Dlbn: Hey there everyone! Time once again for me to put down my PSP and update Iz Moth! I can't believe we're up to chapter ten already! Seems like ti just started! Anyway, enough of my gushing. On with the fic!

Nbld: REVIEW CORNER! Thank you to suckishLEMONADE, ArcAngelCrystal, Darkdagers, yaoifangirlforever1716, and Mew2928 for reviewing! Plushie Reds and Plushie Purples for all!

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than The Mask and Krill, the shrimp that only was for a few chapters.

000

Zim awoke the next day feeling a little restless. He'd had fun with Keef, but that was about it. It wasn't like when he was with Krill. Krill…did he even know Zim had run off? What about his mother? Was she frantically searching the planet-searching the universe-for him? And were Red and Purple speculating where he had gone and making up lies to the media to prevent them from knowing? Did his dad tell the reporters that he was sick inside, but he'd be fine soon, so they could stop worrying? Did anyone other than his family even notice his absence? And his customers, were they looking for him to deliver the items he had promised them days, weeks, months ago but never received? Maybe there was a way he could get this stuff to them? Naw, people would just find out where he was hiding. Still, Zim missed the income and the look on peoples' faces when they got exactly what they had needed, maybe even then some. Zim sighed and stretched. All these questions were making him use his brain, which made him think. He had to find a way to replicate Earth currency. He didn't even know what it looked like. He knew it was green, like him, but that wouldn't help. He had briefly seen some while Keef was paying for their drinks. There were pictures of people on them, but who? Zim sighed. He'd need to figure this all out and soon. He walked out of the bedroom and into the living room, noting that they might be a little too close together. A knock at his door made him jump. Zim turned on his hologram, having kept the watch on during the night just in case, and answered the door.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Wanna buy some chocolate covered ninja star cookies?" A little girl's voice asked.

Zim looked around.

"Down here, silly!"

Zim looked down. A girl with red-orange antennae things was at his front door, holding the handle on a red wagon, filled with boxes of cookies and a tin of money. She wore a white and bright red uniform of some sort.

"I don't have any cash." He said.

"They're delicious!" She waved a box in his face, which was opened on one side. "Would you like to try a free sample?"

"Thank you, but I'm really broke." He took his wallet from his pajama pants' pocket and held it open to show her that there was nothing inside.

"Are you sure?" She asked sweetly, looking up at him with bulging blue eyes. "They're really go-oo-oo-oo-d!"

"I'm sure." Zim said. Didn't she understand the meaning of the word 'no'? Well, sometimes he didn't either, so he couldn't complain. "Come back soon, though, and I should have money."

His PAK produced a small camera and hid it behind him. It snapped a photo of the money quietly before going back inside his PAK.

"Okay, mister! I'll hold you to that!" She said with a giggle. "Bye-bye, now!" She waved enthusiastically and turned, before skipping down the pathway, dragging her wagon behind her.

Zim's eye twitched as he shut the door. Well, that was annoying. But at least it helped him see what money looked like. Now he could replicate it better. Zim took off his hologram as his PAK produced the spider leg with the camera and he took it, the leg silently slipping back into his PAK. He hit the zoom button so he could clearly see the money in the tin. There were three or four different papers and a few coins. Zim went into the kitchen and pulled his laptop from its case. He sat at the table, cursing when he realized he didn't have a printer, nor did he know how thick money was. It looked thin on the camera screen, but the screen was small, and not of the best quality, so that didn't mean anything. Sighing, Zim activated his PAK legs again, and one popped out with his real wallet, full of Irken currency. Irkens mostly used coins, but bigger amounts were used as bills. He held one in his hand. It was definitely thin in his hand. Did that match with Earth currency? It occurred to Zim that he didn't even know the species he was dealing with. That wouldn't do. He couldn't call things 'Earth this' and Earth that' the whole time he was here. That wasn't blending in. Zim hooked his camera to his computer with a black cable. The images he had taken came up on screen. The one of the money was his interest, so he clicked on it.

"Aha." He said. He used the computer to select the money image and then see the approximate thickness of the paper. Not very thick at all. His PAK wasn't really a printer, but it could function as well as one, making images into real life objects. A cable snaked out of his PAK, attaching itself to his computer. The money would print from the database in his PAK. His PAK wasn't really a printer, but it could function as well as one, making images into real life objects. Once he had cut around the stuff he didn't want, Zim told the computer to print out about thirty pages worth of each type. That should be enough. The coins would be trickier, but he had some scrap metal for that. Once the money finished in his PAK, his PAK opened and the paper slid out to the floor, each as an individual piece of money. Zim unplugged the cable to his PAK and put the laptop in standby mode with a password to get back into active mode. Zim went into as closet where his suitcase of materials was. He popped it open and pieces of copper and silver slid out, considering that the suitcase was full of metal and other various parts. Zim collected the pieces and found a soldering iron that he could use to melt a symbol into the currency. Taking the metal, Zim went back into the kitchen. He logged back into the laptop and pulled up the money image again. He attached his PAK to it via the cable and downloaded the image for coins. His PAK engraved images of different four coins onto the four stamps Zim had put in his PAK. When he was done with enough coins, Zim turned everything off and unplugged everything. He put his laptop away and plugged the soldering iron into the wall. He burned the image that was on the stamp and pressed it into one side of a metal sheet. It made a singing sound, but otherwise formed the image Zim wanted on the metal. He used the soldering iron to burn the coin image through the metal, making coins fall onto the table. He did that with each stamp, about half a dozen times or so each. When satisfied, he unplugged the soldering iron and smiled. After depositing all the newly made money into his fake wallet, Zim put his wallet into his pocket and picked up the keys to the front door. Time to go shopping.

000

The woman at the counter of a store in the mall Dib and friends had brought Zim to the day before eyed him strangely as he tried to pay for the clothing he had picked out. She took the money anyway, put it in the cash register, and gave him change. With a 'have a nice day', she sent him on his way. What Zim failed to notice was that she had waved over a Security Guard. The man talked to her before following Zim, grabbing him by the arm. He spun Zim around, not letting go. Zim's eyes were wide.

"Um…may I help you?" He asked. Had his mother's guards managed to find him? Or did the cashier notice that his money wasn't quite right?

"Aren't you supposed to be in school, son?" The guard asked.

"What?"

"May I see some ID, son?"

Zim pulled out his wallet and handed the man the ID he had made himself the night before. The man looked it over. "You're only sixteen." He said. "You should be in school at this hour."

"I'm not enrolled in school yet." Zim answered. "I just moved here."

"Well," the man chuckled. "That's no excuse. Come on, son. Let's get you to school."

"What about my stuff? Can I just drop it home and go to school?"

"Nice try."

"Can I at least change into something fresh?" Zim asked. "These are from yesterday."
The guard crinkled his nose at that. "Change over here." He dragged Zim over to the dressing rooms he had used yesterday.

Zim slipped in and quickly changed into light wash jeans with ripped knees and a black short sleeved shirt, knowing the man wouldn't tolerate him taking too long. The guard smiled. "There we go. All better." He said. "Now, I'll cut a deal."

"Okay." Zim liked cutting deals. They always got him out of hot water.

"If I let you go home and change, you promise me to go to school."

"What's the catch?"

"I will have a cop car stationed at the front gate of Skool High. I'm assuming that's where you're going to go?"

"Yeah."

"I will give him your picture." The guard snapped a picture of Zim, making him see spots. "And when he sees you enter school grounds, he will leave. Do we have a deal?"

"If you throw in directions to the school, too."

The guard pulled out a small slip of paper and a pencil. Zim noticed it was a demerit slip. The man wrote on the back. "That's how to get there from here, oaky? Just come here to start off."

"Okay." Zim nodded.

"Good. Now run along." The man pulled out a walkie-talkie as Zim left.

000

Dib sat in his English classroom, twirling a pencil between his fingers. This class was torture, even though his friends were in it. Dib let his mind wander while his teacher spoke. Why had Zim lied yesterday? Sure, he didn't know Dib or his friends too well, but that wasn't a real excuse to lie every two seconds and come up with a completely convoluted story. Dib didn't know what, if anything, Zim had said was true. Maybe he was lying about everything. Even his age. Did he even have a mother? Maybe it was just him and his dad. Or maybe it was just him. But that didn't make sense, unless he was about 18 or so. Maybe he'd been here for a while. He didn't really have to have just moved to town yesterday…right? That made no sense. Why would he be roaming around the day he moved into a new town? Unless…he really did get into a fight with his mother and left, but he didn't have money to be able to buy food, so he lied his way out of it…with three or four lies? That still made no sense, but it was the only thing he could think of. The bell rang and snapped Dib out of his reverie. The teacher never noticed if her students weren't listening, so he knew he wasn't in trouble. Sara was at his desk in an instant. "Hey, Dib." She greeted.

"Hey, Sara." Dib said, before yawning. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing." She giggled. "Just making sure we're still on for Sunday, is all."

"Yeah, nothing's changed."

"Cool." She giggled. "See you in lunch!"

"Okay."

She left. Torque was at Dib's side next. "Math, man, come on." He said. "Damn, Sara's a bit annoying."

Dib picked up his unopened backpack and led Torque out, to where Rob and Brian were waiting for them.

"She's just excited is all." Dib shook his head.

"Hey, Dib, got some news for you. About Zim." Rob said.

"What about him?" Dib didn't really care, but why were his cheeks all red? Damn it!

"Well, I saw Keef earlier and, get this. Zim went to the club we were outside after he ditched us."

"Serious?" Torque laughed. "Maybe Keef was right."

"Or maybe he just wanted to see if we were right." Dib responded, shaking his head.

"Man, you hardly know him, stop defending him." Brian ordered.

"It's true, though. He didn't come off as gay to me." Dib said. "Why were you talking to Keef, anyway?"

"I wasn't. He was behind me in line for kickball in gym and started talking." Rob scoffed. "Pain in my rear end."

Keef approached them. "Hey, guys!" He greeted. "You will never guess what!"

"Zim was at the gay club with you last night?" Dib asked. "Yeah, we know."

"Ye-ah, but he's also here."

"In school?" Dib took a step back. He wasn't ready to see Zim yet!

"Uh-huh! I just showed him where the office was so he could get a schedule." Keef said. "I didn't think he was coming this week, but he said he had been shopping at the mall and a Security Guard had noticed that he was school age, so he was forced into coming here. A cop was waiting outside to make sure he came in and everything!" Keef burst into a bright smile. "I hope I have some classes with him! What about you, Dib?"

"Not after yesterday." Torque said before Dib could. "Zim lied to us a bit."

"Yeah, I know." Keef nodded. "He told me at the club. I don't think he's happy about having done that. So who won the game last night?"
"Oh, you know." Dib said. "That team. With the colors."

Keef giggled. "Not helpful."

"The Bills." Torque said. "Game sucked." He must have checked the scores online when he went home.

"Sorry to hear that." Keef smiled. "Oh, hey, there's Zim! I'm gonna go talk to him. See you guys later!"

Dib shook his head. "Let's go before he comes over here."

His friends followed him towards math class, laughing and joking all the way.