It sat on the shelf, a surrogate representation of family togetherness. A solemn cookie jar. The cookies inside had been store bought but the fact that somebody had taken the time to put them in it gave the illusion of traditional homemade goodness. Although that image was partially ruined by the fact that the cookie jar was shaped like Professor Membrane's head. Commercialism at its best.
Dib was finding some difficulty reaching the cookie jar today. It was always on the same shelf, same place neat and orderly, but for some reason he just couldn't seem to reach it.
"Hey Gaz, did you move the cookie jar?' He turned to his sister who was sitting at the table gathering some stray papers.
"No." She answered bluntly.
Dib stood up on his tip toes and reaches again, the jar barely out of range from his fingertips.
"Are you sure?" he asked again "It's further back then it usually is."
"I didn't touch your stupid cookies." Gaz snarled back retrieving a bag of crunchy cheese puffs from the cupboard.
With a sigh Dib pushed a chair over to the shelf and claimed the ceramic container. He took out two rather large cookies before joining his sister on the couch. She had the TV on loud as images flashed of cows and cars exploding in hideous fireballs. Her brother sat uncomfortably close to her, annoyingly munching his cookies, talking between bites.
"I beat Zim in dodge ball during recess today." He said proudly, "I'm beginning to think he's starting to slip. Maybe being on the planet is too much for him." He crunched more cookie, "I can tell he's starting to get desperate."
"Can you shut up?" Gaz interrupted, "My shows are on."
Dib blinked at his sister, then looked at the TV, shining pictures of birds flying into jet plane engines. He took another bite of his cookie and looked back at Gaz. A look of confusion overlapped his face as he noticed something was different with her.
"Hey Gaz, did you have a growth spurt or something?"
She squinted at him tightening her fists.
"No, shut up."
"Really? You look taller."
"Well I'm not, now be quiet or I'll have to tear your tongue out."
Dib shifted in his seat; the cushions felt different. He looked around the room; everything was off, like someone had moved the furniture, but everything was in the place it always was. Still, he could feel a disturbance in the room.
"Something... Isn't right." He jumped off the couch. "Does something seem not right to you Gaz?"
"Yeah," she said "You're talking after I told you not to."
"No, it's not that." He shook his head, "It's something else. Something I can't put my finger on. But I know something seems out of place."
Gaz gritted her teeth and picked up the remote control. Pointing it at her brother's head she repeatedly pressed the "mute" button in a last ditch effort to stop his rambling.
"...Something has my paranormalist instincts tingling." He continued despite Gaz's best efforts, "Do you have any idea what it could be?"
"You really don't want to keep your tongue do you?" Gaz frowned tossing the crumpled empty bag of crispy cheese snacks at her brother's head.
Rolling his eyes at her in frustration he bent down to pick up her trash, only to unexpectedly and painfully hit his head on the coffee table.
"Ow! Since when was this table so high?" He lifted his aching head grumbling to himself.
As he stood he felt a strange sinking feeling in his gut. At first he thought he had picked his head up too quickly but then noticed a familiarity to it. He had felt this feeling before today, a few times in fact, but had dismissed it as nothing. He looked around the room; everything seemed higher than it was a moment ago. His eyes darted to every piece of furniture and wall fixture. Why was everything higher up? Why did the couch seem bigger? Why did Gaz look taller?
"Gaz," He stammered, "Do I look... shorter to you?"
Gaz rolled her eyes and hopped off the couch. To Dib's shock and fear she was now at least two inches taller than him. She put her hand over her head, then moved it over his, then back to her own. She shrugged.
"Yeah."
He couldn't believe it, it was impossible, but it was happening.
"Oh...my...lord!" he gasped, "I'm shrinking! Gaz! I'm SHRINKING!!"
Gaz sat back on the couch, uncaring about the whole ordeal.
"Maybe you'll shrink so small I won't have to hear you."
Dib's heart leaped in his chest at the thought. He pulled on a handful of hair trying to make sense of the moment.
"But how?! Nobody just shrinks!"
"Can you go freak out somewhere else?" Gaz snarled, her sibling's bemoaning drowning out the sound of her beloved TV, "I'm trying to watch my shows and you're ruining it!"
Dib paced frantically about the room, he had to find the cause of his sudden decrease in height before he was too small to do anything about it. He ran through in his head the events of the day. Something must be the cause of this. Then he remembered.
"That laser of Zim's! It was a shrink ray all along. He tricked me! That jerk."
Gaz grunted, her eye twitching. What about "shut up" didn't her brother understand?
"Your tongue is so dog food."
Dib clenched his fists; he knew what he had to do to fix this.
"I have to go to Zim's and make him make me my normal size again!" He declared.
Gaz flashed her eye on him,
"You go do that."
He ran out the door and into the street towards his enemy's base, leaving Gaz with her much wanted silence.
_=_+_+_+_+=+=+=+=+
Dib ran at his fastest pace, any wasted moment would turn against him. He couldn't tell at what rate he was shrinking, but any rate was bad and he knew it needed to be stopped. The distance to Zim's house was frighteningly longer the he had memorized. He sighed in relief while panting as he saw the morbid homestead of his alien foe. His mind set with determination, he ran up the walkway holding back the shock he was now nearly half the height of the gnomes.
Shrunken fists pounded the door to the Irken fortress.
"Zim! I know what you did to me!" Dib shouted "I demand you restore me to my normal size immediately!"
No one answered the boy's bellowing, only making him more furious. He banged harder.
"I know you're in there Zim! Come out here you piece of alien scum!"
A moment of silence, the door then swung open slowly allowing Dib entry into the dark citadel. It looked abandoned, dark and empty, a still silence ominous yet magnetic. Dib cautiously entered and peered about for some form of alien life.
"Zim?"
The room remained deathly quiet until a mild creak filled the air. Dib swung around just as the front door slammed shut locking itself, sealing off the exit.
"I knew you would come Dib." Said a mellow silhouette standing in the kitchen doorway. Zim leaned against the frame, arms smugly akimbo.
"It was only a matter of time before you realized my true master plan."
He walked slowly into better light, which gleamed off his magenta eyes. His smile was strong and wide as he bent his head to look at his foe.
"Why are you doing this Zim? Why shrink me?" Dib demanded waving his fist in the air. Zim chuckled; seeing Dib like this was quiet funny. At this size waving his arms about he almost resembled GIR when the little robot was having a stupid fit.
"Why?" Zim repeated, "You want to know why I'm shrinking you? It's mostly your fault you know, going around making false accusations about you being the superior to me. It was getting quiet annoying. /your little display during recess today was what drove me over the edge. I had to show you that I was the superior species. And I think I did that rather nicely. Now you can see that I am now far superior than you."
"By shrinking me?" Dib cocked his brow. "How does shrinking me make you superior?"
Zim paused them laughed to himself. Dib had no knowledge of the Irken idea of Heightocracy.
"Of course," he chuckled "there's that whole culture thing you're completely unaware of." He straightened his voice and gazed deeper at his tiny nemesis, "But believe me, seeing you at this size makes me feel much more superior."
"So you shrank me just so you could heal your ego?" Dib squinted, "That's so lame."
Zim grunted frowning with displeasure.
"That's only half the cause Dib. My plans are much larger then that."
He took a step back and clapped his hands twice. Instantaneously four cubes dropped from the ceiling and landed around Dib. A trap. Dib broke into a run but found himself charging into a transparent purple wall closing in on him. He was captured, prisoner in a glowing box. He slammed and pounded the enclosure trying desperately to break free.
"I planned on you coming here begging for me to reverse the reduction process, so I made a few arrangements in anticipation of your visit." Zim tapped on the force field wall gleefully.
"Zim! Let me out of here now!" Dib shouted.
"I don't think I'll be doing that." Zim smirked.
"Fine you've proven your point." Dib caved, "You've won this round and I'm your prisoner. Now stop this shrinking thing!"
Zim crossed his scrawny arms smiling devilishly.
"No Dib, I won't be doing that either. Not only will I keep you as my captive but will also keep the pleasure of watching you shrink away into OBLIVION!!!!"
Dib's heart froze as he let out a mournful cry, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
As a platform beneath them lowered slowly into the evil underground base the house was filled with a most bizarre duet of Zim's glorious laughter and Dib's horrid screams of fear.
Dib was finding some difficulty reaching the cookie jar today. It was always on the same shelf, same place neat and orderly, but for some reason he just couldn't seem to reach it.
"Hey Gaz, did you move the cookie jar?' He turned to his sister who was sitting at the table gathering some stray papers.
"No." She answered bluntly.
Dib stood up on his tip toes and reaches again, the jar barely out of range from his fingertips.
"Are you sure?" he asked again "It's further back then it usually is."
"I didn't touch your stupid cookies." Gaz snarled back retrieving a bag of crunchy cheese puffs from the cupboard.
With a sigh Dib pushed a chair over to the shelf and claimed the ceramic container. He took out two rather large cookies before joining his sister on the couch. She had the TV on loud as images flashed of cows and cars exploding in hideous fireballs. Her brother sat uncomfortably close to her, annoyingly munching his cookies, talking between bites.
"I beat Zim in dodge ball during recess today." He said proudly, "I'm beginning to think he's starting to slip. Maybe being on the planet is too much for him." He crunched more cookie, "I can tell he's starting to get desperate."
"Can you shut up?" Gaz interrupted, "My shows are on."
Dib blinked at his sister, then looked at the TV, shining pictures of birds flying into jet plane engines. He took another bite of his cookie and looked back at Gaz. A look of confusion overlapped his face as he noticed something was different with her.
"Hey Gaz, did you have a growth spurt or something?"
She squinted at him tightening her fists.
"No, shut up."
"Really? You look taller."
"Well I'm not, now be quiet or I'll have to tear your tongue out."
Dib shifted in his seat; the cushions felt different. He looked around the room; everything was off, like someone had moved the furniture, but everything was in the place it always was. Still, he could feel a disturbance in the room.
"Something... Isn't right." He jumped off the couch. "Does something seem not right to you Gaz?"
"Yeah," she said "You're talking after I told you not to."
"No, it's not that." He shook his head, "It's something else. Something I can't put my finger on. But I know something seems out of place."
Gaz gritted her teeth and picked up the remote control. Pointing it at her brother's head she repeatedly pressed the "mute" button in a last ditch effort to stop his rambling.
"...Something has my paranormalist instincts tingling." He continued despite Gaz's best efforts, "Do you have any idea what it could be?"
"You really don't want to keep your tongue do you?" Gaz frowned tossing the crumpled empty bag of crispy cheese snacks at her brother's head.
Rolling his eyes at her in frustration he bent down to pick up her trash, only to unexpectedly and painfully hit his head on the coffee table.
"Ow! Since when was this table so high?" He lifted his aching head grumbling to himself.
As he stood he felt a strange sinking feeling in his gut. At first he thought he had picked his head up too quickly but then noticed a familiarity to it. He had felt this feeling before today, a few times in fact, but had dismissed it as nothing. He looked around the room; everything seemed higher than it was a moment ago. His eyes darted to every piece of furniture and wall fixture. Why was everything higher up? Why did the couch seem bigger? Why did Gaz look taller?
"Gaz," He stammered, "Do I look... shorter to you?"
Gaz rolled her eyes and hopped off the couch. To Dib's shock and fear she was now at least two inches taller than him. She put her hand over her head, then moved it over his, then back to her own. She shrugged.
"Yeah."
He couldn't believe it, it was impossible, but it was happening.
"Oh...my...lord!" he gasped, "I'm shrinking! Gaz! I'm SHRINKING!!"
Gaz sat back on the couch, uncaring about the whole ordeal.
"Maybe you'll shrink so small I won't have to hear you."
Dib's heart leaped in his chest at the thought. He pulled on a handful of hair trying to make sense of the moment.
"But how?! Nobody just shrinks!"
"Can you go freak out somewhere else?" Gaz snarled, her sibling's bemoaning drowning out the sound of her beloved TV, "I'm trying to watch my shows and you're ruining it!"
Dib paced frantically about the room, he had to find the cause of his sudden decrease in height before he was too small to do anything about it. He ran through in his head the events of the day. Something must be the cause of this. Then he remembered.
"That laser of Zim's! It was a shrink ray all along. He tricked me! That jerk."
Gaz grunted, her eye twitching. What about "shut up" didn't her brother understand?
"Your tongue is so dog food."
Dib clenched his fists; he knew what he had to do to fix this.
"I have to go to Zim's and make him make me my normal size again!" He declared.
Gaz flashed her eye on him,
"You go do that."
He ran out the door and into the street towards his enemy's base, leaving Gaz with her much wanted silence.
_=_+_+_+_+=+=+=+=+
Dib ran at his fastest pace, any wasted moment would turn against him. He couldn't tell at what rate he was shrinking, but any rate was bad and he knew it needed to be stopped. The distance to Zim's house was frighteningly longer the he had memorized. He sighed in relief while panting as he saw the morbid homestead of his alien foe. His mind set with determination, he ran up the walkway holding back the shock he was now nearly half the height of the gnomes.
Shrunken fists pounded the door to the Irken fortress.
"Zim! I know what you did to me!" Dib shouted "I demand you restore me to my normal size immediately!"
No one answered the boy's bellowing, only making him more furious. He banged harder.
"I know you're in there Zim! Come out here you piece of alien scum!"
A moment of silence, the door then swung open slowly allowing Dib entry into the dark citadel. It looked abandoned, dark and empty, a still silence ominous yet magnetic. Dib cautiously entered and peered about for some form of alien life.
"Zim?"
The room remained deathly quiet until a mild creak filled the air. Dib swung around just as the front door slammed shut locking itself, sealing off the exit.
"I knew you would come Dib." Said a mellow silhouette standing in the kitchen doorway. Zim leaned against the frame, arms smugly akimbo.
"It was only a matter of time before you realized my true master plan."
He walked slowly into better light, which gleamed off his magenta eyes. His smile was strong and wide as he bent his head to look at his foe.
"Why are you doing this Zim? Why shrink me?" Dib demanded waving his fist in the air. Zim chuckled; seeing Dib like this was quiet funny. At this size waving his arms about he almost resembled GIR when the little robot was having a stupid fit.
"Why?" Zim repeated, "You want to know why I'm shrinking you? It's mostly your fault you know, going around making false accusations about you being the superior to me. It was getting quiet annoying. /your little display during recess today was what drove me over the edge. I had to show you that I was the superior species. And I think I did that rather nicely. Now you can see that I am now far superior than you."
"By shrinking me?" Dib cocked his brow. "How does shrinking me make you superior?"
Zim paused them laughed to himself. Dib had no knowledge of the Irken idea of Heightocracy.
"Of course," he chuckled "there's that whole culture thing you're completely unaware of." He straightened his voice and gazed deeper at his tiny nemesis, "But believe me, seeing you at this size makes me feel much more superior."
"So you shrank me just so you could heal your ego?" Dib squinted, "That's so lame."
Zim grunted frowning with displeasure.
"That's only half the cause Dib. My plans are much larger then that."
He took a step back and clapped his hands twice. Instantaneously four cubes dropped from the ceiling and landed around Dib. A trap. Dib broke into a run but found himself charging into a transparent purple wall closing in on him. He was captured, prisoner in a glowing box. He slammed and pounded the enclosure trying desperately to break free.
"I planned on you coming here begging for me to reverse the reduction process, so I made a few arrangements in anticipation of your visit." Zim tapped on the force field wall gleefully.
"Zim! Let me out of here now!" Dib shouted.
"I don't think I'll be doing that." Zim smirked.
"Fine you've proven your point." Dib caved, "You've won this round and I'm your prisoner. Now stop this shrinking thing!"
Zim crossed his scrawny arms smiling devilishly.
"No Dib, I won't be doing that either. Not only will I keep you as my captive but will also keep the pleasure of watching you shrink away into OBLIVION!!!!"
Dib's heart froze as he let out a mournful cry, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
As a platform beneath them lowered slowly into the evil underground base the house was filled with a most bizarre duet of Zim's glorious laughter and Dib's horrid screams of fear.
