You HATE Me, But I Hate YOU More: Ch.10
(I'm sorry I don't have the chapter art, I promise to finish it soon)
In the absolute middle of nowhere in space shmillions of miles away, Zim and his ship miraculously survived the blast thanks to Minimoose’s quick thinking, by using his own power core to power the Vootcrusier’s shield… but the ship was barely holding itself together.
And Zim?, well, he's been out cold for 72 hours while Gir sang his favorite doom song.
Zim eventually awakens, groaning from the pain his body was in, but thankfully his pack had already healed his broken limbs.
“Ugh… Gir, what happened?” He asks.
“The giant taco ship exploded and it made a big hole that sucked us in” The robot explained.
“A black hole? And we survived? I’m amazing! The Tallest will be so proud when they hear about this” Zim says, completely amazed by his own abilities. He quickly starts going over the voot cruiser’s condition, but he wouldn’t be able to use his pack to do any repairs if he wanted his body to recover quickly, so in the meantime, he would use a few of his other tools that were lying around.
Finally, once the ships navigation systems are working, Zim checks their current location, only to be completely caught by surprise.
“The back hole, it must have sent us Smilions of miles away from our original location… but.. what's this??? The year has gone ahead by 5 years!? 5 years!? The Tallest must think I died during the mission!”
Zim begins to panic, quickly attempting to repair the Voot’s communications systems, hoping to contact the armada and bring the news of his survival to his Tallest… but then, out of the corner of his eye, he sees the photo of him and Dib.
“Dib….T-The Urth! Dib must think I ran away from my mission…! I-I have to get back to Urth! I have to get back to D- My mission.. “ Zim says, tearing his eyes away from the photo, but he makes sure to safely tuck it away in his pocket when Gir and Minimoose aren't looking.
It would only take the next 24 hours before Zim’s pack would fully recover his body's damage, and only another 72 hours before he would get the Vootcrusier fully up and running again. But once he does, he quickly begins to navigate their way back home to Urth, deciding to contact the Tallest once he's set his base back up. It takes about what feels like a million hours before the planet finally comes back into view, and Zim can't help but feel a bit anxious, as it had been so long, and Dib- He quickly brings his thoughts to a stop, shaking his head.
They finally reach the large planet, breaking through the atmosphere and landing in their old neighborhood, looking as if he never even left.
“Now to- “as soon as Zim steps out of the Vootcrusier, he's shoved to the ground and his hands cuffed together by a familiar device, but it seemed to be a newer model.
“I knew you would be back, Zim” The voice sounded so familiar… so much like Dib’s, but it couldn't be, It was deeper than Dib usually sounded.
“Eh!? Unhand Zim you FILTHY Human!” Zim says, rolling over and quickly kicking off whoever was on top of him, but he's surprised when he sees the familiar piece of hair on top of the much taller man’s head, as well as those stupid glasses fixed to that large head.
“Damn Zim, you're still so damn small but you still hit like a fucking truck” The taller man says, a little bit irritated, but he still smiles at the smaller alien.
“Eh??? D….Dib?? Is that really you???l” Zim says, feeling his heart suddenly begin to pound. Dib was always a bit taller than him, sure, but Dib was even taller now, he was nearly as tall as professor Membrane… This irritated Zim.
“That’s right Zim, it's me. But uh… you're… so much smaller than I remember” Dib says, almost a bit disappointed that the alien didn't evolve into some kind of giant monster. But before Zim can say anything, Dib punches the alien square in the face.
“That was for ditching me at prom 5 years ago ,you piece of shit!” Dib says, crossing his arms.
“Gah! That was 5 years ago DIB! Get over it!” Zim says, though to him it's only been a few hours.
“Yeah, well I know you have something to do with Plotty going missing Zim. She went missing as soon as you left Earth…!” Dib narrows his eyes.
“Whaaat??? That's crazy. I would never harm the filthy Urth girl.” Zim says nonchalantly, but Dib clicks a small button on a device in his hand, and the cuffs suddenly Zap him.
“Gah!! You wretched human!!” Zim says, trying to pray his hands free.
“Just admit it Zim! You did something to Plotty!” Dib demands. Zim growls. How was the Dib-monkey still obsessing over that human girl after 5 years??? He thought blowing her up would have removed her influence, but perhaps that putrid smell she omidid did permanent damage to Dib’s brain?
“How was she so powerful??? No matter, Zim will not lose to her, for Zim is the ultimate genius!” Zim says, as if declaring war on someone.
“Zim, what the hell are you-” Suddenly, Dib’s phone begins to ring. He stares at the alien for a moment before clicking a different button on his remote, unlocking Zim’s handcuffs before he answers the call.
Zim narrows an eye, suspicious of the human, but he's just happy to be free of those damn cuffs.
His antennas stand up, trying to listen in on Dib’s phone call, but he can't quite make out what the other person is saying, however, Dib’s response seems to suggest something positive was informed to him.
Dib hangs up the phone. “Alright Zim, I've got work to do, but don't think I won't stop trying to foil your mission to take over the earth” He says to the smaller alien.
“Work?? What work?” Zim says, confused that Dib would even waste his time on anything else.
“I'm a private investigator, Zim. While you were gone, I graduated from highschool and finished college earlier than our other classmates, all so I could be ready when you came back” Dib explains.
Zim stares at him, still somewhat… conflicted. To him, no time has passed at all, yet somehow that black hole had sent him 5 years into the future. Dib still seemed to be Dib, but he was much older, taller, and was working some kind of Urth job now…
“Where did you even go? Back to Irk?” Dib asks.
“Huh? That has nothing to do with you, Dib-monkey” Zim says, tossing his device into the ground and rebuilding the house, giving Dib a wave of nostalgia, since he hadn't seen that familiar building in so long…
“Alright Zim, I still want answers from you, but I've got other things to take care of first. But I WILL be back for you, and you better believe I won't let you get away with kidnapping Plotty!” Dib says before stepping into a nearby black car and driving off.
Zim begins to wonder what else might have changed, but regardless, he would focus on setting up his base and informing his Tallest of his return, and oh boy were they surprised when he does.
Zim was truly the mightiest of roaches; always coming back even when you think it's finally dead.
