Picture the halls of Tim Burtons mind, mixed in with the internal decorations of the Manson house and adding a hint of Wonderland. That is what the inside of the Court looked like. The tall winding pillars twisted into a ceiling with gaping holes and broken rafters, the tiled floor splattered with a multitude of colours and patterns. The whole room made my head spin. At the head of the room, behind a barristers desk was a tall creature with grey slimy skin and a single bulging eye; wearing a long black robe and a white curled wig. Lydia waved at it, to which it smiled and returned the gesture.

"Miss. Deetz, long time no see, I was wondering when you were going to show up here." It growled, not in a cruel way, but in a way that indicated that this was his natural voice.

Zim started to develop a twitch in his eye. Backing away so that he nearly collided into Dib.

"Are you okay?" I asked, also a little taken back by the creatures appearance but not wanting to make a scene out of it.

"It's the Halloweenies!" Zim rasped through gritted teeth.

I looked up at Dib in confusion, he cleared his throat, "A few years ago before you moved here, there was an incident on Halloween. A horrible… horrible incident… That guy kinda looks like something we…met."

"And whose fault was that Dib-beast?"

Dib swallowed hard as a memory flashed behind his glasses and Zim let out a groan of discomfort. Come to think of it, I had never seen Zim around on Halloween. Dib always spent his time in the graveyard on Halloween, made sense really, but what had happened that was so bad?

"I hate Halloween…" Zim muttered, shaking his head.

I smirked and leant across Dibs shoulder so that I was closer to Zim, he arched his brow at me. So I smiled wider and winked, "I love Halloween."

He lowered himself so that we were crimson eyeball to aqua eyeball and sneered, "You would…"

"WHAT?"

All three of us jumped at the sudden exclamation from Lydia. She had been conversing with the Neitherworld dweller when the conversation had taken a turn for the worse. Lydia was staggering backwards in horror. Zim gingerly poked out a finger into her back in a weak attempt to steady her, grimacing as Dib and I face-palmed in unison.

"What happened?" Dib asked, steadying Lydia himself, gripping her shoulders.

"BJ's due to a court hearing today. But it's just a formality; he's going to be pleaded guilty either way!"

"Why? What's going to happen to him?" I cried, glaring at the creature.

"He broke his contract, therefore, he is guilty. He was always a little defective in his afterlife anyway, we're doing him a favour." It replied passively.

Zim clenched his fists, "The small worm-child asked you two questions; what exactly is going to happen to this… defect?"

I backed away from Zim deeper into the collar of Dibs jacket. Dib and I exchanged a glance. That one specific word, 'defect' was a severe sore spot in Zims mind. Even Dib was careful not to use it. There was one incident in Skool where a poor child had been Zims partner in a science project, the Bunsen burner was faulty so the kid called it 'defective'. In some twisted sense, I do find it funny when that boy sneezes flames every now and again…

The creature shrugged at the question, "Fed to the sandworms, like all the other guilty spectres."

My mouth hung open. What kind of sick and twisted society was this? I know that the people down here are dead and restless, but feeding them to those vicious mutants out in the desert was just horrific! Lydia smacked her hand over her mouth.

"You can see him if you like, court starts in ten minutes." He yawned.

We nodded and were led to a side room where everything was pitch-black. A single spot light centred on a narrow cage of sorts. Inside, was a tired, weak figure, laying on its back on the ground. Its white-blonde hair stuck up in all directions, the black and white striped suit rumpled. At the sight of us, the hollow yellow eyes became bright and mischievous. Lydia ran forward and shoved her arms through the bars, pulling the phantom into an embrace.

"Sup babes, I'll tell you what, these spring getaways aren't what they used to be!" he grinned.

"How do you get into these things, BJ?" she laughed with relief.

"What? Do I make it look to easy? Hey look, the whole gangs here!" he rested his eyes on us, "Green-machine, Big-Head, hey it's Mini-me!" he gave GIR a high-five through the metal bars, "Where's… oh…"

He had started looking for me, thinking I was not in the room, when he spotted me from Dibs shoulder. I folded my arms and chewed the inside of my cheek, narrowing my eyes at him trying to hide my happiness that he was okay. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"Yeah, sorry to leave ya feeling so down, babes!" he called, "Well, at least you had a good view of the show from down front!" he continued to have his fill of short, down, little and size jokes until even I had to crack a smile.

Dib smirked, "Now you know how I feel when people make jokes about my head."

I huffed and folded my arms, "Oh no Dib, I don't think anything could compare to your head."

"Another point to Amy-cakes!" GIR giggled as Zim nodded in approval.

GIR, wanting to praise me more (aren't I the lucky one) hopped over to me and scooped me from Dibs shoulder, clutching me tightly to his chest. All of the air was squeezed out of me and I was starting to see dark spots everywhere. Finally, he released his grip and lifted me up to his head so that I could hold onto his metal antenna for support. I wrapped my arms around it and drank in the air, watching the room return to its normal colouring.

"Can you change her back?" Lydia asked.

I smiled gratefully at her. I really wanted to ask that question, but for some reason I felt horrible asking him when he looked so trapped and repressed. Anyway, I could survive a little longer in this form, as long as he was okay. But nevertheless, I didn't kind of want an answer.

"Uh, here's the thing babes, when they put me here, they took my powers, I'm just a regular garden variety ghost now." He paused, emphasising the stillness in the room, "See, I had a whole lawn-gnome visual gag lined up there!"

"What happened, BJ?" Lydia asked, "Why did you say your name?"

He sighed, "It was an honest slip of the tongue! Jeez, the people down here are such dead-beats!"

I hint of disappointment washed over me, but I quickly pushed it away. No, I told myself, I would not feel any form of self pity here. Sure I was stuck like this for a little longer, but that was nothing compared to poor BJ. He had just had his livelihood taken away from him just because of a single mistake. Wait…

"Oh no…" Dib groaned, smacking his palm to his face.

"What?" I asked defensively as he glanced at me with a glint in his eye.

"I know that look… you've got an idea…"

A blush surfaced in my cheeks, but I tried my best to hide the fact that I was thrilled that he knew me so well. Zim leaned in to get a better look at me, I straightened up at the sudden intrusion of personal space. His antenna dropped slightly and he shook his head.

"Why on Irk must Zim endure this torment?" he called to the ceiling.

I scoffed, "Hey, when have my ideas ever ended badly?"

To my surprise, everyone in the room exchanged a glance. Including Lydia and BJ!

"Well, the day you moved in and thought it was a good idea to follow GIR to my base…" Zim said.

"The time we stayed after skool to spy on the were-hamster and you had the idea to search through Ms. Bitters' desk…" Dib added.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know she kept bats in there?" I snapped.

"No offence Amy, but you do have a few dangerous ideas from time to time." Dib shrugged, wincing apologetically at me.

I had to laugh, there wasn't much else I could do at that moment, "Sure," I said sarcastically, "Fear me for I am cute and pocket sized!" I held my hands like claws and playfully glared at them.

BJ grinned and reached through the bars and tapped me on the head with his red-tipped fingers. I turned and looked up expectantly at him. He shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Well babes I'm not going anywhere and to be honest it's not exactly the Ritz in here, so what's this idea of yours?"

I returned his grin and looked around the room. I spotted the creature that had led us in here earlier on. He had never left, he was just standing bored in the doorway, clearly it was against regulations to leave visitors alone with a prisoner. This I was glad of, I called over to him and felt a shudder of distain as he glared at me with his one eye as if he couldn't be bothered to take notice of me. I narrowed my eyes and raised my voice.

"HEY!" making everyone jump, "I'm talking to you!"

The creature grudgingly shuffled over and looked down at me. GIR activated his rockets in his legs and rose into the air so that I was eye level with him.

"Thank you." I said, smiling with false sweetness, I wasn't letting anyone push me around right now, "Do you have a copy of the contract that BJ signed?"

"I suppose, for evidence, yeah."

"And could you manage to get hold of the contract which both Lydia and BJ signed when they had to come here before so that BJ could live with her."

He grumbled, "If you needed it, can I ask why?"

I nodded, "I want to prove this ghost's innocence, I'll need the contracts to do that."

It eyed me with mild amusement, "And you are?"

My throat dried instantly, but I forced myself to answer, "His lawyer."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dibs jaw drop and Zim tilt his head to the side in confusion. I realised how stupid I sounded, as well as how stupid I looked. But I stood my ground. Finally the creature shrugged.

"Wait here, I'll get them."

As soon as he left the room, I managed to breathe again.

"So you're a lawyer now?" Dib asked sceptically, folding his arms.

I cringed, "Apparently… But I know what I'm doing!"

"You'd better babes, you've got guts I'll tell you that." BJ nodded with approval.

The door reopened and the creature walked back inside with two long pieces of old parchment. He placed them on the table in the corner and explained how they were copies of the original and could be used to take notes if needed. He left, a glint of pity and entertainment in his eye, making my blood boil. I had five minutes with this, I couldn't waste any time. GIR took me to the table and tilted his head forward so that I slid gracefully onto the surface. I first looked at the oldest contract, then the more recent one which included Lydia.

"And what does the Amy-worm wish to find in this?" Zim asked, arching his brow.

"Loop-holes. Every contract has them and every court uses them." I explained.

Lydia raised her eyebrows and joined me, "So we just have to find them and worm our way out of this case?"

"Exactly."

BJ pretended to wipe away a tear, "Awe, by little girls becoming a regular con-artist!"

"I learnt from the best…" I muttered.

Dib folded his arms on the desk next to me and peered closely at the words, "That's… not a bad idea actually."

I poked my tongue out at him in triumph and returned to my work. A grin spread over my face and I pointed at a few sections for them to underline. This was just the stuff we needed.

"Anything good over there?" BJ called, a subtle hint of hope in his voice.

I nodded, "Oh yeah, we'll have the ghost with the most back in no time."