Author's Note: Who's ready for some more trouble? I know I am. Ooh, I love writing for all of these characters. Tim and Jhonen have fantastic brains for making up their respective characters and universes. I guess they're the fathers of both The Nightmare Before Christmas and Invader ZIM. What luck to update on Father's Day, then.
What a horrible dream! The Dimensional Traveler was a complete disaster, causing mayhem in two worlds. As Professor Membrane opened his eyes, he could have sworn that all that happened was a figment of his imagination due to his overworked mind. Then, when he stretched, he realized he was in a chair in front of surveillance monitors. This wasn't a dream. It was a living nightmare.
"Simmons?" Professor Membrane asked weakly to the semi-awake figure in the chair next to his.
"Sir?" Simmons asked, snapping into full awareness. "Oh, you're awake! Are you alright, sir?"
"What time is it?"
"About three in the morning."
"I've been out for that long?"
"These are stressful times, professor. I fear to inform you of what has happened since you lost consciousness."
"No, I have to hear it. Better to know than to stay ignorant. That is the point of science itself," Professor Membrane said, bracing himself for the news.
"The fifth traveler escaped. I don't know how, I've looked over the tapes over and over and one moment she's there, the next, vanished," Simmons said rather quickly.
"Well, at least I'm still conscious," Professor Membrane said. "Has there been any sightings of any of them? Any police reports of strange occurrences?"
"The day was full of them," Simmons said, taking a folder from the counter and handing it to the professor. "However, they all range in the paranormal. This television news show has been following them."
"Mysterious Mysteries?"
"Yes. You have time to watch television?"
"No. It's my son's favorite show. He even made an appearance on it once, so did I. And that unfortunate green child. Dib had to be taken home in a straightjacket. My poor, insane son," Professor Membrane sighed.
"Well, there have been strange happenings in Bloaty's Pizza Hog, the mall, and a convenience store. The clerk from the last place reported four soda bottles floating out the doors. He was about to be taken to the hospital before surveillance tapes confirmed his sighting," Simmons said.
"The only things that were taken were soda bottles?"
"Yes."
"Interesting," Professor Membrane said. "Tell me, Simmons, was there anything going on in the mall at the time of occurrence?"
"A mechanical tank-like weapon fell in through the ceiling. Most of the witnesses who saw it fall through were either on their way to the food court or pre-ordering a video game," Simmons said.
"Simmons, I have to go home. I'll be back as soon as I can. Get the traveler ready, I think I know where our inter-dimensional visitors are," Professor Membrane said in a dark tone as he got up, and left the surveillance room immediately.
Meanwhile…"Soda refill," Gaz said to Dib, Jack, and Sally as she held out an empty cup. "And lower the A/C. It's cold in here."
"How can you still be wide awake?" Jack asked Gaz with a yawn while Dib went to get soda.
"Don't distract me, Bone Face, I'm in a boss fight," Gaz said, fingers calculating their every move on her Gameslave. She only paused to get her soda from Dib and yell at Sally. "I said to lower it!"
"I'm sorry," Sally said. "These buttons are so confusing."
"Can we please go to sleep?" Jack asked Gaz in his most polite voice.
"No. I'll need more refills, a comfortable gaming environment, and one of you will have to run out for batteries in case this thing dies on me."
"Gaz, it's after three in the morning. What place is going to be open?" Dib asked.
"You'll find one," she said, pausing her game and digging through her dress pocket until finding what she was looking for. "Or do you want Dad to see this?"
"How did- You went in my room?" Dib asked, recognizing the picture of Jack.
"The door was wide open. Besides, I had to get ghost traps ready in case Bone Face decided to escape."
"You are a crafty one, I'll give you that," Jack said.
"It's hot in here, put the A/C on higher," Gaz said to Sally. "That wasn't a request, it was an order."
"I wish I had some Deadly Nightshade," Sally mumbled to herself as she programmed the air conditioner.
"What was that?" Gaz asked, already immersed into her game again.
"Nothing," Sally said in an innocent tone.
"Now quiet, I need complete silence for this battle," Gaz said just before all four of them heard footsteps coming up to the door.
"It can't be," Dib said quietly as the sound of keys came to his ears. "It's Dad. Quick, go to my room," he whispered to Jack and Sally, who nodded and took off for Dib's room.
"Son?" Professor Membrane asked in a stern tone when he entered the house. "Good, you're up. We need to talk."
"Dad, hi," Dib said, beads of sweat forming on his oversized forehead. "You're home really late. Everything alright at work?"
"Where are they, Son?"
"They? They who?"
"Dib, do not play dumb with me. It's genetically impossible for you to be authentically dim-witted. I know you are up to something and I am going to ask once again, where are they?"
"In his room," Gaz said, never once looking up from her game.
"GAZ!" Dib exclaimed.
"He trapped them there," Gaz added.
"No I- what?" Dib asked as his father rushed past him.
Professor Membrane first ran into a closet on his way to his son's room. He took a mental note to program his house's blueprint in his goggles before finally reaching Dib's Room. He opened the door to find two people, if they could be called people, entrapped in some kind of transparent netting. One was the woman he had seen earlier, the one who indirectly caused his fainting spell. The other was the skeleton who was the first one captured in the wake of the Dimensional Traveler disaster. Both seemed to be unable to break through the netting, which was actually not tangible.
"My Inverted Ectoplasm Net!" Dib yelled. "It actually works! Oh, um, sorry guys. I thought I had it stored in a better place."
"Obviously not," Jack said in a disgruntled tone.
"Don't apologize for trapping them, Son. Now they can be returned to their proper home," Professor Membrane said.
"We can't go home yet," Sally said. "We still need to find three people."
"It's true, Dad," Dib said.
"Son, I am aware of the other three travelers. However, I am not going to allow these two, who have already escaped before, to look for them. They are not trustworthy and I am surprised that you of all people would allow for them to go unsupervised. You caught them with your own equipment."
"It was that she-devil of a daughter of yours that entrapped us!" Jack exclaimed in frustration before clearing his throat. "I, um, I mean that in the best possible way, sir. Really."
"Gaz? I should have known. She is always the one who chooses real science over paranormal nonsense. Though, to be fair, this is paranormal nonsense," Professor Membrane said to himself.
"Dad, please, you have to let them go. They won't escape. Besides, we were going to find the other three travelers in a few hours."
"After I specifically told you not to leave the house for errands?"
"Yes. Look, I didn't raise the living dead this time!"
"Actually, we're not exactly alive," Jack said, prompting Sally to elbow him. "Ow!"
"Well, living dead from this dimension," Dib said, sheepishly chuckling.
"But they are still living dead," Professor Membrane said, clearly running out of patience.
"And that means there are three of them still out there, and I know exactly where they are. Dad, I know you're busy and if you could hunt them down yourself, you would. But you can't. I can. I have the equipment and the experience from hunting down Zim. I can do it. We can do it, but only if you let them go. Please, Dad? It will be a step towards real science for me," Dib pleaded.
"Encore!" Jack exclaimed, causing Sally to elbow him again. "Sally!"
"Sorry, there's no room in here."
"Well, I can't let them go. It's your net," Professor Membrane said, relenting.
"Thank you, Dad! You won't regret this," Dib said with a wide smile.
"You have twenty-four hours, Dib. If you don't have the others by then, I will take matters into my own hands. And after this is all over, I expect you to be picking up some more real science and leaving the paranormal nonsense behind."
"After this is all over, I promise," Dib said. "But you have to admit, it isn't all nonsense, is it?"
"We can leave that conversation for another day, Son. You have work to do," Professor Membrane said, giving Dib an encouraging pat on the back before walking out of the room.
"You're just going to let him get away with it?" Gaz asked her father, pestering him as he walked down the hall.
"Now, Daughter, your brother and I made a deal. After this, he is going to focus on real science."
"And you believed him?"
"He'll come around. It's in his blood."
"Yeah, but I doubt it's in that gigantic head of his."
"You always were the funny one," Professor Membrane said, chuckling at Gaz's comment. "Good job capturing the pair, and make sure your brother holds up his end of our deal to the best of your abilities."
"Can I use any means necessary?"
"Of course. Good luck to all of you," Professor Membrane said as he left his house, feeling much better than when he entered.
Meanwhile…
"It took hours, but it's done," Doctor Finkelstein's voice said from the screen.
"Finally! ZIM can go home! Thanks to my brilliance, I can go back to conquering the Earth," Zim said, proudly holding up the arm piece.
"You never would have built it without me."
"Yes. I am amazing."
"I am not even going to bother," the screen said, defeated.
"GIR? GIR, exit the feeble man's head and come here," Zim said, watching GIR flip out of Doctor Finkelstein's head and stare in awe at the arm piece.
"Oooooooh. Pretty bracelet!" GIR exclaimed.
"Eh? It's no bracelet. It's our ticket out of this Halloweenie infested land of doom."
"We're going?" GIR asked. "Can I take Baldy Duck Man?"
"Absolutely not!" Doctor Finkelstein screamed from his screen prison.
"Oogie?" Zim asked the sleeping heap of burlap next to the mechanical cowboys. "Wake up!"
"Come on, baby, you know you want me," Oogie Boogie murmured in his sleep as he rolled over.
"Cannonball!" GIR exclaimed before rolling on the floor, leaping in the air, and then diving right into Oogie's large stomach area.
"Oof! I'm awake," Oogie Boogie said, sitting straight up and hearing a clank of metal hit the ground.
"I wanna do that again!"
"Not on your afterlife, trash can."
"Oogie, GIR wants to take the disgusting old shell he's been frolicking in. Not that I should be asking your permission, but I don't want to take an empty Halloweenie I'll probably have to return," Zim said.
"Knock yourself out," Oogie Boogie said.
"Oogie! Don't you even think about letting them take my-" Doctor Finkelstein started before Zim unplugged his brain from the screen.
"Pitiful Halloweenie. His brain could not match the cable pulling of ZIM!"
"You going home yet?" Oogie Boogie asked Zim.
"I have to uninstall all of my equipment. I won't be headed back until morning. You could help, being that I'm too great to be doing this all by myself."
"Yeah, I'm going back to sleep. And if your stupid trash can-"
"Robot."
"If it jumps on me again, I'm eating it."
"YAY!" GIR exclaimed.
"I think it's better off digested," Oogie Boogie said.
"Go to sleep, Squish Bag," Zim said in a disgusted tone as he began to take things apart.
"Not a problem," Oogie Boogie said, slowly falling back to his slumber, with the happy thought of Zim and GIR closer to disappearing from his afterlife forever.
To Be Continued…