Disclaimer: These characters belong to the Nickelodeon Animation Studios and Jhonen Vasquez.
May God bless you all.
Gaz grunted.
The simulations were harder than when she had a controller. It was because she was playing in realistic mode, her character actually got tired and had to drink eat, and stuff like that. Sure she could have turned it off but that was part of the challenge. Still, though it made the game's oncoming horde of piggy zombies almost impossible to deal with.
Well after a brief recharge, she was pretty sure she could take on the horde. So she headed up the elevator…
…but made a brief stop on Zim's floor.
"You really like that position huh?" She said as she stepped out of the elevator.
"Go away." He said. His voice was slightly muffled by the fact that his head was "resting" on the console.
"Seriously, you've been moping around for the last few weeks. I mean and Dib's been all bubbly. What happened when you guys went to the Massive?" She asked.
Zim raised his head off the console.
"Apparently I Zim! Was only chosen as an invader so I could be some secret project or… whatever Spork and Miyuki we're planning."
"Secret project?" Asked Gaz.
"Surely you're brother has told you." He replied.
"You mean about the whole ambassadors' thing?" Replied Gaz. "Yeah, but what does that matter?"
"It matters because Zim failed his Invader exam!" He yelled.
"Zim is no real invader… Miyuki was right." He said.
"What does that mean?" Gaz inquired.
"Computer!" Zim yelled.
"Zim attempted to take the invader exams twice but both times Tallest Miyuki told him he was better placed as a scientist." The A.I. stated.
"Well, she couldn't have been all that intuitive if she thought you'd make it as a scientist." Said Gaz.
"What!?" Zim exclaimed. "Zim will have you know that his experiments blew everyone else's out of the water."
"Literally I bet." Replied Gaz.
"Oh… what does it matter dirt creature." Said, Zim. "Zim is neither now."
"So, you're just gonna what? Be all mopey for the rest of your time here?" She asked.
"What do you care?" Zim asked as he once again put his head on the console.
Only to have it yanked off by the pink-haired Membrane.
"Look Zim, I don't care about all this irken empire stuff, but…"
Gaz stopped mid-sentence.
"Look this stays here okay." She demanded.
"Okay?" Replied Zim.
"This stays here right?" She asked while looking up.
"Okay?" replied the Computer.
"Look, when we were in the future a lot of stuff happened. A lot of stuff I'd rather forget but I can't. And let's face it we can already see it beginning to take form. I mean you and Dib working together, Tenn and Skoodge's arrival here. Let's face it, it's all beginning to form right in front of our eyes. And… to be honest…
…The future didn't seem so bad."
At this Zim's complexion seemed to brighten, and a smile found its way on his face.
"What?" Asked Gaz.
"That's it!" He shouted.
"What's it?" She asked back.
At this Zim looked her right in the eyes.
"Um… thank you Gaz human for making Zim feel better. Allow Zim to reward you with the irkens most advanced battle simulator." He told her.
"Wait… you have a… why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?" She asked.
"Oh, well it's usually reserved for irken elite warriors. It includes many monsters from all sorts of planets. " He told her. "Computer! Give Gazlene access to the full access to the battle simulators!"
"Seriously!? You want to make her more deadly!?" Asked The A.I.
"Just do it!" He ordered. "Well, Zim thinks he'll go get some snacks! Enjoy!" He said as he ran to the elevator.
Gaz watched as the elevator shot up. That was a bit stra…
…Wait why was she pondering this she had some virtual aliens to destroy.
"So, what will this do again?" Dib asked.
"If I'm correct…" Replied the red-eyed irken. "…You should be able to breathe."
"And you're wrong?" Dib asked.
"You humans can hold your breath for longer than 20 seconds can't you?" He asked.
"Okay." Said dib as he stuck his head in the water.
"All right 20 seconds up." Said the irken. "How was it?"
"Well, it was weird, I could breathe, but was still inhaling water." Replied Dib.
"Hmmm, that does seem like it would be a problem."
"Still cool though." Dib insisted as he handed the device back to the alien.
"Well guess back to the old drawing board."
"Have you made any progress on our little project?" Asked Dib.
"Some, but not much." He replied.
"Well, how long do you think it will take?" The bigheaded boy asked.
"Realistically, at least a few weeks, maybe even 2 or three months." He responded.
"2 or 3 months?" Dib exclaimed. "Really?"
He sighed. "Well just let me know when it's ready for testing."
"Roger that." Replied the irken as he dawned his disguise and left Dib's garage.
"You two seem to be getting along." Tak's chip chimed in. "What happened to that defender of the earth stuff?"
"I don't think he's a threat." Dib replied. "Plus what do you care?"
"Just making conversation kid." Replied the ship. "Seriously though, you've been acting different, like almost tolerable to be around."
"Thanks…" Replied Dib sarcastically.
"All this because you found out that Zim was supposed to be an ambassador, not an invader?" She asked him.
"It's more to it than that." Said Dib. "I mean, imagine if that actually gets implemented. Intelligent inhabitants from different worlds working together to innovate and seek a better tomorrow."
"Great speech there…" The ship sarcastically replied.
"Yes, Very motivating." A lighter voice said in a similar tone, causing Dib to turn to her.
"Tak!?"
"Tak!" Said the ship excitedly.
"So, it would appear that someone is working with the enemy huh?" She asked as she walked up to him.
"What? Zim's my enemy, not Skoodge." He said.
"You know they were like best friends growing up right?" She asked him.
"Yeah, he said they were smeets together or something like that." Replied Dib.
"Yes… well in any case… I believe I have discovered something that… well I guess in truth I just don't have any other person to discuss this with." She told him.
"What is it? You discovered something?" He asked.
"Um… well… Let's get back to my lab…" She replied.
"It's better if I show you."
Zim took a deep breath. "Okay, if the Dib-monkey could do it so can Zim!" He told himself.
He then spent nearly 5 hours trying to figure out just how Dib had managed to get the machine to send their minds to the future. He tried everything he could think of and yet nothing worked. Zim kicked the machine in rage…
…Only to fall on the floor in pain.
"AHHH!" He yelled.
"Yeah, maybe don't do that." Said the Computer.
"Shut up!"
Zim simply lay there as his foot ached in pain. He knew what he had to do but he was not looking forward to doing it…
…especially for the second time.
"So, Spork faked his own death?" Asked Dib.
"It would appear so." Replied Tak.
"Why would he do that?"
"You're guess is as good as mine."
"But what did you want to show me?" Dib asked.
"Well, I've been going over Spork's death." She replied. "Now there were no ships that left or arrived at the Massive that day. So, Spork most likely hid somewhere on the ship until he had a chance to sneak off."
"You sure he didn't just hide in the crowd?" Asked Dib.
"Please he was even taller than the current Tallest, there was no way he could just walk around the massive unnoticed." She responded.
"Anyway…" Tak went on. "I've been checking for all deliveries and basically anywhere he could have stowed away on during the days that followed. And I've come up with 3 possibilities. There was the snack deliveries from Foodcourtia 2 days later. The other snack delivery a day later and the other snack delivery... later that evening."
"You guys sure do like your snacks." Said Dib.
"Yes… well, he could have stowed away on any of those, but I have yet to figure out which one." She told him.
"So how you gonna do that?" Asked Dib.
Tak smiled at him.
"What? Me?" He asked her.
"Yes, you see I need your analytical skills to determine which one he most likely left on." She told him.
"Why does it matter if they all came and went back to the same place?" Dib asked.
"Because they didn't. Usually the Massive is the first stop then they go on to a number of planets. Once we figure out which ship he most likely went on we can narrow our options of which planet he got off." She told him.
"You sure he didn't get off in Foodcourtia?" Asked Dib.
"He would definitely be recognized there. So I want you to analyze the ships."
As the words left Tak's mouth holograms of all three ships' interiors appeared on the screen. They were similar but all different with the ability to hold different amounts. On the screen was also how much they dumped off at the Massive.
"Okay I'll analyze this, but this is a long shot."
"Just do your best and let God do the rest, I'll get you some snacks." She said as she walked past him.
Dib looked over all the ships with great detail. He also looked at how much they left off before leaving the Massive.
He then looked over empty spaces where Spork could have hidden.
And finally after looking through every nook and cranny of every ship he came to a conclusion.
He had nothing.
Zim walked slowly into the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the fridge. He then lumped down on his couch and drank the soda. He looked over to his left side and…
"Ack! What are you still doing here!?" He asked.
"Hey, how's it going, you know this couch it's really, really, soft." Gaz said quickly.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, cool, cool as an ice cube, or chill as a penguin, or…"
"Gaz-human! How long were you in the battle simulator!?" He asked.
"Time, oh, time is a concept, time, on time, need time…"
Zim sighed.
"Come on, let's get you home." Said Zim as he grabbed her hand and led her out.
"Home… oh, home base, home run! Yes, Homecoming dance… home." She went on.
"Did someone say dance!?" Asked a rather annoying sir unit.
"Not now Gir!" Zim screamed as he led Gaz out the door.
"Dance… ooh… dance revolution… dance the night away…"
Zim slapped his forehead.
"The Dib-stink is going to kill me."
"So, you got nothing?" Asked Tak.
"Sorry but there's just nothing really to go on, I mean all the ships were empty enough for him to sneak on, there's no distinctions between deliveries" He replied. "I mean there are times, amounts, we… wait a minute."
Dib analyzed a specific stat that he had previously overlooked.
"How much does an average irken weigh?" He asked.
"In human pounds around 50-70 but the Tallest tend to weigh a bit more." She pointed out.
"Okay now… ah ha!" Said Dib triumphantly.
"What?" Asked Tak.
"It was the second ship…" He told her.
"How do you know?" She asked.
"Because they are very specific out how much they weigh before and after and look all the others match up almost perfectly with how much they let off, except number 2." He told her.
Tak looked at the screen.
"Good job." She said. "Now let's just look at the planets that…"
Tak paused. "This can't be right."
"What?"
"No, that's not possible." She said.
"What's not?" Asked Dib.
Tak went over the list of planets again but seemed to come to the same result.
"I don't understand this at all. Why would he go there?" She asked.
"Go where?" Asked Dib.
Tak zoomed into a planet that was not technically on the list to stop at, but had been added as a drop off point after the ship left the Massive. She then looked over the weight difference and was pretty sure this is where Spork left the ship.
"Tak will you let me know… what's going on!? The Suspense is killing me."
Tak replied with just one word.
"Meekrob."
"Now come on, just walk up the stairs and go to bed." Zim said as he guided Gaz through her house.
"Stairs… oooh elevator, climbing…"
"Will you just go!" He shouted.
"What's with all the ruckus?" Asked a familiar grown-up voice.
"Oh… hello… um… Professor." Said Zim. "Gaz-h… um I mean Gazlene was just over playing simulations by Z- I mean my house and… well."
"Say no more son…" Said the professor. "…Now Gaz honey how many fingers am I holding up?" He asked as he put up 3 fingers.
"Fingers… yeah… I like chicken fingers… lady fingers…"
"Alright." Said the professor. "I haven't seen it this bad in months… not since that midnight opening at that store where she convinced the people waiting to play for the first spot in line." He said.
"Midnight… Midnight snack… Midnight mayhem…"
"Okay honey let's get you to bed." Said the Professor as he guided her up the stairs. "Thank you Dib's foreign friend."
"No problem."
Zim took this as his moment to leave, so he did. However, outside Dib and Tak seemed to be arriving.
"There's no way Dib, it's just not possible." Said Tak.
"Well is there any way he went somewhere afterward?" Asked Dib.
"No, way to tell we don't exactly have access to our sworn enemies' records." She replied. "Listen I'll let you know of any updates but for now…"
"What goes on here!?" Zim butted in.
"Oh… Zim wait why are you at my house?" Asked Dib.
"The Gaz-human seems to have been in the simulation room to long…" He replied.
"Oh man…" Said Dib. "…Did she start hallucinating again and yammering on again?" Asked Dib.
"Pretty much." Replied Zim. "Regardless what are you two going on about?"
"Nothing that you need to worry about." Said Tak. "Just trying to figure out where Tallest Spork ended up."
"Please as if the Dib-stink… wait what did you find?" Asked Zim.
"Nothing that we can use… it seems that he actually took shelter with the meekrobs." Replied Tak.
"What!?" Zim exclaimed. "Why would… do you think he betrayed the empire!?"
"If he did we would have seen results by now Zim. It's been over 70 years." She said.
"70… wait how old are you two?" Asked Dib.
"So, did you figure out what he was doing on meekrob?" Asked Zim ignoring Dib's question.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Tak asked back.
"Couldn't you guys just call up these aliens and inquire about what happened?" Asked Dib.
"What part of sworn enemi…" Zim began but then stopped midsentence.
"What?" Asked Dib as the alien stared at him. He then looked to Tak.
"What?"
She was staring too.
"Dib good buddy…" Said Zim.
"…Zim would ask a favor of you."
Thank you for all who made it to the end. Don't forget to leave a review.
May God bless you all.
