Oogie's smile seemed to grow wider and wider as he made his way back to his lair. Just thinking about Zim annoying that bonehead Jack made him cackle with glee. He had to share it with someone. Then, he noticed something was off just a few steps away from his lair entrance. Something he had completely forgotten about in his desperation to get Zim and his robot out of his nonexistent hair. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were still in the other dimension and stuck there for good.
"CRAP!" Oogie Boogie exclaimed angrily, kicking the ground in front of them. "How am I going to do my dirty work now?" he whined before finally walking into his lair and then getting quite an idea.
Doctor Finkelstein's brain was still lying on a metallic table Zim had left behind. Perhaps Zim had left those screens and cables behind too. Oogie looked around for them. Nope. There were no screens or cables to be found. Damn. This was going hard. Oogie Boogie picked up the brain, stared it down, and then looked over to his mechanical cowboys. Well, a body was a body. Oogie borrowed the buzz saw and cut off the top of one of the cowboy heads and stuffed the brain in there. Just as he was going to put the rest of the head and hat together, the cowboy's eyes lit up and he began to talk.
"Oogie? Oogie! What happened?" the cowboy asked in Doctor Finkelstein's no-nonsense tone.
"Listen, geezer, you're going to help me," Oogie Boogie said.
"And why should I do that? Where are the horrible green child and his robot? This doesn't feel like my body, so they must still have it."
"Smarter than I thought. Yeah, they have it and they took it home."
"WHAT? How could you let that happen? Have you no brains in that sack of vermin you call a body?"
"Keep disrespecting me and I'll eat your brain, geezer. You should be thanking me for even giving you a body."
"For your personal use!" Doctor Finkelstein yelled, causing the right arm of the mechanical cowboy body to shoot a bullet across the room.
"Easy there, geezer. A few more outbursts like that and you could short wire yourself. Not that I'd mind," Oogie Boogie said.
"What do you want, Oogie?" the doctor asked after a brief pause.
"I kind of smashed up the machine, that portal thing you made."
"What did you do?"
"I told you! Smashed it up with a wrench, pretty good too. Thing is, I need it fixed long enough for my goons to come home."
"How am I supposed to get back to my own lab like this?"
"I'll bring you over myself. You can see, right?"
"Well enough I suppose."
"Good. Now just keep quiet until I get you to the lab. Let the boogie man take care of all the rest."
Meanwhile…
What an amazing world! Buildings here seemed to brush right against the sky as an endless amount of people seemed to mill about on the streets. In spite of the fact it was closer to dawn than midnight, Jack and Sally were definitely not the only people out looking for a way to spend the rest of the night. Then, they stumbled upon a smaller building that seemed to move, bump up and down from the music playing within. Jack, being the ever-curious one, didn't think twice before running in. As always, Sally followed, unsure of what exactly was inside.
"Jack?" Sally asked among the many dancers crowing the floor and entrance. "Jack?"
"Over here!" Jack's voice yelled.
"Jack, you can't just-" Sally started before she found herself sucking on a pacifier.
"Oh, you got one too," Jack said, walking up to Sally and proudly displaying a pacifier hanging around his neck.
"What are these?" Sally asked as she took hers out.
"I don't know, but everyone here has one," Jack said, last part of that sentence being drowned out by the music.
"What?"
"Everyone has one!"
"WHAT?"
"EVERYONE. HAS. ONE!"
"This music's too loud!" Sally yelled.
"I know! Follow me!" Jack said, grabbing Sally's left hand and pulling her up the stairs to one of the quieter rooms that was supposed to be reserved. "Better?"
"Much," Sally said. "Hey, I didn't get a hat," she said, looking at floppy, black and white striped hat resting on his head.
"I don't even know how I got it."
"If people are giving us things, then they can see us. Why hasn't anyone gotten scared yet?"
"I don't think they care. They're too busy dancing."
"That's dancing?" Sally asked, causing Jack to laugh.
"You're right. It looks like they're having seizures. It's probably dancing in this world."
"I don't like it too much."
"Neither do I, but the people here are friendly."
"Is there anywhere else we can go? My head's starting to hurt."
"I'd take you to Bloaty's, but I have a reputation there," Jack said sheepishly.
"Then maybe we should go back to Dib's house," Sally said.
"Already?" Jack asked in a sad tone as the music began to change. "Hey, it's slower now. Let's dance."
"What?" Sally asked.
"LET'S-"
"No, Jack. I heard you the first time."
"Oh. Well, how about it?"
"One dance, Jack. Once the song ends, we're going back to Dib's house. Promise?" Sally asked him.
"On my honor as Pumpkin King," Jack said. "Now let's get back downstairs before the song ends."
And so they did. Sally was a bit reluctant at first, for reasons Jack was too oblivious to understand. Still, as soon as she found herself wrapped up in his arms, she wished the song would never end. Not aloud, of course. If only she had to courage for something that daring. No, this was fine. Just her, Jack, and that strange feeling she currently had on her right leg. Sally looked down for a moment to see what that was and let go of Jack in shock.
"What's the matter?" Jack asked, genuinely curious.
"That," Sally said, pointing to the small green and black dog clamping her right leg in a bear hug.
"Crunchy lady!" it exclaimed. "I missed you!"
"It can't be," Sally said before picking up the dog. "You look different than before."
"It's a disguise. But don't tell anybody, that's a secret."
"What is he?" Jack asked Sally.
"Some kind of little metal man in a dog costume," Sally responded just before another voice began to scream its way into the crowd.
"GIR? GIR! I don't know why you enjoy this excuse for entertainment. Get back here! Step away from those-" Zim ordered, catching a glimpse of Jack and Sally. "AH! Halloweenies! GIR, get back here and follow me before they eat our sweet blood candies!"
"Can the crunchy lady come too?"
"NO, GIR!"
"Awww, bye, crunchy lady," GIR said to Sally, jumping to the floor and walking past Zim.
"Fear me, Halloweenies. I'M ZIM!" he yelled before marching briskly after GIR.
"That's Zim? Well, Dib should have certainly taken care of him by now if he's that disorganized," Jack said. "Right, Sally? Sally?"
"Jack, let's go," Sally said, grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the dance club.
"Sally? What's wrong?" Jack asked, shielding his eyes from the sunlight when they exited.
"Zim had something on his arm, something like this," Sally said, lifting her right forearm and showing Jack the arm piece. "It means he got through the portal that Igor is supposed to be guarding because I told him to. Oh, no. Jack, what if something happened back at home? We have to go back."
"Right, but first, turn intangible," Jack said holding Sally's hands and turning the both of them intangible as guards from the lab stormed into the club.
"I can't believe this!" Professor Membrane exclaimed to Simmons as they followed the guards.
"Neither can I, sir," Simmons replied. "Not only did the green boy and his dog return, but they brought another specimen along!"
"At least that one didn't run away. It still doesn't make the situation any better, the path to that other dimension has been broken, hasn't it?" the professor asked his assistant.
"As soon as the three of them arrived, all contact was lost, sir," Simmons said. "With a little luck, we can get the connection back.
"And all of the travelers. Come, let's see if they've tracked the green boy and the dog at least. My son is very attached to them, you know," Professor Membrane said as they entered the club, unaware that two of the people they were looking for had escaped from right under their noses.
Meanwhile…"How could you let them leave, Gaz?" Dib asked, sitting up in his bed while Gaz looked at him disdainfully from his doorway.
"You were the one babysitting them, not me," Gaz said. "They'd better stay away, because I don't like people who ditch me."
"You don't like anyone."
"True, but people who ditch me are high on my Give-Them-Nightmare-Worlds list."
"Who's the first one."
"You."
"Funny, Gaz," Dib said dryly as he sighed and stretched. "Well, I'm going to the Base with or without them."
"That's the spirit, Big Head," said a voice from underneath Dib's desk.
"What are you doing there?" Dib asked Minimoose, who had gone to the laptop once more.
"I had to come here. If I stayed in the bed, you would have crushed me with that enormous mass on your neck."
"He has a point," Gaz said.
"I don't even know why I'm letting you stay here," Dib said to Minimoose.
"I can leave anytime I feel like leaving."
"Then go."
"I don't feel like it," Minimoose said, spitting out the cable that gave him a voice and squeaking pompously at Dib before hovering past Gaz, who smirked after the moose left.
"Incoming," Gaz said to Dib as she moved out of the doorway, tripping Jack as he entered Dib's room.
"That wasn't very nice," Sally said to Gaz.
"Psh, whiners," Gaz said as she walked back to her room.
"Where have you been?" Dib asked Jack and Sally before seeing the pacifiers around their necks. "You went clubbing?"
"Clubbing? We didn't beat people with large sticks," Jack said, standing up and brushing himself off.
"Here, clubbing is going from club to club to dance and stuff."
"Well, not exactly then. We only went to one," Sally said.
"You went clubbing the night before a mission? That's counterproductive! Why am I the only one who's serious about saving the world here? Huh?"
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Jack said.
"Never mind, just get out for a few seconds while I change. We still have to go to the Base."
"Right, about that. We saw Zim," Jack said.
"He's back?" Dib asked.
"Zim and GIR, right? That is the little green dog metal man's name?" Sally asked Dib.
"That's right. Oh great, just what we need," Dib groaned. This was going to be much harder than he thought.
To Be Continued…