A/N: Don't hate me for this one. You KNOW who you are, k? Dib's not going to be punished *that* badly. :-)

Chapter 3: Vacillating Luck

It was generally cooler as they stepped out of the bus once they'd finally arrived, but not drastically. What's more, the sun was shining, glistening off the last few patches of snow, which began to melt away.
Zim and Dib, both annoyed for different reasons, stepped off the bus.
"I cannot believe the snow melted," Dib thought, slightly ticked off. "What's a guy to ask for? I don't care if it's a blizzard or even an inch. I just want it to snow! And what does the weather do? It becomes /nice/ and /sunny/ and /perfect/. Ugh. Perfectly disgusting." He grabbed three suitcases, a knap sack, and a backpack from under the bus, and stumbled over to the huge rock where their class was supposed to meet.
"I cannot believe they sang that stupid Scary Monkey Theme Song for three entire hours," Zim thought angrily. "That horrible humanoid Ms. Bitters brainwashed them more than I thought. No matter. The stupider they are, the more powerful I can become." Sighing, he reached under the bus to grab his things, and met with the group.
"Welcome, Astro-Campers!" A smiling, female counselor said cheerfully. She had on a normal pale brown outfit, and dirty blonde hair that matched her boots. Pinned to her shirt was a blue ribbon, and on her head was a large, round hat. "I'm your camp leader, Krystie! For the next week, you'll be interacting with other students to learn the meaning of TEAM, participating in on-hands activities, enjoying numerous science experiments and activities, and studying the world around, above, and below you. Now, here's the roster for what rooms you'll be staying in. It's been mixed up to make sure you'll make new *super fun* buddies!"
"Please let me get paired up with Zim, please let me get paired up with Zim," Dib said over and over in his head as he approached the roster. If he got paired with Zim, he could use it to his advantage. He could taunt him, or torture him. Maybe even fill up huge buckets of water all around Zim's bed so that he'd be trapped.
"Please don't let me get paired up with Dib. Please don't let me get paired up with Dib," Zim begged in his own mind as he did the same. He didn't trust the human. He didn't want to be /near/ him.
"Yes!" Zim leapt in the air to see that his prayers had been answered. Then he almost fell over when he did see who he was paired with. "KEEF?"
"Hiya, bestest friend!" came the cynical voice behind him.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"We're gonna have lots of fun together! Lots and lots of fun!" Keef said cheerfully.
"I thought the squirrel killed you!" Zim leapt back.
"Oh, him! He's fun. He looks a lot like you."
"What happened to the eyes I gave you?"
"Oh, they didn't work! I kept seeing weird pictures of you with buck teeth. But thanks anyway. They were very nice. I went to the doctor an' got new ones."
Dib was watching Zim, snickering. Slightly disappointed, he turned to the roster to see whom he'd be paired up with. He looked it over and came to his name, and followed horizontally across the line to the other side, where his buddy's name would be. It was blank.
"No one," he said for a moment, sighing. He'd always been alone. But that suited him better. At least he'd be able to work on his scheme without being called crazy.
Meanwhile, Zim was being dragged off to his room he would share with his 'bestest friend'.
"Get off of me filthy earthanoid! What is /wrong/ with you?! Why can't you just die!"
********************************************
Dib pushed open the creaky door to his home for the next week. He looked around the room, complete with bare, cracked walls, a single closet, an empty bunk bed devoid of any pillows or sheets, and a huge white wardrobe that had a few bent up hangers in it.
He threw his countless bags on the bed and sat down for a moment by the window in the far back of the room. There was a flat surface that jutted out in front of it, enabling him to do this. He turned and saw that hidden behind the bed was a small white desk.
"This room isn't all to bad," he thought. He looked out the window again and pushed away the curtains (white, of course). He found that there was quite a fall outside; he could see the tops of many trees, and that was about it. A soft mist began to form among the trees, reflecting the golden yellow rays of the sun as it hovered in the air. Dib cursed inside. It was the perfect weather, at the wrong time. They'd been given two hours to get ready before dinner. By that time, the mist might be gone, and Zim would be safe once again.
Dib stood up and decided to get ready. He put his case files and folders on the table, and all his bedside items on... well, the bed. He carefully pulled out all his instruments and weapons and neatly placed them in the closet, and then his clothes in the wardrobe. Next, he put up a lock on the closet, and a room guard above his door, just in case. To finish it all off, he pulled out his journal from his backpack and put it in the desk drawer. Next to it, a small grey, rectangular object with the words 'Eye In The Sky' in purple lettering across it.
He checked his watch. It was almost time for dinner. Taking a glance at his newly prepared room, he decided he was satisfied. "Yes," he said aloud. "This should be a good week."
He closed the door as he left, making sure the room guard was on.
*****************************************
"Top bunk! Top bunk! Top bunk! Top bunk!" a hyper Keef was shouting as he jumped atop the bunk beds. Zim lay under it, thoroughly annoyed and hoping Keef would just go away.
"Hey, Keef, buddy," Zim said sweetly, getting a sudden idea. "How about you go get me something?"
"Like what, buddy?" Keef popped his head down from the top bunk to where Zim was laying.
"Ummm... get me a..." Zim tried to think for a second.
"Cupcake!" shouted Gir from his backpack.
"Okay!" Keef said, unfazed that Zim's 'voice' had just changed. He hopped down from the top bunk and ran out of the room.
Zim shut the door behind Keef, breathing a sigh of relief. He locked the door and took off his backpack, pulling Gir out of it.
"Now, Gir, you have to be quiet. Quiet! If anyone sees you in here they might..." he shuddered, "Suspect something."
"O...kaaay." Gir said.
"I have to figure out where to put you," Zim mumbled. He searched around the drab room, somewhat missing the cold, techno-mechanic look that he was used to. "I suppose the bed will have to do. Now, Gir, what are you *not* going to do?"
Gir cocked his head to the side. "Ummm... eat?"
"No, Gir. You are not going to talk. You are not going to sing. You will make NO NOISE unless I say you can. Understand?"
"Yes sir!" Gir's eyes flashed red for a fleeting moment (for a *very* fleeting moment). Zim set Gir under the bed and then stood up.
"Now... to make sure Keef doesn't get into anything..." He stuffed his entire luggage into the closet to avoid the wardrobe, which Keef had taken over with piles of wrinkled and messy clothes.
It turned out Keef wasn't all that neat of a person, though that wasn't exactly a surprise to Zim. Most of Keef's things already lay strewn around the room. Angrily, Zim picked it all up and threw it on the top bunk, just to make sure he wouldn't trip over it. As a finishing touch, Zim set up jars of glue around the room. Two for the desk, two under the bed, one underneath his pillow, four in the closet, three on the top of the wardrobe, and two more under the mattress of his bed.
"Oooh... look master!" Gir squealed from under the bed, pointing at the window.
"Gir, what did I just tell you? Do not- GAH!" Zim directed his view to where Gir was pointing. "It's raining! While it's sunny! Of all the stupid, Earth things..." Zim crept up to the window to peer at the mist. "How is an invader like me supposed to be PREPARED for this thing called 'water'? Stupid humans... they must have not just booby-trapped their sun but ALL the weather!"
He paced. "No matter... I'll just have to bathe in paste before I go. Gir!"
"Sir!" came a muffled voice from under the bed.
"I'm leaving to go bathe in paste. I'll lock to door. Don't let that Keef in. Don't let anyone in until you hear *my voice*. Understand?"
"Yes sir!" Gir said, then slopped down into his cyan-eyed, goofy looking posture.
Zim sighed as he grabbed the bottle of paste from under his pillow. This was going to be a long week.
******************************************
"Okay, groupies," the cheery camp counselor, Krystie, began. "Each school is assigned a different star. When you enter any room in Astro-Camp, it'll have the name of your star above it. That's where you'll meet! Now, your star is..." she read over her clipboard, "Betelgeuse. Isn't that fantastic? It's the pink one, right up there!" She pointed to the night sky, which was clear. There were millions of stars that night, and as Dib stared at the huge velvet black blanket that seemed studded with scintillating drops of water, he could not help but feel awed. His eyes searched for 'Betelgeuse', and he thought he actually found the little pink star. He took a glance at Zim, who looked more bored than interested. "Of course Zim wouldn't be interested," Dib muttered to himself. "He doesn't care about anything except for himself and his stupid conquest of Earth."
"Alrighty," Krystie said. "Now let's get into that cafeteria and eat! Afterwards, we'll all settle down for the night, and then we'll start tomorrow bright and early with a 'Hike At Dawn'!"
"Let's go, campers!" Mr. Timms said, leading them into the cafeteria.
Dib slowly followed the group into the noisy, stuffy room. It was packed with kids from ten other schools, and was not only hot, but messy. Many of the other classes had already eaten because they were able to arrive earlier.
After getting his tray and food (which looked astonishingly like an array of ketchup and rice), Dib looked at the signs above each cafeteria table. "Betelgeuse... Betelgeuse..." he muttered under his breath. "Oh! There it is." He stepped toward the table when he suddenly tripped over something else. He fell flat on his face... straight into the red and white mush on his plate.
The entire cafeteria burst into laughing. Dib stood up, trying to get the sticky mess off him, his face burning.
"Sorry, Dib," came a leering voice behind him, dripping with sarcasm. "I didn't see you there."
Dib turned around. "Zim! Zim you creep, you are going to PAY. Do you hear me?"
Zim pretended to look afraid for a moment, and then joined in laughter with the other students and took his place at the table. Face burning redder than the ketchup that smeared it, Dib stomped off, out of the cafeteria.
"I hate him I hate him I HATE HIM," Dib growled, cursing silently under his breath. He looked up at the sky, seeing some clouds accumulate against the backdrop of the moonlit sky. This brought him no joy; the clouds weren't even enough to rain on a daisy.
His stomach growled, but Dib chose to ignore it. He knew, inside, that his luck would change. He knew, inside, the tides would turn. But would they turn enough?
"I swear," he said, looking up at the Betelgeuse system. It was his star. He made it so. "I swear, I will give a final confrontation with Zim before the end of this week." The star seemed to glow brighter as if in response, then went in a fluctuation of dimming and glittering. "Him, or me. One of us will meet our defeat."


A/N: Ooh, dramatic. (Eg... not too dramatic, hopefully). I'll have the next one up... um... soon.