Invader Zim - Lost Chronicles of Doom! - Continuous Novel

Chapter Forty-One - The Duelists' Horror

My writer's block is FINALLY OVER YAY CHEER WITH ME!!! Or not. But really, I have a feeling this chapter will be sooo good at the end.

"Hey, shouldn't we be there by now, genius?" Gris asked sharply, the bags under her eyes visible. "You said it wasn't too far."

"Yeah," replied Dib, "not too far. That means it could still be a while, but it might not." Gris snorted and mumbled something about "I knew that" and "stupid humans, they don't even know what their saying". Dib was half tempted to tell her to look up the definition of literally in a newer dictionary and see how hypocritical humans can be. "But I'm definitely sure we're close now. See the little black smoke coming up from the sky over there?" Dib asked, gesturing toward a black patch in the sky.

"Yeah, so what? It could very well be a forest fire. You idiots set your own planet on fire all the time! I read it in The Lord of the Flies. No wonder Zim wants to destroy this planet himself," the she-Irken said matter-of-factly.

"The Lord of the Flies is REALLY old, fictional, and weird. You should probably look in the nonfiction section to learn about Earth. And black smoke means you're burning something that shouldn't be burned. Normal smoke is gray. There's a factory not too far from my dad's separate laboratory," said Dib. "His lab is close to my house. Once we're there, you can borrow Tak's ship and leave Earth forever. Just... just remember to bring the ship back somehow." Gris grunted, apparently hating the fact that she was proved wrong. "Yeah, yeah. You Irkens need to lower your pride a bit."

"You humans should lower your sardonic responses."

Dib smirked, thinking of Gaz. "Just wait until you meet my sister." Again, the Irken grunted, but this time Dib saw her grin ever so slightly. Maybe all Irkens aren't TOO bad...

■■■■

"OOF!!" Tak groaned as she landed in a dumpster. The lid, moved by her impact, slammed shut and darkness surrounded her. "Of course. Landed in a stinking dumpster." She made a rude gesture toward where she thought was the Membrane residence. Then she muttered, "Zim, you squak in my shmoopsquizz, what am I doing for you? .... Landing in dumpsters and ditching the only smart human on the face of the Earth, that's what." Punching the fallen lid back up, she climbed out of the dumpster and flicked a piece of rotting meat off of her shoulder in disgust. She had to find a way to get to Zim before something happened to that stupid, clumsy piece of meat on bones. Of course, thought Tak, if he was hearing what I'm calling him, he'd punch me in the squeedlyspooch.

Tak began walking back to the Membrane residence, thinking that she'd patrol around until Gaz and Professor Membrane left. Then she'd search the house for any trace of Zim... if he was still okay. Gaz Membrane was as unpredictable as Earth's idiotic weather.

■■■■

Dib pushes open the door slightly and hesitantly stuck in only his head. "Gaz? You there?" he called. He heard Gaz tell him to stop wasting her air conditioning by shutting the door. "Well, that's a problem... see, I kinda have an Irken, an--"

"DIB, HOW DID YOU GET IN THE LAB?! WHY WOULD YOU FREE HIM?! I THOUGHT YOU WOULD WANT TO KILL HIM OR SOMETHIING!!" Gaz screeched, suddenly right in front of Dib.

"Jeez, calm down! It's a girl Irken--NO, NOT TAK!!--" his face went hot, "it's Gris. She's not too bad, actually, she doesn't care about the Earth, which is better than wanting to blow it up." He opened the door the rest of the way, revealing the silhouette of Gris against the setting sun.