Note: The title of this chapter can also be changed to… 'Bouncing Off Dib's Head and Splashes' …Yeah, I'm a bit insane right now.
Disclaimer: Just Skitt, Zoe, and the storyline are mine. Nothing else.
-----------
The
children ran out to recess as the bell rang. Of the three tagging behind, Skitt
went out first, then ZIM, then Dib. The female Irken looked around the
playground, and then walked toward some kids tossing around a kickball. ZIM
followed shortly after.
"Greetings,
children. Might I partake in your game?" Skitt asked, shifting her gaze to each
of the kids in turn.
One
of the kids, Chunk, shrugged. Skitt took this to be a confirmation, so she
stepped in to join them. ZIM went to the other side of the group without a
word. The ball began to be passed around, and no one seemed to be pegging
anyone else yet.
Skitt
was watching ZIM, and the other Irken was watching her. Dib was not too far
away, just within earshot. As the deadlock between the two Invaders continued,
Chunk held the ball and smirked. He hurled it at Skitt, and just as it was
about to hit her, she lifted a black-gloved hand and caught it.
"Pain
is not something others inflict on me," Skitt commented as she held the
kickball. "It is something I give to little insubordinates like you." She drew
back her arm and for a moment a calculating look was in her eyes. Seconds
later, Skitt launched the ball at Chunk. The ball bounced off his head, sailed
into the lowest branch of a nearby tree, and connected with the back of ZIM's
head, causing his wig to fly off.
Skitt
turned and walked over to the tree, leaving Chunk and ZIM to slump on the
ground in pain for a few moments. ZIM hurriedly picked up his hairpiece and put
it back in place, and walked off indignantly. Dib cast a look to the retreating
Irken, and then a confused expression spread on his face, for Skitt was no
longer in view.
Dib
stood under the tree where he had last seen Skitt. He looked up into the
branches and saw Skitt there, halfway up the branches. She was hanging from her
spider-leg like appendages, which were positioned on branches adjacent to her.
Right after grinning ghoulishly, Skitt dropped right onto Dib's head, bounced
off, did a flip in the air, and landed gracefully on the ground.
"Stay
on your toes, Dib!" she laughed. The bell rang as Dib was trying to think of
how to react to an alien invader jumping off his head. Before he could fully
form some kind of outrage, Skitt tossed a smirk his way and walked back inside
the Skool with the rest of the children.
Dib
followed, and ZIM was not far behind. They were both, in actuality, thinking
what the heck kind of Invader Skitt was. Anyway, they both went inside to…DOOM!
-----------
As
the class all took their seats, Ms. Bitters slid out from behind her desk. The
kids sat in silence, wondering when the afternoon's lecture on doom would
begin.
"Class,
the Skool has decided to decrease your overall chances of doom with a futile
new plan. The mentality of children is decreasing, as such will happen as the
planet careens closer to inevitable destruction, and so it has been agreed that
you will attend a swimming lesson at the fitness organization down the street."
Ms. Bitters paused here, and the class was still trying to recognize the
potential for fun in this activity.
The
teacher continued, gesturing to the door. "The organization will provide swim
attire. Go, now. The Skoolbus is waiting outside." The kids got up and
gleefully ran out of the classroom. ZIM was still in his seat and Skitt was
halfway out the door. Dib, seeing this as an opportunity to establish a little
preamble to ZIM's imminent pain, sauntered over to the alien's desk.
"Come
on, ZIM. Time to get…wet," he mocked before leaving the classroom. ZIM
got up and left as Ms. Bitters leaned toward him and uttered a low growl.
-----------
Skitt
was in the front seat, Dib behind her, and ZIM seated across from her. However,
before a conflict could take place, they had arrived at the health club. The
Skoolbus emptied and soon everyone had swimming garments and was assembled near
a big, long pool in the basement of the club. A woman standing before them, who
was grinning with an abnormal amount of happiness, smiled at the kids.
"Hey
there! You must be…" the woman paused to look at a clipboard, "…Ms. Bitters'
class! I'm Ms. Vanilla and I'll be your swim teacher today! Now, who here knows
how to swim?"
All
the children except for Skitt, ZIM, and Chunk raised their hands. A few
snickered at the three. Dib grinned evilly, looking from the clearly nervous
ZIM to the oddly calm Skitt.
Ms.
Vanilla bent down near the three who couldn't swim. "Awww, that's okay! I was
seventeen before I learned out to swim! We'll just take it one step at a time."
She stood up. "I'm going to assign you everyone a swim partner! If you are
paired with someone who doesn't know how to swim, I ask you help him or her
learn. Okay?" The creepy cheerfulness came to the wide swim as she roved down
the list, calling out the pairs.
"…And,
let's see, Skitt aaaand…Dib! …ZIM and Spoo! …" And so the pairing went on. By
some twist of fate, one of the aliens had been partnered with Dib!
Minutes
later everyone was lined up along the rim of the pool, his or her partners
across from him or her. Dib, who was wearing dark blue swimming trunks, grinned
smugly at Skitt, attired in a one-piece black swimsuit but still with her
backpack. They both at the same moment looked over ZIM, wearing blue trunks
also with his backpack, and Spoo who was looking dissatisfied with his partner
assignment. Ms. Vanilla walked along behind the kids, asking if anyone wanted
goggles.
"Alright!
You're all near the shallow end, and the water is no deeper than three feet.
Now, everyone in the water, let's see how you do! Remember, we have plenty of
lifesaving devices!" The teacher stood in the water near the steps entering the
pool and watched as the kids jumped in, swam around, and the echoes of their
shouts bounced off the walls.
ZIM
had gone to the rest room for some reason and hadn't even gotten in the water
yet, and Skitt and Dib were still watching each other from the rim of the pool.
Ms. Vanilla made her way past all the swimming kids, even Chunk, who seemed to
have suffered a temporary memory lapse, because he could swim, and came
over to the water near Skitt.
"Come
on, Skitt! The water's fun!" she cooed.
Dib
grinned. "Yeah, Skitt, the water's fun!" With that, he jumped in. Ms.
Vanilla was still standing there, in the water, smiling.
"If
you're scared, I'll catch you as you get in!" Ms. Vanilla said.
Skitt
seemed to shudder for a moment, but shook her head. "No, I'm fine but I do
think there are some unhappy children over there whose lives you need to scar
with your inane smiling and worthless chatter." She gestured over toward the
main throng of kids and the teacher rushed off.
Dib
was now right below her in the water, smiling at Skitt with mock-sweetness.
"You gotta get in the water, Skitt, or you'll fail class… It won't hurt…much!"
He began laughing.
Without
another word, Skitt leaped over Dib and hit the water in a dive. The boy watched
for her shouts of pain, but found there were none. Still having his glasses on,
he pulled a pair of goggles on over them and went under the water to look for
her. Skitt was in the 'five feet deep' area of the pool, standing on the
bottom.
The
boy was shocked to notice she was breathing. Skitt grinned and held out her
hands, fingers spread and palms out, in Dib's direction. He noticed then there
were strange metal attachments on the insides of her fingers that were the same
color of her skin. The attachments spread from one inside of her finger to the
next, until her hands appeared webbed.
Skitt
walked toward Dib on the bottom, moving with the slowness water creates. "In
case you're wondering, I had my backpack device fitted with a kind of invisible
force field that covers my entire body while in water. These things between my
fingers allow for optimum water mobility." She grinned, and a projection of
superiority.
"Unlike
Invader ZIM, who relies on paste for water protection, I have some pretty neat
hi-tech stuff. Paste will eventually wash off, as he has yet to discover."
Skitt jumped up off the pool floor and used her 'webbed' hands to propel
herself forward, moving fastest than Dib could ever hope to in the water.
The
underwater sound of a splash was heard. Dib came up for air just as ZIM jumped
in, and for nearly three hours more, the children had fun in the pool. ZIM
failed spectacularly at swimming, but did succeed at inadvertently giving the
pool water with a sticky mildew on the surface. Skitt won the 'fastest swimmer'
contest. When they had changed back into their clothes and dismissed, Zoe was
sitting outside the health club, waiting for Skitt.
Skitt
smiled at the sight of her SIR. "I don't care what Kolo said, you're a smart
SIR."
Zoe
made a birdlike chirp. "And cookies are good!"
-----------
Ready
for the next chapter? I've got to finish this before November. You all know
why… Eh heh…yeah…I'm gonna go work on chapter seven now.