"What are you doing, Dib smell?"

The question didn't surprise Dib. If Zim didn't even know how to pronounce "goggles", the odds of him knowing what sand castle building was were slim as well.

"Building a sand castle." He said shortly. There was no need to give an elaborate explanation for this one- if Zim could just keep his mouth shut for a few minutes, he would see for himself. Shaping the sand into a tower as best he could, Dib stuck a shell on the top and sat back.

"That...that looks utterly pitiful, human. It reminds Zim of dookie. I wouldn't live in that castle for all the snacks in the world." Zim commented rudely.

"Oh yeah? Well I was only trying to kill time. I bet you couldn't do much better." Dib shot back.

Zim's eyes narrowed. The challenge was wordlessly accepted as Zim began building his own castle. After a few moments Dib had to admit that, even though he still had no idea what the alien was trying to build, his castle was shaped better. Zim stopped suddenly and glanced around, looking to see if any of the other children were paying any attention. Seeing that everyone was busy building their own castles or swimming, Zim hastily reached back and pulled a handful of tiny things out of his Pak before Dib could blink.

Sticking the small objects in his "castle", Zim leaned back and declared "Zim is finished! look upon my creation and be jealous, pig worm!"

Dib leaned closer and finally recognized what Zim had built; it was the Irken insignia, and it did look surprisingly good for not having shovels, a bucket, or water on hand. But wait a minute...wasn't that...

"Zim! Are those the same little flags you stuck all inside my body when you tried to destroy my brain a long time ago?" Dib demanded, frowning.

"Hm... why, yes, it appears that they are, Earth dirt." Zim said flippantly, clearly trying to stop himself from laughing.

"Not cool." Dib growled. Watching the alien's thin shoulders shake with barely suppressed laughter, however, Dib felt a grin creeping up on his own face. Looking out over the water he noted that the sun was still on its way up, and the day had yet to reach the characteristic heat the beach was known for. "Hey Zim, let's build a really big castle- an actual castle- closer to the water. It won't be hot for at least another half hour or so. We have time to kill."

"Zim? Build a castle with you?...Very well. But you'd better not hold my almighty amazing building skills back." Zim answered, standing up and dusting himself off.

Dib was a little surprised Zim had so readily agreed, but stood up as well and walked to a spot where the sand would stick for building. "Here's good. The sand will pack well and the water's not too far from here." Dib reasoned when the alien looked like he was about to complain at the proximity to the surf. Watching him shrug and plunk himself down into the sand and begin to form a wall, Dib was blindsided by how normal he looked- just like any other kid having fun at the beach. Well, besides the green skin and all. Shaking off the odd feeling, Dib looked at a nearby umbrella. A large bright green bucket lay under it, and nobody was around to claim it. Creeping over, Dib grabbed the bucket and then rushed back guiltily to where Zim was growling at having the wall collapse again.

"I got a bucket, Zim! One sec, I'm going to go fill it with that wetter sand over there. It sticks better." Dib explained when Zim gave him a questioning expression. Darting closer to the water, he scooped the dark gloppy sand into the bucket and hauled it back, letting it hit the ground next to Zim with a thud. Zim looked into the bucket suspiciously, and extended a finger to prod at it. Examining it for a little while, Zim seemed to deem it satisfactory as he pulled out a mound of it and began reinforcing his wall. It held perfectly, and Zim hissed "Success!" and began to rapidly build more.

"Dib, start putting a mound of that nice heavy wet sand in the middle- we'll need a strong base for our tower of DOOM." Zim instructed, and Dib noticed the lack of insult only after he had started emptying the bucket where Zim had directed. Making another run to the water's edge, Dib refilled the bucket and returned, emptying half onto his growing pile and leaving half for Zim to work with. Zim was doing an admirable job, and Dib was beginning to see where he was going with the walls- the perimeter looked like it was going to have six or seven sides, and Zim was leaving plenty of space in the middle for the "tower of doom." Rolling his eyes at the predictable name, Dib crouched down and began to form the pile of sand in the middle into what would eventually be the tower.

The two worked in silence as the sun began to heat the area to a more beachlike temperature but the silence was, for once, not uncomfortable. After what felt like twenty minutes of working and a ridiculous amount of runs for more gloppy sand, the walls were complete and Zim and Dib had moved on to the tower.

"How tall is this thing going to be, Zim? The sand won't stack forever." Dib broke the silence to ask.

"ANOTHER FOOT! Then it shall be worthy." Zim yelled, dumping more sand on the top.

Dib sighed, but returned to shaping the sand. A couple more minutes ticked by, and finally the tower was complete. Stepping back, the two of them surveyed their combined creation. Craning his neck up, Dib mumbled "How did we even do that...?" as he looked at the peak of the tower, which stretched a good foot over both their heads.

"Because, Dib monkey, Zim was here to make it so." Zim said proudly, crossing his arms and grinning up at the tower of Doom.

"Hey, I helped!" Dib protested, kicking sand at Zim. Zim merely widened an eye and looked at the sand on his legs, and Dib realized his attack had had no effect; the two of them were coated in sand from head to toe anyway.

"Heh heh...hahaha...ahahahaha!" Dib slowly began to crack up. Zim's normally green skin was almost human-colored when covered by the sand, and he had a splattering of the dirt across where his nose should be and the rest of his face. Zim looked bewildered at Dib's fit of giggles, until he really looked at him. The idiotic human had sand lining his glasses making them look like they were made out of it, and the end of his hair scythe looked like someone had dipped it in sand. The two of them looked like they had been dragged across the beach attached to a horse, and Zim blinked as he understood Dib's humor.

Dib's own laughing degenerated into chuckles when he heard Zim beginning to laugh as well, but for once Dib didn't feel the anger or sense of impending evil at the Irken's cackling. Zim was doubled over holding his middle, pointing at Dib and howling with mirth.

"Haha, Dib you idiot...haha, you're, heheh, you look like you walked through a sandstorm! Ahahaha!" Zim barely managed to get out, collapsing to the ground from the hilarity. "Stupid human!" he added, still trying to control himself.

By now Dib was laughing along with Zim again. "Ha, but you look like you were buried in it! Hahaha!"

The two of them laughed at their respective situations, eventually calming down and gasping for breath, letting out snickers every few seconds. Dib looked over to see Zim with a hand covering his mouth in an attempt to hold the giggles in, and something occurred to him- to anyone else simply watching from the outside, they looked like the best of friends.

"But no, that's impossible. Zim wants to conquer the Earth and besides, he hates me. There's no reason he'd even know what friendship is." Dib thought, sobering a little but still smiling. Well, at least they weren't tearing each other's throats out. It was a nice change for once.

Really feeling the heat now, Dib looked out at the ocean. It looked cool and inviting and he kicked off his sandals, whooped, and took off for it at a run. Splashing into the waves, he grinned happily- the temperature was perfect. Cool enough to be refreshing, but still not cold. Bobbing with the waves for a few minutes, he remembered something and looked back at the shore.

Zim was standing there wide eyed, looking dumbstruck at the idea that Dib had just rushed willingly into the water. Dib watched as the alien diverted his gaze to the waves that lapped at his feet, and Dib heard his "AAH!" even over the sound of the surf and snickered as Zim scrambled away from the lapping water, panting and looking terrified as he cowered under the umbrella. Dib rubbed at his eye as a bit of saltwater splashed into it- Zim would clearly need some convincing to even come near the water and he needed his prescription goggles anyway. Dad would be furious if he lost his glasses in the ocean. "If he even noticed." Dib thought dryly.

So, swimming towards the shore and then walking to the umbrella dripping wet, Dib couldn't hold back a smirk at seeing Zim still quivering from the water. Unfolding his towel and taking his goggles out from the material, he replaced them with his glasses carefully. Everything was blurry for a moment, but Dib snapped the goggles on his face and things focused with a slight blue tint.

"Dib, it tried to get Zim! The water came after my delicious blood." Zim whispered, hiding behind the pole of the umbrella.

"No, Zim, that was just the tide. Its always like that. And if you'd ever try to get in, you'd notice that it feels like the ocean is trying to pull you away- but its only bad near the shore. The waves are fun farther out." Dib explained, watching the Irken unclench his limbs a little as things were explained to him from a scientific standing.

"It won't suck me away?" Zim asked warily, eyeing the ocean distrustfully.

"No. Well, a riptide might, but you just need to swim parallel to the shore if you get caught in one. You should stay in the shallows and try to figure out how to swim first, though. It's not hard- just stay afloat without flailing around." Dib offered, turning to run back into the water. "Oh, and put your goggles on. You don't want your eyes to burn from both the water and the salt." he added, taking off across the hot sand.

Splashing into the water, he turned around to see that Zim hadn't budged an inch. "Come on, Zim! The water's great!" He called out encouragingly, wondering for how long the alien could drag the process out. He held back a snort as Zim peeled himself off the pole, snapped his goggles on, and dragged his feet through the sand. Zim halted right where the tide stopped advancing, obviously reluctant, and visibly shuddered before taking the step forward that would let the water wash over his feet. Dib didn't hold back his snort of amusement this time as Zim stiffened and shook when the water rushed towards him. A few moments passed, and Dib yelled "See? Not so bad."

Zim relaxed minutely and swished his leg around experimentally, but seemed at a loss for what to do next. "Come on Zim; a little farther out." Dib swam closer and said, bobbing comfortably with the waves. He caught Zim's quiet "Ugh..." as the alien took a few more strides, the hem of his swim trunks now barely grazing the water.

"There. Zim is in! I have fulfilled my normal childlike desire to be in the ocean- now I shall leave." he announced, but when he turned his head he noticed a few of his classmates staring at him oddly from down the beach. "I mean, uh...the water is...cold, yes! Zim is simply...getting used to it." Zim improvised, looking back at dib and making a desperate face. Dib merely shrugged: Zim would have to get over himself and get in. Wading farther out, Zim stopped when the waterline lapped at his stomach. His hands had been raised just over the water's surface the entire time, and he finally dipped them in.

"That's still not good enough Zim. Get in at least up to your shoulders- that's deep enough for you to try more than standing." Dib advised, paddling back and forth lazily while he enjoyed the show. Zim growled angrily, but moved farther out. His progress slowed when the water was up to his chest, and he looked back at the shore nervously. "Couple more feet, Zim. Don't tell me a great Irken invader can't do what human babies can?" Dib taunted.

That proved to be the right button to push as Zim snarled and muttered "As soon as I learn how to swim, Dib, I'm going to drown you." He resolutely walked the rest of the way out however, and clearly held back his fear of how high the water was to his head.

"Ok, that's it. You're in. Now, just try to lift your feet off the ground and let the waves suspend you. You might need to kick your feet a little, but the water should do most of the work." Dib instructed, trying not to let the weirdness of the situation get to him; he was teaching an advanced alien species how to swim. Something that most humans learned when they were around six years old. Zim floundered about a little, and hissed when he kept sinking back down. "You're spazzing out too much." Dib said. "Just let the water hold you, and go with the flow."

Dib let himself relax and bob with the waves as an example, and Zim again tried to float. A few seconds went by, and he exclaimed "Dib worm! Zim is floating!" and Dib could somewhat see through the murky water Zim's feet pedaling in a more natural manner.

"See? I told you it was easy. Now, try to actually swim. You need to kick your feet and arms in order to move through the water, but don't stop floating either." Dib paddled circles around Zim as another example, and Zim looked frustrated at the ease with which the human performed such a simple action. Trying to copy the way Dib cut through the water, Zim hesitantly went from floating to swimming, finding it easier than expected.

"Zim is swimming!" The Irken proclaimed mightily, dog paddling slowly around. "Fear my abilities, Dib thing!" Dib rolled his eyes even though he knew Zim couldn't see it. Literally three seconds into swimming, and the alien already thought he was an Olympic champion at it. Dib merely dived down under the waves out of sight, and swam stealthily over to Zim. Grinning deviously he reached out and grabbed Zim's leg, letting go when the alien began to thrash around.

"-AS ME! HELP! THE OCEAN ATE DIB AND ITS COMING FOR ME NEXT!" Dib surfaced to hear Zim screaming, and stared flatly as the alien continued to thrash around.

"Zim? I'm right here. That was me, you moron." Zim stopped screaming and stilled, looking over to where Dib had popped up.

"Of course...Zim knew this already, human fool!" Zim yelled, failing miserably at saving face.

"Uh huh. Sure you did." Dib played along, and dived down again. Searching around in the mud for shells, his hand grazed something sharp. "Ow." he thought, but looked for what had poked him.

An onyx black conch shell tip stuck out of the ground, and Dib grinned excitedly as he grabbed it and pulled it up out of the sand. It was a beautiful find, and Dib figured he might as well take it home; it would look neat on the shelf in the bathroom. Lungs beginning to clamor for air, Dib swam back up and gasped in a breath. Zim looked startled at Dib's re-entry yet again, but Dib splashed over to him. "Zim! Zim, look what I found!" Dib called, waving the shell in the air.

He passed it to Zim with a "Don't drop it." and the alien inspected it. "What does it do?" Zim asked once his perusal was finished, offering the shell back.

Dib took it back and thought a moment. "Well, it...uh...it's a shell? Also, some sea creatures live in them."

"Sea creatures like that one?" Zim asked.

"Huh?" Dib said, and looked back down at the conch. A large claw, some legs, and two long eyestalks had emerged from the shell, and Dib almost dropped it out of surprise. "Zim, there's a little crab in here!" Dib said, smiling as the crab waved its eyes around and scuttled its legs in the air. "He's cool!" Dib added, holding the shell gingerly while avoiding the claw.

"Crab?" Zim queried, looking over Dib's shoulder at the little arthropod. The orange hermit crab wiggled around in confusion, likely wondering why it had been rudely removed from its home buried in the mud.

"Yeah. They're related to spiders, but I don't find them nearly as creepy. Guess I can't keep the shell- it's this little guy's home." Dib said, and gently tossed it farther out where neither of them would step on it and the crab could re-bury itself in peace.

"DIB! DIB, SOMETHING HAS ZIM'S LEG!" Dib jerked at Zim's earsplitting screech, and turned around to see the Irken freaking out, looking down through the water at where his leg would be. Sighing, Dib dived down and swam closer to Zim. A tendril of long brown seaweed had wrapped itself around Zim's ankle and it swayed merrily in the current, oblivious of the pandemonium it was causing. Reaching out, Dib pulled it off and surfaced.

"It's only seaweed, Zim. Get used to it- its everywhere." Dib explained, proffering the seaweed. Zim accepted it uneasily, and Dib winced as one of the alien's sharp claws dragged accidentally over his hand and opened up a small rent in his skin which began to bleed.

"Seaweed? Why does it feel so...so...so gross?" Zim cast about for a word to describe the slippery wet strand as he tossed it away from him in disgust.

"I dunno, that's just how seaweed is. Its a plant that lives in the water." Dib said, bringing his hand up to his mouth and sucking on the cut to keep the blood from enticing sharks miles away.

Zim noticed this and narrowed his eyes. "Human, why are you eating your hand?"

"I'm not eating my hand." Dib mumbled around said hand. "You cut me and I'm sucking most of the blood away so we don't get attacked by sharks."

"Oh...Zim apologizes. I wear gloves most of the time to prevent things like that from happening, but in a situation like this it would be abnormal to wear them. Now, how is it that you are able to teleport under the water?"

Zim's apology was quickly overridden by his question, but Dib still caught it all the same. "You mean diving? Its just swimming underwater. Try it, but don't forget to hold your breath." Dib said, disappearing beneath the waves and resuming his search for good uninhabited shells.

Shifting the sand at the bottom around, he started when a pair of green hands came into his field of view, and he looked up to see Zim grinning triumphantly. The two of them dug through the sand for a while, and Dib saw Zim pull something out of the ground right before he had to refill on air. Breaking the surface, he drew in a long breath and looked around expectantly. Dib counted a few seconds, and when Zim didn't come up as well he began to panic.

"What if he's drowning? What if he forgot to hold his breath and accidentally gulped down a bunch of seawater? Would he burn from the inside out? ...Wait, why do I care?" Dib finally asked himself. He'd been looking for a way to put an end to Zim's threat for over a year now. If he was lost to the cold, merciless sea, why should he care? He should be happy.

Heart ignoring all his head told him, he submerged and glanced around. Zim was exactly where Dib had left him and he was nonchalantly examining the shell he'd dislodged, fake coiffed hair waving around with the waves. Noticing Dib's presence and then his expression, he tilted his head and regarded him confusedly. Dib pointed upwards, and Zim took the hint and surfaced with him.

"What is it, human? And look, Zim found one of your shell thingies!" Zim exclaimed, shoving the hair out of his face and fixing it back into a sad looking version of the way it normally was after wringing it out.

"Hm, that's actually not a half bad looking she- wait a minute! How were you able to stay underwater that long?" Dib began to answer normally, but the reason for calling the alien back to the surface in the first place pushed to the forefront of his mind.

"Hm? Oh, because of the need for air, you mean?" Zim guessed astutely. "Zim's incredible Pak has a compressed backup supply that refills itself with a portion of every inhalation I take when depleted. Pretty neat, huh?" Zim quickly explained, waving a hand as if to dimish the importance of the situation. "Useful if I'm in space and am cut off from an air supply without warning." Zim tacked on to the end of his little biology lesson, and then pocketed the shell in his swim trunks and dived back down.

"...That's so not fair. Extra legs, a communicator thingy, emergency air, lasers...why haven't humans invented something even half that cool?" Dib griped to himself quietly, startled when Zim popped back up to say cheekily "I know, right? Irkens are clearly superior." and then dove back down.

"He heard that? With a wig on and underwater? Wow." Dib thought, instantly jealous of what it would be like to have senses that far exceeded human capabilities. He would never need stupid glasses, that was for sure. Shrugging, he fixed the strap on his goggles more firmly over his head and dove down with Zim, where the alien waved at him and pointed at a clump of shells sticking out of the sand. Together the two of them sorted through the small treasure trove, picking out intact shells and looking more closely to determine how worthy they were for keeping based on aesthetics. Dib had to pause for a breath of air five or six times to Zim's every one, but he suspected the Irken was simply being cautious- surely his emergency supply held more than five minute's worth of air.

Once each boy had picked out around three shells they particularly liked, both became bored with the activity and surfaced, merely enjoying the motion of the ocean.

"You know Dib, this hideous human beach isn't so bad after all." Zim said, floating on his back lazily with his arms behind his head as he gazed up at the clouds.

"Yeah. We used to come here a lot before mom died. It's still my favorite place to vacation." Dib agreed, joining Zim in his cloudgazing.

"Hmm." Zim hummed evenly in response. Dib didn't expect a response beyond that, as Zim probably didn't understand what the bonds within families were really like, but the fact that the alien had acknowledged he'd spoken at all without an insult was a change in itself. The two of them were getting along, Dib realized, and even though Zim still referred to him as "human" or "Dib worm" or any variation of his actual name, the usual sting of the insults wasn't there.

The two drifted comfortably for a while quietly, the screams and laughs of their classmates and the obnoxious crying of seagulls sounding both near and far over the noise of the pounding surf.

"I'm...sorry. About your mother, Dib thing."

The voice broke the tranquility of the moment, and Dib slid his eyes over to see Zim still watching the puffy white clouds scud by.

"What do you mean, you're sorry?" Dib asked.

"I mean... well I don't know what I mean, but isn't that customary to say in response to something like a death or other tragedy? Human word banter is so odd..." Zim answered, picking a piece of seaweed off his wrist and chucking it away.

"Yeah. Yeah, that usually is what's said. I don't understand it either- its not like the person apologizing had anything to do with the tragedy personally. I guess its...just a way to fill the silence left after saying stuff like that." Dib reasoned aloud. Feeling his stomach rumble, he found it an excellent time to change the subject. "Hey, I'm getting hungry and it's probably about noon. I'm going to go buy something to eat at that little cafe down the road a bit from the camp." Dib announced abruptly, flipping over and beginning to swim ashore.

The splashing behind him indicated Zim was following, and Dib tossed over his shoulder "What, haven't had enough of me yet?"

"No, Earth piss, Zim is simply aware that without you around to provide entertainment, he would be left to fend for himself with all these pig smelly classmates. That and I find your company strangely...tolerable as of the past day or so." Zim answered honestly, following Dib to the umbrella and grabbing his own red towel with a large black Irken logo on it and shaking the sand off, before rubbing his fake hair dry. Once he seemed sure no water would drip down from his wig, Zim tugged his goggles off and rubbed where the suction had left dark green rings.

Dib rolled his eyes at the flimsy reasons, but decided not to comment as he pulled off his own goggles. Reaching for where he knew his glasses should be, he felt his stomach drop when he encountered only the soft material of the towel. "Where...where are my glasses?" Dib asked aloud, patting the sand around where his towel was for them.

"You mean these?" Zim said slyly, and Dib jerked his head up to see what looked like Zim playing with his glasses.

"Hey, give those back! I can't see without those!" Dib yelped, lunging for them. He missed as Zim sidestepped easily, and when he turned around again Zim was holding them on his own face, and was looking around and blinking.

"Dib human, your vision is horrible. I could probably see Irk through these if I focused the lenses just right." Zim teased, tottering unsteadily before he took them off and offered them to Dib.

Snatching them away from the alien, he jammed them on his face and the world lost its blurriness. Picking up his towel and brushing off the sand, he dried himself off and collected his sandals from where he had kicked them earlier. Starting for the path back towards the camp, he couldn't keep the smile off his face as he heard the padding of Zim's feet behind him.

Sorry for the lateness, but as you can see this is a big chapter. I hope I met expectations with it :) I'm hoping for a lot of reviews since this chapter has almost 5,000 words (usual length for ADFT is around 2,300). Don't be shy to review! You can always review anonymously if you don't want me to know your account name or whatever, I like anon reviews too :p And even if you've reviewed earlier chapters, pitch in your thoughts again (even if they're as simple as "I like this")- I love repeat reviewers because it assures me people are following the story :D