A/N: Okay folks, almost done. But before we tuck this tale back into its coffin, we first have to get through the climatic culmination. I am very happy with how this story has turned out, and this chapter is one of my favorite parts of it. Here's hoping you all like it too.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
She echoed out in a roar as dark energy exploded around and engulfed her form with a demonic laugh, while inside the survivors were in a panic.
"GREAT GOING YOU MORON!" Jessica snapped, yelling at Dib, "WE HAD HER! BUT THANKS TO YOU, BRIAN AND TORQUE ARE DEAD! AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, SO ARE WE!"
She screeched while shaking Dib like a rag doll, who gave an angry glare and growl.
SMACK
Before punching her in the face and knocking her back with a cry of pain.
"And this is only happening because you killed my sister!" He spat out in disgust, glaring at her with hate and raw pained emotion as his eyes watered in fear and sadness from this entire fucked-up situation, while off to the side Zita sat on her knees with a hopeless expression.
"We're dead... there's no stopping her..." she said, her tone that of broken despair as tears leaked own her eyes, causing Zim who was standing to give a frown at seeing her like this before giving a low growl.
"GRRR WE"RE NOT DOOMED YET!" He yelled before shouting out, "Computer, initiate emergency lockdown security sequence alpha!" Zim declared with a dramatic raise of his fist; there was a time and place for keeping the cover of his mission, but that place wasn't now with Gaz-Beast's dark spirit here to drag them all dooooooom!
"Locking down," the Computer announced, while the girls looked around in confusion as panels fell over the door and windows, with beams of energy shooting out to cover each panel in grid patterns. And as they watched, those beams flared as if something tried to press against them, followed by a yell of pain from outside.
"THAT WON'T KEEP ME OUT FOREVER, YOU SPACE ROACH!" Gaz's voice echoed angrily.
With the house rocking and shaking emphasizing her words, as explosions and what sounded like lasers and missiles going off outside echoed out.
While Zim gave a low annoyed growl before looking to the others, "As much as Zim hates to admit it, the Gaz-Beast is right, that will only delay her at best," He said with a dark scowl, "We must fall back to Zim's lab to prepare for a last stand!"
He declared dramatically, though internally he was already making plans to use Dib and the blonde girl as a distraction while he along with GIR and the Zita-Girl escaped... ah, make a strategic retreat in his Voot Cruiser... and wait, why did he want to bring the Earth female with him?
As Zim pondered his own thought process, the others were reacting to what he'd said.
"What lab? And why is your house suddenly a bunker?" Jessica demanded as she rubbed her newly-forming black eye.
"He means his evil lab full of alien science stuff," Dib explained with a sigh, in too much emotional turmoil to appreciate what was happening.
"Dib, now isn't the time for-" Zita started to say, only for Dib to cut her off with a glare.
"We're literally being attacked by a killer ghost, which proves that the supernatural is real, but you can't believe that aliens are too?" he demanded, "For fuck's sake, Zim's standing there without his disguise on right now!"
At that, despite the danger and seriousness of their situation and his own confusing thoughts toward his desire for Zita-Girl, Zim had to give a little chuckle, "Heheh, I know right~ Zim just couldn't resist at poking fun at the Earth monkeys' obliviousness~"
He admitted with a smirk as Zita and Jessica gave confused blinks as they processed the words of both boys... no... Zim surely couldn't actually be... their shared question and thoughts were cut off as suddenly the floor beneath them began to sink into the ground, taking the Irken, three humans, and one robot down to the lower levels of the base.
And as the floor lowered down, Zita and Jessica's eyes widened in realization, "No... fucking... way..." With the latter breathing out in shock with a dropped jaw as her eye began to twitch... all this time... all this fucking time... DIB THE CLASS CRAZY WAS RIGHT!?
While Zita was just finding herself staring wide eye at once again found herself staring at his "costume", at the shockingly bright red eyes, the antennae that occasionally twitched and moved around... holy crap, he really was an alien!
...Why did that make her feel even more attracted to him than she already was? And why did she suddenly picture herself wearing a slave girl outfit as Zim laughed over the burning remains of the city?!
As Zita was dealing with a shocking realization while discovering a side of herself she didn't know existed, the floor beneath them came to a stop as Zim addressed them.
"Hurry, Earth monkeys, time is of the essence!" Zim said, gesturing them to follow, with GIR following with a hum, Dib a dark scowl, and the girls with shocked speechless expressions.
Zim soon led them to a large chamber with what appeared to be weapons of all kinds lining the walls.
"Grab whatever you can, humans! Energy weapons seem to disrupt the Gaz-Ghost's form, perhaps we just need to hit her harder," Zim mused as he looked over the weapon choices.
"I'm not helping you destroy my sister's spirit!" Dib snapped, "If I can just talk to her-"
"You tried that, how'd that work out for you?" Jessica sneered, choosing to focus on her disdain for the Membranes rather than her fear or shock.
"I hate to admit it... but she's right, Dib," Zita said, choosing to prioritize the situation over the revelation of Zim being an alien, but resolving to talk to him about it if they survived as she approached the wall to arm up, "Gaz isn't going to listen, and let's be honest, she never was the type to take the peaceful route."
She gave Dib a heavy look, "And maybe we deserve what she does to us..." Zita said, her voice filled with guilt as Jessica rolled her eyes and Zim gave her a look of concern as he picked out the best weapons to use, "But..." Zita gave a frowning Dib a heavy look, "Once she has her revenge, could you honestly say with full confidence she wouldn't hurt anybody else?"
She asked as Dib gave a wince, all of them knowing that Gaz lashed out and hurt plenty of people in life even for minor things or accidents or just plain caught her in a bad mood. And from everything he'd ever read about vengeful spirits, her natural anger would have just been magnified, so who's to say that she wouldn't decide to go on a rampage out of resentment against the living over being dead? Even if it was only on Halloween that she'd be able to leave the location of her death like this, that still meant she might go on killing sprees once a year, while spending the rest of the year simmering in her rage and growing more insane.
Dammit, they were right, they couldn't let that happen. But wasn't there any other option beyond destroying her ghost?
As Dib wracked his mind trying to come up with a solution while giving a weary sigh as he started to arm himself, Zim took the chance to step closer to Zita and, seeing that Dib-Monkey and Blonde Girl were distracted, he spoke in a low hiss, "Zim believes we can still use these two to distract Gaz-Beast long enough to allow us to fall back to my ship."
Zita felt like she should be disgusted at the idea of abandoning the others, but instead she found herself catching onto another part of what Zim had just said.
"We? You'd take me with you?" she asked in surprise.
"Of course! You are the only human Zim finds tolerable!" Zim stated with a flush, which caused Zita to blush as well.
"I... thanks Zim," Zita stuttered, giving Zim a shy smile, "I think you're pretty cool too... honestly, you being an alien invader just makes you cooler~"
Zita said with a slight giggle.
"Of course it does, Zim is far superior to any human pig-smellies!" Zim crowed, which made Zita giggle, before frowning, "But in all seriousness, we must be prepared to flee in case this last stand fails. With any luck, Gaz-Ghost won't be able to follow us into space."
Zita bit her lip at that, glancing towards the others. Jessica might deserve whatever Gaz was planning to do to her, but Dib, and anyone else she might go after...
"I... I don't think I can do that, Zim," she said, "This is at least partially my fault, so I can't just run away from it and let everyone else deal with my mess."
Zim at that threw her a surprised look, but before he could say anything in response...
BOOM
A large explosion sounded out above them.
"Alert! Alert! Perimeter breached!" the Computer announced as the base shook.
"I'M COMING FOR YOU! SAY YOUR PRAYERS!" Gaz's voice called out.
"Fuck... fuck... fuck... FUCK!" Chanted out a freaked out, pale-looking Jessica as Zita found herself stepping closer to Zim, who scowled as Dib grimaced.
"Please tell me someone has a plan beyond blasting her and hoping for the best," Spoke out Zita with a gulp as she readied a blaster in her hand.
"Dib-Stink! You know all about this para-natural nonsense! Is there any way to make your scary sibling stop being undead?" Zim demanded.
"That's not how it..." Dib started to say, only to trail off as an idea suddenly came to him, "Wait, that's it!"
"What's it?" Jessica demanded as the base shook again, "And talk fast!"
"I know a ritual that can bind her soul back to her body!" he explained, "It'll basically make her a zombie, but that's easier to deal with!"
"Great idea, if we hadn't burned her body to hide it!" Zita commented, glaring at Jessica.
"You what?!" Dib snarled, suddenly trying to remember why he was trying to save these people.
"Bah, no matter, Zim will just clone her a new body!" Zim huffed, everyone turning to look at him in surprise.
"You can do that?" Zita questioned with surprise.
"Of course, creating clones is a simple matter thanks to Zim's genius and the superior technology of the Irken race," Zim bragged with oozing smugness, "Why, Zim has even perfected the art of cloning to greater heights after cloning Dib-Monkey's father unit."
"Well, you could hardly do worse after that crime against nature," Dib grumbled, eye twitching at the thought of Clembrane, who was probably still at home making pudding and oblivious to Gaz's absence.
"Regardless! Zim can create a perfect copy of the Gaz-Beast's body, then you can put her in it and end this nonsense!" Zim declared.
"Great plan," Jessica said with open sarcasm, "Just two problems - one, you don't have any of her DNA, and two, how the hell are we supposed to keep her busy long enough for not only you to create her a new body but for big head to do his freak ritual!"
"Tch, that shows what you know, yellow-girl!" Zim scoffed, "Thanks to superior Irken technology, it will only take a few minutes to clone a body from the DNA samples Zim has on standby-"
"You have Gaz's DNA already?" Dib asked suspiciously.
"Zim has DNA from many people! You never know when it might come in handy!" Zim snapped, "So, like I said, I only need a few minutes. How long do you need for your ritual?"
"Umm, maybe five minutes... it's ironically kinda simple to set up, despite it being focused on the soul," Dib admitted, rubbing his chin.
"Okay, fine, you two do that, but how are we supposed to keep her busy until then?!" Jessica demanded.
"Zim suggests using you and Dib-Monkey as live bait," The Irken said with a shrug.
"WHAT?!" Jessica exclaimed.
"You need me to carry out the ritual, dumbass!" Dib snapped at the same time.
"He's right, Zim," Zita said, "You two need to handle making a new body to stuff Gaz back into. Me and Jessica have to be the ones to hold her off."
Zim scowled in displeasure at that, while Jessica glared at the other girl.
"Why the hell are you volunteering me?!" she demanded, "And I repeat my earlier question about how we're supposed to do that!"
"Just shoot her to slow her down, yellow-girl! Even a brainless ape like you can do that!" Zim snapped.
"Brainless ape?!" Jessica repeated with incredulous anger, before glaring at Zim while slowly raising the blaster in her hand, "I'll show you brainless ape, you space roach!" She snapped with an angry growl, causing Zim to glare right back while Dib just looked impatient and nervous as the room shook from another explosion upstairs.
"Enough! We don't have time to argue!" Zita snapped, stepping between them, "It's either playing distraction or running for as long as we can until Gaz gets us, Jessica!" She snapped, causing the blonde to glower with a glare, hating the fact Zita wasn't wrong.
"Ugh, fine, whatever. Let's go," she grumbled, stomping out of the room. Zita watched her go, before sharing a meaningful look with Zim.
"Good luck," she said, before running after Jessica. Leaving Zim to frown at her retreating back, actually feeling concern for Zita and hoping she'll survive Gaz-Ghost Beast. Though Zim supposed worst come to worst, she had the annoying blonde girl to use as a meat shield.
"What the heck was that about?" Dib asked with a frown; despite the situation and emotional distress, he certainly hadn't missed that look between Zim and Zita.
"This is not the time for stupid questions, Dib-Monkey! Time is of the essence!" Zim retorted in a loud yell, having no desire to explain himself to his enemy.
"Computer! Retrieve the Dib-Sister's sample from the DNA vault and begin crafting a new body immediately!" he commanded.
"Processing," the Computer replied, as a large tube rose up out of the floor, filled with a dark green liquid. As Dib watched, it started swirling and bubbling, and small particles of matter started to coalesce in it.
"Don't just stand there, Dib-Stink! Start your mumbo-jumbo!" Zim snapped at him.
"I'm on it... but you'd better try to not pull a fast one," Dib said with a warning glare to his sworn enemy, with Zim simply letting out a grunt.
"Believe me Dib-Monkey, even if Zim wanted to, there's too much at risk, so move it!" The Irken snapped as he started tapping at the console while Dib, with a scowl, started preparing the ritual, both of them hoping if for different reasons beyond survival that this plan will succeed.
(With the girls)
"I don't know what's more unbelievable," Jessica sounded out as she stood next to Zita with a scowl, "That I'm about to risk my life against a psycho ghost..." she said with a scowl that was mixed with fear before shaking her head in disbelief, "Or that Dib was actually right about Zim all this time!"
"Yeah... that's a lot to take in," Zita muttered, thinking again about what she now knew was Zim's true appearance. She didn't know why, but rather than being horrified by it, it really was very intriguing. She wondered if he had any other weird body parts other than those antennae?
"Are you seriously into that?" Jessica demanded, looking at Zita in disgust as she saw the other girl blushing with a faraway look in her eyes.
"Ah, what? Into what?!" Zita repeated, shaking her head back to focus as Jessica looked at her in disbelief.
"Oh my God, you are!" Jessica exclaimed, her face turning green, "I think I'm going to be sick!"
She yelled, feeling like she was going to throw up while Zita with a twitching eye shot her a glare, "Could we focus on the pressing issue of the ghost trying to kill us?!" She snapped, while looking carefully around their current surroundings.
Jessica looked like she was about to say something else in response, only for both girls to freeze as a familiar voice spoke up.
"Focus on the killer ghost? Good idea," Gaz stated as she floated down through the ceiling to hover in the air and glare down at the two of them.
"AAAHHH!" Jessica screamed, before panic-firing her weapon, sending a stream of plasma bolts in Gaz's direction.
BOOM
And... missing completely, hitting the wall behind her with Gaz not even having to dodge.
"Wow... great aim," Zita said sarcastically after a silent moment of the three staring at the hole.
"Oh, shut up!" Jessica snapped.
"To be fair to her, most of what Zim makes is crap, so it's probably why her aim was off," Gaz admitted.
"Who asked you?" Zita snapped at the ghost, who arched an eyebrow at her.
"Stop defending your alien boyfriend and shoot her!" Jessica snapped.
"Wait... boyfriend?!" At those words, Gaz actually expressed a different emotion besides rage or sadistic amusement to her victims. Namely, disgust and shock, "You're actually into Zim!?" Gaz cried out, looking like she was going to heave despite lacking the biological function as a ghost, "What is wrong with you!?"
Gaz exclaimed, actually gagging a bit.
"What the hell do you care?" Zita demanded, blushing brightly and too embarrassed and angry at Gaz's reaction to bother denying it.
"He's an alien bug!" Gaz exclaimed, "What, you hoping he'll plant eggs in you or something?"
Zita at that only blushed harder, as she found herself picturing a little baby girl with her hair but Zim's skin color.
"Urg, I didn't even think about that! Super gross!" Jessica yelled, now looking like she'd throw up as well.
"Hey! We don't know how Zim's species reproduce!" Zita snapped, glowering at the two, "And even if his species lay eggs, there's nothing wrong with it!"
"Ugh, whatever, you freak," Gaz spat, shaking her head, "But tell you what, after I kill you all, I'll bury you and him next to each other."
Zita's eyes widened in fear at that, before narrowing in rage at the thought of Gaz hurting Zim. She hated what she'd helped do to the other girl, but she'd be damned if she let her hurt him!
"No chance!" she yelled, opening fire. And unlike Jessica, she actually managed to hit Gaz directly.
"ARG! YOU BITCH!" Gaz screamed in pain as the plasma bolts hit her before scowling, "That's it, time to drag your souls... TO HELL!" She exclaimed as flames shot up behind her and her form became a more demonic corpse.
"Bring it, bitch!" Zita yelled as she opened fired while screaming, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
With Gaz returning fire, with fireballs forming in her hands as they began a firefight between the two, while Jessica...
"Oh, fuck this shit!" Decided now was the time to book it, as she turned and fled into the opposite direction of this fight. Best case scenario, these morons pull off their plan, while worst case, maybe just maybe they keep her busy for her to escape somewhere that psycho bitch's spirit will never find her!
Unfortunately for the blonde, she soon found herself lost in the maze of Zim's lab, the twisting corridors of machinery spreading out in every direction.
"Dammit, where's the exit!" she screamed in desperation, looking around the dark room she found herself in, "Couldn't that stupid alien have put some signs up?!"
The girl said to herself with a dark scowl while looking around in frustration and desperation. If that bitch found her before she got away, she was dead!
"Come on, Jessica... that moron bug has to have some way out of here. An escape ship or something, right!?" she asked as she ran deeper into the lab, looking for anything that would help her get away or survive!
Soon she skidded to a halt, finding herself in a room full of large open tubes, with no door other than the one she came through.
"Dammit," she cursed again. She turned around to try and leave the room-
"AAAAHHHH!"
-only for Zita, looking roughed up, to come flying through the door and slam against the far wall.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" Jesscia exclaimed, jumping back, hand going to her chest as Zita gave a groan as she slid down the wall.
"Trying to survive," The girl weakly said with a cough as she collapsed on the ground, but still managed to shoot Jessica a venomous glare, "Thanks for all the help!"
She spat to Jessica, who scowled, "Oh, like you weren't waiting to do the same thing!" The blonde spat with a glare toward Zita, "Probably was waiting for the chance to throw me toward that psycho so you could run off with your boyfriend to space!"
She screeched, before a very much unwanted voice spoke up, "Like that would save them from my wrath," Gaz said with a dark scowl as she floated through the door, causing Jessica to pale, "And honestly, not surprised you ran away while Zita at least had the guts to fight me," Gaz said, staring into Jessica's eyes, "She's a moron for trying, but at least she's got guts."
Then with a dark snort added, "Which is more than I can say for you~ After all, you always were a cowardly little bitch," She said with a dark little laugh of amusement as Jessica scowled but still gave a nervous gulp, looking up at the dark specter.
"Look, Gaz... you like video games... right?" Jessica said nervously, while walking backwards as she quickly tried to latch onto the only means of survival she could think of - bribery and bargaining.
"Well, I'm rich enough to buy you all the video games you could want... you could play them to your heart's content if you just let me go," Jessica said with her best smile, as Gaz actually shot her an incredulous look along with Zita, who was still laying on the ground.
"I'm dead, you bimbo. What the hell am I supposed to do with games now?" Gaz demanded, "And do you really think that's worth your life?"
"Uh... yes?" Jessica offered weakly.
BAM
With a wave of her hand, Gaz sent Jessica flying across the room, slamming right into one of the tubes, which sealed close once she was inside.
"Hey, let me out!" she demanded.
"Okay, but let's do it the fun way," Gaz said with a smirk, waving a hand at the tube's control panel. Jessica barely had a chance to react to that before the tube flared to life, and she vanished in a flash of light.
"W-where did she go?" Zita asked nervously.
"Low orbit," Gaz replied, smirking even more nastily, "Your alien boyfriend uses these teleportation tubes to go up to his space station, but I redirected it to empty space. Hmm, don't know if she'll suffocate or die of decompression first, but either way her body'll burn up in reentry, which seems fitting."
"Ah... of course..." Zita said, paling to a milky white as she looked frightfully up at Gaz, realizing that the only ones left now were her and Zim... Gaz really had killed all the others, she thought, trembling as all of their deaths flashed through her mind:
Chunk getting burned to death.
Dirge escaping mauling by dogs only to be crushed.
Brian electrocuted with the weapons they were trying to use against Gaz.
Torque simply blown up into pieces with an alien blaster.
And finally, Jessica teleported into Earth's atmosphere.
Which left her... and Zim... if they didn't stop Gaz... she would kill them too. And maybe she deserved it... but Zim... Zim had only given them the tech, he hadn't killed her. He didn't deserve to suffer for their mistakes.
"Gaz, please..."
So, despite knowing it was futile, but she was kinda out of options outside of begging to distract her, "You have every right to hate me..." Zita began, trying to carefully and slowly reach behind her to what she believed was some kinda alien grenade she had strapped to her, "But Zim isn't to blame for what happened to you."
Zita said, her expression nothing but heartfelt and pleading as she looked up at Gaz, "He's even trying to figure out a way to revive you right now!" she blurted out, knowing it was a risky gamble to admit this, but maybe if Gaz knew, she'd cooperate, "So please..."
Zita felt her eyes water as she stared into Gaz's wrathful eyes, though she noticed what appeared to be some surprise at the information she just learned, "Do what you want to me... just don't hurt Zim," she said softly, while at the same time grasping ahold of her last remaining weapon behind her, out of Gaz's sight. Hopefully Gaz would make the right choice...
"What do you mean... revive me?" Gaz asked slowly, eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Zim's cloning you a new body, and Dib's got a ritual to put your spirit into it," Zita explained quickly, "You can be alive again! You just have to not hurt Zim so he can finish it."
Silence stood for several moments before it was broken by perhaps the most chilling sound had ever heard.
"Hehehehehe!"
The sound of Gaz's laughter.
Zita watched with wide eyes as Gaz cackled, floating further up in the air before looking down at her with a cruel grin, "Do you honestly think I give a fuck about anything those idiots are trying to do?!'
"W-what?" Zita stammered, "But, but you can live again!"
"Why the hell would I want that?" Gaz sneered, "Yeah, I'm pissed that you and your little friends had the nerve to kill me, and it sucked at first. But look at me - I'm like a fucking god now! Once I'm done with you all, I'll be able to do whatever I want, and no one in this town of whiners and losers will be able to do a thing about it!"
Needless to say, shock and fear filled Zita at that proclamation, as her mind raced with images of the entire town suffering under Gaz's torment, of people dying just for her entertainment!
"I can't let you do that, Gaz..." Zita found herself saying with a narrow-eyed glare, causing the ghost to give a snort.
"Oh? And what are you going to do to stop me?" Gaz asked as she floated closer with a cruel bloodthirsty grin, "Go crying to your little bug boyfriend?"
Gaz asked with a cold laugh, though part of her still looked sick at the thought that anyone would be into Zim like that. She thought Dib was disgusting after all those months in his room when he got stuck to his chair, but this! Urgg, she felt like throwing up from just thinking of it!
All the more reason to make this bitch's death more painful, she supposed, as Zita shook her head and replied to her barb, "No..." the girl gave a scowl, "This!" Then threw her alien grenade straight at Gaz's face!
BOOM
The grenade exploded on contact, spraying plasma and energy over Gaz's body, which immediately burst into technicolored flames.
"RAAAAGGGGGHHHH! BITCH!" Gaz screamed in pain and rage.
As Gaz screamed in pain, Zita took the chance to escape, "I really hope the boys are ready!" She exclaimed with a frantic look of terror, since while she made a good hit there, that was her last weapon and likely wouldn't keep her down for long, never mind how pissed she was now!
"I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR HEAD OFF AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!"
Case in point, she thought, as Gaz's enraged scream echoed through the halls after her.
And at that, Zita let out a frightened yelp, hoping that Zim and Dib were ready, because it looked like she had bought all the time she could!
(Meanwhile with the boys)
"Oooh man, this isn't looking good," Dib said with a worried scowl, looking up at a monitor displaying the base's security feed, with Zim and him having managed to see everything despite many of Zim's security cameras shorting out... or likely thanks to GIR displaying feed from the Scary Monkey Show. So, they had seen not only Jessica's death, but also Gaz's proclamation of intent and her lack of interest in being revived.
"It seems the Gaz-Beast has truly become worse than ever," Zim said, glancing between the status of the clone body and the security feed at Zita's state periodically.
"Hey! She's only like this because her soul's gotten corrupted!" Dib retorted defensively... if a bit weakly.
"Whatever you want to tell yourself, Dib-Stink," Zim said, rolling his eyes, "But regardless of your denial about your scary sibling's attitude, the fact is that she clearly has no intention of standing down so that we can revive her. So, your ritual better be ready!"
"It is," Dib said, looking to the mystical array he'd drawn on the floor in chalk, with a few sacred herbs and spices he always carried on his person just in case of emergency placed at key points, "How about that clone body?"
"A few moments more should be enough to full develop it," Zim said, looking to the copy of Gaz now floating in the tube.
"Just as long as there's nothing wrong with it and you haven't boobytrapped it," Dib said with a worried frown to the clone body, "We can't afford any of your tricks right now, after all."
He added with a grimace, knowing that if just one thing went wrong, they were screwed, "Please, Dib-Monkey, Zim has everything under control!" Zim exclaimed with a smug grin, before scowling in worry at the security feed, "Now prepare yourself, they shall be here soon!"
Dib nodded, pulling out a penknife and holding it over the palm of his other hand, prepared to make the small blood donation needed to trigger the spell.
A few moments later, Zita came bursting back into the room, wide-eyed and panting for breath.
"You guys better be ready, because here she comes!" she yelled as she ran over to Zim, stumbling to a stop next to him. With Zim quickly looking over her with a worried scowl, before there was a loud screeching howl.
BOOM
And explosion!
"I"M GOING TO KILL YOU MORONS!" Screeched the flaming glowing form of Gaz, her body now a demonic corpse. She exploded through the entrance as the room seemed to shake in her presence, with Zita clinging onto Zim by instinct, quivering in fear.
"Now, Dib-Stink!" Zim yelled, while hitting a button to cause the tube containing the clone to split open and spill the limp body out onto the floor. The sight of her own body lying there, with robotic arms quickly moving in to dress it in a perfect replica of her regular clothes, caused Gaz to pause in surprise. And being caught off guard like that, she didn't notice as Dib cut his palm with a wince, dripping blood onto the mystic array, which flared with light as the herbs and spices placed on it burst into oddly-colored flame.
WHOOSH
But Gaz did notice as the light from the array shot out in beams that wrapped around her like chains.
"What?!" Gaz exclaimed, struggling against the light but unable to break free, "Let me go!"
"Sorry Gaz, but this is for your own good!" Dib declared, placing a bandage on his hand as he watched the light drag Gaz's spirit towards her cloned body.
"You bastaaaaAAAARRRRGGGHHH!" Gaz's voice trailed off into a wordless scream as she reached her new body and dissolved into light, which was absorbed into it.
There were a few moments of stunned silence as the other three inhabitants of the room stared in anticipation and worry... and then with a sharp gasp, Gaz bolted upright from the floor.
"What?" she sputtered out, looking around at her surroundings and down at her hands in confusion, disoriented from the feeling of being physical again.
FWIP
And then her eyes widened in surprise as Zim suddenly shot a tranquilizer dart into her neck, before they rolled up into her head as it went into effect and knocked her out.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Dib demanded, his joy and relief at his sister's resurrection turning to anger at what just happened.
"You heard what she said, Dib-Monkey, I doubt getting a body back would put her in a better mood," Zim spat as he lowered the tranq gun he was holding, "Fortunately, that won't be a problem going forward, as Zim will now wipe her memory of having been dead in the first place!"
"What?! But you can't just..." Dib started to protest this of course, only for Zim to cut him off, "Or would you prefer for the Gaz-Beast to not only continue her unholy vengeance on the three of us? Or perhaps even attempt to become a ghost again?"
That brought Dib up short, as he remembered hearing what Gaz had said she intended to do once she was done with them. Seeing this, Zita quickly stepped into the conversation.
"He's right, Dib," she said, glancing at Gaz's unconscious form, "I know it doesn't sound good, but it's for the best. I mean, without remembering how she died, she should lose all that extra anger and go back to normal, shouldn't she?"
"Precisely. Then we will only have to worry about her normal levels of rage instead of this more extreme version," Zim commented with a nod.
"Which isn't exactly an improvement..." Zita found herself muttering before adding with a sigh, "But it's better than her being homicidal and killing anyone else," she added with a frown as Dib gave a sigh, hating the fact they were making sense. It was better for both Gaz and everyone else if she just forgot the past week.
"Hmm, you know, Zim could potentially do something about her attitude problem too, while we have the chance," The Irken said with a thoughtful look, before gesturing to the corner of the room where a boy was floating inside a tank with a giant screw in his head.
"I'M SO HAPPY!" The boy exclaimed with an unnatural disturbing wide grin.
"What the...?" Zita blinked in confusion.
"No, no, absolutely not!" Dib protested, "Just... make her forget how she died and what's happened since. Then we'll take her somewhere that I can 'find' her and take her home from."
"We can put her in the house where all this mess happened," Zita suggested, "It was so old and falling apart, you can say that she fell down a hole in the floor or down the stairs and hit her head or something, and that she's been in a coma until you found her."
"Sounds like a plan," Dib said with a nod and frown, before giving a weary sigh as he approached Gaz's form, "At least this way she doesn't have to live with the guilt of having killed our classmates," He said with a heavy look; he knew they were to blame for Gaz's death in first place and they were hardly nice to him, but that didn't mean he took pleasure out of their fates.
However, both Zim and Zita gave snorts of disbelief at the idea of Gaz feeling guilty for anything ever, prompting Dib to shoot them a glare.
"Just... just get the memory wipe done so we can leave," He said, rubbing his head while looking down at Gaz, "After tonight and last year, I'm ready to call it quits for good on Halloween."
"Zim knows the feeling," the Irken muttered, while entering a command into the nearby console. In response, a helmet lowered from the ceiling and latched onto Gaz's head.
"Beginning targeted memory wipe," the Computer announced, as a bar graphic appeared on the screen and slowly started filling.
"So, she won't remember anything?" Zita questioned Zim nervously.
"Not a thing," The Irken assured her, before pausing at Zita's next words.
"And... ah... you're not planning on giving me a memory wipe too... are you?" She asked with a worried frown, since she DID know that Dib wasn't crazy and was right all along about Zim being an alien now.
Zim stared at her. He knew that he probably SHOULD wipe her memory of his glorious true self in order to preserve the security of his mission. And if she were any other pig-smelly, he probably would have.
But... there was something about the Zita-Girl that was making Zim hesitant to do that. He didn't know how to explain it, but for some reason, the idea of her not remembering what he really was made his squeedlyspooch squirm uncomfortably.
"Zim believes that will be unnecessary," Zim told her, while looking away with crossed arms, "Provided Zita-Girl keeps silent about Zim being a superior Irken," He stated, causing Zita to blink before smiling at the alien.
"Your secret's safe with me," She promised, and in a feeling of boldness leaned forward to kiss his cheek, causing the Irken to flush with widened eyes. Though the moment was broken by Dib speaking up with disgusted disbelief as he stood by his sister's unconscious form as the memory wipe proceeded, "You have got to be kidding me."
Zita blushed at the reminder that they had an audience, then glared at Dib as she processed what he'd said.
"You got a problem with this?" she asked, not in the mood after everything that had happened today to deal with Dib's opinion on her potential dating life.
"He's literally an evil alien who wants to take over the world!" Dib protested.
"I mean... the world's kinda terrible already. Would he really make it that much worse?" she countered with a shrug.
"I... you... grrr..." Dib stuttered with a twitching eye, before growling and taking a deep breath, "You know what... forget it," He said, prompting blinks from Zim and Zita, "The past week, tonight especially, has been a nightmare and I'd just like to get my sister home and relax."
He said with a tired look.
"Fine, Zim doesn't want you in my base any longer than necessary anyway," Zim scoffed, as the bar on the screen finished filling out and the console let out a pinging sound.
"Memory wipe complete," the Computer announced, retracting the helmet from Gaz's head.
"Now take your miserable scary sister and leave Zim's base!" The Irken snapped as Dib picked Gaz up with a grunt and a scowl, "I have to attend to all the damage she's caused," Zim added with his scowl, knowing his home likely took a good deal of damage during Gaz's ghostly rampage.
"I'll help," Zita offered with a slight eagerness to her tone, "I mean..." At the looks directed her way she gave a slight cough, "With everything that happened, helping you clean up is the least I can do."
She said with a shy smile, "I don't know anything about alien tech, but I know how to use a broom," She offered with a slight laugh, causing Zim to snort.
"That puts you above GIR, at least," The Invader told her with a slight smirk, before pausing, "Actually..."
He blinked and looked around the room, "Where is that robot?" He asked aloud, since he had gotten distracted with Gaz-Ghost-Beast and creating a clone body, he hadn't exactly been keeping an eye on his minion.
"I don't know, and frankly I don't care," Dib said, heading to the exit while carrying his sister. Tonight had already been enough with his sister's ghost out for revenge, and watching her kill people. He DID NOT need to deal with whatever freakiness was going on between Zita and Zim right now, thank you very much.
So with that, he carried Gaz into the nearest elevator and ascended back up to the surface, emerging out of the trashcan in the kitchen. Carefully stepping out of it, he looked around and winced at the damage done to the house - the kitchen and living room were both scorched, with every piece of machinery melted to slag and everything else covered in soot.
He'd be more impressed and happier with how much Zim's base got wrecked if it had been under better circumstances, he had to admit.
"Well, at least Zim will be busy for a while repairing and cleaning up his base, that's something," Dib muttered as he started walking toward the front door... or rather the large hole where the front door had been. Before pausing when he heard something.
"What the...?" That something, it turns out, was a small pile of debris near the entrance shifting in place, "Hello?" He asked warily with a frown, as a worrying thought hit him - did somebody get caught in the crossfire of Gaz's attack?!
"Is somebody there?" Dib asked, raising his voice while approaching the small pile with Gaz in his arms. At his question, the debris pile seemed to shake more.
"Hang on, I'll-" He started to say, before the debris exploded outwards and he found himself staring at Torque's burnt damaged head! With one eye missing and half the face skin melted off to the point he could see his skull.
"HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" It screamed as it shoved itself into his face... naturally, as an experienced paranormal investigator, he reacted perfectly.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" By screaming his lungs out in fright like a little girl as he fell on his ass, while Gaz fell roughly to his side, with his fear and panic lasting for a good minute while thinking they had to deal with another ghost!
...
...
...
...
Before noticing the disembodied head was being held by Zim's crazy robot.
"Trick or treat!" GIR said cheerfully as he waved Torque's head around, before suddenly dropping it to the ground and then kicking it. The disembodied body part subsequently went flying down the street, eventually hitting a random passerby on their own head and promptly knocking them out.
"Goodnight!" GIR added with a happy wave, before turning and walking back inside the house, humming to himself. Dib watched him go in disbelief, then sagged in exhaustion.
"...I need a vacation," he groaned as he got back to his feet and picked Gaz up.
And with that statement, Dib headed home with his sister while mentally going over his cover story, and also his plans to try to relax a bit after this nightmare of a night.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
A/N: And there you are. Bet you didn't expect us to resurrect Gaz like that, huh? Originally, we were going to have her convinced to move on to the afterlife, but that just didn't feel right, so we came up with this instead. And before anyone asks, Zim probably could clone the dead students to revive them too, but he's just not interested in doing so.
Meanwhile, Zita now knows that Zim is an alien, but is pursuing a relationship with him regardless. Love that or hate it? Let us know!
Only an epilogue left to go. Stick around, and see how we wrap this up!