Chapter two arrives just in time to SAVE THE GALAXY FROM STINKY DESTRUCTION!! To show your thanks, leave a review and tell your friends.

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Chapter Two: The Thickening (of the plot)

Zim raced home, itching to tear off his disguise and begin preparations. He ran past the lawn gnomes- so many, many lawn gnomes- and burst through the front door, panting.

"GIR!!!" he called at the top of his lungs. "This is a matter of the utmost importance, GIR! The fate of the Irken Earth Invasion lies in our hands, like a hunk of clay. We must mold it. Mold it into the wonderful curvy shape of SUCCESS!!!"

Gir popped his head from under the couch. "Like Play-Do-o-o-ohhh?" he squeaked, dragging a stuffed moose behind him.

Zim stared at the robot.

"Yes. Like Play-Doh."

He threw his head back, clawed fingers poised in the air. "So very much like Play-Doh. MWA HA HA HA HA HA!!! ..............moo-ha ha!"

Zim jumped beside the table lamp, yelling "To the Lab, GIR, for we must begin preparations IME-E-E-E-E-E-EDIENTLY!! There is no time to waste! The new teaching package for Ms. Bitter's class will be arriving next Wednesday..."

GIR looked upon his master as a malicious grin spread over his pale green face.

"...and we must be there to intercept it."

...

Dib, like Zim, had run home as quickly as possible. Unlike Zim, he had no lawn gnomes on his front lawn. He rushed through the door and tripped over Gaz, who was lying on her stomach in the living room. Dib came down hard. "OOF!!"

Horrified, he pushed himself to his feet and stared at his prone sister. "Oh no! Gaz!!" he cried. "He got you too?! Has the Invasion already begun?!! I HAVEN'T EVEN YELLED AT ZIM FOR PLOTTING SOMETHING YET!!"

He slumped to his knees and wailed to the ceiling. "IS THIS YOUR PLAN, ZIM?!!" he screamed in anguish. "Killing everyone I love?!! Is this your evilishly evil plot to get rid of the only obstacle in your way to WORLD DOMINATION??!!! ...is it?? Huh??! Huh??!!?"

Gaz propped herself up on one elbow. Her Gameslave was stuck to her face, but at least she was breathing. Dib crawled over to her. "Gaz??" he said, confused. Now his throat was sore from screaming so much. "Y...You're alive?!"

His sister took the Gameslave off her face. "Of course I am, you idiot," she said, deadpan. "I read in a magazine that this was the best position for a truly mind blowing gaming experience. Obviously, I just had to try it."

"Is it working?" Dib asked. Gaz lay back down on her stomach. "Well, my face hurts now. I guess that's something."

Dib wandered to his room, adrenaline receding back into his system. Thank goodness, there was still time to find out what Zim was up to!

He adjusted his telescope to Zim's deceivingly normal base of operations, hoping to catch a glimpse of some suspicious alien activity, but there appeared to be no-one home. Disappointed but not surprised, Dib looked up from the eyepiece and sat on his bed.

*There must be more to Zim's plans than forcing me to wait here, wondering if there are more to his plans than forcing me to wait here wondering what his plans are!* Dib thought furiously, putting his oversized head in his hands. *But what could they be?*

He sat and watched the spoooooky moonlight coming through the window, sighed and slipped under the covers. He felt a little guilty about not staying up all night in Zim's bushes with night vision goggles plastered to his face, but he was tired from doing that yesterday. Besides, there was always tomorrow.

Unless, thanks to Zim, there wasn't.

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You want Dibs with that?