Hello! Here is the update for this week. Thank you for your favorites, follows and reviews! A question was asked so I'll answer it publicly in case anyone else was confused.
glowzilla48 : Yes, Zim was upset because Liz was winking at Dib and he was acting flustered. Though the gesture itself probably annoys him as well. Same with Skoodge, Liz flirting upset him. Though both Irkens don't quite understand why yet. ;) thanks for all your comments. I look forward to your next chapter as well.
Eyeing the students around them, Liz rose her eyebrows as she found a target. Taking the tray in one hand like a waitress Liz slowly sauntered across the cafeteria rolling her hips as she stepped to draw every teenage boy's eyes to her curvy form. It was soon apparent as to whom Liz had chosen as her victim.
"Torque?" Dib thought out loud as he frowned. "He definitely won't do it. Liz dislocated Rob's arm." Dib watched as Liz approached Torque's table where he sat with his athlete buddies. All of them had their eyes locked on Liz, their eating frenzy paused for the moment. She stopped right in front of their table one hand on her hip.
From the angle Dib was at he couldn't see Liz's face and she was too far for him to hear what she was saying, but she must have asked a question because all of the boys nodded vigorously. Torque then none-to-gently shoved the guy sitting next to him causing all of the rest on the bench to squeeze uncomfortably together. Torque then moved over and gestured to the now empty space next to him. Liz placed her tray on the table and as she slowly sat down she crossed her legs in such a way that her skirt hiked up a little more, barely covering her.
The boys were ogling her, those next to Torque leaning around him to see her. Liz placed her elbow on the table and rested her head against her hand so she could look at Torque, again all Dib could see was the back of Liz's head. She gestured with her other hand and Torque and the boys nodded sympathetically as she spoke. Torque looked around at the skool security robots and not seeing any near-by switched his tray with hers. Liz leaned a little closer to Torque and he immediately began eating again. The other teens ate hurriedly, their eyes never leaving Liz making some of them miss their mouths a few times. Torque in-particular was shoveling food into his face even faster than before as he gazed hungrily at Liz.
A cracking, snapping noise startled Dib enough to look away from Torque's table. Skoodge's gloved hands gripped the edge of their lunch table so hard he was breaking the wood. His lips were pulled back in a snarl, his eyes narrowed to small slits, and his wig kept jerking most likely from his antennae moving underneath. Dib stared wide eyed at him, never had he seen a look like that before from the Irken, not even Zim had ever looked that angry. Dib heard this strange clicking almost hissing noise and it took him a moment to realize that Skoodge was doing the Irken equivalent of growling.
At the sound Zim finally noticed the change in Skoodge's demeanor and looked to be as surprised as Dib was. "Skoodge, Skoodge?" Zim squinted one eye questioningly at his fellow Irken. When Skoodge didn't seem to hear him Zim began to yell at him. "SKOODGE, ZIM DEMANDS FOR YOU TO STOP! BE NORMAL!" His shouting caused a few students to look their way but most just ignored him as Zim yelling was pretty normal. However, his yelling did gain Skoodge's attention and he stopped clicking to turn and face Zim. "What are you doing?" Zim asked completely calm again. "It's creepy."
As if flipping a switch, Skoodge's face suddenly shifted to a confused expression and he looked down at his hands crushing the lunch table. He jerked his hands back in surprise and stared at the crunched part of the table. "I..." Skoodge blinked, looking lost he turned to Zim. "I don't know," he admitted sounding almost afraid. Zim frowned at him not liking that answer either.
Dib stared as the two shared confused and worried expressions. Skoodge's behavior must have not been normal Irken behavior, which Dib found really interesting and had opened his mouth to ask about it, when Liz popped back up to their table.
"What happened?" she asked pointing to the table.
Skoodge didn't answer and kept his eyes downcast.
"Nothing happened. It was NORMAL!" Zim yelled the last word then cleared his throat. "I mean, it was like that to start with."
"No it wasn't," Dib said irritated. "Skoodge gripped the table so hard he broke it and he was making this weird clicking sound while looking super pissed off. What was that sound? Why were you making it? How were you making it? Huh? Huh?" Dib shot off questions rapid-fire at the alien who seemed to shrink back with each one.
"Dib," Liz grabbed his scythe-lock and with a started yelp he was pulled back into his seat, not having noticed that he had been leaning across the table. "Stop bullying Skoodge," she reprimanded him lightly.
Dib smoothed out his affronted hair and grumpily mumbled, "I wasn't bullying him." Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Zim glaring at Liz again.
Liz ignored his comment and Zim's heated glare and placed her hand on the dejected Irken's shoulder. "You okay?" she asked in a gentle voice.
Skoodge peered up at Liz and in an instant his switch was flipped again. He snatched her wrist and yanked her down to be eye level with him, his eyes narrowed at her accusingly. "What were you doing? Why did you act that way?"
Liz opened her mouth to angrily protest her treatment but something in Skoodge's expression made her stop and she chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip, clearly thinking of how to phrase what she wanted to say. "It's a tactic that can be used to manipulate or control others, I told you it's called seduction. I used it as a way to make Torque eat the food. Why does it upset you?" she asked cautiously.
"They wanted to dominate you," Skoodge said his expression unmoving. "You were acting submissive to them," he said fiercely, squeezing her wrist tighter causing Liz to wince.
Dib moved to rescue Liz but a clawed hand clamped down on his shoulder pinning him to his seat. Jerking his head to the right he saw Zim had somehow moved to sit next to him. Zim's grip tightening warningly and his watchful eyes never moved away from the other Irken. Seeing Zim's tense expression calmed Dib down enough to notice that Liz had her hand held up, palm out to show that she would handle this, like Zim her eyes never left Skoodge.
"Yes, Skoodge," Liz replied softly in a calm voice to not draw attention. To anyone else it looked like Liz was having a private conversation with Skoodge and with her display earlier no one thought it strange. "One method to using seduction is to falsely act submissive to get your victim to lower their guard, once completed, simple suggestion can be used to make your victim do as you command without them fully realizing what they are doing. This method is especially effective when a female uses it on males with lesser intelligence or on males who have little resistance to its effects. In most cases the female has no intentions of staying submissive to the male and will only act so until the male has completed the task she requires of him, then she leaves the male alone giving him nothing in return."
Dib blinked at Liz's weird explanation of seduction, but it did make sense to him in a weird way, and it dawned on him that a warring race that reproduced through test tubes would have no knowledge about this subject. Liz had to explain in a way that an Irken might understand. Next to him Zim nodded slowly and thoughtfully taking in this new information.
"So you see, Skoodge," Liz continued drawing Dib's attention back to the scene at hand. "I was at no point actually being submissive to them, it was dominance disguised as submissiveness. So, I was not in any way implying that they are equal or superior to you."
Suddenly, it all made sense to Dib. Liz was never someone to act weak or submissive. To suddenly act in a way that could be perceived as submissive was a great insult to Skoodge, whom she was not submissive to, especially because Irkens viewed themselves as superior above all others.
For a moment Skoodge looked like he wasn't going to accept the explanation, but then he released Liz's wrist and she slowly straightened. "Better?" she asked. "Or is there another reason why it made you angry?"
The switched flipped again and the anger left Skoodge's face. He studied the table frowning slightly. "That answer is acceptable," he finally said sounding like his normal self.
Dib released a breath he didn't know he was holding. He fought with Zim all the time, but somehow the thought of Liz and Skoodge fighting made him nervous. Sitting so close to Zim, Dib could feel the tension leave him as well. Apparently anger like that was not something Skoodge normally displayed, though Dib supposed that Zim was angry enough for ten Irkens. To live with Zim, Skoodge would have to be pretty mellow most of the time.
"Now that that is settled, shall we leave?" Liz suggested picking up her empty tray.
The three nodded each grabbing their own trays and following. They passed their trays to the security robot and a screen lit up with their names and little check marks next to them. However, when they tried to leave they were stopped.
"None can leave until all have finished," the skool security robot informed them.
"What? But Gaz was able to leave!" Dib protested.
"Return to your seats," it informed them, ignoring Dib's comment, a taser coming out in case it needed to reinforce the rules.
"We have to go to the nurse," Liz said cleverly, stepping out in front of the group.
"None appear to be ill or in need of medical assistance," it said.
"Look! A student breaking a rule!" Liz exclaimed and the security robot turned to where Liz pointed. While its attention was diverted Liz swiftly swung her leg back to kick Zim square in the stomach.
"ACK! MY SQUEEDLYSPOOCH!" Zim cried out hunching over as he clutched at his gut.
At the noise the robot turned back to regard the four standing together. Dib and Skoodge openly stared shocked at Liz who acted like nothing happened.
"He is hurt and those two can carry him to the nurse," Liz said jerking her thumb back at them.
"Hmmm," the security robot said in a mechanical voice. "Reason valid, permission granted for the three male students. However, there is no need for you to go."
"I have cramps," Liz said matter-of-factly and Dib blushed.
"Er, ah," the security robot coughed. "Permission granted for one female student as well. You may leave," it said unlocking the cafeteria doors for them to exit then quickly hovered away.
"Why did it cough?" Dib wondered out loud as they left. Skoodge held Zim by one arm and Dib by the other and together they helped the complaining Irken down the hall. Liz stopped at the crossroads in the hall.
"The nurses office is straight ahead," Dib informed her, as she was leading them.
"I know," she said and looked at them over her shoulder. "But a few other students have been taken there, we won't be able to talk," she looked right then left down the hall perpendicular to them and shifted her weight from foot to foot indecisively. Finally, with one sly glace back at Skoodge she sighed heavily. "C'mon, I know a place we can go and not be disturbed," she said taking a right.
She led them down another hall and through a door marked 'faculty only' in faded lettering. The room didn't have much, but there was a narrow staircase in the back. Liz led them upwards and it was a tight fit so Dib hung back and Zim used the rail to help him up the stairs and Skoodge stayed on his right. The entire time Zim kept muttering about unleashing doomful doom on Liz. She opened the door at the top of the stairs after jimmying the handle a particular way and led them out onto the roof.
"Liiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzzy!" a familiar high-pitched squeal came and a flash of green whizzed by Dib tackling Liz and knocking her off balance so she fell back on her butt, her lap full of excited robot.
Mini-Moose floated by with a happy "Nyah," to hover around Liz's head.
"You brought Master, Mary, and Skoodge!" GIR giggled excitedly flailing his arms. "It's gonna be a show!" GIR shouted excitedly.
"GIR!" Zim snapped at his minion, having recovered enough to stand straight. "What are you doing here?"
"I come here every day while Master is away to play with Lizzy!" GIR said grinning from Liz's lap. "We daaaaaance and siiiiing," he said drawing out the words.
"GIR, shhh," Liz hissed sounding panicked. "Not today. Why don't you go play with the, er, squirrels?"
"I love Mr. Squirrel!" GIR squealed enthusiastically. "He looks like this," he said much calmer and hopped off of Liz's lap to imitate a squirrel, surprisingly well too. Then he ran towards the edge of the roof and jumped down with Mini-Moose following after him.
"Yes, well," Liz said getting up and making a big production of dusting herself off. She turned her back towards them and waved her hand in the air. "We should analyze that sample now," her voice still sounded slightly flustered and nervous.
"Liz-human," Zim narrowed his eyes at her back. "What have you been doing with my robot slave?"
"Nothing, nothing at all," Liz said quickly still not looking at them. "I didn't even know it was a robot, I thought it was just a normal green dog," Liz said in an obvious lie, which Zim completely believed.
"Yes, Zim is very good at making disguises," Zim said proudly and Dib rolled his eyes to land on Skoodge who was staring at Liz with the widest grin on his face.
"Let's get back to business," Liz said briskly finally turning around and stiffly walking over to Skoodge. "The sample?" she said holding out her hand, her eyes set on his chest refusing to look up at him.
Dib raised an eyebrow inquisitively as he had never seen Liz act so...nervous before. She was acting just like he did whenever Liz would confront him about Zim. There was something going on and from the victorious grin on Skoodge's face, the Irken knew exactly what it was. Maybe Dib could figure it out too as having something to tease Liz about would make his life much easier. Or at least there would be less one-sided embarrassment for him.
"Liz," Dib took a moment to gain her attention then used the best method he knew for gathering information. "Why are you acting strange? Why bring us to the roof? How did you know to get up here? Since when have you met GIR? How can you stand being around him? What do you do up here?"
"OKAY!" Liz shouted to get him to stop. "This is not interrogate-Liz-about-her-personal-business time, it's lets-get-back-on-topic-and-analyze-that-sample time."
"AH HA!" Zim suddenly shouted in enlightenment pointing at Liz. "You are the reason GIR hasn't been as destructy. I have a MIGHT NEED to know how you keep from him from destroying everything. Tell me," Zim said in his usual manner of going between shouting and lowering his voice to draw out specific words.
"Guys!" Liz threw up her hands in frustration. "There are more important things you need to know."
"Zim doesn't care about the disgusting Earth food," he scoffed. "Answer my question!"
"You should care," Liz countered turning to face him full on. "That disgusting Earth food has taken your job!"
Zim narrowed his eyes at her. "Explain. Now."
"Yeah, Liz what are you talking about?" Dib asked.
"I'll explain after you analyze the sample," Liz said stubbornly.
"Skoodge," Zim said shortly. "Use your PAK to analyze the stupid dookie."
Skoodge nodded and an attachment came out from his PAK holding the test tube a small platform expanded out and the test tube contents were dumped out onto it. A little beam of light lit up the platform. "It's scanning," Skoodge said. "Results show no known Earth substances."
Dib frowned. "What does that mean? It's made up of ingredients not found on Earth or is your catalog incomplete?"
Zim scowled at him insulted. "Our superior Irken technology has long since cataloged everything on his mud-ball."
"So that means this stuff is from space?" Dib mused then it dawned on him. "ZIM!" Dib shouted and pointed an accusing finger at him. "What is this stuff? What scheme are you planning? What do you know? Huh?! Huh, Space-Boy?!"
"What?!" Zim stomped up to Dib. "Zim has nothing to do with this stupid dookie!"
Before they could get into their usual verbal fight that would eventually end up with them actually fighting Liz stepped in between them, physically pushing the two back and standing to face Dib. She smirked knowingly at him, " 'Space-Boy', Dib? That's a cute pet-name."
"Zim is no pet!" Zim said grabbing Liz's shoulder and pushing her away so he could say so to her face. Liz held her hands up in a sign of surrender and Zim scowled. Turning he opened his mouth to continue shouting at Dib, but paused and when he saw Dib blushing hard. He raised one eye and squinted the other as he studied him. "What is wrong with you, Dib-stink? Stop doing that with your face!" he demanded which only made Dib blush harder.
"I can't control it," Dib mumbled defensively.
"Calm down, Zim," Liz said her tone amused. "It's not Dib's fault, he—," she cut off whatever she had been about to say as her head whipped around to stare out over at the road across from the Hi-Skool. Liz narrowed her eyes as she took the last few steps to the edge of the roof.
Her actions confused him and Zim enough to stop their arguing. Dib opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but Skoodge was quicker and came up behind Liz studying where her eyes were going.
"What is it?" Skoodge asked.
Her eyes scanned the road and Dib also looked around curious but saw nothing unusual. "It was nothing," Liz said slowly. "I just thought that..." she trailed off one hand rubbing the back of her neck. "Never mind," she said turning back around. "Back to the matter at hand. No, Dib, the stuff isn't from space, its from a different dimension, the demon world to be precise. You do know about demons right?" Liz asked.
Dib rolled his eyes. "Of course I know about demons, I've even met a few. But why would the skool fed us food from the demon world? That makes no sense, but it does explain why so many kids were getting sick from it, more so than usual. They probably don't even know it's demonic food, we should tell them right away," Dib nodded to himself and set off to do exactly that until Liz grabbed the back of his trench coat effectively stopping him.
"Seriously, Dib?" Liz said raising one eyebrow at him. "You are just going to waltz down there and proclaim to all of them that their lunch is from the netherworld?"
"Yeah?" Dib said slowly not seeing the problem with his plan. "They need to be informed of this."
"Dib," Liz said slowly. "Did it ever occur to you that this is being done on purpose? And even if it wasn't what makes you think they'll believe you?"
"Why would they do it on purpose?" Dib asked ignoring the second question. It was something he didn't want to think about because no one ever believed or understood him, no one until Liz came.
"Well," Liz said studying the goop on Skoodge's scanner platform. "Either it is some sort of compliance and/or intelligence draining substance or it's a plug. I'd bet my money on the plug. With the way demons can infiltrate mass media, their brain rotting can easily be done through television or the internet."
"Plug?" Skoodge repeated before Dib could. Zim titled his head also waiting for an explanation.
"Mmmh," Liz nodded looking up at Skoodge. "A plug, a way for demons to directly connect with their food source, mainly a human's life force."
"Wait," Dib flailed his arms until he had Liz's attention. "Are you saying that the skool is feeding us stuff that lets demons feed off of us? How is that possible? How has no one noticed something like that?"
Liz raised one eyebrow at Dib and shifted her weight to one hip as she crossed her arms across her chest. "No one recognizes the two aliens in their class, what makes you think they would notice they were being feed a substance that has a supernatural purpose. Not even you noticed that," Liz pointed out. "Of course your eyes have been trailing after something—or better yet someone—else so it's no wonder. Hormones make boys stupid after all," Liz waved her hand in the air dismissively.
Dib opened his mouth to rebuke her but her last comment had him speechless and his face burning red. Instead he stood pointing at her his mouth gaping like a fish.
"Don't worry, Dib, that someone's complete lack of any type of awareness has them blissfully unaware of any kind of tension. Your secret is safe," Liz assured him. And the conversation went way over the Zim's head, except for one word.
"'Secret'?" Zim pipped up a large grin splitting his face. "Tell Zim of the Dib's horrible secret!" He said getting up in Liz's face. "Tell me!"
"Hmmm," Liz tapped her finger against her lips seemingly thinking it over, which caused Dib to have a mild panic attack. "No, I don't think I will," she said finally causing Zim to sputter angrily. "But I am surprised that you are both taking this news so well," Liz said addressing both Dib and Zim.
Dib shook himself reminded of the matter at hand. "Liz is right we don't have time for arguing—,"
"—Dib, I never said anything about—,"
"—The fate of the world depends on us!" Dib continued slipping easily into familiar thought patterns. "We're going to have to find the source of this demon and put a stop to it before all of humanity is enslaved to demons."
"Dib, listen—,"
Zim snorted, which was impressive considering he didn't have a nose. "For once the Dib is correct. How dare these demon-monkies try to take what is rightfully mine to conquer!"
"Uh, guys?"
"I won't let humanity be enslaved, not on my watch," Dib said feeling a rush of strength he hadn't felt in a while. "Not by demons and not by you either, Zim."
"Guys!"
"Foolish human, it's only a matter of time before Zim takes over this ball of—arg, ack—dirt! Just watch Dib-meats as Zim stops the demons only to have the armada come and destroy all of you! It will be glorious!" Zim threw his head back to laugh manically.
"Not a chance Zim!" Dib countered.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" Liz shouted angrily causing both Irkens to clamp their clawed hands over their internal ears. Dib flinched at her voice and meekly went silent. Once she had their attention Liz took a deep breath and slowly exhaled advisably becoming calmer. "I'm sorry to say this, but you're too late."
"W-What do you mean?" Dib said afraid of the answer.
"I mean, that this isn't a new thing," Liz said pointing to the goop on the floor, her screaming had startled Skoodge into dropping it. "The skool is controlled by the government, which means that the government gave the order to have this mandatory lunch, which means that the demons have a strong control over the system," three blank faces blinked at her. "Which means that the demons control the government and thus control everything else. Humanity has already been conquered, by demons."
"Liz, you can't be serious," Dib said not believing it. "People would notice if their life force was being taken away. If that many people were dying someone would notice."
Liz shook her head. "They aren't trying to kill, that would be counterproductive. Humans have become livestock, free range livestock, but livestock just the same." Liz saw Dib's confused look and continued. "A farmer may let his flock of sheep run around a big field, but he still owns them and he still collects their wool, the sheep are just too stupid to go beyond the field because the farmer keeps feeding them."
"You can't compare humans to sheep," Dib exasperated.
"Can't I?" Liz said challengingly her tone becoming a tad harsher as she approached Dib ignoring the scowl Zim had. In fact the invader was looking very thoughtful and not all that happy with his thoughts. "You don't understand, Dib," Liz said poking him in the chest. "You have no idea what has changed in the past three hundred years, in only three hundred years! Technology has advanced, yes, but in turn that just left the door open for people to become complacent and lazy. No one thinks for themselves, no one puts effort into anything. Everyone is easily manipulated by the media and TV telling them what to do and make them less and less intelligent by the day.
"Demons have taken over the media and the media has taken over the humans. Art, music, culture, nothing is left, just commercialism. Everything that was once unique and beautiful in this world is dead. Most humans have lost the ability to create, Dib! Most of the population is dumb as a rock and those who still have a smidgen of spirit left are eventually going to die out. Even the Earth itself has lost its beauty, the plants aren't as vibrant or lively, even the fucking rain is poisonous now!" Liz tugged harshly on her braid as she ranted becoming more and more frustrated. Dib just stared not wanting to believe her, but unable to deny what she was saying.
"It's not that bad," Dib mumbled feeling somehow defensive. "I'm not affected by all that stuff."
"Of course not, you're a Membrane. Our bloodline is strong against the demons whether we wanted it to be or not," she said mumbling the last so Dib almost didn't hear it and he had been about to question what she meant when Zim suddenly came to a horrible revelation.
"Liz-human," Zim said slowly. "You meant to say that all this time Zim has been trying to conquer humans that have already been conquered, and yet still I have not been able to complete my mission?"
Liz's face softened and Dib blinked at Zim realizing what this information meant to the already incompetent invader. "Zim..." Liz started obviously feeling pity for the alien. Zim must have picked up on it and with his pride it was too much for him.
"The filthy Earth-worm lies! YOU LIE!" Zim pointed as he shouted at her then promptly ran off the skool roof using his PAK legs to scale down the building. Skoodge stared after Zim and looked back to Liz looking lost at what he should do.
"Maybe I should have worded that a little less harsh," Liz said regretfully and Dib suddenly found himself angry. Liz, a fellow human, his ancestor, was more worried about an alien invader's hurt feelings than she was about helping humanity.
"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Dib asked his voice sounded a bit hard to even him. "If you know so much about all this why not stop it?"
"Honestly, I thought you figured it out, but that you were like Gaz and just didn't care."
"Why wouldn't I care? I spent my whole life trying to stop an alien invasion only to find out we have already been invaded by demons? How do I stop it? How do we make things right again?" Dib demanded to know.
"What's the point, Dib?" Liz rounded on him. "Yes, maybe its possible to stop the demons from taking life force from the humans, but then what? You can't reverse this kind of stupidity. Most people are just genuinely stupid and those who are smart are so blind they can't see what's right in front of their eyes. Demons run the entertainment industry and all the corporations which means they are ruling everyone and everyone loves it. Get rid of the demons and you destroy everyone's happiness, so then where does that put you Mr. Hero?"
Dib gritted his teeth. This was not what he wanted to hear. "You're a jerk, Liz," he said and like Zim stormed off, however Dib choose to use the stairs.
"Liz?" Skoodge said tentatively as his antennae were picking up a wide variety of emotions from the human.
"See?" she said turning to him. There was a smile on her face, but she did not look happy and his antennae were telling him the same thing. "He's just proving my point. No one's happy knowing the truth. Ignorance is bliss and maybe I should have kept my mouth shut, but it was just so frustrating. Maybe the spiteful part of myself couldn't stand to see Dib so happy in his ignorance. I really did think that he knew but choose to ignore it. When I found out he didn't I just... was jealous I guess... No. Not jealous," she continued and turned away from him. "Lonely. It made me realize how out of place I am here and how even though Dib is an outcast from everyone, he still belongs here," Liz sighed and rubbed the end of her long braid between her fingers. She grew silent for a moment then turned back to face him.
"Sorry, Skoodge, I didn't mean to dump all that on you. You should probably go after Zim, he'll probably need someone to cheer him up."
"Invaders need no one," Skoodge said as an automatic response, but knew that Liz was right. This was very harsh information for Zim to know that he couldn't even conquer an already conquered species. If anyone knew he would be the laughing stock of Irk. However, Skoodge also knew that trying to encourage Zim would only piss his comrade off. Zim never let things get him down for long, he would find some way to turn this information to his benefit.
Humans, however, were not so resilient. He knew from research that they needed to be around others of their own kind constantly and needed interactions and some sort of acceptance to remain healthy. Even the Dib-human had interactions with his scary sister and his fighting with Zim had to count for social interactions because the human had not yet gone actually insane. He was just labeled that by the other humans who did not know what Dib knew.
Skoodge hadn't seen Liz interact with any of the other human children. She only spoke to Dib, sometimes to his scary sister and to him and Zim. If the Dib was going to outcast Liz Skoodge was worried about her need for interactions. She made it clear in the beginning that their alliance was for information exchange, information that she would be sharing with Dib. If she no longer needed information then their alliance would no longer be needed and she would stop interacting with him. That thought made his squeedlyspooch lurch in a most uncomfortable way.
Liz was his human. He would not allow her to back out of their treaty. And if she tried he would simply do as any Irken would, he would break the alliance first and conquer her instead. However, he had no idea how to conquer an individual as Irkens tended to think large scale. He could enslave her, but Liz being a drone was not appealing to him. There had to be something else, some other way to make the human belong to him without rewiring her brain, he knew there was, he could feel it in his spooch. He just didn't know what it was. Until he figured it out he would just have to make sure she didn't break her alliance with him, and for that to happen she needed to continue having interactions with the Dib.
She sighed loudly bringing him out of his thoughts. "Screw skool, I'm going home. I'm going to sleep all day while I wait for Dib to cool down. I need to find someway to patch things up," she said and Skoodge vigorously nodded his agreement. She rested her hand on his shoulder and the contact sent a zing through his spine. "You should find Zim, make sure he isn't destroying stuff that could get himself hurt. And Skoodge?" at her inquisitive tone Skoodge leaned his head towards her to show he was actively listening.
In the shoes she was wearing she was taller than normal. Usually he was a head taller than her but now her eyes were level with his chin. Tilting her head and quickly moving forward she placed her lips against his cheek for a brief moment. As she pulled away her lips moved slightly against his skin and he felt how soft they were and he heard a small noise from the lips' movement. "Thanks for listening," she said softly then left down the same stairs Dib had.
Skoodge stood frozen in place as a slight tingling sensation still lingered on his cheek. Again he hadn't been prepared for the action and had not been able to fully catalog the sensations into his PAK. He would have to get Liz to repeat this gesture as well, for informational purposes.
He was the last one standing on the roof and it took Skoodge a moment to realize this before he too used his PAK legs to scale down the building and go find Zim. And while he didn't realize it himself had anyone been watching they would have seen the huge grin splitting his face.
So now the truth is out! What will Zim and Dib do? What other changes are in store for Skoodge? haha. lame of me I know. Next chapter next Sunday.