A/N: Apologies for the delay. Fair warning! For a few months I will only
have about half an hour each day to use this computer and I'm not the
fastest typist. Plus, I like to keep up with my reviews so my efforts
will not be totally on the story. This may mean that these short chapters
may take longer to write. Please bear with me and I promise to try and
make it worth your patience.
Acknowledgements: Thank you, CrimsonObsession! Thank you, Maran Zelde! Thank you, DoomDib777! Your reviews are very much appreciated. Thanks to all my readers and many thanks to all my past, present and future reviewers. May this story continue to intrigue all of you!
Warning: Dib may seem a tad OOC towards the end here, but all will be explained, if not in this chapter, than somewhere in the near future. This is a defining chapter, a turning point in the story. I wasn't sure which direction to take, but this story seems to be writing itself. Don't despair however, I know where we are going and have a vague idea of how we'll get there.
Disclaimer: JV created IZ. Not me. Nick owns it. Not me. But then, we all knew that.
Dib. Earth. Zim's Base.
Early to Mid Evening.
Dib watched with a weary eye as he walked around the stationary gnomes. He still couldn't believe that Zim deactivated them. Sure they were friends now, but that didn't mean that Zim forgave him for tying him up and ruining his uniform. It would be like Zim to keep the gnomes on line, at least for tonight. As he reached the safe realm of the sidewalk he looked back towards Zim's house. He shook his head. It was a relief to see that Zim was taking their new friendship seriously. But then, why not? After all the stuff Zim had recently went through that day, he was bound to jump at Dib's offer. Dib would have done the same thing if it were he.
Dib let out a chuckle of self-amusement. "Hey, I did do the same thing, didn't I?!"
Dib looked up, admiring the dark cloudy sky. The sun had set less than an hour ago and the evening chill was starting to set in. As Dib lowered his gaze, he felt a small sharp sting, like that of a mosquito, on the back of his neck. Slightly irritated he slapped at his neck, his questing fingers looking for the culprit. His fingers came back slightly bloody, but without the offending mosquito. It seemed mosquitoes were making an early appearance this year. He reminded himself to get some mosquito repellent. It came in handy when he was out spying on his paranormal targets.
With a final glance towards Zim's house he started to head home. He didn't really want to go to Bloaty's, he wanted to stay with Zim and help figure out how to fight the Neplotn. But he knew better than to argue with his sister. If he did, he would have to deal with her wrath and that wasn't a good thing. It would be better all around if he just gave in and did what she said. Tomorrow he would go to Zim's and see what they could do about this new threat. But where would they start. How could they go against an unseen enemy, especially one they had so little information about? Even the information Zim gave was all speculation. First they needed to find a way to see the Neplotn, after all, you can't fight what you can't see.
Dib sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "What a krazy day!" He muttered to himself.
Life had been so simple yesterday. His only concern was exposing Zim and he had found the proof to do just that.
The proof! Dib's hand reached inside his pocket and pulled out the odd twisted Irken device.
"I forgot all about this." He muttered holding it up in the dim light. "I should have asked Zim what it is."
"I'll ask him first thing tomorrow." He promised himself." Maybe it is something we can use to help us fight the Neplotn."
He returned it to his pocket as his thoughts once again returned to the day's events. The Neplotn, Zim, GIR's disappearance and reappearance, so many strange things had happened that day that Dib wasn't even sure they were real. The whole day carried a surreal feeling, like in a dream, a bizarre, horrible, yet wonderful dream. He was sorely tempted to pinch himself to prove that he was awake. Dib was so caught up in these thoughts that he was surprised when he found himself at the front door to his house.
Gaz stood on the foyer as he opened the door. Her foot was tapping out an angry rhythm.
"What took you so long?" She scowled at him. We have to be at Bloaty's in ten minutes. We're going to be late because of you. Don't you know how to hurry?"
"Gaz, I had the weirdest day!" Dib started, "Your not going to believe what happened."
Gaz held up a threatening fist, cutting him off. "Your not going to believe what happened if you don't shut up and take me to Bloaty's."
For a fraction of a second, almost to fast to comprehend what was happening, Dib lost his vision. It was almost like a veil pulled over his eyes. Blinking rapidly, he took several involuntary steps backwards, tripped over his own feet and smacked his head on the ground. Fortunately his head missed the cement and hit the grass. Unfortunately, the jarring of his head caused a headache, not as bad as the one he had this morning, but bad enough. 'Was it only this morning?' Dib marveled, recalling the relentless migraine. 'Geez!'
"Klutz!" Gaz snickered as she walked out the door.
She watched as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head before turning and shutting the door.
Dib frowned at her for a moment then climbed to his feet.
"I thought Dad was taking us to Bloaty's." Dib queried as he brushed off his trench coat in a vain attempt to reclaim what dignity he had left.
"He was, but he had to go to back to his lab for a few moments, something about a capturing a loose lab specimen. He said he'd meet us at Bloaty's in fifteen minutes." She glanced at her watch "That was seven minutes ago."
"Oh!" Dib muttered as he let his sister pass him.
As she passed, there was an odd tugging sensation. He stopped. Something didn't feel right, like there was a rift in the universe as he knew it. Kind of like the feeling he had right before he started to vanish into his nightmare world that horrible Halloween day! Panicking, he lifted his hands to his face, expecting them to not be there, yet there they were, solid as can be. The odd sensation passed, taking his headache with it. He let out a sigh of relief. Well, that was weird.
"Hey Gaz," He started as he began following after his sister's retreating back.
"Did you just feel something, I don't know," He paused struggling for the words, "weird like?"
"The only 'weird' something here is you." Gaz grumbled in her usual manner. "Why do you have to be so annoying?"
"It was sort of like when I opened that dimension into that nightmare world." Dib said, ignoring her sarcasm, "Only this time, I didn't disappear."
"I wish you would disappear." Gaz grumped, wishing he would shut up.
"I was at Zim's earlier and he told me about a race of people who have the ability for inner dimensional travel." Dib continued, oblivious to Gaz's negative demeanor as his mind started traveling in a dimension of its own.
"Can you imagine, Gaz?" Dib said as he watch the back of her head without really seeing it. "Traveling through dimensions. Seeing whole different worlds. Do you think they would be like ours? Maybe they are not like ours at all. Maybe they are our exact opposites. Maybe they are like ours but slightly different. Maybe there are doppelgangers there. Can you imagine what it would be like to meet your doppelganger? That would be so weird. I wonder what mine would be like. I kind of met mine that Halloween when I went to that dimension in my head, but this is different. This would be a doppelganger my head didn't make up. That would be so cool."
Dib's ranting went on the entire trip to Bloaty's. Gaz, to her credit, did her best to ignore him. She didn't even really threaten him until right before they entered Bloaty's, when she turned around and gave him a glare that would have sent shivers of fear down the spines of the undead.
"Dib." She growled, pulling him back to reality. "Shut up!"
Dib blinked at her, swallowed hard, and nodded.
Bloaty's was full of its usual madness. The mechanical mascot monstrosities were malfunctioning in their usual manner. The scent of pizza and human sweat, and something he couldn't quite recognize filled the air, something almost sterile and mediciney, like a hospital or his dad's lab. Dib pondered the odd smell briefly, but dismissed it as his imagination. He figured he was coming down with another cold. He always smelled odd things when he had a cold.
Bloaty's wasn't really Dib's favourite place. He preferred McMeaties, or sometimes Krazy Taco. But Bloaty's wasn't really that bad either. Their pizza was pretty good. He glanced at the robots, and chuckled, remembering Zim's reaction to them. At the time he hadn't been very happy about it. He was on the verge of beating Zim. Okay, to be honest, maybe he wasn't really on the verge of defeating him, but after Gaz freed him, if Gaz had let him, he would have been. Watching Zim sweat in fear over the mechanical mascots was somewhat a victory so it wasn't a total loss, was it? Did it really matter? He and Zim were friends now, though he still couldn't help but smile at the thought. Zim could be so clueless when it came to 'human' things sometimes. Dib's thoughts were cut short as he and Gaz approached the spot where his dad sat, discussing something with one of his coworkers. He looked up from the hand held monitor at them as they approached.
"Son." His dad said in acknowledgement, "Daughter."
As Dib climbed into the booth seat he noticed the pizza had already been ordered and three glasses of Poop Cola had been poured from a pitcher that sat on the table.
'That's odd.' He thought. 'Usually Dad lets us choose what we want. Not that the choice is bad. I like pepperoni, but it is just so.'
"Move over Dib." Gaz muttered, cutting off his thoughts.
He slid towards the window so Gaz could sit next to him. He glanced out the window for a moment, and a shivering feeling of something not quite right ran through him. He looked up at his dad, who was once again deep in conversation with one of his coworkers.
"Fine, fine." Professor Membrane was nodding and gesturing his free hand to the flat monitor screen in his other. "I'm sure the subject will be more willing if you offer him a glass of water. Just remember. We want to keep him alert. Don't let him slip off. And don't give him any injections until I get back."
Dib looked out the window again and the feeling returned. The scene outside was one he had seen a million times before: People waking past with umbrellas or milling under street lamps and awnings, the looming dark storm clouds, the rain hitting the windowpane, a scary looking dog. Wait! It wasn't raining when we came in here. The sky was cloudy, but it didn't look like rain. Something was just not right.
"Um.Dad?" Dib glanced towards his did who favored him with a hand wave.
"Not now son." He said dismissively. "I'm discussing something very important."
Dib sighed. Even on family night his dad wasn't really there. He turned towards Gaz.
"Hey Gaz." He bumped into her, getting her attention. "Look out the window and tell me what you see?"
Gaz let out a warning growl before leaning forward so she could see around him.
"Rain Dib. People and rain." What did you expect me to see?" She scoffed. "Bigfoot?"
"It wasn't raining when we came in here." Dib stated the obvious. "It didn't even look like it was going to rain. So why is it raining now?"
"Why not." Gaz glared at him. "Sometimes it rains Dib. Now shut up and eat your pizza!"
Dib stared at her for a moment before sighing in submission. It wasn't worth provoking her wrath. He turned his attention towards the rather large slice of pizza closest to him, finally realizing just how hungry he really was. He hadn't really eaten anything that whole day. He felt to nauseous that morning to eat much, (he had a nibble of toast so he didn't eat the aspirin on an empty stomach), and his lunch, a blackish-grey blop of who-knows-what, smelled so foul that he didn't even attempt to taste it, besides, he was still a bit nauseous then to eat much of anything. He had planned on eating something at home after school, but he ended up following Zim instead and had spent most of the rest of the day there.
He picked up the pizza and took a bite. The juicy goodness of the pepperoni and cheese goo dripped down his chin, going unnoticed as he wolfed down the slice. It tasted almost better than he remembered. Finishing the first slice within a matter of minutes, he grabbed the next one. This slice tasted a tad odd. Not quite as good as his first. In fact, it tasted a tad bitter. He stopped and looked at it. It looked like the first piece he had. It looked like the rest of the pizza on the table. He set the piece down and grabbed his glass of Poop Cola to wash it down. To his dismay, the drink also tasted a bit bitter.
"Ugh. This drink tastes awful." Dib muttered to his sister. "And this pizza doesn't taste that good either."
As he set his glass down, a tingling sensation ran through his body and a wave of dizziness washed over him. He giggled as his mind spun. It was becoming so hard to concentrate. He felt as if he was floating. He felt oddly good.
He glanced at his sister and noticed that there were two overlapping images of her. He closed his eyes, but almost fell over as he lost his equilibrium. As he started to fall sideways he quickly opened his eyes and grabbed the table. He looked up at his dad and watched in wonder as his dad and everything around him changed to odd shades of blue. His father looked at him imploringly.
"Son?" His dad implored, "Are you OK?"
Dib blinked at his father stupidly and replied, "Am I ok?" before loosing all of his motor controls and sliding under the table.
Dib watched the tabletop vanish and become replaced with a blue ceiling. His father, his sister, Bloaty's, everything had vanished, to be replaced with a very blue room. Everything was a shade of blue. As he took this all in the best he could, he noticed a blue Zim strapped to a blue chair, his large light blue eyes made even larger with fright. Dib tried to express his concern at the blue Zim's dilemma, but it came out as another giggle. He also noticed blue people approaching him cautiously.
"Hi Blue Zimmy!" He greeted the blue Zim with a slurred voice. It was hard to talk. He tried to wave, but couldn't lift his hand.
The rest of the blue people in the room surrounded him and he lost sight of the blue Zim.
He could hear blue Zim's voice somewhere behind the people. This Zim sounded just like the regular coloured Zim.
"Dib. Dib. Is that you?" Blue Zim screeched. "Where are you? What have they done to you?"
It seemed that blue Zim tried to say more but the sounds came out muffled.
Dib wondered briefly what the blue Zim meant. 'Where are you? Duh, I'm right here.'
"Tie him down and put the lock on him so he doesn't transport again." Someone commanded. It wasn't in English, but Dib understood just the same. "I don't know how he could have gotten here, his transport abilities are not suppose to be accessible yet."
Dib tried to see the person talking but he couldn't make out whom it was. He was still having problems controlling his muscles. He frowned for a moment then giggled again as his world spun once more. For a moment he was at Bloaty's again. He caught a glimpse of the table's underside. His dad was looking under the table with a seriously concerned expression.
"Hi dad!" He giggled before his father, the table, and Bloaty's vanished again.
"Now! Quick, Grab him!" The same voice shouted and for sets of blue hands grabbed his arms and legs. Something with tiny pins was placed around his neck, the pins digging deep into his skin.
"Owee!" He slurred, complaining to the blue people. "That hurt! You blue guys are bad!"
"So he did come here!" Said a voice sounding like Gaz's. "What's wrong with him. Why is he malfunctioning?"
Dib tried to turn his head to the person who spoke, but he couldn't.
"Gaz?" He asked in an odd display of coherent thought. How could Gaz be here? She was at Bloaty's. But then, so were he and Dad, weren't they?
"We are not sure. He isn't even supposed to be able to transport yet. We haven't activated that function." The voice responded, answering Gaz's question. "We need to shut him down and locate the problem. He keeps talking about seeing blue. That may give us a hint about what is going on."
"Blue indicates a malfunction in the neck or head." His dad's voice said from out of the blue. "We took the liberty of colour coding sections incase something like this happened. It makes it easier to locate and correct any potential problems which may arise."
"Daddy?" Dib began crying uncontrollably now. His jumbled thoughts and lack of physical control was quickly leading him to a path of depression. "I want my mommy!"
"It has been a night of the unexpected." His dad continued, ignoring Dib. "Gaz has told me that he unconsciously felt when we brought the Irken here. Than would indicate that Dib has bonded his aura to the Irken as we originally had planned. It is sooner that expected, but that shouldn't have caused any problems of this nature."
"He felt us bring the Irken here?" Someone asked. "How can you tell?"
"Are you questioning my judgment?" Gaz's voice growled from somewhere behind Dib's head.
"No ma'am." The voice answered with terrified quiver. "I am just trying to get the details for the report."
"Stupid records-keeper drone." Gaz's voice muttered angrily. Dib felt as she drew closer. "He felt a rift in the dimensional shift as we were headed to Bloaty's. It was at the same time you were scheduled to transport Zim here. Don't question me."
Dib tried in vain to move his head and see his sister. He gave up as another wave of dizziness overwhelmed his senses.
"So he has bonded to the Irken?" Someone asked.
Dib heard a faint humming and a flash of whitish blue light surrounded him. It reminded him slightly of the photographs he had seen of people's auras, only his seemed to be connected to something, as a slightly thick trail of bluish-white ran from him towards someplace outside of his line of vision. Similar threads, although much thinner, snaked and twisted randomly from him, as if searching.
"I'm connected." Dib stated to no one in particular. "I am in touch with the world." He started giggling, only to end up crying again. "I just wanna go home!"
"Yes, he has connected himself completely to the Irken now." His dad confirmed, ignoring Dib's outburst again. "As you can see, the connection runs both ways. That means the Irken should be able to locate the source of the malfunction."
"I have things I need to do." Gaz's voice said. "Fix him. Let me know when you're done."
Dib felt as Gaz turned and left the room. "Bye-bye Gazzy!" He muttered as someone placed something over his nose and mouth.
"Oooh! Minty freshness!" Dib slurred as he breathed in the swirling gas. Slowly, what was left of his consciousness slipped into the abyss.
Acknowledgements: Thank you, CrimsonObsession! Thank you, Maran Zelde! Thank you, DoomDib777! Your reviews are very much appreciated. Thanks to all my readers and many thanks to all my past, present and future reviewers. May this story continue to intrigue all of you!
Warning: Dib may seem a tad OOC towards the end here, but all will be explained, if not in this chapter, than somewhere in the near future. This is a defining chapter, a turning point in the story. I wasn't sure which direction to take, but this story seems to be writing itself. Don't despair however, I know where we are going and have a vague idea of how we'll get there.
Disclaimer: JV created IZ. Not me. Nick owns it. Not me. But then, we all knew that.
Dib. Earth. Zim's Base.
Early to Mid Evening.
Dib watched with a weary eye as he walked around the stationary gnomes. He still couldn't believe that Zim deactivated them. Sure they were friends now, but that didn't mean that Zim forgave him for tying him up and ruining his uniform. It would be like Zim to keep the gnomes on line, at least for tonight. As he reached the safe realm of the sidewalk he looked back towards Zim's house. He shook his head. It was a relief to see that Zim was taking their new friendship seriously. But then, why not? After all the stuff Zim had recently went through that day, he was bound to jump at Dib's offer. Dib would have done the same thing if it were he.
Dib let out a chuckle of self-amusement. "Hey, I did do the same thing, didn't I?!"
Dib looked up, admiring the dark cloudy sky. The sun had set less than an hour ago and the evening chill was starting to set in. As Dib lowered his gaze, he felt a small sharp sting, like that of a mosquito, on the back of his neck. Slightly irritated he slapped at his neck, his questing fingers looking for the culprit. His fingers came back slightly bloody, but without the offending mosquito. It seemed mosquitoes were making an early appearance this year. He reminded himself to get some mosquito repellent. It came in handy when he was out spying on his paranormal targets.
With a final glance towards Zim's house he started to head home. He didn't really want to go to Bloaty's, he wanted to stay with Zim and help figure out how to fight the Neplotn. But he knew better than to argue with his sister. If he did, he would have to deal with her wrath and that wasn't a good thing. It would be better all around if he just gave in and did what she said. Tomorrow he would go to Zim's and see what they could do about this new threat. But where would they start. How could they go against an unseen enemy, especially one they had so little information about? Even the information Zim gave was all speculation. First they needed to find a way to see the Neplotn, after all, you can't fight what you can't see.
Dib sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "What a krazy day!" He muttered to himself.
Life had been so simple yesterday. His only concern was exposing Zim and he had found the proof to do just that.
The proof! Dib's hand reached inside his pocket and pulled out the odd twisted Irken device.
"I forgot all about this." He muttered holding it up in the dim light. "I should have asked Zim what it is."
"I'll ask him first thing tomorrow." He promised himself." Maybe it is something we can use to help us fight the Neplotn."
He returned it to his pocket as his thoughts once again returned to the day's events. The Neplotn, Zim, GIR's disappearance and reappearance, so many strange things had happened that day that Dib wasn't even sure they were real. The whole day carried a surreal feeling, like in a dream, a bizarre, horrible, yet wonderful dream. He was sorely tempted to pinch himself to prove that he was awake. Dib was so caught up in these thoughts that he was surprised when he found himself at the front door to his house.
Gaz stood on the foyer as he opened the door. Her foot was tapping out an angry rhythm.
"What took you so long?" She scowled at him. We have to be at Bloaty's in ten minutes. We're going to be late because of you. Don't you know how to hurry?"
"Gaz, I had the weirdest day!" Dib started, "Your not going to believe what happened."
Gaz held up a threatening fist, cutting him off. "Your not going to believe what happened if you don't shut up and take me to Bloaty's."
For a fraction of a second, almost to fast to comprehend what was happening, Dib lost his vision. It was almost like a veil pulled over his eyes. Blinking rapidly, he took several involuntary steps backwards, tripped over his own feet and smacked his head on the ground. Fortunately his head missed the cement and hit the grass. Unfortunately, the jarring of his head caused a headache, not as bad as the one he had this morning, but bad enough. 'Was it only this morning?' Dib marveled, recalling the relentless migraine. 'Geez!'
"Klutz!" Gaz snickered as she walked out the door.
She watched as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head before turning and shutting the door.
Dib frowned at her for a moment then climbed to his feet.
"I thought Dad was taking us to Bloaty's." Dib queried as he brushed off his trench coat in a vain attempt to reclaim what dignity he had left.
"He was, but he had to go to back to his lab for a few moments, something about a capturing a loose lab specimen. He said he'd meet us at Bloaty's in fifteen minutes." She glanced at her watch "That was seven minutes ago."
"Oh!" Dib muttered as he let his sister pass him.
As she passed, there was an odd tugging sensation. He stopped. Something didn't feel right, like there was a rift in the universe as he knew it. Kind of like the feeling he had right before he started to vanish into his nightmare world that horrible Halloween day! Panicking, he lifted his hands to his face, expecting them to not be there, yet there they were, solid as can be. The odd sensation passed, taking his headache with it. He let out a sigh of relief. Well, that was weird.
"Hey Gaz," He started as he began following after his sister's retreating back.
"Did you just feel something, I don't know," He paused struggling for the words, "weird like?"
"The only 'weird' something here is you." Gaz grumbled in her usual manner. "Why do you have to be so annoying?"
"It was sort of like when I opened that dimension into that nightmare world." Dib said, ignoring her sarcasm, "Only this time, I didn't disappear."
"I wish you would disappear." Gaz grumped, wishing he would shut up.
"I was at Zim's earlier and he told me about a race of people who have the ability for inner dimensional travel." Dib continued, oblivious to Gaz's negative demeanor as his mind started traveling in a dimension of its own.
"Can you imagine, Gaz?" Dib said as he watch the back of her head without really seeing it. "Traveling through dimensions. Seeing whole different worlds. Do you think they would be like ours? Maybe they are not like ours at all. Maybe they are our exact opposites. Maybe they are like ours but slightly different. Maybe there are doppelgangers there. Can you imagine what it would be like to meet your doppelganger? That would be so weird. I wonder what mine would be like. I kind of met mine that Halloween when I went to that dimension in my head, but this is different. This would be a doppelganger my head didn't make up. That would be so cool."
Dib's ranting went on the entire trip to Bloaty's. Gaz, to her credit, did her best to ignore him. She didn't even really threaten him until right before they entered Bloaty's, when she turned around and gave him a glare that would have sent shivers of fear down the spines of the undead.
"Dib." She growled, pulling him back to reality. "Shut up!"
Dib blinked at her, swallowed hard, and nodded.
Bloaty's was full of its usual madness. The mechanical mascot monstrosities were malfunctioning in their usual manner. The scent of pizza and human sweat, and something he couldn't quite recognize filled the air, something almost sterile and mediciney, like a hospital or his dad's lab. Dib pondered the odd smell briefly, but dismissed it as his imagination. He figured he was coming down with another cold. He always smelled odd things when he had a cold.
Bloaty's wasn't really Dib's favourite place. He preferred McMeaties, or sometimes Krazy Taco. But Bloaty's wasn't really that bad either. Their pizza was pretty good. He glanced at the robots, and chuckled, remembering Zim's reaction to them. At the time he hadn't been very happy about it. He was on the verge of beating Zim. Okay, to be honest, maybe he wasn't really on the verge of defeating him, but after Gaz freed him, if Gaz had let him, he would have been. Watching Zim sweat in fear over the mechanical mascots was somewhat a victory so it wasn't a total loss, was it? Did it really matter? He and Zim were friends now, though he still couldn't help but smile at the thought. Zim could be so clueless when it came to 'human' things sometimes. Dib's thoughts were cut short as he and Gaz approached the spot where his dad sat, discussing something with one of his coworkers. He looked up from the hand held monitor at them as they approached.
"Son." His dad said in acknowledgement, "Daughter."
As Dib climbed into the booth seat he noticed the pizza had already been ordered and three glasses of Poop Cola had been poured from a pitcher that sat on the table.
'That's odd.' He thought. 'Usually Dad lets us choose what we want. Not that the choice is bad. I like pepperoni, but it is just so.'
"Move over Dib." Gaz muttered, cutting off his thoughts.
He slid towards the window so Gaz could sit next to him. He glanced out the window for a moment, and a shivering feeling of something not quite right ran through him. He looked up at his dad, who was once again deep in conversation with one of his coworkers.
"Fine, fine." Professor Membrane was nodding and gesturing his free hand to the flat monitor screen in his other. "I'm sure the subject will be more willing if you offer him a glass of water. Just remember. We want to keep him alert. Don't let him slip off. And don't give him any injections until I get back."
Dib looked out the window again and the feeling returned. The scene outside was one he had seen a million times before: People waking past with umbrellas or milling under street lamps and awnings, the looming dark storm clouds, the rain hitting the windowpane, a scary looking dog. Wait! It wasn't raining when we came in here. The sky was cloudy, but it didn't look like rain. Something was just not right.
"Um.Dad?" Dib glanced towards his did who favored him with a hand wave.
"Not now son." He said dismissively. "I'm discussing something very important."
Dib sighed. Even on family night his dad wasn't really there. He turned towards Gaz.
"Hey Gaz." He bumped into her, getting her attention. "Look out the window and tell me what you see?"
Gaz let out a warning growl before leaning forward so she could see around him.
"Rain Dib. People and rain." What did you expect me to see?" She scoffed. "Bigfoot?"
"It wasn't raining when we came in here." Dib stated the obvious. "It didn't even look like it was going to rain. So why is it raining now?"
"Why not." Gaz glared at him. "Sometimes it rains Dib. Now shut up and eat your pizza!"
Dib stared at her for a moment before sighing in submission. It wasn't worth provoking her wrath. He turned his attention towards the rather large slice of pizza closest to him, finally realizing just how hungry he really was. He hadn't really eaten anything that whole day. He felt to nauseous that morning to eat much, (he had a nibble of toast so he didn't eat the aspirin on an empty stomach), and his lunch, a blackish-grey blop of who-knows-what, smelled so foul that he didn't even attempt to taste it, besides, he was still a bit nauseous then to eat much of anything. He had planned on eating something at home after school, but he ended up following Zim instead and had spent most of the rest of the day there.
He picked up the pizza and took a bite. The juicy goodness of the pepperoni and cheese goo dripped down his chin, going unnoticed as he wolfed down the slice. It tasted almost better than he remembered. Finishing the first slice within a matter of minutes, he grabbed the next one. This slice tasted a tad odd. Not quite as good as his first. In fact, it tasted a tad bitter. He stopped and looked at it. It looked like the first piece he had. It looked like the rest of the pizza on the table. He set the piece down and grabbed his glass of Poop Cola to wash it down. To his dismay, the drink also tasted a bit bitter.
"Ugh. This drink tastes awful." Dib muttered to his sister. "And this pizza doesn't taste that good either."
As he set his glass down, a tingling sensation ran through his body and a wave of dizziness washed over him. He giggled as his mind spun. It was becoming so hard to concentrate. He felt as if he was floating. He felt oddly good.
He glanced at his sister and noticed that there were two overlapping images of her. He closed his eyes, but almost fell over as he lost his equilibrium. As he started to fall sideways he quickly opened his eyes and grabbed the table. He looked up at his dad and watched in wonder as his dad and everything around him changed to odd shades of blue. His father looked at him imploringly.
"Son?" His dad implored, "Are you OK?"
Dib blinked at his father stupidly and replied, "Am I ok?" before loosing all of his motor controls and sliding under the table.
Dib watched the tabletop vanish and become replaced with a blue ceiling. His father, his sister, Bloaty's, everything had vanished, to be replaced with a very blue room. Everything was a shade of blue. As he took this all in the best he could, he noticed a blue Zim strapped to a blue chair, his large light blue eyes made even larger with fright. Dib tried to express his concern at the blue Zim's dilemma, but it came out as another giggle. He also noticed blue people approaching him cautiously.
"Hi Blue Zimmy!" He greeted the blue Zim with a slurred voice. It was hard to talk. He tried to wave, but couldn't lift his hand.
The rest of the blue people in the room surrounded him and he lost sight of the blue Zim.
He could hear blue Zim's voice somewhere behind the people. This Zim sounded just like the regular coloured Zim.
"Dib. Dib. Is that you?" Blue Zim screeched. "Where are you? What have they done to you?"
It seemed that blue Zim tried to say more but the sounds came out muffled.
Dib wondered briefly what the blue Zim meant. 'Where are you? Duh, I'm right here.'
"Tie him down and put the lock on him so he doesn't transport again." Someone commanded. It wasn't in English, but Dib understood just the same. "I don't know how he could have gotten here, his transport abilities are not suppose to be accessible yet."
Dib tried to see the person talking but he couldn't make out whom it was. He was still having problems controlling his muscles. He frowned for a moment then giggled again as his world spun once more. For a moment he was at Bloaty's again. He caught a glimpse of the table's underside. His dad was looking under the table with a seriously concerned expression.
"Hi dad!" He giggled before his father, the table, and Bloaty's vanished again.
"Now! Quick, Grab him!" The same voice shouted and for sets of blue hands grabbed his arms and legs. Something with tiny pins was placed around his neck, the pins digging deep into his skin.
"Owee!" He slurred, complaining to the blue people. "That hurt! You blue guys are bad!"
"So he did come here!" Said a voice sounding like Gaz's. "What's wrong with him. Why is he malfunctioning?"
Dib tried to turn his head to the person who spoke, but he couldn't.
"Gaz?" He asked in an odd display of coherent thought. How could Gaz be here? She was at Bloaty's. But then, so were he and Dad, weren't they?
"We are not sure. He isn't even supposed to be able to transport yet. We haven't activated that function." The voice responded, answering Gaz's question. "We need to shut him down and locate the problem. He keeps talking about seeing blue. That may give us a hint about what is going on."
"Blue indicates a malfunction in the neck or head." His dad's voice said from out of the blue. "We took the liberty of colour coding sections incase something like this happened. It makes it easier to locate and correct any potential problems which may arise."
"Daddy?" Dib began crying uncontrollably now. His jumbled thoughts and lack of physical control was quickly leading him to a path of depression. "I want my mommy!"
"It has been a night of the unexpected." His dad continued, ignoring Dib. "Gaz has told me that he unconsciously felt when we brought the Irken here. Than would indicate that Dib has bonded his aura to the Irken as we originally had planned. It is sooner that expected, but that shouldn't have caused any problems of this nature."
"He felt us bring the Irken here?" Someone asked. "How can you tell?"
"Are you questioning my judgment?" Gaz's voice growled from somewhere behind Dib's head.
"No ma'am." The voice answered with terrified quiver. "I am just trying to get the details for the report."
"Stupid records-keeper drone." Gaz's voice muttered angrily. Dib felt as she drew closer. "He felt a rift in the dimensional shift as we were headed to Bloaty's. It was at the same time you were scheduled to transport Zim here. Don't question me."
Dib tried in vain to move his head and see his sister. He gave up as another wave of dizziness overwhelmed his senses.
"So he has bonded to the Irken?" Someone asked.
Dib heard a faint humming and a flash of whitish blue light surrounded him. It reminded him slightly of the photographs he had seen of people's auras, only his seemed to be connected to something, as a slightly thick trail of bluish-white ran from him towards someplace outside of his line of vision. Similar threads, although much thinner, snaked and twisted randomly from him, as if searching.
"I'm connected." Dib stated to no one in particular. "I am in touch with the world." He started giggling, only to end up crying again. "I just wanna go home!"
"Yes, he has connected himself completely to the Irken now." His dad confirmed, ignoring Dib's outburst again. "As you can see, the connection runs both ways. That means the Irken should be able to locate the source of the malfunction."
"I have things I need to do." Gaz's voice said. "Fix him. Let me know when you're done."
Dib felt as Gaz turned and left the room. "Bye-bye Gazzy!" He muttered as someone placed something over his nose and mouth.
"Oooh! Minty freshness!" Dib slurred as he breathed in the swirling gas. Slowly, what was left of his consciousness slipped into the abyss.