Eight years later, a much-updated self-driving car pulled up to the same small beach house. The doors popped open, and out stepped two grown humans.
The first was a seventeen-year-old girl with purple hair and dark clothes, who somehow managed to play her handheld game and walk to the house without stumbling once. Right behind her was an eighteen-year-old man wearing a dark trenchcoat and carrying both of their suitcases. His hair was black, with part of it standing tall in a distinctive cowlick.
He paused on his way to the house, staring at the ocean and deeply breathing in the salty sea air. "It feels good to be back, Gaz," he said to his companion. "I can't believe Dad never thought of sending us back here."
"I can," Gaz said as she nudged open the door. "He wouldn't do it because you wouldn't shut up about the mermaid, and I never really saw the point of coming back. My games work just as well at home."
The two of them headed inside and claimed their rooms. "Merken, not mermaid," he corrected her.
"You're still going on about it, even," she sighed. "Still surprised Dad was cool with us coming…especially for a month."
Dib smirked. "It was my only request for passing high school with honors! And I told him it would be a good chance for scientific research."
"Conveniently forgetting to mention it's for paranormal science?" Gaz claimed her spot on the couch and continued to play.
"Obviously," he said, pulling out a waterproof bag and double-checking the contents within. Nodding to himself, he headed into the kitchen and tossed in a couple of snack cakes. "It's late in the afternoon. I'm going to set up some equipment outside before we lose daylight."
"Don't drown," Gaz told him as he hurried out the door.
Dib's memories of meeting the merken as a boy were faded, as were a good bit of his notes from the encounter. But he knew it had really happened, he knew the merken was real! He just had to prove it.
And this summer, he had several plans to do just that.
Meanwhile, hiding along the rocks near the shore, Zim was for once glaring at something other than the humans on land. Instead, his attention was focused on another small group of merkens, currently in deeper water then we has, but still easily visible.
The merkens were setting up shelters by using magic to shape sand into caves, while a magic dome hovered around the colony to keep them unnoticeable to human eyes. A merken slightly talker than he was, with a purple tail, was watching over everything and nodding.
But what Zim was really glaring at were the stones set up around the perimeter of the camp. Each had a message carved into it in merken letters—Zim, stay away, you're still banished! Zim growled lowly as he read the signs again.
"They think they'll do fine without Zim?" he said. "Hah! They should be grateful to be in the same waters as me."
"You gonna talk to them?" Gir asked from beside him, popping his head out of the sand. Over the years, he had grown just a little bigger, enough that Zim would usually carry him in both hands instead of just one. Zim himself looked the same, aside from a few scars and scrapes that had healed on their own. He had begun to ration his healing magic over the years.
"No, Gir," he answered. "But soon, they'll be wanting to talk to me, to praise me for my great deeds!"
He swam away to the small underwater cave where he kept objects and weapons that were too big for Gir to carry for him, or things he didn't trust the hermit crab with keeping safely. He grumbled and complained as he rifled through items stolen from humans, spears and knives he had carved himself, and experimental attempts at potions before finally holding up a grey conch shell with a glowing lightning-bolt pattern along its coils.
"Ah-ha! I always knew this Storm Shell would be useful when I created it!" he declared, holding it high above his head. "With this, I'll ensure this season's hunt is the most successful ever known…before it even begins!" Zim threw back his head and cackled.
"Ooh, whatchu gonna do with it?" Gir asked.
Zim pointed to a dock full of boats. "You see those, Gir? Eventually, one will fill up with humans and go our to sea. They'll end up sailing right over the colony…and that's when I shall strike!
"I'll summon a storm big enough to sink the ship easily. It and all the humans will sink right down to the colony, and Zim will be congratulated and thanked for all of his wonderful, amazing efforts! I'll be rewarded with an invitation back to the hunting parties, naturally." Zim puffed out his chest in pride. "It's the perfect plan!"
"Yaaay!" Gir cheered, floating up and spinning in a circle. "What's my job?"
"You?" Zim said. "Eh…stay near the shore when the storm hits and wait for when I call you. As for right now, we just need to wait for one of those boats to leave with plenty of humans on board."
"Okay!" Gir chirped. Zim nodded to himself and settled down in the sand under the docks, glaring up at the boats above him. It was all just a matter a of time, and he was content to wait if it meant pulling off his plan perfectly.
"Master, can I get a taco?" Gir asked after only a minute.
Zim sighed and waved him off. "Yes, Gir, you may go to the shore and get some smelly human food as long as you aren't caught."
Gir cheered and scurried to the shore. Zim stayed put, grinning wickedly as he waited. Sometimes he astounded himself with his own brilliance!
Dib sighed, pausing for a moment to watch the sun slowly setting. He had spent his afternoon searching for the small, private beach he remembered from when he was a child, where he had found the merken. While there wasn't anything there that gave away something mythical had recently been there, that didn't stop him from setting up a few hidden cameras in the boulders.
But that was only one of the things he had planned. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out his next piece of equipment—a round, black orb with purple lights along the side. Once placed in the water, it would send data on water quality to his laptop…as well as its location, or if something large disturbed the water around it.
If he was lucky, a merken might get curious and collect them in one spot—and then, he'd know just where to find them.
Of course, they really worked best in deep water. He frowned at the waves, then glanced down at himself. He was reluctant to get his trenchcoat wet, especially since swimming in it would be pretty difficult. But if he went back to change into swim trunks, it would probably be too dark for him to safely swim out by the time he got back.
Ugh, and he had really hoped to get more equipment out today. With a sigh, he turned and headed back to the beach house…only to pause when he spotted some docks not far in the distance. One of the boats was slowly starting to fill up with tourists…and that gave him an idea.
With a grin, he jogged over to see what exactly was going on. A few signs boasted that this was apparently a premier party boat, promising hours of nighttime fun over the ocean. While Dib wasn't interested in any of the 'perks' offered, the idea of taking the boat out onto deeper water was too good to pass up.
He slipped into the crowd of tourists, ignoring the few looks he got. He was fairly used to sticking out in crowds, and he knew they'd soon focus their attention on something else. He pulled out his phone and texted Gaz his plan, letting her know he'd be back late.
You, partying? Who are you and what have you done with my brother? she texted back a few minutes later.
He paid his entry fee and stepped onboard before texting back. I'm using it to place equipment in the water without having to lose time.
Five minutes later, he got another text—Figures.
He frowned and tucked his phone back away, heading to the side of the boat and away from the crowd of loud tourists. Speakers began to blare loud music, and not long after, the boat pulled away from the dock, the crowd cheering as they headed into open water.
Hopefully he could avoid a headache long enough to place his equipment.
Zim sneered when a boat finally pulled away from the docks, the sun now just a thin sliver against the horizon. This type of boat was one of his least favorite—the humans on it were always loud, stinking of alcohol, and often tossed their filthy garbage into the water.
Sinking this one would be a pleasure. He quickly beat his tail and swam up to the ship, stopping right underneath it. He easily swam along under it, scanning the ocean floor to see when they would arrive at the hunting party's colony.
"Commander Tak?"
Tak blinked, stirred out of her strategizing. She was one of the largest merken in the small hunting party of less than a dozen merken, with cold and calculating purple eyes. She turned to face the other, much smaller merken, who flinched nervously now that he had her attention.
"What? What is it?" she snapped.
"T-There's a human ship heading in our direction…" he said, slowly pointing upward and to the shore. "And, um…Z-Zim is right underneath it. Following it."
Tak's head snapped up. True to his word, there was a medium-sized boat in the distance slowly approaching them…and there was a small merken with a pink tail swimming along with it. She narrowed her eyes, then waved away the other merken. "Leave him be. He's too much of a pain to deal with."
"But if he gets spotted…"
"It will be his own fault, and the Tallest will surely, quickly punish him," Tak said. "The humans will be too foolish to capture Zim, anyway, even if he's also an idiot."
The other still seemed conflicted, so she said, "Look, if Zim's involved, there's going to be some damage control needed either way. I'd prefer to pick the path that involves the least possible amount of interaction with him."
"…yes, Commander," they said, swimming back to the others and continuing to build what would be their shelters for the season.
Tak took another few seconds to glare at Zim. "…the moment you try anything, you're done," she growled. But for now, she had a party to oversee.
Dib quickly found the party too overstimulating, and walked as far away from the others as he could. He ended up sneaking to the back of the ship, which was fairly well-insulated from the party, even the loud music seeming muffled by the distance. Dib sighed in relief and leaned against the railing, looking out over the water. Here, he could relax and focus on his task.
He pulled the first of his sensors out of his bag, watching the waves and eyeballing how far they were from the shore. Once he was satisfied with the distance, he activated the sensor and dropped it. Hopefully it would attach to something and not just be pulled away by the currents.
If it was, well...he had quite a few more sensors to deploy. Surely one would work.
But until then, he relaxed against the railing, carefully scanning the water for a flash of light green.
After about an hour or so, the boat was far from the shore and slowly drifting. Dib had deployed all of his sensors…and now, all that was left was to wait until the boat finally headed back to the docks. He sighed, briefly considering checking out the party…
But decided against it. They were still too loud for his tastes, and he'd get more done by scanning the water, anyway.
He reached into his bag and pulled out one of the snack cakes, munching on it as he stared at the stars reflected in the water.
"Yes…YES!" Zim cried. Those foolish humans had steered their stinking boat right over the merken colony, unknowingly sealing their doom!
He beat his tail to go to the back of the ship, poking only the conch shell out of the water. Once it was exposed to the air, he pressed his lips against the tapered end and blew as hard as he could.
Magic surged out of the shell and high into the air, condensing into dark clouds. Zim closed his eyes and blew harder, willing the magic to do more, to tear the sky itself apart!
The surface of the conch bubbled and trembled under his claws…and then exploded in a brilliant white burst of magic, shards flying everywhere and sending Zim shooting backwards, smoking.
Dib had finished about half of the snack cake when he noticed a disturbance in the water in front of him. The water was too dark for him to see what it was, especially when storm clouds suddenly sprang up overhead as though from out of nowhere.
Still, there was something in the water, faintly glowing…and it was getting brighter. With a furrowed brow, he leaned out over the railing to get a better look—
And whatever it was exploded in a brilliant white light with enough force to send him flying back, his head smacking against the wall behind him.
He groaned and slumped down, barely registering that there was now a gaping hole in the ship under where he had just been standing.
It felt like gravity was pulling him down, the world shifting under him. And the screaming from the party sounded different, frightened. He tried to stand up, to get to everyone else, but…
His vision went fuzzy, and he slipped into unconsciousness, barely feeling icy cold water splash over his body
"Commander Tak!" someone screeched.
"I see it!" Tak barked in response. She had watched as Zim did something near the back of the ship, resulting in a brilliant flash of magic that punched a gaping hole into it.
Now the boat was sinking right towards them, humans falling or jumping off of it and into the water. With how quickly the boat was sinking, it would land on top of their colony in minutes!
She grit her teeth. "Zim…!"
"Retreat!" someone else screamed. "Before they see us!" At their shout, several merkens swam out in a panic, and there was much yelling and crying.
"Hey!" Tak said, snapping out of her rage and thirst for revenge to try and establish order in the party. But even as she tried, the others were still in a total panic, and for good reason.
Zim shook his head, blinking until he could see and hear clearly again. It only took a few moments, but he could immediately tell that he was unharmed, aside from being a little singed.
"Hah!" he laughed, then quickly turned to see what had become of the boat.
While his storm was just thick clouds and rain, the magic explosion had punched a large hole into the ship's underside. It was quickly taking on water and sinking into the sea, and humans were spilling from the sides in a desperate effort to escape.
He began cackling loudly as he watched, all the humans too worried for their lives to notice him. "Yes! Victory for Zim!" The boat sank toward the colony, and Zim laughed as he imagined their shocked happiness, and how they would praise him for his delivery of humans…
A tiny piece of debris drifted in front of him—nothing of importance, but still familiar enough that he reached out and grabbed it. Inspecting it, he saw it was a half-eaten human snack…a type of snack he hadn't seen in years. "Eh?"
A familiar long scythe of black hair entered the corner of his vision, and Zim's head immediately snapped around.
The human that hair was attached to was much bigger than he remembered—clearly, he had grown out of his larval stage. But he still had the same hair, the same pasty skin, and the same swollen head. Zim swam over to him without a second thought, grabbing the front of his shirt before he could sink any further.
"…Dib?" he said. The word felt strange on his tongue, but it felt right. The human didn't react at all, still acting like dead weight.
Zim felt a strange pulsing in his chest, his blood growing a degree warmer. He wasn't exactly regretting sinking the ship, but…the thought of this one particular human dying upset him in a way he couldn't explain. With a growl, he wrapped his arm around the human's chest, tucking them under his arms and looking up.
A few quick thrashes of his tail, and he had brought Dib to the surface. The storm was still raging overhead, pelting their faces with water. More boats were speeding towards the sinking ship, and Zim lowly growled. He needed to get the Dib to land before they were spotted.
So, he quickly adjusted so that Dib's upper body was lying on Zim's back, his head above the water and his arms draped around Zim. Zim tucked his own head mostly under the water and swam as quickly as he could to the shore.
For a merken such as himself, the journey was quick and took barely more than a minute. Zim chose to pull both himself and the human onto the same tiny beach, hidden by boulders, were they had met almost a decade ago.
Once they were out of the water, Zim shoved Dib off of him, rolling the human onto his back in the sand.
"Be grateful that I felt merciful today, Dib-human," he huffed. "Especially after you abandoning Zim for so long. You'd better have brought more of the promised snack cakes."
Dib didn't say anything. Zim slowly glanced over at him, antennae quivering. The human's breathing was weak and shallow, and there was a gash on his forehead that was slowly leaking red liquid. Zim cringed in disgust.
"Ergh." Head wounds were bad for humans, weren't they? He'd have to fix that. "GIR! Gir, come here at once!"
Gir scuttled up to him. "Yes, Master?"
"The healing goo, Gir! Now!"
"Okeydokey!" Gir disappeared into his shell, quickly emerging with a bottle with just a few dregs of glowing goo inside. "It's just the crumbs!"
"It'll have to do," Zim said, snatching the bottle away and opening it. "Now, go act as a lookout! Tell me if any humans begin to approach this spot."
Gir saluted him, scuttling up and over the boulders. Zim shook the goo into his hand, quickly slapping it onto the human's gash and rubbing it in. It faintly glowed, which meant it was healing the wound. It had to be working, it had to be…
"C'mon, Dib-human," he growled under his breath, lightly smacking his cheek. "You're not so puny and fragile a little wreck would take you out, are you? Wake up already!"
Dib wasn't stirring. Zim scowled, growling under his breath, and slapped the human with more force. Still no reaction. His growling grew a little louder, and he pressed his head and antennae against the human's chest. His pathetic fleshy heart was still beating, though weakly.
"Come…on!" He had seen humans save other drowned humans by pushing on their chest. Zim perched above Dib and copied the pumping motion he had seen, following along with the heartbeat pulsing under his claws.
When Dib roused to consciousness, the first thing he realized was that something was pressing up and down on his chest.
The next was that there was salt water burning in his lungs, and it was being forced out now.
His eyes snapped open, and he quickly turned to his side, pushing off whatever had been on top of him. He hacked and wheezed…and then coughed up seawater. It burned up his throat and poured out of his mouth and nose, splattering onto the sand.
"Ugh!" a voice behind him sneered. "All these years, and you're a still a disgusting and vile human."
Dib blinked. That voice was…familiar. He rolled onto his back again, squinting at the figure beside him. Even as blurry as they were, he could tell they weren't human. No human was that green. "Who are…who are you?" He coughed, his throat still burning.
"…you've forgotten me?" the figure said. They sounded…almost hurt. But their tone immediately became condescending. "Pah! I should have known better for a human to have a good memory, no matter how large their brain is."
Dib glared at them. "I literally can't see you."
"Ah…right. Your eyes are inferior, aren't they?" they said. "Ugh. I suppose I'll fetch your optic instruments, if I must." With that, they turned and slipped into the water, disappearing from his sight.
While they were gone, Dib frowned, wracking his brain as he took several deep breaths. He knew that voice, that figure…the merken from when he was a child! The one everyone was convinced he was just making up! But this was…this was proof he really wasn't crazy!
But the merken's name…it was on the tip of his tongue. Before he had it, the merken returned, splashing out of the water and onto his chest.
"These should be it," he said, shaking water off of something in his hands before slipping them onto Dib's face. Dib blinked a few times. His glasses were wet and had sand coating them, but he could mow clearly see the face of his rescuer.
All these years, and he was still the same—maybe a few inches bigger, but still no more than four feet tall. Still the same pink tail, green skin, magenta eyes, and manic fanged grin.
The name finally clicked for him. "…Zim?"
The merken's face brightened, his antennae standing straight up. "So, you do remember! Good to see that enlarged cranium of yours has some purpose." He rapped his knuckles against Dib's temple, and Dib hissed with pain, pulling away.
"My head isn't big," he mumbled almost petulantly. "…how did…why did you save me, Zim?"
Zim scoffed, waving off the question. "What's the problem with it, Dib-stink? You could have been dead, now you're alive. Besides, I thought you loved tales of mermaids saving sailors from certain doom."
Dib laughed. As weak as it was, it still made his poor lungs ache. "Thought...mermaids were...supposed to be beautiful," he coughed.
Zim lightly smacked his chest with a laugh, making Dib cough more. "Zim is gorgeous, you rude brat."
Dib snorted. "Good to know...I wasn't crazy," he said. He reached up, grabbing both of Zim's wrists. "Can prove...I was right all along..."
Zim shuddered, quickly pulling his hands away. It took a bit of effort—even when this weak, Dib had quite a strong grip. "Like I'm going to just let you capture me," he sneered, bending to grin right in front of Dib's nose. "Zim has escaped from humans many times before. He has never even been spotted once after a shipwreck!"
Dib gave a weak laugh, laying his head back in the sand. Still, though…something about what Zim said made him pause. "…do you hang around shipwrecks a lot?"
"Eh…sort of?"
Dib furrowed his brow, lifting his head. Zim…wasn't quite looking him in the eye. "…Zim. Did you cause the shipwreck!?"
A claw was suddenly and dramatically pointed in his face. "You can't prove anything!"
"Oh, God. Oh my God…everyone else on the ship!" Dib tried to sit up…but his weakened body wobbled, and he fell back to the sand. "No!"
"Oh, the other humans?" Zim said. He glanced out to sea, where a swarm of boats had surrounded the shipwreck. The sink had long since sunk, but people were being quickly plucked out of the water. "Looks like they're being helped. …unfortunately."
Dib's mouth opened and closed in shock a few times. "You…you…!"
Gir came scuttling back over the boulders. "Master, humans are coming!"
"What!?" Zim grabbed him and slipped back into the water. "How could they be coming here so quickly!?"
"I think they want their taco back, maybe," Gir said. "After I stole it."
Zim growled, tossing Gir into the ocean. He ducked into the water himself…then suddenly splashed back to Dib's side, placing his hand over his.
"Heal quickly. Zim commands it," he hissed, giving Dib's hand a squeeze. Finally, he turned and dove into the water, quickly swimming away.
"Come, Gir! We shall observe the Dib's recovery from afar!" he announced. "…wait. Was I doing something else?"
He rubbed his chin in thought for a moment before shrugging. "Oh, well. It probably wasn't anything important."
He swam around the bend to another part of the beach, oblivious to the ship finally falling on top of the merken hunting party's colony.
Dib stared blankly in the direction Zim had disappeared in. Seemed like the merken wasn't going to come back again…but he kept staring, even as he heard someone climb over the boulders and shine a flashlight down on him.
"Hey…hey, there's someone over here!" they shouted further down the beach. The next thing Dib knew, he was being pulled up onto his feet, guided to the main beach. "Are you okay? Were you one of the people in the wreck?"
"Y-Yeah," he mumbled, his legs wobbling.
"You're in shock, but you're safe…so stay calm, alright?" they continued, nudging him into sitting in the sand. "It's impressive that you swam all the way back here on your own! A good thing, too."
They continued asking him questions about who he was, dud he know anyone who was nearby, and so on. Dib mumbled out answers without really thinking about it, mind turning over the encounter he had just had.
…was it real, or had he really saved himself? If it was real, why would Zim have saved him from a wreck the merken himself had caused? It didn't make any sense.
As he tried to puzzle it out, his fingers twitched. It was like he could still feel the pressure of Zim's hand on his own. Dazed, he glanced down, half-wondering if he had really dragged the merken along with him. Clutched in his hand was a broken, waterlogged camera...his camera, the one Zim had broken years ago.
He laughed weakly, clinging onto it a little tighter. He knew it. He knew he hadn't made any of it up.
"Dib!" someone cried. He looked up in time to see Gaz running up to him. To his shock, she threw her arms around him in a hug!
Of course, it was just to wrap a shock blanket around him, and she pulled back in less than five seconds, but it was still a hug! "I heard about the ship going down," she said. "For a second I thought...I might have been a little bit worried."
Dib smiled weakly at her, wrapping the blanket more tightly around himself. "Well, I'm fine," he said. "You'll never believe what happened to me, Gaz."
"You're right, I won't," she answered, pulling him up and onto his feet. "What is it this time? A sea serpent sunk the ship?"
"Merken, actually," he mumbled, dragging his feet as she led him back to the house. "He's real, Gaz. Zim is real..."
His sister didn't say anything. Which was fine, really, since he slipped back into a shocked daze as they walked. He mumbled a few more things about Zim, but he wasn't fully aware of his surroundings until Gaz was pushing him into lying down on his bed.
"Gaz, please…you have to believe me…"
His sister just sighed, pressing him down and heading to the door. "Just rest, okay, Dib? We can talk about the merken tomorrow."
She closed the door behind her. He knew she didn't believe him, but…he was tired. So tired…he closed his eyes and drifted into unconsciousness, still holding onto that broken camera.
Tak surveyed the damage done with a scowl, her arms crossed. The human ship had landed directly on top of their small colony, forcing every merken to quickly flee their temporary shelters before they were crushed. Even now, a good majority of the party was scattered and panicking.
To make things worse, there were multiple humans that almost spotted them as they spilled out of the ship. There weren't enough clear-headed merkens to carefully pick them off, and those who could still keep calm (like Tak) had been forced to quickly corral everyone into hiding.
And of course, as soon as most of the merkens had finally calmed down enough to perhaps attack, the humans were in the middle of being rescued. Attacking wasn't worth the risk.
So…the colony was gone, the morale of the party was in disarray, and they didn't even get one human to show for it. Tak sighed, rubbing at her temples. "This can't get any worse."
"Almighty Tallest Red and Purple have arrived!" a voice called out, echoing over what remained of the colony. Tak's blood ran cold, and she quickly whipped around. No, no, no, the Tallests' inspection of her party wasn't supposed to be for a few more days—!
But to her horror, there they were, surrounded by an entourage of smaller merkens wielding spears. The Tallest both towered over all other merken at thirteen feet long. They both looked similar to each other, the main difference being that one had a red tail and eyes, while his companion's were purple. Strips of their respective color lined their green skin, and Tak knew that they were bioluminescent.
Both of them were staring at the shipwreck and the panicking merkens with bored, unimpressed expressions. Tak gulped, swimming up to meet them and stopping just before their guards.
"M-My Tallest!" She quickly bowed to the larger merkens, her antennae submissively flattening against her skull and wiggling. "Y-You arrived earlier than expected…"
"We wanted to make sure everything was going well," Red said. He lifted his head and sneered slightly. "Clearly, it isn't."
"Yeah, Tak!? What's the meaning of this!?" Purple shouted. He gestured at the destruction around them. "Weren't you trying to say you were a great hunting captain? If you were, how'd all this happen!?"
"Yes, how did a colony manage to get destroyed, while nearly exposing the hunting party to humans?" Red asked a little more calmly. Still, the red lights flickering along his body made it clear he was still upset.
"I…circumstances were beyond our control!" Tak protested. "That little…minnow of a scout thought it was a good idea to try and sink a boat right above us! He barely even tried to pick off any of the humans, too!"
The Tallest exchanged glances. "…which scout, exactly?" Red asked.
"Zim," Tak spat, her voice dripping with venom. Her antennae, though still lowered, were now twitching with rage. Both of the Tallest flinched slightly, exchanging another glance.
"…do you think you could bring him to us, Tak?" Purple said. "Something this big should be addressed right away."
Tak blinked…and her antennae straightened as she grinned. "Oh, with pleasure, my Tallest. With pleasure."