There was only one star nearby to light the spaceships path. It cruised silently along, reflections of the cosmos passing across its shiny metal. They looked like little pieces of shining dust, floating by. The star they were near burned white hot, although the blackness surrounding it was still as cold as death. It was silent as the ship wandered past.

Well duh it was silent, it was space.

Inside the ship there wasn't much talking, except for the hum of a few machines. It was filled with passengers, all waiting intently for something to happen. The think silence was broken by a small Vortion scurrying up to the large chair that sat in the middle of it all.

"My leader?"

"Yes?" replied a female voice in a tone that could freeze a sun.

"We're ready."

A malicious grin spread across her face. She cackled to herself for a few seconds, then turned to a team sitting at a giant console. "Two degrees to the left; accelerate to top speed." A revving sound could be heard for a few seconds before the ship suddenly jumped to life and lurched forward. This sent the small Vortion flying, and she laughed at his misfortune. She faced forward once more, watching the stars and planets fly by at insane speeds. 'Perfect,' she thought, a smile that was anything but pleasant on her face.

The sun was up, and children were walking to skool. There were people driving to work, getting their morning coffee, and eating waffles for breakfast. It was a normal day on earth.

At least, as normal as any day could be for a paranormal investigator with an alien menace posing as a kid with a skin condition.

"Hey Zim, what's your plan for world domination today?!" called Dib from the sidewalk opposite to where Zim was walking. Even though Zim usually gave some sort of witty insult, he sometimes revealed his plans to the human in order to gloat about their greatness. Dib had therefore made it a habit to shout this at the alien everyday as they walked to Skool.

The Irk, who had been humming a battle tune as he marched down the street, stopped as soon as he heard this. He cocked a nonexistent eyebrow at Dib and opened his mouth to loudly mock him. However, after a few seconds, nothing came. He stood there with him mouth agape for a little while, then simply let the breath he had been going to use for an insult escape as a tired sigh. He began to walk away, leaving a very confused Dib staring at the spot where he had been standing.

Dib blinked. That hadn't been the reaction he had expected. Why wasn't Zim ranting or screaming or... anything else Zim normally did? He looked up and down the street for cars, then ran across to catch up with Zim. He soon was along side him and walked at Zim's unusually slow pace to walk beside him. "A sigh isn't an answer," he said.

Zim let out an aggravated noise. "Why don't you take your enormous pickle-filled head and go be crazy somewhere else?" He asked, sounding thoroughly annoyed.

"I don't like pickles," replied Dib, once again confounded by the alien’s strange insults.

"LAIR!!" screeched Zim, stopping and pointing animatedly at Dib before resuming his walk.

For a minute Dib looked annoyed, but his expression quickly turned to one of relief. He chuckled to himself quietly, but Zim still overheard, causing him to glance suspiciously at the boy. "What’s so funny, Dib-stink?" he inquired.

"Oh, nothing," he replied, "I just thought for a minute that you didn't have a plan or something."

Zim quickly averted his eyes and bowed his head.

Dib stared at Zim in shock, his jaw nearly dropping to the ground. 'Zim without a plan to destroy the Earth? Is this some kind of joke? Some kind of convoluted plot to get me to drop my guard? Is something wrong?' Dib wondered to himself. Outwardly he merely asked, "You don't have a plan today?" He said it with an incredulous tone in his voice, but Zim noticed that there was something else in Dib's voice. Something the Irk couldn't quite place. And for some reason this really ticked him off.

"It's none of your business anyway Huuu-man, but if you really must know Gir kept me from thinking all night with some huuuman toy with arrows on a rug and songs that sound like they're sung by hamsters!" Zim explained in a disgruntled shout. He crossed his arms and adopted a face of pure loathing.

"You mean that Dance Dance somethin' or other game that everyone’s obsessed with now?" questioned Dib. He then continued without waiting for a response, "I know what you mean. It gets really annoying after a while. I don't get why everyone says it’s so fun, you just stomp your feet to music. And the music is all..." he searched for the right word, "...sickeningly cheerful." A look of disgust came upon his face. He remembered when he and Gaz were at the arcade and he had tried the game. Two minutes of squeaky Japanese school-girls and trying to stomp on those strange arrow things had been enough for him.

Zim nodded at Dibs comments. It was nice to have intelligent conversation. Then he deadpanned. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Dib turned with a questioning look to the alien. "Did we just... agree on something?" asked Zim, a very disturbed look on his face. Dib's eyes immediately snapped open. They stared at each other for a few seconds, an awkward silence floating between them.

"FILTHY HUMAN STINK BEAST!!!" screeched Zim, pointing at him with all his might.

"UGLY GREEN SPACE BOY!!!" replied Dib, pointing just as hard.

They stood there pointing at each other and staring for a few seconds. Then Dib turned around and began jogging away, presumably to catch up with Gaz. That was probably the most frightening thing that had ever happened to either of them. Zim watched Dib run away, a chill running up his spine. They had agreed on something. He tried to clear his head and keep walking, but that horrible fact kept coming back to bother him.

"Curse you Dib!" he said, his fists curling tightly above his head, one of his standard shouting poses. But even as he said it, he realized there was no real sting in his words. He didn't even know why he was cursing the boy. It wasn't like he had done anything to annoy the Irk. Zim contemplated this for a bit, but soon just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't need a reason to hate the Dib.

He soon arrived at Skool to find the halls nearly empty. Most students had gone to class already. Zim marched off to homeroom. Upon entering, he saw that Dib wasn't in his seat. Neither were a few of the other boys in his class. This had him somewhat concerned, though if you even dared suggest it he would have ripped your arms off.

"Zim," spat an agitated Mrs. Bitters, "you're late."

The small green boy went rigid when he heard the voice the tall shadow hovering over him. She was one of the few things that scared Zim on this filthy mud-ball planet. "Erm... I had to feed my lawn gnomes. Yes," mumbled Zim, nervously scratching the back of his neck. He coughed, hoping that would suffice.

The teacher’s eyes narrowed at this. However, she soon glided back to the front of the room, warning, "Don't let it happen again, or I'll have to transfer you to the underground classroom."

Zim let out a sigh of relief. He was off the hook for now. He quickly hopped into his seat and turned his attention to the empty desk on the other side of the room. Where was the Dib-human? He never missed class. Perhaps he had gotten his enormous greasy head stuck in a doorframe or something. This thought made Zim cackle aloud. "Stupid Dib..." he murmured to himself, very amused by the thought of that disgusting head caught in a door. Still, that didn't explain why some of the others were missing. Perhaps some sort of conspiracy against the alien? But no, Dib was the only one who paid any mind to Zim. He stared at the empty desk intently, as if expecting him to pop out of it any second.

After a few minutes he couldn't take it anymore. He would look for the human on his own. Curiosity had a way of getting the best of the Irken. He raised a gloved hand. "Yes, Zim?" asked Mrs. Bitters, clearly annoyed at having to stop while in mid-lecture.

"Zim feels ill and needs to go to the nurse. I am ZIM!!!" He screeched, jumping up on his chair and throwing his hands up into the air. His arms flopped back to his sides and he looked expectantly at Mrs. Bitters.

"You can be sick after class, now sit down," she barked.

Zim blinked once, then, instead of obliging, pointed out the windows, screaming, "WHAT IS THAT HORRIBLE CREATURE!?!?" Everyone immediately rushed to the window in a desperate attempt to see what was going on. Mrs. Bitters began shouting over the chaos for the students to get back in their seats. Zim quietly slipped out the door. Humans. So easily distracted. His chuckles echoed in the empty hallway as he began his search for the silly Dib.