Author's Note: I'm glad the story's been received well among fans of both The Nightmare Before Christmas and Invader ZIM. Totally makes my job worth doing. Before I continue doing so, I will clarify once more that I never had any part in creating movie or show. I never worked for Disney or Viacom and don't plan on doing so at the moment. The people worth worshiping are Tim Burton, Danny Elfman, Henry Selick, Jhonen Vasquez, Kevin Manthei, Steve Ressel, and all of their crews at Touchstone/Disney and Nickelodeon/Viacom.
"Sally, step away from that infernal machine," Doctor Finkelstein said to the rag doll, who had placed herself in front of the Continuum Portal the moment the pair had gotten home hours before. "The last thing I need is having my assistant sucked into another world."
"I'm waiting to see if there's any sign from Jack and the trick-or-treaters," Sally said, not moving an inch from the control panel.
"Whatever world they're in is obviously having connection problems. It is nothing we can fix, my dear."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I just am. Now off to bed with you, the Mayor is most likely going to begin the search for that boy and his dog early in the morning. We can't search if we're tired, Sally."
"Yes, Doctor," Sally sighed, finally relenting and walking past the doctor to her room.
The moment Sally got to her room, she looked out her window. It was so very strange, seeing no lights in Jack's tower. He would be alright, wouldn't he? Sally shook her head and mentally scolded herself for thinking otherwise. In fact, she swore she would go to sleep that very moment and think of Jack no more until morning.
As for the doctor, he really wasn't sure if there was nothing he could do about the predicament. He just didn't want to give Sally any crazy ideas about running into that portal by herself. Honestly, that girl was already on the unstable side in this world. Doctor Finkelstein shuddered to think of what would happen to her anywhere else. Still she brought up a good point.
"Igor," Doctor Finkelstein said to his other assistant, a hunchback, as he wheeled himself into one of his laboratories.
"Yes, Master?" Igor asked in a hiss.
"Do you know where the plans for the portal are?" he asked Igor, who nodded furiously. "Good. Bring them to me. Perhaps there is something we can do about this dilemma after all."
Meanwhile...
Gaz woke up feeling a little thirsty. She looked at the clock on her night stand and saw that it was two in the morning. She mumbled angrily to herself as she got up. If she drank soda, she would be awake the rest of the night. She would have to settle for juice. Besides, Dib probably drank the last soda in the fridge, as always. Dib. Just hearing the name in her head made her cringe in disgust. How she was related to him escaped her.
"Stupid, crazy Dib. Talking to himself. I was so close to the last level," she mumbled to herself as she opened the fridge and squinted at the light coming from it as she got her juice. That's when she heard it.
A soft snore. It was coming from the living room couch. Gaz sipped juice through a straw very quietly as she walked over to who, or what, was making the noise. She thought in the back of her mind that maybe, maybe, it was their dad. Then she remembered that the whole fiasco with the dimension machine would have him working all night at the lab, not that it was unusual for him to do that any other day anyway. She looked at the scrunched up figure under the blue blanket and saw that its head, wherever it was tucked in, was too small to be Dib's. This could only mean one thing: intruder.
"No one comes into my house without checking with me first," Gaz said quietly, calmly putting her juice on the floor and reaching under the couch for the baseball bat she kept there for emergencies. "Time for your wake up call," she said, finally grabbing the bat and swinging it into the form.
It didn't take long for the whole situation to make enough noise to wake Dib. He immediately ran into the living room and saw Gaz strangling the figure under the blanket with one hand and beating its shins with her bat using her other hand. That girl could get especially vicious sometimes.
"GAZ! Stop it!" Dib yelled as he tackled his sister off of the now kneeling figure.
"Dib, why don't you do something about a real threat for once?" Gaz asked as she pointed to the figure, who now revealed himself.
"I surrender," Jack said, raising his arms in defeat.
"Who are you?" Gaz demanded, holding the bat up to Jack's head as if she could send it flying at any moment.
"Gaz, it's ok. He's not going to hurt us."
"Dib, your head will be next if I don't get an explanation. Believe me, it's not that hard a target."
"You were right. She is scary," Jack said to Dib.
"Gaz, he's a friend. His name's Jack Skellington. He's the one who came out of dad's machine when Zim went in," Dib said, expecting to calm his sister when instead she hit his head with the bat. "HEY!"
"You moron! Dad and the feds have been looking for this guy and you brought him home?"
"Don't you understand? The fate of the Earth depends on us," Dib said, nodding to Jack. "He didn't come alone, Jack can't go home until we find three other people."
"I'm sorry for intruding, miss," Jack said, wincing slightly when he sighted the baseball bat.
"He can't stay here. We can't do that to Dad. I'll call him right now."
"Gaz, wait! Please, just until we get him and the others home. Please? I'll do anything."
"Anything?" Gaz asked, now interested in what Dib had to say.
"Yes. Just keep this a secret and I'll have Jack out of the house soon. I promise," Dib said.
"Fine. But everything you do, Bone Face has to do too. Got it, Bone Face?"
"Got it," Jack replied.
"Pleasure doing business with you. Now leave me alone until I need you," Gaz said to the both of them as she picked up her juice and walked back to her room.
"Well, I'm glad she doesn't live in Halloween Town because I'd be out of a job if she did," Jack said to Dib.
"Any major damage?" Dib asked Jack, who got back on the couch.
"No. A perk of being dead is you don't have to worry too much about pain. My best friend can take off her limbs and have them walk around and such."
"Weird."
"You only say that because you're alive."
"Can you do any of that?"
"Of course. Here, I'll take off my head," Jack said as he readied his hands.
"No, it's ok. I was just wondering," Dib said, a bit frightened that his question was even answered.
"Suit yourself," Jack said as he looked in the direction of Gaz's room. "She won't come out and attack me again, will she?"
"No. Just as long as we do her bidding, we'll be fine."
"Splendid. How hard can it be?" Jack said.
"Goodnight, Jack," Dib sighed, shaking his head at the potential horrors to come.
"Goodnight, Dib. Thank you again for housing me," Jack said as he watched the boy disappear into the hallway.
As he lay back on the couch and looked at the ceiling, Jack didn't feel badly towards his state of affairs. In fact, he liked being somewhere different, even if it was very different than what he was used to. Though, he had to admit, he would leave this place as soon as he found the trick-or-treaters. Something told him this Zim character Dib kept talking about was bad news in any place, much less here or Halloween Town. Then there was the whole matter of the authorities looking for him. The last thing Jack needed was to get stuck in a strange land. He was the Pumpkin King for crying out loud. If he left his land along for too long, well, he didn't want to think about what could happen. Instead, Jack drifted off to sleep, bad thoughts disappearing and covered up by the blue blanket.
Meanwhile...
"I hate you, Oogie," Zim said as he walked into the remodeled casino, massaging his bruised temples.
"I didn't get any candy," GIR sniffled as he followed Zim.
"That's what you get for adding so much junk in here," Oogie Boogie said to Zim, clearly not impressed with the newly installed lab equipment and machines.
"You complain now, Oogie, but this 'junk' is standard Irken equipment more than capable of taking over a planet."
"Is that so? Then why haven't you taken over the Earth by now?"
"For reasons only my amazing mind can comprehend, so it would be a waste to explain them to you."
"Sure," Oogie Boogie said in a sarcastic tone as he inspected his mechanical cowboys. "At least you didn't mess these up.
"What do they do?" GIR asked, waddling over to Oogie Boogie as he posed the question.
"Glad you asked," Oogie Boogie said as he tapped one of the cowboys on the shoulder, causing it to shoot at Zim, bullet flying just above his head.
"You HORRIBLE stink creature!" Zim yelled at Oogie, who immediately began laughing.
"You're too much, Zim."
"I'm probably better off with the Halloweenies!"
"If you're that sure, go on out. I'm sure they're dying to see you," Oogie said to Zim, causing beads of sweat to form on the Irken's forehead.
"GIR, go monitor something," Zim said to his robot, changing the subject.
"Yes, sir!" GIR exclaimed, features turning red in obedience as he marched over to a screen capturing feed from the middle of town.
"Wait a minute," Oogie Boogie said, following GIR. "You can see what's going on anywhere in Halloween Town?"
"Of course. No good Irken soldier can do their job without knowing the area they're in," Zim said. "I had cameras plant themselves all over the place."
"Check out the doctor's place."
"Why should I?"
"Just do it," Oogie Boogie said.
"I wanna see the Scary Monkey Show, Master," GIR said, growing bored with the feed of a green fountain.
"That horrible monkey doesn't exist in this world, GIR, and that's a good thing," Zim said.
"No. Scary. Monkey?" GIR asked, tearing up with each word. "I WANT MY MONKEEEEEEEEEY!" he screamed beating his head with his fists and rolling around on the floor, crying.
"Shut him up! Shut him up!" Oogie Boogie said to Zim.
"GIR, cease your monkey-caused whining now! GIR!" Zim ordered as the robot reached his highest wail yet before stopping for no apparent reason and giggling to himself.
"Quick, check the doctor's place before he starts up again."
"Alright, alright," Zim said as he changed the camera feed to Doctor Finkelstein, who seemed to be copying plans from older ones.
"What is that geezer up to?" Oogie Boogie wondered. "Probably figuring out a way to get that bone head back. We're gonna have to stop him, Zim."
"That feeble old thing? He's not worth my time," Zim said.
"He is if he brings Jack Skellington back from your world. If you think I'm bad, wait'll you meet him," Oogie Boogie said in a dark tone.
"Oooooooh," GIR said in awe.
"I'm letting you work to get that Earth you want. Jack will put a stop to everything, and probably scare you to death," Oogie Boogie said to Zim.
"HA! You're full of lies!" Zim exclaimed.
"Am I? Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you when you meet Jack face-to-face," Oogie Boogie said as he began to walk away.
"GIR, get over here," Zim said to his robot.
"Yeeeees?" GIR asked.
"Prepare for tomorrow. I don't want to take any chances, in case Oogie really is telling the truth. Not that I'm scared. Of course not. I'm ZIM, the best invader in the Universe. Yep, that's me."
"Okie dokie," GIR replied, sticking his tongue out.
Neither one of them saw Oogie Boogie grin in the dark.
To Be Continued...