Disclaimer: These characters belong to the Nickelodeon Animation Studios and Jhonen Vasquez.
May God bless you all.
Zim sat on the couch. The tv was on but he couldn't care less what he was watching. Or wasn't watching would probably be a more accurate claim. He had been there nearly an hour, just… sitting. Gir had come and tried to cheer him up, but even that failed to either entertain or annoy the little green alien. Though not so little or as little as he was when he first arrived here. Yeah, he definitely had grown an inch or two.
Guess this planet was good for something. He thought. Before his mind went right back to what Spork had told him. At first, he thought there was no way that could be true but after doing an analysis of his pack it turned out… yes…
Unfortunately what was done was irreversible. Will and action course overtake, it but after looking back at everything that had happened since he arrived here… it had not only been affecting him, but… it was in a sense… growing.
What he saw in the future only amplified this fact. He was basically friends with Dib… and Gaz and seemed to even be chummier with humankind. He had practically integrated…
…And he didn't seem to be the only one.
But all this couldn't simply be because of an error. No way… there had to be another explanation.
Though as Zim sat there and pondered and calculated and even wondered…
…He couldn't think of one.
Dib sat in the garage.
"You seem more nervous than usual." Said Tak's ship. "Hmmm so it can't be Tak… wait! Do you actually have a girl coming!?"
"What… well in a sense." Said Dib.
"Thought you would have fixed yourself up a bit more for that." Replied the Ship. "Maybe a little less hair gel, and how about a color other than black…"
"No, it's nothing like that." Said Dib.
"Really, am I that hideous?" Asked a girlish voice from behind Dib (who had been looking at the ship in the garage).
"What… no… um… wait it's… just…" Dib started to murmur.
"Ah chill out, I'm just messin with you." Replied Tenn as she approached the two. "So do you have it?"
"Have what? What are you two up to?" Asked the spaceship.
"Does it have to be out here?" Asked Tenn. "Can't we go inside, away from prying mechanical ears?"
"I don't technically have ears." Replied the Ship.
"Well, I get the most privacy out here." Dib Answered. "Gaz is inside an… Wo!"
Dib exclaimed as he found himself picked up by Tenn.
"What are…" He barely got the words out before her pak legs emerged and the two rose high off the ground.
"Where are we…"
"To your room." Tenn said. "We should have all the privacy we need."
Dib thought for a moment. However, he found he couldn't remember as the two neared his window.
Had he cleaned his room that day?
"All right that's enough for now." Said Gaz as she exited her game. She then went downstairs and grabbed a microwavable pizza. As it heated up she heard a rather large thump above her.
"I thought Dib was outside?" She said but waved it off as he probably had come back in while she had been gaming. It wasn't out of the ordinary for her not to notice…
…pretty much anything while she was in the zone.
*ding*
Her pizza had heated up so Gaz grabbed it and put it on the table. As she went to eat she heard another rather loud thump from upstairs.
"Hey keep it down up there Dib!" She yelled.
"Sorry about that Gaz!" He yelled back.
What could he be doing up there? She asked herself. Probably something stupid and alien-related.
As Gaz wolfed down her pizza and soda she had gotten from the fridge…
…It didn't dawn on her, not even a little, just how right she was.
"This place… you'd think one of those earthian storm systems ran through here." Said Tenn as Dib helped her up.
"What did I trip over any…" She began before looking underneath her and seeing a bowl of only a small amount of now partly spilled cereal and milk.
"Sorry… I just…" Dib began before Tenn held up her hand.
"Let's just get this over with." She said.
"Okay…" He said as he grabbed a small flash drive out of his pocket.
"It has everything on it." She said.
"Good…" Tenn replied as she also revealed a driver from her pocket. "…And this has everything you need to know about him."
"Okay so what we trade on 3 or…" Asked Dib.
"Just give me the drive." Replied Tenn as she snatched it from out of his hand and gave her drive to him.
"Okay… well thanks… so that's it?" He asked.
"Gonna have to refresh myself after being in this poor excuse even for human living facilities." She replied as she headed for the window.
"Hey, it's not that bad." Insisted Dib.
Tenn only grunted in reply as she climbed out and using her pak legs, slowly descended.
Dib watched as she left without so much as a wave.
"Well let's see what's on this thing!" Dib shouted as he went to his computer.
He quickly plugged in and opened the 1 file on the drive and…
"Oh my…" he said as over 1000 videos, images and audio recordings were revealed.
"This could take a while."
"I'm playing games, don't bother me." Said Gaz as she passed Zim on the couch. When she received no response she looked behind her.
"Zim?" She asked as he appeared to be frozen in place. Staring at what Gaz could see was… sports?
"Since when do you watch sports?" She asked but got no answer.
Gaz sighed.
"Zim!" She shouted causing him to shriek and fall from the couch.
"Ah!" He shouted.
"What… wha… oh it's you." He said. "What are you doing here?"
"The simulator room." Replied Gaz.
"Oh, well go use it. You know where it is." He said rather nonchalantly.
"You okay?" She asked without really thinking about it.
"Zim is fine." He said as he got back on the couch. "Just thinking."
"Ok… well don't bother me." She repeated as she headed to the lab. However, as she was about to activate the elevator…
…Gaz sighed.
"Okay, what's wrong?" She asked him.
"Nothing, leave Zim." He replied.
"Come on Zim, you still all up about what your father…"
"Do not call him that!" Zim said as he ran to her finger pointing tongue flying about. "Irken's have no fathers!"
"Okay…" Said Gaz. "…That answers that question."
"Just go do your simulation and leave Zim alone!" He said as he turned and headed to the kitchen.
Gaz did what she was told. There was no point in talking to Zim while he was like this.
Plus she did have a simulation waiting for her.
"Computer run flash drive and bring up the data." Tenn ordered now back in her base.
"Running." Replied the A.I. "Data coming up now."
There wasn't much.
I thought he said this had everything on it? She thought.
In front of her however was simply two files. Both less than 10 megabytes in size.
"Sorry… access denied…" Said her computer.
"What!? What do you mean access denied!?" She snapped. "Open the files!"
"Impossible, files are encrypted… too well encrypted… oh my goodness gracious!" Said the Computer.
"What is it?" Asked Tenn.
Suddenly the bigheaded human came on the screen.
"Ha! So you tried to get in huh! Ha! Losers! You've been Dibbed!" Said a virtual image of the human.
"What!? What is this!?"
The image continued its laughter as Tenn's anger continued to rise.
"Dibbbbb!"
"Die!" Yelled Gaz as she fired everything she had at the level 8 boss.
"Ha!" The boss yelled back as she took it all but still stood.
"Weakling." Was all Gaz heard before she got hit by a beam of energy.
"Simulation over… you lost." Said the Computer.
"I know!" Gaz shouted back. She had already heard that so many times.
Gaz sighed as she walked over to where the elevator was and leaned against the wall. She slowly slid down and eventually came to a sitting position.
She sighed again. "So, computer what's with Zim?" She asked.
"What is with him?" Asked the computer. "He is quiet. That's a good thing."
"Yeah, I know but what happened after I left the other day?"
"Well, he and Spork went out for a while and Zim fortunately, has been quiet ever since returning. It's like a dream come true."
Gaz chuckled "Yeah, So, he's been like that ever since coming back?"
"Please don't do anything to possibly disrupt his silence." Replied the Computer.
In truth, there was once a time when Gaz would have reveled in the fact that Zim was quiet and she could use his simulation whenever she wanted. However, things had changed in the past short weeks. And it wasn't just the presence of other aliens, or Zim's father suddenly coming back in the picture. Things had begun to change long before that. From the time they came back from the future. It was subtle but it was definitely there. The way they acted, how they had grown to know one another…
"No…" She almost shouted upon realization of what was happening.
She got up and walked to the simulation chair.
"Restart from last checkpoint!" She ordered the computer.
The level 8 boss suddenly manifested in front of her. Gaz stared determined not only to defeat her…
…but to also get that thought that nearly formed as far away from her mind as possible.
"A…" Said the professor as he dropped a test tube.
"You okay?" Asked one of his assistants.
"Yes, fine…" He answered as a robot came and cleaned up the mess.
"Just have to be a little more careful…" He said as he nearly dropped another one.
"Professor?" Asked another assistant.
"How about we call it quits for today." He said. "It's um… getting pretty late."
The assistants looked at him strangely, but no one argued over getting out of work a bit early.
As the professor sat in his office, knowing it wasn't the late night… he had had plenty of those. He had to admit that for the first time in a good while…
…he was distracted. And he knew exactly what… or more precisely who was distracting him.
"You've got to give it up." He told himself as he drove home. "Gotta focus! On Science!"
However, as he pulled into his driveway determined to focus on science…
…He found himself focusing on anything but.
So he sat down and began to watch some television. Perhaps he just needed something to drown out all the thoughts.
"Ah!"
"Hmmm." The professor said as he got off the couch.
"Wait!" Another yell came.
Was that his daughter? Or maybe his son. The shriek was a more girly one but…
…Actually that made it more likely to be Dib.
Thank you for all who made it to the end. Don't forget to leave a review.
May God bless you all.