-
(A/N: Hey, everyone! Long time no see, huh? I've had quite an...interesting few months. First, my computer broke, then my cousin (whom I've known most of my life) died. THEN I had a bad cold that put me in bed for a full day, into the emergency room twice, and out of comission for who knows how long... And then I got into a Yu-Gi-Oh hype... which I'm still in. I've also been real into 'Fruits Basket', as my frequent trips to Barnes and Noble can testify to. And THEN... Well... You get the picture. I was distracted. But The Lord is gracious, and at least I've been able to write another chapter. I don't want you guys to lose interest!
And in other news...
Maran Zelde... reviewed MY fic.! MINE! (faints) Holy COW! Welcome, Maran, welcome!
You guys are all VERY much appreciated. I love your comments and encouragements. You've let me know that my writing really does matter to somebody out there... THANK YOU. (And I'm sorry about that STUPID "trailer" thingy I put up. I wasn't myself when I did that. PLEASE forgive me!)
And to a few of you-I would accept a beta reader if I had many more chapters to post, but the story is nearly finished. Thank you anyway, I really am touched that you'd care enough to do that for me. Kudos-MANY kudos-to you!
Oh, and if there seems to be a lack of exclamation points and question marks where there should be many, blame this site, not me. It keeps warping my text.
So, without further ado...
CANDY and CARAMEL APPLES to ALL my patient reviewers!)
-
Dib 'Whatever-His-Last-Name-Was' was not happy. You wouldn't be either, if you had been strapped to a hover disk for over 24 hours. Without food... Without water...
Without a BATHROOM BREAK.
He winced.
Zim, once discovering that Dib and Foi had been chatting together, had placed the paranormal boy in solitary confinement-after zapping him repeatedly with a taser first. Eeesh, that alien had a temper.
So, here he was, trapped and certain that Gaz wouldn't be coming around to save him any time soon.
All alone...
"HA, Mr. Smelly-Brain! I WIIIIIIINNNNN!"
"Oink!"
Except for those two.
"C'mon, PAY UP!"
Pig grunted in fury, throwing the quarter so violently that it lodged in the little andriod's grinning face.
"Best four-hundred-and-eighty outta' sixty-threeeeee?" GIR crooned.
'Those two', however, were Dib's only ticket out of this place.
If his plan worked correctly, that is...
He turned toward them, a sly smirk on his lips, "So, what're ya' playin'?"
They looked up at him, then blankly at the assortment of cheese curls, watermelon rinds, socks, and feathers that littered the floor. GIR slurped nonchalantly on his 'Liver and Beets' Suckmonkey, which had somehow manifested itself out of thin air, as many things in the cartoon world do. "We dunooooooo'."
Perfect. "I could teach you guys a game..." He sighed sadly, "...but I don't think you'd be intereste-"
"WHAT'S THE GAME? WHAT IZZIT'?"
"Well, it's called 'Unstrap Dib'. You ever played it before?"
"YES!"
"Oh. ...Wait a minute! No, you haven't!"
"YOU MEAN IT'S ALL A LIE?"
"Ye- No- What are you? Do you wanna' play or what?"
"Yeah!"
He sighed heavily, trying to keep his cool. "Okay, first you have to unstrap my hands."
To his amazement, GIR and Pig happily complied, and Dib's wrists began to ache as blood flowed to them once more. "Alright, now my stomach..."
The security code was punched, followed by an audible 'Click!', and Dib sat up. "Great! Now the feet!"
"Okee dokee!"
'Click!'
"Yes!" Triumphant, our hero jumped off the hover disk, accidently cracking an unsuspecting Pig's spine with his boot. "Oops... Sorry."
"...Oink..."
"I win!" GIR jumped up and down eagerly, "What'd I win? WHAT'D I WIN?"
"Um...uh..." Thinking fast, Dib pulled the quarter from GIR's skull, holding it in front of the little robot's delighted eyes, "You win this!"
"YAY!"
Then hostage number 003 (Dib) took off for the (DIB!) exit. "Bye, guys! Thanks!"
Without a second thought, the android giddily waved good-bye to his master's former prisoner." See ya' late-ah, Mr. Big-Head! Let's go make some biscits, Pig!"
-
"WHY?"
GIR paused, cyan eyes narrowing in thought. Beside him stood Pig, who, at the moment, was desperatly glancing at the front door.
And, in front of him, trembling with not-very-pent-up-rage, seethed his master, clutching an empty hover disk. "WHY DID YOU LET HIM GO?"
"My magical head burritos! They TOLD me to!"
For a moment, it was unclear whether Zim was going to explode or burst into tears.
Had he been less prideful, I'm certain he would have chosen the latter.
But ZIM, being ZIM, did the only natural ZIM thing to do...
-
The Massive pitched violently, flinging it's occupants to and fro accross the room.
Red clambered over the computer bay. "What's happening?"
"It's some kind of high-pitched sound-wave attack, Sir!"
"Activate the defence shields!"
"Right away!"
-
In Zim's kitchen, Foi gripped her bowl of 'Space Macaroni and Cheese-Extra Cheese-eh!' for dear life, mouth agape.
-
"-AAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The silence following Zim's outburst was comparable to the silence following a tornado.
As was the debris. Foi, fingers still clenched around the sides of her bowl, peered around the corner at her shaking husband. "Z-Zim? What happened?"
Anyone with half a brain would not have asked the invader such a question, and anybody with a tiny crumb floating around in their skull would have backed away at the look he gave her.
But she stayed.
Zim's glare intensified at his wife's obvious lack of brain meats. "Oh, NOTHING. These two MOOSES just freed the DIB-monkey, that's all!" A thoughtful look crossed his irate face. "Luckily, he had a tracker implanted on him, so, unless they SCREWED THAT UP-" GIR and a newly-traumitized Pig winced, "I should be able to find him AND BRING HIM BACK!"
The alien plugged a tiny device into the side of the wall, "Computer! Display!"
A heavy sigh echoed from above, "Yes, 'Master'." followed by a muttered, " ...when do I get a break, huh? WHEN?"
The television screen blinked, a map of the city appearing in bright blue with one little moving dot in red. Zim murmered. "It appears that he's gone home. NO MATTER! I'll go after him! And he shall suffer! SUFFER SO MUCH!"
With that, he marched towards the elevator triumphantly.
Foi shrugged, changing the channel and shoving a spoonful of delicious space macaroni and cheese into her mouth. "Well, have fun."
The Irken stopped mid-march, "Oh, and that reminds me. Weren't YOU the one I left in charge of GIR?"
From behind her spoon, Foi's face paled.
Zim's hand closed over her wrist, yanking her behind him, "You're coming WITH me!"
"AAAAAWWWWWWWW...!"
-
Dib cackled. Oh, how he cackled! Stupid Zim. Did that alien honestly think that Dib wouldn't find the huge metal box attached to his ankle! (Nevermind the 'GIR-On-The-Back-Of-His-Head-For-Half-Of-The-TAK-Episode' incident.)
But now, the tables had turned, and when Zim came to Dib's house to find him-and Zim WOULD come, that jerk-all he would get would be an abandoned tracker lying on Dib's bed. Meanwhile, said Dib would be far away at the City Center Mall, buying more disks for his recording drives and getting some new pictures of Zim developed.
...And maybe checking out some 'Homicidal Maniac' costume... stuff...
-
"GAH! Hideous DIB!"
Zim and Foi stood in the paranormal boy's empty room; the former holding up a VERY large, VERY noticable metal box, "How did he even know it was there!"
Foi, for the VERY first time, did the wise thing: She stayed silent.
"He doesn't honestly think I can be outsmarted THAT easily, does he!" Her mate continued darkly, "Oh no. There is more than ONE way to get my hands on that grubby, miserible little PIG."
At Zim's villiany threat, thunder echoed across the heavens! Lightning lit up the sky! Rain poured from above! Shadows crept over the land! Some old guy choked on a jelly-bean! And...AND!
"Dib's a PIG?"
"Be quiet, Foi."
-
Gaz was annoyed.
True, that's like saying, "Water is wet.", "Babies are cute.", or "Pie is yummy!" But today...Today she was even MORE annoyed than USUAL..
Can you guess why?
"I demand to know where the Dib-stink is!"
I bet my sweet magical head cupcakes you can.
"Where! Where! TELL ME NOW"
-
(ONE HOUR EARLIER:
Dib stood in front of her, a serious look on his face. It was the annoying look he got when he was on one of his annoying 'I-Must-Save-The-World!' rants.
"I have to get out of here, Gaz! If anything happens, come get me! I'll be at the mall, but do NOT tell Zim that! Not under ANY circumstances! Do you understand? DO NOT TELL HIM I'M AT THE MAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!" )
-
She twitched.
"He's at the mall. Now get out and never come back!"
Zim raised his arms in victory, then grabbed his mate (yes, Gaz had had the 'pleasure' of meeting Foi) by the collar and marched to the door.
"I'm coming, Stink-Human! You won't get away from ZIM!"
-
(A/N: WOO! The next chapter is-Lord willing-on the way! PEACE OUT!)
