Adaptations

Waiting

Zim was shaking uncontrollably. He ran around the room with his arms spread out. "YEEEEEEEEEEEEESS!" He jumped onto the couch and started doing a little dance.

"Victory for Ziiiiim!" He ran around some more until he eventually ran into Dib. He wrapped his arms around him and said, "Dib-worm, you have no idea how happy I am. This is the best day of Zim's life!"

Dib blushed a little as he wrapped his arms around Zim. "Yeah, I have an idea of how happy you are. But, um… Zim. You know what you're doing right now, right?"

"Yes, I'm hugging you," Zim said, bluntly. "I can't stop shaking and I need some stability right now. So… enjoy it while you can, filthy human. This won't happen very often."

Dib blinked. "Uh… okay. I'm fine with that."

They hugged for a few moments until Zim broke it up. Zim let out a small squeal and said again, "I can't believe I'm going to be an invader. The armada is going to come here and Zim will be marked as the conqueror of Earth."

"Alright, Zim," Dib said, smiling a bit. "But you're going to have to calm down a bit. The Tallest said they aren't even going to be here for three months."

"Hmm…" Zim murmured. He placed a hand on his chin and said, "You're right, and we have to make sure that Earth's defenses are down until they get here. And I also have to make sure that you don't freak out within the next three months and decide to go against the irken empire."

Dib shook his head. "No… I think I've realized at this point what I've gotten myself into."

"Zim doesn't believe you," Zim said, glaring at Dib.

"Well you should," Dib said, crossing his arms. "I know what I'm doing is… not something I should do for the sake of the human race, but… it has to happen. Sometime in the past several centuries, there has been a turn in history where humans have become… despicable. And… I don't want to be a part of that anymore."

Zim nodded. "Eh, I buy it… for now," Zim said. "You'll just have to prove yourself to me by helping me destroy the defenses."

Dib kissed Zim's forehead. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. By the way, do you ever stop talking?"

Zim rubbed his forehead. "I stop talking… when I need to."

"Fine, I buy it… for now," Dib said, chuckling. "You'll just have to prove yourself to me."

Zim pressed his head up against Dib's. "Are you mocking me?"

Dib nodded. "Yeah, I am."

Zim smiled. "Good. You're already learning how to be an irken." He bonked his head with Dib's and said, "Just don't do it very much with me. I'm your overlord and I don't appreciate it."

"You are NOT my overlord," Dib said.

Zim pressed his finger on Dib's lips. "Shh, shh, shh, Dib-stink. Let Zim dream."

Dib rolled his eyes and removed Zim's finger from his lips. "Alright, whatever. Overlord Zim, can we now get some sleep?"

"Hm… well since you said it so kindly to your Overlord Zim, then I guess I can allow it," Zim said, trying to act innocent about it.

"Good," Dib said. "Well… good night, Zim. We can start working on the defenses in the morning if you would like."

"I… don't see any problems with that," Zim said. He was a bit shocked, not realizing that Dib would be so helpful so quickly. Mainly due to the fact that Zim was so used to Dib meddling with his plans rather than helping him.

He snuck up behind Dib and planted a small kiss on his cheek. He then ran over to the elevator to his room. It slowly lifted him up and he whispered, "Good night."

Dib smiled, fairly hearing Zim saying "Good night" in the midst of the silence. He laid down on the couch and covered himself in the covers.

* One month later *

* Two months before the Invasion of Earth *

Dib was now living with Zim full-time, and neither one of them were going to school anymore. This set off some alarms for Gaz and Professor Membrane. In the past few weeks, many searches were conducted to find where Dib disappeared to. Zim decided that he would help by designing a disguise for Dib to wear as well. It was actually a modified version that Zim snagged from Tak when she was there last. So, like Zim, Dib had to put on the disguise whenever they left the house.

"You know, sometimes it feels weird that I have to hide myself from other humans," Dib said as he and Zim walked across town.

"I thought you would've gotten used to it now," Zim said. "Though, I guess you haven't gotten any irken training. We were taught in the academy to be perfectly comfortable in our disguises, otherwise we won't look natural."

"Oh, yes," Dib said, chuckling. "Because your disguise always looked natural."

"Exactly!" Zim yelled. "I was trained well. You… could use a little bit of work."

"Okay, fine," Dib said. "I'll work on it."

"Good."

"So where exactly are we going?" Dib asked.

"To a restaurant with actually decent food," Zim said.

"What? But I've been the one cooking for you for the past month."

Zim rolled his eyes. "Yes, that's if you can even put a decent meal onto the plate. Your Earth delicacies sicken me."

"Well, I'm trying," Dib said, sighing. "We're going to have compromise, you know. I'm not going to have a lot of Earth food when I join the irken empire in a couple of months."

"Yes, you should be thankful," Zim said, smiling. "Not only will you be at my side when I invade more planets, but you'll be able to taste the sweetness that is Irken food."

"What kind of food do irkens have?" Dib asked.

"Doughnuts," Zim said. "And a bunch of other snacks."

"That's it?" Dib asked. "How are you all not fat right now?"

"Why would we be fat?" Zim asked.

"Doughnuts make you fat," Dib explained.

"Doughnuts make you fat?!" Zim exclaimed.

Following their lunch, Dib and Zim returned to Zim's base and changed out of their disguises so that they could go back to work. "I told you that you would like a steak," Dib said.

"Okay, fine," Zim said as he popped out his human eyes. "But that's the only thing that I'll give you. Otherwise, everything else was disgusting."

"Do you have to complain about everything?" Dib asked as he wrapped his arms around Zim's waist.

"I'm not complaining. I'm just giving a proper criticism to your ridiculous Earthling customs so that you can improve before Earth is destroyed forever. Destroyed by Zim!" He looked down at Dib's hands and frowned. "You know I don't like it when you hug me like that. Makes me feel weird."

"Get over it," Dib said. "I like it."

Zim growled a bit, but then calmed down. "Fine, do whatever you want, filthy human. As long as we get some work done later on. We have an irken ship picking us up in a month to take us away from this vulgar planet and bring us to the rest of the irkens. So in the meantime, we have to make sure the Earth is as weak as it can possibly be."

Dib released Zim. "Yeah, I know. But most of it is just maintaining what we've already done. NASA's satellite dishes are still disrupted and my dad still hasn't figured out that his weapons have been disabled."

"I'm aware of that," Zim said. He scratched the side of his head. "Hm, I guess I just didn't realize how easy this would be. I guess you were REALLY meddling with my plans before, because now everything is all too… simple."

"Not much of a stupid human, am I?" Dib asked proudly.

"No, you're still very much stupid, Dib-stink," Zim said with his usual inflections. He put his hands behind his back and said, "I just so happen to tolerate your idiocy more than I have before."

"Oh, and why is that?" Dib asked with a devious smile.

"Because… because…" Zim's antennae fell. "Dib-stink, this is the third time you did this to me this week. Give it a rest."

"No, I want to hear you say it again," Dib said, crossing his arms.

Zim growled, but then rolled his eyes. He bonked Dib's head with his own and said, "Because I like my Dib-stink."

"Good," Dib said.

"But I also really, really hate him," Zim said.

"Fine, whatever Zim," Dib said. "So what would you like to do, then? There's much left is there?"

"Hm… I'm afraid not," Zim said. He sat on the couch and slouched a bit. "It's just taking SOOOO long. Zim doesn't like all of this… waiting!"

"Let's just watch some TV, Zim," Dib said.

"TV!" Gir yelled from the other room. He ran inside and jumped onto the couch, grabbing the remote. He turned on the TV and put it on a channel with a piggy show on it.

Dib sighed. "Seriously?"

"Just let him do what he wants?" Zim asked. "I'm telling you, when we return to the rest of the irkens, I'm secretly trading Gir for Skoodge's SIR unit."

"Really?" Dib asked. "You had him for over a year, and you want to trade him in now?"

"Hm…" Zim looked over at the robot and watched him giggle at the images on the screen. Zim couldn't help but give a small smile. "I guess I can keep him around for a bit longer."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

* One month later *

* One month before the Invasion of Earth *

Another month had passed and things were going smoothly for Zim and Dib. Their relationship had developed a bit. Things Zim would normally hate would turn out to be more tolerable whenever Dib did it. And things that Zim found tolerable, he began to like. Dib noticed the change within Zim, and almost felt flattered that he was able to bring out that side of him. It was almost as if he was causing Zim to become more… mature. If even by a little bit.

Professor Membrane finally called off the searches for Dib, giving up hope on ever finding him. Dib found it a bit ironic that he had been searching for such a long time, when he had been in the same town the whole time. Though, he was fine with it. The less time he spent thinking about his family, the easier his experience with Zim and the Tallest was.

With another month passed, Zim and Dib were just about done with Earth. Dib was correct when it came to the Earth's defenses. Although he and Zim would have to check up on the satellites and Professor Membrane's machines every so often, they didn't have to do it very much. All of the pieces were falling into place for the Earth invasion.

"You ready up there?" Dib asked to Zim, who was on the roof.

Zim disconnected one last wire and yelled back, "Yes!" He slowly climbed off and jumped next to Dib. He looked back at his house. The house that he had been stuck in for so many months, and… it was about to be dismantled, leaving no traces of Zim ever being there.

"Doesn't this feel weird to you?" Dib asked.

"Taking down my house?" Zim asked. In reality, he was a bit upset to see it go. But he didn't want to admit that to Dib. "No. It's just a house."

"Oh, okay," Dib said, not sure whether to believe him or not.

"What's taking you two so long?" a voice said from behind Zim and Dib. There was an irken in the corner of the yard, trying to keep himself concealed from the rest of the neighborhood. He had a cloaked ship waiting for them on the street. Waiting to take them away from the Earth and back home. Their new home, that is.

"Just a second, sir," Zim said, saluting. He pressed a few buttons on a remote. First, the pipes and wires connecting to the adjacent homes detached themselves and returned to the base of the purple home. Zim then pressed another button that caused the home to slowly flatten, almost as if acid were dropped onto it and it was beginning to melt.

Zim turned around and Dib followed his lead. Collapsing wood and metal filled the air for the next few moments and then… silence.

Dib turned back around and noticed that Zim's home, in its entirety, was gone. The front lawn, the gnomes, and the big purple exterior. All of it was gone without a trace.

"Wow…" Dib said, shocked that it was all so simple to bring it down.

Zim walked forward and grabbed the "seed". The thing that essentially made Zim's house in the first place. "Well… I guess that's the end of that."

Dib walked forward and put his hand on Zim's shoulder. "You alright?"

Zim nodded. "Mmhmm."

"You sure?" Dib asked.

"I'll be fine," Zim said. "Can Zim tell Dib a secret?"

Dib nodded. "Yeah, what is it?"

"If it weren't for you, I considered just living on Earth as if it were my home," Zim said. "I never… I never expected to be saying goodbye to it so quickly."

"Yeah, I get that," Dib said. "This was my home for way longer than it was yours. Now… I'm saying goodbye to it forever."

Zim nodded. "Yeah, I know. But Zim is not going to get all sentimental about that. I am an invader, and it is not my duty to have things like stupid human emotions."

Dib chuckled. "I guess I corrupted you a bit."

"Yes, you did," Zim said bluntly. "And it'll be up to you to fix it as soon as we get back. I don't want to come off as… sappy when I return to my Tallest. It'll be most unpleasant for you."

Dib rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'll do my best. But, you're going to have to help me out, too. I'm going to have to become accustomed to your irken lifestyle."

"I think I can do that," Zim said. "I am one of the best irkens that ever lived, after all. I'll make a fantastic teacher to the Dib-stink."

"Thank you," Dib said.

Dib and Zim then heard someone clear their throat. The irken was leaning against his ship and said, "Are we going to leave, or are you two just going to stand there all-day?"

"We're coming," Dib said.

"Let's go," Zim said. "The sooner we're off of this stupid planet, the better."

"I agree," Dib said.

Dib and Zim slowly entered the ship and the other irken went to the controls. He turned on the cloak once again and the ship went invisible, along with the people inside. They lifted off of the ground and left Earth's atmosphere.

Dib stared outside of the window as Earth got smaller and smaller as they sped away from it.

"Goodbye, Earth," Dib whispered almost inaudibly to himself.