This one ended up a little long—I wanted to get the whole plot point done before moving onto the next chapter because we're getting close to the next 'arc' and I'm excited for the shenanigans that can potentially ensue with the setting: SPACE MARKET. Think a goblin market, but aliens and in space. I excite. I've been nursing this arc since before we concluded the Souls Arc so I have a lot of ideas I just want to get out and write already but I have a few more chapters I want to finish before then. And then I can actually post the sketches I drew for it months ago!

Enjoy!

Part 59: Replacement

"Dib, I'm leaving without you if you don't get your ass in gear!" Gaz screamed up the stairs. Dib scrambled to finish packing his computer station. Zim was waiting to lift the desk.

"I'm coming!"

"Did you have to pack your entire room?" Zim asks, glancing around the mostly barren bedroom. The room itself had never been that large; but it looked more spacious now that most of Dib's computer set up and his bookshelves had been cleared.

"Did you have to insist on packing my closet instead of me?" Dib asks. He was still sore about the fact Zim had almost shoulder checked him through the wall to keep Dib from using the excuse to sneak a peak at his 'present'. The gift had been snatched and hidden out of sight by Gir within seconds. Where Gir had taken it and had remained, Dib could only guess was the basement lab.

"Yes." Zim says.

"Then yes."

"DIB!"

"I'm coming!" Dib screamed, snatching the last keyboard off the desk.

Zim wasted no time in lifting the desk up to carry out of the house. Dib shouldered the heavy bag and led the way downstairs. Gaz was tapping her foot at the front door. Gir was in her arms—ah, that's where Gir had gone—and looked like her patience was about done.

"I'm here, see?"

"Finally."

Gaz kicked off the door stop once Zim had passed her. The U-Haul trailer was the smallest one they could find, and afford on spacing, and had just enough room left for the desk. Zim set it down inside and Dib set the computer bag under it. Gaz was already taking place in the car's backseat with Gir in her lap by the time Dib had decided the trailer was good enough to shut. Zim took up the front passenger seat, setting his feet up on the dashboard with zero hesitation, to Dib's dismay.

The dorm room wasn't large. Dib knew that beforehand. Zim, however, had almost nothing he could bring with him that could be left out in the open. Dib had to convince Zim to buy a mattress, even if he never used it. Gaz set her earbuds in and held Gir tight. She wasn't about to let Gir risk crashing the car because he wanted to fly in the confined space. Zim glanced back at her bobbing head before he settled down in his chair.

"Getting it all out of the trailer will be a pain," Zim mumbles. Dib smirked.

"Only because you can't use your PAK legs or carry something too heavy alone," he says. Zim grumbled again, sinking into the seat. Dib was spot on. It was going to be slow and Zim knew he was going to get bored and impatient within minutes.

"So, I had a question," Dib began. Zim looked up at him. "After college, are you really going to work at my Dad's lab? You could probably start your own. You'd have more privacy that way. Just patent inventions or designs and there you go."

"…And couldn't you do the same?" Zim asks. Dib chuckled.

"Well, yeah, I could." Dib admitted. "But, would you?"

Zim shrugged. "Maybe."

Dib smirked again, resting his head on his hand against the window once they were on the highway. Zim started fiddling with the radio. It had taken almost the entire drive for Gir to wriggle free of Gaz's grip. The little robot dog scrambled over the seats to the front. Before he could launch himself onto Dib's head Zim snatched him off the seat.

"Thank you."

"I will not have Gir causing any of our deaths," Zim says.

Gir squirmed in his grasp, giggling and screaming. Dib ignored whatever Gir was mumbling, only catching onto Zim's annoyed tone when he spoke back. He wondered painfully why Gaz had dragged Gir along—a dog of any size carrying furniture wasn't inconspicuous. Dib pulled off the highway. Gir settled in Zim's lap finally.

"ROADTRIP!"

"Only a short one," Dib says. "We're not going far."

"Where?" Gir asked.

"It's called a university. It's like the school just… advanced? Advanced education. It's like learning your career before you actually go to join in that career."

"…Training?" Gir asked. Zim patted his head.

"Not like Irk, Gir. It's different. Humans choose their careers," Zim explained.

"Ooooooooh!"

Zim nodded, looking out the window as they neared the university. Gir craned his neck to see the passing buildings and trees as they drove through a neighborhood. Zim hummed. House upon house passed them, a few with for-sale signs, and Zim started to think. He could make up the money and documents to get a house. It'd be easier than trying to make do with the majority of his equipment in orbit if he could just excavate below a property.

Dib pulled around into the parking lot of the university. It was packed—he didn't expect anything less on moving day—but managed to find a decent spot he could use. Gaz slipped her earbuds out and hopped out of the car. She went to the trailer first, reserving the contents of the trunk for later. It was just clothes and Dib could wait for those.

"Zim, you grab the desk," Gaz says, snatching up the electronics bag. She looked up to where Zim was slamming the door on Gir.

"No. Not until we're done," Zim says.

It took them hours—four if Dib had kept the time right—to get everything into his dorm. Zim had started setting up the bunk bed when they'd hit the last of the trailer's contents. By the time that Dib and Gaz had finished unloading Dib was all too eager to collapse onto his bed. Gaz kicked the door shut, carrying Gir so he couldn't weasel his way out in the hall. Zim used his PAK to lift himself onto the top bunk with a sigh, swinging his legs over the railing side.

"That was easy," he says. Gaz smacked his feet.

"For you, you stupid cyborg."

"Irkens are not cyborgs," Zim shoots back.

Gir wriggled out of Gaz's grasp and climbed up Zim's leg. Gaz smirked at the display of Zim trying to untangle Gir from him as the robot climbed like a monkey all over him. Zim was shouting something explicit in Irken, and Gaz was eager to learn it just to know what he was saying.

"I've had a thought," Zim says, sitting up and throwing Gir down to Gaz. Gaz catches him, tossing him away almost as fast. Gir bounced off the wall and running under the bed with a giggle. Dib pulled his legs up onto the bed.

"What's that?" Dib asks.

"I saw many vacant houses on the way in."

"You're going to try and buy a house?" Gaz asks. Gir tried to tackle her leg and she kicked him away. Zim nodded.

"It would work best for my base if I did," he says. He swept his hand across the room. "This won't do."

"This is a dorm, it barely does it for anyone," Dib grumbles. "What was the point of me getting a dorm if we're not going to use it?"

"That is not my problem," Zim says plainly, falling back down. Dib grabbed at his feet. "Hey!"

"You're my roommate!" Dib shouts, trying to hold on as Zim kicked to shake him loose.

Gir squealed, latching onto Dib's coat and swinging with them. "Weeeee!"

"AUGH. Would it not benefit you to have the room to yourself?" Zim asks. "Get off! Your head is heavy!"

"My head isn't that big!"

"Yes, it is!"

"Do a flip!" Gir cheers. Gaz sat down in Dib's chair, leaning back to watch.

"Would you stop calling my head big?!"

"I'll stop when it's not big anymore!"

"Dib, just let him get a house." Gaz says. Dib went slack. Zim grunted, the railing pressing into the back of his knees. He climbed over, falling to the floor. Dib followed him, unable to balance half off the bed. Gaz watched them flail on the ground a moment until Dib scrambled up, shaking Gir off his back.

"But… but I'll be so bored." Dib says. Gaz smirked knowingly.

"Yeah, that's definitely what it'll be," she says. Dib shoots her a glare. Gaz patted her lap and Gir came running over, giving the two boys a reprieve. Gaz dug a string toy out of a box, dangling it over Gir to play with. Zim stared at it. He banged his head on the floor with a groan.

"…Really… that easy…" he mumbles. Gaz snickered, earning a pointed glare.

"Anyway… you can probably get a refund for the dorm if you do it in time," Gaz says. "Or suffer alone. You know, either one."

"Gee, you're always such an optimist…" Dib grumbles. He sighed, laying against the bunk bed. "I don't want to move everything again."

"We can do it on a weekend or holiday. Then, I can actually carry something," Zim says, nudging Dib's leg with his foot. Dib swatted at him, to no avail.

"We can do it at like 2 am, maybe. This isn't like back home. Half the people in the building are probably going to be up til midnight partying half the weekends," Dib says.

"In a science building's dorm?" Gaz asks. "As if."

"Not all science enthusiasts are introverts!" Dib says. Gaz scoffed.

"Uh huh."

Dib floundered a moment before settling on pointing to Zim. "He isn't!"

"He's an alien."

"I'm also right here."

"He's definitely still an extrovert. With that much energy and need for attention, I refuse to believe otherwise," Dib says. Zim kicked him for the comment. "Ow."

Gaz chewed the inside of her cheek. She agreed Zim was definitely an extrovert—of some kind. She looked at Dib, next. She knew he was an extrovert. Despite his lack of friends—his little club excluded—Dib was never one to shy away from interactions. Not for long. Gaz turned her chair, kicking her heels up on the desk.

"Dib can just stay in a spare room," Zim offers. He hardly slept as it was. And when he would, he was planning to just steal Dib's heat by crawling under his covers. "That would be adequate."

"That'd be the best option," Dib mumbled into the mattress. He sat up suddenly, looking renewed and determined. "Zim, if you got a house where would your lab be?"

"The lab will be movable this time," Zim says easily. "Moving it all was too much of a hassle for it not to be. Adjustments… will be made."

"Meaning you're going to one-up your own species," Gaz says smugly. Zim smirked, nodding. His PAK produced his tablet and he started to swipe away at the screen.

"Perhaps I can find a rundown shack of some kind to modify…" he mumbles. Gaz spun around.

"I saw an abandoned one three blocks away," she says. Dib lifted his head, seeing the screen partially transparent through Zim's tablet as he was hacking away at something.

"I found it," he says. Dib sat up, flopping back down next to Zim to get a look at the screen. He couldn't understand some of what was on it, but he could gather enough to get an idea of what Zim was doing.

"Are you… are you hacking the city records?" Dib asks incredulously. He made a grab for the tablet and Zim held it away, sticking his leg out against Dib's gut to halt his advancement. Dib made another swipe and Zim shimmied away.

"Stop it. Concentrating."

"Hacking isn't concentrating," Dib says.

"It requires it," Gaz says. Dib shot her a glare.

"Don't enable him."

"I'll do what I want."

"Gaz—"

"Done," Zim declared proudly. Dib shoved his leg away only for Zim to swing both back around to pin him to the floor. "You will have to wait, however. The rundown abomination must be brought up to acceptable living conditions for humans."

"What exactly is the difference between you and a human?" Dib asks.

"I could simply use the basement and below—you, however, require much more maintenance and a real house," Zim says. He pulled up the floor plans, making adjustments. Dib watched him, chuckling to himself.

"You don't slow down, do you?" Dib asks. Zim started nodding.

"Never have."

Dib believed it.

Zim kicked around old rubble. Dib was absent, busy with his own classes and actually attending the school and had tried to get Zim to do the same. He'd almost succeeded. Almost. Zim was more interested in getting the house up to living condition as soon as possible. Based on what he was looking at he had a lot of work to do.

The house itself had been set to be demolished and Zim could see why now that he was walking around in it. It was in worse shape than the haunted house they'd investigated. Zim still wanted to burn the structure to the ground, despite the primary entity likely being gone, he was fueled by spite. It wasn't an uncommon thought. Zim hummed, spying Gir prancing around in the kitchen and pretending to make some sort of dish with the missing appliances. If Zim wasn't absolutely certain that Gir was capable of 'make believe' he'd think something else had gone wrong in his circuitry.

"Gir. Status of your assessment?"

"It's a biiiiig kitchen!" Gir squealed, continuing his fantasy of—likely—waffle making. Zim ran his hand down his face. It was NOT what he had been asking; but it was at least an understandable response. "Mastah! Are we moving in?!"

"Not yet, Gir, we have to fix it up, first. It can't come crashing down on Dib's head once he's here. And it would probably be… abnormal for the neighbors to see us coming and going with no issues." Zim explained, kicking aside another piece of ceiling that had fallen. Gir hummed his understanding and moved out of the kitchen finally. "Well?"

"I like it! It's big! And you can fit two fridges!"

That'd be good to separate Gir's… experiments from Dib's food, at least. Zim nodded his approval. Overall, he couldn't see why the house had been left to rot. Far as he could tell, and with a quick search on The Swollen Eyeball's network via Dib, the house wasn't haunted or even suspected of a haunting. The most he could find was that the previous owner just left it behind without any plans to fix it back up before they died. He, again, could see why.

He meandered around until he found the basement door. Flashes of demonic eyes and a twinge of pain in his arm had him pausing before he forced the knob to turn. The basement stairs were in surprisingly good shape. A lack of broken windows or door framing had kept most of the structure in the basement largely intact. Zim counted himself lucky that it had. It meant less work for him when he moved his base in. Once at the bottom of the stairs he was disappointed to see it was far less spacious than upstairs. He would have to put an elevator upstairs or down here—or both. He was likely to do both. He could hear Gir upstairs and swung his PAK light around the room.

He had a lot of work to do.

Zim dumped the rubble into the pile he'd been making in the backyard. Gir was busy exploring the house and Zim was thankful for the silence despite how much he'd appreciate the help.

"Zim?"

Speaking of help. Zim turned to see Dib poking his head around the side of the house. He spotted Zim and whistled at the pile that was now taller than the Irken.

"Been busy?"

"Extremely. Half the house is falling apart. No wonder it was left to rot, it was already working on it," Zim says.

Dib snorted, throwing his backpack on the back porch. He had turned around before it hit the wood and he stopped mid-step at the sound of the wood collapsing under the sudden impact. He closed his eyes, sighing heavily as Zim started to cackle. Dib turned on his heel and saw the hole his bag had made. He was thankful all that was inside was a particularly thick notebook and his pencil bag. That said, it was concerning that that was all that was inside when it'd hit the porch. Dib nodded, climbing the stairs cautiously and laying on his stomach. He army crawled his way to the hole and fished his bag out. Zim's shadow came up behind him and he felt hands around his ankles. He was dragged away, his bag coming with him, until he was in the grass.

"Thanks," Dib sighs. Zim lifted himself up with his PAK legs.

"I've been using these," he says. He drops, the legs disappearing back into his PAK. "The main house is fine with the floor. The ceiling is the issue."

"Collapsing inside itself?" Dib asks. Zim nodded, jerking his head to the pile.

"Exhibit A."

"Oh God, is that all just the ceiling rubble? Why'd you buy this one?" Dib asks. Zim suddenly looked a lot more interested and waved his arms out to gesture towards the house.

"Because it's just waiting to be modified! I can make this house feel brand new, Dib, and then you're allowed to sleep inside it. Not until then," Zim clarifies. "It must be suitable first."

"I guess getting the dorm room wasn't a total waste, then," Dib muses. He collapsed under the single tree it the backyard and looked at the sky. "Hmmm."

"What?"

"I have a question." Dib says. Zim cocked an eyebrow at him, waiting.

"Don't you always?"

"Irrelevant. Anyway," Dib sits up, pulling Zim down with him. Zim face planted at first, grumbling before he turned over to look through the leaves as well. The sky was just turning dark, the sky getting speckles of stars scattering through it. "Can we go back into the Voot to cruise around some time? We haven't gone since… I think the time you took me out to Jupiter?"

"Hmm. We can. But first, the house," Zim says. Dib groaned loudly and Zim smacked him in the arm. "House first. Perhaps on your first break we go."

"Our first break. You're a registered student here," Dib points out. He poked at Zim's cheek, dodging his swatting hands. "Skipping on the first day doesn't change that and you're going to be behind in classes now—"

"I'll be fine, human understanding of any of the classes I enrolled in is far too simple." Zim says confidently.

"Oh really? Philosophy and Ethics are simple?" Dib asks. Zim blanched a little.

"Um…"

"You forgot those were on your roster, didn't you?" Dib asks plainly.

"…No..."

"Liar." Dib says. Zim grunted, crossing his arms.

"It doesn't matter," Zim says. "I'll be fine. I'll just use the same methods as in high school."

"So, you're going to cheat," Dib says plainly again. Zim took a moment before he abruptly sat up. Dib pulled him back down again with a chuckle. "Go ahead, cheater. But, I'm going to actually study. Like a good student."

"I technically shouldn't even be a student," Zim mumbled. "I could just drop out."

"No."

"I don't need it."

"You do if you really want to work in Dad's labs. He'll know if you drop your classes and then you'll be barred from working in them until you take them up again." Dib says smugly. Zim groaned. If nothing else, he could use the advantage of two labs to separate experiments for himself an ones for humans. "Can't just make a degree out of thin air anymore, space-boy. You got him invested in you, now."

"My mistake…"

"Oh, c'mon. Hey, how long is this house gonna take, anyway?"

"A week? More?" Zim looked over at it, pondering. "I hadn't really run the numbers, yet. I know where I'm putting the lab entrances."

"That's one thing out of the way. If it's really in such bad shape you can just bust the floor open now," Dib says. He readjusted, sighing. "For now, though. A nap."

"You just got here!"

"And I've been in classes all day, it's mentally exhausting!" Dib says. Zim made the move to sit up only for Dib's arms to wrap around him and pull him back down. "And you have been doing manual labor all day, so you have to take a break, too!"

"Hey! I'm fine, I'm not as fragile as you humans!"

"Don't shout a distinction like that, you're going to freak out the neighbors," Dib chastises. He pulled Zim close, sighing. "There. Good pillow."

Zim gaped at him and started thrashing. "I am not a pillow!"

Zim huffed, collapsing on the floor. He thought Dib had been exaggerating the mental strain of the classes. Zim hadn't had to study anything at the academy. The only learning had primarily been with how to move in a fight or how to blend into new alien races. Most of the information was provided by the PAK. Zim had zoned out in half his classes, his PAK recording the lectures while he thought of the ways he could improve the house. Said house was almost done. It had taken three weeks longer than Zim thought it would with the classes and homework taking up some of his time. If he didn't have to sit in class he'd have been done after just a week.

"GAH!" Gir hopped off Zim's stomach, using him as a launch pad onto the couch. "GIR!"

"Wee!"

"Don't do that, my internal organs are not a springboard!" Zim shouts. He threw the tool he'd had in his hand at Gir, who proceeded to catch it in his mouth. Zim scrambled up, trying to pry the tool out of his mouth before he could eat it. "No! No, no, no! Gir, do not eat my tools, I need these!"

"MMhph mnph phnn!"

"I don't care if you think you're hungry—you're a robot, you don't have a digestive system!"

"MMMPH!"

Zim yanked the tool back. Gir fell off the couch after it with a whine. Zim shook the saliva off. He wasn't even sure how saliva could be on it. It was a question he wasn't willing to look into as of yet. He set the tool back into his toolbox. He looked over his work with the hidden elevator one last time. He figured he should be ready to start porting the lab parts out of space and into the basement. The basement elevator was ready to descend as it was, hidden under a side table. Dib had insisted the basement be an 'entertainment' area for his friends.

Zim could see why—the basement meant noise wasn't going to get the police called on the house as easily and he was all for that preemptive measure. He contemplated trying to fit in more elevators elsewhere. Dib had vetoed an elevator in the toilets—and a toilet in the kitchen. Apparently, that was not their usual placement. Dib was still teasing him about that. Zim sighed. He would have to figure out a kitchen elevator at some point. Perhaps under the kitchen island, instead.

His PAK produced his tablet, the feed showing him the location of the lab's storage container in orbit. He'd have to fly around the globe a little, but it would be worth it if he could grab the main component first.

"Gir, get ready. We're unshrinking the Voot once it gets dark."

"Weeeee! Space trip!" Gir cheered.

"Yes, yes, space trip…" Zim mumbled, swiping through the tablet.

He failed to hear the back door opening, or the footsteps leading inside. Dib set his bag down quietly in the hall. He took a few more cautious steps forward and pounced. He latched himself around Zim's neck.

"FINALLY!"

"What on Irk are you doing?!" Zim screeched, flailing around. Dib's weight threw him off balance. He could hear Dib laughing as he was swung around. "Dib!"

"I finally snuck up on you again," Dib says triumphantly. He let Zim go, looking around the house. "It's coming along pretty well."

"Yes," Zim said with a flush. He stood straighter, picking up the tool kit. "I just finished. We can move you in now."

Dib flopped onto the couch with a relieved sigh. "Oh, good. Just in time. I can still get the dorm costs back."

Zim hummed, throwing the tool kit into the coat closet. He spun on his heel and fell back against the couch. Dib looked up to where Zim sat on the floor. He smirked and flicked one of Zim's antennae. Zim jerked, smacking Dib's hand away. Dib chuckled, rolling over.

"It's the weekend. Want to do something fun?"

"Like?"

"Hmmm… urban exploring?" Dib offers. Zim cocked an antennae at him.

"What is that?"