Shall we see what Dib and Zim are up to?
"Well, are you gonna come in Dib-thing or are you just gonna stand there ogling at my amazing base?" Zim asked with an annoyed tone. He had allowed the stupid human to enter his base of operations, and yet he just stood there like a stupid pig. Did he need Zim to throw him in as well?
Dib on the other hand still hadn't exactly gathered up the courage to step on Zim's lawn. After they had arrived, Dib started getting paranoid thoughts of Zim planning to betray him. Not that it was completely unlikely, but that had hardly stopped Dib before. Usually. But neither had it helped that when Dib showed an ounce of hesitation in agreeing to help Zim, the alien decided to persuade him. And by persuading, what Zim actually did was threaten to blow him up. To be fair, Dib found it to be a compelling argument.
And there he was, about to enter his frenemy's base, and for once he had permission to do it. The last time he had entered was only because Zim had physically dragged him in. This time, he had to do it himself. All that there was left was convincing his legs to step forward.
"Don't worry, I'm coming! I just need a...a moment to make sure I won't be evaporated by your gnomes."
"Didn't I already explain to you that I had disabled my defense system? Or have your unnaturally large had already forgotten that?"
"My head's not that-...you know what, I'm not even going to say it," Dib replied, before slowly and shakily lifting his right leg up, and placing it on the grass in front of him. He waited for a second to see if he would need to dodge some lasers, but fortunately, it seemed that Zim had been telling the truth.
"See?! Didn't I tell you to trust Zim?! Now, will you move your slow human body and get inside!" Zim commanded, feeling ever so slightly miffed at the fact that he had to allow his enemy to enter his base. For so many years he had kept that ever snooping human-worm away from his base and his plans, and there he was having to shout at The Dib to enter. For some reason, it didn't make him feel like ripping his antennas out, as he had expected. Perhaps it had something to do with him having allowed the human in before. But that was completely different and was something that Zim had generally decided to forget about. Not because the memory was an especially bad one.
"Yeah yeah I'm coming, you don't need to shout," Dib said, before making his way to the door, though his steps were still a bit unsteady.
"I'M NOT SHOUTING! I'm simply urging you to hurry." Zim explained with a matter-of-factly tone.
"Weird how that happens to sound EXACTLY like shouting."
"There's probably just something wrong with your ears," Zim stated, with such a casual tone that Dib wasn't sure whether it was an insult or observation.
Seeing that the human was finally coming in, Zim turned and entered the base, so that he could prepare to explain the intricacies of his plan on how they were going to fix the tracker. Considering that he would need to explain it to a human, that task would perhaps prove to be the most troublesome out of all the things that would need to be done.
Dib cautiously entered the house, looking around and observing the living room, concluding that yes, nothing had really changed. Except that the place was a lot dirtier than he remembered. Not that he of all people was about to give Zim cleaning advice.
It was then he noticed that Zim was fumbling with some blue papers that lay on the ground, with Zim bent over them, while mumbling incoherently to himself.
"Umm..." Dib muttered, hoping that the alien would notice him since he apparently had such superior hearing. Big surprise, there came no reaction from Zim, who continued to look over the papers and the many drawings on them. Dib put together that they most likely were plans for how they were gonna fix the tracker. He walked over to Zim, and awkwardly crouched by his side, looking around aimlessly, before gathering the courage to look at the papers. Dib had expected it to be some kind of watch or something else that was relatively small, but instead, it seemed to be a full-fledged tower, complete with a radar dish and everything. Of course, there were several parts and components that looked completely alien to him, but that was to be expected, considering it was alien technology after all. A thought that he couldn't but be kinda excited over. He had destroyed several of Zim's inventions and studied Tak's ship as much as he could, but besides that his overall knowledge about technology from space was limited. Something he hoped could be rectified by helping Zim.
"So...those are the plans for the tracker, right?" Dib asked, hoping to start a little conversation.
Zim in response let out a surprised yelp before he in a single second managed to grab all the papers at once and then held them close to his chest as if Dib was just about to snatch them from him. He then crawled backward for a few steps, before looking at Dib with a concerned stare
He had thought that Zim was just ignoring him, but apparently, the alien had actually forgotten all about his presence, if his reaction was anything to go by. Dib blankly stared back at Zim, unsure what exactly was going on. Zim continued to look at him concerned before the expression slowly melted away to reveal slight embarrassment, as he finally remembered that he had invited Dib to help him. He then crawled back to Dib and laid the papers back on the floor.
"Y-yes, these are the plans we're gonna need to repair the machine," Zim explained with an uncharacteristically sheepish voice while trying his best to avoid Dib's gaze. Not that the human was gonna let it go so quickly.
"What was that?"
"What was what?" The alien quickly fired back.
"....." Dib just kept looking at Zim, waiting for the alien to give in to his stare. It seemed hopeless at first, but in the end, Zim let out a disgruntled sigh, maybe finally realizing how stupid he was being. Or he just thought that it was wrong for him to be scared to answer the human.
"FINE! If you want to know, Zim is simply not...used to showing others his plans." He explained, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't conceal that small bit of embarrassment he felt.
"But, haven't you shown your plans to Gir?"
Upon hearing Dib's question, Zim just stared at him like he had said the most stupid thing in existence.
"That hardly counts," Zim firmly stated.
"Oh, yeah, right, because Gir is fairly stupi-"
"Because he's an artificial lifeform, that could NEVER reach the sheer intellectual understanding of my superior brain, not even if he's made by mighty Irken hands, and no matter how advanced he is"
"...Or, that," Dib replied, not exactly in the mood to bring up how 'advanced' Gir really was.
"Yes, for that reason I keep all of my plans to myself, as I'm the only one who can comprehend my sheer GENIUS!"
"BUT SIR," Chimed in a robotic that came from seemingly nowhere and everywhere at the same time. The human had heard the voice of the computer before, but that still didn't stop him from getting a little shock.
"YOU HAVE ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS PRESENTED YOUR 'PLANS' TO ME, WHICH I MADE ALTERATIONS TO AFTER-"
"NO, I DIDN'T!!!" Zim yelled at the computer, sounding more like a command than a statement.
"Enough of that, FOCUS HUMAN!" Before the computer had any time to reply, or Dib had time to object, the alien grabbed his head and pushed it down to the papers, making sure he was looking at it. At first, Dib struggled a bit, but in the end, he realized it might just be faster to do what Zim wanted. So he looked up and down the schematic, making sure to memorize as much as he could. Even the alien symbols, which he couldn't tell were numbers or letters, he made sure to look at thoroughly. In the end, he came to a pretty compelling conclusion.
"Hm, hm. Yeah, I don't know what any of this means."
"I KNOW THAT!" Zim said with an irritated tone, before letting go of the human's head.
"Of course, I didn't expect you to understand these complex designs! All I needed you to do was have an inkling of an idea of what it is I'm trying to build!"
"What we're trying to build." Dib corrected Zim, whose expression quickly soured.
"Or did you already forget that?" He continued, with a sly smile on his face, remembering all the times that Zim had questioned his memory. The alien glared at him for a few seconds before letting out a grunt and continuing to inspect the plans. He continued like that for a few seconds, with Dib sitting impatiently by his side, wondering what he was even doing there.
"Are you just gonna look at that piece of paper, or are we gonna do something?"
"SHH! I'm going over the plans, so it would help if you would shut your mouth hole!" Zim retorted though Dib wasn't keen on waiting for him for who knows how long.
"Isn't there something more productive we could do? You have the tracker, but it's just missing some components, right? So can I at least get a look at it?"
"Sure, whatever human. It's over there." The alien replied rather unenthusiastically, before pointing over to the other side of the room, while not lifting his eyes from the schematics.
It took a good long moment before Dib even reacted having expected Zim to just tell him to wait like a good smeet or whatever else. Hesitantly, he stood up from the floor, before quickly walking over to where Zim had been pointing, feeling a surge of excitement that he had been desperately waiting for.
Finally, something I can actually get data from! I might not have any idea of how to understand Irken language or spelling, but I can fairly well understand how they put things together.
With an almost giddy eagerness, he looked around the room and messy floor, covered in all kinds of mechanical parts. He couldn't for the life of him see where the tracker was supposed to be before he noticed a fairly obscure pile of machine components laying on the floor, with a small sticky note stuck to it.
"Locational-Tallest-Tracker, or just TRACKER if the stupid Dib-thing is reading this."
Dib studied the small pile of scraps for a moment, his face slowly twisting into an exasperated grimace. He then turned to face Zim, who was still looking at his precious plans.
"Really? THIS IS EVERYTHING THAT'S LEFT!" Dib yelled, crying internally to himself upon realizing that he hadn't just agreed to fix the damn thing but rebuilding it completely from the ground up. Zim seemed just as miffed as he was, looking up at him with a face that told the story of how he had already grieved over the said realization.
"MAYBE THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE OF IT LEFT IF YOU DIDN'T KEEP DESTROYING MY INVENTIONS!!!" He yelled back while standing up, taking one of the papers with him as he started walking over to Dib.
"OR MAYBE IF YOU DIDN'T KEEP RIPPING YOUR PRECIOUS MACHINES APART TO BUILD A NEW DEATH ROBOT EVERY MONTH OR SO!!! IT GETS OLD, ZIM! OLD!!!" Dib shouted at Zim, who was standing right in front of him, grinding his teeth together, while they were practically butting their heads against each other.
"YOU LIE!!! ZIM DOESN'T SOLELY RELY ON DEATH ROBOTS!!! Besides, maybe I would have had time to be more original IF YOU DIDN'T RUIN EVERY NEW INVENTION I COME UP WITH!!! I'VE SPENT SEVERAL HORRIBLE YEARS ON THIS PLANET, WHILE COMING UP WITH NEW MACHINES TO HELP DESTROY IT WITH, DIB! EVEN MY GENIUS IS GONNA RUN OUT OF IDEAS AT SOME POINT!!!"
There they were, pushing their heads together in some insane attempt to make the other give in as if it would help solve their argument. They could end up spending hours like that if the situation became heated enough. But surprisingly, it was Zim who was the first to back down, letting out an angry growl before pushing Dib to the side and walking over to the scrap pile, essentially giving up in their little fight. At first, Dib wanted to let out a very smug and annoying 'Yes!', but stopped himself after realizing that it had been Zim who had given up willingly, without that much resistance. It even made him a bit embarrassed at how he was the one to start shouting. Not that Zim seemed to mind that much, as he went right back to looking at the schematic in his hands, while also glancing at the pile on the floor. After a few annoyed looks, almost like he was hoping for something to magically appear in the pile in front of him, he let out a tired sigh and walked back to Dib. When he stood by the human's side, he spread out the paper in front of them, making sure both of them could see it.
"All right human, you see this, and this, and this, and this-" Zim continued like that for a few seconds, further strengthening Dib's belief that he had made a terrible choice.
"-and this, and this, aaaaaand this? That's all the components that are missing. And this-" Zim pointed his claw as the measle pile of what could charitably be called components. "-is all the components we have. Which means we have to replace-" Zim hovered his hand over the picture of the fully built tracker on the paper. "-all of this." The alien explained to Dib, who quickly came back to life after zoning out.
"Wha-?! Oh, okay...so I guess we have to find these pieces, and-"
"FIND?! HA! If you think we could find anything even vaguely comparable to my super-advanced Irken technology on this backwater planet, then you're quite mistaken, my gullible Dib!" Zim declared before having a little laughing fit and wiping a joyful tear away from his eye.
"No, what we need to do is collect the necessary parts so that I can piece together something that might actually work as well as the original components."
"Oh, and here I thought that Earth technology might as well be nothing but scrap," Dib remarked with a teasing tone, enjoying the puff-upped look that Zim would usually get whenever he was about to explain himself.
"That's because it is, and only I, THE AMAZING ZIM, am able to piece something useable together from it. Trust me, without my infinite expertise, this wouldn't even be possible to pull off."
"And if you weren't here, I might have been able to do something more productive with my day," Dib muttered to himself, though how productive it was to look up news of the latest cryptid sightings, was contestable.
"No, what we need to do is find the parts to BUILD the components, to rebuild the tracker." The alien mentioned while seemingly going through the missing parts in his head, either having not heard Dib's statement, or just ignoring it.
"A task that I'm confident that even YOU won't ruin, and you might just be able to assist with, even though you're mere presence serves as a constant distraction to me," Zim stated rather causally, though Dib saw a golden opportunity to get on Zim's nerve, one he just couldn't let go.
"UoU, is it because you can't stop thinking about me?" Dib asked in the fakest, most seductive voice he could think, which came out as comical as one could perceive, with him barely able to keep down his laughter when seeing the expression on Zim's face after he realized what Dib was hinting at.
"No, it's because I hate you." Zim quickly fired back with a clearly displeased tone, shoving the schematic into Dib's hands before walking away, though Dib couldn't help but notice a bit of embarrassment in the alien's voice.
"We need to calculate what necessary materials we're gonna need, and where to find them. The part where you have the chance to actually be useful." He explained, with an arrogant tone, clearly taking a bit of revenge for Dib's previous statement. Though it only let the human to a realization, he was surprised he hadn't gotten sooner.'
"This is all starting to sound like something you could just get Gir to help you with. Which reminds me, where is he?"
"Oh, he's downstairs, playing with some weird, disgusting Earthly foliage called 'spinach'. Ugh, I can't even understand how he manages to be in the same room as that horrible plant!" The alien said, apparently doing everything he could to shake the disgust he had from thinking about spinach.
"And to answer you're other question, no, I can't use Gir. I need SOMEONE to look out for my base while I'm gone."
"Yeah, because a lot of people are gonna try to break into this place. And people say I'm paranoid."
"Maybe I got it from you, and your constant, cowardly paranoid delusions. Perhaps it's like you, a disgusting, infuriating disease that just won't go away!"
"Well, my so-called 'paranoid thoughts', said YOU were an alien, and guess who was right? ME! So, HAH!" Dib answered back, though it wasn't quite the impactful comeback that he thought it was. There was an awkward silence between them afterward, which led to him starting to wonder how they were gonna be able to work together. The time they went to the prom together seemed somehow less tense than their current situation, no matter how implausible it would seem. But they had done harder things, and working together wasn't exactly something they hadn't tried before, to varying success. No, he just had to stick through it, and at the end of the tunnel, was the reward of Zim leaving Earth. That was it all was for, right?
"...So, we need to find the materials to rebuild the components. Got it." Dib said back after a pronged silence, earning a curious look from Zim.
"Glad to see that you have been paying attention," Zim replied, with a bit of surprising friendliness in his voice.
"Now, Dib-thing, got any suggestions?"
"Oh, I may have a few."
I wonder where this scavenger hunt is going to take them.
Hope you liked the chapter, though it was a bit shorter than usual. Have a good day.