13 hours later…

Zim hadn't moved a centimetre on the couch. A bee flew in through window, not detecting any danger and landed on Zim's head. He casually brushed it off.

'Hmm… Not long until I am required to meet for that repulsive camp… Ahh well, may as well go now, nothing else I can do…' Zim said more to himself than anyone else in the room. 'Gir! Put on your disguise! And while you're at it, take a good look around…' Computer released the tentacles wrapped around Gir, and he sprung from the couch and started squealing.

When Gir had finally put on his disguise he and Zim left Computer to do his job. Zim put the mandatory leash onto Gir and they set off toward the Skool.

The horrors that dwelled in the street in the early morning hours were surprised to anybody out this early and quickly retreated back into the dark side alleys until Zim passed.

When Zim and Gir reached the Skool their were a few other kids looking incredibly tired and bored stumbling around out the front with a chipper looking Mr Elliot chatting to nobody but himself.

'Hi Zim! This is soooo exciting isn't it? We'll all –' He stopped talking when he saw Gir at his side. 'Uh, Zim? You're not allowed to bring any pets on the trip…'

Zim faltered, he hadn't prepared for this. But he was ZIM and he would think of something… 'Oh, uh, this is just my uhh… Seeing Eye Dog! Yes, yesss! I need him to smell!' Mr Elliot's smile relit.

'Oh of course! That's fine then! Feel free to take a seat with everyone else while we wait for the rest to arrive. Zim put on an over-the-top-very-very-fake smile and backed away, sitting no where near everyone else.

'Gir, we –' Zim began only to see that Gir was gone and was sitting in a tree and had pushed a bird off it's nest and was now eating it's eggs. The bird attacked Gir's head but he didn't feel anything.

While Zim was shouting at Gir and ordering to come down Dib arrived carrying a huge hiker's backpack. He threw it down and then noticed Zim yelling at just a tree because he couldn't see Gir.

'Finally lost it Zim.' Dib said as he walked over. 'Failing has driven you to talk to trees – Huh?' Dib noticed Gir. 'Hey! You can't bring that! He's technically… technology…' He finished dumbly.

'Oh don't worry about Gir, he'll be leaving us soon enough…' Zim muttered. Of course Dib had no idea what Zim was talking about. Dib looked around. It seemed that Zim hadn't brought any bags at all… But that would be dumb, even for Zim.

'What happened Zim? Forget to pack?' Dib asked sarcastically. Dib was surprised when Zim turned to face him and laughed uproariously in his face. Dib took a step back.

'Foolish Dib-monkey, I do not need to bring ANYTHING on this trip! My superior Irken mind shall supply me with everything!' He exclaimed.

'That's just stupid…' Dib told him.

'We'll see who the stupid is… one… are, eh… YOUR HEAD'S TOO BIG!!' Zim finished triumphantly. Dib looked stunned at Zim's new level of insanity, but subconsciously raised a hand to his head. It couldn't be as big as everyone said… could it? Gir suddenly plummeted from the tree and landed on Dib.

'Wahoo! I'm ridin the cow-head!!' Gir yelled. Zim's eyes widened when he saw everyone else there staring at the three of them. Zim launched himself at Gir trying to pry him off of Dib.

'Dib-pig! Your voice has gotten awfully high because that sound couldn't possibly be coming from this perfectly normal human dog creature! Everyone knows they can't talk!' Zim said desperately. With both Gir and Zim on top of his head Dib collapsed onto the ground.

'I win!! I win, oh yeah…' Gir shouted again and leapt of Dib's head. Zim smacked a hand around Gir's mouth.

'Seriously, Dib-human! Shut-up already!!' Zim cried frantically. Dib narrowed his eyes.

'Okay, am I still the only one seeing this? That wasn't me talking, it was Zim's dog! Which isn't really a dog because it's his robot! Because he's AN ALIEN!!'

'Dib! Zim needs that small green dog to lead a normal life! Just because he's different doesn't mean he doesn't have the right to that!' Mr Elliot scolded Dib and all the other kids stared on in disgust at Dib while Zim finally managed to get five layers of masking tape around Gir's mouth. Dib walked off, kicking a rock, and sat down with his bag. His only friend? The others kids jeered and laughed at him while Zim smirked at him from a distance.

Over four hours later, at nine, the bus (which was large and grey and had the word PRISON crossed out in black paint and SKOOL written sloppily over it in red paint) arrived in front of the children.

Zim remembered the last time he'd dare stepped on a cursed bus like this… Oh that horrible clown… Unfortunately Gir did too and insisted on holding his Master's hand. Dib noticed the struggle between Gir and Zim, with Zim trying to rip his hand away while Gir pulled it back, and snickered slightly. Zim resorted to holding both hands above his head until they'd gotten on the bus. No one took any notice because this was normal behaviour for Zim…

'Gir, go sit as far away from me as possible.' Zim commanded. Gir briefly switched into duty mode and used his jets to get the back of the bus quicker, blinding several children in the process. He then took up the whole back seat, giggling and throwing anyone who tried to sit there with him out the window.

'Hey Zim, shouldn't your Eye Dog sit with you?' Mr Elliot suggested.

'But, I ah, might need to… to smell something at the BACK of the bus mightn't I? What if a rampaging pig beast came at us from behind? We might ALL be killed in the battle that would inevitably ensue…' Zim replied, trying to look innocent. Also unfortunately, Dib remembered the last time he'd gotten into a bus as well and decided to sit in the seat across the corridor from Zim so he glare at him for the entire trip.

No one sat next to Dib or Zim, and no one could sit next to Gir, so they all crammed themselves into the middle of the bus and fidgeted and squirmed at the lack of space. In the end Mr Elliot sat next to Dib and he blocked his view of Zim so Dib was constantly moving around trying to get a better look.

A bit over two hours on the trip, the other kids had started singing "bus songs". All the songs you know and love ripped to little pieces with terrible new lyrics… Dib had finally given up trying to see over Mr Elliot and was now pretending to listen to him. His happiness was almost too much for Dib to handle.

While Dib had been trying to see Zim he could've sworn that he'd died he was so still, staring straight ahead. If it wasn't for his periodic blinking Dib would've been jumping for joy. Was he asleep? If so how did he do it with his eyes open? Dib had never seen him need to sleep before… Whatever was going on Dib didn't like it. Anything Zim did these days was treated as suspicious by Dib.

Zim found it amusing ignoring Dib. Every now and then he could see out of the corner of his eye the stink-pig glaring at him. You could see the gears turning in his head he was thinking so hard. Heh heh, fool! As if he'd be so stupid as to make any evil… stuff… right in front of him! It was all about stealth, and subtly. At least that was what he was telling the Tallest was his plan for taking over the Earth.