Chapter 4: The Reveal

The distance to Zim's house was pleasantly shorter than Dib had memorized, however on the way he couldn't help gaining some unwanted attention.

A man mowing his lawn ran his tractor over a mailbox, a garden hose, a plastic reindeer left over from Christmas, and the neighbor's cat. A woman in a car crashed into a fire hydrant. A guy fixing some loose shingles smacked his hand with a hammer and fell off the roof. And some kids eating ice cream nearly choked to death, all because they caught sight of Dib as he ran by. But he had no choice but to get to Zim's, so he sucked up his humiliation and ran a little faster. A few times along the way he felt the air around him go snap crackle pop as a prickly tingle ran down his spine. A sure sign that Zim was still up to his tricks.

He knew the little green sadist was probably leading him into a trap, but Dib wasn't about to back down. He had to stop growing, and the only way to do that was to confront his nemesis directly. He even smiled a bit, thinking of what he could do to Zim now that he was the size of a T-rex.

As he came into view of the Irken fortress Dib set his features in a deadly scowl and stormed up the front walk, kicking over and stomping a few lawn gnomes just for the heck of it. He was nearly as tall as the house and had to crouch down to knock on the front door.

"Who is it?" Zim called from inside.

"You know it's me!" Dib retorted. "Now open up!"

There was a scuffling noise and the door creaked open.

"Why hello, Dib!" Zim flashed him a wide smile. "So nice of you to come. I'd ask you to come inside, but… Well, you know," he said with a shrug. He gazed up at Dib and put a hand to his chin thoughtfully, taking a moment to stand there and admire his handiwork. "You know… I must admit, even I didn't think that ginormous head of yours could possibly get any bigger. Heh. I've really outdone myself."

Hardly sharing Zim's amusement, Dib stood up to his full height and loomed over the tiny alien. "I don't know why you're doing this, Zim, but I demand you return me to normal size right now!"

Zim smiled coolly. "No, I don't think I'll be doing that."

"Why even do this?!" Dib thundered. "What stupid reason could you possibly have for enlarging me like this?"

Zim chuckled. "That's right, I haven't told you my amazing plan yet, have I?"

"You know you didn't," Dib said dryly.

"Well, since you're here I suppose I should let you in on it." Zim folded his scrawny arms, wasting no time getting into his 'revel' stance. "To put it simply, you are going to help me destroy the humans."

Dib blinked, not sure he heard correctly. "What?

"Yes, Dib… Those shocks you've been feeling are waves emitted from the device I took the liberty of implanting in you. Whenever I push this button," Zim said, whipping out a remote control, "another wave is sent out, and this in turn increases your size. Allow me to demonstrate..." Zim forced the button into its socket and Dib gasped as he felt himself grow another few meters.

"Hey, quit it!" he bellowed. "And what device? You never implanted any weird growy device-thingy in me."

"Well obviously I must have."

"But when?"

Zim rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, Dib. I know you have the disadvantage of a puny human brain and all, but you must have figured it out by now."

And once Dib really thought about it he realized he had figured it out, a long time ago in fact. "That dream! I knew it was real! Now I remember… I did go over to your house last night…" Visions flickered across the movie screen in Dib's mind as his memory came flooding back…

Dib is crawling along the ground surrounding Zim's fortress so as not to tip off the gnome security system. He's just finished snapping a few pictures and now he tucks his camera close to his chest protectively, smiling to himself on a job well done. Suddenly he senses someone behind him and whips around. It's Zim! Somehow he's spotted him.

"But you caught me..."

Dib begins to run. And Zim begins to run after him.

"And instead of just letting me go, you chased after me. I remember running as hard as I could, but you were right behind me…"

"That's right, Dib-smell. You'd stuck your nose in my business for the last time. I decided right then and there that I would put a stop to it." Zim frowned, and now it was his turn to go into flashback mode…

Dib is still running. In an attempt to shake Zim he ducks behind a building. He hears Zim approaching and shuts his eyes. He opens one cautiously as he hears Zim skitter by.

"You tried to escape…"

After a few minutes he feels safe enough to venture on. He runs into the shadows cast by the building and finds himself heading straight into the waiting jaws of Zim. He screams silently, his features a mask of terror. The next thing he knows there is a bright flash of light, then everything has gone black.

"… but your attempt was a pitiful failure! I hit you with my sleeper ray and you were out cold."

Now Dib is lying on the pavement, little wisps of smoke curling up from his clothes as Zim stands over his human prize with a strong, arrogant smile. His smile only widens as he crushes Dib's camera with a swift stomp of his heel.

"Now I just had to figure out what to do with you. Zapping you into human dust right then and there would have been far too easy. No, after all our countless battles your defeat was much too big a victory for such a simple thing. I knew I had to do something extra special for the occasion. Then I had an idea…"

Zim drags Dib by the ankles back to his base and down into his lab, then proceeds to lay him out on an examining table. He looks perfectly angelic lying there asleep, but this doesn't stop Zim from sneering at Dib with a smile full of vengeance and spite.

"The only way to make sure you couldn't interfere with my plans any longer… was to make you part of one."

Zim turns his back. When he spins around again he holds up a small round alien-looking chip with a pair of tweezers and places it on Dib's neck. A dozen tiny hair-like wires shoot out of it and bury themselves in his skin. Zim then begins to fiddle with some switches on a remote, and Dib, still unconscious, stands up. Zim grins at this then hands him a lollypop for being such a good little patient before showing him out of the lab.

"Once the chip was in place I sent you back home."

Ten minutes later Dib stumbles through his own front door. Sleepwalking like a zombie he makes his way upstairs where he collapses on his bed and falls fast asleep.

"I knew the sleep-ray would take care of most of your memories, and those that were left you'd perceive as a common Earthenoid dream."

Now it's just a few hours earlier and Zim and Dib are in skool. Dib is busy drawing while, unbeknownst to him, across the room Zim's finger hovers precariously over a button on a remote control gadget.

"I wanted it to be a fun little surprise. You'd remain oblivious to my brilliant plan until I revealed it with the first press of the button…"

"You mean your brilliant plan of making me giant," Dib interrupted dryly.

"Yes."

"Yeahhhh… " Dib trailed off, folding his arms. "You still haven't really explained why you did that yet."

"Yes I did. You're going to destroy the humans."

"Um, no."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"I don't think so."

"Well, I say you are."

"Oh really?" Dib smiled derisively. "And just how are you gonna make-Hey! W-what are you doing?!" he stuttered in surprise as his arms started moving on their own. "Ow!" he yelped as he smacked himself in the face. Zim laughed at this.

"Didn't I mention? In addition to your size the chip also allows me to contol your body movements." To prove his point Zim sent Dib's palm slapping into his head again.

"Ow! Stop that! GAAAHHH!" This last one came as Dib poked himself in the eye.

"AHHAHAHAHAAA!" Zim reared back his head and wallowed in opportunistic laughter at his enemy's discomfort. But with the alien's attention momentarily diverted, Dib saw his opening.

"Hey!" Zim dropped the remote as an enormous hand wrapped around his body and lifted him off the ground.

"Your little plan isn't going to work, Zim," Dib informed his enemy as he raised him up to face level.

Zim whipped his head back and forth, attempting to twist himself free of Dib's grip. "You dare handle me with your grimy hand of filth?" he snapped. "Put me down!"

Now it was Dib's turn to laugh. "What's wrong, Zim? Someone as "brilliant" as you didn't wonder what might happen if you lost your precious little remote?" He took a moment to bask somewhat sadistically in the alien's seething rage before continuing: "Now, do you bring me back to normal, or do I start squeezing?"

He expected Zim to yell some more. To plead. To beg for his life between helpless, whimpering sobs of gutless terror. The last thing he expected was for him to start laughing.

"What's so-Nyah!" Dib's eyes widened in surprise as his hand unwillingly opened on its own. Zim jumped to the ground, cackling even harder at Dib's bewilderment.

"Good work, GIR!" Zim strolled over and took the remote back from the small neon-green dog that had shown up on the front step. He pulled something out of his pocket. "Here, you get a cookie."

"Yay!" The little robot in disguise snapped up the cookie Zim held out and skipped joyfully back into the house.

Zim turned back to Dib. "Foolish human! You really think you're any threat to me? I'm the one who made you this way! Your attempts to intimidate me are laughable!" He began to chuckle so as to illustrate to Dib just how laughable it really was. "And now I'm through playing around. It's time to implement the next phase of my plan."

Dib gulped. "There's more?"

"Oh yes," Zim hissed with an evil type of glee. "You see, this…" he gestured towards Dib, indicating his height, "has only been a small preview. And now I shall complete your transformation by enlarging you to one hundred times your normal size!"

Dib's jaw dropped. "What?!"

Zim snickered and examined his nails casually, which was rather odd seeing as he was wearing gloves and probably didn't have any nails to begin with. "That's what I said, Dib."

"Um… That's kind of a lot…" Dib remarked.

Zim nodded. "That's the idea. And once you've reached your ultimate height, I'll unleash you on an unsuspecting city where you will rain utter chaos and doom down upon the humans!" He ended his speech by flashing a cool smirk. "Sounds fun, yes?"

"That's your brilliant plan?" Dib uttered. "You're going to use me to destroy few buildings and you think that's going to get you global conquest? This is the stupidest plan you've ever come up with. It's crazy! And besides…" Dib went on after a short pause, "Didn't you already do the giant rampaging monster of doom thing?"

"Hmm…?" Zim stuck out his jaw, looking puzzled.

Dib let out a pent up sigh of aggravation. "Remember?" he said wryly. "Ultra-Peepi? Great big mutant hamster? Ring any bells?"

"Oh yes, the Peepi." Zim dismissed the name with a wave of his hand. "Perhaps you're right Dib-worm—in fact the device I implanted in you is similar to the one I used on the hamster, but unlike Ultra-Peepi I'll have total control of you at all times so there's no chance of anything going wrong. And the very best part? Since you're the main part of my plan, there's no way you can interfere with my plan. I get you out of my antennae once and for all and take over the planet at the same time. The perfectness is almost frightening it's so… perfect."

Zim began toying with the remote some more and Dib's legs started to move on their own, backing him away from the alien's base. He struggled to move in the opposite direction, wanting desperately to lunge at Zim and mash him like a bug, but his body was no longer his to control. For all his newly acquired strength and stature he was helpless, and completely at Zim's mercy.

"You're never going to get away with this!" Dib shouted.

Zim frowned and stuck his hands on his hips disapprovingly. "You know, you could show me a little gratitude."

"Gratitude?!" Dib's expression was that of utter incredulity. "For WHAT?!"

"You think I enjoy seeing my worst enemy out-tall me!?" Zim screamed. "Do you have any idea how many Irkens would give their squeedilly-spooch to be in your position?"

"So why not just use this thing on yourself?" Dib said, pointing to the chip on his neck.

Zim sighed disgustedly. "Argh, did I NOT just get done explaining it?" And just for his stupid question he face-palmed Dib again.

"Okay, fine!" Dib snapped. "Do whatever you want with me! But someone will stop you!"

"Oh yeah?" Zim challenged. "Like who?"

"The Military. The Air Force. The Marines. Someone!"

Zim just grinned up at Dib like some sort of deranged Cheshire Cat. "But I'm not going to be the one wrecking the city, Dib… you are. Which one of us do you think the humans will attack?"

Dib's large eyes filled with fear at this terrifying new realization which only furthered to fuel Zim's vindictive gratification.

"So, NOW you see why I am such a brilliant and amazing Zim? And now…" he announced, "I shall begin the final phase of my plan. So long, Dib. It was fun while it lasted, but there's a planet to enslave, vengeance to be had, yadda yadda so on and so forth…"

Zim raised the remote high over his head for dramatic effect and pointed it at Dib, who stood there helplessly and tried to convince himself that it might not be so terrible being nearly four hundred feet tall.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit," Zim assured him."

Dib sighed in relief.

"…At least not until I press this button."

Zim wasn't kidding either. The previous shocks had stung a little, but they were nothing compared to the surge of energy which now rushed through Dib's veins, seeming to penetrate down to his every last cell as if each one were short-circuiting. However the initial shock was thankfully brief, then Dib began to feel a deep tingling in his muscles and limbs, going all the way down to his bones. The next thing he knew the world seemed to tilt and sway as he started growing at a rate that defied comprehension. In less than five seconds he dwarfed every building on the cul-de-sac. In ten seconds he had doubled even this. And still the world continued to shift downward at a terrifying speed, the buildings and sky becoming a nightmarish blur as Dib kept on shooting up higher and higher. He felt his stomach churning, the food he'd eaten earlier threatening to come up as his elevation climbed (and the fact that it was cafeteria food didn't help), but even then he kept right on growing larger and larger, and just when he thought he couldn't possibly stand to grow another inch… it stopped.

Dib swallowed hard and dared to take a peek down. He immediately regretted it. The whole world lay spread out in front of him like a toy model, as if he were viewing it from a helicopter. His head began to spin from the dizzying sight. The cluster of houses down by his feet looked so small he could barely make out which one was Zim's anymore, though oddly enough he could still hear the green one's gratuitous laughter even at this staggering altitude. In fact, it sounded so close Zim might as well have been right next to his ear. No-more like right inside his head.

Wait a minute… it is inside my head, Dib realized, and only now did it occur to him that Zim must have also implanted some sort of communicator inside him—that explained how he'd heard Zim's voice at his house earlier.

"HAHAHAHAAAA!" Zim's strong laughter bounced off the walls of Dib's skull. "My plan is now nearly complete! Go now, my Dib-Monster! Go rain havoc and chaos down upon your precious Earth people! HEEHEEHAHAHAAAAA!"

Dib tried to protest, to scream out, but he found that he could no longer move his mouth. Like all the rest of his body even his face was now under Zim's complete domination. No! NOOOOOO! he screamed silently in his mind, but no matter how loudly his inner voice cried out he found himself moving powerlessly to the wills of his green puppet-master on a straight unwavering path towards the city.