A/N: Yes, kiddies! Your eyes are NOT deceiving you! After many, many years, I have emerged to bring you the sequel you've ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!... or maybe not, I dunno. *ahem* Yes! It's back down the rabbit-hole for everybody's favorite scythe-haired paranormal expert/alien hunter! And perhaps this time he'll be bringing someone along with him? Aw, yeah, you're intrigued now, aren't you? I just couldn't resist taking one more trip to Wonderland again after all this time, so I hope you'll sit back and enjoy the further adventures of our hero as he navigates his way through a world of madness yet again, in an attempt to free it from a terrible new threat. While not based on a singular work, I took hits of inspiration from, among other things, the 2010 Tim Burton movie, the American McGee's 'Alice' games, and the Zenescope comics, so some similarities may occur. Also, you should check out my first story, Dib in Wonderland. You don't have to have read it to understand this one necessarily, but it's recommended.

Continuity: This story takes place several months after the original, sometime after the 'unfinished' episodes. It also disregards the events of 'Dib Through the Mirror,' a story a friend of mine wrote and that I finished. Okay, enough rambling, on with the show!


Chapter 1- The Cat Came Back…

It started out as an ordinary day.

Well, about as ordinary as it got, anyway. When you went to skool with an alien trying to pass himself off as an earth child, had a mad-genius scientist for a father, a vengeful demon for a sister, were a member of a mysterious, secret society, and spent a good amount of time hunting down all manner of paranormal phenomena, ordinary became a relative term. To most people this would all seem pretty bizarre to say the least, but to a young boy named Dib it was simply par for the course. For him, it was just another normal- almost boring- day. However that was about to change, and it all started with an ominous snicker…

Dib looked up, his attention momentarily diverted from his PB & J sandwich (ever since that whole 'bologna' incident he'd found it increasingly difficult to stomach any kind of lunchmeat) and scanned the playground. His eyes fell upon on a certain, green-skinned "boy" who was currently absorbed in a solitary game of cards he was playing against himself.

"Hey, was that you, Zim?"

"Eh?" Zim raised his head, lavender eyes flashing. "What are you talking about?"

"Just now… was that you laughing?"

"Believe me, HYOO-man, if I were laughing at you, you'd know. In fact, that's not a bad idea." Zim threw his head back and proceeded to point and laugh raucously at Dib for a full minute before returning to his game.

Dib frowned. "What are you playing?"

"None of your business, stink-weasel! But I can assure you that it is a perfectly ordinary Earth game that normal Earth children like to play." Zim laid another queen down in front of him; that made six altogether.

Dib rolled his eyes. Though he didn't recognize the game, he guessed Zim was most likely cheating- after all, only Zim would be dumb enough to cheat against himself. Either that or he was making it up as he went along. Whatever. He took another bite of his sandwich, deciding to ignore him for the time being.

Just then, Dib heard the laugh again and felt a tap on his back. He peered over his shoulder, but there was no one there. He lowered a puzzled eyebrow, when out of nowhere something yanked the sandwich right out of his hands. "Hey!" He looked on in astonishment as it flew straight through the air, then abruptly swooped upward at a ninety degree angle. It hovered there for a split second, then came back down with incredible force, landing directly in the middle of Zim's card game with a sickening SPLAT.

"What!? What is the meaning of this!?" Zim attempted to wipe away the gobs of peanut butter and strawberry goo that had squinted all over his uniform, shooting a deadly glare in Dib's direction. "How dare you soil my superior self with your disgusting jelly projectile!"

"B-but I didn't. It flew right out of my hand," Dib said, staring down at his hands, mystified.

"You expect me to believe that!?"

"Hey! I'm serious!" Dib insisted. "I don't know what happened!"

Zim rose to his feet, flicking a glob of jelly off his face which landed on Dib's jacket. "Don't think I'll forget this," he hissed. "I'll get you back, you stinking pile of hyooman!" With that he stormed off, leaving Dib to wonder what in the world had just occurred.

He glanced around; the leaves on the surrounding trees were quiet and still. There was no possibility it could have been a strong gust of wind, and even if it had been, the wind didn't usually go out of its way to defy the laws of physics. Besides, he'd distinctly felt something jerk the sandwich away from him. Not only that, but he'd felt an odd sort of… presence. He couldn't quite explain the uncanny feeling, but the hairs were still standing up on the back of his neck. And what about that laugh he'd heard? There had been something about it, something that sent an icy chill down his spine. It had seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it for the life of him.

He glanced down at his decimated lunch. "Guess I was full, anyway."

Dib crumpled up his brown paper bag and chucked it in a nearby trashcan as the bell signaled the end of lunch. Mounting the stairs, he sighed glumly; time for yet another informative, fun-filled lecture on the inevitable downfall of the human race, courtesy of Ms. Bitters. He mentally prepped himself for the dreariness he was about to be subject to, wishing that his teacher could talk about something more pleasant for a change. It all got so repetitive and dull after awhile.

Little did he know, however, that class that day was going to get rather interesting.


"So, children, as you can see, while it may have begun innocently enough in the early part of the 21st century, it would later spread like an infection, paving the way for such intelligence-draining horrors the likes of which will eventually devolve humanity into a gibbering mass of brain-dead zombies, feasting on each other's insides in order to survive. Now, let's turn our attention to one particularly horrifying harbinger of doom known as Honey Boo Boo…"

Today it was lecture #37: The Reality TV Takeover- Third Sign of the Apocalypse. Dib had heard it a hundred times before, as had the rest of the tortured students unlucky enough to land in Ms. Bitters's classroom. While some children got to learn about things like math and reading, she felt it far more necessary to prepare her students for the really important things, such as their impending, gloomy futures and overall failure as human beings.

Dib leaned forward on his elbows, his head heavy, trying not to nod off. He forced his eyes open, firmly reminding himself there was no time for sleep, not as long as the alien menace known as Zim was around. He glanced over in Zim's direction, as he did about a thousand times each day, studying his enemy carefully. Dib knew he had to remain ever vigilant if he was to vanquish Zim's evil threat once and for all, even though right now he was having an awful time staying awake despite his resolve. He hadn't thought he was all that tired, but then Ms. Bitters's lessons often tended to have this effect. As the lecture went on, his teacher's words became a droning buzz, her dark outline against the blackboard a shapeless blur, the mindless chatter of the kids around him lulling him ever closer to peaceful slumber.

"Am I boring you, Dib?" Ms. Bitters voice cut through his sleepy haze. He practically jumped out of his seat.

"Huh!? Sorry, Ma'am! I just-!" The last word died in Dib's throat. He sat there staring open-mouthed at his teacher, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Was he losing his mind, or did she have… cat ears? And… a tail!?

He blinked and they was gone.

"Well?" Ms. Bitters demanded, tapping one booted foot against the floor impatiently.

"Uh, n-no, Ma'am. Sorry." Dib slumped down in his seat, the other kids giggling at him quietly. Did I really just see that? he wondered. No… no, I couldn't have. I must've fallen asleep for a second, there. He tried to rub the sleep from his eyes, focusing his attention on the front of the room.

Another few minutes ticked by, and Ms. Bitters continued to drone on. Dib yawned, desperately fighting the urge to just give in and slip into a much welcome coma, when suddenly his eyes popped open and his jaw dropped once again.

"M-Ms. Bitters! Look!" He jumped on top of his desk, pointing a shaking finger at the eraser floating in midair right next to her head. She shot him a poisonous glare.

"What is it now, Dib?"

"Look! There! Look everyone! I-it's a ghost!"

Ms. Bitters gritted her teeth and turned wordlessly back to the board, while the class continued chatting amongst themselves in tones of boredom.

This was nothing new-it was usually how things went, and Dib was pretty used to his wild claims going unacknowledged , even when there was obvious proof right in front of everyone's faces. Still, that never stopped him from trying to make himself heard."Seriously! Look!"

Ms. Bitters turned to look in the direction Dib pointed. As soon as she did, the eraser dropped quietly back onto the chalk-holder.

"No!" Dib insisted, his voice rising in desperation. "No, the eraser was floating! I saw it! It was a ghost or something!"

The eraser, a piece of chalk, a book, and a half-rotted apple on the teacher's desk rose into the air and danced infuriatingly right behind Ms. Bitters's back. She stared at Dib obliviously, claw-like hands placed on her hips.

Dib lost it. "Look! Look! Right there! Someone else must see that! Come on, people! Come on! Come on! COME ON!"


Thirty seconds later, Dib was standing outside the door, a sign reading "Beware: Crazy Child" around his neck, arms crossed over his chest, lower lip jutting out at this latest injustice.

He was muttering something under his breath about "blind" and "ignorant" when out of nowhere that same disturbing laugh he'd heard earlier filled the air, echoing in an unnatural, disembodied manner up and down the empty hallway.

A chill running up his back, Dib's eyes darted around behind his glasses, searching frantically for its owner, when the laughter came again, this time right next to his ear. He whipped around, finding only empty air at his side. "Who's there!? Who's doing that?" he demanded, trying to sound tough, but his voice shook uneasily. Someone tapped him on the back, and he spun around, arms swinging wildly. There was no one there.

As he stood there panting, the bell jangled loudly overhead, and a noisy, chattering drove of students poured out of the classroom, heading home for the day. Zim was the last to emerge, and Dib stepped into his path, his fists and teeth clenched tightly.

"Okay, Zim, I don't know how you're doing this, or why, but knock it off!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Get out of my way," Zim sniffed haughtily, trying to push past him.

"That trick with all the floaty… thingies in class!" Dib said, blocking him. "And all that weird laughing and taps on the shoulder! I know you're behind it!"

"You're crazy, Earth-boy." Zim tried to get by again, but Dib was most persistent.

"You said yourself you were gonna get revenge for what happened earlier. So, what's your dumb, little plan this time? Trying trick me into thinking there are ghosts again?"

Zim rolled his eyes. "Geez, you're still bringing that up?"

"Hey, I almost got eaten by rats!" Dib exclaimed.

"Feh." Zim dismissed this with a wave of his hand. Finally he managed to sidestep Dib and marched down the hall towards the double doors.

Dib cupped his hands around his mouth. "I'm watching you, Zim!" he shouted, but his nemesis didn't even glance back. He stood there, staring after Zim suspiciously, then quickly gathered up his books, the gears in his head turning.

All the weird stuff that had happened today… it had to be Zim's doing, right? After all, he had vowed revenge, but then Zim usually threatened him at least twice a day, so that wasn't saying much. And his "revenge" was usually something lame, like spreading some sort of disgusting, alien goo all over his chair, or shouting "Look over there!" only to laugh hysterically when he naively turned his head. Well, the random taps on his shoulders did sort of fit into that childish vein, but still, unless Zim had somehow developed telekinetic powers, Dib couldn't begin to guess how he'd made all that stuff float around. And that still didn't explain the laughter he kept hearing.

But if it hadn't been Zim then what was it? Could it have been a real ghost? The skool was certainly old and spooky enough to harbor an anguished spirit or two. There were a ton of rumors about the creepy, old janitor who had disappeared there in the boiler room several years ago. And the legend of what happened to the kids sent to the underground classrooms, how once they went in they were never seen again. A demonic presence wasn't totally out of the question, either- demons were often drawn to places of extreme negativity and emotional torture. Or maybe it had been a poltergeist! They were well known for being mischievous and making inanimate objects fly around. Or maybe-! Dib's mind raced with thoughts of the paranormal as he exited the skool and started for home.

He'd been walking for five minutes or so, planning to himself which ghost-detecting gadget of his he should try out tomorrow, when a low peal of laughter caused him to freeze in his tracks. The maniacal sound seemed to come at him from all sides, taunting him. He spun around, his narrowed eyes darting back and forth in their sockets. This was getting old. "Okay! Who's doing that!? Come on! Show yourself!" he yelled out, his patience seriously beginning to slip.

He felt another tap, this one on top of his head. His eyes immediately fixed on a tree branch overhead where they met with a vacant pair of oval spectacles that glinted in the sunlight. A set of long whiskers framed the insane smile that curled up just below them.

"Hello again… Dib, was it?"

Dib's eyes grew wide, a knot of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. His throat went dry as he struggled to speak. "Y-YOU!"

No. No, it wasn't possible. He couldn't be here! Dib didn't want to believe it, but there was no mistaking it.

Those stripes. Those glasses. That smile. It was him. It was…

The Cheshire Cat.


A/N: Dun Dun DUUUUNNNNNN! FYI- In case you were wondering, The Cheshire Cat is played by none other than Mr. Jhonen Vasquez, so… yeah, picture Jhonen as a cat and you'll be good. Well, hope you liked the first chapter! ^^ Come back next time to find out what this strange, mysterious cat wants with our little Dibberz. Also, I SERIOUSLY didn't know what to title this thing and I'm really not loving the one I picked, so if anyone has any better suggestions on what I should title this story please feel free to leave them in your review. Thanks!