Zim growled warningly as a strong hint but Dib couldn't resist to pass it up.
"Waterproof?" Beast Boy asked as he came in after Dib.
"I figured you'd come inside," Dib said with a coy grin. "What with your death allergy to water and all."
"Make silence NOW!" Zim yelled loudly. All the other Titans stood stock still as Zim's somewhat explosive temper came into play while Dib continued to stand there, grinning.
"Chill, Zim," Dib said with a laugh. "At least you're not stuck outside or anything."
"No," Zim replied hotly. "I'm stuck inside. Which is so much better," he finished with a sneer as he powered down his handheld.
"Allergy?" Robin asked.
Zim glared at Robin, then shrugged. "Yes," he said finally. "I am highly allergic to the substance on this planet known as H2O. It causes a chemical reaction in my skin and burns it off."
"Ouch," Cyborg offered.
Zim shot him a withering glare. "I am not so weak that I can't handle the pain," he sneered.
"No, you just writhe on the floor for the sport," Dib said with a laugh.
Zim narrowed his eyes at Dib. "Laugh now worm baby," he growled threateningly. "The time will come when I wear the almighty PANTS of victory!"
Dib shrugged and shook his head. "It's doesn't matter Zim. The rain will stop soon, you know it. Why are you so uptight?"
"Gee, I wonder," Zim snarled sarcastically.
"Never mind then," Dib replied dryly. He sighed and walked over to the couch and leaned on the back, looking over Zim's shoulder at the darkened screen of the handheld. He pointed at it and Dib gave him a questioning glance. "What's that?" Dib asked.
"A secret plan," Zim said nastily. "A program, but soon I will start to construct it. When it's finished it will rain DOOM and CHICKENS down on the enemy Vertians!"
"Chickens?" Dib asked.
"Yes," Zim answered. "Chickens."
"Interesting," Dib said slowly. "Is that literal?"
Zim thought for a second then shrugged. "I have no idea," he admitted.
Cyborg and Beast Boy both burst into fits of giggles at the mental image of chickens raining down from the sky. Starfire looked politely confused while Raven merely rolled her eyes and floated into a corner to meditate. Robin walked over and leaned over Zim's other shoulder to peer at the darkened handheld. "Are you going to show it to us?"
"You will see it when the Vertians see it," Zim told him. "I do not make a habit of showing INFERIOR filth like you my brilliant plots."
"You just yell your plans out in the middle of crowded streets," Dib told him with a smirk.
"SILENCE!" Zim roared. "I will have none of your… talk noise, stink face," he snapped at Dib.
Dib shrugged and decided that it was just best not to retaliate. His amusement had a limit, and he could only take so much of Zim's ranting before it got annoying.
Gir on the other hand, decided that he was going to take full advantage of being indoors by poking around every little nook and cranny. "Ooooo, lookit mastah! Lookit all this stuff!"
Zim turned around to see Gir in the kitchen area, playing around by the stove. He stood up and quickly walked over, making sure that Gir didn't get into anything he shouldn't. "Gir! Get away from that. You don't know how to work it!"
"Suuuure I dooooo…" Gir cooed. "It is a stove! I turn this and it gets REAL hot!"
Zim growled as he continued to walk towards Gir with Dib hovering nearby. "Gir, you can work the Irken technology in my house because it's linked to you. I repeat, you DON'T know HOW to use it!"
Gir turned around and grinned at Zim who was standing right behind him with his arms crossed. "Hiiii mastah!" Gir waved ecstatically at Zim, immediately forgetting what they were even arguing about.
Zim rolled his eyes. "Come on Gir, let's get you away from this area before you destroy something."
Gir grinned and nodded in his goofy way. "Okie dokie!" he said happily and waved.
"Good," Zim sighed and turned around, ready to lead Gir out of the kitchenette.
Gir looked around one last time and saw the spray hose by the sink. While Zim's back was still turned, he jumped up onto the sink and jimmied the lever into the 'on' position so that the water came out fairly fast. He ignored this however and reached for the spray nozzle and turned it around quickly in his hands. "Oooooohhh… what's this do?"
Dib quickly ran forward. "Uh, Gir, you should put that down. It's not a toy…"
Zim turned around to see his robot sitting on a sink, that was on, playing with some sort of part that he had never seen before. "Gir?" he asked.
"Zim… get away from there," Dib told him slowly.
Gir finally squeezed it and water began to gush out of the spray nozzle, all over the robot. Gir squealed and turned it away from himself, and right at Zim, who was standing in front of Gir, still looking puzzled.
Dib only had time to slap himself on the forehead before Zim was getting a face full of water and running around the kitchen, screaming loudly in pain.
"IT BURNS!" Zim yelled, throwing his arms above his head and running into the living room.
"Get Gir!" Robin yelled at Dib as he tried to run after the flailing Zim who was soaked through and appeared to be in quite a bit of pain.
"Oh dear," Starfire said softly as she tried to help Robin.
Cyborg went over to the kitchen to turn off the spurting water and Beast Boy helped Dib carry the still giggling Gir away from the water faucet and out of the vicinity of the kitchenette.
Meanwhile, Robin and Starfire were still chasing the smoking Zim around the living room.
"Zim, slow down!" Robin yelled. "We can get you dried off if you stop running."
"But it BURNS!" Zim yelled. "THE PAIN WON'T STOP!"
Dib came in carrying Gir who was laughing his fool robot butt off. "Of course it won't you moron! Your clothes are wet! You'll keep on burning as long as your uniform is wet!"
"Please, Irken Zim, we are only trying to help!" Starfire yelled.
"ZIM NEEDS NO HELP!" Zim managed to yell back even though he was in immense pain. Even if his skin was burning off, he could still defend his pride with as much energy as he always had.
Raven's eyebrow twitched at the mayhem going on around her. It was bad enough they had a homicidal jerk living with them, but now he was interrupting her precious meditation time. "Azarath… metrion… zinthos!" she muttered under her breath and a wall of her black energy appeared and reached from the floor to the ceiling, cutting the room in half.
Zim, in his pain filled flailing, didn't even notice the wall until he had run right into it.
Dib chuckled while Gir clapped as the excitement died down. "Yay! Master go boom!"
Zim sat sulkily on the couch, covered in a too big towel and glaring at anyone who dared to come within his sight distance. He had it so that the towel was draped over his head and around his body, so that only his face could be seen. He was no longer wet, but he was mad, that was for sure.
Dib walked over and sat next to Zim. Zim gave him a death glare that he happily ignored. "Chill out Zim, your uniform will be dry in a half hour. All he did was spray you with water."
"And soaked me!" Zim growled. "This is humiliating."
Dib shrugged. "Your clothes are wet. Unless you want to wear wet clothes…" he trailed off.
"No thanks," Zim growled.
"Then be patient. I happen to know you are quite patient," Dib replied. "So, do us all a favor and stop looking like you're about to snap and kill everyone."
"What if I am?" Zim said with a nasty grin.
"If you were you would have tried already," Dib replied.
Zim had nothing to say to this so he merely shrugged and looked at Dib. "What do you mean you know I am patient?" he asked.
"You live with Gir, don't you?" Dib replied.
"Yes…" Zim answered slowly.
"And you haven't killed him yet," Dib pointed out.
"Ah," Zim replied. "Okay, point taken, I guess."
Dib looked around the room to see Robin nodding his approval of getting Zim to calm down. He nodded back and continued to scan the room. Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing video games and Raven was still meditating. He blinked as he realized that Starfire was missing. "Hey," he said slowly.
"Yes?" Robin asked.
"Where is Starfire?" Dib replied. "I haven't seen her since Raven put up the force field."
"She flew off to the mall," Robin replied. "She was saying something about having a 'wonderfully good idea' before she let."
"Any idea what it is?" Dib asked.
Robin shook his head. "I honestly have no clue," he said in reply. "Starfire's ideas usually are good unless they involve food."
"Bad cook?" Dib asked.
"By Earth's standards… yes," Robin replied delicately. "I have no idea how good or bad she is by Tameranian standards."
Zim snorted and drew the towel closer to himself.
"Still sulky?" Cyborg called over from his game.
"Yeup!" Dib replied.
"Shut up, inferior mortals," Zim muttered darkly.
Robin and Dib both laughed while Zim glared at them from his little cocoon. "Very sulky," Robin confirmed.
"Your time will come you pig smelly goo heads!" Zim sniffed.
Dib opened his mouth to reply but he was cut off by Starfire flying into the room. She was ginning and clutching a plastic shopping bag in her hands. "Hello, friends!" she said happily. "I have returned from the large building of shopping!"
"Hey Star," Robin greeted her as she gently landed on the floor. "What did you go there in such a hurry for?"
Starfire smiled and held the bag out to Zim who looked from it to her several times before finally asking, "What?"
"New clothes," she said with a smile. "I figured, since you do not seem to be very fond of anything that reminds you of your Empire that you may want to wear something that is not your military uniform."
Zim blinked several times, looking oddly confused. "But you hate me," he stated, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.
Starfire shook her head. "No, you are mistaken, Irken Zim. I hate no one. And seeing as how your uniform is still wet, you could at least get dressed so that you are not just wearing a towel."
Zim cocked his head and looked at the bag, then at the smiling alien. "Why?"
"Because, I like to shop," the bubble girl replied. "And because it seemed like the right thing to do. Unless you do wish to put back on your military clothing."
Zim looked to the side apprehensively as if the idea of wearing his uniform was an uncomfortable one. "Well…" he said slowly. "It couldn't hurt, I guess. Until my other clothes are dry."
Starfire grinned and clapped her hands happily as Zim took the bag and retreated into the hallway in search of the bathroom.
"Wow… I'm surprised," Dib said slowly.
"You read that rather well, Star," Robin said while grinning.
"Read what?" Beast Boy asked as he continued to move his controller around in a vain attempt to pass Cyborg in the racing game they were playing.
"The uniform thing," Dib replied for Robin. "She's right, Zim doesn't want to be reminded of the military."
"I figured his sense of betrayal is a bit deeper then he is letting on," Starfire said softly. "It is not an easy thing, to be betrayed by something you believe in."
Dib nodded. "Yeah, I see that now."
"See what, stink face?" Zim's irritated voice said from behind them.
Dib turned around and blinked several times at the smaller Irken in his somewhat normal clothing. Starfire cheered and clapped her hands. "Yay, it fits!" she said happily.
Zim was dressed in dark gray cargo pants with red bands that separated the pant leg into three sections. There were interior pockets near the hips as well as large exterior pockets by the knees. He had on a red sleeveless open vest with black stripes over a black long sleeved shirt with a red insignia on the front. The shirt's edges were also in red. To finish it off, Zim had on fingerless gloves that he could only wonder where Starfire had gotten them since they only had three finger holes.
The shirt was a little long and went way below the vest, although in some ways it made the outfit look a little better. And his pack was covered by a black hood that was attached to the vest, offering it at the very least, a little protection from whatever Gir have may attempted to do next.
He was also barefoot, and for the first time Dib could see Zim's feet. Which were green, like the rest of his body, and only had two, rather large toes. The pants pooled around his feet, covering his ankles and making the pants a little long on the small alien. In all, 'it fits' may not have been the best description to give the ensemble. However, no one was going to complain, especially not Zim who didn't even know what 'fitting' actually meant, considering he had worn the Irken soldier uniform for most of his life.
"Looks… good," Dib said finally. "Is it comfortable?"
"Actually," Zim said slowly. "Yeah, it is. It's a lot looser then my Irken uniform."
Starfire nodded happily. "Indeed. The wearing of comfortable clothes is one of my favorite past times on the planet Earth. As well as the doing up of my hair."
"Then why have you only worn that since I've seen you?" Zim asked, motioning to her purple outfit.
"This is my battle wear," Starfire told him. "When I am fighting and helping others, I need to be able to move freely and get around. I have other clothes that I put on when I am doing other things, sometimes," she explained. "But mostly I wear my battle outfit."
"Master!" Gir yelled happily and flew into Zim, forcing the alien to stagger a bit in order to catch his balance. "Are you mad at me?" he asked in a small voice.
Zim sighed exasperatedly. "No Gir, I am not mad. But you aren't allowed near the human kitchen anymore. You do bad things when you are there. Bad. Understand?"
Gir nodded. "Uh huh."
"Good, now, go play with Minimoose or something. I am going to resume my programming," Zim ordered, pointing over to where the purple moose was floating and squeaking adorably.
"Yay! I go play with MOOSE!" Gir yelled and pounced on Minimoose and began to roll around with him on the floor.
Zim pulled out his handheld and walked over to the couch. "And don't activate anything!" he yelled at the two roughhousing robots.
"Activate…" Robin said slowly.
Zim shook his head. "Zim's secrets," he told Robin. "You'll learn soon enough, bird-human."
Robin shrugged and went over to stand next to Dib who was watching Beast Boy just barely defeat Cyborg in the racing game. "Oh yeah!" Beast Boy cheered. "Who da man?"
Okies! Here's the next chapter. Zim got a new outfit and all that good stuff. I felt the need to put him in something other then his uniform XD Anyways! For those of you who seem to be afraid of reviewing, don't be. I love getting reviews and critique on my stories. They tell me who is reading, and how it's being taken in. So, don't be afraid to give me your opinion!
Tak will be showing up shortly, I'm not sure about Gaz. So, here you guys go! I'll see you next chapter. Hugs to you all.