Author's Note:
This is the way the story COULD have gone. An alternate ending, beginning from when the new PAKs are developed, crafted for all of you to enjoy. If you like it, or want to perhaps see a different take, by all means, let me know in a review. I really do love hearing feedback.
"Right. Okay. Here goes..." Faith said nervously, taking hold of Trik's PAK. "Brace yourself!"
"Ha, I can handle any-YOOOOOOOOW that stings!" His eyes bulged out, cringing as he slightly quivered on his somewhat slender knees, shuddering a bit as Faith removed his old PAK, and then put the new one up to his skin. Much to her and Professor Membrane's shock, not only did it attach perfectly, as if with glue, not with the odd metal, claw-like tentacles the old PAK had...it sank into his back. It was like it was being absorbed by the body! Trik rose up, dusting himself off, and looked about.
"So, um...f-feel any different?" Faith inquired quietly. "Any tingling? Or other side effects?"
"I feel perfectly optimal, truthfully." Trik said, feeling over his bare chest, the labcoat opened up to show off his slender frame. "Very lovely work, Faith! Your work on the synpatical modulator for the PAK was excellent. And Professor Membrane, I've never seen such talented stitch-work for the wiring." He offered, giving a deep bow of his head to both of them before taking Faith's hands. "Do you know what this means? No more of those awful bullseyes on children's backs. Our smeets will be far safer and more free than ever before." He insisted, eyes wide, speaking like a kid at Christmas who was trying to explain why his new gaming system was so amazing. "It's a game changer, Faith! It'll be like a new step in evolution...if evolution worked that way." He sighed. "A shame it doesn't. Kind of hurts my ability to enjoy those excellent X-Men movies of our race." He admitted, going over to the balcony. "Listen, there's just one more thing I'd like you to do beyond shipping the new models to Senior so he can make sure they're distributed properly."
"What's that?"
"...I'd like you to have all of my laboratory tech. I want you to do incredible things with it." Trik offered, turning around to look at Faith. "When I first met you, I knew you could be amazing if you were just given the right tools, and you've proved me right. I'm sure you'll keep proving me right. Just...don't make the mistakes I made. Don't ever settle for so long. Try to make a difference sooner."
Faith stared at him, confused. "Wait, why are you leaving me your stuff? Don't YOU need it?"
"No." Trik said softly as he looked out over the balcony. His blue eyes softened as he gazed out over the expanse of the city, a smile dancing on his lips. "…I won't be needing any of it anymore. With the adjustments that we'll soon be making to your world and to our own, we'll be self-sufficient. Thank you again, for all of our incredible work." He said, looking back at Prof. Membrane and Faith. "Come on out to the balcony with me."
He tapped the edge of it, the two walking towards it, standing next to him as the square-antannae-having Irken tilted his head a bit to the side. "You know, our sky is orange. It's not blue. Orange and blue are such lovely contrasts. And your species fits that. Most of your race's skin tones fall between pale peach and dark, dark brown, that's squarely in the orange segment of the color wheel. And blue? Blue's on the opposite end. Nature itself loves a contrast so much…and evidently, so do your filmmakers. You adore using blue and orange!"
"Well, blue is a nice color."
"It is a very calming color." Prof. Membrane confessed. With that, he took off his goggles, Trik looking at his irises, his own eyes widening a bit.
A beautiful Robin's egg blue. One of the loveliest shades he'd ever seen.
"You should take those off more often." Faith admitted, her mouth slightly agape, taking in the soft texture of the professor's eyes. "They look so lovely! Why do you always cover your face with those goggles?"
"Well, wearing them makes it easier for me to give off an aura of authority. Being "faceless" will do that." Professor Membrane admitted as he put the goggles back on. "And, well…they also allow me to see through objects. Truth be told, my first pair existed just to show people in their underwear, when I was about your age." He confessed, as Trik chuckled a bit.
"Truth be told?...mine used to do the same."
...
...
...
... "What're THESE?" Dib asked in horror, looking down at his feet, seeing something that hadn't been there before, that he hadn't noticed at first admist all the horror he'd endured. He had what looked like a little metallic chip that had been embedded within his foot, a dark steely and silver color, faintly blinking with a yellowish crystal "eye" in the center, the odd chip about the size of his thumb. He, like all the rest of the captured humans in this depraved underground facility, were now currently in little cages, a bit of food and water set down for them to eat.
"Tracking chips." said a voice he recognized as he looked up, seeing Maht the service drone there, his deep indigo/purple eyes gazing at Dib as he slid in some more food into Dib's bowl. "There might be a few Irkens who'd feel bad about what they do to you all down here...or who might want to bring proof of your abuse to Senior. So to make sure nobody leaves with any humans...at least, not alive...they put those chips in. You're scanned at all exits and entrances to this club, this way people can know nobody's smuggling humans out." The drone confessed.
"That's clever of them..." Dib grunted. "And I take if if I try to cut the thing out, it'll explode or something?"
"If it senses you trying to slice it out, it administers electrical shocks that will render you unconscious. And well...if you just tried to cut your leg off you wouldn't get far." Maht shook his head. "Your species don't have mechanical spider legs built into the fancy metal backpacks you wear on your back, I'm afraid."
"You know this is wrong." Dib insisted. "You talked about how much Senior inspired all of you. He'd NEVER be okay with this."
"...I want to keep as many people happy as I can. It's part of who I am. And sometimes that means ignoring other people's happiness for the sake of the majority. Sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind, NEED to be harsh to be fair. It's all about the greater good." Maht reasoned. "...it does bother me seeing you like this, but...the only real kindness I could offer you would be to end it forever." He murmured, and he opened up the cage then, Dib being caught off guard.
"EEEP!" Dib squealed out, Maht plucking him up in his black-gloved hands, gazing down at him, resting one of his claws on Dib's throat very, very carefully.
"I could snap your neck, Dib...or crush your chest. It'd be over in an instant, the CHIP would shut down with your death. Or...I could swallow you, end you within my gut. We who're part of this club have had our PAKs adjusted even more so, if we wanted, we can now digest you. It wouldn't have to hurt...it'd be like sinking into a warm bath forever." Maht softly offered. "Dying doesn't have to be cruel. It doesn't have to be merciless. It can be kind. Compassionate. It might be better this way, no more suffering at the hands of Tak and the others."
Dib's body shook a bit, a mixture of fear, anger and terror, and he felt hot, bitter tears spring to his eyes as he looked away, Maht gently stroking over his chest with a single claw.
"I don't want you suffering like this. I don't. But there's not much I can do beyond my offer beyond trying to make you a bit comfortable here. You belong to us now. I'm sorry it has to be this way. Sorry you had to be caught up in what Tak is doing." Maht offered. "Really, I am." With that, he gently placed Dib back in the cage, and onto the blankets that was his bed. "Get some sleep, Dib. You'll need it. And...think about my offer. Because the only way you'll escape from this place is if you were dead." He added. "Remember that."
With that, he closed the cage, leaving Dib alone with the other humans in their own cages and cells in the "Prison Room" of the underground club, leaving Dib with the prisoners...and his own horrible thoughts. He had to get out. So he couldn't cut his leg off. He didn't exactly have the tools for that. No knives for his meal. No sharp anything. And he couldn't get far on one foot anyhow. He couldn't dig the chip out. The only way to rid himself of this CHIP would be if he was dead.
...if he was dead...
...an idea was beginning to form. A crazy idea. But it was all he had to go on. He just had to wait for an opportunity to get what he wanted. And it would involve a lot of electricity. An "out of body experience". He let out a call. "MAHT?"
The door opened a few moments later, Maht entering the room, closing the door. "You make up your mind swiftly. That's good. It shows a keen intellect!"
"I've got a request." Dib said. "I want you to end my life in a specific way."
"Just…don't ask me to…really hurt you. I don't want that." Maht added as he looked shamefully down at the floor. "I don't even want to be out there, seeing those shameful excuses for Irkens sucking on humans like lollipops, seeing the blood, hearing the screaming. I couldn't ever be a medic like Jayd, or out on the front lines, fighting, the way Dite or Tak or Wiyn could be. I HATE violence. Hate blood and guts and pain and agony, I…I want to help people without seeing the hurt. I imagine you must think I'm…what's the Earth phrase? A pussy?"
"No, I get it." Dib said with a shake of his head. "You're pretty gentle. And what I want you to do wouldn't make me gush blood all over you. I'd like you to electrocute me."
Maht's eyes widened. "…ahhh. You figured it out." He whispered softly. "You've overcome that particular barrier. Excellent, Dib. You really are keen. I'm guessing you want it done at…say…500 volts at just above 10 milliamps?"
Dib nodded, as a single PAK leg extended, and Maht held out his gloved hand for Dib to climb onto. Maht slid the PAK leg forward, easing towards Dib as it sparked with bluish/white electricity, holding out a small growth/shrink ray from his pocket as he chucked at Dib.
"I'll unshrink you later. You know what to do when you're freed. Go to Senior. Tell him where we are. And above all, hurry."
With that, the sparkling PAK leg touched Dib, electricity flowing freely as all went black.
It wasn't long before Dib was awake again, feeling a zephyrous breeze on his face, realizing he was outside once more, not far from the Massive at that, and he smelled BAAAAD. He realized Maht had vomited his tiny frame up, the purple-eyed Irken cringing a bit, his front shirt soaked as he steadied himself against a light fixture.
"Go ah-ahead…UUUGGH…" he gripped his stomach with one gloved hand, moaning. "B-Better hurry. Unshrink y-yourself…OGGGH. Go find S-Senior. I'll g-go back to the facility. T-Try and keep everyone there. Stall fo-for time. Don't k-know if it'll w-work, but…it's the best plan we've got-OOOGGHH." He held his hand over his mouth again. "Invoked my g-gag relex too much!"
Dib chuckled a bit, moving over to the shrink/growth ray, turning the mode on the side to fire ahead for a brief moment, activating it's "timer" function. Within a few seconds, he'd returned to his proper, normal size. "There we go!" He said with a grin, racing off to the Massive, poor Maht vomiting into the nearby bushes before he took off running for the facility.
Meanwhile, Skoodge was looking down at his communicator, having finished a conversation with Senior. Skoodge quietly sat down in his house, looking at the beautiful ice artwork that laid all around him. The soft hum of the heavy duty cooler provided a steady drumbeat of white noise as he closed his eyes, hanging his slightly squat head as Senior's voice spoke up.
"It's time." He murmured. "You'd best go take one of the ships we designated for the trip and head to the colony. Darth just informed me that he asked Peech and Feyr to begin moving the smeets and our caretakers for all of them off-planet."
"Good, good. How long until everyone's been moved off?"
"Maybe about...three days? GIR and Minimoose adore the kids. They've been spending a lot of time with them, being babysitters comes natural."
"Good. Good to hear. Um...Skoodge, I'm...I'm not going to see you again. You know where I'll be from now on." Senior muttered out, and unbeknownst to Skoodge, Senior was lying, slumped against the wall on the bridge. The Massive's bridge was abandoned, save for him, all the others very, VERY busy with their own important duties, some normal, others nefarious. Senior had the communicator gripped in one hand, holding it to his chest, his head bowed low as the other gloved hand dug into the floor. "The new generation is going to need people like you. People for whom it…it isn't too late. I'm glad I got to know someone so special."
Silence. Quiet, somber silence as Skoodge's hands slightly quivered as he held the communicator. "I should be thanking you." Skoodge managed to get out. "You made me feel special. Nobody else really did." He muttered. "You're one of the nicest people I've ever known."
"I'm going to call May up. We don't have a lot of time before we start this all up. Skoodge, seriously, take care of yourself. And keep making sculptures. You're really, really good." Senior admitted.
"...bye." Skoodge said, as he ended the call, knowing it would be the last time he ever heard Senior's voice. Sighing a bit, he turned, Zim staring, in confusion, locked in his tiny little prison capsule ball.
"What was THAT about?" Zim demanded as Skoodge sighed a bit and plucked him up, then brought the ball up, up, out of the basement and into the living room, biting his lip as he looked back down at Zim.
"Would you like me to bring you to Irk, Zim? I'm going to give you one chance. I'll let you join me on my trip back to Irk, and in exchange...I'll unshrink you. Give you back your normal size. Sound fair?"
Zim's grinned, rubbing his hands together. "Yes! Return Zim to his normal, glorious size! Perhaps with a few added inches?"
"Nope."
"C'monnn!" Zim begged, tugging down on his antannae. "Give me just a LITTLE something! At least make me taller than Dib! Finding out he's taller than I was is driving me insane with rage! And DESPITE all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage-" He smacked his face. "Oh, FLIRK, the filthy humans have infected me after all, now I'M singing their songs! UGH. Victory for Earth indeed!"
"It's a "good infection"." Skoodge insisted with a chuckle. "It's not a bad thing, culture. Art. All these little things humans do for fun. People can get a lot of satisfaction from it. I mean, I sure did."
"Alright. Give Zim a canvas and some brushes and paint then." Zim requested. "What I shall paint will be glorious!"
…
…
…
…Peech gently wrapped Dib in a blanket, easing him onto the bed. Senior had been told everything, and he was mobilizing all he could to deal with the threat Tak now posed. He'd had to put off meeting with the rest of the intergalactic ruling body, which had been a let down for Senior. The green-eyed communications officer had confessed to Dib that he'd been wanting to sign over the last of the bases on Vort and other planets over to their proper owners, and to begin giving proper "restitution" to those the Irken race had ravaged.
Instead, he had stormed over to the underground facility as fast as he could with Dite and Xeil, hoping not too many in the military had gone over to Tak. Using Dib's information and following Maht's trail of dropped M&M and candy bar crumbs and puke droplets from his meal, they'd managed to break in and had caught the tail end of the party as it wound down. The bad news was that Tak, Wiyn and even Darth had managed to get away. Evidently, they'd left the party a bit earlier.
Senior was clearly very upset. He had looked pale with fury as he walked past Dib, heading back to his own office, Dib seeing a furious glint in his eyes he'd not often seen. There'd been far, FAR too many people hanging around the facility. Not even rescuing the humans within had cheered Senior up.
Gaz sat next to Dib, giving him a somewhat sympathetic look, and she gently raised a hand, hesitated...then put it on his shoulder. "You're gonna be okay. You're real strong." She said, letting go a few seconds later as Peech gave Dib some hot chocolate, Dib muttering out a "thanks" to both of them, his eyes looking sunken and hollow as Peech sat on the other end of Dib. As she sat down, Dib and Gaz noticed something very odd about the backpack/jetpack she wore, the big, slightly clumsy, dark orange thing was jingling, evidently full to the brim of...SOMETHING.
"What's in there?" Dib wanted to know, Peech blushing and actually opening up the top, showing off the interior. It was loaded to the brim with small jewelry, little wristbands made of strange gemstones, necklaces, rings, other jewels, studded clothing! Shiny things up the wazoo. "See, I'm a kleptomaniac." She admitted. "And being on Earth means a whole lot of real nice, shiny things for me to snatch." She sighed a bit, slightly scratching at her knees after putting them away in her PAK again. "Irk doesn't have art. You remember that, right?"
Dib and Gaz nodded as Peech sighed again. "All of us on the Massive were...well, at least, us on the bridge, we were SO psyched with Senior let us come to Earth. Maht loved the food, Xeil and Dite loved all your movies and your books, Jayd couldn't get enough of your species's superheroes, Feyr and Darth were fascinated by your philosophies and religions, and I...I loved all the beautiful art you made. All the glittering, shiny art." She then reached into a shirt pocket, the orange-eyed guard taking out something different.
...a small little diamond-studded cross.
"Senior got this for me. And I sucked at shooting stuff. At field exercises. So no way, no WAY was I gonna get a medal for anything. Worst aim in the world. A terrible soldier. Rotten at fighting. And then one day our communications officer, our boss right below our bosses, our "safety net" as he liked to call himself, starts going on and on about how he's been looking into Earth, and all the nice things IT has and how Irk had stuff like it so long ago but didn't anymore. And of course, well..."
Peech got a distant, far off look in her eye, and her tone lost some of the sandiness it had. "We wanted to know about it. "C'mon." I said. "It can't be that good. Not if ZIM'S on it. If it was that good, we woulda tried to send people to take it over ages ago!" And then he says he got everyone some gifts. And he gives me this." She held the cross up. "...and all I could think was...nobody had ever gotten me anything. Nobody ever gave me ANYTHING AT ALL. I never so much as earned a "thank you". I was a stupid door guard. Nobody thanks you for doing your job. And here this big, green-eyed goof was, giving me something he said was worth fifteen times my paycheck for the month. Just because he knew I liked shiny, sparky stuff. And he said if I felt bad, I should rub it a bit, and think of the things I love, and it'd help."
Peech smiled wistfully, and stroked over it with one hand, sighing. "And it worked. If I got really depressed or tired just standing around and guarding the door to the bridge, I'd just stroke over it in my pocket, and I felt better, because...because it meant someone cared enough about me to get me this. And he didn't..." She stammered. "What meant...what meant a lot was...he didn't HAVE to. I mean...I was a stupid DOOR GUARD. We're almost just taking up space. Nobody ever really busts their way up to the bridge. We've never drawn our guns once. We didn't deserve nice stuff from people. But HE did. Red and Purple didn't, but he did. Because Senior's cool like that."
She smiled wistfully, stroking over the little cross. "He's so dorky sometimes, but…he can be pretty cool...for a guy who likes Christmas tunes like "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reinder" unironically." She confessed, Dib chuckling a bit as Peech smiled back at him. "It's too bad Tak can't appreciate Earth. We thought maybe she'd seen the light but…guess not. So Senior's calling her out to Irk. Making a stand there, and she's waaaay too proud to not accept."
"Tak knows its probably a trap." Dib mumbled out. "...you really think she'll fall into it?"
"Senior's promised there'd be no traps. He doesn't intend to trick her and she knows he's...too nice and righteous to lie about that. It's just gonna be two forces clashing for control of our race, right at the palace of the Tallest on Irk." Peech admitted. "But you two should stay here, with your father. Trik and Feyr can bring him over if you'd like. Trik's got nothing to do now that the PAKs have been fully upgraded!"
"Wow, it's all finished?" Dib asked as Peech nodded.
"Yep. Everything's in place. We're all pretty psyched. Being freed from the PAKs…really free to choose our own way, that's what I've wanted for so long." She admitted, leaving the room to Dib and Gaz as they looked at each other.
"We still going through with the big plan?" Gaz quietly asked.
Dib hesitated. He thought of how Maht had helped him, about how HUMAN Peech was. About Senior's dorky, goofy grin.
"…I…g-guess so." He admitted.
"Yeah, I know. It's gonna suck. But…nice as they are, I want Earth to be ours, not theirs. Don't you?"
"Yeah." Dib sighed as his father entered the room, and for the first time in a long time, held Dib in his arms.
…
…
…
…Dib hadn't seen THIS coming. He'd expected Senior to hand over the keys to the last remaining Irken facilies on all those formerly-conquered planets. He'd forseen Senior leaving Purple and Red unharmed and alive, just currently in some sugar mines below the capital. He'd even had an inkling that, deep down, Darth truly HAD been on their side all along, and hadn't been fully on board with Tak's ways, so even him stabbing her was more startling than shocking.
But this? THIS? Seeing the Massive's crew unharmed, not affected by the rain the way the other Irkens were? The way the Control Brains were? His mouth was agape, staring in shock as Senior chuckled, and Zim looked from him to Dib, then Gaz.
"Wait. Wait a moment! You…you wanted the humans to do this, didn't you?!" He realized, his eyes bulging as he got a good look at Senior's frame. "You've been bathing in paste! You KNEW they would call down rain!"
"Yes. Dib, I wanted you and your friends and family to do this." Senior said, shaking Dib's hand as the camera caught everything. "I learned very early that people unite easily when they're against a common enemy. I decided...I'd make myself that enemy for your people. And give you all the resources you'd need to find out a way to kick us off not only your world...but even our own."
"Well, not just you." Jayd confessed. "Faith and your father and others. We had them brought together, the best minds for the job. Peech and Feyr are probably explaining it all to them even now."
"So we let you have access to all the technology we had to offer." Peech informed Professor Membrane AS Feyr sat calmly nearby, sipping on some soda. "We gave you everything you'd want to hurt us."
"We figured what you were up to when you asked for those atmospheric readings of Irk. We kinda kept a camera in your room. We saw you'd hidden the readouts of Earth and Irk's atmosphere in that vitamin jar." Xeil admitted. "Or rather, Peech did. She'd been following you around for a while, keeping an eye on you when you were working with the other humans."
"And we let Gaz make the adjustments to the fleet because we had a damn good idea of what she wanted to do. We checked the diagrams and readouts of the ships after the upgrades to be sure, of course and, sure enough! You'd deliberately sabotaged the fleet...AND the Massive. Real nice work!" Dite added. "But we didn't tell Tak about it. We were going to, but...well, she decided that she wasn't a team player."
"I'd been trying to keep an eye on her. I thought the more time I spent with her, getting her to open up, trying to show her how there'd be a better way would work." Darth intoned softly, hanging his head. "...it didn't. Maybe it's better this way."
"You...wanted us to kill you?" Dib finally managed to say, clutching at his head. Suddenly it all made sense. Why Senior let Dib and Gaz and all those humans have so much power and free reign. The way he'd talked about how different he was from other Irken leaders. Placing the lives of humans over his own race time and time again.
"We decided we would be the change the Irken race needed. It's difficult though, because so much of the OLD ways are still in us, so…it's best that we'll never see you again." Senior murmured. "We won't be going to the colonies with the kids. We'll be wherever the winds take us."
"I'll just be glad my kids won't grow up in a world that will hate them for wanting to hold hands in public when they're the same gender." Xeil insisted.
"Our next generation won't be pressured or forced into killing things in training exercises the very month they're born." Dite added.
"And they'll be raised lightyears and lightyears away on colonies we didn't tell anybody about, and without PAKs that will force them to think what some Empire wants. With time, people will hopefully forgive all the monstrous things our race did. They'll see we've been punished. But it will take time. A lot of time." Jayd confessed.
"Skoodge'll be a great nanny." Darth laughed. "He's got the Santa Claus laugh down pat and everything. And he and all the others we picked will teach the Irkens that remain to be better than we ever were. Free of any other influence. The way it ought to be."
"Lard Nar knows, doesn't he? And...so does your wife? Your family?" Dib asked, Senior nodding in agreement. "They were okay with this?"
"Absolutely."
"I…" Dib hesitated, biting his lip. "I don't know what to say."
"You are going to be an INCREDIBLE person." Senior insisted. "Hell, you already are. Australia proved that. You proved without a doubt that I chose well. You showed integrity and strength and skill and courage, showed your race at its best. And I admit, I was scared, Dib. I really though you were going to die there, I had NO idea what would happen."
"Yeah, we didn't plan for what went on down there. And we didn't plan on what Tak and those other Irkens were doing to you. You escaping from the club she'd set up showed us how clever and keen you were." Maht added with a wink. "We're leaving this world in really good hands."
"Thanks." Dib admitted quietly, Senior giving him one last, big, huge hug, patting his back. "You know, despite all that happened, I…" He gently hugged Senior back. He was so warm…so soft. "I actually kind of had a good time with you."
"Yeah." Senior said, letting Dib go, he and the rest of the Massive crew heading off for the ship. "Take care, Dib. Take good care of them. And…maybe one day, I'll get to see you again. For now…we got a long journey to make and a ship to fix. And well, you do too…but we knew you'd wanna go home, so we left a clean, untouched ship for you with Red and Purple. And we locked it with a passcode. They're in the mines right below the capital. You can take Zim with you. It has to respond to his voice."
Zim grinned eagerly, laughing in delight as Dib moaned, hanging his head as they brought the capsule he was in back into the capital, Red and Purple standing in the opened-up wall by the kitchen, currently slurping up some pudding.
"So evidently, the ship we wanted to use to leave won't open for any voice but Zim's." Red grumbled darkly as he looked at Zim with baleful crimson eyes, Purple "harrumphing" as Dib and Gaz nodded, Zim grinning toothily. "Darn it, Trivvik! Can't believe you can program a ship to do that."
"It'll be a tight fit anyway, with all five of us." Purple muttered. "It's just a fairly modified Voot Cruiser."
"So. You need ZIM to leave. Well. Zim's not going to help you leave unless you give Zim what he wants."
"We could just let them eat you." Gaz offered dryly. "I think you screaming would count as your voice."
"HA! Zim wouldn't scream. Zim has gained much through therapy, including working out his fear not only of being eaten alive, but of the bees." The tiny invader proclaimed, pointing dramatically into the air. "I am no longer fearful of such a fate! So you shall give Zim what he wants! And Zim wants a planet of his own to conquer!"
Dib sighed, putting the capsule that held Zim in his pocket, turning to Red and Purple. "He's not gonna agree if we don't give him what he wants."
"Okay, how do we do this, then?" Red muttered. "I don't want to give him a GOOD planet!"
"I actually have an idea." Dib offered, whispering into Red and Purple's "ears"…or lack thereof as their eyes widened.
One space trip later, they were hovering on the edge of Venus, Dib nonchalantly turning to Red and Purple as they sat together on the same chair, Red on Purple's lap as Gaz calmly piloted the ship away from Venus and back to Earth. "So where do you want us to drop you off?"
"Just put us in Japan." Red insisted. "Purple and I can enjoy a nice, quiet life in the country's forests and never, EVER have to put up with any humans or Irkens ever again."
"I almost felt BAD for him, watching him swagger off into the expanse in that fancy new armor suit. How long before Zim realizes that Venus is uninhabited, d'ya think?" Purple inquired as Dib began to snigger.
"Oh…three days, at most."
"I give him two." Red sniggered as Gaz grunted a bit.
"I'lll say…29 hours after he plants his little flag. He's gotten a LITTLE smarter." She reasoned. "And you better hope no human DOES ever see you in the Japanese woods, they won't be so kind to you two. Especially without disguises."
"Oh, we've got disguises." Red said as he and Purple pulled out some eye contacts and a few wigs from the little bag of supplies they had with them. "We'll be fine. If it worked for Zim for so long, it'll work for us! Besides, we're WAAAY better actors than he was."
Gaz darkly grinned as they finally approached Earth, touching down in Japan. The skies were a beautiful lovely shade of blue, soft little puffy clouds ambling by overhead as they descended into a sea of trees, landing quite a while away to the Northwest of the majestic Mount Fuji. A hearty wind blew through the air as Red and Purple put their disguises on, exiting the craft. "Finally, rid of Zim and we never have to be around you humans if we don't want to." Red proclaimed as he and Purple looked around the deep expanse of forest.
"You SURE you wanna be here and not, say…someplace like the Alps?"
"Oh, I don't like skiing." Purple said with a shake of his hand. "Not a big fan of high mountains. No, we'll be fine, I assure you. Any reason why you picked these forests, though?" He asked Gaz as she shrugged.
"Well, its not too far from Mount Fuji. If you DO change your mind and decide to go for some help from a tourist trap, well…it's about 12 miles that way. Good luck." She said, pointing in the direction of the mountain before waving goodbye along with Dib, who waited about five minutes before asking the question that had been burning in the back of his mind.
"You KNOW this place is "Aokigahara", right? It's the big "Suicide Forest" of Japan, don't a lot of people go here?"
"Oh, it's not the HUMANS those two need to worry about." Gaz insisted with a grim smile. "You're not the only one who knows a little something about the supernatural. I did a real nice school project on this place and found out all about the legends behind it." She murmured, Red and Purple going off through the dark recesses of the woods to begin building up a cabin, unaware that bony hands were gripping the bark of many a tree nearby, watching them with dead, unseeing eyes, and grinning toothy grins…excited at the prospect of new "playmates" to have fun with for a long…LOOOONG time.
…
…
…
…it had been a full year since everything had happened. And Dib couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness every time he woke up.
As much as he loved working alongside his Dad now, globe-trotting around the world with him and Gaz, knowing the Earth was safe and just…relaxing for a while? He wasn't quite as satisfied.
Everyone had been very eager to hear the full story from him, and he had done many a press conference. He'd spoken with the leaders of the United Nations, he'd met with President Man…and now as they went around the world, visiting popular tourist destinations while dealing with bouts of famine and drought and disease, all thanks to the tech the Irkens had left behind, Dib could only think…
"As nice as this is…I sort of miss not being held in a gigantic hand."
Because he did sort of miss it all. He missed being in the Massive's cafeteria, missed the cheery faces of the Irkens looking at him, how pleasantly surprised he'd been to find how…colorful and NICE their eyes could be. Yes, the interstellar community was open to Earth now, thanks to Lard Nar. The Vortians were very kind to humans, very open to trade, and they seemed to adore Earth culture and what it had to offer with a passion that Senior could have admired. Plus, their skin? It was actually verrrrry tiny hair that faintly felt like kitten hair if you touched it.
Sometimes Lard Nar let Dib touch it. Sometimes. Juuuust in the right spot by his horns when the Vortian swung by to visit. It wasn't uncommon for the two to run into each other at popular tourist destinations.
Still, Dib did miss Senior. And so he finished texting Gretchen, blowing her a kiss emoji before crawling into bed at the hotel he and his dad and Gaz were staying at in Belgium. The sun had set and soft stars twinkled in the dark canopy over its capital of Brussels. Each of them had their own beds, and Dib sighed a bit as he snuggled into his favorite pillow that he'd brought with him. It juuuust barely matched the texture he had begun to sort of enjoy. The texture of-
"Hello, Dib."
Dib's eyes popped open as he popped his glasses on from the bedtstand, seeing a PAK-less, smiling Senior standing in the doorway of his room. He closed it behind him, sitting on the bed as he warmly nodded at Dib. "My family's here for a holiday too. Incognito, naturally, but…I'm glad we got to meet." He tapped his belt, a holographic disguise wafting arond him, showing off a fairly tall human who had brown hair and a big "S" Superman t-shirt of blue and red on his chest with white khaki pants. He tapped it again, the hologram vanishing as Senior tilted his head a little to the side. "Sure been busy, huh?"
"Earth's crime and disease rate are near nonexistent now thanks to all the hard work we've done with what you left behind." Dib admitted. "And I'm feeling pretty good not having to worry about Zim. Though he somehow manages to send me text message from Venus. I've no idea how." He confessed, holding up his smartphone, which showed off a very, VERY furious looking Zim who was currently in the middle of a gigantic worm's guts, a glower on his features, having written "I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS" in the thing's blood on the back of the cave he was in. "No idea Venus had brain-sucking worms beneath the surface. Learn something new every day."
"Zim'll be fine. He…"
"Has no brain to suck out!" Dib finished, the two laughing at the same time as Dib rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling a little as Senior smiled warmly back at him.
"I admit, I really did miss talking to you, though. And…well…other things." Dib confessed sheepishly. "I guess that time I spent with you when I was…you know. Being…um…I guess what I'm trying to say is…"
"Dib? Are you asking me to eat you?" Senior inquired with a tilt of his head.
"If you…don't mind?" Dib asked nervously. "I mean, is your stomach gonna…you know…"
"Nope." Senior shook his head. "Our Internal PAKs are working just fine, and my belly hasn't changed a bit from when you were last in it." He added with a chuckle. "So…are you ready?"
Dib nodded, Senior smiling as he motioned for Dib to come closer. Dib scooched over to him on the bed, Senior's gloved, clawed hands tenderly lifting him up, towards his slowly opening jaws. In, past the zipper-esque teeth he went, being licked and lapped by the green-eyed communication officer as Senior savored his sweet flavor. No shrinking, no. Not this time. This time would be special. His lips were soon working over Dib's rather tiny neck, the Irken loving how husky and sweet little Dib was.
"Mmmmm." He softly moaned. It was like the best steak mixed with a delicious supply of cookies. Truly, nobody should be this delicious. His cheeks rippled as he eased more and more of Dib down, down into his undulating throat, bulging out his neck quite a bit. His upper chest was becoming freakishly distended as Dib sank lower, his upper arms and upper chest now eased into the yawning maw. Dib sighed, feeling his head sinking into the opening of the Irken's stomach, the tongue continuing to lap over his pajama-clad form.
Just like old times, he mused to himself, Senior's stomach becoming fat, bloated and bulging out as Dib's bare feet were licked all over. He tickled them with his tongue, making Dib giggle about before he gave a final, immense swallow. GLA-GLRRRPPP! Down, down Dib went, making Senior's tummy bloat out immensely as he laid in the hotel bed, thankful he'd fully locked the door so nobody could see this. He slowly rubbed and massaged over his fat belly, feeling little Dib settle in his stomach.
Dib was slightly curled up, but he was able to lie down on his side in the remarkably stretchy and expansive stomach. It was just as soft and cozy as he remembered it, and he could feel the tender beating of Senior's heart softly thumping in his ears as he laid within the stomach sack. He could feel Senior rubbing over his bulging gut, and hear Senior's voice cooing to him. "I'll give you my personal number Dib, if you'd like." Senior offered. "Whenever you're in the mood…call me. And I'll be there for anything you want. Even things like this."
"Are things at the colony going well?"
"Oh, yes. Skoodge loves working with the kids. And I'll be honest, he's a natural with them, just like Darth is. It's a bit of a shame we can't work with our own race's kids right now, but we're happy being here on Earth, free to do whatever we want. Including this sort of thing." He added, giving his belly a little shake before he heard a knock at the door. "Oh. Wanted to let you know. There was ONE other person who decided to go back to Earth. Minimoose is really loving influencing young minds but GIR really felt he couldn't leave. After all, all his favorite people are here. Especially…well…"
Senior walked over to the door, unlocking it and opening it up, letting the cheerily-beaming GIR inside as he then closed and locked it again, GIR grinning in delight as he rubbed over his own big, fat, amazingly enormous belly. "I'm gonna have a squishy!" He laughed.
"Deliciousness, as your sister found out, clearly runs in the family." Senior sniggered.
"Oh HA HA." Gaz grumbled from within the robo's tubby gut, the faint noise of her tablet PC echoing out from GIR's belly. "At least GIR'S gut has Wi-Fi." She groaned loudly.
Dib laughed himself to sleep.