Hello there, fellows! I've been without internet access for a couple of weeks now, so without that distraction I managed to finally finish next chapter! Man, it feels good to post this. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 13

The idea did not roll with Lard Nar. The gray alien on the screen had his brows knitted together and his lips pressed into a thin line.

"No", he simply said," that's crazy!" Dib winced, it was the most serious he had ever heard Lard Nar be. But they'd only spoken, what, two times before? So maybe he shouldn't be so surprised.

"If you're worrying that he might randomly attack you or something, then don't worry, he doesn't do that", Dib tried," ... unless you've given him a reason to."

"I don't care! There is no chance that I'm letting you take that thing to Vort! It belongs on Irk", Lard Nar said. Sev En looked like he might object, but stayed quiet. Dib wasn't going to back down that easily though.

"He'd be a good assistant! He's very eager to learn and learns quickly too! Please believe me, I'm sure you'd get a better insight at the Irken race if you'd just meet him", Dib pleaded. Off course, he'd already made a mental list of all the good things in Zim before making the call and he wasn't about to talk about the less good things. Which would make a pretty long list as well.

"I don't care. Vortian studies have already proved that Irkens are far to dangerous to have to do with", Lard Nar said and put one palm to a table to prove his point.

"Yes but, I have a theory that the Vortians might have landed on another part of Irk where maybe the Irkens were forced to act more aggressive for whatever reason." Lard Nar was about to answer, but Sev En gingerly put a hand on his shoulder.

"What kinds of reasons?" Sev En asked.

"Well, It'd be easier to tell if I had seen the place, but I'd guess that there's too little food and too many Irkens on that particular place, which would lead to them being more protective of their food and more aggressive towards others", Dib said. "I figured there might be more Irkens where you landed, as I haven't seen as many of them myself as your team did according to their reports."

"Well, you might have a point, Dib", Sev En started," but I'm still not sure about your offer."

"The answer is no, we're simply not risking anything!" Lard Nar barked. Dib told himself to not wince away from the screen. Sev En though didn't seem faced at all by his friend's outburst.

"Calm down and think about it, Lard Nar. It would be quite an opportunity, don't you think?" Sev En reasoned calmly. Lard Nar glared angrily at the other. Then sighed.

"I'm going to think about it. We'll call you back tomorrow!" The call ended. Dib sighed and left the room. Well, it'd gone ... better than he'd expected. Sure, their first reaction had been a straight no, but at least Sev En seemed willing to consider it. And he'd come with some kick-ass arguments himself, so he took a moment to compliment himself on that.

"Still, I'll wait until I'm sure before I tell Zim about this, or else he might get his hopes up", Dib muttered. The doors opened automatically as the stepped outside. He looked up into the trees, in the direction he knew Zim's nest was. Even though he knew it was there, it was perfectly camouflaged against the background, just like the Irken himself. So Dib couldn't know whether Zim really was there or not.

"Hey, Zim", he called, but nobody answered. Not that it had to mean anything as Zim only answered like 50 percent of the time. Instead, Dib took a deep breath and began climbing the tree towards the nest. Thanks to Zim, he'd become pretty good at climbing lately, and was slowly regaining the agility he had as a kid.

Sure enough, Zim was in his nest curled up like a cat, seemingly taking a nap, but probably still fully aware of his surroundings. Even though his eyes were closed, Dib was certain he knew fully well that Dib was sitting there right beside him. Dib leaned against the trunk and looked at Zim. He was perfectly still, except for his antennae who would move from time to time.

There was no reason to disturb his rest, so Dib grabbed a fruit from the branch above and bit down into its juicy flesh. Apparently the rain storm a couple of days ago had improved the quality of the fruit by at least three times, because man, this was a good fruit! He took another bite and the juice dripped down his chin.

Zim opened one eye slightly and glanced and Dib. The boy waved and Zim closed his eye again and yawned.

–

Lard Nar flopped face-down on his bed with a groan. His mind had reeled all day ever since that earth boy had called. Honestly, he was asking for too much! Lard Nar had accepted many strange requests and favors people had asked of him throughout his life, but this is where he'd draw the line. An Irken! Don't be silly, no matter what Dib thought, it would start a rampage over the planet and kill hundreds of innocent lives in its way.

"Rough day, Lardy?" a voice asked out of no where, causing Lard Nar to jump into a sitting position. Spleenk sat by Lard Nar's desk in all his hideous, Ingatian glory.

"Spleenk, why are you here? How did you get in?!" He snapped back. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time Spleenk had somehow broken into his apartment. Some people might have been genuinely bothered if their friends did that, but Lard Nar had gotten used to it. Somehow.

"You don't wanna know", he shook his head sadly. Lard Nar gave him a look.

"Okay then … I'm gonna make some caffeinated water", Lard Nar changed the subject. He heaved himself up with a groan and entered the kitchen.

"So how was your day?" Spleenk asked from the bedroom. The Vortian shrugged lazily as he poured water into the boiler.

"That kid … Dib called with some crazy idea that he'd take his little Irken pet to Vort!" Lard Nar sighed," He somehow thinks that just because he's somehow trained it not to kill HIM that we're going to take the risk of letting it into the royal labs like some little assistant of his! That's got to be the craziest thing I've heard for ages. We'll all die because of that thing, I'm sure!" he ranted. Spleenk listened carefully, chin resting in his palm. When Lard Nar seemed done, he took a breath.

"Are we talking about the Dib who's on Irk right now and is going to support you in your experiment with whatever-you're-doing? The kid whose dad was a genius and invented one-third of all the cool stuff created on planet Earth? The kid who's rumored to have actually BEFRIENDED an Ir-"

"Yes! That's the Dib we're talking about, Spleenk", Lard Nar sighed. He took two cups and poured water and caffeine into them, handing one to Spleenk.

"Cool", the four-armed alien said, sipping his drink," you know, that doesn't sound too bad."

"What", Lard Nar said. Spleenk shrugged.

"I mean, that'd be an opportunity, right? To study it, since you kind of failed at doing so in their natural habitat", he answered and Lard Nar had to admit, he had a point. He mentally went through this possibility (without showing it, off course) and felt his stubbornness sway a little.

"But it's not worth the risk", he insisted. Spleenk snorted.

"It's just one little Irken. How big a threat does it possibly pose to the growing Vortian empire?" Spleenk said. There was always this thing about Spleenk that could make Lard Nar to agree to the stupidest of ideas, and that's what was happening at this very moment. He sighed.

"You're right. After all, no one will ever get far if they don't take risks, right?" He agreed," I'll talk about this with my coworker tomorrow."

...

"Zim!" Dib exclaimed, making Zim look up from his sandwich (which he totally hadn't stolen from Zita). Dib had a ridiculously big grin on his face as he entered the entertainment room.

"What's your problem?" Zim said. It was a phrase Gaz had said to him in a similar situation.

"I've got some news. Big news! Remember when you told me you'd come with me if I ever left? Well, you are!" Dib explained quickly, with jerky hand movements ans excited eyes. Whatever he was talking about, it had to be important.

"What?" was the only thing he could think of saying. Dib sat down beside Zim in the sofa.

"In a couple of months, I'm going to Vort to work with some other scientists to work on a project with them. Umm. I guess I should ask you if you want to come with me instead of just assuming you still want to come", he said the last part sheepishly with a hand rubbing his neck.

Zim frowned, having this feeling that what he said now would change his life forever. His head swam with the overwhelming-ness of the Dib's exclamation, and while he knew he wanted to tag along, his brain just couldn't really grasp the entire context of leaving Irk. He spent a long time thinking about it, even though he'd made up his mind. After a few minutes Dib started to fiddle around awkwardly.

"Sooo, when are we going?" was the only thing he could say.

TBC