So hi guys, I finished this chapter in an English lecture that I wasn't really listening too. What? I'm smart, I can afford to not listen to someone talk about Anti-Jacobian text distributed about in 1800's era France.

Also, I was gone for so long thanks to mega-stress, and I may also be gone again soon thanks to more mega-stress. My life hates me... a lot.

But I love writing. It's one of the few things that is still going right in my life right now and I hope you guys enjoy reading.

Oh, I forgot to mention. Last chapter's experiment was to see if you found Zim's change too OOC or not. This chapter has no experiment, it is a chapter purely for chaptering's sake.

Gaz had spent the next two days feeling terrible. She had made a friend, finally, someone whom she'd felt connected with. Someone who she could spend time with without wanting to punch their lights out. Someone who liked computer games and morbid humour and... she'd ruined it.

Why had she demanded Zim change? Why couldn't she just let their friendship be? No, not Gaz. She had to go and demand more of a perfectly good thing.

She should have known she was too much of a bitch to have friends.

It didn't help that Zim seemed to have vanished utterly. Had she upset him so bad that he didn't even want to come to school? No, knowing Zim he had thrown himself into some useless idea to take over the world. She didn't know why he tried, he never succeeded. Either his ideas were so terrible that they never worked or Dib stopped him with little effort.

She suspected that inside, Dib knew that Zim was never going to win and not in that 'I'll stop him!' way, more like in that 'Zim could never win even if I didn't stop him' kind of way. Although sometimes she had to wonder after all, Dib threw himself into his saviour of earth role with the same energy he did as a child.

Maybe they were just as blind as the other... no wonder neither ever seemed to win.

Dib still had yet to gain any real evidence of Zim's existence other than Tak's ship, which still sat useless in their garage.

Speaking of Dib, he had been acting weirdly. He had gone quiet and, while the silence was nice, it was worrying. Dib only went silent when he was plotting something big, like the time he tried to siege Zim's home.

Needless to say it'd ended badly. It ALWAYS ended badly.

Gaz sighed and kicked a can out of her way, the sounds of Gnar Kill still screaming in her ears. The world again was blotted out, because she had been given a strong, sharp lesson in what happened when she tried to reach out. It was better just to stay in her own little world where nothing and no one could get to her.

She pushed her hands deeper into the front pocket of her hoody, her eyes narrowing down onto the pavement in front of her.

Zim... why wouldn't the stupid little alien leave her mind? What the hell was it about him that had kept his name shooting across her thoughts for two days straight?

Even more so, why was it that she missed him? She had found herself wanting to hear his annoying little voice at lunch or feel his stupid punching attempts in their mock-fights. He was so big headed and so self centred and yet, in the last few days of their hanging out she'd seen... something inside him.

Like a sun hiding behind clouds, Zim's inner core, that vulnerable side to him that was coated under lays of mislaid confidence, denial and single mindedness. She'd seen glimpses of someone who was smart, someone who liked company, someone who was, dare she say it, fun to be around.

It almost worried her how close she felt she and the little green annoyance had gotten over the week.

But whatever, not that it mattered anymore. It was all over with and even if she tried, she knew Dib would be onto them faster than she could blink. He was creepy that way.

The sun shone down on her, but it was cold. There was a chill running on the wind, causing her to keep her black hoody up over her head. She had chosen black pants to go with her boots and under her hoody was a purple long sleeved top. It was odd, on the outside she felt warm, on the inside, cold. She brushed some hair from her eyes, the annoying thing about always having your hood up was how your hair always fell in front of your face.

She wondered what Zim felt. Was he really upset? Or was he just angry with her? Was his next stupid invention going to be something along the lines of making people hate one another over stupid mistakes?

Probably. That or something just plain annoying like when he fired Dib up into space and made him watch cheesy movies with Gir and Minimoose. Sometimes Zim didn't seem to want to destroy the world, just lash out at it and teach it a lesson. She had to admit, sometimes she felt very much the same.

Suddenly, there was a sharp poke in the back of her head.

The girl almost jumped, so caught up in her thoughts and so deaf to the world that she had barely noticed anyone coming near her. However, she leapt around, eyes blazing to see who dared disturb her loneliness.

It was... Zim?

"Behold, Gaz beast!" Zim cried out, throwing his hands into the air, "I have proven you wrong and changed!"

Yeah, changed he had. He was wearing black eyeliner for one, as well as having changed his wig so it fell over one eye in a ridiculous swoosh. He was wearing a long black and white striped shirt that fell over his still gloved claws, but also a black t-shirt over it with 'Can't sleep, penguins will eat me' written on it. He also had black baggy cargo pants with a chain on each side. She guessed he was also wearing boots she couldn't tell, the pants fell right over them.

Zim grinned, "HA, I see you are speechless at the ingenious changing skills of Zim!"

Oh Gaz was speechless alright, her eyes bugged at the... insane sight of the invader. She knew Zim was dumb but... wow. Wow.

... wow.

She slowly felt her lips turn upwards and a sort of strangled laugh leapt from her. She clasped a hand over her mouth, trying to stop the way too unnatural sound from escaping her, but there was another, then another. The sound of Gaz's laughter was so light and airy, so girlish so... not Gaz.

She finally took her hand away from her mouth, the laughter just exploding out of her at this point. Her whole body shook and she had to fall back against a nearby brick wall to support herself as she laughed, tears forming and one even running down her face.

She coughed and tried to look back at Zim, only to catch him standing there with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

Gaz exploded in laughter again, sliding down the wall and sitting there, laughing like a maniac at the irken soldier.

Zim was utterly confused. Gaz never laughed, ever. And to see her laugh so much was both fascinating and terrifying. Yet the sound of her laughter was not altogether unpleasant, actually, it was light and sweet.

"Why do you laugh, Gaz-human?" Zim replied with a light growl. Even if Gaz's laughter was nice on the antennae, he still hated being laughed at.

"Because," Gaz finally managed to breathe out, a big stupid grin still across her face. "You look like a complete idiot!" She burst out laughing again.

"I do not look like an idiot!" Zim quickly shouted, clenching a fist, "I observed the stink-children within your age group and I found this was a suitable alternative dress style for your pathetic teenage peers!"

"Yeah, and they look like idiots too," Gaz had finally gotten her laughter under control, forcing it down and wishing she had a camera to take pictures with. This was so utterly priceless.

"But..." Zim looked down to his clothes and back up, "Zim changed! He adapted! He proved Gaz wrong!"

"A change of shirt is not a real change," The teenager replied, "You need to change on the inside, Zim."

"How can Zim change his insides? I need all my organs to live!" The irken replied with a frown, wondering why Gaz was talking about his insides.

"No I mean..." Gaz paused, finally realising what Zim was trying to do. While this was a pretty epic failure of an attempt to prove her wrong, a part of her realised that he was, for once, honestly trying to do something to get her to be his friend.

Zim was trying to change... for her. It was such a strange moment of realisation that it robbed her of any laughter left within her. Why was Zim doing this? Why her? What was it about her that he seemed so obsessed with?

She felt hugely conflicted. Her mind told her what happened last time they had gotten close, how disastrous that had been... but something a little deeper, a little warmer inside her told Gaz to give Zim a chance.

If he wanted to change then she should help him. Especially if he wanted to change for her.

"Look, Zim... you look like an emo dork," She paused, looking him up and down, "... but if you really want to change, I'll help you. Think of it as an extension of your training."

"VICTORY!" Zim threw his arms up and grinned before letting his grin fall and replacing it with a suspicious frown. "But you're not getting my organs."

"I don't want your organs." She snickered and turned. "Come on. We're going to the mall."

So yes! The plot is back at a roaring pace, but, where is Dibbers? What is he subtly planning? We do not know. No seriously, I've no idea what Dib is going to do yet... but I want it to be amazing. And spectacular. And very very stupid.

REFERENCES. Gnar Kill - They're a very stupid band formed by the members of CKY and Jackass.

'Zim made Dib watch cheesy movies with only Gir and Minimoose as companions' - A reference to the always glorious MST3k. And if you don't know what that is, you're either too young or not geeky enough.

Zim's costume is also my own little dig at the IZ fandom trend to make Zim emo-tised when he tries to become all mature. Just say no kids, just say no.

Next chapter has some nice fluffy Gaz-Zim goodness! ALSO DIB PLOTTING! It's gonna be a big chapter I think.

Anyways, read, review, tell me your epic opinions and what you'd like in future chapters! Laters kids!