A young boy, no older than thirteen, raced down his school's halls. His distinct hair scythe whipped back slightly as he ran. The boy had dropped his backpack several yards back, but in his urgency to get away from the large crowd of shouting children he forgot about it.
Slipping around the corner, he turned back to check to see if he was still being chased. They were getting closer!
"Come back here you freak!"
"I think I saw Bigfoot! He's right behind you!"
Rolling his eyes, he dashed out of the front doors and down the school yard. Without even a glance at the yellow school bus, he hopped right into a small black car and slammed the door behind him.
Panting, he glanced at his younger sister, sitting in the seat next to him.
"You're late, Dib." The purple haired girl growled, smashing the buttons on her handheld game console.
"I know, sorry Gaz. They almost got me today but I managed to get away."
She grunted, and the car started. It would bring them straight home. The perks of having a rich and famous father, eh? Everyday this car would be outside of their school and take them home. Dib had never had to take the bus a day in his life. They were offspring of the Professor Membrane, world renowned scientist and one of the wealthiest men in the world.
He was a great guy but a bad father.
Dib sighed, realizing he'd dropped his backpack. He had some very important paranormal research in there!
"By the time I find it, it'll probably be all torn up. Dammit!"
Gaz grunted loudly, and her older brother instantly shut up. Deciding he did not want to risk the wrath of his sister, Dib opted out and just stared out the window the rest of the ride home.
Dib Membrane had an obsession with the paranormal, aliens, and anything not of this earth. Bigfoot, the Lock Ness monster, little green men, he knew and researched all the legends. He'd actually been quite close to proving the existence of Bigfoot, having seen the creature in his garage.
But nobody believed him. They called him crazy, and even his own father called him insane.
Dib would show them. He'd find proof someday.
The car pulled up in his house's driveway, the small lurch of the breaks making Dib snap up.
"Thanks, whoever you are." He said to the driver who he still didn't know the name or gender of. Gaz hopped out, her backpack left behind. With a sigh, Dib picked it up.
"You left your bag, Gaz!"
"I know!"
Dib dragged himself inside the house, carefully placing his sister's bag on the sofa. He grabbed a soda from the fridge and trudged upstairs to his room, shutting the door behind him. He needed to take a power nap.
The boy shrugged off his coat, kicked off his shoes and hopped into his bed. Closing his eyes, he flopped down and sighed. "I wish something interesting would happen. Maybe this weekend I'll go camping..."
He drifted off to sleep, a smile on his face and thoughts full of discovering monsters.
Tall and imposing, a green alien hovered down the halls of the convention planet, Conventia's one of many arenas. It's pink walls and floors were completely spotless and sterile, as expected.
The creature's black antenna laid back behind him in a relaxed position. He was hunched over from the weight of his amour, his long, very thin arms swinging slightly at his sides. He completely ignored the smaller aliens scurrying past him, mere drones, as he ignored the taller ones assigned to guard him. They followed faithfully several feet behind, looking excited.
Today was a special day for the Irken Empire.
With a smirk, the tallest creature pressed a button on one of his control gauntlets, causing hoverbelt on the end of his long, pink robe to push him faster. His fellow Tallest, Tak, would be furious if he was late for this.
"Zim!" He heard her scream and grinned. Too late, she was mad.
"Do not yell at me! I am here!" Zim's amusement was apparent and his red eyes sparkled with mischief.
"You almost missed it." She hissed at him, pulling Zim towards a platform. "You are still such a smeet. How did you grow to be my equal?" Tak asked, mostly to herself.
"Believe me, Tak, I would not have missed this for all the snacks in the universe. Now shhh!" He said as a technician signaled them.
"Platform descending in...three."
Tak's curled antenna twitched to show her annoyance.
"Two."
"Oh dontforgetthelasers!" Zim yelled at a tech over the whirring of the machines.
"One!"
Dib's eyes snapped open as his annoying alarm rang out. His thirty minute nap was over.
Slamming his hand down on the snooze button, he jumped out of bed. Turning off the alarm completely, he put on his glasses.
"Okay, time to get to work. I'm listening today."
Today was Friday, and Dib always spent his Friday evenings on the roof, stargazing and listening for alien signals. He'd never actually heard anything other than static, and it honestly had just become a habit.
Mumbling excitedly to himself, he grabbed his gear and stuffed it in a bag. Going out into the hallway, he opened a window and climbed carefully up onto the roof.
"Okay! Now to set everything up. Satilte dish, check." Trailing off he finished setting up in silence, putting on his large earphones. He had to slip them on from the back, because of his pointy hair spike. It was stubborn and hard, never bending no matter how hard he tried.
Dib relaxed, leaning back and looking up at the sky. He stared at the few stars he could see.
"Stupid light pollution."
The comforting noise of the static calmed him, but after a few minutes he heard something.
"Kershhh!"
He shot up, his heart racing.
"What was that?!"
The boy started frantically typing on his computer, his eyes shining, a manic grin on his face.
He finally heard something. Locking in on the signal, he listened intently.
The platform decended slowly, laser lights shooting all around them.
"Wave! Zim wave!" Tak hissed to her fellow Tallest. The smoke had cleared away quickly and the yells of their subjects reached their antennae.
"I am I am!" He growled back, putting both his arms up and waving sarcastically. She sneered at him, but quickly put on her game face, as did Zim. It was time.
"-your all knowing, all powerful leaders, the almighty Tallest!" Their announcer's voice boomed and the crowd of Irkens cheered as their leaders came into view. Lasers where fired, and one came painfully close to Tak. She yelled and jumped out of the way just in time, and the crowd cheered louder.
"See?" Zim whispered. "And you thought lasers where a bad idea."
Tak quelled the desire to smack him in front of everyone.
Soon the cheering subsided, and Tak began speaking, her accented voice loud and clear.
"Welcome, brave Irken soldiers!"
"They're coming." Dib has listened and heard that these..these aliens where coming! They were coming here! To Earth!
He had to tell someone. Everyone had to know this. They were all in danger!
Dib jumped down and swung through the window, accidentally landing in a sink full of soapy water.
Getting right out, he told Gaz and his father immediately. They pushed him away, ignoring him as usual when he talked about the paranormal.
Frustrated, he went back up to the roof to see if he could pick up the signal again. After a few hours of waiting, he sighed and gave up.
Dib went to bed thinking of aliens.
He had to be prepared for when they came.
And they were coming.
Zim and Tak hovered side by side away from the Invaders who where now equipped with their S.I.R. units. Their part in preparing them for Operation Impending Doom II was done for now.
"A few of those runts really sprang up, didn't they?" Zim remarked quietly to his partner.
She narrowed her eyes and nodded at him, her antenna flicking forward.
"My Tallest! My Tallest!" A small drone ran up to them, interrupting. "The communications department picked up a bug in the system! An alien planet, one called Earth, was listening in on your -lovely, by the way- speech!"
"What!?" Tak shrieked.
"Which idiot let that happen?" Zim screamed, picking up the drone by her collar.
"Someone-one left a communications port open! They managed to tap into it somehow!" She squeaked, frightened. With a disguised grunt, Zim dropped her and she scurried away. He wiped his fingers on his robe and sighed.
"This could be a problem." Tak said, mostly to herself.
"Yeah...we should send someone to take care of that. What was the planet called? Ee-arth? The aLMIGHTY ZIM could go!" He yelled, but it was just for show. Zim had important leader things to do.
Tak chuckled dryly. "Yeah, sure. There are those two stumpy wannabe Invaders that we banished, remember? The ones who still keep bugging us?"
"Red and Purple?"
"Yeah!" She nodded. "Since we have no knowledge about this "Earth", we could send them. Tell them to find the source of the signal and destroy it." Leaning closer towards Zim, she whispered, "And if they happen to have an "accident" just after the mission..."
Zim grinned. "Yes. Yeees. That is a good plan. Glad I thought of it." He threw his head back and started cackling.
Tak rolled her eyes and smacked the back of his head, causing him to choke. "Shut up, Zim."
Author's Note: I've had this idea for awhile and it's taken me a bit to work out. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please review and tell me what you think, I live off of feedback.