A/N: An update!? *gasp* seriously though, sorry for the long wait, this freshman year of college has been a little tough on me, but I can't just give up on my stories can I? No! Truth be told though, I deleted the original 5th chapter because I didn't like what I wrote. It wasn't the story I was writing so for those who did read it I'm sorry, it wasn't how I wanted to write this story originally, so please forgive me and just pretend that it didn't exist and hopefully you can still love me, even though you hate me. So, it's an enigma.
For those of you who haven't read this mysterious missing chapter, be glad you did; this one's more thought out.
With that, please enjoy!
*0*
If Gaz said that the previous night's events at the Irken's house had no effect on her, she would be lying. In fact, from the moment she had left that peculiar, cryptic house, she had had a strange, yet minute sense; a feeling that she couldn't identify, nor shake off. At first she tried shoving the mysterious sensation away in an attempt to rid herself of its bothersome presence, yet unlike most things that bothered her, the small feeling insisted on clinging to her. She strutted away from the alien's abode and moved en route to her house, all the way struggling to dispose of such an obscure sense; without apparent victory. She growled deeply in her throat, utterly vexed by this abnormal sensation that pinched and nagged at her furiously. She tried to distract herself by focusing on different aspects of her life, like that she had a history exam tomorrow, or that the weather was being annoyingly unpredictable this September. Yet despite her efforts to drown this off-putting sensation with other thoughts, her mind seemed to flow back to the events that had occurred at the invader's abode.
She had reached her house, ate dinner with Dib while ignoring his rants, and retreated to the confines of her room, where she unceremoniously slammed the door shut. Practically suffocating from this uninvited feeling, she kicked off her black combat boots and stripped as fast as she could, throwing open her dresser drawers and fumbled into comfortable nightwear; a red and black checkered pair of pajama pants along with a baggy black shirt with the Vampire Piggy Hunter logo on it. She didn't bother picking up her previous clothing from the floor, too enwrapped in the irritating feeling that scratched at the back of her mind. She collapsed unto her bed, grabbed the pillows and began to viciously punch them. The deep purple fabric of the pillow sheet ruffled and bent as the blankets and sheets beneath her, of the same color, were caught in the whirlwind of destruction that she was unleashing unto the soft, squishy pillows.
After a few minutes of lashing out she finally resigned and abruptly placed a pillow on her face, as if to shield herself from that small, dreaded, unidentifiable feeling. It seemed to incessantly torture her to no end, yet all she wanted to do was destroy it; to extinguish it. Although, it appeared that it wasn't simply going to dissipate like many other unpleasant sensations had in the past, so instead, she decided to ignore it; to bury it, and repress the sensation so far down that it would be impossible for it to resurface again. Gaz took a deep breath behind the cotton fabric and removed the pillow from her face, feeling…nothing. It was done; gone. She no longer was bothered and decided to drift off into a dreamless sleep…
And now, here she was, walking to skool with a sense of annoyance. Dib had just happened to have a meeting with his ridiculously creepy, geeky friends of the paranormal club he had founded, leaving Gaz to wake up on her own to look at the clock with narrowed eyes and roar in anger as it showed that skool started in ten minutes. She had flown into the bathroom and took the quickest shower she had ever experienced in her life. She brushed her teeth, dried her hair with a towel, combed her violet locks, and proceeded to get dressed. She decided on a pair of black leggings, a black and white stripped tank top, and a grey sweatshirt to wear. She glanced at the clock while she fumbled with her combat boots and mentally seethed, she was already late.
She decided to stop rushing and carefully laced her boots; no point in rushing now that she was already late. She delicately applied her makeup and chose to go with a smokey eye look. She put on black eyeliner and mascara and finished her makeup off with a clear lip-gloss. She looked in the mirror, satisfied with how she looked, not that she did it to impress anyone; she simply did it because she wanted to. With one last once over of her body, she packed her backpack and made her way to skool.
That's why she was walking to skool in such a sour mood, but it couldn't be helped. Gaz decided that she would berate her moronic brother when she next saw him, maybe even drop his lunch tray on him again like she did yesterday. Yesterday's events at lunch swam through her mind, remembering that she almost laughed at what Zim had said about her brother. She shuddered in disgust just thinking about it.
Me, Gaz Membrane, laugh? Never, she thought to herself. The prospect of it was unbelievable, not to mention impossible. She couldn't laugh anymore, rather she hadn't laughed since…
Gaz's internal thoughts were quickly replaced with ones of pain and malevolence as a sudden figure bumped wildly into her at a corner of the sidewalk, causing her to almost lose her footing. She spun around, but caught herself on the concrete with her left hand before she could tumble to the ground. She barred her teeth instinctively and groaned in pain and frustration.
"Watch where you're going you—!" she began to shout, only to stop in realizing she knew her assaulter. "Zim?" She stared down at the green-skinned adolescent, who, in fact, had completely lost his footing and landed painfully on the ground. He furiously rubbed his head at where it had just hit the pavement beneath him, trying to stifle the irritation it had caused. He looked up at her, and his contacted gaze flicked in recognition, before answering her.
"Gaz-human?" he gasped, "Perchance you are late to the skool as well?"
"Yes," she said irritably, "but I didn't expect an idiot running into me at full speed." Zim cringed at the insult to his intelligence, but he let it slide, there was no point in arguing with a willing test subject.
"My apologies," he stated histrionically, getting up and bowing, "it won't happen again." She made no effort to answer him and simply continued to walk towards the hi-skool. He responded by catching up with her and soon they were walking side-by-side. She mentally seethed and moved slightly to the side in order to put some distance between them, she was never comfortable with others invading her personal space, yet this invader seemed to make it his pastime. She sighed deeply, she couldn't believe that she was even tolerating walking to skool with him, but if they were going to get through these three weeks together, she could at least make it as less strenuous for herself as possible; this wasn't a time for wasting effort on maiming the alien, so she resigned to at least be civil around him…for now.
"So, why are you late for skool?" Gaz asked out of genuine curiosity. The tall irken scowled deeply and his brow furrowed.
"I was up all night, completely consumed by that infernal zombie slaying game." He admitted with embarrassment, to which the violet-haired teenager raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Really, so it would be safe to assume you didn't come up with any questions to ask for your project, right?" The alien opened his mouth to respond, but it closed and was replaced with another scowl; apparently he hadn't come up with any retorts either. Gaz smirked evilly; triumphant for rendering the pompous irken speechless.
"What about you then, huh; why are you late?" he interrogated, his tone making Gaz twitch in annoyance. His prodding was getting on her nerves.
"My stupid brother was supposed to wake me for skool, but he left early this morning and forgot to."
"I see…" said Zim, "then why are you not running to skool as Zim previously was?"
"Because there's no point," she scoffed, "why should I care? I'm already late, so what's another twenty minutes going to do? Nothing, that's why I don't care."
"If you don't care, why are we going to skool?" She paused in her stride, and Zim followed suit. All was silent for a few moments before slowly lifting her amber gaze to Zim's contacted ones.
"Are you suggesting that I ditch?" She asked incredulously. The irken smiled at her wickedly.
"I'm suggesting that we ditch and go somewhere where perhaps I'll be able to continue research for my project." Gaz thought about it for a moment, debating whether to take the invader up on his offer. It was obvious that she didn't want to go to skool, but she had a test to take in history…well, she wouldn't mind making it up in the detention that she was certain she'd receive from skipping skool. She pondered the options she had; having a horrendous day already, did she want to continue it with sitting in skool all day, being filled with dread, or did she want to go off somewhere else, even if it meant spending time with an alien she deeply loathed? She weighed her options, and with another heavy sigh, she chose the latter.
"Alright, fine." She stated dispassionately. Zim silently reveled in his victory, it was another chance to exploit her emotions and continue his research. He resisted the urge to laugh malevolently and instead chose to smile warmly.
"Okay then, where do you suggest we go?"
"If you want to learn more about the effects of video games, it's probably best to go to the arcade. There's a variety of games there that probably will help influence your research."
"Okay. TO THE ARCADE!" Zim stated luridly, causing Gaz to wince in annoyance, but she let it slide.
"You're paying though." She added as they turned around and made their way downtown.
*0*
They walked for about forty minutes—stopping at the Membrane household to drop off her backpack—before they arrived at Señor Swine's Arcade. They stepped in the pig themed establishment, and checked in with the employee near the entrance. Zim begrudgingly paid for the both of them to enter and the two delinquents were handed cups full of tokens. Upbeat dubstep played in the dimly-lit arcade, colorful flashing lights dancing all over the huge room. The arcade was filled with games from all generations; from Mac-man to Mortal Warfare, this was the paradise to any hardcore gamer, such as Gaz. As they walked to decide what game to play first, Zim handed her his cup of tokens. She eyed the green alien curiously, to which he responded that he would simply be watching her play, and recording his findings. She shrugged in response and finally settled upon a first person shooter game machine titled, Alien Invasion. She smiled sordidly as she placed three tokens into the slot and pulled out a green game gun attached to the machine. She shot at the screen to start the game, and it didn't take long for her enemies to appear.
Aliens; green, black-eyed aliens with bulbous heads appeared on the screen in blue spacesuits. They shouted at her character in some distorted, incomprehensible language; pulling out chrome encrusted ray guns to shoot at her, yet Gaz was quicker. With a swift and eager trigger finger she shot one of the disgusting vermin in the head, allowing orange blood to gush explicitly out of the alien's head. She had no time to admire the raw and intense gore as she continued to shoot and splatter the aliens that were attacking her. She forced her character to move behind some large boxes for cover, dodging some deadly rays being shot at her. Seeing one appear in view, she moved back into the open and shot at the alien scum in the throat, killing him instantly; orange blood smearing on the floor. As she made her way through the first level, she snatched a glance toward Zim, completely satisfied when she saw the look of absolute horror on his face as she continued to mangle and maul the invading aliens. She stifled an evil chuckle.
After the first level was cleared, the game ordered her to add more coins, yet she wasn't interested in continuing, especially since it appeared she had scarred the poor irken for life. His face was still contorted in shock after the game ended and she smirked maliciously.
"Did you learn anything about the game?" she questioned, teasing the irken with her remark. Zim finally shook himself free from his trance, but then looked at her with utter confusion.
"Why would you play that?" he asked in a frightened tone, to which Gaz simply scoffed.
"I was just curious; is that an accurate depiction of aliens?" The alien in front of her soon composed himself and straightened his posture, allowing him to tower over her. He then looked at her with an arrogant expression and sniffed.
"Of course not," he state pompously, "no species that I am aware of has orange blood, and a human is truly no match for the superior intellect and mind of an alien, especially an irken such as myself."
"Is that so?" Gaz replied raising an eyebrow in disbelief. The proud irken in front of her folded his arms emphatically and continued on.
"But of course. For example, those weapons they were using in this game were so primitive; we irkens have the most superior technology that is millions of years ahead of your time. The human mind cannot even begin to comprehend or fathom the superiority of our weapons and would be easily annihilated if they were attacked!"
"If that's all true, how come you haven't been able to destroy us, even with your supposed "superior" technology?" Zim made a motion to counteract her question, but again was rendered speechless by the question, and for a moment Gaz thought she saw a flash of shame and despondence cross his features, yet he masked it quickly.
"Since I haven't learned much from this game," he stated, changing the subject, "perhaps we should try another." She decided to agree with him and no longer pried at the now dead subject. For the next two hours she played dozens of games, some simple and innocent, others gory and violent; Zim scanning her while she concentrated on the games. He would quietly let his PAK release the device, so as to glance at it, before quickly letting it recede back into his PAK. Despite being in the arcade for this long she still showed no signs of emotions, to which he was irritated, but he was a patient irken, and he would wait for all her emotions to occur; one-by-one.
After growing bored of another game, they moved on. She only had four tokens left, just enough for about two more games if she went to the right game. They searched around, trying to find a game she hadn't already played today, and one that could at least provide her with some entertainment. She was about to choose another fighting game when an annoying, yet familiar voice filled the two adolescents ears. Zim noticed Gaz physically cringe at the voice that called out to her in an obnoxious way.
"Well, well, well, look who has stumbled in on my turf." The voice said, and both teens turned around to be met with a pudgy boy with dark blonde, almost putrid green, hair, wearing a red t-shirt and jeans. His eyes bugged out of his skull like some kind of insect, and Gaz ground her teeth together in discontent. With the plump teenager was a short brunette, with an overly thin body and a pale complexion.
"Iggins," Gaz spat harshly, "to what do we owe the displeasure of seeing your repugnant face today?"
"Well Gaz, I'm glad you asked," the greasy and corpulent teen replied, "My friend Sarah and I were just making our rounds around my turf. And I see that you and this fellow have taken up delinquency as a pastime and have skipped skool today." He clicked his tongue in disapproval. "You have sunk so low." Gaz folded her arms defensively, shifting her weight to her right side.
"Oh yeah, how about you? You're not in skool today either. Doesn't that make you as guilty as us?" Iggins gave a choked and laborious laugh that sent saliva everywhere.
"Are you kidding? I'm a world renowned gamer. I am filthy rich and don't have to go to skool if I don't wish too."
"Whatever." Gaz said indifferently, turning and trying to walk away.
"Not so fast!" Iggins called out. "I'm not about to just let you walk away, after all, you're on my turf!"
"This is a public place idiot; I can come and go as I please."
"I am the best gamer in the world and if I say this place is mine, it's mine!"
"Eat a dick." Gaz stated nonchalantly and made way to leave, but Iggins wouldn't have it.
"Fine! I challenge you to a game. If you win, I'll never come here again, but if I win…" he paused before smiling deviously, "you have to go on a date with me."
"Fuck no." Gaz answered swiftly, again trying to leave. Iggins Panicked.
"Wait! If you win I'll also give you my Vampire Piggy Hunter: Slaughterhouse game!" Gaz froze in place and her amber eyes went wide. She slowly turned around, her deadly gaze piercing the portly boy's eyes.
"That…I thought that game was just a myth; a myth saying that the game was so gory that—"
"That anyone who plays it will be plagued with horrible hallucinations and be admitted to a mental facility." He finished, pulling out a square case that held the game inside it. "Only one copy was made." he said while opening the case to reveal the small cartridge, "I haven't played it yet because I let my gardener play it and well, the myths seem to be true…" Gaz stared at the glorious game and it seemed to glow in its radiance; she then determined that she would be walking away with that game in her hands today.
"Done." She stated, "What are we playing?"
"Dance, Dance, Revolution." Gaz's eyebrows furrowed.
"But that's a four player game." The greasy boy smirked.
"I count four people here…"
*0*
They four adolescents made their way over to the challenged game machine, Zim completely nervous and confused; he had to play a game he hadn't even played before.
"Gaz," he whispered to her, to which she acknowledged him with a curt, 'yes', "are you sure this is a good idea, I mean, I've never even played this game before; I'm not even a good gamer!"
"Shut up, I know that, but I'm not about to pass up a chance to win a game like that."
"Even if that means you might have to go on a so called, 'date', with him?" Zim asked. At that moment he saw her shudder violently at the mentioning of it. He was unsure of what a date was, but from her reaction, he didn't like the sound of it, and what was worse, was that the prospect of that putrid human taking her on a date made the irken feel…strange. He even felt sort of enraged that this pathetic excuse for a human would even dare ask Gaz to accompany him on a date, whatever a date was. His contacted eyes narrowed on the disgusting human in front of him, gritting his zipper-like teeth furiously. The more he thought about it, the more the cryptic sensation grew, and he decided that no matter what, that foul smelling human wasn't going to have anything to do with Gaz; not if he, the almighty Zim, could help it.
They finally approached the game and each of them added two coins to each slot and took their places on the machine's dance platform. Iggins asked if he could choose the song, to which Gaz agreed, and instead took her time explaining the game to the invader.
"Okay, so the arrows on the platform are going to appear on the screen, and you have to step on the arrows as they match up to the arrow line up here," she indicated the line at the top left of the screen, "got it?"
"Uh…?" was the green alien's only reply when the game began to start. The song that was chosen was "After the Game of Love" by 3rdMix, Extreme. It began quickly almost catching Gaz off-guard, but the violet-haired teen conquered each arrow perfectly, racking up her score. As the challenge continued, a crowd of people began to form around the four teenagers, awed and intrigued by the scores that seemed to go beyond previous high scores. Gaz kept getting 'perfects' with each step, she had to; she figured that Zim's inexperience would probably render him useless, and hearing sounds of 'goods' and 'perfects' reaching her ears on her opponents' side, it seemed that the thin girl, Sarah, at least was familiar with the game. The crowd suddenly began cheering luridly, and in her deep concentration, she hadn't even bothered to look at Zim's score. She glanced at his screen for but a second yet was astonished by what she saw. Zim's score was skyrocketing above her own and from her opponents', as a sound of disbelief exited from Iggins's mouth. With great skill, she looked next to her to find Zim dancing expertly on the platform. Her surprised amber eyes raked over him as he used all of his body to dance. Hands, feet, he seemed like a professional break-dancer while he touched each arrow with flawless skill. 'Perfects' kept sounding out from his screen, his points growing exponentially. The crowd around them kept cheering, but Zim didn't miss a beat.
The song drew to a close and Gaz returned her gaze to Zim, his eyes meeting hers. He was panting in overexertion, yet she saw no sweat protrude from him; she supposed that if they had sweat it would probably burn them. Complete and utter astonishment was evident it her eyes and she could not keep down the victorious scream that escaped her lungs as the game indicated that they indeed had won. Iggins cried and his heavy legs gave way beneath him, forcing him to fall to his knees on the platform. She unceremoniously pried the secret game from his grubby fingers, and the crowd continued to exclaim its praises. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed Zim fumbling with the game buttons, so she turned her attention to the screen and saw that they had beat the previous high score. She saw him type, 'ZAGR' into the game and press enter.
"Zagr?" Gaz pondered out-loud, "What's that supposed to mean?" The irken turned to her and smiled warmly, which caused another strange feeling to swarm within her.
"It stands for the, 'Zim and Gaz revolution'."
"That's so…" Stupid, idiotic, asinine, foolish; were things she could have said, "corny." Zim shrugged and then they both triumphantly walked out of the arcade. As they walked down the sidewalk Gaz still couldn't believe that this moronic irken, who had never played that game before, could be so skilled. "I didn't know you could dance." Zim chuckled, allowing another strange feeling to blossom with her stomach.
"I didn't know I could either, but as Zim said, irkens are far more superior to any puny earth-person." This time, Gaz made no retort; leaving Zim to revel in his victory. Maybe it was for the best if he didn't tell her he tampered with and rigged the machine…
All Zim could do was smile, thinking about the crimson word that had flashed across his invention's screen while he scanned her after the game: 'impressed'.
*0*
A/N: Woah, sort of a lengthy update huh? I know, you guys deserve it, thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated.