Dib backed across the lawn to lean against the door and watched Zim march away. The memory of the alien's predatory stance and the strange, surging prowl he had menaced Dib with still made the pale boy shudder. He had found Zim's quiet, deadly-serious threats to be far more intimidating than the usual maniacal glee and insane laughter the alien expressed.

I should go after him, Dib thought. See what he's up to this time. And yet, whatever had caused the sudden shift in attitude was probably nothing much, and Zim was long gone now. And somehow, the scare the alien had given him had shaken Dib's usual eager desire for their contest of wills. There would be time later to find out what his rival was up to.

Having thus reassured himself, Dib turned around and went inside.

Gaz restored to TV to its normal volume when he walked by, and Dib tromped up the stairs to his room, feeling suddenly tired. Zim's dire announcement wormed its way back into Dib's thoughts and he paused at the top of the stairs, wondering if it would be a better idea to go out and find what Zim was up to now. He had never heard such serious words come from Zim; what if he was really in danger? Hadn't he better start preparing now?

No.

No. Just this once… just this once, I'd like a chance to rest.

Dib closed the door firmly behind him. He took off his shirt and pants and removed his glasses, setting them neatly on the dresser, then stretched out on top of the covers, folding his arms behind his head and staring lazily at the ceiling. He could feel his eyelids growing heavy and closed them, left with only the darkness of his own mind.

Later, later, Zim's words still came back to haunt him, no matter how he tried to think of something else. What are you planning, Zim? he thought, over and over. What are you up to?

Nobody knew.

_______________________________________________

The first thing to be abolished when the planet was his would be skool, Zim decided. Four years stuck in the musty, overcrowded buildings had given him a deep hatred of desks, cafeterias, locker rooms, tardy bells, and every other thing about skools; and this was not mentioning the even greater hatred that he possessed for the horde of human stinkpiglets that infested the building.

It would be a relief to escape the misery that was Hi!Skool.

The classroom was stifling hot after six hours of occupation by various groups of humans. The teacher droned endlessly about some extremely-important end-of-the-year test they were taking today at the head of the classroom. Zim propped his head on his hand and stared out the window. Outside it was drenched with sunlight, and Zim could see the leaves of the trees ruffling slightly. He ached to be outside- not that he enjoyed the earth environment, but anywhere would be better than inside this stifling classroom filled with WHISPERING NOTE-PASSING PIGS. The room was far too small for the forty people crammed into it.

Sheets of paper were passed back. Zim looked his over without any real interest, and then picked up his pencil and began to fill it out… it was something to do, at least, and required no effort on his part. He had downloaded all the information covered in the course into his pak at the beginning.

When he was finished, he slouched to stare out the window again, a glazed expression covering his features. The heat made him feel irritable but also slightly sluggish. I should plan, he thought to himself, don't want to though. All he wanted was to get out of this place before it stifled him.

A wadded up ball of paper clipped the side of his head and Zim stifled a screech of rage. Dib, slouched three seats behind Zim, had obviously finished his test as well, and was probably as bored as his rival. Zim twisted around to shoot the human a warning snarl. Don't bother me now, I can't kill you for it here. Dib glared hotly right back, and Zim turned back around in his seat, determined to ignore the paranormalist.

Another wad of paper hit him in the head and stuck. Zim bounded onto his desk and whirled around to face Dib. "Rrgh! You STUPID stinkmonkey, tormenting the highly superior cranium of ZIM! How DARE you! Keep your sticky wads of wood pulp to YOURSELF!"

The teacher narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't talk during the test, Zim!" she snapped. The rest of the class ignored his outburst.

Zim sat down, leaned his head on his arm, and stared out the window again. Outside, the sky was a loving blue. What passed for beautiful here didn't cut it for Zim; he so missed the amber skies of Irk, the splendor of their fleets and hangars, the crisp, oily scent of the air. This planet couldn't compare; it was so LOWLY, an absolutely unsalvageable glob of mud. Zim had no regrets at the thought of earth turned into a parking planet or a mall. He knew that he had to remain strong, no matter how the planet wore at him: earth was a stubborn planet, not because its citizens were particularly diligent or smart but because… because he had limited himself in his position as a high skooler. The skool locked him in place, took up too much of his time. What he really needed was a way to bypass the eternal paperwork that humans presented themselves with. How had he not noted this before?

Dib, the heat, and his discomfort forgotten, Zim stared out the window and began to plan.

Almost an hour later, the alien pulled himself out of his trance. It was only a moment before the bell would ring, and he quickly handed his paper up and edged to the fringe of the crowd that was queuing up at the door before the bell. The bell rang, and the students began to jostle around each other to get into the hallway. It was finally time to leave.

Zim hung back to avoid being caught in the crush of humans, and when they had funneled out realized that Dib had stayed back as well and was watching him now. The alien ground his teeth and stormed out the door, ignoring his rival.

But the human made himself impossible to ignore; he dogged Zim's footsteps through the door, and followed in the clear wake the alien left behind. Zim didn't look back; he locked his eyes resolutely forward and concentrated on forging a path through his fellow students using the sharp legs from his pak. (No on except Dib even noticed that Zim had a highly advanced piece of technology fused to his back and was using it to move people out of his way. They all just thought he had really sharp elbows.)

Dib surged up to stumble along just behind his rival's shoulder. Zim could smell the rankness of his sweat and the miasma of subdued fear that followed Dib through the school; it made him want to gag. "What were you talking about last night, Zim?!" the human hissed. "I don't know what you're planning, but I swear that I'll find out!"

Zim snorted and pushed sideways through the crowd to get to his locker. Dib followed him a moment later; other students swore and shoved at him. The alien twirled in the combination to unlock the primitive storage unit the school provided its students with, not looking at Dib. "Pathetic," he hissed at the human. "Zim issues a challenge, right in front of your filthy face, and all you can do is spout the same whining threats you've been mouthing all along!"

Dib flushed. "You stupid alien! I'm not-"

"Prove it, Dib!" Zim barked back. People around the hall turned to stare and then looked away without interest. "Come on! Can you really take me on?! Are you just going to run away after all these years?"

Dib thought Zim would continue then, but the green-skinned creature stopped and turned to stare at him coldly. His eyes were absolutely unfeeling, and the square indigo pupils gave Dib the chills. He wanted to take the contacts out, reveal the alien for what he was…

What Zim had just issued to him… was a challenge, wasn't it? Last night had been a warning to make Dib keep his distance. But now the alien had thrown down the gauntlet; would Dib pick it up? This was the culmination of everything, he felt. His entire life had been building up in preparation for this moment…

The alien still stared at him; as Dib remained silent, he sneered and turned away. Zim had apparently reached his own conclusions.

Dib quietly slipped off his backpack and swung it like a wrecking ball into Zim's head.

It wasn't a purse filled with bricks, but the titanium-coated laptop worked well enough.

END CHAPTER 2

I know, I know… long time without updating. I'm sorry. Things came up in normal life that sort of took me away from this fic. Hopefully production will speed up now, though. Thank you to all the people who reviewed the last chapter. I'm grateful to you all.

I hope that the people in here are still in character. If not, please point out where they deviate from how they should be acting. Keeping them in character while also letting them grow in the ways they… I don't know, need to maybe? is the most important thing to me in this fic. Thanks.