Chapter Three The Beginning

"Ms. Bitters, where are Zim and Gaz? They've been absent for a week," Dib questioned.

"Well shouldn't you know that? Gaz is your sister," the hag croaked.

"But--"

"Now class, let's talk about how the Earth is doomed... again."

As Ms. Bitters started to talk about doom, Dib pondered what Zim had meant when he realized that Zim had just confused him and that he must have been hiding Gaz for some unknown reason. Slowly the day droned on as Dib set up his plan if Zim would not talk.

"I hope everyone paid attention.. Because this will be on a major exam tomorrow," Ms. Bitters announced as the bell rang. Dib ran to Zim's house.

The doorbell rang and Zim looked up from his lesson with Gaz, "Oh, who could that be?" he said with annoyance ringing through his voice, "Gir! Tell the Earth scum outside that I am ill with... that... thing that humans get when they're sick--"

"Pneumonia," Gaz said, fiddling on the computer.

"Right... that thing."

"Okey-dokey," Gir's high pitched voice replied as he skipped up to the door.

"Hi, Dib!" he screamed as he opened the door.

"Where's Zim?" Dib immediately asked.

"Um.. he's sick with.. pneu-- pneu... new money." Gir struggled.

"New money? What? Do you mean pneumonia?"

"Yeah! That! 'Kay, bye now!" Gir shut the door in Dib's face.

"This just isn't my week," he grumbled. Dib walked home and opened the door, at least Gaz hadn't locked him out. He took his spy equipment and made his way to Zim's base.

In the alleyway, he had made a tunnel leading to Zim's lab. Stepping inside the tunnel, Dib made his way in the turning corridor and eventually came upon the lab. He looked through a spying hole. Gaz was sitting on a captain's chair inside one of the ships that Zim had in his base. The door to the ship was wide open for no apparent reason. She looked strange with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, with some strands hanging in front of her eyes. She looked nicer that way.

"Now that you know all the basic controls... It's time I showed you how to start it," Zim said, examining his surroundings. Dib pulled out a pair of binoculars and zoomed in. He could see Zim's dainty hands as he pointed to the buttons, "First, you must be able to remember a sequence of colors. It's quite easy actually. Red, then green, then white. Got it?"

Gaz blinked, "Yeah."

"Good, then start the ship." Zim emphasized the word ship in his mighty Irken voice.

Gaz did as she was told and pressed the buttons, starting the ship up and sending smoke through the room, and especially in Dib's face. He couldn't help but cough.

"WHO WAS THAT!" Zim raised his voice at the cough as Dib slunk into the shadows of the tunnel. Gaz hopped down from the chair and walked over to wear Dib's cough came. She pulled away part of the wall where the spying hole was and saw Dib.

"What are you doing?" She asked, annoyance coursing through her body and voice.

"I was um... I..."

"You were spying on me again.. Why don't you just leave me alone! I can take care of myself."

"I can see that," Zim commented, "You ripped away half the wall."

She ignored it and climbed down into the hole, "If you do not leave me alone, I will personally rip out your tongue, and then slowly break apart your spinal cord, pull out your teeth and shove it into your mouth so you'll have to choke on it if you can't chew it, and then if you still don't die, I'll take your tongue and strangle you with it... Got it?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

Zim glanced over fearfully, and then Dib said with doubt, "You wouldn't dare... You probably couldn't even remember all of that."

"You wanna try me?" she threatened, advancing towards him, and she suddenly pulled out a switchblade.

"You carry one of those around?" Dib was utterly shocked.

"Told you I could take care of myself."

"Be gone, Dib Monkey! We have work to do," Zim glared at Dib, and Dib glared at Zim. An intense glare that sent a spark of tension throughout the room.

"Can we please get on with it?" Gaz groans.

"Of course," Zim replies and says to Computer, "Computer, take the Earth scum away."

"Hey! Who you calling scu--AAAAHHH!" Dib fell down a shoot in the floor.

"Now where were we? Of course! Now you have to..."

Dib landed in a dumpster outside. Zim hadn't even bothered with his disguise... He thought. What is he planning? I can get him good this time... But who will believe me now that Gaz is gone? Dib had this idea that Gaz somehow was on his side and she had gone crazy and joined "the dark side." Dib was annoyed about this, and even that weird, new girl had taken Zim's side... But perhaps... He thought of an idea. One that spawned in his head like the way color flows out of a freshly bought marker.

Maybe if I pretend this time. If I act like an idiot, and take everyone else's side, they'll believe me more. They'll trust me is the bottom line. If they trust me they'll listen, and I'm sure I can get that new girl on my side since... she's new. If I can do that then Zim will pay.

What Dib didn't know was that the new girl had already chosen a side.

"My Tallest," reported one of the shortest invaders of the Irken elite. And she was neither Zim nor Skooge, "I have found Zim and I will be delivering the message that communication shall be cut off if he does not take an initiative immediately to destroying slash ruling the Earth. Shall I confirm that his mission was indeed a cruel joke?"

"No," the purple one said, "Tell him everything but it was a joke."

"Besides," red cut in, "It wasn't cruel.. It was genius!"

She rolled her eyes and turned the large monitor off. Slipping into her disguise, she set out of her home. A Sir was useless, and she could especially tell by Zim's Gir. She quickly approached Zim's home and saw Dib falling out of the trashcan, "What are you doing?"

He quickly trotted over to her, flinging a banana peel off of his head, "Don't listen to the class when they call me crazy. I have proof that Zim's an alien, just come with me!"

"Listen... I don't think you're crazy, but I do think you're a little obsessed, Zim's a perfectly normal--"

She was interrupted by an alien shriek and a crash through the window.

"So, does everyone go crashing through the windows of their home?"

"Well, maybe he just has it tough at home," she shrugged, "Anyway, I have.. work to do. So why don't you just take your little alien theories and pretend that they actually mean something at your 'lab.' Kay?"

"But--" Dib wanted to argue but he had nothing to say. Zim was an alien, and he knew it, but no matter how hard he tried, no one was going to believe him. This whole situation had irritated him from day one, but having his confidence broken had to be one of the worst feelings in his life. He had always known Zim to be an alien, but now that he knew absolutely no one would believe him, or cared, he didn't really have much to say. And this left him feeling vulnerable as he forgot that he was probably the only person who could stop Zim if there actually was a threat.

After a moment, he realized the girl had left, and he soon came to his senses, "Now where was I?" Then snapping out of the insecure trance he had just been in, he once again remembered his plan, "Oh, yes," he grinned and ran home.