Disclaimer: These characters belong to the Nickelodeon Animation Studios and Jhonen Vasquez.
May God bless you all.
"This is your house?" Asked Mr. Rodriguez.
"Yup…"
"Hmm… I expected something that looked a little more high tech…" He said as the men exited the vehicle.
"Oh, trust me the techs on the inside." Dib answered as they went to the door.
Before he could get his key however the door swung open.
"Son! How was you're din…" Asked the professor but Mr. Rodgriguez cut him off.
"There he is… Mi hermano de otra madre." He said as he hugged him.
"Julio?" Asked the professor.
"Son… how do you…"
"Oh, this is my friend Chewy dad." Said Dib.
"Hello, Professor." Said Chewy. "Dad's told me a lot about you."
"Well… come in… come in." Said the Professor.
"Thank you, Viejo amigo." Mr. Rodriguez said as they walked in.
"So, how has it been?"
"Oh, well you know… Science!" Answered the professor.
"Just science?" Asked Julio as he sat down. "You mean to tell me there's nothing else?"
"Well, raising my children." He said.
"Yeah, sometimes." Dib said under his breath.
"You mean to tell me you have no other hobbies, hermano?" Asked Julio.
"Um… well…" The Professor stuttered.
"Please dad's hobbies include Science! And Science! And sometimes… Science!" He mimicked.
"Now… son…"
"Wait a second…" Said Julio. "He doesn't know does he?"
"I don't know what?" Asked Dib.
"Well, son yes Science! Is very important to me but I'll have you know I did have other hobbies." His father told him.
"Follow me." He said.
With that, the professor led them down to his lab, and then through a door that appeared to lead to an empty room. Rather large it was kind of weird that it was so empty.
"What's this place dad?" Asked Dib. "Some kind of storage room?"
"No, son." His father replied as he flipped the switch…
…and a basketball hoop descended for the sealing.
Gaz looked around. She wasn't really feeling much better. She at first was going to the arcade but decided against it, so she ended up just going to the park and sitting on the bench.
She sighed. What Zim had said really affected her. She didn't even know he paid that much attention… to anyone really… least of all her.
What made it hurt worst was that most of what he said… he was right on the money. Gaz, she grew up not really expecting many things. She never pursued friendship really with anyone and school, because getting a friend meant risking getting hurt. It was just better not to have any. She knew God would always love her but everyone else… yeah. It was just a risk, and in truth, Gaz took little risks. She guessed that's why she liked gaming so much. If you messed up you could always restart at the save or something like that. Real life was different. There were no save points or a reset button.
This is actually partly why she was so surprised at her future self. At her graduation party, it seemed that she had at least some friends. Apparently, even that pink-eyed irken was her friend. Her future self seemed… different. More confident, more relaxed.
"Grrr…" Gaz said as she no longer wanted to ponder on the future she had witnessed. However, that wasn't all that bothered her. In this most recent trip to the future, she had seen clearly that within just a few short months she and her family would be on a spaceship with the old guidance counselor and Zim and…
Wait a minute. Thought Gaz as she realized something. "How did I not see it before!" She shouted as she jumped off the park bench…
…And headed straight for Zim's base.
"I knew it!" Said Julio as a half-court appeared before them.
"Yup, sometimes even I need to blow off some steam after a hard day of Science!" Said the Professor.
"Dad, why didn't you ever tell us about this?" Asked Dib.
"You two never showed any interest in basketball." Replied the Professor. "Or really any sports for that matter."
"Come on hermano, let's see if you still got it hey." Said Julio as a basketball descended from the ceiling.
"You sure you can still play old mannn." The Professor taunted.
"Oh, now it's on!" Said Julio as the two men started to play a game of 1on1.
"Come on now's our chance." Said Chewy as he lead Dib away.
The two went back into Dib's father's main lab and Dib took out the box that Jorge had given.
"So how we going to figure out how to open it?" Asked Dib.
"We? No, not we… you're the one with irken friends." Said Chewy.
"They're not… never mind. So what I just ask them?" He asked him.
"That's up to you." Said Chewy. "Consider this a swollen eyeball assignment. Get this box open and report what's inside."
"Roger that." Said Dib as he saluted Chewy.
"Good." Said Chewy. "Now, what's good on tv?"
"Those two will be at it for a while."
"Are you sure?" Asked Skoodge.
"Positive." Zim replied.
"Wow, that's something." Said Skoodge. "So what are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing!" Shouted a voice causing both irkens' to look at the elevator.
"Gaz-human… we were just…"
"I know what you were doing!" She shouted as she approached them.
"Now, Gaz-human there is no need…" Zim began but Gaz cut him off.
"NO Zim!" She shouted. "It'll all happen in good time."
"But we can find him now!" Zim pleaded.
"And mess up the future while you do it." She told him.
"Listen what you saw… there can't be too many of them around even on the earth." Said Skoodge.
"Let's just get a search."
"NO, don't!" Gaz told them.
"How, do you know this isn't how we find him?" Asked Zim.
"How do you know you won't cause a chain of events that cause some sort of cataclysm in time?" Gaz asked back.
"Computer, find out…"
"Don't you dare!" Gaz shouted at Zim's base A.I.
"I'm torn." Answered the Computer.
"Listen to me computer and find out…Oof!" Said Zim as Gaz tackled him.
"No, you listen to me! We are not using what we discovered in the future to try and speed things up now! I mean is it really that hard to wait a few months?"
The two stared at each other for a brief moment.
"Yes, it is!" Zim Screamed. "Computer…"
"You know I already have the list." Said Skoodge.
"What!?" Asked Gaz and Zim in unison.
"Yeah, I did my own search." Said Skoodge as he revealed what he was looking at on his tablet to the two.
"Only around 1000 humans with it and only about 800 are male so not too much to choose from." He told Zim.
"Success!" Shouted Zim as threw Gaz off him and stood up.
"NO!" She shouted.
"Give up dirt creature." Said Zim. "We are going to find Spork and there's nothing you can do about it."
Zim stuck his weird tongue out at her. Which she grabbed almost immediately.
"Ah!" He shouted.
"Don't you for one second think this is over." She told him.
Releasing his tongue from her grasp she turned around and left his lab.
"Well, where do you want to start?" Asked Skoodge.
"With the humans closest." Zim told him after he put his tongue back in his mouth.
"Hmmm… oh… okay…" Said Skoodge as he analyzed the data.
"What is it?" asked Zim.
"Well… there's only 3 humans in a 100 mile radius who currently owns that." His friend told him.
Zim blinked a few times before speaking.
"And who would those humans be?"
"No… I… cough… still…"
"I think you've had enough hermano." Said the Professor.
"No, I just need to… catch my breath." Replied Julio between huffing and puffing.
"Come on, we have some energy drinks upstairs." The professor said as he lead his old friend to the main room.
There they saw their children watching television.
"You see this is the problem with today's generation." Said Julio as he grabbed a drink.
"It's all virtual." He said before practically guzzling down the orange liquid.
"You two finally done?" Asked Chewy. "Cause I got work in the morning dad."
"Oh, right… yeah, I better get my son to his apartment." Said Julio. "Lucky for you."
The Professor chuckled slightly. "Yeah." He said in a sarcastic way. "Lucky me."
"That was fun though. We should get together some other time." Said Jorge.
"Please. Dad's busy so often…" Dib began but didn't finish.
"Yes, you know…" Said the Professor as he walked them out. "…Science!"
"You sound like my baby sister." Said Jorge. "She couldn't even attend family dinner because of some breakthrough in her lab, I tell you science should never come over family."
"I second that." Dib whispered.
"Oh… how is Esmeralda?" Asked the Professor.
At this, Julio smiled. "Why you asking about her huh? Seems like someone's still carrying…"
"Um… never mind." The professor said quickly. "Well, I better get back to science, see you later."
"Yeah, adios." Said Julio.
The professor waved as the two pulled out of the driveway.
"Okay, dad…" Said Dib once they left. "… I gotta ask. Who are those people?"
"What do you mean son?" The professor asked back as he sat on the couch next to Dib.
"Well, you always talked about your science buddies. You never mentioned the Rodriguez's" Dib told him.
"Well, son you wouldn't know this but at the time, I seriously considered becoming a professional basketball player instead of going into Science!" His father told him.
"What!?" Dib exclaimed as he stood up on the couch. "But… you told me…"
"I know son but even when one is as sure as I about his career choice seeds of doubt find their way in there. You see I took a basketball scholarship because it was the easiest way to get into one of the best colleges for Science! Then I found I really had a talent for the sport. You should have seen how many agents wanted to represent me in the draft. I'll have to admit it was very tempting."
The Professor stood up before continuing his monologue.
"However in the end I knew Science! Was my definite career choice and even the love of the game wasn't going to keep me from it. Now speaking of which I have to get back to work. See you son."
With that, the Professor disappeared into his lab.
Dib was truly baffled by the fact that his father could even be tempted away from another career. Though he supposed everyone was at some point.
*Bam*
The door shot open causing Dib to flinch.
"Gaz!?" He asked.
"Don't talk to me." She answered as she walked to the fridge and grabbed a soda.
"Something wrong?" Asked Dib.
Gaz practically swallowed the drink, crushed the can, and threw it away. She then joined her brother on the couch.
"What makes you think that?" She asked semi-sarcastically.
"It's Zim again isn't it?" He asked.
"How about we talk about something other than extraterrestrials for a change." His sister told him.
"Um… okay…" Dib complied. "…Did you know dad once thought about becoming a professional basketball player instead of a scientist?"
At this Gaz's eyes shot open.
"What?"
"Yeah, an old college friend of his was over and they played basketball together. He told me he once actually considered not pursuing a career in basketball." Dib said.
"What old college buddy?" Asked Gaz.
"Um… oh wait I think dad has a photo album from that time…" Said Dib as he ran over to a bookshelf and looked through the books.
"Ah-Ha Here it is." Said Dib as he grabbed a book and brought it over to Gaz.
"Let me see… there we go… Julio Rodriguez, Dad's old basketball buddy." Said Dib as he pointed to the man in some sort of group photo.
Gaz's eyes were still wide as could be.
"Come on Gaz… I know it's suprising but…"
"Dib…" She said in a rather low and kind of creepy tone.
"What?" He asked her.
She didn't answer. She just pointed to the photo, but not to her father or Julio.
Dib looked at the person she was pointing to.
Then dropped the book as he too seemed to be in as much shock as his baby sister.
"No… no. no… no…no… NOOOOOOOOOOOO." Dib said.
Gaz didn't respond. She simply picked up the book and so slowly put it back on the shelf.
She then grabbed her brother's hand and led him out the door.
"Where are we going?" He asked still in a state of shock.
"To Zim's." She answered.
"Where all this craziness began." She answered.
Thank you for all who made it to the end. Don't forget to leave a review.
May God bless you all.
