Invader Zim : Phase Two

ISSUE #1 : The Reemerging

Notes: This Fanfic will sometimes include original comic art by me. I will make art to accompany my story often, so please do not steal it!

This series will consist of many parts, which I will refer to as Issues! It was originally planned to be a fan comic, but it would be too time consuming for me. It's my personal continuation/ reimagining of Invader Zim. Everything in the show, Movie and Comics remain canon. Some of the unaired episodes are also canon in my universe. There will be very light ZADR, (Somewhere in the distance, Jhonen Vasquez is banging his head off a table right now—) but nothing heavy or 'weird.' Dib is an adult in this. If you don't like it, don't read it. Simple. I don't support ZADR unless Dib is aged up. Enjoy!

The Membrane household was bustling with excitement — well, at least for Professor Membrane, whose son was turning twenty years old today.
Dib sat uncomfortably as his father and little sister carried a birthday cake to the kitchen table.
"Happy Birthday, Dib!" Gaz declared, somewhat flatly. Although her voice lacked any emotion, it was evident that she cared about her brother enough to make an effort.

"Twenty! Oh son — here come the tears!" A sobbing Professor Membrane loomed over the table, a party hat perturbing from the side of his head. Gaz stood in horror as her father cried beside her. Affection wasn't really her thing.
"Are you sure you're not just crying because you have gray hair now or something?"
Dib remarked, clearly embarrassed by all the attention.

"Nonsense, son! Gray hair is scientifically natural for someone my age!"
Dib stared unenthusiastically at his father. Typical response.
With a sigh, Dib stared at the candles on his cake. Twenty didn't seem real. Had it really been so long since Zim vanished?

As if he could read his own son's thoughts, Professor Membrane leaned in and placed his hand on Dib's shoulder.
   "I know things have been rough since your foreign friend moved away all those years ago, but your future is bright! I'm beyond proud of you, son."

This praise was everything Dib ever wanted as a kid, but now, he felt as if he could have done more to deserve his father's admiration.
Still, it meant the world to hear it, regardless of how oddly specific his father's words were.
Dib half smiled. "Thanks, dad!"
"Enough chitchat, blow out your candles, son!"

Reluctantly, Dib leaned over his cake. If he had one wish, it would be for Zim to come back to earth, so that he could expose him once and for all.
Dib blew out his candles, prompting Professor Membrane to sob once again.

A few hours and a Bloaty's pizza later, Dib sat in his room in front of his computer. He still had a room at his father's place and often stayed there. However, he also had his own space on the top floor of Membrane labs, which he had been using as a bachelor pad.
Tonight, though, he sat in his childhood room, staring at the monitors that remained connected to the hundreds of cameras surrounding Zim's now abandoned base.
He poked his plate of birthday cake with a fork absentmindedly as the live feed pouring from the monitor threatened to swallow him whole.
He spent every waking moment that he wasn't working obsessing over Zim and his disappearance.
When Zim first vanished, Dib had almost reverted to his human chair form. That didn't last long, though, when he was met with the opportunity to study parapsychology. He graduated top of his class, and his diploma—although not as useful as he'd like it to be—finally solidified his potential future work with the paranormal.
Paranormal science. Something his dad still didn't consider 'real science', but as long as his son was happy, he could live with it.
He also worked for his father a few days a week, which was less exciting, but good money.
Dib couldn't complain. His life was okay. There was just one thing missing.
He was supposed to expose Zim to the world, and finally prove to the Swollen eyeballs — and everyone he knew — that he wasn't batshit crazy.