Invader Zim ZADR: How did we get here?

Chapter 7: Just hiding in the bushes

Heeeyyyy I'm back. Enjoy.

"...That is the most stupid thing I have ever heard."

Dib wasn't quite sure what part she was referring to, but neither did he particularly care. Once he had finished explaining his deals and arrangements with Zim she had let him go, and he slithered away with a sore throat. She still hadn't used the 'I told you so' yet, so he had no interest in sticking around until she found the time to rub it in his face. But that didn't mean she was right. He and Zim still weren't friends, they were just...acquaintances for now. Zim was still planning to take over Earth, and Dib was still going to stop him. Everything was still like it always has been. Now they're just a little friendlier. Usually, the thought of associating Zim with friendliness would make him shudder, but as he had started thinking back to the past, that shudder was replaced with dread. It had not just started a few months ago, no, Dib could trace the change in their dynamic back to a few years ago. There wasn't one single interaction where it was blatantly obvious, which maybe was the reason why he hadn't noticed it until now. The fact was, the deeper he dug, the more apparent it became that the two of them had unconsciously started hating each other less and less.

It wasn't those kinds of thoughts that Dib wanted to be kept up by in the night. But as the day had neared its end, the thoughts were starting to eat him up. He barely had the concentration to work, and he had barely eaten, yet no matter how much his body screamed for him to do something else than think about Zim, his mind had rejected it all the same. It wasn't the first time he couldn't get that green bug out of his head. But usually, the thoughts were less pleasant. Yet here he was, unintentionally thinking back to all the times Zim had been nice to him, or at least not been absolutely unbearable.

He had to remind himself. Remind himself of what Zim was. What his entire mission was centered around. And why Dib had to stop him.

Dib who had been laying in his bed staring up at the ceiling, determinedly got up and went over to his desk. He sat down and turned on the computer. While he waited for it to boot up, he opened a drawer, pulled a stack of files out, and placed them in front of him.

'I can't keep thinking so positively about Zim, or else it might just make me forget who I'm dealing with! I have to try and remember what he is. Nothing more than an alien freak, trying to destroy my world. If I can just find the right files...'

He flipped through the different documents, and once his computer was up and running, he looked through it as well. To his unfortunate surprise, looking through all of his old work didn't help bolster his hatred for Zim. No, all that it managed to do was remind him how troubled, or downright just stupid he had been when he was younger. He cringed through nearly every single note, observation, or theory he had made. Most of the time he had just guessed something when there was something he didn't know. And most times, those guesses had been idiotic at best.

Dib looked away from his work, and nearly fainted from embarrassment when he remembered how much of this he had submitted to the Swollen Eyeballs. But then his eye caught something. Hidden behind some clothes he had thrown up against the wall, were some of the many screens he had used to spy on Zim with. He had changed them to only record when it detected motion as he wasn't going to get fused to a chair again, looking at screens twenty-four seven.

What was special about this screen, was that it had lit up. Dib looked at it with disbelief, before ripping the clothes off it. He was lucky he hadn't acted any slower, or else he would have missed Zim walking away from his house, with his robot minion following suit. At first, he didn't quite know what to do. Then instincts kicked in.

'Wait...he's going to do one of his evil plans. Hah! I knew he had been a little too nice lately. He's probably been planning something big. Oh, but you're not gonna get away with it, Zim.' He thought to himself, before jumping away from the desk, and grabbing his coat. He then ran out of his room and dashed down the stairs. He came down to the hall and sprinted towards the front door, prepared to sprint through it as if it would magically open for him.