Disclaimer: Okay, I realize that the majority of you want to strangle me for that last cliffhanger, so I decided that......I WILL TALK TO YOU FOR HOURS, NEVER TELLING YOU HOW THE STORY ENDS!!! MUAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Wait..wha..noooo! *enraged mob breaks in and carries Kat23a out the door, screaming for blood*




Kat23a suddenly appears back on stage, brushing herself off.

Kat23a: Heh, heh. I couldn't resist doing that to see what happened. Good thing for my magical author powers. Yes, I /did/ put that giant space after this intro so you couldn't see what Zim was about to say without reading the intro first. I like getting my word in. AAAAND NOW *she is suddenly dressed as a circus ringmaster* ON WITH THE SHOOOOW!


































--~--
Zim: Johen!

Johen Vasquez steps forward menacingly, holding the two swords forward a little as he approaches Zim. His oval glasses glint, and his red-dyed hair seems to glow.

Zim: Wha...what are you doing here?

Johen doesn't answer, but continues moving forward, smiling. It's not a nice smile, either.

Zim: Johen, please, y-you don't want to do this.

Johen continues to move forward. He towers over Zim, looking down. His entire body is nothing but one black shadow, with two gleaming white ovals where his glasses are.

Zim: *squee*

Johen slowly raises one gleaming sword as Zim shakes. Higher, higher......
It pauses at the top.
Zim whimpers.
Suddenly, Johen seems to collapse and a sound that Zim would never have expected him to utter came out of his mouth....

Johen: BWAAAHAHAHAHAHA!

The laughter echoes throughout the vast room, and it seems to grow as it bounces around. In fact, it /is/ growing.

50 or so voices: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Zim is jerking his head around at this new and unexpected phenomena, trying to see what is causing it. Before he can see much, Johen begins getting up, making Zim's head jerk back to him.

Johen: *wiping tears out of his eyes* Ahh...That was the best facial expression I've ever seen in my life! .....HAAAHahahahaha!

Zim stares at him, bewildered (and evidently forgetting he is still holding a camera) until something moves in the corner of his vision, on the ground. He whips the camera down (almost losing his balance) and stares at the crowd slowly filtering in the large room below him, laughing. Everybody seems familiar...

Zim: But...you're DEAD!!! *pause while he considers this* EVIL SPIRITS!!! BEGONE WITH YE!!!!

Johen finally got control of himself and smiled at Zim (not scary this time).

Johen: They're not dead, Zim. You see, we...well, I think there's someone who can explain it better.

Johen leads Zim over to a landing at the end of the beam. Zim can't see who is standing at the end of the platform, since Johen is in front of him. At the end, Johen steps away to reveal;

Zim: (surprised) DIB! *pause while he considers this*

Zim: (in Voice of Impending Doom) Diiiib...

Dib is standing at the end of the platform, hands in his pockets, smiling smugly.

Dib: Well, Zim, did you have a good Halloween?


The camera is dropped to the platform as Zim gives an angry roar and jumps at Dib.

--~--
The following is all off-camera, back in the main room.



Most of the cast and crew is back in the main room. Insane Director Dude has seen the damage that everyone has caused to the sets and is having yet another panic attack. Someone had brought out tables and set them up with punch and Halloween cupcakes and candy, which are quickly being devoured. Everybody is talking and laughing, and seems to be having a good time.

Johen enters the room, and heads over to Insane Director Dude. They soon get into a heated debate about what should and shouldn't be changed about the show. When Insane Director Dude mentions having a Christmas musical, Johen begins pulling out his hair.

Dib comes stumbling into the room. He is scraped and bruised everywhere, and his trench coat has a tear in it. He is, however, grinning so hard he can't stop. A few moments later, Zim stumbles in, looking just as bad. One of his antennae is bent at an uncomfortable-looking angle, and his shirt has a rip in one side. He glares at Dib, and then limps in another direction, ignoring the people giggling on either side of him. Kat23a notices Dib coming in and excuses herself from the group she was talking to so she could run over to him. She grins as she surveys the wreckage.

Kat23a: So, I guess it's safe to assume that Zim knows about the yearly "haunted house" at the film studio.

Dib: (grinning like an idiot) Yeah. Too bad he didn't learn about it when everybody else did.

Ked (the guy with me when I "died", remember?) was nearby and overheard this. He came over right away, smiling almost as big as Dib.

Ked: That was the BEST Halloween prank I've EVER seen! You ROCK, Dib! The radio recording with the storm warning...that was a stroke of genius.

Kat23a: I had second thoughts in the beginning about sticking around to film the whole thing, but that was DEFINITELY worth playing the reporter!

Ked: Waitasecond. You /aren't/ a reporter?!

Dib: No! Kat and I have known each other for years!

Kat23a: We met at a paranormal investigator's convention!

Ked: /Really?/ Which one?

Dib and Kat23a suddenly get a slanty-eyed look on their face, and they look around as if they expect to be eavesdropped on.


Dib and Kat23a: (in confidential-type voices) Let's just say our eyeballs are swollen.

Ked: 0.o

Kat23a: Dib's tried to get me to help him with the Zim case I don't know how many times. But aliens aren't my dig. I'm more into the ghosts-and-demons side of paranormal investigation. (It's true! You wanna know something scary? I knew what a chupabacra was waaay before Dib ever mentioned it in Gameslave 2)

Kat23a points to the Celtic cross on her chest.

Kat23a: You think I wear this all the time because it's pretty? This is pure VAMPIRE protection, baby!

Dib: (suddenly nervous) Uh...by the way, what do you think about Count Cocofang, Kat?

Kat23a: He's a guy in a vampire suit. So what?

Dib:*whew* Oh, nothing! ^_^*

Kat23a: Well, anyway Dib roped me into helping him out with this plan by promising me that I could use his stealth suit and self-reloading ectoplasmic relocator for my stakeout at the Turnstrum mansion.

Ked: The Turnstrum mansion! But that's haunted!

Kat23a: (RETURN OF THE SCARY SHADOWS AND EVIL GRIN!!) Exactly!

Right after Kat23a said this another familiar voice spoke up from right behind Dib.

Gaz: Dib. My Gameslave. Now.

Dib jumped approximately two feet into the air at the sound of Gaz's voice right next to his ear.

Dib: GAZ! DON'TDOTHAT!!

Gaz: NOW.

Dib pulls out the broken remains of Gaz's Gameslave 2 from a large pocket of his trenchcoat, along with a new Gameslave 2 cartridge (Zombie Badgers Attack!). He holds these out to Gaz. Gaz's eyes grow wide, and a small not-frown crosses her mouth. As Gaz takes the Gameslave 2 and the cartridge, Kat23a speaks up.

Kat23a: But isn't her Gameslave 2 brok- *she stops talking as Gaz reassembles the Gameslave 2 in several lightning-quick moves* Oh.

Gaz starts walking away, already putting in the new game. Just before she starts playing it, she turns to Dib.

Gaz: By the way, thanks for the new game.

Kat23a and Ked's eyes bug out at the sound of Gaz thanking Dib, but Dib just smiles.

Dib: The only way she would play along was if I got her a new game for her Gameslave 2. She was expecting something like Stuffed Animal Massacre III or Apocalypse VIII, but I got her a rare limited-special-order-edition. She wasn't expecting /that/.

Kat23a, who is also a Gameslave lover (though not as much as Gaz) gets a considering look in her eye as Dib says this. She sidles over to Dib.

Kat23a: Say, you don't suppose that she would let a good friend of her brother's borrow-

Dib: No.

A sudden loud noise makes everybody in their group turn their heads. Some kind of commotion is happening at the refreshment table. The three look at each other, shrug, and then work their way through the crowd to see what is happening. What appears to be a large ball of frosting and cupcake crumbs has suddenly exploded from the refreshment table when Zim passed it, and began chasing him. Through the frosting, patches of green can be seen...

Gir: Master needs a huuug! Master needs a huuug!

Zim: *stopping at the sound of the voice* GIR?!!

The cupcake ball catches up with him and plasters itself to his head.

Gir: YAYY!!!

Zim: *peeling Gir off of his head* Gir! You're all right! I was so....er...*notices people looking at him* Get that disgusting human frosting sludge off you this minute!

Gir: 'Kay.

Gir jumps down and shakes himself so that frosting splatters everyone and everything in a 20- foot radius. Multiple cries of disgust are heard, and most nearby people run for the bathroom or at least back away. Underneath the frosting, Gir can be seen still wearing his green dog outfit. It looks unharmed.

Zim: Gir? If you're still wearing that suit, where did the ripped one come from?

Gir looks up from licking the frosting off his arms, then flips the top of his costume back and pulls another, ripped costume out of his head.

Gir: Dibby in the big black coat gave this to me! He said I could keep it for a see-oo-ven-ear! *he hugs the ripped costume* I love you...

Zim grabs the costume away from Gir, who immediately runs back to the table for more cupcakes, and Zim holds up the costume to look at it. On closer inspection, it can be seen that one of the costume's eyes are bigger than the other, the dog has three ears, and that several section have been stapled together. Zim observes this, glares at Dib (who is still nearby), then turns toward Gir with as much dignity as he can muster.

Zim: Come, Gir. We have to get back to KidK's house. She'll be wondering where we are. *he turns and heads for the door*

Gir: Ooooo! I'll bring Missy a cupcake! *he tosses several cupcakes in his head and follows after Zim*

People are slowly filtering out the doors to go to their waiting beds. Ked yawns and turns to the group.

Ked: Yeah, I better be going, too.

Kat23a: We'll walk you to the door. We got to go too.

They slowly head for the door. As they step outside, Kat23a and Ked head for their bikes, and Dib starts walking. Kat23a notices this, and runs up.

Kat23a: Hey, Dib, if you don't want to walk, you can ride the handlebars on my bike.

Dib: No, that's okay. I live just a few blocks from here.

Kat23a: Okay. Hey, I was wondering, what are you going to do with the tape of tonight? Send it to Mysterious Mysteries?

Dib: *smiles* Well, that was my original plan, but this is too good for even Mysterious Mysteries. With this, I'm thinking blackmail.

Kat23a: *grinning* Well, I'll be by tomorrow to pick up the stealth suit and the ectoplasmic relocator. See ya, Agent Mothman!

Dib: Bye, Agent Gemini!

Kat23a turns to leave, but Dib suddenly remembers something else that he wanted to say.

Dib: Kat! *Kat23a turns back around* Kat, I wanted to tell you, that if you see Mull (aka Annoying Guy) that the hand trick he thought up was GREAT! It really topped off the night.

Kat23a: Well, I haven't seen him since I 'died', but if I do, I'll tell him you said that!

Kat23a turns and goes back to her bike, unlocks it, and starts biking in the direction of her home.

--~--


Just wait, ladies and gents, there's more...