Author's Note: To be quite honest, I don't know what Minimoose is up to either. Not yet. I love working with him though, especially since he only appeared in the very last episode in the Invader ZIM series. Not that I favor him. No, I love all the characters, from the show and The Nightmare Before Christmas. And as much as I wish I owned the characters, I don't. If I win the lottery and buy them, you'll be the first to know.
Igor kept a vigil over the Continuum Portal for a while after Sally left. The only time he left it was when the doorbell rang. He debated whether or not to leave his spot before the bell rang a few mote times, frantically. Igor had a feeling that this was important, so hobbled down to the door and opened it. It was the Mayor, and from the look on his face he wasn't in the best of moods.
"Yes?" Igor asked.
"Igor, good, you're home," the Mayor said, head spinning around to reflect his relief. "Is Doctor Finkelstein in? I'd hate to bother him, but the townspeople are worried about Jack and Boogie's Boys. I came to see if there's been any progress."
"Doctor's gone," Igor said.
"Gone? Well, is Sally in?"
"Sally's gone too."
"Oh, my," the Mayor said as his head spun back to its previous frazzled state. "Where are they?"
"Doctor kidnapped. Sally went in the portal to find Jack and children."
"WHAT?"
"That's what happened," Igor said with a shrug.
"At least Sally is accounted for, but who would kidnap the-" the Mayor started before shivering. "Let me guess, Oogie Boogie?"
"Yes," Igor said, nodding furiously.
"Why him? Jack can handle him, but me? Oh, this is terrible, and not the good kind!"
"You can try."
"I suppose. I mean, I am the mayor after all. I'm in a position of power. Yes, I think I'll go give Oogie Boogie a piece of my mind. What do you think, Igor?"
"Your funeral," Igor said.
"That's the spirit!" the Mayor exclaimed happily, head turning to show his new determination.
With a broad smile, the Mayor turned around and made his way to his car, tripping over his feet once or twice before getting in. When he did get in, he honked his horn to Igor a few times as he drove off. Igor sighed and closed the door. He had a portal to guard, and from the looks of things, he would have to make a point of staying there until all five Halloween travelers returned. Either that or follow the Mayor to certain doom.
Meanwhile…"Doom, doom, doomie, doom doom," GIR sang to himself, still sitting in Doctor Finkelstein's empty head.
"He's been singing that for the whole time you were gone and still won't shut up," Oogie Boogie complained to Zim, who was connecting wires to Doctor Finkelstein's brain.
"You're free to strangle him," Zim said.
"Finally, something you said that makes sense," Oogie said to Zim before turning his attention on GIR. "Come here, you little trash can," Oogie said before gasping in air, pulling GIR into his arms with the sheer force.
"Whee! I like this game!" GIR exclaimed when he landed.
"GIR, offensive mode," Zim said nonchalantly.
"Huh?" Oogie Boogie asked before he noticed GIR's features turn red and a number of guns appear out of his head.
"Targeting enemy," GIR said in a serious tone as the guns began to charge.
"AHHHHHHH!" Oogie Boogie screamed, dropping GIR on the floor and jumping behind an Irken counter for safety.
"Hee hee!" GIR giggled, guns returning into his head and features turning back into their usual color. "That game's fun too."
"Think you're slick, huh?" Oogie Boogie asked Zim, who connected the other ends of the brain wires into a floating screen.
"No. I know I'm slick. I'm Zim, after all," Zim said as he flipped a switch on a floating screen that turned it on.
"What? Where am I?" the screen asked in Doctor Finkelstein's voice, the fragmented image of his face appearing on the screen. "Oogie!"
"Yeah, geezer?" Oogie Boogie asked the screen.
"What is the meaning of this? Why do you look so fuzzy?" it asked, prompting Oogie Boogie to point to a puddle of water that had gathered under a leaky pipe.
"See for yourself," Oogie Boogie said.
"I very well shall see. The nerve you have." the screen muttered as it hovered to the puddle, looked down, and nearly flew into a wall if Zim hadn't grabbed the cord that connected it to the brain on the table. "This. Isn't. My. BODY!"
"I think it's an improvement. You should be bowing to me in awe for doing such amazing work," Zim said.
"If I still had my arms I'd strangle you!" yelled the screen, facing another wall.
"You can't even see straight!" Oogie Boogie laughed.
"I can see you just fine, Oogie," The screen said, turning to face the boogie man. "Only the blind can miss your obese excuse for a body."
"Zim, unplug the geezer, he's annoying me."
"Unplug?"
"See this, old man?" Zim asked the screen, which turned to face Zim holding something of his in his arms.
"My brain! What have you done to it?"
"These cables are connected to you. I can disconnect your brain at any time and feed it to my robot. Unless, of course, you obey me."
"Us," Oogie Boogie corrected.
"Fine. But I'm more important," Zim said.
"Me too!" GIR yelled as he settled back into the professor's head.
"Do you even know what we're talking about?" Oogie Boogie asked GIR.
"Nope!"
"Ignore the trash can, geezer."
"What do you want from me?" the screen asked in defeat.
"Give me a way to bring me back to the planet I'm supposed to be conquering at the moment. Until I'm home, you're going to be my minion."
"You'll never get away with this."
"I've heard that before, Stink Creature. It didn't scare me then and it doesn't scare me now."
"Very well," the screen sighed. "If you must go so quickly, then I'll rebuild the Portable Portal Opener. You're lucky I remember its components, but I doubt you'll have any of them here."
"Try me," Zim said to the screen as he opened a container on one of his counters and spilled out a fine collection of scientific odds and ends.
"Shut up and get to work, doc," Oogie Boogie said as he heard a scream coming from the front of the lair.
"AHHHHHH!" GIR screamed in response, disappointed when it didn't answer.
"It's my doorbell, stupid," Oogie Boogie said to GIR as he left to answer the door.
"He's advanced!" Zim yelled just before Oogie opened the door.
"Good afternoon, Oogie," said the Mayor, clearly disturbed at the fact he was speaking to Halloween Town's most infamous outsider.
"Mayor," Oogie Boogie nodded. "What do you want?"
"Say, you-you haven't seen Doctor Finkelstein around, have you?"
"What are you implying?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all."
"You're a bad liar, Mayor."
"No I'm not, I mean, I'm not lying."
"Lying is disrespect. You're disrespecting me."
"Whew, look at the time! Bye, Oogie," the Mayor yelped before practically flying away from Oogie Boogie and back into Halloween Town.
"He'll be back," Oogie Boogie said to himself in a disgusted tone as a crash came to his attention.
"GIR! Stop throwing the empty shell around!" Zim yelled.
"We're dancing the tango!" GIR replied.
"Leave my body alone!" yelled Doctor Finkelstein from his screen-prison.
After much debating at the doorway, Oogie turned around and went back into the base. Heck, if he wasn't going to control the madness, who was? Besides, the sooner Zim and GIR were back at home, the better. Of course, if they were locked there with Jack Skellington, that would be perfect.
Meanwhile…"Dib, get me a soda," Gaz said from the couch. "Dib!"
"Coming," Dib said from the kitchen.
"It still better be cold when you get here," Gaz said before Dib walked over and handed her the soda.
"The last one. Enjoy it," Dib said.
"Where's Bone Face?"
"Jack is on his way over."
"If he ditched me, he'll know what real fear is. Dib, change the channel on the TV."
"But you have the remote."
"Do it, Dib."
"Fine," Dib said in a near whine as he changed the channel.
"Maggots eating corpses! This is gonna be great. Make some popcorn," Gaz ordered.
"We don't have any popcorn."
"Then buy some."
"I can't go out any more, Gaz. You know what dad said."
"You'll be able to if I tell him we have who he's looking for. Money's on the counter, Big Head."
Rather than pressing the issue any further, Dib got some money from the kitchen counter and walked out of the house. As he made his way to a supermarket, he came across Jack and the Sally he had been talking about earlier. Apparently, they were waiting around to see which house Dib and his large head came out of; when Dib left, they followed him. Under normal circumstances, Dib would have told Jack, yet again, that his head wasn't big. Of course, he was happy to talk to people who didn't think he was crazy or ordering him around at the moment.
"She has me buying popcorn. Popcorn! I don't know how she can watch those creature-eating-creature shows without throwing up," Dib complained.
"What's being eaten?" Jack asked.
"Corpses," Dib said.
"Ooh. Hits a little too close to home," Jack said.
"I'll say," Sally agreed.
"I don't think I have enough. If I show up back at home without the popcorn I'm doomed," Dib said.
"Should he be that scared, Jack?" Sally asked.
"Definitely. Sally, let me warn you right now, you do not want to get on his sister's bad side. She's terrifying."
"It's true," Dib added while he recounted his money. "Good, I have enough. Wait here, I'm going to the store on the next block. I'll be right back."
"See, I told you his head was huge," Jack whispered to Sally once Dib was out of earshot.
"I'm surprised he can walk straight," Sally said to Jack, making the both of them chuckle a bit.
"In all fairness, he has a lot of brains in that head. He's going to use them to get us home."
"Don't forget Boogie's Boys. We still need to find them."
"Which won't be easy. Think we should leave them here?"
"Jack, we can't do that."
"Not permanently. I'd just like to go a week without washing egg yolks from my windows and removing toilet paper from my gates."
"Well, when they ask trick or treat, give them the treat."
"That is when I give them the treat."
"Oh my."
"They are getting no guidance from Oogie. No matter how many times I try to talk sense into him about their antics he just ignores me."
"He shouldn't do that, Jack, you're the Pumpkin King," Sally said comfortingly as she rested her right hand on his shoulder before drawing it away suddenly.
"What?" Jack asked.
"Nothing."
"That was something."
"No, it wasn't."
"Come on, Sally."
"Look, Dib's back."
"I'm not falling for that."
"I got the popcorn," Dib's voice said, making Jack turn around. "We can go home. Follow me," he said to Jack and Sally as he walked ahead, Sally joining him and Jack lagging behind a little.
What was with her? Just when Jack would have some kind of comfy moment with his best friend, she'd get all riled up for no reason. Perhaps he had subconsciously scared her. Could he do that? He didn't mean to if he did. Jack sighed; that was something he would have to talk over with Sally once they were home.
To Be Continued...