By animeninjaNIPPON
An hour into their trip, Dib and Gaz began to get bored. The sky was already a deep midnight blue, and they still had a half-hour to travel. Dib yawned and gazed out the window. It seemed as though they were traveling through the middle of nowhere. Of course, to Dib, everywhere was the middle of nowhere – the whole world had become mundane to him since Zim had gone back to Irk a month ago. Dib was a little disappointed when the alien blasted off into space without leaving so much as a foreign data chip, but all in all, the Earth was safe. Boring, but safe…
Gaz had already fallen asleep in her seat, slumped against the door with a little drool spilling onto the armrest. She stirred softly and muttered something about zombie swine, to which Dib gave a little smile before turning his head back to the window.
It was raining outside. The water droplets hitting the windshield combined to create a soothing lullaby that threatened to send Dib off to Dreamland after his sister. He yawned again. Well, it was pretty late…
An abrupt jolt shook Dib out of his trance and the screeching of tires going against the grain of asphalt woke Gaz up. There was a blinding flash of lightning, then everyone in the taxi screamed at the top of their lungs as the doomed cab skidded off the road and collided with a tree…
Some fifteen minutes later, Dib found himself lying face-down in a puddle of mud. He got up, wiped off his face and glasses, and set off to look for the rest of his company.
"Gaz? Where are you?" he called out. The taxi – neither remains nor driver – was nowhere to be found. "Gaz? Taxi driver? Anyone?"
"Yeah, I'm here," Gaz barked. She wasn't pleased with the unexpected change in events, especially since she didn't want to go to PaNoCon in the first place. "Where's the cab?"
"I don't know… It's like it disappeared or something."
Another flash of light revealed a large white mansion in the darkness. Gaz walked toward it slowly, making squishing sounds in the mud as she trudged on.
"Wait!" Dib cried. "Where are you going?"
"To find a phone," she answered coldly. Dib reluctantly followed her toward the mansion. When they reached the steps, the door creaked open to reveal the silhouette of a tall, thin figure. "The Master has been expecting you," it said, opening the door wider to let the rain-soaked duo inside.
Dib went in first, followed by Gaz. The inside of the mansion was a sharp contrast to the darkness of the storm outside, and Dib's eyes had trouble adjusting to the bright, hospital-like lights. He was blindly torn away from his sister's side and shoved into the myriads of friendly, welcoming arms before him…
End of part two