Edit: Okay! This is… Making good progress. This is good.

MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA

LOL no, Stalker Siddeley didn't take over the story. Laughed so hard at that review, though. XD

Everyone was staring at where Stacy used to be.

"Has anyone noticed that only the girls are disappearing…?" Sheriff asked.

"Oh, Sheriff, gross!" Sally exclaimed after realizing what he meant.

"I'm just sayin'…" He held up his hands in defense.

Finn was still staring at where Stacy had been standing.

"What now?" Holley asked.

"Um… Everyone grab a buddy?" Sheriff suggested. Guido clung to Luigi, Lightning took Sally's hand, Flo did the same to Ramone, while Sarge and Fillmore exchanged a glance. Holley went to stand next to Finn to break him out of his trance, then took Mater's hand, leaving Sheriff making sure everyone had a buddy, Red standing there not sure who to go with now that mostly everyone was taken, Lizzie not sure what was going on, Andy inspecting his machine, Siddeley glancing around nervously, Mia who was starting to look bored, and Becca not knowing whom to be with.

Red walked over to Sheriff. He probably thought that's who he'd be safest with.

"Wait, what?" Andy finally looked up. "O…kay… So, who do I get?"

Becca inched over to Siddeley.

"Okay, so you're a group of three, then?" Sheriff's question was phrased like a statement as he looked over at Finn, Holley, and Mater.

"Yup." Mater replied.

"Wait, so I'm stuck with Lizzie?" Andy complained.

"Can you make another leaf blower?" she asked with a dreamy smile.

"And Mia." Sheriff replied. "Make sure they don't disappear."

"Okay, so why do we have buddies?" Sally asked.

"We're gonna look for Tia and Stacy." Sheriff answered. "Two people are gone—this is getting out of hand."

Various exclamations of protest and confusion came from the group.

"But… Sheriff, he…" Siddeley started to say.

"We can't just wait around for this… Shadow to take more of us, God damn it. Sid, do you know where they would be?" Sheriff asked.

'Because Stalker Siddeley likes trees, okay?' "The woods." Finn said, not realizing he spoke out loud.

"You remembered." Siddeley noticed, staring at Finn. "From the night Claire got stuck in that tree, you remembered."

"Of course I did." He replied.

"Does that mean you believe in him, now?" Siddeley asked hopefully.

"I don't know." Finn told him. "But I do know if anything happens to Stacy, whatever took her is dying tonight."

"So, we… Split up in the woods? That seems awfully dangerous." Flo worried, nervously playing with the ends of her apron.

"So is just sitting here. Which is what I'm gonna do." Andy pointed out. "I'm gonna try to whip up something that could help."

"You mean like a smoothie?" Mia asked.

"No! Another machine!"

"Now I want a smoothie…" Fillmore smiled.

"…okay, I kinda want one, too." Becca agreed.

"Okay, smoothies when everyone comes back alive!" Andy snapped to shut them up.

"All right, let's move out." Sheriff declared. "Jackson, got any walkie-talkies lyin' around?"

"You're in luck." Andy nodded, walking over to a closet. He opened it, causing a bunch of random things to tumble out and bury him. "…ow… Ah! Here we go! Let's see, how many groups are there?" came his muffled voice from the pile.

"Eight?" Sarge suggested.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight." Andy's head popped out of the pile. "Each group grab one." He ordered, holding out a walkie-talkie. One by one, each group did as he said.

"Okay! Last one for my group." He announced, shoving the junk back into the closet and closing it with difficulty.

"Let's not get killed out there." Siddeley mumbled.

"Uh, Red? You wanna stay here, instead?"

Red looked at Andy and nodded.

"Sheriff?"

"Guess I'm staying here, too, then." Sheriff replied.

"Now, go find my big sister!" Andy told the rest.

"Yessir, President Jackson." Lightning saluted. Sally rolled her eyes and grabbed Lightning's hand to lead him out.

"Pres—hey, wait a minute, yeah! I like that." Andy grinned. "I am Andrew Jackson. Why didn't I ever make that connection?"

"When are you making your leaf blower, President Jackson?" Lizzie grinned.

"…okay, I like it less, now." Andy frowned.

Despite the circumstances, Sheriff laughed.

…

"In retrospect, was it really necessary to use walkies?" Siddeley asked over his. "Couldn't we have just used phones?"

"No. Nobody wants to hear the Perry the Platypus theme whenever someone has something to tell us." Holley told him.

"Besides, this way, everyone can hear everything." Luigi pointed out.

"What If I changed my ringtone?" Siddeley asked.

"Sid…" Several of them groaned.

"Focus, Sid. You know most about what's going on." Becca told him.

"Andy, how's we doin' back at Fort Jackson?" Mater asked.

"Pretty good! I'm gonna try to make a Stalker Locator thing. Though, uh, sad to report… Not much success. Though Red's having fun playing with my cats and rabbits… Even Jiwoo! The guy's really got a thing for animals."

"Okay, Siddeley, what exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Sally asked.

"Well… You're not really looking for anything." Siddeley began to explain. "Well, unless you see a living shadow in front of you. Or his rare human…ish form…"

"Get on with it, dude." Ramone urged.

"Okay, okay, well, you know that feeling that something's watching you?"

"Everyone does." Sarge answered.

"Well, it's… weirder when Stalker Sid's near. Like something's not only watching you, but also planning your demise and observing your life so it can find the right moment to strike and…"

"Okay, we get it, stop please…" Flo frowned.

"What if you see something… Weird?" Lightning asked.

"Why?" Siddeley replied.

"Because we're looking at something weird." Sally explained.

"What does it look like?" Andy asked.

"It's a broken phone…" Sally realized as they got closer. "The screen's all cracked. There's a note on it."

"Read it." Sheriff instructed.

"Wait." Finn interrupted. "What does the phone look like?"

Sally turned it over in her hands. "It's an iPhone with a case that looks like… Lightning, can you shine the light from your phone on it? Thanks. It's a case that's got Starry Night on it."

"Finn?" Sally asked when he didn't respond.

"That's Stacy's phone." Finn finally breathed.

Guido asked something in Italian, to which Luigi translated, "Guido wants to know what the note says."

Sally read slowly. "I-it says, 'don't count on the safety of your friends. Siddeley, I'm coming for you'…"

Edit: Hah, I has a phone, now. XD I had a TARDIS case for a really long time, which is what I originally had written that it was.

Kitty you still jealous of my cliffhangers? XD

I don't has a phone. :c But if I did, that's the case it would have. xD …unless I found a Finn case. Or any Cars case. :D Oh, and I know Becca sorta came out of nowhere... Well she WAS at the beginning of the story, remember? So she's been here the whole time, she just hasn't been sayin' nothin'.

I really wanted to finish this story BY Halloween, but I don't think I'll be able to. :( But it'll be close, so it'll just exceed Halloween for a day-few days. Eh, still in the spirit, right? That way you get to read while eating your candy! XD