A/N: Thank you Maran Zelde for your review. I am truly honoured. Yes, my
spelling is atrocious. My use of English isn't always up to par. (It
doesn't help that I was taught both the American and Canadian way to spell.
I'm so confused! O,~ ) I have exasperated English teachers throughout my
entire education and beyond. Even my grandmother, a teacher herself, has
given up on me, yet the stubborn creature that I am, I persist. I promise
to review my work with a sharper eye, and pay avid attention to the spell
check. Thank you for bearing with me!
Disclaimer: Well, here we go again. They own IZ. I own next to nada. YAY!
Dib. Earth. Zim's Base.
Early Evening.
Dib sat in the chair that Zim had previously occupied. His feet swung back and forth thumping out an unconscious rhythm as he sat watching Zim push buttons on his computer.
Zim talked as he worked. "Every Irken knows about Neplotn, but no one really believed they existed. After all, nothing is superior to the Irken Empire. Nothing real anyway."
Dib rolled his eyes, waiting for the 'Irken superiority' speech he knew was coming. He was mildly surprised as Zim continued.
"The Neplotn have several tags they use to identify slave status." Zim said, a look of mild concentration crossing his face as he glanced up at the screen.
Dib watched as Zim slid his gloved fingers across the console. The picture of the circles and triangle once again filled the screen. Zim turned, looked at Dib, and pointed a claw towards the monitor.
"This is a tag, specifically it is the tag that has been used to defile me" Zim paused for a moment then continued. "And you. The scholars seem the think this one means 'defenders'. But they don't really know."
Dib blinked in confusion, his legs loosing their rhythmic swing. "Defenders? Defenders of what?"
"Defenders of the Neplotn, Dib stink!" Zim stated as if it were obvious. "Legend has it, Neplotn use slaves to fight their battles, provide bloody and barbaric amusement, protect their land, and a numerous amount of other slave type stuff."
Zim's eyes narrowed. "They are to powerful to be denied, yet to weak to fight their own battles. It is disgusting."
Dib grunted. "Don't Irkens use slaves to do slave stuff?"
Zim glared at him. "Don't compare the Irken Empire to such an evil and monstrous race. We fight our own battles. We don't watch bloody and barbaric games, and we only keep slaves if we need them. We usually just kill the inhabitants of the planets we conquer. We put them out of their inferior misery."
"Genocides? You commit genocides?" Dib's eyes widened in amazement and disgust. "Is that what you were planning to do to Earth? Kill us all off? You're more dangerous than I imagined."
Dib started to doubt his decision for friendship. Irkens were far more dangerous than he imagined. Slavery would have been bad, but genocide, the complete inhalation of his entire race, it was almost too much to imagine. He was glad he hadn't known about this before. He didn't know if he could have handled the stress of defending the world against extinction, especially alone and unsupported.
"Yes, yes, but you don't have to worry about that anymore." Zim waved his hand dismissively, ignoring Dib's glare. "Your precious Earth is safe, at lease from the Mighty Irken Empire anyway. It always was."
Zim blinked away an unbidden tear. A tint of anger lit his voice for a second. "Even if I succeeded with my mission, it would have been safe. It wasn't on the list of planets to conquer during Impending Doom II. The tallest never consider it worthy enough. It was just a place to keep me out of their way."
In the brief silence that followed, doubt momentarily plagued Dib. Dib studied Zim, trying to reconfirm his belief that Zim was harmless. He reminded himself of what he had witnessed earlier, of how Zim was not considered a member of the Irken race anymore, even if he still talked like he was. He was a pathetic outcast. Much like Dib himself. And Dib reminded himself that Earth really was safe from the threat of an Irken invasion. With a small sigh of relief he concluded that his friendship with Zim wasn't going against all that he held dear. It wasn't a bad decision. In fact, it was probably one of the best ones he had in a long time. Especially if the Neplotn were as dangerous as Zim was saying. Slavery, bloody and barbaric games? Dib struggled to suppress a shudder. If that was the case, they needed to be on the same side. Without the added stress of being enemies.
"Now we must save this earth from the Neplotn." Zim said suddenly, bringing Dib back to the situation at hand. "If I am going to be forced to live on this stink-ball of dirt, I am going to have to defend it."
He paused and looked at Dib, determination glinting behind his red eyes. "Besides, I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of being a Neplotn slave."
Dib nodded. The thought of being someone's slave bothered him. A lot. Especially when he didn't even know he was a slave, or for how long.
"Zim?" He reached up to where his invisible tag was. "How long have I been tagged?"
"I noticed it the first time I saw you, but never thought about it much. For all I knew, it could have been some bizarre 'human' thing. Like a 'tattoo' or something. Why humans would purposefully want to poke pins with dyes into their skin is beyond me." He shook his head at the thought.
"It wasn't until your head started growing that I decided to take a closer look. It reminded me of the stories they would tell us when I was a smeet." Zim shuddered involuntarily at the memory. "They would tell us they would give us to the Neplotn if we didn't obey. They told us that the Neplotns liked torturing and experimenting on different races. They would do things just to see what would happen. They especially liked Irkens because of our Incredible brain-meats. Being the Amazing race we, are they would take us and torment us for the fun of it, then, having a liking for our juicy Superior Irken meat, they would eat us raw while we were still alive." Zim shuddered again, and angry glint briefly flashing in his ruby eyes. "One trainer in particular use to torment me, always calling me a 'Neplotn snack.'" He growled. "When I grew older I realized those were just tales to keep smeets in line. I never really thought about them until now."
Dib's eyes widened in fear as he realized the depth of trouble he and Zim were in.
"Why. why haven't we seen them?" Dib stuttered, despite himself. "Where are they?"
Zim narrowed his eyes and looked around his lab. Dib looked around too, trying to see what Zim was looking for.
"Legend has it they are pan dimensional and can transverse the known dimensions with little to no effort. They can be in one dimension and watch us from the next. And they can take." Zim's eyes widened in sudden realization.
"GIR." He screamed, causing Dib to jump. "THEY TOOK GIR!"
Zim's eyes narrowed with an evil glint. "They took GIR. They were here and they took GIR."
He turned towards Dib, rushing towards him with surprising speed. He grabbed Dib's arms and looked him full in his face. Dib blinked and on instinct tried to pull back.
"Tell me Dib, have you been in my lab over the last few weeks?" Zim questioned, watching him closely, wide eyed and alert. Dib shifted uncomfortable.
"No Zim." He shook his head in denial. "I tried, but this is the first time I've ever made it this far in a long time."
Zim released him, pushing him back slightly. "I believe you Dib beast. You know better than to lie to ZIM! Besides," He paused for dramatic effect. "Friends don't lie to each other do they?!" It was a statement rather than a question.
Dib shook his head in affirmation as Zim stepped back from him and picked up what looked like an old hair dryer and waved it in the air.
"So, this genetic sequencer wasn't broken after all." Zim started ranting. "It was them in MY lab, messing with MY experiments. "THEY were the ones that intruded in the BASE OF ZIM!"
Zim's voice dropped to a hiss. "And now they have GIR." He voice tinted with malice, reminding Dib of his sister when she was in one of her 'moods'. (And she was almost always in one of those.) "They will pay!" he echoed a familiar threat. "Oh, They will pay.Oof!"
Zim's threat was cut short by the impact of a small metal object slamming into his stomach. Metal arms wrapped around his waist and squeezed the air out of him.
Dib couldn't help but laugh at the little robot. He hadn't heard GIR's return, but was glad to see him. GIR's undeniable joy at seeing his master was just plain fun to watch.
"I missed you master!" GIR squealed in unrestrained glee. "I missed you so much. HUG ME!" With that, he tightened his arms around Zim even tighter.
"GIR." Zim wheezed "Can't. breath. Get. Off. meee!"
GIR reluctantly obeyed. He dropped his hands to his side and staring up at Zim with a tilted head, a small pink tongue sticking out the side of his mouth.
Zim took a deep breath through his mouth and gingerly rubbed his middle.
"Thank you GIR!" Zim said to the small robot.
Dib saw an affectionate expression cross Zim's face that he didn't even know Zim was capable of. He watched in amazement as Zim placed his hand on top of the small droid's head and patted it affectionately.
"I missed you to GIR. Now, where were you?" Zim asked, leaning towards GIR, "Tell ZIM!"
"I was with the leprechauns." GIR said like he was stating the obvious. After a moments pause he continued excitement flavoring his tinny voice. "They took me to a white room and put me in a glass cage and they talked and we talked and then they talked some more and I ran around a lot and then they brought me back home and then I saw you and the Dib human and then I gave you a HUG!"
"Leprechauns?" Zim said, standing to his full height and putting a hand on his chin. He squinted an eye in concentration. "And do you see any leprechauns here now?"
"Yes!" GIR smiled up at Zim in pure innocence.
"Where, GIR?" Zim questioned with patience that Dib didn't even know the alien possessed.
"Over There!" GIR squealed again, pointing to his right.
Both Dib and Zim turned towards the direction that GIR was pointing. Nether one could see anything.
"HELLO LEPRECHAUN!" GIR waved his arms frantically for a moment then frowned. "Awe! He disappeared!"
"Disappeared?" Zim questioned.
Before GIR could reply, Dib's small wrist communicator beeped to life.
Dib glanced at it and saw his sister's annoyed face.
"Come home now, Dib!" his sister commanded. "It's family night. Dad's taking us to Bloaties."
Dib grimaced in annoyance. "Bloaties again? I thought it was my turn to choose where we eat."
His sister glared at him, irritation written all over her face. "It is. And you chose Bloaties. Don't you remember?"
"Oh!" Dib muttered, seriously trying to recall telling his dad that. He didn't remember.
"Just come home now, OK!." Gaz demanded. "Don't make me come over there and get you!"
"Ok, ok I'll come home now!" Dib shut off his communicator and looked at Zim.
"Well, I have to go now Zim." Dib said hoping off his chair and heading towards the elevator. "I'll see you later, I guess."
He paused and looked at the alien and his small robot. "I'm really glad that GIR came back. And I'm glad that we're, um, friends now!"
"Yes, yes Dib." The alien raised a hand. "I am too. Go eat. And sleep. I have much work to do tonight. I will see you tomorrow. Tomorrow we will see what we can do about these Neplotn-beasts of evil."
Disclaimer: Well, here we go again. They own IZ. I own next to nada. YAY!
Dib. Earth. Zim's Base.
Early Evening.
Dib sat in the chair that Zim had previously occupied. His feet swung back and forth thumping out an unconscious rhythm as he sat watching Zim push buttons on his computer.
Zim talked as he worked. "Every Irken knows about Neplotn, but no one really believed they existed. After all, nothing is superior to the Irken Empire. Nothing real anyway."
Dib rolled his eyes, waiting for the 'Irken superiority' speech he knew was coming. He was mildly surprised as Zim continued.
"The Neplotn have several tags they use to identify slave status." Zim said, a look of mild concentration crossing his face as he glanced up at the screen.
Dib watched as Zim slid his gloved fingers across the console. The picture of the circles and triangle once again filled the screen. Zim turned, looked at Dib, and pointed a claw towards the monitor.
"This is a tag, specifically it is the tag that has been used to defile me" Zim paused for a moment then continued. "And you. The scholars seem the think this one means 'defenders'. But they don't really know."
Dib blinked in confusion, his legs loosing their rhythmic swing. "Defenders? Defenders of what?"
"Defenders of the Neplotn, Dib stink!" Zim stated as if it were obvious. "Legend has it, Neplotn use slaves to fight their battles, provide bloody and barbaric amusement, protect their land, and a numerous amount of other slave type stuff."
Zim's eyes narrowed. "They are to powerful to be denied, yet to weak to fight their own battles. It is disgusting."
Dib grunted. "Don't Irkens use slaves to do slave stuff?"
Zim glared at him. "Don't compare the Irken Empire to such an evil and monstrous race. We fight our own battles. We don't watch bloody and barbaric games, and we only keep slaves if we need them. We usually just kill the inhabitants of the planets we conquer. We put them out of their inferior misery."
"Genocides? You commit genocides?" Dib's eyes widened in amazement and disgust. "Is that what you were planning to do to Earth? Kill us all off? You're more dangerous than I imagined."
Dib started to doubt his decision for friendship. Irkens were far more dangerous than he imagined. Slavery would have been bad, but genocide, the complete inhalation of his entire race, it was almost too much to imagine. He was glad he hadn't known about this before. He didn't know if he could have handled the stress of defending the world against extinction, especially alone and unsupported.
"Yes, yes, but you don't have to worry about that anymore." Zim waved his hand dismissively, ignoring Dib's glare. "Your precious Earth is safe, at lease from the Mighty Irken Empire anyway. It always was."
Zim blinked away an unbidden tear. A tint of anger lit his voice for a second. "Even if I succeeded with my mission, it would have been safe. It wasn't on the list of planets to conquer during Impending Doom II. The tallest never consider it worthy enough. It was just a place to keep me out of their way."
In the brief silence that followed, doubt momentarily plagued Dib. Dib studied Zim, trying to reconfirm his belief that Zim was harmless. He reminded himself of what he had witnessed earlier, of how Zim was not considered a member of the Irken race anymore, even if he still talked like he was. He was a pathetic outcast. Much like Dib himself. And Dib reminded himself that Earth really was safe from the threat of an Irken invasion. With a small sigh of relief he concluded that his friendship with Zim wasn't going against all that he held dear. It wasn't a bad decision. In fact, it was probably one of the best ones he had in a long time. Especially if the Neplotn were as dangerous as Zim was saying. Slavery, bloody and barbaric games? Dib struggled to suppress a shudder. If that was the case, they needed to be on the same side. Without the added stress of being enemies.
"Now we must save this earth from the Neplotn." Zim said suddenly, bringing Dib back to the situation at hand. "If I am going to be forced to live on this stink-ball of dirt, I am going to have to defend it."
He paused and looked at Dib, determination glinting behind his red eyes. "Besides, I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of being a Neplotn slave."
Dib nodded. The thought of being someone's slave bothered him. A lot. Especially when he didn't even know he was a slave, or for how long.
"Zim?" He reached up to where his invisible tag was. "How long have I been tagged?"
"I noticed it the first time I saw you, but never thought about it much. For all I knew, it could have been some bizarre 'human' thing. Like a 'tattoo' or something. Why humans would purposefully want to poke pins with dyes into their skin is beyond me." He shook his head at the thought.
"It wasn't until your head started growing that I decided to take a closer look. It reminded me of the stories they would tell us when I was a smeet." Zim shuddered involuntarily at the memory. "They would tell us they would give us to the Neplotn if we didn't obey. They told us that the Neplotns liked torturing and experimenting on different races. They would do things just to see what would happen. They especially liked Irkens because of our Incredible brain-meats. Being the Amazing race we, are they would take us and torment us for the fun of it, then, having a liking for our juicy Superior Irken meat, they would eat us raw while we were still alive." Zim shuddered again, and angry glint briefly flashing in his ruby eyes. "One trainer in particular use to torment me, always calling me a 'Neplotn snack.'" He growled. "When I grew older I realized those were just tales to keep smeets in line. I never really thought about them until now."
Dib's eyes widened in fear as he realized the depth of trouble he and Zim were in.
"Why. why haven't we seen them?" Dib stuttered, despite himself. "Where are they?"
Zim narrowed his eyes and looked around his lab. Dib looked around too, trying to see what Zim was looking for.
"Legend has it they are pan dimensional and can transverse the known dimensions with little to no effort. They can be in one dimension and watch us from the next. And they can take." Zim's eyes widened in sudden realization.
"GIR." He screamed, causing Dib to jump. "THEY TOOK GIR!"
Zim's eyes narrowed with an evil glint. "They took GIR. They were here and they took GIR."
He turned towards Dib, rushing towards him with surprising speed. He grabbed Dib's arms and looked him full in his face. Dib blinked and on instinct tried to pull back.
"Tell me Dib, have you been in my lab over the last few weeks?" Zim questioned, watching him closely, wide eyed and alert. Dib shifted uncomfortable.
"No Zim." He shook his head in denial. "I tried, but this is the first time I've ever made it this far in a long time."
Zim released him, pushing him back slightly. "I believe you Dib beast. You know better than to lie to ZIM! Besides," He paused for dramatic effect. "Friends don't lie to each other do they?!" It was a statement rather than a question.
Dib shook his head in affirmation as Zim stepped back from him and picked up what looked like an old hair dryer and waved it in the air.
"So, this genetic sequencer wasn't broken after all." Zim started ranting. "It was them in MY lab, messing with MY experiments. "THEY were the ones that intruded in the BASE OF ZIM!"
Zim's voice dropped to a hiss. "And now they have GIR." He voice tinted with malice, reminding Dib of his sister when she was in one of her 'moods'. (And she was almost always in one of those.) "They will pay!" he echoed a familiar threat. "Oh, They will pay.Oof!"
Zim's threat was cut short by the impact of a small metal object slamming into his stomach. Metal arms wrapped around his waist and squeezed the air out of him.
Dib couldn't help but laugh at the little robot. He hadn't heard GIR's return, but was glad to see him. GIR's undeniable joy at seeing his master was just plain fun to watch.
"I missed you master!" GIR squealed in unrestrained glee. "I missed you so much. HUG ME!" With that, he tightened his arms around Zim even tighter.
"GIR." Zim wheezed "Can't. breath. Get. Off. meee!"
GIR reluctantly obeyed. He dropped his hands to his side and staring up at Zim with a tilted head, a small pink tongue sticking out the side of his mouth.
Zim took a deep breath through his mouth and gingerly rubbed his middle.
"Thank you GIR!" Zim said to the small robot.
Dib saw an affectionate expression cross Zim's face that he didn't even know Zim was capable of. He watched in amazement as Zim placed his hand on top of the small droid's head and patted it affectionately.
"I missed you to GIR. Now, where were you?" Zim asked, leaning towards GIR, "Tell ZIM!"
"I was with the leprechauns." GIR said like he was stating the obvious. After a moments pause he continued excitement flavoring his tinny voice. "They took me to a white room and put me in a glass cage and they talked and we talked and then they talked some more and I ran around a lot and then they brought me back home and then I saw you and the Dib human and then I gave you a HUG!"
"Leprechauns?" Zim said, standing to his full height and putting a hand on his chin. He squinted an eye in concentration. "And do you see any leprechauns here now?"
"Yes!" GIR smiled up at Zim in pure innocence.
"Where, GIR?" Zim questioned with patience that Dib didn't even know the alien possessed.
"Over There!" GIR squealed again, pointing to his right.
Both Dib and Zim turned towards the direction that GIR was pointing. Nether one could see anything.
"HELLO LEPRECHAUN!" GIR waved his arms frantically for a moment then frowned. "Awe! He disappeared!"
"Disappeared?" Zim questioned.
Before GIR could reply, Dib's small wrist communicator beeped to life.
Dib glanced at it and saw his sister's annoyed face.
"Come home now, Dib!" his sister commanded. "It's family night. Dad's taking us to Bloaties."
Dib grimaced in annoyance. "Bloaties again? I thought it was my turn to choose where we eat."
His sister glared at him, irritation written all over her face. "It is. And you chose Bloaties. Don't you remember?"
"Oh!" Dib muttered, seriously trying to recall telling his dad that. He didn't remember.
"Just come home now, OK!." Gaz demanded. "Don't make me come over there and get you!"
"Ok, ok I'll come home now!" Dib shut off his communicator and looked at Zim.
"Well, I have to go now Zim." Dib said hoping off his chair and heading towards the elevator. "I'll see you later, I guess."
He paused and looked at the alien and his small robot. "I'm really glad that GIR came back. And I'm glad that we're, um, friends now!"
"Yes, yes Dib." The alien raised a hand. "I am too. Go eat. And sleep. I have much work to do tonight. I will see you tomorrow. Tomorrow we will see what we can do about these Neplotn-beasts of evil."