Return (Invader Zim Fanfic)

2

The rain that had been raging on for hours outside continued to pour down its angry sky tears.  In the family garage, Dib worked the rainy evening away, attempting to repair Tak's ship. He was getting better at it, but clearly he had been doing something wrong all the previous times he or his sister, Gaz, had fixed it.

Tak's ship repairs were always far too fragile for the Irken technology with which it had originally been built, and Dib was beginning to lose hope. Perhaps he was missing a piece that Earth's technology just couldn't replace. He frustratedly banged his head against the side of the ship, a little harder than he meant to.

"Ow!" He sat down on the cold concrete floor dejectedly and rubbed the bruise that he had just given to his forehead.  "Stupid ship..."

The ship let out a weak, yet still intensely angry buzzing sound. It was probably trying to yell expletives at him, but even the ship's snarky computer was dying out and probably beyond repair.

Dib lay himself down on the dirty concrete, feeling its deep earthly chill across his back. He allowed the blueness of his mood to meld with the low temperature. He rubbed his eyes and the spread his arms out on either side to take in more cold, and blew a lock of hair from his eyes. "It's hopeless..."

He closed his eyes, heightening his other senses. He lay there for a while, for a moment, and an indeterminate amount of time.  Then suddenly, his rare chance at calm, at meditation, was interrupted.  He opened one eye, confused. He was interrupted by a very out of place sound. Sitting up, he listened more intently.

"Moo"

There it was again! Dib now stood up to look around, his eyes, already adjusted to the darkness behind his eyelids, pierced the darkness in even the furthest corner of the garage, searching intently for what could have possibly interrupted his melodramatics with such a simple three letter sound.

Finally, his eyes caught on something very out of place.  It was a small cow in the corner near the lawnmower.  Dib blinked confusedly. The small cow blinked back with empty, soulless eyes. It opened its mouth and gave another long deep low. But, when the sound stopped, the bovine did not close its mouth. The mouth opened wider and wider revealing  mechanical parts inside that twisted and turned and creaked and clicked together with horrible, unnatural sounds. Out of its mouth telescoped a long, dangerous-looking ray gun. Dib's shriek of terror caught in his throat, only allowing him to make a pathetic gargled squeaking sound.

"Say hello to Moogan!" Zim's voice triumphantly rang out from behind the lawnmower.