NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
By Vixen
Part 3
PS. Sorry it took so long to get this out, the next part will be up momentarily.
The next day at precisely five o'clock, according to his black spy watch, Dib arrived on Zim's doorstop. Thankfully, the laser armored lawn gnomes had been deactivated. At least Zim was taking this mission seriously, Dib thought, enough to let down his guard.
The doorbell rang throughout the house and Dib heard the scamper of feet as they hurried towards the door. It opened and a small green dog-type-creature greeted appeared in the doorway.
In a carefully rehearsed voice the dog said, "Whatever... you're selling... we don't want it!" and slammed the door shut in Dib's face.
The teenager stood there stunned for a brief moment until the door reopened.
"Got any Choco-chocolate?"
"You must be... Gir." Dib recalled Gaz saying something about Zim's 'pet'.
"May--be..."
Dib was amused; Zim was never going to make it in the conquering game if he had lackeys like this. "Why did you shut the door in my face, Gir?"
"Because master said not to buy anymore garbage, but I like garbage... it's fun to roll in." Without a pause or hesitation, Gir started rolling on the floor with shouts of "Whee" every so often.
Dib carefully stepped over the threshold, taking in his surroundings, "Zim, are you here? ZIM! Hello?"
"There you are, earth-beast, you're late." Zim appeared in the kitchen doorway after taking the trash shout up to the first floor.
"You're... um... dog, he wouldn't let me in."
Zim sighed to himself and shook his head; he was surrounded by idiots. "That doesn't matter now. Hurry up, we have plans to solidify, annoying Mal type people to destroy, planet to conquer..." Zim stopped himself, "Well not so much for you on that last one."
"Or you if I have anything to say about it." Dib said through clenched teeth.
They traveled down into the bowels of Zim's house, down into the central computer room. On any other day Zim would have tried to kill Dib before letting him in here, but he didn't have any choice now. Gaz was in trouble and nothing else mattered.
Dib pivoted around, eyes darting to the pink and green Irkan technology. To be honest, it scared him, it sent a cool shiver down his spin. This was the center of evil in his eyes, to a lesser extent than Mal, but still evil. This was where Zim plotted to take over the world; this is what he had to stop. He had to stop himself from crashing the whole thing to pieces, fight back the fighting instinct and just go along with Zim's plan.
He had to trust his enemy.
He had to trust somebody.
Why oh why did it have to be Zim, he asked himself a million times, but that didn't matter now. The only important thing was getting Gaz to safety and obliterating Mal.
Zim led him to a small spaceship, a voot runner-- that's what Zim had called it. "Come on, get in."
Dib hoped into the craft with Zim and amazement took over as they took off. He was in an actual spaceship now, befriending an alien, and life suddenly felt really weird.
An hour later Dim and Zim sat in the voot runner hovering over Mal's apartment, Dim still couldn't get over his shock and awe as the ship worked it's magic. He was consciously trying to remember everything he could about the ship so that he could go back and tell all the paranormal sciences about it. He could share this information with the world, or maybe just hold it for blackmail against Zim.
Zim was looking through a telescope projection thingy and starring at Gaz. Zim had given her the same look in the gym while they were watching the cheerleader try-outs. The big brother part of Dib and the anti-aliens part combined to form a quiet anger that stirred in him. Still, maybe it was nothing. Maybe he just couldn't read aliens facial emotions.
Dib stopped staring angrily at Zim and glanced through the open window to Gaz. She was playing video games yet again...and lying on Mal's shoulder. He so desperately wanted to save her from this, he knew it wasn't what she wanted... but then why was she acting this way, what was controlling her? He had no answers at the moment.
"If only there was a way to get Gaz away from Mal, then maybe I could get her to stop this stupid cheerleader nonsense, I could get through to her."
" I may have an idea." Zim's green face turned up in a weird smile.
"Does it involve killing anyone? Not that I'm against killing Mal at this point, but if there was any form of murder involved in your plan I'd like to know. Just so I can pick out a nice jail cell before you SCREW UP THE PLAN!"
"Oh, no, it's a good plan. It'll work, I bet the whole Irken Armada on it."
"Oh, great, the inept Irken invader has a plan... and just how many of your supposed plans have gone wrong in the past?"
"Better than yours, earth-beast."
"You know, I'm getting just a little tired of you calling me that," Dib raised his voice, slamming his hand on the ship's console.
Then the chaos erupted. The ship lurched up in the air, spun in a crazy circle as the engines sputtered and coughed.
"What did you do to my ship?!"
Dib spoke in a quiet guilty voice, "I think I hit the little red button."
"St-up...id hu-ma...n.." The Irken was being thrown around the cockpit so much that he couldn't speak straight. He tried to get control of the spacecraft but it was too little too late, they were going down. There was a small pond a few yards away, if Zim could get there to land... or at least crash not so much.
Dib pressed his hands against the windshield as they started to descend rapidly into the cold waters of the lake. He muttered a quick prayer to whoever was listening and then they hit the surface. The ship automatically sunk a few feet, and the water started to come through any available openings.
Zim smashed the windshield, and Dib held his breath while the water gushed in. Then he swam as fast as he could.
Dib coughed as he reached the top of the water and inhaled some much-needed oxygen. "Zim, Zim are you okay? Where are you?"
Then the pale boy saw the alien lying on the banks of the lake.
Dib swam to the shore and rose from out of the water, and walked onto the land, peering over Zim, "Are you okay?"
Zim was covered in blisters from the allergy his skin had to the earth's water. "Of course I'm not okay, Dib, I'm in intense agonizing excruciating pain."
"Oh, um, anything I can do to help?"
Zim sat up, suddenly the pain not affecting him as much... maybe he was going into shock. "No, just let me handle Mal. I'll get Gaz away from him and then you can confront her... do we have a deal earthling?"
Dib thought about it. He would have to trust Zim to take care of this, to take care of his sister. Could he really do that? He looked down at the alien who was checking his blistering skin. The alien didn't seem so terrible anymore, well one of the lesser evils at least. With slow consideration he nodded, "Deal."
It was noon when Dib received the call down to the principal's office. Oh great, he thought, this is it, Zim's fucked up and we're going to jail.
Dib approached the principal's office. He had to fight back a strong urge to run before going in, it wouldn't help to assume guilt already, that would just look.. guilty.
"Mr. Johensen?" Dib asked as he entered the office. "You wanted to see me?"
"Dib, yes, I was wondering if you would like to meet with a psychiatrist to talk about what happened to your sister last night?" The principal looked like he was expecting Dib to break out into tears any moment.
"What happened to her?"
"Ah, yes, you're obviously in denial."
"What happened!"
A grimace crossed Mr. Johensen's face, "Calm down, young man, we're here to help you through this difficult time."
"Look," Dib was getting increasingly anxious as the conversation progressed, "Just tell me what happened, please."
"Oh, you really don't know, do you?" Mr. Johensen shuffled some papers nervously while muttering about the American family these days, "Dib, your sister is being held in the Psychiatrist's Sacred Youth Center & Home Organization."
"My sister's in the nut house!"
It was a few hours and a couple of skool counselors later that Dib finally made his way to the Institution. He was getting increasingly irritated by having to prove his sanity today. Geez, just because his sister had gone insane didn't mean that he would. Not that his sister had even gone insane, Dib noted to himself, that was just probably part of Zim's plan.
The nurse let him into Gaz's room and Dib neared her bed. Gaz was sleeping, the nurses said she was highly aggressive and had to be shot up with morphine to protect herself, she'd be resting for a few more hours.
Dib sat uncomfortably on the visitor's chair. "Gaz, come on, this isn't like you..." The words fell on deaf ears. "I.. I don't know what to do... I'm actually working with Zim -- can you believe that?" He pulled his black duster closer, feeling a chill in the air. "I promise you I'm gonna get you back... I kinda miss having you yell at me all the time."
He couldn't sit here anymore and watch her not answer him so Dib got up and walked out of the room. Zim was sitting in the waiting room; he'd been waiting for Gaz to wake up ever since he brought her here.
Dib felt the anger that had been threatened to explode all day and now it was all aimed at the alien. Dib grabbed Zim by the shirt with two fists. "This was your great plan, Zim? Get my sister committed to the nut house?" He pushed the alien up against the wall; "This was a trick, wasn't it? You were working with him, weren't you?" Dib threw the green boy down, and Zim slid down the wall with the propelled force.
Zim continued to sit on the ground, well out of reach while Dib started to pace angrily.
"I should have seen it, I should have seen it! You and Mal, you were working behind my back this whole time."
"That's a lie, earth-scum! Mal will DIE and I do not work with losers like that spooty head!"
Dib stopped pacing and looked down at the alien, "And just why should I believe anything you say, Zim?"
"Because... because I love your sister."
Dib looked shocked... and then he looked nauseated, "You what?"
"I love her, Dib. I always have." Zim picked himself up off the floor and stood tall, expecting another blow from the earthling. "I think it's why I always fall so MISERABLY in taking over this miserable stink planet."
Dib took in a breath, pausing to consider this new revelation. It hadn't really been a surprise. There had been plenty of signs he had been all too willing to ignore, "Do you think we have a chance to destroy him?"
Zim nodded, "The best of both worlds going up against one stupid vile despicable Mal alien? We'll OBLITERATE him!"
"Come on then," Dib turned to leave the hospital. There had been a crowd gathering while Zim and him fought, but he just ignored them. Zim followed the earthling out the doors.
It was time for vengeance.
...CONTINUED IN PART 4...
By Vixen
Part 3
PS. Sorry it took so long to get this out, the next part will be up momentarily.
The next day at precisely five o'clock, according to his black spy watch, Dib arrived on Zim's doorstop. Thankfully, the laser armored lawn gnomes had been deactivated. At least Zim was taking this mission seriously, Dib thought, enough to let down his guard.
The doorbell rang throughout the house and Dib heard the scamper of feet as they hurried towards the door. It opened and a small green dog-type-creature greeted appeared in the doorway.
In a carefully rehearsed voice the dog said, "Whatever... you're selling... we don't want it!" and slammed the door shut in Dib's face.
The teenager stood there stunned for a brief moment until the door reopened.
"Got any Choco-chocolate?"
"You must be... Gir." Dib recalled Gaz saying something about Zim's 'pet'.
"May--be..."
Dib was amused; Zim was never going to make it in the conquering game if he had lackeys like this. "Why did you shut the door in my face, Gir?"
"Because master said not to buy anymore garbage, but I like garbage... it's fun to roll in." Without a pause or hesitation, Gir started rolling on the floor with shouts of "Whee" every so often.
Dib carefully stepped over the threshold, taking in his surroundings, "Zim, are you here? ZIM! Hello?"
"There you are, earth-beast, you're late." Zim appeared in the kitchen doorway after taking the trash shout up to the first floor.
"You're... um... dog, he wouldn't let me in."
Zim sighed to himself and shook his head; he was surrounded by idiots. "That doesn't matter now. Hurry up, we have plans to solidify, annoying Mal type people to destroy, planet to conquer..." Zim stopped himself, "Well not so much for you on that last one."
"Or you if I have anything to say about it." Dib said through clenched teeth.
They traveled down into the bowels of Zim's house, down into the central computer room. On any other day Zim would have tried to kill Dib before letting him in here, but he didn't have any choice now. Gaz was in trouble and nothing else mattered.
Dib pivoted around, eyes darting to the pink and green Irkan technology. To be honest, it scared him, it sent a cool shiver down his spin. This was the center of evil in his eyes, to a lesser extent than Mal, but still evil. This was where Zim plotted to take over the world; this is what he had to stop. He had to stop himself from crashing the whole thing to pieces, fight back the fighting instinct and just go along with Zim's plan.
He had to trust his enemy.
He had to trust somebody.
Why oh why did it have to be Zim, he asked himself a million times, but that didn't matter now. The only important thing was getting Gaz to safety and obliterating Mal.
Zim led him to a small spaceship, a voot runner-- that's what Zim had called it. "Come on, get in."
Dib hoped into the craft with Zim and amazement took over as they took off. He was in an actual spaceship now, befriending an alien, and life suddenly felt really weird.
An hour later Dim and Zim sat in the voot runner hovering over Mal's apartment, Dim still couldn't get over his shock and awe as the ship worked it's magic. He was consciously trying to remember everything he could about the ship so that he could go back and tell all the paranormal sciences about it. He could share this information with the world, or maybe just hold it for blackmail against Zim.
Zim was looking through a telescope projection thingy and starring at Gaz. Zim had given her the same look in the gym while they were watching the cheerleader try-outs. The big brother part of Dib and the anti-aliens part combined to form a quiet anger that stirred in him. Still, maybe it was nothing. Maybe he just couldn't read aliens facial emotions.
Dib stopped staring angrily at Zim and glanced through the open window to Gaz. She was playing video games yet again...and lying on Mal's shoulder. He so desperately wanted to save her from this, he knew it wasn't what she wanted... but then why was she acting this way, what was controlling her? He had no answers at the moment.
"If only there was a way to get Gaz away from Mal, then maybe I could get her to stop this stupid cheerleader nonsense, I could get through to her."
" I may have an idea." Zim's green face turned up in a weird smile.
"Does it involve killing anyone? Not that I'm against killing Mal at this point, but if there was any form of murder involved in your plan I'd like to know. Just so I can pick out a nice jail cell before you SCREW UP THE PLAN!"
"Oh, no, it's a good plan. It'll work, I bet the whole Irken Armada on it."
"Oh, great, the inept Irken invader has a plan... and just how many of your supposed plans have gone wrong in the past?"
"Better than yours, earth-beast."
"You know, I'm getting just a little tired of you calling me that," Dib raised his voice, slamming his hand on the ship's console.
Then the chaos erupted. The ship lurched up in the air, spun in a crazy circle as the engines sputtered and coughed.
"What did you do to my ship?!"
Dib spoke in a quiet guilty voice, "I think I hit the little red button."
"St-up...id hu-ma...n.." The Irken was being thrown around the cockpit so much that he couldn't speak straight. He tried to get control of the spacecraft but it was too little too late, they were going down. There was a small pond a few yards away, if Zim could get there to land... or at least crash not so much.
Dib pressed his hands against the windshield as they started to descend rapidly into the cold waters of the lake. He muttered a quick prayer to whoever was listening and then they hit the surface. The ship automatically sunk a few feet, and the water started to come through any available openings.
Zim smashed the windshield, and Dib held his breath while the water gushed in. Then he swam as fast as he could.
Dib coughed as he reached the top of the water and inhaled some much-needed oxygen. "Zim, Zim are you okay? Where are you?"
Then the pale boy saw the alien lying on the banks of the lake.
Dib swam to the shore and rose from out of the water, and walked onto the land, peering over Zim, "Are you okay?"
Zim was covered in blisters from the allergy his skin had to the earth's water. "Of course I'm not okay, Dib, I'm in intense agonizing excruciating pain."
"Oh, um, anything I can do to help?"
Zim sat up, suddenly the pain not affecting him as much... maybe he was going into shock. "No, just let me handle Mal. I'll get Gaz away from him and then you can confront her... do we have a deal earthling?"
Dib thought about it. He would have to trust Zim to take care of this, to take care of his sister. Could he really do that? He looked down at the alien who was checking his blistering skin. The alien didn't seem so terrible anymore, well one of the lesser evils at least. With slow consideration he nodded, "Deal."
It was noon when Dib received the call down to the principal's office. Oh great, he thought, this is it, Zim's fucked up and we're going to jail.
Dib approached the principal's office. He had to fight back a strong urge to run before going in, it wouldn't help to assume guilt already, that would just look.. guilty.
"Mr. Johensen?" Dib asked as he entered the office. "You wanted to see me?"
"Dib, yes, I was wondering if you would like to meet with a psychiatrist to talk about what happened to your sister last night?" The principal looked like he was expecting Dib to break out into tears any moment.
"What happened to her?"
"Ah, yes, you're obviously in denial."
"What happened!"
A grimace crossed Mr. Johensen's face, "Calm down, young man, we're here to help you through this difficult time."
"Look," Dib was getting increasingly anxious as the conversation progressed, "Just tell me what happened, please."
"Oh, you really don't know, do you?" Mr. Johensen shuffled some papers nervously while muttering about the American family these days, "Dib, your sister is being held in the Psychiatrist's Sacred Youth Center & Home Organization."
"My sister's in the nut house!"
It was a few hours and a couple of skool counselors later that Dib finally made his way to the Institution. He was getting increasingly irritated by having to prove his sanity today. Geez, just because his sister had gone insane didn't mean that he would. Not that his sister had even gone insane, Dib noted to himself, that was just probably part of Zim's plan.
The nurse let him into Gaz's room and Dib neared her bed. Gaz was sleeping, the nurses said she was highly aggressive and had to be shot up with morphine to protect herself, she'd be resting for a few more hours.
Dib sat uncomfortably on the visitor's chair. "Gaz, come on, this isn't like you..." The words fell on deaf ears. "I.. I don't know what to do... I'm actually working with Zim -- can you believe that?" He pulled his black duster closer, feeling a chill in the air. "I promise you I'm gonna get you back... I kinda miss having you yell at me all the time."
He couldn't sit here anymore and watch her not answer him so Dib got up and walked out of the room. Zim was sitting in the waiting room; he'd been waiting for Gaz to wake up ever since he brought her here.
Dib felt the anger that had been threatened to explode all day and now it was all aimed at the alien. Dib grabbed Zim by the shirt with two fists. "This was your great plan, Zim? Get my sister committed to the nut house?" He pushed the alien up against the wall; "This was a trick, wasn't it? You were working with him, weren't you?" Dib threw the green boy down, and Zim slid down the wall with the propelled force.
Zim continued to sit on the ground, well out of reach while Dib started to pace angrily.
"I should have seen it, I should have seen it! You and Mal, you were working behind my back this whole time."
"That's a lie, earth-scum! Mal will DIE and I do not work with losers like that spooty head!"
Dib stopped pacing and looked down at the alien, "And just why should I believe anything you say, Zim?"
"Because... because I love your sister."
Dib looked shocked... and then he looked nauseated, "You what?"
"I love her, Dib. I always have." Zim picked himself up off the floor and stood tall, expecting another blow from the earthling. "I think it's why I always fall so MISERABLY in taking over this miserable stink planet."
Dib took in a breath, pausing to consider this new revelation. It hadn't really been a surprise. There had been plenty of signs he had been all too willing to ignore, "Do you think we have a chance to destroy him?"
Zim nodded, "The best of both worlds going up against one stupid vile despicable Mal alien? We'll OBLITERATE him!"
"Come on then," Dib turned to leave the hospital. There had been a crowd gathering while Zim and him fought, but he just ignored them. Zim followed the earthling out the doors.
It was time for vengeance.
...CONTINUED IN PART 4...