This chapter is just scene setting for the next chapter. Up until this point the chapters came naturally but this one there was a lot of struggling so please if there is something wrong with this or something I could improve let me know. I hope I didn't make the characters too OOC I used my amazing author powers to characters that didn't show too much get a real feel for them. Tak seemed pretty clear cut though. Skoodge was sort of easy but Mimi and Tenn were a little harder. Can't keep them in character if you don't see the too much but oh well ^-^ The next chapter will be in Tak's POV.
Chapter 3
(6 horrible months later.)
"Doom, doom, doom, do-doomy-do-doom! Doomy-do-doom!" He was still singing! He never stopped except to take a nap! Being stuck in that molten hell of a prison or even having a job back on Dirt was better than that and everyone on the Spittle couldn't tune him out if they wanted too!
Mimi had her hands where her ears would be if she had any "Make him stop! I can't take anymore!"
"I've beaten up things that didn't make as much noise as him!" Tak covered her antennas. They couldn't exactly turn around they've suffered for six months with Gir's constant singing they weren't going to take anymore! They all hoped they found this mystery planet soon or they would jump into the vacuum of space and Mimi would dismantle herself. An alarm came saying that they were approaching a planet, it was a planet with a name they haven't heard of before. Planet Earth, this must be the place.
"We're finally here!" Tenn cheered. A planet this far out was most likely going to turn out to be some uncivilized backwater planet but at least they would be out of there ships and away from Gir's voice.
Speaking of which he was still singing Mimi called over "Gir, you can stop singing we made it!"
"Doom, doom-do- hold on- Doom, doom, doom the end! Ooh, what's that?"
"Planet Earth, as the inhabitants call it." Zim's voice came over the speakers
"Earth?" Skoodge repeated "That's an odd name… doesn't that mean basically the same thing as dirt? Planet Dirt?"
Tak shuddered "It better not be like Dirt or I'll find some other undiscovered planet." They entered the atmosphere rather smoothly. Though of course it didn't mean that the hull didn't catch on fire. The two ships shook rather violently as Tak and Zim tried to slow the speed of the fall through the atmosphere. Though they were fairly good at flying (Tak insists she's better though) so at least the ship wasn't coming apart at all. Skoodge was gritting his teeth tightly as his gloved claws dug into the seat. His whole badly was being pushed backwards and was effectively pinned to his spot. Gir was giggling insanely "Whooo-hooo!"
In the Spittle things weren't any better Tenn was struggling to stay in her seat. Whoever said safety straps help keep you from getting hurt was sadly mistaken. The only thing those straps were doing was about to strangle her as she started to slip "Whoooooaaaaa!" She screamed. Mimi, like Gir, was enjoying it fully. She was sitting beside Tenn laughing as if she was on an amusement park ride with her hands above her head. She turned to Tenn "Ha-ha-ha! Put your hands up in the air it's more fun like that!" Tenn looked in front and saw only bright blue flames out the window on every part of the cockpit windows see saw flames. Mimi was still laughing and Tenn did a double take on Mimi and could have sworn for as moment Mimi was gone and the devil sat next to her laughing.
(-)
Dib sat on the roof of his house with his telescope like he usually would on clear nights like this. He let out a big sigh wishing something interesting would happen one of these days. He always knew that there had to be other life in the universe, it just made sense, but the only "evidence" of aliens have only been fakes so someone could make quick money. "Dib!" a voice growled from the window below "You better come inside now! I will not be tired on my first day of high school because of your paranormal stupidity!" his sister growled.
Dib wasn't done star gazing yet "In a minute Gaz." He searched the sky and saw a shooting star "If only I could find some real alien evidence." He wished hopefully. But then he noticed two shooting stars that's never happened before and they were moving a little too slowly to be shooting stars. Were they comets? That didn't seem likely either He tried to look through his telescope to see the things in the sky. He couldn't make out what they were exactly but it looked like something mechanical was inside the two flames. Even without the telescope he could tell it was going to land very close and it seemed to be getting closer. Just when it looked like they were about to hit… they disappeared… gone in an instant. "What the- what was that!" he yelled out to no one
"Be quiet!" Gaz's voice called out. He tried to find it on the telescope but it was gone… both of them. They didn't crash because there would have to of been some kind of explosion. It put together quickly the only thing it could have been.
"They're here! They're coming! I've got to tell someone that aliens have actually landed!" He grabbed a gutter pipe and slide down to the ground "Dad! Dad!" He screamed as he ran into the house. Gaz from her room growled in barely contained rage. She gave Dib several warnings and he didn't listen… He will pay!
(-)
They managed to stop their fall and began searching for a perfect plot of land to set up their home. They only had one pop-up base so they would all have to live together most likely as a false family unit. Tak considered the possibility of just kicking Zim out of the house and let him fend for himself but Tenn put an end to that plan. Sometimes she was no fun. Tak would have let him back in… as soon as he begged her on his knees! Zim and Tak both ordered the two SIR's to look out for human details as they flew so they could get a good idea on what they consider normal so they could make their home as normal as possible.
They flew over countless neighborhoods in the suburban area outside of a large city. Zim came to a stop hovering over a plot of land between two large brick buildings "Here! We build here!" They landed quietly with minimal sound on the small land. They jumped out of the ships and gave a well deserved stretch after being cramped in there for so long. Six months with the new ability to sleep and they couldn't find one comfortable place to sleep in those ships. They took a good look at the new surroundings. So simple looking, the creatures of this world still used stone and wood for there homes and defenses. Without a doubt the landed in a backwater planet with little to no knowledge outside of they're tiny world. At least that meant no possible dangerous alien contact with the empire. Score one. The inhabitants were possibly stupid and gullible: score two.
Not even Zim could blow his cover: score three and this wins the vote of staying. Despite the fact they weren't sure if there even was another inhabited planet this far out. They passed quite a few planets in the solar system they didn't recognize but they looked dead. Zim blew out a sigh of relief and satisfaction "That was easy." Skoodge suggested they get disguises before continuing since a planet like this most likely had no idea about Irkens.
"I don't want to think what these people would do to us if they discovered our existence." Tenn shuddered. They would probably dissect them and see how an Irken ticks and that didn't sound fun. As if on pure thought The Spittle and Voot runner had the landing legs extend till the top faced them. The side pods on the Voot extended and moved forward. The side spikes of the Spittle did the same. Two holographic pads displayed the choices from the data the ship automatically gathers on entry to a new planet. It gave them a good idea of the inhabitants. In Irken lettering it read human.
Zim grimaced at the appearance of the humans "Ew! They're disgusting!" he only got a quick shush from them. So he couldn't wake the sleeping humans around them. They choices were never the same for all of them. Irken disguise technology worked much differently than simply using a hologram to make yourself look like whatever you wanted. It mixed features and basic DNA to determine different shapes of the targeted species. Otherwise a male Irken could use the hologram to make himself look like a female Irken, it just doesn't work like that.
Tenn went through the decisions "Okay that one looks good." She decided not letting them see as she selected it the spikes of the Spittle, now formed into a sort of man sized container, closed around her and lights escaped through the seams. The pod shook violently for unseen reasons then opened suddenly with smoke escaping so fast it shrouded Tenn for a few seconds. As the smoke cleared a human girl still wearing the clothing Tenn had stood rubbing the back of her long bright blond hair with her face cringed in contained pain "Ugh, it kind of hurts." She muttered Tenn looked like a very convincing human girl. She had an appearance that would make anyone else think that she was the girl that would be in the popular crowd. With bright blond hair and vibrant blue eyes. The holograms was only skin tight (with the exception of long hair) so she kept the unimpressive physique of female Irkens.
Skoodge looked wide eyed at her "Wow, you look good."
Tenn gave a pleasant smile "Thanks, I'm glad it's a good disguise."
Everyone was impressed with the quality of the disguise with the exception of two "Ugh I can't believe I have to become one of those stink-beasts." Zim commented.
Gir looked around frantically and worriedly "Pink-girl! Where'd you go? Where are you!"
Tenn put a finger to her mouth "Shh, Quiet Gir it's me, Tenn." Tak decided to get her disguise. She came out as a human with short dark blue hair that made it a little past her ears, pale skin with dark eye shadow and amazingly she still maintained her birth mark she had under her left eye. Tak tried to control her facial features to not reveal that she was in pain too during the change "It… It didn't hurt that much." Tenn narrowed her eyes not believing a word.
"Uh-huh."
Zim stepped forward declaring not exactly quietly but quieter than he had been "I wish to get my disguise next. If Zim must look as disgusting as them then he wants it over with quickly." A grin grew on her face remembering the pain of getting the disguise.
"Yeah, sure go right ahead." She motioned with her arms to the machine. He walked up to his own ship and looked through them. "Too ugly! Too stinky!"
'How do you know it's stinky when it's just a picture?' Skoodge wondered. Zim came across a picture of him with blue human contacts and a black wig that was spiked. They were all looking at his choices as he went through them. Everyone being Skoodge, Tenn, Tak, Gir and Mimi. It didn't surprise anyone to much with what happened next "That one looks good." He smiled and tapped the picture. The purple pod closed around him he turned back to the with a smug grin and he fists on his hips.
Tak gave a joyful grin and waved to him as the pod closed the moment the lights started to glowed and seep through the seams the screams of pain could be heard "Agh! Why does it hurt?" Tak laughed at the pain he was clearly receiving but tried to keep it down. The pod opened and Zim stumbled out groaning in pain. He picked up Skoodge's arm and slapped his hand as if tagging him into the ring "Your turn." He stood between a smirking Tak and Tenn.
"Have fun Zim?" Tak smiled down on him.
"You were a little dramatic, Zim. It hurt but not that bad." Tenn commented. Of course, she realized, the extra pain could be blamed for the fact her choose contacts and a wig rather than a hologram. Skoodge's human form was a red head with his hair shaped in a pompadour style. His skin was a slight pale color but not like Tak's and he had bright green eyes. Mimi jumped forward "Now it's our turn!" She declared happily. Despite Zim's constant comments about "ugly humans" she thought they looked cool. She couldn't wait to see how she and Gir turned out.
"Oh, no you don't!" Tak grabbed Mimi's shoulder.
"Why not?" she whined
"The holograms are skin tight and don't offer clothing. I think you should wait until later when we can fashion clothing for you two." Tenn answered for Tak. Skoodge walked over and did some messing with the panel on the Voot "Until then a pet disguise would be best." He worked some more "For you Mimi… I'm thinking a cat." Tak Carried Mimi over to the pod. The next moment they saw her she looked like a black cat… but with red eyes. Skoodge wasn't expecting that "Oh… hmm. It must be something wrong with Mimi internally if we weren't able to force the eyes to change color."
Zim shrugged it off "Who cares? These humans probably won't notice anything." Grudgingly Tak had to agree with Zim. Zim did the disguise for Gir and decided on a dog (do I even have to explain how this one turns out)
"Zim, I'll say it again." Tak spoke up after seeing that horrible disguise he made for Gir "You're an idiot." Skoodge pulled out the pop-up base from his PAK and a small screen and pen came out of one side. He doodled a picture of a house as Tak and Tenn looked over his shoulder "That one doesn't look good." Tak commented. It was all lopsided and funny looking so Skoodge deleted it and tried again.
"It's too big to fit in this gap." Tenn commented this time. Skoodge let out an irritated growl and deleted that on too.
Tak snatched it out of his hand and claimed she could make a better one. However the one she made looked more like a tall towering fortress "I think you're going a little in the wrong direction with this, Tak" Tenn commented as politely as possible.
"Fine, why don't you try?" She handed it over to Tenn. Who just laughed nervously.
"I'm not the artistic type."
"Phooey! It will take all night at this rate! Zim shall prepare the base." He declared as he snatched the item from Tak's hands. He spoke to himself as he drew "A couple of windows, a fence, and a couple of animal things in front, there!" he smiled pleased with his work. The screen went back into the screw and Zim let the screw fall to the ground where it immediately started to drill. "Run!" Zim screamed and running past them into the street. The others followed and Zim ducked behind a tiny fire hydrant. The ground started to shake violently making car alarms go off and the light fall off some of the light posts with loud crashes. The cloud here some babies crying from a few of the buildings around them. In the gap however things were bursting from the soil. Large metal pillars rose out of the ground and a large pedestal rose up from under their ships lifting them into the air. Furniture could even be seen popping up from the ground. Old green beams of an odd shade reached out to the other pillars until solidifying into walls of a strange shade of green. Windows and a door grew from almost nowhere on the green walls. Bright green grass sprouted from the dirt as well as a wooden fence and a concrete walkway. A large purple roof loudly assembled itself and a huge satellite dish extended just as loudly as if guns were going off. The lights from inside took this moment to come on and shone brightly. Tenn could have sworn when the lights came on all the other light from the other buildings went dimmer. Large tubes and cables sprouted from the side of the house and attached them to the buildings close to it, dimming the lights more. The last things to pop up were odd animal decorations and giant lawn gnomes lining the walkway. Buy this time people started to look out the window to see what was happening. The aliens looked at all the people staring. Zim got up and cleared his throat.
He started to walk casually to the new house whistling as if nothing happened. The car alarms were turned off and the whole neighborhood seemed to be watching them. Reluctantly they walked over to the house in the same manner as if nothing happened. Tak quickly slammed the door behind them. "Ha!" Zim let out a small laugh bringing their attention back to him "Step one went smoothly."
'It could have been smoother.' Skoodge thought to himself. Zim Yawned loudly and stretched "Well that was eventful but I think I'll be getting some rest." Skoodge and Tenn agreed.
"I think I'll do a little more research on this planet before I head off to bed." Tak explained to them. She herself was happy that she has the ability to sleep and that there is now a comfortable place to sleep. However there were more important things than sleep. She had to find out what they should do now to keep up appearances. Gir excitedly jumped up on the purple over stuffed couch and grabbed the remote to watch TV. Mimi turned off her disguise and took a seat beside him.
"Oh look a human war movie! It just started too, awesome!" She cheered. Tak ignored them and went down the trashcan chute to the labs.
(The next day)
Tenn, Skoodge, and Zim were eating some Irken food that was already stored in the base (lucky them it had any) Mimi and Gir were no longer watching TV and weren't even on the house level. Tak came up the trash can with an announcement "I have made a few discoveries. We are the size on earth children known as teenagers and therefore are required to go to a thing called school."
Skoodge raised a none existent eyebrow "What is the purpose of this school?"
"It's basically like training but for basic knowledge and nothing too advanced."
"They haven't learned all the basics yet?" Tenn wondered "We learned all of them the first few days we were born."
Tak moved on with her news "With all this being said I have enrolled us into a nearby school." They all let out a disappointed moan. "Lastly since last night I have created human forms for Gir and Mimi so they can accompany us." As if on cue the two came up the chute already in disguise. Mimi had a style just as dark as Tak or maybe darker. Her long black hair covered her left eye and her eyes looked human but still had that red color. She wore a purple shirt with her name written on it in Irken lettering. She wore a jacket reminiscent to her cat form with small metal horn like spikes on the hood that bared a resemblance to her cat ears. She was, overall, a very dark looking girl.
Gir, on the other hand, was very bright looking. He had platinum white hair that was slightly shaggy and bright blue eyes. He wore a jacket that looked simply like his doggy suit was converted to a jacket. He gave off the image of a harmless child, unlike Mimi.
Tenn picked up on one snag on the idea of them coming along "Aren't they too small to be highschoolers?" They were smaller than everyone else in the room, if at best they looked like they should be in seventh of eighth grade.
"No problem, humans, unlike Irkens, don't have a height that's too defined. Some humans are taller than they should be (gigantism) and some are smaller than they should be (Dwarfism) they'll fit in." She assured. Though she also mentioned that all of the Irkens in the room (Tak included) weren't dressed too human like and they should fix that before they left. Zim hated the idea of looking anymore human and protested. Tenn and Skoodge were interested in the concept of individual clothing instead of a set uniform for an entire species.
(Else where a few streets over)
Dib and Gaz were walking off to School to have their first day of high school but Dib wouldn't shut up about last night. Gaz tried her best to ignore him by playing her game but couldn't manage to drown him out completely "And I say two weird lights not just one! It seemed close too! Maybe it really was aliens Gaz! Imagine it! Real aliens! Here, in our neighborhood. I could finally prove to everyone that they exist if I could just catch one." He just kept on blathering. Couldn't he see she was trying to ignore him? She paused her game and gave and irritated look of barely contained anger.
"I'm walking with you only because we go to the same school Dib. It doesn't mean I want to hear your stupid voice."
"But don't you even care?"
"No."
"What if these aliens want to destroy our world?"
"Who cares? They'll figure out that this place is pretty much useless eventually." She insisted indifferently as she continued playing her game. As they walked Dib noticed some new faces he never saw in the neighborhood before coming onto the street they were walking down. A blond one seemed to be arguing with a dark blue haired girl.
"You didn't have to do that to him you know! That was a little uncalled for Tak." The blond scolded.
The blond was dressed in a pink and black striped shirt the sleeves were a little too long and made it so you could only see the tips of her fingers. The blue haired one had a black and purple striped shirt and a leather jacket, her usual steel toed boots and tight black pants. Tak smirked "He had it coming, a stupid brother like him shouldn't be seen in public. I did him a favor. You should be thanking me for helping him."
"That doesn't mean you helped an-"
"Hey." He interrupted there argument. They spent the whole time on each other they didn't notice them getting any closer to the membranes.
"Oh hi." Tenn greeted quickly and nervously, never encountering a human before. Tak didn't say anything though she studied the human boy. He didn't seem dimwitted like the humans she saw in pictures. There was something that she couldn't place about him that caught her eye. Tak from her obvious clothing preference might be attracted to his clothing style. The simple black trench coat the combat boots and the other bark clothing. She liked purple and other dark colors and was never exactly a fan over then bright Irken uniforms they were required to wear for so long. She couldn't help wonder what those things were on his face.
Dib couldn't help notice her staring at him "Is there something on my face?"
"Yes." She said simply before trying to not think about all that.
"I've never seen you two here in this neighborhood before." He stated to the two colorful girls.
Tenn smiled sweetly "Actually there are six of us, our brothers and sisters, they just fell behind. I'm Tenn and this is my older sister Tak."
Gaz raised an eyebrow and paused her game to think about all she just said. Six siblings? She thought it was bad to just have Dib. "Ten? Like the number?"
"No," she laughed "but it sounds the same."
"Hey Tak! I have a few words for you!" A voice came out from behind the girls. Skoodge was running to catch them and Gir and Mimi close behind. Tak explained who they were and that they were more siblings.
When they caught up Gir was smiling like an idiot for no reason while Mimi had a very good reason and Skoodge was clearly not happy. Skoodge had an orange shirt with an upside down Irken symbol on it and a red jacket halfway zipped. "Didn't you say there were six of you I only see five."
The comment for some reason made Mimi burst in laughter "Tak barricaded Zim in his room."
Tak crossed her arms defensively "I'm not going to let his stupidity ruin my day." Gaz was starting to like this girl. Tak walked off arms crossed "If he's smart as he's constantly claiming to be he'll find a way out." Mimi gave a devious grin.
"I'm with my awesome big sister. You can follow if you want." She spoke giving a mischievous grin and followed Tak. Gir ran giggling after the two.
"Wait up Tak! You're the only one who knows how to get to school!" Tenn. Skoodge just stood there stunned for a little bit. He looked at his "siblings" walking away. He turned to the membrane siblings then back at the direction of their house.
"Tak! You come back here and free Zim!" But she never turned back and Gir turned back just to wave at Skoodge. He cringed as if he'd just been beaten but he knew what he had to do "Tak wait up! Wait for me!" Dib watched the odd, colorful family run off. They actually made the membranes seem normal. They continued on their way to school in awkward silence after that odd meeting.
That Tak girl was interesting Dib thought. Something was off about her… she almost reminded him of Gaz only with a drive for control. He imagined that that's what it would be like if Gaz was the older sibling.
Although the obvious aggressiveness wasn't what got him, in truth he couldn't figure out what about her didn't sit right with him. The sound of loud fast moving feet coming from behind them. "Out of my way!" a shrill man voice screamed out pushing the two aside. Zim slowed slightly to look back at them. His clothing was completely unchanged he still wore the same Irken uniform but kept his wig and contacts "You're lucky I have someone else I need to deal with human! Put chains on MY door huh! I'll so them my awesome power!" then sprinted as fast as he could to the school.
Gaz growled making a mental note to kill him the next time she saw him. Dib just lay on the ground stunned at what he saw for a few seconds "An… ALIEN!" he found the alien. And it was walking around in public. He was right! He can give actual proof he isn't crazy.
The next one will be more interesting I promise. Please R&R