Check it out! A new chapter so soon! I couldn't wait any longer, so I just went ahead a made it. Better than waiting a month and a half...oiy. I must apologize again for my total lack of updates on this, I had no intention of being so lazy. Thanks again to my patient readers, if it weren't for you, I probably would've abandoned the fic.
School is a MAJOR headache, homework every day so far, especially in math. Yargh. I hardly have time to anything I like any more, so I put off all my homework just to write this. ^_^ Should I shutup? Okay, I will.
Disclaimer: Hey there Mr. Cottonswab, is it time to clean my ears? Mmmm-hmmm! Hee hee heh heh hee hee!
Therapy
Zim was sleeping peacefully in his bed, hugging his pillow and drooling slightly. He kicked in his sleep, dreaming about being free and running around. He was in a big meadow, eating an Irken sandwich and drinking an Irken soda. Gir appeared and he waved.
"Gir it's you!" Zim cried to the robot.
"Master? Master!" Gir shouted, and ran up to his master, giving him a hug.
"See, Gir? No human can take me down. Now let's go create some havoc. Maybe blow up a few things, crush what's left." Gir didn't reply. Zim stared at him for a moment. Gir just stared off into space. Zim shook him gently. "Gir? Gir, can you hear me?" He shook harder. "Gir, answer me!"
"Rise and shine!" Gir said, but it wasn't his voice. It was a woman's. "Time to get up, little guy."
"What? Gir, are you okay? Gir? GIR!" Zim was becoming upset. "Gir this isn't funny!"
"Early bird catches the worm! Early bird catches the worm!" Gir repeated over and over, his voice going higher each time, and he said it faster and louder. He started smoking. "EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM!" His circuits scrambled, and he exploded.
Zim snapped awake and back into reality. He blinked a few times, trying to get the sleep out of his eyes so he could see better. He coughed a little in an attempt to clear his throat, but the build up of mucus was too thick to clear. A pounding headache was ailing him, along with a high fever and an aching shoulder. He looked over his unharmed shoulder and saw a blurred vision of a woman scientist in pink looking down at him.
"Wakey, wakey. Time to get up," the scientist chimed. Zim sighed heavily in annoyance and pulled the covers over his head. He snuggled deep into his pillow, closing his eyes and yawning. "Now, now. You have to get up. We have work to do," the scientist said sternly.
"Hmph," Zim replied, snuggling deeper into his pillow. He was sore and nauseous, and wanted to sleep rather than be in pain. Besides, he was in a recovery area. It wasn't like they could hurt him if he protested.
"Please, don't be difficult," the scientist pleaded. Zim ignored her. "Fine. I'm sorry, but you brought this on yourself." She pulled a remote out of her lab coat pocket and pushed the top button. Zim heard a beeping noise and the band around his wrist lit up. He felt a sting, like he'd just been pinched, but all over his body.
Zim thought for a moment, then decided to ignore the scientist again and go back to sleep. The scientist sighed and pushed the button again, giving Zim another sting. She was ignored again, so she pushed the button a few more times. She was getting annoyed.
"I'm here to help you, you know. Please get up," she said, letting a little anger show. Zim yawned. "Very well. Forgive me, but you must be taught," she said, and she pushed the button below the first one.
Zim heard a higher pitched beeping noise, and the wristband lit up brighter. After a few seconds, the shock came. Zim felt a slight burn, tiny but painful. His antennae stood on end, and the air got stuck in his throat. It stopped in an instant, leaving Zim confused and stinging.
Zim forced himself up to a sitting position, deciding to submit to the scientist and wake up. He yawned, rubbing his eyes. He looked up at the scientist and saw her more clearly. She had pink gloves, boots, and goggles on, and her lab coat was tinted a light pink. She had her blonde hair up in pig-tails, both braided. She smiled sweetly, glad to see Zim awake.
"Sorry I had to shock you, but I had no other choice," she said. "Besides, I was supposed to wake you up an hour ago, so please don't be grumpy. You just looked so peaceful. I didn't want to wake you." She clapped her hands and rubbed them together. "Okay, let's get down to business. My name is Gena, and I'm one of Dr. Conway's assistants. I'm here to help you learn to walk again."
'Walk?' Zim thought in disbelief. 'I probably can't even crawl.' He scratched his head.
"Now, normally we'd have to massage your feet and legs before we tried to do anything, but since you overslept an hour, we don't have any time. I must apologize, for that is partially my fault. So for today, I'm going to give you a numbing drug so you won't hurt so bad when you try to stand." She walked over to the refrigerator, opened it, and pulled out a bag with a syringe in it. She pulled it out and gave it a test squirt.
Zim's cheek twitched, seeing the size of the needle. It was a longer than those he'd been awake to witness so far. He didn't like needles. He shook his head and pulled the covers up to his chest.
"Don't be frightened. It isn't going to hurt that much."
Zim didn't like how she said the word 'that'. He scooted toward the back of the bed and pulled the covers up to his shoulders. Gena clicked her tongue and shook her head. She approached Zim, the needle facing up. Zim felt a shiver go up his spine and scooted back as far as he could go. Gena walked up to him.
"Okay. I need your left arm," she said, putting out her hand. Zim just stared at her, wide eyed. Gena sighed and reached down to get Zim's arm. Zim hastily ducked under the covers. "Please don't make me shock you again," she said sharply. She tapped her foot on the ground.
Zim pulled the covers away and looked at Gena meekly. He slowly gave her his left arm. She smiled and nodded. She pulled the sleeve of Zim's shirt up to his shoulder, being careful not to touch the open wound. She straightened his arm, and brought down the needle slowly. Zim turned his head and closed his eyes hard, tensing up and biting his lower lip He waited for the bite of the needle to come.
"There. See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Gena asked cheerfully. Zim opened his eyes and turned to face Gena, who was smiling and pulling a cotton ball out of her lab coat pocket. He'd felt nothing. He looked at his arm and saw a little red dot in the middle of the inside of his elbow. Gena put the cotton ball on the dot and pushed down on it. She pulled out a band-aid and put it over the cotton ball. Zim half smiled, feeling a little foolish about the way he'd acted. Gena saw this and beamed.
"Okay. Let's get started," she said. She reached out and gently picked Zim up by the armpits. Zim felt a little awkward hanging in the air in such a way, but wasn't uncomfortable. Gena carried him to the center of the room and brought his feet down to floor, holding him in a standing position.
"On three, I'll let you go. Try to stay balanced. We're only working on standing right now, so don't worry about the walking part just yet," she said, and Zim felt her grip loosening. Zim glanced at the floor nervously, hoping it wasn't very hard. "One...two...three!" Gena let go.
Zim immediately felt his knees wobble. They caved in and he fell to the floor with an "Oof!" He'd landed pretty hard on his behind, and his tailbone throbbed for a moment. Gena brought him up to a standing position again.
"Try to stiffen your knees, maybe you can stay balanced," she said, and Zim nodded uncertainly. "One...two...three!" Gena let go again.
Zim locked his knees and felt a little more balanced. The only problem was that all his weight was at the back of his foot, and he fell backwards. The air was knocked out of him as he landed on the floor, hitting his head. He whined quietly and rubbed his head. He'd already had a headache, and the fall just made it worse. Gena once again helped him up to a standing position.
"You okay?" Gena asked, concerned about Zim's bump to the head. He nodded. "Thank goodness. Okay, this time, try to even out the balance on your feet. Half the weight in the back, half the weight in the front." Zim was going to protest, but Gena started counting. "One...two...three!" Gena once more let go.
Zim stiffened up his knees again and concentrated on his feet. He stayed standing for a few seconds, then toppled over to the right, hitting his injured shoulder. He let out a muted cry and rolled to the side. He bit his tongue and hissed through his teeth. Gena gasped and rushed down to him, afraid that he was hurt.
"Oh my gosh! Are you okay? Do you need help?" Gena said frantically, and she tried to pick Zim up. Zim growled angrily and struggled to get loose from her, kicking and twisting his arms around. He elbowed Gena in the stomach, who coughed and fell backward, releasing Zim.
Zim cradled his shoulder, trying to get it to stop hurting. After a few moments, the numbing drug that had been injected into him earlier got rid of it, and he was okay. It took him a moment to realize what he'd just done. He'd attacked a scientist. He remembered what Dr. Conway said: "....the third setting will knock you out. We'll only use that if you attack one of the helpers.... "
Zim gasped, his eyes widening. He spun around and saw Gena standing up hunched over hugging her stomach, glaring down at him. His jaw quivered, seeing the shock remote sticking out of one her lab coat pockets. He stared helplessly back up at Gena, expecting to be knocked out cold any second. He lowered his antennae in submission and looked down at the floor. He twiddled his thumbs, waiting for the shock.
"We'll continue with therapy later," said Gena with a sigh. She had almost unlimited patience, having worked for a hospital for the mentally challenged. Zim looked up at her, stunned. Gena smiled and giggled lightly. "You can do what you please. But, please, don't sleep."
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Dib sat in the lounge room, throwing darts at the dart board. He pretended that the board was really Dr. Conway's face. He looked pale and pasty, his hair uncombed and flopping in his face. He wasn't having the best week. Since he no longer had to work so much with the Subject A project, he'd been able to go back to skool. Ms. Bitters had been the greatest person to be greeted by.
"I can't believe they took my discovery away from me," he said softly, talking to himself. He threw the dart extra hard. It missed the dart board and stuck into the wall just to the left. "I just can't believe it," he repeated, and he plopped down onto the couch. He didn't know whether to punch the wall or cry. He threw his last dart at the ceiling. It stuck.
There was a knock at the door. "Dib, are you in here?" It was Sierra. She was still permitted to work with the Subject A project, because she hadn't hit the subject.
"Yes. What do you want?" Dib said harshly.
"I've found something. I want you to be the first to see it, Dib. But I can't open the door," she said.
Dib sighed. He got up and stomped over the door. He whipped it open. "What could you possibly find of any impor-" He stopped short. Sierra was holding a green dog with black ears, tail, feet, and arms. It was eating a chocolate cupcake with sprinkles. Dib's cheek twitched, recognizing Zim's robot sidekick, Gir.
"See? Isn't he great! I found him in the fake K-mart that disguises this building," Sierra said, smiling gleefully. "I was thinking that we could give him to the alien, to, you know, cheer him up."
Dib started to tell Sierra that the dog was actually a robot, but he stopped himself. He thought of how Dr. Conway had insulted him, telling him that he was immature and couldn't handle such a big project. He clenched his fists and grinned.
"Revenge...," he whispered.
"What?" Sierra asked, lost.
"Uh, nothing. Yeah Sierra, that's a great idea. Get Dr. Conway's permission and give the little rascal to Subject A. It'll surely brighten his day."
Sierra smiled. "Wow, Dib. You've sure grown up. I'm glad you're being mature about everything." Dib laughed. Sierra nodded and left the room, accidentally slamming the door. The dart on the ceiling hit Dib on the head.
~woot~ Yay! It took forever to write this chapter, mainly because my Mom forced me to stop and do my homework, but I got it done! Well, thanks for reading. The next chapter will probably be up within the next two weeks.
-Crystal