy's small suitcase, Dib dragged it out the front door and down the steps. Steadily he began the process of dumping sand, dirt, bugs, leaves, and anything else he could find into the suitcase, and he made sure all the clothes got a healthy heaping of sand inside and out as well. Standing up and grinning in satisfaction at his handiwork, he began trying to lug the significantly heavier suitcase back up the stairs.

A sudden lightness made Dib think perhaps the handle had broken off, but looking back he saw Zim's red eyes glowing at him in amusement as the alien hefted the bag over his shoulder and easily toted it inside, dropping it onto Chunk's bed. Dib followed, impressed by the ease with which Zim carried the dozens of pounds of sand and clothes (although he'd never admit it!) and once Zim had fwumped the suitcase down, Dib trotted over and swished some of the sand out and into the bed just for spite.

Zim gave a quiet laugh of approval at this, and he nudged Dib. "Your debt is now twofold, human." he reminded him, and Dib nodded not unhappily. Zim would probably use his repayments up in some stupid manner anyway, like having him babysit Gir or do his homework.

Leaving the room with Zim following behind, Dib thought of something. "Hey, where's M? Can you hear him?"

Zim concentrated quietly for a minute, and then nodded. "Heading back from getting a drink of water from that fountain outside the main building. So I'd best be concealing myself before he returns." Zim responded, pushing past Dib and into the room, shutting and locking the door behind them.

"So, what did you do to Chunk anyway?" Dib asked curiously.

"Oh, "Zambidio" just gave him a taste of his own medicine is all." Zim answered with a malicious grin spreading across his face.


Meanwhile...

"Heeeelp! Somebody, help! Some crazy green alien thing stuck me up here and I can't get down! HEEEEELP!" Chunk shouted while suspended by his shirt from a branch, falling silent when a pair of yellow eyes peered at him from the darkness of a nearby tree.

"No...not the raccoons...!"


"Smell monkey. Smell monkey. SMELL MONKEY, GET UP." Zim shouted impatiently into Dib's ear, feeling a twinge of evil satisfaction when Dib swung out with his pathetic attempt at a fist and missed the Irken by a mile. He grumped incoherently, something about "stupid aliens" and "at least I can turn my alarm clock off" before burying himself deeper in the covers and pointedly ignoring the Irken.

Zim snorted, and walked back across the room nonchalantly. "Very well human, sleep if you so desire. But we only have a few hours before the bus arrives to take us back to the filthy skool, and I intend to spend it on the beach." That proved to be the right bait, as Dib leapt up and scrambled into the bathroom. Zim smirked at the human's almost stupid eagerness before painting himself in paste and pulling on his swim trunks. Inspecting his arm, he noticed he indeed was a shade darker, and where his swim trunks sat on his hips and ended at his knees was where his normal lighter color remained. A "tan line", the Dib had called it.

Shrugging, he listened to the banging around in the bathroom with mild interest before switching his attention over to the neighboring room, angling his antennae to pick up the frantic voice within.

"And I swear, M, it was a huge green scaly alien that breathed fire and had extra legs!"

Zim rolled his eyes; the only accurate part of that sentence was "green" and "extra legs." But still, the worm baby sounded sufficiently petrified and Zim nodded, pleased with himself. M was giving short, awkward sounding one word answers, and Zim smirked even wider at the justice of it all; now Chunk knew how Dib must feel on a daily basis.

Tuning the fool out, Zim looked up as Dib exited the bathroom with his goggles already on. Grabbing a towel out of his drawer he motioned for the Irken to hurry up. Zim made an aggravated noise at the gesture, but began getting his own things together while Dib tramped around in the kitchen preparing his breakfast. Popping his contacts in and snapping his wig and own goggles on, Zim picked up his last clean towel- also his favorite, due to the rich red color with the Irken insignia printed on it- and headed out.

Dib had truly become a master at speed eating, for by the time the Irken considered showing his annoyance at having to wait, Dib had finished and was running out the door ahead of him. Not to be outdone, Zim raced after him and the two engaged in a headlong sprint to the beach, sun shining brightly overhead promising a good last day.


The bus ride home had been uneventful, aside from Dib falling asleep on Zim and the Irken pushing the human back against the bus window with a look of disgust. Zim himself also went into stasis for the majority of the ride, feeling uncharacteristically drained of energy from the three nonstop days of fun. The jolting of the bus stopping outside the skool brought both beings back to consciousness, and Zim and Dib exited the bus after the line of students shuffled by, Chunk at the end looking rather scratched and bitten up and seeming terrified at the mere sight of them.

Hopping off the bus, Zim and Dib casually walked back together to Zim's house, chatting companionably the whole way. Rounding the corner onto his street, they both stopped short and gaped at the sight they beheld. Or rather, didn't behold.

"GIR!! WHY IS THE BASE EXPLODED!?!?"

~The end~


So, a biiiig section of thank-yous and shoutouts and such is going here. Prepare thineselves.

Tinowenn: You've reviewed every chapter faithfully, and I enjoy seeing your icon pop up each time. It makes me smile :D Thanks for sticking with me! Mimi-loves-llamas: You too have been a repeat reviewer I look forward to hearing from, and am glad you always have positive, motivating things to say c: HyperSpooches58: Not only can I thank you for the incredible fanart, but I can also say that I thoroughly enjoy seeing your penname in the new reviews for my chapters :3 Thanks oodles for everything~ Kazehana23: I enjoy reading your speculations on what is to come in future chapters and seeing your penname on my review list. I'm glad you've liked the story so much so far; I hope the ending pleases you as well. :) Madame Tiptory: Your reviews are always insightful and encouraging, and they're a better pick-me-up than you can imagine. Thanks for your opinions :D RandomTwilitDude and Ruler of All Sporks: Together, the two of you helped me think of the final ending scene; the blown up base xD So thanks for that little bit of inspiration- it went a long way :3 AshSpark: Yet another penname I look forward to seeing every time I upload a chapter. Thank you for being a fantastic repeat reviewer c: PuddingNinja: Very nice little reviews, the humor you often include in them usually gives me a good laugh xD Thankyouuu~ That one guest review who fretted over their review being stupid: It wasn't. I promise. I loved seeing a new face chime in their thoughts :)

And all the other reviewers who pitched in here and there, I give you my thanks and appreciation :D Invader Phoenix, A Scribbler, Lostseason, OneDayAtATime, Kurakun1019, Yanagi of the Wind, InsomniaticFrenchToast, Snowyflake, Alicia, Tallest Aqua, Cloudy Momochi, Cooljoe64, Snowsky, BizarroVeR, and all the guests who reviewed anonymously!

Phew. Well, that looks like everyone, haha. I'm glad everyone has enjoyed this work so much, and I hope the last chapter is satisfactory for you all :) But wait, THERE'S MORE! (sort of) If you liked this story, stay tuned; I'm going to be starting some new ones up, and I feel as though you'll like those as well. So, all my buddies on this story, I look forward to seeing you on my next pieces :3 (which, if all goes well, should be started within a few days. Just keep checking my page/author updates for info.) THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYBODY! :D