This was a very good story as are all of your stories I have read so far. I also like the metaphores in it, how Dib is treated so terribly, not just by Zim (his enemy) but by his peers (Gaz and the other skool children). Personally I would not describe Gaz as 'evil' since evil implies some sort of motivation or purpose, I think 'cruel' would be a better description. As for the 'big-head' thing I see it more as a lack of intelligence/imagination in Dib's enemies rather than an attack on Dib himself. I like his head, it's neat. Anyway, keep standing up for Dib, the world's greatest Paranormal Investigator.

yay for dib! give him a cake from me wood you?
also, i don't care much for the big head thing,
it just makes it hard to read.
p.s. you get a cake for your good work!
from tails the fox

Well...I just wanted to say I liked this story. I thought the ending was good.

Also, I wanted to say something else, but I'm going to try and make it brief as possible: quite honestly, I agreed with everything you said in your first author's note. I HATE the fact that a good majority of IZ fics on the site involve exaggerated and brutal abuse of SOME kind (not to mention the whole "big head" thing; it irks me, no pun intended, along with a few other overused plot devices I won't mention). Also, I suppose I'm part of that minority viewpoint as well...I've always thought Gaz was more of a villain than Zim could EVER be.

Just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. ;)

I'm astonished. It was very well written and you got your viewpoint across. I loved it, and I think your quite right

I remember you sending me an e-mail with this fanfics months ago. Sorry I hadn't reply, but I didn't know what to say. Yet I'm very happy you did post this story. I'm not much into IZ anymore, but I could read good stories as yours over and over again. :]

Hallo again!

I found this just as enjoyable (if not at points sad) as your Gaz stories. You write well for all the characters, which is a good skill. :D As I find is often the case with your stories, I liked the ending. Even with all that has happened previously in the stories, it was very happy, or at least hopeful in its way. I'm sure Dib will win!

I was sort of unclear as to whether the cheerleaders were REALLY cheering him on and then switching to insulting him, or if it was something going on inside his mind psychologically, him imagining part or all of it in trying to face the challenge. Was it meant to be ambiguous?

Again, good job, and I look forward to seeing more stories from you!

The people in the Invader ZIM universe are so cruel and stupid that I wouldn't be surprised if they rip on Dib even if he wins.

Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing more involvement from Zim in your fics. You write him so well. But I get that if you're not inspired to write about a character, there's not much anyone can do.

I laughed about Zim thinking chess had something to do with "chests," and that was the only thing in this story that made me smile, because the rest of it was so sad.

However, I have to admit that if I had been forced to watch a chess tournament in school, I probably would have done homework, too.

I was hoping Mr. Elliot would say something encouraging. He's one of the only pleasant characters and presumably he was Dib's teacher last year. *Sigh.* But no, apparently even he can't muster the energy to at least pretend to care about Dib.

I had a feeling that the cheerleaders were too good to be true. :( Blech. They should have brought in the animatronic cheerleaders; at least they wouldn't hurl insults at Dib.

I like how Zim's heckling motivated Dib to win. Too bad no one will care, not even Zim. He'll probably just keep going on about his "brilliant plan of brilliantness."

I love your style of writing. And the plot made alot of sense.

I was utterly heartbroken with what happened to Dib, the way those cheerleaders treated him, how he had almost no supporters- and even then those around were basically forced due to detention. It made me angry, noone deserves to be treated like that.

Fictional or not.

The way you wrote out what the cheerleaders had cheered and after the one spoke to him personally and insulted him, how what little sense of acceptance and encouragement Dib did have was ripped from him and he started to understand what each cheer actually meant. That was brilliant.

Your fiction just ... basically it made alot of sense. Like how Zim was capable of giving Dib his sense of self and his determination back just by sitting there and insulting him. I liked that. Especially since at the end, Dib wasn't aware of his opponent anymore, but was determined to beat his enemy he imagined across from him, Zim.

Well done. You really do know how to get in Dib's head, I applaud you.

O.O...Go Dib!!

Why does everything want to hurt Dib?

This was...interesting. In a horribly depressing way, which is what you seemed to have been going for, so...yeah.

...Poor Dib. Well, I choose to imagine he won in the end, so...yeah.