Alright ladies and gentlemen this is an update.
YAY right? anyways I know that I said I was going to update the Prodigy, but the thing is, my work has gotten in the way and well the only thing I can update is this story for right now(also the fact that I have writers block has been preventing me to progress). I will try (keyword) to update faster this week, since I scored a vacation (woot woot!)
Sadly my computer broke AGAIN, because of a faulty update that ruined my hard drive, which means i have to fix it, which means all my memory will be lost and which means that all the drafts that I have for all my stories have been destroyed.
-sigh-
So yeah, uhhh, yeah I'm going to finish this chapter up and try updating everything else(from scratch). Or I will just finish this story and just update everything else.
Jack: also an announcement, this is a vote actually
(Warning: this was made to attract your attention since no one reads author's notes)
WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE BETTER?
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON MEETS PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
OR
XIOLIN SHOWDOWN MEETS PHANTOM OF THE OPERA?
Please vote!
Jack: please take your pick, we've been arguing about this for 3 months already.
If you don't know what Xiaolin showdown or the Phantom of the Opera, then yeah just ask and I'll try to answer as quickly as possible. (Or you can Google it...faster)
Yours truly sakiko of soleana
Chapter 9 Opening the door.
Zim, growled angrily as he trotted back upstairs to his room.
"Zim! It's six in the morning, go back to bed!" shouted Purple, his voice muffled by the bedroom door that led to his and Red's room.
Obviously, Red had gotten upset and smacked Purple with a pillow or something since the older irken had suddenly cried "OW!" Zim hissed again at the thought of his brother Red. How dare he take away his fun. How dare he lock the door.
That wonderland. Sure something about it was...off. Sure, there was something about it that made Zim uneasy, but still. It was a wonderland, a place where Zim could actually have fun rather than sit in a world filled with grey and fog.
How fun was that? Sitting in some stupid hundred year old house with nothing to do but reminisce about old friends and Michigan?
Yeah sure...fun.
Zim snorted angrily as he entered his room.
"Morning little me," he mumbled, waving at the still doll that held his appearance.
Looking at the clock he sighed. It was now 6:07 a.m.
Clicking his antennae together, Zim walked over to his mirror and sighed. His bruise was still there, now pale and yellowish in color.
"Well...It's six a.m. and I have nothing to do..." said Zim, jumping back on his bed and picking his look alike doll up from the book stacked chair.
"What do you think I should do little me?" asked Zim.
"Go back to sleep and dream," said Zim in a high pitched voice as he moved the dolls head. "I would be a horrible ventriloquist. Oh well, just leave it to Jeff Dunham." sighed Zim, lying back on his bed.
Soon enough, he was dreaming again. But it wasn't what he expected. The unfamiliar chill of the something old, something slow crept up Zim's spine as he slept.
He dreamed.
But it wasn't a dream of his glorious wonderland...it was a nightmare.
Zim was dreaming that he was in the dark.
Why he would dream of such a thing was beyond him.
Shouldn't he be dreaming about his home? Or his wonderland for that matter?
Those dreams were continuous weren't they? Or were they real?
Of course not that's stupid...dreams can't be real...can they?
Zim shook his head, trying to concentrate on seeing in the darkness that surrounded him. Once his sight adjusted he started looking around. He was in a... forest?
It looked familiar...no... It was familiar, he was on the path that led up to the old well.
"What am I doing out here?" mumbled Zim looking around, the moon wasn't out so there was hardly any light. Only the few glows of some fireflies in the jar Gir was holding and the lights from the pink palace below...Wait what?
"Gir?" called out Zim. Not too far away was Gir, hunched over a jar filled to the rim with glowing fireflies.
"Gir? Gir what are you doing here? Gir? Gir, what's wrong?" asked Zim as he approached the small robot. He looked terrified, shaking and breathing heavily as he clutched at the firefly jar for dear life.
"Are you okay?" asked Zim, looking down at the robot.
"I...I...I..." choked the robot, looking up at Zim through tear filled eyes. Could robots cry?
Before Zim could continue questioning the robot a soothing voice broke through the darkness. Something familiar...mimicking something that already existed...something...strange.
The Other Mother.
"Rosearik," cooed the voice of the Other Mother "come here, you little munchkin!"
Gir instantly ran down the path to the well, into the darkness as he dropped his jar of fireflies.
"No Gir! Wait...wait...WAIT!" cried Zim. He didn't want to be alone. Something about this place scared him. Something wasn't right.
Grabbing the jar, the only source of light, Zim ran after the small robot, ignoring the glowing eyes of the creatures that scurried in the dark.
Finally he found Gir, crying by the well. Approaching him, Zim felt something cold go up his spine.
Something was wrong.
"Are you okay?" asked Zim, looking down at the sobbing robot.
"I...I-I don...I don't know, help me," sobbed Gir, looking up at Zim.
What the irken child saw terrified him to the core.
Gir, was covered in blood...and in his eyes were buttons, shining in the darkness.
"GIR!" screamed Zim as a hand appeared from the well, latching onto Gir dragging him into the well...into the dark.
"No! NO!" cried Gir.
Zim panicked as he suddenly felt something grab onto him. Glowing eyes and small yellowing teeth glistening in the dark.
Laughter. Her laughter.
"Wake up...WAKE UP!" said a voice.
And then...
Silence.
Zim gasped as he opened his eyes feeling someone's hand shaking his shoulder.
"Come on Zim, get up, Red's going to buy your uniforms today, comedown and get breakfast," sighed Purple, walking out of Zim's room.
Something was up...
But Zim ignored the feeling, and got out of bed, hoping to see the reason behind locking the door...and of course...if dreams were truly dreams, or if could be real.
Quickly Zim dressed up, putting on a simple blue t-shirt that read 'Stop Making Babies!' and some black skinny jeans while rushing down stairs to meet his brothers.
But Zim ignored the feeling, and got out of bed, hoping to see the reason behind locking the door...and of course...if dreams were truly dreams, or if could be real.
So far...the best thing to do is to ignore the nightmare, and keep hoping for the dram.
"There were garden squash like balloon animals and snapdragons. Oh, and upstairs, I saw a real mouse circus! Not pretend like the crazy man's in our house," explained Zim as Red parked the car in front of a store in down town, where two people were dressed up. A small man with a ukulele was dressed as William Shakespeare while a tall thin man was dressed as the great bards character Hamlet.
Ash-town was known for its knowledge on the great bard and literature in general...but what kind of an idiot has a ukulele with him when he's dressed up as Shakespeare?
Oh well, that didn't matter right now. What mattered was the shop.
The Gardening and Furniture Tools.
This name was well known in small towns and home depots.
Gardening and Furniture was the company that payed his brothers to write about plants they've never grow or even think of. Probably the only thing that went through their minds was donuts, coffee and the fact that they always had a deadline, or the fact that the shop itself was having a winter sale in the middle of the wet summer, which meant that their catalog would probably on the shelves of every store within the week but in this store in about ohhhh...128 weeks?
Adults where stupid. How can somebody have a winter sale in the middle of summer? IT WAS SUMMER! People are stupid.
"You sure you won't come?" asked Purple, preparing the portfolio that contained the catalog. His antennae waving in worry as he tugged at the purple tie he was wearing.
"Oh don't fret, Viola, they'll love the new catalog," sighed Red, taking another gaze through their work and handing it back to Purple with a smirk.
"At least they'll love my chapters," Red chuckled before turning back to face Zim, "I did not call him crazy Zim, he's drunk."
Purple sighed and fidgeted with his purple tie once again, getting out of the car and preparing to meet his new boss.
Of course Zim knew that you had to dress up nice in order to impress your boss, just as Purple was trying to do. He sure did look nice in his light purple long sleeve dress shirt and black dress pants...real business like.
"Well, I guess I'll see you around, you dizzy dreamer~" sang Purple, tugging on Zim's right antenna rather playfully through the car window.
"Bro, I'm not five anymore!" complained Zim, shaking his head in order to get the uncomfortable feeling out of him.
"You know you like it Mr. I dream commercials," snickered Purple
"HEY!" growled Zim upset, "the angry monkey show was just a onetime thing okay?"
"Later brothers, I'll see you guys after the meeting, oh and Merah, you owe me, " hissed Purple before walking off towards the store.
Snorting and adjusting his neck brace, Red waved his twin off, he and Zim snickering as Purple was suddenly startled by the mini William Shakespeare with a ukulele standing on top of a parking meter.
"He's such a dork," huffed Red as he drove out of the parking lot.
Zim sighed as he stared at his brother.
As usual Red was in his red and black color scheme, a red hoodie with the Halo Red Army logo and some black workout pants.
If it wasn't for the video game hoodie anyone would think that Red was a soccer mom.
They were in a small shop called Linden's Uniforms where time apparently skipped over the 'Presidents day blow out' banner was still up above the school uniforms.
All school uniforms where 1/2 price.
They should be zero priced by the way they looked. Boring old grey clothes suited for a school where girls would wear grey blazers and long brown skirts, boys would wear a grey suit with a brown tie.
Red was observing them, talking to the shop owner. They were talking about Zim's size, which was a bit of an embarrassing topic. Zim obviously was small for an irken, but Red decided to get Zim to try on one uniform and get the same size from there onward as well as one that was a little bigger in the hopes that Zim would grow into it.
After trying the uniform on, Zim sat at the edge of some stairs that led to the bathrooms and the second floor, flinching as a child suddenly came riding down the stairs on a spinney chair in a Richard III costume, waving his sword as he shouted-
"MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE!"
Only to be followed by a loud crash.
Zim laughed as he saw the angry parent that chased after the child. Suddenly something caught his attention. Day-Glo green gloves for sale priced at 24.99.
Zim smiled as he tried the gloves on, he liked them allot...maybe...
Zim quickly got an idea and looked for the spinney chair the child had. Poor thing was being dragged out the door by his ear, his father ranting about some punishment.
Zim quickly got on the chair and shifted his wait, forcing the chair to move. For about a minute Zim was going around Red, showing off the gloves that were covering his hands. Red, who was still picking out uniforms, barely glanced at Zim before he said, "put them back."
"But, Merah, the whole school's gonna wear boring grey clothes. No one will have these! I'll be unique-"
"Just like everyone else?" Said Red.
"No! I'll be the almighty ZIM! Come on Merah, pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?" begged Zim, pouting slightly.
"Put them back," Red said, giving his younger sibling a serious look. He didn't really want to lose his patience right now.
"My other mother would get them," huffed Zim.
"Maybe she should buy all your clothes," said Red, picking up his phone and texting some friend of his. Zim growled and rode the spinney chair over to the display of wellington booths that were shaped like frogs and ducks and rabbits. Using the chair for its purpose, Zim sat and waited for his brother to finish while he wondered about the dream he had that morning.
Gir...The door... that's right... Red had locked the door.
"Zim?" called out Red.
Zim sighed and got up, putting the gloves back he started wandering towards his brother, "here," he mumbled.
"Oh, sheesh, there you where. Where'd you go?" asked Red, heading for the cashier.
"I was kidnapped by the alien people of Mars," said Zim, "they came down from outer space with ray guns, but I fooled them by wearing a wig and laughing in a foreign accent, and I escaped."
"That's racist," commented Red, "besides, we all know Marsonians don't exist...anymore."
"Isn't the term Martian?" asked the store manager, before gasping, "Good lord child. What happened to your cheek? That is a nasty bruise how'd you get that?"
Zim smiled innocently and said "Oh this? I got it trying to help my uncle Sizzlor move some boxes."
Liar.
Red was sure going to go through a guilt-trip now.
"So what do you think is in the other apartment?" asked Zim in the car, looking out the window as rain poured again, making the world look greyer than ever.
"I don't know," sighed Red, "deffinately not a family of Vasquez imposters, I guess it probably looks like our flat before we moved in. Empty rooms."
"So why'd you lock the door?" asked Zim, both curious and annoyed.
"Oh, I found some rat crap, and I thought you'd feel...safer," said Red, guilt running though him as he saw Zim's bruise once again. The one he gave Zim nights ago.
"They're jumping mice, and cute little chicks, Merah, and the dreams aren't dangerous," sighed Zim "they're the most fun I've actually had since we've moved here."
"Your school might be fun," said Red.
"With those stupid uniforms? Right," replied Zim, snorting.
"Had to give it a try," said Red, shrugging his shoulders as he pulled into the drive way of the pink palace.
Once they were parked between the tree top and trunk, both quickly ran inside avoiding the rain
After setting the uniforms down on a foldable chair Red walked over to the fridge and found a sad little tomato, ketchup, salsa, mustard, tortilla's and some lettuce.
"How do you feel about a mustard, ketchup salsa wrap for lunch?" asked Red rather sheepishly.
"You're kidding?" said Zim, sitting down by the table.
"Had to go food shopping anyway," said Red with a shrug, smiling at his younger sibling, "Pur's planning something special."
"Grossgusting," mumbled Zim, shuttering. 'Something special' usually meant some kind of weird new recipe.
Red sighed as he looked at his younger brother. He was bored here in this house wasn't he? And the way Red treated him so far was not really fair.
"You wanna come along? You can pick out something you like," said Red, tugging at Zim's antennae playfully.
Zim flicked them away, annoyed at the fact that Merah had taken away his fun. 'Oh, like the gloves?' He thought.
"Look, Zim, if things go well today, I promise I'll make it up," said Red, trying to cheer his brother up.
"That's what you always say," mumbled Zim.
Red finally sighed, defeated. "Wont be long," he sighed, grabbing an umbrella and heading out the kitchen door to the porch and drive way.
Once Zim heard the engine start and fade in the distance, Zim smiled and got an idea.
'but I might be~" sang Zim, heading to the key drawer, opening it up, looking desperately for the old key that opened the little door in the living room.
It wasn't there, Red must have hidden-
Zim looked up at the one place his brother knew he wouldn't reach it...the hall frame.
Hanging on a little nail was the key. Smiling, Zim quickly made dash for the broom closet.
Zim got on a chair and and reached up with the broom.
Zim smiled triumphantly as he caught the key, climbing down from the chair he leaned the broom against the wall and headed for the living room.
The black old key felt colder than any of the others. Zim ignored the chill that ran up his spine again and stuck the key into the little doors keyhole. Zim looked around, and listened for his brother coming back, knowing that he was doing something wrong, but he heard nothing.
Little did he know that a pair of feline eyes were staring at him from outside the window. Nor did he hear the knowing purr emitting from the creatures throat.
Zim turned the key, it turned smoothly, with a satisfying clunk.
Closing his eyes Zim hoped for the hallway to be there, the wonderland where things were full of color and fun. He ignored the musty smell, ignored the chill of his spine...He wanted the wonderland.
Suddenly feeling a soft breeze, Zim opened his eyes slowly, a smile making its way on his lips as he whispered.
"I knew it was real."
Well people, you have your update! if you see grammar and spelling errors forgive me.
Please review.
Please, it motivates me to keep writing and don't forget.
(Warning: this was made to attract your attention since no one reads author's notes)
WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE BETTER?
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON MEETS PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
OR
XIOLIN SHOWDOWN MEETS PHANTOM OF THE OPERA?
Please vote!
And don't forget to review. Good night everybody!