Took a while didn't it? This was actually finished like three weeks ago,
but I wanted to finish Chapter 3 too before I posted this. This was longer
but I shunted the end of this chapter to the start of the next one. It was
either that or have a pretty long chapter followed by a horribly short one.
But I'd probably like to rewrite bits of this chapter at some point - it's
a little sketchy in parts. The next chapter is better in my opinion.
Philosophical stuff ^^ I like writing that.
________________________________
Chapter 2
"Hey. What's that?" Zim asked sceptically, trying to peer over the cover of the book Viy was reading as they headed to school.
"It's called a 'book', Zim," Viy replied with a hint of sarcasm, glancing up at patiently. "Surely you know about books."
"Of course I do!" he snapped back disregardingly, "But why are you reading one? It's filled with nothing but filthy human knowledge."
"You're supposed to be obtaining that anyway," Viy reminded him, rolling her eyes slightly before closing the book so she could show him the cover. "But this one tells a story. It's about these two Earth countries, France and England .You'd probably like it actually, there's a lot of destruction." she added, frowning slightly as she recalled his favourite past time. "Anyway, it's really quite good."
"How could anything human be good," Zim scoffed.
"Human knowledge isn't all bad Zim, I did quite a bit of research into it last night," Viy responded, ignoring his mockery. "It's really quite interesting learning how their culture has evolved - it's so different from our own after all."
"Why would you research that?" he replied, frowning in confusion. "That would just be. not. good or anything. Yeah." he let his voice trail out and frowned determinedly as if he'd made his point, fixing his attention on the walk ahead of him.
"Well I wanted some preparation for this school thing so I looked up the syllabus you're supposed to be studying and memorised a few facts. It would look highly suspicious after all if I turned up and knew nothing about Earth history, don't you think?"
"Yeah." Zim frowned uneasily, not wanting to let on that he still knew very little, or that he wanted to keep it that way.
"Anyway, I really think you should be more open-minded," she concluded, flipping the book back open and ignoring the look of disdain Zim shot her.
What with Irken's not usually requiring any sleep (and after her six hour nap earlier she certainly didn't), Viy had stayed up during the remainder of the night with the help of her the computer, and GEM on occasions, to research the planet better. The computer certainly seemed to perk up with all the attention it had been bestowed, and even forgave GEM for it's still blocked plug socket, which now sporadically oozed the mutated goo whenever anything electrical was activated.
In fact it was so cheerful it had been humming a variety of songs by an Earth female called 'Britney Spears' that morning, after Viy had had it shortlist the 100 cultural things every human was assumed to know, and that had emerged fairly high up. She had been rather relieved when she'd left, as the humming had been grating on her nerves a little, but it hadn't been as bad as when it had actually attempted singing, encouraged on by GEM who seemed only too happy to duet on the choruses. When she had left the house, GEM and the computer had been busy engaged in searching for other Earth music they liked, and Viy was now actually fairly dreading returning that evening.
That aside though, the result of her research was that she felt quite prepared for whatever school could throw at her. Although if she'd known in advance what that day was going to be like, she'd have realised she was not nearly ready for it -
When they arrived at the classroom, Viy watched uncertainly as all the other kids filtered in to take their desks, most looking pretty fed up about it already. One kid that passed glanced at her sceptically, "Hey. You've got a book. You like reading?? What a weirdo."
"See? I told you," Zim remarked, looking instantly smug. Viy glowered at him, before she was distracted by someone waving at her from the other side of the class. "Oh great." she sighed, recognising Dib.
She had remembered the camera that morning luckily, however she wasn't sure if it was working too well. After at least an hour spent chiselling it free from her hand she'd asked GEM to clean it for her, and the computer had instantly brightly suggested using a 'washing machine', which humans used to wash stuff in. It couldn't remember what humans washed in it, but it figured it was all the same. Viy had a sneaking suspicion afterwards that it wasn't, and now somewhat dreaded returning the camera to Dib.
She didn't have much time to worry on this however, as everyone instantly fell silent and still in their seats as the class teacher, Ms. Bitters, suddenly snaked up from behind the desk. "Alright class," she began, glowering round the class before taking her seat, "Open your textbooks on the construction of our horrible society at page ninety one."
Viy glanced round uncertainly at the teacher, who didn't seem to have even noticed her, before glancing back at the class. Zim gave a small shrug before returning to a doodle he'd been working on; probably some sort of apocalyptic weapon Viy assumed with a sigh before she cast her attention over to Dib, who was now sitting with one hand raised.
"Uhm, Miss Bitters?" he began.
"What is it Dib?" she replied resignedly, although her eyes narrowed slightly behind her glasses.
"Well it's just that. Don't you think you should introduce our new student?" he suggested, lowering his hand now in order to gesture over at Viy.
"Hmm," Zim frowned uncertainly, pausing to glance up at his rival now. Why should he be taking an interest? All the other kids were quite happy to leave Viy standing at the front of the class, so why not Dib? Zim toyed with his pencil thoughtfully for a few seconds, remembering what Viy had said the previous night about Dib's snap decision that they were allies while awaiting to see the outcome of the situation. After all the time around his human enemy, although it had been far from his own choice, he had learnt quite a lot about him; and yet he found his actions now as intriguing.
"Another one?!" Miss Bitters was snapping impatiently, as she whipped round to face Viy who instantly froze, somewhat intimidated. "Hmmm." Miss Bitters frowned as she considered the situation. "Very well. Go ahead and introduce yourself. But make it quick."
Noting a hint of a threat in the last part, Viy decided it would be best to co-operate and now turned to face the rest of the class. "Uhm. hi? I'm Viy, I just moved here. Far from my own choice I assure you." she frowned, quickly running off a list in her head of all those she felt she owed revenge of some sort, "And. I like history and reading." She ignored the shout of 'weirdo' that rang out over the class and finished quickly, "And I have a ro- rabbit. A rabbit called Gem."
"How nice," Miss Bitters commented. "The class next door used to have a rabbit too. Then our hamster ate it. Now." She scanned the class for an empty seat, and upon finding none she flipped open a panel on her desk and pressed a highlighted button.
A strange robot arm not unfamiliar to those at a bowling alley descended from the ceiling, and shunted all the desks up a row, leaving many students thrown from their seats or partially crushed between the rows, and groaning in pain either way. The arm vanished back into the ceiling and a fresh row of empty desks emerged from the floor where the row nearest the window had been previously, in a neat, gleaming line that appeared in stark contrast with the disarray of the rest of the desks.
"Go take your seat Viy," Miss Bitters commanded, indicating the front desk of the new row. Viy obliged quickly, eager to escape the limelight; although once she was seated she cast an uncertain glance over the rest of the room as the rest of the class recovered themselves. Zim appeared rather amused by it all, although as his row of desks had been the furthest away it had remained pretty much unbothered.
Dib however was struggling to set his desk back upright next to Viy, and as he finally succeeded he paused to give a disapproving frown and flatten his hair. Although while he appeared annoyed, Viy noted that he, like the rest of the class, didn't seem particularly surprised, and she guessed such things were probably perfectly normal around here.
"Alright class," Miss Bitters continued, ignoring the last few kids as they tried to compose themselves, "I want you to read the next three chapters, in SILENCE!! Viy -!"
Viy instantly flinched as Miss Bitters attention snapped back to her, although her tone relaxed slightly now as she indicated to a bookcase at the back of the classroom. "You may get a book from the back."
Zim watched as Viy headed over to the bookcase and the rest of the class settled down, before giving a light shrug and returning to his doodling.
Viy retook her seat with the selected book, and flipped quickly to page ninety-one before beginning to read, eager to learn more of the humans past. In fact, she became so wrapped up in the book that when Dib leant over to talk to her, she didn't notice at first, and felt rather irritated when she did, but masked it quickly.
"Hey!" Dib smiled at her cheerfully as she looked up reluctantly from the book. "How'd it go last night? Did you manage to find Zim's place all right?"
"Yeah, it wasn't too hard," Viy replied back quietly, not really wanting to annoy Miss Bitters all that much, and casting a nervous look in her direction now. "Although I don't think the camera worked - I didn't really see anything odd, but Zim's dog kind of stole it from me the instant I got in the door so." she glanced up to the ceiling in an innocent shrug, "Who knows what pictures are on there." At least that, for the most part, was true.
"Hmm, he must have increased his security." Dib frowned thoughtfully as Viy took opportunity of his distraction to pull the camera out from one of the lower compartments of her PAK before offering it to him. "Hmm? Oh, thanks," Dib smiled as he took the camera back before turning it over in his hands with an uncertain frown. "Is that marshmallow?"
"Couldn't say," Viy replied quickly, trying to appear as if she'd resumed reading.
Dib tried activating the camera a few times, before sliding open a panel at the end to check the battery was still charged. Viy cringed as a mass of soapy water slopped out and splashed over the floor noisily, and tried to bury herself further into the book, although she heard Dib's complaint of "That robot always wrecks my cameras!" as she did.
When the bell for lunch rang she gathered up her books and dashed out of the room after Zim before Dib could say anything else.
"I think it was broken," Viy confirmed as Zim poked at a rather unsavoury looking grey blob on his tray in front of him. "There was a lot of water in it."
Zim twitched slightly at the mention of water, and Viy felt maybe she'd gained a fraction of her payback for the incident with the Massive.
"Why was there water in it anyway?" Zim frowned uncertainly.
"Gem tried to wash it," Viy replied simply, not really seeing it necessary to go into any detail beyond that. "Anyway. What's with our teacher? Seriously." she leant in, lowering her voice slightly as if fearing Miss Bitters would materialise behind her.
"Eh. She's creepy," Zim shrugged before adding brightly, "But she hates Dib."
"Uh huh. So she's good in your books then," Viy replied flatly before turning her attention to her unequally unappetising meal. She found herself wondering whether the Irken snacks she had left over from her trip to Earth were still in her PAK before she realised Zim was talking again and had spread out several rather elaborate blue prints on the table in front of him.
"Now, this is where I'll be stationed," he was saying, indicating an area on one of them, when Dib came up to the table carrying his own tray.
"Hey Viy," he said brightly, before casting a sceptical eye at Zim and continuing. "You know, you could come and join us for lunch. After all, it can't be much fun having lunch with an alien out to destroy the human race."
Zim glowered wordlessly before snapping at Dib, "Viy - I mean - the human pig smelly has to have lunch with me. I am her assigned school guidey. thingy."
"But you're not exactly showing her round anything right now anyway!" Dib countered, "Besides, we all know you don't want to anyway - the only reason you are is probably connected to some twisted plan of yours. Well you know what Zim? I'm going to find out what it is. And I'm going to stop it. Or should I say - we're going to stop it! Me and Viy, we're partners now." He shot a confident look up at Viy who simply gave a quiet groan and sank down in her seat - not that Dib noticed as he had already started talking again. In any other situation, Viy might have been quite flattered to have two guys fight over her, although in this case it was simply resulting in causing her a rather painful headache.
"Hah! You're even more deluded than I thought, Dib!" Zim was mocking now, "As if anyone would want to join you and follow in your giant-headed ways. The very concept is laughable. See? Look at me laugh."
Viy rolled her eyes as Zim set about a long series of chuckles interspersed with the occasional cackle. 'Honestly, it's like dealing with a couple of smeets,' she found herself thinking as she shot an impatient frown at Zim.
Dib was watching Zim with an expression of clear irritation, before he turned to Viy and said shortly, "I'll be on that table over there when you get fed up of him."
As she watched him leave, Viy thought painfully that she was fed up already, although it was somewhere much further than another table that she wanted to go. After a couple of minutes Zim finally registered Viy's glower, and Dib's absence and with an, "Oh. Right," fell silent once more, now looking decidedly thoughtful.
Viy sighed before resignedly pulling one of the blue prints towards her. "So what were you saying about these?"
"What? Oh. Yes! This is my 'shrinky-make-things-go-smaller' device," Zim explained proudly, pointing to the one Viy was examining.
"And what do you plan to do with that?" Viy asked dubiously. "Make Dib's head smaller or something?"
"What? No! Don't be stupid. When the time comes for making Dib's head smaller I shall simply explode it," Zim responded calmly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, and continued, completely oblivious to Viy's wary look. "The 'shrinky-make-things-go-smaller' device will be fired on the Earth from space until the Earth is around the size of one of those horrible green peas," he explained, indicating the peas on Viy's tray. "Then I can crush it literally."
Viy frowned thoughtfully while Zim sat, looking positively elated at the idea. "But. if you did that then we couldn't really use the planet, could we?" Viy ventured. "And that is kind of the point of the mission isn't it? To capture the planet, and enslave the humans if possible? If it's just a pea-sized pile of dust then it's not really been conquered, has it." she concluded, leaving it as more of a fact than a question, before holding up one of the peas and trying to imagine the Earth that small. "I mean. Maybe if you didn't crush it it could make a nice earring or something."
Zim was looking mildly annoyed now so Viy fell silent, figuring it was the suggestion of Earth as an earring where she'd crossed the line. "You just don't understand the complexed mechanisms of my plan," Zim concluded eventually, re-establishing his superior air. "It's ingenious! But then I suppose you are only an Evaluator after all."
"I'm an Evaluator who's considering going and sitting with that Dib kid you hate so much," Viy warned as she flipped through the rest of the blue prints, each one becoming steadily more bizarre until one in particular (a machine with a giant foot on the front designed to go around stomping out all life) caused her to push the blue prints back towards Zim and quickly start trying to erase the past half hour from her memory.
"Heh. As if you'd go and sit with the Dib," Zim mocked, before pausing suddenly and narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. "Say. This gives me an idea." A slow smile spread over his face before he uttered a low chuckle, paused, chuckled again and finally unleashed a triumphant laugh of a magnitude that made Viy wince, and most of the other kids in the cafeteria turn round and eye him oddly.
When he'd stopped, Viy watched him patiently as he sat smirking contentedly, before he turned to her suddenly. "You! This is our chance to gain the upper hand."
Viy arched one eyebrow at being addressed as 'you' but decided to humour him, "Uh huh.?"
"Dib seems to like you for some reason I can't imagine," Zim began, failing to notice her glare are the latter part of the statement, "And I reckon we can use this to our advantage." He tented his fingers in front of him, "If you can befriend him then maybe you can get close enough to him to discover his weakness. Then, I can use that to destroy him! And then nothing will stand in my way!" He let out another gloating laugh at the genius of his idea, but Viy was still regarding him sceptically.
"No," she stated simply.
"Eh? You dare disobey me?!" Zim exclaimed fiercely. Viy raised one eyebrow and frowned. "Zim, may I remind you that I am due to report back to our leaders on your progress. And unless you want that report to state that you have a problem with authority and should perhaps be replaced in your assigning then I suggest you don't order me around."
"But. This is my one chance to discover his weakness-! The fate of the mission depends on it! You must go - you must! Go. Goooooo. GO!!!"
"Oh fine, I'm going," Viy snapped irritably, at which Zim's strained expression instantly changed to one of glee. "But I'm not happy about it."
Frowning slightly she collected up her tray, hopped down from the seat and stalked away from the table, muttering under her breath about learning to say a definite no in future.
She paused to glance around in search of Dib and spotted him at a table with a girl with purple hair who appeared completely engrossed in a video game. On noticing her, Dib waved her over and Viy let out a sigh. "I don't know why I let myself in for these things." she muttered as she wandered over, rolling her eyes.
"Hey!" Dib greeted cheerfully.
"Hi," Viy forced a smile as she climbed up onto the seat opposite him.
"This is my sister Gaz," Dib continued, indicating to her sat to his right.
"Dib, you're talking again." Gaz muttered, not looking up from her screen, "Oh, and hi." This time she did glance up from her screen, although it was very brief before she returned to her gaming.
"So! Why'd you decide to come over? Did you finally realise Zim's an alien?!" Dib fixed hopeful eyes on Viy who blinked before shuffling a few peas around her tray with a fork.
"Nah. He was. uhm," she glanced back at Zim, who gave her a hasty thumbs up. Viy turned back with a decisive frown, "-annoying me."
"Yeah. He does that a lot," Dib replied, almost wistfully, causing Gaz to shoot him an impatient look.
"What did I just say about the talking?!" she stressed before frowning. "Why does it never happen?"
"I know Gaz," Dib agreed, not seeming to have actually taken in what she just said. "And Zim must be stopped. But we'll figure out a way! Together!!"
On this last, overly enthusiastic note, Gaz gritted her teeth in rage and shot a warning glare at her brother, who had leapt on top of the table triumphantly, and was only just coming to his senses. "Shut up, Dib," she warned, in a tone which stated this was his last warning, before she turned back to her Gameslave 2, her hands clenched a little tighter than before around the console now.
Viy had buried her head in her hands as Dib now climbed back down from the table, looking a little unsettled at the odd looks people were throwing at him, before he turned to her cheerfully as if nothing had happened. "So! What sort of things do you like Viy?"
'Well not hanging out with crazy people for a start,' her mind instantly replied, but she quickly checked her answer. "I like history," she replied instead. "Like, when America was colonised and the growth of the British Empire and such?"
"Hmph, I'm surprised Zim doesn't like those things," Gaz snorted, "What him being an invader and all." She shot a look at Dib which was both begging him to challenge her and at the same time warning him there'd be hell to pay if he did.
"I also like the French Revolution," Viy intercepted quickly, before Dib could contemplate on Gaz's observation. "Well you know, not like it, but I'm reading a good story about it."
"Really? Oh, you'll have to lend me it sometime," Dib remarked casually as he took a mouthful of his lunch. "How about the future though? Do you ever wonder about that?"
"Well naturally," Viy responded, shrugging with mild impatience.
"What about paranormal studies?" he looked up at her eagerly now.
Viy let out an inner sigh, mentally cursing Zim for this, but if she didn't go along with it then her cover could be blown, which in turn could damage Zim's mission, and then. She winced - if Zim left Earth the first place he'd be heading was Irk. Or the Massive. Either way it would be bad. "You could say I've done a little research in the field." she replied carefully before adding as an afterthought, "Although I've never been lucky enough to meet a real alien before."
"Yeah you have," Gaz replied calmly, looking up from the Gameslave 2 now and fixing Viy with a serious gaze, "You met Dib after all."
Viy resisted an amused smile as Dib gave a small frown, before continuing. "Well technically Gaz is right - you have met an alien. If only there was some way I could make you see what Zim really is." he fell quiet as he looked thoughtful for a moment. "It shouldn't be too hard; it's pretty easy to catch him out. Or maybe you could come round to our house after school? I've got some photos and film - all sorts of evidence!"
"I'd. have to ask my parents first. Maybe another night? They probably wouldn't be too pleased if I was late back on my first day," Viy lied quickly, although at the same time she was greatly intrigued to see just what sort of evidence Dib had.
"Okay, that's fair enough," Dib accepted with a nod before smiling cheerfully. "What do your parents do anyway?"
"Uhm." Viy's eyes widened slightly as her mind raced for a response. "Well. They normally work for a. uhm. travel agency," she replied with the first thing that came to mind, and feeling instantly relieved when she noted Dib had accepted this explanation without question. "You know, organising holidays and stuff."
"Mmmhmm," Dib acknowledged with a few nods. "That must be pretty cool - They get to travel I guess?"
"Yes?" Viy agreed uncertainly.
"My dad's a famous international scientist," Dib continued now with clear pride, "You've probably heard of him. Professor Membrane?"
"It. rings a bell," Viy agreed, not wanting to admit her lack of recognition and therefore perhaps damage her chances of acceptance. Maybe it was less vital to appear perfectly normal to the other children; she had gathered from Zim's accounts that they weren't too shrewd. Or perhaps they just didn't want to accept what was clearly there. But Dib was clearly different. If he realised she was an Irken then there was a possibility she'd find herself in danger. It was hard to believe looking at him now - he was just a kid. And Zim wasn't all that bright. She wanted to believe Dib was simply a regular kid and it was fault on Zim's part that lead to his knowledge of the Irkens, but something at the back of her mind told her this wasn't entirely the case. She made a note that she should probably accept his invitation to see the evidence he'd gathered, less to discover any weaknesses but more to ascertain whether she was actually endangering herself by befriending him.
Up till now though he had no reason to suspect her. Or so she thought. And so she hoped. She shot a nervous glance back at Zim once more, although he seemed involved in his blueprints once more. It was the realisation that Dib was chatting away quite cheerfully still that drew her attention back to the table in front of her, and the depressing scenario that she seemed to have snared herself in.
"-After all, you could just say you're a fast learner. And then you wouldn't need to be stuck with Zim. If you still needed a guide of course then I'd be only too happy to show you around, but it's pretty easy to get used to if you stick to the main parts of the building. Although it helps to have a knowledge of the off access areas in case something should happen."
"Something?" Viy replied, trying her best to look interested still, and giving her food a half hearted prod with her fork before deciding it was best to abandon it completely. She wasn't really that hungry anyway.
Dib nodded, "Maybe it would be best to classify 'something' as 'Zim'." He frowned thoughtfully now, and remained completely oblivious to the rather audible gnashing of Gaz's teeth. The next second however, the bell rang, probably saving him from a very painful encounter with her wrath, and everyone started to file out from the lunch hall.
"Okay you lot, to prepare you for the harsh realities of life we will be running a gruelling obstacle course. And when I say we, I mean you," the PE coach snapped as all the students gazed up at him attentively. He turned and made an impressive gesture at the horrific course spanning out behind him. "I give you. the Annihilator!!"
Viy and a lot of the others winced upon seeing it, although Zim appeared supremely confident. "Not too much different from what we had to go through with Invader trading," he remarked to Viy, "It'll be a piece of cake."
Viy glanced over at him uncertainly, not being able to point out that while Evaluator's went through Invader training, pilots as it happened, did not. A lot of their work was simulation to begin with, and either way they were still sat in a nice comfy cockpit regardless of the horrors the ship may be racing past outside.
Zim paused now and gave an uncertain frown accompanied by an even more uncertain sniff. "What is that smell.?" he glanced at Viy who gave a small gesture to the PE kit she'd been forced into, not having one of her own. It looked like it hadn't seen water in the past decade, and its main construction seemed to be not of fabric, but of filth. Viy had a sneaking suspicion that if it was washed, very little would be left of it at the end.
Zim gave a silent grimace and edged away a few paces, but the blow of the starting whistle distracted him now as the first few hopefuls ran forward, and were instantly snared on the barbed wire. While Zim was distracted chuckling contentedly to himself at the suffering of the other children, Dib took the opportunity to wander over to Viy. "Hey," he greeted, giving a slight wave before casting a worried look at one of the kids still twitching on the barbed wire.
"Oh hi," Viy responded, smiling slightly before turning an anxious expression back to the course as the line ahead of them steadily shortened. ".Do you always do stuff like this in PE lessons?"
"Sometimes it's not so bad," Dib shrugged, although something about his expression caused Viy to doubt he was telling the truth.
"And I thought PE was about this. basketball and hockey and stuff," Viy sighed, wondering how much else of the computers data had been incorrect, and not realising that for most other schools it would have been correct.
"Hmmm," Dib was now watching Zim intently as the Irken set off over the course confidently, beginning by striding over one of the kids snared on the wire as if they were a bridge, and acting as if it was more of a stroll in the park than a gruelling challenge, despite all the groaning casualties that littered the playground.
Zim noticed Dib's frustration at this and sniggered quietly to himself. "Stupid Dib. It will be interesting to see how he handles the course -" He paused at the bottom of a towering wall now and frowned uncertainly; Dib was talking to Viy again now, completely unaware he was in fact talking to an Irken Evaluator.
However. As Dib was falling for his plan he would have to be very careful now to ensure he didn't make any mistakes to endanger its success. A good place to start would be to ensure no suspected any link between him and Viy. He was debating how best to do this when he heard the whistle blow again and he turned his attention back to the wall. That's when the idea hit him.
Of course! It was so simple. He narrowed his eyes gloatingly before springing nimbly on top of the wall with that graceful agility Irken's had been bred to have. None of the other children had made it this far, so as he hopped lightly down on the other side he was completely out of viewpoint.
All he had to do, he reasoned, was convince the others that he had a general dislike for Viy. But to do this subtly would take time, and he didn't have the patience for that. It would be far better to launch an upfront attack, and then deny it. No doubt the rest of the humans would dismiss it, but Dib naturally would see the reality of the situation and be convinced of a rivalry of some sorts. Delighted by his idea, Zim extended his robotic spider legs and climbed halfway back up the wall, pausing here to reach into his PAK and remove a small device which he now planted on the bricks in front of him and activated with a few key types.
Confident it would work, Zim hopped back down from the wall and sauntered along towards the finish line where he could get a good view of the full course, a small control device concealed in his palm.
Some of the last students in the group, Dib and Viy had set off with two others. Viy wasn't too used to having to use her Irken agility in her line of work, but she found it wasn't really that straining once she got going, although she would have felt more confident if she'd known she could rely on her PAK also. As she cleared a series of raised platforms suspended over a rather dubious and acidic looking pool, she glanced ahead to the next obstacle which Dib was clearing easily with an assortment of nimble movements. Viy couldn't help but be rather impressed - she'd seen many Irken's with less ability; herself included she noted as she set about tackling it.
The obstacle consisted of a raised net, with easily child-sized holes, but very thin rope, over an assortment of worrying instruments. She was trying her best not to look down as she crossed, but she glimpsed mines, suspicious electrical sparks, and the occasional bursts of flame. If she survived this she decided she should probably apply for Invader training - surely even that couldn't be this bad.
At the other end Dib paused to regard the wall before him: the last obstacle in the course. His contentment at having cleared the rest of the course faltered now as he debated how best to clear it. Besides going round it and risking a rather nasty assortment of barbed wire that was. He decided to wait for Viy in the end, and turned to watch her struggling her way across towards him.
When she was only a few feet away however, one of her feet slipped, and she thought for a horrible moment she was going to fall or have to use her PAK when Dib caught her hand, and she found herself steady again. Viy glanced up at him gratefully, before quickly bowing her head, embarrassed at having admitted her relief, and pretending instead to be concentrating on keeping her balance, although beneath the curtain of her fringe her cheeks flushed slightly.
She edged along the final few steps before hopping relieved onto the platform, only vaguely noticing that it was only when her feet reached the platform that Dib had let go of her hand. She sunk down into a sitting position and gave a sigh before glancing up at the wall looming ahead of them and mumbling in a defeated tone, "Now how're we going to get over that?"
Zim meanwhile watched impatiently as the two debated how best to tackle the wall. Well. Dib hadn't fallen to a horrible explodey fate. Zim pouted; he had been rather hoping that when Viy was holding his hand she would have thought to knock him somehow into the minefield below. But now that opportunity had passed, he guessed he'd have to revert back to his original plan. If only they'd go a little closer to that wall. Zim shifted the small control device from one hand to the other, his thumb resting patiently on a small red switch as he watched and waited.
"This is stupid," Dib frowned at the wall, totalling around ten feet of bricks of mortar. "We're kids - how're we supposed to get over that? And what does this have to do with preparing us anyway."
Viy hopped down and wandered over to the wall, ignoring a horrible scream from the course behind them as the final group set off. "Maybe." she glanced at the barbed wire at either side. "We could tunnel under it?" She gave a shrug, before frowning uncertainly as a high-pitched bleep emitted from the other side of the wall.
The next second there was a violent explosion, and the wall crumbled in a shower of bricks. Viy found herself frozen to the spot, her pupils dilating in horror as she watched a large chunk of the wall falling towards her. 'Oh that's going to hurt.' she thought absently before Dib collided with her, knocking her out of the way just in time.
"Ow!" Dib exclaimed as he sat up, only to have a chunk of falling mortar collide with his head and knock him back down. Viy glanced him in a mixture of concern and shock before they both turned to watch the rest of the wall crumble away.
"What just happened.?" Dib climbed to his feet, still staring at the wall, while Viy quickly checked her disguise was still in place. "Walls just don't explode," Dib exclaimed, before turning a frown of realisation towards the finish line where Zim was whistling innocently.
Viy arched one eyebrow uncertainly - surely Zim wouldn't have. Okay if it had been Dib under the wall, but as it had been her, what reason would he have had? She barely had time to feel paranoid though as Zim had wandered over now, an expression of fake shock plastered on his face.
"Oh my, this is simply horrible! I guess they just don't build walls the way they used to." he began, before dropping his pretence and smirking at Dib with obvious glee.
"This is your doing isn't it?" Dib demanded, glowering back at him and brandishing the remnants of the device Zim had planted on the wall.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Zim exclaimed, turning an innocent expression to him.
"Your aim's obviously gotten messed up Zim," Dib muttered in retort, "I wasn't even under that wall when you blew it up."
"Who says I was aiming for you?" Zim responded, narrowing his eyes menacingly and smirking once more before turning with a cheerful wave. "Well I guess I'll see you both at school tomorrow. You should be more careful until then. Otherwise who knows what may happen."
Dib glowered after him furiously as he left, his hand clenched into a fist around the decimated remains of the Irken device, "You just made a big mistake Zim! You're not going to get away with this!"
Zim merely waved off the threats and continued on his way, leaving Dib and Viy amidst the ruins of the wall. Viy had not taken her eyes off Zim the whole time, but as he departed they narrowed decisively and her hands tightened into fists at either side. One thing she was sure of - she was going to love putting together this report for the Tallest. But before she did that she felt she owed someone a visit.
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Chapter 2
"Hey. What's that?" Zim asked sceptically, trying to peer over the cover of the book Viy was reading as they headed to school.
"It's called a 'book', Zim," Viy replied with a hint of sarcasm, glancing up at patiently. "Surely you know about books."
"Of course I do!" he snapped back disregardingly, "But why are you reading one? It's filled with nothing but filthy human knowledge."
"You're supposed to be obtaining that anyway," Viy reminded him, rolling her eyes slightly before closing the book so she could show him the cover. "But this one tells a story. It's about these two Earth countries, France and England .You'd probably like it actually, there's a lot of destruction." she added, frowning slightly as she recalled his favourite past time. "Anyway, it's really quite good."
"How could anything human be good," Zim scoffed.
"Human knowledge isn't all bad Zim, I did quite a bit of research into it last night," Viy responded, ignoring his mockery. "It's really quite interesting learning how their culture has evolved - it's so different from our own after all."
"Why would you research that?" he replied, frowning in confusion. "That would just be. not. good or anything. Yeah." he let his voice trail out and frowned determinedly as if he'd made his point, fixing his attention on the walk ahead of him.
"Well I wanted some preparation for this school thing so I looked up the syllabus you're supposed to be studying and memorised a few facts. It would look highly suspicious after all if I turned up and knew nothing about Earth history, don't you think?"
"Yeah." Zim frowned uneasily, not wanting to let on that he still knew very little, or that he wanted to keep it that way.
"Anyway, I really think you should be more open-minded," she concluded, flipping the book back open and ignoring the look of disdain Zim shot her.
What with Irken's not usually requiring any sleep (and after her six hour nap earlier she certainly didn't), Viy had stayed up during the remainder of the night with the help of her the computer, and GEM on occasions, to research the planet better. The computer certainly seemed to perk up with all the attention it had been bestowed, and even forgave GEM for it's still blocked plug socket, which now sporadically oozed the mutated goo whenever anything electrical was activated.
In fact it was so cheerful it had been humming a variety of songs by an Earth female called 'Britney Spears' that morning, after Viy had had it shortlist the 100 cultural things every human was assumed to know, and that had emerged fairly high up. She had been rather relieved when she'd left, as the humming had been grating on her nerves a little, but it hadn't been as bad as when it had actually attempted singing, encouraged on by GEM who seemed only too happy to duet on the choruses. When she had left the house, GEM and the computer had been busy engaged in searching for other Earth music they liked, and Viy was now actually fairly dreading returning that evening.
That aside though, the result of her research was that she felt quite prepared for whatever school could throw at her. Although if she'd known in advance what that day was going to be like, she'd have realised she was not nearly ready for it -
When they arrived at the classroom, Viy watched uncertainly as all the other kids filtered in to take their desks, most looking pretty fed up about it already. One kid that passed glanced at her sceptically, "Hey. You've got a book. You like reading?? What a weirdo."
"See? I told you," Zim remarked, looking instantly smug. Viy glowered at him, before she was distracted by someone waving at her from the other side of the class. "Oh great." she sighed, recognising Dib.
She had remembered the camera that morning luckily, however she wasn't sure if it was working too well. After at least an hour spent chiselling it free from her hand she'd asked GEM to clean it for her, and the computer had instantly brightly suggested using a 'washing machine', which humans used to wash stuff in. It couldn't remember what humans washed in it, but it figured it was all the same. Viy had a sneaking suspicion afterwards that it wasn't, and now somewhat dreaded returning the camera to Dib.
She didn't have much time to worry on this however, as everyone instantly fell silent and still in their seats as the class teacher, Ms. Bitters, suddenly snaked up from behind the desk. "Alright class," she began, glowering round the class before taking her seat, "Open your textbooks on the construction of our horrible society at page ninety one."
Viy glanced round uncertainly at the teacher, who didn't seem to have even noticed her, before glancing back at the class. Zim gave a small shrug before returning to a doodle he'd been working on; probably some sort of apocalyptic weapon Viy assumed with a sigh before she cast her attention over to Dib, who was now sitting with one hand raised.
"Uhm, Miss Bitters?" he began.
"What is it Dib?" she replied resignedly, although her eyes narrowed slightly behind her glasses.
"Well it's just that. Don't you think you should introduce our new student?" he suggested, lowering his hand now in order to gesture over at Viy.
"Hmm," Zim frowned uncertainly, pausing to glance up at his rival now. Why should he be taking an interest? All the other kids were quite happy to leave Viy standing at the front of the class, so why not Dib? Zim toyed with his pencil thoughtfully for a few seconds, remembering what Viy had said the previous night about Dib's snap decision that they were allies while awaiting to see the outcome of the situation. After all the time around his human enemy, although it had been far from his own choice, he had learnt quite a lot about him; and yet he found his actions now as intriguing.
"Another one?!" Miss Bitters was snapping impatiently, as she whipped round to face Viy who instantly froze, somewhat intimidated. "Hmmm." Miss Bitters frowned as she considered the situation. "Very well. Go ahead and introduce yourself. But make it quick."
Noting a hint of a threat in the last part, Viy decided it would be best to co-operate and now turned to face the rest of the class. "Uhm. hi? I'm Viy, I just moved here. Far from my own choice I assure you." she frowned, quickly running off a list in her head of all those she felt she owed revenge of some sort, "And. I like history and reading." She ignored the shout of 'weirdo' that rang out over the class and finished quickly, "And I have a ro- rabbit. A rabbit called Gem."
"How nice," Miss Bitters commented. "The class next door used to have a rabbit too. Then our hamster ate it. Now." She scanned the class for an empty seat, and upon finding none she flipped open a panel on her desk and pressed a highlighted button.
A strange robot arm not unfamiliar to those at a bowling alley descended from the ceiling, and shunted all the desks up a row, leaving many students thrown from their seats or partially crushed between the rows, and groaning in pain either way. The arm vanished back into the ceiling and a fresh row of empty desks emerged from the floor where the row nearest the window had been previously, in a neat, gleaming line that appeared in stark contrast with the disarray of the rest of the desks.
"Go take your seat Viy," Miss Bitters commanded, indicating the front desk of the new row. Viy obliged quickly, eager to escape the limelight; although once she was seated she cast an uncertain glance over the rest of the room as the rest of the class recovered themselves. Zim appeared rather amused by it all, although as his row of desks had been the furthest away it had remained pretty much unbothered.
Dib however was struggling to set his desk back upright next to Viy, and as he finally succeeded he paused to give a disapproving frown and flatten his hair. Although while he appeared annoyed, Viy noted that he, like the rest of the class, didn't seem particularly surprised, and she guessed such things were probably perfectly normal around here.
"Alright class," Miss Bitters continued, ignoring the last few kids as they tried to compose themselves, "I want you to read the next three chapters, in SILENCE!! Viy -!"
Viy instantly flinched as Miss Bitters attention snapped back to her, although her tone relaxed slightly now as she indicated to a bookcase at the back of the classroom. "You may get a book from the back."
Zim watched as Viy headed over to the bookcase and the rest of the class settled down, before giving a light shrug and returning to his doodling.
Viy retook her seat with the selected book, and flipped quickly to page ninety-one before beginning to read, eager to learn more of the humans past. In fact, she became so wrapped up in the book that when Dib leant over to talk to her, she didn't notice at first, and felt rather irritated when she did, but masked it quickly.
"Hey!" Dib smiled at her cheerfully as she looked up reluctantly from the book. "How'd it go last night? Did you manage to find Zim's place all right?"
"Yeah, it wasn't too hard," Viy replied back quietly, not really wanting to annoy Miss Bitters all that much, and casting a nervous look in her direction now. "Although I don't think the camera worked - I didn't really see anything odd, but Zim's dog kind of stole it from me the instant I got in the door so." she glanced up to the ceiling in an innocent shrug, "Who knows what pictures are on there." At least that, for the most part, was true.
"Hmm, he must have increased his security." Dib frowned thoughtfully as Viy took opportunity of his distraction to pull the camera out from one of the lower compartments of her PAK before offering it to him. "Hmm? Oh, thanks," Dib smiled as he took the camera back before turning it over in his hands with an uncertain frown. "Is that marshmallow?"
"Couldn't say," Viy replied quickly, trying to appear as if she'd resumed reading.
Dib tried activating the camera a few times, before sliding open a panel at the end to check the battery was still charged. Viy cringed as a mass of soapy water slopped out and splashed over the floor noisily, and tried to bury herself further into the book, although she heard Dib's complaint of "That robot always wrecks my cameras!" as she did.
When the bell for lunch rang she gathered up her books and dashed out of the room after Zim before Dib could say anything else.
"I think it was broken," Viy confirmed as Zim poked at a rather unsavoury looking grey blob on his tray in front of him. "There was a lot of water in it."
Zim twitched slightly at the mention of water, and Viy felt maybe she'd gained a fraction of her payback for the incident with the Massive.
"Why was there water in it anyway?" Zim frowned uncertainly.
"Gem tried to wash it," Viy replied simply, not really seeing it necessary to go into any detail beyond that. "Anyway. What's with our teacher? Seriously." she leant in, lowering her voice slightly as if fearing Miss Bitters would materialise behind her.
"Eh. She's creepy," Zim shrugged before adding brightly, "But she hates Dib."
"Uh huh. So she's good in your books then," Viy replied flatly before turning her attention to her unequally unappetising meal. She found herself wondering whether the Irken snacks she had left over from her trip to Earth were still in her PAK before she realised Zim was talking again and had spread out several rather elaborate blue prints on the table in front of him.
"Now, this is where I'll be stationed," he was saying, indicating an area on one of them, when Dib came up to the table carrying his own tray.
"Hey Viy," he said brightly, before casting a sceptical eye at Zim and continuing. "You know, you could come and join us for lunch. After all, it can't be much fun having lunch with an alien out to destroy the human race."
Zim glowered wordlessly before snapping at Dib, "Viy - I mean - the human pig smelly has to have lunch with me. I am her assigned school guidey. thingy."
"But you're not exactly showing her round anything right now anyway!" Dib countered, "Besides, we all know you don't want to anyway - the only reason you are is probably connected to some twisted plan of yours. Well you know what Zim? I'm going to find out what it is. And I'm going to stop it. Or should I say - we're going to stop it! Me and Viy, we're partners now." He shot a confident look up at Viy who simply gave a quiet groan and sank down in her seat - not that Dib noticed as he had already started talking again. In any other situation, Viy might have been quite flattered to have two guys fight over her, although in this case it was simply resulting in causing her a rather painful headache.
"Hah! You're even more deluded than I thought, Dib!" Zim was mocking now, "As if anyone would want to join you and follow in your giant-headed ways. The very concept is laughable. See? Look at me laugh."
Viy rolled her eyes as Zim set about a long series of chuckles interspersed with the occasional cackle. 'Honestly, it's like dealing with a couple of smeets,' she found herself thinking as she shot an impatient frown at Zim.
Dib was watching Zim with an expression of clear irritation, before he turned to Viy and said shortly, "I'll be on that table over there when you get fed up of him."
As she watched him leave, Viy thought painfully that she was fed up already, although it was somewhere much further than another table that she wanted to go. After a couple of minutes Zim finally registered Viy's glower, and Dib's absence and with an, "Oh. Right," fell silent once more, now looking decidedly thoughtful.
Viy sighed before resignedly pulling one of the blue prints towards her. "So what were you saying about these?"
"What? Oh. Yes! This is my 'shrinky-make-things-go-smaller' device," Zim explained proudly, pointing to the one Viy was examining.
"And what do you plan to do with that?" Viy asked dubiously. "Make Dib's head smaller or something?"
"What? No! Don't be stupid. When the time comes for making Dib's head smaller I shall simply explode it," Zim responded calmly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, and continued, completely oblivious to Viy's wary look. "The 'shrinky-make-things-go-smaller' device will be fired on the Earth from space until the Earth is around the size of one of those horrible green peas," he explained, indicating the peas on Viy's tray. "Then I can crush it literally."
Viy frowned thoughtfully while Zim sat, looking positively elated at the idea. "But. if you did that then we couldn't really use the planet, could we?" Viy ventured. "And that is kind of the point of the mission isn't it? To capture the planet, and enslave the humans if possible? If it's just a pea-sized pile of dust then it's not really been conquered, has it." she concluded, leaving it as more of a fact than a question, before holding up one of the peas and trying to imagine the Earth that small. "I mean. Maybe if you didn't crush it it could make a nice earring or something."
Zim was looking mildly annoyed now so Viy fell silent, figuring it was the suggestion of Earth as an earring where she'd crossed the line. "You just don't understand the complexed mechanisms of my plan," Zim concluded eventually, re-establishing his superior air. "It's ingenious! But then I suppose you are only an Evaluator after all."
"I'm an Evaluator who's considering going and sitting with that Dib kid you hate so much," Viy warned as she flipped through the rest of the blue prints, each one becoming steadily more bizarre until one in particular (a machine with a giant foot on the front designed to go around stomping out all life) caused her to push the blue prints back towards Zim and quickly start trying to erase the past half hour from her memory.
"Heh. As if you'd go and sit with the Dib," Zim mocked, before pausing suddenly and narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. "Say. This gives me an idea." A slow smile spread over his face before he uttered a low chuckle, paused, chuckled again and finally unleashed a triumphant laugh of a magnitude that made Viy wince, and most of the other kids in the cafeteria turn round and eye him oddly.
When he'd stopped, Viy watched him patiently as he sat smirking contentedly, before he turned to her suddenly. "You! This is our chance to gain the upper hand."
Viy arched one eyebrow at being addressed as 'you' but decided to humour him, "Uh huh.?"
"Dib seems to like you for some reason I can't imagine," Zim began, failing to notice her glare are the latter part of the statement, "And I reckon we can use this to our advantage." He tented his fingers in front of him, "If you can befriend him then maybe you can get close enough to him to discover his weakness. Then, I can use that to destroy him! And then nothing will stand in my way!" He let out another gloating laugh at the genius of his idea, but Viy was still regarding him sceptically.
"No," she stated simply.
"Eh? You dare disobey me?!" Zim exclaimed fiercely. Viy raised one eyebrow and frowned. "Zim, may I remind you that I am due to report back to our leaders on your progress. And unless you want that report to state that you have a problem with authority and should perhaps be replaced in your assigning then I suggest you don't order me around."
"But. This is my one chance to discover his weakness-! The fate of the mission depends on it! You must go - you must! Go. Goooooo. GO!!!"
"Oh fine, I'm going," Viy snapped irritably, at which Zim's strained expression instantly changed to one of glee. "But I'm not happy about it."
Frowning slightly she collected up her tray, hopped down from the seat and stalked away from the table, muttering under her breath about learning to say a definite no in future.
She paused to glance around in search of Dib and spotted him at a table with a girl with purple hair who appeared completely engrossed in a video game. On noticing her, Dib waved her over and Viy let out a sigh. "I don't know why I let myself in for these things." she muttered as she wandered over, rolling her eyes.
"Hey!" Dib greeted cheerfully.
"Hi," Viy forced a smile as she climbed up onto the seat opposite him.
"This is my sister Gaz," Dib continued, indicating to her sat to his right.
"Dib, you're talking again." Gaz muttered, not looking up from her screen, "Oh, and hi." This time she did glance up from her screen, although it was very brief before she returned to her gaming.
"So! Why'd you decide to come over? Did you finally realise Zim's an alien?!" Dib fixed hopeful eyes on Viy who blinked before shuffling a few peas around her tray with a fork.
"Nah. He was. uhm," she glanced back at Zim, who gave her a hasty thumbs up. Viy turned back with a decisive frown, "-annoying me."
"Yeah. He does that a lot," Dib replied, almost wistfully, causing Gaz to shoot him an impatient look.
"What did I just say about the talking?!" she stressed before frowning. "Why does it never happen?"
"I know Gaz," Dib agreed, not seeming to have actually taken in what she just said. "And Zim must be stopped. But we'll figure out a way! Together!!"
On this last, overly enthusiastic note, Gaz gritted her teeth in rage and shot a warning glare at her brother, who had leapt on top of the table triumphantly, and was only just coming to his senses. "Shut up, Dib," she warned, in a tone which stated this was his last warning, before she turned back to her Gameslave 2, her hands clenched a little tighter than before around the console now.
Viy had buried her head in her hands as Dib now climbed back down from the table, looking a little unsettled at the odd looks people were throwing at him, before he turned to her cheerfully as if nothing had happened. "So! What sort of things do you like Viy?"
'Well not hanging out with crazy people for a start,' her mind instantly replied, but she quickly checked her answer. "I like history," she replied instead. "Like, when America was colonised and the growth of the British Empire and such?"
"Hmph, I'm surprised Zim doesn't like those things," Gaz snorted, "What him being an invader and all." She shot a look at Dib which was both begging him to challenge her and at the same time warning him there'd be hell to pay if he did.
"I also like the French Revolution," Viy intercepted quickly, before Dib could contemplate on Gaz's observation. "Well you know, not like it, but I'm reading a good story about it."
"Really? Oh, you'll have to lend me it sometime," Dib remarked casually as he took a mouthful of his lunch. "How about the future though? Do you ever wonder about that?"
"Well naturally," Viy responded, shrugging with mild impatience.
"What about paranormal studies?" he looked up at her eagerly now.
Viy let out an inner sigh, mentally cursing Zim for this, but if she didn't go along with it then her cover could be blown, which in turn could damage Zim's mission, and then. She winced - if Zim left Earth the first place he'd be heading was Irk. Or the Massive. Either way it would be bad. "You could say I've done a little research in the field." she replied carefully before adding as an afterthought, "Although I've never been lucky enough to meet a real alien before."
"Yeah you have," Gaz replied calmly, looking up from the Gameslave 2 now and fixing Viy with a serious gaze, "You met Dib after all."
Viy resisted an amused smile as Dib gave a small frown, before continuing. "Well technically Gaz is right - you have met an alien. If only there was some way I could make you see what Zim really is." he fell quiet as he looked thoughtful for a moment. "It shouldn't be too hard; it's pretty easy to catch him out. Or maybe you could come round to our house after school? I've got some photos and film - all sorts of evidence!"
"I'd. have to ask my parents first. Maybe another night? They probably wouldn't be too pleased if I was late back on my first day," Viy lied quickly, although at the same time she was greatly intrigued to see just what sort of evidence Dib had.
"Okay, that's fair enough," Dib accepted with a nod before smiling cheerfully. "What do your parents do anyway?"
"Uhm." Viy's eyes widened slightly as her mind raced for a response. "Well. They normally work for a. uhm. travel agency," she replied with the first thing that came to mind, and feeling instantly relieved when she noted Dib had accepted this explanation without question. "You know, organising holidays and stuff."
"Mmmhmm," Dib acknowledged with a few nods. "That must be pretty cool - They get to travel I guess?"
"Yes?" Viy agreed uncertainly.
"My dad's a famous international scientist," Dib continued now with clear pride, "You've probably heard of him. Professor Membrane?"
"It. rings a bell," Viy agreed, not wanting to admit her lack of recognition and therefore perhaps damage her chances of acceptance. Maybe it was less vital to appear perfectly normal to the other children; she had gathered from Zim's accounts that they weren't too shrewd. Or perhaps they just didn't want to accept what was clearly there. But Dib was clearly different. If he realised she was an Irken then there was a possibility she'd find herself in danger. It was hard to believe looking at him now - he was just a kid. And Zim wasn't all that bright. She wanted to believe Dib was simply a regular kid and it was fault on Zim's part that lead to his knowledge of the Irkens, but something at the back of her mind told her this wasn't entirely the case. She made a note that she should probably accept his invitation to see the evidence he'd gathered, less to discover any weaknesses but more to ascertain whether she was actually endangering herself by befriending him.
Up till now though he had no reason to suspect her. Or so she thought. And so she hoped. She shot a nervous glance back at Zim once more, although he seemed involved in his blueprints once more. It was the realisation that Dib was chatting away quite cheerfully still that drew her attention back to the table in front of her, and the depressing scenario that she seemed to have snared herself in.
"-After all, you could just say you're a fast learner. And then you wouldn't need to be stuck with Zim. If you still needed a guide of course then I'd be only too happy to show you around, but it's pretty easy to get used to if you stick to the main parts of the building. Although it helps to have a knowledge of the off access areas in case something should happen."
"Something?" Viy replied, trying her best to look interested still, and giving her food a half hearted prod with her fork before deciding it was best to abandon it completely. She wasn't really that hungry anyway.
Dib nodded, "Maybe it would be best to classify 'something' as 'Zim'." He frowned thoughtfully now, and remained completely oblivious to the rather audible gnashing of Gaz's teeth. The next second however, the bell rang, probably saving him from a very painful encounter with her wrath, and everyone started to file out from the lunch hall.
"Okay you lot, to prepare you for the harsh realities of life we will be running a gruelling obstacle course. And when I say we, I mean you," the PE coach snapped as all the students gazed up at him attentively. He turned and made an impressive gesture at the horrific course spanning out behind him. "I give you. the Annihilator!!"
Viy and a lot of the others winced upon seeing it, although Zim appeared supremely confident. "Not too much different from what we had to go through with Invader trading," he remarked to Viy, "It'll be a piece of cake."
Viy glanced over at him uncertainly, not being able to point out that while Evaluator's went through Invader training, pilots as it happened, did not. A lot of their work was simulation to begin with, and either way they were still sat in a nice comfy cockpit regardless of the horrors the ship may be racing past outside.
Zim paused now and gave an uncertain frown accompanied by an even more uncertain sniff. "What is that smell.?" he glanced at Viy who gave a small gesture to the PE kit she'd been forced into, not having one of her own. It looked like it hadn't seen water in the past decade, and its main construction seemed to be not of fabric, but of filth. Viy had a sneaking suspicion that if it was washed, very little would be left of it at the end.
Zim gave a silent grimace and edged away a few paces, but the blow of the starting whistle distracted him now as the first few hopefuls ran forward, and were instantly snared on the barbed wire. While Zim was distracted chuckling contentedly to himself at the suffering of the other children, Dib took the opportunity to wander over to Viy. "Hey," he greeted, giving a slight wave before casting a worried look at one of the kids still twitching on the barbed wire.
"Oh hi," Viy responded, smiling slightly before turning an anxious expression back to the course as the line ahead of them steadily shortened. ".Do you always do stuff like this in PE lessons?"
"Sometimes it's not so bad," Dib shrugged, although something about his expression caused Viy to doubt he was telling the truth.
"And I thought PE was about this. basketball and hockey and stuff," Viy sighed, wondering how much else of the computers data had been incorrect, and not realising that for most other schools it would have been correct.
"Hmmm," Dib was now watching Zim intently as the Irken set off over the course confidently, beginning by striding over one of the kids snared on the wire as if they were a bridge, and acting as if it was more of a stroll in the park than a gruelling challenge, despite all the groaning casualties that littered the playground.
Zim noticed Dib's frustration at this and sniggered quietly to himself. "Stupid Dib. It will be interesting to see how he handles the course -" He paused at the bottom of a towering wall now and frowned uncertainly; Dib was talking to Viy again now, completely unaware he was in fact talking to an Irken Evaluator.
However. As Dib was falling for his plan he would have to be very careful now to ensure he didn't make any mistakes to endanger its success. A good place to start would be to ensure no suspected any link between him and Viy. He was debating how best to do this when he heard the whistle blow again and he turned his attention back to the wall. That's when the idea hit him.
Of course! It was so simple. He narrowed his eyes gloatingly before springing nimbly on top of the wall with that graceful agility Irken's had been bred to have. None of the other children had made it this far, so as he hopped lightly down on the other side he was completely out of viewpoint.
All he had to do, he reasoned, was convince the others that he had a general dislike for Viy. But to do this subtly would take time, and he didn't have the patience for that. It would be far better to launch an upfront attack, and then deny it. No doubt the rest of the humans would dismiss it, but Dib naturally would see the reality of the situation and be convinced of a rivalry of some sorts. Delighted by his idea, Zim extended his robotic spider legs and climbed halfway back up the wall, pausing here to reach into his PAK and remove a small device which he now planted on the bricks in front of him and activated with a few key types.
Confident it would work, Zim hopped back down from the wall and sauntered along towards the finish line where he could get a good view of the full course, a small control device concealed in his palm.
Some of the last students in the group, Dib and Viy had set off with two others. Viy wasn't too used to having to use her Irken agility in her line of work, but she found it wasn't really that straining once she got going, although she would have felt more confident if she'd known she could rely on her PAK also. As she cleared a series of raised platforms suspended over a rather dubious and acidic looking pool, she glanced ahead to the next obstacle which Dib was clearing easily with an assortment of nimble movements. Viy couldn't help but be rather impressed - she'd seen many Irken's with less ability; herself included she noted as she set about tackling it.
The obstacle consisted of a raised net, with easily child-sized holes, but very thin rope, over an assortment of worrying instruments. She was trying her best not to look down as she crossed, but she glimpsed mines, suspicious electrical sparks, and the occasional bursts of flame. If she survived this she decided she should probably apply for Invader training - surely even that couldn't be this bad.
At the other end Dib paused to regard the wall before him: the last obstacle in the course. His contentment at having cleared the rest of the course faltered now as he debated how best to clear it. Besides going round it and risking a rather nasty assortment of barbed wire that was. He decided to wait for Viy in the end, and turned to watch her struggling her way across towards him.
When she was only a few feet away however, one of her feet slipped, and she thought for a horrible moment she was going to fall or have to use her PAK when Dib caught her hand, and she found herself steady again. Viy glanced up at him gratefully, before quickly bowing her head, embarrassed at having admitted her relief, and pretending instead to be concentrating on keeping her balance, although beneath the curtain of her fringe her cheeks flushed slightly.
She edged along the final few steps before hopping relieved onto the platform, only vaguely noticing that it was only when her feet reached the platform that Dib had let go of her hand. She sunk down into a sitting position and gave a sigh before glancing up at the wall looming ahead of them and mumbling in a defeated tone, "Now how're we going to get over that?"
Zim meanwhile watched impatiently as the two debated how best to tackle the wall. Well. Dib hadn't fallen to a horrible explodey fate. Zim pouted; he had been rather hoping that when Viy was holding his hand she would have thought to knock him somehow into the minefield below. But now that opportunity had passed, he guessed he'd have to revert back to his original plan. If only they'd go a little closer to that wall. Zim shifted the small control device from one hand to the other, his thumb resting patiently on a small red switch as he watched and waited.
"This is stupid," Dib frowned at the wall, totalling around ten feet of bricks of mortar. "We're kids - how're we supposed to get over that? And what does this have to do with preparing us anyway."
Viy hopped down and wandered over to the wall, ignoring a horrible scream from the course behind them as the final group set off. "Maybe." she glanced at the barbed wire at either side. "We could tunnel under it?" She gave a shrug, before frowning uncertainly as a high-pitched bleep emitted from the other side of the wall.
The next second there was a violent explosion, and the wall crumbled in a shower of bricks. Viy found herself frozen to the spot, her pupils dilating in horror as she watched a large chunk of the wall falling towards her. 'Oh that's going to hurt.' she thought absently before Dib collided with her, knocking her out of the way just in time.
"Ow!" Dib exclaimed as he sat up, only to have a chunk of falling mortar collide with his head and knock him back down. Viy glanced him in a mixture of concern and shock before they both turned to watch the rest of the wall crumble away.
"What just happened.?" Dib climbed to his feet, still staring at the wall, while Viy quickly checked her disguise was still in place. "Walls just don't explode," Dib exclaimed, before turning a frown of realisation towards the finish line where Zim was whistling innocently.
Viy arched one eyebrow uncertainly - surely Zim wouldn't have. Okay if it had been Dib under the wall, but as it had been her, what reason would he have had? She barely had time to feel paranoid though as Zim had wandered over now, an expression of fake shock plastered on his face.
"Oh my, this is simply horrible! I guess they just don't build walls the way they used to." he began, before dropping his pretence and smirking at Dib with obvious glee.
"This is your doing isn't it?" Dib demanded, glowering back at him and brandishing the remnants of the device Zim had planted on the wall.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Zim exclaimed, turning an innocent expression to him.
"Your aim's obviously gotten messed up Zim," Dib muttered in retort, "I wasn't even under that wall when you blew it up."
"Who says I was aiming for you?" Zim responded, narrowing his eyes menacingly and smirking once more before turning with a cheerful wave. "Well I guess I'll see you both at school tomorrow. You should be more careful until then. Otherwise who knows what may happen."
Dib glowered after him furiously as he left, his hand clenched into a fist around the decimated remains of the Irken device, "You just made a big mistake Zim! You're not going to get away with this!"
Zim merely waved off the threats and continued on his way, leaving Dib and Viy amidst the ruins of the wall. Viy had not taken her eyes off Zim the whole time, but as he departed they narrowed decisively and her hands tightened into fists at either side. One thing she was sure of - she was going to love putting together this report for the Tallest. But before she did that she felt she owed someone a visit.
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