Author's Note: Oh my. What did the good-hearted professor get his son, and pretty much everyone else, into? Well, only one way to find out. Once again, the only thing I own in this entire story is the plot. No characters, no places, well… some dialogue, yeah, but that's it. All the good aspects we love about The Nightmare Before Christmas and Invader ZIM came from Tim Burton, Danny Elfman, Henry Selick, Jhonen Vasquez, Kevin Manthei, and Steve Ressel. All of them, and their crews rock. Seriously.
"It's been another day," the Cyclops said to the fish woman who resided in the well. "What could be taking so long?"
"Who knows?" asked the fish woman as both stared at Doctor Finkelstein's laboratory, which seemed to light up at some points. There was definitely some work going on in there.
"They can't all be stuck in there for good, can they?" asked the harlequin demon, top portion of his head nearly spinning around.
"I wouldn't mind it. Boogie's Boys, I mean," the Cyclops said.
"Neither would I. They keep putting piranhas in my well," the fish woman said just as a horn honked and got everyone's attention.
"Any sign of them?" asked the clown with the tear away face as he rode up to the group on his unicycle.
"No," the Cyclops said.
"Whatever place they're all in, it's got a hold on them worse than a giant squid," the fish woman said, causing the group to nod in agreement.
"Did we ever see that green kid and his dog again?" the harlequin demon asked.
"Now that you mention it… no," the Cyclops said.
"Oogie Boogie probably got them," the clown said, followed by a sarcastic cackle. "We all know what happens when Oogie gets someone."
"Horrible things, and not the good kind either," the harlequin demon said before seeing a familiar tall hat make its way towards the group. "Mr. Mayor!"
"If you want any information on Jack and Boogie's Boys, well, it's not good," the Mayor said, face just as grim as his news.
"Really?" the clown asked.
"I don't have any proof, but I fear Oogie Boogie kidnapped Doctor Finkelstein for his own purposes. His assistant went into the portal herself to go find Jack and the kids, but so far, no one's come back."
"Wait, that doesn't explain what's going on in the lab," said the Cyclops.
"What do you mean?" the Mayor asked.
"Look," the fish woman said, pointing in the direction of the lab.
"But, that's not possible, unless…" the Mayor started, causing his head to spin around in order for him to smile. "Perhaps the doctor made it out of Oogie's clutches."
"He'd be the first one to do it, that's for sure," the harlequin demon said.
"How can we know if he did?" the clown asked.
"We go up there," the Mayor said, hobbling towards the laboratory as slowly, but surely, curious Halloween Towners followed him.
Meanwhile…
"Finally. If I could sweat I'd be dripping," Oogie Boogie said to the mechanical cowboy housing Doctor Finkelstein's brain.
"You disgust me," said the cowboy. "And you're lucky it could be fixed."
"Yeah, yeah, now how do I go in that thing?" Oogie asked, pointing to the newly re-opened Continuum Portal.
"You're not going in," Doctor Finkelstein's brain said.
"Watch me," Oogie Boogie said with a smirk as he walked towards the portal, put in his right arm only to be forced back. "Hey!"
"Just as I thought, the other side is still closed," the brain said. "The only way to get to a closed portal is to have a Rift Maker on your arm. I only made two and those are currently on the other side."
"You can always make a third one," Oogie Boogie bargained as the doorbell rang.
"You'd better get that, I'm less mobile than usual," the brain pointed out.
"Hey, ugly!" Oogie Boogie yelled to Igor, who had been standing outside the room with Zero. "You and the mutt better get the door. Whoever it is, don't let them in."
"Yes, sir," Igor said reluctantly as he and Zero walked down to the door and opened it to half of Halloween Town.
"Hello again, Igor," the Mayor said.
"Shhh," Igor hissed. "Oogie's upstairs," he whispered.
"What? I'm going home, forget this," the harlequin demon stated, turning around before the Cyclops grabbed his arm and made him stay put.
"Did he bring Doctor Finkelstein?" the Mayor asked Igor in a quieter tone.
"Master's home… sort of," Igor said, Zero whining in agreement.
"How can he be sort of home?"
"Brain here, body not."
"Oh," the Mayor said, face changing to show his despair.
"Brain's fine though. Fixed portal."
"It was broken?" asked the clown, balancing on his unicycle.
"Oogie broke it."
"We can't let him get away with this, Mr. Mayor," said one of the vampires.
"He's probably trying to get rid of the Bone Daddy, and that's just not cool," said the sax player, causing Zero to growl at the idea.
"Now, calm down folks. This is Oogie Boogie we're talking about," the Mayor said in a nervous tone.
"So? There's one of him and more of us," the werewolf pointed out.
"Alright, alright. We'll do this the democratic way. Who wants to go inside and confront Oogie Boogie and meet certain doom?" the Mayor asked seeing nearly every hand, tentacle, paw, forelimb go up. "And who doesn't?" he asked, seeing no movement. "Well, on to certain doom," he finished, dodging the towners dashing right into the laboratory.
"Ugly? Ugly, what's taking so- AHHHHHH!" Oogie Boogie yelled, watching as a good portion of Halloween Town stood right in front of the door to the portal room. "What do you people want?" he asked, regaining his usual detached attitude.
"You-you've gone t-too far this time, Oogie," the Mayor said when he got to the head of the crowd, obviously a nervous wreck.
"Yeah? Well, what are you all going to do about it?"
"Careful, Oogie, you're greatly outnumbered," said Doctor Finkelstein's brain.
"So? The only one with enough backbone to stand up to me is gone, I'm not scared one bit."
Three Minutes Later…
"You're all begging to be buzz-sawed!" Oogie Boogie yelled from the table the Halloween Towners had strapped him to.
"Amazing," the scientist's brain said to the Mayor.
"All it took was some team spirit, really," the Mayor replied, the pride of what they had all down taking up his face.
"Sorry, what I meant to say is that it is amazing the straps didn't break around Oogie, his being so fat and all."
"Oh," the Mayor said, face revealing his disappointment.
"Still it takes care of one problem," the brain said.
"And the other ones?" the Mayor asked.
"It all depends on what happens on the other side now."
"And we can't help?"
"I'm afraid not. If I could make another Rift Maker, I would, but this body's only good for one thing," the brain said, demonstrating by shooting a hole in the wall.
"Untie me! Nobody disrespects Oogie Boogie! NOBODY!" Oogie yelled, trying to squirm his way from the bonds.
"If any of you wish to force feed him Deadly Nightshade, Sally keeps it in the cupboard downstairs," the doctor's brain announced to the towners, who all stared at Oogie Boogie with much less than caring looks.
"Yeah, you're all brave when I'm tied up! Just wait until I'm free, not even that bone head will save you then!"
"We'd better take turns keeping an eye on him, so he doesn't escape," said the werewolf.
"Mayor, you're in charge, you do it," said the eldest of the vampire brothers.
"Me?" the Mayor whimpered.
"Who thinks the Mayor, as head of the town, should keep the Boogie Watch until tomorrow?" the harlequin demon asked, causing everyone, except the Mayor's and Oogie Boogie's, of course, to raise a limb up in the air.
"I don't like democracy anymore," the Mayor mumbled to himself as one by one, the towners left until he, Igor, Zero, and some of Doctor Finkelstein were left with a restrained Oogie Boogie.
Meanwhile…
"No one here," Sally said, peeking into a room filled entire with rubber piggies. "At least, no one we're looking for."
"Excuse me, have you seen three kids running around here?" Jack's voice asked in the room next door.
"Nope, but that's ok. I sure am HAPPY!" replied the person Jack was talking to.
"Thanks," Jack said, a bit disturbed, as he walked back to the rubber piggy room.
"Who was that, Jack?"
"Kid in a tube. Looked happy to be there."
"This place is creepy, even by our standards," Sally said as they proceeded to the next room.
"Indeed," Jack said as they walked in to find that the room was filled from floor to ceiling with walnuts. "What does Zim do with these?"
"He obviously doesn't eat them," Sally replied, walking to the next room and then having a net thrown on her. "Jack!"
"Oh, great," said a disgruntled voice, belonging to a girl who poked her head out of the room.
"Shock!" Jack exclaimed.
"Catch me if you can," she taunted before running off.
"Let's go, before she gets too far ahead of us," Jack said to Sally, once she untangled herself from the net.
"Think we can reuse this?" Sally asked him as they followed Shock.
"Definitely. It's finding her that's going to be the prob-" Jack started before stopping in his tracks.
"Jack? What is it?" Sally asked, the only response from Jack being a pointed finger forward.
"Miss me?" Gaz asked in a sarcastic tone, never looking up from her Gameslave.
"How did you get down here so fast?" Jack asked.
"GIR showed me a shortcut."
"Why are you down here?" Sally asked.
"The RoboParents were bugging me. I figured I could ditch them, let them loose on Dib. Thing is, I haven't seen Dib yet, and you guys are already here, so…"
"Want some dinner, sweetheart?" asked the RoboMom, throwing a bag of flour that hit Jack right in the face and covered him with flour dust.
"Not that, honey, it gives me diarrhea." The RoboDad added, rolling right behind Jack and Sally, turning around to face them and then looking at the pair with an insane glare. "Yep! Diarrhea!"
"Have fun," Gaz said to Jack and Sally as she walked away.
"You can't just leave us here!" Jack yelled after her.
"Too late, I already did," she replied, ignoring the sounds of struggling between the RoboParents and the inter-dimensional visitors.
Gaz had more important things to do. Like finding the most horrible torture device in the whole Base and somehow strapping Dib to it. Ok, so she was supposed to help him. It didn't mean she couldn't have some fun first. After all, she could have stayed at home, drank soda, watched TV, and played her Gameslave uninterrupted without even lifting a finger for Dib. Did she? No, but that didn't mean Dib could get away scot-free for messing up a Zimless day for her.
Meanwhile…
"Barrel? Lock?" Shock asked as she turned another corner. "Where are you guys?"
"A-ha!" yelled a voice behind Shock. "Yes! I found one, now wait until I find a way to catch you," said the large-headed boy Shock was now facing.
"You're Dib, aren't you?" Shock asked. "The computer was right, you do have a big head," Shock said, a bit disgusted at the mortal.
"Take that back, or I'll do stuff. Worse stuff than I have planned."
"Yeah right," Shock said just as Dib took out a transparent cord with a greenish glow to it from the inside pockets of his jacket.
"Inverted ectoplasm coated, that means it can catch you and you can't phase out of it," Dib said, striking a heroic pose once he finished.
"That'd be interesting, if you could catch me," Shock said, breaking out into a run.
Of all the ghost children Dib could possibly be chasing, it had to be one so fast. Whether his oversized head or lack of outdoor exercise caused his slowness, it was killing his chances of getting the girl. As he continued his run, Dib tied the rope into a lasso and aimed for her. As they rounded a corner, Dib threw the lasso and felt it tighten around something. Success! Dib pulled his catch back towards him to find that it wasn't the girl after all.
"You HORRIBLE human!" Zim yelled. "Get this OFF me!" he continued, struggling against the rope.
"Nyah! Why can't I catch you when I need to!" Dib yelled in frustration. "Which way did she go, Zim?"
"I'm not saying another word until you untie me!"
"Fine, fine," Dib sighed, undoing the lasso and freeing Zim.
"Pitiful creature. You'll never be able to stop me like that, not that I mind."
"Which way, Zim?"
"She joined a pudgy cohort of hers and ran towards the- OH NO!" Zim exclaimed.
"What?" Dib asked.
"They were running to the Voot Cruiser Room! If they do ANYTHING to my ship, I will find a way to re-kill them!" Zim yelled, popping his metallic legs from his PAK and scuttling after the pair of ghost children.
"Zim, wait! I can't run that fast!" Dib yelled after him, wishing for a moment that he had a PAK before shuddering at the thought of something so, well, inhuman. He would find another way to the Voot Cruiser Room anyway; it wasn't as if he didn't know where it was.
To Be Continued...