Um. So THAT took a lot longer than expected. Sorry :I I had to scrap and rewrite this because it didn't turn out alright first time. And then I fell into one punch man hell, and I spent all my days reading fanfics instead of writing them. Again, sorry. Um.
someone: asddfgjhgdsfgsdfgjfg.
CupcakeTrue: I hope you enjoyed that cake! And Fasdi Mi'll probably have her butt kicked at some point in the story, so all's fine :P also, honestly, every chapter feel like a filler bunny to me, because I wanna get past this part of the plot SO BAD hngh.
Anon: thank you!
Chocolate334: Thanks! Hope you're still into this story after all this time :)
Guest: Thank you, and typos sure are sneaky li'l bastards, eh? I try my best, believe me :o
Guest: 51 days... Have ... have you been keeping count..? :0
The queen flattened out a couple of folds in her outfit. Something in her chest fluttered nervously at the thought of what was going to happen. Off course, she knew that she had no real reason to be scared, as she was safely protected inside her castle while the ones she was about to call were...
She inhaled deeply, trying to pull herself together.
"Go on, call them", she said to the technician, who nodded. The queen stood silently in front of the huge screen as the moments passed by. She willed herself to look calm.
The screen lit up, crackled a bit, before the face of general Kera In appeared.
"Ma'am!" the general saluted. She put up a good impression of bravery, the queen thought.
"General. Are you at your position?" the queen asked.
"Yes, ma'am", general Kera In nodded," the vegetation has erased all signs of previous civilization, but the computer confirms that we have landed on the right coordinates."
"Good, good", the queen said. She was amazed at how controlled her voice could sound even as this storm went on inside of her. "You may proceed in searching the area. Remember, the universe has faith in you."
"Y-yes, ma'am", the general saluted again. The queen was about to sign to the technician to end the transmission, when she stopped herself.
"Oh, and general," she began, catching Kera In off guard. The queen smiled," Good luck. And be careful."
Immediately general Kera In looked a little bit braver.
"Thank you, your highness!"
The transmission ended, and the queen let her shoulders sag slightly. She had no real right to be scared, but she knew it was dangerous, and she truly cared for the general and her crew. She didn't want them dead.
In the silence, she caught the technician looking at her.
"Is there something on your mind?" she asked, and the technician looked away.
"No, I just..." he began.
"Yes?" She encouraged him to continue.
"Not that I doubt you, your highness. But do you really think it's a good idea to send out troops to capture wild Irkens like that?" he asked. The queen sighed. She wished she had a good answer to that.
"It's a necessary part of out plans. I have faith in general Kera In. She is skilled enough", she said.
"I know. I know that, of course." The technician still looked away. The queen was about to leave, to attend to her next queenly thing when he asked another thing.
"So ... do you think it's a good idea to hide that you've already started this part of the project from Dib and Zim?"
The queen mentally winced. She really, really wished she didn't have to, but there was just so much at stake right now. There had been a small uproar while negotiating with a close by planet. An opposition that disagreed to the idea of a unified universe. They needed their super soldiers.
"It's... necessary for the moment being that they do not know. Dib in particular, has always been reluctant to this, due to his personal attachment to Zim. They will know ... in time", she said, and walked out without another word.
"Welcome home, ya nerd-" Dib looked up," Whoa, you're bleeding!" Zim glowered at him, but couldn't find the energy to snap back.
"Did you even learn anything, or were you just used as a punching bag", Dib said, a worried wrinkle apparent between his eyebrows. Zim stumbled to the kitchen and reached stiffly to the fruit bowl, which was just barely within his reach.
"Um, no, I learned lots of things", Zim mumbled absent-mindedly," Like this." He wiped the air with his fist. "There. That's a punch. It is very useful." He bit into his fruit.
"Zim. You don't seem well. Are you gonna faint or something, 'cause in that case we need to get you to a doctor", Dib said, already off his bed and half way into the kitchen, arms out in case Zim's really would faint.
"No I'm - Zim is fine", Zim shook his head. He wasn't. He felt dizzy and tired and sticky, but he would be better, with some food and sleep and maybe a shower.
"Really", Dib asked dubiously. The Irken sure didn't look fine, even though the cuts were already healing.
"Yes, stop your worrying already!" Zim huffed and opened the refrigerator.
Dib's eyes narrowed irritably. Zim was unreasonable by nature, so arguing wasn't going to do them any good. He let off a huff of air through his nose. So what was he going to do? He couldn't just let Zim hurt because he was a stubborn ass.
Then he remembered one thing he could do. He left Zim to raiding the fridge while he himself raided a cabinet stuffed with all the things you didn't really know where else to put.
"Let me at least clean those wounds for you", he said.
Zim entered the living room mumbling something though a mouthful of sausage. He saw Dib standing there with a neat little first aid kit and frowned. He quite disliked being covered in bandages, and all he wanted to do was sleep.
"You don't have a choice, Zim, so get over here", Dib said sternly and sat down on his bed. Zim swallowed and growled, walking over to Dib.
"I will just take them off when you're not looking", Zim muttered.
"Whatever", Dib said, taking pleasure in how Zim hissed as he dabbed a cut with cleansing goo. He washed off the dried blood in silence, and wasn't happy when he uncovered several pretty ugly bruises beneath.
"Zim", he started. Zim hummed slightly, head lolled to the side lazily. "I'm… not sure I'm comfortable with whatever method of training that Fasdi Mi girl has going on. I mean, I don't know much about combat training, but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be this beat up after your first lesson."
"Don't worry. I'll get her next time", Zim's eyes narrowed in determination," Oh, how I'll get her…"
Dib sighed; there would be no reason telling Zim all of this. He would talk to Lard Nar, or Fasdi Mi herself.
Actually, he'd contact her ASAP, like once Zim was asleep. That way she'd have time to come up with a new learning strategy until tomorrow.
"Sure ya will. Get some rest, ok?" Dib finished patching up Zim, who by now looked less like an Irken and more like a zombie. A very small zombie. Dib resisted the urge to pat him on the head.
"I was going to!" Zim said and slid off Dib's bed.
Dib shook his head, watching how Zim buried himself under the covers together with his uneaten snacks.
Dib had just put away the med kit when he the first little snores was heard from Zim. It was a little worrisome honestly. He must've been exhausted.
Dib's eyebrows drew together and he quickly asked the computer to call Fasdi Mi for him.
"Yes, sir", the computer said.
He grabbed a chair and sat down in front of the screen, mentally going through what he wanted to get said and preparing some arguments in case he'd need them.
"What?" Fasdi Mi said sharply when she finally answered. Her image kept shaking and Dib realized she was walking and hadn't even stopped for this conversation.
"Hey, it's me, Dib", he started.
"I know. What is it?" she huffed. Dib's own annoyance grew and he thought that she couldn't possibly be busy enough to treat him like this.
"Well, Zim came back recently and I realized I had to discuss your training technique with you. Honestly, did you even try to teach him anything or did you just keep hitting him for the whole day?!"
Finally, Fasdi Mi stopped walking. She looked at him with such intensity and Dib slowly began to think maybe he shouldn't have called at all.
"Your Irken will heal. He's got that PAK after all", she paused with a small sigh," He needed motivation."
"Motivation? What the hell? You beat him up!" Dib hissed, and winced when Zim turned in his sleep. He reminded himself to keep his voice under control.
"Okay, so maybe I wanted to beat him up a little bit, but I also knew he'd have to lose to want to win."
"What does that even mean?" Dib muttered.
"I saw it in his eyes. He's pretty good. He just need some practice, but the Irken won't try unless I gave him a good beat-up and some motivational words", she explained. He was about to answer when Zim moved again, and Dib swore he could hear the faintest intake of breath.
"I don't get it", he said, eyes trained on the slope that was Zim hiding under the blanket. It moved again
"It's a fighter thing, you wouldn't know", Fasdi Mi waved her hand in a way that kinda reminded Dib of Zim.
"Well, just don't do it again", Dib said, but he'd gotten distracted. Because now he was sure something was up with Zim. The Irken gasped and mumbled something in his sleep, voice shaky and words incoherent.
"I'll take your words into consideration", she said.
"Good!" Dib's face snapped back to the screen and he saw Fasdi Mi looking as though she was gonna laugh.
"Okay, I'm late thanks to you, so bye", she said and turned off the call without waiting for a reply.
Dib huffed and put on his best frowny face at her attitude. And on top of it, she made no sense at all!
There was another yelp and Dib was suddenly reminded of his roommate. The heap of fabric moved again, and Dib wondered briefly if he should wake him up or not. Whatever nightmare Zim was having, it didn't seem too pleasant.
He slowly got up and sneaked over to Zim's bed. The blankets covered him completely, but the grabbed the corner of a blanket and pulled it aside so he could see Zim's face. His eyes were closed, obviously, and his lips pressed together and antennae flat against his scalp. His hands shook slightly.
Something sour rose up Dib's mouth as he grabbed Zim's shoulders and shook him.
"Hey, Zim. Wake up", he said. In response, the Irken whined loudly and grabbed his fingers tightly. Dib shook him again, the frown growing on his face. Zim looked genuinely distressed. "Hey! Wake up!" He tried, a little louder this time.
Zim jerked, eyes flying open and antennae whipping straight up. The movement was so sudden that Dib retreated a few inches in surprise.
For a few moments, all Zim did was stare in front of him while catching his breath, but after a while he drew a final, heavy sigh and looked up. As their eyes connected, Dib was finally able to speak again.
"You okay? That was quite the nightmare", he said.
Zim hummed, flopping down onto his bed again.
"You wanna tell me what it was about?" Dib asked while dropping the blanket, which Zim quickly grabbed and pulled up.
"There was a … um", Zim frowned.
"A what?" Dib said, restraining himself from sitting on the edge of the bed. He wasn't Zim's father, for god's sake! And Zim was not his little child (No matter how he acted from time to time).
"Argh! I forgot", Zim turned to his back and threw his hands in the air.
"Whoa, already?" Dib snorted.
"There was a … and it! It!" Again, Zim made some kind of angry noise, flailing about," I don't remember but I do! It's right there! Just outside of Zim's reach!" Zim said something in Irken, possibly a swear word.
"Whoa, don't strain yourself, Zim. If you don't remember that's fine. If was just curious is all", Dib shrugged, knowing all too well how it felt to have something at the tip of his tongue.
"Whatever, I am going back to sleep", Zim said and finished their conversation by pulling the covers all the way over himself again. Dib huffed; he never knew how Zim could sleep under the covers like that without running out of air. Weirdo.
A foreboding sense of doom still hung over Kera In that day. She hadn't joined the Vortian army for this. She'd joined because Vortians were generally peaceful and there usually wasn't much military work to be done. So when she was actually sent on a mission, she found that she was out of shape, untrained, and inexperienced. (Not that she would show that to the queen. She'd rather die.)
It smelled of rain and mud, and Mother Nature had long since erased all signs of civilization. Their ship hovered above the terrain as she, and her crew, looked out. They did not like what they saw.
It had been months since the low-tech human space ship and its crew had left, and there were no traces that they had been here at all. It had all been so thoroughly overgrown that Kera doubted they were really at the right coordinates.
But no, the computer confirmed that this was indeed the clearing where the humans had been. Kera took a step forward, and waved to her crew to follow. Cautiously, and while cursing their thin, pointy feet for sinking so far into the mud, they moved. The air vibrated with impending doom.
She had never wished to fail a mission before, but this wasn't like any other mission. Kera didn't sign up for this. Actually, if you asked her Irken-hunting should be illegal.
They moved forward in silence, all of them secretly wishing they wouldn't encounter any Irkens.
TBC
School starts tomorrow, wish me luck!
/sagapaga, soon about to change their username :P