I’m actually not going to go into this one too much because I’m working on a comic with this right now. His PAK is corrupted and his mind is essentially rewired by Pepito to be completely aware of every action he makes in an almost slow motion. Every step he takes, every word he speaks is repeated over and over like an echo, so he’s mostly quiet now and has to really think before he acts.
As and adult Dib and Zim are on relatively equal terms, Dib kinda realizes there’s more than just Zim to worry about and focuses his obsessions elsewhere. Zim never stops his conquests but it’s still the same ol wacky alien who crashes into bees.
Gaz essentially takes advantage of Zim and uses his tech to find Dib, while also keeping an eye on Zim as she does have a small soft spot for him because of his weird relationship to Dib. She basically keeps him close because she doesn’t want to lose anything else from her past. Zim goes along with it because he doesn’t really have any other choice.
Thanks for askin, the story is told out of order so I don’t really have a problem talking about it since I’ll be telling it in a non linear fashion. I’m happy people are interested 🙂
-Sen
