Throughout the rest of the school day, Dib kept a watchful eye on Zim, observing his every action as the day rolled on. The boy was very confused as each moment made Zim's behavior appear stranger and stranger. That alien must have raised his hand more times that day then he had the entire school year before that, he observed.
During lunch another unusual event happened; Zim had gone over to the popular kid's table and actually asked to sit with them!
"Are you nuts? No Way!" They had yelled. Unfazed, he simply complied and found his usual empty table where he spent the rest of the lunch break staring at his plate.
Dib sat next to Gaz as he usually did and tried to bring Zim's new behavior to her attention. She ignored him and continued playing her Game Slave trying to block out the sound of her brother's voice.
Recess was another surprise waiting to happen. A few girls, probably in Gaz's grade, were playing jump rope by the fence when Zim approached them.
The decoy scanned the playground looking for information to gather.
ANALYZING: Monkey bars
A few girls and boys were playing on it.
PROGNOSIS: Occupied
ANALYZING: Hand- ball court
Two boys were smacking the yellow ball around.
PROGNOSIS: Occupied
ANALYZING: Dodge ball
A boy got socked in the gut and fell to the floor doubled over in pain.
PROGNOSIS: Dangerous
The scanner landed on a pair of undergrade girls playing with a roped coated with plastic beads and a pink handle on each end. Intrigued, the decoy made his way over.
"Hi." He smiled at the two girls.
"Uh, hi?" The little blond one answered back sounding unsure.
"Whatcha doing?" He inquired.
"Playin' jump rope." The redhead said.
"This jump rope..." his head cocked to one side "is it... fun?"
The two girls looked at each other.
"Yeah." They both said together
"Can I play?" he smiled
"Ummmmmm, ok."
They handed the strange green boy one end of the handled rope while the redhead started swinging the other, the blond jumping over the middle each time it passed the ground.
Dib watched from afar, could this really be happening? Was this really Zim playing jump rope with other children? And enjoying it? What was he up to? Was he trying to make friends? Trying to be popular? Why was he smiling like that? What was his plan? That smile, Zim never smiled like that. It wasn't like his usual smile, false plastered on his face whenever he was had to look happy. No, this smile was smaller, almost looking innocent and sweet. It was genuine and content, not scheming and evil, which made it even more evil. It meant Zim was happy about something, something only he knew about. What ever that thing was, Dib knew, it couldn't be good.
*****^^^^^^*******
GIR sat catatonic on the couch wearing his dog costume. The big white eyes glazed over engrossed in watching TV. The front door squeaked open gaining the robot's attention to the decoy of his master entering the house.
"Hi!" GIR smiled
"Hi!" The decoy smiled back.
Zim entered the room from the kitchen.
"Ah decoy, you're home." He greeted "How was your first day?"
Decoy saluted and stated,
"First day mission successful sir. All necessary information acquired."
"Good," Zim said "report acquired data."
"Sir, today we learned mathematics with fractions, sir, we learned about the invention of the steam engine, sir, we read chapter five in our text books sir."
"Anything else?" Zim inquired.
Decoy reached into his utility pack, pulled put a pink handled bead-covered rope and presented it to Zim smiling goofily.
"Jump rope is fun!"
Zim cocked his brow quizzically and looked at the rope in his double's hand.
"Jump Rope?"
"Yeah!" decoy beamed "wanna play?"
Zim pushed decoy's hand down distastefully.
"Uh, no." he said quietly then raised his voice to announce, "Seeing as how today's trial run was a success, we will be continuing this test run for the duration of the week."
Decoy smiled broadly and hopped up onto the couch landing next to GIR.
"Yippee!" he shouted with glee landing on the soft cushions "School is fun!"
"I like fun." GIR agreed, taking the rope from decoy's hand and attempting to play with it.
"No Decoy," Zim sighed "school is not fun. It is a vital part of my mission to attain knowledge about this planet. And it is your mission to gain that knowledge..."
Decoy watched Zim as he paced across the living room floor, babbling on about the importance of the mission. The robotic clone was beginning to lose interest though despite his programming to always listen to his master. He glanced quickly over to the other end the couch where GIR was rolling around, tangled up in the jump rope, squeaking. GIR wasn't listening to Zim at all, he was too busy trying to figure out how to use that jump rope but ended up with it wrapped around his tiny body, so he remained content to rolling around in it instead. As he momentarily lay on his front, the false dog felt a hand touch his head, patting gently. Decoy was still watching Zim, but his hand had wandered over to GIR and was now scratching the pseudo- pup behind the ears.
"...They say knowledge is power," Zim continued "so logically the more knowledge I gain, the closer I get to conquering this world..."
GIR rolled his shoulders letting out a happy sigh. He liked getting his ears scratched, even if he really didn't have any under his costume. He closed his eyes letting his body feel the pleasurable massage peacefully, Zim's monologue quickly fading to the background.
"...But since I cannot stand those human slug mammals I am relying on you to access this knowledge for me..."
GIR yawned and rolled over letting decoy scratch his belly. Zim never gave him this kind of attention, never patted him on the head or scratched him behind the ear. It was a blissful change of pace causing him to forget that the Zim giving him this wonderful treatment wasn't the real one. He wagged his tongue and tail purring peacefully, snuggling closer to decoy's leg to cuddle.
"... Now do you understand?" Zim finished.
"Sir, yes sir!" Decoy shouted removing his hand from GIR to salute. GIR looked up rather annoyed to be shaken from his peace so rudely.
"Alright then," Zim turned heading back to the kitchen. "I'll be in my lab completing my atomic soil analysis experiments."
"Wait!" Decoy yelled pulling some papers from his utility pack. "We have spelling for homework!"
Zim looked at the papers repulsed.
"Spelling, BAH!" He scoffed "Repugnant busywork. I have no time for such time wasting ... wastiness."
And with his final words he promptly flushed himself down the toilet.
During lunch another unusual event happened; Zim had gone over to the popular kid's table and actually asked to sit with them!
"Are you nuts? No Way!" They had yelled. Unfazed, he simply complied and found his usual empty table where he spent the rest of the lunch break staring at his plate.
Dib sat next to Gaz as he usually did and tried to bring Zim's new behavior to her attention. She ignored him and continued playing her Game Slave trying to block out the sound of her brother's voice.
Recess was another surprise waiting to happen. A few girls, probably in Gaz's grade, were playing jump rope by the fence when Zim approached them.
The decoy scanned the playground looking for information to gather.
ANALYZING: Monkey bars
A few girls and boys were playing on it.
PROGNOSIS: Occupied
ANALYZING: Hand- ball court
Two boys were smacking the yellow ball around.
PROGNOSIS: Occupied
ANALYZING: Dodge ball
A boy got socked in the gut and fell to the floor doubled over in pain.
PROGNOSIS: Dangerous
The scanner landed on a pair of undergrade girls playing with a roped coated with plastic beads and a pink handle on each end. Intrigued, the decoy made his way over.
"Hi." He smiled at the two girls.
"Uh, hi?" The little blond one answered back sounding unsure.
"Whatcha doing?" He inquired.
"Playin' jump rope." The redhead said.
"This jump rope..." his head cocked to one side "is it... fun?"
The two girls looked at each other.
"Yeah." They both said together
"Can I play?" he smiled
"Ummmmmm, ok."
They handed the strange green boy one end of the handled rope while the redhead started swinging the other, the blond jumping over the middle each time it passed the ground.
Dib watched from afar, could this really be happening? Was this really Zim playing jump rope with other children? And enjoying it? What was he up to? Was he trying to make friends? Trying to be popular? Why was he smiling like that? What was his plan? That smile, Zim never smiled like that. It wasn't like his usual smile, false plastered on his face whenever he was had to look happy. No, this smile was smaller, almost looking innocent and sweet. It was genuine and content, not scheming and evil, which made it even more evil. It meant Zim was happy about something, something only he knew about. What ever that thing was, Dib knew, it couldn't be good.
*****^^^^^^*******
GIR sat catatonic on the couch wearing his dog costume. The big white eyes glazed over engrossed in watching TV. The front door squeaked open gaining the robot's attention to the decoy of his master entering the house.
"Hi!" GIR smiled
"Hi!" The decoy smiled back.
Zim entered the room from the kitchen.
"Ah decoy, you're home." He greeted "How was your first day?"
Decoy saluted and stated,
"First day mission successful sir. All necessary information acquired."
"Good," Zim said "report acquired data."
"Sir, today we learned mathematics with fractions, sir, we learned about the invention of the steam engine, sir, we read chapter five in our text books sir."
"Anything else?" Zim inquired.
Decoy reached into his utility pack, pulled put a pink handled bead-covered rope and presented it to Zim smiling goofily.
"Jump rope is fun!"
Zim cocked his brow quizzically and looked at the rope in his double's hand.
"Jump Rope?"
"Yeah!" decoy beamed "wanna play?"
Zim pushed decoy's hand down distastefully.
"Uh, no." he said quietly then raised his voice to announce, "Seeing as how today's trial run was a success, we will be continuing this test run for the duration of the week."
Decoy smiled broadly and hopped up onto the couch landing next to GIR.
"Yippee!" he shouted with glee landing on the soft cushions "School is fun!"
"I like fun." GIR agreed, taking the rope from decoy's hand and attempting to play with it.
"No Decoy," Zim sighed "school is not fun. It is a vital part of my mission to attain knowledge about this planet. And it is your mission to gain that knowledge..."
Decoy watched Zim as he paced across the living room floor, babbling on about the importance of the mission. The robotic clone was beginning to lose interest though despite his programming to always listen to his master. He glanced quickly over to the other end the couch where GIR was rolling around, tangled up in the jump rope, squeaking. GIR wasn't listening to Zim at all, he was too busy trying to figure out how to use that jump rope but ended up with it wrapped around his tiny body, so he remained content to rolling around in it instead. As he momentarily lay on his front, the false dog felt a hand touch his head, patting gently. Decoy was still watching Zim, but his hand had wandered over to GIR and was now scratching the pseudo- pup behind the ears.
"...They say knowledge is power," Zim continued "so logically the more knowledge I gain, the closer I get to conquering this world..."
GIR rolled his shoulders letting out a happy sigh. He liked getting his ears scratched, even if he really didn't have any under his costume. He closed his eyes letting his body feel the pleasurable massage peacefully, Zim's monologue quickly fading to the background.
"...But since I cannot stand those human slug mammals I am relying on you to access this knowledge for me..."
GIR yawned and rolled over letting decoy scratch his belly. Zim never gave him this kind of attention, never patted him on the head or scratched him behind the ear. It was a blissful change of pace causing him to forget that the Zim giving him this wonderful treatment wasn't the real one. He wagged his tongue and tail purring peacefully, snuggling closer to decoy's leg to cuddle.
"... Now do you understand?" Zim finished.
"Sir, yes sir!" Decoy shouted removing his hand from GIR to salute. GIR looked up rather annoyed to be shaken from his peace so rudely.
"Alright then," Zim turned heading back to the kitchen. "I'll be in my lab completing my atomic soil analysis experiments."
"Wait!" Decoy yelled pulling some papers from his utility pack. "We have spelling for homework!"
Zim looked at the papers repulsed.
"Spelling, BAH!" He scoffed "Repugnant busywork. I have no time for such time wasting ... wastiness."
And with his final words he promptly flushed himself down the toilet.