Invader Zim ZADR: How did we get here?

Chapter 18: What do we need to do?

Shall we see what Dib and Zim are up to?

"Well, are you gonna come in Dib-thing or are you just gonna stand there ogling at my amazing base?" Zim asked with an annoyed tone. He had allowed the stupid human to enter his base of operations, and yet he just stood there like a stupid pig. Did he need Zim to throw him in as well?

Dib on the other hand still hadn't exactly gathered up the courage to step on Zim's lawn. After they had arrived, Dib started getting paranoid thoughts of Zim planning to betray him. Not that it was completely unlikely, but that had hardly stopped Dib before. Usually. But neither had it helped that when Dib showed an ounce of hesitation in agreeing to help Zim, the alien decided to persuade him. And by persuading, what Zim actually did was threaten to blow him up. To be fair, Dib found it to be a compelling argument.

And there he was, about to enter his frenemy's base, and for once he had permission to do it. The last time he had entered was only because Zim had physically dragged him in. This time, he had to do it himself. All that there was left was convincing his legs to step forward.

"Don't worry, I'm coming! I just need a...a moment to make sure I won't be evaporated by your gnomes."

"Didn't I already explain to you that I had disabled my defense system? Or have your unnaturally large had already forgotten that?"

"My head's not that-...you know what, I'm not even going to say it," Dib replied, before slowly and shakily lifting his right leg up, and placing it on the grass in front of him. He waited for a second to see if he would need to dodge some lasers, but fortunately, it seemed that Zim had been telling the truth.

"See?! Didn't I tell you to trust Zim?! Now, will you move your slow human body and get inside!" Zim commanded, feeling ever so slightly miffed at the fact that he had to allow his enemy to enter his base. For so many years he had kept that ever snooping human-worm away from his base and his plans, and there he was having to shout at The Dib to enter. For some reason, it didn't make him feel like ripping his antennas out, as he had expected. Perhaps it had something to do with him having allowed the human in before. But that was completely different and was something that Zim had generally decided to forget about. Not because the memory was an especially bad one.

"Yeah yeah I'm coming, you don't need to shout," Dib said, before making his way to the door, though his steps were still a bit unsteady.

"I'M NOT SHOUTING! I'm simply urging you to hurry." Zim explained with a matter-of-factly tone.

"Weird how that happens to sound EXACTLY like shouting."

"There's probably just something wrong with your ears," Zim stated, with such a casual tone that Dib wasn't sure whether it was an insult or observation.

Seeing that the human was finally coming in, Zim turned and entered the base, so that he could prepare to explain the intricacies of his plan on how they were going to fix the tracker. Considering that he would need to explain it to a human, that task would perhaps prove to be the most troublesome out of all the things that would need to be done.

Dib cautiously entered the house, looking around and observing the living room, concluding that yes, nothing had really changed. Except that the place was a lot dirtier than he remembered. Not that he of all people was about to give Zim cleaning advice.

It was then he noticed that Zim was fumbling with some blue papers that lay on the ground, with Zim bent over them, while mumbling incoherently to himself.

"Umm..." Dib muttered, hoping that the alien would notice him since he apparently had such superior hearing. Big surprise, there came no reaction from Zim, who continued to look over the papers and the many drawings on them. Dib put together that they most likely were plans for how they were gonna fix the tracker. He walked over to Zim, and awkwardly crouched by his side, looking around aimlessly, before gathering the courage to look at the papers. Dib had expected it to be some kind of watch or something else that was relatively small, but instead, it seemed to be a full-fledged tower, complete with a radar dish and everything. Of course, there were several parts and components that looked completely alien to him, but that was to be expected, considering it was alien technology after all. A thought that he couldn't but be kinda excited over. He had destroyed several of Zim's inventions and studied Tak's ship as much as he could, but besides that his overall knowledge about technology from space was limited. Something he hoped could be rectified by helping Zim.