Chapter One

A lot of things can change in the span of 9 years. A lot of things can also stay the same. People grow, people mature. Hobbies come and pass, interests hop from one thing to the next. Passions, however, those never change.

Ever since the alien had first landed back in 7th grade, Dib had been religiously watching, learning, and thwarting. At the young age of 12, the boy had always dreamed of finding truly solid proof of the paranormal. He had spent most of his time before Zim's arrival chasing hoaxes and rumours, so it wasn't hard for him to latch onto the thought of exposing the alien, and finally losing the labels he had gathered through the years. Perhaps he had gone a little far, but weren't all kids a little much at that age? He liked to think so.

Nowadays, at 21, Dib wasn't nearly as neurotic as he had been back then. He had realised years ago that the threat he had assumed Zim to be just wasn't there. 9 years had come and gone, and yet Zim had not yet managed to conquer even a stone, let alone the entire planet. The human never stopped watching the alien, and often found himself falling back into their regular routine of scheme-and-thwart. Though, Zim's plans didn't come about as often as they used to, and Dib had other things to worry about, like his job, and his rent.

Things had really begun to slow down after high school graduation. The IRKEN hadn't grown an inch in the 9 years he had lived on Earth, much to his dismay, and this made the higher grades much more of a chore. Instead of being the 'strange kid with a skin condition', he was now the 'strange short kid with a skin condition'. Zim found that he struggled to see over the desks, struggled to reach the shelves in the lockers. It seemed that the world was growing around him, and yet he was staying the same. Or perhaps, it was he that was shrinking, just like his hope of ever finishing the mission he was sent to complete.

Further education was out of the question. Zim found it tough enough to pass as a high school student, and knew that the only reason he had managed it at all was the fact that he had gone through lower-level schooling with the other children. There would be no way that any respectable college or university would accept the 3-foot-tall alien into enrolment. Besides, Zim thought, he had learned enough about the humans! He needed to focus on his mission more than ever before. He had to complete his task. He had to please the Tallest, if he were ever going to be the Invader he so often claimed to be.

Despite the alien's decline in plans over the years, Dib still noticed the alien's absence when he slowly stopped showing up at the Starbunks during his shifts, or running around outside his little green house doing… things. The human never thought he would see the day when Zim would quit, and couldn't help but feel that there was something horribly wrong. Was this all part of his latest plan? Was he trying to trick Dib? Lull him into a false sense of security? Whatever was going on, it wasn't about to work.

April 6th, Thursday
agentmothman_se:

Here I am again, LiveJournal, on a brand new account!

My last account, agentmothmanSE, got taken down because my sister Gaz got angry with me when I spilled soda on her GameSlave. So now I have to have an underscore in my username. Ugh.

I really need to start saving to try and get my own place. Gaz is always upset with me about something, and I'm starting to feel pretty cramped in this house. Dad's never around, but what else is new? When he is, all he goes on about is how I "never amounted to anything", and that he can't believe he raised an "insane son". Whatever. The only upside to living here is how close I am to Zim's dumb house.

Speaking of Zim, he was acting really weird today. He was oddly quiet when he came into the Starbunks (that's where I work, by the way, for anyone new here). He usually tries to rile me up or get me into some sort of trouble with my manager, but today he just came in and kind of… glared at me? And then left. What's he planning? It looks like I'll have to keep a close eye on him for the next little while. Closer than usual, anyways.

Until tomorrow, LiveJournal,

- Dib Membrane, Agent Mothman

#swolleneyeball, #truthshrieker, #zimisanalien

April 7th, Friday

agentmothman_se:

Today was uneventful. Pretty suspicious, if you ask me!

Zim came into the store again today. He just did the exact same thing he did yesterday: glared, and then left! I'm beginning to suspect more and more that he must be planning something big! He's got these heavy bags under his eyes. Does that mean he's been pulling all-nighters or something? I thought he didn't need to sleep? I guess I'll have to double-check my findings...

Either way, my "keep an eye on him" plan is even more of a "GO" than it was yesterday! I'm planning to try to sneak into that weird house of his tomorrow, seeing as it's the weekend and all. The work of a Paranormal Investigator is never done!

I'll keep you posted.

- Dib Membrane, Agent Mothman

#suspiciousalien, #swolleneyeball, #truthshrieker

April 8th, Saturday

agentmothman_se:

Something is absolutely, undoubtedly going on.

I went over to Zim's house, and his gnomes were even worse than usual! I barely got within five feet of the fence and they had targeted me! He must have upped his security for whatever evil thing he's been plotting!

I used my binoculars to see if I could catch a glimpse of the alien menace in action. I did see him, but he was just… sitting there. Sitting there on his couch with his weird little robot. Well, more like slumped. He was slumped there on his couch with his weird little robot!

Sadly, my binoculars are only so great. They can't see every little detail, so I'm afraid I might have missed out on some important clues. Nonetheless, it did look like those eyebags were getting worse, from what I could see. Maybe he does need to sleep after all? He looks a lot like me that time I stayed up for a week to finish my final paper and started hearing colors.

I stayed there and watched him for a few hours, but he never moved. So, I decided to set up a camera close enough to see through his window. Looks like his gnomes don't recognize it as a threat, because I set it up just outside his fence and it hasn't been completely destroyed yet. I've got it hooked up to my phone, so I can check in on it whenever or wherever. So far, he hasn't moved much. Went and got a drink about 38 minutes ago, but came back. Strange.

What are they even watching?

I'll keep a lookout for now, and update here if anything else happens. If not, I'll write again tomorrow.

- Dib Membrane, Agent Mothman

#swolleneyeball, #truthshrieker, #zimcamisgo

April 9th, Sunday

agentmothman_se:

I checked the camera I set up outside Zim's base quite a few times today, but nothing has changed. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing.

Zim just laid on the couch the entire day. I have no idea what's going on, and I'm honestly started to get a bit concerned. I'm looking at my phone as I type this, and he's still just laying there, with his back to me, curled up in a ball. I've never seen this kind of behavior out of him before.

Does he know I'm watching him? Maybe he's doing this on purpose in order to throw me off?

He's only turned around a couple of times, most of them to talk to GIR (his robot), who I can hear from the camera outside. Other than that, he's just stayed in a fetal position the entire day. I'm not sure if he's been sleeping or not, because I can't see his face, so my "conclusive evidence" that "Zim doesn't sleep" may still be up for debate.

I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow. He seems to really like bothering me at work, so I'm likely to see him there.

Hopefully.

More tomorrow.

- Dib Membrane, Agent Mothman

#somethingisup, #swolleneyeball, #truthshrieker

April 11th, Tuesday

agentmothman_se:

When I woke up this morning and checked the camera, it was offline. Looks like Zim found it. At least that means he left the house this morning, or some time last night. He didn't come to Starbunks yesterday, and I've gotta say, I was a little worried.

He did come in today, though. He looked... Not so good. He's really pale now, and his eyes are really swollen and have dark bags under them. Seems like all that sleeping he did on Sunday didn't help much. If he did sleep, that is.

He actually ordered something today, though: a chamomile tea with honey. He was really polite, just ordered and left. It was a really weird, off-brand interaction, honestly. I saw he was shaking a bit when he got up to the counter, and I could hear his breathing. Is he sick or something?

This doesn't feel like an "evil plan" anymore. I think I might try and confront him about it if he comes in tomorrow.

Wish me luck, LiveJournal.

- Dib Membrane, Agent Mothman

#canaliensgetsick, #swolleneyeball, #truthshrieker

April 12, Wednesday

agentmothman_se:

I had a Swollen Eyeball meeting today around dinner time, which couldn't have been worse timing. Normally this wouldn't matter, but it was that "one night of the year meal" thing that we do with Dad tonight as well. I decided to skip the meeting this time, because Dad's still pretty mad at me for the whole guinea pig exorcism thing that I did a few weeks ago, so I need to be careful right now. I'm a little afraid that he might actually act on those threats to kick me out if I keep "acting up".

As for the Zim situation, today was… interesting. He came in again, wanting another tea. He was all sweaty and looked like he was going to fall over. Had to grip the door when he came in, and then the counter to keep himself up. His face was white. And I mean white. To the point where you couldn't even tell that he was originally green. While I was making the tea for him, he puked. Like, all over the floor and the bottom of the counter and everything. It was really gross, and my manager threw him out.

I'm not suspicious anymore.

I'm taking the day off work tomorrow, and I'm going to go to his house. Dad's been working on this cloaking watch that's supposed to make you virtually invisible to motion detection, so I'm going to see if I can use that against those gnomes of his.

I don't even know what I'm going to say when I get up there, if I even do get up there. I guess I'm just kinda worried about the little jerk. Don't know why. It's not like he'd care if it was me on his end of things.

Maybe I'll bring him a chamomile tea.

- Dib Membrane, Agent Mothman

#imgettingtothebottomofthis, #swolleneyeball, #truthshrieker