Another one....on the same day.....

I know. It's pretty pathetic. This is my summer vacation for you. :)

Aah! My little brother is showing me his latest 'trick'. He is rotating his arm like a windmill. It's like a chainsaw I tell you!!! =runs away, screaming= I want to LIVE!!! =looks back= Gah! He's really chasing me!

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Chapter 8

Dib turned around at the splash, startled. Gaz was standing on the bank looking less than happy, and somewhat...worried.

She had forgotten that Zim had a rather gruesome reaction to water. Catching Dib's eye hurriedly, she pointed to the water. "Dib! Zim fell in the water! Get him before he dies!"

Surprised, but thinking quickly, Dib swam to where the water's surface was forming small rings. Before he got there, however, Zim came back up sputtering. He stood up, fixing Gaz with a penetrating glare. She had her hands over her mouth and was looking a tad bit shaky.

Dib grabbed Zim's arm and dragged him out of the water.

"Release me, dirt-stink!" Zim bellowed, easily removing Dib's grasp on his arm by shaking it roughly.

"Is that the thanks I get for saving your rotten life?" Dib screamed back, angry now.

"YOU didn't save my life! Zim requires the help of no one!"

"That's why you fell into the water in the first place!"

"What?! I did not FALL!" Zim returned his stare of hatred at Gaz. "She PUSHED me!"

Dib looked at Gaz incredulously. He thought he was the only one capable of invoking her wrath. He shot her a questioning glance.

Seeing that Zim was unharmed, she just shrugged. "He used all the paste." She returned Zim's death-glare.

Dib decided to leave the battle field while he still had his limbs. He wondered at Gaz's sudden resentment of Zim, but deemed the questioning period as an activity to be done later.

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Zim stalked up to Gaz, glowering down at her purple locks. He was considering knocking her in. But the look in her eyes stopped him. What was it? Fear? Guilt? She looked scared...

Seeing the look in his eyes as he stomped over to her, Gaz was, for the first time in her life, frightened. She took a step back, feeling both shaky and sorry.

He reached for her shoulder.

"DON'T!!" She screamed. "I can't SWIM!"

He jerked back at that. He looked confused, then insulted. "I wasn't going to push you in! I am far too superior to mimic your pathetic behavior!" He paused, she was beginning to look angry again. "I was merely going to do this..." He put his hand on her shoulder, looking at her face.

"And what exactly does that mean?" Gaz asked, inwardly smiling at the contact, although she would never admit it.

"It means 'it's ok' doesn't it?" He looked like she caught him completely off guard. Wasn't that what it meant? He'd seen someone do it somewhere...probably on T.V. He had felt the sudden urge to comfort her when he saw that look on her face. He grabbed his head. What is wrong with me?! An invader does not try to comfort ANYONE!!

Gaz was now peering at him closely, coming to an abrupt realization.

"Wait. Why AREN'T you dead?"

Zim paused his superior thought process to look at her. "What?"

"You normally run screaming if even a drop of water hits you. Why aren't you smoking right now?" She looked genuinely amazed.

Yes, I am AMAZING, Zim thought. Should he tell her his secret? He HAD used all her paste...oh well, why not. What could she do, prevent him from purchasing it in the future?

"The paste makes me immune to water for several days."

"I KNEW IT!!!!" Dib jumped out of the bushes, pointing at Zim. "I noticed your fascination with it at school, did you really think you could keep that information from me!"

Zim glared daggers.

"Now I don't have to feel the least bit guilty about doing THIS!" Dib tackled Zim, causing them both to fall into the lake. Gaz made herself comfortable.

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"Aren't you kids done playing, yet?" Prof. Membrane asked, surprised. The sky was now beautifully colored in pink, orange, and yellow hues.

Dib and Zim were still at it, having formulated various contests, battles, and strategies to prove just who was the most superior being. They paused their present pummeling of each other to look at Prof. Membrane. Gaz looked up from her Game Slave, legs dangling in the water.

"I've made some hot dogs whenever you're ready. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich for you Zim." He turned away, smiling. He rarely saw his children looking so...happy. The again, he rarely saw them at ALL. He rubbed his chin. That would change, he decided, walking away.

"Ok, Zim. I guess we better call it quits for today."

"Ha ha. Poor little earth-monkey. I knew you would surrender."

"What?! I'm not surrendering to YOU!!" His stomach growled. He looked slightly embarrassed. "I'm just hungry."

"Analysis: PATHETIC!!"

"Are you saying you're not?!" Dib looked at Zim, taken aback. It had been at least six hours since they last ate.

"Of course not! But I see that you no longer pose a threat, when this hunger overcomes you! Pathetic!" He turned toward the bank, wondering what 'peanut butter and jelly' tasted like, closing his eyes in thought. Why did that name ring a bell?

"I know you're lying Zim! I ..."

Zim opened his eyes to see Gaz wading in the water in his direction, an expression of horror on her face.

"Dib!"

Zim turned around to see what Dib was doing, his mouth falling open in shock.

Dib was gone, but the surface of the water where he had been was turning a faint red color.

"Zim! Do something!! He just went under..." Gaz's eyes filled with tears as she watched the water turn a darker red color.

Zim swam over to the reddening water quickly. He knew what it was. Looking down, he saw Dib flailing beneath the water. Catching one of the boy's arms, Zim tugged with all his strength. Which must have been quite commendable, because Dib came flying out of the water, knocking into Zim. They both rose a moment later, coughing and hacking the water from their lungs (or whatever Zim had).

Zim turned around to face Dib.

"What WERE you doing?"

Dib looked incredulously at Zim. "You...you...saved me..." he wondered why.

So did Zim. A ghastly expression had found its way to his face.

Dib was about to say something, but he toppled over, rising and spitting out water moments later.

Gaz made her way to Dib, the water up to her waist. She looped her arm in his, hoisting him up. "What happened?"

"I stepped in a crevice or something. I guess the edges were pretty jagged..." he added thoughtfully, looking down at the water. It, too, had begun to turn a faint red.

Gaz pulled him to shore quickly, looking down at the injury. A fairly deep cut ran nearly the entire length of his lower leg. It looked the worst at his kneecap. Dib looked slightly amused. "It was stuck until Zim yanked me out with such incredible force."

Zim turned around, feeling slightly guilty. "I thought it was necessary..." He didn't mean to make the injury worse. He laughed at himself. Well, he would have meant it, on a different occasion.

Dib was still eyeing the alien thoughtfully as Gaz wrapped his leg with strips torn from his towel. She began to lift him on her back.

"What are you doing?"

Zim turned around to see what the commotion was about.

"You can't walk can you? I'm carrying you home, stupid."

"Gaz, you're too small!" Wrong thing to say. She turned to face him, glowering.

"WHAT did you say?!" she hated being told that she was incapable of doing something because of her size.

Zim watched the siblings quarrel in amusement.

"I just meant that I probably weigh too much!" Dib sounded slightly panicked. Zim didn't blame him. Gaz had that expression on her face...

"Now I'm not strong enough?!"

"That's not what I meant, Gaz! I..."

She began hoisting him up again. Dib shot Zim a pleading look. Zim frowned. He didn't like the idea of Gaz carrying something so heavy, but he also despised the idea of him having to be the one to do it. It looked like he had no choice though...

"Let me carry him." Zim said through gritted teeth.

Gaz looked at him accusingly. "Now YOU don't think I can do it?"

"Eh? No...it's just I...." he thought for a moment. "I'd like to assume the task of dragging his carcass back to camp, myself." He appealed to her evident distaste for her brother.

She considered a moment, then smiled. "Here you go." Did Zim just want to make Dib suffer as always, or was he actually attempting to be a gentlemen? Nursing the latter thought, Gaz began walking back to camp.

Dib and Zim, with a showy display of disgust and contempt (as Dib was hoisted onto the other's back), followed.

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Hm. yep. there's the slight Zim/Dib friendship I promised. It'll get a little more pronounced later on...

wow. sorry for the OOCness in this chapter. I couldn't think of how to make it better, though, with the situation....forgive me? : P

yuck. i'm drinking orange gatorade and it tastes like peed-in lemonade. XP