Author's Note: Here's where the fun really begins, everybody. All characters in this story do not belong to me. They belong to either Tim Burton, Danny Elfman, Henry Selick, and the Disney/Touchstone Pictures crew for The Nightmare Before Christmas or Jhonen Vasquez, Kevin Manthei, Steve Ressel, and Nickelodeon/Viacom for Invader ZIM. I am a rabid fangirl for both these fandoms, but have no real monetary gain from it. I just do this for fun.
The Halloween Towners put themselves back together, one literally, just in time to see movement from the Continuum Portal. It was of two short, spinning shadows speeding through before landing on the ground before the portal. When seen on closer inspection, the two appeared to be a green-skinned boy and his equally shaded dog. However, when the townsfolk gathered around them to see if they were alright, they were in for quite a surprise. It all started when the boy opened his eyes and let out the loudest scream ever heard in Halloween Town.
"Who are you?" he yelled.
"We're-" the Mayor started.
"Who are you?" the boy yelled again as his dog sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Will you-" Doctor Finkelstein started.
"WHO ARE YOU?" he yelled for one last time, back flipping to his feet and taking a defensive pose.
"Hostile, isn't he?" the werewolf asked one of the vampires.
"Maybe they're all like that where he comes from," the vampire said.
"HI!" GIR exclaimed, waving cheerily to the crowd.
"I guess not," the werewolf said as the vampire he was speaking to nodded.
"No, no, NO! This wasn't supposed to happen!" the boy exclaimed as he looked around. "You stupid minions! You were supposed to come to my dimension, not get me stuck here! What is this place?"
"Maybe if you shut your mouth for one moment, you would learn," Doctor Finkelstein said as he rolled himself over to the boy.
"Do you have any idea who you're talking to? I'm ZIM! Invader Zim, the greatest Irken soldier ever to serve the empire!"
"Empire?" the Mayor asked, his head turning on his neck to show his bewilderment. "Well, we only have our little town of Halloween here, Mr. Zim."
"Halloween?" Zim asked as his eyes widened. "HALLOWEEN? I hate Halloween! Especially... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! You're all Halloweenies!"
"They certainly scream a lot where he comes from," the Cyclops said to Mr. Hyde.
"Must be a great place," Mr. Hyde said, his two smaller selves peeking out at the visitor from beneath his top hat.
"GIR! Get us out of here, now!" Zim ordered his dog, who immediately stood on two legs and saluted.
As it turned out, Zim's companion wasn't a dog at all. It was in fact, a small robot disguised as a dog. His antenna tip, eyes, and square chest piece glowed red as it carried its costume in one hand and used jets from its feet to fly under Zim. Then, the color changed to a light blue as he giggled out the window with Zim screaming on his back all the while.
"I don't like the looks of this, Doctor Finkelstein," the Mayor said to the scientist.
"Neither do I. Sally, go to the control panel of the portal and find Jack's coordinates. Sally?" Doctor Finkelstein asked before wheeling himself over to the control panel, where Sally already was.
"It's no use," she said as she pressed button after button.
"What do you mean 'no use'? He and those three tricksters just flew into whatever world that pair of oddballs came through."
"Doctor, it looks like that world cut off any connections we can make with it," Sally said before looking into the now empty portal.
"You're right," Doctor Finkelstein said. "Jack's going to have to find a way to reconnect the dimensions, wherever he is."
"Oh no," Sally said in a gloomy and fearful tone.
"Nothing to fret about, my dear. Jack is the Pumpkin King, he'll find his way home," the Mayor said to Sally, his head swiveling to reflect his hope.
"I hope so," Sally murmured to herself.
Meanwhile...
"Turn the machine back on!" Dib yelled at the guards, causing them to poke the boy with an electrified cattle prod. "HEY!"
"It's too dangerous. The conference has been canceled and the machine's being moved back to the labs."
"You can't do that. Zim and his robot fell in there. If they take over the world from that dimension, it's your fault. Do you want to doom the Earth because of a few technicalities?" Dib asked before being poked again. "Stop that!"
"If you keep ranting and raving like a maniac, I'm going to have to throw you in the back room with the guy that came out of that thing."
"Guy?" Dib asked.
"Yes. Don't you go looking for him, he's definitely trouble," the guard said before walking to another area to patrol.
Of course, this meant Dib had to go find the room where this inter-dimensional traveler was. After all, if he knew his world well enough, he could help the boy fight Zim, right? Well, that's what Dib hoped. He had to look around again after a while. He even looked into the chicken room he had stepped into twice before coming across a padlocked door with a small windowpane far above the doorknob.
"How am I going to get up there?" Dib wondered before he felt something grab his right arm and pull him through the door. When he blinked and looked up, he looked right into two large, hollow eye sockets staring right back at him. "AH!"
"Shhh. Quiet," the 'man' said, putting an index finger to his jaw.
"You're not human," Dib said in a harsh whisper.
"Yes I am. I'm just a dead human," the skeleton replied.
"Why are you talking if you're dead?"
"Everyone's dead where I come from. We all talk, and sing on occasion."
"How did you pull me through the door?" Dib asked as he turned to the door and felt that it was solid.
"I can do many things," the skeleton man said.
"Then why haven't you escaped by now?"
"I can't go home yet. I got separated from three others when I got here. Have you seen them?"
"You're the only skeleton I've seen."
"The others aren't skeletons. They're kids, like you. Only dead, and with smaller heads. No offense," he said to Dib, noticing the boy's insulted look.
"I haven't seen them. Who are you?" Dib asked.
"Jack Skellington, Pumpkin King of Halloween Town," he said with a graceful bow. "And you are?"
"Dib, Paranormal Investigator and Defender of the Earth."
"Well, Dib, it's not every day I meet a mortal who sees me and doesn't run away in terror. I could use your help, if you would be so kind as to give it to me."
"What's the catch?" Dib asked.
"No catch whatsoever. I just need you to find three children. Their names are Lock, Shock, and Barrel. I would find them myself, but I don't want to disturb your world's order by fleeing from the authorities," Jack said.
"I don't know what they look like."
"Hmmm... perhaps I should help you look for them then. But where shall I hide?"
"My house. My dad's hardly home and Gaz won't mind. She probably won't even notice you're in the house."
"Splendid," Jack said as both heard the padlock to the door being opened. "We'd better go. Hang on," he said as he grabbed Dib's hands and dragged him through another wall.
"Here he is, Prof-" a guard said to Dib's father as he opened the door before both looked at the empty room. "He's gone!"
"He wasn't that locked up, now was he?" Professor Membrane asked.
"No, sir."
"Send a report to the police, the FBI, anyone you can call. We have to fix this mess before things get out of hand," the professor said before his goggles lit up, meaning his assistant was contacting him through their built in telephone. "Yes, Simmons?"
"Professor, there's a problem with the device. Something was damaged during the incident," the assistant's voice said.
"How damaged?"
"We're not sure. That's why we need you to come over as quickly as you can."
"Alright, keep the team there, Simmons. I'm on my way," Professor Membrane said before the goggles returned to normal. "You, place the call. Make sure he is found."
"Yes, sir," the guard said as he and the professor parted ways.
To Be Continued...