Here's another chapter for you, and let's hope that Zim and Dib will be able to move past Zim's small outburst and that everything will be okie-dokie between the two of them again!
...or maybe something else is going to happen. You'll just have to read to find out.
"So...let me get this straight. You went over to the junkyard, where Zim had made a makeshift arena for you to battle in. He also made some kind of weird robot made out of junk and was going to collect more junk to make it bigger and take over the world, but only after killing you. You then tried to run away, failed, and were captured by Zim. He was then about to kill you when you asked if he wanted to talk, whereupon he got angry, ran away, and left you alone..."
"You forget the part where I almost broke my neck," Dib mentioned, somewhat annoyed that she decided to leave out the part where he almost lost his life because of Zim. Well, it wasn't technically Zim's fault, but he was still somewhat confused and frustrated after last night so he decided he had the right to be crossed at Zim. Just for a while at least.
Dib was sitting on the couch, with Gaz standing over him with her arms crossed, as if he was getting lectured. As if that wasn't enough, she had also woken him up to speak with him, when he just wanted to rest for a minute or half a day at least. The walk back to the house hadn't exactly been pleasant. Besides his sore bones from the fall, and having just nearly been crushed to death or worse, he was more than shaken up. Not to mention his exhaustion, which made him fall asleep on the couch just as he had come home. But there was also something else, something that was concerning him greatly. It was this eerie feeling that he felt as soon as he found Zim, that had followed him ever since. Even in the morning, he could still feel it in his gut. He wasn't sure if it was everything else or just that which made him so cranky.
"As if that doesn't happen every time you go out with him," Gaz replied apathetically, before giving herself a moment to collect herself and make sense of the mess Dib had gotten himself in.
"...Alright, then there's only one question left..." She finally said, before looking straight at him with a glaring look, making him feel slightly uncomfortable. He could already tell that it wouldn't take long before she would start berating him.
"What happened?"
"Didn't I just tell you? Please don't make me explain all of that again-"
"No you idiot, I mean what happened between you and Zim!" Gaz blurted, as she really didn't want to hear the whole sorry tale again.
"Me and Zim? As far as I'm concerned, this whole situation is because of Zim, so I don't see what I'm responsible for!" Dib remarked though he couldn't help but feel he was being somewhat harsh. But then he remembered he was talking about Zim, so it was perhaps justified. Not to mention the whole 'nearly-breaking-his-neck' part.
"Oh really?" Gaz asked making no attempt at masking her sarcasm, as she gave him a mocking look.
"Don't you 'oh really' me! This whole thing was just because Zim had a meltdown so, for once, I didn't have anything to do with it!"
"And why did he have a meltdown? Oh, maybe it was because you decided to be an idiot and call him soft, hm? You were practically asking him to do something stupid, like trying to blow us up with a mailbomb for instance." She said, making it clear that she had already decided how much blame Dib was going to get for the whole thing.
"Please don't tell me you're going to try and make it sound like I started this mess! I'm willing to accept that I made a mistake in saying something like that to Zim, but that's NOT the reason why all of this happened, okay!"
"Yeah, because anyone else would be able to get him so riled up. We both know you're the only one that can make him act like this, so why don't you just accept that just like all the other times this he deiced to do something-"
"But that's it! It wasn't like any of the other times...or at least...I think so."
Dib's voice quivered ever so slightly, and it was enough to reveal the doubt he held. He was usually so sure of himself, especially in matters regarding Zim. But he wasn't above feeling doubtful in certain situations. But Dib's voice revealed something that Gaz hadn't really seen before. It was a mix of worry and fear, that didn't suit her normally overconfident brother. And it made her worry too.
"...Alright, there's something you aren't telling me, and you're going to explain it to me, right now."
Even though her words would make one think she was being cold, her weirdly gentle voice made it clear she was trying to push Dib to take that final step so that he would finally reveal what had been bugging him ever since he came back.
There were a few moments of silence, where Gaz was just looking at Dib, waiting for him to speak. He tried to avoid her gaze, but even he could see that there wasn't any point in keeping it to himself. Perhaps if he was lucky, some outside perspective could actually help him clear his head. His worries were just stupid paranoia after all, and not something he should worry too much about...right?
"It's...it's just something stupid, okay. I'm sure it's nothing."
"If it was, would you really be so scared to tell me?" Gaz asked with a raised eyebrow, with Dib wondering if it was a good or bad thing that she had become the voice of reason all of a sudden.
"*Sigh* Yay, you're right. It's just, after seeing Zim again at the junkyard, something seemed...different."
"Different? I thought him trying to kill you was normal at this point."
"It wasn't that, or...yes maybe it was that. I keep thinking about how someone as stubborn as Zim had managed to change after all this time. I thought that would mean that he was going to STAY that way, for a while at least. And yet last night, he reminded me of...how he used to be..."
"Oh..." Gaz muttered uneasily to herself. She didn't quite have the same history with Zim as Dib did, but neither did she exactly have pleasant memories from that time. He had still been mostly harmless, though irritating. But compared to how he had been acting these last few months, going back to that wasn't something she was exactly looking forward to.
"I thought I was finally done dealing with that Zim and yet there he was as if he never left."
"Aren't you being a bit over dramatic? It isn't like we're talking about two different people."
"To you maybe, but for me, they might as well be." He remarked, with a somewhat dark tone.
A short silence grasped them, and they both just stared at the floor, not sure where to contuine. But there was something Gaz wasn't sure would be such a good idea to say. Not that there wasn't a better time to mention it.
"Have you considered that maybe he has just...run his course."
"What?" Dib asked, genuinely confused at what she was trying to imply.
"It is Zim we're talking about, you know. I don't think logic is gonna work on him. Maybe this whole thing is just him...doing what Zim does."
"...Like what, trying to kill me?"
"Something like that, sure." She continued. She wasn't sure herself that her theory would be any better than what Dib could think of. But she couldn't help but shake off the feeling that things maybe had been too good, for too long. A thought she wasn't happy to consider, and one of the reasons she didn't like to care about things in the first place.
As much as Dib tried not to think about it, he couldn't help but see some sense in her theory. He had always known that the chance that someone like Zim could stop being so destructive was less than likely. But he had never thought about the chance that it was something that he could keep down for a time before it would burst out again. Considering Zim, it wasn't impossible. Not that he wanted to believe it. He would be more than happy to accept any other explanation than believing that all those months they had together were just a short respite before everything would turn back to normal. Zim had changed! It wasn't just something that would come and go, he had become better than that! Or at least, Dib would like to believe that...
"No...no it can't be that! There must be something else, something that's manipulating him, or maybe-"
"Or maybe this is something that only has to do with Zim," Gaz stated, cutting off Dib mid-sentence.
"I know you like to think that it's always something else that's the problem, but this time I'm pretty sure that it's just Zim this is about. And whatever freaky, dumb stuff that goes on inside his brain."
Dib wanted to say something back, to correct her in some way, but in the end, it wasn't like she was wrong. He really did want it to be something else than just Zim being Zim. For some reason, he felt slightly sad at the idea that it was all just a problem with him. That there wasn't something he could do to fix it, something he could help with. Instead of just waiting to see if Zim considers that there might be a problem with him, and decides to do something about it. The thought left Dib feeling so obnoxiously powerless. He had battled aliens and supernatural things for nearly his whole life, and for once a problem he wanted to deal with couldn't be fixed by destroying some weird alien machine, a magic stone, or whatever else.
"And what if it's something to do with his brain or whatever? What am I supposed to do!"
"I'm sorry to say, but fixing Zim's brain is a bit above you." She answered somewhat jokingly, hoping to lighten up the mood that had become dreadfully miserable.
"Besides, I don't think you're supposed to 'fix' people."
"Really? And what gives you the right to go and tell me how to treat people?"
"Compared to you, I think I'm more than qualified to do that."
"Oh, that's rich!" Dib said, though his voice was much more joking than serious.
The silence returned once again and laid heavy upon them too. Their banter had helped alleviate Dib's sourness, but he still couldn't help but worry about the whole situation. And more surprisingly, worrying about Zim. What exactly had happened to make him care so much about that oversized bug anyway? Was it just that he didn't need to fear for his life anymore, or that he finally got someone to be around? Just as it was before, the person he spent the most time with was Zim, but for once, the time had been pleasant. Even more than pleasant at times. He wasn't sure why, but the thought of losing all that, made him worried that it would turn him into a sad wreck.
"So what. We wait?" He asked after getting tired from the silence.
"You wai-"
Gaz was just about to mention that it was all Dib's problem and that he could deal with it. And yet, there she was, discussing it with him. Talking about Zim. It would be a bit hypocritical to suddenly back out and act like she had no investment in the whole thing whatsoever.
"...Yeah, we wait. He came to us before, so he probably will again."
"That's not exactly a good thing," Dib commented bitterly.
"Yeah, not really. But unless you wanna try and have a conversation with him while he's still trying to kill you, be my guess."
"...But what if he isn't?" Dib said, mostly to himself, as his heart raced at the thought that he had finally come up with a solution.
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe, just maybe, the whole 'trying to kill me' routine was just like a...momentary lapse in judgment!"
"...So you think this was just a...one-off thing?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, not sure whether to be worried or tired of her brother.
"Yeah, it's like you said! Zim's gonna be Zim. Maybe he just...needed it out of his system. So I could just try to walk over to his house, say hi, we figure this whole mess out, and it's like it never happened!"
Dib stared with a bit of hope and optimism at his sister, waiting to see what she would say, though he decided to wilfully ignore the part of him that knew how she was gonna respond.
"...I know you have had a long night, but this makes no sense, even for you."
"But...ugh." He didn't have enough energy to try and support his argument. Besides, it was a long shot, even he could see that.
"...There has to be something I can do! Something! Maybe I just have to-"
"Ding-dong!"
The doorbell interrupted Dib and made the siblings turn their heads towards the front door. As they looked with surprise on their faces, they couldn't help but think back to the last time the doorbell had mysteriously rang, which ended with them hiding from an explosion. Not exactly happy memories.
They looked at each other as if trying to confirm if what they heard was real or a hallucination. To their horror, it turned out to have been real, as the bell rang once again. They stood quietly as if hoping that whoever was at the door would go away. When the ringing continued that hope ended up seeming rather vain.
"Do you think it's that doorbell ringing device Zim used last time?"
"How am I supposed to know?!" Gaz hissed at him, fully prepared to force Dib to check the door.
"Okay, what if we just wait for it to stop?" Dib said, before staring towards the hallway sheepishly. It didn't take more than a few seconds before Gaz had enough of the sound.
"Ugh, Dib, can you please go and check it before my ears bleed!"
"Me? Why should I check?!"
"Because I did last time, and that ended up with me holding a bomb! Now stop whining, and get to it!" She yelled, putting her hands over her ears, as the sound had become cartoonishly annoying, somehow only getting faster and faster.
Dib staggered at first, but he managed to push himself over to the hallway, and the long walk over to the door. Once he reached it, with boiling anxiety, he slowly grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open. To his surprise, on the other side of the door, wasn't a box that was meant to blow up in his face. Instead, Zim stood before, sending a surge through Dib's body. Unfortunately, Zim was so preoccupied with frantically pressing the doorbell, that the alien hadn't even realized someone had answered the door. Dib stood awkwardly for a few seconds, contemplating if he should announce himself or just wait for Zim to finally look up from the doorbell. Luckily, before the wait became too ridiculous, Zim finally noticed him. There was a slight pull in Dib's stomach as they locked eyes. He had no idea how Zim was going to react seeing him, especially after what happened the night before. But it seemed Zim was just as clueless on how he should feel on the matter, as all he could do was look at the human with a weirdly blank expression.
They both stood gawking at each other silently as if waiting for the other to act first. In the end, Zim was the first to break the tension, as he slowly pushed his claw against the doorbell, ringing it one last time before slowly letting his arm fall to his side. It was then he cleared his throat, before speaking.
"Ah, there you are Dib-thing. I'm glad to see you were the first to answer my ringing." He nonchalantly stated, with a confident tone while holding his chin high, as if he hadn't just last night used trash to build a giant robot to kill Dib with. Speaking of Dib, he looked quietly at Zim for a few seconds, before answering.
"And...why is that?"
"Because I need to speak with you! You see Dib, I have the dreaded... business with you," Zim replied, and Dib could already tell he wasn't going to like where their conversation was going.
"Business, right...and does this 'business' have anything to do with you trying to kill me yesterday." Dib blurted out, and even though it should be a rather important subject, it somehow felt like he was forcing it into the conversation.
"...Oh, that. No, of course not! Why would it have anything to do with that?" The alien asked with disbelief. A slight shock spread across the human's face, and he couldn't help but for once wonder if Zim was being sarcastic.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because it came somewhat out of the blue! And was something you haven't done for a few months, where everything seemed fine and peaceful, until of course suddenly I found a BOMB outside my house meant to blow me up...a bomb YOU made! So yeah, I would consider that something that maybe would be important to discuss, and therefore I expected that it would be the reason why you're suddenly showing up at my house! Unannounced I may add!"
When Dib finally was finished, he started wondering if he may have been a bit harsh. But when he saw Zim's reaction, or more accurately, lack of reaction, he started to think he hadn't been harsh enough.
"Huh...well, you're wrong Dib-worm, so I think it would be best for both of us if you just forget about that whole thing, yes?"
"...Zim, I'm not just gotta forget that you tried to-"
"Great! It's always so much better to talk to you Dib-thing when you agree with Zim!" He joyfully exclaimed, interrupting the human, who calmed himself with the fact that he shouldn't have expected anything else from Zim.
"Now, can we start discussing...the business?" Zim asked, once again emphasizing the word business. Dib wasn't sure whether it was one of Zim's usual speech hiccups, or if there really was something special going on.
He let out a weary sigh, and leaned up against the door frame, as Zim waited for him to answer. Dib wasn't going to let Zim get away with the whole trying-to-kill-him thing, but he could tell that Zim was too occupied by whatever that business he kept bringing up. Trying to confront Zim about it as it stood, would be like arguing with a wall. A wall with sharp claws. So he was willing to let it go...for now.
"Ugh, all right Space-boy, what is it you want to talk about?"
For a moment, he could swear that Zim looked...confused. As if he wasn't sure what to say. But it went away too quickly for him to comment on it. Instead, Zim once again cleared his throat, which made Dib wonder if he had been yelling at something before he came over. If that peculiar voice of his could even get hoarse.
"You see, dear Dib-worm, I received a transmission from my Tallests last night, where they urged, no, PLEADED me to return to their side, to help them conquer the rest of this galaxy! Their message couldn't have come at any better time, as I have gotten very tired of this heap of dirt you call a planet. So very soon, you will have to contend with the fact that I will be leaving Earth...for a temporary time of course, as we will most likely return one day to enslave all you pigs and make something useful out of you. Following so far, Dib-thing?"
"....."
Like a static tv, the human had frozen in place while staring at Zim, without really looking at him. He could see that Zim's mouth was moving, and could conclude that he was most likely saying things. But not a single sound made its way through his ears to his brain. Not even the sound of the birds or cars driving by. A thousand thoughts went through his mind, practically short-circuiting his entire nervous system. If an especially strong gust of wind had come along, he would probably have fallen over. Not that he had to worry about that, as there wasn't any wind that day. But what he should be worried about was Zim, who had been starting to get increasingly more infuriated with Dib's lack of response to his words.
He stood there for a good few seconds with Zim screaming at him before a curious Gaz finally came over to see who was making all those angry noises.
"Hey, Dib, who is at the door? It sounds kinda like...Zim..."
"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME YOU PIG-BRAINED-oh, hello Dib-sister, Zim hasn't seen you for a while," Zim said in a friendly tone, turning his head to the side to see her, as Dib was standing in the way, still not moving.
"...Yeah, neither have I...say, you don't happen to have a bomb with you, right?"
"I don't think so," Zim replied, before seemingly checking him for a few moments just to be sure. He ended up finding a round metal ball attached dot him, which he shook against his head before chucking behind him, at which point it, to no one's surprise, exploded. The resulting explosion sent a piece of the sidewalk through one of the neighbors' windows. Zim took a quick glance at his destruction, before looking back at Gaz.
"Nope, no exploding devices whatsoever!"
"...Great. Now, tell me what you've done to Dib. Did you use a freeze ray or something?" She asked before poking Dib in the face, though not even a single muscle twitched in his face.
"ME?! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! It isn't Zim's fault that the stupid Dib decided to that have one of his spontaneous malfunctions! But no need to worry, it will go away shortly...at least it usually does." Zim answered, before casually crossing his arms while looking at Dib, apparently waiting for him to turn back to normal. Which made Gaz wonder how many times that had happened before.
Not being content with just waiting, she leaned a bit closer to Dib, before trying to make contact with him.
"Dib? Dib you in there? Can you at least nod or something if you can hear me?"
To her surprise, Dib did actually nod. It seemed like he was starting to piece himself together again.
"Okay, that's a start. Can you...say something?"
"Maybe." He replied with a quiet, almost scared voice. He was still looking in the same direction, though Zim had long since moved away, as he waited for him to be able to speak with the Dib-thing again.
"Huh, that was easy. Now, can you tell me what this is all about? And why is Zim here, and for some reason not trying to blow you up?"
"Oh, nothing special," Dib responded, his voice still soft-spoken and almost like a whisper.
"What was it again Zim?"
"What? That I'm finally leaving this dirty planet?"
"Yeah. That...Gaz, can you catch me, I'm about to fall over."
Though she had little time to react she still managed to catch her quickly falling brother before he hit the floor. She then pushed him back up, making sure he was leaning up against the doorframe.
"What the hell Dib?! I almost fell too! Would it hurt to warn me a little earlier!" She angrily remarked, before what Zim had said finally dawned on her.
"Wait...did he really say that he was-"
"Leaving? Yes. I would like to get away from here as soon as possible, so could you push your irrelevant conversation along so I can speak with The Dib? I don't have all day! Zim has things TO DO!" Zim interrupted her while also answering her question. It was clear that he was starting to get irritated from the constant interruptions to his important discussion with the Dib-thing.
Gaz interchanged from looking at Zim to looking at Dib, who both wordlessly waited for her next action. A confused expression was planted on her face that slowly started to morph into surprise, as it became clear to her that she wasn't just hearing things. Either from an unwillingness to deal with the situation or out of pure shock, she slowly started walking back into the house.
"You know what? You two can deal with this without me." She said before leaving, trying as hard as she could to sound apathetic to the whole situation. Though she couldn't help but let a little bit of shock slip through her mouth.
With that, Dib and Zim were finally left alone, once again looking at each other in silence.
Lots of things were going on in Dib's head. There were a lot of questions that he wanted to ask, both Zim and himself. He could already tell that there was a lot of emotional baggage he had to go through. So he decided to just ignore it. Just until a better time came along, as he wasn't very keen on having an emotional breakdown at his front door for the neighbors to watch. Besides, if Zim was telling the truth, he couldn't let his stupid feeling get in the way, no matter what they were telling him. It was a chance he couldn't let go. He had to learn more, and he needed to not be distracted by whatever was going on in his brain. Because that's a completely healthy reaction to have.
"So...would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Dib asked, his voice slowly coming back to him, together with a troubled glint in his eyes.
"Didn't I just tell you, or have your inferior temporal lobe failed once again, human?" Zim replied with a smirk and a little chuckle. He was calm. Too calm for Dib's liking.
"Yeah, but that doesn't explain what you're doing here," Dib explained with a slightly cold tone. It was practically painful for him to keep back all the questions he wanted to ask. The problem was that they were all very emotionally loaded, and were most likely going to freak Zim out. Besides, there was also something...off. Whether Zim, himself, or just their conversation, there was something wrong about the whole thing. Or rather, it all felt too professional for two people who had fought each other for years and then went to the prom together, in that order. It was like all those months they had together being friends had suddenly disappeared, together with their time fighting. It just felt like they were two people who had never met before but were talking nonetheless.
"..." An irked expression spread on the alien's face as if answering the question was humiliating.
"...UH! Trust me, it is with GREAT DISPLEASURE that I am here, so don't get this twisted in your giant squishy head! The only reason I'm here is that I need...I NEED...oh, I think I'm gonna be sick...I need your...HELP." He said, pushing the last word out as if were filled with thorns that tore open his throat as it came out.
Dib couldn't but smile a little from the irony. For all those years he had been trying to stop Zim, as he tried to take over the Earth. And yet there he was on his doorstep, apparently asking for his help to leave!
"WHAT ARE YOU SMILING AT?! THERE'S NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT THIS!!!" Zim yelled, clearly not finding the situation as comical as Dib did.
"Yeah yeah, sorry, but...you do realize how weird this is, right?"
"Zim sees nothing weird about this." Zim quickly spurted out, looking to the side to avoid Dib's gaze.
"Come on Zim, you've spent YEARS trying to take over my planet, and here you are asking me to help you leave!"
"That makes perfect sense! You want me to leave this miserable planet, don't you? So that you can finally save this dirty garbage ball you call home?"
"Maybe, but..." The human couldn't finish, as he realized that Zim was right. If anyone would want him to leave, and would gladly help him do it, it would be Dib. The person who has been foiling his plan for years, constantly trying to save the Earth from either destruction or enslavement. And on a personal level, Dib would finally be able to live a normal life with Zim gone. As normal as he would want it to be, of course. The only reason he even decided to be around Zim constantly was to keep an eye on him. Something he just managed to make a little more...pleasant over time. So he would want Zim to leave, to save his planet and the entirety of humanity...right?
But that just explained why Dib would help him, not why Zim would want Dib to help him.
"But that doesn't explain why you came to me for help? I thought you could leave anytime you wanted to."
"I CAN, but...there is a slight problem that's hindering my inevitable withdrawal," Zim explained, though from how he was looking at the ground, Dib could tell that whatever he was going to say next would be stupid.
"...Which is?" Dib asked hesitantly.
"...Well, you see, I don't KNOW where my...Tallest...are." Zim said, his voice growing smaller and smaller from each word, and the horrified expression on his face made it clear it was something he wasn't very proud of.
"You don't know where they are?"
"*Dramatic sigh*...no," Zim uttered under his breath after a long sigh. From looking at him, Dib almost felt sorry for him.
"But, shouldn't you have some means to find them if they're so important?"
"OF COURSE I DO! Every Invader has their mandatory Locational-Tallest-Tracker, in case the Tallest should ever be captured or lost."
"Then why don't you use that?"
"BECAUSE...it's slightly broken."
"And you couldn't fix it?" Dib asked, still not entirely sure what it was Zim would need help with.
"Of course, I could! I could even easily IMPROVE it if I so wanted to." Zim said self-assuredly, regaining some of his lost confidence. "I simply lack the Irken technology to do so, after years of creating machines to take over this dirty planet! Technology I vividly remember YOU destroying."
"Hehe, yeah," Dib commented proudly, looking back to all the times he destroyed Zim's inventions, and the shocked expressions the alien had on his face every time.
Alright, everything seems to make sense so far, strangely enough. Dib thought.
"Which is the reason the tracker is broken in the first place as I needed its components for one of my creations." He nonchalantly said, completely unaware of how he had just been so kind as to explain that he was the reason he even was in that situation.
There it was. Dib thought to himself, after having waited for Zim to say something that would make him want to smash his head against a wall out of sheer stupidity.
"BUT, thanks to my AMAZING skills, this problem can easily be rectified!" Zim continued, not noticing the distressed expression on the human's face. "After a few calculations, I have concluded that I SHOULD be able to use your inferior human technology to fix my tracker, so I can finally find my Tallest and leave this planet!"
"Ugh," Dib muttered, realizing that Zim was probably planning on making him help with repairing the tracker. Not that he would mind a first-hand look at the alien's tracking technology. But that wasn't enough to make him happy at the prospect of working with Zim. There was also something else that was bugging him
"....Still, that doesn't tell me why you came to ME," Dib said after taking a moment to consider how Zim had even managed to become a threat to the planet.
Zim's reaction seemed somehow delayed, as he just blankly stared at Dib for a second before a confused look appeared on his face.
"...What do you mean?" He asked, with the confusion on his face reflected in his voice.
"I MEAN, that you could probably easily enough get some gullible idiot to help you. Or much more likely, you could do it by yourself. None of these reasons you have given me explains why you came to ME, of all people! I thought you of all people would be more reluctant to work with a human?"
Considering Zim's reaction from just looking at him, Dib realized that the alien hadn't thought of that either. Like going to Dib for help had just been compulsive, or something that just made sense at the moment. A few seconds passed as Zim seemingly was going over all the reasons for why he would want to work with Dib, and it didn't look like any of them satisfied him. In the end, he looked almost defeated, as he spoke.
"It's...it's...b-because you're the human with the most experience in Irken technology! YES, that's why...yep. Of course, while you're expertise barely rivals that of a common smeet, you're the best I got on this Trashy planet! So if you need a reason, then take that one!" Zim declared, with a hint of hostility in his voice. But soon after a softer look spread on his face, and it seemed like there was something else he wanted to say. Not that Dib would need any more convincing. It did make sense that Zim would choose him. As far as they were concerned, he and his sister were the only ones who even knew about the Irkens, and on that front, Dib was the only one who had dealt with their technology before. Yet, it still didn't like Zim was finished.
"A-and...and because I would rather work with the stupid human pig that I already know, instead of some random stinking human Zim could find in the trash." The alien stated while looking away from Dib, his voice much more gentle than anything the human was normally used to. It actually managed to take him aback.
"Oh...oh," Dib remarked, suddenly feeling very hot for some reason. Which there was no reason for. After all, it wasn't like Zim said anything that meant he wanted to work with Dib. Just that he would...rather work with him than anyone else. That wasn't the same, right? Right?!
"So can we get to work, or are you just gonna stand there like an idiot? Though it would suit you." Zim said, breaking the silence that Dib had left behind.
"Unless you don't want to help me at all?"
It was at that moment he realized he had to give him an answer. Was he going to help his former enemy with fixing his machine so he could leave the planet, and risk getting betrayed in the process? Or would NOT helping him just make things worse? Dib knew he had to give a decisive, definitive answer, and he had to do it at that moment!
"Maybe."
Aaaaaaaaaand, you are done with the new chapter, congratulations! Consider it a bit of an interlude to the next couple of chapters, and the plot moving forward. I've been waiting for us to reach this point of the story, so let's hope that it will go on smoothly.
Have a good day, and see you next time.