Outcasts

Chapter One

"Why do you continue to do this?" Dib's little sister, Gaz said at the table Monday morning.

"Do what?" the boy asked as he poured himself some cereal.

"Keeping me up all night. You and your moaning and screaming and ranting-it's getting worse."

"It is not," Dib said, although he wasn't feeling confident with himself. He had noticed the unusual and more consistent night terrors and hallucinations, but he refused to admit it.

Gaz shook her head as she watched her brother take a bite out of his cereal. "Why don't you and Zim just cause a truce? It's not like he's gonna succeed at what he wants."

Dib shuddered. "No way, I have to stop him! And he's not gonna give up. Zim and calling a truce?" He scoffed, wanting to tell his sister how crazy she was to even think that.

Dib and Gaz's father was very busy with work, so he wasn't there with them at breakfast. The kids understood his position,though, since he was a smart scientist. Dib knew that's where he got his genius abilities from.

However, there was something wrong with the boy, at least to Mr. Membrane; and that was that Dib believed in things beyond what was real. The paranormal was his passion, but his father wasn't proud of him for that.

Dib's passion and interests were way more important than getting his father's approval, but it still bothered him at times. In fact, the whole world was disappointed with him.

The only person who truly believed in Dib, was, well, Zim. "It's Monday," Dib said.

Gaz groaned in annoyance. "You're still doing that battle thing with Zim every Monday? It's stupid, Dib."

"Yes, and no it isn't!" Dib replied in frustration as he peered up at the ceiling eating his cereal. "This one is gonna be good."

"Not another dodgeball attack," Gaz guessed. She had already kept up with her brother's pattern. Every Monday before school, Dib and Zim came face to face on the playground, and started some sort of war between each other, as if it was something they had planned. To Gaz's concern, it was getting ridiculous.

"No, this one is different," Dib said with a smirk as he pulled out a remote control. In seconds, a round robin with wheels and claws came rolling out into the kitchen. "He probably thinks it's gonna be dodgeballs, but not this time. I will surprise him."

Gaz shook her head as she stood from her chair and grabbed her backpack. "I'm leaving without you," she said.

"Hey, I'm not done eating breakfast," Dib said, but his sister was already out the door. It doesn't bother him. Half the time, Gaz either left without him, or he left without her.

The boy smirked down at his robot, which it's hand's turned into buzzsaws. "I'm coming for you, Zim."

—-

The rest of the student body found Dib extremely annoying, but his and Zim's fighting kept them intrigued. Every Monday morning, they met at the playground, and waited around to watch the scene.

Zim was the first to arrive, standing with his arms crossed, before the chattering kids, with a scowl on his face.

Dib glared at the alien as he made his way over. The two became face to face with each other just as scheduled. "Hey, Zim, what were you doing last night?" the boy asked angrily, thinking back to the feeling of floating in his room that night.

"None of your business, Worm," Zim replied. "I almost didn't get out of bed today, because I was feeling sick."

"You actually backed out of playing Sick?"

"Sick of you!" Zim shouted.

"Hey, why do you have to ramble on for so long," one of the other students said. "Just fight already."

Dib was glad to grant the kids' request, as he pulled out his remote control. He made the little robot make its appearance. "Hah, I built it myself!" the boy said, proudly as he controlled the robot, making it come between the two. "It has weapons."

Zim didn't seem fact, he seemed to have a perfect reaction to Dib's , too, pulled out a remote control, and in seconds, a robot bee came flying in and charging into Dib's robot.

It didn't take too long for the kid's to walk away after the sounds of explosions stopped, and Dib went to his knees to peer down at his ruined creation.

Zim cackled. "My robot bee is a special project too. I made it as well. It, however, destroyed yours in seconds. Do not underestimate Zim!"

As Zim joined the rest of the class into the school building, Dib stood to his feet and sneered over at him. "This isn't over, Zim! I'll make a better one!"

Zim only chuckled to himself, feeling great about what he accomplished.

Dib felt defeated. He had beat Zim with the dodgeball fight last week, and even wounded him with the water gun.

THis time, though, Zim won. There was always going to be something that Dib did that Zim was better at. It wasn't a surprise, since the alien had the highest technology.

Dib, however, wasn't going to let this keep him from giving up. He would win next Monday, and more importantly, defeat Zim and his plans of destroying the planet.

—-

Dib refused to let Gaz remind him that he had lost Monday morning's battle. All day, the boy had been telling her that he was not going to let Zim win again.

"You say that every time," Gaz said at lunch as she had her eyes on her Game Slave 2 console. "When will you just let it go?"

Dib shook his head in response, and glanced over at Zim, who was sitting alone at an empty table, poking at his beans with a fork. The alien always sat by himself. Dib would, too, if it weren't for his sister to keep him company.

"I need to outsmart him," Dib said.

Gaz lustily stood from her seat. "Dib, you're annoying me. Forget about Zim!" She finally left her brother alone.

Dib felt a little disappointed as he watched his sister leave the table. He only sighed, and peered over at Zim again.

The alien finally caught eyes with him, and the two glared daggers into each other in silent suspense. It seemed to be going off and on during the rest of the afternoon, or at least until three o clock.

Zim instantly left the school grounds after the bell rang, like he was in a hurry. Dib was certain that he was up to the new scheme, but it was only natural since the whole student body was always eager to get out of school as well.

Dib chose that day to follow Zim instead of walking home with Gaz. His little sister was already irritated with him and he didn't want to make her injure him.

It was sunny out as Dib kept his distance from the alien, hiding and watching him closely. He wondered if Zim would do something interesting instead of going straight home.

However, Zim always went straight to the house. It was only natural for Dib to follow him anyway.

Zim stopped in his tracks as a squirrel crossed the sidewalk in front of him. He rolled his eyes, feeling the human child staring bullets in his back.

Dib waited for what felt like hours, for Zim to make a movement. What's he up to? What's he scheming this time? It hadn't occurred to the boy that Zim knew that he was following him.

Zim finally continued forward, making his way back to the house.

Dib was a little disappointed that he hadn't caught Zim going off in a different direction to do something suspicious.

If Gaz were there, she would be calling his brother out about how obsessed he was with Zim that he would follow him all the way home for nothing. It didn't cross the boy's mind how important it was to him.

Zim immediately took off his wig and removed the eye contact lenses. "Stupid Dib, he thinks he can outsmart me," he said.

Gir, Zim's robot servant, was sitting on the couch, hardly listening to the alien's words. He was focused on the monkey on the television.

It didn't stop Zim from continuing his ranting as if the robot was listening to him. He walked over and sat next to him on the sofa. "How am I supposed to succeed at this mission if that human worm is constantly eyeballing me?"

Gir responded by taking a bite out of his popcorn and laughing at the television.

"The Tallest would not be happy if they found out I was having a flaw," Zim continued. He decided that giving his leaders an updated call would be best, just to remind them that everything was going smoothly,even if Zim did have his worries.

Gir didn't seem bothered by his master's actions with changing the challenge of the television and giving his leaders a call. He turned to the robot. "Don't say anything about Dib, they need to know everything is going well."

"Aw," Gir said like it was the end of the world, but only continued to munch on his buttery popcorn.

"What is it now, Zim?" That came from Tallest Red, who appeared on the television screen with Tallest Purple.

Zim turned to his leaders and gave them a salute. "You haven't called for my report in a while," he said. "I just wanted to update you that I am outsmarting the humans and things are going smoothly.

Purple chowed down on his sandwich as Red sighed in annoyance while shaking his head. They didn't know what it was going to take to make Zim understand that they really didn't care what he was up to, as long as he was away from them.

The alien would never believe them even if they told him. They would just be joking with him if they attempted to tease him with such words.

"I am working on a new plan," Zim said, even if he had no idea what the plan was. "I'll call when things continue to be in order."

"That's nice, Zim," Red said in a bored tone, which didn't phase Zim at all.

"Invader Zim, signing off," Zim said with a salute and ended the call. He turned back to Gir. "Now, I need to get rid of the Dib boy."

Zim shuddered and felt a stab in his chest when he mentioned the boy's name. It hurt so bad that he was sure Dib had stabbed him with a knife. "Ugh, he's thinking of me again!" he exclaimed.

"Aw, he likes you," Gir said cutely.

Zim shuddered and clenched his fists angrily. "No, Gir. He hates us and we hate him. He is the enemy. I must make the Tallest proud by defeating him."