"DAD! Dad come look at this! Finally, undisputable proof-"
"Not now, son. I'm very busy and I have no time for your insanity at the moment. Go show your sister." Dib looked at the floor, and walked to Gaz's room. She sat at her computer, working on her latest game design.
"Gaz, I have proof that Zim's an alien! Look at this, I-"
"Dib, you've been hassling that poor guy for years. I don't care. Leave me alone." Dib walked slowly to his own room, where he opened a file on his computer. In it were all his notes on Zim. It was quite a file. He added the proof, and closed it down.
"KIDS! I'm going to work. I'll be back on Monday, or possibly Wednesday. See you then!" Dib heard the sound of a door slamming. When he was sure his dad was gone, he opened his window, and climbed onto the roof. His telescope was up there, and a camera. He ignored them.
He lay on his back on the cold roof, and stared up at the stars. They were so far away. How could they look so close, and be so unattainable?
"Dib, get off the roof, you have to do the dishes!"
"I did them yesterday, Gaz!"
"And I'm BUSY! Do them, or face my wrath!" Dib sighed, and climbed back n his window. But instead of going downstairs into the kitchen, he went to his closet. He pulled out an old backpack, and put in his laptop, a camera, and some paper. He swung the pack onto his back, and headed downstairs.
Gaz didn't even notice when he walked past her room, and out the door into the night.

Zim sat uneasily in his Skool chair. The Dib-monkey had been gone for almost a week now. He never missed Skool. He had to be there to keep Zim from doing evil things. The only place he could be was at home, plotting against Zim.
The Skool bell rang, and the children filed out the window. Instead of walking toward his own home, Zim, for some reason he wasn't quite sure of, walked toward Dib's house.

Gaz heard the knock on the door, and rushed to open it. Hope against hope, it could be Dib. But the figure on the step wasn't Dib, it was Zim.
"Where has Dib gone, Dibsister? TELL ME!" Gaz glared.
"Dib's gone, Zim. He ran away. I half figured YOU could tell me where he'd gone." Zim looked uncomprehending.
"He's GONE? I always figured he'd be here to try to foil my plans. Oh, well. Saves me the trouble of annihilating him." Zim turned to leave. Gaz glared after him, and slammed the door.

Dib rubbed his arms. He wished he'd thought of bringing a jacket. Too late now. He looked around the ally he was in. There didn't seem to be anyone around, so he took out his laptop. He typed a short entry in the journal he had been keeping for the last week and a half.

Journal, I think maybe this was a bad idea. I mean, sure at home everyone ignored me, or thought I was crazy. But at least it was warm. It's November 30th now, which means I've been out here for about… 12 days. I hang out outside Zim's house sometimes, but he doesn't seem to be up to anything. I'm sure he's just working on a really good plan. I wonder if I'll be able to stop him this time. I guess every time he comes up with something, I wonder, but this time I'm really not sure.
If I can't, I'll regret leaving home, but I won't regret it until then. Mark my words. Because no one out here thinks I'm crazy. In fact, there's this hobo who says he's been through the same thing as me. I think maybe he's lying, though. Maybe-

"Hey, Kid!" Dib looked up. There was a group of older guys coming down the ally. Quickly he shoved the laptop into his backpack, but it was too late. The boys had seen it.
"Hey, that's nice laptop you got there." Said one, a tall guy with red spiky hair. His goons nodded.
"Yeah, y'no, it's not safe to have one of those around this part of town." He grinned, and looked at his friends. "You never know when you might get robbed. There's people around here who'll kill for a laptop like that. You better give it here. We'll keep it safe for you." He held out his hand. Dib didn't give him the backpack.
"Look, kid, we're only looking out for your best interests." Said another guy with a leather jacket. Dib still didn't hand it over. He looked around for a fire escape or something, but the tall brick walls were bare.
"Leave him alone." Came another voice. The gang turned around as one, and laughed. The person who had just ordered them to stop was standing at the end of the ally, blocking retreat. Dib groaned. Whoever this guy was, he was gonna get his butt whupped.
He was tall, but really thin. And he had the stupidest hair. Two black spikes stuck out over his face. The rest of his head was shaved. Dib put his hand over his face as the guy with the red hair advanced, laughing.
"What are you gonna do, wimp? Kick me?" Spikehair considered.
"Yes." He kicked Redhead right in the stomach. Dib saw he had really huge, metal-toed boots. Redhead flew back into a wall. A crack was heard. The rest of his gang pulled back a little. They had nowhere to go.
"Look," Said Spikehair. "You all just think that because you're bigger than this kid you can push him around. It really shouldn't work that way, but, unfortunatly, it does. Kid, you better get out of here." Dib ran for it. Behind him Spikehair reached into his coat.(YAY! I did a cameo that had a point instead of just being a cameo. -JTHM-)

Several days later
Zim sat in his halfmoon chair, drumming his fingers on the surface of a console. His mind was blank. He struggled to think of an evil plan, but it didn't work. Upstiars, he could hear Gir slammming around. Schematics and communications flickered on the screen, and for once, Zim ignored them.
Things were so much better when Dib was around.
Zim sat straight up. Where had THAT come from? He sighed, and walked to the elevator. It took him up into the house, where he yelled at Gir, and then went outside to take a walk.

Dib sat against the wall, and watched the snow cover his jeans. The bare skin on his arms prickled with goosebumps, but he could no longer feel the cold. If he were in a clearer state of mind, he would have recognised nerve damage, possibly frostbite. He pulled his backpack in front of him, and rummaged through it for the last apple. He had picked up a few at a grocery store, accidentally neglecting to pay for them. He bit into it, and chewed slowly on the half-frozen fruit.
When it was gone, he sat in silence. The snow had covered his jeans, and he no longer bothered to wipe it off. Huge, soft flakes landed on his skin and stuck. Slowly, the snow covered him in a blanket. A nice, warm blanket. Dib smiled.

Zim walked along the sidewalk. A car drove past him, sending up a wavve of cold, dirty slush. Zim temporarily considered blasting thecar with his laser gun, but decided not to because he would have to take his hands out of his pockets. He walked past a 24-7, already adorned with colerful christmas decorations. Even htough Zim had been here for several years, he still did not understand this holiday past the giving of gifts, and the appearance of 'Santa Clause' (Sounds like some people I know.)
He walked to one of the worse parts of town, not for any specific reason, just because he wasn't paying atention to where he was going.
Huge snowdrifts piled up against everyhting. Zim kicked one. Balls of snow shot out and covered the sidewalk. Zim grinned at the destruction of the pile. He kicked another. Bright white chunks flew into the air, only to fall back again. Zim picked up a chunk of snow and threw it at a passing car. It splattered pleasingly all over the side window. Zim did this several times.
He began taking balls of snow out of a drift, building a huge pile of snowballs, with which he planned to pelt passing humans. He reached over to get the twentieth ball, and his hand hit something hard under the snow. Confused he dug at it more, to reveal a backpack.
"Wait a second... That looks like... Dib's backpack!"
He dug away more of the snow, to reveal Dib. Zim was confused.
"Stupid human. You left evrything to come out into the cold. And now, look at you. Youre probably dead arn't you? And it I didn't even get to do it." (Harsh,I know. But remember why he's HERE in the FIRST place.)
Zim felt for a pulse, and to his releif/dissapointment, found one.
"What do I do now, Dib?" Zim thought for a second.
"Curse you humans, and your STUPID, CONTAGIOUS EMOTIONS!"
A microphone came out of Zim's pak.
"GIR! Come get me."
"OOKEY_ DOKEY!" The microphone retreated, and a few seconds later, Gir flew up.
"HEY, LOOK!" The green dog shreiked. "ITS DIB!"
"Yes, Gir, it's Dib. Pick him up, we're going back to the base.

Dib opened his eyes to see a network of cables, running along to ceiling. He sat up, and looked around. He was in a dark room, and it was very warm. Suddenly he realized where he had seen those cables before.
"I'm in Zim's lab!" He said to no one in particular. He wondered how he had gotten there. He thought back to the last thing he could remember. Suddenly, it all made perfect sense.
"I get it now." He said aloud. "I'm obviously dead. I've gone to heaven, I guess. Too bad I don't have my camera."
Behind him, a panel whooshed open, and Zim came in. He was wearing his disguise.
"Hello, Dib. I see you've regained concousness." Dib nodded.
"Am I dead?"
"No, earth-monkey, despite your best efforts, you are most certainly not dead. I couldn't let you go THAT easily."

Dib looked at the Irken with a mix of fear and gratitude. (You don't see THAT often...)
"So you're gonna kill me now, I guess."
"Most likely. Then again, maybe I'll let you go. Fighting with you is most entertaining, altough you do interfere at the most awful times. At least, I won't kill you today. Even Invaders don't him an enemy when he's down."
"Unless you pushed him down yourself."
"Exactly." The Irken grinned. "Your backpack is over there. I took the liberty of removing the film from your camera, but other than that, I think you'll find everything is mostly the same." The Irken was about to say something else when
"I MADE HOT COKO!" Gir came flying out of the ceiling, Holding two steaming mugs. Somehow, he didn't spill any of it. Dib took one, and, hesitanly, Zim took the other. Without considering the origin of the drink, Dib took a gulp. He almost spit it out.
"What the- Gir, are you sure this is coko?"
"I DUNNO! It started with a c, and then an o, and then some other letters, but I drink it and it makes me happy."
"This is COFFEE, Gir!" Zim yelled.
"With LOTS of sugar." Dib choked out.
"YEAH!" Gir screeched before dissapearing again.
"Um... does this happen alot?"
"Oh, yeah."
"Wow. I never eally understood what a pain he is."
"You have no idea, human."
They sat in silence for a few moments. Dib considered how such an advanced race could have built such a useless machine. Secretly, Zim wondered the same thing.
"so, um... Back to the letting me go thing."
"Oh, no. Not for a while at least. You see, you have a supreme amount of nerve damage. Your digits were frostbitten almost to tthe point of falling off. I had to release a couple billion nonobots to keep you from losing them. They're still working, and I can't let you go till they're done, and out of your body. I'm sure you understand."
"ummm...Yeah." Dib wondered how he could maybe trap one of these nano-things.
"I have them counted. Don't even think about it."
"You have billions of them COUNTED?"
"Yes. Yes I do. Theres 42,235,432,433"
"Oh...kaaay..." (0.o)
"Oh, shut up. I'm doing you a huge favor, here. Acnowledge my superiority."
"Yes, just this once. And I thank you."
"Good."

"INCOMING TRANSMISSION!!! ZIM! ZIM! TRANSMISSION! TRANNNNNSSSMIIIISSSSIIIOONNN!!!!!!"
Zim looked up at he computer.
"Um... yeah. That's my computer. Ignore him"
'TTRRRRAAAANNNNSSSSSMIIIIISSSSIIIOOOONNN!!!!!!!!!!!"
"OK! Geez, I'm COMING!" Zim rushed out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Dib jumped off the table and ran to his backpack, where he used the hacky-thingie we saw in Future Dib to connect to a big cable in the ceiling. A picture appeared on the screen of two aliens. They they looked like Zim, only taller. A lot taller.
"YES! Finally, I can get some information on the invasion!" Dib said aloud. The aliens didn't see or hear him. They were talking to Zim. And they were laughing.
"Yes, Zim. We see what a great (giggle) invader you must be for capturing a native." Said one, dressed in purple.
"But I thought you said they were stupid?" Said one dressed in red.
"Yeah, I clearly recall having a very confusing discussion on how they were dumb...AND Tall." said Red.
Zim said something Dib couldn't hear.
"Yes, yes, that's nice." Said Red
"But you see, that's not the reason we called you. We called you regarding the frequency of contacts. See, calling us everyday is really annoying. You don't even have anything to say, because you don't seem to be getting anywhere in your efforts to conquer the planet."
There was silence for a minute as Zim was presumably speaking. The faces of the tallests get more and more upset.
"Look, Zim, we don't CARE how good you're doing. We don't CARE about the planet. It's already SERVING it's purpose to us. It's keeping YOU busy. ONCE an Earth Year, Zim. That's it."
"Bye, Zim! See you in an Earth Year. Or, even better, won't see you in an Earth Year."
The transmission was cut. The computer screen froze, leaving the image of the two grinning images locked on the screen. Dib stared at it in horror. What kind of people would...
A crash echoed down the hall, presumably the comm-screen being smashed. Hurridly, Dib closed his laptop and shoved it into his backpack. He expected Zim to come storming in, but instead, the angry, slamming footsteps retreated.

Dib tried to open the door to the room, but, not surprisingly, it was locked. So he sat on the table, and thought. Eventually, his thoughts turned back to the two tall aliens. They were Zim's leaders, to whom, he had already seen, Zim was very loyal. And tey had just basicly told him they hated him. Tehy never wanted to see him again. He figured he should be glad because Zim no longer needed to canquer Earth, and would not posess such a need to take over it. Maybe he still would try, but without the need to prove hmself, his attempts would not have the emotion and energy they usually had.
(My doctor just informed me I'm nuts, isn't that nice?)
Dib sighed. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He wouldn't have to stop Zim anymore. He was glad for a moment while he thought of all the time he would have now to do.... what?
He tried to think of the last thing he had done not related to stopping Zim, saving the Earth, or keeping himself from dying. He coldn't think of anything.
"Whoa..." Dib said in awe. "I have no LIFE!" (0_0)

Zim glared at hevrything on his way to the surface. Evry once in a while, he would smash something, Glad to have an outlet for his anger. The computer would fix it anyway.
"The Tallest geve me an ADVANCED robot" He said to himself. It became a mantra as he headed up.
"GIR!" The little robot cowered for a moment at his Master's anger, but he soon came forward anyway, because his memeoy's not that good.
"HIYA!"
"Gir, turn off for a moment."
"OKEY-DOKEY!" The androids' eyes dimed to gray, and Zim opened the door at the top of his head.
The tallest gave me an ADVANCED robot.
He reached in, pushed past the chips he had added in his time on Earth. He soon got to the original programming. He tried to push past teh Motherboard, and gasped in horror as it came of in his hand. It wasn't even connected. Almost afraid of what he would see, he looked in, and saw a few coins, and a bubble gum ball.? Ashen-faced, he dropped the little bot, not even bothering to turn him back on.

Dib turned toward the door as it opened, turning off his laptop as he did so. Zim stood there, but he looked different. No longer did he have his haughty stance, instead he looked tired, worn. He opened the door, motioning for Dib to leave. Dib hesitated for a moment before passing the Irken.
"Are all the nanobots out now?"
"No. Just go, OK?"
Dib walked toward the teleporters, stepped into one, and instantly was in the upper rooms. He was Gir laying, deactivated, on the floor. He didn't ask, just walked out the door. Behind him, Zim stood in the doorway, watching his once-enemy walk away. He knew what letting Dib go meant. He just hoped that Dib had the sense to go home, if for no other reason than getting the nanobots out. He wasn't dissapointed.

"DIB!" Gaz jumped off the couch, shortly followed by Professor Membrane. (Conveiniently, they had just been sitting there.) They ran to Dib, who had just entered the house. Uncharacteristicly, Gaz hugged him. The professor looked down at his returned son with tears in his eyes.
"I'm sorry I ignored you, son. And even though you are insane, I shouldn't bring it up so much."
"I'm sorry too, Dib. And you don't have to do the dishes." Dib laughed.
"So, I remember you said you had proof about Zim. Do you stilll want to show it to us?" Dib looked out he window, up at the sky.
"No. I made a mistake. Zim isn't really an alien." To himself, he thought "Inside, he's just as human as the rest of us.'
.